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COURTENAY, Francis (1652-99), of Powderham Castle, Devon.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Biography Detail
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Family and Education
bap. 27 Feb. 1652, 2nd s. of Sir William Courtenay, 1st Bt., and bro. of Richard Courtenay and George Courtenay. m. settlement 26 Nov. 1670 (with £4,000), Mary, da. of William Boevey, merchant, of Little Chelsea, Mdx., 3s. (2 d.v.p) 9da.1Offices Held
Commr. for assessment, Devon 1677-80, 1689-90, j.p. June-July 1688, 1689-96, col. of militia by 1699.2
Biography
Courtenay’s wife, of Flemish extraction, was a step-daughter of Sir James Smyth; her half-sister married Sir Levinus Bennet. As Courtenay was still under age at the time of their marriage, his father promoted a private bill to enable him to settle the estate, to which he had become the heir on his elder brother’s death. Sir Charles Harbord reported that the bill required no amendments, and it received the royal assent in the same session.3
Courtenay joined William of Orange in November 1688, and was elected for the county in 1689 owing to the physical incapacity of his father. He may have been appointed to the committee of elections and privileges in the first session of the Convention, but he left no other trace on its records. In later Parliaments he voted Tory, refusing the Association in 1696. He died before his father on 1 Apr. 1699 and was buried at Chelsea. His son, who succeeded as second baronet, sat for Devon as a Tory (with one interval of two years) from 1701 till his death.4
