Pages from Volume II, Rows 132 -145, plus Chapt VIII UNPDF

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Row No. 132, from South Quay to Middlegate Street, called Adam the Barber's

Row.* On the south side is a house which early in the last century belonged to the

Benting family. Robert Benting, who died in 1796, aged 47, was the last collector of salt

duties in Yarmouth, At the south-west corner stood a house, since rebuilt and now cased

with white brick, which in the early part of the seventeenth century was in the possession

of Monox Rivett, a member of the corporation, from which body he was dismissed at the

restoration. He died in 1674, aged 47, and in 1694 the property was sold by Monox

Rivett, his son, then of Norwich, to Stephen Thomas, of whom it was purchased in 1721

by Thomas Cooper, the elder, merchant, who dying in 1725 devised it to his daughter,

Mary, the wife of Samuel Spilman, mariner; f and in 1756 it was sold by Thomas

Spilman, their son, then residing at North Walsham, to William Goskar, compass maker.

It was for some years occupied by Mr. James Bracey, who died in 1817, aged 42; having

been purchased in 1812 by Mr. Henry Glasspoole; t and the last occupant was Mr.

William Davie, who died here in 1873, aged 70.

* Barbers' poles are still to be seen, exhibited in various parts of the town. Few,

however, of the inhabitants know their origin. When barbers were surgeons, and practised

chiefly in phlebotomy, the patient was made to grasp a pole to make the blood flow more

freely, and it frequently became stained with, blood. When not used it was placed outside

with the linen bandages round it; hence in later times the barber's pole was painted in red

and white as at present. In 1423 an inhibition, was issued by the Bishop of Norwich

against the barbers of Yarmouth opening their shops on Sundays except for shaving, and

against their shaving between Lammas day and Michaelmas day on account of the

harvest, on pain of excommunication. Bishops had strange functions in those days!

t At a cellar in Yarmouth at the south-end, under Capt. Spilman'a house, there are to

be sold," says the Norwich Gazette in 1716,"all sorts of wine very reasonably" (viz.)—at

per gallon, tent 7/., canary 5/3., sherry, mountain, white and red Lisbon 4/6. By the pint,

tent 1/., canary ./9., sherry, mountain, and white and red Lisbon,/7. In 1726 Francis Saul

advertised that he had received five pipes of neat white Lisbon wine, which he could sell

at £27 per pipe of 140 gallons; and four chests of choice Florence oil, which he could part

with at £45 per chest of forty half flasks.

J Henry Glasspoole, his son, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, died at Hemsby

in 1836, aged 34. In 1781 the Monkey revenue cutter, commanded by Capt. Glasspoole,

whilst convoying some merchant vessels fell, in with the notorious pirate, Daniel Fall,

and beat him off. Glasspoole returned to Yarmouth on Michaelmas day,

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Row No. 133 , from South Quay to Middlegate Street, called Trendles

Row, and (in 1707) Union Row. At the north- west corner, fronting the Quay, is

a house which in the last century was the property of Jacoba Watson, find

subsequently of J. T. Palmer, Esq., who in 1809 sold it to Isaac Lee, a merchant,

of the Jewish persuasion.* It is now a public house called the Bell and Crown.

It stands upon the site of a house, which in the 17th century was the property of

John Trendle, bailiff in 1624, who took a leading part in municipal affairs. On

the breaking out of the civil war he contributed plate to the value of £21 in

support of the Parliament; and in 1652 he gave £5 to the Children's Hospital.

The property was subsequently in the possession of William Trendle. f

John Wilde and Judith his wife conveyed in 1707 some houses in this row

to Andrew Bracey, Esq., who dying in 1731 devised the same to his niece,

Margaret, the wife of James Winn, and their daughter, Sarah, married John

Hurry. (See ante. p. 129.)

In Row No. 133 lived a family named Neale. In 1825 Mary Neal and

Susan and William Neal, her son and daughter, were tried at the sessions for

attempting to poison William Hales, a cordwainer, and his family. The

prisoners were all found guilty, and judgment of death was recorded again at

them. William Neal, who was the apprentice of William Hales, attempted at the

trial to throw suspicion on the servant girl, but after the verdict he confessed

that he put arsenic in the boiler in which the family dinner was being cooked.

No death resulted; and the sentence was commuted. The trial is printed.

On the south side of this row, fronting the Quay, is an old house, now

divided into two residences (Nos. 46 and 47), which was probably built in 1580

as that date appears upon an old piece of grotesque carving

but did not reach the Town Hall until dinner was over. On his appearance he was

received with acclamation, and the band struck up " See the conquering hero comes." A

subscription was set on foot, and the captain was soon afterwards presented with a

piece of plate and a large silver cup having a monkey on the cover.

* This is not a "Yarmouth name, but

" In Cheshire there are Lees

" As plentiful as fleas"

f In 1654 Susan Trendle of Yarmouth was married to Richard Copeman of

Stalham.

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377

inserted in the north gable. The front entrance was through a

porch, having a bench on each side, and by a large door panelled and

studded with nails, with a smaller door cut through, it (as still seen

at the entrances of some of our colleges), leading to an inner paved

court, behind which was another court communicating with the row.

To the north of the entrance was a parlour panelled, in wainscot,

with a carved chimneypiece reaching from the ceiling to the floor.

The principal room was on the first floor, having three windows looking

upon the Quay. At the south end an elaborately-carved chimney piece

projected into the room. This apartment was lined with wainscot in

panels in the usual Elizabethan style, which still remain, but the

chimneypiece has been removed. The ceiling is adorned by mouldings

divided into compartments in which are various devices. One represents

Noah's ark with the dove returning with the olive branch: another is

the figure of Neptune bestriding a sea-horse. The beam running across

the ceiling is powdered with fleurs-de-lys, and numerous masks of the

human face adorn the sides. Another room on the same floor, having

two windows looking upon the Quay, was also panelled and had a

handsome chimneypiece, and there is a small room over the row. On

the south front, facing the courtyard, some ornamental ironwork may

be seen; and many old windows can be traced in the building, which

has been much mutilated and altered in adapting it for the purposes

of two residences. A carved doorway now serves as a back entrance.

It is square headed, and in the centre appears the date 1674, and in

one spandril is a shield with the arms of Yarmouth, and in the other a

shield with, the letters J C E being the initials of John Cooper, Esq., and

Elizabeth his wife. Upon the marriage of John Cooper, their grandson,

with Mary Simpson in 1727 this house was brought into settlement.

He died in 1753., aged 52, and his widow in. 1790, at the age of 90, when

this fine old house passed from the Cooper family, the male line of which

became extinct . In the early part of the present century this house was

occupied by Miss Hunter as a Lady's Boarding School. It happened

that when the pupils were one evening at prayers, in the large apartment above

described, one of the masks adorning the beam fell on the

floor to their great terror and amazement. The place from which it fell

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may still be seen.* A large garret, now converted into attic chambers, extending

along the whole front of the house, shows the substantial manner in which

houses were built in those days. f

Row No. 134, from Middlegate Street to King Street, formerly called

Wake's Row. At the north-east corner, fronting King Street, is an old house, the

front of which has been brought out to the pavement. It is now a public house

called the New White Lion. On the north side of this row the old family of

Eachard had considerable property. Thomas Eachard or Echard was bailiff in

1537, 1544, and 1576; and died during his last year of office. In 1543 he was

requested "to make suite to the kinge's majesty and his counsell" for a remission

of the fee-farm rent, which he obtained for 18 years; and he also applied for a

Writ of Preambulation to decide the controversy between the town and Sir

William Paston, which writ does not appear to have been issued. John Eachard

was bailiff in 1552 and 1565. In 1550 he was "sent up'' with two other "principal

burgesses" to inform the king in council of the outrageous conduct of the

insurgents under Kett. John Eachard, Jun., had a controversy with the

corporation, of which body he was a member, and was committed to prison "for

divers abuses and misdemeanours; and for contempt used by him against the

bailiffs." Eachard did not quietly submit to this method of silencing an

opponent, and caused the two

* On the right of the door as yon enter the above-mentioned house is a room

which was let to a fruiterer; and sometimes the "young ladies" from the south

window of the schoolroom above, would lower a basket, with such peace as they could

collect, and haul it up again filled with as many apples and pears as the money would

purchase. Ex. inf. of an old pupil.

f The Miss Hunters, who are described as having been stately women, were, it

it said, the last descendants of the ancient family of Sydnor of Blundeston, now

extinct. Monuments to the memory of members of the Sydnor family remain in

Blundeston Church. The arms of Sydnor were org., a fess, nebulée, az., between

three crescents jessant fleur-de-lis sa. Crest—a wild man holding in his dexter hand

a staff. There is a pedigree in Suckling's Suffolk, vol, i. p. 311. One of the Miss

Hunters became the wife of Admiral Hunter under peculiar circumstances. The

admiral, then Captain Hunter, was appointed to a command at Yarmouth. By some

mistake his luggage was taken to Miss Hunter's house, she being the only person

of the name known to the porter. She was no relation to the captain; but this

occurrence led to an introduction and ultimately to a marriage.

