tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62027642392029948172024-03-26T23:35:37.198-07:00Ginn family of HertfordshireMichael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-3635966431737405142024-01-21T09:27:00.000-08:002024-02-12T12:34:41.876-08:00John Perient Esquire of Digswell died 1432<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> In 1538, George Gill of Wyddial married Gertrude Perient. So all of those Ginns descended from Mary Gill (see post of Feb 21st 2023 ) are descended from the early Perient family of Hertfordshire and thus from the John Perient mentioned here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I first researched John Perient (there are various spellings of his name) in the original records at what was then the Public Record Office in London (now the National Archives in Kew) nearly thirty years ago. From what I can see, my notes are still by far the most comprehensive research on the man because nobody has ever really produced a biography. He is still one of the most fascinating people I have ever researched.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In the late 1300s there is a reference in the records to a John Peraunt who in 1385 was made a Sergeant at Arms to our King Richard the Second. There were twenty or so such men, and their role (they carried a ceremonial mace) was to travel the Kingdom of England to enforce the King's orders and at times take administrative roles ("in the King's name!")</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I found Peraunt several times in the records - at one time he collected a prisoner from Corfe Castle in Dorset (which I visited as a boy - it is now a ruin) and in 1405 (now in service to King Henry the Fourth) the guy took control of the Channel Islands for a time. I can find no record of him after 1409, when it is supposed he died or left the King's service. It has been suggested that he is the father of the John Perient mentioned here. I think it highly likely.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AQOr-PGrpHNAAUBsuR5nx38IS2rqVLZfABAqIcXZacay7XkROUUPheoMVy4loXD2wXCBEOpdTUOWSZDS2_W5n5KqmYdcQipNNuykam23fn9s7ck1O1yyTjxRouJeXubEA-d-oIbSJOAvkS4gOtkC7B31uBVTe_NY9uDZ9etzBdQPgDuOk-YmEfNMUsaa/s1200/image001%20(8).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AQOr-PGrpHNAAUBsuR5nx38IS2rqVLZfABAqIcXZacay7XkROUUPheoMVy4loXD2wXCBEOpdTUOWSZDS2_W5n5KqmYdcQipNNuykam23fn9s7ck1O1yyTjxRouJeXubEA-d-oIbSJOAvkS4gOtkC7B31uBVTe_NY9uDZ9etzBdQPgDuOk-YmEfNMUsaa/w534-h297/image001%20(8).jpg" width="534" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Perient here was born in Brittany, likely around 1370.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Brittany, though part of France, had originally been populated (as the name suggests) by Celtic Britons from the west of Britain, fleeing overseas from the invading Germanic Anglo-Saxons (later the English - I am simplifying here) who were pushing the Britons further west into Cornwall (Corn welsh) and Wales ( Welsh) the term "wealas" being Saxon for "foreigner".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So the Bretons did not feel any particular allegiance to France, and often (either for money or land or both) took service with foreign armies against the King of France.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The English had been fighting the French since 1337 (the Hundred Years War 1337-1453) and for the best part of the first hundred years were winning easily (Battles of Crecy, Poitiers etc) often under the command of Edward the Black Prince (of Wales) a great English warrior who was the first to wear the three lions on his shirt, now a symbol of England.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGWYcCGukCt6Yq7r6woiljngNM8qhit9fMnxxqBHi93jHyLLmYdobFHxn4D0gTOMU3mEN3dlT9Bvxsxk-XwS3zBOWADd_xrTq_BvLD40rm7B8QvxyIeu7wsTiT3TxkFM3D_VscMiMSlQCGK-p6qezr0JCBLETAGNo2RnuhbQ-ivHeWSiTQ8-MBaBCrNva/s1299/mentaldental_200118_5e2377bd5a1b2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1299" data-original-width="605" height="565" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGWYcCGukCt6Yq7r6woiljngNM8qhit9fMnxxqBHi93jHyLLmYdobFHxn4D0gTOMU3mEN3dlT9Bvxsxk-XwS3zBOWADd_xrTq_BvLD40rm7B8QvxyIeu7wsTiT3TxkFM3D_VscMiMSlQCGK-p6qezr0JCBLETAGNo2RnuhbQ-ivHeWSiTQ8-MBaBCrNva/w355-h565/mentaldental_200118_5e2377bd5a1b2.jpeg" width="355" /></a></div><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"> The Black Prince</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I have read that John Perient entered service with the English and "came into England with Edward the Black Prince". This would have been difficult because Edward died in 1376 on campaign in France of dysentery, and John Perient was then about six years of age. What is more likely to have happened is that John Peraunt entered the service of the English and came into England with his family in the 1370s, particularly likely as we know that both Peraunt and Perient entered service with King Richard the Second (King from 1377 to 1399) who was a younger son of the Black Prince.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Perient is said on his tomb to have been an Esquire to the Body to King Richard the Second (a sort of attendant and bodyguard if you will) of whom there were a number, and also his Pennon or Standard Bearer. Given that Richard reigned for over 20 years (and others are named Standard bearer) it seems likely that John Perient acquired this latter honour in the later 1390s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So Perient had taken an oath of allegiance to King Richard, but by all accounts Richard was not a great guy. He was accounted a narcissist, a man who had an inflated idea of kingship when the notion of absolute monarchy was already beginning to weaken in England (in 1381 we had the Peasants Revolt - during Richard's reign). And so factions grew up among the nobles of England and there were several men who having royal blood, considered themselves rivals for the throne and sought to depose Dick. And one of these was Henry Bolinbroke - Richard's first cousin and shortly to be King Henry the Fourth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Bolinbroke had been exiled to France, and supposedly spent time in Brittany. A widower since 1394, he stayed with the Duke of Brittany and his wife Joan of Navarre. Joan was 31, no great beauty and had had eight children - but she had personality and charm and Henry was smitten with her and she with him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now 1399 was an eventful year for Henry. First, there was something of a revolt and Henry deposed King Richard who was imprisoned. Secondly the Duke of Brittany died, Harry's dream came true and he proposed to Joan of Navarre who readily accepted. A happy ending.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But King Dick lived up to his name and over the twelve days of Christmas of 1399/1400 his supporters rose up and made an attempt to kill Henry at Windsor where they were having a Christmas Jousting Tournament. It is called the Epiphany Rising. Henry was warned and fled and began to raise an army. The rebels were pursued all over England being caught and beheaded (if they were lucky) or hanged, drawn and quartered (if they were not) along the way. The interesting thing is that I turned up a muster of Henry's army, and John Perient was there - the guy had seen the way the wind was blowing !</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The former King Richard was quietly executed and in February 1400 Perient was rewarded for changing sides. Firstly he was made an Esquire to the Body of King Henry the Fourth. I am not sure that I would have readily trusted a guy who switched sides so easily, but there you go. And he was also I found swearing an oath of allegiance to Ralph Neville Earl Marshal of England (think head of the army) and Henry's chief supporter and brother in law. Two salaries thus came Perient's way.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Although betrothed to King Henry, Joan of Navarre had stayed on in Brittany to tidy up things there and put things in order for her children, so that they could take over the Duchy. She did not come to England and formerly marry King Henry until 1402. With her she brought her Breton entourage, these including her "damsels" ie her ladies in waiting. One of these we know was a certain Joan Risain.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Perient married Joan Risain in about 1404, we do not have a date. I made some superficial investigation into Joan's family back in the 1990s in the Guildhall Library, and the Coat of Arms on her tomb resemble those of the Raisen family of Kernault in Brittany, but I am guessing. More research needs to be done.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The English had never been happy that King Henry had married what they considered a Frenchwoman. And they were even more unhappy that she had brought into England a lot of foreigners and that, indeed, those foreigners were encouraging more to come over and they were all being treated preferentially. There were riots on occasion and some foreigners were forced to go home. But not John and Joan. They and their heirs were granted English citizenship in 1411 and 1412 respectively and thus we find the following in the Patent Rolls:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfK1dfQMxsB9La8Xw47s0bk7XGT7KIauP6jnEaSpXe4-n3f43lQNUy55XL2OQZbpsrwPjvrUB_xlop6I6WqVexO4iyKeEKfARMQOn0F4wRwrZCV2LfaTIZMzL5DvDJ6vz7x3e3b43y2frrkVAYpKRiZcwsnVvnGW8bSptGK_Cah5jAh-u9OdGopRnVdQ7/s739/perient.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="172" data-original-width="739" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfK1dfQMxsB9La8Xw47s0bk7XGT7KIauP6jnEaSpXe4-n3f43lQNUy55XL2OQZbpsrwPjvrUB_xlop6I6WqVexO4iyKeEKfARMQOn0F4wRwrZCV2LfaTIZMzL5DvDJ6vz7x3e3b43y2frrkVAYpKRiZcwsnVvnGW8bSptGK_Cah5jAh-u9OdGopRnVdQ7/w546-h201/perient.png" width="546" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">This all brought financial dividends. In 1411 John Perient was made Master of Horse to Joan of Navarre. And Joan became the Chief Lady in Waiting. The Queen was something of a fancy dresser, and we know from her tomb that Joan Perient was well dressed and had her hair exquisitely styled.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now he was classed as an Englishman, Perient could take land in England.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Perient was friends with two Members of Parliament, John Derham and John Ludwick. Both of these men lived near Hatfield in Hertfordshire (not far from Aston where the earliest Ginn family lived as it happens) and they encouraged John Perient and Joan to move near them. They did. Perient initially acquired the manor of Digswell (in Welwyn) and later the manors of Gobions and Lavares in Stapleford, Lockleys in Welwyn and before his death Holwell in Hatfield. John Perient owned a fair chunk of what is today Welwyn Garden City.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Henry the Fourth died in 1413. The heir was his son the famous Henry the Fifth, who by all accounts respected but was not enamoured of his stepmother Joan of Navarre. She was treated quite shabbily and denied much of her income and retreated to the country. We can assume that Joan Perient was no longer her lady in waiting</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIGRlahTbj0V4f9gp9nv0sthrYuTJmQCJsIwmH0yr2zCcWYCQkhzIgO79Vsr_1lFHXNxCrxFEQk12TbyV2lk9XU9IoqhTJMfuw1vxP4LikI2e7jtXUmRcUiY1HAeNYnFS1tjyYmEZimCdxisQwUG9d_HhImzCMxM8PL7rKGLw_T9_B4qi3f2hF7PpjGJ8/s701/bdd9af94edb28fb1476fae767bee2f02--canterbury-cathedral-queen-of-england.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="701" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIGRlahTbj0V4f9gp9nv0sthrYuTJmQCJsIwmH0yr2zCcWYCQkhzIgO79Vsr_1lFHXNxCrxFEQk12TbyV2lk9XU9IoqhTJMfuw1vxP4LikI2e7jtXUmRcUiY1HAeNYnFS1tjyYmEZimCdxisQwUG9d_HhImzCMxM8PL7rKGLw_T9_B4qi3f2hF7PpjGJ8/w523-h281/bdd9af94edb28fb1476fae767bee2f02--canterbury-cathedral-queen-of-england.jpg" width="523" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Tomb of Henry the Fourth and Joan of Navarre</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We know from his tomb that Perient was now made an Esquire to the Body of Henry the Fifth. Perient was in his early 40s. This is when things start to get really interesting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I have read history books, fiction and non fiction since I could read. An early favourite novel was "The Gauntlet" by Ronald Felton (writing as Ronald Welch). I read it in the early 1960s. A young boy was on a misty hillside where he picked up a rusty knight's gauntlet that he saw in a ditch. Holding it up and putting it on, he was transported, as if in a dream, back to the 1300s. I felt a similar experience when I started to read the extensive original documentation left from the reign of King Henry the Fifth and the real people, including John Perient, that framed the events of his reign. I was there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28_kbI5KfbwkV92O4SxSHWnB8ywRShNWG7E8Dl5UkNVnyGZ1r46pLLclnoE_SeSoxaa13SQKzDdvqs9-JwgtO2DH9om1-pO_DFEEBjgEHWTuZYEmY3wgoVkt-XZ8lDadWqSHzA7lbKJhSBs99fWLgwKSlydl0_Lwt5F8wQgIypMGiGLQikxQsxd6gUZ7D/s1500/15309387523.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1077" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28_kbI5KfbwkV92O4SxSHWnB8ywRShNWG7E8Dl5UkNVnyGZ1r46pLLclnoE_SeSoxaa13SQKzDdvqs9-JwgtO2DH9om1-pO_DFEEBjgEHWTuZYEmY3wgoVkt-XZ8lDadWqSHzA7lbKJhSBs99fWLgwKSlydl0_Lwt5F8wQgIypMGiGLQikxQsxd6gUZ7D/w353-h367/15309387523.jpg" width="353" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The English Kings, rightly or wrongly, had been claiming the throne of France for years, that was what all the fighting had been about. A great deal of time, money and English and Welsh blood (England having control of Wales and Welsh longbowmen a treasured part of the English army) had been spilt in that pursuit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Henry the Fifth now laid claim to the throne of France. And the years 1413-15 were years spent preparing to invade. And so we come to the Agincourt campaign,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Henry the 5th needed an army, and he raised ten thousand men of England and Wales. The men at arms, that is those fully armoured with lance and warhorse were composed of the nobility, the knights and esquires - the landed gentry. Each of those was obliged to supply men according to his lands held from the King, and Perient held four manors each held on half a knight's fee, in other words in time of war his lands demanded he supply and equip two men at arms.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1415 King Henry was ready to invade France. Sadly, in April of that year we know that Joan Perient died, likely in childbirth and leaving several infants. We must assume that John Perient relied on servants to bring those up as in July he was ready to depart.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Back in the day I read an article which said that a certain Sir Harris Nicholas had said that Perient had gone with the 1415 expedition that led to the Battle of Agincourt. So I scuttled off to the Guildhall Library in London to find the book. It turned out that that dated from 1832, and the author had himself scuttled off, this time to the British Museum and had turned up the passport records (every English gentleman going needed a passport from the King to leave the Kingdom) of the officers of the expedition from the Norman Rolls (I have seen the entry) from which he knew that Perient had gone to France in 1415. But he estimated the number of the little bundle of men that went with him, and in that estimate he was wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Harris was correct as I say, both Perient and his friend and fellow King's Esquire Nicholas Aldwick were granted passports (3rd June 1415), and they were said to be "in the retinue of the King". Now these words are important, this means that they were in the King's own unit, who would be called the King's Guard today, the sort of Housecarls of the Saxon King Harold at Hastings in 1066, the men who had sworn the English "Blood Oath" to die in battle around the King.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIkpu9o94SRG6I0F7_fPqBmKzk0c91wlkdrPZst-hvTFoz9AcBiLYGZQT4SqYeCnvNz8m190t1wiB7kT8S1VAURLngqj0FZN0Gw4NxaAuwuWSmL6E0Ch7zcwf0h1BjHvUbitegdqAiuP-MJxXC3Pl7RiNi4UGSsJ4odpHOAiZCR6BaZSnM-_ajJGVGDiC/s1225/Henry_V%252C_King_of_England.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1225" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIkpu9o94SRG6I0F7_fPqBmKzk0c91wlkdrPZst-hvTFoz9AcBiLYGZQT4SqYeCnvNz8m190t1wiB7kT8S1VAURLngqj0FZN0Gw4NxaAuwuWSmL6E0Ch7zcwf0h1BjHvUbitegdqAiuP-MJxXC3Pl7RiNi4UGSsJ4odpHOAiZCR6BaZSnM-_ajJGVGDiC/s320/Henry_V%252C_King_of_England.webp" width="261" /></a></div> Henry the Fifth<br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I cannot tell you that Perient definitely fought at the Battle of Agincourt, though he probably did. What I can tell you is that he went on the campaign and, incredibly, I can even tell you the names of the men who went with him. Life is short, and we are dead a long time, so I consider myself privileged to have read an original document from 1415 which is truly amazing, what is called the Agincourt Roll.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I was always a fan of the late Christopher Hibbert, researcher and historical writer. And at the time I was researching Perient, I had a copy of Hibbert's "Agincourt". Now Henry the Fifth led three expeditions to France, and Hibbert found a document that listed one of those armies, but which was the question, it was undated. The argument went that it was the first expedition, crucially because several prominent men in the list were known to have been dead before the second expedition, indeed some died on the first, a persuasive argument. Since I did my research in the 1990s, it appears to have become accepted generally that the document in question is a complete list by name of the men who went on the first invasion of France by King Henry the Fifth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Agincourt Roll (E/101/51/2 at the National Archives) is a remarkable thing. It is like a huge roll of wallpaper, a foot or more wide, being pages of parchment sewn together. It lists every man who went, down to the meanest soldier. Perient was required to supply two men at arms (known as "Lances" in the Roll) and six archers, the names</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Lances</b></span></p><p>John Perient Esquire</p><p>Richard Hames Esquire</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Archers</b></span></p><p>Richard Bassett</p><p>Thomas Toryton</p><p>John Teringham</p><p>Henry Smith</p><p>Thomas Rodhaw</p><p>Richard Welsh </p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I was later delighted to discover that Richard Hames and Dick Bassett were both mentioned in Perient's will, so they survived two campaigns and remained close to him. It seems likely Dick Bassett was the senior archer, perhaps the man centre left below.. It is also likely that Richard Welsh was a welsh man, a lot of archers in the English army were. These men had been bred to the bow since early childhood, skeletons discovered show that they were incredibly muscular with distorted chests, an English longbowman's arrow with a bodkin point could easily pierce plate armour or chain mail or be driven four inches into a block of oak. The longbowmen terrified the French, with good reason, there was no greater disgrace for a French aristocrat in full armour on warhorse, than to be brought down by an English peasant's arrow.</span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvj2sxSlyaGR0g7-wkEQ4mzcfTWg4_LSBL2ZtYzTglXmjkGFbUe2SE55XWo0DZV61-S9IYULca6BBrpzM5Rr4bpfPGGg11x00886mekK2eCZg4b3oRbfnEO5nu12DemU8Vj7fWn8Sd7vlTnOPlQj5ITrW58UJOwG1rHUizCGmvHCI-WrfxW8y062CgXKY/s574/agincourt.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="535" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvj2sxSlyaGR0g7-wkEQ4mzcfTWg4_LSBL2ZtYzTglXmjkGFbUe2SE55XWo0DZV61-S9IYULca6BBrpzM5Rr4bpfPGGg11x00886mekK2eCZg4b3oRbfnEO5nu12DemU8Vj7fWn8Sd7vlTnOPlQj5ITrW58UJOwG1rHUizCGmvHCI-WrfxW8y062CgXKY/w399-h425/agincourt.png" width="399" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> English archers at Agincourt </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The English army gathered at Southampton in July 1415 and landed in France (Normandy) in August, obviously the best time of the year to cross the English Channel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">They laid siege to Harfleur, a French stronghold. This was the scene of Shakespeare's great speech in the mouth of Henry the 5th calling on the English army "once more into the breach dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our English dead". But the truth is that there was a small French garrison, the English army mostly sat outside the walls getting dysentery and other diseases there being too many men in too close a proximity without sanitation, and, after negotiations with the French garrison the French surrendered and marched out. Not much glory there then.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now Henry had invaded with just over two thousand men at arms and about nine thousand archers. It is said that about four hundred men at arms died at Harfleur, mostly of disease. Another four hundred were so ill that they had to be shipped home, unable to fight. Many of those later died or were never to campaign again. Three hundred men at arms were left to garrison Harfleur and to guard the rear of the English army, because Henry had begun to realise that the French army greatly outnumbered his, that they were coming for him and he had to get back to England quickly. So he was determined to take what was left of his force including perhaps 900 men at arms back to England and, incredibly he chose to do that by marching north across part of France to Calais, which was an English possession, then to sail for home. But he was marching across the face of the advancing French army and it was now September, moving into October and the weather was turning wet, the ground was muddy and many of the English were ill and getting sicker by the day, there was a shortage of food.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I have always thought that Perient was one of that "band of brothers" as Shakespeare called them. He was to campaign with Henry again and Henry as we shall see , kept his close entourage and "body" knights and esquires with him, so I am pretty sure he was there. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now I am not going to retell the story of the Battle of Agincourt, but suffice it to say that on 25th October 1415 as many as 40,000 French men faced an English army of less than 10,000 men. The English could have surrendered, as ever they decided to fight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The day went pretty much like the Battle of Waterloo went exactly four hundred years later in 1815. The English stood their ground, did not retreat a foot and let the French attack them in wave after wave. There were in fact too many Frenchmen on a narrow front, they got in each other's way, Dick Bassett and his fellow archers were protected from French cavalry by dug in sharpened stakes and released volley after volley of arrows and the French men at arms were hit and fell, only to be chopped down on the ground by our mean at arms, or less gloriously stabbed through the eye pieces of their armour by the side daggers of the archers. It was not pretty. At the end of the day there were some ten thousand French dead, the English had no more than five hundred casualties, mostly wounded. It was a miracle on the Feast Day of St Crispin Crispianus. Shakespeare says it best, puts words in the mouth of Good King Harry once more. I could not have said it better myself -</span></p><p><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">This story shall the good man teach his son;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">From this day to the ending of the world,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">But we in it shall be rememberèd—</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">For he to-day that sheds his blood with me</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">This day shall gentle his condition;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">And gentlemen in England now a-bed</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;">That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1832, Sir Harris Nicholas came up with the names of some five hundred or so of the men at arms who fought at Agincourt two of these I noticed were King's Esquires, but he said himself that he was some four hundred short. Nobody will ever know the full list.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The English army returned to London to great acclaim. Perient had lost his wife. He never married again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">King Henry the 5th was a determined man. In 1417, he raised some twelve thousand men and invaded France again. He was more successful this time. After a savage massacre the English army took Caen in Normandy. They then laid siege to Falaise. I know Perient and his little band of brothers were there because they are mentioned in the Norman Rolls, and Perient was sent through Normandy with a Power of Attorney from the King. In June 1418 our army was as Louviers and Perient was there, as were his men, but they were not named - just mentioned as his retinue.</span>.</p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Rouen surrendered in 1419 and that was it. Henry the 5th set up his Head Quarters in Mantes, and I know Perient was there which reinforces my assertion that where the King was, so was Perient.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">By 1420 our army was at the gates of Paris and the French surrendered. Henry dished out rewards to many of his men, offering Englishmen castles and landholdings in France if they were stupid enough to accept. Most declined, realising that they would never be able to leave their French possessions securely, and would be in constant battles with the French to keep them. Because while the English had beaten the French, they did not have the population to conquer France.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1420 Perient was about 50. You never hear of him in the King's service again. He was not in Henry's third campaign of 1421/2. He was clearly too old to campaign again</span></p><p>.<span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">From what I can see Perient returned to England and concentrated on building up his landholdings and refurbishing his manors - particularly that of Digswell where he lived. It is at this time that I believe that he commissioned the manorial brass at Digwell, one of the finest in England. Like the Pharoahs he was preparing for his death and a memorial. For the record, Perient was never knighted, though one or two of his Perient descendants were.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Perient's will was made on 10th April 1432, he was in his early 60s. He is said to have died on the Monday before St George's Day (23rd April) 1432 (Inquisition Post Mortem). He was the greatest of the Perients of Hertfordshire and it was a privilege to research him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">He left £200 to build a Chantry Chapel (where a priest would say prayers for him and Joan) at Digswell Church which still stands and is where he and Joan are buried. You can visit them whenever you wish, they have lain there undisturbed for some 600 years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsk_fCwpGHih7W20CqfU6ZjqHsUls2owqNO-DnMhOenARQXfZvEBHC5eo4E482wDQVGJIKAQUyyUm5zp5bzeLJAXtt3p_bpFa88IzX6yQoe0k_jbayvOG1Q0tgRp6Qczo5I-C3dKfYySLloGzq3CyG_9iRpKfkM7azXwTTFJQOhLmD1LFMWVfOGWQ3EFi3/s983/brass.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="983" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsk_fCwpGHih7W20CqfU6ZjqHsUls2owqNO-DnMhOenARQXfZvEBHC5eo4E482wDQVGJIKAQUyyUm5zp5bzeLJAXtt3p_bpFa88IzX6yQoe0k_jbayvOG1Q0tgRp6Qczo5I-C3dKfYySLloGzq3CyG_9iRpKfkM7azXwTTFJQOhLmD1LFMWVfOGWQ3EFi3/w484-h353/brass.png" width="484" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05X9bLFpKdNH9zSahiseEswhswkYjnhF80IahJSvGi7ic5dRX0v3V8_r9p4D9lQZCMjoAfLy2oTCIIrRYsBxE8986RpjOY3KeokTvNAM_aVtcTpg5Q047Xt9lX6L6cnNMhck6DTMLIiJvOJKDreOlBddsbWoZlBqeTY4Ii3fUFM6VdSlML4JGL6FN9uQr/s1040/tomb.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="568" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05X9bLFpKdNH9zSahiseEswhswkYjnhF80IahJSvGi7ic5dRX0v3V8_r9p4D9lQZCMjoAfLy2oTCIIrRYsBxE8986RpjOY3KeokTvNAM_aVtcTpg5Q047Xt9lX6L6cnNMhck6DTMLIiJvOJKDreOlBddsbWoZlBqeTY4Ii3fUFM6VdSlML4JGL6FN9uQr/w362-h441/tomb.jpeg" width="362" /></a></div><p></p>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-64600687776965293742024-01-06T14:13:00.000-08:002024-01-09T11:38:40.702-08:00Aquila Ginn of Reed End, Therfield died 1708<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> 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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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 <i>Glynn</i>) 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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrYd00p97aVQI5C7dRCwApcSUySQWu2IgBSIcDOZvaFCFibEmgcOuovLnoqLflkiqYXXwATjJ83bnWKsXg2_dOWuHsT_2nqzpwTAIwhMoB55_dAkEgsT5XAIcBUTLwivbeFriik-GrFPSHn9tN7-lzjSRYX_4kiU0GY1blijfiaOmb8gbyV9TeoWeMtXU/s640/R%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="640" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrYd00p97aVQI5C7dRCwApcSUySQWu2IgBSIcDOZvaFCFibEmgcOuovLnoqLflkiqYXXwATjJ83bnWKsXg2_dOWuHsT_2nqzpwTAIwhMoB55_dAkEgsT5XAIcBUTLwivbeFriik-GrFPSHn9tN7-lzjSRYX_4kiU0GY1blijfiaOmb8gbyV9TeoWeMtXU/w405-h294/R%20(1).jpg" width="405" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The children are interesting and to help</span></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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</p><p>Edward took all the land in Mardleybury Manor in Therfield - he clearly married and reputedly died in 1705.</p><p>Henry - inherited all the land in Sandon - was alive in 1664 - nothing more is known.</p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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</span><i style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: times; font-size: large;"> (C8/350/180</i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"> ).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1694 Aquila was 60. But he was clearly an energetic and active chap and up for a challenge.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkHIj62RiGS2fbSeu89uUQ_6HG33N13Cf5O-2xkAW5ZcikxUq_dRt4nKGm9qPZMDpDxXQVjmcdjke2N-HtxGUdTBj-oy95I3BVwcQDl9fZdrWVYo-5-XbV4J1BqiAO0pkPqKc1CgDkULfOYkFWHzCX5X-vAXJl8VwM8tpAKuoIW6hPM1TfY0u3JyqNTG8/s1024/Reed%20church.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1024" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkHIj62RiGS2fbSeu89uUQ_6HG33N13Cf5O-2xkAW5ZcikxUq_dRt4nKGm9qPZMDpDxXQVjmcdjke2N-HtxGUdTBj-oy95I3BVwcQDl9fZdrWVYo-5-XbV4J1BqiAO0pkPqKc1CgDkULfOYkFWHzCX5X-vAXJl8VwM8tpAKuoIW6hPM1TfY0u3JyqNTG8/w515-h286/Reed%20church.jpg" width="515" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudD8eiNzYWzhgGmnhLKKLtCh5rsrl1_7Isu3zBUMtWofR60fyFLD-xJbNc8uEWI6tJn5JFDAlRJIrg0jlqaUvPH0MOGAAl5FYb3-U4T8oe_Le29oB2ld6toptRdhqwgXK-LsEScyAkZAOFICc6tuXP9gBgcQ5qFIkBEpafydsZTZglr_V6M77rASd4oHE/s565/45_vicarage_use%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="565" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudD8eiNzYWzhgGmnhLKKLtCh5rsrl1_7Isu3zBUMtWofR60fyFLD-xJbNc8uEWI6tJn5JFDAlRJIrg0jlqaUvPH0MOGAAl5FYb3-U4T8oe_Le29oB2ld6toptRdhqwgXK-LsEScyAkZAOFICc6tuXP9gBgcQ5qFIkBEpafydsZTZglr_V6M77rASd4oHE/w536-h287/45_vicarage_use%20(2).jpg" width="536" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1697 (C7/133/9) all of the stars aligned and, in a court case, all of this came together.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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 ?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1D-pLhvGd29Lym8bktYLukxoqwaIMCnS3iiELPLG2rXJm6lwy7oxGKXRt7EPJVixQOwtokTOqoZ7s1uzL7nUvtBTAkfx2Vzf_6twmILhwXRgE1H9wKurA4UCB202DCqruom2uQkD5Z6V0QemK6bygNEEYijkedhRZwK_IOa62PfmEQ6D_Ma_MVjGkGKe/s530/Royston.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="530" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1D-pLhvGd29Lym8bktYLukxoqwaIMCnS3iiELPLG2rXJm6lwy7oxGKXRt7EPJVixQOwtokTOqoZ7s1uzL7nUvtBTAkfx2Vzf_6twmILhwXRgE1H9wKurA4UCB202DCqruom2uQkD5Z6V0QemK6bygNEEYijkedhRZwK_IOa62PfmEQ6D_Ma_MVjGkGKe/w427-h343/Royston.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_-UGNjs1PSXs4cNqMwCvVHW79x9xBPzFNUsVqoh0OTs3mbj4zms_KUwMz8oyYtTnDRR18GYgWIY6kQrzZgq8uFtnE2IjKHVBgIXqW0wavWduvFU4YtA7txJK_fmCdJeMGPlsfmRbGBBklH0Vl0xKVsginwzlvb3MQvHshkNZXJrTb9SB6FEofPjZijmB/s650/child-s-lionheart-tabard-35860-p.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_-UGNjs1PSXs4cNqMwCvVHW79x9xBPzFNUsVqoh0OTs3mbj4zms_KUwMz8oyYtTnDRR18GYgWIY6kQrzZgq8uFtnE2IjKHVBgIXqW0wavWduvFU4YtA7txJK_fmCdJeMGPlsfmRbGBBklH0Vl0xKVsginwzlvb3MQvHshkNZXJrTb9SB6FEofPjZijmB/s320/child-s-lionheart-tabard-35860-p.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">The sign of the Tabard</span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKv99h79sk1dQtZnHCTGcIu_bjDlOKeq4xxSDwu3odUA1PQOxomsTxXJX1fJy2tNLQaNIYCi3kCQZ2DwiANv4V7tZCf0w_izAmJGG87TarI1mF7UZHdajMJyLEZbYCzqfHz5LySVuFmwl94hsl_J9Mp9LZA-mUwNDsmJnVj8TTlTwVe9FcLvnPrl6KNr98/s616/image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="616" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKv99h79sk1dQtZnHCTGcIu_bjDlOKeq4xxSDwu3odUA1PQOxomsTxXJX1fJy2tNLQaNIYCi3kCQZ2DwiANv4V7tZCf0w_izAmJGG87TarI1mF7UZHdajMJyLEZbYCzqfHz5LySVuFmwl94hsl_J9Mp9LZA-mUwNDsmJnVj8TTlTwVe9FcLvnPrl6KNr98/w541-h328/image.jpg" width="541" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Cavaliers at an Inn</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">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.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Sadly I know nothing more of Francis Cockett, he was alive aged 27 in 1697. His daughter Ann was still alive at the end of 1697 as she is mentioned in the will of Robert Battle (PCC).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">My suspicion is that the second legal case was also settled and Aquila and Mary lived on in some comfort.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now the average Englishman of the 1600s was not the polite, restrained and cold Englishman of the Victorian era. These were combative and loud. And so it was with Aquila. Civil court cases aside, he was also involved in a criminal case involving John Warren and his wife Cecily of Reed End who were convicted of assaulting him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Aquila and Mary hopefully spent their last years in some quiet comfort. He died in 1708 aged 74 and is buried at Reed. Mary is as yet untraced.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Children of Aquila and Joan</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Aquila - born 1659 died in infancy</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Elizabeth - born 1663 at Bassingbourn died 1675 aged 12 at Therfield</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>But were there more ? This is the question. If Aquila was still such a friend of the Battles and Cocketts in 1694 with his first wife having died quite some years before - did he still have children living ? Time may give the answer perhaps</i></span></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-67954658427691721082023-06-10T08:09:00.004-07:002023-09-03T12:11:29.890-07:00Arthur Ginn of Kent Island, Maryland, British America died 1676<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Arthur here is the first recorded Ginn in America. So 2023 is a remarkable year in that he has been found. The return of the prodigal perhaps. More American discoveries will follow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">He seems clearly to be one of the numerous Arthurs in my Study (a possible connection to Devon having been ruled out) but I have no idea as to which one though have a suspicion. Twelve of the fifteen recorded Arthur Ginn references before 1837 come from this Hertfordshire family.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The third settlement in British America (after Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620) was on the Island of Kent (shortly after Kent County in Maryland) in Chesapeake Bay. Kent Fort was built in 1631 and a small settlement of about 120 English souls was established in 1642.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Crown granted the proprietorship (right to receive the income) of Kent to Lord Baltimore of the Calvert family. If there were no settlers then there was no income, so Baltimore devised a way of luring colonists from England. The government supported the move as they wanted England to settle America as quickly as possible as a buffer against any French plans to do so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidMqXLbd0GxzulByswC5NpgeUi0ibHt1tlxgPY-DLrX6L9l2rp3QAPqx73PtqHdjBZVO8gXtggvzgTC7n3RVJyRX46GzS_pJtGsFHJeRu64xtLcyzQljhamfENezkV0XofzrExiBo72vO2iq02CzgYmwYOuvgqsRogIdbUCdakAYHgiGKsRH6r7JEffg/s2214/image001%20(4).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2214" data-original-width="1200" height="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidMqXLbd0GxzulByswC5NpgeUi0ibHt1tlxgPY-DLrX6L9l2rp3QAPqx73PtqHdjBZVO8gXtggvzgTC7n3RVJyRX46GzS_pJtGsFHJeRu64xtLcyzQljhamfENezkV0XofzrExiBo72vO2iq02CzgYmwYOuvgqsRogIdbUCdakAYHgiGKsRH6r7JEffg/w455-h469/image001%20(4).jpg" width="455" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The scheme devised was the "head-rights" system, whereby any man (or woman apparently) who could pay for their own passage to America (cost about £20 - a substantial sum) would be granted 100 acres of land in America shortly after arrival, more if he brought wife, children and servants - ie rights "by head". The rights attached to the people who were brought our or "transported" so a man who had paid the passage of another could claim the extra land. And these rights were assignable, so effectively a settler could acquire a fair chunk of land if he could afford to buy the rights attaching to a person who was brought out there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The scheme worked - people began arriving from England in greater numbers (early settlers seem to have been almost exclusively English) and by the 1660s or so it is estimated that there were some 600 English settler on Kent, more spreading along small settlements along the Bay on the mainland.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">For Kent was an island of sorts, a small strip of land joins it to Maryland proper as can be seen from the 1866 map above. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We cannot be entirely certain of the date because the evidence is circumstantial (court records) but Arthur seems to have arrived in</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD77Wh4QS4ultdajXEozyVyHeGh4vvSMfYeRZMpTZulynA9NpVGK_6M5yot_gg1kXMwDhBoONXZySze0-7BtmTef8p0pwRkDO8XNSG8CaZS8h0UiG3cYCRQw1OMHjLDt63KnVj0J6jKdtnMa4bsJe3QXI1Y6foYLi7WbnHH52culSdC7UPcujpeimMA/s928/image001%20(6).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="928" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD77Wh4QS4ultdajXEozyVyHeGh4vvSMfYeRZMpTZulynA9NpVGK_6M5yot_gg1kXMwDhBoONXZySze0-7BtmTef8p0pwRkDO8XNSG8CaZS8h0UiG3cYCRQw1OMHjLDt63KnVj0J6jKdtnMa4bsJe3QXI1Y6foYLi7WbnHH52culSdC7UPcujpeimMA/w435-h248/image001%20(6).jpg" width="435" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br />Kent in 1666/7. He was certainly there by 1668. His voyage from England (likely from London) would have been very hard and taken two to three months.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">What we know of Arthur is that he was certainly English, he was literate and he must have come from the Yeoman class or similar, as he paid his own passage out (cost about £20) and was prepared for a very tough life working on the land.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Kent County court (there was no actual Court House until after Arthur's death) likely met in taverns and alehouses as it often did in England. It dealt with business matters, debts etc and Arthur is mentioned both as a juror and as a party to legal proceedings. I was surprised to discover that English coinage was in short supply in all of the American colonies, so tobacco was used as the barter currency of choice.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnPrPd3NQJZPQiGtK5hMMtfzxTypjfEGa5kPcgdNs4VBfH_nD17e2LsfcwV4gNYLg__IltzyuFN08MG607vMqsZvSrOXR2C3omFuB0j5mmOYkrW2s08bPp_rEa33r8Sl_7MqzDManYHN9t0yfbgcv78y2nlWDtwGZ7e7GMA5UD01GmHv2D2ZBQWAFqg/s1545/Arthur%20Ginn%20Conny%20Hall%20Kent%20County%20Maryland.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1545" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnPrPd3NQJZPQiGtK5hMMtfzxTypjfEGa5kPcgdNs4VBfH_nD17e2LsfcwV4gNYLg__IltzyuFN08MG607vMqsZvSrOXR2C3omFuB0j5mmOYkrW2s08bPp_rEa33r8Sl_7MqzDManYHN9t0yfbgcv78y2nlWDtwGZ7e7GMA5UD01GmHv2D2ZBQWAFqg/w537-h280/Arthur%20Ginn%20Conny%20Hall%20Kent%20County%20Maryland.png" width="537" /></a></div> Land Patent to Arthur 1672 (Maryland State Archives)<span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Arthur made an application for the 100 land grant that, as a free settler, Baltimore had promised him - and so in 1670 he obtained a Warrant acknowledging his claim. In 1671 the land was surveyed, and in 1672 he received the formal grant of the land. The 100 acres were to be called Cony or Conny Hall (the alternative spellings were still used later) and the land was adjacent to the head of Great Thickett Creek the name of which is no longer used and it took me some months to track this down. The boundaries were marked on the corners by marked (apparently notches were cut in each tree in a pattern unique to each owner to mark them out) pock hickory trees. The terms "pock hickory" was the English phonetic rendering of an Indian word, the trees now known as Hickory of course and still common on Kent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOQLE-6Wq5AMsHiHh-8Ur7Cpcg3e_z6Akchn7iFHD7H77kBCxeqvmmpT06inia3xT5CDqruxF1IMPAAqqu6iEPgU_LuoZBoegv2jWj4V2C8PpKqH9Zg1RAFL22AaezJmgfakJXalkn0dFn26zzJZsfTthVRkaPX-rhN7ZSP9u1e9oX9IUzgdafpiFJg/s1173/image001%20(5).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1173" data-original-width="880" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOQLE-6Wq5AMsHiHh-8Ur7Cpcg3e_z6Akchn7iFHD7H77kBCxeqvmmpT06inia3xT5CDqruxF1IMPAAqqu6iEPgU_LuoZBoegv2jWj4V2C8PpKqH9Zg1RAFL22AaezJmgfakJXalkn0dFn26zzJZsfTthVRkaPX-rhN7ZSP9u1e9oX9IUzgdafpiFJg/w324-h369/image001%20(5).jpg" width="324" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Conny Hall would, of course have been a wilderness that Arthur was obliged to clear before he could farm or grow tobacco, the principal crop. Kent was pockmarked by creeks and it was somewhat damp and marshy. For this reason the various native tribes who inhabited it and Maryland generally (they were very friendly to the English) chose to use the waterways and fish, rather than make any attempt to live off of the land.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2-JTwUF971AVCkxkiUbIg1i70fdEKdpG72PbNf1zE-PFzWuPvzyogE60zvE4ToUTi8DOAR7f7hT7rijctsdCE7SgYojrdZFIeOpkl_n1cwALamDjYCpbVeZ0AuiHnM6uA4KhEMS4T0Q-569GtV2T1XAH3nky46QZ6nm0npN7VmrJ5WQRst3uE7yNnA/s800/image001%20(7).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2-JTwUF971AVCkxkiUbIg1i70fdEKdpG72PbNf1zE-PFzWuPvzyogE60zvE4ToUTi8DOAR7f7hT7rijctsdCE7SgYojrdZFIeOpkl_n1cwALamDjYCpbVeZ0AuiHnM6uA4KhEMS4T0Q-569GtV2T1XAH3nky46QZ6nm0npN7VmrJ5WQRst3uE7yNnA/w408-h320/image001%20(7).jpg" width="408" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">At some point Arthur married a lady called Alice. There is no evidence that he married in England so America is the more likely, particularly given that at this time the head right was 100 acres per person who came over to the Eastern Shore. But although a sort of Anglican church was established at Back Creek from 1652, there are scant records and no mention of Arthur. So the marriage remains a mystery.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So Arthur and Alice would have been working hard to clear the land, build a rudimentary cabin (nothing fancy) and make a living. He seems to have employed the odd indentured servant or two to help him There is evidence (a set of cooper's tools in his inventory) that he took up that trade as a side line. From what I can see this was the most popular and numerous trade in early colonial America as barrels were needed for everything, from tobacco to beer and numerous other liquids. There is also evidence he also went in for fishing, a major food source for the native tribes and, obviously, hunting. There were a few essential farm animals and he was growing tobacco.