John Speccott (politician, around 1561)

Coat of arms of the Speccott family from Merton

Sir John Speccott (around 1561 - August or September 1644 ) was an English nobleman and politician who was once elected as a member of the House of Commons .

Origin and youth

John Speccott came from the Speccott family (also Specote ), who named themselves after the estate of the same name near Merton in Devon , which had been owned by the family since the 13th century. Speccott was the eldest son of Humphrey Specote and his wife Elizabeth Walter. He attended Oriel College in Oxford in 1581 and studied at the Middle Temple in London for at least three years from 1583 . After 1602 Speccott inherited his father.

Political activity

Member of the House of Commons

Speccott apparently lived at least temporarily in London after his studies, where he was prosecuted for his debts in 1591. Before 1604, he was believed to have inherited his father's legacy, which included the Thornbury estate in Devon. As a result, he took on several local offices, including the post of Justice of the Peace for Devon. On June 2, 1604, he was knighted . In the general election in 1604 he was elected as a member of Parliament for the Borough of St Mawes in Cornwall , which he probably owed to the Mohun family , the family of his second wife. In the House of Commons, Speccott, who was probably a Puritan, was a member of several committees dealing with religious matters. But he also got into a serious argument with Sir Thomas Browne , who was also a justice of the peace in Devon. Therefore, in February 1606, he had to answer to a House Committee and the Star Chamber , the result of which is not known. Speccott attended the four seasons of parliament until 1610, but did not appear to run again in the next general election in 1614 and in subsequent elections. Instead, he served as the Sheriff of Devon from 1614 to 1615 .

Further political activity in South West England

Through acquisitions, Speccott was able to expand its holdings considerably. In 1620 he acquired Penheale Manor at Egloskerry in Cornwall, where he moved his residence until 1629, in addition he acquired an estate in North Petherwin in Devon. Through his estate in Cornwall, he was able to exercise the office of sheriff there from 1622 to 1623, and he succeeded in nominating his two sons Peter and Paul as candidates in several boroughs in the general election. Although the election of his son-in-law Thomas Williams failed in the general election in 1626, his nephew Piers Edgcumbe was elected in the election of 1628 . As a Puritan, Speccott refused to pay tithing to the Rector of Merton from 1626 . As an old man, he supported Parliament against the king at the beginning of the English Civil War in 1642. When royal troops advanced into Devon, he was forced to flee to Plymouth , which was the main base of the parliamentary supporters in south-west England. He died before the parliamentary troops successfully counterattacked.

Marriages and offspring

Speccott's first marriage was Elizabeth Edgcumbe , a daughter of Peter Edgcumbe . With her he had two sons and a daughter:

• Peter Speccott (around 1595–1655)
• Paul Speccott (around 1600–1644)
• Anna Speccott ∞ Thomas Williams

After the death of his first wife, before 1620, probably much earlier, he married Jane Mohun , a daughter of Sir William Mohun from Hall in Cornwall. With her he had a son and a daughter. His third marriage was on February 20, 1629, Emeline , a daughter of Thomas Trosse and widow of Christopher Wise († 1628) from Totnes . The marriage remained childless.

According to his will, which he had drawn up in 1641, he wanted to be buried in a simple funeral in Thornbury. He had already divided most of his possessions between his two eldest sons.

Web links

• Paul Hunneyball: SPECCOTT, John (c.1561-1644), of Thornbury, Devon. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1604–1629)