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bailiffs to be summoned before the king in council. One of them

appeared; but the other was "too unwell to travel." Undeterred however,

the corporation the next year instituted proceedings against Eachard "for

divers abases done against the town," but at last these “controversies”

were settled by arbitration. John Eachard filled the office of bailiff in

1615 and 1628. In 1622 he was named in the commission directed to

the Bishop of Norwich and others to enquire concerning the haven and

piers, and was otherwise employed on municipal affairs. Christopher

Eachard of Yarmouth had a son, John Eachard, who married Judith,

daughter of Gregory Goate of Upton in Norfolk, by whom he had a son,

John Eachard of Barsham, who was living at the time of the last

Visitation of Suffolk in 1664, when his pedigree was recorded. They

bore erm., on a bend., three chenrooks.

Row No. 135 , from Middlegate Street to King Street At the north-

west corner is a lofty house* of red brick, erected in 1719 by Thomas

Emms upon the site of a more ancient one purchased by him with some

adjacent property of Thomas Marsham, Esq., f of Stratton Strawless in

Norfolk in 1704. Emms voted at the Norfolk Election in 1714 for

Astley and De Grey; and died in 1721, aged 63. Preserved, his relict,

died in the following year. In the south gable of the above-mentioned

house there is a stone bearing their initials T E P with the date 1719. J

* A view is annexed, drawn and lithographed by Winter. The house is depicted in

Corbridge's map, being then in the occupation of Robert Emms.

f The M ARSHAMS have been seated at Stratton Strawless from the 14th century.

They bore arg., crusily fitche sa., a lion pass, gu., betw. two bendlets az., each charged

with three crosslets or. In 1392 Richard de Thirkby was presented to the Rectory of

Billockby by Robert de Marsham and John Elys of Great Yarmouth. The above Thomas

Marsham was the son of Henry Marsham, Esq., by Grace his wife, daughter of Thomas

Bishop. He married Dorothy, daughter of Leonard Gooch of Earsham by Dorothy his

wife, daughter of Sir Nevile Catline. Another Thomas Marsham of Norwich was married

at Norwich Cathedral in 1725 to Anne Briggs of St. Michael's Coslany. Robert Marsham,

Esq., of Stratton Strawless, died in 1797, in his 90th year.

t There is in the south, chancel aisle of St. Nicholas' Church a curious epitaph, to the

memory of Preserved, their daughter, who died in 1712, aged 18; but the editor has

abstained from recording any epitaphs which can be found in Swinden's History. The

Rev. Robert Emms who died in 1761, aged 72, "in the conduct of a long life supported

uniformly the character of an honest and good man," as we are

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

It was afterwards for some years in the occupation of Erasmus Jary, who in

1764 married Miss Morris, “a very agreeable young lady with a genteel

fortune.”* A later occupant was Major Alexander, a native of Beccles, who

went early to India, where by his military skill and daring he raised himself to

rank and affluence. He narrowly escaped being consigned to the Black Hole at

Calcutta by leaping into the Ganges. Subsequently he entered into the military

service of the Nabob of Arcot, and exercised great influence at that despotic

court. Dr. Girdlestone, who met him there, used to relate that one morning as he

and the major were sitting at breakfast, a great disturbance was heard, and they

were informed that a mutiny had broken out. Alexander requested the doctor to

continue his breakfast, promising to return very quickly, which he did, bringing

in by the hair the severed heads of two of the rebels. He purchased an estate at

Caister, where he built a house on the cliff close to the sea, in which he resided

for some years. f He died in 1808, aged 70, and was buried at Worlingham in

Suffolk, where in the church there is an epitaph to his memory. t About the

commencement of the present century the above-mentioned house was

purchased by William John Hurry, Esq., who resided in it

told by his epitaph in the churchyard. This family held property in Middlegate

Street in the 17th century, for in 1642 Paul Hearne of London, son and heir of John

Hearne of Great Yarmouth, son and heir of Richard Hearne of the same place, by

Agnes his wife, daughter and heiress of Richard Thaxter and Agnes his wife, conveyed to

John Hagon a house in Middlegate Street, adjoining the property of Richard and

Edward Emms.

* The J ARYS have been landed proprietors in Norfolk for some generations,

holding estates at Burlingham and elsewhere, and bearing gu., on a pile erm., betw.

two lions ramp, respecting each other or., three roses two and one of the field; and

for a crest, out of clouds two arms emb. in armour ppr., the hands supporting a rose

as in the arms.

f This house was subsequently purchased and occupied for many years by

Mr. Thomas Clowes, solicitor, who held also the Manors of Caister, Pastons and

Caister Bardolf.

t A sad accident occurred on board H.M.S. Resolution when at anchor in

Yarmouth Roads in 1806. Alexander's eldest son, Hector, a fine spirited lad of

thirteen years, having joined that ship, emulated his new associates by mounting the

rigging to a considerable height, but unaccustomed to such climbing, missed his

footing, fell, and was killed.

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381

for many years,* In his time the apartments were all lined with

wainscot, which in the dining and drawing-rooms was particularly

handsome, the wood having acquired by age a rich colour

uncontaminated by paint. There was also a broad and fleet staircase

common to the houses of the same period. After Mr. Hurry ceased to

reside there the house was sold; and the ground floor in front has been

converted into a liquor shop called the Tomlinson Arms.

At the north-east corner is a house

which for many years was occupied by

Mr. Matthew Butcher; and in which he

established the agency business of

Matthew Butcher and Sons. He died in

1849, aged 65.

Between this row and the next,

fronting Middlegate Street, there was

an old public house (No. 74), recently

rebuilt, called the Cock f In it there

were some curious moulded ceilings, of

* He was a younger brother of James

Hurry, mentioned ante. p. 129, and married Elisabeth, one of the daughters of W. D.

Palmer, Esq., and died in 1843, aged 78, and with him the Hurry family became extinct .

in Yarmouth. He left an only surviving daughter. Sarah, who married William Travers

Cox, Esq., M.D., only child of Charles James Cox, Esq., by Jane his wife, daughter of

John Travers, Esq,., of Kellyfield, Mayor of Cork, and sister of Major-General Sir Robert

Travers, K.C.B., and Rear-Admiral Sir Eaton Travers, K.H. The above-named C. J. Cox

(a godson of the Right Hon. Charles Jamea Cox) was the son of William Cox, Esq., of

Piddletrenthide in Dorsetshire. Sarah, the wife of Dr. Cox, died at Paris in 1857, s.p. The

widow of Mr. W. T. Hurry died at No. 2, Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, in 1848, aged 82,

and was buried in the chancel of Yarmouth Church, as her husband had been.

f The Cock is so old a sign that it is said to have been in use in the time of the

Romans. Used as an ecclesiastical sign it represented the cock, which crowed to reproach

St. Peter. Mr. Gunning, Esquire Bedel of Cambridge, who was a frequent visitor at

Yarmouth, -was accustomed to tell an amusing story respecting this sign. A learned

professor went to the lakes of Westmoreland, where he took up his quarters at a village

inn called the Cock. He was so pleased with the treatment he received that he

recommended it to his friends, and the Cock obtained great custom; in gratitude for which

the landlord had a portrait of the professor painted and hung up as a sign. Seeing the

popularity which the old inn had acquired, a rival publican set up the sign of the Cock ;

upon which the first, fearing that the identity of his house was in danger, wrote under the

professor's head,—" This is the old cock."

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THE PERLTUSTRATION OF

which drawings have been made by Winter; and a specimen is given on the

other side.* The premises extend eastward to King Street.

The house, No. 73, fronting west, was long the residence of the Rev.

Alexander Creak. An old house, No. 75, adjoining the Cock, has the date 1682

in iron letters upon its front.

No. 71, Middlegate Street, was in 1652 the property of the Ingram family.

John Ingram in 1626 stood by the ancient form of municipal government, and in

1635 was appointed collector of ship-money for the first and second south

wards. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Moniton, f When, in 1642, the

town declared for the Parliament, Isaac Ingram, contributed a silver flagon and

seven pieces of plate, containing together 84 ozs., to the fund so often

mentioned in these pages. In 1647 he filled the office of bailiff; and

subscribed to the Solemn League and Covenant; but on

the execution of Charles I. he resigned his place as an

alderman. In 1664 Samuel Ingram disclaimed arms;

those previously borne being erm., on a fess. gu., three

escallops or. By his will made in 1688 he gave £8 to the

poor.

Row No. 136, from South Quay to Middlegate Street, called Three

Herring Row, from the sign of a public house at the south-west corner. J It

marked the south boundary of the Custom-house Quay; and was called Mr.

