In recent posts I’ve been attempting to trace my links to the Lucke family of Mayfield, Sussex. I’m now fairly sure that my 12 x great grandmother Alice Fowle, the wife of Magnus Fowle, was the daughter of Richard Lucke of Mayfield, who probably died some time in the 1550s. It also seems apparent that there was some link between Richard and the John Lucke of Mayfield who died in 1549, though the latter makes no mention of Richard, or indeed of any other relatives beyond his immediate family, in his will. And there were almost certainly connections between the Mayfield Luckes and those with the same surname in nearby Wadhurst.

Ruins of Mayfield Palace in the 18th century (via theweald.org)

Thanks to some generous assistance from a fellow researcher, I’ve come across a number of references to members of the Lucke family in the Manor Court Rolls of Mayfield from the late 1540s and early 1550s. For example, in the court held at Mayfield on 1^st December 1546, in the thirty-eighth year of Henry VIII’s reign, John Barham ‘surrendered into the lord’s hands one croft of land called Fair field containing by estimation 10 acres of land of old assart lying with its appurtenances in Mayfield in Bakehese ward, to the use of John Luck of Durgates, Edward Luck and Robert Wembourne who were admitted.’

There are a number of connections between my ancestors and the Barham family, and the Barhams would later be linked by marriage with both the Fowle and Byne families. Closer to the date of this court case, the first wife of my 13 x great grandfather Christopher Maunser of Hightown, Wadhurst, was Mildred Barham, and she was in all probability a relative (perhaps a daughter or a sister?) of the John Barham mentioned here. As for Robert Wembourne or Wenborne, he was Christopher Maunser’s son-in-law, the husband of his daughter Mildred. In my last post, I noted that Robert’s father John and Christopher Maunser had something in common: their wills were both witnessed by Thomas Hoth, a priest who may have been an itinerant protestant preacher and possible martyr under Queen Mary.

16th century manorial court rolls

We’ve come across the two members of the Lucke family mentioned in this record before: or rather, two men with the same names. ‘John Lucke of Dargatte’ was one of the beneficiaries of the will of Nicholas Fowle of Wadhurst, who died in 1600 (as well as being related to my ancestor Magnus Fowle, Nicholas was married to a member of the Maunser or Manser family). The ‘John Lucke of Durgates’ who appears in the manor court rolls half a century before must belong to an earlier generation of the same family. (Nicholas Fowle also bequeaths property to a John Barham, presumably a descendant of the person of that name in the same court rolls.) Durgates was a property in Wadhurst, and still appears on modern maps as an area to the west of the town. I believe that this John Lucke is not identical with the John Lucke of Mayfield who died in 1549, and that the reference to his property is made in order to distinguish him from his Mayfield namesake, whose name appears in other records of the manorial court. For example, on 12^th January 1546/7, just over a month after the case cited above, ‘John Luck’ came to the Mayfield court and ‘submitted himself to the lord’s pardon because he has cut down two willow trees upon the lord’s common at Ryden and Byshetwood.’ Perhaps this is the ‘other’ John Lucke – the one who died in 1549?

As for Edward Lucke, the only person of this name that I’ve come across before is the brother of Richard Lucke of Wadhurst, who died in 1593, but once again this was more than fifty years after the manorial court case.

In the court held at Mayfield on 10^th April 1547, in the first year of the reign of Edward VI (his father Henry VIII had died at the end of January), there is a reference to a Richard Luck, mentioned as owning land close to some property that is the subject of the case. A number of other landowners came to court at this time to surrender six and a half acres of land ‘into the lord’s hands…to the use of Richard and John Luck who were admitted.’ This seems to suggest a close relationship between Richard and John: were they brothers, cousins, or father and son?

At the same session of the Mayfield court, Richard Lucke was involved, together with William Penkhurst, in a separate case concerning another plot of land. Penkhurst would be named some years later as a defendant in the Chancery case brought by Magnus and Alice Fowle concerning Richard Lucke’s will.

Farms at Mayfield (via geograph)

On 10^th December 1547 the Mayfield Hundred was held and twelve men appointed to a jury ‘for the lord king’. The list includes Richard Luck and ‘John Luk of Dorgatts’, as well as other familiar names such as John Barham, William Penkherst and John Maynard.

‘John Luck of Durgates’ is mentioned again in the record of the manorial court held on 10^th April 1548. The record of the court session held just over a month later, on 16^th May 1548, is intriguing. Three ‘amercements’ (fines imposed by a court or by peers) are listed, all of them involving the sum of three pence, and two of them involving Richard and John Luck. In one, ‘John starts proceedings with Richard Luck in a plea of taking away and the illegal detention of draught animals. In another ‘Richard Luck starts proceedings himself with John Luck, in a plea of taking away and the illegal detention of draught animals’. In other words, both men seem to be accusing the other of the same offence. Was this a dispute and a falling out between brothers, perhaps? And if so, does it explain the absence of Richard’s name from the will of the John Lucke who died in 1549?

In the record of the court held on 12th January 1550/1, ‘John Luck of Dorgats’ is listed among the tenants of ‘Hadley virgate’. At the same court session it was noted that in the previous December a widow named Alice Boniface ‘surrendered into the lord’s hands one messuage with a garden adjoining with the appurtenances in Mayfield, to the use of Richard Luck and his wife Agnes who were admitted’. The record goes on:

To hold by them, the heirs and assigns of the same Agnes at the lord’s will according to the customs of the manor through the rents and services there owing and customary and they paid 4d as relief and they give the lord 6d as a fine and they made fidelity and have seisin through the rod. Then nothing comes to the lord as a heriot because they have no animals.

(A ‘heriot’ was a death duty, usually in the form of a horse, owed by a tenant to a nobleman.) So these manorial court rolls have provided me with at least one significant new piece of information: the name of my 13 x great grandmother, Agnes Lucke. This might explain why Magnus and Alice Fowle gave their only daughter, my 11 x great grandmother, the name Agnes (though Magnus also had a sister of that name).

John Luck of Dorgates and Edward Luck are mentioned together in the record of the manorial court held on the following day, 13^th January 1550/1, suggesting that these two men may have been related, and perhaps connecting Edward to the Wadhurst rather than the Mayfield Luckes.

At the Mayfield Hundred held on 30th April 1551, Richard Luck’s name appears in a list of eight men ‘amerced’ the princely sum of twenty shillings ‘which has been exacted from each at the taking the oath before the jury of 12 and they absolutely refused’. Was it the fine they refused – or the oath? The record is tantalisingly brief, and I would be interested to know more about this act of defiance on the part of my ancestor.

Significantly, none of the eight men thus fined appears in the list of twelve men ‘for the lord king’ (presumably the jury) that follows. However, a certain ‘John Luke of Fair chorche’ is among the twelve. Who exactly is this John Lucke? And where was ‘Fair chorche’ – or perhaps Fairchurch? Could he be the son of the John Lucke who died in 1549? Although the latter failed to mention a son in his will, he does describe himself as John Lucke ‘thelder’ (i.e. the elder).

Richard Lucke and William Penkhurst are again mentioned together in the record of the manor court held on the same day, 30^th April 1551. Richard obviously overcame his resistance to serving on the manorial jury, as his name is included in the list of twelve men ‘appointed for the lord king’ at the hundred held on 4^th October that year. Among his fellow jurors are both ‘John Luck of Dorgates’ and ‘John Luck of Fayrechorche’, thus confirming that these were two different men. The jury also included Richard Maynard, the son-in-law of the John Lucke who died in 1549, as well as Robert Wenbourne and John Thorpe, both sons-in-law of my 13 x great grandfather Christopher Maunser of Hightown (a rider to this record notes that John Thorpe and two others were ‘sellers of ale in Wadhurst’ who were to be ‘amerced’ for two pence each.)

This seems to be the last reference to Richard Lucke in the Mayfield manorial court rolls. It tallies with my own theory that Richard died some time in the early 1550s and that the Chancery case in which his will is mentioned dates from some time in the middle years of that decade.

What else can we conclude from these valuable records? Besides the important information about his wife’s name, these court rolls also tell us something about Richard Lucke’s property and status in the Mayfield community in the 1540s and early 1550s. He was obviously one of a small group of local yeoman farmers and a closer analysis of his properties might, in time, help us to understand more about him and his family. John Lucke (of Mayfield, not Durgates) was clearly a close relative, but the precise nature of their relationship remains unclear, and while it seems likely that he is the person whose will was proved in 1549, this can’t yet be confirmed.

My recent research into the family of my maternal 12 x great grandmother Alice Fowle née Lucke of Mayfield, Sussex, has re-awakened my interest in the Fowle family. I’m connected to them through my 11 x great grandfather Edward Byne of Burwash (died 1614), who married Agnes Fowle (died 1626), daughter of Magnus and Alice. Magnus Fowle, who died in 1595, was the only son of Gabriel Fowle of Southover, near Lewes, who may have been the master of the Free Grammar School there, and who died in 1555. Gabriel was my 13 x great grandfather.

Parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Lamberhurst

Gabriel Fowle was born in about 1507, in the penultimate year of the reign of Henry VII. He was the son of Nicholas Fowle of Lamberhurst (then in Sussex, now in Kent) and his wife Elizabeth. They were my 14 x great grandparents. Nicholas made his will in 1522/3, in the sixth year of the reign of Henry VIII, appointing Elizabeth and Gabriel as his executors. From the will, we know that Nicholas had two others sons, Thomas and John, who both seem to have been older than Gabriel.

Some time ago I transcribed and discussed the will of Thomas Fowle of Lamberhurst, who died in 1525, believing at the time that he was Nicholas’ father and thus my 15 x great grandfather. A number of online sources had led me to this conclusion, but those sources also turned out to be mistaken about other aspects of Fowle family history: for example, they repeated the common error that Nicholas’ wife was a certain Joan Vince, when his will clearly states that his wife’s name was Elizabeth.

I now think it more likely that the Thomas Fowle who made his will in 1525 was actually Nicholas’ son and the brother of my ancestor Gabriel. What is the evidence for this? Firstly, on the negative side, there is some evidence that Nicholas’ father was a certain William Fowle, rather than Thomas (I’m indebted to my fellow Fowle family researcher Bill Green for this information). Secondly, from his will it would appear that Thomas Fowle of Lamberhurst was quite a young man when he died: he mentions an unmarried daughter and a son who is not yet twenty-one. Thirdly, Thomas’ daughter is named Elizabeth, so may have been named after his mother, Nicholas’ wife.

Unfortunately, Thomas’ will is quite brief and shows evidence of having been written in a hurry – the consequence of a sudden illness, perhaps? As a result, there is no mention of any relatives beyond his immediate family, nor of any specific properties that might enable us to connect him with Nicholas. However, the fact that Nicholas had a son named Thomas, who was probably born in about 1490 and would therefore have been a young married man with a young family in the 1520s, makes it likely that this is the same person.

St Mary Overy, Southwark by Wenceslas Hollar

Even if Thomas turns out to be my 14 x great uncle rather than my 15 x great grandfather, I remain fascinated by his tantalisingly brief will, and particularly by his connection with the priory of St Mary Overy in Southwark. Although he describes himself as ‘Thomas Fowle dwelling in the p[ar]ishe of Lamberest [Lamberhurst] in the countie of Kent’, he wishes to be buried ‘within the church yarde of Saint Margaret in Southwerk’, all of his religious bequests are to the same church, and two priests there are among the witnesses to the will. Thomas also makes a bequest to ‘my gosteley fader’. Since writing about Thomas’ will a year ago, I’ve seen this term mentioned in other contexts and can confirm that it refers to the writer’s spiritual father or mentor. For example, in Act 2 Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo addresses Friar Lawrence as ‘my ghostly Father’. My knowledge of early-sixteenth-century lay religiosity is sketchy, but from the evidence of his will I would conclude that Thomas Lamberhurst was quite a pious individual.

It seems likely that Thomas Fowle’s association with Southwark had something to do with Bartholomew Fowle being the prior of St Mary Overy, of which the church of St Margaret was a part. Some sources claim that Bartholomew was the son of Nicholas, and therefore Thomas’ brother, but in an earlier post I cast doubt on this theory. For one thing, Bartholomew Fowle was also known as Bartholomew Linsted, because he was apparently born in the Kent village of that name, which was about thirty miles from Lamberhurst. We also know that Bartholomew was elected sub-prior at Southwark in 1513, having transferred there from Leeds priory in 1509. Now, it’s not altogether impossible that Nicholas Fowle had a son who was old enough to hold monastic office in 1513. And the fact that Bartholomew is not mentioned in Nicholas’ will is not necessarily conclusive: my excursions into recusant history have shown that relatives who had taken religious vows were not always named in wills (though in the case of recusants, these omissions may have been for reasons of legality or security). However, given his dates, it seems more likely that Bartholomew was a more distant relative of Thomas Fowle’s – perhaps an uncle or cousin? For now, Bartholomew’s precise connection to my Fowle ancestors remains unproven. Nevertheless, when Thomas Fowle made his will, Bartholomew Fowle had been prior of St Mary Overy for twelve years, and it’s possible that he is the ‘high master’ of St Margaret’s to whom Thomas made one of his bequests. Could he also be Thomas’ ‘gosteley fader’?

We know that Thomas’ brother Gabriel, my 13 x great grandfather, was not yet eighteen years old when his father Nicholas died in 1523. His life thereafter is something of a mystery, but we know that he was certainly living in Lewes by 1529 at the latest. He was named in a case in Chancery that was heard some time between 1518 and 1529. Gabriel and a certain John Fortey were defendants in a case concerning tenements with gardens in East Porte, late in the ownership of one John Salisbery of Lewes. (I assume East Porte is identical with the modern Eastport Lane in Southover, the part of Lewes where Gabriel is said to have lived.) The plaintiffs were Henry Hylles of Lewes, a yeoman, and his wife Agnes, who was the great granddaughter of the said John Salisbery. Some time between 1538 and 1544 Gabriel Fowle or Voule was again the defendant in a Chancery case concerning ‘detention of deeds relating to messuages and gardens in Lewes Cliff’. (Cliffe is a district to the east of Lewes) The plaintiffs were Hugh Vyncent and his wife Anne, daughter and executrix of John May. Gabriel was described as the supervisor of May’s will.

Priory of St Pancras, Lewes (via lewespriory.org.uk)

Walter Renshaw, in his history of the Byne family, suggests that Gabriel Fowle was master of the Free Grammar School in Lewes. If so, then it seems likely that he himself received some form of higher education, though I’ve yet to find his name in any university records. The school had been founded in 1513 by the will of Agnes Morley and was attached to the Cluniac Priory of St Pancras, which was also in Southover. The priory was surrendered to the Crown in 1537, at the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries, and became the property of Thomas Cromwell, the agent of its destruction. However, the Free Grammar School seems to have survived these events.

Curiously, Renshaw also found records from 1551 that describe Gabriel Fowle as ‘of Burwash’ and which suggest that he often acted as proctor in the court there. Burwash is twenty miles or so east of Lewes, but only about ten miles south of Lamberhurst. It’s possible that Gabriel inherited property there from his father, and that his connection to the area helps to explain how his son Magnus came to marry a woman from nearby Mayfield. Burwash was, of course, the home of my 11 x great grandfather Edward Byne, who would marry Magnus’ daughter Agnes.

Yesterday I reviewed what we know about the immediate family of my 13 x great grandfather Gabriel Fowle of Southover near Lewes in Sussex, who died in 1555. It’s almost certain that Gabriel’s father was the Nicholas Fowle of Lamberhurst who died in 1523, that his mother’s name was Elizabeth, and that he had older brothers named Thomas and John.

Lamberhurst parish church and treetops (via lamberhurstvillage.co.uk)

It also seems quite likely that Gabriel’s paternal grandfather was William Fowle of Lamberhurst who made his will in 1487, since the latter mentions a son named Nicholas, and there are other points of connection between the two men. (I’m grateful to my fellow researcher Bill Green for pointing me in direction of William Fowle, and for other information about William and Nicholas reported in this post.) One of those points of connection concerns the Patynden, Patenden or Pattenden family. For example, one of the witnesses to Nicholas Fowle’s will was a certain Walter Pattenden. Walter seems to have been the son of William Patynden of Benenden, with whom Nicholas Fowle had dealings in 1493, as reported in this record held at East Sussex Record Office:

William Haler of Brenchley, Kent, to Alisaunder Culpeper, esq, Harry Darrell, gent, Nicholas Fowle, John Foule of Lamberhurst, Kent, and William Patynden, the younger, of Benenden, Kent 

Half of 2 messuages, 3 gardens, 15 pieces of land called Kyngewodys and Dungates in Lamberhurst

Refers to indenture of even date. Recites that William Hogekyn of Lamberhurst, now deceased, bought from David Gyffray of the same, deceased, land called Mydremedys in Lamberhurst for £20. WH paid £12 but died intestate leaving £8 unpaid. WH left issue William, Agnes and Elizabeth under age. Jane, widow of WH married John Chowry, who with Alisaunder Culpeper and Harry Darrell arranged that the lands should be saved for the children of WH. William Haler, as feoffee of William Hogekyn paid £8 by mortgaging the above premises to Nicholas Fowle. William Hogekyn, the younger, is to repay £8 at age 21.

One of the witnesses to the will of William Fowle in 1487 was Jacobus or James ‘Pattyenden’, who would make his own will a year later. William Patynden, the father of the Walter Pattenden who witnessed Nicholas Fowle’s will, made his will in 1507. Interestingly, he ordained five marks to the marriage of Joan Fowle, daughter of Nicholas Fowle. As Bill Green comments, this seems to indicate a familial tie between the two families, and it’s possible (though not yet proven) that Nicholas Fowle’s wife was born a Pattenden. The fact that Nicholas fails to mention a daughter in his will of 1523 need not concern us: she may have died in the intervening sixteen years.

