High Country History Group

The Essex Record Office has now completed the publication of the series Elizabethan Wills of Essex. These twelve volumes of transcriptions are the result of the painstaking work of F. G. Emmison, a former County Archivist. These wills can make fascinating reading. As important documents, they are composed with great care and accuracy.

Many of the testators were High Country residents, and even more reference the property and people within the parishes of the High Country. William Atwood of Stanford Rivers made his will on 20th February, 1600. William Atwood was deemed a gentleman and, as can be discovered, had dressed well, apparently very well. The division of his wardrobe filled the larger part of his will. To his son, Thomas the younger, he left “my laced cloth coat, my riding cloak, my doublet of black rash, a pair of round cloth hose”; to Thomas the elder “my furred cloak” and also, incidentally, a “coverlet that his wife made of the stuff her mother gave her”; to his son Edward “my furred gown”; to Richard “my black satin doublet, my hose of velure, my cloak faced with taffeta”. Amongst other clothes, he mentions “my hat of taffeta”, which he left to Susan, “my hose of Venetians”, a couple of pairs of new stockings, waistcoats and “my new fustian doublet”. His “great ring of gold with the picture of a death’s head on it” was important enough to be itemised and this was to go to his godson.

Money also accompanied most of these legacies. Rash is a smooth textile fabric of silk or worsted.

It was usual for the “better sort” to will money for the poor. Stephen Bamwell of Greenstead (sic), a bachelor, with no direct family, but clearly a man of some means, was widely generous. He selectively gave “To the poorest households of Hatfield Broad Oak £5; I will that Michael Crabbe shall have none of that money”. However, to Michael Crabbe’s children £3 was to be divided equally. The sum of 15s was left to the poorest householders in Laindon, 50s to Basildon, and specific bequests were made to the poor in Ongar. Touchingly, he left “To a little girl called Tedwell at Andrew Spranger’s 16s, which I will my exor. shall keep for 7 years after my decease and to employ it to the best profit of the child.” Andrew himself was to gain “a silk russet coat and a shirt band”.

Thomas Lake was a yeoman, who rented Stanford (Rivers) Hall. The usual charitable donation was made to the poor of the parish “so that the most godly, aged and honest poor shall be relieved”. Can that be better phrased? Along with his two sons, his daughters, Lettice and Isabel, were willed a bullock each. The instructions for the care of his daughters is specific; “My executors shall have the rule of Isabel and Lettice to see them brought up in the fear of God and in an honest and Christian course of life, for the performance of which they shall have the use of their legacies (their bullocks excepted) until 20 or marriage”.

Thomas Lake’s two executors were rewarded for their “advice and pains” with 40s each. Being an executor often involved considerable responsibility, and there may have been reluctance to take on the role. Thomas Heard, a husbandman of Stanford Rivers, with sons Edward and William, specified “I make Edward exor.; if he refuse to be exor., I make William exor. and Edward shall be excluded from his legacies …” Conditions were otherwise attached but were generally less punishing. William Saringe, husbandman of Stanford Rivers, was happy to bequeath his daughter £30 at 21 but “if she marry or make her choice without the consent of her mother her legacy shall be detained from her until she is 24”.

There are at least two local examples of wills made prior to sea journeys. Fearing the worst, William Tynge of Chipping Ongar drafted his will because he was “minded to go over the seas to Portugal”. Similarly, James Fynche of Chipping Ongar was persuaded to make make his plans because he was to “adventure a journey beyond the seas”. Emmison has commented that since their burial cannot be found locally, they may not have returned. The will was a wise precaution!

These wills not only make interesting reading. They are important documents which relate to the economic and social conditions of the family in the Elizabethan Age. When combined with other sources, such wills can reveal the niceties of relationships with family and kin. The initiative of the Essex Record Office has made these wills easily accessible to a wide audience.

Our local Elizabethan mansion, Hill Hall in Theydon Mount, is currently being redeveloped as luxury apartments, after a splendid exterior refurbishment by English Heritage. It is proving very popular, as over half the apartments are already sold. Its new residents, thinking about the families who have lived there in the past, might imagine four centuries of worthy upper class respectability. This may have been a true picture in some periods, but in others, scandal has rocked Theydon Mount!

Sir William Bowyer-Smyth was born in 1814, the eldest son of the Revd Sir Edward Bowyer-Smyth of Hill Hall. Educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, he was admitted to Middle Temple in 1837 and called to the Bar in November 1840, although there is no record of him ever practising. Perhaps he was too busy practising archery, at which he was an international champion, as well as shooting, fishing, sailing on his schooner and real tennis. He started to borrow money at an early age, thus beginning a long-sustained tradition of debts, loans and mortgaging his inheritance, which was substantial. The Hill Hall estate covered all of Theydon Mount and half of Stapleford Tawney; the family also owned Horham Hall in Thaxted and Attleborough Hall in Norfolk, as well as houses in Camberwell and London. By marrying Marianne Meux, daughter of the “millionaire” Sir Henry Meux of Theobalds Park, in 1839, he added a welcome cash injection to his finances.

