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OTHER NOTABLE PERSONS AND FAMILIES.
THOMAS DE WYLFORD.
A clause in the will of a great citizen of London, Thomas, de Wylford,1 enables us to claim him as one of Tollerton’s most famous sons. Some genealogists have claimed that this family, which gave to the city a succession of leading men, originated at Wilsford in Devonshire; but this claim must be rejected with the plain statements of this will before us. Here he describes himself as “of St. Mary Somerset, London, and Torlaston in Nottinghamshire, and Surrey.” In making a gift to “Torlaston in the co. Nottyngham” he adds, "ubi oriendus fui," i.e., “where I was born.” As Tollerton was only three miles from Wilford (formerly Wylford), and the family name is frequently met with in the neighbourhood, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the Nottinghamshire village gave the de Wylfords their name.
We must not confuse this yeoman family with the branch of the Cliftons which took this name from their estates in the parish of Wilford; but we shall probably be right in identifying the de Wylfords of Nottingham who are mentioned in the Borough Records in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as kinsman of our Thomas de Wylford. The two rectors of Wilford, Ralph de Wyleford, 1318, and Robert de Wylford, 1349, and the famous Gervase de Wylford, Prebendary of Northwell in Southwell, who became chief baron of the Exchequer in 1361,2 were more probably members of the Clifton family.
Not later, perhaps much earlier than 1325, some member of the de Wylford family settled at Tollerton, renting or leasing a farm. There were sons born to him, two of whom found the limitations of a country life irksome, and falling short of their ambition.
The nation had just passed through the terrible visitation of the Black Death in 1348 and 1349, and times were difficult for the farmer. Moreover the influx of spoils, consequent on the successful war with France, brought with it a thirst for riches, which became a leading motive with many people. The idea of making a fortune, quite as much as a sense of weariness of the life of a farmer, may have led the brothers Thomas and Roger de Wylford to leave Tollerton for London.
There is something of the romance of Dick Whittington in the setting forth of these two young men to the city, which, to the imagination of those afar, glittered with gold. This was however no haphazard adventure, for they had determined to trade in corn, which hitherto they had grown. Corn-running was profitable, even if the French fleets made it a risky venture. The scarcity of labour through the terrible havoc of the plague enhanced the price of corn, and made it worth while to take risks.
We do not know when the brothers left their home, but it would be little, if any, later than 1350, for in 1390 they were well-established in the city of London, members of one of the great guilds, trading on a large scale, and perhaps the owners of coasting vessels. In that year Thomas and Roger de Wylford “citizens and fishmongers of London” were licenced “to buy in any county of England 1,000 quarters of corn of every kind, and to ship it from any port between the Tyne and the Thames, paying all dues, and to bring it to the mouth of the Thames upon mainprise of Roger Poynant and Ralph Rede of London.”3 At this time the seas were more safe, for in 1387 a French fleet had been taken in Flemish harbours.
We hear no more of Roger, who may have died; but Thomas, through resort to the courts to recover his dues, is frequently mentioned. He sues Thos. Buddun of Querndon, Bucks., for £6 in 1396; and John Bawede, alias Leche, of Lowystoft for 100s. in 1404. We meet with him in joint action with other trustees suing “Henry Baret merchant of wools at York” for £32 due to Elizabeth the widow of “Wm. Parkere citizen and stokfisshemonger of London.” In 1403 Thomas de Wylford and others were given leave to grant in mortmain a messuage in the parish of St. Mary Somerset, London, to the chaplain of the chantry lately founded by John Gildeburgh at the altar of St. Mary in the same church.
This successful merchant gained a high place in the city, and was appointed Sheriff of London in 1397; being the first of a long roll of eminent citizens of this name and family. Nicholas Wylford, Lord Mayor in 1450, James Wylford, Sheriff in 1499, and John Wylford, Sheriff in 1544, all followed in the footsteps of their distinguished forefathers.
Thomas de Wylford’s will sheds much light on his family, and shews him to have been twice married, and bereaved of wife and some of his children. His dispositions disclose a large and widespread estate, and a great fortune. He had gained that for which he came to the city of London. Most interesting, is the fact that he had acquired lands at Tollerton, and that he marked the ties with the old home by a magnificent gift to the church in which he was baptized.