Parish church of St George, Benenden

Further work needs to be done to establish the precise relationships between Walter, William, James and the other Patyndens for whom there are records. In the meantime, I came across an intriguing reference in the will of James Patynden, which might hint at another kind of connection between the Patyndens and the Fowles. James Patynden makes bequests to Thomas Pattenden, prior of Combwell, and the same man, ‘Sir Thomas Patenden Prior of Combewell’ is a witness to the will, together with ‘Sir William Dalton Vicar of Lamberherst’, and a certain John Shendefeld. This Thomas Patenden seems not to be identical with James’ son Thomas who is mentioned elsewhere in the will, and it’s more likely he was James’ contemporary, perhaps his brother?

Combwell Priory in 1809 via theweald.org (see footnote)

The priory of St Mary Magdalen, Combwell, was just five miles from Lamberhurst and about ten miles from Benenden. Like St Mary Overy in Southwark, and Leeds Priory, eighteen miles away in northern Kent, Combwell was a foundation of Augustinian or Austin canons. Thomas Patenden was prior there from about 1480 to his death in 1513. In the year before his death, the priory was subject to a visitation by William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury. The account in the Victoria County History does not reflect very well on Thomas Patenden:

Archbishop Warham made a visitation of the priory in 1512. Thomas Patenden had been prior for thirty-two years, and there were six other canons, who stated in their evidence that the infirmary was in great need of repairs and nobody attended to the sick, who had to lie in the dormitory. They had not enough food and drink or clothing, the prior never rendered any accounts, and there was no teacher of grammar. The manors of Benenden and Thornham needed great repairs. John Lanny said that the prior and convent laid him under a debt of £40 in an obligation without any condition to two outsiders, now remaining in the hands of the minister of Mottenden, and arranged that the house should not be indebted by this. The prior said that the obligation was cancelled, and was ordered to show it to the archbishop; and he was also ordered to make a proper account and inventory, to make sufficient repairs to the infirmary before All Saints and to correct the other points mentioned. 

Interestingly, Thomas Patenden’s successor as prior was a certain Thomas Vyncent. Gabriel Fowle would be involved in a Chancery case involving Hugh Vyncent in the late 1530s or early 1540s (see my last post): were the two men related? Even more speculatively, some sources claim that Nicholas Fowle’s (first?) wife was Joan Vince: might this have been a misreading of Vincent or Vyncent? Thomas Vyncent had the misfortune to be prior when Combwell was suppressed in 1536, though he was able to retire with an annual pension of £10. The site and possessions were granted in 1537 to Thomas Culpeper – perhaps a relative of the Alexander Culpeper with whom Nicholas Fowle had dealings in 1493? After Thomas Culpeper’s attainder (on what grounds is not made clear), Combwell passed in 1542 to Sir John Gage ‘in tail male’. Gage, who lived at West Firle near Lewes, held a number of important offices at court during the reigns of Henry VII and VIII and bore the train for Queen Mary at her marriage to Philip of Spain. Ironically, perhaps, given that he benefited from the dissolution of at least one monastery, he was a loyal Catholic and his descendants were noted recusants during Elizabeth’s reign.

Augustinian canon (via thurgartonhistory.co.uk)

So the Pattendens’ experience parallels in some ways that of their Fowle neighbours and possible relations. They too had a family member who was prior of a community of Austin canons: Bartholomew Fowle, the last prior of St Mary Overy, who had previously been at Leeds priory, with which Combwell seems to have had reciprocal ties, at least historically, as in this further extract from the above account:

The prior of Combwell was visitor with the prior of Leeds of the Augustinian houses in the dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester in 1311 and 1317 (fn. 21); and in 1353 the priory of Combwell was visited by the priors of Leeds and Tonbridge.

However, I think it’s fair to say that the visitations at Southwark did not produce the same kind of critical report as at Combwell. On the contrary, Bartholomew Fowle seems to have been an advocate of stricter observance of the monastic rule, as reflected in this account:

An important chapter of the canons regular of St. Austin was held in their chapter-house, Leicester, on Monday, 16 June, 1518, when one hundred and seventy joined in the procession, of whom thirty-six were prelati or heads of houses. As night came on they adjourned till Tuesday morning at seven, and when they again assembled, the prior of Southwark, with every outward demonstration of trouble and sorrow, appealed for a stricter and verbal observance of their rule. His manner and address excited much stir, but he was replied to by many, particularly by the prior of Merton. On the first day of this chapter a letter had been read from Cardinal Wolsey observing with regret that so few men of that religion applied themselves to study. On Wednesday, the concluding day of the chapter, Henry VIII and his then queen were received into the order. 

The ‘then queen’ was Katharine of Aragon, whose ‘divorce’ from Henry fifteen years later would precipitate England’s schism from Rome, and indirectly lead to the suppression of the monasteries and the surrender in 1539, by Bartholomew Fowle, of St Mary Overy to the agents of Thomas Cromwell. Bartholomew was granted a pension of £100 and a house within the close at Southwark where Robert Michell, the previous prior, was living.

It remains to be seen whether there is any significance in the fact that both the Fowles and the Patyndens had such close ties to the same religious order.

(Footnote: The picture of Combwell Abbey featured in this post was the work of the artist Paul Amsinck who was, I believe, a relative – perhaps the son – of the London-based German merchant of that name, to whom was apprenticed John Godfrey Schwartz, who in 1780 would marry Frances Collins, the daughter of my 5 x great grandmother Elizabeth Collins née Gibson and later Holdsworth. The picture was engraved by Letitia Byrne.)

Update

In writing this post, I had of course forgotten yet another possible Augustinian link in my family history. Only a couple of weeks ago, I speculated that Thomas Lucke, curate at Litlington in Sussex, and the uncle of my 12 x great grandmother Alice Fowle née Lucke, may have been the person of that name who was a canon at the Augustinian priory at Michelham until its dissolution in 1537.

In the last post I noted that my Fowle ancestors and their neighbours in late 15^th and early 16^th century Kent, the Pattendens, had something intriguing in common. Both had family members who were priors of houses of Augustinian canons. I wondered whether this similarity might provide further evidence, confirming suggestions in various family wills, of a connection between the two families.

Thomas Pattenden was prior of Combwell near Goudhurst until his death in 1513. He was both a beneficiary of and a witness to the will of James Pattenden of Lamberhurst who died in 1488. Bartholomew Fowle, who was the prior of St Mary Overy, Southwark, until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539, is said by some authorities to have been the son of my 14 x great grandfather Nicholas Fowle of Lamberhurst and the brother of my 13 x great grandfather Gabriel Fowle.

St Mary Overy, from the Norden Map

So far I’ve found no independent verification of Bartholomew’s link to my Fowle ancestors, and in previous posts I’ve cast doubts on claims that he was Nicholas’ son, while suspecting that he was probably related to him in some way. I remain fascinated by Bartholomew – it’s intriguing to find such an interesting historical figure in one’s family tree – and I’m keen to solve the mystery of his origins and family connections. In this post I’m revisiting Bartholomew’s story and endeavouring to gather together everything that I’ve been able to find out about him. 

Origins 

Bartholomew Fowle’s date of birth is unknown, and this remains one of the difficulties in establishing his place in the Fowle family tree. However, Bartholomew’s place of birth is said by some sources to have been Lynsted in Kent, a village in the north of the county, between Sittingbourne and Faversham, and about thirty miles north-east of Lamberhurst. For example, a chapter on Lynsted in an eighteenth-century county history notes that ‘Bartholomew Fowle, alias Linsted, a native of this place, was the last prior of St Mary Overie, London, being elected to that office anno 1513.’ Interestingly, Lynsted had close associations with the Roper family, who were linked by marriage with Sir Thomas More: I’ve written elsewhere about the recusant Lady Roper of Teynham who lived at Lynsted Lodge in the early seventeenth century.

Early etching of Lynsted Lodge

Some sources give Bartholomew’s name as Lynsted alias Fowle, while others reverse the order. We can only speculate as to why Bartholomew used an alternative surname. Was it a common habit to take the name of your home village, or was it a particular practice among members of religious orders? Did Bartholomew find it politic to conceal his Fowle family connections for some reason, or alternatively did he have a particular reason (a local benefactor or sponsor, for example) for identifying with Lynsted?

Leeds Priory

At some point Bartholomew Fowle joined the Canons Regular at the Augustinian priory of St Mary and St Nicholas at Leeds, Kent, about twelve miles south-west of Lynsted and eighteen miles north-east of Lamberhurst (which happened to be one of the manors it owned and one of the parishes for which it possessed the advowson) .

Canons Regular were priests living in community under the Rule of St Augustine and sharing their property in common. Unlike monks, who lived a cloistered, contemplative life, the purpose of the life of a canon was to engage in a public ministry of liturgy and sacraments for those who visited their churches. Apparently the canons sought to reflect supernatural order and stability within their priories, with examples of worship, farming, medical care, librarianship, learning, and so forth. The canons often worked in towns and cities, where the worship, medicines, education and the skills of the enclosed Benedictines were not present to the growing numbers of urban dwellers. By the 12^th century hundreds of communities of canons had sprung up in Western Europe. Usually they were quite autonomous of one another, and varied in their ministries.

As far as we know, Leeds was the first religious house that Bartholomew joined. I’m not sure at what age young men and women joined religious orders at that time, but my research into recusant families suggests that it was usually in their middle teens. Even so, this doesn’t help us with determining Bartholomew’s date of birth, since although we know when he left Leeds priory – 1509 – we don’t know when he joined. Presumably, since canons tended to be priests, and one assumes that some years training was required before ordination, it was a number of years before then.

William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, by Hans Holbein

I haven’t found any records for Leeds priory during Bartholomew’s time there, but two years after he left, Archbishop Warham of Canterbury made a visitation. According to a county history:

Richard Chetham, prior, said that all was well; John Bredgar, formerly prior, was now vicar of Marden, and rarely came to the monastery, but thought that all things were well; and Thomas Vincent, sub-prior, said that much had been reformed, but much still remained to be reformed by the prior and sub-prior. […] Besides the eight canons already named there were twelve others, making a total of twenty in addition to the prior.

We’ve come across Thomas Vincent before. In 1513, on the death of Thomas Pattenden, he would take over as prior of Combwell, just a few miles from Lamberhurst. There was obviously a fair amount of movement of personnel between the Augustinian priories of southern England.

St Mary Overy 

We don’t know why Bartholomew Fowle transferred from Leeds to the priory of St Mary Overy at Southwark in 1509, the year in which Henry VIII came to the throne. Was this a promotion of some kind? If so, it wasn’t yet to a senior role in the community, since that would not come until 1513, four years after Bartholomew’s arrival in Southwark. According to one source, Bartholomew Lynsted alias Fowle was elected sub-prior in January 1513, but there is a suggestion that he was promoted again to prior very soon afterwards, perhaps as early as February in the same year. Robert Michell had been prior from 1499 until his resignation in 1512, when he was succeeded by Robert Shouldham, whose term of office appears to have been less than a year, though the reason for this is unclear.

We only know a little about Bartholomew’s time as prior of Southwark, which coincided with the tumultuous years of Henry VIII’s reign. In previous posts I’ve quoted the account of his intervention at the chapter of the Canons Regular held at Leicester in 1518, when he called ‘with every outward demonstration of trouble and sorrow’ for a ‘stricter and verbal observance’ of their rule.

London Bridge in the 16th century (by Peter Jackson, via wharferj.files.wordpress.com)

At the same conference a letter from Cardinal Wolsey was read, ‘observing with regret that so few men of that religion applied themselves to study’. It seems this criticism could not be applied to Bartholomew Fowle, who was said to have been ‘a very learned man’, and not just in matters of religion. He was the author of the book De Ponte Londini – on the bridges of London – in which he popularised a tradition about the origins of London Bridge, subsequently repeated in Stow’s Survey of London. According to one source

In the early part of the Saxon times there is no notice of any town or other place on this spot ; but a tradition of Bartholomew Linsted, or Fowle, Iast prior of St. Mary Overie, preserved by Stow (Survey of London, book i, chapter xiii), notices that the profits of the ferry were devoted by the owner, “a maiden named Mary,” to the foundation and endowment of a nunnery, or “house of sisters,” afterwards converted into a college of priests, by whom a bridge of timber was built, which with the aid of the citizens was afterwards converted into one of stone.

Subsequent historians cast doubt on Bartholomew’s theory, but a recent author has reassessed its validity.

In 1535 the annual value of Southark priory was declared to be £624 6s. 6d, with its rents in Southwark alone realising £283 4s. 6d. On November 11th of that year there was a great procession by command of the king, at which the canons were present, with their crosses, candlesticks, and vergers before them, all singing the litany. However, if this was a sign of royal favour towards St Mary Overy, it was to prove shortlived. 

Dissolution

In 1531, following the dispute with Rome over his desire to divorce Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII had declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. Five years later the king, through the agency of his chief enforcer Thomas Cromwell, began the process of suppressing the country’s religious houses and appropriating their property. According to Wriostheley’s Chronicle for the year 1539:

Also this yeare, in Octobre, the priories of Sainct Marie Overis, in Southwarke, and Sainct Bartholomewes, in Smithfield, was suppressed into the Kinges handes, and the channons putt out, and changed to seculer priestes, and all the landes and goodes [escheated] to the Kinges use. 

The priory of St Mary Overy was ‘surrendered’ to Thomas Cromwell’s agents on 27^th October 1539. Cromwell himself signed the pension list, which granted £8 each per annum to two of the canons and £6 to nine others. There were eleven annuitants in all, besides the prior, with their pensions totalling £70 in all. At least one source claims that Bartholomew Fowle quibbled over his original grant of £80 per annum and managed to have it increased to £100.

Southwark priory buildings in about 1700

In addition, Bartholomew was provided with a house ‘within the close where Dr Michell was dwelling’. Robert Michell was the last prior but one before Bartholomew, and had probably resigned due to ill health or old age. A certain William Michell, almost certainly a relative, had witnessed the will of Thomas Fowle of Lamberhurst, whom I believe to have been the elder brother of my ancestor Gabriel, in 1525. Thomas left a number of bequests to the priory church at Southwark.

In 1545 the priory buildings and grounds came into the possession of Sir Anthony Browne, and there were complaints in the manor court of Southwark that he had opened a public bowling green in the close and was allowing gambling there. Although he was a staunch Roman Catholic, Browne remained a close friend of Henry VIII and became the owner of much former monastic property. His eldest son, Anthony, was created Viscount Montague in the time of Queen Mary. It seems probable that Lord Montague lived in what had previously been the house of the prior of St. Mary Overy and utilised the other buildings for stabling and so forth. He died in 1593, leaving to his wife, Magdalen (see this post), his mansion house of ‘St. Mary Overies,’ for her life, with reversion to his grandson Anthony.

The area around the former priory buildings became known as Montague Close and, as I’ve written elsewhere, in the late 16^th and early 17^th century, it became a refuge for Catholic recusants, under the protection of the Browne family.

Retirement 

There is evidence that Bartholomew Fowle remained in London after his enforced retirement, and also that he continued to serve as a priest. For example, in 1543 Dame Joan Milbourne, the widow of a former lord mayor of London, bequeathed money in her will to a number of priests to come to her burial at the church of St Edmund Lombard Street and to pray for her soul. She left the sum of £6 13s 6d ‘to my very good friend Bartholomew Linsted some time prior of St Mary Overies, to pray for my soul’.

From this, we can conclude that Bartholomew Fowle was well connected with the gentry of London and that, despite the religious changes of Henry’s reign, Catholic practices such as prayers for the dead were still popular.

The date of Bartholomew’s death is unknown, and I’ve failed to find any trace of a will, but a number of sources confirm that he was still receiving his pension in 1553. In other words, he lived for at least another fifteen years or so after his expulsion from St Mary Overy.

This means that Bartholomew Fowle long outlived Nicholas Fowle, who died in 1523, and Nicholas’ son Thomas, who died in 1525. Like my ancestor Gabriel, who died in 1555, Bartholomew lived long enough to witness the brief restoration of Catholicism under Queen Mary.

There was a Bartholomew Fowle living in Boughton Monchelsea, Kent, in 1565, about whom we know because of an accusation of incest with his daughter, but it seems extremely unlikely that this was the same person, despite the location.

Family connections?

Does Bartholomew’s survival until at least 1553 provide us with any clues about his date of birth, and therefore about which generation of the Fowle family he belonged to? Life expectancy rates are not much help: many adults died in their thirties or forties in the 16^th century, and 50 and 60 were reckoned to be good ages to reach – but there were some cases of survival to the age of 80 or more. If we suppose that Bartholomew was about 30 when he became prior of Southwark in 1513, then he would have been 70 in 1553, which seems reasonable. In that case he would have been born in about 1483. If on the other hand it was possible to lead a religious house at a younger age – say 25? – then he might have been born closer to 1490. On the other hand, he might have been older when he became prior, and survived into his eighties, meaning that he belonged to an earlier generation.

In other words, it’s technically possible that Bartholomew was born late enough to be a son of Nicholas Fowle of Lamberhurst, or early enough to be his contemporary, perhaps his brother. My initial information about Bartholomew came from a footnote in Walter Renshaw’s history of the Byne family of Sussex, in which (page 99) he has this to say about my ancestor Gabriel Fowle: ‘He was son of Nicholas Fowle by Joan (Vince), and brother of William Fowle of Riverhall, with whom the pedigree in Berry’s Suss. Gen. commences, and of Bartholomew, the last prior of St Saviour’s, Southwark’.

