Aquila Ginn was the eldest son of Aquila the elder of Great Hormead (see post of 14th August 2012 ). He and his family have remained a footnote on my post on his father until now. But in late 2023 I turned up two court cases and these gave me so much information that I felt compelled to create this post.
He was born in 1634 in Great Hormead. His father lived to such a great age for the time that Aquila jnr never really inherited a lot, his father providing in life and, obviously, Aquila jnr tried to marry to advantage to affirm his position as a yeoman.
In about 1657/8 (during Cromwell's Commonwealth after the English Civil War when you were compelled to marry before a Justice of the Peace - so the marriage is lost) he married a lady called Joan or Joanna. Until 2023 that is all I knew. But as a result of a discovered court case see below (helpfully indexed under the name of Glynn) it seems likely that her maiden name was Battle or Battell and she came from Bassingbourn which straddles the Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire border. How they met I have no idea.
It seems clear that Aquila gained financially (and likely in land) from the union. Joan clearly had a brother Robert of Royston (see below) and although the couple had a son, Aquila, in the Hormeads in 1659, by 1662 or so they had made the move to Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire. This is quite some distance from Great Hormead and I had always wondered the reason for such a move.
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They had a daughter Elizabeth at Bassingbourn in 1663. My suspicion is that there may have been other children I have no knowledge of. They had no less than 5 Hearths there in the Hearth Tax record, but Aquila pleaded relative poverty to get his tax reduced, and my guess is that he was living in a house provided by or rented from the Battle family.
By 1670 I know that Aquila and Joan were in Therfield back in Hertfordshire, almost certainly in Reed End, where Aquila was to live for nearly the next forty years, until the end of his life. Reed End, indeed the whole of this area is still almost completely rural. But by this period the manorial copyhold system was already beginning to die out, and although Aquila is mentioned quite frequently in the manorial rolls that I found for this period in the Guildhall Library in London no less, he was not so much holding considerable copyhold land as holding manorial official posts, such as this of Constable.
For Aquila can be clearly seen to have been a tenant farmer, how the yeoman class were to be seen for the next two centuries. He rented land on a short terms basis or rented on longer leases. He seems to have lived in some hard earned comfort, but his existence was precarious. Bad luck, bad weather or ill health would have treated him very unkindly.
Aquila witnessed the will of his distant cousin Francis Ginn of Therfield in 1673, with a certain Edward Mead, of whom more later. Little Elizabeth, Aquila and Joan's daughter died at Therfield in 1675 and on the face of it the couple were now childless, and Joan herself died at Therfield in 1682.
Edward Mead of Therfield died in 1679 leaving a widow Mary. And in 1683 Aquila married Mary Mead "widow of Edward" at Great Hormead, doubtless surrounded by his family. This was all I knew about this marriage until late 2023.
Mary Mead was born in Therfield in about 1640, but her maiden name was Gray - her parents being Anthony and Rose Gray. For those interested in the Gray family (there is some nonsense on Ancestry) I will tell the story
Anthony Gray was born in Therfield (to another Anthony) at the beginning of 1600. His was a very solid Yeoman family. He married Rose Fison at Cambridge in 1625 and they had a large family, not all the baptism entries surviving - namely Rose (1628) Anthony jnr (1629) Elizabeth (1631) Henry (1634) Edward and Mary. Anthony snr had a good deal of land both in Therfield and Sandon in Herts (the latter near Buntingford)
The children are interesting and to help
Rose married Job Holmstead of Queenhithe in the City of London (a Feltmaker - ie a Hatter) at St Botolph Bishopsgate in 1657. I cannot find any reference to issue and Job was dead by 1664.
Anthony jnr married Ann Fillney at Therfield in 1657. They had one son, also Anthony in 1660 and then Anthony jnr was also dead by 1664. Anthony Gray snr referred to Ann as his daughter and she and the infant were very well cared for in his will. Whether little Anthony survived is unknown.
