Dear Group,
Having recently had the opportunity to do a search of this book on
Google-Books,
I have found what I believe are a couple of inaccuracies, as follows:-
Pages 474 - 475: where it is stated that John Kirton's first wife was
Ann Leeke,
and his second wife was Margaret White. The reverse is the truth.
John Kirton, only son of William Kirton of Southwark, Surrey and his
first wife,
Margery Milborne.
(William died 1464, Will P.C.C. 15 Godyn, writ. 19 Aug.,'64, prov.
22 Nov., 1466)
John was born c. 1447; by 1468 a member of Lincoln's Inn; 1491-2 MP
for the
Borough of Southwark.; c.1498 married Margaret White, dau. of Robert
White
and his wife, Margaret Gainsford (or Gaynsford), of South
Warneborough, co.
Hants., and had children:- William, Elizabeth, Stephen, Margaret, Agnes.
After Margaret's death, circa 1515, he left Southwark, and moving to
Edmonton,
Middlesex, married secondly Mrs. Ann Leeke, the widow of John Leeke,
of Wyer
Hall, Edmonton, who was a daughter and co-heir of William Ruskyn (or
Ruskan),
who already had two children:- Jasper Leeke and Elizabeth Leeke.
(Middlesex Pedigrees, Leeke of Edmonton, p. 13 & Kirton of Edmonton,
p. 106;
from Harleian MS 1551, p.73-74) (Thereafter William Kirton married
his step-
sister, Elizabeth Leeke, and Jasper Leeke married his step-sister,
Margaret
Kirton.) Together, John and Ann had another daughter, ALSO named
Margaret
Kirton. John Kirton was a prominent attorney, in 1499 acting for
John, Lord
Dinham (1443-1501) of Hemlock Castle, Hartland, co. Devon; from 6
Dec.,1502
he was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey (for life, until he moved to
Edmonton);
1503 Attorney for Jail delivery to Guildford, Surrey; 1511 Feofee for
John Ernley,
the King's Attorney; 1514 Thames Commissioner (prob. still living in
Surrey ?);
7 May, 1515 Appointed a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex (so by
this date
was evidently resident in Middlesex); 1523 Subsidy Commission for
Middlesex:
(Sources:- "History of Parliament, 1439-1509" by Josiah C. Wedgewood.
London, 1936. pgs. 517-8, and the following listed wills.)
1529: Wrote first Will 9 Nov., and a second Will on 16 Nov..
Probably died in
the month of December and was buried in a prepared tomb within the
Chapel
of St.John the Baptist in the Parish Church of All Hallows, Edmonton.
Both wills
received probate together on 12 Feb,. 1530. (P.C.C. 15 Jankyn). He
had held
lands in Essex, Leics. & Surrey. His tomb monument stood in the south-
east
corner of the nave of the Chapel, and consisted of a depressed gothic
arch,
richly ornamented with foliage, which carried arms, and also had at
least one
brass on the lower vertical face above the actual tomb. These were
described
in detail by Norden:- "A fesse supporting a chevron in chief for
Kirton,
quartering a fesse between three hawk's lures.(The writer suspects
that this
description may be incomplete, and has been trying to locate an
original 1723
copy of Norden, as described below, to compare. Does any member of this
group know of an extant copy?).........Kirton impales, per pale a
lion rampant
for Bellers, quartering 1. a bend between 6 mullets for Howby;
2. A chevron between six spearheads for Ruskan (sic. Ruskyn)"
(ref.:"Environs of London" Vol.2, p.249-77, para 51 & footnote 76)
(Norden,
John, "Speculum Britanniae, an Historical and Chronological
Description of
Middlesex & Hertfordshire." (1723).
The City of London Archives also hold an excellent line drawing of
the tomb
made probably in about 1725, shortly after Norden saw it, because by
then the
brasses which Norden had described had been lost. The stone arch
above the
tomb itself still shows the arms of his wives, that on the left,
presumably that
of Margaret White, (although she does not seem to have been an
heiress?),
which consists of a chevron on a plain field in the first and fourth
quarters, and
three unidentifiable objects, possibly a coat with long sleeves, or a
water
bouget, with two above and one below a fesse, in the 2nd. & 4th.
quarters.
On the right side of the stone arch are the arms of Ann Leeke (nee
Ruskyn),
quartering: 1. Bellers, 2. als. Howby, 3. Ruskyn, 4. Bellers.
(City of London Archives, Image No. 31369)
My second comment is with regard to the identification on page 512,
that the
Elizabeth Rodney who was the wife of Henry Norwood was:-
"the widow of James Kirton" The writer believes this statement is
untrue.