Riverhall, Wadhurst, former home of the Fowle family, in the 18th century, via theweald.org

Renshaw cites as his source for these claims ‘Harleian MSS, 1562, fol[io] 89a and 90’, which is in fact the record of the Visitations of Sussex. This contains a pedigree of the Fowle family that is replete with dubious information. For example, it claims that Nicholas was the son of Thomas Fowle of Lamberhurst , who is said to have died in the seventeenth year of the reign of Henry VII (i.e. 1502), but of whom I have found no trace. The same pedigree claims that Nicholas was married to Joan Vince and gives him four sons: William of Riverhall, Gabriel, Bartholomew and Robert Fowle of Carshalton. My fellow researcher Bill Green has highlighted some of the problems with this information in an article in the journal of the Sussex Family History Group (March 2012). On a more trivial level, the pedigree mistakenly states that the daughter of Gabriel’s son Magnus daughter was the wife of someone named ‘Bird’ of Burwash, when in fact we know that the person Agnes Fowle married was Edward Byne. In other words, the source on which Renshaw depends for his information about Bartholomew Fowle is inherently unreliable. Incidentally, there is another example in the same footnote that shows Renshaw, for all his meticulous and groundbreaking research, relying on unconfirmed sources, when he claims that Richard Lucke of Mayfield, the father of Alice who married Magnus Byne, made his will in 1593, when in fact (as I have shown) the person who did so was a different Richard Lucke of Wadhurst, and Alice’s father had died some forty years earlier.

On her family history website Mandy Willard includes this extract from Arms of Sussex families by J.F.Huxford:

In 1427, during the reign of King Henry VI, a certain Ricardus Foull was summonded to parliament for East Grinstead.  Whether or not he was an ancestor of the Fowles I cannot say, for they are said to descend from a brother of Bartholomew Fowle, last prior of St. Mary Overie in Southwark.  They were among the ironmasters of Sussex and a forge at Riverhall between Wadhurst and Frant was worked by them.

Who was the brother of Bartholomew Fowle from whom the Fowles of Sussex were said to descend? Was it Nicholas, or was Huxford simply relying on the Visitation records, which claimed that William Fowle of Riverhall was the brother of Bartholomew?

Perhaps the strongest argument against Bartholomew being the brother of Gabriel and the son of Nicholas is not chronology, but locality. If Bartholomew really was ‘of Lynsted’, then it’s unlikely that he was the son of Nicholas, unless the latter had moved all the way across Kent to Lamberhurst at some point during his adult life.

It seems that determining Bartholomew’s precise place in the Fowle family tree will depend on resolving some of the other puzzles that still surround the early history of the family.

My exploration of the life of Bartholomew Fowle, the last prior of St Mary Overy, Southwark, has thrown considerable light on his life but produced no conclusive evidence about his links to my own Fowle ancestors. I’ve discovered that Bartholomew lived until at least 1553 but whether he was, as some sources claim, the brother of my 13 x great grandfather Gabriel Fowle of Southover near Lewes remains unproven.

The home of Anne of Cleves: a surviving Tudor house in Southover, Lewes

Researching Bartholomew’s life demonstrated again the considerable uncertainty that surrounds the early generations of the Fowle family. I want to return to that early history at some point, but for now I’m focusing on those ancestors about whom I can write with more confidence. I’m fairly sure, for example, that Magnus Fowle of Mayfield, Sussex, who died in 1595, was my 12 x great grandfather. His only surviving daughter Agnes married Edward Byne of Burwash and they were my 11 x great grandparents. Nor do I have any doubts that Magnus was the son of Gabriel Fowle of Southover: Gabriel’s will of 1554 mentions a son named Magnus, a fairly uncommon name, and Magnus’ own will refers to properties in Ringmer and Glynde that were almost certainly inherited from Gabriel.

Like his supposed brother Bartholomew, Gabriel Fowle is an intriguing figure. If he was indeed the son of Nicholas Fowle of Lamberhurst, on the Kent-Sussex border, then at some point between his birth in about 1507 and 1529 at the very latest (i.e. by the time he was in his early twenties), Gabriel moved about thirty miles south-west to Lewes, where he would remain until his death in 1555 at the age of about 48. According to Walter Renshaw’s history of the Byne family, Gabriel’s will reveals that he was the master of the Free Grammar School in Lewes. Until now, I’ve had to take that claim on trust, since I could find no evidence in my own copy of Gabriel’s will to support it. However, having come across some transcribed extracts from the will online, I realised that two key sentences that I had been unable to decipher contained the vital clue. Armed with this information, I returned to the original will and decided to produce a new transcription.

Springtime at Southover Grange, Lewes (via tripadvisor.co.uk)

The transcript below updates some of the details in the version I posted here, and I’ve highlighted the two key sentences in bold. A question mark [?] indicates uncertainty about a particular word or phrase, while [—] indicates a word that I was unable to decipher. I’ll have more to say about the will, and other new information that I’ve been able to unearth about Gabriel, in another post.

In the Name of god amen the 27^th day of January a[nn]o d[omi]ni 1554 I Gabryell Fowlle off the p[ar]yshe of Southover next Lewes in the countye of Sussex within the dio[cese] of chychystre. hole of mynde & of good remembraunce thanks be to god do orday[n] & make this my Testam[en]t & Last wyll in man[ne]r & fforme ffollowynge. ffyrst I bequeath my soule to allmyghtie god and my bodye to be buryed within the churche yarde of the p[ar]yshe of Southover aforesayd Item I gyve to the hygh altare of Ryngmer xxd. Item I wyll x preistes yf they can be gott to celebrate & say masse for my sowlle & all crysten sowles, & to be honestly recompensed by my executor. It[em] I give my new graylle Imprynted to the churche of Ryngmer. Item I give my wrytten masse book to the church of Southover. I gyve John Harman my sonne in law my best gowen & my best Iacket. Item I do gyve to Jane Bryan my old servaunt that my housse & garden called pecketts in Southover, ffor terme of her lyff, & after her decease to remayne to my daughter agnes harman, & to her heires of her bodye lawfully begotten. Item I gyve to agnes harman my daughter that my peece of grounde callyd ffennes garden lying in the p[ar]yshe of Glynd together with one acre in the gores [?] in Glynde also, to her use for terme of her lyff, & after her death to remayne to Magnus Fowlle my sonne and to his heires of his bodye Lawfully begotten. I wyll my executor to bestowe at my buryall in monye amonge the poutrye of Ringmer, Lewes & Southover by thadvyse of my overseers xs. And as muche at my monethes mynd. Item I wyll all my Lands & Ten[emen]ts Lyenge & beyng in Southover otherwyse then granted to Jane Bryan as ys aforesayd, to John Harman and Agnes hys wyff & to the heires of theyr bodyes lawfully begotten, Provyded & allwayes excepted that the same John shall not clayme any further Sumes of monye nor monye worthe whiche I p[ro]mysed hym for the maryage of my daughter. So that yf the sayd John chaunce to clayme any further Sumes off monye as afore ys sayd, Then my exec[utor] to pay to the same John xx [—] in redye monye & then my sayd exec[utor] to enter to upon all the sayd Lands in these forme as ys aforesayd. Item I wyll my daughter agnes to have my iwells of sylver that ys a [—] with and a bande of sylver & gylte, [—] of my silver spones, her mothers best harness gyrdle, a payr of corall bedes gawdyd with sylver. Item I wyll all my moveable goods, unbequeathed (sauyd [?] books) to be equally devyded betwen my daughter agnes and my exec[utor], with thadvyse of my overseers & Edward Brown. Item I wyll that Jane Bryan my s[er] vaunt have one of my chestes at Ryngmer, with locke and key & a payr of potts [?]. Item I wyll all my Lands in Ryngmer & Glynde otherwyse than ys above specyfyed to Magnus Fowlle my sonne & to his heires of his bodye Lawfully begotten to gether with all suche tytle & ryght whiche I have or owght to have, or by any meanes in tyme to come may have, concerning my right and tytle in Sussex or in Kent, And if yt shall chance my sayd Sonne Magnus to dye without heires of his bodye Lawfully begotten, Then I wyll all my sayd lands & Ten[amen]ts ryyghts & [—] bothe within Kent & Sussex to remayne soly to my daughter Agnes & to her heires of her bodye Lawfully begotten, & yf she fortune to dye without heires of her Bodye Lawfully begotten. Then I wyll all my sayd Lands & [—] to be sold by my overseers, & the Summes of monye to be bestowed by my overseers upon almese howsses, high wayes & suche other other deads & workes of charytye and specyally toward the reparacions of the church of Ryngmer. Item I make my sonne Magnus Fowlle, my sole executor. And Dunstane Sawyer now vicar of Ryngmer & Nycholas Aptott of Ryngmer grene my overseers & the same Dunstane to have for hys labor my second best gown, & the same Nycholas to have an angell or xs of monye. Item I wyll that my overseers shall have full & perfect authoryty to take advyse of Lerned counsel, & to alter & change or otherwyse sett any clause or sentence which might be or ought to be more formally made in any thynge toward the performance of thys my Last wyll, So yt allways be & shalbe toward the strengthynge of the ryghts of my children. as my wyll ys. Item I gyve to all my godchyldren xyd apece. So yt be asked. Item I gyve to John Harman my daughters sonne, a cowe [?], & to Elizabeth Harman my daughters daughter a sylver spone. Item I wyll to be gyven amonge the scholers of the ffrye schole namely soche have been with me a quarter of a yere iijs iijd a peny a pece, as far as yt wyll serve as to pray for me. Item I wyll to John Cotmott the yonger, Andrewe baran Edward Pelham John Raynold & John ffeharbar for theyr dylygence about me vs amonge them, equally to be devyded & all theyse v to take advantage of theyr peny apece, yf ther be under xl scholers beside them. Item I give to Thomas Browam [?] xxd. provided allway yt yf that fortune my sayd oversers to fayle at suche tyme as my land to be sold for Lacke of heires of my children as ys aforesaid, That then I wyll that the churchewardens of the paryshe of Ryngmer for that tyme beynge, shall have ffull power & pfect auctorytye with thadvyse of the other honest men of the p[ar]yshe to sell my sayd Lands & to bestowe the monye thereof, accordynge to the fforme of this my last wyll, as my sayd oversers shuld have done. Item I wyll a copye of my wyll to remayne in p[ar]chement [?] in the churche of Ryngmer, or some other safe keepyinge for the same entent [?] Item I wyll that yf yt shall fortune my oversers to take any payne in rydynge or goynge to se this my wyll fulfylld, they to be honestly recompensed by my exec[utor]. Item I wyll that my overseers shall see this my wyll p[ro]vyd & registered. To all this witnesseth Sr Andrewe Puggeslye. Wyllm Marle, James West, John ffortune, & John Revet [?] with other. S[ig]n[e]d. Jny. [—] echibit [?] Roxia [?] de Marsfield iy die augusti a[nn]o d[omi]ni 1555 [—] ad valore [—]

My revised transcription of the will of my 13 x great grandfather, Gabriel Fowle of Lewes, Sussex, has confirmed that he was indeed the master of the Free Grammar School there. Here is the crucial passage in Gabriel’s will:

Item I wyll to be gyven amonge the scholers of the ffrye schole namely soche have been with me a quarter of a yere iijs iijd a peny a pece, as far as yt wyll serve as to pray for me. Item I wyll to John Cotmott the yonger, Andrewe baran Edward Pelham John Raynold & John ffeharbar for theyr dylygence about me vs amonge them, equally to be devyded & all theyse v to take advantage of theyr peny apece, yf ther be under xl scholers beside them.

I’ve been in email contact with David Arscott, author of Floreat Lewys, 500 Years of Lewes Old Grammar School who confirms that his book refers to Gabriel Fowle as headmaster of the school during the reign of Queen Mary.

A Tudor schoolroom: Stratford Grammar School, attended by William Shakespeare

Before we explore Gabriel’s life and career in Lewes, it might be helpful to summarise what we know about his origins and early life. Most sources agree that Gabriel was the son of Nicholas Fowle of Lamberhurst, on the Kent-Sussex border, who made his will in 1522, appointing Gabriel as co-executor with his mother Elizabeth. I’ve come to the conclusion that he is not the ‘Gabriel mercer’ mentioned early in the will, who is to receive a ‘good heffer’ when he reaches the age of eighteen. This bequest may have been the source of the claim in some sources that Gabriel was born in about 1507, whereas I now believe that he was born somewhat earlier, perhaps around 1500 or even in the late 1490s.

The name of the property bequeathed to Gabriel Fowle

Nicholas bequeaths to his son Gabriel ‘my ii messuages with the gardens with a medo and a orcharde called [——–] the whiche I hold in fee formme of the prior and covent of ledes’. The name of the property (see above) is difficult to decipher: the first letter looks like a ‘w’, the second is probably a vowel (‘i’ or ‘e’), the middle consonants could be ‘lh’ or possibly ‘th’, and the final abbreviated group of letters (indicated by the symbol above them) might end in ‘n’. It would be useful to have access to a list of field names in and around Lamberhurst against which to check this. Leeds priory owned many properties in Kent, including the manor of Lamberhurst, until its dissolution some time in the late 1530s.

This bequest is dependent on Gabriel ‘paying suche charges as it is charged with all so that my saide son gabriell shall suffre my said wif his moder to have suche parte of that same messuage & gardene as I have now in occupying for all the terme of her lif’ and provided that ‘my sayde son gabriell shall suffre my saide son Thomas to have all suche yeres (?) as he hath taken of the saide partt of the saide messuage gardens & medow as the said Thomas hath now in farme paying unto hym and here iil of lawfull money of England furthermore’.

Countryside near Lamberhurst (via geograph.co.uk)

Although Gabriel is named as the executor of Nicholas’ will, he seems to have been the youngest of the three sons who are mentioned as beneficiaries. His brother John is to receive a number of properties, including Great Petfold and Little Petfold, on the death of his mother Elizabeth, while his other brother Thomas is bequeathed perhaps the greater part of Nicholas’ lands, including the Byne (or Vyne?) in Lamberhurst town and Pyfers, Paldings, Overmead and Hogwood in the wider parish. Gabriel’s bequest of a single property is quite modest by comparison.

In an earlier post I mentioned that a case in Chancery puts Gabriel Fowle in Lewes by 1529 at the latest. However, I’ve now found a reference to him in the Lay Subsidy Roll for 1524-5 – i.e. the year after his father’s death. Gabriel is listed as resident in the borough of Southover, where he is assessed as earning (?) £2 (per annum?) not quite the lowest amount in the list, but a long way behind the prior of Lewes at £18 and Thomas Puggeslye (of whom more later) at £40.

I had always assumed that Gabriel moved to Southover specifically to teach at the Free Grammar School, but I’ve begun to wonder about this. If he was master of the school in 1554, it would mean he had taught there for thirty years – and that he had been appointed as quite a young man. My fellow researcher Bill Green suggests that Gabriel might have been come to Southover in order to marry. Certainly it would seem that the extensive lands in Ringmer and Glynde that Gabriel bequeathed in his will were probably gained through marriage. The question is: to whom? I’m currently searching his will, and other documents, for clues as to his wife’s surname. I think there’s a good chance that her first name was Agnes – the name that Gabriel gave to his daughter, and that his son Magnus gave his daughter, my 11 x great grandmother.

Ringmer, Sussex

The other unsolved mystery surrounding Gabriel’s early adulthood is: where did he acquire the education that prepared him for the role of schoolmaster? I can find no trace of him in the alumni records for Oxford or Cambridge. I wonder what kind of training or qualification a grammar school master needed in the early 16^th century?

The Free Grammar School at Southover had been founded out of a bequest in the will of Agnes Morley, who died in 1512, just ten years or so before Gabriel arrived in Lewes. The will includes provision for the employment of a ‘scolemaister which shalbee a preest able to teche grammer in the said Free Scole, if such a preest able to canne bee had, or els to put in a seculer man whiche ys able teche grammer in the meane tyme in his stede’. There was clearly a close relationship between the new school and the neighbouring Cluniac Priory of St Pancras, since Agnes Morley wills that the prior is to be involved in organising the payment of the wages to the schoolmaster and to an usher. The schoolmaster is to receive ‘xli by the yere’ and the ‘receyvour’ appointed by the prior to handle payments is to ensure that the ‘messuage at Watergate, that is to say, the scolehouse and the house that the scolemaister and the ussher dwellith in, and closure about the same’, are ‘well maytenyned and repaired in all maner condition’.

Elsewhere in her will Agnes Morley bequeaths lands in Southover to ‘Thomas Puggislee the elder and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten’, and if he fails to produce an heir, then ‘that al the saide landes and tenementes shall remayne to the use and behofe of the Free Scole at Watergate, and for the mayteynyng of Saynte Erasmes Chapel in the church of Southovere’. Presumably Thomas was a relative – perhaps the father? – of ‘Sir Andrew Puggeslie’, the curate of St Michael’s church in Lewes and later vicar of Ringmer, who witnesssed Gabriel Fowle’s will.

David Arscott informs me that the original building of the Free Grammar School was in the corner of the grounds of what would become Southover Grange. There is still a Watergate Lane nearby. The school would have been very close to the grounds of Lewes priory.

