RichardFerris Died1649 StPeter'sChurch Barnstaple Devon

Richard Ferris (died 1649, aged 67) was a wealthy merchant from

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England who served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

in 1640 and served twice as

Mayor of Barnstaple The Mayor of Barnstaple together with the Corporation long governed the historic Borough of Barnstaple, in North Devon, England. The seat of government was the Barnstaple Guildhall. The mayor served a term of one year and was elected annually on t ...

in 1632 and 1646.Lamplugh, p. 156. He founded the

Barnstaple Grammar School The Park Community School is a coeducational secondary school located in Barnstaple, Devon, England. History and houses It was founded in 1910 as Barnstaple Grammar School, and was the first secondary school to be built by Devon County Counci ...

, otherwise known as the "Blue School".

Origins

Ferris was born at Barnstaple, the son of Philip Ferris by his wife Thomasyn Cade. The armorials displayed on his monument in St Peter's Church, Barnstaple (''Or, on a bend sable three horse-shoes argent'') are the

canting arms Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allus ...

of the ancient Ferrers family seated from the 12th century at

Bere Ferrers Bere Ferrers, sometimes called ''Beerferris'', is a village and civil parish on the Bere peninsula in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is located to the north of Plymouth, on the west bank of the River Tavy. It has a railway stat ...

in Devon, where they had their castle, Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p. 210. which also held the manors of

Churston Ferrers Churston Ferrers is an area and former civil parish, in the borough of Torbay, Devon, England, situated between the south coast towns of Paignton and Brixham. Today it is administered by local government as the Churston-with-Galmpton ward of th ...

and

Newton Ferrers Newton Ferrers is a village and former manor and ecclesiastical parish in the English county of Devon; it is now in the civil parish of Newton and Noss. It is situated on a creek of the River Yealm estuary, about south-east of the City of Plym ...

with many others in Devon. The Devonshire historian

Pole Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...

(d.1635), stated: , and states that (i.e. Henry II (1154–1189)).Pole, p. 336. However the senior male line of this family is known to have died out on the death of Martin Ferrers (living during the reign of King Edward III (1327–1377)), who left three daughters and co-heiresses, who married into the families of Champernowne, Poynings and Fleming. The name ''Ferrers'' was Latinized as ''de Ferariis'', from the Latin noun ''ferrarius'' (from ''ferrum'', "iron"), meaning an iron-worker or blacksmith, alluded to by the horse-shoes in the

. The Cade family seated at Fremington were prominent merchants at nearby Barnstaple. Roger Cade (d.1618) of Barnstaple was Mayor of Barnstaple in 1591.

Career

The records of the Borough of Barnstaple record in 1630 that a payment was made by the Borough to Alexander Horwood (Mayor of Barnstaple in 1634) and Richard Ferris "for riding to Exon (i.e.

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, Devon) about the Spanish Company".Lamplugh, p. 165, note 2 (Chapter 12). Barnstaple is particularly associated with this company, and the company's arms are shown on several monuments in St Peter's Church and also sculpted in relief on the plaster ceiling of the grand

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

at 62 Boutport Street, Barnstaple. In November 1640 Ferris was elected as one of the two

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. During the

Civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

he was a "fervent Parliamentarian" and when the town of Barnstaple was "without stocke of money" he was one of those (including George Peard, Richard Beaple and

Pentecost Dodderidge Pentecost Dodderidge (died c. 1650) of Barnstaple in North Devon, was three times Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1621, 1624 and 1625. Origins Dodderidge was a son of Richard Doddridge, merchant, of Barnstaple. His elder brother was ...

), who made personal financial contributions. He served twice as

in 1632 (before the Civil War) and for another year from September 1646, immediately after the Civil War, Sir Allen Apsley having surrendered the town to Parliamentarian forces on 14 April 1646.Lamplugh, p. 72. His second election was conducted in open air, to reduce the risk of catching the plague then ravaging the town, as is recorded in the ''Journal'' of Rev. Richard Wood, Vicar of Fremington: "Mr Ferris was elected Mayor in the marsh on the higher side of Kony Bridge by ballets". Ferris founded the grammar school at

Death, burial and monument

He died in 1649 aged 67Old Towns Books and Maps
as stated on his monument. and was buried in St Peter's Church in Barnstaple. His large mural monument with recumbent effigy survives in that church.

References

;Sources * Lamplugh, Lois, ''Barnstaple: Town on the Taw'', South Molton, 2002 * William Pole (antiquary), Pole, Sir William (died 1635),
Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon
', Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferris, Richard 1580s births 1649 deaths English MPs 1640–1648 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Barnstaple Mayors of Barnstaple

Origins

Career

Death, burial and monument

Further reading

References