Arthur Ginn of Ely d. 1650s

Born in about 1590, Arthur Ginn was clearly the eldest surviving son of his parents (see last post), not least because he clearly inherited the bulk of the money on his father’s death.  I  know that he both called himself and was considered "a gentleman" by others because he appears in a number of surviving records as that, including the Lay Subsidy.  But I started researching him in about 1991 and it took until 2021, thirty years of intense research, to establish that Arthur's occupation was a Haberdasher of Hats - ie he sold men's (and possibly women's) hats.

It is logical to suppose that both he and his brother spent their teens at Wilburton, returning to Ely when of age, which in Arthur’s case was probably about 1611.

Arthur married at Ely in 1621 to a Katherine Forster, a widow.  This was known as early as 1992, but I knew absolutely nothing about her.  Then  in 2005 I discovered that she was originally married to a Thomas Forster of Ely.  In 2016 even move information came to light.

 This bit of the story starts in about 1580.  A George Forster (Gentleman) of Bottisham is married and having children.  British History Online states that the Forsters had been major farmers in Bottisham since the 1300s.   George snr may have married more than once, but at least one of his wives was called Blanche.  George had a good number of children , but the crucial people for this story are his sons Richard (1587) Thomas (1591) and George jnr(1598).

George Forster was clearly quite well off - he had extensive lands in Bottisham near Newmarket and Hanchett Hall at Haverhill in Essex and other lands at Exning on the Suffolk/Essex border.  So George had lands in Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk

George Forster died in 1610 (will National Archives).  Richard as the eldest son obviously inherited the real estate.  Crucially for this story, Thomas is the second son.

Now George's widow Blanche married a Stephen Jellett (Gentleman) at Dullingham in 1611.  Blanche was likely in her 40s as I am sure was Stephen.

What is clear is that Richard Forster the heir was either not married or married with no children and variously documents suggest that for whatever reason (and we can only speculate) there were not likely to be any. 

A number of things started to come to a head in the reign of James 1st, as in about 1618 Thomas Forster married a lady called Katherine - as yet I cannot find a marriage nor details of Katherine's maiden name, but like Thomas she was also logically born in around 1590.

Thomas and Katherine moved to Ely and had daughter Katherine in about 1620 and Katherine was pregnant with another child when Tom sadly died aged 30 in 1621 (will National Archives).  He was clearly quite prosperous, even for a second son, and had lands for a term of years from his brother Richard in Exning and clearly anticipated that if his second child should be a boy that that child would inherit all of the Forster property on Richard's death - Richard then being 34 and clearly without issue.  I have speculated as to whether Richard was disabled or not interested in the female sex.

Katherine Forster married Arthur Ginn that same year, ie 1621 and whilst on the one hand Arthur took a bride that brought him links to prosperous families and improved prospects, Katherine had also entered a bond of £500 upon her husband's death , making her (and by implication any subsequent husband who had access to her money) liable to pay out the substantial legacies to Tom's children and siblings as payment became due.

In the early 1620s Stephen Jellett and Blanche were involved in a court action (C 3/349/9  at the National Archives) in respect of a tenement called "Forsters" in Bottisham which Blanche had taken from George on his death by way of jointure (ie he had given the land to her on marriage to be held by her to herself for life after his death).

                                    A fine mourning ring of 1648

 Stephen Jellett - in respect of whom various letters and court papers survive, was an attorney ( he was referred to as "an Attorney of the Court" in Cambridgeshire Assize records, the equivalent now being "Solicitor of the Supreme Court" as I am, so he and I share a professional bond) and  he moved into Ely in the 1620s where he practised and I know he was friendly with his stepsons and Arthur Ginn as Stephen died in 1640 (likely about 75 at least - Blanche had predeceased him in 1636) and (will National Archives) leaves gold (mourning) rings to Richard Forster (then 53) George Forster jnr (42) and "Mr Gynne" Arthur (about 50).  Arthur was also left various bits of furniture.

  

Ely Cathedral (Trinity Church)

 So Arthur Ginn and Katherine married in late 1621. She was probably of similar age to Arthur, about 30,  because they only had three children.