Tudor schoolmaster and pupils (via curriculumvisions.com)

The names of some of the scholars left money by Gabriel Fowle are familiar from local records of the period. ‘John Cotmott the younger’ may be a relative (the son?) of the man of that name who was assessed in the Lewes Lay Subsidy Roll of 1524-5, and who seems to have been quire wealthy. From Graham Mayhew’s sumptous recent book on Lewes priory, I learn that a John Cotmott was the priory’s surveyor and its second highest paid servant at the time of the Dissolution. He left several houses in his will of 1559. Edward Pelham may have been a member of the noble Pelham family of Sussex, possibly the son or brother of Sir Nicholas Pelham. As for Andrew Baran (Baron?) and John Raynold, there are a number of people with those surnames in contemporary local records. Previously I thought that ‘ffeharbar’ was a misspelling of Fitzherbert, but I see that a Henry Ferherberd was listed in the Lay Subsidy Rolls for Ringmer.

Dunstan Sawyer, vicar of Ringmer during Mary’s reign, and one of the overseers appointed by Gabriel Fowle, seems to have remained a loyal Catholic. In his will of 1559, a year after Queen Elizabeth’s accession, he, like his late friend Gabriel Fowle, asked for masses to be said for his soul.

Some of the other name that occur in Gabriel’s will – such as Nicholas Aptott of Ringmer Green, William Marle, John Fortune and John Revet – might provide valuable clues to his family connections in the area. I’m also intrigued by the fact that two members of the Brown family are mentioned by Gabriel. He leaves money to a certain Thomas Brown, and elsewhere decrees that his moveable goods are to be equally divided between his son Magnus and daughter, Agnes, ‘with thadvyse of my overseers and Edward Brown.’ Is this an indication that Gabriel was closely connected to the Brown family, perhaps by marriage? Might Thomas Brown be the man of that name, from the parish of St John the Baptist, Southover, who made his own will four years later, in 1558?

While I wait for some recently-ordered documents to arrive, my attention has turned away temporarily from my sixteenth-century Fowle ancestors and back to their descendants in seventeenth-century Sussex, and in particular to my 9 x great grandfather Magnus Byne (1615 – 1671), who was the rector of Clayton-cum-Keymer. Magnus Byne was the son of Stephen Byne and Mary Manser, the grandson of Edward Byne and Agnes Fowle, the great grandson of Magnus Fowle and his wife Alice Lucke, and the great great grandson of Gabriel Fowle.

Parish church of St John the Baptist, Clayton, Sussex

Yesterday I thought I’d found a new source that independently verified some of the information about Magnus Byne that, until then, I’d only seen in Walter Renshaw’s history of the Byne family. The source was a chapter on ‘The Manor of Keymer’ in a 1911 collection published by the Sussex Archaeological Society. However, on closer investigation, it turned out that the chapter was written by none other than Walter Renshaw himself, who was apparently chairman of the society’s council.

Nevertheless, the chapter contains some interesting snippets of information which have added somewhat to my understanding of Magnus Byne’s life and times. For example, it reminded me of the close ties between Clayton and Lewes Priory. The priory held the advowson for the parish until its dissolution in 1537. Not only that, but its famous medieval wall paintings, uncovered in the nineteenth century, were the work of monks from the priory.

Medieval wall paintings uncovered at the parish church of Clayton, Sussex

Was it simple coincidence that Magnus Byne became rector of a church with historical ties to Lewes, where his great-great-grandfather (and my 13 x great grandfather) Gabriel Fowle had been master of the free grammar school a hundred years before?

After the dissolution of Lewes Priory, the advowson of Clayton-cum-Keymer came into the possession of Thomas Cromwell, the agent of its destruction, before passing to Edward Knight of Clayton. Renshaw’s chapter lists the three rectors who served the parish in the second half of the sixteenth century. The last of these, John Farley, ‘seems to have been somewhat negligent in his duties, as he forgot to preach for two consecutive years’.

Farley’s successor was William Wane, who was my 10 x great grandfather, since it was his daughter Anne who would marry Magnus Byne and become the mother of my 8 x great grandfather John Byne. Before coming to Clayton, William Wane had been curate at Wivelsfield, twelve miles away. He married Joan Kemp, widow of Thomas Kemp of Albourne, just five miles from Clayton.

Renshaw writes that William Wane was instituted to the rectory at Clayton on 9^th December 1601, ‘on the presentation of Queen Elizabeth “ratione defectus liberatione Thomae Whiting generosi”’, and inducted on 1^st January 1601/2. He continues:

Some difficulty connected with the title to the advowson existed at this time, as on 25^th November, 1601, Sir Edward Michelborne wrote to Sir Robert Cecil stating that he claimed the patronage. In 1603, however, Sir Edward was returned as being the patron. Thomas Whiting was closely related to Sir Edward Michelborne.

Edward Michelborne of Clayton (c.1562 – 1609) was a soldier, adventurer and Member of Parliament who was implicated in the the Earl of Essex’s rebellion of 1601. However, this note by Renshaw is particularly interesting to me because of the other name mentioned: Thomas Whiting. It may be mere coincidence, but this was also the name of the father-in-law of Stephen Byne, Magnus Byne’s eldest son, who would hold the advowson for Clayton for a time after his father’s death. Thomas Whiting, was a London citizen and joiner, and a neighbour both of Stephen, a citizen and upholsterer, and his brother John, a citizen and stationer.

The coronation of King Charles II

Is there a connection between the two Thomas Whitings: was Stephen Byne’s father-in-law the son of the man who was once the patron of his father’s parish? And does this suggest that the Whitings of London, like their neighbours the Bynes, had their roots in Sussex? I haven’t been able to answer this question yet, but in hunting for information, I’ve discovered more about Thomas Whiting. As a master joiner, he helped to prepare pageants for the Lord Mayor’s show in 1659, 1660 and 1662, and in 1661 he worked on the entertainments for the coronation of Charles II. He also played a part in the rebuilding of the church of St Edmund the King, Lombard Street, and in the design of Brewers’ Hall. Thomas was obviously a wealthy man: in 1676 he donated an organ to the church of St Botolph, Aldgate, which was installed in the early years of the eighteenth century and is still apparently in situ, having recently been restored.

In the early decades of the seventeenth century, the advowson for Clayton-cum-Keymer passed through a number of hands before being purchased by John Batnor, the puritanically-inclined and possibly deranged rector of Westmeston, just a few miles to the east of Clayton. In his will of 1624 Batnor entrusted the adowson to four people, including ‘my unnaturall and undutifull sonne’ Richard, and stated his wish that the post of rector should be conferred on his son-in-law Henry Cooper, the husband of his daughter Joan. However, this hardly reflected any confidence in Cooper, whom Batnor commanded ‘upon danger of a curse from God to continue incumbent of the said living […] sincerely preaching the sacred word of God without any fantasticall conceits or divelish brethings’. Batnor’s will went on to abuse his other sons, noting that John, the eldest of them, ‘on 15^th July, 1623, cursed me with a bitter curse calling me hellhound and challenging mee to be worse than the divell for the divell loved his own’. One can only speculate what life in the Batnor household must have been like.

Renshaw informs us that, on John Batnor senior’s death in 1626, the probate was revoked by sentence: ‘it is in charity to be hoped on the grounds of the testator’s insanity’. The result was that the advowson of Clayton devolved upon John Batnor junior, who took up the post in September 1626. As I’ve noted before, John Bantnor became the first of the clerical husbands of Anne Wane, daughter of his predecessor, when he married her at Clayton in July 1628.

After John Batnor’s death in 1638 he was followed as rector of Clayton by William Chowne, who became Anne’s second husband. Chowne only lived for two years after his arrival at Clayton, and was succeeded in July 1640 by Magnus Byne, who became Anne’s third husband in the following March. Magnus and Anne would have five children together, the youngest being my 8 x great grandfather John, before Anne’s death in March 1661/2. As I noted in my earlier post about Anne, she had spent her whole life at Clayton rectory, being born there as the daughter of one incumbent, and having subequently married three others.

Printing in the 17th century

Renshaw’s chapter reminds us that Magnus Byne’s second wife was Sarah Bartlett, ‘daughter of John Bartlett of St Faith’s, in the City of London, citizen and stationer’. I’ve written before about John Bartlett’s puritan sympathies and his publication of works of religious propaganda during the 1630s and 1640s. In 1656, eight years before his marriage to Sarah Bartlett, Magnus Byne had published a book of his own, with the resonant title, The Scornful Quakers answered, and their railing reply refuted. I wonder if it was through his contacts with London publishers that Magnus met John Bartlett and thus his daughter?

Renshaw notes that Magnus’ diatribe against the Quakers, was printed, not by John Bartlett, but ‘by William Bentley, for Andrew Crook, at the sign of the Green Dragon, in St Paul’s Churchyard. (In 1655 John Bartlett was himself at the sign of the Gilt Cup ‘in the new buildings on the South side of Pauls, neer St Austin’s-Gate’, and in 1657 he would be ‘at the Golden Cup in Pauls Church Yard over against the Drapers’).

The cover of Magnus Byne’s book

In the same year, 1656, that he printed Magnus Byne’s book, William Bentley was involved in a case concerning his right to print Bibles, which he claimed were ‘being for the fairnesse of the print, and truth of the Editions generally approved of to be the best that ever were printed’. According to one source, Bentley ‘enjoyed the favour of the interregnum government’ and (rather like John Bartlett) specialised in political and religious works, ‘printing very few texts of imaginative literature’. As for Andrew Crooke, he has been described as ‘one of the leading publishers of his day’, issuing significant texts of English Renaissance drama and producing important editions of works by Ben Jonson and Sir Thomas Browne.

I can’t help thinking that it was through one of these London publishing contacts – whether John Bartlett himself, or William Bentley or Andrew Crooke – that Magnus Byne arranged for his own son, John, my 8 x great grandfather, to be apprenticed as a stationer, probably some time in the late 1660s.

I’ve taken delivery of a copy of the will of Thomas Lucke, a priest in the parish of Litlington, Sussex, who died in March 1552. I learned about Thomas’ existence when transcribing a document relating to a case in Chancery involving my 12 x great grandparents Magnus and Alice Fowle. Alice’s maiden name was Lucke and the document led me to conclude that she was the daughter of Richard Lucke of Mayfield. Richard had a brother named Thomas, a ‘clarke’, who ‘by his last will in writing made & declaryd at Lythyngton [i.e. Litlington]…the xxivth date of October in the yere of our Lorde god a thousand one hundred fifty & one dyd … bequeathe to the sayd Alyce … certen severall sumes of monye to the sume of tenne pounds together’. In other words, Thomas Lucke was Alice Fowle’s paternal uncle, and the Chancery case seemed to involve a dispute about his will and what had become of Alice’s legacy.

St Michael’s church, Litlington, Sussex

Some extracts from Thomas Lucke’s will were included in a collection of Sussex wills published by the Sussex Record Society in 1938. I was interested to see that the editor shared my belief that Thomas had probably been a priest at Michelham Priory, about seven miles from Litlington, until its suppression in 1537. The Record Society publication makes reference to a volume of the Sussex Archaeological Collections which notes that, at the time of the Visitation of 1521, Thomas Luche or Luck was the precentor of the priory, being one of five priests and four novices who made up the community at that time. Interestingly, Michelham was an Augustinian priory, thus providing a connection between the Lucke and Fowle families, since Magnus Fowle’s relative (possibly his uncle) Bartholomew Fowle was the last prior of St Mary Overy in Southwark, having previously been a canon of Leeds Priory in Kent. As I’ve noted before, it seems likely that the Fowles were linked by marriage with the Pattenden family of Lamberhurst, who included among their number Thomas Pattenden, prior of Combwell in the early years of the sixteenth century. All of these were Augustinian foundations. 

Whatever his previous experience, we know that Thomas Lucke was curate at Litlington on 14^th December 1551, two months after he made his will and a little over two months before that will was proved. This is the only record of Thomas to be found in the database of clergy appointments. How long he had been at Litlington and what he was doing beforehand is unclear, particularly in the fourteen years since Michelham Priory was shut down and enjoyed the dubious distinction of being the first religious house in the country to be awarded to Thomas Cromwell, the agent of its destruction.

Gatehouse, Michelham Priory (via sussexpast.co.uk)

Thomas Lucke’s will includes some useful information about his associates and connections, though perhaps less about his family relationships than I had hoped. I’m sharing my transcription of the will below, and I’ll discuss what I think it can tell us in another post. I’m fairly confident that I’ve managed to decipher most of the words accurately, though I’m less sure about the Roman numerals, which are perhaps less important. I’ve emboldened proper names thus for ease of reference.

In dei no[m]i[n]e Amen In the xxiivth day of Octobre the yere of o[u]r Lorde god. xvlo.xvo.li. I Thomas Lucke hole of mynde & off good memorye make this my last wyll & Testament in forme & man[ne]r as ffoloweth. Ffyrst I comytt my soule into the hands of almyghtie god, w[i]th the intercessyon of the blessed virgyn marye mother of god and all the holy companye of heaven, My bodye to be buryed where yt shall please god to departe my soule from this p[re]sent lyffe Item I wyll twenty nobylls of the monye in the hands of Roger deane, & John ffaweken[e]r to be equally devyded betwene theme, as parte of the xth in there hands. And the rest off the xth, that ys, x nobylls to be dystrybuted to the povrtie, after the dyscretyon of my executor: In Lytlyngton, & Mayghffelde & ther aboutt, after the dyscrecon of my executor to the most nedye. Item I wyll of the xth of myne in the hands of Richard Turke, I wyll of the same xth, to hym x nobylls. And to Alyce Lucke other x nobylls. & to the povertie, after the dyscretyon of my executor at my buryall or monethes mynde, at Lytlington, Item I wyll to woddye of hartysfelde that maryed my brothers daughter, which hayth xith in his hands, whereof I gyve to the sayde woddye x nobylls, And to the sayd Alice Lucke other x nobylls, and to the povertie other x nobylls after the dyscretyon of my executor at Lytlyngton and there about, and the xxv remaynynge of the xith, I will to Thomas Lucke of maydston. Item I fforgyve brooke of Retherfelde the xxv which he oweth me Item I wyll of that monye that ys in Gregorye Martynes hands of Mayghfelde xlv to the povertie there to be dystrybuted by my executor. And the Resydue of the monye in his hands, I wyll halfe to Alice Lucke: the other halffe I wyll equally betwene Thomasyn Lucke and Elizabeth Lucke, by the hands of my executor to theme to be delyvred. Item I wyll to Jone hyberden xxd of the monye which I have here about me, that is, ii peces of golde which ys xxs, also angelate, a cruseado wherreof one of the xv I wyll to Robert holden my hoste, & my best shorte gowne my worsted deybyde (?). If (?) I wyll the crusado my Longe fyne gowne, & my sylver spone I wyll to agnes holden my hostes & all my beddynge wth the ptyanance (?). The Resydue of my goods not bequeathed nor here rehersed I wyll to Robert Holden my sole sp(??) I make Mr Willm hiberden my ov[e]rsear of this my Last wyll, to whome I wyll for his Labour my angelate nobyll & one of my gallones (?). Theyse beinge wytnesse Mr Willm hyberden, Sir Cresweller clerke, Sir brook the yongr, and Agnes holden with other the day & yere afore wrytten.

Thomas Lucke, curate of the parish of Litlington, Sussex, whose will I transcribed in the last post, died in March 1552, five years years after the death of King Henry VIII and the accession of his son, Edward VI. In those first few years of Edward’s reign, English replaced Latin as the language of church services, priests were given permission to marry, the first Book of Common Prayer was sanctioned by Parliament, and the first Act of Uniformity made the Catholic Mass illegal. Against this background, it is worth noting the traditionally Catholic preamble to Thomas Lucke’s will: he commits his soul ‘into the hands of almyghtie god, with the intercessyon of the blessed virgyn marye mother of god and all the holy companye of heaven’. A similar formula can be found in the will of his (probable) relative John Lucke of Mayfield, who had died two years earlier. However, it is perhaps just as interesting that Thomas’ will includes none of the requests for prayers for his soul that we find in John Lucke’s will, or indeed in the will of my 13 x great grandfather Gabriel Fowle (whose son Magnus married Thomas’ niece Alice), who died four years later, during the brief restoration of traditional religion under Queen Mary.

High and Over and Chalk Horse from above Litlington, Sussex ((via wikimedia)

Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that Thomas was a priest under Edward’s reforming regime and had to conform, at least outwardly, to the new ways. At any rate, I take this preamble as evidence that Thomas was not a wholehearted convert to the new religion, and certainly not one of those priests who, like Thomas Hothe, became evangelists for radical protestantism. As I’ve noted before, the details of Thomas’ clerical career are rather unclear. If we accept the theory that he was formerly praecentor of the Augustinian priory at Michelham, which was suppressed in 1537, then his movements over the next fifteen years leading up to his death remain a mystery. According to the clergy records, he was curate at Litlington on 14^th December 1551, three months before his death and two months after he made his will, but there is no other reference to him in the archives. On the same date, Lawrence Woodcock was said to be rector at Litlington, a post he would hold until his resignation in 1555. Woodcock had been a fellow of New College, Oxford, from 1508 to 1520, and held a number of posts in the Chichester diocese before coming to Litlington.

Thomas Lucke’s will makes a number of references to members of his family, though he rarely makes clear their relationship to him, or to each other. A notable absence is the name of Richard Lucke, who we know to have been his brother, and the father of my 12 x great grandmother Alice Fowle née Lucke, though he does refer to another beneficiary as the man who married ‘my brother’s daughter’. From this absence, I make the assumption that Richard probably predeceased his brother Thomas, and from the use of Alice’s maiden name I assume that she was yet to marry Magnus Fowle. Alice is to receive a number of sums of money, which correspond more or less to the ‘severall sumes of monye to the sume of tenne pounds together’ mentioned in the Chancery case, though there is no reference to the ‘two p[ar]cells of Sylver [ ] pounds & too [ ] called tablets of Sylver gylt sett with certen parcells to the value of five pounds’ also referred to in that document.