John Cooper's South Row, also Alms-house Row, because in it

* The above-mentioned house was long kept by James Paston, and there are several

persons of that name in a similar grade of life. "William Paston, an aged fisherman, whose

head would not disgrace " gentle blood," claims to be descended from the great family of

Paston, Earls of Yarmouth. He says that his grandfather, who was a weaver at Norwich,

always made the same claim, but no evidence in support of it can be adduced, except that

the christian names of William, Robert, and James have always been favorites in the

family.

f He was a member of the corporation, and sided strongly with the parliament. In

1643 the "store of gunpowder" for the 4th Battery at the Market Gate was appointed to be

kept at his house. In 1650 he was one of the churchwardens.

t The Three Herrings was a well-known public house in Bell Yard, Fleet Street,

famous for its ale. John Moxton, bookseller in the Strand, lived at this sign in the reign of

Charles II. In 1660 Lord Rich lived at the sign of the Three Fishes, in New Street, Covent

Garden; and in Cornwall may be been the sign of the Three Pilchards.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

383

WERE some houses belonging to the Hurry family, used for that purpose, which

were afterwards the property of Baron Alderson.

Three herrings naiant were the ancient arms of Yarmouth. They appear

within six cusps upon the seal which has been affixed to grants of the freedom,

of the borough, usually called the "Burgess Letter" for many centuries. At a

subsequent period, as a mark of royal favor, the arms of England were borne in

chief, and in-base az., three herrings naiant, two and one arg., but when the

fashion of dimidiation was introduced the royal arms were placed on the dexter

side and those of Yarmouth on the sinister, by which means the fore parts of the

three lions of England became joined to the hinder parts of the three herrings of

Yarmouth, as we see them now displayed. In the Visitation Book for 1563 the

last-mentioned coat is stated to be "the usual armes."*

In the latter part of the last century the above-mentioned house was the

property of Stephen Godfrey, Esq., who devised it with other property of

considerable amount to his niece, Sarah Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel Paget,

Esq. The front, which has remained for the most part unchanged (except the

ground floor which is "boxed out"), is a fair specimen of the style prevalent in

the 17th century.

At the north-west corner of Row No. 136 was a large house with a cut-flint

front, which early in the 18th century was the property of A NDREW B RACEY ,

Esq., who filled the office of mayor in 1714, and died, in 1731, aged 79. f On

the marriage of his granddaughter, Margaret, with James Milleson, Esq., this

house was brought into settlement. Milleson, by his will proved in 1758,

devised it to Mrs. Margaret Le Grys, who in 1767 conveyed it to William

Manning, Esq., already mentioned vol. i., p. 219. J Manning had in his

possession many of the

* These arms are to be found in the collection of M.S. S. of Sir Julius C æ sar 1 of the

16th century, but without any explanation. No. 12, 503, Æ at. 1819, E. p. 88, B.M.

f He voted at the Norfolk election in 1714 for Astley and De Grey.

t “Dined by invitation at Yarmouth,” says Dr. Neville 1772), "with Billy Manning.

He and his wife live in a very genteel pretty manner." Mr. Manning had in 1771 a female

servant who was suspected of stealing a gold watch. Soon after the loss he saw upon his

door step, written in chalk, " Seek and ye shall find," and at a short distance he discovered

the lost watch, wrapped in paper, and concealed

1 My maternal Grandfather was Leslie Vernon Caesar; my cousin Jeremy was to

have been called Julius, but it was thought he might be teased at school, his brother was

nevertheless named Anthony. My Uncle Gerald Caesar’s cousin has produced a family

history, and lineage, and has information on Sir Julius as mentioned above. I have yet to

put this family history into computerized text, although the Rumble side has been so, and

on the internet at wwww.rumblefamilyhistory.com.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

papers of his great-grandfather, the ejected minister. During the latter part of his life he

resided principally at Ormesby, upon an estate which after his death was purchased by the

late Richard Glasspole, Esq.* Southey, when on a visit to Manning at Ormesby in 1798,

describes the place in a letter to his wife with his usual felicitous language. " I am looking

through the window over green fields, as far as I can see, —no great distance. A few fine

acacias, whitethorns, and other trees, are scattered about; a walk goes all round, with a

beautiful hedge of lilacs, laburnums, Gueldres roses, Barbary shrubs, &c. You would not

wish a sweeter scene; half an hour's walk will take

by a cabbage leaf. The thief had repented. Clover, who painted the portrait already

mentioned vol. i., p. 220, was a native of Norwich, and an intimate friend of Opie and of

Cumberland the dramatic poet. Susan, daughter of Thomas Manning of Starston, became

the third wife of Simon. Kerrich, Esq., who married, first, Susan, daughter of Roger

Castle, Esq., of Raveningham ; and, secondly, Mary, daughter of Dr. John Baron, Dean of

Norwich. (See vol. i., p. 327.)

* He for some years commanded the Buckinghamshire, a vessel in the service of the

East India Company. In 1809, when on board the Marquis of Ely, with Capt. Kay, he was

sent to Macao in the ship's cutter with seven men to procure a pilot. During the night the

wind which had blown fresh increased to a gale, and the next morning on leaving Macao

and rounding Cabaretta point, Glasspoole saw his ship under sail, distant five or six miles;

and a squall coming on, with a strong tide and a heavy swell, the cutter drifted fast to

leeward, and the weather becoming hazy he lost sight of his ship. After pulling and sailing

about for four days without being able to find her, the cutter was captured by the

Ladrones, who at that time swarmed in those seas. Captain Glasspoole wrote a highly-

interesting narrative of his captivity and treatment among these desperate and blood-

thirsty pirates. After being detained in great misery on board their war junks for eleven

weeks and three days, Captain Glasspoole and bis men were ransomed by the Honorable

Company's cruiser, Antelope, commanded by Lieut. Maughan. During his eastern,

voyages, Capt. Glasspoole made large collections, the greater part of which he presented

to the Norwich Museum, of which institution he was president in 1844. He died in 1,846,

and Rebecca, his widow, in 1873, aged 76. The Ormesby estate is now the property of

William Worship, Esq. Capt. Glasspoole's eldest son, Richard Edgar, entered the military

service of the company, and when a Captain in the 6th Regiment of Bombay Native

Infantry "was severely wounded while gallantly leading the "storming party for the attack

on the fort of Begt, on the 6th of October, 1859; and "died from the effects of his wounds

at Ormesby St. Michael on the 7th of September, 1860," as we are informed by a mural

monument erected in the church of that parish " by his brother officers, to mark the warm

regard and esteem in which he was held by them, and their deep regret at his death."

GREAT YARMOUTH

385

you to the sea-shore." Flat as Southey found this part of Norfolk (which he

likened to a pancake), it was, it seems, capable of giving inspiration; for at

Ormesby he addressed some verses to his wife in which these lines occur:—

" ----- ------------------- everywhere

" Nature is lovely ; even in scenes like these,

" Where not a hillock "breaks the unvaried plain;

" The eye may find new charms that seeks delight.

"At eve I walk abroad; the setting sun

" Hath softened with a calm and mellow hue

" The cool fresh air; below, a bright expanse,

" The waters of the Broad lie luminous.

"I gaze around; the unbounded plain presents

"Ocean & immensity, whose circling line

" The bending heaven shuts in. So even here

Methinks I could be well content to fix

" My sojourn: grow familiar with these scenes

" Till Urns and memory make them dear to me,

" And with no other home."

Many years after his visit to Yarmouth, Southey, in a letter from Keswick to

Mr. Townshend, says that he had "drawn from that open and level country

some images, which were introduced in Thalalia. It was the unbroken horizon

which impressed me, appearing so much wider than at sea; and the skyscapes

which it afforded. I had the same impression in passing through Picardy; and if

I lived in such a country, should perhaps find as many beauties in the sky as I

do here upon the earth."

Manning left two daughters, his co-heiresses, one of whom

married Matthew Needham, Esq., of Nottingham,* and the

other, Timothy Fellows, Esq. f Manning bore gu ., a cross

patonée betw. four trefoils or. This family of F ELLOWS trace

their descent from William Fellows of Selston in

Nottinghamshire, fourth in descent from whom was the

above-named

* Southey mentions having tasted excellent Nottingham ale, sent annually by

Mr. Manning's son-in-law; such as Robin Hood and his outlaws used to drink

"under the greenwood tree." He describes it as sweet and strong.

t "William Manning Fallows, their eldest son, resided at Ormesby in a house

belonging to the trustees of the Unitarian Chapel, and died there unmarried in 1867

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Timothy Fellows.* They bear arg , a fesse daucettée erm ., betw.

three lions' heads erased or. ; and for a crest, a lion's head erased.

