Henry Ginn of Norton Heath and High Ongar, Essex died 1656

I knew that Henry Ginn (born to Henry snr in 1594 - see post of  20th July 2012   ) survived childhood very early in my research, but until 2018 he has merely been a footnote in my research, in that year he became a "contender" as Marlon Brando would have put it.

Henry's father died in 1615, when Henry was just 21.  He was left various houses (in the plural) in Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire, but we are not told how many nor where they were.  In addition, it is entirely possible if Henry's brother Humphrey is to be believed from his 1622 court case, that Henry never actually received all of his inheritance.

In 1616, Henry was still in Fyfield where was assaulted by a Gilbert Church there (Essex Quarter Sessions) and in 1623 I  found him mentioned in conjunction with his brother Arthur and Humphrey Aylett in a Fyfield manorial record concerning land at Willingdale Doe (D/DCW M108 at the ERO).

I was certain that he was at Norton Mandeville in the 1620s because there was mention in some transcribed records of a Henry Ginn being churchwarden there, but the parish registers do not survive and the whole picture did not emerge until 2018, and though I say the "whole picture", I am looking at it through a hazy window due to the absence of parish records.

Henry married the lovely named Frances Pye at Sandon, quite some distance away, in 1619 when he was 25  At present I know nothing of her family.

What we do know is that the couple had children at Norton Mandeville, where Henry was certainly churchwarden for a good number of years, it being a tiny parish with a lovely church.

There seems to be no doubt at all that the couple lived at Norton Heath from the time of their marriage, and I even know exactly where.  A deed  (D/DQ 95/2) at the ERO tells me that Henry Ginn lived at "Wythams" a three bay Tudor built house (likely originally owned by the yeoman Wytham family) which as houses built in the day were required to, had four acres of land adjoining.  The house was on the Ongar - Chelmsford Road - and amazingly it still is and has the same name, lying in a tiny enclave of the parish of High Ongar that sits within Norton Mandeville and is not far from the latter church.

Wythams is now  Grade 2 Listed and being a 3 bay house was quite large by contemporary standards, Henry and Frances living quite well.

 

The main chimney breast was there in Henry's day, and part of the building shows the High Hall (living room) that they knew.

With these pictures bringing the atmosphere of their house to life.

Henry and Frances obviously had a good number of children, but because of the absence of the parish registers I only know (or can deduce) a few, and I am reasonably certain that Frances died in the later 1630s and that Henry remarried a Sarah Housden at Sawbridgeworth,  just over the border in Hertfordshire in 1639, my reason for this assertion being that Henry obviously had children through to the later 1640s.

There was however a parish visitation to Norton Mandeville in 1630 by the Bishop's representatives, and they took a duplicate of the Bishop's Transcripts of the register of that year away with them - it is now in the Guildhall Library. in London.  That DOES survive, and I show my photo of the relevant part below, because not only does it shown Elizabeth as being born to Henry and Frances that year, but Henry was still churchwarden at the Church, and here we have his only surviving signature.

There is also another significant signature here, the signature of a man whose family I am sure had some influence upon the Ginn family and most assuredly a major influence on Essex at this time and in the 1640s - and that is Isaac Joyner snr, shown here as the Minister.  We can imagine them both inside the church

Isaac Joyner snr was a Cambridge graduate who was the Rector at Norton Heath from 1598 until his death in 1638, so he was an old man here.  But it is his sons, Daniel and Isaac jnr, who are interesting.   Also Cambridge graduates - Daniel was Rector of neighbouring Chipping Ongar in the 1630s, and Isaac junior had been Curate at Fyfield no less in 1614/5 - so must have known the Fyfield Ginns early on, was a Puritan and later became Rector of Springfield near Chelmsford before dying in 1650.  Issac jnr was very influential during the English Civil War and was partly responsible for raising three Essex Regiments of Militia Cavalry for Parliament in 1642, my suspecting that he may have had something to do with Henry Ginn of Fyfield fighting for Parliament as I am sure he did (see post of 29th July 2012).

