Family and Education

s. of John Plenty of Tavistock. m. Maud, prob. niece of John Ford I* of Tavistock.

Offices Held

Portreeve, Tavistock Oct. 1405-6; churchwarden 3 May 1422-3.1

Biography

John came from a Tavistock family which had supplied two of the borough’s portreeves earlier in the century, although he was probably also related to Roger Plenty^†, MP for Exeter in 1368.2 He resided at Taviton (now called Mount Tavy), and acquired substantial landed holdings within the lordship of Hurdwick, either by inheritance from his father or in right of his wife, Maud. In May 1407 he did homage to the lord of the manor, the abbot of Tavistock, for an acre of land near the chapel of St. Margaret.3 He had been serving as portreeve of Tavistock in the previous year, at the time of his second return to Parliament. Plenty and his father witnessed many deeds at Tavistock between 1380 and 1436,4 but it is not always easy to distinguish between them, and the dates of their deaths are not known.5

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. Trans. Devon Assoc. lxxix. 150; Devon RO, 482A/PW7.
• 2. Tavistock Parish Recs. ed. Worth, 68; Trans. Devon Assoc. lix. 308; lxxix. 148-9; Add. Ch. 29078.
• 3. Devon RO, T1258 M/S21 ff. 50, 79, 80, 83, 86-87, 99, 124-5, 133; Bedford ms D84/29 mm. 14-16.
• 4. Bedford mss B117/17, D2/68, 147, 168, 171, 183; Add. Ch. 29101, 29131; Tavistock Parish Recs. 73, 74.
• 5. In 1467 John Speke†, esquire, arbiter of disputes between Tavistock abbey and Edmund Belleworthy, awarded certain proprieties to the latter and his wife, Maud, with remainder to the heirs of the body of 'oon John Plente' (Bedford ms D2/135). It may be that Maud was the MP's widow or daughter.