John Dawney

Sir John Dawney
Battle of Crecy from a 15th-century manuscript of Froissart's Chronicle
Died	1346/7
Spouse(s)	Sybil Treverbyn
Children	Emeline Dawney
Parent(s)	Nicholas & Elizabeth Dawney

Sir John Dawney or Dawnay (d.1346/7) was the eldest son of Nicholas Dawney (d. shortly before 15 Sep 1333) of Mudford Terry, Somerset, and his wife, Elizabeth.

John Dawney's younger brother, Thomas Dawney of Escrick, Yorkshire, married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Newton of Snaith, Yorkshire, and was ancestor of the Viscounts Downe.

John Dawney served in King Edward III's expedition to Honfleur in 1346, and fought at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346, for which he was made a knight banneret. He died shortly after the battle, in 1346/7.

Dawney married Sybil Treverbyn, the daughter of Walter de Treverbyn of Treverbyn, Cornwall. They had one surviving child, a daughter Emeline or Emme (c. 1329 – 28 February 1371), who married Sir Edward Courtenay (c.1331 – 1368x1371), third son of Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon, and by him had two sons, Edward and Hugh. The elder son, Edward (c. 1357 – 5 December 1419), inherited the earldom from his grandfather, the 10th Earl, and became 11th Earl of Devon. The 11th Earl married Maud Camoys, and the earldom remained in their descendants until their great-grandson, Thomas Courtenay, 14th Earl of Devon, was beheaded at York on 3 April 1461 after the Battle of Towton, dying without issue. All his honours were forfeited by attainder, and the earldom eventually passed, after a brief period of confusion during the Wars of the Roses (for which see Earl of Devon), by a new creation in 1485 to Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d.1509), the grandson of Sir Hugh Courtenay of Haccombe and Bampton (1358–1425), brother of the 11th Earl.