We do not know how many children Henry had, nor all of their names - but it is clear that he had quite a few - through to the 1640s.  It is equally clear that during the period of the English Civil War and thereafter in the 1650s, the problems that had for the clergy led to a decline at Norton Mandeville church, and though living at Norton Heath, Henry started to use High Ongar.  Those registers also do not survive until the early 1650s but I know Henry was buried there in 1656 - he was 62.

As I say, precise information on Henry's children but is impossible it is possible to deduce some:

Henry - there is a "shadow" in the records (we have no definite information) that suggests that Henry had a surviving son of that name who inherited the lease of "Withams" and vacated that property in the 1680s.  There is no evidence of a marriage or children, but Henry clearly died and was buried at Chipping Ongar in 1718 when he was likely about 70.

Arthur  - it was long debated whether he was Henry's child or that that of Henry's nephew John, but it seems clear that now we know that Henry had a large family he was Henry's - see post of 29th October 2012

Elizabeth - the only known baptism - born in 1630 - fate unknown

Mary - given the locality - it seems clear that the Mary who married Thomas Wilmore at Mashbury in 1664 was their child.  Thomas apparently came from Chignall St James which is not that far from Norton Heath.  Sadly the registers do not survive.

John - likely theirs - married Elizabeth Smith at nearby Chelmsford in 1678.  

George Ginn of Bermondsey died 1700

George Ginn was born in Welwyn in Hertfordshire in 1635, the eldest son of George in my last post.

The only thing that has ever been definitely known about him (and, to be honest, still is the only thing definitely known about him) is that a year after his father's death , in 1662, George jnr launched a court action against the Boteler family in the Court of Chancery in London, the Equity Court, ie that of fairness.  George jnr was 26.

The Court of Chancery sat at the ancient Westminster Hall.  To instruct lawyers  and to in a initiate a court action has never been cheap (as a lawyer I should know) and my understanding is that to launch a Bill of Complaint at this time could cost as much as one pound sterling a handwritten line, £20-30 to launch the simplest case therefore, the cost of a Hertfordshire labourer's cottage.  This tells us a lot about George.

                                                              Now - and - then

Firstly he had ambition, indeed he was openly optimistic if not downright foolish to think he could win against the Botelers, a century after the offence as it were.  Secondly he had the money.  Although described as a gentleman of Watton in the case, this was obviously nonsense - he was confused in the records with the Botelers.  But likely he raised cash against his future inheritance of his father's cottage to finance the case.  It is reference C10/66/62 at the Nation Archives.

Whether George ever got to Westminster Hall is a moot point, he certainly must have gone to London to launch the court case, but after issuing the Bill of Complaint the Boteler family answered, as did the Kents who occupied "Garretts" the old Ginn farmhouse in Aston, and the case seems to have died a death after that - likely because the trail of evidence was a century old and George could not bring forward any living witnesses to back up his case.

So what happened to George ?  That has been a mystery that has bugged me for nearly thirty years.  It was clear that he did not die in Hertfordshire.  The name George was not that common before the Hanoverian Kings from 1720, and those called "George Ginn" were always few and far between.  He could have died in a parish of which there are no surviving records for the period of course, or he could have been in the records in front of me, and I not realise it was him.  It was a mystery. 

There was one man in the records who seemed to fit however - a George Ginn of Bermondsey in London, but although there was no George shown in the nearby records in Southwark, there were earlier Ginns in Southwark,  and with no evidence that the Herts George had gone to London I had no reason to suppose it was the same man.  And besides, George Ginn of Bermondsey was a Tanner, Bermondsey being the centre of the leather trade in England from 1600 for about 250 years.  No Hertfordshire Ginn was in that trade.  End of story.

Then in 2018 I got a shock.  Ancestry loaded up an apprenticeship record for William the son of George's brother Henry, he was virtually untraced.  And Henry Ginn was a Tanner !

I obviously therefore have to consider it likely that George Ginn went to Bermondsey.  He was an ambitious man, had seen London and the delights it had to offer and must have known that Bermondsey was the centre of the leather industry and the place to go.

