The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. II.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Menpincoy : for Montpincon, in Leland's list Mountpinson; a baronial family, from Montpincon, near Evreux. The Baron de Montpinson, Bailliage de Vere, and another De Montpinson, Bailliage de Domfront, took their seats in the great Assembly of the Norman nobles in 1789. "Ralph de Montpinson was Dapifer to William the Conqueror. (Ord. Vit.) His son Hugh, who married a daughter of Hugh de Grentemesnil, and his grandson Ralph, are also mentioned by Ordericus. Philip de Montpinson witnessed 1132 the foundation charter of Fountains Abbey, York (Mon. v. 306). The family appears afterwards in Lincoln, Essex, Hertford, Norfolk, Wilts; and in 1165 the barony of Montpinson in Normandy consisted of fifteen knight's fees. (Feod. Norm. Duchesne)."—The Norman People. They bore D'argent a une lion de sable, a une pinzon de or en le espaule. Fulk de Montepincernoun, first of the name, "by marriage with Agnes, only daughter and heir of Ralph Facatus, shortly after the Conquest, obtained several lordships in Norfolk, where the family continued to flourish till 7 Ed. II., when William the son of Sir Gyles, sold his estates. From that time till the reign of Edward IV. the Montpinsons continued in a state of obscurity. The first who rose to any public notice in Wilts was Robert Mompesson, who by marrying the heiress of Godwyn and Bonham obtained considerable property; his son John 18 Edward IV. was Sheriff of Wilts, and in the first year of the usurper Richard, his name was put in the commission for raising forces in the county. He bore the arms as above given, which he must have derived from the Norfolk family, and most probably was well aware of his descent from them.

"The family was dispersed so widely over the West of England that I fear a very correct pedigree cannot be obtained."—Hoare's Wilts. I will at least give the one furnished by Sir Richard himself, and by Hutchins, in his History of Dorset.

Robert Mompesson of Bathampton, Wilts, the husband of Alice Godwine of Gillingham, was the grandfather of Drew, who died in the lifetime of his father John (the Sheriff of 1478 and 1482), leaving three sons, John, Richard, and Thomas. John's line ended in the ensuing generation, but Richard, seated at Maiden Bradley, and Thomas, seated at Corton, were both represented till the last century.

Richard's posterity was transplanted into Dorsetshire by his son's marriage with the heiress of Durnford, where the six following generations had their abode. The last heirs were two brothers, neither of whom were married. Thomas, the eldest, died in 1767, having outlived Henry, the younger, some forty-four years. Henry, whose lungs were affected, had been ordered to winter in a milder climate, and was on his way to the South of France when he was attacked and murdered by a band of robbers near Calais. He was at the time in company with Mr. Sebright and two other English gentlemen. "Being wounded, but not mortally, by a pistol shot, he fell, and might probably have survived had he not, by looking up too soon, been observed by the robbers just as they were going off, on which they returned and cut his throat. They belonged to the former band of the famous Cartouche."—Hutchins' Dorset.

The Corton branch had continued in Wilts, where John Mompesson served as High Sheriff in 1508, and Edward Mompesson in 1540. The two last mentioned by Hoare were members of parliament. Thomas was returned in 1661 for Wilton; in 1678 for New Sarum; in 1681 for Old Sarum; in 1688 for the county; and in 1695 again for New Sarum; while Charles represented Wilton and Old Sarum from 1698 to 1705. Thomas, who was knighted in 1661, held Pilesdon Court, Dorset, in right of his wife Dinah, daughter and coheir of Sir Hugh Windham, Bt.; and was one of the Commissioners of the Privy Seal in 1697.