In 1790 Manning sold his house on Yarmouth Quay to

Thomas Custing, Esq., after which time the front was cased with

white brick and the house divided into two occupations. Under

Custing' will the house next the row was sold in 1805 to J OHN

S HELLY , Esq,, grandson of John Shelly j (by Abigail Cheston his

wife), who lived in Friars' Lane, and who., we are informed by his epitaph in St. Nicholas'

Churchyard, "passed through a life of uncommon vicissitudes, with that rectitude of

conduct which prov'd an honest man, whilst piety to God and charity to his fellow

creatures proclaimed him to be a sincere Christian." He died in 1777, aged 67, and Rachel

his wife four

aged 69. The Rev. W. Adams, mentioned ante. p. 112, son of the Rev. W. Adams who

was instituted to the Rectory of Rollesby in 1708, married Elizabeth Hurnard of Great

Yarmouth; and her marriage settlement is dated 5th June, 1742, the trustees being William

Howard and John Ramey. Her only child married the Rev. W. Manning; and their great-

grandchild is the Rev. C. R. Manning, the present Rector of Diss, and a Magistrate for the

County of Norfolk. The father and son were presented by Leonard Mapes, with whose

family that of Adams was probably connected. Manning of Diss bore quarterly az. and

gu., a cross fleury between four cinquefoils or., as appears by a shield in the east window

of the Parish Church of Diss, bearing in pretence az,, a wolf salient arg. for Donne, the

Rev. William Manning, who died in 1857, having married Elizabeth, daughter and co-

heiress of the Rev. Win. Sayer Donne. In the same church is a slab on the chancel floor

which bears a lion ramp, gu., collared arg., for Bosworth impaling Manning, for the Rev.

Edward Bosworth, Rector of Diss, who married one of the daughters of Samuel Manning,

gent., and died in 1778, aged 73. The three incumbencies of Mr. Bosworth and the two

Mr. Mannings extended over a period of 128 years.

* His brother, John Fellows of Nottingham, was the father of Charles Fellows, born

in 1799, who, travelling through Asia Minor, discovered among the ruins of Zanthtus

some very beautiful and interesting sculptures, which through his exertions were brought

to England, and deposited in the Lycian Saloon of the British Museum. In recognition of

his services he had in 1845 the honor of knighthood conferred upon him. He died in 1861.

t Shelley is the name, of a parish in Suffolk. "William Shelly was married at the

Pariah Church in 1670 to Sarah Turnpenny; and in 1676 John Shelly to Elizabeth

Thacker. Anthony Shelly of Yarmouth voted at the county election in 1714 for Astley and

De Grey,

GREAT YARMOUTH

387

months later, aged 68. John Shelly, their son, married Martha, daughter of John

Wright, a freeman of the borough; on the strength of which, he claimed, under

the order of the 6th of April, 1781, to be admitted to his freedom on payment of

£50. He died in 1809, aged 72; his wife having died in 1784, aged 32. They

were both buried in the Parish Church. John Shelly, their son, the purchaser of

the house before mentioned, was a partner in the firm of Thomas Hurry and

Company. He was a man of great energy and much ability, endowed with

considerable oratorical powers, and well fitted to become, as for many years he

was, one of the leaders, of a strong political party. He took great interest in

promoting a reform in Parliament, and was strenuous in excluding non-resident

freemen from voting at elections; a practice which he well knew had been

attended not only by an enormous expense but with very great abuses. He also

took a very active part in promoting a, reform of municipal corporations. In

1835, shortly after having given evidence before a committee of the House of

Commons, then sitting upon a Bill for disqualifying out-voters, which

afterwards passed into a law, he was suddenly seized with illness at Radley's

Hotel, and expired in the 52nd year of his age. There is an admirable likeness of

him by Eddis, which has been engraved. Elizabeth, his widow, died in 1869,

aged 83. John Wilton Shelly, his eon, a Magistrate for the Borough, left

Yarmouth in 1870, and now resides at Plymouth.*

At the north-east corner of Row No. 136, fronting Middlegate Street, is a

public house, lately rebuilt, now called the New Fountain. This property was

purchased in 1769 by William Norton. (See vol. i., p. 195.) f

* In 1857 he was the proposer of Mr, Adolphus William Young, when the latter was

returned, to Parliament for the borough. Mr. Young is the eldest son of John Adolphus

Young, Esq., by Frances his wife, eldest daughter of W. H. Haggard, Esq., of Badenham

in Norfolk. He went out to New South Wales, where he filled the office of sheriff from

1842 until 1849, and represented the district of Port Philip (now the colony of Victoria) in

the Legislative Council. After losing his seat for Yarmouth he was returned for Helstone.

f This is a Saxon topographical name corrupted from North town. There are more

than seventy places in England so called; two being in Norfolk and one in Suffolk. Robert

de Norton, by his will made in 1349, desired to have his body decently buried in St.

Nicholas' Churchyard. He bequeathed to the fabric of that

388

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

In the 18th century there was on the South Quay a public house called the Three

Kings;* kept by Robin Sad, "who," says Dr. Carlysle, writing in 1745, when he landed at

Yarmouth on his way from Scotland, "standing at his own door near the south end of the

Quay, had such an inviting aspect and manner that I could not resist him. It was perhaps

not second best, but it was cleanly, and I staid two nights with him." f A family named

Elwin had property in this neighbourhood.

Church, 2s.; to the high altar, 40d.; to St. Mary's light, 6d.; to St. Mary's Hospital, 6d. ; to

the lepers, 6d. ; to the Friars Carmelites, 2s.; to the Priors Minors, 2s.; to the Friers

Predicants, 2a., to the Friars of St. Austin in Little Yarmouth, 4s.; and he directed 6s. to

be expended on his funeral.

* The Three Kings were the magi who made offerings and did homage to the

Saviour, and whose skulls are preserved at Cologne. During the Middle Ages it was a

very favorite sign. It is now out of use in this country, but is not uncommon on the

Continent, especially with old hotels. The story of the Three Kings was very popular, and

was frequently represented on the walls of churches. This sign was also adopted by

mercers and perfumers.

f See ante. p. 13. In 1342 Edward III, embarked on board the Yarmouth squadron on

an expedition to Brittany. It consisted of twenty vessels all supplied by shipowners at

Yarmouth. One of those vessels was the Garland, belonging to Thomas Sadd, and

commanded by William Sadd. The king landed; and leaving the fleet at Morbihan,

entrenched himself before Vannes. Prince Lewis of Spain attacked the Yarmouth vessels

and dispersed them, some taking refuge in Brest and others returning to England. The

army, thus cut off from its supplies, was compelled to agree to a truce. When the king

returned to England, be immediately summoned all the Yarmouth captains before him to

account for having “contemptibly deserted”, they having been ordered not to leave the

French coast without the king's special order. They probably pleaded that "necessity hath

no law," for we hear of no punishment following, Indeed the king could not afford to

quarrel with Yarmouth, as that place (as has already been stated) supplied him with more

ships and men than any other port in the kingdom, London excepted. The men were

however an unruly lot, and in 1354 Thomas Sadd was one of those who were emorced "

for sundry misdeeds," meaning thereby that he and others had attacked and ill-treated the

men of the cinque ports. In 1636 the Hannah of Yarmouth being at Bilboa delivering fish

and reloading with wool and iron, was boarded by the officers of the King of Spain, who

seized all the money on board and the seamen's clothes, stayed the ship for three months,

and then tortured the master and mate and confiscated the ship. Complaint having been

made to the Privy Council, the case was referred to Sir Henry Martin, who reported that

such proceedings were unjustifiable, and remarks that "it is not unknown how impatient

the English are of torture above all other nations." State Papers.

t Richard Elwin, who lived at Yarmouth early in the l7th century, had a

GREAT YARMOUTH

389

Row No. 137 , from South Quay to Middlegate Street, called Rose, and

Crown Row, also Cart and Horse Row, from two public-house signs. The house

at the north-west corner (No. 52) was long the property and residence of

G EORGE D ANBY P ALMER , Esq., who died here in 1865, aged 78.* This and the

adjoining house, No. 51, were erected in 1819 upon the site of some

warehouses and a painter's shop, then in the occupation of Lonsdale and

Garwood, which property had in the 17th century belonged to the Barcham

family; and in 1716 was brought into settlement by Bartholomew Barcham f of

Toft Monks in Norfolk, upon the marriage of his eldest son, John Barcham with

Mary, daughter of Thomas Spore. Mary, their daughter, married Mr. Shuldham

of Beccles; and Abraham Shuldham, their son, who died in 1783, devised the

above property to Frances, his daughter, who died unmarried in 1816. By her

will she devised it to her cousin, William Shuldham of Saxmundham and

Marlesford Hall, with an estate at

daughter who married Christopher Young, They went to New England, where Young

became one of the first settlers at Salem in Massachusetts, which state was founded in

1626, and where he died in 1647. He is believed to have been a son of the Rev.

Christopher Young, Rector of Reydon in Suffolk in 1616, who died in 1627. In 1637 the

"puritan minister, John Young," described as of "St. Margaret's, Suffolk," another son it is

believed of the Rev. Christopher Young, with Joan his wife and six children, took passage

at Yarmouth for America in the Mary Ann with many others, "but he was forbidden to sail

and went not." Two years afterwards however we find him at Salem. Martha, another

sister of the first-named Christopher Young, married Thomas Moore at Salem, who

followed the Rev. John Young to the east end of Long Island, where they aided in

founding the town of Southwold, named after Southwold then a seaport in Suffolk, but

whose harbour has since been much blocked up. There is a tradition that this Thomas

Moore was the son of a Norfolk clergyman, probably Thomas Moore, Rector of

Strumpshaw. Ex. Inf. Chas. B. Moore, Esq., of New York .

