more marriages.
mainly in North Cornwall
Tregony Pomeroys.
pages 380,381 & 381
connections with the noble family have not been proved so far
~St Austell St Goran John Pomery & Thomasine Stoneman m. 1717
~Liskeard Callington Samuel Pomery & wife name unknown ~ 1610
~Liskeard St Neot John Pomery & Grace ~ 1720.
~Liskeard Morval Charles & Agnes Peake ~ 1700
~Launceston North Hill Samuel Pomery & Mary Hughs ~1740
~St Austell Anne Pomery 1835 son George Pomery born Bugle1857
~St Germans Saltash George Pomery & Philippa Spear ~1802
~ Liskeard Richard Pomery & Emma Johns, St Ive or St Cleer ~1880
~Penzance Paul ~ Henry Pomery & Grace Rose, m. ~1810
Long ago in Feudal England there was class structure in society, and it was as rigorously and noticeably in place in Cornwall, as it was in the rest of England. What made it different in Cornwall was the existence of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Much of Cornwall was given to Robert de Montain, half brother of William of Normandy, a connection which was perpetuated down through the ages by earldom and then duchy. This huge land holding virtually excluded the nobility. Lands were held by the Gentry on the Kings behalf however.
In Tudor times this Royal connection was very significant but without aristocrats in the county the class structure remained centered on a core of gentry, who formed the ruling class. It was they who were filled political roles, being Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs of the county. This led to a social interchange between the classes, not much seen elsewhere in England at that time.
The Merchant classes, who achieved wealth, married their children into the less affluent Gentry classes. Female heirs married elsewhere taking their inheritances out of the county and the Gentry married their children into the peerage where they could.
Bevilles, de Vere, and Courtenay all held lands in Cornwall, Trelawney married into trade, the Arundel�s married into the peerage, but they remained foreigners who never resided in the County.
The lack a noble class, its influence and patronage contributed to the comparative poverty of the county, however, coupled with this the small size of Cornwall gave opportunity for smaller men to grow to wealth and influence. With this growth came an individualism and independence that still characterises the Cornish.
