DIMMOCK, William, of Devon.

He was perhaps William, son of the William Dimmock who in 1366 held lands in west Devon at Ermington, Harford, North Ludbrook and Plympton and on whom was settled in 1374 the manor of Little Modbury;Devon Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1939), ii. 1531; Reg. Brantingham ed. Hingeston-Randolph, i. 322; CP25(1)44/61/412. But a William, son of William Dimmock and servant of Sir Roger Hillary, was murdered on 21 Mar. 1387: CPR, 1388-92, p. 304. or alternatively the William, son of Walter Dimmock, mentioned in the same settlement, who was supposed to join the garrison at Poylle in Picardy in 1386 but failed to do so.CPR, 1385-8, p. 91.

Through marriage to a widow Dimmock acquired property in and near Colyton in the east of the shire; and at the Exeter assizes of July 1394 he and his wife brought an action against Thomas Sutton for disseising them of her dower.JUST 1/1502 m. 139. Later that year, simply described as ‘of Devon’, Dimmock stood surety in the Exchequer for John and Elizabeth Down, lessees of estates in the county late of John Chelfham. He may have been a lawyer: a man of this name appeared as an attorney at the assizes held in 1402 and 1409, on the second occasion on behalf of a young kinsman. He took no part in the affairs of the city of Exeter, although he did act as executor of a local woman in 1404.CFR, xi. 130; JUST 1/1513 m. 60, 1519 m. 118; Exeter City RO, mayor’s ct. roll 6 Hen. IV m. 3. Why the citizens should have chosen him as their parliamentary representative in 1406 remains unclear.

Some time between 1417 and 1424 Dimmock’s daughter-in-law, Agnes, petitioned the chancellor for redress after Sir Hugh Courtenay and Cecily Dimmock (William’s widow) had evicted her from land in Henok Manaton, Little Manaton and Honiton. Cecily died before April 1438.C1/5/80; CFR, xvii. 3, 52, 131.