Tudor coins (via http://www.culture24.org.uk)

I’m fairly confident that the Elizabeth Lucke, who is also left a sum of money by Thomas, is the other daughter of Richard Lucke, referred to in the same legal case. It seems likely, too, that Thomasin Lucke, who is to share the sum with Elizabeth, was another sister. The identity of the Thomas Lucke ‘of maydston’ named in the will is unclear: it’s possible this person was either a son of Richard Lucke’s, or a cousin or more distant relative of the testator.

The only other person mentioned in the will who was definitely a relative of Thomas Lucke is ‘Woddye of hartysfelde that maryed my brothers daughter’. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is probably a reference to Hartfield, which is a dozen or so miles north-west of the Lucke family’s home village of Mayfield. A certain John Wodye senior made his will there in 1558. From the context, it’s impossible to be sure whether Wodye’s wife was another of the daughters of Richard Lucke, or of another brother of Thomas’.

We know from the case in Chancery that the Robert Holden named in Thomas Lucke’s will was actually his executor: he was the person with whom Magnus and Alice Fowle were in dispute about the will. Thomas describes him as ‘my hoste’ and his wife Agnes, a witness to the will, as ‘my hostess’: she is to receive many of his household goods. Does this mean that Thomas was living with the Holdens at the time of his death, even though one presumes that the parish provided accommodation for their curate? Or had they taken him in after his expulsion from the suppressed Michelham Priory? So far I’ve failed to find the Holdens in any local records, though a Nicholas Holden, a weaver of Wythyam, would be among the protestants burned at Mayfield in 1556.

Roger Deane and John Fawkener, who are bequeathed equal amounts of money by Thomas Lucke, seem to have been residents of Waldron, about fifteen miles north of Litlington. They had both acted as executors of the will of Thomas Jefferay of Chiddingley in 1550. That will also makes reference to Sir Edward Gage, and I’ve had occasion to mention the Fawkners and the Gages in the same context before, when writing about the will of my 11 x great grandfather John Manser of Wadhurst, who died in 1597. As I noted then, the Fawkners of Waldron were ironmasters and tenants of the Catholic Gage family: indeed, a John Fawkner assisted Sir John Gage in the interrogation of the radical protestant Richard Woodman, who was burned at Lewes in 1557.

Richard Turke, another beneficiary of the will, may also have lived at Waldron, though Richard Turke the elder and younger were named in the lay subsidy roll for Wadhurst in 1524-5. I’ve been unable to find a ‘Brooke of Retherfield’ in the records for Rotherfield, but the ‘Ric. brook the younger’ who witnessed Thomas Lucke’s will may have been the Richard Brooke of Litlington who made his own will in 1556. I’ve been unable to locate the Gregory Martyn (Martyr?) of Mayfield who is mentioned in Thomas’ will. Nor have I had much luck with William Hiberden or Hyberden, another of its witnesses, or with Joan Hyberden, who was perhaps his wife, though there were Hyberdens in Birdham near Chichester at this period, and a Francis Hiberden was parish priest in Heathfield in the 1550s.

St Andrews church, Alfriston (via alfriston-churches.co.uk)

There’s a Birdham connection with another of the witnesses to Thomas Lucke’s will. Richard Cresweller would be rector there from 1554 to 1569, but at the time of of Thomas’ death he was vicar of Alfriston, just a couple of miles north of Litlington. The Cresswellers, in fact, seem to have been a wealthy and influential Chichester family. Richard Cressweller was probably the fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who in the early 1530s had been involved in a dispute, culminating in a violent quarrel, concerning property just across the county border in West Tisted, Hampshire.

Occasionally, in family history research, revisiting familiar records can highlight details that you had failed to notice before: details that may be tiny in themselves, but whose discovery can have important consequences. So it was that, two years ago, a closer look at the marriage record of my 7 x great grandfather Joseph Greene, London citizen and goldsmith, made me realise that his wife’s name was not Mary Byrne, as I and every other person researching our family history had thought, but Mary Byne. From that realisation, I was able to find her parents, John and Alice Byne, and through them uncover my connection to the history of the interconnected Byne, Manser and Fowle families in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Sussex – which has preoccupied me ever since.

18th century goldsmiths at work

But revisiting familiar records can have negative as well as positive consequences, shutting down existing lines of enquiry rather than opening up new ones, though this too can be helpful. So it was that yesterday, browsing through my family tree, I took another look at the will of Joseph Greene, which he made in December 1737, shortly before his death. I realised that I had never actually made my own transcription of the will, relying instead on the work of other researchers, nor had I posted the will on this blog. Finding the version available at Ancestry difficult to decipher, I purchased a new copy from the National Archives and set to work transcribing it.

Joseph Greene’s will is brief and to the point, concerned mainly (as you might expect from a prosperous goldsmith) with financial matters, and it contains few clues about his family or friends. One of the three witnesses, Joseph Letch, seems to have been a lawyer at the Middle Temple, and was probably the family attorney, while the other two witnesses, Anne Jones and Mary Phillips, have common surnames and might have been family friends, or even servants. The main business of the will is to ensure that Joseph’s only surviving daughter, also named Mary, receives the generous amount of money promised in her marriage settlement (she had been married for eight years when her father died). Mary had been promised £2000 and is now bequeathed a further £1000: this would be equivalent to about £250,000 (or $370,000 US dollars) in today’s currency.

Tower Hill in the late 17th century

Mary’s husband was John Gibson and they had been married at the parish church of All Hallows, London Wall, less than a mile from the Greene family home at Tower Hill, on 8^th July 1729, when Mary was nineteen years old. John Gibson’s origins, and indeed many of the details of his life, remain a mystery. Was he the son of Benjamin and Mary Gibson of Gravel Lane, who had also been married at All Hallows, and who had a son John baptised in 1699, the year of ‘our’ John Gibson’s birth, according to his burial record? And was he the John Gibson, coal factor, convicted of defrauding the Crown and imprisoned in the Fleet in 1742, who took up the trade of brewing on his release?

These questions have yet to find a satisfactory answer. However, research into John Gibson’s life has also been guided by another assumption: that, at some stage, he served as an officer in the Navy. The only hard evidence for this is derived from Joseph Greene’s will, which appears to describe Gibson as a lieutenant:

However, taking a closer look at the will yesterday, I noticed that the letters that I, and other researchers, had thought spelled ‘Liet’ were in fact something rather different, and much more prosaic.

In fact, the first letter was remarkably similar to the initial letter of his wife’s name, Mary, in the previous line. And the final letter could be read, in fact, as an ‘r’ with a full stop beneath. In other words, Joseph Greene did not describe his son-in-law as a lieutenant, but as plain Mr. John Gibson.

This means that I can stop my fruitless search for John Gibson in eighteenth-century naval records and focus on his actual career, possibly as a lighterman and coal factor. This is not to deny that the Gibson family would, in due course, enjoy important links with the Navy. One of John and Mary Gibson’s grandsons would be named after the naval hero, Sir Edmund Affleck, who also seems to have been a witness to the first marriage of their son, Bowes John Gibson. However, this connection seems to come about through Bowes John’s own work for the East India Company, rather than through his father.

I’m sure I’ll be returning to the story of John Gibson at some point, and to that of his father-in-law, Joseph Greene. For now, and for information, here is my transcription of Joseph’s will:

I Joseph Greene Citizen and Goldsmith of London do make my last will and testament as follows. First I order and direct that all my just debts shall be paid and satisfied and whereas I agreed to give the sum of Two Thousand pounds as a portion with my daughter Mary upon her marriage with her now husband Mr. John Gibson to be setled to such uses purposes and in such manner as is mentioned and expressed in certain deeds of settlement made previous to and in consideration of the said then intended marriage which sum hath not as yet been paid by me Wherefore I doe order and direct that my Executrix hereafter named shall not only forthwith pay the said sum of Two Thousand pounds but also the further sum of One Thousand pounds to such person or persons as is or are intituled to receive the said sum of Two Thousand pounds by virtue of the said marriage settlement which said one Thousand pounds shall be applyde setled and disposed of in such manner and to upon and for such uses trusts intents and purposes as the said two Thousand pounds is thereby agreed and intended to be settled and secured Also I give devise and bequeath unto my dear and beloved wife Mary Green her heirs Executors and Administrators for ever All the rest and remainder of my estate real and personal of what nature kind quantity or quality so ever and do make and constitute my said wife sole Executrix of this my will hereby revoking all former will heretofore by me made In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this nineteenth day of december in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven the mark of Joseph Green signed sealed published and declared by the said Joseph Green as his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto in his presence Anne Jones Mary Phillips Jos: Letch.

This Will was proven before the worshipfull Thomas Walker doctor of Laws Surrogate to the Right Worshipfull John Bottesworth also doctor of Laws Master Keeper or Commissary of the prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfull constituted the sixth day of February in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred thirty seven by the oath of Mary Greene widow the Relict of the deceased and Sole Executrix named in the said will to whom Administration was granted of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the said deceased being first sworn duly to Administer.

My recent ‘second look’ at the will of my 7 x great grandfather, London goldsmith Joseph Greene (1677 – 1737), has re-awakened my interest in the Greene family of Stepney. As I noted in the last post, my discovery two years ago that the maiden name of my 7 x great grandmother, Joseph’s wife Mary, was Byne, has enabled me to trace one branch of my maternal family tree back as far as the early 16^th century. However, I remain disappointed that I’ve been unable to follow Joseph Greene’s family any further back than his father, my 8 x great grandfather, Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe.

Graves in Stepney churchyard (flickr)

Part of my frustration is that I’ve discovered a rich seam of records relating to a seafaring Greene family living in the Ratcliffe area, earlier in the seventeenth century, but to date I haven’t been able to connect them reliably with Captain Greene. I remain fascinated, in particular, by the will of Elizabeth Greene, who died in 1655, and was the widow of another William Greene, also a mariner from Ratcliffe, who died in 1634 – since that remarkable document introduces a fascinating cast of characters and opens up a wealth of religious, political and literary connections in London and Kent in the period leading up to the Civil War.

I want to have yet another attempt at tracing the origins of Captain William Greene, but before I do so, I want to reassure myself that Captain Greene is, indeed, my ancestor. So in this post I’m returning to the evidence that we have for his life and family connections.

The church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney

The first suggestion of Captain Greene’s existence, and his link with my maternal ancestors, is to be found in the inscription on a tomb in Stepney churchyard in the East End of London. In 1896, the inscription was transcribed by James Joseph Holdsworth (1876 – 1933), who Ancestry informs me was my third cousin three times removed. He was the great grandson of Joseph Holdsworth (1770 – 1844), the brother of my 4 x great grandfather, William Holdsworth (1771 – 1827). I’m grateful to my fellow researcher Adrian Holdsworth for sharing this document, as well as many others from the Holdsworth family archive, with me.

According to J.J. Holdsworth’s record, the Greene family tomb in the grounds of the parish church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney was an altar tomb, ‘containing inscription, crest and coat of arms on the upper slab and inscription on two sides’. He adds that ‘the carving on the upper side is very indistinct, but fortunately much is still readable’. Indeed, Holdsworth’s transcription includes a number of ellipses and some numerals about which he was obviously uncertain, signalling this by placing them within parentheses. Apparently the family crest was ‘a stag’s head erased’ and the coat of arms ‘a chevron between three stags trippant’.

The inscription on the upper slab of the tomb reads as follows:

Here lie the Remains of

Capt. W. GREENE late of

Ratcliff Mariner who died

the 3^rd of January 168(2) Age 6(0)

Also of Mrs. Eliz. Greene

who died the 14^th of December 17(12)

Aged 80

Also of Mr. Joseph Greene

Citizen and Goldsmith . . . . . .

late of the parish of St. B. . . .

who died the 26^th of December 1717

Aged 60 years

The inscription on the north side of the tomb reads as follows:

Here lieth the remains of

Mrs. Elizabeth Holdsworth late of this parish

who departed this life March 1^st 1809

aged 77 years

Also Mr. John Wm. Bonner nephew of the above

late of His Majesty’s Ordinance Office Tower

who departed this life Septr. 21^st 1817

aged 55 years

Also Mr. John Holdsworth son of the above

who died Dec. 2^nd 1848 aged 84 years.

The inscription on the south side of the tomb reads as follows:

Here lie the bodies of

Ann Elizth and Joseph Son and Daughter

of Mr. Joseph Greene of Tower Hill

Goldsmith, and Mary his wife

Ann died the 23^rd of December 1705 3 days old

Elizth died on the 27^th of August 1725

aged 18 years and 11 months

Joseph died the – of Octo r 172(6) aged (25)

These inscriptions are a vital source of information about the Holdsworth and Greene families, providing a link between my 5 x great grandmother Elizabeth Holdsworth and her Greene ancestors. The description of John William Bonner as Elizabeth’s nephew enables us to conclude that she was born Elizabeth Gibson, since it was her sister Frances Gibson who married mariner Michael Bonner, and they were John William’s parents. We also know from Joseph Greene’s will, as well as from other sources, that his daughter Mary was married to John Gibson, Elizabeth’s father. Although the inscription doesn’t state explicitly that Joseph Greene, citizen and goldsmith, was the son of Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe, this is certainly the implication, and confirmation of that connection can be found elsewhere.

St Botolph without Aldgate

From other sources, we can fill in at least one of the ellipses in this transcription: for example, we know that Joseph Greene lived in the parish of St Botolph, Aldgate. And since we know that Joseph definitely died in 1737, not 1717, we can perhaps retain some scepticism about the accuracy of some of the other dates.

Other sources provide confirmation that Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe was, indeed, the father of Joseph Greene. For example, an official document relating to Joseph’s admission to Freedom of the City of London, dated 3^rd May 1693, describes him (in Latin) as: ‘Josephus Green fil.  [i.e. son of] Willm Greene de Stepney Com. Midlx.’ and as apprenticed to Joseph Strong ‘Civis et AureFabr’ [citizen and goldsmith]. Responding to a query from me about Joseph a few years ago, Eleni Bide of the Goldsmiths’ Company wrote:

One Joseph Green, son of William, Mariner, deceased, was apprenticed to Joseph Strong, Citizen and Goldsmith on 15 June 1692 (Apprentice Book 4, page 20). He was made free on 14 April 1708, and became a Liveryman in October of that year.

When we search for William Greene himself in the Stepney parish records, we find that the only burial record bearing any relation to the information on his tomb notes that on 6^th January 1685 ‘Capt. William Green of Ratcliffe Mariner’ was buried there. (Note: this would have been 1686 by modern reckoning, since at this period the new year did not begin until March). This would certainly fit with a death date of 3^rd January, as stated on the tomb. As for the year of death, this is one of those dates about which the transcriber of the tomb inscription was unsure: he might easily have mistaken a ‘5’ for a ‘2’. A William Green of Ratcliffe died and was buried at St Dunstans in May 1680, but he was said to be the son of Thomas Green, shipwright – in other words, he was still a minor.

Given that the name, rank, occupation, place and month of death, as well as the decade of the date at least, all match, I think we can conclude that this is, in fact, the right Captain William Greene. It’s perhaps a little concerning that a 1795 publication entitled The Environs of London, in listing the tombs in Stepney churchyard, also gives Captain William Green’s year of death as 1682 – but then, the final digit on the tomb inscription might already have become obscured by that date, more than a century after William’s death.

Ships on the Thames at London Bridge, 17th century

If we then look for the birth of a son Joseph to a William Greene, we find that on 14^th March 1677 (1678 by modern reckoning), the baptism took place at St Dunstan’s, Stepney, of Joseph ‘son of Capt. Willm. Green of Ratcliff mariner and Elizabeth uxor’ (wife). The child was said to be 22 days old at the time, so he was born on or about 22^nd February. Knowing that Joseph died in December 1737, we can confirm that he was, as the tomb inscription correctly states, 60 years old at the time of his death. We also know from the inscription that William Greene’s wife was indeed Elizabeth, a common name at the time, but perhaps further confirmation that this is the ‘right’ William Greene.

On 22^nd October 1685 ‘William Greene of Ratcliffe in the parish of Stebenheath als Stepney in the County of Middx mariner’ made his will. This was less than three months before the death of ‘our’ Captain Greene. Since the will also mentions his wife Elizabeth and a son named Joseph who is not yet twenty one, it’s almost certainly the right man, despite the fact that the will would not be proved until October 1686. From the will we also learn that William Greene had a daughter Mary whose surname was White, and two grandchildren, William Greene and Mary Greene: the absence of any mention of their father suggests that he may have died by this date.

On 7^th March 1676 (1677 by modern reckoning), ‘Jane wife of Capt. Willm. Green of Ratcliffe’ was buried at St Dunstan’s, Stepney. Thirteen days later, on ‘20 Marty 1676/7’, a scrivener named Thomas Sumerly published the official allegation of ‘a marriage shortly to be solemnized between Wm Greene of Stepney in ye County of Midds widdower aged 50 yeares or thereabouts & Elizabeth Elliott of ye same place widow aged 35 or thereabouts’.

Section of Rocque’s 1746 map, showing part of Ratcliffe.

