Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford

He was the only surviving son and heir of Sir Thomas Hungerford (died 1398) of Farleigh Castle in Wiltshire,[3] the first person to be recorded in the rolls of the Parliament of England as holding the office of Speaker of the House of Commons.

[3] His father had been strongly attached to the Lancastrian cause at the close of the reign of King Richard II (1377–1399), having been steward in the household of John of Gaunt.

On 22 July 1414 he was nominated ambassador to treat for a league with Sigismund, King of the Romans,[7] and as the English envoy attended the Council of Constance in 1414–15.

[9] He can probably be identified correctly as the officer who on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt expressed regret that the English had not ten thousand archers, which drew a famous rebuke from the king.

Within his household was one Owen Tudur, a welshman who would later secretly marry Henry V's widow Catherine of Valos [15] and so found the Tudor dynasty.

William Hamilton Rogers (1877) wrote as follows concerning the monument:[29][30] By his marriages and royal grants Hungerford added largely to the family estates.

[32] He founded an almshouse in 1442[33] at Heytesbury for twelve poor men and one woman, with a schoolmaster's residence; after being re-endowed by Margaret de Botreaux, widow of his son Robert, and then rebuilt in 1769 after a fire, the charity continues today as the Hospital of St John.

[36] In 1407 Hungerford donated the advowson of the church at his manor of Rushall in Wiltshire to the canons of Longleat Priory, who were struggling to support themselves financially.

18th c. drawing of ledger stone from lost monument of Sir Walter Hungerford in the north nave of Salisbury Cathedral. Only the recesses remain to show the shapes of the looted monumental brasses , many having Hungerford sickles , his heraldic badge
Post 1418 [ 1 ] seal of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford. Latin inscription: SIGILLU(M WALTERI DE HUN)GERFORD DOM(INI) DE HEYTESBURY + DE HOMET ("Seal of Walter de Hungerford, lord of Heytesbury and of Homet"). His arms of Hungerford are shown on a shield couchée, centre, supported by two Hungerford sickles . His crest is the Peverell garb between two Hungerford sickles. The banner at dexter shows Party per pale indented gules and vert, a chevron or (de Heytesbury) [ 2 ] and at sinister Barry of six ermine and gules (Hussey, his mother's family)
Le Sire de H(u)ng(er)forde, Waulter . Garter stall plate , Windsor Castle , of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford, KG. The helm is covered by mantling barry of ermine and gules , the arms of Hussey. The crest is: Within a crest coronet azure a Peverell garb or between two Hungerford sickles argent
Arms of Peverell of Sampford Peverell , Devon: Azure, three garbs argent a chief or [ 18 ]
The marriage of Sir Walter Hungerford to Catherine Peverell is symbolised in a heraldic badge showing the Hungerford knot uniting the Hungerford sickle and the Peverell garb , the latter a badge of the ancient Peverel family, feudal barons of Peverel (or of "the Peak") in Derbyshire
Arms of Bishop Peter Courtenay (d.1492), showing the arms of the See of Exeter impaling Courtenay of Powderham, incorporating heraldic badges of dolphins of Courtenay of Powderham and in the spandrels , Hungerford sickles and Peverell garbs . Detail from the Courtenay Mantelpiece, Bishop's Palace, Exeter