John Whiddon

Sir John Whiddon (died 27 January 1576) of Whiddon in the parish of Chagford in Devon, was a Justice of the Queen's Bench from 4 October 1553 to his death on 27 January 1576,^[2] during the reigns of Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I.

He was the son of John Whiddon of Chagford by his wife who was a member of the Rugg family of Chagford. His ancestors were resident in the parish of Chagford for at least six generations prior to the judge.^[1]

Whiddon married twice. His first wife was Ann Hollis, daughter of Sir William Hollis, by whom he had a daughter, Joane, who married John Ashley of London.^[1]

His second marriage was to Elizabeth Shilston, a daughter and co-heiress of William Shilston.^[1] Among their eleven children were William, his eldest son and heir apparent, who predeceased his father without children, having married Eleanor Basset, a daughter of John Basset (1518–1541), and Francis (died 1606), fourth son,^[1] whose granddaughter was the legendary Mary Whiddon.^[3]

Their other sons included Edward (1537–1598), second and eldest surviving son and heir, who was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1559; Oliver, third son, who became Archdeacon of Totnes; and Nicholas (died 1598), who became Rector of North Bovey.^[1]

Whiddon died on 27 January 1576.^[1] His monument survives in St Michael the Archangel's Church, Chagford.^[4][5]

Whiddon entered the Inner Temple to study law and became Reader and later Double Reader and Treasurer of that Inn of Court. He was created a Serjeant-at-Law in 1547, and King's Serjeant in 1551. In 1553, Queen Mary I appointed him a Justice of the Queen's Bench.^[7]

He is said by Dugdale in his Origines Juridiciales (1666) to have been the first judge who rode to Westminster Hall on a horse or gelding, before which time the judges rode on mules.^[8][7] The manner of judges riding to Westminster Hall is recorded in the case of his father's contemporary Thomas Wolsey (1473–1530) as "trapped all in crimson velvet, with a saddle of the same and gilt stirrups".^[7]

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), he purchased the manor of Chagford in Devon.^[9] He built there on his ancestral estate within that manor a new mansion house at Whiddon, part of which survives today. He enclosed a deer park with the surviving wall built of massive granite blocks at the entrance to the Teign Gorge.^[6]

• Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, biography of Whyddon, Sir John, Knight, Justice of King's Bench, pp. 759–61
• Whiddon, Hayes L. Jr., The Whiddon Journey: From Medieval England to the New World, 2016, USA