Elizabeth clearly married Jeremiah Downes of Hertford at distant Great Amwell in 1652. This was a little scary for me. Because Jeremiah Downes was one of the sons of Hezekiah Downes of Hertford. And Hezekiah is an old friend of mine. He was a Hertford Blacksmith, also a Burgess and the Mace bearer to the Corporation. He was strongly involved for Parliament (as were his sons) in the English Civil War and is mentioned in not only the story of Richard Ginn of Ware, but also that of Peter Ginn, also a Blacksmith of Hertford. It now appears that Aquila Ginn here was the brother in law of his sons! I was astonished. It illustrates the small population of the 1600s and the relatively small gene pool of the yeoman and tradesman class. For the record, Jeremiah (some sort of builder) and Elizabeth had a son, also Jeremiah in 1660, who some say went to Harpenden and established a drapery business - I will leave it with you
Edward took all the land in Mardleybury Manor in Therfield - he clearly married and reputedly died in 1705.
Henry - inherited all the land in Sandon - was alive in 1664 - nothing more is known.
Mary Gray clearly married Edward Mead, where and when unknown. Mary like her sisters was an eligible spinster. Anthony Gray senior died in 1664 (will PCC) and on his death he left a lot of bequests, a lot of them tied to the life of his widow Rose and payable upon her death and even more conditional upon whether little Anthony above (his grandson) survived to his majority. Mary received £50 when her father died. If little Anthony had died she would have been quite a catch. And upon her mother's death (1687/8) she was due an additional £70.
So, when Rose Gray snr died in 1688 Edward Gray's worst nightmare came true. His siblings went to him for their money. Had he laid it aside over the years he would have been alright, and he clearly had some, because some bequests were allegedly paid out. But not Mary's £70, Ted's cloud has a silver lining for me, because Aquila sued (C8/350/180 ).
The Bill of Complaint had some gaps for essential information (eg Anthony Gray's death) and that, together with the absence of an Answer (defence) from Edward Gray leads me to the conclusion that the case was settled. The lands in Therfield had been charged with payment of the legacies and Aquila was suing for land in lieu of the money, so he and Edward obviously came to some arrangement. So in 1689 Aquila acquired a little money through his wife.
In 1694 Aquila was 60. But he was clearly an energetic and active chap and up for a challenge.
The next story starts in North Yorkshire of all places. This is a lot of research imparted lightly. How these people moved around is a genealogist's nightmare
In 1630, a lad called John Cockett was born in Yorkshire. A poor boy, he went to Giggleswick School, a charity school. Giggleswick chose one bright poor pupil every year to get a scholarship to Cambridge University, and in the mid 1640s John was the lucky one. He got two degrees, entered the Church and in 1660 this chap was made the Rector of the parish of Reed in Hertfordshire. The church is shown below, Aquila Ginn is buried in the churchyard.
In 1668 the no nonsense yorkshireman John Cockett married an Ann Flexmer (daughter of Francis) in London and in 1670 they had their only child, a son Francis, at Reed. In 1693 Francis Cockett, Gentleman of Holborn in London (he had rooms there) married Alice Battle of Royston in Herts in Soho, London. And in 1694 they had their only known child Ann while living in Royston. They were back in London by 1695. You can see how this is starting to come together.
Now, in 1655 or so another character in this story was born, a Christopher Cooper was born near Buntingford, likely in Reed (his family had land there). Little Christopher also went to a charity school in Buntingford and (no jokes) it is said caught the eye of a local Bishop who put Chris forward for the church and Christopher Cooper also went to Cambridge University. This could be called the "Clergymen's Tale".
Christopher Cooper became the Vicar of Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire. He as a Latin scholar and wrote books on latin grammar (bestsellers no doubt) and became the Headmaster of Bishops Stortford Grammar School. He comes over as a little pompous. In 1686, thorough the auspices of the Church of England he had a vicarage (now called "The Old Vicarage" it still stands) built at Bishops Stortford. The house is important as it figures in Aquila's story.
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In 1697 (C7/133/9) all of the stars aligned and, in a court case, all of this came together.
