♂Sir Hugh de Meynell

Hugh de Meynell (living in 1259) was an English knight of the thirteenth century whose wife, Philippa Savage, brought the Meynells half of Tissington in Derbyshire and half of Kingsnewton in Warwickshire when she shared her brother’s inheritance in 1259. He was the twenty-second great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his son William de Meynell (born before 1255).

Life

Hugh is said to have held Langley Meynell, in Kirk Langley, Derbyshire, by 1251. His wife Philippa was the sister of William le Savage, and when William died in 1259 the inquisition post mortem^W into his lands found two heirs: Philippa, then “wife of Sir Hugh de Meinyl”, and Thomas de Ednesouere, the son of their sister Lucy. Philippa’s half of the estate took in half of Tissington and half of Kingsnewton, with a half share in the advowson^W, the right to name the priest of Kingsnewton church. Philippa’s son and heir, Sir William de Meynell, was born before 1255, most likely of her marriage to Hugh. When Hugh died is not known; Philippa lived until 1285, and William inherited her lands.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his son William de Meynell and, most likely, William’s son Hugh de Meynell (died 1333), then that Hugh’s son Hugh de Meynell (1302–1363), his daughter Isabel de Meynell (died 1393), her son Hugh Shirley (died 1403), his son Ralph Shirley and Ralph’s daughter Beatrix Shirley (died 1483), and from her through the Bromes, Dentons, Purefoys and Thornes to Thomas Dudley^W (1576–1653), later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 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

His marriage and his son

The Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 1 (1904), no. 453, William le Suvage alias le Savage, writ 2 October, 43 Henry III (1259): “Thomas de Ednessouere, son of Thomas and Lucy de Ednesouere his sister, and Philippa, wife of Sir Hugh de Meinyl, his sister, both aged 30 and more, are his heirs”. Hugh was therefore alive and a knight in October 1259. Vol. 2 (1906), no. 561, Philippa de Meignyll alias de Menill, who died in May 1285: “Sir William de Megnill, knight, her son, aged 30 and more, is her next heir”. No record names Hugh as William’s father; Philippa was Hugh’s wife in 1259, and William, born by 1255, bore the Meynell name.

Langley Meynell

Daniel Lysons’s Magna Britannia, vol. 5 (1817), has “Hugh de Meinell, who was of Langley-Meinell in 1251, married the heiress of Edensor; his grandson, Sir Hugh, the heiress of Ward”. The grandson fits Hugh de Meynell who died in 1333, whose wife Joan was most likely a coheir of the Ward family. Lysons’s “heiress of Edensor” is Philippa: the 1259 inquest shows that she was a Savage and that the Ednesouere (Edensor) family were her sister Lucy’s husband’s.

Steward of the Earl of Derby

I. H. Jeayes, Descriptive Catalogue of Derbyshire Charters (1906), indexes a Hugh de Meynell as “senescallus comitis Derbe”, the Earl of Derby’s steward (nos. 332, 2633). A history of 1893 by Tilley and some online trees take this steward to be Philippa’s husband; whether he was is not settled.

His parentage

No record names Hugh’s parents. Some online trees give him a birth year of 1225 and a father William de Meynell (1185–1230), citing no record.