* Second son of W. D. Palmer, Esq. He was a member of the corporation before the

passing of the Act of 1835, a measure, which he warmly supported; and he afterwards

became a leading member of the town council. He was a Magistrate for the Borough and

also for the County of Norfolk, and was for many years a haven commissioner. There is a

brass mural monument to his memory in the south aisle of St. Nicholas' Church, raised by

subscription. He married, first, Maria, daughter of Mr. John Cross of Gorleston; and,

secondly (at Norwich Cathedral in 1831), Anna Maria, eldest daughter of the Rev. J. M.

Beynon.

f Bartholomew Barcham was admitted a freeman in 1694 on payment of £25.

390

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Kirby Cane, and she declared that neither he nor Lemuel Shuldham, his son,

should sell or alienate, " it being her wish and desire that the property should

continue in the family of Shuldham for ever." This restriction was disregarded,

and William Shuldham* sold the above site to "W. D. Palmer, E SQ ., who

removed all the old buildings f and erected the houses Nos. 51 and 52 thereon.

No. 51 was for some years occupied by Dr. Whincopp. J

No. 52 was first occupied by Richard Fielding Moyse, Esq., who married

Miss Belward, and died in 1835, leaving an only son, Henry Belward Moyse, in

holy orders, who took the name of Belward in pursuance of the will of the Rev.

Richard Fisher Belward, D.D.§ When the Rev. H. B. Moyse Belward left

Yarmouth, the family which had been of some continuance became extinct

here. || He died at his residence, The Waldrons, Croydon, in 1873, aged 82.

Richard Moyse of Great Yarmouth, widower, was in 1724 married by license at

Postwick Church to Elizabeth Penne of Great Yarmouth, spinster. In 1764 he

was elected mayor, but refused to accept the office, stating that he

* He died in 1845, aged 102, leaving two sons, William Abraham, barrister-at-law,

and Lemuel, an officer of the Scots Greys, killed at Waterloo. Frances Mary, the eldest

daughter, married William Frederick Schreiber, Esq., of Roundwood. The elder son died

in 1850, aged 62, unmarried, whereby this ancient family of Shuldham (traced from the

time of Henry III.) became extinct in the male line. Roundwood, in Rushmere, Suffolk,

was purchased in 1798, and was for a short time the residence of Lady Nelson and of the

hero's father. Page's Suffolk, p. 67.

f There was at this time a very large vine which nearly covered the front next the

Quay. A carved chimney-piece preserved from the old house is in the kitchen of No. 52.

t He was the only son of William Whincopp of Bradfield in Suffolk, where the latter

had a considerable estate. He was twice married, first to Elizabeth, daughter of John

Poole of Harleston, by whom, he had an only son, William, now residing at Woodbridge,

distinguished for his geological knowledge; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of

William Collett of Woodbridge. He published A case of Hydrophobia. He died in 1832,

aged 63.

§ He was Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and Rector of Burgh

Castle, Suffolk. He died in 1803. There is an engraved portrait of him.

|| A family of the name have long been resident at King's Lynn. Mary, daughter of

Nathaniel Palmer (ob. 1779), married Joshua Moyse, and they had issue two sons, Joshua

and Walter Moyse, and one daughter, Mary, who married William Moyse of Sawtry in

Huntingdon.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

391

was seventy years of age and conscious of his growing infirmities. The inquest

was called together again but insisted upon re-electing him, and at last he was

induced to serve. On "Powder-plot day" he attended divine service at the Parish

Church, when an excellent sermon was preached by Mr. Missenden, after which

the mayor “plentifully” entertained a number of gentlemen, merchants, and

others in a very " elegant manner." Many "loyal and memorable toasts " were

drank, especially "to unity in the corporation," for said the mayor,

"In ev'ry heart, if truth and concord reign ’ d,

All would enjoy a paradise regained"

The whole, as the Norfolk Chronicle records, was conducted with the "greatest

decorum imaginable, and very pleasantly concluded with innocent mirth and

perfect harmony." He left a son, Rainham Moyse, who was elected a common

councilman in 1765, and was afterwards a landing waiter of the customs. The

latter married Jane, sister of Benjamin Fielding, Esq.,* by whom he had the

above-named E. F. Moyse. Jane, daughter of Rainham Moyse, died unmarried

in 1844, aged 84. Maria, the youngest daughter, died in 1868, aged 82. Mary,

another daughter, who died in 1844, aged 80, married Robert Harmer, who died

in 1815, aged 54. Robert Harmer, the father of the above-named Robert Harmer,

died in 1802, aged 72, leaving Martha his widow, who died in 1813, aged 80.

Robert Harmer, the son, had three children, namely, Robert Harmer, Lieut.

R.N., who died at Barbadoes in 1809, aged 20, William Bly Harmer, who died

at Trinidad in 1816, aged 24, and Samuel Fielding Harmer. The latter entered

the royal navy, and after seeing some service was appointed Inspecting

Commander of the Coast Guard at Yarmouth. He afterwards went to China in

command of H.M.S. Driver, and died on board when off Chusan in 1843, aged

53. When at Yarmouth he greatly distinguished himself by his fearless gallantry

"in saving the lives of others at the hazard of his own." f

* See ante, p. 110. The Rev. Richard Fielding was Rector of Stokesby, Norfolk, in

1652.

f In the north aisle of St. Nicholas' Church there is a mural monument erected to his

memory by his brother officers. Capt. Kisbee, R.N., at one time Lieutenant of the Coast

Guard, and long resident in Yarmouth, was First Lieutenant of the Driver, and on the

death of Captain Harmer brought that vessel home.

392

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

The three houses between Row No. 137 and Row No. 138 were in the 17th. century in the

possession of John Pierson, merchant, and were devised by him in 1699 to his only

daughter and heiress, Mary, who married Benjamin Lane; and their son married Anne,

daughter of the Rev, Robert Clayton, who was presented to the Rectory of Caister in 1724

by Roger Crowe, Esq. (see vol. i., p. 360), and dying without issue left his property, which

was considerable, to his wife's nephew, the Rev. Wm, Ray Clayton, Rector of Ryburgh.*

Lane bore per pale az. And arg ., three saltires counter changed. In 1770 the above-

mentioned property was sold to Samuel Costerton, the direct ancestor of the present

Yarmouth family of that name. f He married Elizabeth Tompson, and died in 1777, aged

56. Benjamin Costerton, their eldest son, married Maria, daughter of John Fisher,

Esq. J He was appointed water bailiff in 1789, and died in 1813, aged 64. He was

succeeded in that office by his eldest son, John Fisher Costerton, Esq. See ante. pp. 169,

210. He was a Magistrate for the Borough and also for the County of Suffolk, and died

in 1873, in his 89th year, and was buried at Rollesby. This family obtained a grant of

arms— arg., a pile., over all two bars erm., each charged with two mullets gu. ; and for a

crest, a lion passant supporting a fire beacon, all prop.

* Samuel Clayton, Esq., of Great "Yarmouth and of

Trimmingham in Suffolk, was the son of the Rev. Robert Clayton,

Rector of Caister, and grandson of the Rev. Robert Clayton, who

died in 1704, aged 72, by Susan his wife, daughter of the Rev.

Peter Basford, Rector of Earl Soham in Suffolk, who died in 1770,

aged 91. Samuel Clayton married Anne, daughter of William Ray

of Worlingworth, and died in 1794, aged 63, leaving a son, the

above-named William Ray Clayton, whose only child, Marianne, married the Rev. Arthur

Loftus, second son. of Lieut.-General William Loftus. She died m 1866, nged 44. Clayton

of Norfolk bore arg., a cross eng. sa., between, four torteaux. Miss Harriet Heath Clayton,

formerly of Great Yarmouth, who died in London in 1872, bequeathed £50 towards the

restoration of the Parish Church.

f Probably more correctly Casterton, as it is sometimes pronounced, and derived

from a parish so called in Rutlandshire, which seems to have had some connection with

the East Anglian district. The name first occurs on the Parish Register by the marriage of

Sarah Costerton to John Wartlye in 1654.

f She died in 1826, aged 75, when her son, Mr. Charles Costerton, was mayor. (See

vol. i., p. 285).

GREAT YARMOUTH

393

The house, No. 53, was built in the latter part of the reign of Queen

Elizabeth. The north front room on the ground floor is lined throughout with

wainscot, very richly carved and in excellent preservation, never having been

painted. It has a fine pendant-moulded ceiling divided into compartments. The

room now used as a kitchen is also lined with wainscot in panels. This house,

after the death of Mr. Samuel Costerton, was purchased by W. D . Palmer, Esq.,

who cased the original cut-flint front with white brick. It was for many years

the residence of Thomas Burton , Esq., who died here in 1841, aged 68.