"The Visitation of Somerset 1531 & 1573, Vol.2, 1623 shows under
"Rodney"
that Elizabeth Rodney, dau. of Sir John Rodney (d.1625) of Stoke
Rodney &
Pilton, Somerset, and his wife, Jane Seymour (dau. of Sir Henry
Seymour),
and sister of Sir Edward Rodney, (who was a lawyer of the Middle Temple,
bound to Mr. James Kirton of the Middle Temple in 1608) married
firstly a
"Payne Fissher", and secondly to Henry Norwood, and only thirdly to a
Kirton,
(whose given name is not stated).
We have two James Kirtons, both technically from Somerset, who were
first
cousins to each other, and who both attended New Inn and who both became
members of the Middle Temple.
The elder of these two James was James Kirton (senior), armiger,
gent., 2nd.
son of Robert Kirton of Wells, Somerset, gent., (Robert deceased by
1585);
(source: "Minutes of Parliament of the Middle Temple" Charles Trice
Martin,
Vol. IV (1904), Hopwood, Hutchinson, & Martin (page #s as shown))
James (senior), born c.1555; late of New Inn; enrolled in Middle
Temple as
Attorney on 18 July, 1585 (fee 2 pounds sterling)(p.279); 5 July,
1590 "to
Chambers" (fee 20 s.); 29 Oct., 1596 Called to the Utter Bar (p.
369);
1 June, 1601 National Archives, Wilts. Deed 212B / 3612 between Sir John
Rodney, Kt. and James Kirton of Easton Carye and his wife Ann. In
that same
year James (senior) became the Member of Parliament for Wells, and on
7 Aug., 1601 also became the Recorder for Wells. Two years later
James's
wife Ann (nee Bodenham) died in London and was interred in Westminster
Abbey on 7 Sept., 1603. 1604 Re-elected as M.P. for Wells. On 12
Feb., 1606
he remarried Elizabeth Morley at St. Giles Cripplegate, London.(IGI)
He resigned
as M.P. for Wells in 1606, and in 1607 was named as "Master of the
Utter Bar".
His first son, Seymour Kirton was born in 1607. On 13 May, 1608
Mr. Edward
Rodney, son and heir apparent of Sir John Rodney, Knight, of Pilton,
Somerset,
was bound with Mr. James Kirton in the Middle Inn (Middle Temple Rec.
p.
492).
It is suspected that James had two more sons, Theodore Kirton,
born c. 1609,
and Posthumous Kirton, born soon after James (senior)'s death in
1611, which,
according to Hasler occurred at West Camel, Somerset. (Ref.: P. W.
Hasler,
"The History of Parliament - The House of Commons 1558-1603" page 403.
(Note that Hasler always refers to "James Kirton(senior)" as "James
II", even
though James (senior) of Wells, per the Middle Temple record, was the
elder.)
So James (senior) had a first wife Ann Bodenham, and a second wife
Elizabeth
Morley, between at least 1601 and his death in 1611, so Mrs.
Elizabeth Fissher
(nee Rodney) could never have been his widow.
With regard to James Kirton (junior), (as he is called in all the
Middle Temple
references) (sometimes spelt Kyrton), Esq.:- He was the the 4th. son
of Edward
Kirton of London and Almesford, Somerset, who was a younger brother
of the
above mentioned Robert Kirton of Wells, and who I recently
established was
himself an attorney, with the Earl of Hertford as a client. James
(junior) was
baptized 21 Dec.,1559 at the Almesford Parish Church (Almesford
Register &
IGI) and was also recorded with his father in the Visitation of
London, 1568,
as being aged 7 at that time. He was late of New Inn, on 10 Oct.,
1585, when
he was bound with his cousin, Mr. James Kirton (senior), as a member
of the
Inn of the Middle Temple (Middle Temple Records p. 280). In 1592
he was
called as a Solicitor of the Temple. From that time he became a
servant of the
Earl of Hertford (Edward Seymour), following in his father's
footsteps. He was
Member of Parliament for Great Bedwyn in 1593. On 17 Sept., 1599 at
Pilton,
Somerset, he married a widow, MRS. Elizabeth Rodney, (who had probably
been the wife of William Rodney, a brother of Edward and Elizabeth
Rodney).
Mrs. Elizabeth Rodney (nee Morley) daughter of Sir John Morley of
Halfnaked,
co. Sussex. (It seems likely that these two Elizabeths, whose
maiden names
were BOTH Morley, and both married the two James Kirtons, were probably
related to each other in some way.) (No doubt it is as a result
of these two
"Elizabeth Rodneys" that the error occurred in Magna Carta Ancestry.)
