
John Rashleigh II (1554 – 12 May 1624) of
Menabilly, near
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
in Cornwall, was an English merchant and was
MP for
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
in 1588 and 1597, and was
High Sheriff of Cornwall
Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:
The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriff ...
in 1608. He was the builder of the first mansion house on the family estate at
Menabilly, near
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
, Cornwall, thenceforth the seat of the family until the present day. Many generations later the Rashleigh family of Menabilly in the
Return of Owners of Land, 1873 was listed as the largest landowner in Cornwall with an estate of or 3.97% of the total area of Cornwall.
Origins
He was the only son of John I Rashleigh (d.10 August 1582), a merchant at
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
(the 2nd son of Philip I Rashleigh (died 1551) of Fowey) by his wife Alice Lanyon (d.20 August 1591) (whose 1602
monumental brass
A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...
survives in Fowey Church,) daughter of William Lanyon by his wife Thomasine Tregian, daughter of Thomas Tregian.
Philip I Rashleigh (died 1551) of Fowey, by his wife Genet Leigh, daughter of Thomas Leigh of
South Molton
South Molton is a town and civil parish in the North Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. The town is on the River Mole. In 2021 it had a population of 6225.
South Molton is a market town trading mostly in sheep and cattle. There wa ...
, Devon, was the 2nd son of John Rashleigh (died 1528) of
Barnstaple
Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...
in Devon, whose great-grandfather had been John Rashleigh ''alias'' Bray, the younger son of Robert Rashleigh (died pre 1390) of
Rashleigh,
Wembworthy, Devon, by his wife Matilda.
The ''de Rashleigh'' family had originated in the 14th century or before at the estate of
Rashleigh in the parish of
Wembworthy in Devon, of which the Barnstaple family was a later branch and of the latter the Fowey branch was a junior, but much the most successful, branch. Philip I Rashleigh (died 1551) had been the first to settle at Fowey, having purchased from the crown in 1545 at the
Dissolution of the Monasteries the manor of Trenant, near Fowey, formerly a possession of nearby
Tywardreath Priory
Tywardreath (; , meaning "House on the Beach" (or Strand)) is a small hilltop village on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, about north west of Fowey. It is located in a sheltered spot overlooking a silted-up estuary opposite ...
. His eldest son Robert inherited the
lordship
A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of eco ...
of Trenant and made his seat at Coombe within that manor and continued the senior, but less successful Cornwall line of Rashleigh of Coombe until 1698 when his descendant Robert Rashleigh (1645–1708) (whose monumental inscription survives in Fowey Church) the last in the male line, sold Coombe to his cousin Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly, who sold it out of the family in 1699.
Philip's younger son John I (died 1582) in 1573 purchased the estate of Menabilly, near Fowey, and together with his father was responsible by their
privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...
ing or shipping enterprises for greatly expanding the port and trade of Fowey. John I's son John II Rashleigh built the first of the family's mansion houses at Menabilly, which thenceforth became the family seat, and remains occupied by the
Rashleigh baronets in 2013.
Matilda the wife of Robert Rashleigh (died pre 1390) of Rashleigh, in her widowhood had granted to her younger son John Rashleigh, by her charter dated 1397, her lands in Barnstaple, and in Newport in the adjoining parish of
Bishops Tawton
Bishop's Tawton is a village and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. It is in the valley of the River Taw, about three miles south of Barnstaple. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,176.
Desc ...
. On receiving his maternal inheritance John changed his surname to "Bray", and was thus the patriarch of the Rashleigh family of Barnstaple, from which the Cornwall branches were descended. Matilda's elder son, whose name is not known, inherited the paternal estate of Rashleigh, which remained held by his direct male descendants until the death of John Rashleigh (died 1503) of Rashleigh, whose heir was his 2-year-old "cousin" (possibly niece) Ibota Rashleigh, daughter of a certain Thomas Rashleigh, who by her marriage into the neighbouring family of Clotworthy of Clotworthy, brought Rashleigh into that family.
The elder brother of Philip I Rashleigh (died 1551) of Fowey was Robert Rashleigh, who founded the family of Rashleigh of
South Molton
South Molton is a town and civil parish in the North Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. The town is on the River Mole. In 2021 it had a population of 6225.
South Molton is a market town trading mostly in sheep and cattle. There wa ...