It appears that Christopher Cooper had a house and thirty four acres of land in Reed to be granted by lease. The house was a bit dilapidated but Aquila Ginn was up for the challenge and in 1694 he negotiated with Cooper to take a lease for 6 years at £25 a year and to renovate the house for his occupation, Cooper rebating (ie reducing) the rent at the start to allow for the work Aquila and Mary needed to do.
Aquila was unknown to Cooper and Cooper later said (hindsight being a wonderful thing) that he had heard reports of Aquila's "ill character" and had got on his horse and ridden from Bishops Stortford to Royston (a fair trek) to check Aquila out. It is clear that Chris went to see the 24 year old Francis Cockett who was then in Royston (likely residing at the Tabard Inn) for a reference. It does not necessarily follow that he had heard ill reports of Aquila.
All went well. The Lease was drawn up by a scrivener called Brown, known to Cockett said the Reverend Cooper but "an utter stranger" to him. On the 29th November 1694, the sixty year old Aquila Ginn himself travelled down to Bishops Stortford and walked into what is now the Old Vicarage above. He signed the lease. He later claimed that he had not read it and my guess is that Aquila was illiterate.
It went wrong of course. Aquila renovated the house but the good Reverend refused to rebate the rent for the amount Aquila claimed, so Aquila sued.
Now the central figure in this story, the elephant in the room is Francis Cockett, gentleman. Because I have not mentioned a couple of things. Firstly, Cockett was a joint plaintiff with Aquila. And the reason for that is that when Cooper rode to see him in Royston, Francis Cockett did more than give Aquila a good reference, he not only stood surety for the rent, but he gave Cooper a financial bond guaranteeing if Aquila could not pay. Given that Francis Cockett was 24, newly married with a babe in arms- why did he do that ?
Francis was not in business with Aquila, that is clear. And it seems unlikely that Aquila was a long term friend of John Cockett. And, anyway, John Cockett had died aged 63 in 1693 (will PCC) still the Rector of Reed. And although Francis and Alice had had their first child at Royston no doubt surrounded by her family, Frank had taken the family to London by 1695 and his widowed Mum Ann had gone with them She died in Bishopsgate (living there 1695 - Inhabitants Outside the Walls) in 1696 (will PCC) Both she and John made much mention of the Battle family in their wills, and it is clear that they had known Alice some years before she had married Francis.
So it is the Battle family that I turned my attention to, and particularly Robert Battle of Royston, Alice's dad. Alice was born in 1666. Now Royston (as the name hints) had had ancient links to the monarchy, and in the first half of the 1600s there was something of a royal palace or at least large residence (below) there which gave employment and benefited tradesmen of the town while the royal entourage of the Stuart kings was there.
This made Royston a somewhat unusual place during the English Civil War as, in an area declared for Parliament, it sheltered more than a few closet Royalists.
And Royston was also an important spot on the Great North Road from London to Cambridge and had many inns and alehouses. One of these was the Tabard Inn which went back to Tudor times and was in the High Street near the Cross. It is sadly long gone.
Robert Battle owned the Tabard Inn and three or four other properties besides. But Bob did not come from Royston but rather Cambridgeshire, and most of his property likely came to him from his father in law, Tom Turner. Now I know this because in 1674 Robert Battle and his wife Ann pursued a court case over the estate of her late father. And, like Robert, Thomas Turner is known to have been an Inn Keeper in Royston, and an inn keeper who during the English Civil War was accused of using the Inn to recruit men for the King's army, so Tom was an open Royalist.
Now Robert Battle married Ann Turner at Bassingbourn in 1660, Ann being a Royston girl as I say and Robert clearly born to a William Battle in Bassingbourn (Bob having brothers Leonard, William jnr who married Mary Man or Mann in 1668 and as sister I am figuring our Joan ). And in 1662 or so Aquila had made that strange journey to Bassingbourn that I have never been able to explain, logically given what we know of him, going after whatever advantage he might be able to gain from the Battles. This would make him Alice Cockett's (Battle) Uncle by marriage and would explain why Francis might had stood surety for him.
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