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhySJ9zTqjWZ3J3XJ3Yy6PhEyfVDBJ-_G2--NEygDzvUUDT3sJxogr2qokX_XL3vk7rT0EstvV0-P0LxRnx5mxnrLwWXHrGdNI1IzYPkMoOoYJ5FCM5gMqW99Arf501coN4DszDSlb0j8XBdngNNnJvd3KZ_M8oVwTbfEYFKsCrH7_S5dVF2_SAjVxfqw/s1200/image001%20(6).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1139" data-original-width="1200" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhySJ9zTqjWZ3J3XJ3Yy6PhEyfVDBJ-_G2--NEygDzvUUDT3sJxogr2qokX_XL3vk7rT0EstvV0-P0LxRnx5mxnrLwWXHrGdNI1IzYPkMoOoYJ5FCM5gMqW99Arf501coN4DszDSlb0j8XBdngNNnJvd3KZ_M8oVwTbfEYFKsCrH7_S5dVF2_SAjVxfqw/w475-h304/image001%20(6).png" width="475" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">To my astonishment, I found out where Arthur's plantation was and I think I know where he lived. A researcher of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Cindi Schmidt, has mapped the plantations granted on Kent Island in the 1600s. And the Upper Shore Genealogical Society have helped me a great deal. Combine this with my own research and we have a story.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFh_5tZ6QhI4XL0gd-v4XsIOLiGzL6tzZgkYzOzmm9yc-l_UzypcLEENqCkbg5tIew6OoEQCEUevNE2sel2y8PJA0Uys-er44-xMZOZaaTzsv1t9H6CSckh3CRmHNIONBfzVdmmaJcS5xVc6_DhwtGKAG-PvUqiWEjxafDGqrS_mUB4fO_0lZVCziliYI/s437/Screenshot%202023-09-02%20192517.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="437" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFh_5tZ6QhI4XL0gd-v4XsIOLiGzL6tzZgkYzOzmm9yc-l_UzypcLEENqCkbg5tIew6OoEQCEUevNE2sel2y8PJA0Uys-er44-xMZOZaaTzsv1t9H6CSckh3CRmHNIONBfzVdmmaJcS5xVc6_DhwtGKAG-PvUqiWEjxafDGqrS_mUB4fO_0lZVCziliYI/w413-h385/Screenshot%202023-09-02%20192517.png" width="413" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Cindi produced a map, superimposed on a 1862 map of the landmarks of the 1600s, and I have in turn superimposed on that shown by the hatching the rough location of Conny Hall.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">It is apparent that at some point in the late 1600s Conny Hall or at least much of it reverted to Lord Baltimore, the Lord of the Manor. This was not freehold or leasehold land, but copyhold of the manor (which concept is now extinct in English law) and my suspicion is that it reverted back for want of a surviving male heir of Arthur and Alice.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizDYHp3iZdrexMN3D_POHIN3SctyZwkDJhRC5hKVUoOkGV9tAApsdm4tWCg2PgXfeKOY_wE7LtJ-auhj3ViuNq3RNSLGmiKxyW5ZqEK36vzjp98yaxrovX7lOiFHVdBxRSI-uUSQH507EJeAmaSTzEQ6vkmhRoyaw-4kUwtp4y3kqIFAGO5lQ7ENbTbIqK/s553/image001%20(7).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="419" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizDYHp3iZdrexMN3D_POHIN3SctyZwkDJhRC5hKVUoOkGV9tAApsdm4tWCg2PgXfeKOY_wE7LtJ-auhj3ViuNq3RNSLGmiKxyW5ZqEK36vzjp98yaxrovX7lOiFHVdBxRSI-uUSQH507EJeAmaSTzEQ6vkmhRoyaw-4kUwtp4y3kqIFAGO5lQ7ENbTbIqK/w433-h388/image001%20(7).png" width="433" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But, in any event, the land of Conny Hall was subsequently to a large degree incorporated in the Plantation (later farm) called Barnstable Hill, which survives. By the mid 1700s both Conny Hall and Barnstable Hill were in the ownership of the Gardner family. Both passed down through that family and in 1866 (see map above) Richard Gardner was the owner (he died in 1870) and you will see mention of R Gardner, he was living in Conny Hall and I know that the Gardner family had their own family cemetery there, containing grave markers and stones from the 1700s to 1900 or so apparently. The cemetery was allegedly illegally bulldozed about 20 years ago because it obscured the view of an advertising hoarding from the road. I think it likely that the Gardners occupied the site of the cottage that Arthur had originally built in 1670 or so !</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Kent, like much of the Chesapeake Bay coastline was obviously damp, marshy with a lot of creeks and whilst very cold in winter, damp hot and humid in the summer. There are 59 species of mosquitoes in Maryland and in Arthur's day the freshly arrived English settlers got malaria and died like flies if you forgive the pun. Many did not even last long enough to receive their land grant. It was only the constant replenishment of new arrivals and the second and third generations building some resistance to the disease that kept the colony going.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So it is perhaps no surprise that in July 1676 Arthur got ill, he had perhaps been on the island for ten years - it was almost certainly malaria. He and Alice seem to have lived in rural simplicity. If he is who I think he is, he was about 41.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Arthur left Letters of Administration to Alice and she produced an Inventory of his goods to the Court. Alice would have taken an interest in Conny Hall for life, but if she died without a male heir then it would have reverted to the Manor, which it clearly did as widows apart, most manorial courts did not recognize women as heirs.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1dskhCHveFVTon6CsI9E5MLAQ0ANoErvqP2a4h29d0J2sg4Sv1kIWb6MqLvwlydeZT5Ak5l965QsgOKQRI7DUBP29a27ODDxT8il1GIWhArvPPJyPxmO1e1bpy2jxFtNWHkM3UwEFOBlWsBlhQhh-DqXKMHeK93oW5XbdpzexNyiQlQgWUKr_28q2yw/s758/Bentham-King-James-Bible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="758" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1dskhCHveFVTon6CsI9E5MLAQ0ANoErvqP2a4h29d0J2sg4Sv1kIWb6MqLvwlydeZT5Ak5l965QsgOKQRI7DUBP29a27ODDxT8il1GIWhArvPPJyPxmO1e1bpy2jxFtNWHkM3UwEFOBlWsBlhQhh-DqXKMHeK93oW5XbdpzexNyiQlQgWUKr_28q2yw/w472-h260/Bentham-King-James-Bible.jpg" width="472" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Arthur had led a simple life, he had his cooper's tools, his fishing equipment, a fur coat for the winter, a knot or ball of tobacco at his death (some weighed 100 lbs before being placed into barrels - which he likely made himself)) some farm animals and, perhaps the greatest comfort to him, "an old bible". I am very glad to have found him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguk3ZCMW8-BpJLNS84GoZP6nG3wwBR6lKvWelaIKECcmXang2WWyTHMch0G0bgWGfjGb732BB6Ecsb4hnYKWmNMLtVgWVhutiFlRl-jjB9Afn5iS2s7_Z75K63EZkFelhQXSgQbr6ehE7BeH947p9vSfWlvo0jFZBoNbLmtVfP8tdZEylFSP0_lgGTKQ/s883/arthur%20ginn%20inventory%20maryland%201676%20snip.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="863" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguk3ZCMW8-BpJLNS84GoZP6nG3wwBR6lKvWelaIKECcmXang2WWyTHMch0G0bgWGfjGb732BB6Ecsb4hnYKWmNMLtVgWVhutiFlRl-jjB9Afn5iS2s7_Z75K63EZkFelhQXSgQbr6ehE7BeH947p9vSfWlvo0jFZBoNbLmtVfP8tdZEylFSP0_lgGTKQ/w522-h496/arthur%20ginn%20inventory%20maryland%201676%20snip.png" width="522" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Arthur's Inventory (Maryland State Archives)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><u>Post script</u></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Conny Hall and Barnstable Hill have been absorbed into Barnstable Hill Wildlife Reserve. The land that Arthur broke his back trying to clear has gone back to nature. I doubt he would mind.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZUQkBFXQ3HLadfM05mk_kNXTWEk4lYyTCasAJ9RGhNrwDY1IDHSTv6MW0KLCd5bU3XWtmOURDfUvE76z0D-dnqIs3Gkg73BvQF1VdDE2djAB43hvsNAmntYbYrIleZo9T9FaFXjrOpPGow9rKY911lTzLvkDOjdMMih407I4NpGR0R1T1rdeGbVfGqgU/s1000/ChesWildlifeHeritageRAW-Evans_DSC6632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="1000" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZUQkBFXQ3HLadfM05mk_kNXTWEk4lYyTCasAJ9RGhNrwDY1IDHSTv6MW0KLCd5bU3XWtmOURDfUvE76z0D-dnqIs3Gkg73BvQF1VdDE2djAB43hvsNAmntYbYrIleZo9T9FaFXjrOpPGow9rKY911lTzLvkDOjdMMih407I4NpGR0R1T1rdeGbVfGqgU/s320/ChesWildlifeHeritageRAW-Evans_DSC6632.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Acknowledgement</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I am indebted to Jennifer Abbott of Maryland State Archives and particularly David Baker of the Upper Shore Genealogical Society of Maryland for their help and assistance</span></p></div></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-26782603711858537352023-06-10T07:42:00.001-07:002023-06-15T12:06:27.518-07:00Mary Ginn and the Bownest family - a mystery<span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As I type this post the research is fresh and the mystery here like that in a Michael Connelly novel (a favourite author and like me born in 1956).</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In my last post, I referenced an indirect link between the Ginn family and the Bownest family of Little Hormead in Hertfordshire - there is another, but in this case a direct link - it is one of the mysteries that intrigue me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLToDjgRMhxGwFvk3895u29Ueoueqw8d9Eynsp8iX0AJ7MkdwIirednoB70L50uHU7SjHnF2wBrtX2pPlWl94ZrJ1nykIBVZmqUUmT4uHOg-O4T80j6m8v8unAMTnwmmeGbCMfaLqWnMHOdHfzlkBTlB5smS28eMfqFtTjyGQ9nYd1GEM3MEPTANyTA/s1600/Globe-Theatre-London.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1600" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLToDjgRMhxGwFvk3895u29Ueoueqw8d9Eynsp8iX0AJ7MkdwIirednoB70L50uHU7SjHnF2wBrtX2pPlWl94ZrJ1nykIBVZmqUUmT4uHOg-O4T80j6m8v8unAMTnwmmeGbCMfaLqWnMHOdHfzlkBTlB5smS28eMfqFtTjyGQ9nYd1GEM3MEPTANyTA/w549-h321/Globe-Theatre-London.webp" width="549" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The pertinent year was 1614. William Shakespeare was 50 and living and working in London. He had less than two years to live. In that same year the Globe Theatre (destroyed by fire - a common occurrence in wooden and thatched London) was rebuilt.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Bownest family were established in Little Hormead and were there in the early 1500s. Their origins seem to be obscure. They were a minor gentry family that acquired a property called Stonebury (it no longer stands) which like Bandons in Anstey, was what we would see as a large farmhouse.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A Thomas Bownest died at Stonebury in Little Hormead in 1577 leaving a will (PCC) He had a second son John and it is was clearly this John who married and moved up the road to Buntingford (a small market town - not a parish in itself but forming part of Layston, Wyddial, Aspenden and Buckland parishes) in the year that his father died.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now the John who interests us married a Mercy Cook in 1577. No marriage entry survives, but a Marriage Licence does, and we know that Mercy came from Great Chishill in Essex, just over the Hertfordshire border and not too far away. John is described as of Little Hormead.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Mercy came from the family of Cooks in Great and Little Chishill that were minor gentry, owning land there (they had a lease of the Parsonage of Great Chishill ) and owned a house called "Osbornes" but also (including the Manor of Bottisham) owning land in Cambridgeshire, the Chishills being on the Herts, Essex and Cambridgeshire borders. Her parents were Thomas and Margery and she had many siblings namely, William (the heir) Samuel and sisters Anne (wife of Thomas Meade) Katherine (Rowley) Elizabeth (wife of Robert Wallis) and Grace, the latter was unmarried in 1584 when Thomas Cook died (Will - PCC). Her father modestly called himself a Yeoman, but he was a little more than that ! He bought Bottisham Manor in Cambridgeshire the year that he died (sold by son William in 1592) and had a lease of Chishill Hall Manor that eventually found its way to son Samuel. It seems likely that the Elizabeth Cook who married Robert Ginn in 1559 (see post of 7th July 2012 ) came from this family and may even have been Tom's sister and thus Mercy's aunt. The Ginns had had a connection with Great Chishill since 1554 and the Cooks back to at least 1560 or so. We are hampered in knowing more, because the Chishill registers do not survive for this early period.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There is sadly a great deal of nonsense about the family and Mercy's origins on Ancestry. It looks like an American researcher or two had made claims that have been replicated in publicly available trees so many times that they have been accepted as fact. The truth is a little more mundane, but fascinating nonetheless.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There is some evidence that the Cooks did not view the Bownests with quite the affection that the Bownests viewed the Cook family.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Cook's heir was a William who had married an Alice. By his death Willian owned the manor of Chishill outright. They had several children including two sons, but the children were young when William died too soon in 1597. His will (PCC) was made in the presence of several witnesses including his brothers in law John Bownest and Thomas Mead. But in the background was Will's younger brother Samuel, and, in 1612 there was a land dealing that involved Alice Cook the widow, her eldest son Thomas Cook Esq (now in Cambridge) Samuel Cook and John Bownest. Alice had sold the manor of Chishill to Samuel Cook, her eldest son Tom entering into a quitclaim (it having been his birth right). The Cooks by the time were calling themselves gentlemen, which they were of course, William taking that title in 1597. But in the 1612 Deed (Ref 4008 Herts Archives) they described John Bownest as a yeoman - ouch - he was far more prosperous than that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">After John Bownest married Mercy the baptisms of their children were entered into the Layston (Buntingford) parish registers. At this point John was indeed mentioned as a Yeoman and there is some evidence that he owned the White Hart Inn in Buntingford which is still there, now a refurbished house.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmbF6GNt513CCyuCIV85F9EnKTQIelAYI0Boioc7eJ9IfZM4drqY96C0EmRUo4fJ3ZgNZO-TgPGwlmtVE-cZYrvVFuinS8vYQqSXREvR6s2dCfmgcEZlbqnuAXyh8vphrzTWRQ0hUEWU0b2dyBXIRSCsgD_Wyzj0v7_PJaRTwpJUTqC0-O6Xh18Q7k0Q/s600/WhiteHart.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmbF6GNt513CCyuCIV85F9EnKTQIelAYI0Boioc7eJ9IfZM4drqY96C0EmRUo4fJ3ZgNZO-TgPGwlmtVE-cZYrvVFuinS8vYQqSXREvR6s2dCfmgcEZlbqnuAXyh8vphrzTWRQ0hUEWU0b2dyBXIRSCsgD_Wyzj0v7_PJaRTwpJUTqC0-O6Xh18Q7k0Q/w411-h240/WhiteHart.jpg" width="411" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But in 1612 John Bownest amassed the monies to buy Popes Hall in Buckland, slightly to the north of Buntingford. This came with manorial lands and thereafter John referred to himself as a gentleman.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Popes Hall of John's time is long gone - it was probably thatched and of wattle and daub on a timber frame. It may have been destroyed by fire as a lot of these buildings were - but the reconstruction of the 1700s is there still (below). I drive past quite often.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFd66VxxPtM1pujs9oJOib5-59tI-cCFxcFd7M62M0-T92a0U6sCnWvZVP_srVlDbUEZdx43XB8972Ld2-fLXw52eDCxk3nZFdI3oS6_7_agr-UpCQfeLucuXmW4JCr4I7olBskYEZARi2Juzf9WsJsUndC-tpnj8pzmpOGI_mewW98OBsa9hkADmMg/s1280/image001%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFd66VxxPtM1pujs9oJOib5-59tI-cCFxcFd7M62M0-T92a0U6sCnWvZVP_srVlDbUEZdx43XB8972Ld2-fLXw52eDCxk3nZFdI3oS6_7_agr-UpCQfeLucuXmW4JCr4I7olBskYEZARi2Juzf9WsJsUndC-tpnj8pzmpOGI_mewW98OBsa9hkADmMg/w540-h341/image001%20(1).jpg" width="540" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John acquired land in several parishes around and forming part of Buntingford and he also had land in Great and Little Chishill, which I assume came to him on marriage from his father in law.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John and Mercy had several children, including three sons who survived, in order of age these were Thomas, George and Samuel. There were several daughters, including Mercy jnr who married William Faucet at Layston in 1611 and of whom nothing more is known, Alice who married William Norton of Bishops Stortford at Layston in 1604 (more of her later) and Frances, who was unmarried in 1615 but seems to have married subsequently.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Bownest died in 1615 leaving a will (PCC) As he had some manorial land in Buckland there was an Inquisition Post Mortem.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">By rights his eldest son Thomas was the heir. But Tom as we shall see had done very well for himself in London, so John, who clearly knows that Tom has other fish to fry in London and does not need, let alone want his inheritance, makes provision in his will for his lands to be divided up between his sons if "God forbid" says John, Tom turns them down.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">What Tom did was to enter into an agreement with his brothers in 1616, this was to divide the lands up as to who got what, and that deed ( ref:4009 ) survives, is at the Hertfordshire Archives and is shown below and then in subsequent detail.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-FbAMaY1gcY9ONy_nupdXZyEH0eE_ZtbojmMjDpD3foH6yqroV-7a5nVa1g-aRMAjp7ZL23af2UzBnWFqvPo_FHCj0CvOLKs4_P8gr2qulti5ziun4FN3GIluy0cpVl9jNMGH6LiHQqwjxX8tiM4Caj80zFOvQpD0W2jHVBFXnRPpfMAfT1aOO8dLQ/s4724/40009%20p2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3931" data-original-width="4724" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-FbAMaY1gcY9ONy_nupdXZyEH0eE_ZtbojmMjDpD3foH6yqroV-7a5nVa1g-aRMAjp7ZL23af2UzBnWFqvPo_FHCj0CvOLKs4_P8gr2qulti5ziun4FN3GIluy0cpVl9jNMGH6LiHQqwjxX8tiM4Caj80zFOvQpD0W2jHVBFXnRPpfMAfT1aOO8dLQ/w554-h346/40009%20p2.jpg" width="554" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI5GiP6g-W0EEhPf9dePzpvTQxHIKAzbXPGcTeqHmE0_1BWQKXsl7VLdKySxt_8O1hsmRT2BdwMtKf4LjDy-C5yRaHAwm-DGykGRii4wlNDIK5rttZhjOXH6epD0oDjdzAzchysdNDgza4r5XV2VPJ6639WhCIuKgeCyPBP9112tGi6fxmqsoe-n_1Ew/s1800/Screenshot%202023-04-29%20190809.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="1800" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI5GiP6g-W0EEhPf9dePzpvTQxHIKAzbXPGcTeqHmE0_1BWQKXsl7VLdKySxt_8O1hsmRT2BdwMtKf4LjDy-C5yRaHAwm-DGykGRii4wlNDIK5rttZhjOXH6epD0oDjdzAzchysdNDgza4r5XV2VPJ6639WhCIuKgeCyPBP9112tGi6fxmqsoe-n_1Ew/w532-h166/Screenshot%202023-04-29%20190809.png" width="532" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The gist of this was that Tom effectively gave up most of the land. His brother George Bownest, Gentleman got the lands in the Chishills and never married dying in 1650 (will PCC). George also seems to have ended up with the Parsonage and thus the advowson in Thunderley (not Thundersley in Essex as seems to be reported) in Saffron Walden in Essex. Their brother Samuel Bownest, Gentleman (who marrieed Helen Stapleton in London in 1617) settled at Wyddial where he took lands. Nothing much further is known of him as the registers for Wyddial do not survive for this period - but George mentions the couple in 1650.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But it is Tom we are concerned with.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Bownest was apprenticed into the Grocers Company in London in about 1592, he became a Member of the Company and consequently Citizen of London in about 1600.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now Grocers were not what we think of, they were wholesalers dealing directly with the merchants whose ships had come into port bearing foodstuffs from everywhere. And it is clear that Tom intended to make his fortune cutting out the middle man.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The East India Company (a joint stock company) was born in 1600 to trade with India and the Orient. The Levant (Turkey and Persia) and the Virginia (eastern America) |Companies soon followed. These were exciting times for the English merchants, they were now trading in areas of the world that had been newly discovered or closed to them before, English ships were sailing the world and the roots of the British Empire (no apologies for that on this blog!) were beginning to grow.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And they were exciting times for Bownest too, because in 1614 he was introduced by another Grocer to the East India Company, he seems to have become involved in quartering and furnishing the ships. Soon after he was a member of the Levant and Virginia Companies.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">He married Mary Ginn in London, most likely the daughter of Robert Ginn and his cousin through the Cook family as I say (see post of 7th July 2012) that same year, ie 1614, and my suspicion is that it was a marriage of convenience, for appearances, Bownest needing a wife to help him further his ambitions in trade. And it was that that made Bownest somewhat distanced from his father's wish he take up his inheritance in 1615, in truth Tom had no need of it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Bownest's sister Alice Norton lost her husband. And she and two sons ended up in Virginia, British America, soon after - one of her sons was a Church of England Minister, but somewhat Puritan. Now Tom Bownest was not only a member of the Virginia Company, but he knew a certain Abraham Jennens, a Merchant and Ship owner of Bristol, who was also a member of that Company, heavily involved with trade in Virginia and elsewhere and a member of the Council of New England, caught up in the colonisation of British America. Bownest must have know the guy quite well because he took Jennens' son Ambrose (Jennens had a ship "The Little Ambrose|") as apprenctice. It is my guess that Jennens or his sons had some involvement in getting the Nortons to America, perhaps also other Bownest relations.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe9jAicW_PezLFleVfzKjZwuSGd_oLnnn8B_xkDDy0zDQ5etvXJO9ACLbzGaqXNeX4eXWGuPXpO03JATIgUbKLDhCfaDm0XqngV7uefFbvN7_i0qQnsSDAG8Mo9heRM16jjzG0Bdt_65s7owxtvE2TtdqUQ6o79T4VbW9iFTRde037ld5ePjJStzpEYg/s283/ship.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="283" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe9jAicW_PezLFleVfzKjZwuSGd_oLnnn8B_xkDDy0zDQ5etvXJO9ACLbzGaqXNeX4eXWGuPXpO03JATIgUbKLDhCfaDm0XqngV7uefFbvN7_i0qQnsSDAG8Mo9heRM16jjzG0Bdt_65s7owxtvE2TtdqUQ6o79T4VbW9iFTRde037ld5ePjJStzpEYg/w483-h294/ship.jpg" width="483" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span>Bownest's rise was meteroric. By the 1630s he was a Director of the East India Company. I know that in that decade he explored the possibility of the English trading with Japan as well as China, but turned it down as the original involvement of the English in Japan (think the book and TV series "Shogun" based on a true story) had not turned out well "they [the Japanese]</span> do not like foreigners" said Tom, and they were fickle, the English had to plan their woollen cloth exports in advance and "one year the Japanese favoured one colour, another the next".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">By 1628 Thomas Bownest had moved out of the City of London and across the Thames into Putney. there are various surviving Certificates of Settlement (National Archives) that tells us that, but he still retained property in Hertfordshire. Putnry was a boat ride from London and the disease and squalor I am sure that Mary was dead before 1630, though I cannot find a burial entry. They never had any children so far as I know.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now something intriguing happened during the English Civil War. Because the Mary Ginn who I think married Tom if I am correct came from the Ginn/Genn families connected to Huntingdon and Ely, and the men of those families I have proved were acquainted with Oliver Cromwell.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWs7-D7AWU0hC4LWximxuq0LQwcE83cOCWVIQeF0uQGLnRqHFRBKqboDoD0NG4aw9OSCNabrRavcY6gUUSAZp0OM_TBE2vCGSOguywIjEig8lVmZ0StWzigSqwvI29XFrcfYQQoNRubiKwca5E21ZaU9kaYmwNXvtElyiqWQO_22Ttul1ac62v8kbolg/s1600/R.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="985" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWs7-D7AWU0hC4LWximxuq0LQwcE83cOCWVIQeF0uQGLnRqHFRBKqboDoD0NG4aw9OSCNabrRavcY6gUUSAZp0OM_TBE2vCGSOguywIjEig8lVmZ0StWzigSqwvI29XFrcfYQQoNRubiKwca5E21ZaU9kaYmwNXvtElyiqWQO_22Ttul1ac62v8kbolg/w374-h348/R.jpg" width="374" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The first English Civil War ended with a victory for Parliament. And in 1647 the officers and many men of that army came to Putney Church for what are known as the Putney Debates - to discuss democracy, its nature and the future of England. Some great words were spoken "the poorest hee that is in England hath as much a life to live as the greatest hee" (Thomas Rainsborough) words that proved an inspiration to the Americans in 1776.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7SKb7C1n8MJ888kD2jo6Hw3woJOR2PxBFmxZ_1Fsa5nXsSz1pgA3Id76kUPum0l3Nqe45ScCzxXZbKwt57r1noSfPvNS0I8MYcP1XT4p_vjQXhKQ2LD9kaIi4koeZtlJBBAgpca1grZ0Qdot8z80EY-S0hKNoTgfMRZE2S6UY1RTXidM1DpqtfpoD6g/s1300/the-putney-debates-illustration-by-clare-melinsky-rampart-lion-publications.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="768" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7SKb7C1n8MJ888kD2jo6Hw3woJOR2PxBFmxZ_1Fsa5nXsSz1pgA3Id76kUPum0l3Nqe45ScCzxXZbKwt57r1noSfPvNS0I8MYcP1XT4p_vjQXhKQ2LD9kaIi4koeZtlJBBAgpca1grZ0Qdot8z80EY-S0hKNoTgfMRZE2S6UY1RTXidM1DpqtfpoD6g/w320-h363/the-putney-debates-illustration-by-clare-melinsky-rampart-lion-publications.webp" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The men were quartered on local residents or lived in tents, the senior officers stayed with local gentry for a month or so. Oliver Cromwell was Second in Command of the Army in 1647 - he stayed at the house of Thomas Bownest ! Did Tom know him through the Ginn connection ?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Bownest Esquire died in 1658 - he is buried in Putney Church, where the Debates were held. He was quoted as being 80 which indeed he was, the move to Putney had likely added decades to his life. His will (PCC) is very informative and taken with the will of his brother George gives an insight into the lives of numerous cousins and relations. The guy may not have descendants, but his was a fascinating life.......</span></div><div><br /></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-5743722101095788982023-02-21T14:19:00.001-08:002023-06-07T23:29:23.275-07:00Mary Ginn nee Gill of Anstey died 1728<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I am conscious of the fact that the blog is comprised of 186 posts and counting and, well, every one of them has a title concerning a male Ginn. Now it is not that I am a misogynist, and, obviously, in my defence the blog is about the proliferation of the Ginn family and that is in the male line - but I am conscious of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">It is also true that in the past (widows excepted) women had no property rights, so they are almost invisible in the records and little can be known, but there are a few I do know quite a lot about, and Mary Gill here is one of them - she married John Ginn of Anstey in my post of 12th |September 2012 and is the ancestor of many Ginns and others. I have always been fond of Mary, and intending to put her on the blog for the last few years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Mary was born in 1641, just before the start of the English Civil War. She was born at the Manor House of Bandons Manor in Anstey, at what was Pains and is now Paynes End in that parish. Her parents were Edward and Ann Gill (nee Swann) the Gills being a prominent gentry family on the Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire borders. How a gentry girl came to marry the son of a yeoman is the subject of this post.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The first Gill is known to have been a landowner in southern Cambridgeshire near Royston in the 1270s. They survived the Black Death in the mid 1300s, and by the 1400s were clearly prospering and there are various deeds that relate to the family.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A John Gill, Mary's ancestor, married a Joan, daughter of William Horne (some say Sir William) of Buckland in Hertfordshire near Buntingford, and the couple reputedly had six sons and six daughters. John Gill settled in and died at Buckland in 1499/1500 leaving a will (National Archives) and a Memorial Brass at Buckland survives purporting to show the whole family - the six sons are below.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh3wr7HVbJvZXuHqSVbrNVF_X6sk4fz0hxLHlx0do_WeKVS5GGaVpqXbT-IZcKxHQWEra_PW0IYQN5LMvrc6gMmG3lQtXt1jwkYwZtcabomLKqsLOAru_HvKzQVs9uwzJFU68LKutjRTrkApITUNyC1jNmZecofGtx1y-dZ2fVrYf9dygb3gJpm01HpA/s513/John%20Gill%201499%206%20soms.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="513" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh3wr7HVbJvZXuHqSVbrNVF_X6sk4fz0hxLHlx0do_WeKVS5GGaVpqXbT-IZcKxHQWEra_PW0IYQN5LMvrc6gMmG3lQtXt1jwkYwZtcabomLKqsLOAru_HvKzQVs9uwzJFU68LKutjRTrkApITUNyC1jNmZecofGtx1y-dZ2fVrYf9dygb3gJpm01HpA/w493-h264/John%20Gill%201499%206%20soms.png" width="493" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Some say the next heir was William, I am sure it was Richard, but in any event the heir married a daughter of Leonard Hyde of Throcking in Hertfordshire which is also near Buntingford. The Gill family were consolidating their lands in the area as the Hydes go back a long way in Throcking. In 1395 the Manor of Throcking was granted to William Hyde, Citizen and Grocer of London.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Richard Gill died in 1502 leaving a will (National Archives) it mentions his sons John, Richard and Leonard.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Gill was his father's heir and he did very well, being described as "John Gill of Buckland and Wyddial" . He married Margaret Cannon or Canon who was the daughter and heiress of George Cannon of Cambridgeshire in 1508. George Cannon owned a half share of the Manor of Wyddial in Hertfordshire, the other half was apparently owned by the Royal family and from 1509 (when he took the throne) by none other than King Henry the 8th who at this point was the young, athletic man we see below and not the obese chap we imagine.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc05_M514uTRyOJzR-GHuBWz97RANiuJTQi6c8-vmFPjg4u5bu7Smp3b94jV_TTz1tmNjxeB93S2ObaARB2SHsbVDff9ETe1YIdXBTlcjtmU_NILeKhed1RCC1QZD6oaTzYbjO0jQiIdQuTBLnlkuY5RHmZcfDIpmLLk0yiynmiEbS2kksBnweZa3Zew/s640/Henry-VIII-as-a-young-man-Keyword-Suggests.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc05_M514uTRyOJzR-GHuBWz97RANiuJTQi6c8-vmFPjg4u5bu7Smp3b94jV_TTz1tmNjxeB93S2ObaARB2SHsbVDff9ETe1YIdXBTlcjtmU_NILeKhed1RCC1QZD6oaTzYbjO0jQiIdQuTBLnlkuY5RHmZcfDIpmLLk0yiynmiEbS2kksBnweZa3Zew/s320/Henry-VIII-as-a-young-man-Keyword-Suggests.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>It appears that John Gill had acquired some clerical role at the King's court, obviously for a salary, but also in hope of catching the eye of the King and eliciting favours, and at some point King Henry duly obliged and gave John the other half of Wyddial Manor.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Gill and George Cannon had Wyddial Hall built. It must have cost a great deal of money. The Hall that you see below is the original, from an illustration by Drapentier in about 1700. This burned down in the 18th century and was rebuilt on the same site and almost to the same design, That still stands.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEvr5cejnFKnSXM4x73n3eOVZXx3M8FeZBmj6cWn8fJ68EiYZzORqyPGY1TWJ-l_Mr90FQ5pGWdNcC67Pg4Upbv0B6e45Gz_AnDhwguq_0F5RGhUUum2yjiGNtaO78GkRSP8KB1AnTPPc7L-ChJtB1GB2nSoOUiaqky-QteKmuPw3_G-Ei1NrgxUyDSA/s650/Wyddiall%20Hall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="650" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEvr5cejnFKnSXM4x73n3eOVZXx3M8FeZBmj6cWn8fJ68EiYZzORqyPGY1TWJ-l_Mr90FQ5pGWdNcC67Pg4Upbv0B6e45Gz_AnDhwguq_0F5RGhUUum2yjiGNtaO78GkRSP8KB1AnTPPc7L-ChJtB1GB2nSoOUiaqky-QteKmuPw3_G-Ei1NrgxUyDSA/w533-h267/Wyddiall%20Hall.jpg" width="533" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Gill also purchased Bandons Manor in Anstey in the 1530s. This is crucial to our story and it will turn up again.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Gill died in 1547, A brass (below) was commissioned to</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nnNRDcZOzwmrtTbYw3iAhO_jF0xQSwES0ySOgdYZBSTnTeAhmDbAEjPm0yz99I6Q3E0qu7uPE7EfZLu72G8T1e03KCrb3Q2Gx33NR7mF1HtfjCS8f0nT3La_4-XJIL-PxUhK9hjuLOjwQfGQErmII31AVE8ifOkVFtKbC368L95YydW1qEbdo6dhuA/s716/image001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="584" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nnNRDcZOzwmrtTbYw3iAhO_jF0xQSwES0ySOgdYZBSTnTeAhmDbAEjPm0yz99I6Q3E0qu7uPE7EfZLu72G8T1e03KCrb3Q2Gx33NR7mF1HtfjCS8f0nT3La_4-XJIL-PxUhK9hjuLOjwQfGQErmII31AVE8ifOkVFtKbC368L95YydW1qEbdo6dhuA/w316-h369/image001.png" width="316" /></a></div><br />commemorate him, his wife and children at Wyddial Church but, as it happens, Margaret remarried a John Wrengham that same year and is not buried with John.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John's Gill's heir was his son George. He held, and likely improved, Wyddial Hall.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1535 George married Gertrude Perient, daughter and co-heir of Sir Perient of Hatfied in Hertfordshire. The Perient family connection gave Mary some interesting ancestors, and my research on the Perient family will be in a post later this year.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George and Gertrude had seven children who survived infancy, the first two of whom were John the heir and Edward. Mary Ginn (nee Gill) is descended from Edward. Gertrude died on 15th March 1545. And in 1547 George remarried an Ann Whethill, daughter of Robert Whethill in Calais in France, in 1545 Calais was still held by the English, the Tudors claiming the throne of France. George had a further family by Ann.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George died in 1568 - he has a memorial in Wyddial Church with his ancestors, in which he is described as "Lorde of this Towne" below. He was 57.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdd-j8Ll5SpU-P6xM4CTuQgi6vfP4MhGk_muwZ3igOKnnPRNf6r56cAFOq1ELUx4OTZ03MTIR8xdopqd_3ogXvYQaQ12OsyGDFJ3tXoGD9nuAf0030zw0Hbw3UFQVD60Os3Eqt0oJH6MUAgkOOToLKFH_Rza-ZrxBMHKtP9yCci8gcyFrxgbClHIK5A/s853/image001%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="853" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdd-j8Ll5SpU-P6xM4CTuQgi6vfP4MhGk_muwZ3igOKnnPRNf6r56cAFOq1ELUx4OTZ03MTIR8xdopqd_3ogXvYQaQ12OsyGDFJ3tXoGD9nuAf0030zw0Hbw3UFQVD60Os3Eqt0oJH6MUAgkOOToLKFH_Rza-ZrxBMHKtP9yCci8gcyFrxgbClHIK5A/w473-h307/image001%20(1).png" width="473" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George as I say had a number of sons, of whom John was the heir and the second son Edward the ancestor of Mary Ginn nee Gill.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now, there is an interesting thing here, because we know that there is a surviving portrait of one of the brothers, but there is some conjecture as to who it is.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZO6sf48LaVq3WEt2Fkp02f1Bor3qAeYwI1F3VV0hkEDkns9pO_b3YkI5wLTd-gbRwL-ZwHymTOmHmGalRmrlXdNZH2nwXhXOt97WTY_mDZZNC1pvk1a3yxVyUX8dhPIvJdfTrbkguLssE9ErpEhK1swJfW9oKTbeTmjlnUG9fsnMkMIxEeiOTY_1nw/s566/Screenshot%202023-02-20%20170242.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="447" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZO6sf48LaVq3WEt2Fkp02f1Bor3qAeYwI1F3VV0hkEDkns9pO_b3YkI5wLTd-gbRwL-ZwHymTOmHmGalRmrlXdNZH2nwXhXOt97WTY_mDZZNC1pvk1a3yxVyUX8dhPIvJdfTrbkguLssE9ErpEhK1swJfW9oKTbeTmjlnUG9fsnMkMIxEeiOTY_1nw/s320/Screenshot%202023-02-20%20170242.png" width="253" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Queen Elizabeth 1st</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Queen Elizabeth had a number of court painters, ie men who served at her Court in London. Some of these men were permanent like Nicholas Hilliard, but some were visitors, itinerants who only stayed there a few years. Many of these were foreign and they included Cornelis Ketel, a Dutchman, who was active in London, mostly as a portrait painter, from 1573-1581.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Cornelis painted one of the brothers. The portrait below was once attributed to Edward Gill, but it cannot be, he did not have the money to purchase this. And it has, wrongly, also been attributed to a Sir George Gill of Wyddial Hall who did not exist - the portrait is dated, it was painted in 1578. No, this must be John Gill of Wyddial Hall, a man of wealth as we shall see. It is a splendid portrait I think you will agree.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQa-KmaEzJqAd2B43RzY6e5NLHlriVpSFRAR9ELCimKATVoLZZyeut8qEH-crC1hwR-VEO6irmEtSsGOI5D622OWEAn15xyvMkCxTxCYVEtgjzpjgShsVLJS3W--Xqhzd2I05u9bBOXgSmN4WoC6xKSH7jCGSz0homrniKUsP1_gaPwn33YP8MPr5ojQ/s829/george%20gill%20lol.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="492" height="525" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQa-KmaEzJqAd2B43RzY6e5NLHlriVpSFRAR9ELCimKATVoLZZyeut8qEH-crC1hwR-VEO6irmEtSsGOI5D622OWEAn15xyvMkCxTxCYVEtgjzpjgShsVLJS3W--Xqhzd2I05u9bBOXgSmN4WoC6xKSH7jCGSz0homrniKUsP1_gaPwn33YP8MPr5ojQ/w389-h525/george%20gill%20lol.png" width="389" /></span></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Gill, though not Mary's ancestor, deserves a mention here as he had a secondary residence built at Buntingford, a place called Littlecourt. It apparently cost him a great deal of money and is shown below. It survives, but the grounds have gone and the house is much reduced.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNBR7pINiELR0GmynPDb8DJV9stn8EJ4SjsAklJTFE5slR1HjUTzPalg0kGyjv9wE_jAl0t888gLBj6Nmn-IkvuJACOfYiAEc257xgbIOci5UbRSIXoJhKpQK106PEZ5Y3u2s6dA4BoHXOEXFvfuQJJT1rM12Lj0pZGl-TEEFrhDQZFS1_Ug3ilwU1ug/s957/image001%20(2).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="957" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNBR7pINiELR0GmynPDb8DJV9stn8EJ4SjsAklJTFE5slR1HjUTzPalg0kGyjv9wE_jAl0t888gLBj6Nmn-IkvuJACOfYiAEc257xgbIOci5UbRSIXoJhKpQK106PEZ5Y3u2s6dA4BoHXOEXFvfuQJJT1rM12Lj0pZGl-TEEFrhDQZFS1_Ug3ilwU1ug/w538-h283/image001%20(2).png" width="538" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So we will call John - "John Gill of Wyddial and Littlecourt". He was close to Edward, Mary's ancestor, and reputedly both of them became Calvinists, Puritans if you will, in later life. And at this point or thereabouts - about 1570 (whether by John or his father George seems unclear) a long lease of Bandons Manor in Anstey was granted to Edward Gill.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now John Gill of Wyddial and Littlecourt died in 1600 - he has a splendid brass at Wyddial, and his second son (Sir John Gill of Somerset we will call him - he had married a Somerset heiress) had made himself busy at the Royal Court of Charles the 1st, being an Equerry to the King, Member of Parliament, Justice of the Peace etc doing pretty well until the English Civil War. More of him later.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And so to Edward Gill (referred to as of "Bandons and Littlecourt" in the records) Mary's ancestor.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Well he was a Barrister in London, in American terms an Attorney. He entered St John's College in Cambridge University in his teens in 1557, getting his degree in 1561, three years after Queen Elizabeth 1st ascended the throne. He joined the Bar in 1564.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In February 1574, Edward married Margaret Brograve, widow of Henry Brograve of Buntingford, her maiden name was Campion. There is a suggestion (originally discounted by me but apparently true) that she was related to the Campions of Anstey in Hertfordshire and those of Witham in Essex, they in turn giving rise to Thomas Campion, the Poet and Musician at Elizabeth's court, and to the Edmund Campion, the Catholic who the same Elizabeth had hung, drawn and quartered for being a traitor in 1581. Interesting times!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1600, upon his brother's death, Edward Gill appears to have taken occupation of Littlecourt as well as having Bandons. He did not inherit it, it simply appears he lived there - the sons of John Gill of Wyddial and Littlecourt having left Hertfordshire, we do not know the full story.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Neither Edward Gill nor Margaret were that young when they married, and only had two sons. Margaret died in February 1605, and Edward remarried the widow "the lady" Barbara Fludd (nee Bradbury) in London in 1607. Barbara had already buried two husbands, both knights.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Edward Gill died in 1616, supposedly at Littlecourt. Barbara was a widow for the third time. She died in 1618. Edward (will National Archives) left his son Thomas £800 (not a great sum - but Edward was from a cadet family - ie a younger son and not the heir) and his son Edward junior the lease of Bandons Manor "for divers years yet to come". Thomas died unmarried in 1625, so Ted junior likely had everything.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now Edward junior here, Mary's grandfather, married Mary Smartfoot, widow of Richard Smartfoot of Puckeridge. You will notice that marrying widows was popular, they could bring money and property to the marriage ! Mary was actually the daughter of Edward Mitchell of Standon.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The couple lived at Bandons Manor House, drew their income (which would not have been much) from the rents and fines that the tenants of that manor paid. They had five children, three sons, the eldest of which was another Edward Gill, Mary's father.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Edward Gill died in 1642, the English Civil War was just beginning. His will (National Archives) reflects the diminishing fortunes of the family. His daughter Susan was given £100, son George £250 and, crucially, the lease of Bandons Manor was given to his widow for life, and only then to Edward, Mary's father. And the widow did not die until 1675.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Edward Gill, Mary's father, entered Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1631, he did not finish his degree, not uncommon at this time, the gentry need only show a pretence of education. And in 1638 he married Ann Swann, daughter of Robert Swann of Newton/Foxton in Cambridgeshire, a minor gentry family.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now Edward of course did not have the lease of Bandons Manor in his own right until his mother's death. Though she clearly let him live there, presumably she was there too, maybe also other members of the family.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Edward and Ann had two daughters, Ann 1639 and our Mary in 1641. Both were born at Bandons. Ann Gill snr then died, likely in childbirth, she is buried at Barkway. Mary scarcely knew her mother.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Edward Gill then remarried, a Lucy Bolnest of the Bolnest/Bownest family of Great Hormead, In time, they had five more children. But Edward died in 1658 (there is no will) and Mary was an orphan and Lucy left alone with a good number of young children and little or no income given that Bandons was not hers. In fact there is evidence (Hearth Tax) that Ted's brother George took it, Lucy was penniless. She could not remarry and died herself in 1664.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now the Gills had not had a great time generally since 1642. Sir John Gill of Somerset tried to sit on the fence but was accounted a Royalist by Parliament who made moves to punish him by taking his Somerset estates, and he died impoverished in 1651, having himself at some point occupied Littlecourt which was sold after his death.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now, if you have managed to not be too bored and got to this point, you will recall that Mary Gill was born at Bandons. What I have not told you is that the Manor House survives. It is true that the majority was rebuilt in brick in the 19th century, but it is a historical building, and the 15th century (no less) cross wing, a major thing, survives in its entirety - you can see it below. Every Gill, every Ginn of Anstey would know it, Mary would know it today.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dOq8yS8vKnzCOR_49B2T9wpGPZlBQB5XEKl8E3sroR9_QnJ2wIK6YfBAbNdkIX1f_6vJTJC4hYKqEREd0mp-c6dFf7uJdFXS9KkptjJA2Zt44z7GHj7nrV5NAQBSZMNjxYBg7VoCBpDhsKvPw0k9QvyFaOd-R9PsswLLdGwOHYcWVhOKpRasy6lZ_w/s668/Bandons.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="668" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dOq8yS8vKnzCOR_49B2T9wpGPZlBQB5XEKl8E3sroR9_QnJ2wIK6YfBAbNdkIX1f_6vJTJC4hYKqEREd0mp-c6dFf7uJdFXS9KkptjJA2Zt44z7GHj7nrV5NAQBSZMNjxYBg7VoCBpDhsKvPw0k9QvyFaOd-R9PsswLLdGwOHYcWVhOKpRasy6lZ_w/w521-h308/Bandons.png" width="521" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So, it was a combination of matters- family impoverishment, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">timing, and I am sure a good deal of love, which led to Mary Gill marrying John Ginn, a yeoman's son in 1661. The marriage is entered on the Gill pedigree.