While we can’t be absolutely sure that this was Captain William Greene and his second wife, there are a number of facts that point in that direction. Firstly, his tomb inscription seems to state that Captain Greene was 60 years old or thereabouts when he died in 1685/6, which matches the claim in the marriage allegation that he was ‘aged 50 yeares or thereabouts’ in 1676. Secondly, the same inscription claims that Captain Greene’s widow Elizabeth was 80 when she died. The date of her death is unclear on the tomb, but if it were 1722, and not 1712, then this would fit. I’ve argued elsewhere that Elizabeth Elliott was probably the widow of prosperous Ratcliffe carpenter John Elliott, who had died in 1674, in which case her maiden name was Leete. Thirdly, the marriage of William Greene and Elizabeth Elliott took place about eleven months before the birth of Joseph Greene, said to be the son of Captain William Greene and his wife Elizabeth.

Besides important information about his immediate family, William Greene’s will of October 1685 also includes this about his friends:

I desire that my said wife Elizabeth Green will att my funeral give unto such and so many my worthy friends the Elder Brothers of the Trinity House (whereof I am a member) whose names are mentioned in a note under my hand delivered to my said wife to each person a ring to wear in remembrance of me.

From this, we can conclude that Captain Greene was at the very least a member, and almost certainly an Elder Brother of Trinity House, the guild of mariners founded by Royal Charter in 1514. In 1685 a new charter was issued by King James II ‘for the government and increase of the navigation of England, and the relief of poor mariners, their widows and orphans, etc’. The charter appointed thirty-one Elder Brethren, of whom one was to hold the office of Master, four were to act as Wardens, and eight as Assistants. None other than the diarist Samuel Pepys, who had been secretary to the Navy Board under James’ brother and predecessor Charles II, was appointed as Master. The Charter continues:

And also We have assigned, nominated, constituted, and made, and by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, do assign, nominate, constitute, and make Captain John Nichols, Captain Henry Mudd, Captain Nicholas Kerrington, and Captain William Green, to be the four first and present Wardens of the said Guild, Fraternity, or Brotherhood.

(emphasis added)

Since we know that ‘our’ William Greene was an Elder Brother of Trinity House, and since there is only man of that name in the list of Elder Brothers from this period, then it seems reasonable to conclude that the Captain William Greene who served as one of the four wardens of Trinity House in 1685 was my ancestor. As I’ve noted before, at least two of his fellow wardens were near neighbours: Henry Mudd lived in Ratcliffe and Nicholas Kerrington in Wapping.

In summary, this review of the evidence leads us to conclude that:

• Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe, mariner, was the father of Joseph Greene, goldsmith of the parish of St Botolph, Aldgate, and therefore the great grandfather of my ancestor Elizabeth Holdsworth née Gibson.

• this same William Greene was firstly married to a woman named Jane, and then to a widow named Elizabeth Elliott who was the mother of Joseph.

• William Greene had a daughter Mary, whose married name was White.

• William also had two grandchildren, William and Mary Green, whose father seems to have died before 1685.

• Captain William Greene died in January 1686 (new style) in the hamlet of Ratcliffe, in the parish of Stepney, and his widow Elizabeth probably died in 1722.

• William was an Elder Brother of Trinity House, and almost certainly one of its four wardens, serving under Samuel Pepys, in the year before he died.

• William was probably about 60 years old when he died, which means that he was born in 1626 or thereabouts.

This much seems clear. However, as we shall see, attempting to go further and trace Captain William Greene’s origins is another matter altogether.

I’m making another attempt to trace the origins of my maternal 8 x great grandfather, Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe, who died in January 1685/6. Captain Greene was a mariner and Warden of Trinity House under Samuel Pepys. In the previous post, I reviewed the evidence confirming that William Greene was, indeed, my ancestor, and the father of my 7 x great grandfather, London goldsmith Joseph Greene (1677 – 1737).

Trinity House

I’ve always believed, though I haven’t been able to prove, that William Greene was somehow related to another mariner of the same name, who also lived in Ratcliffe, and who died in 1634. However, two years ago I speculated that William might be the son of another William Greene, who also lived in Ratcliffe, and who worked not as a mariner but as a chirurgeon (surgeon). This theory was prompted by my discovery that John Bodington, an apothecary who lived in Ratcliffe and made his will in 1728, was not only a close friend of Joseph Greene (he made him joint executor of his will) but for some reason had an interest in the will of Joseph’s mother-in-law (and my 8 x great grandmother) Alice Byne née Forrest.

My research into John Bodington’s background led me to the conclusion that he was the third person to bear that name in his family. The John Bodington who died in 1728 turns out to have been the son of another apothecary named John Bodington, also from Ratcliffe, who died in 1698. He in turn was the son of John Bodington, chirurgeon, who was not only apprenticed to William Greene of Ratcliffe, chirurgeon, but in 1638 married William’s daughter Margaret.

Interior of St Dunstan’s, Stepney

We know from the Stepney parish records that William Greene, chirurgeon, and his first wife Agnes had a son named William, who was christened at the church of St Dunstan and All Saints on 14^th March 1623/4. Could this be my 8 x great grandfather, the man who grew up to be Captain William Greene, mariner? If he survived, this William Greene would have been two months away from his 62^nd birthday when he died in 1685/6: we know that Captain Greene was in his sixties when he died (the second digit of his age is obscured on his tombstone) and ‘aged 50 yeares or thereabouts’ when he married his second wife Elizabeth in 1676/7.

There are a number of posssible objections to this hypothesis. The first is that William Greene chirurgeon, makes no mention of a son William in his will of 1654. However, we know from other wills from this period that they did not always mention every heir or beneficiary. Moreover, William Greene also fails to mention his married daughter Margaret in the will, and at the same time makes reference to ‘my foure youngest daughters’ without naming any others.

Another possible objection is the unlikelihood of a chirurgeon’s son becoming a mariner. Isn’t it far more likely that William Greene junior would have become a chirurgeon, like his father? Once again, however, there might be ways of countering this objection. One is my theory that William Greene senior was, in fact, a ship’s surgeon who may have had dealings with the American colonies, so it’s possible to imagine his son growing up in surrounded by mariners and talk of sea voyages, all of which might have influenced him towards a maritime career.

HMS Monmouth

Secondly, I’ve discovered a parallel in the family of the third John Bodington. Searching for records in the National Archives, I came across a case in Chancery from 1716, in which John Bodington of Stepney, Middlesex, was a defendant and Samuel Younghusband, a mariner, was the plaintiff. Younghusband was the purser on HMS Monmouth, which sailed to Jamaica in 1712. It appears that John Bodington’s brother Richard, said to be deceased, was a Lieutenant on the same ship. I assume the court case was a dispute over Richard’s will. Richard had been born in 1684, six years after John, but to date I’ve been unable to find any record of his death.

If the second John Bodington, a Ratcliffe apothecary and himself the son of a chirurgeon, could have a son who was a mariner, then might not William Greene, chirurgeon, also have had a son who became a ship’s captain?

Footnote

Reviewing the records for the third John Bodington – the one who died in 1728 and was a friend of Joseph Greene – I noticed that he leaves ‘six pounds apiece to buy each of them mourning’ to his two apprentices, John Letch and Moor Doughty. I recalled that one of the witnesses to the will of Joseph Greene, who died ten years later, was Joseph Letch. He was an attorney, and it seems from the will of John Letch, apothecary, who died in 1763, that he was his brother. Incidentally, it appears that Moor or Moore Doughty became a ship’s surgeon.

In the previous post I explored a theory about the family background of my 8 x great grandfather, Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe. I speculated that he might have been the son of another William Greene, a chirurgeon  (surgeon) who also lived in Ratcliffe and had a son named William baptised at Stepney parish church in 1623/4. However, I’ve been unable to find any conclusive proof of this connection, so for now I’m continuing to explore other possibilities.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m still hoping to find some kind of link between my ancestor Captain Greene and another mariner of Ratcliffe, also named William Greene, who died in 1634. In his will, this William Greene made bequests to ‘my sonnes William Greene and Bartholomew Greene both of the parish abovesaid in the Countie of Midd Marriners’ and to ‘my Grandchildren beinge the sonnes and daughters of my three sonnes viz in number seaven’. The identity of the elder William Greene’s third son is revealed in the will of his widow, Elizabeth Greene, who died in 1655, in which she refers to one of her late husband’s surviving grandchildren as ‘John Greene the sonne of John Greene of New Castle Marriner’.

For some time, I’ve been searching for information about John Greene (father or son), and today I finally tracked down a document that may offer some clues about his life. In the Durham Probate Records I came across a reference to the will of John Greene, mariner, of Newcastle upon Tyne, who made his will in May 1668. Apparently this was a noncupative or oral will, made aboard the May Flower of Newcastle, in Carlisle Bay, off Bridgetown, Barbados.

John Greene’s will has been digitised and can be accessed via the FamilySearch site. I’ve now downloaded a copy and transcribed the document, which is fairly brief, as you might expect of a will taken down by dictation from a sick and dying man, on a ship thousands of miles from home. When I first came across the reference to the will, I assumed it was made by John Greene senior, the son of the William Greene who died in 1634. However, I now think that if it has any connection to the Greenes of Ratcliffe, it is more likely to be the will of William Greene’s grandson, also John, assuming that the latter followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather by going to sea. I base my hunch on the fact that the John Greene who made this will refers to a brother named Joseph, and we know that the older John Greene only had two brothers, William the younger and Bartholomew. On the other hand, if it is the same family, then the fact that it includes the names of two family members – Joseph, and also his and John’s mother Dorothy – that might provide clues to uncovering the link, if any exists, with the Stepney Greenes. It’s also interesting that the master of the May Flower was Thomas Green, though the will gives no suggestion that the two men were related, and the shared surname may simply be a coincidence.

John Greene’s will of 1668

I’ve been unable to find out very much about Thomas Green or his ship, except that it certainly wasn’t the famous Mayflower that transported the pilgrims to the New World more than half a century earlier: it seems there were a number of ships bearing the same name in the seventeenth century. At this period Barbados was an important British colony, dominated by sugar plantations and increasingly reliant on slave labour transported from Africa: the May Flower may well have taken part in this trade. During the 1660s, Barbados suffered a number of misfortunes, including a fire in Bridgetown and a major hurricane in 1667, and a drought in 1668, the year of John Greene’s death, which ruined some plantation owners.

My transcription of the will follows, and I hope that in future posts I’ll be able to report further findings on John Greene’s identity and his possible link with my Stepney ancestors.

Memorandum That in the Month of May in the yeare of our Lord God One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight, John Green late whilst he lived of the Towne & County of Newcastle upon Tyne mariner, being then aboard the Ship called the May flower of Newcastle aforesd, whereof Thomas Green was then Master in Carlisle–bay at the Barbadoes, and being sicke and weake in body yet of sound and pfect memory, and being demanded by the sayd Thomas Green, how? and in what mannner? he would dispose of his Estaite, in case it should please God, to call him out of this mortall life, he the sayd John Green with A: serious intencon, and resolucon, to make & declare his last Will & Testament Nuncupative by word of mouth, answered and sayd, in these or the very like words in Effort following (vizt) The one halfe of my Estaite I give and bequeath to my brother Joseph Green: and the other halfe thereof I Give and bequeath unto my mother Dorothy Green Which words, or words tending to the same Effort & purpose were uttered by the sayd John Green being of pfect minde and memory, as and for his last Will & Testament Nuncupative in the psence and hearing of the sayd Thomas Green, and of John Chester Chirurgion of the sayd Shipp.

Footnote

I wonder if there is any connection between Thomas Green, Master of the May Flower, and Thomas Greene, Captain of the Worcester, who was executed at Edinburgh in 1705 after a notorious trial for piracy, of which he was almost certainly innocent? I’m grateful to Christine Hancock, who has written about the case, for alerting me to this story in a comment on an earlier post.

On 20^th March 1676 (1677 by modern reckoning), a scrivener named Thomas Sumerly, from the east London suburb of Shadwell, published a marriage allegation on behalf of William Greene, a 50-year-old widower, and Elizabeth Elliott, a widow of 35, both of them from nearby Stepney. Four years earlier, Sumerly had been  a witness to the last will and testament of his friend John Elliott, a well-to-do carpenter and Elizabeth’s late husband. The allegation ‘prayed Lycence’ for William and Elizabeth to be married ‘in ye parish Church of St Bartholomew the Lesse or St Paul Shadwell’.

The marriage allegation for William Greene and Elizabeth Elliott

I’m almost certain that the William Greene who married Elizabeth Elliott was Captain William Greene of Ratfliffe, and that he and Elizabeth were my 8 x great grandparents. Just two weeks before this allegation was published, ‘Jane wife of Capt. Willm. Green of Ratcliffe’ had been buried at the parish church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney. About eleven months after the allegation was made, a child named Joseph Greene, ‘son of Capt. Willm. Green of Ratcliff mariner and Elizabeth uxor’, was christened at St Dunstan’s. Joseph was my 7 x great grandfather. Clearly, Captain Greene had remarried in the interim, to a woman named Elizabeth, and this marriage to Elizabeth Elliott seems to fit the bill.

However, until yesterday I hadn’t been able to locate a record of the marriage of William and Elizabeth. I’d found a reference, in the parish register of St Botolph’s, Aldgate, to a marriage between William Greene and Elizabeth Leate on 7^th February 1677. Since Leate or Leete was Elizabeth Elliott’s maiden name, I’d managed to half-persuade myself that this might be the right record, despite the fact that it describes William as a bachelor, and that February 1677 was almost a year after the allegation was made. Not only that, but St Botolph’s, despite its proximity to Stepney, was not even one of the churches mentioned in the marriage allegation.

Church of St Bartholomew the Less, City of London (via wikimedia)

Then, yesterday morning, carrying out another sweep through the records at Ancestry, I came across a reference to a marriage on 23^rd March 1676 between William Greene and Elizabeth Elliott – at St Bartholomew the Less, one of the two churches named in the allegation published by Thomas Sumerly. Unfortunately, it’s an index-only record: it seems that the parish records for St Bartholomew have not been fully digitised. This marriage took place three days after the allegation was published by Thomas Sumerly, so I think there’s a fair chance it’s the right one.

St Bartholomew the Less is a small church in the City of London, associated with St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Only a selection of its parish records have been digitised and uploaded to Ancestry: unfortunately they don’t include marriages for 1676. The complete parish records for the church are held by St Barts’ own archive and can be viewed by arrangement. I’m hoping it will be possible to pay a visit, if only to see whether the register includes any details – such as age, occupation or home parish – that would confirm that the William Greene and Elizabeth Elliott who were married on 23^rd March 1676 were in fact my ancestors.

I’ve been revisiting the records for my maternal 8 x great grandfather Captain William Greene of Ratcliffe, Stepney, who died in January 1685/6. Our knowledge of Captain Greene’s family is sketchy, but it’s clear from his will of October 1685 that he had a daughter Mary who survived him. There is just one reference to her in the will:

I give and bequeath unto my loveing daughter Mary White late Mary Greene the sume of Twenty shillings of lawfull money of England.

From this we can conclude that, by the time her father made his will, Mary was married to a man named White. Earlier in his will William Greene mentions ‘my two grandchildren William Greene and Mary Greene’. From their surname, I assume these were the children of an unnamed and probably deceased son. Since William doesn’t mention any grandchildren named White, I assume that at this stage Mary didn’t have any children of her own, or at least any who had survived, and she may not have been married long.

St. Dunstan’s church, Stepney

William Greene was buried at the church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, on 6^th January 1685/6. The parish register of the church records the baptism, just two weeks later, on 19^th January, of ‘Mary daughter of John White of Ratcliffe mariner & of Mary uxor’. The same child was buried on 31^st July 1686, at the age of just six months. I’ve been unable to find evidence of any other children born to the couple. Although we can’t be sure, it seems quite likely that this record relates to Mary White née Greene, daughter of Captain William Greene. There are other couples named John and Mary White in the contemporary local records: one John White was a sawyer in Limehouse, for example, while another was a Spitalfields cutler. However, the fact that Mary’s father was also a mariner, and that her family home was in Ratcliffe, suggests that this is the right couple.

There are a number of wills relating to mariners named John White living in or near Stepney in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. However, there is only one in which the testator refers to a wife named Mary, and that is the last will and testament of John White of Ratcliffe, signed and sealed on 28^th August 1689, in the first year of the reign of William and Mary (who had seized the throne in the coup that ousted King James II earlier that year). This John White describes himself as a shipwright, rather than a mariner, but the two occupations were by no means incompatible.

Ships on the Thames at London in the 17th century

The will seems to follow a standard format used by mariners about to embark on a sea voyage, granting what seems to be power of attorney to his wife Mary. This means that, unhelpfully for our purposes, John White’s will contains minimal information about his family and other circumstances. The document is labelled on the reverse side as ‘Letter of Attorney and Will from Mr John White’, and beneath this is the following description, in a mixture of Latin and English:

Testator fuit p— de Stepney Sed mort obist apud Maryland Mense Septembri 1696 ad navem n—  ye preservacon

In other words, the testator was from (the parish of?) Stepney, but died in Maryland in the month of September 1696, on board a ship called the Preservation. I’ve found a reference to this document in a collection of North American wills registered in London. This describes John as a shipwright of Ratcliffe, Middlesex, who died on the ship Preservation. However, it gives the location of his death as ‘VA’ – i.e. Virginia – rather than Maryland. The record includes the useful information that the will was proved on 8^th October 1697 by John’s widow Mary, thus confirming that Mary survived him.

