Richard Coffin (1456-1523)

Arms of Coffin: Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or.^[1] Often shown with varying number of crosses, in which case: Azure semé of crosses crosslet or, three bezants

Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin (1456-1523) of Heanton Punchardon and Portledge, Alwington. North wall of chancel, Heanton Punchardon Church

Details from Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin: left: arms of Coffin; right: entwined initials "RC", two sets in spandrels of canopy

Richard Coffin (1456–1523)^[2] of Alwington and Heanton Punchardon in North Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1511.^[3]

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of William Coffin of Alwington (d.1486) by his wife Margaret Giffard, daughter of Thomas Giffard^[4] of Halsbury in the parish of Parkham, North Devon.^[5] According to the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640) the "manor (of Alwington) hath been in the name of Coffin even from the Conquest, whose dwelling house is at Portledge within the same parish".^[6] This was somewhat of an exaggeration as the tenant of Alwinetone in the Domesday Book of 1086 is "Hamelin", whose overlord was Robert, Count of Mortain (d.1090).^[7] The family remained lords of the manor of Alwington until 1974, albeit in a branch descended from a female line in the early 18th century.^[8]

Marriages & progeny

Richard Coffin married twice:

• Firstly to Alice Gambon, daughter of John Gambon of Moorstone in Devon,^[9] by whom he had the following progeny:
  • John Coffin (d.1528),^[10] eldest son and heir, who married Elizabeth Hingeston.^[11]
  • Sir William Coffin (by 1492-1538), a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII and Master of the Horse to Queen Jane Seymour, elected MP for Derbyshire in 1529. ^[12]
  • Jane Coffin, married John Bury (1481-1533), lord of the manor of Colleton, Chulmleigh, Devon.^[13]
• Secondly Richard Coffin married a lady named Jacquet, who survived him^[14]

Lands held

Besides his paternal estates, Richard Coffin held leases from the Beaumont family of Shirwell of the North Devon manors of East Haggington^[15] in the parish of Berrynarbor and of Heanton Punchardon.^[16] During his tenure of Heanton Punchardon the overlordship of the manor was inherited from the Beaumonts by Sir John IV Basset (1462-1528) of Umberleigh. In this connection he and his widow, and his son and his widow, are mentioned several times in the Lisle Letters, the correspondence addressed to Basset's widow Honor Grenville, Viscountess Lisle (d.1566).^[17]

Death & burial

Richard Coffin died in 1523 and was buried in Heanton Punchardon Church, in accordance with the wish expressed in his will.^[18] In the chancel of the church survives his Easter Sepulchre tomb.^[19]

Sources

• Byrne, Muriel St. Clare, (ed.) The Lisle Letters, 6 vols, University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London, 1981, vol.1, pp.605-7 & vol.4, Chapter 7.
• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, esp. pp.208-211, pedigree of Coffin

References

1. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.208-11, pedigree of Coffin, p.208 arms given with 9 crosses crosslet. 8 as surviving monument of James Coffin (d.1566) in Monkleigh Church
2. Byrne, vol.1, p.605; Vivian, p.208, pedigree of Coffin; Byrne, vol.1, p.606: "died in Dec 1523 at age of 77"
3. "Regnal year 2 Henry VIII" Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions; Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.477
4. Vivian, p.208
5. Vivian, p.397, pedigree of Giffard of Halsbury
6. Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.243.
7. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 1, 15:8
8. Vivian, p.211, John Pine-Coffin (d.1824), of Alwington, grandson of Dorothy Coffin (born 1651), last of the Coffins, by her husband Edward Pyne of Eastdowne. Col. Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin (1908-1974) of Alwington was the last of the line
9. Vivian, p.208 "Merston", Clark: "Merton"
10. Byrne, vol.1, p.606
11. Vivian, p.208
12. Vivian, p.208
13. Vivian, pp. 123,208
14. Byrne, vol.1, p.606
15. East Hagginton had descended to the Beaumonts from the Punchardon (Pont de Chardin") family of Heanton and in Risdon's time (d.1640) was still held by the Coffin family. In 1810 it had reverted to the Bassets, heirs of Beaumont (Risdon, pp.347,431)
16. Byrne, vol.1, p.605
17. Byrne, Vol.1, pp.605 et seq.
18. Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.407
19. Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.477