Appendix 1

APPENDIX 1

LOOSEMORE WILLS & ADMINISTRATIONS PROVED IN DEVON AND SOMERSET, PRESERVED IN THE PROBATE REGISTRY AT EXETER UNTIL DESTROYED BY ENEMY ACTION IN MAY 1942 [1]

The following 78 wills and administrations relate to Loosemores dying in Devon and Somerset; there is no record of any Loosemore wills in Cornwall and Dorset among those lost. The loss occurred when the Exeter Probate Registry was destroyed on 5^th May 1942 during an air-raid on the City and is irreplaceable; no copies of any wills are known to survive. Wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), excluded from this list, are preserved in the Public Record Office, Kew. For three Loosemore PCC wills, see Appendices 3, 6 and 7.

Principal Registry Court of Bishop of Exeter 1559-1799 [2]

1592	Loosemore	John	Nymet Bishop [Bishops Nympton]	W
1630	Loosemore	John	Nymet Bishop	W
1648	Loosemore	William	North Molton	A
1725	Loosemore	Nicholas	Rose Ash	W
1769	Loosemore	Sara	Topsham	A
1782	Loosemore	John	Bishops Tawton	A

Consistory Court of the Bishop of Exeter 1532-1800 [3]

1539	Lowsemore	William	Bishops Nympton	W
1582	Lousmore	Robert	Bishops Nimet
1583	Lousmore	John sen.	Bishops Nimet
1592	Lousmore	John	Bishops Nimet
1604	Lousemore	Emote	Bishops Nimet	I
1605	Losemore	Emmote wid.	Bishops Nimet	W
1621	Loosemore	Henry	Bishops Nympton	W
1681	Loosemore	Henry	Nympton Epi	T
1685	Loosemore	Hugh	Nymett Epi	A
1698	Loosemore	George	Nymett Epi	A
1708	Loosemore	Henry	Nympton Epi	A
1737	Loosemore	Mary	Nimpton Bishop	W
1761	Loosmore	Roger	Morchard Bishop	W
1783	Loosemore	John	Bishops Nympton	W

Archdeaconry Court of Barnstaple 1563-1858 [4]

1623	Loosemore	Robert	Cruwys Morchard	27 May
1624	Loosemore	James	Ashrafe [Rose Ash]	11 May
1626	Loosemore	John	Cruwys Morchard	13 Feb
1633	Loosemore	Mary	Challacombe	10 Apr	TA
1673	Loosemore	James	Rose Ash	2 Apr	TA

1673	Loosemore	James	Rose Ash		C
1680	Loosemore	Robert	Meshaw	8 Apr	T
1701	Loosemore	James	Rose Ash	15 Nov	A
1713	Loosemore	John	Atherington	2 Oct
1714	Loosemore	Mary	Ashrafe	28 May
1733	Loosemore	John	Chulmleigh	22 Feb
1738	Loosemore	Nicholas	Rose Ash	5 May
1738	Loosemore	John	Meshaw	3 Nov
1743	Loosemore	Joan	Rose Ash	3 Feb
1750	Loosemore	Richard	Burrington	9 Mar
1751	Loosemore	William	Atherington	7 Feb
1752	Loosemore	John	Tawstock	7 Aug
1752	Loosemore	Penelope	Barum [Barnstaple]	1 Dec
1752	Loosemore	Hugh	Barum	1 Dec
1757	Leusmore	Roger	Burrington	2 Sep
1762	Loosemore	James	Rose Ash	1 Oct
1764	Loosemore	John	Meshaw	3 Feb
1775	Loosemore	John	Cruwys Morchard	11 Mar
1777	Loosemore	James	Burrington	12 Apr
1793	Loosemore	Francis	Meshaw	16 Nov
1794	Loosemore	Thomas	South Molton	19 Dec
1797	Loosemore	Thomas	Bideford	6 Jan
1799	Loosemore	Nicholas	Landkey	26 Oct
1801	Loosemore	Margaret	South Molton	24 Feb
1810	Loosemore	John	Barnstaple	17 Aug
1814	Loosemore	Robert	Knowstone	14 May
1818	Loosemore	James	Meshaw	13 Aug
1819	Loosemore	John	Rose Ash	25 Jan
1819	Loosemore	Ann	Barnstaple	14 May
1822	Loosemore	Sarah	Meshaw	26 Oct
1823	Loosemore	William	Atherington	24 Sep
1839	Loosemore	Richard	South Molton	29 Jul
1839	Loosemore	Robert	Knowstone	27 Nov
1843	Loosemore	John	Meshaw	7 Jan
1843	Loosemore	William	Meshaw	8 Apr
1845	Loosemore	James	Molland	14 Apr
1856	Loosemore	William	Meshaw	13 Dec
1858	Loosemore	James	Atherington	1 Jan

Archdeaconry Court of Exeter 1540-1799 ¹

1548	Losemore	Thomas	Teverton	CT
1584	Lusmore	Katherine	Tyverton	CT
1586	Lousmore	Robert	Tiverton	CT
1612	Lusemore	Lewis	Tiverton	W
1693?	Lorrimore	John	Exeter	A
1730	Loosemore	Joseph	Clayhidon	W
1731?	Lorimore	John	Exeter	A

1733?	Lorimore	John	Alphington	W
1735	Losmore	Joseph	Upottery	W
1750	Loosemore	Joseph	Upottery	A
1750	Loosemore	Mary	Upottery	A
1794	Loosemore	John	Exeter	A

Archdeaconry Court of Taunton 1537-1799 [5]

1582	Losemore	Thomseyne	Brushford
-----	Loosemore	Peter	Dulverton
1689	Loosemore	Richard	Dulverton

General Notes

a) W = will; T = testament; I = inventory; TA = testamento annexo; CT = cum testamento; A = grant of administration.

b) Wills and administrations proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Totnes appear not to have been indexed; they also perished on 5 May 1942.

c) The extent of jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts referred to above was as follows:

Principal Registry Court of the Bishop of Exeter

Over all persons dying in Exeter diocese possessed of personalty in more than one archdeaconry; all beneficed clergy in the diocese; all persons dying in an archdeaconry during prohibition of the archdeacon by the bishop.

Consistory Court of the Bishop of Exeter

In Devon, those persons dying in any one of the 14 parishes which were Peculiars of the Bishop, viz. Bishops Nympton, Bishops Tawton, Bishops Teignton, Chudleigh, Crediton, Kennerleigh, Landkey, Marldon, Morchard Bishop, Paignton, Sandford, Stoke Gabriel, Swimbridge, West Teignmouth.

Archdeaconry Courts

All persons dying within the archdeaconry with personalty in that area only, excluding the 14 parishes listed above, except during prohibition of the archdeacon by the bishop.

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[1] See main text, Chapter 1, section “Loosemore:the Name”.

[2] Index Library, xxxv, 1908.

[3] Index Library, xlvi, 1914.

[4] J J Beckerlegge, ed. Index of Wills & Administrations proved in the Court of the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple 1563-1858 and preserved in the Probate Registry at Exeter until destroyed by enemy action in 1942, 1950, typescript, for the Devonshire Association. Held in WCSL, Exeter.

[5] Index Library, xlv, 1912 and liii, 1922.