Our startng point for this page is the marriage recorded in the Parish Records (from IGI):
ROBARTT HASSARD Spouse: ELIZABETH CLARKE Marriage: 05 DEC 1577 Saint Martin, Exeter, Devon
This has been the subject of much confusion as earlier genealogists do nto seem to have had the parish record available - in A genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry (1862 edition) Sir Bernard Burke claimed that this was the Robert b.1582....
Just after the first edition was printedthe Rev Henry Short wrote:Outlines of the History and Genealogy of the Hassards and their Connections (link to original book - PDF 9.4mb, 76 pages) , 1858. Much of this was copied in Some account of the family of Hassard, with a list of descendants in England and Ireland (1903) by the Rev Henry Biddall Swanzy MA. They both state that the Robert in this marriage was the younger brother of a Hassard b.1627!
This appears to be the only marriage with those names on record, there could be another pair unknown to us, but we are still left with the problem of identifying this Robert.
Almost every Hassard family in the area had sons called Robert and John, and it can be difficult to sort them out. The added difficulty here is that Elizabeth Clarke is a fairly common name and there are many possible candidates. All the above say her father was Peter Clarke from Suffolk, but that gets us no further as there are no available records to match.
In our opinion this Robert was probably the brother of John Hassard b.1531 (both Burke and Short above say they could find no marriage for this Robert). That means he was either a lot younger than his eldest brother, or married slightly late, ie in his 30s, or both. We know that John b.1531 was the eldest, and we know that a Robert was b.1552 - which is just about possible. But he may equally have been born earlier with no parish record available.
- - - -
possible: Robert Hassard Christening: 01 APR 1552 Lyme Regis, Dorset
ROBARTT HASSARD Spouse: ELIZABETH CLARKE Marriage: 05 DEC 1577 Saint Martin, Exeter, Devon
- FRANCIS HASSARD Birth: 09 AUG 1579 Christening: 23 AUG 1579 Colyton, Devon,
- JOHN HAZZARD Birth: 11 DEC 1580 Christening: 17 DEC 1580 Colyton, Devon
- PETER HAZZARD Birth: 23 FEB 1582 Christening: 27 FEB 1582 Colyton, Devon,
- ROBERT HAZZARD Birth: 23 FEB 1582 Christening: 27 FEB 1582 Colyton, Devon;
Spouse: Mrs. Mary Hassard ; Burial: 1612 Bridport, Dorset
all above: Father: ROBERT HASSARD - Edith Hassard Christening: 16 APR 1601 Bridport, Dorset
- Richard Hassard Christening: 28 NOV 1602 Bridport, Dorset
- John Hazard Christening: 12 SEP 1625 Bridport, Dorset
- Jane Hazard Christening: 11 MAY 1628 Bridport, Dorset
- Jullier Hazard Female Christening: 23 APR 1638 Bridport, Dorset
all above : Father: Richard Hazard - Henry Hassard Christening: 30 MAR 1606 Bridport, Dorset
- Mary Hassard Christening: 27 APR 1609 Bridport, Dorset
- Robert Hassard Christening: 18 MAR 1610 Lyme Regis, Dorset
- Mary Hassard Christening: 07 OCT 1630 Bridport, Dorset
Father: Robert Hassard - Adrian Hassard Christening: 21 MAR 1611 Bridport, Dorset
AUDRIE HAZARD Spouse: DANIEL HALLET Marriage: 24 APR 1634 Netherbury
ANDREA HAZARD Spouse: DANIEL HALLET Marriage: 24 APR 1637 Netherbury, Dorset
all above : Father: Robert Hassard
Frances Hassard Christening: 12 AUG 1627 Lyme Regis, Dorset
Father: John Hassard
Peter Hassard Christening: 22 OCT 1632 Lyme Regis, Dorset, England
Father: Peter Hassard
Extract from: Some account of the family of Hassard, with a list of descendants in England and Ireland - By the Rev Henry Biddall Swanzy MA, 1903 (link to full text on byu.edu)
- according to Short/Swanzy, this all refers to the Robert at the top of this page, who they gave different parentage. However, it appears to be an amalgamation of more than one Robert. This is Swanzy's edited version:
Robert Hassard who was living at Charmouth two miles from Lyme in 1565, Mayor of Lyme MP for Lyme 19 Oct., 1588, 1592-3 and 16 Dec, 1620. Previous to 1591 he appears as warden of the Cobb Ale, or great feast of Lyme. He possessed a salmon fishery; in 1590 appears the following entry in the town accounts:- "Whipping of three of the Ship Boys for stealing Mr. Hassard's salmon fish in the Cobb, 1s." In 1590 he spent twenty-three weeks in London on behalf of the borough of Lyme, to procure a renewal of a fee farm grant from the Crown. His accounts are preserved:-
Items. My expence for myself and my man
for 23 weeks . . . £26 18s. 0d.
Paid for my chamber several to myself . . . £1 0s. 0d.
For hire of a horse up and from from London
four times (13s. 4d. for hire to London
and back, 4 ways, 288 miles) .
.
. £2 13s. 4d.
Paid to Forster up and down for my things,
4 times . . . £0 19s. 0d.
A large box, and for a lock and key for the
charter . . . £0 4s. 0d.
The hire of a horse from London to Windsor,
when my horse was lame . . . £0 2s. 6d.
Boat hire from London to the Court (at
Greenwich) several times . . . £1 0s. 0d.