Arthur is mentioned in the will of his uncle Thomas Ginn (Alderman of Huntingdon) in 1636 (see post of 4th September 2012) , being left ten pounds, and because his aunt died without taking probate of Tom’s estate, also dealt with that (National Archives) 

Circumstantial evidence that Arthur was brother of Richard arrived in 2007.  I had long recalled finding an obscure entry concerning a 1630 will when researching at dusty Chancery Lane (Public Record Office then, now National Archives) in the early 1990s.  In 2007, I managed to locate this entry again, a piece of information that I had lost.

The 1630 will concerns a William Skipwith, a gentleman from the County Gentry set of Norfolk, Cambridge graduate and a lawyer of  Lincolns Inn.   The will is at the National Archives and the entry I had mislaid was a partial transcription by a chap called Scroope which is now in the Society of Genealogists Library.

William Skipwith was son of Edmund Skipwith Snr, an Esquire no less and owner of a landed estate and the delightfully named Snore Hall at Fordham in Norfolk.  The Skipwiths were closet catholics in an age when it was wise to keep such things quiet. The eldest Skipwith son and  heir was Ralph Skipwith who famously put King Charles 1st up for a time at Snore Hall during the English Civil War.

William Skipwith died in 1630 and is his will mentions the youngest brother Edmund Skipwith who at William's death “was at bed or board with Arthur Gynne gent at his house in Elye”.

Looking at the actual will (National Archives) it became clear that Edmund Skipwith was not just staying with Arthur, but that William Skipwith had paid Arthur money, money I am certain was connected with Arthur teaching or being in partnership with Edmund in his business.  You will appreciate that the word “trade” was not happily mentioned by the gentry, particularly sons of Esquires, and it became certain that Arthur’s business was not one that would involve the dirtying of hands.

Now, Edmund jnr, who was given lands by William and the option of staying with Arthur or going, may well have decided that trade was no longer for him, he had manors and  lands coming, and William directed in 1630 that if Edmund should seek to leave Arthur’s house then Arthur should return the money, but should he stay then Arthur could keep it.  It is an important will.  Edmund died at Fordham in 1660 and no more is known of him.

As I have said above, Arthur was clearly a Haberdasher of Hats, and as it is known his son and brother were, it seems likely that from the first he and his brother Richard were in partnership, Arhur being the senior.  At some point (likely in the 1640s) it is equally clear that Richard set up on his own account.

Arthur is listed on every occasion from 1624 in the surviving Lay Subidy returns (National Archives) the latest of which survives for 1642, the year that the Civil War commenced, being taxed on both lands and goods.  He was then about 50 and it is the last reference to him that I have yet found.  It is possible that he went to fight or take some post in the Civil War, being a gentleman and living in the absolute centre of the Parliamentary heartland.  His uncle Thomas had his own weapons and it seems likely Arthur did, he may have been put to use them, but more likely he died unrecorded in the Ely Trinity register (neglected in the 1650s) dying in his early 60s in 1653 or so because by 1654 Robert had control of the business.

 Katherine obviously went to live with her son Robert (as she does not show in the 1662 Hearth Tax record)  dying as (Bishops Transcripts) Katherine Ginn "widow" in 1686 in her 90s, a very considerable age.

Arthur and Katherine had three children:

Robert - little is known as yet, though research is continuing.  He took over his father's business and was still working as a Haberdasher in 1654 as he appears in an Assize record at Ely that year (the Assize also dealt with civil actions), suing one John Gayer, Draper of Ely for the price of a felt hat (below)

He married Margaret Within at Ely in 1663 when he was 40 and it is entirely possible that he was a Parliamentary soldier in the 1640s, hence the late marriage.  Margaret must have been of similar age for they had no children.

Between 1654 and the 1670s the business must have collapsed, no explanation has appeared in the records as yet, for in 1674 they had only one hearth in the Hearth Tax (hence my deduction of financial ruin).  Margaret would appear to have died in 1697, the parish clerk making a hash of the entry.  Now alone, Robert began to pine somewhat and in 1699 remarried another older lady, Ann Butler, and they spent most of  their last years together.  Ann died in 1704 and, still not finished, Robert married Rebecca Robertson who finally saw him out when Robert died in 1705, aged 82.  Rebecca remarried John Baxter in Ely in 1709.

Ann - lived to teenage years.  In 1639 an Ann Ginn "puella" is in the Ely burial register.  "Puella" was a lovely Latin term for a girl beween infancy and marriage - an age of innocence and expectation. She was 14.

Elizabeth - died in 1661 aged 33