Seventeenth century map of Virginia and Maryland

I haven’t been able to find out anything about the Preservation, except that the same book of wills refers to two other London mariners’ deaths on board the same ship, also in Virginia. On 10^th March 1699 the will of Josiah Dixon of Aldgate, and on 17^th December 1706 the will of Jasper Ellixon of Ratcliffe Highway, Stepney, were proven. In the latter case, the Preservation is described as a merchant ship. These additional references also confirm that the ship sailed regularly between London and Virginia. Virginia and Maryland, which had both been settled since the early decades of the seventeenth century, were neighbouring colonies, and for a ship anchored in Chesapeake Bay, for example, it might be difficult to determine which colony was nearer (see map above). Alternatively, the designation of the site of John White’s  and these other sailors’ death as ‘Virginia’ might be evidence of a continuing habit of using this name to describe the whole of the eastern seaboard from Maine to North Carolina.

I’ve yet to find any record for John White’s widow Mary after 1697. It’s possible she remarried, or she may have returned to live with her widowed stepmother Elizabeth Greene, who would herself survive for another ten or twenty years or so.

There were two witnesses to John White’s will. Thomas Cook seems to have been another Stepney mariner, while Thomas Quilter Senior may have been the ‘gentleman’ of Ratcliffe who made his will in 1723, or possibly his father. My transcription of John White’s will follows:

Know all men by this p[re]sents that I John White of Ratcliffe in the parrish of Stepney als Stebenheath in the County of Midlsx. Shipwright Have made ordained Constituted and Appointed and by these presents in my stead and place doe make ordaine Constitute and Appoint my welbeloved wife Mary White of the same parrish and County to be my true and Lawfull Attorney Deputy and Asigne for me in my name and to mine owne use and behoofe to ask demand, require, recover, buy [?] receive and take All and singular such sume and & sumes of mony debts, dues, adventures [?], ticketts, goods wares, merchandises Chattells Rents, Claimes and all other demands whatsoever, which now and or hereafter shall become due Owing and Appertaining unto me the said John White By or from any manner of person or persons whoatsoever whether the same be or shall be by Bond Bill agreement gift or bequest or for my service on board any ship or ships or any vessell or vessells or by any other wayes or means howsoever, Giving and by these presents granting unto my said Attorney my full and whole power Strength and Authority to use any Lawfull wayes or means for the recovery of the same or any part thereof and in Case of Refusal or non payment thereof to sue arrest attack, Impload, Imprison and Condemne, And upon payment of the same or any other Composicon againe to Release discharge and sett free, The Attorney or more —– under her to substitute and appoint and the same again at pleasue to revoake, And generally to doe Execute performe fulfull and finish all things whatsoever needful and Expedient to be done in and about the Execucon of the promises as fully to all intents and purposes as I myselfe might or Could doe if they and their personally present. Hereby Ratifying and Confirming all, and whatsoever my said Attorney her substitutes shale doe by vertue how of And when it shale pleas god to take me out of this present world then my mind and meaning is that this writing shall be taken as my Last will and Testament and I give and bequeath (after my Just debts satisfied) unto my said welbeloved wife Mary White All and Singular my goods debts Chattels wages adventures [?] sume and sums of mony and all other temporale Estate of what kind nature and quality soever and wheresoer shall then of right belong unto me whome by these presnets I doe make nominate and appoint to be full and sole Executrix of this my last will and Testament Renouncing and Revoaking all former and o ther wills gifts and bequests by me heretofore made or given In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and seale dated the twenty eighth day of August Anno Domi 1689 And in the first yeare of King William and Queene Mary of England John White W His marke Signed sealed published & declared in the presence of Thomas Cook Thomas Quilter Sr.

A comment from a distant relative on an earlier post has prompted me to take another look at my Londors ancestors. My mother was born Joyce Alma Londors in East Ham in 1933. Her father George John Londors (1896 – 1960), a gardener at the City of London Cemetery in Wanstead, was the son of another George Londors, who worked as a gravedigger at the same place. I’ve traced the family back a few more generations: the Londors family lived in Barkingside and before that in nearby Woodford, and most of the men were farm labourers.

Map of Barkingside in the early 19th century, showing locations where the Londors family lived and worked

The information that I’ve managed to gather about the Londors family can be found in numerous posts on this site, either by clicking on ‘Londors’ in the list of surnames, or by entering the name of a particular person in the ‘search’ box. However, I realise that it can be confusing for newcomers wanting to explore the family’s history to get a broad overview, particularly when similar names recur in each generation.

So, for those who don’t have access to my family tree at Ancestry, here is a (fairly) simple summary of the history of the Londors family (the links take you to posts with more information about particular individuals).

Christening record for John-Felix Londors, Woodford, 7th August 1785 (foot of page)

First generation 

John and Hannah Londors lived in Woodford, Essex. They might be the John Londors and Hannah Ackerley who were married in Spitalfields in 1782. Hannah could be the Hannah Landy who died in Woodford in 1790. John may have married a second wife, Sarah Reeves, at Spitalfields in 1792. John and Hannah Londors had these children:

Mary Elizabeth (1783)

Mary Anne (1784)

John-Felix (1785)

Elizabeth (1787)

Second generation 

John-Felix Londors was married twice. In 1815 John Londors and Elizabeth Plane were married in Barking. They had a son, John, who was born in 1816 and died in 1817. Elizabeth Londors died in 1816.

In 1826 John Londors married his second wife, Mary Anne Schofield, in Barking. Born in 1802, Mary Anne was the daughter of William and Mary Schofield of Barkingside. John died in 1876 and Mary died in 1887. John and Mary Anne Londors had these children:

John Schofield (1827)

Sarah (1830)

Elizabeth (1832)

William (1837)

Mary Ann (1840)

James (1843)

George (1846)

Third generation

John Schofield Londors married Sarah Anne Brown in 1851. John died in 1915 and Sarah died in 1901.They had these children:

Sarah Ann (1852)

Alma (1855)

Alice Mary Ann (1859)

Edith (1861)

George (1863) –

Albert (1866)

Naomi Emma (1870)

Sarah Londors never married and died in 1908.

Elizabeth Londors married George Smith in 1851. George died in 1893 and Elizabeth died some time after 1901. They had these children:

Elizabeth (1854)

Mary Anne (1855)

George (1857)

Sarah Ann (1860)

Maria (1862)

William (1864)

Henry (1866)

Alfred (1869)

Ernest Victor (1878)

William Londors married Caroline Harriet Feller in 1864. William died in 1899, but the date of Caroline’s death is unknown. They had these children:

William George (1864)

James John (1867)

John (1869)

Mary Ann (1871)

Caroline Harriet (1874)

Elizabeth Sarah (1876)

Sarah Ann (1878)

George Robert (1880)

Charles (1882)

Mary Ann Londors never married. She died in Barkingside in 1931.

James Londors never married. He died in Barkingside in 1926.

George Londors died in 1856 at the age of ten.

Fourth generation 

1. The children of John Schofield and Sarah Londors

Sarah Ann Londors married William Orgar. They had these children:

William John (1875)

Ernest Albert (1878)

Albert Victor (1888)

Alma Londors married James John Clyne in 1891. They had no children.

Alice Mary Ann Londors married Thomas Beale in 1880. They had these children:

Elizabeth Alice (1881)

Alma Edith (1884)

Edith Londors married in 1884. Name of husband unknown.

George Londors married Sarah Ann Shaw in 1896. George died in 1834 and Sarah died in 1947. They had these children:

George John (1896)

Albert Isaac (1900)

Ernest (1903)

William James (1904)

Albert Londors does not seem to have married. No records after 1901.

Naomi Emma Londors married George Henry Huggett in 1895. They had a son, Albert Edward (1904). 

2. The children of William and Caroline Londors

William George Londors may have married Julia Petersen Brent in 1906. I haven’t found records for any children.

James John Londors seems not to have married.

John Londors married Sarah Ann Adams in 1891. She died in 1945 and he died in 1952. They had these children:

Lily Sarah (1892)

John Albert (1893)

Alfred Frederick (1895)

George (1896)

Emma (1898)

Nellie Pretoria (1900)

Annie (1901)

Grace (1907)

Mary Ann Londors married Elliott French Scarborough. They had these children:

Emma Lydia (1895)

Edith Mary (1896)

Jack Herbert (1899)

Caroline Harriet Londors married John James Prudence in 1892. Caroline died in 1970. They had these children:

William (1892)

Charles (1894)

Elizabeth (1897)

John (1900)

Elizabeth Sarah Londors married Charles William Taylor. They had these children:

William (1896)

George (1897)

Frederick (1900)

John Alfred (1900)

Ellen Caroline (1901)

I have no further information about Sarah Ann Londors.

George Robert Londors married Ellen Barley in 1904. They had these children:

Albert (1907)

John Frederick (1909)

Charles Londors married Emma Alice. Charles was registered as a ‘civilian death’ during the Second World War. They had a son John Charles (1907).

I’ve been corresponding with Deborah Kirk, who is researching the history of Langtons, a former manor house in Hornchurch, Essex. Debbie got in touch after she came across my posts about Captain Richard Gosfr(e)ight, who appears to have lived at Langtons in the early decades of the eighteenth century. However, it’s possible that Richard owned a different property in Hornchurch, and that Langtons was built after his death by one of his heirs.

Langtons, Hornchurch

My original interest in Richard Gosfright stemmed from the fact that his first wife was the daughter of Major Peter Boulton, a member of the family that was linked by marriage to my Forrest ancestors. I was first alerted to the connection between the Forrest and Boulton families by the wills of my 8 x great grandmother Alice Byne née Forrest, daughter of London haberdasher Thomas Forrest, and of Thomas’ brother William.

As well as family ties, Richard Gosfright also had business connections with the Boultons. Peter Boulton’s brother Richard was the partner, with four other former East India Company sea captains, in the ownership of Blackwall Yard, a shipyard on the Thames at London. Gosfright, a ship’s husband and former mariner like Richard Boulton, also had an interest in this concern. When Richard drew up his will in 1737, he appointed Gosfright, by then married to his niece, as one of the executors.

Blackwall Yard from the Thames, by Francis Holman (1729 – 1784)

Debbie Kirk has kindly supplied me with the details of both of Richard Gosfright’s marriages, which I had been lacking. As a result, I now know that the name of Richard’s first wife, the daughter of Peter Boulton, was Alice (this was also the name of Peter’s mother, who was born Alice Forrest) and that the couple were married in Romford in 1720. Their only daughter Mary was probably born in the following year. Alice Gosfright must have died shortly afterwards, perhaps in childbirth, since in 1729 Richard married his second wife, Catherine March. Thanks to Debbie’s detective work, I now know that this marriage took place in Calcutta, which suggests that Richard Gosfright was still working as a sea captain after his marriage, and also (perhaps) that Catherine belonged to a family with East India Company connections. It’s possible that Richard and Catherine’s two daughters, Sarah and Frances, were born in India, and this may explain why records of their births have proven hard to come by.

Calcutta in 1786. From an etching by Thomas Daniel.
(Via sankalpa.tripod.com)

When Richard Gosfright made his own will in 1746, he appointed two co-executors: his wife Catherine and his ‘good friend’ Henry Crabb Boulton. Henry, by then rising through the ranks of the East India Company and soon to be elected Member of Parliament for Worcester, was the second cousin of Gosfright’s first wife Alice, and the great-nephew, and principal heir, of his former partner Richard Boulton. For some time, I’ve been meaning to write more about Henry Crabb Boulton, and my correspondence with Debbie Kirk has now prompted me to do so. In the next post, I’ll try to summarise what I’ve been able to discover about Henry’s life.

In the last post I promised to summarise what I’ve been able to discover about Henry Crabb Boulton, the East India Company director and Member of Parliament, who (according to Ancestry) was my 3^rd cousin 8 x removed. In this post, I plan to write about Henry’s two families of origin: the Boultons and the Crabbs.

The Boulton family

As I noted in the previous post, my interest in the Boulton family derives from their connection by marriage to my Forrest ancestors. Both families appear to have had their roots in Worcestershire. I believe that the Forrest family came from the village of Fladbury on the River Avon, about five miles west of Evesham, and it’s possible that the Boultons had their origins in the same area.

Fladbury church and mill (via bbc.co.uk/history/domesday)

Some time in the early decades of the seventeenth century, two brothers and a sister were born into the Forrest family in or around Fladbury. William Forrest appears to have stayed in Worcestershire, where he either inherited or purchased property in the village of Badsey near Evesham. Thomas Forrest, my 9 x great grandfather, moved to London, where he set up in business as a haberdasher in the Tower Hill area. Thomas’ daughter Alice married Sussex-born stationer John Byne in 1675: they were my 8 x great grandparents.

Alice Forrest, the sister of William and Thomas, married a man named William Boulton some time in the 1650s or 1660s. It’s unclear whether they were married in London or moved there soon afterwards. We know very little about William Boulton and his origins, but we do know that the couple were living in the parish of All Hallows Barking, to the west of the Tower of London, in 1666, when they were paying hearth tax there. They were also included in a list of London inhabitants in 1695, by which time their children had all left home. At this time they were living in Chitterling Alley, in a medium-sized property with a total of eight hearths. It’s possible that William Boulton was a merchant or mariner and that he had connections with the East India Company, since at least one of his sons and three of his grandsons ended up working for the company.

Church of All Hallows Barking, London

Piecing together the information I’ve been able to glean from parish records and wills, I’ve come to the conclusion that William and Alice Boulton had the following children:

Richard Boulton worked for the East India Company, attaining the rank of captain, then as a ship’s husband or agent, with a financial interest in Blackwall Yard to the east of London. Richard lived in Crutched Friars in the parish of St Olave Hart Street. He appears to have remained unmarried and died in 1737.

Peter Boulton must have served in the army or navy, perhaps in the East India Company like his brother, since he attained the rank of major. Peter was a gunsmith in the City of London, living near Tower Street. His first marriage was to Elizabeth Bushell of Fladbury and his second to Posthuma Landick of Bath. Peter Boulton’s daughter Alice married Captain Richard Gosfreight in 1720. Peter and Posthuma Boulton owned property in Bath, to which they retired, and where Peter died in 1743.

Another son, possibly named William, married a woman named Bridget and they had two sons – William, and Captain Richard Boulton the younger. Richard, who worked for the East India Company like his uncle and namesake, also seems to have remained unmarried. He died at his property in Perdiswell near Worcester, in 1745.

Elizabeth Boulton married naval commissioner Martin Markland .The Marklands were neighbours of Major Peter Boulton in the parish of All Hallows Barking.

Mary Boulton married a Mr Lewes, about whom nothing further is known.

Finally, we come to a Miss Boulton, whose first name is still a mystery, but may well have been Hester or Grace, since these were the names of her daughters. This Miss Boulton married Thomas Saunders, a ‘gent’ from the hamlet of Moor, near Fladbury. Saunders was included in a list of non-jurors drawn up after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, but I’m not sure what this tells us about his religious affiliation.

Thomas and Grace Saunders had three children: William, Grace and Hester. I haven’t been able to find out anything about William. Grace Saunders married London salter James Jemblin , probably in the first decade of the 18^th century, and they had a son named John and a daughter Elizabeth. Grace died, possibly giving birth to Elizabeth, and James remarried. Elizabeth Jemblin married Edward Bushell Collibee, who would later serve as mayor of Bath, and who was probably related in some way to the Bushells of Worcestershire. By 1740 John Jemblin was living in Evesham, where he may have inherited property from his father.

The Crabb family

We don’t know whether Thomas and Grace Saunders lived in Worcestershire or London: it’s possible that they owned property in both places. But we do know that their daughter Hester was living in the parish of All Hallows Barking in the City of London, close to her Boulton relatives, when she married Thomas Crabb on 12th October 1708, at the church of St Paul, Benet’s Wharf.

What do we know about Thomas Crabb? According to the marriage record, he was from Whitechapel, and he and Hester would live in that part of London for a time after their marriage. As for Thomas’ origins, to some extent they remain shrouded in uncertainty. I wonder if he was the son of Isaac Crabb who was paying tax ‘for house and vaults’ in Priest Alley in the parish of All Hallows Barking in 1715? It seems too much of a coincidence that his next door neighbour was Martin Markland, who was married to Hester Saunders’ aunt Elizabeth Boulton, and that the house after that was occupied by her uncle Major Peter Boulton.

Part of Rocque’s 1746 map of London, showing the area around the church of All Hallows Barking

This Isaac Crabb was a merchant who had been born into a family of Quaker clothiers in Wiltshire. He was almost certainly the Isaac Crabb of All Hallows Barking, who married the delightfully named Freelove Crispe, daughter of Thomas Crispe of Wimbledon, at St Nicholas Cole Abbey in September 1685. A case recorded in the National Archives concerns a dispute between Isaac Crabb on the one hand, and on the other side Thomas Crabb, a clothier of Marlborough, Wiltshire, and Thomas Crispe, a draper of London, concerning property in Wimbledon and Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. This may have been a disagreement over a marriage settlement, and it’s possible that Thomas Crabb was Isaac’s father.

At any event, Thomas and Freelove Crabbe had a son named Thomas christened at the church of St Dunstan in the East in London in 1687: this date would fit well with what we know of the Thomas Crabb who married Hester Saunders, making him twenty-one at the time of their marriage. The parish clerk at St Dunstan’s recorded Thomas’ mother’s name as ‘Trulove’, but by the time his sister Hester was christened in the following year, Freelove had reverted to her original (and possibly Quaker-derived?) first name.

Birth and early life

St Mary’s church, Whitechapel

Thomas Crabb and Hester Saunders were living in Leman Street, which ran north to south between Ayliff Street and Rosemary Lane, close to Goodman fields, when Henry, their first child, was baptised at the church of St Mary, Whitechapel, on 12^th September 1709. I haven’t yet found a christening record for Henry’s brother Richard, but other records lead me to believe that he was probably born in about 1710. I’ve found no evidence of any other surviving children born to Thomas and Hester Crabb.

