The Reverend John Froude II (17779 September 1852) of Knowstone and East Anstey, both in Devon, England, Rector of Molland-cum-Knowstone, in Devon, was an extreme and notorious example of the "hunting parson", a phenomenon which started to disappear in the late 19th century, for whom "hunting was...the main pursuit of their life, and clerical duties were neglected or perfunctorily performed". During his lifetime the anti-hunting lobby of the evangelicals was gaining ground. In his case this movement was represented by his nemesis Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, with whom he had many amusing disputes. He was the model for the evil "Parson Chowne" in The Maid of Sker, the 1872 novel by R. D. Blackmore, and was described by the Devon historian Hoskins (1954) as "an unspeakable oaf". According to Sabine Baring-Gould: "Froude fascinated his neighbours, overawing them as a snake is said to fascinate a mouse. If he told them to do a thing, or to keep silent, he was obeyed. They dared not do otherwise...He encouraged about him a lawless company of vagabonds who, when they were not in prison, lived roughly at free quarters at the rectory, and from thence carried on their business of petty larceny; and who were, moreover, ready to execute vengeance upon the rector's enemies". Origins The Froude family is first recorded in surviving records at Kingston, South Hams, Devon, in the 16th century. He was the son of Rev. John Froude I (1743–1803), Rector of Molland-cum-Knowstone from 1767, born at Modbury in Devon, christened 9 September 1743 at St. George's Church, Modbury. According to Foster's Alumni Oxoniensis, John Froude I was the son of John Froude of Modbury and matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 31 March 1762, aged 18. John Froude I had been appointed Rector of Molland-cum-Knowstone by his brother Robert Froude (1741–1770) of Aveton Gifford, patron of Molland-cum-Knowstone and father of Robert Hurrell Froude (1771–1859), Archdeacon of Totnes. John Froude II's mother was Prestwood Love Legassick (1750–1823), a daughter of John Legassick, and with her two sisters a co-heiress of the manor of Modbury and of the manors of Dodbrooke and Mothecombe, which became the property of her husband. In 1803 Henry Legassick had purchased the manor and borough of Modbury from the Trist family. John Froude II's sister Prestwood Love Froude married William Bellew (1772–1826) of Stockleigh Court in Devon, descended from a notable gentry family of ancient