James (junior) was returned as the junior burgess (M.P.) for
Ludgershall, and
maintained his connection with that borough for the next two
Parliaments.
James (junior)(whom Hasler calls "James I"; ibid. p.402-3) served as
steward
to the Earl of Hertford on his embassy to Brussels in 1605.
James (junior) I and Elizabeth Kirton had one son, Maurice Kirton,
baptized at
Pilton, Somerset, on 11 September, 1608; but he probably died as a
child,
while living in London, and was buried there, because no burial
record for
him has been found, and he is not mentioned in his father's 1620 will.
He was the Earl's general man of business for 23 years by his own 1615
account, on matters of the greatest trust from 1599 until 1608, and
less so
thereafter. He was NOT the lawyer who Hasler said was rumoured to have
been involved in discussions concerning the marriage of Lady Arbella
Stuart,
which we now know for certain involved his father, Edward Kirton.
On 6 July, 1618 James Kirton (junior), Esq., was knighted by King
James I at
Windsor, but within a few months Dame Elizabeth, his wife, died in
London,
and was buried on 28 Nov., 1618 at St. Bartholomew the Less, St.
Buttolph,
Aldersgate. (ref.: "Abstract of Somersetshire Wills", First Series, p.
44. by
Frederick Brown, also in Fourth Series, 1889; and in "Somerset & Dorset
Notes & Queries, p.49, by the Editor for Somerset.)
After his wife's death Sir James returned to Somerset, where he held
quite a
bit of property, and served as a Justice of the Peace 1618-19.
He died and was buried at Almesford / Ansford on 6 July, 1620.
(Not in
London as is reported by Hasler.) He left an extremely comprehensive
and
detailed will, his main inheritor and executor being Edward Kirton
(junior),
the son of the late Daniel Kirton, who had been Sir James' father,
Edward
Kirton (senior)'s eldest son.
It is also worth mentioning that the Sir John Rodney, Knight, of
Stoke Rodney
and Pilton, Somerset, (died 1625), mentioned above, was the son of
George
Rodney (died 1568) and his wife Elizabeth Kirton, shown in the Rodney
pedigree mentioned above, as being a daughter of "Kirton of Cheddar",
very
close by to Stoke Rodney. [There can now be very little
doubt that this
Elizabeth Kirton was in fact the daughter of Richard Kirton (born
circa 1500,
died 1558), a grandson of the Richard Kirton of Wooton, Wilts., named
in the
Visitation of London, 1568, who was a younger brother of the
grandfather of
Edward Kirton (senior) of Almesford. So the Rodneys and Kirtons had had
a connection for some time.]
Hoping this may all be of interest,
Jonathan Kirton, Canada
"Magna Carta Ancestry" by Douglas Richardson
Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper
-
D. Spencer Hines
Re: "Magna Carta Ancestry" by Douglas Richardson
Learn About Line Feeds...
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DSH
"jonathan kirton" <jonathankirton@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
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DSH
"jonathan kirton" <jonathankirton@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:mailman.2970.1191101215.7287.gen-medieval@rootsweb.com...
Dear Group,
Having recently had the opportunity to do a search of this book on
Google-Books,
I have found what I believe are a couple of inaccuracies, as follows:-
Pages 474 - 475: where it is stated that John Kirton's first wife was Ann
Leeke,
and his second wife was Margaret White. The reverse is the truth.
John Kirton, only son of William Kirton of Southwark, Surrey and his
first wife,
Margery Milborne.
(William died 1464, Will P.C.C. 15 Godyn, writ. 19 Aug.,'64, prov. 22
Nov., 1466)
John was born c. 1447; by 1468 a member of Lincoln's Inn; 1491-2 MP for
the
Borough of Southwark.; c.1498 married Margaret White, dau. of Robert
White
and his wife, Margaret Gainsford (or Gaynsford), of South Warneborough,
co.
Hants., and had children:- William, Elizabeth, Stephen, Margaret, Agnes.
After Margaret's death, circa 1515, he left Southwark, and moving to
Edmonton,
Middlesex, married secondly Mrs. Ann Leeke, the widow of John Leeke, of
Wyer
Hall, Edmonton, who was a daughter and co-heir of William Ruskyn (or
Ruskan),
who already had two children:- Jasper Leeke and Elizabeth Leeke.
(Middlesex Pedigrees, Leeke of Edmonton, p. 13 & Kirton of Edmonton, p.
106;
from Harleian MS 1551, p.73-74) (Thereafter William Kirton married his
step-
sister, Elizabeth Leeke, and Jasper Leeke married his step-sister,
Margaret
Kirton.) Together, John and Ann had another daughter, ALSO named Margaret
Kirton. John Kirton was a prominent attorney, in 1499 acting for
John, Lord
Dinham (1443-1501) of Hemlock Castle, Hartland, co. Devon; from 6
Dec.,1502
he was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey (for life, until he moved to
Edmonton);
1503 Attorney for Jail delivery to Guildford, Surrey; 1511 Feofee for
John Ernley,
the King's Attorney; 1514 Thames Commissioner (prob. still living in
Surrey ?);
7 May, 1515 Appointed a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex (so by this
date
was evidently resident in Middlesex); 1523 Subsidy Commission for
Middlesex:
(Sources:- "History of Parliament, 1439-1509" by Josiah C. Wedgewood.
London, 1936. pgs. 517-8, and the following listed wills.)
1529: Wrote first Will 9 Nov., and a second Will on 16 Nov.. Probably
died in
the month of December and was buried in a prepared tomb within the Chapel
of St.John the Baptist in the Parish Church of All Hallows, Edmonton.
Both wills
received probate together on 12 Feb,. 1530. (P.C.C. 15 Jankyn). He had
held
lands in Essex, Leics. & Surrey. His tomb monument stood in the south-
east
corner of the nave of the Chapel, and consisted of a depressed gothic
arch,
richly ornamented with foliage, which carried arms, and also had at least
one
brass on the lower vertical face above the actual tomb. These were
described
in detail by Norden:- "A fesse supporting a chevron in chief for
Kirton,
quartering a fesse between three hawk's lures.(The writer suspects that
this
description may be incomplete, and has been trying to locate an original
1723
copy of Norden, as described below, to compare. Does any member of this
group know of an extant copy?).........Kirton impales, per pale a lion
rampant
for Bellers, quartering 1. a bend between 6 mullets for Howby;
2. A chevron between six spearheads for Ruskan (sic. Ruskyn)"
(ref.:"Environs of London" Vol.2, p.249-77, para 51 & footnote 76)
(Norden,
John, "Speculum Britanniae, an Historical and Chronological Description
of
Middlesex & Hertfordshire." (1723).
The City of London Archives also hold an excellent line drawing of the
tomb
made probably in about 1725, shortly after Norden saw it, because by then
the
brasses which Norden had described had been lost. The stone arch above
the
tomb itself still shows the arms of his wives, that on the left,
presumably that
of Margaret White, (although she does not seem to have been an heiress?),
which consists of a chevron on a plain field in the first and fourth
quarters, and
three unidentifiable objects, possibly a coat with long sleeves, or a
water
bouget, with two above and one below a fesse, in the 2nd. & 4th.
quarters.
On the right side of the stone arch are the arms of Ann Leeke (nee
Ruskyn),
quartering: 1. Bellers, 2. als. Howby, 3. Ruskyn, 4. Bellers.
(City of London Archives, Image No. 31369)
My second comment is with regard to the identification on page 512, that
the
Elizabeth Rodney who was the wife of Henry Norwood was:-
"the widow of James Kirton" The writer believes this statement is
untrue.
"The Visitation of Somerset 1531 & 1573, Vol.2, 1623 shows under "Rodney"
that Elizabeth Rodney, dau. of Sir John Rodney (d.1625) of Stoke Rodney &
Pilton, Somerset, and his wife, Jane Seymour (dau. of Sir Henry Seymour),
and sister of Sir Edward Rodney, (who was a lawyer of the Middle Temple,
bound to Mr. James Kirton of the Middle Temple in 1608) married firstly a
"Payne Fissher", and secondly to Henry Norwood, and only thirdly to a
Kirton,
(whose given name is not stated).
We have two James Kirtons, both technically from Somerset, who were first
cousins to each other, and who both attended New Inn and who both became
members of the Middle Temple.
The elder of these two James was James Kirton (senior), armiger, gent.,
2nd.
son of Robert Kirton of Wells, Somerset, gent., (Robert deceased by
1585);
(source: "Minutes of Parliament of the Middle Temple" Charles Trice
Martin,
Vol. IV (1904), Hopwood, Hutchinson, & Martin (page #s as shown))
James (senior), born c.1555; late of New Inn; enrolled in Middle Temple
as
Attorney on 18 July, 1585 (fee 2 pounds sterling)(p.279); 5 July, 1590
"to
Chambers" (fee 20 s.); 29 Oct., 1596 Called to the Utter Bar (p.
369);
1 June, 1601 National Archives, Wilts. Deed 212B / 3612 between Sir John
Rodney, Kt. and James Kirton of Easton Carye and his wife Ann. In that
same
year James (senior) became the Member of Parliament for Wells, and on
7 Aug., 1601 also became the Recorder for Wells. Two years later James's
wife Ann (nee Bodenham) died in London and was interred in Westminster
Abbey on 7 Sept., 1603. 1604 Re-elected as M.P. for Wells. On 12 Feb.,
1606
he remarried Elizabeth Morley at St. Giles Cripplegate, London.(IGI) He
resigned
as M.P. for Wells in 1606, and in 1607 was named as "Master of the Utter
Bar".
His first son, Seymour Kirton was born in 1607. On 13 May, 1608 Mr.
Edward
Rodney, son and heir apparent of Sir John Rodney, Knight, of Pilton,
Somerset,
was bound with Mr. James Kirton in the Middle Inn (Middle Temple Rec. p.
492).
It is suspected that James had two more sons, Theodore Kirton, born c.
1609,
and Posthumous Kirton, born soon after James (senior)'s death in 1611,
which,
according to Hasler occurred at West Camel, Somerset. (Ref.: P. W.
Hasler,
"The History of Parliament - The House of Commons 1558-1603" page 403.
(Note that Hasler always refers to "James Kirton(senior)" as "James II",
even
though James (senior) of Wells, per the Middle Temple record, was the
elder.)
So James (senior) had a first wife Ann Bodenham, and a second wife
Elizabeth
Morley, between at least 1601 and his death in 1611, so Mrs. Elizabeth
Fissher
(nee Rodney) could never have been his widow.
With regard to James Kirton (junior), (as he is called in all the Middle
Temple
references) (sometimes spelt Kyrton), Esq.:- He was the the 4th. son of
Edward
Kirton of London and Almesford, Somerset, who was a younger brother of
the
above mentioned Robert Kirton of Wells, and who I recently established
was
himself an attorney, with the Earl of Hertford as a client. James
(junior) was
baptized 21 Dec.,1559 at the Almesford Parish Church (Almesford Register
&
IGI) and was also recorded with his father in the Visitation of London,
1568,
as being aged 7 at that time. He was late of New Inn, on 10 Oct., 1585,
when
he was bound with his cousin, Mr. James Kirton (senior), as a member of
the
Inn of the Middle Temple (Middle Temple Records p. 280). In 1592 he
was
called as a Solicitor of the Temple. From that time he became a servant
of the
Earl of Hertford (Edward Seymour), following in his father's footsteps.
He was
Member of Parliament for Great Bedwyn in 1593. On 17 Sept., 1599 at
Pilton,
Somerset, he married a widow, MRS. Elizabeth Rodney, (who had probably
been the wife of William Rodney, a brother of Edward and Elizabeth
Rodney).
Mrs. Elizabeth Rodney (nee Morley) daughter of Sir John Morley of
Halfnaked,
co. Sussex. (It seems likely that these two Elizabeths, whose maiden
names
were BOTH Morley, and both married the two James Kirtons, were probably
related to each other in some way.) (No doubt it is as a result of
these two
"Elizabeth Rodneys" that the error occurred in Magna Carta Ancestry.)
James (junior) was returned as the junior burgess (M.P.) for Ludgershall,
and
maintained his connection with that borough for the next two Parliaments.
James (junior)(whom Hasler calls "James I"; ibid. p.402-3) served as
steward
to the Earl of Hertford on his embassy to Brussels in 1605.
James (junior) I and Elizabeth Kirton had one son, Maurice Kirton,
baptized at
Pilton, Somerset, on 11 September, 1608; but he probably died as a child,
while living in London, and was buried there, because no burial record
for
him has been found, and he is not mentioned in his father's 1620 will.
He was the Earl's general man of business for 23 years by his own 1615
account, on matters of the greatest trust from 1599 until 1608, and less
so
thereafter. He was NOT the lawyer who Hasler said was rumoured to have
been involved in discussions concerning the marriage of Lady Arbella
Stuart,
which we now know for certain involved his father, Edward Kirton.
On 6 July, 1618 James Kirton (junior), Esq., was knighted by King James I
at
Windsor, but within a few months Dame Elizabeth, his wife, died in
London,
and was buried on 28 Nov., 1618 at St. Bartholomew the Less, St.
Buttolph,
Aldersgate. (ref.: "Abstract of Somersetshire Wills", First Series, p. 44.
by
Frederick Brown, also in Fourth Series, 1889; and in "Somerset & Dorset
Notes & Queries, p.49, by the Editor for Somerset.)
After his wife's death Sir James returned to Somerset, where he held
quite a
bit of property, and served as a Justice of the Peace 1618-19.
He died and was buried at Almesford / Ansford on 6 July, 1620. (Not
in
London as is reported by Hasler.) He left an extremely comprehensive and
detailed will, his main inheritor and executor being Edward Kirton
(junior),
the son of the late Daniel Kirton, who had been Sir James' father, Edward
Kirton (senior)'s eldest son.
It is also worth mentioning that the Sir John Rodney, Knight, of Stoke
Rodney
and Pilton, Somerset, (died 1625), mentioned above, was the son of George
Rodney (died 1568) and his wife Elizabeth Kirton, shown in the Rodney
pedigree mentioned above, as being a daughter of "Kirton of Cheddar",
very
close by to Stoke Rodney. [There can now be very little doubt
that this
Elizabeth Kirton was in fact the daughter of Richard Kirton (born circa
1500,
died 1558), a grandson of the Richard Kirton of Wooton, Wilts., named in
the
Visitation of London, 1568, who was a younger brother of the grandfather
of
Edward Kirton (senior) of Almesford. So the Rodneys and Kirtons had had
a connection for some time.]
Hoping this may all be of interest,
Jonathan Kirton, Canada
-
Douglas Richardson
Re: "Magna Carta Ancestry" by Douglas Richardson
Dear Jonathan ~
Thank you for your good post. Much appreciated.
I'll study your comments. If I have anything to add, I'll let you
know.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
jonathan kirton wrote:
Thank you for your good post. Much appreciated.
I'll study your comments. If I have anything to add, I'll let you
know.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
jonathan kirton wrote:
Dear Group,
Having recently had the opportunity to do a search of this book on
Google-Books,
I have found what I believe are a couple of inaccuracies, as follows:-
Pages 474 - 475: where it is stated that John Kirton's first wife was
Ann Leeke,
and his second wife was Margaret White. The reverse is the truth.
John Kirton, only son of William Kirton of Southwark, Surrey and his
first wife,
Margery Milborne.
(William died 1464, Will P.C.C. 15 Godyn, writ. 19 Aug.,'64, prov.
22 Nov., 1466)
John was born c. 1447; by 1468 a member of Lincoln's Inn; 1491-2 MP
for the
Borough of Southwark.; c.1498 married Margaret White, dau. of Robert
White
and his wife, Margaret Gainsford (or Gaynsford), of South
Warneborough, co.
Hants., and had children:- William, Elizabeth, Stephen, Margaret, Agnes.
After Margaret's death, circa 1515, he left Southwark, and moving to
Edmonton,
Middlesex, married secondly Mrs. Ann Leeke, the widow of John Leeke,
of Wyer
Hall, Edmonton, who was a daughter and co-heir of William Ruskyn (or
Ruskan),
who already had two children:- Jasper Leeke and Elizabeth Leeke.
(Middlesex Pedigrees, Leeke of Edmonton, p. 13 & Kirton of Edmonton,
p. 106;
from Harleian MS 1551, p.73-74) (Thereafter William Kirton married
his step-
sister, Elizabeth Leeke, and Jasper Leeke married his step-sister,
Margaret
Kirton.) Together, John and Ann had another daughter, ALSO named
Margaret
Kirton. John Kirton was a prominent attorney, in 1499 acting for
John, Lord
Dinham (1443-1501) of Hemlock Castle, Hartland, co. Devon; from 6
Dec.,1502
he was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey (for life, until he moved to
Edmonton);
1503 Attorney for Jail delivery to Guildford, Surrey; 1511 Feofee for
John Ernley,
the King's Attorney; 1514 Thames Commissioner (prob. still living in
Surrey ?);
7 May, 1515 Appointed a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex (so by
this date
was evidently resident in Middlesex); 1523 Subsidy Commission for
Middlesex:
(Sources:- "History of Parliament, 1439-1509" by Josiah C. Wedgewood.
London, 1936. pgs. 517-8, and the following listed wills.)
1529: Wrote first Will 9 Nov., and a second Will on 16 Nov..
Probably died in
the month of December and was buried in a prepared tomb within the
Chapel
of St.John the Baptist in the Parish Church of All Hallows, Edmonton.
Both wills
received probate together on 12 Feb,. 1530. (P.C.C. 15 Jankyn). He
had held
lands in Essex, Leics. & Surrey. His tomb monument stood in the south-
east
corner of the nave of the Chapel, and consisted of a depressed gothic
arch,
richly ornamented with foliage, which carried arms, and also had at
least one
brass on the lower vertical face above the actual tomb. These were
described
in detail by Norden:- "A fesse supporting a chevron in chief for
Kirton,
quartering a fesse between three hawk's lures.(The writer suspects
that this
description may be incomplete, and has been trying to locate an
original 1723
copy of Norden, as described below, to compare. Does any member of this
group know of an extant copy?).........Kirton impales, per pale a
lion rampant
for Bellers, quartering 1. a bend between 6 mullets for Howby;
2. A chevron between six spearheads for Ruskan (sic. Ruskyn)"
(ref.:"Environs of London" Vol.2, p.249-77, para 51 & footnote 76)
(Norden,
John, "Speculum Britanniae, an Historical and Chronological
Description of
Middlesex & Hertfordshire." (1723).
The City of London Archives also hold an excellent line drawing of
the tomb
made probably in about 1725, shortly after Norden saw it, because by
then the
brasses which Norden had described had been lost. The stone arch
above the
tomb itself still shows the arms of his wives, that on the left,
presumably that
of Margaret White, (although she does not seem to have been an
heiress?),
which consists of a chevron on a plain field in the first and fourth
quarters, and
three unidentifiable objects, possibly a coat with long sleeves, or a
water
bouget, with two above and one below a fesse, in the 2nd. & 4th.
quarters.
On the right side of the stone arch are the arms of Ann Leeke (nee
Ruskyn),
quartering: 1. Bellers, 2. als. Howby, 3. Ruskyn, 4. Bellers.
(City of London Archives, Image No. 31369)
My second comment is with regard to the identification on page 512,
that the
Elizabeth Rodney who was the wife of Henry Norwood was:-
"the widow of James Kirton" The writer believes this statement is
untrue.
"The Visitation of Somerset 1531 & 1573, Vol.2, 1623 shows under
"Rodney"
that Elizabeth Rodney, dau. of Sir John Rodney (d.1625) of Stoke
Rodney &
Pilton, Somerset, and his wife, Jane Seymour (dau. of Sir Henry
Seymour),
and sister of Sir Edward Rodney, (who was a lawyer of the Middle Temple,
bound to Mr. James Kirton of the Middle Temple in 1608) married
firstly a
"Payne Fissher", and secondly to Henry Norwood, and only thirdly to a
Kirton,
(whose given name is not stated).
We have two James Kirtons, both technically from Somerset, who were
first
cousins to each other, and who both attended New Inn and who both became
members of the Middle Temple.
The elder of these two James was James Kirton (senior), armiger,
gent., 2nd.
son of Robert Kirton of Wells, Somerset, gent., (Robert deceased by
1585);
(source: "Minutes of Parliament of the Middle Temple" Charles Trice
Martin,
Vol. IV (1904), Hopwood, Hutchinson, & Martin (page #s as shown))
James (senior), born c.1555; late of New Inn; enrolled in Middle
Temple as
Attorney on 18 July, 1585 (fee 2 pounds sterling)(p.279); 5 July,
1590 "to
Chambers" (fee 20 s.); 29 Oct., 1596 Called to the Utter Bar (p.
369);
1 June, 1601 National Archives, Wilts. Deed 212B / 3612 between Sir John
Rodney, Kt. and James Kirton of Easton Carye and his wife Ann. In
that same
year James (senior) became the Member of Parliament for Wells, and on
7 Aug., 1601 also became the Recorder for Wells. Two years later
James's
wife Ann (nee Bodenham) died in London and was interred in Westminster
Abbey on 7 Sept., 1603. 1604 Re-elected as M.P. for Wells. On 12
Feb., 1606
he remarried Elizabeth Morley at St. Giles Cripplegate, London.(IGI)
He resigned
as M.P. for Wells in 1606, and in 1607 was named as "Master of the
Utter Bar".
His first son, Seymour Kirton was born in 1607. On 13 May, 1608
Mr. Edward
Rodney, son and heir apparent of Sir John Rodney, Knight, of Pilton,
Somerset,
was bound with Mr. James Kirton in the Middle Inn (Middle Temple Rec.
p.
492).
It is suspected that James had two more sons, Theodore Kirton,
born c. 1609,
and Posthumous Kirton, born soon after James (senior)'s death in
1611, which,
according to Hasler occurred at West Camel, Somerset. (Ref.: P. W.
Hasler,
"The History of Parliament - The House of Commons 1558-1603" page 403.