His benefactions reveal to us a conscientious man who was filled with the spirit of religion, and of a wide charity. He left “to the fabric of the old work of St. Paul, London, 10 marks in discharge of my soul and in restitution of certain goods which I do not know where to bestow” and to the poor in the hospitals of St. Bartholomew and St. Giles of Holbourn 40 marks to be doled out on Fridays by his executors, and £40 for prisoners in Newgate, Ludgate, Flete, and Marshalsea, and the Benet, who were specially indigent.
Thomas de Wylford shewed by his disposal of the Tollerton estate among his needy relations, that he was not unmindful that charity begins at home.
He desired to be buried in “the new chapel of the Church of the blessed Mary of Somersete—if then built—otherwise in the Cemetery of St. Paul called Pardonchurchehawe within the tomb of Thomas my son” but when this chapel was built he wished that his bones with those of his wife and children which were buried in that cemetery be exhumed and buried in the chapel.
Henry de Wylford, Mayor of Nottingham in 1398, a contemporary, may have been a brother or near relation of the famous citizen of London. His name appears several times in the Borough Records, being fined in 1395 and 1407 for throwing cinders and dung outside the walls of the township in the common caves, thus blocking them; and in 1408 he was charged with occupying the common ground with a house built there.
THE FAMILY OF BARKER.
The family of Barker were long resident in this village, and they are often mentioned. They came as tenant farmers or lessees of farms, flourished, and became owners of lands, and possessed of considerable wealth. The first of the name, Richard Barker, heads the Subsidy Roll of Tollerton for 1524, and must have been a man of substance. Whereas none of his neighbours were taxed on goods of greater value than £13, he is credited with goods worth £20.
After him, a generation later, we come across Richard and William Barker, evidently his sons. These men held a leading position in the parish, and were in great request as witnesses and supervisors of wills. One neighbour, William Grayson, marked his esteem by bequeathing gifts to the brothers, in his will of 1577.
In the story of John Pendock we have seen that both Richard and William Barker provided him with loans.
Richard, now described as “the elder,” made a will4 on May 20th, 1619, by which we see that he was a man of some affluence.
Abstract of the will of Richard Barker.
“Richard Barker the elder of Tollerton co. Nottingham, husbandman.”
He desires to be buried in the parish church of Tollerton.
He gives to the six children of his son Richard £60 in equal sums, viz. :—
John, Elizabeth, William, Edith, Agnes, and Richard.
To his son William £10 and an acre of land in Bradmore field.
To his son Richard the inheritance of his house in Nottingham.
To Elizabeth Adcocke “£4 of the £10 which John Pendocke owes his children.”
Richard, his son, is sole executor.
Witnesses: John Pare (the rector), Henry Ward.
There is a reference to the house named in this will in the Borough Records of 1583, from which we learn that it was situated in “Brydge Ende,” which would be not far from the east end of the Narrow Marsh of to-day. It is possible that this dwelling was on the site of the “tenement” of Ralph and Alice Barker, mentioned in the Records of the year 1401, which was on Malyn Hill near to the old St. Mary’s Vicarage. This hill, adjacent to the steps from the Marsh, might be included in Bridge End division of the town.
The connection of the Barkers with Tollerton ceased between 1619, the date of Richard Barker’s will, and 1641, the date of the Protestation. In the roll of signatories the name Barker does not appear, which is clear evidence that they had left the parish.
The Adventures of William Barker.
These notes upon the Barkers of Tollerton are by way of introduction to the strange story of William Barker, junr., which has been found in the Admiralty Court Rolls of 1603.
A certain traveller known as Jasper Vandornes, with a west country alias of Pittes, was charged with smuggling, and also was suspected of being a Jesuit. “William Barker of Torleston, three miles from Nottingham, husbandman, aged 34 years” was witness in the case, and was put through a long and rigorous examination.
His connection with the case came about thus:—William tired of his life on the farm, entered the service of Robert Webbe. who kept an hostelry at Newark. He had relatives in this town,5 so the choice of the place is natural enough.
