♀Hawise Corbet

Hawise Corbet (living in 1297) was an English widow of Melbury Sampford, in Dorset, who outlived her husband, Lawrence de Sanford, by some twenty-five years and in 1297 named the priest of its church. She was the twenty-first great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through her daughter Ada de Sanford (died 1331).

Marriage and widowhood

According to the published pedigrees, Lawrence de Sanford married Hawise Corbet, and their children were Thomas and Ada. Lawrence died about 1271. Hawise was still living a quarter of a century later: in 1297 she exercised the advowson^W of the church of Melbury Sampford, the right to name its priest. Her son, Sir Thomas de Sanford, died in 1299, and his sister Ada was his heir. By 1300–01 Ada had married Walter Foliot, and in 1303 she exercised the advowson herself. The records do not say when Hawise died.

Lines of descent

Through their daughter Ada de Sanford and her daughter Joan Foliot, Lawrence de Sanford and Hawise Corbet were ancestors of Thomas Dudley (1576–1653). Both lines run through Joan de Percy, Beatrice de Braose, the Shirleys, Bromes, Dentons, Purefoys and Thornes to Thomas Dudley and his son Samuel Dudley (1608–1683). One comes down through Samuel’s son Stephen Dudley (1654–1735) to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844), and the other to Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825); the two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839).

Notes

Her name and children

Her surname comes from F. N. Craig’s table in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 150 (July 1996), p. 324, which shows “Hawise Corbet liv 1297” as the wife of “Lawrence de Sanford d abt 1271” and the mother of Thomas, who died in 1299, and Ada, who died in 1331. Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. 6 (1840), pp. 338–339, “Proofs of the Mautravers Pedigree”, calls Ada “daughter of Sir Laurence Sampford, of Melbury-Sampford”, and quotes a medieval book of heirs (Cotton MS Claudius C. viii): “Auda s. & h. of Thomas de Saundford, o. 27 Edw. I”, that is, sister and heir of Thomas, who died in the twenty-seventh year of Edward I (1298–99). Hawise’s own parents are not known.

The presentation of 1297

The Collectanea lists the presentations to the church of Melbury Sampford: by Hawis in 1297, by Alda in 1303, and by “Walter Foliot and Alda, 6 Mar. 1308”. The list writes her name Hawis and gives no surname; that she is Lawrence’s widow rests on Craig’s table, which shows her living in that year. The Collectanea also quotes Strangways’ records: “Alda, sister to Sir Thomas de Saundford, to Walter Foliot 29 Edw. I”, that is, in the twenty-ninth year of Edward I (1300–01).