John Ridgeway (died 1560)


John Ridgeway of Abbots Carswell and Tor Mohun in Devon, was a lawyer who served as a Member of Parliament, twice for Dartmouth in 1539 and 1545 and twice for Exeter in 1553 and 1554.

Origins

He was the son of Michael Ridgeway of Newton Abbot, Devon, a brewer, the name of whose wife is not recorded. Vivian suggested he was the son of Stephen Ridgeway, Mayor of Exeter in 1491. An alternative surname of "Peacock", to that of Ridgeway, was declared in 1564 by his descendant to the heralds at the Heraldic Visitation of Devon, but this name has not been found in other surviving records. The ancient arms of "Ridgway" as recorded by Pole do however make a canting reference to this "alias": Argent, on a chevron engrailed gules three trefoils or between three peacock's heads erased azure crowns about their necks or. The family's modern arms, which they bore in the time of Pole, were recorded by the latter as: Sable, two angel's wings conjoined tips upwards argent. These arms are displayed on the Ridgeway monument in Tor Mohun Church, and are a differenced version the arms of Barnehowse, whose co-heiress was Mary Southcott, the wife of Sir Thomas Ridgeway, son of John: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure argent.

Career

He trained as a lawyer at the Middle Temple. In 1538, and immediately before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, he was appointed joint Chief Steward of Torre Abbey in Devon, and for Syon Monastery in Middlesex. He served as Escheator of Devon and Cornwall and occupied the honourable position of Recorder of Totnes in 1554. He was ordered by the crown to provide troops for the French campaign of 1544 and victuals for the war in Scotland in 1547.

Land purchases

He acquired various manors in Devon including:
At some time before 1542 he married Elizabeth Wendford, daughter of John Wendford of Newton Abbot, by whom he had one son and two daughters:
He died at his seat of Tor Mohun on 24 April 1560 and was buried in St Saviour's Church, Tor Mohun.

Memorial tablet

An inscribed tablet in his memory forms one of three similar forming part of the surviving elaborate monument erected by his grandson in St Saviour's Church, primarily in memory of his father Sir Thomas Ridgeway, whose semi-recumbent alabaster effigy is displayed. The Latin inscription is as follows: