OF YORKSHIRE.
(A) Walter Griffith, b. ca. 1415, living 1457, d. --, son and heir of
Sir John Griffith of Wychnor, Staffordshire and his wife Catherine
Tyrwhitt, dau. of Robert Tyrwhitt; m. 6 Nov 1435 Jane Neville, living
1457, great great granddaughter of King Edward III by John of Gaunt,
via Gaunt's daughter Joan Beaufort, who m. (1) Sir Robert Ferrers
(see Note 1).
(B) Walter Griffith, knt., b. ca. 1437, d. 9 Aug 1481; m. (her first)
ca. 1463 Agnes Constable, the elder daughter of that name, b. ca. 1445,
daughter of Sir Robert Constable of Flamborough and his wife Agnes
Wentworth; Robert Constable and Agnes Wentworth m. ca. 1442 (see Note
2).
(C) Walter Griffith, knt., son and heir, said to have been knighted
1497 in Scotland by the Earl of Surrey, b. by 1472 (as indicated by the
IPM of his father, Sir Walter Griffith, dated 17 Jun 1493; I had
erroneously given his birthyear as 1460 in my http://www.rootsweb.com
"Skipwith" message board posts), d. 1531; m. Jane Ferrers, daughter
of Sir John Ferrers of Tamworth and Dorothy Harper his wife, daughter
of William Harper of Rushall (the website
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/briti ... rrers2.htm says that "Anne
Ferrers m. Sir Walter Graffeth"); this Jane according to reasonable
chronology would have been b. ca. 1494, which, given the fact that Sir
Walter's son and heir, Sir George Griffith (who was knighted at
Calais in 1532 at age 21) was b. ca. 1511, seems credible, making Sir
Walter's wife about 17 when her son was born. However, the
identification of Jane Ferrers as the dau. of Sir John Ferrers of
Tamworth and Dorothy Harper his wife has been questioned.
(Note 1) The marriage of Walter Griffith and Jane Neville is
well-proved by a marriage indenture dated 23 Sep 1435 between Sir John
Griffith, father of Walter Griffith, who is his son and heir, and Joan,
countess of Westmorland (Joan Beaufort), grandmother of Jane Neville;
the marriage to take place on 6 Nov 1435.
This Sir John Griffith was b. ca. 1397, and d. 20 Jun 1471 (author of
manuscript "The Early Owners Of Burton Agnes" cites an IPM 11 Ed.
IV, No. 30 for him) and had children besides Walter, namely Margaret,
d. 28 Jan 1491, who m. (first) Robert Willoughby and (second) Sir Peter
Legh; Richardson mentions this woman in PA3.; and a dau. Elizabeth
(Elsbeth) who m. Thomas ap Gruffud ap Nicolas and was thereby the
mother of Sir Rhys ap Thomas 1449-1525; but this man could not possibly
be the nephew of a man b. ca. 1472 as claimed on "The Boyntons of
England" website; he would be the nephew of Walter Griffith who m.
Jane Neville (see A above). I don't know how the birthyear of 1449
was fixed for this Sir Rhys ap Thomas, but there's no doubt that he
didn't m. Katherine Howard, as discussed below; apparently it was his
grandson.
Even though it is a proven fact that Sir John Griffith was the father
of (A) Walter, Sir John must have been for the times a very old man
when he died in 1471. I think these two daughters were younger than
(A) Walter, which is borne out by the birthyear of 1449 for
Elizabeth's (Elsbeth's) son Sir Rhys ap Thomas.
The manuscript cites the Pardon Roll of 1472 for Walter Griffith (A),
but I think the entry probably belongs to Walter (B). The Griffiths
were Lancastrians.
One record which definitely belongs to Walter (A) is that in 1457
Walter and Jane (or Joan) were granted "leave to have an oratory for
a year." Unfortunately I do not have this document, so I do not know
if it refers to Walter as a knight; Richardson does not claim
knighthood for this man in PA3 or MCA.
(Note 2) The IPM quoted in No. B above proves that this Sir Walter
Griffith d. 9 Aug 1481 had a brother Rhys Griffith, Esq., (said by an
undocumented internet source to have been b. ca. 1441; he d. 1489
according to the IPM); he had a daughter Joan, b. ca. 1471 (in my
Rootsweb posts I stated "b. ca. 1467" which is an error; the error
resulted from not calculating "9 Hen. VII" correctly; the same IPM
states that "Joan wife of Leo Dymok, aged 22 and more, is his [Rhys]
daughter and heir"; of Lionel Dymoke, d. 1519, it is recorded that
there is a brass of him on the north wall of St. Mary Church in
Horncastle, Lincs. Wearing armor as the King's champion; beneath this
is another brass representing Sir Lionel in his shroud.). The death
date on the Burton Agnes tomb of Sir Walter Griffith is 9 Aug 1481, and
the death date of the Sir Walter Griffith in the Lincs. IPM quoted
above was also 9 Aug 1481. This makes it easy to say they were the
same person, and thus Rhys Griffith, Esq. was also of the Burton Agnes
family.
In connection with the marriage of Gervase Clifton Jr. and Agnes
Griffith, we have the following from a2a under "Bower Family of
Welham, cat. DDBR, Marriage settlement relating to the manors of Cressy
Hall and Downhall in Claypole-ref. DDBR/7/1-date 18 Dec. 1482
Parties: 1) Gervase Clifton, esquire 2) his son Gervase, junior, and
Angnes Griffith, daughter of Sir Walter Griffith, deceased Property:
manors of Cressy Hall and Bownhall in Claypole with all appurtenances
(excepting the advowson there and from the manor of Bownhall, 4 boates
of land and desmesne meadow in tenure of William Standart) Witnesses:
John Stanhope, Thomas Thurland, Hugh Annysley, Humphrey Hercy, esquire,
John Carleton of Claypole, John Coddington of Claypole, John Parker of
Claypole, given at Claypole."
This proves that Gervase Clifton Sr. was not knighted as of 18 Dec
1482, some sixteen months after the death of Sir Walter Griffith, and
that Sir Walter Griffith had a daughter Agnes who m. Gervase Clifton
Jr., and that Gervase Jr. was not knighted as of the same date as his
father; this daughter Agnes Griffith (who I estimate to have been b.
ca. 1464, and thus some years older than her brother Walter) was the
daughter of Sir Walter Griffith and his wife Agnes Constable; she was
not, however, their only child, as witness below.
The website
http://www.boyntons.us/yorkshire/people ... early.html has an
article entitled "The Early Owners Of Burton Agnes," which, in
spite of some error, does much to straighten out the account of this
Griffith family (unfortunately, although some references of good
quality are provided, the author is unknown). It cites Agnes
(Constable) Griffith's will (Test Ebor. IV, 242) as naming Sir Walter
Griffith her son; this Sir Walter (who d. 1531) requested in his will
to be buried in the new chapel annexed to the Church of St. Martin in
Burton Agnes "where my ladie, my moder lieth."
Of any other children of Sir Walter and Agnes (Constable) Griffith, I
have only the claim by Roger Hailwood (see below) that gen. C Sir
Walter Griffith b. 1472 had a nephew, Sir Rees ap Thomas, KG, who m.
1590 Katherine Howard, dau. of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk; this is
quite a feat considering that that Sir Rees was beheaded in 1531;
according to Howard family data, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk,
and his second wife Agnes Tilney had a dau. Katherine b. ca. 1499 who
m. Sir Rhys ap Griffith ap Fitzuryon Rhys, b. ca. 1500 and d. 1531;
this man was the son of Sir Griffith ap Rhys, knt. and Catherine St.
John; evidently Sir Griffith ap Rhys was the son of Elsbeth Griffith,
dau. of Sir John, as noted above, and this is the connection to the
Griffiths of Burton Agnes.