During the 1840s, the couple had three children; William became a JP and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. In 1850 his much-respected father died and William inherited the title of 11th Baronet, as well as the income from the estates. At first he was quite keen, making improvements to various farms; he built new barns at Great Tawney Hall, Little Tawney Hall and Woodhatch, enclosed Tawney Common (which was a real common until then) and built ‘New Farm’, now called Mount Farm, on its edge. He became a Deputy Lieutenant and in 1852 he again stood for Parliament, this time becoming Conservative MP for the whole of South Essex. He seems to have made little impact, and was defeated at the next election in 1857.

Once the initial enthusiasm for running the estates wore off, he spent much of his time in London, leaving Hill Hall to caretakers and agents. It was in London in 1855 that he first met a 13-year-old Scots girl, Eliza Malcolm, who was to change his life. Eliza was the only daughter of a relatively modest military family (her grandfather was a regimental captain), but both her parents had died young and she had been brought up by a succession of aunts. Apparently she and William met socially in some way, then met again in Scotland three years later, when she was sixteen and he was 44. In the language of the time, they ‘formed an attachment’. William persuaded the aunt to allow Eliza out with him on an unchaperoned carriage ride. During the drive, he produced a ring and pronounced the words, ‘With this ring, I thee wed’. He then persuaded Eliza, and later her aunt, that under Scottish laws this constituted a legal marriage. (Trust me, I’m a lawyer?) The fact that he was already married, with three children older than Eliza, apparently slipped his memory.

In a court case nearly 60 years later, Eliza claimed that at the time she did not even know he was a baronet - he had told her he was plain Mr William Smith. When she discovered he had children, he said he was a widower. When she finally learned that his wife was still alive, she had too many family responsibilities to end the ‘marriage’. Her opponents claimed that she must have known the true situation almost from the beginning ... but she was, after all, only sixteen and entitled to be naive.

Whatever she knew or didn’t know, William and Eliza settled down to a life of apparently genuine married bliss. They were devoted to each other, and Eliza very soon produced the first of twelve illegitimate children. The family lived for several years in France and then in Cheltenham, Hill Hall being occupied by tenants and the estates run by trustees. No doubt to finance his lifestyle, Horham Hall was sold. In March 1875, Sir William’s first wife died. A few days later, he married Eliza legally, and a few days after that, their thirteenth child arrived. There followed a stillbirth and a miscarriage, then the last child, Adela was born in 1878. Eliza had been through sixteen pregnancies and had 14 children under 20 and was still only 35.

Now legally married, the couple and their enormous brood moved into Hill Hall, where they spent a blissfully happy time, filling the house with life and activity and exploring the grounds and the village. One of the children, Mary, described their childhood in a delightful memoir ‘Our Lives’, transcribed in 1993 by Suzanna Brooks.

After two or three years at Hill Hall, Eliza became restless. She perhaps felt insecure, as William’s eldest legitimate son was entitled to move into Hill Hall if he married. Or maybe they were not quite accepted by the locals, who remembered Sir William’s kindly, upright clergyman father. Whatever the reason, Eliza insisted on moving to Twineham Court in Sussex. In Mary’s words, “As we were all away and no-one to say her ‘Nay’, she did as she liked, as Papa had always let her do” - a remark which casts an interesting light on their relationship. Sir William actually refused at first to leave Hill Hall, and stayed on with his eldest daughter Kitty for a while, but eventually capitulated and joined Eliza in Sussex. Within a few months however, he had died, aged 69. According to Mary, “We all think he never recovered from being torn away from Hill Hall, his old home.” Whether he knew it or not, no Bowyer-Smyths would ever live at Hill Hall again.

Eliza later remarried, but it was not a success and they separated. She lived to be 80, and a photograph taken the year she died shows her as a strong, handsome woman with hardly a line on her face.

Sir William’s eldest son who, interestingly, was on good terms with his half brothers and sisters and gave the girls away when they married, became a career diplomat. (Perhaps he had a lot of practice at diplomacy, with his father’s double life being an open secret, politely not mentioned in respectable Victorian society.) He himself never married and never lived at Hill Hall, which remained empty and overgrown for many years until some colourful new tenants moved in. But that’s another story…

Are you a photographer? Do you have an interest in photographing the buildings of the High Country? Would you like to participate in a small team to carry out such a project during 2001?