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Mary had obviously retained the family connection with Buntingford, because although their marriage is entered in both the registers of Layston (a parish of Buntingford) and Anstey (so it was considered a significant marriage) they actually married at Buntingford Chapel, built in the Puritan style in 1614. I have wondered if the Gills had retained their Puritan ways. Buntingford Chapel (extended but otherwise unaltered) is still there below. For the rest of Mary's story see my post of 12th September 2012.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WC-9V2GriVEJp4CoyUUk7xlTaqag1j7DvN3xsG073tXe-ZCiOf5-IdVT2yTRB8HGilgWqbEMsAr-gkHkn9Zh6aQSKFWGD5qwHbtqiBbv_p2kf-QtZtyApQHJRBTy9QYaAu55a5hazByBXuDDTjHHoziU5AgB_nsqhQmO0Fgm3Z4t0M3sDS-vSw0QsQ/s768/image001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WC-9V2GriVEJp4CoyUUk7xlTaqag1j7DvN3xsG073tXe-ZCiOf5-IdVT2yTRB8HGilgWqbEMsAr-gkHkn9Zh6aQSKFWGD5qwHbtqiBbv_p2kf-QtZtyApQHJRBTy9QYaAu55a5hazByBXuDDTjHHoziU5AgB_nsqhQmO0Fgm3Z4t0M3sDS-vSw0QsQ/w507-h266/image001.jpg" width="507" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p></p>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-83701452514966274272023-02-12T09:14:00.002-08:002023-06-15T12:14:17.660-07:00David Gynn of Stratford and Buckinhamshire died 1883<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">David Gynn jnr here was son of David Ginn/Gynn snr mentioned in my post of 16th November 2014. He adopted the spelling Gynn as had his father. In 1842 he married Mary Perridge at Hackney. I confess I know more of their children than of this couple.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">By 1846 he had become a Coachman and the couple were living in Shoreditch, but David had other ambitions and shortly afterwards he set himself up as a Pork Butcher in Church Row in Stratford, West Ham next to "The Angel" Public House. This was a substantial pub built in 1838 (the brewers were Charringtons) which was rebuilt in 1910 as below (the pub like so many has now gone)</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_8tbbD2cFdWn5LK9rhl1RrWdkEwLREyuiDWUQwXzkPHDeayl91bHA4U25qzN25AMBzf2jMuaZ48KC4QDqHDYCaY0VY_Tof-6A8Id-GooZ3b919pWs0Im0zLBuNX18DjyEIOPsLxgDQ8FbJ70UhtojTkUMc_Mu70fuTOC2qq3W5Ay5l4DKg1bJCCmlg/s640/e15_angel2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="640" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_8tbbD2cFdWn5LK9rhl1RrWdkEwLREyuiDWUQwXzkPHDeayl91bHA4U25qzN25AMBzf2jMuaZ48KC4QDqHDYCaY0VY_Tof-6A8Id-GooZ3b919pWs0Im0zLBuNX18DjyEIOPsLxgDQ8FbJ70UhtojTkUMc_Mu70fuTOC2qq3W5Ay5l4DKg1bJCCmlg/w407-h339/e15_angel2.jpg" width="407" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">David had retired to Buckinghamshire by 1881 and died in Romford district in 1883. Mary died in Wandsworth district in 1908 aged 76.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The couple had some eight children and there are some interesting stories here</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Sarah - married John Quye at West Ham in 1866</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Mary - married Henry Mason at West Ham in 1868</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>David - this part of the post is not suitable for vegetarians, so if you are one please look away - now.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>David married Julia Avard at West Ham (they lived in Stratford) in 1873 and Dave took up his father's occupation as a Butcher, his father had likely given him some early training, this was a more skilled occupation than might be thought.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>By 1878 (Trade Directories) David had set himself up on his own account with a shop at 35 Chapel Street in Stratford, near the High Street. Much of this area was obliterated by German bombs in the Blitz of 1940, but we can see (below) Chapel Street in 1910. It was a quiet day (note the steamroller) as the road was obviously being resurfaced</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyIgHw-EdY-dOHhQ0iBrHVOe1xEDKwtABBMpxmSalL3KeVdd30d6OBgg19qNqhDrIhogapKZ3El9pC7QJbKRdQmABxKxARweXHx565nxvgegEOXnAtywWJAdLvoWNmoXzpPt__bRp8fsPZPo63nHmMZNNrOeoALE4NU5Yu76gmoH0LgPtnuEPY-MvZEg/s1028/image001%20(2).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="1028" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyIgHw-EdY-dOHhQ0iBrHVOe1xEDKwtABBMpxmSalL3KeVdd30d6OBgg19qNqhDrIhogapKZ3El9pC7QJbKRdQmABxKxARweXHx565nxvgegEOXnAtywWJAdLvoWNmoXzpPt__bRp8fsPZPo63nHmMZNNrOeoALE4NU5Yu76gmoH0LgPtnuEPY-MvZEg/w486-h254/image001%20(2).png" width="486" /></i></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Normally the road would have reflected the throng of people in the nearby High Street, shown below in 1906</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqe-OAyxa7sPzwgio4q35JlIpKGSEu9zouuGYbYBgyFlXZR3wMBQHkjye89yl3vlULvlPHHXIUSH_b1e7J1LxMtI95_QPT0zC31wqzXOsrpfvw0C_LNe4m4paqDBBZerzbzt76Dx0ZwSHua5-5YcaEH6gj1GRVH7ddDoijacRXsqJtCQx37ZBU1lv6A/s571/image003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="571" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqe-OAyxa7sPzwgio4q35JlIpKGSEu9zouuGYbYBgyFlXZR3wMBQHkjye89yl3vlULvlPHHXIUSH_b1e7J1LxMtI95_QPT0zC31wqzXOsrpfvw0C_LNe4m4paqDBBZerzbzt76Dx0ZwSHua5-5YcaEH6gj1GRVH7ddDoijacRXsqJtCQx37ZBU1lv6A/w477-h269/image003.png" width="477" /></i></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>When I was a boy, in the 1960s.butcher's shops were still pretty much what they were in David Gynn's day - carcasses hanging inside the shop and out, sawdust on the floor and portly butchers in long aprons, sharpening knives and hefting heavy cleavers for lamb and pork chops. I used to peer over the counter with grisly fascination, face to face with the pig's heads that sat there. So it was with Dave.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSan1quBR7VlT8Ye3OjCq2UtF6qEEx32_DPO137fHvTV1tlYyKcm2HnK-QgPFmgqKQCSZCN_uZT3s6xT9BFlqkmh136Ij9awGhcKtRhlPv-HzkTJ4gvQfuE8iP75E1zu80pbmBk6_5FIsCHnVxyyUkqOXTRPFEv5kObgQIS20_MEQ3tmXaMG7vHcmKNQ/s1000/image002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="1000" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSan1quBR7VlT8Ye3OjCq2UtF6qEEx32_DPO137fHvTV1tlYyKcm2HnK-QgPFmgqKQCSZCN_uZT3s6xT9BFlqkmh136Ij9awGhcKtRhlPv-HzkTJ4gvQfuE8iP75E1zu80pbmBk6_5FIsCHnVxyyUkqOXTRPFEv5kObgQIS20_MEQ3tmXaMG7vHcmKNQ/w491-h315/image002.png" width="491" /></i></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>But David was perhaps not the hearty butcher we think of and my suspicion is that he was unwell at an early age, as there were only two children and he died, likely of consumption in 1885, aged just 34. Julia lived on beyond 1901 having never remarried, but the Trade Directories show that the shop was sold shortly afterwards.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Edward - some of the broader "Farnham" Ginn family were a bit like Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings stories, they occasionally went on adventures - journeyed "there and back again" as the story goes. Ted was one of those - though he never fought a Dragon.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>In the 1871 census Edward is given as a journeyman baker. Then he disappeared. In 2009, it was discovered than an E. Gynn from West Ham, a baker, went out to Sydney, Australia on the "Star of India" in 1876. He was an unassisted immigrant.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Now the "Star of India" to my amazement survives. She was built in 1863, but is still by some miracle seaworthy and is in San Diego in California in a Maritime Museum- see below. A wonderful ship.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYzVgGGtUOv8MsQzttSLquWTPaW7FmC6GY_-wRT9q-PT7kX7JuBDamJpFxW1xiKQJJ8-3f__6_nPuWi0Urvhks-FMuqOOppkGolA0iueC797yCg4MdYCaMzFEiANdmVMD2XdphzOUCjmcjraFasO32pMVKeuXa0oe2Fm-z-rDB1xAf2PtOnMghTi1LQ/s1280/star%20of%20india.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1280" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYzVgGGtUOv8MsQzttSLquWTPaW7FmC6GY_-wRT9q-PT7kX7JuBDamJpFxW1xiKQJJ8-3f__6_nPuWi0Urvhks-FMuqOOppkGolA0iueC797yCg4MdYCaMzFEiANdmVMD2XdphzOUCjmcjraFasO32pMVKeuXa0oe2Fm-z-rDB1xAf2PtOnMghTi1LQ/w541-h261/star%20of%20india.jpg" width="541" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i> I knew that Edward had returned to England, but it was not until 2022 that I found out part of what happened before he did. My friend Jennifer Clark(nee Ginn) in New Zealand and not too distant cousin of his "turned him up" on the Trove (Australian Newspapers) website. Ted joined the New South Wales Artillery in Sydney upon his arrival, but things did not work out as in 1880 he deserted. See below</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalxOLmnZViB1_yf4bku-HUoHyGjcvzsFwKA2tmceu7y9EHFU84Tg5560oK43or38Znzu6mig1u9asPU9bhwnor7i6PsYMxlQvRuRTORXhHL5VnMt8vrUEk610J9d3yX5mcncUA1eHubOWOtehSN23UoaQI5wLLXSE0_UkXb_NE0gQTmdKn5omjciSIQ/s303/image006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="303" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalxOLmnZViB1_yf4bku-HUoHyGjcvzsFwKA2tmceu7y9EHFU84Tg5560oK43or38Znzu6mig1u9asPU9bhwnor7i6PsYMxlQvRuRTORXhHL5VnMt8vrUEk610J9d3yX5mcncUA1eHubOWOtehSN23UoaQI5wLLXSE0_UkXb_NE0gQTmdKn5omjciSIQ/w485-h188/image006.png" width="485" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>I had already discovered that he had returned to England in the early 1880s, now we know why. The guy went around the world - he came back into Britain via a ship from New York !</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You might have thought that he had learned his lesson and would find another occupation (perhaps he could not), but in May 1886 he joined the Royal Artillery over here ! He took a risk that the record would be linked and he would be arrested - but partially to offset this he claimed to be a good deal younger than he was.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7BFtc6V_bqx3gAXJqU95ZkM8DqPkDyLuQ7WKZ9w2HSPgTDQYWDD6UgjNfQKiXxrNsjd91H2So5dt-nShoD9rj38wD1rYWHXxI731O-3DysNtYXmt2kglpgaJmcUlknvhqWcOQkaTkXjMdFvD1OpgwZUgG85rFHIurZ5tYkfio0xZluddvXItKHNxoA/s623/ra.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="202" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7BFtc6V_bqx3gAXJqU95ZkM8DqPkDyLuQ7WKZ9w2HSPgTDQYWDD6UgjNfQKiXxrNsjd91H2So5dt-nShoD9rj38wD1rYWHXxI731O-3DysNtYXmt2kglpgaJmcUlknvhqWcOQkaTkXjMdFvD1OpgwZUgG85rFHIurZ5tYkfio0xZluddvXItKHNxoA/w215-h446/ra.png" width="215" /></span></a></div></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Edward Gynn married Sarah Jones at Mile End in 1890. They had a number of children. Ted left the army in 1898 and in 1901 the couple were back in Stratford in West Ham (where the story started) with Ted as a carman - ie he drove a cart. He died in Surrey in 1942 - he had lived a long life.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Joseph - originally this guy was helping out Dad and was a Butcher in 1881 having married Mary Ann Newman in 1878. Then after his father's death he joined the Merchant Navy as a Cook ans sailed the London - Australia route. The family had a number of children, but Joe was obviously away a lot and although there is some evidence that in for a short while all of the family were in Australia, Mary quite clearly seems to have returned with the children and Jos stayed in Australia. So they separated, whether divorced is unclear. Joe's brother (see below) had also settled in Australia, and it is likely the brothers lived together for a time.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span><i>In 1905, Joe is mentioned as a "Land Cook" as opposed to a "Sea Cook"( who was also in an ar</i></span><i>ticle) in the "Australian Star" - the two of them went to the Hunters Hotel" in Sydney for drinks where an alleged crime took place. At some point he moved to Gosford on the Coast which has stunning sea views and died there in 1934 with a short announcement of his death in the Sydney Morning Herald.</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aikEgAPHyo0PdjJEm-jxRJKMqln2fjVp5ALzXg84eEQafwUvqp1dXr7IyuDm-l1L23DrRWvewM8aH7iUCa9BjrW3RrwJDhDICHa8DzpR_o1ds_ctUZXZ_uJATQPbqIRJCOyUCejnzZcC7Sa-YnFJv_8SCkVLs2mBITuSIu26W6LJHuSVZqy4D9BgjA/s1400/SLNSW_796353_Looking_south_Mann_St_Gosford.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1400" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aikEgAPHyo0PdjJEm-jxRJKMqln2fjVp5ALzXg84eEQafwUvqp1dXr7IyuDm-l1L23DrRWvewM8aH7iUCa9BjrW3RrwJDhDICHa8DzpR_o1ds_ctUZXZ_uJATQPbqIRJCOyUCejnzZcC7Sa-YnFJv_8SCkVLs2mBITuSIu26W6LJHuSVZqy4D9BgjA/w542-h303/SLNSW_796353_Looking_south_Mann_St_Gosford.jpg" width="542" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwey5GrWVW1lnYHpro7t_EIYXL6RWcrOZRrPw-cb54LbNJ6aRaHDiYf7zjH68Zq0AtxXyIEOQMm_ffmkZi5HnrJDVkWZI43Vu4bbECgbJ6-f7qVjscQmfJ4Bv_6xfw25WHEQ1FaV1kwQpCOXpJZM2nTSkCHqgZEE3tkCajpf98YCJb4W31hoeKybAxHQ/s1500/67749_L.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1500" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwey5GrWVW1lnYHpro7t_EIYXL6RWcrOZRrPw-cb54LbNJ6aRaHDiYf7zjH68Zq0AtxXyIEOQMm_ffmkZi5HnrJDVkWZI43Vu4bbECgbJ6-f7qVjscQmfJ4Bv_6xfw25WHEQ1FaV1kwQpCOXpJZM2nTSkCHqgZEE3tkCajpf98YCJb4W31hoeKybAxHQ/w534-h249/67749_L.jpg" width="534" /></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>William - for reasons best known his himself (it may have been a middle name) this guy called himself Richard. It is definitely the same man, He joined the Merchant Navy, was a cook and sailed the London-Sydney Australia with his brother. He never married. He also settled in Australia and died there in 1913 of peritonitis.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>John - was alive in 1861 but not traced in 1871 - so likely died young</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Jane - married George Illett in 1905</i></span></p><p><br /></p>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-74444900164297843302023-01-28T13:17:00.003-08:002023-01-29T22:58:10.450-08:00Thomas Ginn of Hertford died 1857<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Thomas Ginn here astonished me - he was born in 1784 yet there is a surviving photograph of him, notwithstanding the fact that photography did not really come in until the 1850s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Tom here was the second surviving son of Benjamin Ginn of Ware in my last post. It is clear that Benjamin Ginn had his eldest two sons educated to at least some extent and in the case of Tom put out to a trade. Because Tom was a Plumber, later (when sanitation became an issue again, some 1500 years after the Romans !) a Sanitary Engineer and Glazier.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I researched Thomas Ginn years ago, even though he was not a descendant of the Aston Ginns. He has turned up once or twice since when I have been digging in wider records.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span>Tom was born as I say in 1784. He was baptized at the Old Meeting House in Ware, but you will not find the record online- it is recorded in manuscript returns at Herts Archives reference </span><span style="background-color: white;">NR6/1/1 (page 405)</span> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1803, Tom was 19 and Britain and France, after a short peace, were locked once again in the Napoleonic Wars. For Britain, it was a dangerous time, as Napoleon was preparing the Grand Armee to invade. In the end it was only (in 1805) when Nelson defeated the French and Spanish navies at Trafalgar, that denied Napoleon completely.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But in 1803 the British needed troops. We did not (unlike the Continent) have conscription. We relied on a volunteer regular army, a county full time militia and, in these most dangerous times, there was a call for volunteers for home defence. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Raising volunteer forces had been tried before and these irregular part time units for home service had been seen rather like the Home Guard ("Dad's Army") in WW2 - ie the subject of affectionate ridicule.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIySFdSEaCUD8UGDsmRfFFq1a9LiSAJJc8Z2KxiatNV6ZIUpv6oqn40AwQ-MLNdITPsFYOTrMtnkVeJObqmeOmImUzlmoBCFBq8G08NwiJ_r851Z3KXtRnY9LhXC3UPB2_iUBwndc-f21ZtLhN8fvIDv8cJv7ORIJ83jz9lFWqjqwSJ4lCZ8S1HnO-Og/s574/image001%20(19).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="574" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIySFdSEaCUD8UGDsmRfFFq1a9LiSAJJc8Z2KxiatNV6ZIUpv6oqn40AwQ-MLNdITPsFYOTrMtnkVeJObqmeOmImUzlmoBCFBq8G08NwiJ_r851Z3KXtRnY9LhXC3UPB2_iUBwndc-f21ZtLhN8fvIDv8cJv7ORIJ83jz9lFWqjqwSJ4lCZ8S1HnO-Og/w540-h260/image001%20(19).png" width="540" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Tom Ginn answered the call. When I was turning up Napoleonic Ware records nearly thirty years ago now I turned up Tom - none of this, even now, is online or even indexed. Thomas Ginn volunteered for the 2nd Hertford Volunteer Foot Regiment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2lqyXPxVFH1M_Dwaqc65o_4rzpRFYdF9rh6rs_8kzi1WZ_rmBinXz704QLT4lcXzbHS6Tddophp9U77tivk0B-P0uxDuEfEDvZvtUkG1Out92c5nuSkMd0opMVhIYtmiCzgsssQPPkhxCXBNOtL52Q7UZex-xbpTIKcNnB1grfIIDMZ7gCE5lU8vjSQ/s521/image001%20(17).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="191" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2lqyXPxVFH1M_Dwaqc65o_4rzpRFYdF9rh6rs_8kzi1WZ_rmBinXz704QLT4lcXzbHS6Tddophp9U77tivk0B-P0uxDuEfEDvZvtUkG1Out92c5nuSkMd0opMVhIYtmiCzgsssQPPkhxCXBNOtL52Q7UZex-xbpTIKcNnB1grfIIDMZ7gCE5lU8vjSQ/w225-h381/image001%20(17).jpg" width="225" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Napoleonic Wars ended in June 1815 when Wellington (aided by Marshal Blucher of Prussia) beat Napoleon at the Battle Of Waterloo. Three months before, in March 1815, Thomas Ginn had married Sarah Heasler at St James Piccadilly in London, they made a thing of it because Sarah was clearly a Hertfordshire girl, she said she was born in Great Amwell and though I have never found a baptism entry, she was likely born to William.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas and Sarah first went to live in Great Amwell, For those not familiar with Hertfordshire (I have lived in Hoddesdon) Hertford, Ware, the Amwells (little and Great) and Hoddesdon merge together in the area, you can cross parish boundaries without really knowing that you have left or arrived. We do not know where they lived, only that they used Great Amwell Church. They soon moved into Hertford and over the years had a good number of children.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Ginn was an innovative chap. There is evidence that he collaborated on some projects with his brother Benjamin the surveyor, perhaps designer/architect. This will be discussed later. But Tom has a lighthearted distinction unique in the blog - in 1840 he registered a copyright to his design for a water closet, ie a "w.c" or a flush toilet ! For those fascinated by the history of the "u-bend" (and who isn't ?) the flush toilet was not a Victorian invention. It had been around for centuries before the wonderfully named Thomas Crapper who is often credited with it. for obvious reasons. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgfy5sV6jQTzv_Fyq9qKjhXKYdtaiCz8n_JpA_WO4mPK-rdmJBBg_OVKOww1gvLmNZkgZ_0cvlVjvfe4QPteP1BR4vxnnnJ1LuhpSOUL-GgaCwqBcs2smmMDPArHuYrvlIQ8E79B5R4d4Y6DkCuNmrMKXE2_IYevyObvwSxKbvQJJTK8hVAe8OIW45WA/s375/OIP%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="276" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgfy5sV6jQTzv_Fyq9qKjhXKYdtaiCz8n_JpA_WO4mPK-rdmJBBg_OVKOww1gvLmNZkgZ_0cvlVjvfe4QPteP1BR4vxnnnJ1LuhpSOUL-GgaCwqBcs2smmMDPArHuYrvlIQ8E79B5R4d4Y6DkCuNmrMKXE2_IYevyObvwSxKbvQJJTK8hVAe8OIW45WA/s320/OIP%20(1).jpg" width="236" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">But in early Victorian times the increasing population and enlarging towns led to more and more disease, cholera epidemics and the like</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzfR-Bju8lkOm2C-8hgmBdDXhzziXKZgi8IqDdD_6FX4l110spi78Ut7tVxCdZqbrmdMsxFw-zrZpP5hWAqR6ZzMxUybCD3KnnO2JQcFSQn0YvK8QB9i2sCzrNEBhu7-z-ISj2sirkw0JlqZ-bOSP_jKsf4Pwf6odNefqu1_gir2yT3NvCK2kUt08XHQ/s424/image001%20(23).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="424" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzfR-Bju8lkOm2C-8hgmBdDXhzziXKZgi8IqDdD_6FX4l110spi78Ut7tVxCdZqbrmdMsxFw-zrZpP5hWAqR6ZzMxUybCD3KnnO2JQcFSQn0YvK8QB9i2sCzrNEBhu7-z-ISj2sirkw0JlqZ-bOSP_jKsf4Pwf6odNefqu1_gir2yT3NvCK2kUt08XHQ/w426-h360/image001%20(23).png" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Thomas Ginn</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>and our ancestors gradually came to realize that there was a connection (pun intended) between sanitation and disease. A decade or two remained before towns had a proper sewage system, Tom's flush toilet went to a cesspit or tank in the garden - but it was a start.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Ginn's business as a Plumber, Glazier and sometime painter flourished and he became modestly prosperous. It has been said, wrongly, that he became Mayor of Hertford. His son, grandson and gt grandson certainly did, but not Tom. In fact I cannot find any evidence that he played any part in civic life in the Borough of Hertford, but he may have done.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The surviving photo of Tom dates from the early 1850s, he was about 67. It is at the H'ford Museum who claim the copyright, so please do not reproduce it. My feeling is that when you look at the man you are looking at a product of the 1700s, rather than a man of Victorian England, the photo is reminiscent of a portrait of George Washington.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Ginn died in 1857 - he was 71. Sarah lived on and we have a photo of her too - but she (below) had embraced the Victorian age.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRrXeqA-kClE_-jKI31nCPtIQkNmMpSyBMkX76-Yv753rT0QdtRoiz3iYAWkPjnlwYQ7rYThEpsIG3BLr3Jw9mS-EtmE-8qu6i7_Ky3ZOh-4oKRn9U7f1lQ5fxRHmA5toNjS7wRGMgV9OZV_68vdBvrKiEcEcoBbGaQF-l6mjFZvuIz5FOsD-N0H1sA/s793/sarah%20heasler%20md%20tom%20Ginn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="557" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRrXeqA-kClE_-jKI31nCPtIQkNmMpSyBMkX76-Yv753rT0QdtRoiz3iYAWkPjnlwYQ7rYThEpsIG3BLr3Jw9mS-EtmE-8qu6i7_Ky3ZOh-4oKRn9U7f1lQ5fxRHmA5toNjS7wRGMgV9OZV_68vdBvrKiEcEcoBbGaQF-l6mjFZvuIz5FOsD-N0H1sA/w311-h371/sarah%20heasler%20md%20tom%20Ginn.jpg" width="311" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Sarah died in 1876 - she was 83.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas and Sarah Ginn had nine children</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>George Heasler - was the heir. He went to Surrey. He married twice, first a Harriet Renshaw in London in 1840 and then an Annie in middle age. There was a child from both marriages. He was in Managerial, Clerical work in various areas of work. He later changed the spelling of his name to Ginne, for reasons best known to himself. He died in 1900.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Richard - succeeded his father in the family business in Hertford. He built up a very successful building firm in Hertford. Married Elizabeth Frances Hancock in 1855. There were issue</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>In 1891 he was Mayor (as were later a son and grandson) and we see him below in his regalia when he was about 73. He died in 1896.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzEUSPgljrvsjzqrJPRmvWTEBOy4Gwd_bb0tLzNi4wDnpTmoIx_s0SWWWlBwfzzkdmwaEEEtwBgHdTRu4ll_jsxyXndI6pkY2z_V2_E-JOOncurms8E4fWoO43-Vl1HNPF4mQ8no_795t4zKY4SKr5QyJ3R9ZPPL47A272NSFLH3SA5M-mLnKR1_9zag/s575/image001%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="395" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzEUSPgljrvsjzqrJPRmvWTEBOy4Gwd_bb0tLzNi4wDnpTmoIx_s0SWWWlBwfzzkdmwaEEEtwBgHdTRu4ll_jsxyXndI6pkY2z_V2_E-JOOncurms8E4fWoO43-Vl1HNPF4mQ8no_795t4zKY4SKr5QyJ3R9ZPPL47A272NSFLH3SA5M-mLnKR1_9zag/w307-h376/image001%20(2).jpg" width="307" /></span></i></a></div><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /><span>Mary - was the eldest daughter. She married James William Brown in London in 1846 and there were issue. We see her below in a colourized photo.<br /></span></span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_flV2fbSJtktkch0M-mzASvyGiN5MHOheycKKyMI_oKVrF0cHvxdThD10L_heXCMrmUcZywxF8rELn9L7si8gMUa_lp3nfRF7FiMs1WBwjg7M6JOthGYmHhLH1SF1ZYdk2a4TKg9gaI4PQiQe3sIQWX5GhHvce4X97OqJ_dtBIiH7fyi3tBQZHSXGoA/s961/mary%20ginn%20b%201819%20to%20tom%20and%20Sarah%20hertford.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="593" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_flV2fbSJtktkch0M-mzASvyGiN5MHOheycKKyMI_oKVrF0cHvxdThD10L_heXCMrmUcZywxF8rELn9L7si8gMUa_lp3nfRF7FiMs1WBwjg7M6JOthGYmHhLH1SF1ZYdk2a4TKg9gaI4PQiQe3sIQWX5GhHvce4X97OqJ_dtBIiH7fyi3tBQZHSXGoA/w288-h320/mary%20ginn%20b%201819%20to%20tom%20and%20Sarah%20hertford.jpg" width="288" /></span></i></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Ann - married John Arthur Purkiss of London in 1841. The marriage is announced in the "Reformer" of October 2nd that year. This was the entry of the Purkiss family into the Ginn line - the name Purkiss later came to be of significance in the family, in the same way they had incorporated the name Heasler. Family alliances were at work here.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Sarah Heasler - married Thomas Hancock in 1846. There were issue</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Emily - never apparently married and died in 1910</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Benjamin - named after Tom's surveyor brother. There were two, the first died in infancy. The second, born in 1831 also sadly died, aged 16 in 1847. There is an announcement in the "Hertfordshire Mercury".</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Ellen - married William Heasler in 1858</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-48810250665605674032022-04-10T13:31:00.000-07:002022-04-10T13:31:11.332-07:00Benjamin Ginn of Ware died 1813<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> If you refer back to Richard Ginn of Ware died 1697 (post of 2nd August 2020) you will note that he had a son Benjamin (1687-1760). This Benjamin married a Mary Richardson at Ware in 1716. Benjamin and Mary had three children including a Judith, a Benjamin jnr who was born in 1717 and a John. We will explore all this in a later post or two.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6g0la0kzEQ-mqhzJx__4DmwCiFRnE-5OeLrmx2p_GLzzMe8vw5ZXKCQdu01r7MchhmiEzbc99Dkib4LgED30eY_8WMDMkLln48n9JNhYZQKGlzP9NWYyF_jQ5Nxe2j-FgWs7UfoY8vUhDZGgr9O1XJVSoXRbB6OvZL1mOjH4QLkJKnrk_0KBOfZwdA/s300/keelboat_loc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="300" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6g0la0kzEQ-mqhzJx__4DmwCiFRnE-5OeLrmx2p_GLzzMe8vw5ZXKCQdu01r7MchhmiEzbc99Dkib4LgED30eY_8WMDMkLln48n9JNhYZQKGlzP9NWYyF_jQ5Nxe2j-FgWs7UfoY8vUhDZGgr9O1XJVSoXRbB6OvZL1mOjH4QLkJKnrk_0KBOfZwdA/w217-h114/keelboat_loc.jpg" width="217" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Benjamin jnr (1717-1798) was a Labourer/Maltmaker (both brewing and barging the produce down the River Lee into London were major trades in Ware) - and he married Mary Barnes in 1740. This Benjamin also had a good number of children and, again,we will deal with this in other posts. Because this post is solely taken up with Benjamin and Mary's son, also Benjamin, who was born in 1755.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Ben Ginn took up the plastering trade, though records suggest he was also not afraid of doing a bit of painting and decorating. So, obviously, most of his work would have been for the middle classes and the gentry. Plasterers did not of course simply plaster walls, but put in decorative ceilings, alcoves and the like, not to mention rendering exterior walls. The very sort of thing the 18th century gentry loved. I would not be surprised if some of his work survived.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Ben married Rachel Hobbs at Ware in 1779. They were obliged to marry in an Anglican church. But it is clear that from early on they were non-conformists - ie Independents. A meeting house for Independents was opened in Ware in 1778, and Benjamin and Rachel attended it from their marriage. It has within the last decade been converted into apartments, but the original building survives and is shown here before the conversion</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1jtn4xiI_o7fjMi1ycZcESVCdT4JRISNaYPVYB9RqWka-0Fuq2dJR_bDWsHRqAp8POVL0pknBA3q_LOMWjyvrL2z5_rFcCop2w_QqxtCoGMQ8ciBwmh45CUw_qM_oCwge1g2S5nAwarjDW2qOWXnSzCBee6-lGgeEzEs6km9jHK10Xz-q1U7p8wqPQ/s427/image001%20(12).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="320" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1jtn4xiI_o7fjMi1ycZcESVCdT4JRISNaYPVYB9RqWka-0Fuq2dJR_bDWsHRqAp8POVL0pknBA3q_LOMWjyvrL2z5_rFcCop2w_QqxtCoGMQ8ciBwmh45CUw_qM_oCwge1g2S5nAwarjDW2qOWXnSzCBee6-lGgeEzEs6km9jHK10Xz-q1U7p8wqPQ/w377-h374/image001%20(12).jpg" width="377" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksfI7YM4O8YjcSPEiDTCWwFZbEv6A0y1W03zoAbki5wtsQNoobHEk2kDniEtbjtSE02jXmEovvpBZrQqy4KEnFyxIfTk6NGiKbUgm5wC-DFuS3Hpm3yuEy7avThz8tpcrB_gdNyfn_6vPiQYG280hArFTfX8Tb1YPwMDWjOKxw4PBPvMx6ikgaB0s5A/s2112/image004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1584" data-original-width="2112" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksfI7YM4O8YjcSPEiDTCWwFZbEv6A0y1W03zoAbki5wtsQNoobHEk2kDniEtbjtSE02jXmEovvpBZrQqy4KEnFyxIfTk6NGiKbUgm5wC-DFuS3Hpm3yuEy7avThz8tpcrB_gdNyfn_6vPiQYG280hArFTfX8Tb1YPwMDWjOKxw4PBPvMx6ikgaB0s5A/w392-h240/image004.jpg" width="392" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Ben and Rachel had eight children, all baptized at the Old Meeting House. There was a burial ground and the records survive, but no Ginn was buried there.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">At some point (Land Tax) Benjamin bought a house in Kibes Lane in Ware, the family seem to have lived there. This property qualification gave him the vote - he is in the 1805 Poll Book.<br /></span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And so we move forward, Now I was born in the Lee Valley and spent the first fifty five years of my life there. Some of my ancestors have been there for centuries. The River Lee has been vital to the economy of South Eastern Hertfordshire since Saxon times, and Ware being a major malting and brewing town since the middle ages, needed the Lee to transport its produce to London.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Over the centuries, new waterways and canals were created, deepened, widened and cut at the London end to make access to London easier. Ben Ginn's great Uncle Richard had been a Bargeman in the 1720s, and the barges and boats that went down the River Lee and canals were charged a toll to pass at the various Locks on the way, these being managed by Lock Keepers and Toll Collectors. It became a habit to appoint these posts from men living in various towns on the River Lee - Hertford, Ware, Cheshunt, Waltham Abbey etc.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I have had correspondents over the years who have queried the fact that there is no burial entry for Benjamin Ginn in Ware. Some had even linked his burial to the wrong guy. Well I cannot tell you why it happened, though I can guess, but on 22nd June 1809 "Benjamin Ginn of Ware, plasterer" was appointed "Collector of Tolls" at Limehouse Lock, which is now in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, a long way from Ware (NA Rail 845/8).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There were two lock -keepers and two toll collectors, each with their family lived in a cottage by the canal and they worked turn and turn about in twelve hour shifts as it was of course a 24 hour job.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">My suspicion as to the "why" is Benjamin's health, The guy was 54 in 1809, he had likely been a plasterer, often in confined spaces, for forty years. The trade (like coalmining) gives you Silicosis. In addition, 18th century plaster contained a lot of animal hair (horse, cow even dog) scraped off the floor of the slaughter house in unsanitary conditions which contained disease, even anthrax apparently. My feeling is that Ben had lung disease, he needed fresh air.</span></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_886t8yh2Clf0mjEGNFZBl2vrD4ldK9clXSpQ0FDiXyUNYICw-LACqqqj-rh1f80idXtWg2Pv-xAPvR-WrFw9JrmL-y2Tj6BeD5YwIclXsGDcGZSAh1IANTknX055La7nlNHJy7Tdni9lsd7F7kmlqax2Wxb7dPdtXI63IcECSRtQFrWVUME5L0o5IQ/s1920/image001%20(15).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1357" data-original-width="1920" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_886t8yh2Clf0mjEGNFZBl2vrD4ldK9clXSpQ0FDiXyUNYICw-LACqqqj-rh1f80idXtWg2Pv-xAPvR-WrFw9JrmL-y2Tj6BeD5YwIclXsGDcGZSAh1IANTknX055La7nlNHJy7Tdni9lsd7F7kmlqax2Wxb7dPdtXI63IcECSRtQFrWVUME5L0o5IQ/w571-h273/image001%20(15).jpg" width="571" /></a></div></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Limehouse Cut in 1809</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So Ben and Rachel moved into one of the cottages. The men were given lanterns to collect the tolls at night and often the families helped out. It was obviously a responsible job, Ben had to keep accounts.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The family as I say had to live in one of the cottages, These, together with the whole Lock grew to be in disrepair by the 1850s (the Limehouse Cut had been channelled out in the 1760s) and the old cottages were demolished and rebuilt. The later cottages are shown below. They give us some idea as to what it was like during the Napoleonic Wars.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjet8bib1WyEknxuM5IyWEObpZ0wkkzataEaZqG-57VreEVNBfs--4hODnx1fASUGHQ2wW5vwKcuV2HDoYs8jN7si2fI-wfrWkYSpNOtnxwFejBNsmU7Scokhl1yeMlmnJYaHAWT5cFfObhSZtFegCKP9Ymr_yzudN9tHepCWCoKiE83FCcvJb7QtyYlw/s699/image001%20(16).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="699" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjet8bib1WyEknxuM5IyWEObpZ0wkkzataEaZqG-57VreEVNBfs--4hODnx1fASUGHQ2wW5vwKcuV2HDoYs8jN7si2fI-wfrWkYSpNOtnxwFejBNsmU7Scokhl1yeMlmnJYaHAWT5cFfObhSZtFegCKP9Ymr_yzudN9tHepCWCoKiE83FCcvJb7QtyYlw/w458-h267/image001%20(16).jpg" width="458" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Benjamin Ginn died in 1813, he was 58. He is buried at St Anne, Limehouse. His death is also recorded in NA Rail 845/8. He was buried in May 1813 and a month later Rachel and any kids that were left had to leave as a new Collector was appointed. She went back to Ware and died there in 1823 aged about 60.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Benjamin and Rachel had eight children</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Benjamin - later a Surveyor. He will be dealt with in a later post</i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Thomas - a Plumber - see next post</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Joseph - was born in 1786. There is no record of him dying in infancy but I have never come across anybody that could potentially be him. There appears to be no Napoleonic War record for him in any service.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Ann - died in 1807 aged 19</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Edward - died infancy</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Daniel Hobbs - there were two. The first died in infancy. The second was born in 1795 but I have never found any trace of him</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Mary - is untraced</i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p></p></div></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-42176043133128668022022-03-26T14:25:00.004-07:002022-03-29T13:02:13.844-07:00Peter Ginn of Hertford died after 1675<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> It was not my intention to regale you with the story of Hertford in the English Civil War, fascinating though that is to me. If it seems that way, my apologies. But Hertford is the theatre in which this post is set, and the characters mentioned here are the "players" who in their lifetime performed this play. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Peter Ginn was born in Datchworth in 1612, the son of John Ginn jnr and his wife Helen (nee Plumb) in my last post. His father died when he was ten and his mother brought him up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Peter trained as a Blacksmith/Farrier. He worked on his own account and moved to Hertford by about 1640. On 28th November 1643 he married a lady called Grace at Hertford, All Saints, there was a double wedding (two are bracketed in the record) and for some reason in the confusion her name was not recorded. I suspect that Grace was a widow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now the English Civil War began in August 1642. It had been coming for years. Hertford declared for Parliament, but a few of the aristocracy and gentry in the county stayed loyal to King Charles the First who in that month issued his Commission of Array (under the Great Royal Seal) to Hertford, ie calling on the gentry to raise troops for the King.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAb99OL0o3Qk2avN3-W5cpPig5PN3-x64dDV04H2oQEI6uY-IIHWcDY2QMteIGoRoPS_3NNOz87BaR9kpRutEX6BNFqnZGFVnvPkpU4HYLc0M16q6fG5c1ioA-MM31kYyLRvLpkgIJVh1DRAEmkKQ9jbnHCglRRJoUeWmjFGv7d7YjxIVTwOeQrQOflg=s1872" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="913" data-original-width="1872" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAb99OL0o3Qk2avN3-W5cpPig5PN3-x64dDV04H2oQEI6uY-IIHWcDY2QMteIGoRoPS_3NNOz87BaR9kpRutEX6BNFqnZGFVnvPkpU4HYLc0M16q6fG5c1ioA-MM31kYyLRvLpkgIJVh1DRAEmkKQ9jbnHCglRRJoUeWmjFGv7d7YjxIVTwOeQrQOflg=w543-h213" width="543" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> The Commission of Array for Worcester</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Enforcing the Commission of Array at Hertford was entrusted to Sir John Watts of Ware, son of Sir John Watts the elder. He came from an old Hertfordshire family. His grandfather, also John, had run privateers (ie he was a pirate) against the Spanish in the days of Queen Elizabeth and in 1588 had volunteered into one of his own ships to fight the Spanish Armada. He made a huge amount of money. He was later made Lord Mayor of London.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">His father, the elder, had been a soldier as a boy under Queen Elizabeth. He went to Holland in 1624 with the disastrous Count Von Mansfeld Expedition (where Henry Ginn of Anstey clearly died - see post of 19th July 2012) but unlike poor Henry he had the money to extradite himself before the final debacle and returned to England and was then signed up in October 1625 for the equally disastrous Cadiz Expedition against the Spanish. You would have thought that the Watts family would have had more sense than to risk their lives again for the feckless and arrogant Charles Stuart who would never have returned the favour, but not a bit of it. In August 1642, Sir John Watts jnr rode into Hertford with a few gentry to raise the King's standard and recruit a troop of cavalry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">He went to the Old Bell Inn in Fore Street. Unbeknown to him, Parliament had raised the Trained Band (the Militia) and some 500 men armed with pikes and muskets and likely the odd obsolete bow and arrow had congregated there, Hertford had a gunpowder magazine. The Parliament men lined up against the walls of the Old Bell we are told. Sir John and his men beat a retreat.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Old Bell Inn dates back to the 1500s, it is now known as the Salisbury Arms and has been for two hundred years. There is some suggestion in the records that Peter and Grace later held the Inn or at least had some connection with it, in fact I am suspicious that Grace was the widow of the landlord, had children from her first marriage and held it until a son may have come of age. We will never know. We can see the Inn from a drawing of the 1790s below. The building on the left is the Shire (Town) Hall which was built in the 1760s and is still there. In the 1640s this was a timber framed building.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieg-V5m3B-jsHxjea_pXQi5LK8ZyTjP1eeZmjx66Yz39dL6_cZjcd5kAS2Ghcu4w5h5dwsMAaB-7bn7W1bht3tRoNr9G7alurs03x3SzamGNOGSWWMF9mErFszofeJEAv6x-JLKqPcOE5T1pjiO6VFuI3O6_hDHxbfIRJPjgg_-0ADHpQ-PUMWukKC8Q=s1241" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1241" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieg-V5m3B-jsHxjea_pXQi5LK8ZyTjP1eeZmjx66Yz39dL6_cZjcd5kAS2Ghcu4w5h5dwsMAaB-7bn7W1bht3tRoNr9G7alurs03x3SzamGNOGSWWMF9mErFszofeJEAv6x-JLKqPcOE5T1pjiO6VFuI3O6_hDHxbfIRJPjgg_-0ADHpQ-PUMWukKC8Q=w495-h230" width="495" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Hertford was a member of the Eastern Association, a group of eastern English counties that had declared for Parliament against the King. The west of the country was largely Royalist, and it is fair to say that the Midlands saw much of the fighting,</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Hertfordshire raised a number of Regiments of Foot, Sir John Norwich's Regiment of Horse (see post re Richard Ginn of Ware of 2nd August 2020 ) some cavalry troops and a good number of Militia units. One Regiment of Foot was under the command of Colonel Sir John Wittewrong* (of Flemish descent) a Hertfordshire knight. He had been knighted by Charles 1st in 1640, so he must have had mixed feelings when (mostly because of his religion ( he was a Non Conformist) a couple of years later he found himself taking up arms against the King.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIj520o2BZ_4wi8V6i7OrhpjSwQfYYYCeTzfN0KYKERui2uzsxhRXAdzJGWJvwvrbn7O3myKAG_8Alj9S-5bTh39M_VvJL2AdMJAKuh-UYLF1i4z--3of1vgT5Pu3ss8ISOQfoMN0BdHfL1YBNGzvcuL7fpC8LAsr4kT_t6hYAD6GYS9BYNDvHAgRCvQ=s394" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIj520o2BZ_4wi8V6i7OrhpjSwQfYYYCeTzfN0KYKERui2uzsxhRXAdzJGWJvwvrbn7O3myKAG_8Alj9S-5bTh39M_VvJL2AdMJAKuh-UYLF1i4z--3of1vgT5Pu3ss8ISOQfoMN0BdHfL1YBNGzvcuL7fpC8LAsr4kT_t6hYAD6GYS9BYNDvHAgRCvQ=s320" width="260" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /> Sir John Wittewrong in later life </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Whilst Hertfordshire needed soldiers, it also needed men with the ability and experience to raise the money and resources to feed, supply and keep them active in the field. Enter Gabriel Barbor of Hertford.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Gabriel Barbor* (born in the 1570s and thus in his 60s) was a prosperous London Merchant who whilst keeping his businesses there, had come to Hertford by about 1620. He has been described as an "extreme Puritan" and had been circulating pamphlets against the divine right of kings in the 1630s. He was the sort of man who might have gone with the Pilgrim Fathers to the New World on the "Mayflower" in 1620, and indeed he had interests in Virginia and his son William and family were to move to the New World after the English Civil War.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Barbor leased the property called "Lombard House" which is still there (The Hertford Club) and although refronted two centuries ago, is still pretty much the same at the back adjoining the river, and if you look carefully you might see Barbor waving at you out of the windows !</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxfuFBvDI0hhhWV90s3auIpTi3VnNarL90ssfg6RaXrIItyGLMt33K4MmC6qIDqode9yRgJ_39bMNSQ7Bn1LF7NQUjffMyKCTFKCJDW3cjrGhZgplT9GU-KLRA661H-ZLEES0rFTdFWvJDCEA33ZX-a6dsaSQanxtifaw91vuMbauqxmzvvl0q8zcGSA=s1498" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="1498" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxfuFBvDI0hhhWV90s3auIpTi3VnNarL90ssfg6RaXrIItyGLMt33K4MmC6qIDqode9yRgJ_39bMNSQ7Bn1LF7NQUjffMyKCTFKCJDW3cjrGhZgplT9GU-KLRA661H-ZLEES0rFTdFWvJDCEA33ZX-a6dsaSQanxtifaw91vuMbauqxmzvvl0q8zcGSA=w489-h229" width="489" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNExeVga6BhgiYj2lSZIMPkluaEjLab0KUKAKZT9EinhKBE-IJI5nn3mvBUH5rMdpdbPXCat7Mh9AEHfkuJzBKgJ-CfToryyJOUl0BAtI2Q6VHooCy3qh9ct_grF1U-0Q2i-8TVVnvotjxcJn5Tk-WqTwkzbwLe3i5CKPxwGt3V70n4M0Z2qeThUnDUQ=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNExeVga6BhgiYj2lSZIMPkluaEjLab0KUKAKZT9EinhKBE-IJI5nn3mvBUH5rMdpdbPXCat7Mh9AEHfkuJzBKgJ-CfToryyJOUl0BAtI2Q6VHooCy3qh9ct_grF1U-0Q2i-8TVVnvotjxcJn5Tk-WqTwkzbwLe3i5CKPxwGt3V70n4M0Z2qeThUnDUQ=w500-h270" width="500" /></a></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Gabriel Barbor was made the head of the Hertford Committee, who ran the administration for Hertfordshire's part in the war for Parliament. By all accounts he was very good at his job, raising taxation without causing riots, suppling men and materials. But there was always a shortage of horses. These were needed in the fields and to get the harvest in, yet the army demanded them to draw wagons and obviously for the cavalry regiments and good mounts for officers.