John Prince

Rev. John Prince (1643–1723), vicar of Totnes and Berry Pomeroy in Devon, England, was a biographer. He is best known for his Worthies of Devon, a series of biographies of Devon-born notables covering the period before the Norman Conquest to his own era. He became the subject of a sexual scandal, the court records of which were made into a book in 2001 and a play in 2005. Origins John Prince was born in 1643 in a farmhouse (now called Prince's Abbey) on the site of Newenham Abbey, in the parish of Axminster, Devon. He was the eldest son of Bernard Prince (died 1689) (to whom John erected a monument in Axminster Church) by his first wife Mary Crocker, daughter of John Crocker, of the ancient Crocker family seated at Lyneham House in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon. Lyneham was, after Hele the second earliest known home of the Crocker family, one of the most ancient in Devon according to the traditional rhyme quoted by Prince himself which he called "that old saw often used among us in discourse": John Prince had a family connection to his great contemporary John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722). Prince's father Bernard Prince had married secondly (as her second husband) to Jane Drake, a daughter of Philip Drake of Salcombe, third in descent from John Drake of Axmouth, father of John Drake (died 1558) of Ash, in the parish of Musbury. Jane was thus 3rd cousin of Sir John Drake (died 1636) of Ash, the father of Sir John Drake, 1st Baronet (died 1669), whose sister was Elizabeth Drake, mother of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722). Sir John Drake, 1st Baronet (died 1669) was John Prince's godfather, and one of Prince's Worthies was Sir Bernard Drake (died 1586) of Ash, son of John Drake (died 1558). Career He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and became curate of Bideford. He then became minister of St. Martin's Church in Exeter. He was vicar of St Mary's Church, Totnes from 1675 until 1681, when, at the invitation of the Duke of Somerset, he was made vicar of St Mary's Church, Berry Pomeroy, a post he held for over forty years. Here he seems to have authorised much building work, as the church and vicarage have several period features.