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Of England.
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xi
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Agnes, widow of Turstin, had also estates in the parish of Pencombe, in the same county--one hide (about 120 English acres) of which she and her son, Sir Eustace de Whitney, bestowed upon the Church of St. Peter, at Gloucester, "free from all tax, in the time of the abbot Reginald."1
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Whitneys
of
Pencombe.
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In the reign of Henry III (1216-72), Pencombe was stated to consist of fifteen hides of land, one moiety of which was held by John de Whytene of Robert Tregoz, and the other moiety by Thomas de Hemegane of Robert de Whytene, by military service, and both of the honor of Ewias.2
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In the earlier times, when Bohuns, Mortimers, and the bishops of Hereford convulsed the whole county, and overshadowed even the royal authority, little trace of the Whitneys appears upon record; yet, in A. D. 1306, a Eustacius de Whyteneye was knighted at the same time with a Corbet, a Lacy, and a Marmyon;3 and, previous to that, the same Eustace, in 1277 and 1280, acted as patron of the living of Pencombe, and in the latter year presented a Roger de Whitney.4 In 1342 W. D. de Witenie was the incumbent; in 1353, Baldwin de Whitney; and after 1378, Eustacius Whitney. Among the patrons of this living, at various times from 1353 to 1590, were Robert de Whitney, 1353; Baldwin de Whitney, 1357; Robert Whitney, Knt., 1419 and 1428; Robert Whitney, 1539; then the Crown, during the minority of a Robert Whitney; and again, in 1567, a Robert Whitney, Knt; and lastly James Whitney, Knt., in 1590.
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In 1393 John Whitney was a portionary, or prebend, in Broxash Hundred.5
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The name of "Robertus Whiteney, Chivaler," was returned in the list of gentry, &c., in this county, made by commissioners in 1434, 12 Henry VI.
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1 Agnes, relicta Turstini Flandrensis, et Eustacius Miles, filius ejus, dominus de Whiteney, dederunt ecclesiae Sancti Petri Glocest: unam hidam terre in Penconib Sudenhalle, lileram ab omni re, tempore Reginaldi Abbatis." Survey of Domesday, quoted in Rev. John Duncumb's Collections toward the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, Vol. II, pp. 149, 150-1. Unfortunately the author received such scant encouragement that he did not complete the second volume; and the collections for the hundred of Grimsworth, in which Whitney was included, were never printed. As originally published, the second volume contained 318 pages; "but when the stock was sold off, about 1840, it passed into the hands of Tho. Thorpe, the bookseller, who continued the work from the author's MS. to page 358, and added an index of 10 pages." (See Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual). Mr. W. H. Cooke, a County-court judge, wrote and printed, a few years ago, a continuation of the history to page 402 of the second volume, thereby completing that volume. It seems uncertain whether he had access to Duncumb's MSS. These were sold, after the death of the compiler, by his widow, to Mr. Parker, a bookseller in Hereford, of whom one portion was purchased by the Rev. C. J. Bird, of Mordeford, and the remainder by Robert Biddulph Phillips, of Longworth. The latter gentleman left his portion of the MS. history to the monastery at Belmont, near Hereford, and the other part was disposed of by the executor of Mr. Bird, and is still in the possession of the purchaser. See Notes and Queries, 5th Series, Vol. III, p. 516; IV, 57. It is hoped that these details may lead to the recovery of that portion of the unpublished volume which treats of the Whitneys.
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2 "In Pencombe continentur 15 hidae, und Johannes de Whytene tenet medietatem de Roberto Tregoz, de honore de Ewias, de veteri feoffamento, per serv. militiare, et Thomas de Hemegane alteram medietatem, de Roberto de Whytene, et idem Robertus de eodem, &c., ut supra." Quoted in Duncumb's Hereford, Vol. II, p. 149.
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3 Duncumb's Hereford, Vol. I, p. 79.
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4 Duncumb, Vol. II, p. 153.
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5 Duncumb, Vol. II, p. 81.
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