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There are various surviving letters from Gabriel Barbor to the front. In 1643 Colonel Sir JohnWittewrong's Foot Regiment was in the garrison at Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. Aylesbury saw some action during the Civil War as it acted as one of a series of strongpoints that guarded the Eastern Association from the Royalists in the west who probed the defences. In Wittewrong's regiment were Captains John and William Barbor, two of Gabriel Barbor's sons. The letter below to Wittewrong with transcription shows the plight regarding horses and Barbor's zeal for the fight. I am fond of the comment calling for "stoute harts and faces like lyons"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgks3A81DbaWiB-F7POshE--JsPFpxSZ83G_A2bEm7YtjU_rJNmi-B5ulOPD-7AlqnueQT8w6S6PUBcPogYqhxEqbUypSCG9wBbdkq2CUcirrz7srvF5VG1UNUPiwN4fNnSomsSn_q_NN_tgTeQj3u0BG0W_kFkkPpbnTIvDjpGkzhu3ylnqyRnmTUCgA=s884" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="884" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgks3A81DbaWiB-F7POshE--JsPFpxSZ83G_A2bEm7YtjU_rJNmi-B5ulOPD-7AlqnueQT8w6S6PUBcPogYqhxEqbUypSCG9wBbdkq2CUcirrz7srvF5VG1UNUPiwN4fNnSomsSn_q_NN_tgTeQj3u0BG0W_kFkkPpbnTIvDjpGkzhu3ylnqyRnmTUCgA=w445-h323" width="445" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>You shall by *George Peach or his captain receive £200 for your soldiers. I pray make a receipt and send itt. Also ther being your 6 horses for wagon or scowtes, one bay gelding is reserved for my sonn John, so that be being willing, his owne gelding instedde thereof be imployed as you shall appoint. I am in great hast. The Lord preserve you, your officers and regiments with the town they inhabit. I will be careful to procure what may be gotten for you and yours before all others. The Lord give you stoute harts and faces like lyons</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>I am your humble servant</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Gabriel Barbour</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Hartford 26th May 1643</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There are one or two payments in the records of the Hertford Committee for payments to Peter for services as a farrier. But the fact that Grace is mentioned more often in contrast to Peter, suggests that he may well have been away in the forces for at least some of the time. Alan Thompson in his work on the English Civil War in Hertfordshire (which mentions Peter and Grace), highlights the fact that the women had to cover while the men were away.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhw1g8tVLltYdR9u6-EirI1Tfx_khm0zpjIRCq8V5ocr3SukzmVYD4qsZ5OzjYA1YnTCvQL2P1tUW-K4N6QQlBH7hgsH4eENB130EjQr30S7ZyL5f8k9P9Jmo5yOqhNOw-6b_pWS8nbkPbs_uL9c5CwVHmVy5rEWpygqBgL9EO6ZAUTJMG2Sn4Mi8UZpw=s1839" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1839" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhw1g8tVLltYdR9u6-EirI1Tfx_khm0zpjIRCq8V5ocr3SukzmVYD4qsZ5OzjYA1YnTCvQL2P1tUW-K4N6QQlBH7hgsH4eENB130EjQr30S7ZyL5f8k9P9Jmo5yOqhNOw-6b_pWS8nbkPbs_uL9c5CwVHmVy5rEWpygqBgL9EO6ZAUTJMG2Sn4Mi8UZpw=w530-h218" width="530" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Before Naseby</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There were ups and downs in the First English Civil War, but Parliament won when in 1645 Fairfax and Cromwell gained a crushing victory over the King at the Battle of Naseby or "Naseby Fight" as our ancestors called it. Parliament called for dinners to be held to celebrate the victory "Thanksgiving Dinners". These were not wild parties, many men were religious,and the one in London featured the men singing the 46th Psalm ....</span></p><p><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Come, behold the works of the L</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 8.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">ORD</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">, what desolations he hath made in the earth.</span></i></p><p><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span color="inherit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span color="inherit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire</span></i></p><p><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span color="inherit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span color="inherit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.</span></i></p><p><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span color="inherit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span color="inherit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The L</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 8.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">ORD</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #202122; font-size: 10.5pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We know that the Thanksgiving Dinner in Hertford was held at the Old Bell Inn and Grace Ginn was paid for the meal as shown in the accounts of the Hertford Committee. So she seems to have had some connection with the pub, what and how I do not know and likely never will. This is the Salisbury Arms (as is) today, scarcely changed from 230 years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSjuaSM3ZaGWX5dDxkZFGjfhgQ2_oeCHoYpq2yrjXxBhTkyxbstHVwvVzLv0Gk08PGVCyE169cI1dn4J-IKoggLal-EsbjwGAHRk-eaXrPDRXOS45oRnzzf2bxPdO13GN1RXROTI0T6gpxKyWAqD1aG1nCXfHrXTld0Qid7BG0TfPzKgs2LaCdWAD6fQ=s640" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSjuaSM3ZaGWX5dDxkZFGjfhgQ2_oeCHoYpq2yrjXxBhTkyxbstHVwvVzLv0Gk08PGVCyE169cI1dn4J-IKoggLal-EsbjwGAHRk-eaXrPDRXOS45oRnzzf2bxPdO13GN1RXROTI0T6gpxKyWAqD1aG1nCXfHrXTld0Qid7BG0TfPzKgs2LaCdWAD6fQ=w454-h306" width="454" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Gabriel Barbor died in 1647 - he was about 70. His will (PCC) is obviously largely taken up with his family, and surprisingly (although he likely fell out with most over religion - he certainly did with Wittewrong) there is no mention of the gentry with whom he must have associated to keep the wheels turning. But he left small bequests to some of those who clearly assisted him, house servants apart these included "my late servant* Henry Peach". ."*Goodwife Downes the wife of Downes the Sergeant" and "Grace Gynn the wife of Peter Gynn".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In late 1647, the New Model Army was largely camped in Ware. It was in revolt. Generals Cromwell and Fairfax came to Hertford and reputedly stayed in the Old Bell Inn before they went out to the Army and calmed them down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We hear very little of Peter and Grace after Barbor died. There was a second Civil War which ultimately led to the execution of the King in 1649. Peter is mentioned as a witness to the will of an Innkeeper in Hertford ( a fellow called Styles) in 1653 but that is it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Hearth Tax records note that they lived in a 2 hearthed cottage, likely a cottage with adjoining smithy. They lived in All Saints.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We know that the couple lost both of their known adult sons, Peter jnr the last in 1668 which likely contributed to Grace's death in 1670. She was likely in her 50s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Peter Ginn was alive in 1674 living in the same cottage aged 62, but there is no trace of him after that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Peter and Grace had their children during the period of the Civil War and Commonwealth - a period when records were notoriously poorly kept. I have been surprised before, so the fact that I only know of two sons does not mean there were no other children</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Their children:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>John - died in his late teens</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Peter - a smith, he died in 1668 aged 24</i></span></p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><u><b>The Players*</b></u></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>George Peach</b> - you may be curious about George - I was. He was a Tailor in Hertford. He married a Martha Minors in London in 1637. They had Martha and Thomas ((the records are few) He was obviously in one of the Hertfordshire Foot Regiments (likely Wittewrong's) from what Barbor says. That regiment was broken up in 1645 and the men sent to other regiments including those in the New Model Army. George survived the wars, he came home to Hertford and bought the Cross Keys Inn which was around the corner from the Old Bell. It had gone even before I was born in the 1950s, but only just - here it is on the far right in 1823 and a century later.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhx4svMXkptVArZTEy-cxD1Nn-M0UQGCti8TFpsSIrpTde3qUdvbSjmtXdyX3q4u-2sDJ79OiGVBOBlpAYcTGFuRw_w3FrNW8ErE2vPsmByEyG8UQLlBDWfGQ9eVeXUeBCtGovoRD_iLxjSlGTjPsXD3aUGYfYvN_CeFA8KlqKDCmeYrxGtYUSzemRUrg=s703" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="703" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhx4svMXkptVArZTEy-cxD1Nn-M0UQGCti8TFpsSIrpTde3qUdvbSjmtXdyX3q4u-2sDJ79OiGVBOBlpAYcTGFuRw_w3FrNW8ErE2vPsmByEyG8UQLlBDWfGQ9eVeXUeBCtGovoRD_iLxjSlGTjPsXD3aUGYfYvN_CeFA8KlqKDCmeYrxGtYUSzemRUrg=w448-h243" width="448" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV5UEWmWN7e63KJtTlefAyVZUN1Ky2KH6ONDL5cQulA68dffbk7YAA_ylwh1On8MVuduYfjkB-eefctHXF93SDrKELP8FX1P9-oNSr6Yzv0g-WmjU7FhgdEQtwgWR7debBVsh2LGXe0mFjV5xLerTdmm5H3yJp87gg1o55JUUYMM_o2lib1IHA5SXK5w=s703" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="703" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV5UEWmWN7e63KJtTlefAyVZUN1Ky2KH6ONDL5cQulA68dffbk7YAA_ylwh1On8MVuduYfjkB-eefctHXF93SDrKELP8FX1P9-oNSr6Yzv0g-WmjU7FhgdEQtwgWR7debBVsh2LGXe0mFjV5xLerTdmm5H3yJp87gg1o55JUUYMM_o2lib1IHA5SXK5w=w450-h248" width="450" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">George Peach died in 1657 (will PCC) accounted a Gentleman. I doubt he was that much past 40. John Downes, eldest surviving son of Hezekiah (see below) was sole witness to his will.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Henry Peach</b> - the late servant of Gabriel Barbor was likely brother to George and a young man in 1647. The Peach Boys do not seem to have been locally born. He would seem to be the Henry Peach, Gentleman of Ware mentioned later in Herts Archives records. In 1680, he gave evidence defending a man accused of being a closet Papist. Catholics, closet or not, were still viewed with fear in Protestant England - reference the Rye House Plot in nearby Hoddesdon in 1683 against the King's popish tendencies.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sir John Wittewrong</b> - He was a young man of 25 when made a Colonel and must have been somewhat shocked that the King who had knighted him in 1640 had his head removed from his shoulders in 1649. Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and the Parliamentarian government collapsed in short order. There was a movement to bring the Royal family back (although not on the same terms as before) and Charles 2nd (son of his executed father) came to England in 1660. Wittewrong wiped his mouth, welcomed the new King and was made a Baronet for his trouble. He spent the remaining years of his life in the more peaceful pursuit of recording the weather - his weather diaries survive, as allegedly do a pair of his boots ! He died in 1693.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVEdMRKTUwHtlfg3APA2Le_icviiBtwqTtNifS0XJwDiPCJMzOHbbuqBLQe54HXSVsmSYNjWfluVGTEKVE5OMgfqYgerjY3x7dlEmm62U8mx6pZDLrt7uAqUNS3G3W-0wgmMHn8kbbkTDsRw3r_nZ4V00CtZB-1OUxOdXP6EENvWgCCFvOVC60_NA3xg=s748" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="561" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVEdMRKTUwHtlfg3APA2Le_icviiBtwqTtNifS0XJwDiPCJMzOHbbuqBLQe54HXSVsmSYNjWfluVGTEKVE5OMgfqYgerjY3x7dlEmm62U8mx6pZDLrt7uAqUNS3G3W-0wgmMHn8kbbkTDsRw3r_nZ4V00CtZB-1OUxOdXP6EENvWgCCFvOVC60_NA3xg=s320" width="240" /></a></div><b><br /></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Goodwife Downes </b>- was Priscilla Downes, wife of Hezekiah Downes snr. They had a Hezekiah Jnr in 1619 who lived. Hezekiah was a Blacksmith like Peter Ginn. Chauncy says that Hezekiah snr was made Sergeant at Mace to Hertford Borough in 1631 and he held that post (holding the ceremonial mace at Borough functions) into the 1640s. So he is "Downes the Sergeant", The Mace (believe it or not) survives, ironically bearing the Arms of Charles the 1st. It has been re-gilded, the gentleman below showing it off</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGshq-B2DLgcJXLqh-ioAJZdVJkTYrsuh_ZkFhReK7hIRBZnkF3_J21W4m7sDHHnyEmXvyk4DpGJRP4SwCs3SqvVN8lxotQzrUOYHebarM8aXshhxnmP4t2STh9IcyydE0d8M32tm6uctjrQJMq2T_28tWLHsS9pMCKPwLkDjbYYu8rLpsnA0zyYgitg=s1587" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1587" data-original-width="1034" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGshq-B2DLgcJXLqh-ioAJZdVJkTYrsuh_ZkFhReK7hIRBZnkF3_J21W4m7sDHHnyEmXvyk4DpGJRP4SwCs3SqvVN8lxotQzrUOYHebarM8aXshhxnmP4t2STh9IcyydE0d8M32tm6uctjrQJMq2T_28tWLHsS9pMCKPwLkDjbYYu8rLpsnA0zyYgitg=s320" width="208" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barbor seems to suggest that Hezekiah senior was away. A Hezekiah Downes (I had assumed the junior but this may be wrong) was in Sir John Norwich's Regiment of Horse. Priscilla died in 1654. Hezekiah in 1665 (will Herts Archives)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Sir John Watts</b> - the elder died in 1649 , the year that his King was executed. The younger fought for King Charles in the War. As a Royalist in a county that declared for Parliament, he had his Ware estate confiscated. He gained some revenge however when the monarchy was restored in 1660.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gabriel Barbor</b> - died as I say in 1647. He left four sons - William, John, Gabriel (a Surgeon) and Joseph. His one daughter Elizabeth married Isaac Puller, who was also a member of the Hertford Committee, Justice of the Peace, Mayor of Hertford and even several times MP for Hertford before 1660.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a great story here, largely fantasy, concerning The Barbor Jewel which is at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is an onyx cameo of Queen Elizabeth 1st dating from the 1570s which the V & A say was reset in diamonds, rubies and pearls in about 1615. The rear of the jewel has been enamelled with an Oak Tree - the "Hatfield Oak" (Hatfield near Hertford) which Princess Elizabeth was in legend standing under when she heard the news she was Queen in 1558 .</div><div><br /></div><div>The Barber family story (written by another Gabriel in 1724) is that William Barbor a Grocer of London (Gabriel our hero's father who died in 1586) was a fervent protestant who having escaped burning at the stake because Protestant Elizabeth became Queen, bought the jewel in her honour. He was further to decree that all Barbor men were to have a daughter named Elizabeth in the Queen's memory. It is fancy, but a lovely story. My guess is that the jewel came into the family through one of Gab Barbor's wives. He would scarcely (being a Puritan) have indulged such a thing. But it is, I think you will agree -a lovely thing</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhO4ka57Pvh3jlJJpWN-l-Ws53pJmvzTDVqTAG7Ubs2onAH1qvfG6F8c9e7mdo7RL3G8rsJFHLweMpr8KJLlCm5HT_RRAa-vVTneege2sLLrqwSCDv1_b5AFR_fYxMCki2c7W710KhTh9vglR75_cPEydS24Oq-XoICFVuZTZt9zSFnq7GEFjuOxX0WBQ=s575" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="429" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhO4ka57Pvh3jlJJpWN-l-Ws53pJmvzTDVqTAG7Ubs2onAH1qvfG6F8c9e7mdo7RL3G8rsJFHLweMpr8KJLlCm5HT_RRAa-vVTneege2sLLrqwSCDv1_b5AFR_fYxMCki2c7W710KhTh9vglR75_cPEydS24Oq-XoICFVuZTZt9zSFnq7GEFjuOxX0WBQ=w343-h394" width="343" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4CwRztolTb4-s87ZYVctmXufu9z8Vx5-vrguYIbjATGDwKX5ocUDFdPolJu34Uc-T9s50HP-6CqgTSKgMDADM5EbqA0LWd-JY2S5YkEGjsQDwM9_onrXoMJjiTY0EondQtfbOjsBLY1jzoxWfflQyGjrzGhNpcFXZrLf9guIBOJTIxMXCnNqa-Idjzg=s539" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="493" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4CwRztolTb4-s87ZYVctmXufu9z8Vx5-vrguYIbjATGDwKX5ocUDFdPolJu34Uc-T9s50HP-6CqgTSKgMDADM5EbqA0LWd-JY2S5YkEGjsQDwM9_onrXoMJjiTY0EondQtfbOjsBLY1jzoxWfflQyGjrzGhNpcFXZrLf9guIBOJTIxMXCnNqa-Idjzg=w320-h366" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p></div></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-54479036448333643692022-03-26T13:45:00.000-07:002022-03-26T13:45:25.631-07:00John Ginn of Burnham Green in Datchworth died 1610<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> I have been nudged by a correspondent who has seen my original research to put this post in the blog. I was loath to because I cannot definitely say (the blog before 1700 is mostly based on wills and land inheritance and there is none of that here) that the John Ginn here connects to the Aston family, but I have always thought he does.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">What we know for certain is that John Ginn of Aston who died in 1557 (see post of 12th June 2012) had two living sons with the christian name John when he died. This was not uncommon in the Tudor period because of the high mortality rate amongst children. John Ginn the younger was on my calculation about 15-17 when his father died. I suspect that he might have been called Jack on a day to day basis to distinguish him from his brother.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSoh4FnrfDNuREnFVJlALLULCVM42zsAyXMVHyWZChcZl8yEic6pxOBAttsjhuL7ANfVZHEpZsUxMShXimNNmLzoIumftSeMPHdkWIveo_oQpZjdwR9P00ZW-9J6njMEgsiZnp2qfhTsmwkLErXS7Ij4RfVa8331ajRtPLKiOWerDEVIosF-4NRRIKpQ/s458/image001%20(18).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="458" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSoh4FnrfDNuREnFVJlALLULCVM42zsAyXMVHyWZChcZl8yEic6pxOBAttsjhuL7ANfVZHEpZsUxMShXimNNmLzoIumftSeMPHdkWIveo_oQpZjdwR9P00ZW-9J6njMEgsiZnp2qfhTsmwkLErXS7Ij4RfVa8331ajRtPLKiOWerDEVIosF-4NRRIKpQ/w457-h212/image001%20(18).png" width="457" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">What we also know for certain is that Henry Ginn of Aston (John jnr's nephew - see post of 8th Sept 2012) was in dispute with the gentry Boteler family, Lords of the Manor of Aston, from when his father died in 1592. Harry was scared off. He sold the lease of Garetts and was in Burnham Green in Datchworth by 1596 or so. We also know that Henry was in touch with his wider family until he died in 1632 (his Uncle Arthur of Anstey mentions him in his will of 1630). So it is quite possible that he sought the comfort of being near an uncle when the excrement hit the fan. That uncle could have been this man, John Ginn of Burnham Green. But I cannot prove it as I say - and a problem is that the Datchworth parish registers do not survive for before 1570 or so - so conclusion drawing is risky.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Ginn of Datchworth, assuming he is John Ginn the younger, inherited £20 when his father died in 1557. He would not have received it until the 1560s. John married (presumably in Datchworth but I do not know who, in about 1568. I do not have his wife's name.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsggOhklG6IYmEd59NfjtWqx88hT3tsl7v_emx41_9Ul9HuljGYIgxfo-OhRLyPOUkoedpL4xO94OaerclfernHkWj1yChnYw3fG5tHfsSEm4dLuoEEA25_uW8jLGW1x2PdzRgpIX4l8df6NDWM-8RLAP1OIrqyCCYo4sUmBD0HhdMxdl_RF8HIxTBg/s699/image001%20(11).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="533" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsggOhklG6IYmEd59NfjtWqx88hT3tsl7v_emx41_9Ul9HuljGYIgxfo-OhRLyPOUkoedpL4xO94OaerclfernHkWj1yChnYw3fG5tHfsSEm4dLuoEEA25_uW8jLGW1x2PdzRgpIX4l8df6NDWM-8RLAP1OIrqyCCYo4sUmBD0HhdMxdl_RF8HIxTBg/s320/image001%20(11).jpg" width="244" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Ginn was a labourer, husbandman. It was common for a man to buy or lease a small piece of land, or even carve a spot out of the common and build himself a house upon it. We have a fascinating description of how this worked in Gough's "The History of Myddle".</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Neither the Manorial Rolls for Datchworth ot Welwyn survive for this period and I sadly know little about him, other than he lived in Burnham Green,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John died in 1609/10, he was about 70 He left a will (Hunts Archives) which does not tell us much</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Their children</span></b></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John and his wife had six children. The family must have lived in fairly comfortable conditions because we have baptism dates for five of the six and all lived to at least their mid 20s</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John - he married Joan Freeman in 1601 when he was about 30. They had three children and then Joan died in about 1610. John remarried a Helen Plumb in 1611. He had three children by Joan and one son by Helen viz</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span>Edward died infancy</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span>Isobel died infancy</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span>Mary - who is untraced</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span>Peter - see next post</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John junior died in 1622. His widow Helen remarried John Gregory of neighbouring Welwyn in 1631.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Mary - was born in 1570 - she married John Adcock in 1608</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Elizabeth - was born in 1576 - she married Shadrack Wells in 1610</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Joan - was born in 1579 - she was alive in 1609 aged 30 but she was disabled or unwell because her father was anxious to provide some little care for her. I sadly have not traced her</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Ann - was born in 1584 - she married Edward Ripley in 1612</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Margaret - was born in 1589, a year after the Spanish Armada - she married Richard Woodley in 1616</span></i></p><p><br /></p>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-26187158065872330982022-02-11T13:43:00.005-08:002022-02-19T13:49:37.233-08:00William Ginn of Sacombe and Tasmania died 1846<p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Every tragedy falls into two parts: complication and unravelling...</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">By</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> complication</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> I mean all that extends from the beginning of that action to the part which marks the turning point to good or bad fortune. The </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">unravelling</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> is that which extends from the beginning of the change to the end.</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">Aristotle</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">My 4x great grandfather John Cooledge stole a little food and was transported to Australia as a convict, leaving a family behind. He died in Tasmania, in Hobart Hospital. His wife and family were placed into Buntingford Workhouse and only two children of that whole family survived that experience. It was shocking to read the workhouse records. So this post has some meaning for me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William was a descendant of John Ginn (see my post of 25th July 2014 ). His further ancestors will be dealt with in later posts. He was an agricultural labourer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2qE3NcA3xVHq1d-oOw43rESQUpRjoLUKCTmDeZS3e0zQtzE_8ylUrxXDYrdOC3TRZyqr70V8VWYgcRdJVlE7sVARDF9Z33unHM4snpviC1PysBT2S_O8Fnd9B2qrQZWUn-N-IWboG5WVf-yevKNM0hutNHphpIAIJV-tnTFzIwGRJxZqrupa2q5WzrA=s472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="440" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2qE3NcA3xVHq1d-oOw43rESQUpRjoLUKCTmDeZS3e0zQtzE_8ylUrxXDYrdOC3TRZyqr70V8VWYgcRdJVlE7sVARDF9Z33unHM4snpviC1PysBT2S_O8Fnd9B2qrQZWUn-N-IWboG5WVf-yevKNM0hutNHphpIAIJV-tnTFzIwGRJxZqrupa2q5WzrA=w384-h364" width="384" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> 19th cent labourers - I love the guy with the top hat</div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William married Hannah Surridge at Sacombe in 1826, Hannah came from Bennington. Sacombe was and is a quiet rural village, not a place where there would be much happening or with plenty of work opportunities. The couple were poor.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now sometimes I know something without knowing I know something. And so it is here. I had actually uploaded this post when "the penny dropped" that I knew more.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Hannah was born to Thomas and Ann at Benington in 1806. The couple had indeed married that year, Thomas Surridge being a widower. But Tom did not come from Benington, he came from Sacombe Green, his father being Wiliam Surridge (a labourer who owned a few bits of land) and who died in 1810 leaving a will.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And Thomas Surridge had the wherewithal to buy a copyhold cottage at Sacombe Green in 1816 (DE/AS/2389 Herts Archives) see extract which sale was finalised to him in 1819. He was variously described as a Labourer/Carpenter. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxXgOPM8DxF1m8SytYW-Mst4S2cfgIrOuKiRQu0QlB5pf4ubrJ0RzGoUS89y6OU6HufZWNgCTRC5iPbyDp__Ip5nAYaI0Hn9oEpZaVYYNnFlJ5Rg4ki0HWc3EnFsnt83QsxBNLojkdGBImTDNtttrqbzmtAiBArijYalcHJAJfxP7vkwwBRDNNesRGCA=s1100" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="1100" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxXgOPM8DxF1m8SytYW-Mst4S2cfgIrOuKiRQu0QlB5pf4ubrJ0RzGoUS89y6OU6HufZWNgCTRC5iPbyDp__Ip5nAYaI0Hn9oEpZaVYYNnFlJ5Rg4ki0HWc3EnFsnt83QsxBNLojkdGBImTDNtttrqbzmtAiBArijYalcHJAJfxP7vkwwBRDNNesRGCA=w549-h214" width="549" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now I am a property lawyer- deeds are what I do. And I have turned up those deeds. Tom Surridge converted this one house into two cottages before 1820. And I know that William Ginn and Hannah were tenants of one of these cottages. I also know that there are two farm cottages at Sacombe Green which are historic and listed buildings (for planning purposes) and their listing description says that this one house was converted into two cottages circa 1800 (the house has elements going back to the late 1600s). I am certain that this is all one. So we can see the house, cottages below.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgY7hVKNqOgWG9CIbhU1Sj3-ecjc59BC54NSrZnWY8mNOnq_ALqdAvxaCu3-OUqG8-RPpLxh7713CxDwxUIb6EnuGxfH23TmlgF1KF11V0FicTOhS0SUGtbkldPagu6_MU1WeIloVbYcx8MnkBPETb-4gl8XRuiZwesYYWtOxgXfOAnjsksTDn2Ncw7pg=s853" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="853" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgY7hVKNqOgWG9CIbhU1Sj3-ecjc59BC54NSrZnWY8mNOnq_ALqdAvxaCu3-OUqG8-RPpLxh7713CxDwxUIb6EnuGxfH23TmlgF1KF11V0FicTOhS0SUGtbkldPagu6_MU1WeIloVbYcx8MnkBPETb-4gl8XRuiZwesYYWtOxgXfOAnjsksTDn2Ncw7pg=w563-h290" width="563" /></a></div></div><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William and Hannah had had two children when in 1829 they applied under the Poor Laws to move to Cheshunt, a small town on the London Road where there would have been plenty of opportunities. The rules were that if the destination parish Overseers of the Poor thought that the family would be a burden on the parish and claim poor relief (paid for by the local taxpayers) then they could turn the couple away and send them back to Sacombe. This is what happened. (Settlement Records Herts Archives). I have always thought that if the family had been allowed to settle in Cheshunt their story would have been very different.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGUmfTPwaE57qVdWC9U8Y5gWwThjIKi7h5f9a1MOeYsjGKCZuHBD83lbIaQEaD_sQMVPDtFKJuo-_4B8Dn9p0KHI5C0Z5L4Xw8RrQsGoPG1nHA5CEo1C-sc-t_HzrsppCA8NqIsfgmL_0CdHoFSh9gbw_U0CU5_FRaWxeyCVDCAY5RehiNt3i6VsAPJw=s700" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGUmfTPwaE57qVdWC9U8Y5gWwThjIKi7h5f9a1MOeYsjGKCZuHBD83lbIaQEaD_sQMVPDtFKJuo-_4B8Dn9p0KHI5C0Z5L4Xw8RrQsGoPG1nHA5CEo1C-sc-t_HzrsppCA8NqIsfgmL_0CdHoFSh9gbw_U0CU5_FRaWxeyCVDCAY5RehiNt3i6VsAPJw=w432-h373" width="432" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William and Hannah continued to have children and we move forward to 1841.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now 1841 was a significant year for several reasons, some trivial, some not.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">For a start - it was the year that Britain saw its first Christmas Tree - a German tradition brought into England by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort. It was erected at Windsor Castle.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheV9bp-NqIRndW004k3L452Dahi7tedBvclp8rmxDnx3cCBg_zLdyBgXrUKFojNdrIX0ss-Qrd8-5iVf8Eac79atwuCFlvsl9aUWR26-oN5_uHSCeR-vYXzpPE_mOLujVNnHrDZcRtw1WLa1oxf0CtJwN4aVgdt9KYfzsOEq3MTMQwp24Zs8Vl2mU8Bw=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1293" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheV9bp-NqIRndW004k3L452Dahi7tedBvclp8rmxDnx3cCBg_zLdyBgXrUKFojNdrIX0ss-Qrd8-5iVf8Eac79atwuCFlvsl9aUWR26-oN5_uHSCeR-vYXzpPE_mOLujVNnHrDZcRtw1WLa1oxf0CtJwN4aVgdt9KYfzsOEq3MTMQwp24Zs8Vl2mU8Bw=w362-h382" width="362" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Queen Victoria had a lovely Christmas that year, writing in her journal on Christmas Eve 1841</span></div><div><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #201f1e; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #d51030; font-size: 13pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #201f1e; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #d51030; font-size: 13pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Christmas, I always look upon as a most dear happy time, also for Albert, who e</span></i><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #201f1e; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #d51030; font-size: 13pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">njoyed it naturally still more in his happy home, which mine, certainly, as a child, was not. It is a pleasure to have this blessed festival associated with one’s happiest days. The very smell of the Christmas Trees of pleasant memories. To think, we have already 2 Children now, & one who already enjoys the sight, — it seems like a dream.</span></i></div><div><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #201f1e; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #d51030; font-size: 13pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And a fine time would have been had by all of the aristocracy, gentry and the factory owners who took the riches of what was at the time the richest and most powerful nation in the world. But the nation had crippling inequality, the wealthy few exploited the impoverished masses just as the slave owners had once exploited the slaves. The poor could barely feed themselves in the good times, and these were not good times- 1841 was notable for another thing - it was a year in a decade which came to be known as "The Hungry Forties"</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thirdly, in Spring 1841 Thomas Surridge, now nearly seventy. sold the two cottages for nearly twice what he paid for them. William Ginn was said to be in possession of one of them. See extracts below (DE/AS/2390). If Bill Ginn were only paying a nominal rent to his father in law, this could have crippled him financially.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrof-8_aM9jo76vyTiE_GU5Rc0sF8mKd-a3tnvsT5KV4-WBZpRNM1M-s7BlTzwTXhEC1XA0XXo82QKJ5q4R8c390z-B7b5rciCSwvrw-2ZJ-i6zqmg3CoqvP3YAu6H9k2FlZ2hc3YSn_7PDQzqv14DOXAtUobNZ7trbSAJPEUeHBiy6lVF0zcssouhqQ=s1312" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1312" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrof-8_aM9jo76vyTiE_GU5Rc0sF8mKd-a3tnvsT5KV4-WBZpRNM1M-s7BlTzwTXhEC1XA0XXo82QKJ5q4R8c390z-B7b5rciCSwvrw-2ZJ-i6zqmg3CoqvP3YAu6H9k2FlZ2hc3YSn_7PDQzqv14DOXAtUobNZ7trbSAJPEUeHBiy6lVF0zcssouhqQ=w531-h192" width="531" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5gDnaDXh_DGilWIdwPeKvg9wVe4pu1TUSrCPtNumoNZY2qzVJOYvnAbPjlgTnOzeqt7WdW23e8xRTEEshdPeVdACnkfyW6YmE4Q0btR509NIKbPI3U-khtnwM6jU6EdOptrVFrnvBExftFarVIix_YjZ7iPJTQyvMdcCMPNaHnix5t2ueWtBJ70iHkQ=s1306" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="1306" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5gDnaDXh_DGilWIdwPeKvg9wVe4pu1TUSrCPtNumoNZY2qzVJOYvnAbPjlgTnOzeqt7WdW23e8xRTEEshdPeVdACnkfyW6YmE4Q0btR509NIKbPI3U-khtnwM6jU6EdOptrVFrnvBExftFarVIix_YjZ7iPJTQyvMdcCMPNaHnix5t2ueWtBJ70iHkQ=w521-h211" width="521" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And also in 1841- Hertfordshire saw the creation of its first professional police force - the Hertfordshire Constabulary. The Metropolitan Police (one of the first professional police forces in the world) had been created in London in 1829. It replaced an archaic system. But the freedom loving British would not tolerate an armed force wearing the uniform of army red (the "Peterloo Massacre" of 1819 was fresh in the public mind) as that might induce riots. So our police were to be the unarmed "boys in blue". It is clear that Hertfordshire recruited some men from "the Met".</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKw2JPlbWqt1ubdmiE4SCi_gE6zpzkEzP5gomSB1WUuy5CmWH22hzSLuV-wOJwWwqplu5mEY1yFbVe6_fQuLZlkJMAFTJzjlkyHO64joUKSSjgiFqshcfoYY6E0YZJm_2zR8Tl1xW93VajOrUd_rrDMqHG0kb1myYOvBf1RjYJ7DesUTMCG49CLYyZPA=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="686" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKw2JPlbWqt1ubdmiE4SCi_gE6zpzkEzP5gomSB1WUuy5CmWH22hzSLuV-wOJwWwqplu5mEY1yFbVe6_fQuLZlkJMAFTJzjlkyHO64joUKSSjgiFqshcfoYY6E0YZJm_2zR8Tl1xW93VajOrUd_rrDMqHG0kb1myYOvBf1RjYJ7DesUTMCG49CLYyZPA=w366-h388" width="366" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So we come to Saturday, 18th December 1841 - quite literally, the week before Christmas. Bill Ginn would have had little work this time of the year but obviously decided that his six children would have a full belly that Christmas. As a consequence he and Hannah were not to have the "dream" Christmas of Queen Victoria, but rather a surreal nightmare that would change their lives forever. I knew the outcome years ago - but in 2007 turned up the whole sorry tale (full papers survive QSR 66) at Herts Archives.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Mardell was a local farmer in Sacombe. He was also (for many years) one of the Overseers of the Poor, ie in charge of parish poor relief, which I am sure had brought him into contact with the Ginns. There was probably no love lost.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thomas Mardell had 141 sheep in a field near Sacombe that Saturday, except his shepherd counted and noted that there were only 140.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Mardell was to say that he and the shepherd were able to track Bill and the sheep, but this seems unlikely and I suspect that somebody snitched. Whatever the truth, Mardell and the shepherd approached the privy of Bill's cottage on Sacombe Green and noticed "ground fresh moved" and blood. Mardell withdrew and the shepherd went to fetch the Hertfordshire Constabulary.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Chief Inspector Driscoll and Constable Thresher attended the scene later the same day, near dusk. It was nearly the shortest day so this would have been about 4 pm. Constable Thresher was Charles Thresher, he got my interest as the next year he indirectly features in the story of Billett King Genn of Cambridge (see below) and Charles was later to find his own life turned upside down +</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The police found William near his cottage. Thresher held him fast while Driscoll searched the cottage. They found a sheep's paunch (tripe) concealed near the fire place. It was now dark and they left with William and locked the cottage up.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The police returned the next morning ie the 19th and opened up the cottage, Hannah was there. They thought that she was trying to conceal something and moving her out of the way found the head of a sheep and a sack of mutton beneath her. A butcher from Hertford was later to give evidence that all of the mutton was fresh killed and poorly butchered.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimhIk-exqlAdQy8uazE4_J-gibnXWuh9CLEPIe9KuVghcM_TvNlxnoTk1k0f-HzMtWbG4I6yiKHKfKoY0jZ4FhG0vYJ5jusIEI_7H664VP6KTDadIpLqriFTgf4xV349HpNciujqLelQrfTtTlYwSO3TtDf2I55Mt22D4qIC-VH_1vc9w8vJb2fs0o-w=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1080" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimhIk-exqlAdQy8uazE4_J-gibnXWuh9CLEPIe9KuVghcM_TvNlxnoTk1k0f-HzMtWbG4I6yiKHKfKoY0jZ4FhG0vYJ5jusIEI_7H664VP6KTDadIpLqriFTgf4xV349HpNciujqLelQrfTtTlYwSO3TtDf2I55Mt22D4qIC-VH_1vc9w8vJb2fs0o-w=w484-h256" width="484" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Nathaniel Surridge was the Parish Constable - ie the civilian appointed by the parish to keep the peace in the village. He was also Hannah's first cousin. He confirmed all that the police had said, and further mentioned that they had found a sheepskin in a pond near Bill's cottage.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William Ginn denied any knowledge of the sheep - but his fate was sealed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William was put in Hertford Gaol - now long gone. His conduct there was bad - he was obviously traumatised. His trial was delayed and he was not actually tried until 14th February 1842, 180 years almost to the day before this post. He was sentenced to be transported for 10 years without possibility of return. It was his first offence ever.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">He then went to the prison hulks on the Thames to await his sentence being carried out and was there for five months. The hulks were dismasted ships, many of them old warships from the Napoleonic Wars. Discipline was very strict and life was tough.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1dKTAeB1NFn9TFRkPXx4x-cUFhGkzJ-dd5Q4HQSwNVZrYwzKiTg7cdNXyjqLFTmQv19PgK5tPXM1D9rCG_5T0rm-FBd7HZIuCYqmPPhqvYQmoDwGVpTUs2K-VLGDuAgEflBe8DRXzJgb9XRFpznpYc0EaBtUczV2sjeZl00Vl5wCHVoc4YeNnod9P6g=s400" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="400" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1dKTAeB1NFn9TFRkPXx4x-cUFhGkzJ-dd5Q4HQSwNVZrYwzKiTg7cdNXyjqLFTmQv19PgK5tPXM1D9rCG_5T0rm-FBd7HZIuCYqmPPhqvYQmoDwGVpTUs2K-VLGDuAgEflBe8DRXzJgb9XRFpznpYc0EaBtUczV2sjeZl00Vl5wCHVoc4YeNnod9P6g=w522-h263" width="522" /></a></div> <span style="font-size: medium;"> An early photo from the 1850s showing prison hulks on the Thames</span><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William was transported to Australia on the "Triton". It took several months and he sailed into Hobart, Tasmania on 19th December 1842, a year to the day since Driscoll and Thresher had searched the cottage that Sunday morning.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We know from the records that William was 5ft 6 ins (about average for the time amongst the poor) had dark brown hair and beard, with blue eyes.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The convict regime in Tasmania had toughened in 1841 and new arrivals were to be put in what were effectively chain gangs for the first two years after their arrival, carrying out government projects, road building and the like. He went to Westbury. Whilst acting as cook to the gang he not unsurprisingly stole some extra food and was put in solitary for six days. The convicts were paraded on what is now the Village Green, below.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4hb4XNpQKqaBzg_KbTUf5YJPe1Bx9FuVsLy4pjONzR_5A07mCg7QtfjhVmJcTOfb4DrFKs1UoQJl3aBrOlhLkfMXr6bwG6Veh7M8Z3oq7OzNEnAUCPsOva208LaEO4Ygjd7j8Ft-BM0pHWNf5NN_wYch43OlnbNvLy_4au1i4J9hEoEDuWs1QQglJmA=s800" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="800" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4hb4XNpQKqaBzg_KbTUf5YJPe1Bx9FuVsLy4pjONzR_5A07mCg7QtfjhVmJcTOfb4DrFKs1UoQJl3aBrOlhLkfMXr6bwG6Veh7M8Z3oq7OzNEnAUCPsOva208LaEO4Ygjd7j8Ft-BM0pHWNf5NN_wYch43OlnbNvLy_4au1i4J9hEoEDuWs1QQglJmA=w469-h261" width="469" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There was a Probation Station at Westbury which is where William went at the end of his two years, he now being assigned out to work (not for wages of course) for the local free settlers. We know that he was assigned to a William Chitty. He was still working for Chitty in 1845 when he was disciplined for drinking in a disorderly house after hours.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Had William lived, he would have got a conditional pardon in a few years, freedom, but not to return home. This was sadly not to be as he became ill- we do not know what the problem was, and died in Westbury Hospital on 10th September 1846 - he was 45. A descendant (ironically a good number of Bill's descendants emigrated to Australia) has told me that the convict dead from the hospital were buried in unconsecrated ground near the still to be completed Anglican church in Westbury.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Back in Sacombe, Hannah was made aware that William had died- thereafter describing herself as a widow. She took in laundry to try and survive. She never remarried and lived with her daughter Mary - dying at Sacombe in 1883.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William and Hannah had six children</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Mary Ann - married William Luck at Sacombe in 1855</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Thomas - married Emma Ruddell at Sacombe in 1864</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Sarah - married James Kirby at Sacombe in 1852</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>William - married Mary Bradley at Sacombe in 1867</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Charles - married Eliza Parker at Sacombe in 1863</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Emma - is untraced</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>+ Charles Thresher who held Bill Ginn that day is an interesting cove. He was born in London's west end. Yet he married Ann Ellwood at Cambridge in 1832. In 1836 he joined the Metropolitan Police. At the inception of the Hertfordshire Constabulary in 1841 he clearly transferred. His boss in Hertfordshire was a chap called Bailey, a former army man who was the "top man" at the Police Station at Stevenage. There is an article on the Cambridge Police called "Provincial Police Reform in early Victorian England" by Roger Swift that deals with the early history of what became the City of Cambridge professional police force which was set up in 1842. The new local authority were Tories (the liberals had lost the election) and they wanted an authoritarian police force. They invited applications for a Superintendent of Police (largely an administrative post) and four people were shortlisted. Three were serving police officers and all former army men, including Bailey, but one was "Mr Genn of Cambridge" this is Billett King Genn of Cambridge (see post of 10th October 2019) whose only qualification for the role (he was a Draper) were his connections - he was a member of the Garrick Club for a start. Needless to say he did not get the job - but Bailey did. And Bailey brought two serving Hertfordshire police officers with him to Cambridge in 1842 including (you guessed it) Charlie Thresher. The outsiders were not welcome in Cambridge- Bailey was a martinet who never escaped his army roots and had the Cambridge force (who were supposed to be armed with cudgels) engaging in sword drill ! The liberals in Cambridge called the Tory council's recruits the "Hertford Pets". But these "pets" prospered for a while at least, and Charles Thresher was made an Inspector of Police and Clerk to the Market (he enforced market regulations) in 1843. But Bill Ginn could have told him that life throws you "curve balls" and so it proved. For in 1849 Inspector Thresher both lost his job in the police and went bankrupt. Th sorry tale is in the "London Gazette" the "Jurist" of 1849 and 1850. It is unclear whether he lost his job and went bankrupt, or went bankrupt and accordingly lost his job. But in any event, in a time when you went to prison if you were a defaulting debtor, the former policeman was petitioning to avoid prison. And he did - because in 1847 he had remarried an Ann Moore at Granchester near Cambridge, and in 1851 we find him (Trade Directory) pulling pints as the Landlord of the "Green Man" at Granchester which pub is still there. Funny how life turns out</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-42488580483280676382022-01-19T14:21:00.000-08:002023-12-03T08:38:12.782-08:00Uriah Ginn of St Giles Cripplegate, London died 1715<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Uriah here is the son of Uriah snr of Cheshunt in my post of 10th November 2019 . I did not know he even existed until late 2021 (no baptism record survives - he was born during the Commonwealth in circa 1658) and this research is a work in progress. He does not have any descendants and you may think that this will be a boring post - but you would be wrong - Uriah was a Stationer - ie a Bookseller, unique in this blog.