Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/84

 62 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. 6i. The Arms of Fulford (VIII., pp. 226-7.) — The inscription on the tomb of Thomas and Ursula Fulford was, I believe, put there about seventy years ago, when certain alterations, including the opening up of a blocked window in the Fulford aisle, were carried out at the instigation of Dr. Oliver. At the same time an epitaph in verse, which, whilst extolling the virtues of Thomas and Ursula, referred to the Papists m somewhat harsh terms, was removed by Col. Baldwin Fulford out of consideration for the feelings of his old friend Dr. Oliver. The latter, with Mr. Pitman Jones, had, as joint editors of Westcote's Devonshire^ revised the pedigree of the Fulford family. On what evidence they appear to have been satisfied that this Thomas Fulford was a Knight, I do not know, it may have been the visitation pedigree quoted by Mr. Were, Westcote's'-'' own notes, or Hoker's Synopsis Chore graphica, vide Devon Notes and Queries, vol. iv., part iii., but all these visitation pedigrees are notoriously unreliable. A more recently published one is in the third edition of Hutchin's Dorset. In that pedigree, compiled by Thos. Bond, Esq., of Tyneham, from Harvey's, and the subsequent visitation, 1623, with additions from original evidences, the Thomas Fulford in question is given as an Esquire, and I believe this to be correct. The Sir Thomas knighted in 1460 was made so by the Earl of Devonshire at the Battle of Wakefield, not at Newmarket as stated. William de Fulforde, temp. Rich. I., was not a knight, vide Worthy's Devonshire Wills. Charles Aldenburgh Bentinck lived at Indiho or Indio as it is now spelt, not Instow, another of Vivian's errors, vide D. &. C. N. &• .Q., vol. ix., part i, p. 26. The Sir William Fulford described by Prince in his Worthies of Devon is as mythical as Sairey Gamp's friend, Mrs. 'Arris. There never was such a person. The supporters borne by the Fulfords of Fulford are Saracens. There is not the slightest foundation for the assumption that they were " probably woodmen," and the •VVestcote lived within two or three miles of Fulford and Dunsfoid, and most probably was personally acquainted with Thomas Fulford and his family.