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This web-page details what is known of the life of William Hamlyn and his wife Gertrude (née Cary).  Prior to their marriage each person is separately treated, first William and then Gertrude.  An Appendix has further information regarding William and Gertrude Hamlyn's children.  Except where otherwise stated the principal source of information is Devonshire Notes and Notelets, principally genealogical and heraldic by Sir William Richard Drake (London: privately printed c.1878).


Summary of the Woolfardisworthy branch of the Hamlyn family [antecedents of William Hamlyn (treated below)]:
   

This short sketch of the Hamlyns would be incomplete without some reference to the branch of the family which flourished in much repute in Woolfardisworthy.  They seem to have descended from John, fourth son of Richard Hamlyn, of Widecombe, and brother to Robert and Thomas, paternal and maternal ancestors of the… family of Buckfastleigh.  The first Hamlyn of this parish [Woolfardisworthy], William Hamlyn, was of Mershwell, and his arms as previously blazoned, were on two shields in painted glass in one of the windows at Mershwell, with the date of 1540.  William Hamlyn was born in 1540 and buried in Woolfardisworthy in 1597.  By his wife, Agnes Yeo, of Stratton, he had a son, William, whose son William of Mershwell, was baptized in Woolfardisworthy, on the 21st day of October, 1579.  His son [probably grandson (see below)], William Hamlyn, married Gertrude Cary, and was buried in 1708.  ['History of the Hamlin Family' by H. Franklin Andrews, 1894, Audubon, Iowa.]

 

William HAMLYN

William Hamlyn was baptised on 18 August 1639 at Woolfardisworthy, county Devon.  He was known as William Hamlyn of Mershwell (also represented as Marshfield or Marshwell), at Woolfardisworthy.

 
Parents:  William Hamlyn and Margaret (née Yeo)
   

William Hamlyn (of Mershwell) was the son of William Hamlyn and Grace (née Bishop); he was baptised on 7 February 1613 and buried at Woolfardisworthy on 29 or 30 January 1694.
Margaret Yeo was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Yeo of Woolfardisworthy; she was baptised on 26 September 1614 and was buried at Woolfardisworthy.

Gertrude CARY
 
Parents:  (Rev.) Thomas Cary (A.M.) and Thomasine (maiden name not known)
   

Thomas Cary was the son of Thomas Cary of Great Torrington, and his wife Gertrude; he was baptised on 4 April 1624 at Great Torrington and was buried at Woolfardisworthy (probably after 1668).  Thomas Cary was the vicar of Woolfardisworthy parish at the time of his death.
Thomasine Cary died on 1 December 1668 and was buried at Woolfardisworthy.

 
William Hamlyn and Gertrude Cary were married on 10 September 1666, probably at Woolfardisworthy.
 
Children: (Son), died as an infant.
                (Daughter), died as an infant.
                (Son), died as an infant.
                 Thomasine, baptised on 7 [or 15 (IGI)] October 1670 at Woolfardisworthy;
                                     married Richard Hammett
                (Daughter), died as an infant.
                 Thomas, baptised 14 July 1674 at Woolfardisworthy [IGI record]; died as an infant
                (Daughter), died as an infant.
                 Charles, baptised on 7 January 1677.
                 Zachary, baptised on 29 June [or 14 July (IGI)] 1678 at Woolfardisworthy.
                 Mary, born in 1679.
                 Sarah, baptised on 27 December 1684 [IGI record].
                (Daughter), died as an infant.
                 Margaret, born in 1687.
                 Orlando, baptised on 3 [or 17 (IGI)] August 1690 at Woolfardisworthy.
          [see Appendix for further details]
 
William’s father died in January 1694 and was buried at Woolfardisworthy.
 
Gertrude Hamlyn died in December 1697 and was buried at Woolfardisworthy on December 8.  Her death is recorded on the same grave-stone as her husband, located on the floor of the chancel in Woolfardisworthy Church. The inscription reads:
   

Here lyeth Gertrude, the wife of William Hamlyn of Marshwell, in this parish, who was buried the 8th of December 1697.

 
William Hamlyn died on 17 June 1708 and was buried on June 19 at Woolfardisworthy.  His gravestone, in the floor of the chancel in Woolfardisworthy Church, has the following inscription:
   

Mr. William Hamlyn was buried in Woolfardisworthy Church, 19th of June 1708.