John Burton (or Burtham) of Sidehouse, Snaresdale in Northumberland,

died circa 1727, leaving John Burton, his eldest son, who is described as of

Leeds in Yorkshire, Acton in Middlesex, and Pall Mall, London. He in 1735

married Mrs. Sarah Reveley of Leeds, and in the register of marriages it is

recorded that his uncle, one of the Tellers of the Exchequer, having left the

bridegroom the sum of £90,000, the latter had relinquished the bride's fortune in

favor of her sister, Mrs. Rachel Reveley. He died in 1755 leaving five sons,

none of whom appear to have had any issue except Thomas,* who in 1770

married Elizabeth, daughter of William. Fisher, Esq., of Yarmouth, f He resided

first at Bracondale Hill near Norwich, and afterwards at Great Yarmouth, where

he died in 1808, aged 69, leaving a very considerable fortune, comprising

estates at Ringstead in Northamptonshire, and at Chiswick in the Island of

Jamaica. J There were issue of the above marriage three sons,

* Lancelot, another son, who was an officer in the army, resided at Beddington

near Croydon. He seemed to have met with a fate which brings to mind the Rugeley

murder; for after running through a fortune of £20,000 he was induced to remain at

the lodgings of a noted gambler in Somerset House, where in 1764, aged only thirty,

he died within three days under very suspicious circumstances. It then, appeared

that besides some landed property conveyed to a friend of his host for a most

inadequate consideration, the latter had in six months received nearly £5 ,000 from

the deceased, and yet made out that the estate of the latter was still indebted to him,

f Sylas Neville, in his Pepys-like diary written in 1771, says," I find Mr. Burton

(Fisher's son-in-law) a very sensible good sort of man. He tells me that the king,

notwithstanding puffs to the contrary, is a very bad horseman, and gets many

falls, tho' he always rides horses such as a child of three years old might ride,

that will kneel down or do anything; but on any sudden motion and when talking to

those about him, or otherwise inattentive, he is sure to go down,"

J He had lost a leg; but used an admirable substitute in cork, showing as good.

VOL. II.

394

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Thomas, the eldest, who occupied the above-mentioned house, married in 1802 Mary,

daughter of Thomas Watson, Esq. (p. 274), and by her had an only son, Thomas, sole heir

and inheritor of the family estates, who died unmarried in 1857, aged 64; and with him the

family in the male line became extinct The other sons were Charles Fisher Burton, a

Captain in, the Inniskilling Dragoons, and Frederick Burton, an officer in the army, who

died in 1818, aged 29, unmarried. The arms of Burton are sa. a fess or., between three

owls arg., crowned of the second; and for a crest an owl as aforesaid. There is a hatchment

of these arms impaling Watson in Yarmouth Church. The Burtons

of Yorkshire and Leicestershire bore the same arms with a chev.

instead of a fess. (Papworth, p. 401.) In the above-mentioned house

Mr. Gourlay, when filling the office of mayor in 1849, entertained

Dr. Hinds, then recently appointed to the Bishoprick of Norwich.*

Row No. 138 , from South Quay to Middlegate Street,

formerly called Union Row, but more recently Dog and Duck Row,

from a public house at the north-west corner, which had a painted sign representing a dog

chasing a duck in the water, f At the south-west corner is a house which for many years

was the property and residence of W ILLIAM D ANBY P ALMER , Esq. J He purchased an

estate of 400 acres of land at Loddon

a calf as the real one, in the silk stockings with knee breeches which were then in vogue.

One day he surprised his guests by walking about the drawing room before dinner with a

knife and fork stuck apparently into the thick part of his leg, but really into the cork,

placed there unknown to himself by one of his mischievous young sons.

* Dr. Hinds subsequently resigned his Bishoprick, and died in 1872, aged 70.

f Early in the present century the Bop and Duck was kept, for many years, by

William Read, "a mason and an odd fellow," and a foreman to W. D . Palmer, Esq., who at

that time was an extensive employer and possessed of considerable political influence. On

"election days" Head, who was a very corpulent man, might be seen mustering his forces

opposite the Dog and Duck, and marching them in a body to the poll. He died in 1823,

aged 58.

t In the Placita Foreste apud Chelmmesford, 1277, occurs the following entry:—

"And Thomas Thurkyld of Yarmouth (see vol. i., p. 177) made great destruction in the

same wood, and great injury to the vert in the forest, and carried it away "with great ships.

Therefore he is in mercy. And the foresters of our Lord the

GREAT YARMOUTH

395

and Hales Green in Norfolk, which he entailed on his heirs male.* At

the south-east corner of this row, fronting Middlegate Street, there is a

house with a flint front, now divided into two occupations, which bears

the date 1591 in iron figures.

King wished to attach him and his workmen, and he resisted and "would not suffer

himself to be attached. Therefore the Sheriff of Norfolk is commanded to make him

come. On the morrow of the Apostles Philip and James he comes, and because he resisted

the attachment against the peace of the king he is adjudged to prison and fined XXs. By

his pledges, Galfred the Palmer of Walden and Richard the son of Martin of Colchester."

Ex. inf. W. E. Fisher, Esq. This exemplifies the origin, of the name of Palmer, as already

given (see ante. p. 74). It is to be found among the earliest entries on the parish register.

In 1591 Thomas Palmer was married to Alice Wyllyams. Daring the common wealth

several members of the family were united in matrimony by "Mr. Bailiff Gooch"; (See

vol. i., p. 80, and ante. p. 96.)

The "marriage rate" is a fair criterion of the state of the country; for it increases in

times of prosperity and diminishes in those of adversity. After the breaking out of the

civil war, marriages fell off considerably in Yarmouth, until in 1648 this "reminder " was

entered upon the parish register, " "When God made woman and brought her to Adam; he

also gave a law for marriage, and the same is written for our learning."

The name is also found at an early date in several of the adjacent parishes.

Robert Palmer was Vicar of Runham in 1373, and William Palmer in 1490. John

Palmer was Rector of Great Ellingham in 1482 ; and William Palmer was Vicar of

Ormesby in 1494. There was published in 1867, for private distribution, the Pedigree

of the Palmers of Parhaim, Augmering, and Steyning in Sussex, of Wingham in

Kent, and of Dorney Court in Buckinghamshire, originally compiled in 1672, and

deduced from Ralph Palmer who flourished in the reign of Edward I. This latter

family is now represented by Sir Charles James Palmer, Bart., of Dorney Court.

. Sir Thomas Palmer, Knt. and Bart., of Wingham, Gentleman of the

Privy Chamber to James I., married Margaret, daughter of John

Poley, Esq., "head of that very excellent and ancient family in Suffolk.''

See Gent. Mag., for 1865. The annexed merchant's mark was used by

Robert Palmer, Sheriff of Norwich, in 1537. He dwelt in a "great

old house " in St, Gregory's, afterwards occupied by Sir Peter Seaman.

The name of D ANBY has long been connected with that of Palmer.

William Danby in 1560 was married at the Parish Church to Margaret Thompson;

and in 1561 Peter and Robert Danby, their twin sons, were christened. In 1631

John Danby married Jane Heneage; and in 1641 Elizabeth Danby was married to

Francis Cooper. In Blore's Rutlandshire, p. 8, there is a pedigree of Danby of

Thorpe Perrow in Yorkshire.

* On a complaint that the fine old mansion was haunted, Mr. Palmer was induced to

pull it down and erect a modern residence for his son, Mr. Samuel Palmer. Attached to

the estate is the Manor of Loddon Bacons, an account of which with its

396

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Row No. 139, from South Quay to Middlegate Street, was called

Paget’s Row, because of the mansion erected at its south-west comer

early in the present century by the late S AMUEL P AGET , Esq., for his

own residence.* To make room for it an old house which had been the

property of Mr. Stephen Godfrey was removed. The site, early in the

seventeenth century, was in the possession of Thomas Grosse, who in

1653 conveyed it to Thomas Peek f and in 1707 it was partly occupied

by a public house called the King's Head.

The name of P AGET has been of long continuance in Yarmouth, as

appears by the parish register. t In 1674 George Padget was admitted to

the freedom of the Borough of Yarmouth on paying a fine of £12 "and

also the accustomed duties;" and in 1714 George Paget of Yarmouth

voted as a Norfolk freeholder for Astley and De Grey. The late Mr.

Samuel Paget, was the eldest son of Samuel Paget who died in 1807,

aged 64 (leaving Ann his widow, who died in 1833, aged 82). He

commenced his business-life in the office of Mr. Kerridge, the

Government Agent for Victualling the Navy at Yarmouth, and whose

place of business was at the north-east corner of Row No. 117 in

Middlegate Street. Young Paget gave so much satisfaction by his ability

and energy in supplying the fleets in Yarmouth Roads with water that

on the death of Kerridge in 1790, aged 72, the appointment which he

had held was conferred on Mr. Paget, who afterwards became an

extensive shipowner, and was for many years the managing partner in a

large

descent has been compiled by Mr. F. Danby Palmer, the present steward, and printed for

private distribution,

* A view of this house (No. 59), in which Sir J. Paget was born, is annexed.

f Extracts from Marriage Register :— 1601, Joan Pagyt to Leonard Greene; 1604,

Thomas Paget to Alice Balie; 1656, Eliza Pagget to Robert Johnson (by Isaac Preston,

Justice of Peace, see vol. i., p. 80); 1667, John Paget to Mary Hobart; 1665, William

Padget to Ellen Riches; 1667, John Pagett to Mary Pymer, and Ellen Pagett to John

Turner; and in 1669, Hannah Paget to William Clarke, &c.

t Among other masters employed by Mr. Paget was George Gibson, who, when in,

command of the Endeavour, took out as a passenger Mungo Park, on his third and last

voyage to Africa in 1805. Gibson accompanied this celebrated traveller a considerable

distance up the river Gambia; and on taking leave, Mungo Park gave him a written

acknowledgment of the kindness with which he had been treated, and as a memento took

off his jacket and gave it to Gibson, who preserved it till his death, in 1823, aged 42, and

it is now in the possession of Mr. Hezekiah Martin.

