UNDERHILL of ETTINGTON The point where pedigrees emerge is usually, at the earliest, the period of the invention of the family surname. Family names did not exist in England until the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, when they began to be invented, and came gradually into general use with the growth of the population. Underhill or Underhull (“hill” and “hull” are variants of the same word in early English) is a good example of a topographical surname. There is no reason to doubt that a family bearing that name derives from an ancestor who lived under a hill. But as there are many hills with dwelling places built under their protection, it is natural that the name was invented more than once, and applied originally to more than one family, in diferent parts of the country. The place from which the Underhills of Warwickshire took their name can be identifed with certainty. In the parish of Bushbury, which adjoins Wolverhampton on the north east, there is Bushbury Hill, and on its eastern slope, sheltered from the westerly winds, there is a farm house which still bears the name of Underhill. The name can be traced in documents as far back as the year 1308 and it may well be much older than any extant document. The earliest mention in 1308 relates to a “tenement at Underhulle in Bisshebury” and names the then tenant as “Thomas, son of Robert de Underhulle of Bisshebury”. This Robert de Underhulle was the earliest known ancestor of the Underhills of Warwickshire. THE EARLY UNDERHILLS 1250-1520 R o b e r t d e U n d e r h u l l e c . 1 2 5 0 - 1 3 1 3 T h o m a s U n d e r h u l l e o R i c h a r d U n d e r h u l l e o f B u s h b u r y f W e d n e s f i e l d c . 1 3 3 3 c . 1 3 3 3 T h o m a s U n d e r h u l l e o f W e d n e s f i e l d c . 1 3 6 9 - 1 3 9 8 W i l l i a m U n d e r h u l l e o T h o m a s U n d e r h u l l e J o h n U n d e r h u l l e o f f W o l v e r h a m p t o n N o r t h i c o t e c . 1 4 2 6 c . 1 4 5 4 N i c h o l a s U n d e r h u l l c . 1 4 5 1 - 1 4 8 1 J o h n U n d e r h i l l R i c h a r d U n d e r h i l l N i c h o l a s U n d e r h i l l o W i l l i a m U n d e r h i l l o o f E t t i n g t o n , W a r w . d o f W o l v e r h a m p t o n d f B u s h b u r y f B u s h b u r y 1 5 1 8 1 5 3 5 c . 1 5 2 4 c . 1 5 2 4 Descended from Robert de Underhulle was John Underhill, who was born about 1450. The marriage in about 1484 of John Underhill with Agnes, daughter of Thomas Porter, marks the beginning of the Underhills’ association with Ettington in Warwickshire. The manor of Ettington has been held by the Shirley family since the conquest, however there have been periods when it has been leased to others. In 1455 Alice, the widow of Sir Ralph Shirley who died about 1443, granted a lease of the manor to Thomas Porter, father of Agnes. In 1509, in what appears to have been a renewal of the lease of 1455, a further lease of the manor was granted to John Underhill for a period of eighty years. In 1517 John Underhill “de Nether Etyngdon in Comitatu Warr, Gentilman” entered into a deed relating to lands in “Woluerehampton Wednesfeld Heth Echelles and Wyllenhall in the County of Staford” “which descended to me by right of inheritance after the death of Nicholas Vnderhull my father”, thus confrming his origins and parentage. John Underhill died on 30 November 1518 and was succeeded at Ettington by his third son Edward. John Underhill’s eldest son, William, was Clerk of the House of Commons before his death in 1544. William Underhill’s brother, Thomas, of Hunningham, had a son, Edward, who was Member of Parliament for Tavistock in 1553. This Edward Underhill, called “the hot gospeller” achieved earthly mortality by leaving a sparkling account of the most hazardous phase of his career. He had earlier served as one of the gentlemen-at-arms during the French Wars of King Henry VIII. In 1544 he joined the King’s personal troop and took part in the Boulogne campaign. At about this time he became imbued with both radical religious views and the proselytising zeal for which is notorious, but until 1553 not only was the religious tide with him but he had powerful protectors from the Duke of Northumberland down. Edward Underhill was a close supporter of the Duke of Northumberland and his scheme to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and it was during her brief reign of only nine days in 1553 that Jane Grey acted as one of the godparents of his new-born son. Although he did not take up arms against Queen Mary, on her return to the throne, he rather rashly published a ballad against popery the day that she was proclaimed Queen in London. He was subsequently arrested and brought before the Privy Council, but was released in September 1553. He was not troubled again for his opinions, and retired to Warwickshire, never again returning to Court. Thomas Underhill of Hunningham’s second son, Hugh, was Keeper of the Wardrobe to Queen Elizabeth I. Hugh Underhill’s son Thomas, was appointed Keeper of Kenilworth Castle and died in 1591. The grandson of this latter Thomas Underhill was Captain John Underhill, who immigrated to New England, North America, in 1630. Captain John Underhill founded the main American branch of the Underhill family, which continues to fourish to this day. Edward Underhill, who succeeded at Ettington, was born in 1486 and was a party with his father to the sale of land at Pebworth in Gloucestershire in 1503. He was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in November 1515 and embarked on the study of law. However after his marriage to Margaret Middlemore and the death of his father in 1518 he returned to the family estates at Ettington. In 1541 he secured the Underhill family’s tenure of the manor of Ettington for three more generations by obtaining a renewal of the lease of Ettington manor for 100 hundred years. Edward Underhill died on 7 March 1546/7 and was buried in Ettington Church. UNDERHILL of WARWICKSHIRE 1500-1700 J o h n U n d e r h i l l o f E t t i n g t o n d 1 5 1 8 T h o m a s U n d e r h i l l o E d w a r d U n d e r h i l l o f H u n n i n g h a m f E t t i n g t o n d 1 5 2 0 1 4 8 6 - 1 5 4 7 H u g h U n d e r h i l l d E d w a r d U n d e r h i l l T h o m a s U n d e r h i l l o W i l l i a m U n d e r h i l l o J o h n U n d e r h i l l o 1 5 9 3 " t h e H o t - g o s p e l l e r " f E t t i n g t o n f I d l i c o t e f W h i t c h u r c h 1 5 1 2 - 1 5 2 1 - 1 6 0 3 1 5 2 4 - 1 5 7 0 d 1 6 0 1 T h o m a s U n d e r h i l l E d w a r d U n d e r h i l l d T h o m a s U n d e r h i l l W i l l i a m U n d e r h i l l H u m p h r e y U n d e r h i l l 1 5 4 5 - 1 5 9 1 1 6 1 1 1 5 4 6 - 1 6 2 2 1 5 5 5 - 1 5 9 7 1 5 5 9 - 1 6 3 4 J o h n U n d e r h i l l d S i r E d w a r d U n d e r h i l l o S i r J o h n U n d e r h i l l S i r H e r c u l e s U n d e r h i l l o W i l l i a m U n d e r h i l l T h o m a s U n d e r h i l l o H u m p h r e y U n d e r h i l l 1 6 0 8 f E t t i n g t o n 1 5 9 2 - 1 6 7 9 f I d l i c o t e 1 5 8 8 - 1 6 5 6 f A d m i n g t o n 1 6 0 8 - 1 5 7 3 - 1 6 4 1 1 5 8 1 - 1 6 5 8 1 6 0 6 - 1 6 7 6 C a p t .