Mr Hassard appears again in Parliament in 1593; no items are given merely charges and fees at the Parliament, £22 8s. [this following section could easily be a different Robert!] On several occasions he came into collision with the municipal authorities as in 1596 when the Jury of Lyme found that he had enclosed a plot of ground which had been in common time out of mind, 'sithence the way is foundred," and again in 1598, when he took part of a lane, and removed the bondstones (boundary) which he was ordered to make as before under pain of twenty shillings. Finally in 1612, rancour was stirred up over religious differences, Mr Hassard was charged with misdemeanors committed during his mayoralty years before, the matter was referred to the Star Chamber, and he was dismissed from his rule and place as a magistrate. He was apparently reinstated later for he [or another Robert! - this is supposed to be the son of John b.1498!!!] appears as M.P. for Lyme 16 Dec 1620. At the Visitation of Dorset, 1565, Mr Robert Hazard of Charmouth is mentioned as claiming a right to use armorial bearings a claim which the heralds dismiss on the score "ignoblis." He left no issue, and probably died a bachelor. [or, as we now know, he probably married Elizabeth Clarke in Exeter, 1577, and had at least four sons...]
For the earliest Hassards/Hazzards see 'Origins of the Name' /|\
For details of the first four generations of Lyme Hassards/Hazards see 'the lower branches' /|\
1548 - some time after the death of Catherine Parr in 1548 the Hassard family bought:-
Bovey Housewww.beer-devon.co.uk/Bovey...
The Manor House of Bovey stands in a unique position at the head of a long coombe which reaches the sea, and in whose mouth nestles the village of Beer. After the dissolution [1536-1541] the King [Henry VIII, 1491-1547] included it in the dowry of Catherine Parr [1512-1548] and ... later the Manor was possessed by the Hassard family of Lyme Regis.
From: 'Parishes: Salcombe Regis - Silverton', Magna Britannia: volume 6: Devonshire (1822), pp. 430-451 :
The manor of Beer belonged, before the Conquest, to the abbey of Horton, which in 1122 was annexed, with all its lands, to Sherbourne Abbey. After the dissolution, it was in jointure to Queen Catherine Parr. The manor was afterwards purchased by the family of Hassard of Lyme, and the demesnes by Mr. John Starr. The whole, before 1630, became, by purchase, the property of a branch of the Walronds, settled at Bovey, in this parish. A moiety of the manor had been for some time in the Poles, having been purchased of the Hassards by Sir William Pole's father, and sold by himself to Walrond.
click on photos for larger images of Bovey House as it is today:
It is not clear exactly when the house was bought. It may have been bought by John b.1531 or by his father - in which case Robert would have lived there.
from: SOMERSET RECORD OFFICE
web.ukonline.co.uk/.../nappersro.html
This collection consists mainly of deed material relating to the Manor of Tintinhull which was purchased by Thomas Napper from Sir Francis Petre and Edward Herrys in 1669. . .
. . Release, Manor or reputed manor of Lyme Abbotts, alias Shyborn Holme in the Borough of Lyme Regis, (formerly part of the possessions of Sherborne Abbey then of Thomas Godwyne, John Hassard, Rob. Hassard, John Drake of Ash, Devon). Messuages and lands (detailed) all in Lyme Regis. (1 doc.) 110 1654 1. Gabriell Burgh of Staple Fitzpaine, gent. 2. John Shave of Uplyme, Devon, yeo.
The History and Antiquities of the Borough of Lyme Regis and Charmouth By George Roberts 1834 :
The mayor, burgesses, and free-men, elected Robert Hassard to be member of parliament, 29th Jan., 1593-4,
1589 - Robert Hassard MP
1593 - Robert Hassard MP
from : www.dorsetcountymuseum.org/...
Hassard, Robert, Mayor of Lyme Regis, Accommpt of the Towne Mill, 1601, 86 179-181 - which Robert...?
from: Records of Early English Drama :
. . ."Given the inclusion of Robert Hassard and John Viney among the confederates of this libellous action, this case may well have had a religious aspect as well; Hassard and Viney were deprived of their magistracy by an order of the town council in October 1608 in part because they were supporters and special favourites of John Geare an 'unbeneficed Preacher who hath bin a cause of great factions & devisions amongst us. . . by such libells is often infringed, but unlawfully Combyning, Conspiring and Confederating with divers and sundry other lewd and ill disposed persons and namelie one Susan Harvey wife of the said Richard Harvey, Milicent Tompson, Robert Hassard thelder, John Hassard, and Ann Hassard his wife, . . . '
. . . John Geare, for some time an unlicensed Puritan preacher, (c.1610). . . With the backing of some influential burgesses of the town such as Robert Hassard, Geare succeeded where many might have failed.
. . . Robert Hassard, Sr, had been mayor in 1601-2, John Hassard would be in 1615-16,
". . .Mayors ... John Hassard, Jr (1624-5), "
from: 'Diary of Walter Yonge esq. Justice of the Peace and M.P. for Honiton from 1604 to 1628'
Robert Hassard held a moiety of the manor of Seaton. He was one of a family settled as merchants at Lyme in the reign of Henry VIII. The first prepositus of Bristol in the reign of Henry III [1207-1272] was Rainold Hassard. Several of the family represented Lyme in parliament. The family removed about 1650 to the county of Fermanagh, in Ireland, where they have a seat, called Garden Hill.
Robert Hassard was a great supporter of the Puritan minister, and vicar of Lyme Regis, named Geare, who licence to preach had been withdrawn. This caused great divisions in the borough, engaging in which Mr. Robert Hassard was Star-Chambered, and expelled from the corporation.
1630 - the Hassard family had sold Bovey House by this time.