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.
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
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