8 THE HISTOEY OF THE EOYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 



with these two ladies the direct line terminated ; yet from a 

 younger branch, having their chief residence at Horton Hall, 

 in Buckinghamshire, and who were owners of many fair 

 lordships in that county, the succession, through Bernard 

 Brocas, Esq., of Horton Hall, the lineal heir, was continued 

 until the male line finally became extinct on the death of 

 Bernard Brocas, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hants Militia, 

 the last of the family, November 8th, 1777. 



Passing from the founder of the family above mentioned, 

 and the three succeeding knights of the same name, we get 

 down to the time of Sir John Brocas, of Beaurepaire,-co. Hants, 

 who served with distinction under Edward III. at the siege of 

 Calais, in 1346. This martial knight died in 1372, and had 

 issue three sons : (1) Sir John, who obtained in the eighteenth 

 year of Edward III. (a.d. 1344) a grant from the King of the 

 Keepership of Nottingham Castle for life, and died, without 

 heirs, on the battle-field, fighting against the French, in 1349 ; 



(2) Sir Oliver,* who was Grand Seneschal of the Duchies of 

 Guienne and Aquitaine, and Governor of Bordeaux, under 

 Edward III., as alleged in an old MS. in French, of the laws 

 and customs by which he governed that province, then per- 

 taining to the English Crown. This Sir Oliver Brocas married 

 Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Hever, Knight, 

 by whom he had an only son, John Brocas, who survived his 

 father only sixteen years, and died without heirs in 1377* 



(3) Sm Bernard Brocas, Knight, the first Hereditary Master 

 of the Royal Buckhounds, who married, first, Agnes Vavasour, 

 divorced in 1360; secondly, Mary, daughter and heir of Sir 

 John de Boches, Knight, and widow of Sir John de Borhunte; 

 and, thirdly, Catherine, widow of Sir H. Tyrrell. On the 

 death of his nephew, John Brocas above mentioned, this 

 Sir Bernard succeeded to the family patrimony ; and, as 



* He held the Manor of Apse, in Surrey, by the service of rendering fifteen 

 bushels of malt, oats, barley, and wheat to make ale, and two bushels and a 

 half of wheat and barley to make bread, together with a hog, or in lieu thereof 

 12d., to be distributed in alms annually on All Souls' Day, in the Manor of 

 Apse, for the repose of the souls of the Kings of England forever. (Ing. P. M., 

 37 Edw. III., No. 7.) 