GREAT YARMOUTH

397

brewery, which, in the previous century had been established by Mr.

Browne. (See vol. i., p. 334.) In 1798 Mr. Paget raised a company of

volunteers of which he became captain; and when this corps was

merged into a regiment of local militia, he was appointed lieutenant

colonel. Having filled most of the municipal offices he was in 1817

elected mayor. For many years Mr. Paget, was treasurer of the Amicable

Shipping Assurance Association, and "as a memorial of the judgment,

integrity, and candour which had eminently distinguished his services

in that capacity," he was in 1841 presented with a piece of plate

weighing 230 oz. He was a warm admirer of "Old Crome," and the

walls of his rooms were adorned with some of the choicest productions

of that eminent master, including a Grove Scene near Marlingford,* and

a Lane Scene near Blofield, painted in 1813. Mr. Paget married Sarah

Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Thomas Tolver, Esq. f The latter died in

1828, aged 75. Martha, his sister, married Stephen Godfrey. t They had

* For this picture Mr. Paget paid the artist 40 guineas. It was in the International

Exhibition of 1862, and is now esteemed worth more than than ten times that sum. A

portrait of '' Old Crome," by Opie, formerly in the possession of Mr. John Norgate of

Norwich, was purchased in 1873 by Sir Francis Boileau, Bart., for fifty-four guineas.

f Brother of Samuel Tolver, who died in 1804. See ante. p. 23. Elizabeth Godfrey,

the widow of Edmund Tolver, another brother, died in 1830, aged 90. Thomas Tolver

married 1 the widow of Henry Applewhaite 3 , Esq., of Leiston and Huntingfield in Suffolk,

and daughter of the Rev. James Coyte. There was no son of this marriage, but there were,

besides Mrs. Paget, two other daughters, namely, Maria who married Lieut. Moor, R.N.

He was lost in the Blenheim with Sir Thomas Trowbridge (see ante. p. 103, and P. C, p.

229), leaving one son, Henry, who practised as a physician at Chester, where he died in

1836, s.p.; and Frances who married Charles Bagnall, Esq., and had a daughter who died

young, so that there are now no descendants of Thomas Tolver except the children of

Mrs. Paget. 2

J Mrs. Paget was adopted, in early life, by her aunt's husband,

Stephen Godfrey, who died at his house on the Quay in 1809, aged

77, s.p., leaving her a considerable fortune. The old family of

G ODFREY of Yarmouth, now extinct, bore sa., a chev. between

three pelicans vulning arg. It was connected with many of the

principal families who flourished in Yarmouth during the last

century. Stephen Godfrey, father of the above-named Stephen

Godfrey, was a freeholder for Norfolk, and voted in 1714 for Hare

and Earle.

1 Entered in ink in my copy, married 25 th Feb., 1777.

2 In every other case Palmer simply proclaims the line extinct ,

but in deference solely to a close friend, makes the only exception

to his rule, that I have seen.

3 Palmer’s addenda: Applewhaite – “sister of Dr Coyte, a

widow, with two children, but a pretty fortune” Youell’s Diary.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

a numerous family, of whom Samuel, another Samuel, Thomas, Henry

Thomas, Elizabeth Sarah, Maria Ann, Caroline Ann, and Edward

Stephen died young. Frederick, the eldest son, attaining manhood, died

at Worthing in Sussex in 1867, aged 61. Arthur Coyte died in 1833,

aged 25, having been a few years previously called to the bar. Charles

John died in 1844, aged 32.* Alfred Tolver, in holy orders, Fellow of

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, sometime a Master in

Shrewsbury School and afterwards Rector of Kirkstead in Norfolk, died

in 1862, aged 44, unmarried . f The surviving sons are George Edward

Paget, M.D., sometime Fellow of Gonville and Caius College,

Cambridge, a physician of eminence there; t and Sir James Paget, Bart.,

Thomas Godfrey, twice bailiff, as we have seen (vol. i., p. 327), and town clerk from 1681

to 1704 (ante. j. 25), married a daughter of Major Wilde. By a sepulchral stone remaining

in Lowestoft Church, it appears that this family bore a cheveron

charged with three martlets, betw. three wolves' heads erased; and

for a crest, a unicorn's head. The inscription is to the memory of

Helen, the wife of James Wilde and only daughter of Henry Stone

of Bedingham in Norfolk, a family already mentioned (see vol. i.,

p. 240), who bore erm,, a two-headed eagle displayed, which arm a

are impaled with those of Wilde over her grave. Gillingwater, the

estimable historian of Lowestoft, published several curious

epitaphs which are in Lowestoft Church to members of the Wilde

family, but he does not mention their armorial bearings,

Gillingwater was born at Harleston in Norfolk, and was buried in the churchyard of

Redenhall with Harleston in 1813. The name prevails in Denmark and Sweden, where it is

written Gyllenwasser, that is, Eau d' or. He left no issue. There is remaining in Lowestoft

Church a small brass having engraved thereon two figures, male and female; above whom

are two shields, having on one a monogram of W., which leads to the belief that it

belonged to the Wilde family, and on the other these arms— az., three dolphins salterwise

or., being those of the Salt-fishmongers' Company as borne before 1536 when they and

the Stock-fishmongers were incorporated.

* In 1834 he published, conjointly with his brother, now Sir James Paget, a Sketch of

the Natural History of Yarmouth and its Neighbourhood, the chief contribution of the

latter being the entomological portion including a list of insects far larger than had been

known to exist in the district.

f He was the author of "An Essay on the Epistles of St. Paul," designed to shew a

systematic connection between them.

t He is Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge and President of

the General Medical Council for Registration and Education. He has received

GREAT YARMOUTH

399

already mentioned. (See vol. i., p. 285.) There are also two surviving

daughters, but in Yarmouth, the name of Paget is no longer to be

found.* Sir James Paget was educated (as were also all his brothers who

lived beyond childhood) at the school of Mr. Bowles 1 , already

mentioned,) and on leaving that school was apprenticed to Mr. Charles

Costerton (see vol. i., p. 285), who in after years was always spoken of

by his distinguished pupil as "an excellent surgeon, a good anatomist,

and a very willing teacher, with whom he had rare opportunities of

learning the beginning of practical medicine and surgery." Proceeding

to London he became a pupil at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he

soon made his great abilities known. He was appointed first warden of

the college connected with that hospital; and rose to be Senior Surgeon

of St. Bartholomew's, Professor of Anatomy at the College of Surgeons,

and a member of the Senate of the University of London. He is the

author of many surgical works, and has contributed extensively to the

transactions of several, learned societies. He was created a baronet in

1871. "As there are very few men," says the Lancet, "who have done

more to entitle them to special recognition at the hands of the sovereign

than Sir James Paget," so there is probably no one on whom such a

distinction could have been conferred with greater general satisfaction;

or who has more successfully laboured to elevate the character of his

profession and

the honorary degrees of D.C.L. of Oxford, L.L.D. of Edinburgh., M.D. of Dublin, and

D.C.L. of Durham, and is the author of various papers in the Cambridge Philosophical

Transactions.

* In 1870 the second window in the south aisle of the Parish Church was filled with

stained glass in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Paget.

f See ante. p. 138, where the Christian name of Mr. Bowles is printed "Thomas"

instead of "Henry Robert." He must have been a man of considerable ability, combined

with an aptitude for teaching, for besides the Pagets, several good scholars went straight

from his school to the university. Among others may be mentioned Dawson W. Turner,

Esq., D.C.L. (Oxford), now Head Master of the Royal Institution School at Liverpool, son

of the late Dawson Turner, Esq. (see vol. i., p. 305); the Rev. Wm. Smith of Trinity

College, Cambridge (second son of Dr. Smith, see vol. i., p. 210), a second wrangler,

Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Rector of Reepham, Norfolk, where he died in

1864; the Rev. J. B. Slipper, also a wrangler; and the Rev. Alexander Thurtell, a fourth

wrangler, Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, and Rector of Oxburgh, Norfolk.

1 By way of contrast, Palmer himself was to start school at age 8, at Mr Nichol’s

establishment, in company with such as the Borrett brothers, Frank Worship, C Sayers, E

Palmer (later solicitor), Charles Lucas of Filby, Tom and Henry Homfray, J Beales, Mark

Waters, Powell, and William Ferrier. Yet Charles states in his Diary, in the preface

written in 1828 that: “at school I learned little or nothing”.

