Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 6: Hungerford

HUNGERFORD

See also "proposed" section

Volume 6, page 621 (as modified by volume 14):
He [Sir Thomas Hungerford (d. 1469)] m., before 16 Oct. 1460,(d) Anne, da. of Henry (PERCY), 2nd EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND,(e) by Eleanor, da. of Richard POYNINGS, and grandda. and h. of Robert, LORD POYNINGS. ... His widow m., 2ndly, as his 2nd wife, Sir Laurence RAYNSFORD, who d. in 1490.(g)
Note d:
On which date he and his wife had a conveyance of the manors of South Cadbury, &c. (Ch. Misc. Inq., 4 Edw. IV, file 320, no. 56)...
Note e:
See Collins, Peerage (ed. Brydges), vol. ii, p. 291, where she is given as the 12th and youngest child of Henry, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, by Eleanor, da. of Ralph (de Nevill), Earl of Westmorland. The dates, however, for the assumption are not propitious; also the elder Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland, appears to have died about 1472/3 (12 Edw. IV), an entry in the old printed Cal. of Inq. giving "12 Edw. IV, no. 2. Al' Comitissa North. deest." She must have been living, however, 29 Feb. 1470/1, when there is mention (Patent Roll) of Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland, the younger, who did not die till 11 Feb. 1483/4 (Ch. Inq. p.m., 1 Ric. III, no. 26); and in 1480 Anne is described as da. of Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland, not late Countess.
Note g:
He and Anne, his wife, late wife of Thomas Hungerford, son of Robert Hungerford, Lord of Hungerford and Moleyns, and da. of Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland, had a pardon, 17 Feb. 1479/80, for all donations, &c., made without licence before 12 Feb. (Patent Roll).

In fact the version of Anne's parentage given in Collins's Peerage is correct - it is supported not only by evidence relating to a marriage dispensation in the 1470s and by early pedigrees, but also by the description of her as the daughter of the countess of Northumberland, if properly interpreted. Anne's remarriage to Sir Laurence Raynsford had taken place by 24 June 1470 [Catalogue. of Ancient Deeds, volume 1, page 413 (no C287)].

When a dispensation was sought for a marriage between Anne's daughter Mary and Edward, the son of Sir William Hastings, witnesses gave evidence in 1478 that Anne, the wife of Thomas Hungerford, esquire, was the daughter of Eleanor, countess of Northumberland, and sister of Richard Neville, late earl of Salisbury, and that Eleanor and Richard were children of Ralph, late earl of Westmoreland and Joan his wife (which meant that Mary Hungerford and Edward Hastings were related in the third and third degrees) [Calendar of Papal Letters, vol. 8, part 2, pp. 689-691].

In a pedigree of the Percys apparently drawn up in the 1480s, "Anna nupta domino de Hungerford" is shown as a daughter of Henry Percy and Eleanor, daughter of the earl of Westmorland [Surtees Society, vol. 144, pp. 19-20 (1930), from MS Ashmole 831]. In another pedigree dated around 1505, she is shown as a daughter of Eleanor, countess of Northumberland, and sister of Henry, earl of Northumberland, who married the daughter of Lord Poynings, although she is called Katherine, not Anne - "Katherine, 1st wedded to Sir Thomas Hungerford; after to Sir Laurence Raigford" [Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. 1, p. 298 (1834), from Harleian MS 1074].

The Complete Peerage cites a description of the couple in 1479/80 as evidence that Anne's mother was alive at that date. But this is evidently only a repetition of the description given in documents of much earlier date. In an inquisition dated 16 January 1464/5, it was stated that the manors of Sutton Lucy, Colwell and Wolmeston, Devon, had been settled on Thomas and Anne by a deed dated 16 October 1460, in which they were named as Thomas Hungerford, son and heir of Robert, Lord Hungerford and Molyns, and Anne the daughter of Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland [Chancery Inquisitions Miscellaneous, P.R.O. C145/320, number 11]. This presumably implies that Anne's father was dead by this date. This would indicate that she was the daughter of Henry Percy (d. 1455) and Eleanor de Neville, because Henry Percy the husband of Eleanor Poynings did not die until 1461.

The chronology requires Anne to be a late child born some time after her elder siblings, but is quite possible. Henry married Eleanor de Neville soon after October 1414, when she was apparently in her early teens [Complete Peerage, vol. 9, p. 716]. Collins's Peerage [vol. 2, pp. 279-291 (1812)] quotes from a roll written by Robert Cavell, a chaplain of Henry Percy (d. 1455), which gives the dates and places of birth of most of Henry's children. The dates given are between 1418 and 1428 - Anne is the last child named, and is said to have been born 3 February 14--.

The editor says that in the roll the place of Anne's birth "seems written" "Dugnanis", and interprets this as "Dunganess in Scotland", which I have been unable to locate (although there is a Dungeness in Kent). In fact it must be a mistranscription of "Dagnams", for the manor of Dagenhams and Cockerels, in Romford, Essex, which was held by Henry Percy in 1443 [Victoria County History, Essex, vol. 7, p. 66].

[Douglas Richardson pointed out the evidence of Anne's identity from early pedigrees in March 2002. He later added the evidence of the marriage dispensation, and Robert Battle provided a transcript of the record. Thanks for other contributions from Leo van de Pas and Brad Verity. Douglas Richardson provided the limit on the date of Anne's remarriage, in April 2004.]