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">A local man called Robert Dewhurst had a charity school built in Cheshunt in 1640. The original building still stands (below) and is used as the dining room for the now much larger and modern Dewhurst Primary School . It is now part of a State School, a school that my father (I come from Cheshunt) attended in the 1920s, my Dad and Uriah played in the same playground, 250 years apart. So Uriah and I come from the same town and have a personal link.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff9ee; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff9ee; clear: both; color: #222222;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqLREmu8F_JLAU3GRjlA6MtVA9ReNDzfr_ukjnNzpn7cqMmOu63Us6iefix8UYqspq5BYjpe-h5WuaGQJhnMgdZTPzWRGM3vtGomF1iVSnkJIHlwKK5UHyDkfmHRzp65vp4s4QqI8ervzj/s1205/dewhurst.PNG" style="color: #993200; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="1205" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqLREmu8F_JLAU3GRjlA6MtVA9ReNDzfr_ukjnNzpn7cqMmOu63Us6iefix8UYqspq5BYjpe-h5WuaGQJhnMgdZTPzWRGM3vtGomF1iVSnkJIHlwKK5UHyDkfmHRzp65vp4s4QqI8ervzj/w452-h221/dewhurst.PNG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Originally the school was set up for "poor boys" ie those whose parents could not afford schooling for their children. It was as stated in its constitution <i>"for the teaching of them to read English so that they may know God the better and also to write and cast accounts so that they may be better able to be apprenticed to some honest trade or mystery"</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff9ee; clear: both; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff9ee; clear: both; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Most of the boys went to manual trades, but the more academic went elsewhere and in early 1674 Uriah was apprenticed to a Thomas Harris a Stationer of London "he dwelleth in Camomile Street within Bishopsgate" (De/Ds/8/1 Herts Archives)</span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff9ee; clear: both; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff9ee; clear: both; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ykJxZRzeEEiqQ31mujUZ8J7ozJ8KM1H_jBnycc2yNF2Jnuc1NTBYsVESJ-bNYyBTxCNWW8h-cbTNo_cOWxawSOFnr0sAgqKFGjTJSWThLnMxtYzUdht_YIOmLKzGgXGoz5cFYdrleW5W/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="415" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ykJxZRzeEEiqQ31mujUZ8J7ozJ8KM1H_jBnycc2yNF2Jnuc1NTBYsVESJ-bNYyBTxCNWW8h-cbTNo_cOWxawSOFnr0sAgqKFGjTJSWThLnMxtYzUdht_YIOmLKzGgXGoz5cFYdrleW5W/w474-h202/image.png" width="474" /></a></div></i></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Camomile Street is still there but bears no resemblance to what it looked like in 1674. It had escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was a short street of less than forty buildings off of Bishopsgate Street - a map of 1682 shows it below.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgvzmjjtDh9P9BUXHRfhbzJwMAuBYdKZwZIUq-w7GaaRcbvutl7M6MB9MN2q_t1T6SfevBkv9FsZqbUlTPTS5k1E3UU4qy60H4ttgwD1Iu5u5UMaTfc-zrsO6RuCt9elVSlNVQaZQwKuucTsDCJ2VNBdK44djFQUjK8Gp-IkMisDOdCOt8BN_Rieeqhw=s839" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="839" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgvzmjjtDh9P9BUXHRfhbzJwMAuBYdKZwZIUq-w7GaaRcbvutl7M6MB9MN2q_t1T6SfevBkv9FsZqbUlTPTS5k1E3UU4qy60H4ttgwD1Iu5u5UMaTfc-zrsO6RuCt9elVSlNVQaZQwKuucTsDCJ2VNBdK44djFQUjK8Gp-IkMisDOdCOt8BN_Rieeqhw=w478-h245" width="478" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: times;"> It is apparent that Uriah finished his apprenticeship and continued as a Stationer the rest of his life.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Stationers of this period were not what we think of. It is true that they sold paper and pens, copy and memorandum books - but they were mainly publishers, printers and booksellers. Thomas Harris was not a member of the Stationers Company and this is important, he was a bit of a pirate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As a lawyer and collector of antiquarian books this interests me. You see today we can access any book we wish to read, but this was not true in the 1600s. The Stationers Company in the City of London had a monopoly on the publishing of books and were able to censor those that were published. No book could be published without it being exclusively licensed to a particular stationer, and that licence was in perpetuity - ie for ever. The book and pamphlets that were published were devoured by the literate public and were the internet of the day. The Stationers Company controlled it all. This applied even to classical, long dead authors - no licence - no book - and if the stationer with the licence refused to publish a new edition you could probably not get access to the book as there were no public libraries. End of.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHRsIWgK6bKH75JzjjIGgYO5eKtocOQCHrUQCOcpvkfjOaDXwHFXELkkYlVilp2UdRKhSbZPKiYE9xpyyT8bNCZ4CvaT4wD38k5jY_aYPI7aTrNHieTKxKx01uIJvpcMHYbCzBgONZybAB8LHUjWJ4iIVZnmnPDrb1rMwGh-o57Fsqe6oy-s2AUFGNYg=s824" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="819" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHRsIWgK6bKH75JzjjIGgYO5eKtocOQCHrUQCOcpvkfjOaDXwHFXELkkYlVilp2UdRKhSbZPKiYE9xpyyT8bNCZ4CvaT4wD38k5jY_aYPI7aTrNHieTKxKx01uIJvpcMHYbCzBgONZybAB8LHUjWJ4iIVZnmnPDrb1rMwGh-o57Fsqe6oy-s2AUFGNYg=s320" width="318" /></a></div> <br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In an age of freedom of religion, of revolutionary political thought, of science (this was the time of Isaac Newton) this was not acceptable and in 1694 the Licensing Act (which gave the Stationers Company the power) was not renewed. For a time there was chaos as any publisher or printer could publish anything without payment to anybody, including the author. Authors were outraged, as Daniel Defoe (who wrote Robinson Crusoe) put it. he could work for 7 years to produce a book and as soon as he issued it it could be copied by anybody. Defoe was reputedly born in St Giles Cripplegate and died there in 1731.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr7PZrMywRSdi681u09wqE64TqVt0wDg_vAe8JerX_RKf5QWZqT9Azzmz7Yso-G69r5QizAtGE0YTNS-HSXsPstP5DsrS7exQHbEjPfT6NwxfSvSoNt4Q2BmZpx_e_z74eQkpIog3b77sfDK23DKvlOSzlGXNJVzDjHbkvK8ayprN4yuEYhzAwm6TpJQ=s395" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr7PZrMywRSdi681u09wqE64TqVt0wDg_vAe8JerX_RKf5QWZqT9Azzmz7Yso-G69r5QizAtGE0YTNS-HSXsPstP5DsrS7exQHbEjPfT6NwxfSvSoNt4Q2BmZpx_e_z74eQkpIog3b77sfDK23DKvlOSzlGXNJVzDjHbkvK8ayprN4yuEYhzAwm6TpJQ=s320" width="267" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Daniel Defoe<br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So, in 1710 they passed the Copyright Act, which was so revolutionary (the British were the first to make copyright law) that it is still quoted in British and American courts as the foundation of copyright today. There were two basic rules- living authors could have exclusive rights to the income from their labours and could choose their own publisher for a period of 28 years from when the book was published, and there needed to be libraries and a copy of every published book deposited within. Private libraries sprang up everywhere. The author had protection and the public who might not be able to buy a book, would still be able to access it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1989 (when I started this research) it was unthinkable to me that one day I might be able to post my research online and within a second it could be read around the world ! Uriah lived through such an information revolution. It must have been quite exciting.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now there were two types of stationers, those who worked in shops and what our ancestors called Walking Stationers, and they were what it says on the tin. Walking Stationers (in an age of pedlars and hawkers) would walk around London, particularly the City and near St Pauls where booksellers congregated, with a basket, a trestle table or mobile booth that they could set up - selling books, prints, pamphlets, notebooks - you name it. Think of the print and booksellers in Paris beside the Seine and you get the idea. Some of these men were blind and one or two of them depicted in engravings as below - you can see St Pauls in the background.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTxTHqFUrcIKOvy_qva0SZR9lAHOCcvM8K44kbl2u-6u6e63lR9og8M0EyirzjBHMOGzxBq7eEhDi0F2WkBgwe0h2d9Fzw58eM4DSQpRK_5Js-wOVJMXXMl03LwJO-fj60qVdAn3XOB5aA2cuCtEYviDhQZRbKoj98GdROuIzt5b_hSe2ARJmjx37VCg=s721" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="582" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTxTHqFUrcIKOvy_qva0SZR9lAHOCcvM8K44kbl2u-6u6e63lR9og8M0EyirzjBHMOGzxBq7eEhDi0F2WkBgwe0h2d9Fzw58eM4DSQpRK_5Js-wOVJMXXMl03LwJO-fj60qVdAn3XOB5aA2cuCtEYviDhQZRbKoj98GdROuIzt5b_hSe2ARJmjx37VCg=w369-h467" width="369" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I think that there is no question that Uriah was both sorts of stationer. We know that he operated out of a shop, and the records suggest that he looked a good deal older than his years, which would accord with an outdoor life.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">On a personal note, he married a lady called Ann, likely in about 1690. There is no marriage entry I can find and it may be that like a lot of people at the time they simply too oaths to each other rather than formally marry in Church. They appear to have lived in a rented room in St Giles, Cripplegate. This was a populous parish (three Ginn men and their families in this blog lived in that parish between 1710 and 1730 - they may came across one another as one was a churchwarden). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLVZrfVp-LVdt3S36waScPmoiHcM3MF8Aql0Srf-7MZE_YUzVYqI3h-Y2Iqn9x-vnikLXwQA8_ppieCpXINTB7K4IyLJ0VtuOAG35DDzJGsOw97w2SVaRRgKuJC4ZjYjUtQhyKXYGj4IOf1Fao0yokyE_nZL63Ko0eAVBkwa3AvYehG5SMDvC1LjENTw=s867" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="660" height="455" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLVZrfVp-LVdt3S36waScPmoiHcM3MF8Aql0Srf-7MZE_YUzVYqI3h-Y2Iqn9x-vnikLXwQA8_ppieCpXINTB7K4IyLJ0VtuOAG35DDzJGsOw97w2SVaRRgKuJC4ZjYjUtQhyKXYGj4IOf1Fao0yokyE_nZL63Ko0eAVBkwa3AvYehG5SMDvC1LjENTw=w444-h455" width="444" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1695 for a few years they introduced a tax on christening, marriages and burial in church. The aim was to raise money and men to fight for the Protestant cause in the Nine Years War (don't ask) another one of the religious wars on the Continent of the 17th century.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">To back this up the government took a form of census of householders and their families. The vast majority of these records sadly do not survive. But for Londoners (Inside the [City] Walls and Outside they do) and from these, now indexed on British History Online, I know that Uriah, wife Ann and son were already in St Giles Cripplegate in 1695, so they were there for at least twenty years. Sadly we do not know exactly where.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Ann Ginn "wife of Uriah Ginn, Stationer" took a fever (in an age without antibiotics it could have been anything) and died at St Giles Cripplegate in 1714. The parish officials kept wonderful records (they had three burial grounds and access to three more) and she was buried in the Lower burial ground+ - that is the churchyard. Uriah was said to have died "aged" (he could not have been 60) in 1715. He was buried in the Upper Burial Ground in Whitecross Street in Islington no less, sometimes referred to as the burial ground of "The Bear and Ragged Staff" which was an Inn close by+.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Their children</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Charles - there are no baptism records, but, amazingly, the 1695 Tax records denoted a son Charles (5-10 years old I would guess) alive at this time. There is no further record of a Charles Ginn in the London or Middlesex records before the 19th century. But the St Giles records are very accurate and complete, so Charlie seems to have survived to at least his teens. Where he went, as yet, I have no idea.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">+ </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The church and the Lower burial ground were blitzed in WW2. Ann now lies under paving - the area was flattened. Uriah met a worse fate, the Upper burial ground is covered by the Peabody Estate, and most of the human remains found at the time of the excavation were removed and buried elsewhere.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-8422138806056403942021-08-15T11:45:00.015-07:002023-04-12T04:35:33.872-07:00George Ginn of Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines died 1812<span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Given what is happening globally, this is a topical post. Even more topical given that it is a new discovery. But some will find it unpleasant, and given that my wife is part West Indian, I find it downright distasteful. For this is a post about slavery - and the wealth it produced.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George here was clearly a son (I suspect there were several) of George Ginn of Nevis - see my post of 28th June 2020 who clearly prospered. I know very little genealogical information about George jnr here, the Nevis registers have not survived or if they have are not yet digitized, but I suspect he was born in the 1750s and therefore on Nevis.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George Ginn senior died after 1765, I do not know when and as yet I have not found any entry in any existing and available records for Nevis dealing with any inheritence, but George junior followed in the footsteps of his father and became a Millwright and Carpenter.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Carpenters were essential on the Caribbean Islands, the sugar plantation owners needed them to build and repair the windmills that processed the sugar and to build and maintain the other buildings and infrastructure on the islands. You thus find quite a lot of carpenters and they were treated with respect often referred to as "Mr" in the church registers.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbSyRLMmNt-x1rtJYKRzpEQ4FDsxMuhGMpI_e-jlgPSQQSe6mGSQYzgjQCQT9AMWB8V3Vori5xNI6n6z2rCelq3Oa8vXGQzV7MNK6iqUs5Lnim0Un2yWaIHOfRRmhpoMIVNI978IYjV1w/s1280/1280px-The_Mill_Yard_-_Ten_Views_in_the_Island_of_Antigua_%25281823%2529%252C_plate_V_-_BL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1280" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbSyRLMmNt-x1rtJYKRzpEQ4FDsxMuhGMpI_e-jlgPSQQSe6mGSQYzgjQCQT9AMWB8V3Vori5xNI6n6z2rCelq3Oa8vXGQzV7MNK6iqUs5Lnim0Un2yWaIHOfRRmhpoMIVNI978IYjV1w/w507-h314/1280px-The_Mill_Yard_-_Ten_Views_in_the_Island_of_Antigua_%25281823%2529%252C_plate_V_-_BL.jpg" width="507" /></a></div><br />I know that George married, likely about 1770 and I know that the couple had children, but most were clearly born on Nevis and sadly the entries are in general lost to us at present as I say.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">St Vincent is in the Windward Islands, nearly three hundred miles from Nevis. And you have to wonder what other islands these Ginn carpenters may have worked on, most of the records gone, a few not yet researched, because it is clear that the trades people who worked the plantations (George was not alone in this) were often itinerant contract workers, they went where the work was, and there was a lot of work in St Vincent in the late 1790s.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">St Vincent was originally French (the Windward Islands include Martinique) but were taken by the British after the Seven Years War in 1763. The British then attempted their own settlement and people arrived from the British Isles, many from Scotland. It was not easy to colonise because, ironically, St Vincent was one of the few places home to a good number of the original indigenous Carib people of the Caribbean, and they did not like strangers. So there was dislike and fighting and the Caribs kept pretty much to the north of the island, the British to the south.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">With the French Revolution and the wars with Britain that followed, the French stirred the Caribs up against the British and supported and instigated more fighting which eventually led to the Second Carib War which ended in 1796/7. During this the Caribs marched south, armed by the French, and devastated many of the sugar plantations and destroyed many of the sugar mills and related works to the east and west of the island.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">British troops arrived in numbers and soon the Caribs were defeated and (not a glorious part of British history) expelled from St Vincent, the majority subsequently dying of disease.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">St Vincent obviously had to be rebuilt, and word clearly got around because there appears to have been quite an influx of new blood to the Island, including George Ginn and his family, the first entry for them dates to 1797.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxwI3-uSW8d-EIB4IpF6Yj17MVksHjpiHlmYhI3LA1TJAixTFCC4qalCRMispnp4TEK0XSo5GUrPcuu0JJpwMHJi5LyrkOeWpfI1ulYFXilwYHj4gG2rYnHJZAqeOA5P8Qjt1Yuhkm36gJlRreEpUqNrZV1d42dykNEvH-pSjqgUBr33VUt7v0k8_Yw/s1000/image001%20(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1000" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxwI3-uSW8d-EIB4IpF6Yj17MVksHjpiHlmYhI3LA1TJAixTFCC4qalCRMispnp4TEK0XSo5GUrPcuu0JJpwMHJi5LyrkOeWpfI1ulYFXilwYHj4gG2rYnHJZAqeOA5P8Qjt1Yuhkm36gJlRreEpUqNrZV1d42dykNEvH-pSjqgUBr33VUt7v0k8_Yw/w552-h296/image001%20(3).jpg" width="552" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Nr. Calliaqua in 1827</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We know that George settled in Calliaqua, a town to the south of Kingtown the capital of St Vincent.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6xho4hd8BN5U06p9raI6iEiR1ckG6avOMXhl60dFM_cVEx1ygFI0qffp0uaGN3FQ_0XlzHIo_Y9w9t416ZAF92sgw02Jeobn3DNMsMz_5uwVJeWbA1aIkDLaH5BV-X-I4_Y-YOP48mBY/s993/George+Ginn+Calliagua+St+Vincent.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="993" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6xho4hd8BN5U06p9raI6iEiR1ckG6avOMXhl60dFM_cVEx1ygFI0qffp0uaGN3FQ_0XlzHIo_Y9w9t416ZAF92sgw02Jeobn3DNMsMz_5uwVJeWbA1aIkDLaH5BV-X-I4_Y-YOP48mBY/w446-h175/George+Ginn+Calliagua+St+Vincent.PNG" width="446" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The end of the Second Carib War brought the first period of stability to St Vincent since the British had acquired it. The stability was good for commerce. And it brought greedy opportunists, because when the Caribs were expelled their lands in the north were confiscated. It was good land for sugar production and the Crown made land allotments and hived it off. Among the opportunists who arrived were one William MacKenzie, a Scottish aristocrat and his relation Robert Sutherland, both of Ross-shire in Scotland.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">These gentlemen and others acquired former Carib lands, bought hundreds of slaves to work them and did very well for themselves. The Caribbean (unlike the southern "Cotton States" of America, were not really settled by the plantation owners. The Planters of these islands were exploiters, absentee landlords, the plantations were managed on their behalf and worked by the slaves, the infrastructure maintained by resident whites like George Ginn. McKenzie for example made his will while in Bath in England, dying and being burried on the "Grand Tour" while in Florence, Italy in 1819 aged 43. Sutherland was buried in Hastings in Sussex in 1828. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">William McKenzie owned the estate known as "Tourama", Sutherland those known as "Waterloo" and Orange Hill", a map below shows the general layout at the time quite clearly.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUT-Die6WdyqIEc7K-1QN9sv0HyYSFDo1M4HFi7Anx7cgWdgvbLobNltNpzY6VlKjvAwAUIWaPrOI7JkrUSFrvwmkSPihSlLD7Zn1e83tsyS0j6DE091yrv7oBdx_zPc5S5sdrcRVRc0yB/s791/estates.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="791" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUT-Die6WdyqIEc7K-1QN9sv0HyYSFDo1M4HFi7Anx7cgWdgvbLobNltNpzY6VlKjvAwAUIWaPrOI7JkrUSFrvwmkSPihSlLD7Zn1e83tsyS0j6DE091yrv7oBdx_zPc5S5sdrcRVRc0yB/w458-h390/estates.PNG" width="458" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">So where in all this was George ? Well he was a cog in the wheel. The Plantation owners were related to and in business with those who ran the Merchant Houses and Banks who financed the slave trade and the sugar plantations, the money they made slopped back and forth between them like gravy in a jug. Money made money, just as it always has.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George was born in the West Indies, had grown up in the system and I have no illusions, George had aspirations to be a Sutherland or a McKenzie for George was acquiring slaves. And this is sadly not a passing mention for this gets personal - we </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">have names </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">British Library EAP 688/1/1/22</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George had a workgang of black carpenters - <i>Jacob, Douglas, Fortune, Peter, Yaco, Grey, Dublin, Robert and Pompey.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Then <i>Daniel, Alexander, Isaac, Edward, Howell and Charles</i> ("Field negros - men") <i>Catherine, Juliet, Frances, Love, Amy, Jennet, Phillis [sic} Ann and Cudjoe</i> "her child" [a babe in arms) <i>Siley, Jane, Nancy, Betsy, Biddy, Sukey, Fanny, Venus, Harriet, Prudence, Cordelia, Patty, Belinda and Lucretia</i> ("women" -some would be field and others house slaves) <i>Dick, Archy [sic] George, Abraham, Richard, Nelson, Franky, Ned, Dary, Blackie, William and Roger</i> ("boys") <i>Annabella, Charlotte, Polly, Catherine, Pheby [sic) and</i> <i>Kitty</i> ("girls") </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In all, George had 56 slaves. The carpenters and house slaves apart, (he seems to have had little or no land) - the rest were hired out as "jobbing slaves" to the plantation owners, Sutherland and McKenzie doubtless amongst them. This was of particular profit after 1807 as we shall see. The vast majority of these slaves by the way were born in Africa - they had known what it was to be free.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDJwJVYm6CkAXWvjBVlrgHgJ59SAgCCY8UWXNA8J3O7Hie03zIjE_OkIlebKswedWhifPQIHj3_hqw1mUPpjd7jWdBJpMdiiqKkJWDMjRywTusBGOQyMgNEmkDcDwGqWOaTaG8Fnbl4lf/s910/sugar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="910" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDJwJVYm6CkAXWvjBVlrgHgJ59SAgCCY8UWXNA8J3O7Hie03zIjE_OkIlebKswedWhifPQIHj3_hqw1mUPpjd7jWdBJpMdiiqKkJWDMjRywTusBGOQyMgNEmkDcDwGqWOaTaG8Fnbl4lf/w539-h308/sugar.jpg" width="539" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Cutting the sugarcane</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Things took a turn of the worse for the plantation owners (and thus the economy of the West Indies) in 1807 - because moved by public sympathy back home, the British government abolished the slave trade. It was rigorously enforced by the Royal Navy, by far the biggest in the world - there were no more slaves coming out of Africa. This led to a labour crisis for the slave owners as existing slaves were no longer dispensable and could not easily be replaced by "fresh blood". It was the beginning of the road to emancipation of the slaves, and the planters knew it. For George it meant that he got more for the jobbing slaves he hired to others.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">George Ginn died in early 1812 - we have no way of knowing his age - but I would put him as 50-60. He made our "friend" Robert Sutherland (below) his executor, in my view because even if George had adult sons to succeed him (he clearly did) they would not be as well versed in the detail of investing and buying and selling as Sutherland was, for George left something in the region of £5000 - his slaves alone worth nearly £4200 and some of those probably already working for Sutherland.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8UENWDTZq_VYi4eoJfMO8DJVBT3Un-IOAPDPCXvHvVCucfDB4CMGlxdoaetmIbVPnPPLEx4NK_lSxWRgrNn7xeaAh59o_dqQGMnyXmPJ043hIwHhxnDsqcmjWz9DJP-fdJu7WsmzPW2P/s96/Robert+Sutherland.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="80" data-original-width="96" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8UENWDTZq_VYi4eoJfMO8DJVBT3Un-IOAPDPCXvHvVCucfDB4CMGlxdoaetmIbVPnPPLEx4NK_lSxWRgrNn7xeaAh59o_dqQGMnyXmPJ043hIwHhxnDsqcmjWz9DJP-fdJu7WsmzPW2P/w228-h185/Robert+Sutherland.jpg" width="228" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Now the annoying this is that George left a will calling himself <br />"George Ginn Esquire". But poor conditions in the Court Office in Kingstown where it has been stored have meant that it has not survived intact, although I am looking into whether anything can be retrieved. But we know that he provided for several legacies as it is mentioned in the deed books, and we know that he provided that his slaves be quote "rented out" for a year or so to provide the income to pay those legacies and any debts he left at his death. Then the capital was to be realised - ie the slaves sold, and Robert Sutherland sold them all to William McKenzie in 1813 - McKenzie to pay for them in yearly instalments of one third of the price over the ensuing three years - taking us to 1816. Who got the money ?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">I have no way of knowing whether George's wife survived him. But at least one son clearly did. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We do not know how many children George and his wife had, because he moved to St Vincent so late but</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>William</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Is clearly George's son. I know very little about him. He was likely born in the mid 1770s and in 1797 he married Elizabeth Selby at St Vincent's Anglican Cathedral in Kingstown. The old building had been destroyed in a hurricane and the new and current building was not completed until 1820, so it must have been a somewhat makeshift affair. He and Elizabeth had a son William Samuel baptised there in 1802 - his great uncle had been a Samuel of course and he may have had a brother of that name.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPLAeXPch2mKlBZDOa3sBNCOfl8P3ZDhmNYsyjaSTBwJ5gHYttBeOv_cBXaYNS0KqXb5_Ex1Lgpc6qAqaHr_nxxd2eEl2R9MV4hecfjbvHB542UFs1FNyivJDRIV7_mWuGX_OIX3zfBBq/s883/09-kingstown-and-st-vincents-and-from-cane-garden-point.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="883" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPLAeXPch2mKlBZDOa3sBNCOfl8P3ZDhmNYsyjaSTBwJ5gHYttBeOv_cBXaYNS0KqXb5_Ex1Lgpc6qAqaHr_nxxd2eEl2R9MV4hecfjbvHB542UFs1FNyivJDRIV7_mWuGX_OIX3zfBBq/w540-h293/09-kingstown-and-st-vincents-and-from-cane-garden-point.jpg" width="540" /></a></div><i> </i><u>Kingstown in 1837</u></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>The Selby name in the West Indies is unique to St Vincent. A Thomas Selby clearly arrived in the 1780s with his first wife and Elizabeth and her brother Tom jnr. The first wife died and Tom snr remarried a servant from the Governor's House (at Calliaqua funnily enough) the Governor being a James Seton - below.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjs9uDeV-oFaHs2KezOnkSn2GKlvuZVgmzkDIVGhlNEzLA8GaK866XKgtQB0j4NN4YVQIPGaaKlrbn0HNaaDP4yyCQsbVwezjCg8ihwl6LoI9qCQVDbvoBbatdFTB5fP6peFmB8QXcJfScqc5drz967bjdt1-EQATxUSsKk91wAdeCwW6bB8ii4XTDJg/s400/Vice%20Admiral%20Colonel%20James%20Seton,%20Grenadine,%20%201798.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="322" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjs9uDeV-oFaHs2KezOnkSn2GKlvuZVgmzkDIVGhlNEzLA8GaK866XKgtQB0j4NN4YVQIPGaaKlrbn0HNaaDP4yyCQsbVwezjCg8ihwl6LoI9qCQVDbvoBbatdFTB5fP6peFmB8QXcJfScqc5drz967bjdt1-EQATxUSsKk91wAdeCwW6bB8ii4XTDJg/w334-h378/Vice%20Admiral%20Colonel%20James%20Seton,%20Grenadine,%20%201798.jpg" width="334" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i> Thomas Selby jnr died (accounted a Gentleman) but Elizabeth had two half brothers by the second marriage - (Charles James and Joseph) who are listed as slave owners in Kingstown in the earliest surviving slave registers until emancipation in the 1830s. There are people of that name still on St Vincent, supposedly those descended from people who working for the Selbys, took the surname post emancipation in the 1830s.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>I have assumed that William was a Carpenter and this is currently all I know of him. There is no Ginn or Gynn in any West Indian Slave Register which mostly commenced in 1813-7. There is no further mention of him in the St Vincent records which survive forward to 1820 (there is then a huge gap). The consensus is that he left the West Indies- the economy was in decline. He could have gone anywhere - England, another Colony and the USA is a distinct possibility. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>NB "a son of George Ginn Carpenter" was buried at St Vincent's Cathedral in Kingstown in 1799. The clerk was not that efficient and he was clearly a young adult</i></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-81396543718757822312021-04-23T12:45:00.002-07:002021-04-23T14:25:06.323-07:00Billett Genn of Ely d 1917<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Billett Genn was born to Billett Genn snr (see post of 4th June 2014) ) in 1827. In in 1841 aged 14 he was signed on as an indentured apprentice seaman (for 7 years) aboard the brigantine "George Robinson", a merchant ship which sailed for Newfoundland. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRmAb80rEUAdVzKdU3HdHE_3Q8QKgyXDVWVDvazElrjx6GpM7D7DhYnDyrujFoot4l4SULuCM4nYpL6FRV4-8ex0r6R9LCdgG80O-qIMpziA4SMMZi11VVeQ3mA-vYkAPQML0IB4Y5n47/s387/Brigantine_copperEtch.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRmAb80rEUAdVzKdU3HdHE_3Q8QKgyXDVWVDvazElrjx6GpM7D7DhYnDyrujFoot4l4SULuCM4nYpL6FRV4-8ex0r6R9LCdgG80O-qIMpziA4SMMZi11VVeQ3mA-vYkAPQML0IB4Y5n47/s320/Brigantine_copperEtch.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Billett kept a diary of his voyages which has survived, and after a short stay in Newfoundland he sailed for the West Indies in "The Garland". In the West Indies he caught Yellow Fever and nearly died.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Soon after Billett arrived back in England, for some reason forgoeing the rest of his apprenticeship, he enlisted (in February 1846) into the 3rd Kings Own Light Dragoons, signing on for seven years as a trooper.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Y7_nXfyG312A7USHXB98Poy16rBf1sNAgwbtjkdzVBuz8ZHEgeIXyZYGGlHUCTyfFeayCURRA8x47dfvR1iweK_l_QaBb7QW5owLHV_DsG7Km9itd_ec82kJZTGKDAJ-HGgwPuMSzR-t/s2048/kings+own.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1620" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Y7_nXfyG312A7USHXB98Poy16rBf1sNAgwbtjkdzVBuz8ZHEgeIXyZYGGlHUCTyfFeayCURRA8x47dfvR1iweK_l_QaBb7QW5owLHV_DsG7Km9itd_ec82kJZTGKDAJ-HGgwPuMSzR-t/w353-h433/kings+own.jpg" width="353" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The 3rd had been stationed in India for some years and he was soon on the troopship "East Indies", sailing for India. He fought in the Punjab Campaign of 1848/9 against the Sikhs. The Sikhs have always been fine warriors and this and the usual thick headedness of some of our officers meant that there was some hard fighting, though ultimately the British prevailed and the Punjab was annexed by the British. The 3rd Kings Own Light Dragoons were heavily engaged in all this, and their charge at Chilianwala is depicted below.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9Yw_fKixTT78JOfS2a5vnIxOUs14CY7Z387jDeT92q9bUngLJVenfyvOiGwLY6m0kgjHpDTpV58ySwdoFnxo4qvkuvQDe8Osq7yRD279HUh0BkfIkZEMgvcLQu-DHOs2oxb0R48g5Mjn/s960/3rd+kings+own+light+drgaoons+light+dragoon+at+chianwala.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="960" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9Yw_fKixTT78JOfS2a5vnIxOUs14CY7Z387jDeT92q9bUngLJVenfyvOiGwLY6m0kgjHpDTpV58ySwdoFnxo4qvkuvQDe8Osq7yRD279HUh0BkfIkZEMgvcLQu-DHOs2oxb0R48g5Mjn/w562-h333/3rd+kings+own+light+drgaoons+light+dragoon+at+chianwala.jpg" width="562" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Billett was dishcarged back in London in 1853. He received the Punjab Campaign Medal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPGWKSgyhvuKDuMg7K2uZfRx4s4h5na2l_ZGWlZTnvh9UrBd_qLCfFuXzU6pn3CE_53XmgBkM2trGjnC6fAp8TVb721rRrg6YeUU1sm87YZBOjhijGoteY0RtOWnaijUF5Nn-JSW9riVc/s960/Punjab+campaign+medal+1848-9+awared+to+another+comrade+same+reg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPGWKSgyhvuKDuMg7K2uZfRx4s4h5na2l_ZGWlZTnvh9UrBd_qLCfFuXzU6pn3CE_53XmgBkM2trGjnC6fAp8TVb721rRrg6YeUU1sm87YZBOjhijGoteY0RtOWnaijUF5Nn-JSW9riVc/s320/Punjab+campaign+medal+1848-9+awared+to+another+comrade+same+reg.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> This medal was awared to Billett's comrade in the 3rd King's Own Light Dragoons</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Returning to Ely, Billett became a Schoolmaster at Needham School in Ely which was a charity school for poor boys. The old building survives (below) but is now used for teacher training. Billett left and then returned and worked there for quite some years through to the 1870s.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzb7RncZxX8oXeMsuTQDpozwjja6qaSPF836H1U02K5stA5dYbzzZs-NM3JNIApBOpdUD-p-7XAWB1tZtcj-ySkkgyJyqyZ3QI-t87_gYPx4XPl4e7osVLkIWU4MugoYCu6STFebkzyDU/s800/nEEDHAMS+School+ely.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzb7RncZxX8oXeMsuTQDpozwjja6qaSPF836H1U02K5stA5dYbzzZs-NM3JNIApBOpdUD-p-7XAWB1tZtcj-ySkkgyJyqyZ3QI-t87_gYPx4XPl4e7osVLkIWU4MugoYCu6STFebkzyDU/w400-h240/nEEDHAMS+School+ely.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Billett married Victoria Haylock, daughter of an Ely Miller on New Years Day 1867 - he was 40, she 23. They had a number of children. He retained the "cavalry" whiskers for much of his early and middle years as we can see below.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXbEqVFtl9d3fqK3W4NkMoCxLmEwA0XHJcALSPmr8JqgNNUn2l8mZMIjKMzffmr4tYP-qziplqjjed4OsKWL7SJxC1_JcxTjTcm-4koHlkaDrZoZ6Zb0sVohWVjIWaZHj14gUfFWR6TrB/s856/Billett+Genn+1.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="810" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXbEqVFtl9d3fqK3W4NkMoCxLmEwA0XHJcALSPmr8JqgNNUn2l8mZMIjKMzffmr4tYP-qziplqjjed4OsKWL7SJxC1_JcxTjTcm-4koHlkaDrZoZ6Zb0sVohWVjIWaZHj14gUfFWR6TrB/w392-h417/Billett+Genn+1.PNG" width="392" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGBJVsiNxIryjp_OI1TQd5WqNcgFbJ16TBjrJrBlXSsbtwAWcVN3nXG506f55yIuH5BiKYTNFao1COoE5CMMRqV5zXOyi7iy3JzdAtG4YWsegfSIJWBZhuNHnO65GHKHIHwvYrBNY252e/s899/billett+genn3.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="815" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGBJVsiNxIryjp_OI1TQd5WqNcgFbJ16TBjrJrBlXSsbtwAWcVN3nXG506f55yIuH5BiKYTNFao1COoE5CMMRqV5zXOyi7iy3JzdAtG4YWsegfSIJWBZhuNHnO65GHKHIHwvYrBNY252e/w368-h360/billett+genn3.PNG" width="368" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Even after leaving Needhams, Billett contiuned to work part time as a schoolmaster in Ely, doing so until the First World War when he was in his 80s. He also continued to have an association with the volunteer forces in Ely, having loved his time in the army, and we see him below sporting his Punjab Campaign Medal</span><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozWs0Wtmz9iUzw5_epCD7i68y4dAmG3dl828WhqqhfeSDGD2AC7GuReQfJUHfzOGm_btFL3EXVO3KEhuAmvVcFs596TTEeOYxdaZq_aVkdg_Ci5hb6lNltvkzGhVlgnN1Cr4sTm59KlqR/s784/billett+4.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="477" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozWs0Wtmz9iUzw5_epCD7i68y4dAmG3dl828WhqqhfeSDGD2AC7GuReQfJUHfzOGm_btFL3EXVO3KEhuAmvVcFs596TTEeOYxdaZq_aVkdg_Ci5hb6lNltvkzGhVlgnN1Cr4sTm59KlqR/w331-h434/billett+4.PNG" width="331" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Billett and Victoria lived at 1 Lynn Road in Ely, the house of his father and opposite the Lamb Hotel. I have been there a numer of times, it is now a shop</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We see him and Victoria, he sporting a clay pipe in later life, but they are obviously visiting, as this is not their home. This is 1906, Billett is nearly 80 and Victoria 61. Below is Billet at nearly 90.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_lB7lGBEGnE-kKX3NiBqAtNt_HxSp-xXoS-Wrspx2X4oW7B0BHEWSpLzvMcRDiORRoH1tJPCMVUu0Rmy6CK-TTTuhirW-u5pvnvwpShSOD6PHT4Tt0FWigEcIFTGQpzq9hKiaSJVAnrY/s621/billett+7.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="505" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_lB7lGBEGnE-kKX3NiBqAtNt_HxSp-xXoS-Wrspx2X4oW7B0BHEWSpLzvMcRDiORRoH1tJPCMVUu0Rmy6CK-TTTuhirW-u5pvnvwpShSOD6PHT4Tt0FWigEcIFTGQpzq9hKiaSJVAnrY/w284-h278/billett+7.PNG" width="284" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIg1gyK_KIACNRQWRC0zJ3Mbk-xQjdORZcePVQLo4tGwHwC3T_lJp25CzSDTjjwpa1W4slSeuJOgZOIjkDKKleezw_KxermWjzCbxuPKgDhg3hQydL0JtcNSdAxqdlHl_2gfQrSyVnKoS3/s560/Billett+Genn+d+1917.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIg1gyK_KIACNRQWRC0zJ3Mbk-xQjdORZcePVQLo4tGwHwC3T_lJp25CzSDTjjwpa1W4slSeuJOgZOIjkDKKleezw_KxermWjzCbxuPKgDhg3hQydL0JtcNSdAxqdlHl_2gfQrSyVnKoS3/w268-h320/Billett+Genn+d+1917.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Victoria, who was well known in Ely in her own right, died in 1913 aged 68. Billett was the last of the Ely Ginn and Genn family to actually live there. He died aged 90 in 1917, the last of a family to have been there continuously for 330 years. He was granted a full military funeral which is depicted below, the courtege is passing his house.</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTgK_bp0w3JFAiTzTOySsrJnhxzkdOaUFKhH-ZLJ92MglNkXUxqxacGNRrBTpkCtkDc53qF5UWC_otUwWnDxvbeu4CDDe9RRygdiFvSrO1DdbAMTLiwjfP2_-9R3dQUs9WLnTZ1LAOOW1/s640/billett-funeral.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTgK_bp0w3JFAiTzTOySsrJnhxzkdOaUFKhH-ZLJ92MglNkXUxqxacGNRrBTpkCtkDc53qF5UWC_otUwWnDxvbeu4CDDe9RRygdiFvSrO1DdbAMTLiwjfP2_-9R3dQUs9WLnTZ1LAOOW1/w423-h220/billett-funeral.jpg" width="423" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7LuKtyuOTtpnrmbJAAa0VlqdgU-IpDYG7iBR_QEHl0A9eGJ43hQIE7LbKIYNOVvlV1dlOiZ556T9SW5iHAdex4Dx45jHzN_98dcgKwdKGP-KcivSMr0k_L27BU7AskfAFHz1rreWY5ZRB/s640/billett-internment.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7LuKtyuOTtpnrmbJAAa0VlqdgU-IpDYG7iBR_QEHl0A9eGJ43hQIE7LbKIYNOVvlV1dlOiZ556T9SW5iHAdex4Dx45jHzN_98dcgKwdKGP-KcivSMr0k_L27BU7AskfAFHz1rreWY5ZRB/w404-h200/billett-internment.jpg" width="404" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br />Billett and Victoria had seven children</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Arthur Robert - the first Ginn in Ely was Robert (1587) and his eldest son was Arthur. The last Genn in Ely was Billett d. 1917 a descendant of Robert, so it is a little spooky that his eldest son was Arthur Robert.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Arthur Robert joined the 17th Lancers the "Death or Glory Boys" in 1898. His very distant cousin Benjamin Ginn had left the same regment in 1891.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkQmq-fraU88vIBmo8IFkcXVlYQ8DW5YEsfWkk4Pd3fo9m7Bs6TtPg0wUFG7RgI741u8ZFSgSChDq_YcKTOkKsHSXtg4XCaqOLTWWH_hcUFHhDXPNmcDIXSGIiP8-JgxMGy-Y5PD591Wp/s1060/17th.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1060" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkQmq-fraU88vIBmo8IFkcXVlYQ8DW5YEsfWkk4Pd3fo9m7Bs6TtPg0wUFG7RgI741u8ZFSgSChDq_YcKTOkKsHSXtg4XCaqOLTWWH_hcUFHhDXPNmcDIXSGIiP8-JgxMGy-Y5PD591Wp/w537-h298/17th.PNG" width="537" /></i></a></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> 17th Lancers on Parade before embarking for S.A</span></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i> Arthur fought in the 2nd Boer War and received the South Africa Medal with 4 clasps.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNO3kMJPqxKjh4AwixMRJFEGpKLAE_IWpgHacBf7zt7H2NfbkKAmmiPugw9fNvFW3pW6JAW7gdPKp-iuHSkFKOM9GhmOmubO9tKdU9Aw1-JCo5QTYAEJS4a7ukBFoZWuIVkX3Zt8QuBI5/s547/lancers+boer+war.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="547" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNO3kMJPqxKjh4AwixMRJFEGpKLAE_IWpgHacBf7zt7H2NfbkKAmmiPugw9fNvFW3pW6JAW7gdPKp-iuHSkFKOM9GhmOmubO9tKdU9Aw1-JCo5QTYAEJS4a7ukBFoZWuIVkX3Zt8QuBI5/w402-h255/lancers+boer+war.jpg" width="402" /></i></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><div><br /></div>He subsequently joined the Bedfordshire Police and rose to Inspector. He married and had issue and his son, the late Lt. Colonel Robert Seymour Genn left genealogical notes that have contributed research to this blog. Arthur died in 1955</i></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjAz9KOrqa0C3htUxJ1C4RNx5x-y3eyODe5p_L6gqqRk3qC7jR8raJ9r6grULEAZEiwsJEQjPvhxlZF9cDRfJjhR0JHi51h5-gileS-KHpM8fBl2b6hAWOXmBqcB801V7iC5mN7658fkO/s600/Arthur+Robert+Genn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjAz9KOrqa0C3htUxJ1C4RNx5x-y3eyODe5p_L6gqqRk3qC7jR8raJ9r6grULEAZEiwsJEQjPvhxlZF9cDRfJjhR0JHi51h5-gileS-KHpM8fBl2b6hAWOXmBqcB801V7iC5mN7658fkO/s320/Arthur+Robert+Genn.jpg" /></i></a></div><i><br /></i><div><i><br /></i><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Algernon - actually Billett Algernon Manners Genn - hated his name. I can scarcely blame him. He went into Warwickshire as a young man and took an apprenticeship (Birmingham) and lived with a Haylock Aunt for a time. He joined one of the Territorial battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment when he was 18 calling himself Albert. He obviously feared his name being ridiculed. In 1900, there were moves to encourage volunteers from the Territorials into the regular army, and he volunteered (calling himself Alfred !) into a volunteer company of the 1st Btn. Essex Regiment. It is all the same man- he gave his place of birth and parents. Like his brother he fought in the Boer War earning the South Africa Medal with 5 clasps. This was issued to him as Alfred of course and I have noticed that the medal was recently sold in Australia. He took early discharge which as a volunteer was allowed in mid 1901 and some months later married. There were issue. Algernon was later an Engineer and a Freemason. He lived in Bedfordshire like his brother. He died in 1937.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Margaret Elizabeth - married Frederick Bixby in Westminster in 1906</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Victoria Blanche - married Frederick Chambers at St Mary's Ely in 1913</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Florence Martha - was a Housekeeper in Dorset in 1891 but untraced thereafter</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Marian Bewster - married Thomas Martin Phillips at Ely St Mary in 1915</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Yerbury Emile - died infancy</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Acknowledgements - I am indebted to the late Lt. Colonel Robert Seymour Genn for much of the information on Billett, and to Robert's daughter Helen for the wonderful collection of photographs of him</span><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-61974755037146777552021-04-23T12:20:00.002-07:002023-07-14T13:42:25.608-07:00John Thomas Genn and the Genns of Oregon USA<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Due to the discovery (during Coronavirus induced Lockdown) of conclusive evidence linking the Ely Genn family to the Ely Ginn family (who came from Hertfordshire) I have extended my research efforts on the Genn family and have created new posts out of the old.