John Speke (landowner)
Sir John Speke (1442–1518) of Whitelackington, Somerset and of Heywood in the parish of Wembworthy and of Bramford Speke both in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1517 and a Member of Parliament (1477). He was knighted in 1501. His monument is the "Speke Chantry" in Exeter Cathedral in which survives his recumbent effigy. Origins. He was born in about 1442, the son and heir of Sir John Speke (died 1444) (buried at Bramford Speke) of Wembworthy and Bramford Speke, Devon, by his wife Alice Beauchamp (died 1445/46) (who survived him and remarried to Henry Hull) daughter  and heiress of John Beauchamp (son of Sir Thomas Beauchamp of Whitelackington, Ashill, etc.). (See Baron Beauchamp of Hatch, Somerset, descended from the Beauchamp feudal barons of Hatch Beauchamp, Somerset). Family origins. The Speke family was of Norman origin and was originally called "de Espec, de Spec, L'Espec, etc." Walter Espec (died 1153), Sheriff of Yorkshire, who died without children and whose relationship if any to the Speke family of Devon is unknown, was feudal baron of Helmsley in Yorkshire, and built Helmsley Castle and Wark Castle and founded Kirkham Priory and Rievaulx Abbey. According to Pole (died 1635), the  family of "de Espec, de Spec, L'Espec, etc," held the manor of Wembworthy, Devon, from soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Within the manor was their manor house and estate called "Heywood", today the site of New Eggesford House. According to Pole the Spekes were ""Men of very great estate and condicion"", and were powerful in early Norman England, as appears from the style used by members of the family in their grants of land and other charters, one of which (exemplified in the cartulary of Torre Abbey) contains the following wording in Latin: According to the Devon historian  Thomas Westcote (c. 1567 – c. 1637): The family is remembered today in the parish of Wembworthy by the crossroads near the parish church known as "Speke's Cross". According to Tristram Risdon (died 1640) from the reign of King Henry I (1100–1135) to that of King Henry III (1216–1272) the heads of the Speke family were named alternately William and Richard. Wardship. His father died in 1444 when John was aged 2, and his wardship and marriage were granted by the crown jointly to William de la Pole, 1st Marquess of Suffolk (1396–1450) (later Duke of Suffolk), William Waynflete (c.  1398 – 1486), Provost of Eton (later Bishop of Winchester), and John Hampton (died 1472) of Kinver, Staffordshire, (whose monument was once in Kinver Church), Esquire of the Body to King Henry VI, all three of whom in 1442, together with others had been placed in charge of the foundation of Eton College by King Henry VI. It thus appears the revenue from his estates during his minority (until the age of 21) went towards the costs of establishing the king's foundation of Eton College. Career. He was a Member of Parliament (1477). Speke was also at one time the  steward to the Earl of Devon. Following the Cornish rebellion of 1497, Henry VII's assessors fined him £200 allegedly for assisting the rebels, however he later obtained a pardon. Alongside him James Daubney (brother of the Lord Chancellor) was also fined £100, and Sir Hugh Lutterell £200. Speke was knighted in 1501. In 1517 he was Sheriff of Devon. Marriages and children. Speke married three times. His first marriage was to Joan Wynard, daughter and heiress of John Wynard of Exeter. Her ancestor was William Wynard ("alias" Wonard or Wenar), Recorder of Exeter (1404–1442), whose house  was in South Street on the site of the present "White Hart Inn", who founded Wynard's Almshouse or Hospital in Magdalen Street, Exeter (still standing), on 20 January 1436 together with the attached chapel of the Holy Trinity and Maison Dieu. The patronage of this hospital was inherited by John Speke from his first wife, and the arms of Speke quartering Wynard ("Argent, on a bend azure three mullets of the first"), occur on a shield in Wynard's Hospital in Exeter and in Seaton Church, Devon. By Joan Wynard he had three sons and one daughter: Speke's  second marriage, in about 1494, was to Isobel Calwodley, daughter of Thomas Calwodley and widow of John Beaumont; and his third wife was Elizabeth Somester, daughter of Adam Somester of Widecombe and widow successively of John Coleshill and Richard Unde, both of Exeter. By Elizabeth Somester he had a daughter, Anne. Landholdings. Lands held by him or by his ancestors included: Death and burial. He died on 28 April 1518, having dated his will 20 February 1516/17. He was buried in the Speke Chantry of Exeter Cathedral. Speke Chantry. The "Speke Chantry", called the "Chapel of St George" by its  founder, is situated at the east end of the north choir aisle and forms a pair with the chantry of Bishop of Exeter Hugh Oldham (c. 1452 – 1519) at the east end of the south choir aisle. Both are protruded out to use space between two external buttresses of the building. Speke and the bishop were friends and the two chantries appear to have been planned by both men. The "owl" arms of Oldham appear on the outside wall of the Speke Chantry, with the arms of Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, 2nd Earl of Devon (1498–1539), with above  the rarely seen Courtenay heraldic badge of Jupiter as an eagle holding a thunderbolt. The first clause in his will was: Amongst the lands with which he had endowed his chancery (by conveying them to the Dean and Canons of Exeter Cathedral) was the manor of Langford Fivehead in Somerset. The text of his grant is as follows: The recumbent effigy of Sir John Speke, dressed in full armour, lies within a canopied recess in the north wall. He is bare-headed with long wavy hair, his head resting on his helm. He wears two long chains around his neck  and holds his hands together above his chest in prayer. The walls are highly decorated with relief sculpture in panels, with stone vaulted ceiling with pendants, "not an inch left unadorned". The decorations include much heraldry and several instances of the canting heraldic device of the Speke family, the porcupine, in French "porc-épic", ("spiky-pig").