The story which William Barker told in the witness box was this: —
While he was in service at the inn at Newark, a traveller came and stayed at the inn where he was well-known under the name Jasper Vandornes. It was the time of the great Lenton Fair. Vandornes and Webbe the innkeeper went together to the fair, the former remaining until it was) over. On returning to Newark the traveller asked his host to allow William Barker to accompany him on a journey to the west country. This being arranged, they set forth on horseback travelling through Leicester and Warwick. At Warwick they stayed from Saturday to Monday at the hostelry known as The Maydenheade. Incidentally, Barker mentioned that his companion attended the church service on the Sunday. On the Monday they journeyed to Peverton in Somerset, where enquiry was made for a certain mistress Jane Coulbridge whom Vandornes said he was about to marry. This person was found at Levington not far distant; and Barker said, “it seemed to me that she had byn lately before churched, for that she had a yong child not above six or seven weekes old in my judgemente.” He observed that Vandornes bestowed a substantial sum of money on Mistress Jane, and discovered thereby that his services had been secured as a bodyguard.
After this they immediately returned to Newark, and, very soon after their arrival, Edward Shipman, a county bailiff, came and asked William Barker many questions about the journey, for the movements of Vandornes had rendered him suspect.
A little later Barker was in Nottingham at an inn, when there entered “Mr. Hateild6 a gentleman’s son living by,” who was known to him. Hatfeild bid him welcome home, saying that he thought “I had byn with Jasper into the Lowe Cuntreyes”—to which he replied that this was not so, but that he believed that Jasper was shortly going there. Young Hatfeild expressed a great desire to go with him, and Barker said that if he went on the following Monday to Lodge on the Wolds he could make his request in person, for Vandornes would be passing through on that day. Shortly after this Shipman the bailiff came in, and Hatfeild went out.
Shipman turned to Barker and asked who his acquaintance was, and the subject of their conversation. The bailiff knew this “yong gentleman” of impecunious condition as a likely cut-purse, and asked Barker what his position would be if Vandornes was robbed. Fearing consequences, Barker begged the bailiff to write in his name saying that the journey was put off. Shipman, intent on further knowledge, persuaded William Barker to stay the night as his guest; and, with the help of the flowing bowl, gained much further information.
In the morning Barker rode to Tollerton to get a suit of clothes from his home, and thence to Newark.
A fortnight before Christmas Vandornes again came to the inn, and once more took Barker with him to go by Leicester to the south. When they reached a place two miles from Colston Bassett, Shipman and a companion Thomas Smith met them. This Thomas Smith, unknown to them was the Sheriff’s man. The hospitable bailiff invited them to drink together at an alehouse near. By something more than coincidence the innkeeper, Thomas Wilford.7 was also parish constable. The invitation being accepted, they turned aside to the inn, and as soon as they entered it Smith arrested Vandornes. Vandornes turned to Barker charging him with bringing this about, but Shipman said “they were for the king, and what they had done was in the kings’ name.” Vandornes’ weapons and money were taken from him, and the whole party rode to the house of Mr. Henry Sacheverell, the High Sheriff, at Barton in Fabis, arriving in the evening. On the way Smith told Barker that they had found £400 on the prisoner.
The High Sheriff examined both Vandornes and Barker, making the latter turn out his pockets, saying that he was said to be a setter on of robberies. In the morning the High Sheriff sent him back to Newark to get further information from Mr. Webbe. When he returned he found that Vandornes had been dismissed by the High Sheriff, and he himself was discharged.
Fearing reprisals, Barker immediately left Newark for Tollerton. Not long after this Shipman accompanied by Vandornes rode over to “Torlaston,” put up at “an alehouse nere my father’s house” and sent for William, and required him to give up the nag on which he had ridden home.
All this, and much more Barker told the Judges. He disclaimed receiving gold or anything else from Vandornes, except an old suit of apparel, and a gray nag which he reclaimed “and left me with a little nagge which he sould for fifty shillings after I had fed and recovered him being before little worthe.” He also said that he had seen little money or jewels on the suspect, “aboute tenne pounde in gould which he was telling on the table at Warwick”— and as I came in he covered it with his hatt.” He had seen two jewels which Vandornes shewed him at Bath, and which he said he had bought at Lenton Fair, and that was all.
The innkeeper Webbe supplemented Barker’s evidence, and declared that Vandornes was no Jesuit; but was known to him as Vandornes who was formerly in the service of two cousins, Mr. Jasper Donnington and Mr. Thos. Donnington of the city of York. On their journeys to and from London this servant had accompanied them, and stayed at his house. Previously to that service he had, he understood, served Sir Wm. Bamfield, “nere the Bath.”
In the will of Wm. Barker, yeoman, of Newark in 1636, he speaks of a son William “who is beyond the seas.” We can well imagine that the father had retired from Tollerton to Newark to end his days near his relations, and that the restless young man had either gone abroad as an adventure, or possibly had been sent thither for the benefit of his country.
