LUCCOMBE, John

Luccombe was born in the second half of the fourteenth century into a west-country family with long traditions of parliamentary service. A Richard de Luccombe† had represented Bridport in 1314, and Robert de Luccombe† sat for Barnstaple in 1336, while a John Luccombe†, probably the Lostwithiel MP’s direct ancestor, had been a Member for Liskeard in 1379. The extent of Luccombe’s estates, if any, is uncertain, but his mother Margery came from an important gentry family with holdings in the parish of St. Winnow to the south of Lostwithiel, as well as elsewhere in the shire. However, she was some distance from being even an heiress presumptive, for her brother Ralph Kayl† had two sons, as well as a grandson.

Luccombe’s public career was a limited one, for he is not known to have ever held office either locally or under the Crown. He may however have taken some interest in parliamentary matters, for he attended the county elections on at least three occasions, each time attesting the indenture which recorded the names of the shire and borough Members. Not long before his own election he was guilty of a violent affray, when on 26 Nov. 1424 he seized and abducted Morys, the apprentice of one Robert Stokkus of ‘Stokkus’, and assaulted the latter’s wife, Joan, beating and wounding her. The following night, he returned to his victim’s house and, finding Stokkus at home, assaulted and injured him in his turn. Subsequently, Luccombe with the aid of his brother Thomas embarked on a systematic campaign of harassment, threatening their unfortunate victim at every opportunity, and leaving him to seek redress in Chancery.4 C1/6/260.

Little else is known of Luccombe’s career, for despite the family’s early participation in the parliamentary representation of a Dorset constituency it is unlikely that it was he who served as a tax collector in that county in 1446.5 CFR, xviii. 38. He died at some point before 1460, leaving as his heirs his three daughters by his wife, Joan, herself the heiress of the Graunt family. As, following the successive deaths of Robert Kayl† and his son William the Kayls had become extinct in the male line, the three women now also inherited the extensive Kayl estates. It comes as no surprise to find them all marrying into prominent south-western families: the eldest, Margaret, married the justice Walter Moyle*, the second, Elizabeth, William Devyock, by whom she had a son, John†, while the youngest, Alice, became the wife of William Rosmodres. As William Kayl left a widow, Philippa, the settlement of the inheritance proved far from easy, and litigation continued into the final years of the century.6 C1/26/3; 31/119; 215/39-44.