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Thomas Genn snr you will find online as the father of John Thomas Genn jnr (1867-1939) but where he is mentioned there is no comment on where he came from, nor any marriage record for his supposed marriage to a Mary Bloodworth nor any burial record. There is a reason for that - the guy is fiction. Until a correspondent wrote to me in 2023 I believed this online story. John Thomas Genn jnr was the illegitimate son of William Mackinder Genn (see post of 2nd March 2014)) and his cousin by marriage Mary Bloodworth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> William Mackinder emigrated to America, going out to New York on the "Neptune in 1862 with the Bloodworths, his cousins by his sister. He is not indexed on the Ancestry passenger list but is there as William Gen aged 18. For some reason they give his origin as Ireland - a typographical error. He was indeed 18 went he went out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">After William returned from the Civil War in 1865, he went back to New York where Mary Bloodworth was living with her family in Winfield (1865 census) near Utica. They obviously had some form of relationship and in 1866 she became pregnant, the child was clearly born in the area in April 1867 but there appears to be no record. John T jnr later (see below) gave his birth place as Utica.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgTfgJ5Gt3U1Y7s5hsOrYY8cxbISlc_IJPR0IeMRNNr-S9dIhhBFYgob5IjQo40L1fWiWxnzqV7uhklsubkjDXqcpY61qbxvIjC_vicRyerhaYJnbIUCg17j0jyaFYtRQZbtOYdnXzXM79QenzYgt77LQ_nJgRRnyNU5e1gVdNv3aEN2i2x4Kfn2QELX9/s288/wm%20m.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="153" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgTfgJ5Gt3U1Y7s5hsOrYY8cxbISlc_IJPR0IeMRNNr-S9dIhhBFYgob5IjQo40L1fWiWxnzqV7uhklsubkjDXqcpY61qbxvIjC_vicRyerhaYJnbIUCg17j0jyaFYtRQZbtOYdnXzXM79QenzYgt77LQ_nJgRRnyNU5e1gVdNv3aEN2i2x4Kfn2QELX9/w309-h322/wm%20m.png" width="309" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> William M Genn in later life</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The relationship broke down, William Mackinder departed to Chicago (where he is reputed to be in 1867) and Mary, a domestic servant, named the child John Thomas Genn (which suggests some involvement by William - he had a late brother of that name) and was living with her sister Fanny and family in Winfield in 1870.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvLwPLmg6FBUd7Y9OAK9l3A2MhfvYON6w3O_HG-pgyDAyslXSICb3vfcVjnhYhoRABLa1EirH5wMVPCUqr1lnpBhEvIF_nr076TReeapf70DU-d8CCJgSLxppOGWQJD_B-YAdFuS7XxUw/s431/atlanticcollins.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="431" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvLwPLmg6FBUd7Y9OAK9l3A2MhfvYON6w3O_HG-pgyDAyslXSICb3vfcVjnhYhoRABLa1EirH5wMVPCUqr1lnpBhEvIF_nr076TReeapf70DU-d8CCJgSLxppOGWQJD_B-YAdFuS7XxUw/w405-h242/atlanticcollins.jpg" width="405" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1872 Mary married a George Cox and moved to Illinois. George then died and she remarried Thomas Cox who was George's brother - both George and Tom were born in England also. Mary died in 1903.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John Thomas Genn junior married Clara Sophia Morse at Winnebago Illinois in 1890 and moved up to Oregon by 1900 or so. He was a Real Estate Salesman, what we in England would call an Estate Agent. He and Clara had two sons - Willis B. (known as Bill Genn) and Vernon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">John T. jnr died in 1939 in Eugene, Oregon and Clara in 1949. Their memorials are below</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHc3L1wYuzPIYD0vAU3rVdJ0PaafjwifWb6t1CYBdpc_CTb7IOzXMrwVS5P1l27W3ifji4T16DkYCqdIhsOQ6to8kvLnNRggnccsFPb9SkGHNGxoMFC5Qxz1fwtBAMBp29_34TksikZQXw/s1709/John+Thomas+genn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="1709" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHc3L1wYuzPIYD0vAU3rVdJ0PaafjwifWb6t1CYBdpc_CTb7IOzXMrwVS5P1l27W3ifji4T16DkYCqdIhsOQ6to8kvLnNRggnccsFPb9SkGHNGxoMFC5Qxz1fwtBAMBp29_34TksikZQXw/s320/John+Thomas+genn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqwlR9gWj53NRYbBpqtvcx9yc8oxPLMiDICfvzmaPR8RV8esNTW1a0Yd11_tkhI7blO0YfI-TDjniiWhm_G2Il_suSBwd1XfqnoD9bzNnw6tqSQPLx1RbEZ0k9_F4-ILTYpj7NqeFj7b5/s1649/73937045_131163973610.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="1649" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqwlR9gWj53NRYbBpqtvcx9yc8oxPLMiDICfvzmaPR8RV8esNTW1a0Yd11_tkhI7blO0YfI-TDjniiWhm_G2Il_suSBwd1XfqnoD9bzNnw6tqSQPLx1RbEZ0k9_F4-ILTYpj7NqeFj7b5/s320/73937045_131163973610.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">When John T died in 1939 his son Bill (Willis) was the informant on the death certificate which is below. John T's parentage is given.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmXoxRa5FbtJqE5rdwwuKt2lHa0XucGBEFJACl8q1gm-gJwtp0a-2-Q4pJIThqnkud5EqvHqw-qLL3JWoesWAMYLvL3UIJO48R_KosjYOBKPoRA2Yv_dVShJOxelmys1yDkOdj44cw8BUAhuFoGOaXdUAYnnFSe6NZz1-mCETN1aj1nFeTDJ5BXV1RwCT/s5293/48908_302022005610_0186-00647%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3719" data-original-width="5293" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmXoxRa5FbtJqE5rdwwuKt2lHa0XucGBEFJACl8q1gm-gJwtp0a-2-Q4pJIThqnkud5EqvHqw-qLL3JWoesWAMYLvL3UIJO48R_KosjYOBKPoRA2Yv_dVShJOxelmys1yDkOdj44cw8BUAhuFoGOaXdUAYnnFSe6NZz1-mCETN1aj1nFeTDJ5BXV1RwCT/w500-h313/48908_302022005610_0186-00647%20(1).jpg" width="500" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">As for their two sons:</span></p><p><br /></p><p><i> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Willis Burr Genn (known as "Bill") originally joined the Merchant Navy. He had an ancestor and two Genn cousins who went into Law enforcement so it was no surprise to me to find that he joined the Oregon State Police and rose to Sergeant. He married more than once but I do not believe there were children. Bill died in 1954. See below</span></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhSqPx27STY3gVvS11DyfbGBKGeAgmWZ_zwULTFZAjKzCajRCVTEzu17IQS7PndUZkYt1spRRpP_SzJBN1hpjiUFKBoD97vMN5RelwUzSlL7w8Av4Mm4WGky9_SweDZGURjCuOPxwT03w/s579/willis+b+genn.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="492" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhSqPx27STY3gVvS11DyfbGBKGeAgmWZ_zwULTFZAjKzCajRCVTEzu17IQS7PndUZkYt1spRRpP_SzJBN1hpjiUFKBoD97vMN5RelwUzSlL7w8Av4Mm4WGky9_SweDZGURjCuOPxwT03w/s320/willis+b+genn.PNG" /></a></div> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Willis in 1919</span><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJReqap-lj5Zbc7YbwE8LRJNHWD6Zl2V-RJBxMSZrO_Js0JtcDXBu4Ri5yhvVjPLNEHDFskSF4ZrS9j6wQVLDuDLM4pJSSJkk3MwuJj4enBDGLQAz2dXD6WPpKEUpKPKOu2ezCIeMpRoE/s850/Willis+Genn+1925.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="850" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJReqap-lj5Zbc7YbwE8LRJNHWD6Zl2V-RJBxMSZrO_Js0JtcDXBu4Ri5yhvVjPLNEHDFskSF4ZrS9j6wQVLDuDLM4pJSSJkk3MwuJj4enBDGLQAz2dXD6WPpKEUpKPKOu2ezCIeMpRoE/w476-h247/Willis+Genn+1925.jpg" width="476" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Bill is seecond from left (1925)</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7y5WOUhAeQCAU4EOw4Y6dI5GnJJ5cS62wFxBvCmH2aPzglMJrJ7jiEjkICRVj0fPVHXz8tm72gVuMbtCwheYoiAMou8C66AmuW22b8yN7HWlcjTmTEpY7jxNC76BkOmffnJ9pDozQpAD/s480/Willis+known+as+Bill+Genn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7y5WOUhAeQCAU4EOw4Y6dI5GnJJ5cS62wFxBvCmH2aPzglMJrJ7jiEjkICRVj0fPVHXz8tm72gVuMbtCwheYoiAMou8C66AmuW22b8yN7HWlcjTmTEpY7jxNC76BkOmffnJ9pDozQpAD/s320/Willis+known+as+Bill+Genn.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Vernon Chathburton Genn - worked as a manager for General Motors and spent some years as Japanese Sales Manager and in charge of a factory in Osaka. A successful businssman. He married, had three sons and there are known descendants. Vernon died in 1953.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacIM1YRLzR4n_ZSM7pmURQGYtw6_onCU4pPFlm4q4rIVLvItpD6p98LVgE7xx45EC_zNuz8Ehmx97Znrc6EgF5-gnAUE4XNns-u4ZqmWGQD0HYrS5Oa1g5A7PZIeWABn389eS6ygkVwru/s525/Vernon++Genn+snr.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="481" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacIM1YRLzR4n_ZSM7pmURQGYtw6_onCU4pPFlm4q4rIVLvItpD6p98LVgE7xx45EC_zNuz8Ehmx97Znrc6EgF5-gnAUE4XNns-u4ZqmWGQD0HYrS5Oa1g5A7PZIeWABn389eS6ygkVwru/s320/Vernon++Genn+snr.PNG" /></a></div> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> Vernon in 1915<br /></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-71627875497941608722021-02-18T13:57:00.001-08:002021-02-18T14:27:56.681-08:00Frederick Ginn of Tottenham died 1904<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">If postage stamp collecting, market gardening and baptist missionaries are your thing, then this post is for you !</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Fred Ginn here was born in 1836 and was the son of Charles Ginn of Harlow in my post of 16th November 2014 and nephew of Samuel Ginn who was killed in the Napoleonic Wars (see post of 26th January 2013). Fred was an orphan early on and he was brought up by his childless uncle George Ginn of Tottenham (see post of 16th November 2014 ) and effectively was his son in all but name. Fred was almost certainly named in memory of his half-blood uncle Frederick Ginn who like Sam joined up and died in the army.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Fred took over his Uncle's nursery in Marsh Lane, Tottenham and was a successful market gardener. Marsh Lane like Cheshunt from where I come is in the Lee Valley, and until relatively recently the Lee Valley had a major horticultural industry.</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-LvuPvE_o4aJcXKQhCzLOpIaAaURtYMUSs-gYS7PFhYzBUZYbMtZJEm7j5G2cskM9jhvMZbs_TjxZjQaMTS2735fZTV-voKd7YINyBvF3u0qc9n_4H-_P1zOQKDLUVHedtftx2kq8fBH/s550/greenhouse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="550" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-LvuPvE_o4aJcXKQhCzLOpIaAaURtYMUSs-gYS7PFhYzBUZYbMtZJEm7j5G2cskM9jhvMZbs_TjxZjQaMTS2735fZTV-voKd7YINyBvF3u0qc9n_4H-_P1zOQKDLUVHedtftx2kq8fBH/w418-h233/greenhouse.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Fred married Elizabeth Giles at Newington in 1863 and they had seven children. Fred died in 1904 and Elizabeth in 1910.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Of the children:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Frederick jnr - I started stamp collecting briefly at age eleven and it sadly left me cold, but Fred jnr here started collecting postage stamps as a boy and it became his life's work. Fred was trading in stamps from his home in Tottenham in his mid teens, ie the 1870s. When I was at University (long before my Ginn research) I bought a Victorian book which I later realised had Fred mentioned in it - he was exhibting stamps, exhibitions being a 19th century obsession, at Bruce Castle in Tottenham (below)</i></span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNGuwe434wbjG3lMacw7Tjs4AZoXcUuQwclvdZjvOmYKM3gPERIAXwF3WAVnouUOvr51lsjYetnnhCbZySZurFHL-SSfC3EKi88IkufabNQguHBjjr90WykhyphenhyphenlqkdHTsZjKD3GID4_j11/s640/bruce.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="640" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNGuwe434wbjG3lMacw7Tjs4AZoXcUuQwclvdZjvOmYKM3gPERIAXwF3WAVnouUOvr51lsjYetnnhCbZySZurFHL-SSfC3EKi88IkufabNQguHBjjr90WykhyphenhyphenlqkdHTsZjKD3GID4_j11/w397-h194/bruce.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>On leaving school Fred entered the tea trade, but kept up stamps as a side line, trading from home, and he became so successful that for decades he ran a shop in The Strand in central London opposite the Gaiety Theatre.</i></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXt9FFK8IybevQm7fH3vX9jWiAGB8V2fhegFkrH6fBvJ6KeFgqs8HUFW_PWYdhTCEGZfHLXkiNVaSQgnp3smPYiTfAm6Xgi0JVlA94x9eFlc75S57VZ3xLb9W749AtD5PKBUt1dZCFbqHh/s885/fred+ginn.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="587" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXt9FFK8IybevQm7fH3vX9jWiAGB8V2fhegFkrH6fBvJ6KeFgqs8HUFW_PWYdhTCEGZfHLXkiNVaSQgnp3smPYiTfAm6Xgi0JVlA94x9eFlc75S57VZ3xLb9W749AtD5PKBUt1dZCFbqHh/w356-h429/fred+ginn.PNG" width="356" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Royal Philatelic Society say that he had one of the finest collections of American stamps in the world.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMdLQan62U-bhNdAZ0Xds7S2ftgyeO1ENTlcUOGtEPguB0bYM1OQx26p51ELfhwDV4PRpOkoljOaagwalAsK8jRrDyrVpWU0NKUxzBBlppnu78r1n4gRSVFHxIRNaLWhkYFroGONMlIFau/s525/abe+linc+stamp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="463" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMdLQan62U-bhNdAZ0Xds7S2ftgyeO1ENTlcUOGtEPguB0bYM1OQx26p51ELfhwDV4PRpOkoljOaagwalAsK8jRrDyrVpWU0NKUxzBBlppnu78r1n4gRSVFHxIRNaLWhkYFroGONMlIFau/w218-h265/abe+linc+stamp.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Fred jnr married twice but only one child (Dorothy) is known though there were likely more. Dorothy was a Baptism Missionary in Asia and married a Baptist Reverend at Lahore Cathedral in 1929.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Fred junior died in 1938</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>George Charles - you might have thought that one stamp collecting obsessive in the family was enough - but there were three. George and his brother Ernie started the well known philatelic company Geo. C Ginn & Co, they were in Moorgate in London and traded internationally and traded international stamps.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTKsfa1EG4fg5KhGLeB7oYwaOzHAtqJpfuBWH4asp-cy5HTfGiAdfC7Xm5xAGXBnDs44FFMkf6AoYp5R3_OdHaG669885C8bPDSPqM62u2-f0iRMw_vw3aTg74Zy3uYiCql6jBuXmQVUm/s1364/newfoundland-stamp-233-243-long-coronation-issue-set-on-first-day-cover-1937.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="1364" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTKsfa1EG4fg5KhGLeB7oYwaOzHAtqJpfuBWH4asp-cy5HTfGiAdfC7Xm5xAGXBnDs44FFMkf6AoYp5R3_OdHaG669885C8bPDSPqM62u2-f0iRMw_vw3aTg74Zy3uYiCql6jBuXmQVUm/w538-h239/newfoundland-stamp-233-243-long-coronation-issue-set-on-first-day-cover-1937.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>George married twice and had four children. Geo. C Ginn & Co had a strong presence in Canada and George's one son Ivor obviously had no interest in stamps and emigrated to Deep Creek, British Columbia in Canada in 1923, became a dairy farmer, married there and had no less than twelve children. There are a huge number of descendants. George died in 1945.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Ernest Burnett - Ernie was a partner with his brother George in the family firm of Geo. C Ginn and Co. In the philately world this was a well known and respected company. He married and had three children including a son Arthur who flew airships in World War 1 (Royal Navy) </span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: times;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh675IuHY4o9gjwPFuFoh5CRzlg4Iz6K-k-TTMgB8a9lPmIlHC4PioXMjFqzO16jyvAbwqQ5XkWGWd4PpOfLtG4Y_Jgq14HtgyPs2wJdGNjHgciAKb5epP1zzz5vvcS1sGYZVOaTmEpuwPk/s900/air.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="900" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh675IuHY4o9gjwPFuFoh5CRzlg4Iz6K-k-TTMgB8a9lPmIlHC4PioXMjFqzO16jyvAbwqQ5XkWGWd4PpOfLtG4Y_Jgq14HtgyPs2wJdGNjHgciAKb5epP1zzz5vvcS1sGYZVOaTmEpuwPk/w231-h127/air.jpg" width="231" /></i></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Arthur then joined the family firm. Ernie died in 1948.</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Elizabeth - was a teacher all of her life. She never married and died in 1956.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Lucy - was a paid companion to a socialite (a little bit "Agatha Christie") never married and died in 1946.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Ada- married and had four children and died in 1953</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>John - became an ordained Baptist Minister and Missionary in India, obviously under the continuing influence of his late gt. uncle George Ginn of Tottenham who was also a Baptist. He worked in India, returned to England with ill health and had connections with Frinton Free Church below. He married but I have no idea whether there were issue. He died in 1935.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1oA_pejHPm3ZXip7ksmy5GJdcW5qZDW2gguxY6MvG9oGTmcCl3H8VtzmMOBleV9yBpru7fdz-BZybuPWdHTINgtqRMXBX1fRY3kGi4zKDRPrP9BNBfoDOGnomlameaf-xw-Z_f-p547ly/s750/free.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1oA_pejHPm3ZXip7ksmy5GJdcW5qZDW2gguxY6MvG9oGTmcCl3H8VtzmMOBleV9yBpru7fdz-BZybuPWdHTINgtqRMXBX1fRY3kGi4zKDRPrP9BNBfoDOGnomlameaf-xw-Z_f-p547ly/s320/free.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-86927623209411738992021-02-18T13:38:00.002-08:002023-06-10T07:55:15.085-07:00Robert Ginn of Nuthampstead, Barkway and Anstey died after 1680<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"> I realised in 2020 that I have never written this guy up, which was an omission, and also that to do so properly I would need to create a new post. So here it is.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Robert Ginn was born in 1602, the son of Robert and Lettice, nee Benn - see my post of 23rd July 2012. He was a popular guy - his uncle Arthur Ginn was clearly fond of him and Bob junior here had high hopes of a successful and prosperous life if he applied himself.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikR7152F8H2bAno2I5j5P2gWxJSCClpadfctTkadG3SYzZk26DPMoCfcLRx0LPSaSLnZJXso0hJLWbfIB8ksRhID0IjdRhasGEtICx5xX5UKLoiQV3v3KDhJ6ycfbDMMnt43kfL3Y0fdjd/s1345/layston.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1345" data-original-width="900" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikR7152F8H2bAno2I5j5P2gWxJSCClpadfctTkadG3SYzZk26DPMoCfcLRx0LPSaSLnZJXso0hJLWbfIB8ksRhID0IjdRhasGEtICx5xX5UKLoiQV3v3KDhJ6ycfbDMMnt43kfL3Y0fdjd/w274-h410/layston.jpg" width="274" /> </a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Two events happened to him in 1630 , when he was 28. Firstly his uncle Arthur Ginn died and left fifty acres of land or more in Anstey, Nuthampstead and Barkway which was to go to this guy. Secondly, Robert married Sarah Ferris at Layston (above), daughter of William Ferris and Ellen of Layston (Buntingford) William being a blacksmith from several generations of the same in Buntingford. Ellen's maiden name was Peede, and as the wife of Bob's brother Francis also came from Layston and was called Peede, I think we can assume Bob married his cousin.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">At this point Robert was in a very good place. He and Sarah had settled down and were having children. His father had a fair bit of land and Robert here had inherited a bit. By 1642 this guy was the only Ginn in Anstey to be prosperous enough to be taxed in the Lay Subsidy of that year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">But I knew something had gone wrong, and I found out what it was in 2020. Robert, like so many of this blog in the 1600s, had got himself into debt. Owing money never works out well.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FRZ1AJhFC5ZFAOJfQYcrJYB0Wuo40H88XzDyHvV8hzFjXJ2Q-h1B4JD95btMretOv9_nvATEpr0EYQp46L_xVKEnh4seaEPRiikXQGiFtElA2xgnkXrNA8m94eiDoclANWERaVAxEom2/s1108/money.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="1108" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FRZ1AJhFC5ZFAOJfQYcrJYB0Wuo40H88XzDyHvV8hzFjXJ2Q-h1B4JD95btMretOv9_nvATEpr0EYQp46L_xVKEnh4seaEPRiikXQGiFtElA2xgnkXrNA8m94eiDoclANWERaVAxEom2/w512-h257/money.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">The truth is it was very easily done in the 1600s, as now. There were no banks, and people with spare cash, having no safe place to deposit it - put it in small loans to small traders and farmers secured by bonds. It stimulated the economy, but it was also risky, because the loans could be called in and anybody with low liquidity could be asked at very short notice to sell assets to meet their loan. Potentially they could be ruined.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Now the strange thing is that I knew years ago that Robert here did not prosper after he was about 40, and I also knew that his father was selling quite a bit of his land in Therfield in the 1640s, and the answer is here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">A Richard Preist [sic] an Attorney at Law launched a court action in the Court of Common Pleas in 1642 (CP40 2495/6 National Archives). He sued Robert Ginn, his brother Thomas Ginn of Therfield, a William Smith of Barley and a James Elliot of Lidlington in Cambridgeshire, all expressed to be Yeomen, for £30 a piece. Not a lot you might think, but that amount could buy a house at the time, and to find it quickly would have put a strain on all of these men.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizK7-jZP03hsPkAlZJcO4RZD7gtq_-wtria2E6ugJbFTvo6vA1AO99umVLWfIlOmz98TsVc4bDHlfcCjDl7JZTzwB_r1F_evXh1gMow4OXnFg-nCwj4QYdNmdPF0T8sueDrFd8CMOIIX0p/s1269/thomas+n+rob+gynn+1642+ct+common+pleas.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="1269" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizK7-jZP03hsPkAlZJcO4RZD7gtq_-wtria2E6ugJbFTvo6vA1AO99umVLWfIlOmz98TsVc4bDHlfcCjDl7JZTzwB_r1F_evXh1gMow4OXnFg-nCwj4QYdNmdPF0T8sueDrFd8CMOIIX0p/w512-h81/thomas+n+rob+gynn+1642+ct+common+pleas.JPG" width="512" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDILs7r-_N3xoM-XtdabU7npGllq1HVibL_d79bb-mYjiD5ONyyKdvb87KIqHwAGPhCsHPV0sjCAkMkt6qXhk2C7FAYr7ssHnZ24dIJEL6alDLfRcpAg3jb2H0z__0hcyarf0mcdCm8XJ/s1060/bob+gynn.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="93" data-original-width="1060" height="45" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDILs7r-_N3xoM-XtdabU7npGllq1HVibL_d79bb-mYjiD5ONyyKdvb87KIqHwAGPhCsHPV0sjCAkMkt6qXhk2C7FAYr7ssHnZ24dIJEL6alDLfRcpAg3jb2H0z__0hcyarf0mcdCm8XJ/w512-h45/bob+gynn.JPG" width="512" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">We do not know the result of the case, but given that so much land was sold I think we can assume that the defendants lost.</span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Although Bob and Sarah obviously survived, their fortunes took a marked turn for the worst, and in the 1663 Hearth Tax, Robert only had the one hearth, implying her inhabited a cottage, rather than the three or four hearthed farmhouse I would have expected.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Although Robert and Sarah used Anstey and Barkway churches, I am virtually certain that they lived at Nuthampstead, a tiny hamlet and not a parish on its own, being affiliated with Barkway. I assume that after the court case this chap was best described as a Husbandman rather than a Yeoman.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Robert and Sarah had a good number of children, but they were not lucky with the survival of sons. Sarah died "wife of Robert Ginn" at Barkway (below) in 1680 aged 71. Robert was alive then aged 78. Assuming that he did not died elsewhere, his burial entry is missed from the registers</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33g7Bq7Dy4O9YmqpZAhr03kAOIZLZSWLsE27GuQ0t3QXX3Ekf55RD4LSUQOEVpC3vIwdANTGL0OQ-xtuIoiZVF2U5_nl5yxSInaWgWHdmUUM6vE-0Wdp2kybuB6f20kS6bfwH2ZmhKguM/s500/barkway+church.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33g7Bq7Dy4O9YmqpZAhr03kAOIZLZSWLsE27GuQ0t3QXX3Ekf55RD4LSUQOEVpC3vIwdANTGL0OQ-xtuIoiZVF2U5_nl5yxSInaWgWHdmUUM6vE-0Wdp2kybuB6f20kS6bfwH2ZmhKguM/s0/barkway+church.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Robert and Sarah had six children</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Robert - died in 1663 aged 16 "son of Robert" and buried at Reed</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Arthur - may have died at Barkway in 1668 aged 33 or he may (he is the favourite known candidate) be the Arthur who emigrated to Maryland, British America in the 1660s. His father's money from the land sales may have helped him by giving him a start when he came of age. The guy who died in 1668 could be another Arthur, known to be alive in 1652 but untraced.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Martha - is untraced</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Hannah - "of Anstey" married Daniel Brand "of Great Hormead" at the gorgeous Little Hormead Church (below) in 1663. I have been there and it is lovely. Daniel had two hearths in the Hearth Tax. They had a few children then Daniel sadly died in 1677 aged 36 .There is no obvious remarriage. I know that the couple lived in Hare Street at Great Hormead which still has a few thatched cottages, one of which was possibly theirs.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10BPNlbwoX4mrnJM4hgLwRnlYxF5cxsaHa-rp9NhSpAvyLBL2JOWX19dApQ7D-TnA_r2te06Ldx52_79EQdkjvnCSIQJFBqmQgUIhZiWSu9XUKgsdn0usPca0aOYsEVLp4ACusgHz7Jqq/s2048/St_Mary%2527s%252C_Little_Hormead%252C_Herts.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1639" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10BPNlbwoX4mrnJM4hgLwRnlYxF5cxsaHa-rp9NhSpAvyLBL2JOWX19dApQ7D-TnA_r2te06Ldx52_79EQdkjvnCSIQJFBqmQgUIhZiWSu9XUKgsdn0usPca0aOYsEVLp4ACusgHz7Jqq/w328-h410/St_Mary%2527s%252C_Little_Hormead%252C_Herts.jpg" width="328" /></i></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>Sarah - two Sarahs married at Great Hormead in 1661. One of them was this girl. My guess is she married William Aldridge.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><i>John - married Martha Rayner. More on this in due course</i></span></p><p><br /></p></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-23329380130827626572020-08-02T12:50:00.002-07:002020-08-02T12:58:24.879-07:00John Ginn of Ware, Soldier and Chelsea Pensioner died 1846<span><font face="times" size="5">When I was a boy in the 1960s, I used to read (among others) the story book (rather than a comic) "The Rover and Wizard", tales of derring-do (in my mind's eye I could have wrestled a crocodile and beaten off a horde of Zulus single handed) to stir the blood of every English boy. The Napoleonic Wars were featured I remember, and John here could well have been a character in the comic.</font></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6Nta6nc6n42-Z7rlJ9OkQq0Sz7WoRq3nVmW9lKGj036YERRaofbo_w6d8JIanUcf4UIglO5EPcwWh0YnsVXX88wB_maB9qXZ0enyNOBt0n7qMasAGBCK9Vh8n84UR3_U6LvzPi5OezJm/s1600/rover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1416" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6Nta6nc6n42-Z7rlJ9OkQq0Sz7WoRq3nVmW9lKGj036YERRaofbo_w6d8JIanUcf4UIglO5EPcwWh0YnsVXX88wB_maB9qXZ0enyNOBt0n7qMasAGBCK9Vh8n84UR3_U6LvzPi5OezJm/s400/rover.jpg" width="353" /></a></div>
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font><div><font face="times" size="5">John here was great, great grandson to Richard in my last post, born in Ware in 1770 to John and Sarah.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John Ginn was a Labourer, who in 1799 joined the army, specifically the 5th Foot ("the Fighting Fifth") as they were known throughout the Napoleonic Wars.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNiB8NkkB3qqg1m6kuoinGu0Cg6z4gebnu12Re8Av8z6anWoENqDJYifiVsAMD_d5plsOVFLJ5K4Fv5AjDJqzTG03wNwslGIXTsj5NxZagFk_KB8BZ3GcxKt8RU4LPwafKFrZE2C8O5Xj/s585/john+ginn+sold.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="250" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNiB8NkkB3qqg1m6kuoinGu0Cg6z4gebnu12Re8Av8z6anWoENqDJYifiVsAMD_d5plsOVFLJ5K4Fv5AjDJqzTG03wNwslGIXTsj5NxZagFk_KB8BZ3GcxKt8RU4LPwafKFrZE2C8O5Xj/w213-h500/john+ginn+sold.jpg" width="213" /></a></div></div><div><font face="times" size="5">I first researched this guy more than twenty five years ago, in the microfilmed records at the National Archives, before there were any genealogical websites, before there was an online. It is still the case that you cannot know the story of this man's time in the army without going to the original records at Kew and I am delighted to have researched the guy and to give him a memorial. Everybody here has a story, and I see myself as the storyteller.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John Ginn was in the 1st Battalion of the 5th (see series WO12/2296 at the National Archives), and spent the first few years of his time in the army on quiet duties at home and in the Channel Islands. Things changed in 1805.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI28TZFe_WUsIMX-SBQRrVgy925XWBdMrrzkniQqnAE7cNTQ2ESpNBAOXhiPSRIQVrtGFnKeAXemv9h5NZv2p6sZ-78QaNpXvW05SHqCb7C0_RuZgZAsUtMrowpY3mQXL_lX052js3ujqO/s1371/800px-Emblem_of_Napoleon_Bonaparte.svg.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI28TZFe_WUsIMX-SBQRrVgy925XWBdMrrzkniQqnAE7cNTQ2ESpNBAOXhiPSRIQVrtGFnKeAXemv9h5NZv2p6sZ-78QaNpXvW05SHqCb7C0_RuZgZAsUtMrowpY3mQXL_lX052js3ujqO/s320/800px-Emblem_of_Napoleon_Bonaparte.svg.png" /></a></div></div><div><font face="times" size="5">It was Napoleon's intention to invade Britain from early 1803 to mid 1805, just as in 1940 it was Hitler's, and luckily both came a cropper.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Napoleon had the Grand Armee of over 180,000 men in the vicinity of the French channel ports in mid 1805, waiting to invade. But luckily a combination of events in Eastern Europe and Nelson's huge victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, crushing the French and Spanish naval fleets, changed the man's mind. So the Grand Armee marched away, towards the German states and ultimately their own crushing victory over the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Now until Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) took charge of it in the Peninsular War, in truth the British Army was a sorry thing. It was undermanned, under resourced (most of the money went on the Royal Navy) and was often thrown away in "penny packet" expeditions, where far too few men were expected to achieve far too much. In truth many of these raids were simply so that the Generals could be shown to be doing "something" to irritate Napoleon.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">So it was here. Whilst the 180,000 strong French Army was marching across what is now Germany, the British got together an expedition of 15,000 men under General Cathcart (below) to land in</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLAyCyMZPf5duloEIzWp2Qu_IDlcIXEzpgujCphHO3UzPFZGxXCe1FENyypX1eSzzFTSaux7QdaBD0Oig-kZAmRPY-BW7gM-Jcg69AgubwPscx3OB_4uBVHqj6zVg5vnB2zzlDf-NQNJd4/s400/cathcart.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="304" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLAyCyMZPf5duloEIzWp2Qu_IDlcIXEzpgujCphHO3UzPFZGxXCe1FENyypX1eSzzFTSaux7QdaBD0Oig-kZAmRPY-BW7gM-Jcg69AgubwPscx3OB_4uBVHqj6zVg5vnB2zzlDf-NQNJd4/s320/cathcart.jpg" /></a></div></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Germany and take Hanover, the British King George III coming from the House of Hanover of course, and rather wanting the ancestral home back. It was all nonsense of course.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The First Battalion of the 5th Foot formed part of this expedition and the British troops loaded on to their transports and sailed across the North Sea. It was December 1805 and the weather was not great.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHq95NS4avxQPbFFlaij5f2-P0eA3Gu2oaiXNFw2OHyPayX2g96HfCLpByf6tW3CuLLkHgbD76vhm3NMgXQ0Gdhi2-yjgTRu6Ap01m4GR2Z6Jy0S9QQD6hoCphH_n7ynaqKHyHvj5aZijE/s188/den+helder.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="157" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHq95NS4avxQPbFFlaij5f2-P0eA3Gu2oaiXNFw2OHyPayX2g96HfCLpByf6tW3CuLLkHgbD76vhm3NMgXQ0Gdhi2-yjgTRu6Ap01m4GR2Z6Jy0S9QQD6hoCphH_n7ynaqKHyHvj5aZijE/w195-h234/den+helder.JPG" width="195" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John Ginn and about 200 of his mates (not all of the Battalion which numbered about a thousand men) were on HMS Helder. It was Christmas Eve 1805, and due to bad weather the ship ran aground (the crew were lucky to bring her in at all apparently) on, ironically, Den Helder (above) the very northern tip (now a Dutch Navy base) on the Dutch mainland north of Amsterdam.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ez8CNJLe66hfmjmzMmIeLAAVNPVDpc2JgKWS5_Mj8SCNTaliGDl7hs_MczEqxpa9vcVt_sKmsvnRU_joZyFTuWSXI646zOreRrpwyf642uy5bmVRP48WOssofQ48TpZSNTkIGUYlJqWd/s450/helder.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="450" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ez8CNJLe66hfmjmzMmIeLAAVNPVDpc2JgKWS5_Mj8SCNTaliGDl7hs_MczEqxpa9vcVt_sKmsvnRU_joZyFTuWSXI646zOreRrpwyf642uy5bmVRP48WOssofQ48TpZSNTkIGUYlJqWd/w400-h259/helder.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">This was not great news. The men scrambled ashore with just their lives. Holland was under French control and though there were French troops there, most military forces were Dutch, and though allied to the French, certainly a lot more kindly to the British than the French would have been. John Ginn was one of 250 men (including the crew) taken prisoner.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Now John Ginn was a strange cove, all 5 foot 6 inches of him (black hair and hazel eyes). He had an uncanny karma to get himself into scrapes, but the most astonishing luck (someone looked after him) to get himself out of them. It is a gift I envy.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">He and his mates were prisoners until August 1806. Cathcart had landed in Germany, taken Hanover and (with Russian assistance) won a couple of minor engagements, but his efforts were made null and void by a deal between the French and Prussians (Britain's ally) in early 1806 whereby Hanover was given to Prussia. Cathcart sailed home with his men in the Spring and it would seem to have been the Prussians and the Dutch who allowed John and his mates to be released. They were back in Portsmouth by September 1806 (John marked as "POW" for the previous 8 months in the Muster) .</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John was scarcely back in England before he was off once again, this time to South America ! How he must have welcomed going to sea again !</font></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="times" size="5">In yet another of these dreamed up pocket book ideas (perhaps the generals also read "The Rover"), it had been a pet idea of the British since the 1790s to invade South America and free it from Spanish influence (we were always at war with Spain) give the citizens independence and set up a load of trade deals with the friendly and grateful locals who had been oppressed by Spain for years. Simple.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">In 1806, they believed that that moment had arrived when in that year the British invaded and took the colonies at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa (assisted by another John Ginn - see post of 3rd October 2012). The Navy patrolling off the Cape, extended their naval control as far as South America and a plan was hatched to launch an invasion there, in fact there were two.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The first invasion took place in 1806, and was initially successful, Buenos Aires fell, save that it turned out that the locals were not so friendly or grateful as anticipated - they did not want the Spanish, but they did not want the British either, and local militias and Spanish regulars forced a retreat.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Fearing and forewarned of a second British invasion, the people of Uruguay and Argentina (as they became) started to form further trained regiment of militia and armed themselves. They wanted independence, but they wanted to claim it themselves, which of course they did eventually.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The Second Invasion commenced in early 1807 and the British after a fierce action by the 40th, 95th and 87th Foot took Montevideo. In May, General Whitelocke (below) arrived to take command together with reinforcements, these included the "Fighting Fifth"</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhez8-FlFInr0XkGGtUkgGsNnFOAQ7QAfimUTjpR5DPFRy0Qx5KS1biK-VocnSPWZY20GlzC_6eYq2JksU8Hm_-T-TCqb-Y0As8ft9k31vJh0J2fHyssnWu80PYFTfbKBKLjzouiP7gT4cR/s350/whitelocke.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhez8-FlFInr0XkGGtUkgGsNnFOAQ7QAfimUTjpR5DPFRy0Qx5KS1biK-VocnSPWZY20GlzC_6eYq2JksU8Hm_-T-TCqb-Y0As8ft9k31vJh0J2fHyssnWu80PYFTfbKBKLjzouiP7gT4cR/s0/whitelocke.jpg" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><font face="times" size="5"> Whitelocke had two weaknesses, the first was he was slow to make a decision, the second that he underestimated the nature of the fight he was up against.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The plan was to move on Buenos Aires, but he hesitated, a delay that gave the defenders time to prepare. And thinking that he had little to fear from the local militias, he divided his forces into no less than 16 columns.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkustrCklr8FjsPB2Pqy2kXYJD59rHQpXR07gMs7SLZtdF1Tb3Tb5MSql0c-ZUFWZib5d13FqJ7uig6aNZ99BQlRmCKLmZptU7e-uhLwed3HT_B5EQEoXLkpPiQx29vasfIcYjzPBvzpqd/s800/battle+b+aires.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="800" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkustrCklr8FjsPB2Pqy2kXYJD59rHQpXR07gMs7SLZtdF1Tb3Tb5MSql0c-ZUFWZib5d13FqJ7uig6aNZ99BQlRmCKLmZptU7e-uhLwed3HT_B5EQEoXLkpPiQx29vasfIcYjzPBvzpqd/w500-h305/battle+b+aires.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The problem was that the British infantry were equipped with muskets, not rifles, they did not know the terrain and were trained to fight in line in open combat, not skirmish in the streets of a city.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">So when the British entered the streets of Buenos Aires things did not go well for them. Militia men had set up mobile barricades all over - they trapped them in front, they trapped them behind, they fired at them from above and below and locals threw cooking pots of boiling water and oil down upon them. There was even a militia unit of 600 african slaves. Men got seperated from each other, had no idea where they were, nor the location of their mates. The confusion (over about five days) was so great that not a few men deserted and stayed in South America, as many as 1,500 later forming a regiment that joined the locals and later fought for their independence.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The fighting lasted for several days as I say, the most intense being on 4th and 5th July when the British took 1000 casualties, one of them being John Ginn who was wounded on the 5th. He was badly wounded in the right hand, rendering it useless.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The British lost the battle for Buenos Aires and the campaign. The men retreated to Montevideo and the Royal Navy. Whitlocke was later court martialled and dismissed from the army.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Now John, were he here to tell you, would agree that he and ships never got on. If the extremely superstitious Royal Navy men had know his history, they would likely have considered him more of a "Jonah" than a John and never let him on board.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John was put on board the HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) "Alexander"<i> </i>at Montevideo, along with quite a few others of the wounded and the ship sailed for home.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">It is pretty obvious that the ship was carrying back some munitions of the homeward bound army, because on 22nd November 1807, somewhere in the mid Atlantic, the ship blew up !</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3g-KVVMFeYYLd0w0ahwba1hMoqJDoYYKvAfJB-UxbJxYdn3OxU1L9rEJCDGJKX3QguOrs2rIB66YpnMTmLVtTQeLgHSyDjI127uUhAtrFqoLyWalhM3VxzNeawIInXm1hpXcufMTl2N8v/s481/blow+up.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3g-KVVMFeYYLd0w0ahwba1hMoqJDoYYKvAfJB-UxbJxYdn3OxU1L9rEJCDGJKX3QguOrs2rIB66YpnMTmLVtTQeLgHSyDjI127uUhAtrFqoLyWalhM3VxzNeawIInXm1hpXcufMTl2N8v/w398-h400/blow+up.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John was below decks and the explosion did not touch him. But the ship was on fire, listing and sinking. John could not use his right hand and the ship was now at an angle and in trying to get up the steps to the top deck, we know that he fell some distance. He broke his right thigh bone and so damaged his right ankle that the foot was splayed out at an angle for the rest of his life.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">There were some unrecorded heroes there that day (and John's "Guardian Angel") because men from another ship came to the burning and sinking vessel in Atlantic seas to see if they could get anybody off. Only 21 men were saved - John being one of them. The Muster record is so cool as to be chilling "which he was removed before she was lost".</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John came home on another hospital ship, never rejoined his regiment and was obviously still sick in early 1808 when the army granted him an out pension as a disabled veteran. He obviously was in no condition to work and must have had a hard time of it for a few years, living on a pittance in some lodging or other.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">In 1812 he returned to the army, obviously disabled and only fit for garrison duty. He was in the 5th Royal Veteran Battalion for two years until 1814 which was disbanded when Napoleon went to Elba. When Napoleon escaped, John was back to the fray again, being enlisted in the 8th Royal Veteran Battalion and finally discharged from the army in 1816 when he was 46. By the time he was discharged his old regiment the 5th Foot (with whom he served for nine years) had another nickname in the army "The Old and Bold", a name which might be applied to John.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">I knew pretty much all of the above by 1995, but there was no trace of what happened to John after 1816. You hear so many stories of disabled old soldiers begging in the streets, that I hoped that had not been his fate - but this story has a happy ending.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Years ago, I discovered that there a namesake of this chap in a renowned British military institution - but the age given was totally wrong. A fellow researcher said "it cannot possibly be him" but it was.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgujaAuy8r3iJBFiq3aqncq_ZoI0rUW8-I6iNfRHiPQF4N437AqKzBpnSlzu9SOYIwu_uNMUS9Lae6gn4AsH-CFidYzzs0vilxn8n9D6Fyiw9JyZuZDZPr50x22vQRRjvGCwYQotYexgDTe/s944/chelsea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="944" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgujaAuy8r3iJBFiq3aqncq_ZoI0rUW8-I6iNfRHiPQF4N437AqKzBpnSlzu9SOYIwu_uNMUS9Lae6gn4AsH-CFidYzzs0vilxn8n9D6Fyiw9JyZuZDZPr50x22vQRRjvGCwYQotYexgDTe/w500-h261/chelsea.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"> Royal Hospital Chelsea </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The records of Royal Hospital Chelsea for old soldiers (where the "Chelsea Pensioners" reside) are not online, but in 2015 I turned them up at the National Archives in Kew. John Ginn, formerly of the 5th Foot was only 50 (so they may have fiddled his age to get him in) but in 1820, obviously too disabled to look after himself, John petitioned the Chelsea Board to let him in, and they accepted him.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The Hospital was built in 1692 to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, and remained unaltered for 300 years, only recently having some internal alterations. The men lived then and do now, in Long Wards (John was in Long Ward 10) where each man had a room in a long corridor, not very spacious and known as a "berth" with their uniform on a peg outside the door where also sat each man's military chest with their belongings etc (below). They obviously all messed together for food etc and recreation.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7bitsLYM-b4n-Yh-FuYNbWDn3neWbrbyKguh5zwtS8YfHqs00YfhLgfjI6uMch7VGObeLQNzJlYMrKyjC3LWP1EX151sGUDNHdOThlNRB45YSAnAz6w5_ndKz9Y7FSWThIcgJjWoKunh/s1000/long+ward+chelsea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1000" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7bitsLYM-b4n-Yh-FuYNbWDn3neWbrbyKguh5zwtS8YfHqs00YfhLgfjI6uMch7VGObeLQNzJlYMrKyjC3LWP1EX151sGUDNHdOThlNRB45YSAnAz6w5_ndKz9Y7FSWThIcgJjWoKunh/w500-h361/long+ward+chelsea.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">John lived at Chelsea for twenty five years. The stories that he and his mates must have recounted to each other would have filled a million weekly editions of the "Rover". It is my loss that I will never get to hear them. </font><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">John Ginn died in Chelsea in 1846, he was 76.</span></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rF5W6W9cFIMy8Sjt8TaArpbFniW5-aWiou3Q81_OMa_1U1IW4lhAb4kc5HXcpcQPwl0_vCpW8L-kWg38D0CkA4izW6-SHf-4-6VdZlYqyG9Kw2Tmk_Dqbr62rJ4Q5fVsjhyphenhyphenqCGTsY0qA/s603/chelsea+pensioner+lovely.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="450" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rF5W6W9cFIMy8Sjt8TaArpbFniW5-aWiou3Q81_OMa_1U1IW4lhAb4kc5HXcpcQPwl0_vCpW8L-kWg38D0CkA4izW6-SHf-4-6VdZlYqyG9Kw2Tmk_Dqbr62rJ4Q5fVsjhyphenhyphenqCGTsY0qA/w374-h500/chelsea+pensioner+lovely.jpg" width="374" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-54198709768948445872020-08-02T12:25:00.001-07:002022-04-06T14:02:28.405-07:00Richard Ginn, Shoemaker and Innkeeper of Ware died 1697<font face="times" size="5"><span>Richard here is neither son of the Richard in my last post, not do I believe that he is related to him. I am confident that this chap was born in Stevenage, likely in 1638 to Richard Ginn (and Ann his wife) , Yeoman of Stevenage who died in 1646. He is thus not a descendant of William Ginn of Aston d.1520 nor anywhere close a relation to just about everybody else in this blog.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>What he is though, is the ancestor of the Ginn family of Ware that had Ginn descendants alive in the 1800s and 1900s, and is to my knowledge the only Stevenage Ginn to do so.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Richard Ginn was a Shoemaker. He arrived in Ware in the late 1650s and either arrived married to a Mary or married her when he arrived. The Ware registers are lost for the last few years of the 1650s. My suspicion is that he arrived with a little money from the start (he may have come into his inheritance in 1659 when he was 21) as in the 1663 Hearth Tax he had a house in Ware with three hearths.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Many of the Stevenage Ginns were involved in Inns and Innkeeping, from the early 1500s onwards. In fact I have in the past divided them up into groups using property and pub names by way of identification e.g "The Ginns of the Falcon". Not surprisingly then, in 1669 Richard bought himself an Inn.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