The committee is keen to stimulate some projects in the local history of the High Country. One of the projects that has been suggested is to record the buildings of the area. The recent talk by Corrie Newell emphasised the value of such a project.

Photographers are needed! A basic requirement of one photographer per parish would be sufficient to start the project. So far, we have two volunteers, one to cover Stanford Rivers and one to record Greensted. Theydon Mount and Stapleford Tawney are not yet covered. However, any help would surely be appreciated. Are you interested in participating? If you are then please contact Rob Brooks. Further details will be confirmed when the team is together.

In an occasional series we will look at the 4 village schools which served the High Country area, none of which unfortunately survive as schools today.

Stanford Rivers school was opened in 1850. By 1858 it was reported that there were 30 boys and 37 girls enrolled but there was much truancy, but by 1870 the numbers had risen to 117. In 1962 the numbers of children attending had dropped to 20 and a decision was taken to close the school in 1965. The buildings were pulled down and the site used as a permanent site for gypsies.

Stanford Rivers School Foundation Committee 1851.

The land at the Stanford Rivers School was given to the Rector and Churchwardens for ever - upon trust. The School to be managed by a committee, all of whom must be members of the Church of England; the committee to be the Rector, his Curate, or Curates if appointed by him, the Churchwardens and three others, Sir C. C. Smith to be one. A vacancy to be filled at a meeting duly convened for the purpose, by those who have paid 10/- towards the expenses of the school during the current year and each subscriber shall have one vote for every 10/- up to the number of six. The Chairman can receive votes in writing from those unable to attend the meeting.

The Master and Mistress must be members of the Church of England.

A Ladies Committee of five can be appointed every year in the month of May by the Managers to superintend the sewing and infants.

Signed 1851, Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith.

He was commemorated in brass, as an infant in swaddling clothes, in Stanford Rivers in 1492. What was the infant’s name?
How did the parish of Stanford Rivers commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria?
When was the Ongar Union Workhouse established?
Why is the burial of William Nayler in Stanford Rivers churchyard a puzzle?
Starve Goose Field is named in the Greensted Tithe Award of 1841. Why was the field called by this name?
Greensted Church was restored in Victorian times. Who was the vicar at the time of this restoration?
Name a site of a Victorian post box within the four parishes of the High Country.
In 1839, James Brine married Elizabeth Standfield in Greensted Church. Why is this marriage of some historical significance?
The ghosts of Roman centurions have reportedly been seen walking from Blake Hall through the High Country. Why do these centurions have some historical connection?
Where is the old school house in Greensted?
The post mill at Toot Hill was struck by lightning on the 26th June 1829. The Miller suffered serious injuries. What was the miller’s name?
What is the K6 near North Farm, Theydon Mount?
What relevance is Molehill Green (near Stansted Airport) to Theydon Mount?
What bus route made five return trips daily through Theydon Mount to Toothill until the late seventies?
To whom precisely is the church at Theydon Mount dedicated?
What industrial activity once took place on the site of the present Theydon Mount rectory?
Which towns are or were linked by the roman road that runs through Theydon Mount and Toot Hill?
What is the corrugated iron structure immediately adjacent to the roman road at Badger’s Corner, Tawney Common?
What is special about the northern verge of the roman road, roughly between Galloway’s Farm and High Warren?
What is the name of the new road - built within the last 200 years - that links the cottages at the north end of Beachet Wood with the roman road at Badger’s Corner?
What connects Stanford Rivers Church and the songs “Run Rabbit Run” and “The Sun Has Got His Hat On.”?
In which year did the following fires occur?

a. Hill Hall
b. St Mary’s Stapleford Tawney
c. St Margaret’s Stanford Rivers.

The body of which Saint rested at Greensted Church on its last journey?
Which famous explorer ‘preached’ in the Congregational Chapel at Stanford Rivers?
What are Peggles and Butter Harsies?

The Answers to these questions will be given in Newsletter No. 5. Best of luck!

INTERNET

Love it or hate it there is a vast amount of information to be had from the Internet. The following are just a few of the sites you may find interesting.

www.CyndisList.com

A site bulging with information for the family historian.

www.old-maps.co.uk

Find your house on the Ordnance Survey Maps published between 1846-1899.

www.war-memorials.com

Web site dedicated to research into war memorials. Also has a number of other useful links on military history.

www.pubsindex@freeserve.co.uk

As its name suggests a site dedicated to public houses.

www.debkay.clara.net

Colour photographs of all Essex churches which are free to download.

www.workhouses.co.uk

Information re workhouses in England and Wales.