, in Devon.
Monumental brass of mother

Embedded in a stone in the nave of Fowey Church is the 1602
monumental brass
A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...
of Alice Lanyon (died 1591), mother of John Rashleigh (died 1624). Above her head is an indentation for a now lost brass heraldic escutcheon, and below her feet is a plate bearing the following inscription:
"Here lieth the bodie of Alice the wife of John Rashleigh Esq. and daughter of Will'm Lanyon Esq. who died the XXth day of August 1591 and her husband who lieth buried under the monument neare adjoyninge died the Xth day of August 1582. At the time of their deathes they left of their issue livinge one sonne & six daughters which sonne caused this stone to be made in remembraunce therof in the yere of Our Lord 1602"
Sisters
His six sisters were as follows:
*Agnes Rashleigh, wife of William Martin of
Totnes
Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ab ...
in Devon
*Joan Rashleigh, wife of John Mayow of
Looe
Looe (; , ) is a coastal town and civil parish in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, with a population of 5,280 at the 2011 census.
Looe is west of Plymouth and south of Liskeard, divided in two by the River Looe, East Looe () a ...
, Cornwall
*Avis Rashleigh, wife of James Kestell
*Joan Rashleigh
*Emlyn Rashleigh, wife of L. Apeley of Devon
*Mary Rashleigh, wife of Simon Clotworthy (died 1630) of Rashleigh, in the parish of
Wembworthy, Devon. The estate of Rashleigh was the earliest known seat of the ''de Rashleigh'' family, which took their name from their estate and is situated 2 miles north-east of Wembworthy village, near to the estate of Clotworthy, the former seat of the Clotworthy family until they moved to Rashleigh. The heiress of John Rashleigh (died 1503) of Rashleigh was his 2-year-old cousin Ivota (''alias'' "Ibote","Abbot") Rashleigh, daughter of Thomas Rashleigh of Rashleigh, who married Thomas Clotworthy (died 1576), eldest son and heir of John Clotworthy of Clotworthy in the parish of Brushford, and Werrington, Devon.
Shipping interests
Rashleigh owned several ships and was engaged in widespread international trade, including to the
Guinea Coast
Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the coast of West Africa which lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast and borders the Sahel belt in the north.
Etymology
...
and the
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
. He transported troops to Ireland in 1598 and his ships formed part of the Plymouth
pilchard
Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it comes ...
fleet. He captained his own ship the ''Francis of Fowey'' during the repulse of the
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...
in 1588.
Marriage and children
In 1575 he married Alice Bonython (c. 1556 – 1606), daughter of Richard Bonython of
Carclew. In 1586 he obtained through his influence the election of his brother-in-law John Bonython as MP for Fowey. By Alice he had two sons and two daughters:
*John Rashleigh (died 1624), eldest son, presumed insane. He died one month after his father, who left instructions in his will for his care to his 2nd son executor and heir Jonathan: ''"keep and maintain his brother John, allowing him a chamber, meat, drink, apparel and all other necessities and a servant continually to attend him"''
*
Jonathan Rashleigh (1591–1675), 2nd son and heir, 5 times MP for Fowey.
*Alice Rashleigh, wife of Nicholas Sawle of Cornwall.
*Debora Rashleigh, wife of
John Sparke (c 1574–1640), MP for
Mitchell in Cornwall 1628–9, of The Friary, in the parish of St Jude, Plymouth, Devon.
[Vivian, pp.184,856]
See also
*
Rashleigh family
Rashleigh is a surname of a prominent family from Cornwall and Devon in south western Britain, which originated in the 14th century or before at the estate of Rashleigh, Wembworthy, Rashleigh in the parish of Wembworthy, Devon. The principal bra ...
Sources
Cassidy, Irene, biography of John Rashleigh (d.1624), published in: History of Parliament: House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981*D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
*
* ''Vivian's Visitations of Cornwall'' (Exeter: William Pollard & Co, 1887
Vivian, J.L. & Drake, H.H., The Visitation of the County of Cornwall in the year 1620, Harleian Society, 1st series, volume 9, London, 1874, p9.183-4, pedigree of Rashleigh
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashleigh, John
1554 births
1624 deaths
Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall
High sheriffs of Cornwall
17th-century English merchants
English MPs 1589
English MPs 1597–1598
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
People from Tywardreath and Par