(Note 3) I do not know who put together the website "The Boyntons of
England," (http://www.pluvoy.com/enboynton.html) but they should reformat
their hard drive and start over; by their own admission they didn't
know if their data was correct, and it reprints an article by Roger
Hailwood which seems to be a regurgitation of some plan of the
Victorian restoration of St. Martin's; I will leave it up to others
to judge the efficacy of that.
From gen. (C) Sir Walter Griffith onwards the pedigrees in various
places and forms agree that it continues as shown in primogeniture:
Sir George Griffith, b. ca. 1511, d. 1559; m. Elizabeth
Skevington
Sir Walter Griffith; m. Catherine Blount
Sir Henry Griffith, b. 1558, d. 1620; m. ca. 1583 Elizabeth
Throckmorton, dau. of Thomas Throckmorton
Sir Henry Griffith, bart., b. 1603, d. 1654, last of the
Burton Agnes Griffiths; at his death the estate passed
to his nephew, a son of Sir Mathew and Frances
(Griffith) Boynton; m. (first) Mary Willoughby (second)
Dorothy Bellingham; no issue by either wife
Doubtless more about these wives above could be learned, but as from
gen. (C) onward the line has no particular significance for me, I will
leave it to others to flesh it out, and just append this record from
a2a (although it may already have been posted to SGM):
"St. Quintin of Harpham collection Catalogue Ref. MD229 Creators:
St. Quintin family of Harpham, Burton Agnes, East Riding of Yorkshire
Deeds Deeds relating to Harpham MD229/45a-date 15 July 1514 By Ralph
Bigod, Walter Griffith, John Constable and John Normanville, knights,
to John Santqwytyn esq, son and heir of John Santqwytyn esq, of all of
the lands they had of the grant of his father."
I appended this because it shows the association of familiar Burton
Agnes names.
On chronological grounds alone, it is weird that two brothers (Walter &
Rhys) allegedly both had their heirs when they were in their 50s, and
this in the 15th century. Of course, this did happen sometimes, but
seeing it twice should setoff an alarm.
However, I do have facts to work with to support the data above:
1. Walter Griffith, knt., d. 9 Aug 1481 had a brother Rhys Griffith,
esq., who d. 1489.
2. There is no doubt that the Walter above was buried at Burton Agnes
church, East Riding of Yorkshire.
3. Walter who d. 1481 was married to Agnes Constable when he died.
4. Sir John Griffith, d. 20 Jun 1471, was the father of the Walter
Griffith who m. Jane Neville in 1435; this Walter was his son and heir,
and Walter's wife Jane was living in 1457.
5. Sir John Griffith above did not have a son Rhys, just Walter and two
daughters.
Therefore, we have two Walter Griffiths who have been misidentified as
one person. That Sir John Griffith did not have a son Rhys proves that
the Walter d. 1481 who did have a brother Rhys cannot be the Walter who
was the son of Sir John Griffith; or, put differently, the Walter
Griffith who m. Jane Neville, and the Sir Walter Griffith who m. Agnes
Constable are not the same person. This kind of error happens all the
time. Names run in families and are given to men for several
generations in sequence. The only people to claim that Walters A & B
are the same person are the people with "The Boyntons of England"
website referenced above.
So, who were the parents of Sir Walter Griffith d. 1481 and Rhys
Griffith Esq. d. 1489?
There is no doubt that Sir Henry Griffith, d. 1620 (and from whom
Thynne the herald received his information) was the father of Sir Henry
Griffith, bart., d. 1654; Sir Henry Griffith the baronet was the last
Griffith to hold Burton Agnes, which then passed to a son of his sister
Frances who had m. Sir Mathew Boynton.