(Note that Hasler always refers to "James Kirton(senior)" as "James
II", even
though James (senior) of Wells, per the Middle Temple record, was the
elder.)
So James (senior) had a first wife Ann Bodenham, and a second wife
Elizabeth
Morley, between at least 1601 and his death in 1611, so Mrs.
Elizabeth Fissher
(nee Rodney) could never have been his widow.
With regard to James Kirton (junior), (as he is called in all the
Middle Temple
references) (sometimes spelt Kyrton), Esq.:- He was the the 4th. son
of Edward
Kirton of London and Almesford, Somerset, who was a younger brother
of the
above mentioned Robert Kirton of Wells, and who I recently
established was
himself an attorney, with the Earl of Hertford as a client. James
(junior) was
baptized 21 Dec.,1559 at the Almesford Parish Church (Almesford
Register &
IGI) and was also recorded with his father in the Visitation of
London, 1568,
as being aged 7 at that time. He was late of New Inn, on 10 Oct.,
1585, when
he was bound with his cousin, Mr. James Kirton (senior), as a member
of the
Inn of the Middle Temple (Middle Temple Records p. 280). In 1592
he was
called as a Solicitor of the Temple. From that time he became a
servant of the
Earl of Hertford (Edward Seymour), following in his father's
footsteps. He was
Member of Parliament for Great Bedwyn in 1593. On 17 Sept., 1599 at
Pilton,
Somerset, he married a widow, MRS. Elizabeth Rodney, (who had probably
been the wife of William Rodney, a brother of Edward and Elizabeth
Rodney).
Mrs. Elizabeth Rodney (nee Morley) daughter of Sir John Morley of
Halfnaked,
co. Sussex. (It seems likely that these two Elizabeths, whose
maiden names
were BOTH Morley, and both married the two James Kirtons, were probably
related to each other in some way.) (No doubt it is as a result
of these two
"Elizabeth Rodneys" that the error occurred in Magna Carta Ancestry.)
James (junior) was returned as the junior burgess (M.P.) for
Ludgershall, and
maintained his connection with that borough for the next two
Parliaments.
James (junior)(whom Hasler calls "James I"; ibid. p.402-3) served as
steward
to the Earl of Hertford on his embassy to Brussels in 1605.
James (junior) I and Elizabeth Kirton had one son, Maurice Kirton,
baptized at
Pilton, Somerset, on 11 September, 1608; but he probably died as a
child,
while living in London, and was buried there, because no burial
record for
him has been found, and he is not mentioned in his father's 1620 will.
He was the Earl's general man of business for 23 years by his own 1615
account, on matters of the greatest trust from 1599 until 1608, and
less so
thereafter. He was NOT the lawyer who Hasler said was rumoured to have
been involved in discussions concerning the marriage of Lady Arbella
Stuart,
which we now know for certain involved his father, Edward Kirton.
On 6 July, 1618 James Kirton (junior), Esq., was knighted by King
James I at
Windsor, but within a few months Dame Elizabeth, his wife, died in
London,
and was buried on 28 Nov., 1618 at St. Bartholomew the Less, St.
Buttolph,
Aldersgate. (ref.: "Abstract of Somersetshire Wills", First Series, p.
44. by
Frederick Brown, also in Fourth Series, 1889; and in "Somerset & Dorset
Notes & Queries, p.49, by the Editor for Somerset.)
After his wife's death Sir James returned to Somerset, where he held
quite a
bit of property, and served as a Justice of the Peace 1618-19.
He died and was buried at Almesford / Ansford on 6 July, 1620.
(Not in
London as is reported by Hasler.) He left an extremely comprehensive
and
detailed will, his main inheritor and executor being Edward Kirton
(junior),
the son of the late Daniel Kirton, who had been Sir James' father,
Edward
Kirton (senior)'s eldest son.
It is also worth mentioning that the Sir John Rodney, Knight, of
Stoke Rodney
and Pilton, Somerset, (died 1625), mentioned above, was the son of
George
Rodney (died 1568) and his wife Elizabeth Kirton, shown in the Rodney
pedigree mentioned above, as being a daughter of "Kirton of Cheddar",
very
close by to Stoke Rodney. [There can now be very little
doubt that this
Elizabeth Kirton was in fact the daughter of Richard Kirton (born
circa 1500,
died 1558), a grandson of the Richard Kirton of Wooton, Wilts., named
in the
Visitation of London, 1568, who was a younger brother of the
grandfather of
Edward Kirton (senior) of Almesford. So the Rodneys and Kirtons had had
a connection for some time.]
Hoping this may all be of interest,
Jonathan Kirton, Canada