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In brief: Sir Robert de Hungerford (c1285-1352) founded a chantry in Hungerford church, and a
stone effigy (traditionally ascribed to him) still lies in the Parish Church of St. Lawrence.
The Hungerford Family: The Hungerford family was living in the town after which they were named as early as 1160, when there is mention of Everard de Hungerford.
(There is no record of his birth date).
A Walter de Hungerford was Baron Hopgrass, the local estate which still retains the name today.
However, by the late 13th century they were more associated with the adjoining county of Wiltshire, where Walter Hungerford
(1230-c1308) married Maud Heytersbury, the heiress of the Heytersbury estates near Warminster.
Sir Robert Hungerford: Their eldest son, Sir Robert Hungerford (born c1285), however, retained lands in Hungerford, and is
thought to have lived at Standen.
He was an important man, appointed bailiff for the Duchy of Lancaster in Berkshire and Wiltshire in 1313, and sitting for Wiltshire in parliament three years later.
In 1322, Edward II made him keeper of the southern lands (mostly in Wiltshire) belonging to Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, who had been executed for
arranging the murder of the King's favourite Piers Gaveston. Sir Robert was later made a Commissioner to enquire into the possessions of the Despensers after their attainder in 1326.
Sir Robert de Hungerford sat in Parliament as MP for Wiltshire nine times between 1324 and 1339.
In 1327 Sir Robert was appointed commissioner to certify the possession of the Earl of Winchester and his son Hugh to the Exchequer. He was also employed to survey the
dilapidation of the old castle at Sarum. In 1332 he became the steward of the Bishopric of Bath and Wells.
He gave much land to the hospital at Calne and, in memory of his first wife, Joan, to the Church of Hungerford - where he founded the Chantry of Holy Trinity in 1325 - and to other religious foundations.
The indulgence tablet from the Chantry Chapel is displayed in St Lawrence Church, adjacent to the Hungerford effigy.
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