There is no disagreement that (B) Sir Walter Griffith d. 1481 and Agnes
Constable his wife were the parents of (C) Sir Walter Griffith; that
(B) Sir Walter was the brother of Rhys Griffith Esq. d. 1489 is well
proved. We know from the marriage contract between Sir John Griffith
and Joan Beaufort that the Walter (who is not named as a knight in that
document, although he could have been knighted later, but I have no
record at hand showing that he was knighted) who m. Jane Neville was
Sir John Griffith's son and heir. Sir John Griffith did not have any
other sons, so the "ownership" of the manor of Burton Agnes would
pass in the male line from this Walter. Thus it is shown that (B)
Walter must have been the son and heir of (A) Walter, as (B) Walter
held Burton Agnes, and is credited with restoring the Norman manor
house and installing the 15th century roof. As mentioned before, (B)
Walter had a younger brother Rhys Griffith d. 1489, so Rhys must have
been a son of (A) Walter as well. (A) Walter's wife Jane Neville was
living in 1457, so there is no doubt as to who was the mother of (B)
Walter and Rhys. If (A) Walter had no children, the manor would have
passed to a sister (of which he had two) as heiress; this did not
happen; and if he had no son, it would have passed to one of his
daughters, although we have no record of any daughters.
One other possibility exists, that Sir Walter d. 1481 and Rhys d. 1489
were both sons of Sir John Griffith and Catherine Tyrwhitt. This would
mean that Jane (Neville) Griffith d. without known issue. Agnes
(Constable) Griffith was b. ca. 1445 and m. ca. 1463; she would have
thus been some 30 years younger than her putative husband. Of Sir John
Griffith d. 1471, having researched him in depth I can find no evidence
that he ever had a son named Rhys. If he did, Rhys would have to have
been a younger, if not the youngest child, and even so would have been
close to 50 when he had his heir, Joan (Griffith) Dymoke.
In connection with this are some notes made 10 Jan 1948 by The Society
of London Antiquaries following previous notes of 1 Aug 1604 by Francis
Thynne, Lancaster herald, regarding the pedigree of Griffith of Burton
Agnes as it existed at that time:
"Still lower on the pedigree is a drawing of the tomb of Sir Walter
Griffith I (ob. 1481) shewing on the end the two shields described by
Collier, viz. (1) Neville quartering Boteler of Wem; and (2) Somerville
and Griffyth quarterly with Merlay in pretence."
This is a much earlier depiction of the tomb than exists today. Jane
Neville's father Sir Ralph Neville d. 26 Feb 1457/8. Jane's
brother John d. 17 Mar 1481/2 with issue. The Neville arms quartering
Boteler of Wem are for Elizabeth, dau. of William le Boteler, 3rd Lord
Boteler of Wem; Elizabeth m. Robert de Ferrers, knt. of Willisham,
Suffolk, and was the mother of Sir Robert Ferrers, first husband of
Joan Beaufort, dau. of John of Gaunt. This display does not seem to
signify that Neville m. the occupant of the tomb, but rather that the
occupant was a descendant of the families represented by the arms; it
thus appears that this Sir Walter Griffith was the son of Jane Neville,
and that Shield (1) represents his mother's family and Shield (2) his
father's. There is no representation of the arms of Constable of
Flamborough on this tomb; in any case this Sir Walter's wife Agnes
Constable was not an heiress, although she did bear him two known
children. I am not an expert in heraldry; this is my interpretation of
the display.
Again, I must point to the fact that Sir John Griffith who d. 1471 did
not have a son named Rhys, although Sir John was the son of a Rhys.
NB: The "ownership" chain of Burton Agnes was as follows:
Previously held by the Stutevilles, it passed to Roger de Merlay who
had two daughters (thus the Merlay in pretence); his dau.Isabel m.
Robert de Somerville of Wychnor, Staffs.; Sir Philip de Somerville had
a dau. Joan who m. Rhys ap Griffith, and they were the common ancestors
of the Griffith family of Burton Agnes.
If there are errors here they are my own.
Jeff Chipman
10/28/05