There is no Ginn in Bermondsey mentioned in the Hearth Tax of the early 1664, and George seems to have arrived after the Great Fire of London in 1666, which did not affect Bermondsey, the consequent destruction and subsequent rebuilding leading to a surge of immigration to London.

George was certainly there soon after, because he logically married in about 1667 (no marriage yet traced) and had his first child, also George, at Bermondsey in 1669.

I know very little about George's time in Bermondsey, save that he lived in St Mary Magdalene Parish, in fact quite close to the church, in Bermondsey Street.   In George's day this was known by the nickname of Barnaby Street, effectively the high road.

George and his wife (possibly wives) lived in St Mary Magdalene Parish as I say, the church (rebuilt in 1690) being what remained of Bermondsey Abbey.  The original church is shown below

George and his wife (Elizabeth - she may have been his only or possibly his second wife) had a good number of children but there are few remaining baptisms.  The Register seems complete, and though  the old St Mary Magdalene was torn down in 1680 and the new not completed until 1690,  this does not explain the absence of baptisms in the 1670s, so it may likely be that George was a Non Conformist - an image that fits a man who was anti establishment, willing to challenge the gentry, ambitious and pugnacious.

Tanning was an obnoxious trade, the tanner was obviously dealing with dead animals and the hides had to be taken, washed and dressed.  It required an awful lot of water, the tides of the Thames at Bermondsey supplying this.  A horrible process, which stank and led to tanneries being situate away from habitation.

George's wife Elizabeth died in 1696 - she seems to have had her last child in 1685 and I would assume was in her 50s.

George's son Henry was apprenticed in 1696 when George was alive, his son William in 1702 when he was dead, so George died in 1700 or so when he was about 65 and is buried in the new St Mary Magdalene Church completed in 1690 below - which , of course, is situated on Bermondsey Street.

George and Elizabeth had a number of children over the years, but I do not have full list and like most Londoners a great number died - 

George - there is only one known - and he died in infancy

Henry - there were several.  The only one who survived was born in circa 1678 (no recorded baptism) and in 1693  apprenticed aged 15 to Francis Thackham, a member of the Feltmaker's Company.  George Ginn seems determined that his son be feltmakers, ie Hatters.  He would have associated with a lot in the alehouses in Bermondsey and Southwark.

Francis Thackham took on may apprecentkces over the years, but does not seem to have lived in London or Surrey but likely Berkshire, running his business in London.  It is extremely likely that Harry was not really granted a full apprenticehip, but taken on as what was known as a "singing boy".  This had nothing to do with actual singing, but such "were employed in the stiffening or doeing off hats setting the firrs".  This was just one job in a complicated messy business and there was controversy about boys being exploited in this way at the time, such lads having to be offered full apprenticeships at age 18 and if their master had no place then another master had to offer one.  If not then their master was fined 10s a week, a lot at the time.

So, obviosuly Thackham had no apprenticeship for Henry because at the beginning of 1696, when Henry was now 18 he was apprenticed to a James Bestly of the Feltmongers Company.  I know a lot about James.  He died in 1723 in Aldersgate in the City, but he had run his hatters business in Southwark in the 1680s and 90s.  He seems to have lost all of his wives and children as he asked to be buried with them in St Olaves in Southwark.

Things did not work out.  Harry's mum died in 1696, and it was possibly that and Harry's limited range of  experience in the business leading to a parting of the ways, because in December 1696 (Henry was now nearly 19) "Henry Ginn son of George Ginn of Bermondsey Tanner" was apprenticed to a John Richardson, a member of the Blacksmiths Company.  I know nothing about Richardson and here the trail ends - I can find nothing further on Harry.

Most people in London at this time died in childhood, few lived beyond 50.  London was so vibrant as it was "the City of the young"

Elizabeth - there were one or two - but none lived so far as I know.

William - I call him "William Ginn the Hatter" as in 1702 when he was likely about 15 he "son of George Ginn Tanner lately of Bermondsey "- ie George was dead - was apprenticed to a Feltmaker (Hatter) called John Thompson.  See post of 28th June 2020