</font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOgs8k0ptvtlHvlXtJr3GFQZWuRd73ntYaS-wWWSDYxlnMsUze0OffVk0-zddZhF1f-9hcM1547ALBIOZZmE_kcboEF8ZerrOvvrcZtQyolmla7xSCemPv_3L9O3U4LURQZ2fuBYqwSGt5/s1600/cock+sign.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="568" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOgs8k0ptvtlHvlXtJr3GFQZWuRd73ntYaS-wWWSDYxlnMsUze0OffVk0-zddZhF1f-9hcM1547ALBIOZZmE_kcboEF8ZerrOvvrcZtQyolmla7xSCemPv_3L9O3U4LURQZ2fuBYqwSGt5/s400/cock+sign.jpg" width="281" /></font></a></div>
<font face="times" size="5"><span><br /></span>
<span><br /></span>
<span>If you walk own to Ware from the Hertford Road (as I have done many times) you pass through what is called Amwell End. If you had done so before the railway arrived in Ware, you would have encountered two pubs, "The Spread Eagle" (which is still there but post railway on a different site) and "The Cock". Richard Ginn bought a 999 year lease of "The sign of the Cock" from John Hilliard, Maltster of Ware for £50 in 1669 (70515-70535 HRO). But Hilliard had an option to buy it back for £150, so in 1671 Richard Ginn enfranchised it, ie he bought the freehold for a further £71. It was now his in its entirety. The family were to hold it for nearly forty years, though for some of that time it was tenanted, ie they did not run it themselves. The pub was there until about 1900, but at the moment I am struggling to find a photo - there is likely one at Hertfordshire Local Studies Library.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>The family seem to have led a steady uneventful life, then in May 1686 Mary died, she was likely about 53. Richard remarried another Mary shortly afterwards, though whether formally (ie in church rather than just by declaration) seems unclear, as I cannot find the marriage entry. He had a further two children by her.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Richard Ginn died in 1697, he was about 60 I would say. He left a will (ERO and below) which is the original ie bears his signature.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
</font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YupdGUvSEAWew13mQZIJX3VyXAbSDUNwrDdpfw-PDk1FTmR6t42JxcHW95DrG2sIYFe3Op9GZiPrd1JyVD1LgVh7tj6CwblOI1R82-gxISZ3uhSXV5haIGaULSMmZ5iI5pOa2u3PbMbz/s1600/will+richard+ginn+ware+d+1697.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="1305" data-original-width="1600" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YupdGUvSEAWew13mQZIJX3VyXAbSDUNwrDdpfw-PDk1FTmR6t42JxcHW95DrG2sIYFe3Op9GZiPrd1JyVD1LgVh7tj6CwblOI1R82-gxISZ3uhSXV5haIGaULSMmZ5iI5pOa2u3PbMbz/s400/will+richard+ginn+ware+d+1697.png" width="400" /></font></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJIuNioHXdLxCJgpn70d7urQJaKjWuyeiTF7PwhKZKGhq4cFO76SiRIIX7pM4vLi_yxtR4tEsjTWRjfUHEcGP6slj1pe02UJlrRfPyP9gIBJ3gSMpmXm37HQLos-UALCIFaa3mVhmhoiiT/s1600/rich+ginn+ware.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="414" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJIuNioHXdLxCJgpn70d7urQJaKjWuyeiTF7PwhKZKGhq4cFO76SiRIIX7pM4vLi_yxtR4tEsjTWRjfUHEcGP6slj1pe02UJlrRfPyP9gIBJ3gSMpmXm37HQLos-UALCIFaa3mVhmhoiiT/s320/rich+ginn+ware.JPG" width="320" /></font></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>
<span><font face="times" size="5">Richard and the two Marys had thirteen children, a baker's dozen:</font></span><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Richard - was born in 1663. His father set him up with a house in Great Amwell and left him one shilling in his will of 1697 as a consequence.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Richard here married twice, Isobel Swan in 1684 when he was just 21 and an Ann (marriage not traced) thereafter.. I do not know what the guy did for a living but I do know that he was seen as a Quaker (only the third English Ginn man so identified) and I am sure attended the Quaker Meeting House at Hertford which is the oldest one (built 1670) still standing and is below.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3fGMeedhdIGwCn1lZnC0JXFKK1RYCh4tBpC6ZZIJM_PxtJ1TXFvjd52ZJFCVp_plbhVuCEF40ViTQ6q_gN-R_kQwnOA7JB9IyS17GCxYK8I_4HwImPu3wOfaFQiTm5IANxRHIN5vv9UZ/s1000/hertford_quaker_meeting_house111014_15.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3fGMeedhdIGwCn1lZnC0JXFKK1RYCh4tBpC6ZZIJM_PxtJ1TXFvjd52ZJFCVp_plbhVuCEF40ViTQ6q_gN-R_kQwnOA7JB9IyS17GCxYK8I_4HwImPu3wOfaFQiTm5IANxRHIN5vv9UZ/w400-h266/hertford_quaker_meeting_house111014_15.jpg" width="400" /></font></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><span><br /></span>
<i><span><br /></span><span>He died at Great Amwell in 1707 aged 43, likely of smallpox or consumption. Interestingly he was buried in Great Amwell churchyard below and not a Quaker burial ground.</span></i></font></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSaIyeLD6_1tVvZs0aPlKbpMTzvggzUShmAAp0Nhhjo_dLk1AwJm7sNtfhfbc5O2fi8UvwPnHuF7vajn28Gmnr04y2_-gPuyHVSaQAFVZQ7bU5JA_7jbbJrmbRuvAB9puGesxNii1CDdN/s640/amwell+churchyard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSaIyeLD6_1tVvZs0aPlKbpMTzvggzUShmAAp0Nhhjo_dLk1AwJm7sNtfhfbc5O2fi8UvwPnHuF7vajn28Gmnr04y2_-gPuyHVSaQAFVZQ7bU5JA_7jbbJrmbRuvAB9puGesxNii1CDdN/w400-h300/amwell+churchyard.jpg" width="400" /></font></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><span><br /></span><span><i>Ann Ginn died at Great Amwell in 1714. She was in her 50s I would guess and obviously had been a widow when she married Richard as she had grandchildren of the name of Curlewis not yet of age (people of this name at Thundridge and Cheshunt and Waltham Abbey) and Cook. Her son in law was Thomas Curlewis. The interesting thing is that there was a family called Curlewis at the relevant time who attended the Quaker Meeting at Hertford albeit not those named in her will.. She left a will (ERO) which is the original and below</i></span></font></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="times" size="5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwY4x_RtLJhKk1bFeud1ZpcFAlqCRgICSnr7MrovG2YsnqJ-1ius5FVXGfs6oAHEZc75Hj-HzfFlYzE3UwT6HoBsPP3aKCho-TL9v074gs5bcs6k8E0TV0q84KeCG7IZ-o3WP8gDRyr9I/s2048/ann+ginn+gt+amwell+will.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1279" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwY4x_RtLJhKk1bFeud1ZpcFAlqCRgICSnr7MrovG2YsnqJ-1ius5FVXGfs6oAHEZc75Hj-HzfFlYzE3UwT6HoBsPP3aKCho-TL9v074gs5bcs6k8E0TV0q84KeCG7IZ-o3WP8gDRyr9I/w250-h400/ann+ginn+gt+amwell+will.png" width="250" /></a></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Joseph - born in 1665 and died same year of the Great Plague.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkTQsPdpKhhp4mGmaTRMVmbGq6fRhkafodFSI76l4QqMP06kg1SZL9-DkSQxkntxpM_p3AKRSLeu5f87sFPxMEAyo0Bmv8pcNeEtX6E4BK1PiWmmWf_4q5Z6S8kiHvww0FpOiuUUgDW5x/s500/plague.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="500" height="62" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkTQsPdpKhhp4mGmaTRMVmbGq6fRhkafodFSI76l4QqMP06kg1SZL9-DkSQxkntxpM_p3AKRSLeu5f87sFPxMEAyo0Bmv8pcNeEtX6E4BK1PiWmmWf_4q5Z6S8kiHvww0FpOiuUUgDW5x/w83-h62/plague.jpg" width="83" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div>Ann - born in 1667 - likely after Richard's mother. She is not mentioned in her father's will and there is no marriage entry traced</font></i></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Benjamin - born 1687. He is the ancestor of the later Ware Ginn family</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Edward - was born in 1671. Received one shilling in his father's will of 1697 so had been set up. He married a Mary (marriage not traced) in circa 1700 and is believed (no record) to have had a Richard circa 1702, Sarah in 1705, Elizabeth 1708 and Isobel in 1710 (married Thomas Brace in 1733) Ned died in 1738 aged 67. I have no idea what he did for a living. Assumed son Richard was a Bargeman on the River Lee and married an Elizabeth Archer in London in 1722 but there is scant record after that.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Mary - there were three. Two died in infancy and the third was born in 1672. She was alive unmarried in 1697 aged 25. Was left a share of the proceeds of the pub sale in 1707 but I have no idea if she was still alive then or what happened to her.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>John - there were four. The surviving John was born in 1675 and was a shoemaker. He was left his father's house and shoemaker's stock in trade in 1697. His father clearly valued him. With his stepmother Mary he sold "The Cock" in 1707 as per the terms of his father's will (70515-70535 HRO). He was then described as a shoemaker of South Mimms. I knew all this 25 years ago. I was never able to trace the guy. South Mimms is on the Herts/Middlesex border and the registers were not available at the HRO nor on the International Genealogical Index and he was completely untraced until I was preparing this post. Although the South Mimms records are still not available, the Greater London Burial Index has him as dying in South Mimms in 1763 when he would have been 87. It gets better, because the Land Tax has a John Ginn at Cobb's Yard in South Mimms in 1770 - so this guy is a "live one" and on my "to do" research list.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Elizabeth - came from the second marriage in 1690. She was alive in 1697 and received a share of the sale of the pub per the will.. No idea if she was alive in 1707 to receive it though as she is untraced.</i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><i>Dorothy - also from the second marriage in 1692. Received a share of the pub sale in 1707. She stayed a maid and died in Ware in 1764 aged 72.</i></font></span></div><div><br /></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-24588492780800921242020-08-02T11:38:00.003-07:002020-08-02T11:54:27.094-07:00Richard Ginn, Cromwellian Trooper of Ware died 1683<font face="times" size="5">Richard here, son of Richard in my last post, has always been a very interesting chap to research. I have been researching him for over thirty years now, and there is still a lot that I do not know.<br />
<br />
Richard was born to Richard and Beatrice (nee Gilderson) in 1617, the year that William Shakespeare died. His mother died when he could barely walk and his father remarried the widow Alice Hare in 1623.</font><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Charles the 1st (1600-1649) was a closet Catholic. A Scot (and thus King of England and of Scotland - the countries were not yet joined) he married Henrietta Maria of France, a devout catholic, and the scene was set for trouble both Protestant England and Protestant Scotland.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Charles attempted to change certain church rituals in the late 1630s to move them closer to those of Rome. This caused uproar, and in Scotland led, in 1639, to what was called The Bishops War with England</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Charles could not raise an army to serve abroad (and Scotland was abroad) without Parliament voting him the money, and Parliament would not, but he had residual Royal powers that empowered him to impress an army, as his father had (see Henry Ginn in the Thirty Years War - post of 19th July 2012 ) in 1625.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The problem with impressment was that money would be short, he could not recruit the Trained Bands (what passed for a "regular army" in England) and the men impressed were generally those chosen by each parish "the drunks, rogues and rascals" allegedly.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XpZ6EXrAX10OOjQKWy0Wyfq0cb3iBxE9uV2y0AYY3pEbZlGmNosOsDJPs3NpLF02-A4EK6mnkWN_Ng9X-h3CMn8BFxH6QTS9khGPZU0UWrT5KlUxPT3my5p-tnQJTrp8zfyRQmtaNT3t/s2048/bishops+war.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XpZ6EXrAX10OOjQKWy0Wyfq0cb3iBxE9uV2y0AYY3pEbZlGmNosOsDJPs3NpLF02-A4EK6mnkWN_Ng9X-h3CMn8BFxH6QTS9khGPZU0UWrT5KlUxPT3my5p-tnQJTrp8zfyRQmtaNT3t/w259-h400/bishops+war.jpg" width="259" /></font></a></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">So long ago that I have lost the note book, I discovered that Richard Ginn of Ware was impressed for the English Army in 1639.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The English army raised numbered about 15,000 men plus a few smaller units and in general were led by inadequate officers. The conscripts were largely untrained, and because many of them were not from the Trained Bands (and thus could not get access to their arsenals) they were poorly armed, often with only bows and arrows. Many as it happened sympathised with the Scots and were thus unruly and morale low. By contrast the Scots were led by professionals and their clansmen used to fighting - mostly each other !</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"> It is said that the Bishops War was setting the scene for, even the beginning of, the English Civil War that officially kicked off in 1642, the Scots and Parliamentary English against Charles the 1st and his Royalists. </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">So with a quick bout of training the English army marched to Berwick upon Tweed on the Scottish borders, where they were met by Charles the 1st who immediately declared he had made peace with the Scots, not wishing to risk immediate defeat. Thus was the calibre of this man, which obviously impressed itself on Richard Ginn.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Richard returned to Ware and in about 1641 he married a Jane, the marriage entry is lost.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Now Jane Ginn was a bit of a scold, a lively piece, she turns up in the Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions records a couple of times, mostly commenting on the morals (or lack of them) of other women of her ac<span>quaintance !</span></font></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">But she and Richard settled in Ware and had a son, also Richard in January 1643 who died shortly afterwards. At this point they were childless. Then things turned a bit lively, even for Jane.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">The English Civil War kicked off in the summer of 1642 when Charles the 1st raised his standard at Oxford, and after a slow start he began to gather a large army.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">It is difficult to tell this story in the context of a blog post, but the Eastern counties of England (including Hertfordshire) and, crucially London, declared for Parliament. The Eastern counties clubbed together and formed the Eastern Association, which with London by and large supplied most of the men and money for the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">So what you had initially were, on the Royalist side a lot of aristocracy and gentry who had weapons and knew how to use them, (some like Prince Rupert being professional soldiers) against a Parliamentary mish mash of minor gentry, yeomen's sons and tradesmen who had scarcely wielded much more than a pen or a pitchfork in their lives.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">After a series of actions which were indecisive or went badly for Parliament, the parliamentary side began to sort themselves out. </font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">The Eastern Association raised an army under the Earl of Manchester. Other generals, Waller, the Earl of Essex and, in time, Oliver Cromwell also were put in charge of armies or serious commands. At various times Parliament could have three armies in the field all over England, together with troops for garrisons in major towns or strategic points.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">Sir John Norwich of Brampton in Northants was born in 1613. He was scarcely older than Richard. He was made a Colonel of Horse by Parliament in 1642, and in the summer of 1643 this guy turned up in Hertford marketplace, I know it well, and raised his standard to enlist a regiment of volunteers to be known as Sir John Norwich's Regiment of Horse.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Many of the men that joined up came from Hertford and Ware (you can trace their names in the Muster) and Richard here was of course one of the men that enlisted **</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Ehk1ndnV2peRbncl9zdFMrw5COx05LHY3ivAvXEssajdNbTgGywZ4-dVtTjSOZacmfyWEPphQF9f613UnDKkoJB2sBd_Pb4drXmd0u7uQPO7uImHmJuv-vS8J0Fe6ySnruy_11EUOfz8/s700/rondhead-cavalry-700x700.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Ehk1ndnV2peRbncl9zdFMrw5COx05LHY3ivAvXEssajdNbTgGywZ4-dVtTjSOZacmfyWEPphQF9f613UnDKkoJB2sBd_Pb4drXmd0u7uQPO7uImHmJuv-vS8J0Fe6ySnruy_11EUOfz8/w400-h400/rondhead-cavalry-700x700.jpg" width="400" /></font></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><font face="times" size="5"> Parliamentary trooper</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><span><font face="times" size="5">Norwich managed to recruit three troops, each of about 90 men, thus about just short of 300 men all told. I even know the arrangement which was as follows</font></span></div><div><span><font face="georgia"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="georgia">Colonel's Sir John Norwich's Troop - Sir John Norwich assisted by Lieutenant Nicholas Deane and Cornet John Edwin. There were</font></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span><font face="georgia">three corporals, a trumpeter or two and 113 men in total in this troop.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="georgia"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="georgia">Captain Thomas Brudnall's Troop - Captain Thomas Brudnall assisted by Lieutenant John Holmes and Cornet Joseph Barber. There were three corporals, a couple of trumpeters and 88 men in total in this troop. By early 1645 Brudnall was a Major in the regiment. In late early 1645 the Cromwellian Association say that Brudnall was replaced by Oliver Ingoldsby of the Buckinghamshire Ingoldsbys. Oliver's mother was a Cromwell and he was a cousin of <u>the</u> Oliver Cromwell and brother of Richard Ingoldsby one of those who signed the Execution Warrant for Charles the 1st. Oliver became a Major under Norwich, joined the New Model Army (below) in spring 1645 and was killed at the siege of Pendennis Castle in 1646.</font></span></div><div><span><font face="georgia"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="georgia">Captain Thomas Moulson's Troop - Captain Thomas Moulson assisted by Lieutenant Simon Ayloffe and Cornet Robert Fitzwilliams. There were three corporals, a couple of trumpeters and a total of 71 men in this troop.</font></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"> Each troop was divided into three squadrons of about 25- 30 men and each squadron was given a Corporal (an officer - but - the term was in development - "non commissioned") to manage it. The Corporal scouted ahead, managed the squadron and its duties each day, arranged for it's food and lodging each night. Richard Ginn was made a Corporal of one of the squadrons of Captain Moulson's Troop.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Moulson's Troop had a square red flag (cornet) emblazoned with a white scroll and it's motto "Pro patria lacerata pugno" the literally pugnacious - "A torn fist for my country"</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5kVw1aOdp8tnOXyLOGslBAfoJGsU0fupoKBPmgv2aIIs-lqAU6Mp76MepaTHzYBvUqCcOX3cb8zVGKCVmMLikUQqBxBmWoDP1AjWf2nWx9x-mNldCbh68E8vq_6XNKqhLpbXswA5Tq3IM/s431/gauntlet-vector-9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5kVw1aOdp8tnOXyLOGslBAfoJGsU0fupoKBPmgv2aIIs-lqAU6Mp76MepaTHzYBvUqCcOX3cb8zVGKCVmMLikUQqBxBmWoDP1AjWf2nWx9x-mNldCbh68E8vq_6XNKqhLpbXswA5Tq3IM/s320/gauntlet-vector-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">The Parliamentary forces were effectively divided into three groups. Firstly there were the<i> field armies</i> - the men that we would call "the regulars" the men who marched all over the country fighting the main battles. Then there were the<i> auxiliaries</i>, the men who joined units that were to fight outside their county of origin, but usually used for garrison duty or on patrol. Then there were the <i>Trained Bands </i>or the <i>Militia</i>, the "home guard" if you like, they were often part time and only required for defence in their home county and there was often a lot of trouble if they were asked to serve elsewhere.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Norwich's men were initially (until August 1644) in the auxiliary forces. Due to the amazing survival of a booklet from 1652 ** which is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford no less (and has Richard's name in it) I know that that the Regiment were embodied and started active service on 17th October 1643. The pay list survives for the year ending on the quarter day 25th March 1644 and the troops were on active service for every day and the accounts of the cost of the Regiment show that the principal weapon (they each also had a sword and a brace of pistols slung either side of the front of their horse) was a harquebus, a form of matchlock carbine, below.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw2I_OdtTZKUFQyByDS-kgM3sSvZaIujHp3ZxFlTHcmfi4CwoiYMGctt9BFZe9Yigb_dZUYoOX7mE7DiMG4V1FMom7cN6nt-txJhqrXhQNzZATVjaEBb87Tspn1QyLnI6vWxk8kGKfDI_H/s753/harque.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="602" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw2I_OdtTZKUFQyByDS-kgM3sSvZaIujHp3ZxFlTHcmfi4CwoiYMGctt9BFZe9Yigb_dZUYoOX7mE7DiMG4V1FMom7cN6nt-txJhqrXhQNzZATVjaEBb87Tspn1QyLnI6vWxk8kGKfDI_H/w398-h500/harque.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">We know that when the Royalists took Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, Norwich's Regiment were ordered to garrison Hitchin and patrol the area to guard the approach to Hertfordshire and London. Norwich used the opportunity to recruit Buckinghamshire men and those from Bedfordshire and later Northants, his home county, to form further units which were brigaded with the Hertfordshire men. At times he commanded 500 Horse.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Richard Ginn and his mates were later used to garrison and patrol the approach to Godmanchester.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Things get interesting in the summer of 1644, because Parliament ordered Norwich to take his regiment to Abingdon in Oxfordshire, which was close to the Royalist centre of power at Oxford and which changed hands between the Cavaliers and Parliament several times during the First English Civil War (1642-6). Norwich refused - he said that his men were under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Association and, specifically, were part of the Eastern Association Army and thus under the orders of the Earl of Manchester (below).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPKtV9tr_4oMFA2DNXiDkwN2t8JAu0Mp_fdzeNm-LSRHb3HtTFCI9bH5888hpoZDt-lIMrHsC55akcyVqBVqy8AVZU4zVwiCVQT4CC-bWmfmCPcPLAf-6iZO9ZPpNXQrdUBWDp9biBBCA/s400/earl+of+manchester.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPKtV9tr_4oMFA2DNXiDkwN2t8JAu0Mp_fdzeNm-LSRHb3HtTFCI9bH5888hpoZDt-lIMrHsC55akcyVqBVqy8AVZU4zVwiCVQT4CC-bWmfmCPcPLAf-6iZO9ZPpNXQrdUBWDp9biBBCA/s320/earl+of+manchester.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">By 1644 the divisions in the Parliamentary faction were beginning to show. There were the moderates like Manchester who felt that the King was the King and Parliament would at some point have to come to terms with him. On the other side were the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell who felt that there was no chance of coming to terms with Charles, he would either have to be deposed or killed, likely both.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLG7tfYTDMMcNiFRrf2JwZ_Q6_PD0xxLKd7aTL76Ri9FUrP3KMiWWQp3zg5CwO3ZJ6GvD-KOjkO1LB74AAvceRFUsrq-mtdOlIol8GM2Jb2goMzDHYgkN4F-crp3qsh-wht9oD0l1zja5d/s500/roundhead.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="500" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLG7tfYTDMMcNiFRrf2JwZ_Q6_PD0xxLKd7aTL76Ri9FUrP3KMiWWQp3zg5CwO3ZJ6GvD-KOjkO1LB74AAvceRFUsrq-mtdOlIol8GM2Jb2goMzDHYgkN4F-crp3qsh-wht9oD0l1zja5d/w400-h295/roundhead.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">So when Norwich refused an order he created a rift. Parliament said "fair enough" and ordered Norwich's regiment into the field army of the Earl of Manchester in August 1644.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">It is impossible to tell this story in the context of a blog post, and interested readers will have to explore further, but as part of the Eastern Association Army it is clear that Sir John Norwich's Horse were at the the stand off at Donnington Castle in the Autumn of 1644 and the Second Battle of Newbury where they charged under the command of Oliver Cromwell, Cromwell being Manchester's subordinate at that battle.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTGJ4v8WiKKc5CW7mwgypZLGbp46YcfIhnbL-HxYFHfq02HJB-GejJBF9ckM1giNWTugS2XuuqvjK3ZYJ1mlFI2NXlVrxY6fRRru-DrCPtJ32RilCR8U46GdrjY9v471dmsRZECDv6h7I/s1168/donnington+castle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="1168" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTGJ4v8WiKKc5CW7mwgypZLGbp46YcfIhnbL-HxYFHfq02HJB-GejJBF9ckM1giNWTugS2XuuqvjK3ZYJ1mlFI2NXlVrxY6fRRru-DrCPtJ32RilCR8U46GdrjY9v471dmsRZECDv6h7I/w400-h181/donnington+castle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">The Second Battle of Newbury was not a great triumph for Parliament. They outnumbered the Royalists but made a mess of the use of the terrain and Cromwell's charge, for once, failed. The three Parliamentary army generals quarrelling and competing , Manchester, Waller and the Earl of Essex, sealed the fate of the battle and ultimately led to the creation of the New Model Army (below).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">The rifts between the Parliamentarian factions boiled over after Newbury and the Cromwellian supporters won. It was decided that all of the aristocratic leaders like the Earls of Manchester and Essex were out and the men who believed in the War "they know for what they fight and the fight for what they know" were in. The exiting motley of armies with different commanders were to be reformed with the best men as the New Model Army, highly trained and motivated and in uniform regiments and under one man, Fairfax.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">So in April 1645 all of the Eastern Association Army regiments were "reduced" some men likely went home, but most went into the New Model Army which was now the only field army, or went into garrison duty. Officers apart, it is impossible to find out what happened to any individual.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">I do not believe that Richard joined the New Model, because although he was clearly away from Ware for three years, save for short periods mostly in the winter when the records suggest he was billeted in Hertfordshire, he was back home in Ware at the end of 1646, or at least I think he was. Whilst the First Civil War ended in 1646, the New Model continued as a unit, it was not disbanded.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">A more plausible scenario is that he stayed with Sir John Norwich. Contemporaries of Sir John suggested he was a fine soldier and very popular. I have been unable to locate a portrait. The Naseby Battlefield Project tell me that Norwich was effectively demoted because of his loyalty to Manchester. In April 1645 he was made the Commander of Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire, his home county (below)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEireFxZZL2nRySGqRkcG2F0suaY6OayqPyuiWQJm6lYvj1t4EU_lqtAoTkg1B65FZU5NkgAsQdlNzJrTp-5eE5-YUlcpqYiR_1G0IEo65bybgjy407RHw3rYyJYzJpfTatFhAZckV29oeAW/s2048/rockingham.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1253" data-original-width="2048" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEireFxZZL2nRySGqRkcG2F0suaY6OayqPyuiWQJm6lYvj1t4EU_lqtAoTkg1B65FZU5NkgAsQdlNzJrTp-5eE5-YUlcpqYiR_1G0IEo65bybgjy407RHw3rYyJYzJpfTatFhAZckV29oeAW/w500-h305/rockingham.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">We know that Norwich was allocated some troopers and infantry to garrison the Castle - did Richard follow him ? The Royalists with their main army advanced towards Rockingham and subsequently Naseby in June 1645 and some of the Parliamentary troopers of various units fell back piecemeal on Rockingham and with "his own troop" Norwich is said to in total have accumulated 500 cavalry in his garrison.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Mike Ingram of the Naseby Battlefield Project tells me that research that his group have been doing, including metal detecting cavalry pistol balls and studying contemporary accounts (his work written up in 2018) suggests that Sir John Norwich and his 500 men played a significant role both before and at the end of the Battle of Naseby.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">The New Model Army turned up at Naseby in June 1645. Norwich had bravely taken his 500 cavalry, leaving his foot to garrison Rockingham/ to shadow and harass the Royal Army. The New Model crushed the royalist army at Naseby, and Charles 1st gathered his remaining cavalry including those of Prince Rupert, raised his standard and made a stand on and around Moot Hill (below)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisD25hVS8Xjo8zi5ssnNgK9CMVqvPn_x1TuHbZMgB_1d_YgwN76PZ3oTK1VLnzoGOyVkwO7E3wdUqjRtuRP8NPj24FFvROAfEkn3qPyBLFNqxz_eybpjnrYV-NxzJaq-0zkePZIR1uSKxr/s900/moot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="900" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisD25hVS8Xjo8zi5ssnNgK9CMVqvPn_x1TuHbZMgB_1d_YgwN76PZ3oTK1VLnzoGOyVkwO7E3wdUqjRtuRP8NPj24FFvROAfEkn3qPyBLFNqxz_eybpjnrYV-NxzJaq-0zkePZIR1uSKxr/w500-h346/moot.jpg" width="500" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">The cavalry of the New Model were engaged elsewhere or their horses blown, but Sir John Norwich and his men engaged the King's cavalry including his Lifeguards here, there are spent cavalry pistol balls all around. Standards were taken. Naseby was won and the First English Civil War effectively over. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Was Richard at Naseby ? We will never know. I think it likely.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Richard would seem to have been back in Ware in 1646, at least by the end of that year. He had had a daughter Elizabeth in May 1644 and apart from short visits would not have seen home much. But the army paid him 17s 6d a week which was not bad.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">He and Jane continued to have children, at least another four and then all settled down.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">I sadly have no idea what Richard did for a living, a workman of some kind possibly a Brazier. He had one hearth in 1663, so likely lived in a cottage he did not own. Jane died in 1680 and Richard in 1683 aged 65.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Richard and Jane had six children</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i>Richard - there were two - the first died in infancy and the second was born in 1649 and is untraced. He may have died in infancy, the register in the second half of the 1650s is lost.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i>James - died infancy</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i>Sarah - born in 1654 - she is untraced</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i>Jane - she sadly died of the plague in the Great Plague of 1665 - she was 17. Her burial entry is marked "P" for The Pest.</i></span></div><div><i><font size="5"><br /></font><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghn484uYgyOI-fRzkMenK-qp2vYrDG4dx22b8mkILOM-9NKshCRCTSYCCykfc59KcvqtIB1E94dYtvv5nXB9QEDP4OEFZnDj_H6Msnw63LBDFfE0ccvqw48X2EjqFeCA1uDf9225myGjkW/s500/plague.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="500" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghn484uYgyOI-fRzkMenK-qp2vYrDG4dx22b8mkILOM-9NKshCRCTSYCCykfc59KcvqtIB1E94dYtvv5nXB9QEDP4OEFZnDj_H6Msnw63LBDFfE0ccvqw48X2EjqFeCA1uDf9225myGjkW/w101-h79/plague.jpg" width="101" /></a></div></span></i></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i>Elizabeth - born in 1644 is untraced</i></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span><font face="trebuchet">** Richard's service is mentioned in Musters recorded in Alan Thomson's "The impact of the First Civil War on Hertfordshire 1642-7" (Hertfordshire Record Publications) and SP28 130 Part II (National Archives) and in a remarkable booklet by William Bagwell in 1652 (published on the order of Oliver Cromwell) which dealt with alleged non payments from the Hertfordshire Committee towards the payment of the wages of Norwich's regiment in 1643/4,</font></span></div><div><span><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="trebuchet">Acknowledgements: I am indebted for information supplied by the Cromwellian Association and, in particular, that provided by Mike Ingram of the Naseby Battlefield Project.</font></span></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-22443722251277091162020-08-01T09:51:00.000-07:002020-08-01T09:51:49.939-07:00The origins of the Ginn family of Ware<font face="times" size="5"><span>So far, the posts in the blog have been just about exclusively those relating to Ginn men and women descended from William Ginn of Aston who died in circa 1520. But, as mentioned in the Introduction to this blog, there were other Ginn families in Hertfordshire that cannot be shown to be or certainly were not descendants of William, though they are likely relations - and one such family is the first (post 1600) Ginn Family of Ware.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Three Ginn men, Richard, William and Nethaniah all seem to have come into Ware in about 1615. The fact that they arrived at broadly the same time suggests that they could have been brothers, though there is absolutely no evidence of that. They do not seem to be ancestors of nor related to (in my view) the second Ginn family that arrived in Ware in the 1650s, but more of that later.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>All three of these men married, although William died immediately afterwards and although Nethaniah lived until 1669 , his sons died in infancy and only two daughters lived to marry. So, effectively, the first Ginn Family of Ware are descended from this Richard, he being born in about 1585. So who was he ?</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Well the sad truth is I do not know, but there are two schools of thought as to his origins:</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>One, <i>the Broxbourne theory</i>, is that these lads came into Ware from neighbouring Broxbourne (whose registers do not survive for this period) as I know through the odd will that there were Ginns in Broxbourne in the 1500s. This family itself had likely originated from Ware, as I also know that Ginns were present in Ware from about 1450-1550, and the family used the name Richard. But my suspicion is that this theory "does not run".</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Secondly, <i>the Stocking Pelham theory</i>, is that Richard Ginn came into Ware from Stocking Pelham. A Richard Ginn of there, a Tailor, had property there (see post of 9th August 2012 ) and is known from the will of his brother Jonas (the SP registers also do not survive for this period) to have had a substantial family there in the 1570s through likely to 1600 or so. Jonas, who died in 1605, also tells us that Richard's son Harry (who had a son Uriah as opposed to Nethaniah)) went into Cheshunt (considerably further from Stocking Pelham than Ware) and given that SP was a tiny hamlet, the boys may have felt compelled to move out. My suspicion is that this theory runs.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Both theories are conjecture, there is is no evidence either way. So what do we know of this first Richard ?</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Well the first Richard was a Brazier, that is he made items of brass. And he married twice, Beatrice Gilderson of Stanstead Abbotts (likely daughter of George and born Roydon in 1596 - I know this area well) in 1616 (by whom he had his only child) and the widow Alice Hare of Broxbourne in early 1623. For some reason both marriages were at the small but beautiful Widford Church nearby, Richard and h</span><span>is brides seeing the wall paintings from 1500 that are still there today.</span><br />
<br />
</font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-B0WPFcSb3PQD02MmDLQPebo1E5kBWOfNQWAYMi3nWRR7VK96HmUfpHfn73BmEUVDh6_yi3nyZOsZ3vHxfzmrc_BqT2n9T5qL9BBSkgQOXYW_TgXGsz7dOYf_D4Myt17tymAD4LqAHaL/s1600/St_John_the_Baptist_Church%252C_Widford%252C_Herts._-_geograph.org.uk_-_217301.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-B0WPFcSb3PQD02MmDLQPebo1E5kBWOfNQWAYMi3nWRR7VK96HmUfpHfn73BmEUVDh6_yi3nyZOsZ3vHxfzmrc_BqT2n9T5qL9BBSkgQOXYW_TgXGsz7dOYf_D4Myt17tymAD4LqAHaL/s320/St_John_the_Baptist_Church%252C_Widford%252C_Herts._-_geograph.org.uk_-_217301.jpg" width="320" /></font></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNCx24Z73wTRH89GmP41aFZ8qGmtdSsEYvC_H1SkLfmtEwhD7MPS8Gb0KpcMeoT-SJ1BdXluLFqJS8Ksn4pUgsEseUq3k5FWZGtLOq1DFEjAnZfjXSeWpQQuwkM7mbiuJRavNWfsw2JL_/s1600/widford.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="339" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNCx24Z73wTRH89GmP41aFZ8qGmtdSsEYvC_H1SkLfmtEwhD7MPS8Gb0KpcMeoT-SJ1BdXluLFqJS8Ksn4pUgsEseUq3k5FWZGtLOq1DFEjAnZfjXSeWpQQuwkM7mbiuJRavNWfsw2JL_/s320/widford.jpg" width="212" /></font></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span><font face="times" size="5">And that is pretty much it, we do not know when Richard died nor does there appear to be any burial record of either wife.</font></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2MRcUvmi0tJkKAnLCjrK5xgRBiBahRPLd1-iPACYuv0q3fzq81Rb3J2gKKPZLnnyly0DxrHnNHQBaNWJK33BMK1avL-hMPGEK59fJbUPm22OvGTgtO-yPsxeHebr7RtjbaQon_11VciBW/s1600/richard+ginn+ware+ist+marriage+both+marr+at+widford+1616+to+Beatrice+Gilderson+of+Stan+Abb.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="times" size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="107" data-original-width="715" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2MRcUvmi0tJkKAnLCjrK5xgRBiBahRPLd1-iPACYuv0q3fzq81Rb3J2gKKPZLnnyly0DxrHnNHQBaNWJK33BMK1avL-hMPGEK59fJbUPm22OvGTgtO-yPsxeHebr7RtjbaQon_11VciBW/w500-h73/richard+ginn+ware+ist+marriage+both+marr+at+widford+1616+to+Beatrice+Gilderson+of+Stan+Abb.JPG" width="500" /></font></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div>