Upon William Hamlyn's death in June 1708 the estate of Mershwell passed to William's eldest surviving son, Zachary Hamlyn. (refer Appendix below)

 

Appendix

Certain of the children of William Hamlyn and Gertrude (née Cary):

Thomasine Hamlyn (baptised 7 or 15 October 1670) married Richard Hammett  [click a link for full details]
 
Charles Hamlyn (baptised 7 January 1677) never married. He died when he was aged about 25 years and was buried on 4 January 1702 at Woolfardisworthy.  His gravestone is in the floor of the chancel in Woolfardisworthy Church.
 
Zachary Hamlyn (baptised 29 June or 14 July 1678) was the eldest surviving son when his father died in June 1708 and consequently succeeded to the estate of Mershwell at Woolfardisworthy.  Zachary never married and appears to have devoted himself to the legal profession.  In 1729 he purchased the estate of Clovelly Court from the Cary family.  On 14 January 1731 Zachary was admitted as a member of the Society of Lincoln's Inn.  Family tradition states that Zachary became a Clerk in the House of Lords.  In 1746 he settled several of his estates (including Clovelly Court and other landed property in Clovelly, Woolfardisworthy and Hartland, and in the county of Carmarthen) in trust upon his great-nephew James Hammett (then aged 12 years).  During his lifetime Zachary Hamlyn "acquired a handsome fortune… for he died possessed of considerable landed property in the counties of Devon and Cornwall".  Zachary died on 22 June 1759, aged 80 years, and was buried on July 2 at Woolfardisworthy.  According to the terms of his Will (17 May 1758; proved 31 July 1759) he was succeeded by his great-nephew James Hammett (eldest son of Zachary's nephew, Richard Hammett, whose mother had been his sister, Thomazin Hamlyn), who received the substantial benefit of his inheritance.  Zachary Hamlyn was described in the following terms on his monument in Woolfardisworthy Church:
   

He was a sincere Christian, a tender and beneficent relation, a faithful and kind friend, an inoffensive and cheerful companion; exemplarily modest, diligent, capable, and communicative.  He acquired a handsome fortune, not only unenvied, but with the esteem and love of all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

"A fine painting" of Zachary Hamlyn by Joseph Highmore, and engraved by M'Ardell, was destroyed by fire at Clovelly House in 1789.  Hamlyn's pedigree was recorded at Herald's College [back to William Hamlyn (buried at Woolfardisworthy in 1597)]  [‘History of the Hamlin Family’ by H. Franklin Andrews, 1894, Audubon, Iowa].
 
Mary Hamlyn (born in 1679) married William Whitlock (of Woolfardisworthy) on 12 May 1701 at Barnstaple, and had children.
 
Sarah Hamlyn (baptised on 27 December 1684) married Richard Pearse of Hartland, county Devon, and had children. 
            (possibly) Richard, baptised 27 February 1723 at Hartland [IGI]
Sarah Pearse had died by May 1758.  Each of Richard and Sarah Pearce's children received £100 by the terms of Zachary Hamlyn's Will (17 May 1758; proved 31 July 1759).
 
Margaret Hamlyn (born in 1687) married William Olde of Woolfardisworthy in 1711 [IGI] or 1713.  They had the following children:
            Alice, baptised on 4 August 1714 at Woolfardisworthy.
            Margaret, baptised in 1716 at Woolfardisworthy.
            Susanna, baptised on 20 April 1722 at Woolfardisworthy.
            Anne, baptised on 15 August 1726 at Woolfardisworthy.
            Grace, baptised on 15 August 1726 at Woolfardisworthy.
Margaret Olde was still living in May 1758.  By her brother Zachary's Will (17 May 1758; proved 31 July 1759) Margaret was bequeathed £200, and her husband £20, "for mourning";.   Each of William and Margaret Olde's children received £100 by the terms of the Will; and also "To my niece Alice Olde… my reversion & interest in the lease of a messuage called West Towne, in the parish of Woolfardisworthy".

Orlando Hamlyn (baptised on 3 or 17 August 1690) married Mary Shearm (or Shearin; daughter of Edward Shearm) on 20 October 1713 at St. James Clerkenwell, London.  The couple had no surviving children.  Orlando was an Attorney, belonging to the Middle Temple.  He was admitted an Attorney of the Common Pleas on 24 November 1730 (before Mr Justice Fortescue Aland).


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