The Succession to Kilworthy
On the death of Sampson Manaton (1692/3-1737), Robert Manaton (1662-1740) inherited Kilworthy from his cousin. He was the next remainderman under the testamentary trust of Henry Manaton (d. 1715).
Robert Manaton was the eldest son of Pierce Manaton (1626/7-1678). This Pierce was referred to as “Captain” Manaton in the parish register at Barnstaple, probably in reference to his service as a Royalist Officer. He was the Collector of Customs at Barnstaple, Devon as early as 1662. During his post at Barnstaple, Pierce maintained a regular correspondence with Joseph Williamson, Esq., Secretary to the Right Honorable the Lord Arlington his Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State. These letters are preserved in the State Papers Domestic and address certain shipping matters but are more particular on the reported incursions of Dutch ships during the Anglo-Dutch War. Later, Pierce accepted a posting in the London area.
In 1661/2 Pierce Manaton married Mary Knightley, daughter of Robert Knightley who son of Sir Seymour Knightley (1580-1640) the son of Sir Richard Knightley, MP (1532-1615) and Elizabeth Seymour (1547-1602). Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1506-1552) who was brother to Jane Seymour (1508-1537), Queen of England, third wife of Henry VIII and mother to Edward IV.
Pierce was buried in 1678 at St Clement Danes, Westminster. His wife Mary was buried in 1706 at St Dunstan in the West, London. At the time of his death their children were taken in the care of their relatives Sampson Manaton of Manaton and Ambrose Manaton of Kilworthy. Pierce and Mary had five children. Three daughters: Anne Manaton (b 1664) who married Charles Lewis, Gent. of St Clement Danes, London; Mary Manaton (b. 1665/6) who married Edmund Mountjoy by license at St James, Clerkenwell; and Margery (1668-1670) who died young.
Their eldest son was Robert Manaton (1662-1740) described as of St Dunstan’s in the West, London, Vintner. In 1680/1 he was apprenticed to Richard Tayler of the London Vintners’ Company. He was a resident of the “Devill Taverne neare Temple Barr, London.” Robert was buried at St Eustachius, Tavistock in 1740. Robert married Ann Thornbury of St. Saviour’s Southwark, Surrey in 1689/90.
On his death, Robert was succeeded at Kilworthy by his son, the Rev. Robert Manaton (1694-1746). Robert was a minor candidate in 1709 and 1710; a Queen’s Scholar, aged 15, 1711; elected to Christ Church, Oxford, 1715; matriculated 1715; B.A. 1719; M.A., 1722; Proctor 1728. Two of the exercises in the Carmina Quadragesimalia are ascribed to him. Robert married his cousin Mary Manaton (d.1755) daughter of Francis Manaton of Manaton (d. 1735), widow of Richard Doidge, at Lamerton in 1732. Rev. Robert Manaton was buried at Tavistock as was his wife Mary Manaton in 1755.
Robert died without a male heir, and Kilworthy then passed to his brother Thornbury Manaton (1703-1748/9) who also died without a male heir. Thornbury was apprenticed in 1718 to the Vinters Company of London. However, by 1728 he was working as a clerk to a Solicitor of the Commissioners for Taxes. He married Alice Dale, a widow, in 1730/1 at Lincoln’s Inn Chapel. Styled as Mr. Thornberry Manaton from Knightsbridge in Fleet Street he was buried at St. Dunstan in the West London. Alice Manaton survived him and was buried at Tavistock in 1771.
On the death of Thornbury, Kilworthy then passed to his brother, Henry Manaton (c. 1710-1769). Henry was admitted to the Westminster School in 1717/8 then apprenticed to the Vintner’s Company in 1727, where he eventually served as a Master to six apprentices. Apparently, he never married. He died as the last remainderman.
On the death of Henry Manaton (d. 1769) his property passed to the daughter of his cousin Francis William Manaton (b. 1715) whose date of death is unknown but occurred before 1769. Francis W. Manaton was apprenticed to the Company of Barber Surgeons in London in 1731/2. He was the son of Pearce Manaton, late of the parish of St Clement Danes. Francis married Elizabeth Acworth (c. 1721-1807) at Hammersmith Chapel by license in 1745. Elizabeth survived her husband and she died at Wandsworth in 1807 at the age of 86. Francis W. Manaton and Elizabeth left two daughters.
Anne Manaton (b. 1746/7) and Martha Manaton (1747/8-1813) who were found to be co-heiresses to Kilworthy and the estates in the trust. Martha Manaton became the wife of Rear-Admiral Cornwaithe Ommanney (1736-1801). Ann Manaton became the wife of the Rev. Robert Holt Butcher (1743-1822).