John Giffard

Colonel John Giffard (1602–1665), (pron. "Jiffard") of Brightley in the parish of Chittlehampton, Devon, England, was a Royalist leader during the Civil War. Giffard commanded the Devon Pikemen at the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643, in which his 3rd cousin the Royalist commander of the Cornish forces Sir Bevil Grenville (1596-1643) was killed in heroic circumstances. Giffard's loyalty to the Royalist cause led to him being proposed in 1660 as a knight of the intended Order of the Royal Oak. He was personally known to the biographer John Prince (1643–1723) who included him as one of his Worthies of Devon. He was buried in Chittlehampton Church, where his small kneeling effigy survives on the base of the monument he erected in 1625 to his grandfather.

Family origins and early life

The Giffard family of Brightley was a junior branch of Giffard of Halsbury (pron. "Haulsbury") in the parish of Parkham, near Bideford. The Devon branch of the family were originally seated at Weare Giffard, near Great Torrington, at Awliscombe near Honiton and at Halsbury.

Kneeling effigies of (the future Col.) John Giffard aged 23, (right) opposite his father, Arthur Giffard (died 1616), (left) who kneels at a prie dieu. Detail from base of 1625 Giffard monument in Chittlehampton Church

John Giffard was the eldest son and heir of Arthur Giffard (1580–1616) by his wife Agnes Leigh (died 1625), (His mother was called Agnes by biographer John Prince, but called Anne in the Heralds' Visitations.) John Giffard "had a virtuous and liberal education (and) became a very accomplished gentleman." and it was partly due to his influence that later at the start of the Civil War Giffard was persuaded to take up arms against Parliament, as he stated as a mitigating factor in his "humble petition" to the victorious Parliament after the war.

By Joan he had eight daughters and three sons. His son and heir, John Giffard (1639–1712), married twice: firstly in 1666 to Susannah Bampfylde, the fourth daughter of Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (c. 1610 – 1650), MP, of Poltimore and North Molton, by whom his eldest son and only surviving male heir was John Giffard (1668–1704). After Susannah died in 1670, John remarried in 1674 to Frances Fane, the second daughter of Rev. Hon. William Fane, canon of Wells and rector of Huntspill, Somerset, whose father was Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland. Frances was the niece of Rachel Fane, the wife of Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath of Tawstock, Giffard's near neighbour under whom he served as a Commissioner of Array at the start of the Civil War. By Frances he had at least two sons, Henry and Caesar. In 1737 Caesar's daughters sold the estate of Brightley.

Giffard's other sons were Roger (1646–1724) and Henry (died 1658).

Of Giffard's daughters, Grace died at Sherborne in 1667 after being pricked by a fern. as a remnant of her former large monument. Another daughter, Agnes, was the second wife of Thomas Bere (1631–1680), lord of the manor of Huntsham.

Landholdings On 14 October 1638 Giffard purchased the lordship of the manor of Chittlehampton from Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet of King's Nympton, and thereby became the first recorded resident lord. ); Chittlehampton; Stowford and Snape (both in High Bickington); Tapeley and Halsannery, both near Bideford. The matters determined upon by the court, stated in Latin with an English translation, included orders to tenants to repair the "cucckinstoole, to repair a chimney, a "lynney house" and a "rooke nett".

Role in the Civil War At the start of the Civil War John Giffard was appointed one of the Commissioners of Array for Devon, under his near neighbour Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath of Tawstock, and was thus in part responsible for the unpopular task of raising troops in Devon for the royalists. On Tuesday 13 September 1642, with other fellow commissioners, he accompanied Bourchier to South Molton for the purpose of a public reading of the Commission to the townsfolk, which attempt was met with much hostility and resulted in an ignoble retreat. According to a letter written by an inhabitant of South Molton at the time, the party was met by an angry mob of over 1,000 persons armed with muskets, halberts, bills, clubs, pikes and poles who were "in a great rage with the mayor and his company for giving licence that they should enter and swore that if they did attempt anything there or read their commission of array they would beat them all down and kill them (even) if they were all hanged for it". Bourchier and Giffard were thus prevented from making any recruits in South Molton and withdrew.

On 23 or 24 September 1642 Hopton, lieutenant-general of Royalist forces in the West, on his march from Minehead in Somerset into Cornwall, before crossing the River Taw rested with his cavalry at Chittlehampton. 400 of his men were billeted in the parish It is possible that Giffard joined Hopton on his onward march as he was absent from the entertainment given on 22 December 1642 by Sir Hugh Pollard at King's Nympton to other of the royalist leaders in Devon, however it was said that he had absented himself from Brightley to avoid the expense of entertaining when his turn came. In that battle he served alongside his cousin Sir Bevil Grenville, who fell heroically having commanded the Cornish pikemen.

Following a setback to the Royalists Giffard claimed to have in 1644 "retired to live privately and peaceably in his own house". However at that time Brightley was garrisoned by 300 Royalist cavalry, watched closely from Brightley Bridge by the "Barnstaple Horse", a local troop of Parliamentarian cavalry. Giffard's younger brother George Giffard, a London merchant, sought advice from their cousin Walter Erle as to how John should make his surrender to Parliament. He was advised to take the earliest opportunity to do so, and thus following the departure of the royalist horse from Brightley, Giffard immediately sought an order of protection from Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander-in-chief of the Parliamentarian forces. In his will he bequeathed £1,000 to each of his five unmarried daughters.

He was a gentleman of a very grave and comely aspect, of an obliging carriage, of a sober life, and a pious conversation. Such was his deportment towards men, in all his actions, as if he were conscious the eye of God was upon him; and such his behaviour towards God, in the instance of devotion and religion, as if he thought he was a spectacle to angels and to men. Insomuch, his sobriety and piety brought great reputation to the royal cause in those parts where he lived; and he was an excellent ornament to his profession, both as a subject and a Christian.Among all the instances of the piety of this worthy gentleman, unto whom I had the honour of being personally known, that must not be forgotten which he did to the memory of his grandfather; for in the north isle of the parish church of Chittlehampton aforesaid, he erected a monument to him of alabaster (sic) of great cost and curiosity; where his similitude in armor is lively represented, and the whole adorned with escutcheons of the family