<font face="times" size="5"><span>As for the only son, also Richard - see next po</span><span>st</span></font>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-56287417628370454092020-06-28T12:03:00.004-07:002021-03-15T15:56:00.838-07:00Samuel Ginn or Gean of the Royal Navy and Greenwich died 1790<font face="times" size="5">I would have loved to have sat and had a pipe and a pint with this guy in a Greenwich pub, as he had a few tales to tell did Sam. He was in the Royal Navy before Captain Cook.</font><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Sam was the brother of George in my last post, and son of William and Catherine in first post of 28th June 2020. The first miracle is that he survived infancy, as he was orphaned with his siblings at the age of seven.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Who cared for Sam is a mystery. He may have initially been taken in by relations, but he most likely was handed to the parish poor law officials (see below) as we know that ultimately they took responsibility for him.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Sam does not have a surviving baptism record, and nor does he have a surviving apprenticeship record, but what does survive, by some miracle, are a series of documents in the records of the Royal Navy that document his early life. I have never come across anything quite like it. Without the Royal Navy I would never have traced him.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj669PayWcRwVKhl_iDnsvBUJ2aX01Nt0-A_hHi6v7eetZAcn4Z2Qudyeb28_3jmDhoBH0pSkrbZ4HR_A5qhOK18hbFPixbLqNIEgUfQQ-jdCXvwyVbF3S2NC6hYcW2iPYCB3ECgFUWNax2/s1536/greenwich.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj669PayWcRwVKhl_iDnsvBUJ2aX01Nt0-A_hHi6v7eetZAcn4Z2Qudyeb28_3jmDhoBH0pSkrbZ4HR_A5qhOK18hbFPixbLqNIEgUfQQ-jdCXvwyVbF3S2NC6hYcW2iPYCB3ECgFUWNax2/w512-h320/greenwich.jpg" width="512" /></a></div></div><div><font face="times" size="5"> Greenwich circa 1750</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">In his teens Sam Ginn was apprenticed to a Greenwich fisherman, Richard Wilkinson. We know this, because Richard tells us in an affidavit he swore many years later. He even went to the lengths of getting the parish clerk to check the baptism register at St Bartholomew the Less church so as to give the Navy and us full details of Sam's birth and parentage.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJKnX8bNLh7vzjgzpf8lkxe02ongNl3lX877U5ZMqS_r5WWhZ9hwLpevbu7ePRo1EOvPdawQWZyqoCo1dVe5bPaZB1Md2jwAo_RLBvBEx8T9D7oZWxChYiblXFETrmJv2F2lniivDH-Pz/s1029/sam+ginn+navy.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="1029" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJKnX8bNLh7vzjgzpf8lkxe02ongNl3lX877U5ZMqS_r5WWhZ9hwLpevbu7ePRo1EOvPdawQWZyqoCo1dVe5bPaZB1Md2jwAo_RLBvBEx8T9D7oZWxChYiblXFETrmJv2F2lniivDH-Pz/w400-h158/sam+ginn+navy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">There is no doubt but that Sam was apprenticed out by the parish, that is he somehow survived until his teens and was then, about the age of fourteen (1731) apprenticed out under the Poor Laws to Richard Wilkinson. We know this, not only because Wilkinson involved St Barts in his evidence above, but because whereas a normal apprenticeship lasted for seven years, until 1767 a parish apprenticeship lasted until the boy was a man of twenty four. So Sam was effectively "sold" by the parish and bound to Wilkinson (who did not have to pay him money and provide him nothing but his keep) for ten years. What an existence.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">What is worse, is that Wilkinson himself then effectively sold Sam to the Royal Navy, probably in the early 1730s. He gave the Navy Board the original apprenticeship indenture (which I think may still be at the National Archives - I am looking into it) and expected each ship that Sam served on to forward the whole of Sam's wages to Wilkinson - you could not really make this story up !</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">So what we have here is Sam entering the Royal Navy in his teens. It is impossible to research "other ranks" in the Navy before the Crimean War (mid 19th century) because sailors did not have a "career" as such, ie did not sign up for a length of service until then. The navy man was recruited for any ship and any voyage that might take him on and might then be ashore for a time. So when a ship recruited, Sam would have joined the crew, when it finished it's voyage it would have paid him off and he would have been ashore until the next ship took him on. So without knowing the ships ("chicken and egg") you cannot trace the man in the ship's muster and log records. And the Royal Navy had a heck of a lot of ships.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">But what I know at the moment is that Sam Ginn thrived in the Navy. By 1739 there is reference to him being made a Boatswain ("Bosun") ie what was termed a "standing officer" being the best seaman in the crew save for the Ship's Master (ie the man - not the Captain - who effectively managed the ship). There are a couple of warrants or appointments concerning this surviving and I am looking into what ships they relate to - as a Bosun was appointed to a ship.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">But, ironically through the actions of Wilkinson, I know that in 1741/2 Sam Ginn was on board HMS Romney. We know this because the Paymaster at Portsmouth (God bless him) had been so affronted upon seeing the Indenture and being told that he could not pay Sam ("now on the Romney") that he got himself in "a passion" said Wilkinson and defaced the indenture, paid Sam directly and sent the Indenture back to the Navy Board.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfxAhyphenhyphenqWOsOg8H3k8W1uam2BUzWMKlZWOepn51_ldzpR1ghPqkINNG89Q7mUYBzGCUODi8jAgHIRwBx9l8Gkhk7EgQhhUj4umR2gGKn6_M6nBZpfLXhPANJEHay9Ztp-z9mFmEp2uLR9n/s1280/50+gun+4th+rate+1720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfxAhyphenhyphenqWOsOg8H3k8W1uam2BUzWMKlZWOepn51_ldzpR1ghPqkINNG89Q7mUYBzGCUODi8jAgHIRwBx9l8Gkhk7EgQhhUj4umR2gGKn6_M6nBZpfLXhPANJEHay9Ztp-z9mFmEp2uLR9n/w500-h375/50+gun+4th+rate+1720.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">HMS Romney was a 50 gun 4th Rate ship of the line built in 1708. She had been given a major refurbishment and relaunched in 1726. Above is a model of a 1720 built (HMS Falkland) 50 gun 4th rate the model now in Greenwich Museum. In 1742 the Romney was commanded by Thomas Grenville (later captain of HMS Falkland above and killed at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747), after April 1743 by Henry Godsalve.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Now the interesting thing is that Sam obviously knew that Richard Wilkinson was coming after him, because when you research the Muster and Paybooks of HMS Romney 1740-1745 (ADM 33/352 at the National Archives) you find that Samuel Ginn is now Samuel Gean and had signed on as an Able Seaman, not being able to get a "ticket" as the Bosun. Sam was not illiterate, this was an attempt to disassociate and distance himself from Richard Wilkinson (see muster entry below)</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGPJD1dRKvLtGVw-VkcxN1GoqJ9IZjxCjJ8Z3YwF2wTV3sOoVWhwzw97pZEi1ozyKkBfmM53LsBlaj0dp0c6vq0zq2fUXGoDvqw7Vy9SAc3ZM47pAucxBnBihZSuHxZI6IINDwMjrdzVV/s1280/sam+gean+no+discharge+romney.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGPJD1dRKvLtGVw-VkcxN1GoqJ9IZjxCjJ8Z3YwF2wTV3sOoVWhwzw97pZEi1ozyKkBfmM53LsBlaj0dp0c6vq0zq2fUXGoDvqw7Vy9SAc3ZM47pAucxBnBihZSuHxZI6IINDwMjrdzVV/w500-h375/sam+gean+no+discharge+romney.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">The British were pretty much always at war during the 1700s, and at this time we were embroiled in the War of Austrian Succession (don't ask) and (having a German King) were on the side of the Austrians, the old enemies being France and Spain.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">HMS Romney was stationed at Port Mahon in Menorca (below) as part of the Mediterranean Fleet.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2bYwxAcrLODWneDH8v-85CtzOwohisIuChZ8TrsNKPP86FxBYgfVdanXW1LbkMw8aX5doJ1kwTptCRsga7acVyBUJICbvBI0Zcctnv5RYzgbgLV6xuCR75gGLdD4WZ7gKq8ugA2Gn5Q3/s3200/port+mahon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2074" data-original-width="3200" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2bYwxAcrLODWneDH8v-85CtzOwohisIuChZ8TrsNKPP86FxBYgfVdanXW1LbkMw8aX5doJ1kwTptCRsga7acVyBUJICbvBI0Zcctnv5RYzgbgLV6xuCR75gGLdD4WZ7gKq8ugA2Gn5Q3/w400-h259/port+mahon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">She patrolled the area around there and the Straits of Gibraltar, and in March1743 the Romney sighted a Spanish treasure ship, a ship with a very valuable cargo, some estimated it at nearly £150,000 sailing from Veracruz to Cadiz.. The ship was taken, Grenville was promoted up a notch, but more important, to Grenville and all of the crew at least, was the prize money.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">The Admiralty down valued the prize, which must have infuriated the crew, but Grenville received about £30,000 getting a fair chunk of the pot. A quarter of the pot was shared between the other ranks, and the ship having a full complement of 300 men, leads me to the conclusion that our Samuel here received between £50 - 100. Sam's luck had turned. The men would have lined up to receive the money in gold paid into their hats on the drumhead, and knuckled their forelock on receipt..</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5WK-35D_FCWK_AjNTtUGfsrBB8NuHh3D7tkJGFVieDmLHFQ6AyQIT2hyECi-szSmcD08U_yaStogWbMB_rYf3E4IoXpr97ArMloYwwySSYw2N7vADtGLAD-EzOPvFPAEgYl7iEUw_X35/s1280/prize.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="1280" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5WK-35D_FCWK_AjNTtUGfsrBB8NuHh3D7tkJGFVieDmLHFQ6AyQIT2hyECi-szSmcD08U_yaStogWbMB_rYf3E4IoXpr97ArMloYwwySSYw2N7vADtGLAD-EzOPvFPAEgYl7iEUw_X35/w400-h265/prize.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Godsalve now became Captain, but things went down a notch for all concerned in February 1744. The British were blockading Toulon in France where a Spanish squadron had taken refuge. France, not officially at war with Britain, was on the Spanish side and secretly planning an invasion of England.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Command of the British Mediterranean Fleet had been given to a Thomas Matthews who had not been to sea since 1736 and had never had command of anything bigger than a squadron. Second in command was a man called Lestock who could not stand Matthews, so things were not set to go well from the start.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">The British Fleet attacked the Spanish who came out of Toulon attempting to escape. The British outnumbered them, but Matthews muddled his signals to the Fleet and on a day with little wind the British fleet was scattered all over the place and could not "form line" and concentrate their numbers so as to crush the Spanish. Lestock had a squadron, which included HMS Romney, but seeing Matthews in difficulty, Lestock smirked and held his ships back - some five miles (!) from the main British force.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Matthews knowing the situation was critical, seeing the Spanish escaping and the French fleet gathered in Toulon, engaged the Spanish with those ships he could bring to line, too few, and was given a mauling, upon seeing which the French fleet sailed out and finished the job. The Royal Navy were accustomed to constant success, the public ("Hearts of Oak") disgusted, Matthews was dismissed the service and Lestock court martialled. I think we can guess the words Sam Ginn and his mates uttered on the fiasco.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hT38hTNCSoLlzHcDzbfmT7AgQZaydbySv_H3shE27qHGsNZJZI30p53kQxsnTLd8xVUOTWzclU_9EnQ2uF8EkkNolrv3ibIZse8zENThW2M8neBgogj_qFaXkf7ZWiUiOXlLi977-J-K/s1515/Plan_descriptif_de_la_bataille_de_Toulon_1744.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1515" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hT38hTNCSoLlzHcDzbfmT7AgQZaydbySv_H3shE27qHGsNZJZI30p53kQxsnTLd8xVUOTWzclU_9EnQ2uF8EkkNolrv3ibIZse8zENThW2M8neBgogj_qFaXkf7ZWiUiOXlLi977-J-K/w500-h330/Plan_descriptif_de_la_bataille_de_Toulon_1744.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"> The plan of battle at Toulon</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Sam Gean as he now was came home. At the moment I am not sure if he ever went back to the Navy again. He certainly went back to Greenwich where he quite likely used his prize money to buy a boat.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Sam married three times. In February 1745 he married Mary South at Greenwich St Alphege by Licence, saying that he was 28. Mary died in 1759 or thereabouts and in 1760, also by Licence (below) Sam married Elizabeth Scanlan which you can see bears his signature.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQ6tIUlNd4znSCfrKydWHxR8VHCR7KlB14Hqg2HKysyKt_mmf9dKdfHVZEaDp3QDeiYPBYInmEIWCLiZtXpy5h6n0Gce8pNTBpcID6NkEsEYhmqsxGGQfsN9eNkKsNPXQ0uxOjPS-2CZ5/s3600/Gean+Samuel+m+Elizabeth+Scanlan+1760+p.1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3600" data-original-width="2224" height="781" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQ6tIUlNd4znSCfrKydWHxR8VHCR7KlB14Hqg2HKysyKt_mmf9dKdfHVZEaDp3QDeiYPBYInmEIWCLiZtXpy5h6n0Gce8pNTBpcID6NkEsEYhmqsxGGQfsN9eNkKsNPXQ0uxOjPS-2CZ5/w485-h781/Gean+Samuel+m+Elizabeth+Scanlan+1760+p.1.jpg" width="485" /></a></div></font></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Elizabeth died in February 1776, and in November of that year Sam married a Mary Moore, again by Licence. </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">As I say, we do not know if Sam returned to the Navy after 1745, the fact that there were no children from any marriage leaves the question open, but we do know that by the 1750s at least Sam had bought a boat and set himself up as one of the Greenwich Fishing Fleet, who sailed the east and south coasts of England and trawled their catch. They sold their fish at Ship Stairs and at the Greenwich Market which was set up in 1700 and is still active and on the same site today.</font></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHifQExMUYa_N3fsJ7knynGoxlvyKspgytXRNqS3Jh8tDqyfG_nKwu5Ytn8DVzOsD1xNtknpt92RRgCtydO9ima3akG17ZTeSAJRAJzLoARvQNM8EecgyqdHp9iGG1JcJajU-kptmIrm-/s1280/Greenwich-Market_Philip-Vile_outside-College-Approach.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1280" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHifQExMUYa_N3fsJ7knynGoxlvyKspgytXRNqS3Jh8tDqyfG_nKwu5Ytn8DVzOsD1xNtknpt92RRgCtydO9ima3akG17ZTeSAJRAJzLoARvQNM8EecgyqdHp9iGG1JcJajU-kptmIrm-/w400-h324/Greenwich-Market_Philip-Vile_outside-College-Approach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVK_J1tqkpvY64IKD1Wx2ua4-WyhezN9vc_NxZhWr9ccrPSewQFpEgjUcJT3Kd59KsCk9WbeVitl4LDqmQdoBwu806N4SJ6oD9FEqVkIplFu450LQwa9KksSPzC_hAoQsLPLvlVjUbiOo7/s900/greenwich+market.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="900" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVK_J1tqkpvY64IKD1Wx2ua4-WyhezN9vc_NxZhWr9ccrPSewQFpEgjUcJT3Kd59KsCk9WbeVitl4LDqmQdoBwu806N4SJ6oD9FEqVkIplFu450LQwa9KksSPzC_hAoQsLPLvlVjUbiOo7/w400-h268/greenwich+market.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="times" size="5">At some point Sam bought a house in Cold Bath Row in East Greenwich. He is in the Greenwich Land Tax of 1780 as a property owner. Bank of England records also show that by 1781 he had acquired a few stocks and shares. You have to admire the guy, from having less than nothing, Sam made lemonade from the lemons that life had given him. </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Sam Ginn or Gean "Mariner" in the register, died in 1790, he was 72. He left a will (PCC) calling himself "as Gentleman" and leaving everything he owned to Mary.. He is buried at St Alphege Greenwich which is today as it was built in 1712 and still known as "The Mariner's Church". Mary remarried a William Wheatley of Greenwich in 1797.</font></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCY5TUKTki52HQ4hnIwm0URZkQof5j2WtBmUZko99M8a3wnSFUYbZYe74VQYBqO0hBgYwkvvAfXmesKdTRAWRWT8Kbb0I_pleTlFoYGl2J5hEYEtuTLlYwIYEsfjJ0BIAd073M6gwk0kpe/s850/st+aphege.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="850" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCY5TUKTki52HQ4hnIwm0URZkQof5j2WtBmUZko99M8a3wnSFUYbZYe74VQYBqO0hBgYwkvvAfXmesKdTRAWRWT8Kbb0I_pleTlFoYGl2J5hEYEtuTLlYwIYEsfjJ0BIAd073M6gwk0kpe/w400-h321/st+aphege.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-89566102495165259872020-06-28T11:52:00.007-07:002021-08-15T11:18:43.431-07:00George Ginn of Nevis in the Leeward Islands died after 1765<div><font face="times" size="5">George Ginn here was the son of William in my last post and brother of Samuel. He was born on April Fool's Day 1716 - which was an unfortunate start. I first came across an entry that related to him on a very busy day of research at the Guildhall Library in the City of London, many, many years ago. I had no idea who he was, made a note and moved on. So it was a huge shock to find that he has a place here.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">George was an orphan at the age of seven. In the City, in an age of smallpox epidemics and numerous fevers, with the likelihood of the Overseer of the Poor taking charge of him - he had virtually zero chance of survival. But survive he did. Something intervened.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"> That "something" was the institution known as Christ's Hospital.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95HUxpb0ms0KiU_Qx9U4RJ3RCl-EXZb89Xb_FPXa7d-XoxvPneZ9GzOVYnOSjx3sUkK_Ycw34QsQR3cv1E8bSsE2ryiULIjbhvCBoAPIh1LkM3Lu5UjPHeKfJyPYVBSAsKThAOHMiR3_B/s814/Christ%2527s_Hospital%252C_engraved_by_Toms_c.1770.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="814" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95HUxpb0ms0KiU_Qx9U4RJ3RCl-EXZb89Xb_FPXa7d-XoxvPneZ9GzOVYnOSjx3sUkK_Ycw34QsQR3cv1E8bSsE2ryiULIjbhvCBoAPIh1LkM3Lu5UjPHeKfJyPYVBSAsKThAOHMiR3_B/w512-h344/Christ%2527s_Hospital%252C_engraved_by_Toms_c.1770.jpg" width="512" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Christ's Hospital (which still exists but now in Sussex) was set up in the 1550s in Grey Friars in London in Newgate Street. It was set up for destitute children, mostly boys, and particularly (as it turned out) for the sons of City Freemen, ie those members of the London guilds who died with their children unprovided for. whether as orphans or leaving a destitute widow.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg75oIQD02nKkJ98594uGXNSysyvolZBpLyxIY_e-7k4VDijWVBB6GiZFG4BO65QEI9qF5n1a3iffSmXFLuX4vuLRy8J1mq_rssojjjggfgNYJOvHZ5bELkpvEX2YEd0QpRs2Cv8sYZHGGX/s1330/GinnG+register+entry.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="1330" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg75oIQD02nKkJ98594uGXNSysyvolZBpLyxIY_e-7k4VDijWVBB6GiZFG4BO65QEI9qF5n1a3iffSmXFLuX4vuLRy8J1mq_rssojjjggfgNYJOvHZ5bELkpvEX2YEd0QpRs2Cv8sYZHGGX/w500-h60/GinnG+register+entry.JPG" width="500" /></a></div></div><div><font face="times" size="5"> The original admission & discharge for Geo.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"> Christ's Hospital </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The parish of St Bartholomew the Less were left with at least three orphaned sons of William and Catherine when William died in 1724. Two, the parish dealt with in the way that parishes dealt with destitute children at this time, but George here the parish presented to Christ's Hospital who took him in.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Admission was granted at the age of seven and, you guessed it, George became a "Bluecoat" boy in 1724, the children wore blue coats.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwAqXhNVDwdnktE-jiaZIBsFxBWvxRjU1eEpoiMVLpLOP-sj66ZLHWL9G1nURFKLHr5e8A1QxSwjterJNX5DQ30W4d0wBFgiT1xGmSqENns1nO1gC9bVL67ZJmShUa9P-rNbbb66ErO5V/s704/bluecoat+boy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="580" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwAqXhNVDwdnktE-jiaZIBsFxBWvxRjU1eEpoiMVLpLOP-sj66ZLHWL9G1nURFKLHr5e8A1QxSwjterJNX5DQ30W4d0wBFgiT1xGmSqENns1nO1gC9bVL67ZJmShUa9P-rNbbb66ErO5V/w330-h400/bluecoat+boy.png" width="330" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><font face="times"></font><font size="5"></font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">By George's day, the School had also acquired premises in Hertfordshire of all places, actually in Hertford and Ware, and I know the premises well for some later buildings are still there. It would appear that from the age of seven to twelve or so George would have been sent to Hertford, to learn to read and write and get a passable education. The school (purpose built in Fore Street in 1690 (below in 1830)</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJHGXMu2r6aBH4O731xzp0CR8P2hjoh-zyeyL2P9OBS6co3Z4uGbsGP9pFmb0TNN9T6UD-vkPfUU9TAs4LOPWHhyphenhyphenWEJ8JKIiWaQab_9hHvaK5oI0H5O1DS2BR44e5ma4uB66Z937ANXha/s444/hertford-christs-turnor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="444" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJHGXMu2r6aBH4O731xzp0CR8P2hjoh-zyeyL2P9OBS6co3Z4uGbsGP9pFmb0TNN9T6UD-vkPfUU9TAs4LOPWHhyphenhyphenWEJ8JKIiWaQab_9hHvaK5oI0H5O1DS2BR44e5ma4uB66Z937ANXha/w504-h300/hertford-christs-turnor.jpg" width="504" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">was a rather grand affair. The Hospital owned some similarly purpose built terraced cottages there and in Ware which, were each occupied by some ten or so boys and in the charge of nurses paid by the hospital, some of which were diligent, others less so. The cottages at Place House in Ware are shown below.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibwsamNsErtQBVQ8bOWnrgXsl6bMmj6MUa6GqiXkaicr0YhoTYuPTUEF5c-5T9azvMi2YMly6lQVxNbNCkaOnvwyBZ6lF9TGdPbuf5VyaCTJaVicPiAkYjNVB3UsVPMBJtZ58Uysv7-kv6/s1730/place+house+cottages.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="1730" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibwsamNsErtQBVQ8bOWnrgXsl6bMmj6MUa6GqiXkaicr0YhoTYuPTUEF5c-5T9azvMi2YMly6lQVxNbNCkaOnvwyBZ6lF9TGdPbuf5VyaCTJaVicPiAkYjNVB3UsVPMBJtZ58Uysv7-kv6/w447-h183/place+house+cottages.jpg" width="447" /></a></div><br /><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"> So for a few short years George, came "home" to Hertfordshire. He would have then returned to Newgate Street. There, in the evening the "Blues" would have supper in the Great Hall, below. Somewhat reminiscent of "Harry Potter" and Hogwarts.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><font face="times"></font><font size="5"></font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CsbzEWkW4o1gISYzUqNQ4zeoDrxdzGKMHxgXo9LVvtv5yx-WypLHVTEfiMkIgy9DH-Q1Baq42BSgYUm5zsM6cUIrhoZ0Z7q6U6vyMjF4MRupnJzIt2pjUyjfFVN8g82Kn7nxGXW5BQr2/s768/supper+chirists+hospital.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="740" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CsbzEWkW4o1gISYzUqNQ4zeoDrxdzGKMHxgXo9LVvtv5yx-WypLHVTEfiMkIgy9DH-Q1Baq42BSgYUm5zsM6cUIrhoZ0Z7q6U6vyMjF4MRupnJzIt2pjUyjfFVN8g82Kn7nxGXW5BQr2/w385-h400/supper+chirists+hospital.gif" width="385" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font size="5"></font><font face="times"></font><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">When a boy reached 14 or 15 he faced a crossroads. If he were gifted academically, then he could be chosen to stay on at the school to be prepared for university - ie Oxford or Cambridge at that time. If he were not, and the vast majority were not, then he was put to an apprenticeship or indentured, often to the colonies.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4-IWQYHHKLLkz43pi5LNZznTNo80tNymhCW-7X_7kXawEk-QlEDgBSihKsS6yqL_l9CP27_Hiskpmk_oN4anU6vsLM6WHHuBn4KCsbFqUUXXgYGfMOnos4G02WC1aMB8cYAgcnJCyyh7/s2048/bluecoat+boy+circa+1720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1566" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4-IWQYHHKLLkz43pi5LNZznTNo80tNymhCW-7X_7kXawEk-QlEDgBSihKsS6yqL_l9CP27_Hiskpmk_oN4anU6vsLM6WHHuBn4KCsbFqUUXXgYGfMOnos4G02WC1aMB8cYAgcnJCyyh7/s320/bluecoat+boy+circa+1720.jpg" /></a></div><br /><font face="times" size="5"> Blue coat boy of c1720 from</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"> an original illustration at Christs</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">George was indentured out in 1730, with the agreement of his cousin Anna Maria Harding, of which more below * . Christ's called her in to sanction George being indentured to the Plantations of Thomas Butler in Nevis in the West Indies no less. The indenture was for seven years, assuming George survived the voyage (Child Apprentices in America from Christ's Hospital - original record above)</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VcTbPa7pKy0KKQ7A1iVp83sPuqnNMl8tqsga5n87yCp4wRyZ9JBMHKUvxV-EnCsbyljiBqakZdkT0J13cMGFYwBuHKdj2gbu-PsGukF3_1HRn-vtn0SIEnk6ODCrpxujjaopDBBIltE4/s1800/abroad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VcTbPa7pKy0KKQ7A1iVp83sPuqnNMl8tqsga5n87yCp4wRyZ9JBMHKUvxV-EnCsbyljiBqakZdkT0J13cMGFYwBuHKdj2gbu-PsGukF3_1HRn-vtn0SIEnk6ODCrpxujjaopDBBIltE4/w400-h266/abroad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Thomas Butler (d. 1744) was a Merchant of Camberwell in Surrey. His father, Captain Thomas Butler who died circa 1688 had acquired two sugar plantations in Nevis, one called The Grove and the other New River. The Butlers are famous (or infamous) on Nevis and had estates there (there is a Butler's Estate there still) until emancipation of the slaves and later, because of course we are dealing with slavery here.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">The slave voyages followed a triangular route. The voyage would start in Bristol or London and the ship sail to West Africa where it would pick up it's cargo of slaves from the slave traders. It would then sail across the Atlantic to the West Indies or North America, sell what was left of it's cargo (many slaves died en route) to the Plantation owners and then pick up it's new cargo of sugar or cotton and sail back to the UK. It was hugely profitable.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiv1LLR2CPyquHrZF4Wa1MW_SSOM5DyDzp8iI0oaEH7_wR7IRt51sdntHojaUjQtcahwOFPqfX9FAeSmmUsUqcoikCzTV5-of4-3lpkloTWi3IMxSNLLleFSLPhiSvoDyodjTo4OjkwSHR/s2000/sugar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1219" data-original-width="2000" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiv1LLR2CPyquHrZF4Wa1MW_SSOM5DyDzp8iI0oaEH7_wR7IRt51sdntHojaUjQtcahwOFPqfX9FAeSmmUsUqcoikCzTV5-of4-3lpkloTWi3IMxSNLLleFSLPhiSvoDyodjTo4OjkwSHR/w400-h244/sugar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">The owners of the plantations in the West Indies were largely absentees, being on their estates on occasion, but mostly living in Britain and giving power to those managing the plantations on their behalf. There would then be under managers, and under them the slave overseers and supervisory staff, the managers, overseers and the majority of the rest white, often born in Britain (because there was a prejudice apparently against the native, island born white man, a "creole" (who could also be of mixed blood) so the plantations needed a fresh supply of young white men from Britain on a regular basis, to replace those dying of the numerous tropical diseases in these islands and those leaving for home or America itself. This is just a synopsis of how this worked and for further information please read the excellent study of the team from Bristol University on the Mountravers Plantation on Nevis at this time - https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~emceee/mountraversplantationcommunity.html</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Now George must have felt a mixture of excitement and terror at going out to the West Indies in 1730. This was the tail end of the period of "The Pirates of the Caribbean" (roughly 1680-1730) and Nevis "The Queen of the Caribees" had been devastated by pirates several times after 1700.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhp-irphTt4eDnwNocz92D0hvTRPLLb0g_v9tU5cMwih9qbFldcCk9rc5Vs5m4xJvZqiE6jmW0HV4TLI8B3eYIh7QjXkECV4eUu13NNkMZV1MN39ZuLSOpn8s_9R5iFeCnKjQ5i1njpwX/s1896/Black-Sails-XXIX-1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="1896" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhp-irphTt4eDnwNocz92D0hvTRPLLb0g_v9tU5cMwih9qbFldcCk9rc5Vs5m4xJvZqiE6jmW0HV4TLI8B3eYIh7QjXkECV4eUu13NNkMZV1MN39ZuLSOpn8s_9R5iFeCnKjQ5i1njpwX/w513-h259/Black-Sails-XXIX-1.png" width="513" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">I despaired of finding any record of George once he had left Britain's shores. The Nevis parish registers are not available. The Nevis records generally have not been cared for in Nevis with the lack of any archives office locally. Given that, and the fact that tropical disease wiped out most of the British emigrants and George was only fourteen when he went, I thought that was it, Not so.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTLwwYg6fymMAAAkDWNc0aejSj_sbDuW3M10YCtDIw26qifoSVtX3w8yajpK2r2WJq9wLvatn0k-1M9pvLzo3C-eg1n_Hri0I-jZzlN7Gi6kXdsnx4ZCEvUU7GLWKS4yIk0gpavxRFuza/s720/nevis+1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="720" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTLwwYg6fymMAAAkDWNc0aejSj_sbDuW3M10YCtDIw26qifoSVtX3w8yajpK2r2WJq9wLvatn0k-1M9pvLzo3C-eg1n_Hri0I-jZzlN7Gi6kXdsnx4ZCEvUU7GLWKS4yIk0gpavxRFuza/w400-h274/nevis+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">The British Library have been funding the preservation and digitizing of what they consider to be "endangered" Caribbean records, and the University of Bristol under a team lead by D. Small and C. Eickelmann have been trying, heroically, to preserve what is left of the records on Nevis.. I contacted Christine Eickelmann and, to my astonishment, she had George Ginn here in her notes.</font><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">This research is currently live, and in the absence of parish records is likely to take years and I may well be dead myself before I know that much more, but George got to Nevis safely and finished his time working on the Butler Plantations in 1737 or so.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">At some point he was trained as a Carpenter and Millwright, ie the highly skilled men who build and maintain mills. This was a vital job on the plantations, as skilled men were in short supply and the sugarcane was ground down by the mills as part of the sugar producing process. Every plantation had at least one mill and most several.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"> George clearly started working on his own account as we start to see court cases concerning him in the Nevis court records regarding small debts (see below), money he was owed for jobs done and money he owed for materials supplied, and these continue through to 1765 at least (I am still researching) when George was nearly 50.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaicyeBYmiBzBUzKLwXfn-v0J50F4W6RAniCpCd72S9977jekSV0BvnfIH5YHmx7SSA0rTF9QJW80WL-h0byZ0ZNguUj99uAAr7NCUSL3QVsnaRNDQcLLV2LxYWQlGYvpQ1iSynuBMa2q/s530/geo+of+nevis+again+1765.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="77" data-original-width="530" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaicyeBYmiBzBUzKLwXfn-v0J50F4W6RAniCpCd72S9977jekSV0BvnfIH5YHmx7SSA0rTF9QJW80WL-h0byZ0ZNguUj99uAAr7NCUSL3QVsnaRNDQcLLV2LxYWQlGYvpQ1iSynuBMa2q/w512-h74/geo+of+nevis+again+1765.JPG" width="512" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="times"></font><font size="5"></font><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Due to a similarly amazing discovery, it became apparent in 2021 that George Ginn both married and had issue. The records of this are at present not available but work is apparently afoot to try to digitize the parish and other records on the Island for this period ( court and council minute records are now available), but until that is completed I cannot really move forward. But we now know that he had at least one and likely more sons.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">George obviously died after 1765.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">Known issue</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>George jnr - see post of 15th August 2021</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5">* </font><font face="courier">A Richard Harding married Susanna Van Limput at St Olave's Southwark, Surrey in 1701. Susanna was Dutch. A lot of Dutch people came into England when William of Orange became King in 1689. The family lived near Grub Street, St Giles Cripplegate. Richard Harding was a member of the Turner's Company. In 1707, the couple had Anna Maria Harding who later claimed to be a cousin of George Ginn in 1730. I do not know how.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="courier"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fWn2bhOpRYSbbbny-ekq03ly-sXWrysPQzBNjwyGIiN8mcJeNTyNnXfvslbiO8968NzATQ8p6_4ToWE3uQA81e-N7HP7dS-6GG-M0vtTx3D21y-0KQOdWf9ET9UuJORv-3Jxkw5s2VFQ/s246/ann+harding.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="246" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fWn2bhOpRYSbbbny-ekq03ly-sXWrysPQzBNjwyGIiN8mcJeNTyNnXfvslbiO8968NzATQ8p6_4ToWE3uQA81e-N7HP7dS-6GG-M0vtTx3D21y-0KQOdWf9ET9UuJORv-3Jxkw5s2VFQ/w197-h80/ann+harding.JPG" width="197" /></a></div><font face="courier"> from Christ's Hospital</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="courier">Anna Maria Harding (there is a story within a story here) married Adrian Crownfield in London in 1735. Except his real name was not Crownfield but a corruption of it - for Adrian was the eldest son and heir (born 1699) of Cornelius Crownfield of Cambridge, Printer and Bookseller (connected to the Cambridge University Press no less) who was a Dutchman! Sadly, whilst Adrian had children from a prior marriage, he and Anna had no children and they both died very premat</font><span style="font-family: courier;">urely within days of each other in 1740, likely of smallpox.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><i>Acknowledgements: I am indebted to Christine Eickelmann of the University of Bristol and Clifford Jones and Ken Mansell of Christ's Hospital for their help and assistance in researching George.</i></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="5"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCcpCXRDC-7avewnMD7vhTfhpWvviR6bgNYobTWaJ5-i-41jt8I-k98gOfWi65RWFDnwwHL3CHXcbjZgtZ311jn1RQtjsjlTYZPQznrGgRJuOPQnQdH-HKNfhp8tU01Ir6PIajJ6EcSeQ/s2048/blue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1426" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCcpCXRDC-7avewnMD7vhTfhpWvviR6bgNYobTWaJ5-i-41jt8I-k98gOfWi65RWFDnwwHL3CHXcbjZgtZ311jn1RQtjsjlTYZPQznrGgRJuOPQnQdH-HKNfhp8tU01Ir6PIajJ6EcSeQ/w400-h340/blue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></font></div><i><font face="times" size="5"></font></i><font size="5"></font><br /></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-42285624105493485152020-06-28T11:24:00.009-07:002021-04-17T15:15:39.655-07:00William Ginn, Hatter of St Bartholomew the Less, London died 1724<div><font face="times" size="5">William Ginn here was the son of George Ginn of Bermondsey - see post of 4th November 2018 .</font></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><font></font><font></font><br /></span></div><div><font face="times" size="5">In September 1702, at the age of about 15, he was apprenticed to John Thompson of the Feltmaker's Company. He was to train as a Hatter. William was literate and the original indenture survives (below)</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKEO4_j3p0IKsVjjUpBL3p-V-goQH21Djh-64B-VGy4fdhMgda-NL4CCAGrktQK6IARsLTCHgtxlkD4hobZaZJjwaLEB5f5ZZy-OY9LhvkIn5UO2UMCf_D1nv_sIeyi5mvbtWYmbVsjKb3/s1700/Wm+Ginn+Fltmaker+appr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1700" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKEO4_j3p0IKsVjjUpBL3p-V-goQH21Djh-64B-VGy4fdhMgda-NL4CCAGrktQK6IARsLTCHgtxlkD4hobZaZJjwaLEB5f5ZZy-OY9LhvkIn5UO2UMCf_D1nv_sIeyi5mvbtWYmbVsjKb3/w494-h283/Wm+Ginn+Fltmaker+appr.jpg" width="494" /></span></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7CX8AftCbqPfzMKISgbCHDu_h6uBFqnL1bckhGnMst_IEQph1XbeAe8z0Jk2vvmb5p3rYlP5D1fNeRNtF4zVMj59LnCIQXBnCBAZ_kxJMsZzDJlPNJFjSDp-AYRBJjwhRrj2lJzuXb8Yr/s644/wm+feltmaker.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="153" data-original-width="644" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7CX8AftCbqPfzMKISgbCHDu_h6uBFqnL1bckhGnMst_IEQph1XbeAe8z0Jk2vvmb5p3rYlP5D1fNeRNtF4zVMj59LnCIQXBnCBAZ_kxJMsZzDJlPNJFjSDp-AYRBJjwhRrj2lJzuXb8Yr/s320/wm+feltmaker.PNG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><font face="times" size="5">I could not find anything about John Thompson until 2021, researching in London in any period is not easy.. Thompson was born in Manchester (to a Feltmaker) in the late 1660s and came into London as an apprentice Feltmaker in 1682. By the 1690s he had set himself up as a Master and had acquired premises in the parish of St Bride (Bridget) in Fleet Street. This surprised me because I knew that the feltmaking trade (which needed a large supply of water) was centred in Southwark and Bermondsey where it used the Thames.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">But the City of London that I worked in as a lawyer nearby forty years ago, is not the City (save for some famous landmarks like St Pauls) that Bill Ginn here knew. For I had reckoned without the Fleet River.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The Fleet (which means "flood" and it flooded a lot over the years) was, by the 1600s, polluted and stagnant. But before the Great Fire of London in 1666 it had been used by the Hatters. After the fire, with the City ruined and being rebuilt, Charles II ordered the Fleet to be cleared, widened and even made navigable for barges as far as Holborn Bridge. So that was carried out and the Hatters came back, but Londoners are stubborn and within a few short years the watercourse (it was now known as the Fleet Ditch) was polluted again.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Jonathan Swift (who wrote "Gulliver's Travels" ) also wrote a satirical poem " A description of a City shower" in 1710 and mentions the Fleet in rain thus</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Sweepings from butchers' stalls, dung, guts, and blood,</i></span></span></div><div><font><div style="text-align: center;"><span color="inherit" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><i>Drown'd puppies, stinking sprats, all drench'd in mud,</i></span></div><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span color="inherit" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><i>Dead cats, and turnip-tops, come tumbling down the flood</i></span></div><div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><span color="inherit" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><span color="inherit" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div></span></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklzw0RGhYnoolC7NoHTpLr06ft9NteOQ_vlnRWv16ZkVP1dgssDukTgH0F8NbG6GnHK2bciF32wdKyQ1Fqt6Q21eS6LtSG3Sjlioo6noE691YQynbXdzj9WrqjNQXzUFHroMXl52LAObN/s400/tricorn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklzw0RGhYnoolC7NoHTpLr06ft9NteOQ_vlnRWv16ZkVP1dgssDukTgH0F8NbG6GnHK2bciF32wdKyQ1Fqt6Q21eS6LtSG3Sjlioo6noE691YQynbXdzj9WrqjNQXzUFHroMXl52LAObN/s320/tricorn.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">In 1720, the historian Strype in his "Survey of London" walked the area and said</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">"Bridelane cometh out of Fleetstreet by St Bridget's Churchyard which, with a turning passage by Bridewel and the [Fleet] Ditchside, falleth down to Woodmongers Wharfs by the Thames. This Lane is of Note for the many Hatters there inhabiting. It took its Name from St Bridget's Church unto which there is a passage up Stone Steps...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs__vP_KGdN7Nz0OpGlv0mDVqT86gV0sATGx7leP8hhLcr7iJOKkOs4lso6S51v5oly5GiPmspYLwXxEkR0VtmFzGFrvBlno19c1OTgu0uOOwdEkOo5e3fHuaq9aSBvUCxacyeqHr300Wl/s1633/fleet1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="1633" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs__vP_KGdN7Nz0OpGlv0mDVqT86gV0sATGx7leP8hhLcr7iJOKkOs4lso6S51v5oly5GiPmspYLwXxEkR0VtmFzGFrvBlno19c1OTgu0uOOwdEkOo5e3fHuaq9aSBvUCxacyeqHr300Wl/w534-h395/fleet1.PNG" width="534" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Fleet Ditch</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><font face="times" size="5">William Ginn would have become a Freeman of the Feltmaker's Company in about 1709, the Feltmaker's records for that and the few years following do not survive, but Christ's Hospital say that he did become one, though I doubt that he ever practised the trade other than as a journeyman, that is, not on his own account.</font></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><font></font><font></font><br /></span></div><div><font face="times" size="5">William Ginn married a Catherine (likely surname Foster) in about 1712. I cannot find any marriage entry, it may have been wrongly transcribed. The Fleet record transcription of a William "Ginn" marrying a Catherine in 1707 is wrong- the name was "Gunn".</font></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><font></font><font></font><br /></span></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The first records we have of William and Catherine is in 1713, when had a daughter Mercy at St James Clerkenwell in Islington, then they had a son William at St Bride's Fleet Street in 1714.</font></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><font></font><font></font><font></font><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5td7IJsiqSfgs8hKf5hBI3tPfS5oK29-ThC1sOFjRYy77uGm3ktcUYeqgaw_PcOE5cDsFHYUYCQ5TWKVW4nUPfYUYVI_FZhSj-1fp6KhuVj5xWNJl6WaoW9N9xwxdnQbhDkehXFcQNIM/s887/stbrides_church_guide_book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="887" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5td7IJsiqSfgs8hKf5hBI3tPfS5oK29-ThC1sOFjRYy77uGm3ktcUYeqgaw_PcOE5cDsFHYUYCQ5TWKVW4nUPfYUYVI_FZhSj-1fp6KhuVj5xWNJl6WaoW9N9xwxdnQbhDkehXFcQNIM/s320/stbrides_church_guide_book.jpg" /></span></a></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="times" size="5">There is no evidence that they lived in St Brides, thought it tempting to think that Bill was working as a Feltmaker there,but shortly after this, certainly by 1716, they were in St Bartholomew the Less Parish where they lived until they died.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Unfortunately, whilst the burial records for this parish survive for the period, the baptisms do not. So while I have three names of children who survived infancy, all sons, there could have been more, though likely not more than one or two.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">William does not appear in the Land Tax for Farringdon Ward Without, for that is where he lived, so I must assume the family rented rooms. That Ward included St Brides and, frankly, if he continued to work as a Feltmaker he was never more than a half mile walk to the Fleet Ditch.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">.</font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaj3pFNRx4U3DzGDLQ6mZLitNuUEKUfvbqoAhfBDOqf_qe89zBwYOff3TfgfXuM-dcdgGpZmD9NWFE5pdP2EddlbNcu4sBQxYSP1x3txlyjxmUbtKqPoIMmwMzBN9WRkt31Ln8XbstzECJ/s600/St_barts_the_less_exterior.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaj3pFNRx4U3DzGDLQ6mZLitNuUEKUfvbqoAhfBDOqf_qe89zBwYOff3TfgfXuM-dcdgGpZmD9NWFE5pdP2EddlbNcu4sBQxYSP1x3txlyjxmUbtKqPoIMmwMzBN9WRkt31Ln8XbstzECJ/s320/St_barts_the_less_exterior.jpg" /></span></a></div><font face="times" size="5"> St Barts the Less<br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">Hatters were not allowed to "hawk" ie sell hats, but some did and I query whether he always worked as a Feltmaker. For there is an interesting record in the old Bailey records (1721) which is likely him, although the parish given for him is incorrect, so I cannot be sure. But you will note that the chap sold hats (rather than made them) and given what later happened to this family it is probably Bill. It could have been that the offence was committed in Bow and the record is in error.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZALTA21-KJm7vZRSROcZUOCdJKft_N6gM7-nTyEs6cNMsx3333lJ1fHGyJBNOe4cbBW84N7zpr39GmcruosD3Qzn2up-tVp34GyYw-adr-bTd3ncj5IuSENNgdSnDGWG5iKKJRx4gvq6k/s709/wm+ginn+hatter.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="709" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZALTA21-KJm7vZRSROcZUOCdJKft_N6gM7-nTyEs6cNMsx3333lJ1fHGyJBNOe4cbBW84N7zpr39GmcruosD3Qzn2up-tVp34GyYw-adr-bTd3ncj5IuSENNgdSnDGWG5iKKJRx4gvq6k/w400-h213/wm+ginn+hatter.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">The jury clearly thought that the offence was in doubt, given the punishment, but the court judgment would have ruined the guy's reputation and his job prospects.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">William and Catherine had a good number of children and then Catherine died at St Barts in 1723. William followed the next year aged about 37.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">So here we have a number of orphans, none of them older than 10. They were split up, likely never saw or ever heard from each other again, but they are reunited 300 years later here. What should have logically happened at such a time to these kids is that they go to the "Parish Overseer of the Poor" who would then in the nature of things negelect them and they likely die within a year or two. That is not however what happened - a miracle occurred.. The story will be continued over the next couple of posts.</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">William and Catherine had at least five children</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>William - born in 1714. He seems to have survived infancy but at the moment I cannot trace him for sure. I would assume that the parish took him like they did his brothers and he may, just may, be the William Ginn I have in Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Marines in 1745. Work continues.</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i></i><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>Mercy - born in 1713 and died in infancy at St Barts in 1716.</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i></i><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>George - born in 1716. See next post.</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i></i><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>Samuel - born in 1717. See later post.</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i></i><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>Foster - 1722 - died infancy at St Barts</i></font></div>Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202764239202994817.post-82482879780927447132020-05-20T08:00:00.001-07:002020-05-22T14:17:32.401-07:00New blog- Ginn: Dunmow, Eynesbury, Over, Swavesey etc<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Just to say that in the light of the Covid-19 outbreak I have started a new blog to this as a "sister" blog alongside this one, which will remain vastly the larger of the two. It is called the rather catchy (lol) GINN GENEALOGICAL GLEANINGS and is to be found here-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<a href="https://ginngenealogical.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">https://ginngenealogical.blogspot.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The position is that in the light of the outbreak (and the resulting time it gives me) together with the fact that I am a Type 1 (taking insulin) Diabetic aged 64 and life is uncertain (just read my blogs) I have decided to do the best I can to put the contents of my notebooks online.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I have been researching the GINN FAMILY of HERTFORDSHIRE since 1989. Along the way I have come across many other GINN families, some of which have been linked to Hertfordshire ( often long after I first researched them) others may be in the future, some were never going to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My notebooks are full with work on these families, snippets, sometimes chunks of information I have found on them, interesting stories, you name it. After more than 30 years a lot of this is still not on the web, on any website, so it will be useful. I have not done work on the Ginn family of Soham, nor Cornwall or Suffolk, but there has been passing work on the family in Northants, quite a lot of work in western (not eastern) Cambridgeshire and a very strong effort in Essex, Huntingdonshire and, of course, London. So the plan is to translate that work into coherent posts on this new blog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I managed to get the new blog on the web without difficulty, but (perhaps because of the epidemic with everybody working from home ) I had a lot of trouble getting the blog recognized by search engines, although Google are now displaying and linking to it. So part of the reason for this post, is to advertise the new blog and, indirectly via this blog get it recognized by further search engines and promoted for visitors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Tags which are relevant and to be posted in due course are</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: DUNMOW</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: SOUTHOE & EYNESBURY</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: ST NEOTS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: OVER & SWAVESEY</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: STAUGHTON</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: TRALUCIA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GINN: BLUNTISHAM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GYNN: BLUNTISHAM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">GYNN: HOUGHTON and WYTON</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
I<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> have a lot of general information on Ginn soldiers during and before the Crimean War, a particular knowledge as to who was who in London before 1800 and where they came from and a head full of long deceased Ginns, so the plan is to put it out there</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">ENJOY!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12276420943738372719noreply@blogger.com0