Alexander Cleeve (DoB 1666)

Alexander Cleeve born in 1666 was a wealthy merchant and pewterer of London. In 1695 he purchased Greensted Hall, from Robert Hulson. In addition to the Hall, Cleeve obtained the advowson of Greensted and also High Laver. He married twice, firstly to Mary Duffield, with whom he had four sons [ Alexander, John, Benjamin and Simon]. Upon the death of Mary he married Anne Bouchier, with whom he had seven children, [Bowcher, Richard, Philippa, Jane, Ann, Mary and Elizabeth].
Alexander Cleeve died in 1738 and in his will he left considerable sums of money and property to his children. His will gives details of his bequests.
Alexander Cleeve, Citizen and Pewterer of London. Will dated 21 Dec. 1737, proved 13 April 1738, by Anne Cleeve the relict, & Bourchier alias Bowcher Cleeve the son. To my eldest son Alexander Cleeve (whom I have already sufficiently advanced) my leasehold messuage in the Strand. To my son John Cleeve my farm etc., at Greenstead, now in the tenure of John Bull, & also the Advowson & presentation to the Church at High Laver, of which Church my gd. Son is the present incumbent. I have already advanced to my son Simon Cleeve £1400 & now give him enough to make it up to £2000. My freehold messuage in my own occupation in Cornhill, London, & my freehold messuage in Bread Str., London, to my wife Anne & my son Bowcher Cleeve. To my son Benjamin £2000. Half of my stock as a pewterer, to my son Bowcher Cleeve. To my two daughters Jane and Anne, messusge and farm, etc., at Greenstead & Bobbingworth, late in the occupation of Thos. Piggott & now of Thos. Dennis, & also my other Farm called Repentance in Greenstead. I also give them £1000 each at the ages of 21 or marriage. To my daughter Mary Cleeve, messuages, farm, etc., in Greenstead, High Ongar & Standford Rivers, & also £1000 at age 21 or marriage. To my two youngest children Richard and Elizabeth Cleeve, my manor & farm called Vaux otherwise Foes, in the parishes of Otting & Walter Belchamp in Essex, & also I give them £1000 each at age of 21. On my marriage I settled upon Trustees my manor of Greenstead Hall & divers tenements, etc., and I now devise them to John Elderton, Esq., Common Cryer of London, & Wm. Edden, Pewterer, in trust for my wife, & at her decease to be sold for the benefit of my children. To my wife £100 for mourning. To Agent [sic] Alexander Cleeve, my sisters Walton and Bowcher, my sons John, Benjamin, Simon, Bowcher & Richard, my daughters Jane, Anne, Mary & Elizabeth, £10 each for mourning. To the aforesaid John Elderton & Wm. Edden £20 each. To my two journeymen John Reeves & Giles Cleeve, senr., & to Giles Cleeve junr., £5 each. My friend Peter Kelk £5. Residue to my wife Ann & my son Bowcher Cleeve, joint Ex’ors. ALEX. CLEEVE.
Witnesses, Robt. Markham & Joseph Curtis, waiters at the Rainbow Coffee house, Cornhill. John Ellis, scrivener.
(To be continued)

When Alexander Cleeve married, he settled upon Trustees his manor of Greensted, and at his death in 1738 his will stated that his wife was to continue to live at Greensted Hall, and upon her death, the estate was to be sold for the benefit of his children.

We now look at some of his children:

Bourchier Cleeve: Born in 1715, and so named after his mother Ann Bourchier. He was an English Pewterer and a writer on finance. In 1736, aged only 21, he was given the Freedom of the City of London. In 1740/1 he married Mary Haydon (died 1760) and they had three children – Richard, Ann and Bourchier. He purchased an estate in Foot Cray, Kent, pulled down the old house and built himself a Palladian mansion, called Foots Cray Place.

Cleeve was wealthy and collected paintings by Rembrandt, Reubens, Van Dyke, Canaletto and Hans Holbein. Visitors were invited to admire the house and its contents. In addition Cleeve laid out the grounds and arranged for water to be diverted from the Cray to run through a canal and a cascade in front of the house. However he did not long survive the building of the house.

In 1755 he paid a fine to be excused service as the Sheriff of London. His will written in 1759 only mentions Ann, his two sons are believed to have pre-deceased him. Ann inherited his estates, which came into the possession of Sir George Yonge upon his marriage with Cleeve’s daughter in 1767.

Cleeve wrote A Scheme for preventing a further Increase of the National Debt, and for reducing the same (1756), inscribed to the Earl of Chesterfield (1756). The scheme was to impose a high tax on houses, and to repeal an equivalent amount of taxes on “commodities”. Part of this tract was taken up with estimates of the amount subtracted in taxes from incomes. Cleeve’s estimates were exaggerated, as was shown by Joseph Massie’s Letter to Bourchier Cleeve, Esq., concerning his Calculations of Taxes (1757). He wrote another pamphlet, on the staffing of the navy.

Jane Cleeve: Born in 1716 she married the Reverend Thomas Velley, who was Rector of Chipping Ongar and Bobbingworth from 1740. He died in 1750, aged 47 years and is buried at St Martin’s, Chipping Ongar. They had 4 children. A son, Thomas (1748 – 1806), matriculated from St. Johns College, Oxford, and graduated B.C.L. in 1772. He became lieutenant-colonel of the Oxford militia and was made D.C.L. of the university in 1787. He resided for many years at Bath, and devoted himself to botany, and especially to the study of algæ, collecting chiefly along the south coast. He became a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1792.

Jumping from a runaway stage-coach at Reading on 6 June 1806, Velley fell and suffered concussion, from which he died on 8 June.
The only surviving daughter of Thomas and Jane, Mary, born in 1743, married the Reverend Richard Budworth (1746-1805), who on the death of Richard Cleeve, succeeded to the living of High Laver.

They had three children, their surviving son was Captain Philip Budworth, who resided at Greensted Hall.