Agnes Underdown (1725-1813)

Baptism
Anges Underdown was born in 1725 and baptised on the 15th August 1725 in Northleigh, to parents Thomas and Grace Underdown (nee Pennington). She was their 8th child and 4th daughter, her elder siblings being James, Abraham, Mary, Thomas, Grace, Sarah and Phillip.

Marriage
Agnes married William Priddle in Northleigh on the 4th September 1764, the son of Richard and Anne Priddle (nee Coollen).

It is feasible that Priddle was a localised form of the more common Prideaux name which is found principally in Cornwall and Devon. In Thomas Hardy’s book, Tess of the D’Úrbervilles, he portrays the eldest daughter of a poor family being sent by her parents to a wealthy family nearby in order to claim kin, based on their surname being a deviation of the old wealthy family name. Interestingly, Thomas Hardy chose to characterise Retty Priddle, a dairymaid in Tess of the D'Urbervilles, as 'one of the Paridelles - the old family that used to own lots o' the lands out of King's Hintock'. Thomas Hardy is known to have visited Netherton Hall, the seat of the Prideaux family in Farway, Devon, once the property had passed into the hands of playwright Harley Grandville-Barker in 1919. This information needs to be considered when you consider what would happen with Anges and William’s oldest daughter.

Children
Three children are recorded for Anges and William – oldest daughter Anna Phebe baptised on the 10th June 1765, son William born on the 1st November 1766 and baptised on the 17th November 1766, and youngest daughter Agnes, baptised on the 26th August 1770. All three children were baptised in Northleigh.

Marriage of Daughter
On the 28th January 1791, eldest daughter Anna Phebe married Sir John Wilmot Prideaux at Farway. Both Agnes and her husband William were alive at the time, so are likely to have attended the marriage.

Sir John Wilmot was from the gentry Prideaux family who had been in Farway for generations. The Prideaux family is believed to be of Norman origin and to have first settled in England at some time after the Norman Conquest of 1066 at Prideaux Castle, near Fowey, in Cornwall. It abandoned that seat and moved to Devon, where it spread out in various branches, most notably at Orcharton, Modbury; Adeston, Holbeton; Thuborough, Sutcombe; Solden, Holsworthy; Netherton, Farway; Ashburton; Nutwell, Woodbury and Ford Abbey, Thorncombe. Another branch built Prideaux Place in Cornwall in 1592, where it survives today. It was one of the most widespread and successful of all the gentry families of Devon, and as remarked upon by Swete (d.1821), exceptionally most of the expansion was performed by younger sons, who by the custom of primogeniture were expected to make their own fortunes.

Upon her marriage, Anna Phebe went to live at Netherton Hall in Farway, which was built in the reign of Elizabeth I, by Sir Edmund Prideaux, an eminent lawyer, who was created a baronet in 1622. Rev. John Swete visited the property in 1795 and painted a watercolour of it. The house was in poor repair when he visited and the watercolour omitted a "modern mean wing which presents its gable-end" which he considered ugly and recorded in his journal. He stated – “This fair house of Netherton which Sir Edmund Prideaux built, though no longer fair, is the place of residence of his lineal successor Sir Wilmot - and with him it bids fair to fall to the ground for the mansion and the family will probably perish together. They both totter and to neither is there a prop of support" ... “Surrounded by paltry offices and deserted gardens, its mullioned windows block'd up to save a trifling tax, and deprived of the groves that once overhung it, naked and forlorn, little is the consequence which it possesses, and for ever has it ceased to arrest the admiration of the traveller". The trifling tax that Swete mentioned was the window tax, a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. To avoid the tax, many houses had bricked-up window spaces.

Death of Daughter
Daughter Anna Phebe had two children with her husband Sir John Wilmot. Their names were Sir John Wilmot Prideaux (b. 29.9.1791, Goodleigh) and Sir Edmund Sanderson Prideaux (b. 23.1.1793, Farway) - Agnes' grandchildren. Anna died when her youngest son was only 8 months old, on the 2nd September 1793, aged 28 years. She was buried at Farway. A memorial was erected in the Farway church to her, her husband and eldest son – most likely arranged by her youngest son.

Death of Husband
Agnes’s husband died in approximately 1810. Her husband must have left any property, goods and chattels to Agnes, as she then created her own will soon afterwards on 13th December 1810. Agnes was no longer able to write by this time (most likely due to age or impairment) and signed the will with her mark. The will was witnessed by Jane Hupey and Robert and Elizabeth Sellars.

Death
Agnes died in 1811 and was buried on 13th January 1811 at Northleigh. She left a will upon her death in which she left her leasehold in a Dwelling House and Gardens in Northleigh to her daughter Agnes, which was then under occupation by a William Cottral. She also left to Agnes all her weaving apparel (which indicates she may have been a weaver) and half of her household goods and furniture The other part of her leasehold Dwelling house and Gardens at Northleigh with their fields and orchards, occupied by William Govier (likely to be a nephew by marriage through Agnes’s sister Mary), and the other half of her household goods and furniture she left to son William. She also made William her sole executor. Effects were sworn under £100 and the will was proven in Exeter on 2nd June 1813.

In the Moger records of testamentary causes and disputes over the proving of wills, there is an entry that indicates that the husband of Agnes’s daughter Agnes (William Harding) disputed the will. Miss Moger’s handwritten notes state that there was a ‘Citation of William Priddle of Northleigh and Agnes wife of William Harding of Farway son & dau of William Priddle of Farway decd to accept or refuse letter of admon of goods of decd or to show cause why same should not be granted to William Harding husband of Agnes, at promotion of William, with limitations.’ The document is dated 17th September 1813. The results of this challenge are unknown.

Death duties were also required to be paid on Agnes’ death.

Children

 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of William and Agnes Priddle
 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of William and Agnes Priddle