♂Robert Hoo

Robert Hoo (died between 1303 and 1316) was an English knight who held lands in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, among them the manors of Knebworth and Eversden. He was the twentieth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his son Robert Hoo (died before 1345).

Life

In 1280 Robert and his wife Beatrice held three knight’s fees^W at Eversden in Cambridgeshire, where the record writes him “Robert del Ho”. Eversden, like Knebworth, had been an Andeville manor, and most likely came to him through Beatrice de Andeville. On 4 May 1292 he was granted free warren^W, the sole right to take small game, on his demesne lands at Hartford Hoo, Stopsley and Maulden in Bedfordshire, Knebworth and Harpenden in Hertfordshire, Clopton in Cambridgeshire and Livethorpe in Oxfordshire. With it, he is said to have obtained a weekly market and a three-day fair at Knebworth. The same year Cicely, the wife of Henry de Hyde, granted land in West Hyde to Sir Robert de Hoo and Beatrice his wife, and to the heirs of Robert.

He was summoned for the king’s military service on 16 December 1295 and again on 12 March 1300/1.

Death and family

Robert was still holding Knebworth in 1303 and had died by 1316, when Beatrice, as his widow, settled Knebworth and Eversden on Richard and Joan de Perers by a fine^W, with the manors to come back to Beatrice and her heirs if the Perers line failed. Joan was probably their daughter, Joan Hoo. Their son Robert Hoo had a grant of land in Luton on 30 November 1310 as the son of Sir Robert de Hoo, and later married Hawise FitzWarin.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his son Robert Hoo, Robert’s son Thomas Hoo (died 1380), Thomas’s son William Hoo (1335–1410), and William’s daughter Margaret Hoo, whose descendants include 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

Who he was

The 1280 holding is in the Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 2 (Edward I), no. 374, p. 208: “Everisdon, held for 3 fees by Robert del Ho and Beatrice his wife”. The Complete Peerage (2nd ed., vol. 6, under Hoo, Note A) begins the family with the Sir Robert de Hoo of the free warren grant of 4 May 1292 (Charter Roll, 20 Edward I, no. 34), says he “was probably the ‘Robert del Ho’” of 1280, and gives the West Hyde grant of 1292 (B.M. Add. Roll 28721) and the summonses of 1295 and 1300/1. The Victoria County History of Hertfordshire (vol. 3, Knebworth) notes that Knebworth had been held by Richard de Andevill before 1224 and next appears in 1292 in Robert’s hands, and that he “seems to have held the Andevill lands in Cambridgeshire as well”; the 1316 settlement, which sent the manors back to Beatrice’s heirs rather than his, is the reason for thinking they were her inheritance. His own parents are not known.

The market and fair

The market and fair at Knebworth come from W. D. Cooper, “Family of Hoo”, Sussex Archaeological Collections 8 (1856), p. 104, citing Clutterbuck’s history of Hertfordshire: “a grant of free warren in his demesne lands in Knebworth and Harpenden, Herts, together with a fair of three days, and a weekly market, in Knebworth”. The Complete Peerage’s summary of the same charter mentions only the free warren.

His death

The Victoria County History of Hertfordshire says he “was still holding Knebworth in 1303, but died before 1316”; the history of Cambridgeshire (vol. 5, Great and Little Eversden) gives “between 1302 and 1316, perhaps in 1310”, citing the Feudal Aids and Cooper’s pedigree. The 1316 settlement is a fine in the Court of Common Pleas (C.P. 25(1)/27/57 no. 136), known here through both county histories.

His children

Robert the younger is named as the son of Sir Robert de Hoo in the Luton grant of 30 November 1310 (Complete Peerage, vol. 6, Hoo, Note A). Joan de Perers “appears to have been Beatrice’s daughter” in the Hertfordshire history and “may have been” in the Cambridgeshire one; neither names her father, and she is taken here to be Robert’s daughter Joan Hoo.