A curious comment upon this case is the note of Thoroton, who says that among the monuments in Newark Church in his time was one to “Robertus Webb infaeliciter obiit 20 July, 1610, as his sons verses shew.” Perhaps the infaeliciter had a close connection with this Admiralty case. The verses which might shed light on this unhappy death are unfortunately lost.
THOMAS SHIPMAN, POET, 1632-1680.
The Shipmans, whose name is associated with Scarrington, became connected with Tollerton in 1603, when Thomas Shipman, and Philippa his wife purchased lands here from Philippa’s father, John Northe. Their son William, who married Sara daughter of Richard Parker, Alderman of Nottingham, succeeded them in this estate. The eldest child of twelve born to William and Sara, was born at Scarrington, and baptized by the name Thomas, on Novr. 17th, 1632.
In the Civil War the Shipmans were royalists, and William Shipman suffered a long imprisonment at Nottingham for his loyalty. He survived until 1658, living nearly long enough to see the fulfilment of the hope of a Restoration.
Thomas, his heir, entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he was known for his strong royalist sympathies, and as a writer of verse on loyal subjects. In 1662 he married Margaret, daughter of John Trafford, and granddaughter of Simon Wood a wealthy citizen of London. He sold the greater part of his inherited lands in Tollerton, in 1663. He died at Scarrington, and was buried there on October 15th, 1680, leaving a son Trafford, born Octr. 23rd, 1663, who only survived him about seven years.
Thoroton, a neighbour and close friend of the Shipman family, speaks of him as “a good poet and one of the Captains of the Train Bands of this County.” He was a friend of Byron the poet, who lavished frequent praise upon him. This friendship may well have arisen through their common devotion to poetry. In the volume of his poems entitled “Carolina or Loyal Poems” published in London after his death in 1683, there are serious lapses into grossness which disfigure much meritorious work.8
THE FAMILY OF MOULT.
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Philip Pendock, married in or about the year 1680 Francis Moult, described as Chymist of the City of London. Although full evidence is lacking, there are reasons for thinking that this citizen of London had family connections with this county. In the Duchy of Lancaster Court Rolls of 1583 a Robert Moult of Stanford on Soar is mentioned as owing suit to the Duchy Court at Saxindale; and it may well be that this Nottinghamshire link brought together the families of Pendock and Moult.
D. of L. Court Rolls, 131, No. 2023.
In the tripartite division of the property of Philip Pendock among his three daughters in 1683, the Hall with other lands and houses was allotted to Francis and Elizabeth Moult, and in the ordinary course of events this family would have continued in possession. It is evident that this was intended, for in 1687 Francis Moult received the grant of a coat of arms; but he died on March 18th, 1690,9 and this early death led to a change of tenure.
Harl. MSS., 6834, fol. 178, 10 Feb., 1686-7.
George, the eldest son, was mentioned in the Charity Inquisition of 1699, and again in 1710, as disposing of property at Tollerton. Francis, presumably a younger son, carried on the business of chemist in London, and is mentioned in a law suit concerning a discovery which he and others exploited, being “a new way of smelting block tin into good merchantable white tin in a reverbatory furnace without bellows by means of some peculiar fluxes.” This is perhaps the “Francis Moult chymist and enthusiast” who died 17th May, 1733.10
Chanc. Proc., Reynardson, bdl. 338, No. 81 and 445/72.
Another George Moult, uncle it maybe, of the younger George, attained eminence, and was made an F.R.S.
1. Dated 13 Mar. 1405, proved in 1407. See “North Country Wills ” I, 250, and for another disposition dated 1406 “Cant. Prerog. .Court Wills ” II, 592.
2. Calendar Patent Rolls.
3. Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1390, p. 308.
4. York Wills, Vol. 35, fol. 478. Proved 7th Oct., 1619.
5. A Wm. Barker of Newark is mentioned in the Nottm. Bor. Records in 1566.
6. The Hatfields were then land-owners at Tollerton.
7. Not unlikely a descendant of the 14th century family at Tollerton and in its neighbourhood.
8. “Thos. Shipman, Royalist Poet, 1632-1680,” by J. T. Godfrey,
9. Buried at Tollerton, March 27th.
10. “Gents’ Magazine.”