Henry Crabb’s childhood is a blank as far as the records are concerned. The first definite date that we have for him, after his birth, is 1727, when he entered the office of the East India Company. Henry would have been about eighteen years old at the time. By this time his great uncle Richard Boulton the elder and his second cousin Richard Boulton the younger, would have been established figures in the East India Company, and no doubt their influence was of help in facilitating their young relative’s entry into the organisation.

Unlike his brother Richard, who became a sea captain like his Boulton relatives, Henry seems to have followed a purely deskbound career in the East India Company, but it was a career in which he rose rapidly through the ranks. By 1729, two years after joining, he was working as a clerk in the pay office. In the following year, he was appointed assistant paymaster and the year after that joint paymaster. By 1737, when he was still only twenty-eight years old, Henry was the East India Company’s sole paymaster and the clerk to their committee of shipping.

Heir and executor

The East India Company, by Thomas Rowlandson (1808)

1737 was also the year in which Richard Boulton the elder, of St Olave, Hart Street, in the City of London, made his will, appointing Henry as join executor with Richard Boulton junior and Richard Gosfright, to whom he entrusted the task of administering his various interests in the East India Company and Blackwall Yard. The elder Richard Boulton had no surviving children of his own, and had probably never married. Therefore the main beneficiaries of his will were the brothers Henry and Richard Crabb and their cousin John Jemblin, son of their mother’s sister Grace and her husband James Jemblin. However, these three were only to come into possession of their share of Richard Boulton’s estate upon taking to themselves the additional surname Boulton.

A codicil was annexed to the will, and this was witnessed by Francis Jemblin, James’ Jemblin’s son by a second marriage, and by Henry and Richard Crabb’s mother Hester, who is described in the record as a widow of All Hallows Barking, confirming that her husband Thomas Crabb had died by this date.

In the following year, 1738/9, Henry Crabb’s brother Richard got married, at the church of St Mary at Hill in the City of London, to Frances Heames. Richard was said to be of the parish of All Hallows Barking and Frances of the parish of St Peter within the Tower of London. Richard and Frances would have two sons, Richard and Henry, to whom we shall return.

Henry Crabb Boulton senior, however, seems never to have married. In 1745, the year of the Jacobite uprising, he and Richard became the beneficiaries of another will, that of their second cousin, Richard Boulton the younger, who had retired to the manor of Perdiswell on the outskirts of Worcester. Both brothers benefited from the will, and Henry was appointed sole executor: a tribute, perhaps, to the skills he had developed managing the payroll of the East India Company. Once again, we learn that Henry’s and Richard’s mother Hester was still alive, and living now at Tower Hill, London.

Member of Parliament and Company Director

From the early 1750s onwards until his death, Henry Crabb Boulton enjoyed a number of spells as a director of the East India Company. Then, in about 1754, he was first elected as Member of Parliament for Worcester, another sign of the Boulton family’s longstanding connection to that part of the country. The History of Parliament Online includes the following information about Henry’s parliamentary career:

In Dupplin’s list of 1754 he was classed as ‘doubtful’; but on 24 Dec. 1755 Sandwich informed Newcastle that Boulton had ‘attended and voted in every question in support of the measures of Government’. In 1761 Boulton was re-elected at Worcester after a contest. Bute’s list of December 1761 classes him as a supporter of Newcastle, and he voted with the Opposition on the peace preliminaries, 9 and 10 Dec. 1762; and on Wilkes, 15 Nov. 1763, and general warrants, 15 and 18 Feb. 1764.

Originally a follower of Laurence Sulivan in East India Company politics, Boulton later attached himself to Clive, and went over to Administration with him; Jenkinson reported to Grenville on 20 Apr. 1764 that Clive had said Boulton might be depended on, though ‘a great rogue’. Harris notes that during the debate of 1 Mar. 1765 on the bill to regulate splitting East India Company votes, Boulton was ‘at the head of the government party’.

In Rockingham’s list of July 1765 Boulton was classed as ‘pro’, and in that of November 1766 as ‘Whig’. When, on 9 Dec. 1766 Beckford moved for an inquiry into East India Company affairs, Boulton voted for the motion, and though he ‘said much against it, owned that the Company could not govern their servants, nor could Clive go on without the interposition of Government’.

No other votes by him are reported in this Parliament, but he spoke several times on East India affairs, and on 1 May 1767 when Beckford was again to move for an inquiry, Boulton, on behalf of the Company, informed the House that there ‘was now a prospect of accommodation with the ministry’. In Townshend’s list of January 1767 he was classed as ‘doubtful’, and in Newcastle’s of 2 Mar. as ‘doubtful or absent’. In 1768 Boulton was returned unopposed for Worcester.

For various periods in the 1760s, Henry Crabb Boulton served as chairman of the East India Company, the organisation that he had joined as a humble clerk in the pay office forty years earlier.

London and Leatherhead

Thorncroft

From about 1755, Henry Crabb Boulton’s name appears in directories as a merchant living in Crosby Square, Bishopsgate, in London. His brother Richard also seems to have lived in the same area. In 1763, Henry became the owner of Thorncroft manor in Leatherhead, Surrey, where he lived for the next ten years until his death. Apparently, the manor at Thorncroft had belonged originally to Sir Richard Dalton, but after taking possession in 1763 Henry Crabb Boulton commissioned Sir Robert Taylor to build a new house on the site of the old. The date of construction has been given as 1772 with further enlargements in 1800. The house apparently remains much the same today, though with some modern additions.

Henry Crabb Boulton died in 1773. In the next post, I’ll write about what we learn from his last will and testament.

In my last post I summarised what I’ve been able to discover about Henry Crabb Boulton (1709 – 1773), the politician and leading figure of the East India Company who was a distant relative of mine. In this post, I want to explore what we can learn from Henry’s will, and to trace the lives of his heirs and descendants.

As I noted in the previous post, Henry Crabb Boulton’s brother Richard, a captain in the service of the East India Company, married Frances Heames in 1738. I’ve found records of the christenings of three children born to Richard and Frances, who sometimes went by the surname Crabb and sometimes Boulton, which can makes searching for them in the records problematic.

St Helen’s Bishopsgate today

On 3^rd December 1746 Richard Crabb the younger was baptised at the church of All Hallows Staining in the City of London. On 26^th August 1752 Henry Crabb was christened at the church of St Helen Bishopsgate. On 13^th October in the following year, a daughter named Frances was christened at the same church. We know from Richard Crabb Boulton’s will that, as well as his house in Crosby Square, Bishopsgate, he also owned property in Chigwell, Essex.

When Henry Crabb Boulton made his will in Agusut 1773, a few months before his death, his nephew Henry was one of the main beneficiaries. There is no mention in the will of a nephew named Richard or of a niece named Frances. One source at Ancestry claims that Frances or Fanny Crabb married Josiah Ogilvy of Datchet in Buckinghamshire but I’m not convinced this is the same person.

Other beneficiaries of Henry’s will included his brother Richard and his cousin Elizabeth Collibee née Jemblin, daughter of his mother’s sister Grace, who had been married to James Jemblin. Also benefitting from the will was a certain Captain Augustus Savage, who seems to have worked for the East India Company, and a number of Henry’s household servants.

Valentines, Ilford, in 1771

Just over a year after Henry Crabb Boulton’s death, his nephew Henry was married. On 3^rd November 1775, at the same church in Bishopsgate where he had been christened twenty-three years earlier, Henry Boulton Esquire, as he now styled himself, married Juliana Raymond. She was the daughter of Sir Charles Raymond of Valentines, a country house in Ilford, Essex. Charles Raymond was another retired East India Company captain who had sailed with Henry’s father Richard, becoming a wealthy man as a result of the private earnings he acquired on his many voyages for the Company. In 1754 he bought Valentines from Robert Surman, a banker with investments in the EIC.

Sir Charles Raymond (via http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/eicah/case-studies-2/valentines-mansion/valentines-east-india-company-owners-and-their-material-objects/)

Juliana Raymond had an older sister Sophia who married Sir William Burrell, Member of Parliament for Haslemere, and grandson of Charles Raymond’s uncle, Hugh Raymond, who had himself served as an East India Company captain earlier in the century. Juliana also had a younger sister, Anna Maria, who married Thomas Newte, a second cousin. Newte had also come up through the ranks of the EIC to become a captain, working in close association with the Raymond family. Sadly Anna Maria died in 1781, two years after they were married.

Richard Crabb Boulton died in 1777, but he had made his will in 1764, which explains why he left money to his brother Henry, who in the event would predecease him. The principal beneficiary is his wife Frances, but his sons Richard and Henry are also to inherit – so we know that Richard survived until at least 1764. However, there is no mention of his daughter Frances.

Richard Crabb inherited his brother Henry’s house at Thorncroft after the latter’s death, and I assume that on Richard’s death in 1777 his son Henry took possession of it.

After he husband’s health declined, Juliana’s sister Lady Sophia Burrell moved to Deepdene in Dorking, about five miles from Thorncroft. Sophia achieved fame as a poet and dramatist. She published two volumes of collected poems in 1793, the Thymriad from Xenophon, and Telemachus. In 1796 William Burrell died, with Lady Burrell having had two sons and two daughters by him. On 23 May 1797 she remarried to the Reverend William Clay. In 1800 Sophia produced two tragedies. The first was Maximian, the second was Theodora, dedicated by permission to Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

Eliza de Feullide (via Wikipedia)

Some time ago I corresponded with Nicholas Ennos, the author of an intriguing book about the novels of Jane Austen, which he controversially argues were written by Austen’s cousin Eliza de Feuillide, who was also married to Jane’s brother Henry. Eliza, who was a close friend of Sophia Burrell, was widely believed to be the illegitimate daughter of Warren Hastings, the Governor General of India. Warren Hastings was a  friend of Sir Charles Raymond. Ennos claims that in Jane Austen’s novel Emma (published in 1815), the town of Highbury is based on Leatherhead and the house of the heroine’s father, ‘Hartfield’, is based on Henry Crabb Boulton’s house at Thorncroft.

Henry and Juliana baptised 10 children while living at Thorncroft. These were: Frances (1776), Richard (1777), Sophia (1778), Juliana (1779), Maria (1782), Harriet (1783), Emma (1784), Henry (1786), Charles (1788), and Louisa (17910.

I’m grateful to a contributor at Rootsweb on Ancestry for the information that follows. In 1781 Henry Boulton bought the manor of Pachenesham and built a new house at Gibbon’s Farm which was named as Gibbon’s Grove. He also bought an estate at Headley and Barnet Wood Farmhouse in Leatherhead. In 1809 he was insuring three farms: Thorncroft, Gibbons Grove and Bocketts. London directories show that he occupied town houses from at least 1792 at 5 Tavistock Square, 12 Upper Gower Street and at 9 Abingdon Street. He was  a member of Sun Fire Company as early as 1784 and was also Governor of ‘The Corporation for working Mines, Minerals and metals in Scotland’ whose office was in the Sun Fire Office in Cornhill.

Thorncroft today (via http://www.bleckfield-support.co.uk)

Henry retired in 1825 and his son Charles succeeded him. In 1800 he was listed in the London Directory as being with the Sun Fire Office in Craig’s Court. Insurance policies show his interest in shipping also. In 1809 he insured the vessel Worcester lying in the East India Docks.

Juliana died before him on 20th December 1813. When Henry died in 1828 his property passed to his son Richard but this son died in 1859 without issue. The estates then passed to his brother Charles Boulton’s second son John Boulton who had been to Mauritius and was a Captain in the Royal Artillery with addresses in Hammersmith and Edinburgh. So he became the owner of Givons Grove, and Bocketts farm, Leatherhead, and sold Thorncroft.

My recent work on the life of Henry Crabb Boulton (1709 – 1773), Member of Parliament and East India Company director, has re-awakened my interest in the Boulton and Forrest families of London and Worcestershire. Henry Crabb Boulton’s great grandparents were William Boulton and Alice Forrest, the latter being the sister of my 9 x great grandfather, London citizen and haberdasher Thomas Forrest. The Forrest and Boulton families both appear to have had roots in the villages around Evesham in Worcestershire.

Early nineteenth-century map of the Evesham area in Worcestershire

Although I’ve managed to piece together a great deal of the history of the two families, mainly drawing on family wills that I’ve found online, I’ve hit a number of brick walls in my attempt to trace their Worcestershire origins. As a consequence, I’ve recently engaged a professional researcher, based in the county, to explore the local archives for me, and I look forward to hearing what she manages to discover.

Nevertheless, I continue to make occasional new discoveries of my own. For example, yesterday I solved the mystery of the first marriage of Elizabeth Boulton, one of the daughters of William Boulton and Alice Forrest. Probably born in about 1670 and almost certainly in the parish of All Hallows Barking, in the City of London, we know that Elizabeth married Navy Board official Martin Markland in July 1694. However, the parish record gives Elizabeth’s surname as Littleton rather than Boulton, even though we know from later records that Martin Markland was definitely married to Elizabeth Boulton.

St Botolph Aldersgate today (via Wikipedia)

Yesterday, I finally discovered evidence of Elizabeth’s first marriage, in 1686, to John Littleton. The marriage took place on 19^th June at the church of St Botolph Aldersgate, and both bride and groom were said to be of the parish of All Hallows Barking. But why choose St Botolph’s rather than their own parish church? The reason might be that the couple were married, according to the parish register, by a certain ‘Dr Littleton’.

Interestingly, it turns out that this was Dr Adam Littleton, who was (to quote one source) ‘born of an antient and genteel family…in Worcestershire’. Born in 1627, Adam’s father was Thomas Littleton, also a clergyman and vicar of Halesowen, then in Shropshire. Educated at Westminster School, Adam Littleton was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1644 ,where he was a conspicuous opponent of the parliamentary visitation which purged the University of royalist sympathisers, writing a satirical Latin poem on the subject, and was expelled in November 1648. However in May 1651 he joined with three other students in a petition for the restitution of their scholarships, which seems to be have been successful. Appointed as an usher and then second master at his old school, after the Restoration Littleton taught at Chelsea where he was also appointed rector of the parish church. Besides his excursions into verse, Adam Littleton was the author of a number of theological texts and translations from Latin.

Satirical attack on the parliamentary visitation of Oxford, with contribution by Adam Littleton under the pseudonym ‘Redman Westcot’

Charles II made Littleton a royal chaplain, and he also served as a chaplain to Prince Rupert of the Rhine. In 1674 he became prebendary of Westminster Abbey, in 1683 rector of Overton in Hampshire, and in 1685 he was licensed to the church of St Botolph, Aldergate, where he served for about four years, thus confirming that he was indeed the Dr Littleton who married John Littleton and Elizabeth Boulton.

But what was Dr Adam Littleton’s relationship to John? Of course, the shared surname and the Worcestershire connection might be coincidence, but I think this unlikely. Since John Littleton must have been born by 1670 at the latest, it’s possible that he was Adam Littleton’s son. I’ve discovered that Dr Littleton was married three times. On 6^th March 1655 he married Elizabeth Scudimore at the church of St Mildred Poultry. On 24^th January 1667 he married Susan Rich of West Ham at St Andrew Undershaft. Finally, he married Susan Guildford, daughter of Richard Guildford of Chelsea, by which he acquired a fortune, but apparently he spent freely as a collector and, when he died in 1694, left his third wife in poor circumstances for the remaining four years of her life. It’s possible that John Littleton was the son of Adam Littleton by his first marriage, though I’ve yet to find any record of his birth or baptism.

The Littletons were an illustrious family, and they seem to have shared Adam’s royalist and High Church opinions. Adam’s father Thomas was one of five sons of Thomas Littleton of Stoke Milburgh, Shropshire, who died in 1621. The eldest son, Sir Adam Littleton, who was made a baronet by King Charles I in 1642, was the father of Sir Thomas Littleton, and the grandfather of another Sir Thomas who served as one of the lords of the treasury. Thomas Littleton of Stoke Milburgh had another son, Sir Edward Littleton, who served as Chief Justice of North Wales. His eldest son, also Edward, was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Charles I and was created Lord Littleton in 1640. A second son, William, was a sergeant at law, while two other sons, James and John, were Fellows of All Souls, Oxford. The latter was for a time Master of the Inner Temple, from which he was ejected in 1644. According to one source: ‘He and his family were staunch adherents to the royal cause, and in the course of 1642 he left London and joined the king’. Another Littleton brother, Nathaniel, was a gentleman in the Earl of Southampton’s company in the Low Countries, and another, Timothy, served as one of the barons of the Exchequer.

The Inner Temple

I wonder how Elizabeth Boulton came to meet her first husband, and what connections there might have been between the Boulton and the Littleton families? Did the link have its origins in their common roots in Worcestershire, or did it go deeper and touch on matters of shared political and religious opinions? We know that one branch of the Worcestershire Boulton family included a Nonjuror, whether Catholic of ‘High Church’ is unclear, who suffered deprivation of his property after the pro-Stuart 1715 uprising. This was Thomas Saunders of the hamlet of Moor near Fladbury, who married Margaret Boulton, Elizabeth’s sister, and whose grandson was Henry Crabb Boulton, with whom we began this post. Did these sympathies extend more widely in the Boulton family, and were my Worcestershire ancestors (unlike the Byne family of Sussex, with whom they would be linked by marriage) royalists rather than parliamentarians in the conflict that divided England in the seventeenth century?