400

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

enlarge its powers and usefulness. Of the high order of Sir James

Paget's intellectual attributes, and of the unusually distinguished

position that he has long occupied as a scientific surgeon, pathologist,

and physiologist, there is no need to speak. It is not only that he has

something good or original to say whenever he speaks or writes, but it

is because he says it so well, that his writings and his speeches are

always alike interesting and suggestive. There is an admirable portrait

of Sir James Paget by Millais 1 , painted in 1872 for St. Bartholomew's

Hospital. The arms confirmed to the children of the late Samuel Paget,

Esq., by the Herald's College in 1871, are sa., on a cross engrailed arg.,

an escallop sa. between two eagles displayed and two griffins pass,

guard, counterchanged arg .; and for a crest, a griffin, as in the arms,

bearing two escallops sa.

The above-mentioned house was subsequently sold to the late

Roger Kerrison, Esq., of Norwich,* and after having been partially

occupied for several years by the Government Schools of Design and

Navigation, was purchased in 1873 for their use. These schools, which

have already conferred great benefit upon the town, were introduced by

the present Bishop of Columbia and at first located at the Priory. They

were subsequently established at the above-mentioned house through

the exertions of the Rev. John B. Bampton, now of Dover, at that time

Curate at Burgh Castle, who undertook the duties of honorary secretary.

They were opened in 1857; and in

* He was one of the two sons of Allday Kerrison, Esq., who was the eldest son

of Sir Roger Kerrison. On the death of his uncle, Matthew Kerrison of Ranworth

in Norfolk, in 1844, aged 76, Mr. Roger Kerrison succeeded to a considerable landed

estate. He was a Deputy-Lieutenant for Norfolk; was for many years Honorary

Secretary to the Norwich Musical Festivals; and died from the effects of an accident

in 1864. The name of Kerrison was not unknown in Yarmouth. In 1681 George

Keryson had leave to set four posts and one cellar door at his house in the north end.

John Kerrison, Lord of the Manor of Ranworth, "a loyal subject and a strenuous

supporter of king and constitution," as his epitaph informs us, died in 1804, aged 66

years. John Kerrison, his son (who died in 1845), resided in a large house, now

divided into two occupations, on the east side of North-Gate Street, just within, the

town wall. His daughter married Mr. G. W. D. Palmer, who died in 1846, aged 35,

and their son, Mr. G. W. D, Palmer, inherited the Loddon estate already mentioned.

Kerrison Bears or., a pile az., charged with three caltraps of the field.

1 Palmer’s addenda: this portrait of Sir James Paget has been engraved by Barlow.

GREAT YARMOUTH

401

1859, when Mr. Bampton left Yarmouth, he was presented with a piece

of plate in acknowledgment of his services.*

Of Yarmouth deceased artists, not noticed elsewhere, we may here

mention George Alexander, a self-taught but excellent painter in water

colours, especially of marine subjects, who died in 1870, aged 64. Mr.

Fenner, an eminent portrait painter in London, is descended of a

Yarmouth family, his grandfather having been for many years in the

employment of Sir Edmund Lacon and Sons, and his father having

been an excellent heraldic painter. Early in the present century, Thorold

of Great Yarmouth, "arms painter," published A short treatise on the

origin and use of coat armour, because, as he informed his readers, he

had in the pursuit of his profession met with many persons of

respectability who had frankly confessed that they could not conceive

what is implied by a coat of arms."

Row No. 140, from Middlegate Street to King Street, between

which and Row No. 135 stands a house, now divided into two

occupations (No. 70 and 71), which in the last century was the

residence of J OHN I VES , the antiquary, the only child of John Ives

mentioned ante, p, 71. f

* He was the son of John Bampton, Esq., who resided at Ormesby. Mr. Emms, who has

already attained to some eminence as a painter, was instructed at these schools.

t A very complete pedigree of Ives, tracing the descent from Stephen Ives of

Saham Tony in Norfolk, who died in 1551, has been compiled by the Rev. William

Grigson, Rector of Whinburgh, Norfolk. Thomas Ives of Great Yarmouth, who

died in 1758, aged 74, "an eminent merchant," was in 1731 elected a member of the

Gentlemen's Society of Spalding, established in 1710 for the purpose of extending

enquiries into the history and antiquities of the kingdom by mutual correspondence;

and numbered among its members Alexander Pope, John Gray, Sir Hans Sloane,

and other distinguished names. We have seen that another Yarmouth man,

Musgrave Heightington, was a member (see vol. i., p. 383). He gave an original

Oriental M.S. See Reliquae galeariae, p. 429. A third Yarmouth man, Joseph Ames,

was admitted a member in 1740. He has been already mentioned ante. p. 119. He

married Mary, daughter of William Wrayford, merchant, of London, and was buried

in the Church of St. George in the East. Ames kept up a correspondence with

Thomas Martin of Palgrave, and in a letter written in 1756 he says, "If you go to

Yarmouth before you come to London, pray make me acceptable to Mr. Barber;

tell him I am much pleased with his delightful undertaking of a History of Yarmouth, and

that he may meet with some materials in Holinshed, and in Jake's

VOL. II.

402

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

He was of a weakly constitution which may have been the reason of his

having unfortunately been kept for a longer time than usual under

female tuition. He was first placed under the care of the Rev. John

Whitesides, of whose congregation Ives's father was a member (see

ante. p. 132). He was next sent to the Free School at Norwich, but was

removed before it was possible for him to acquire a competent

knowledge of Greek and Latin, or to lay a solid foundation for classical

acquirements. He was next placed for a short time with Mr. William

Peggon, an excellent grammarian and master of languages, after which

he was entered at Caius College, Cambridge, but was injudiciously

removed before taking a degree to occupy a seat in his father's counting

house. This enforced employment was distasteful to young Ives, who

devoted all the time he could command to Archaeology; from the

pursuit of which study, during the remainder of his short life, he derived

his greatest happiness. He formed the acquaintance of men of similar

taste; and among others of that "learned and ingenious antiquary"

commonly called "Honest Tom Martin" of Palgrave,* with whom, Ives

cultivated a close friendship. From him he acquired much

archaeological knowledge; and in return contributed to the comforts of

that skilful but often distressed collector of antiquities. In 1773, when 23

years of age, Ives surprised his friends by eloping with Sarah, daughter

of Wade Kett of Lopham, f by Jane his wife, daughter of Henry Butler.

They were married at Lambeth. Although this occurrence was not

agreeable to the young man's father, who was disappointed in the hope

that his son would devote himself to mercantile pursuits, yet, wisely

resolving to accept the marriage as an

Account of the V Ports." Martin writing to Dr. Ducarel in 1757 says, " My friend,

Mr. Ames, not long since just gave me a peep and away. I hope when the next"

Yarmouth election brings him down, to have more of his company but for this

Ames did not live. There is a Somersetshire family of this name who claim to be

connected with the Norfolk family. The American branch sprang from an ancestor

who emigrated from Bruton, Somerset, about 1635.

* He is so entered among the subscribers to Gray's Hudibras, and he delighted

in the appellation. See Page's Suffolk, p, 476.

f The Ketts of South Lopham bore or., on a fess between three leopards' heads,

erased az ., a lion passant guard, arg.; and for a crest, a leopard's head erased az.

Palmer’s addenda: John Ives – some amusing letters to the antiquary from his friend

Daniel Bonhote of Bungay, are in the Suffolk Collections of the Rev C J Steward, at

Somerleyton Rectory. Bonhote, writing to Ives, some time previous to the matrimonial

exploit of the latter, says –

“I heartily wish some fair one would hook you so deep as not to be erased by every

pretty face you meet. I have a very great notion that Miss Kett will still be the lady after

your heart. From your description she is well qualified to make anyone happy. Be not

obstinate therefore, but submit to the silken fetters. If you have any regard for her – strike

I say. My emotions may appear romantic, but I again repeat, there is nothing in life equal

to the sweet satisfaction of having one in whom we may repose every secret and meet a

like return of mutual confidence”. His arguments had the desired effecton the antiquary,

who eloped with Miss Kett.

GREAT YARMOUTH

403

accomplished fact, he fitted up the house in Middlegate Street, which belonged

to him, for the reception of the young couple, and speedily became much

attached to his amiable daughter-in-law. Speaking of her, in a letter written by

young Ives to the Rev. Mr. Thomas on the 15th of November, 1773, he says,

"My father has grown so excessively fond of her, that he will hardly suffer her

to be one moment out of his sight." In his letters about this time the son talks of

being "much engaged in rebuilding and altering his house." In October, 1773,

after a short tour in France with his wife, he says, in a letter to the Rev. Mr.

Bowie, "I have now got-a house of my own, a most amiable woman for a

companion, a noble room for a museum, and the enjoyment of every happiness

my heart can desire." He invites several of his friends to partake of the pleasures

of the library and the comforts of the dining room;"* and in writing to Dr.

Ducarel in the following, year, he says "my house is large and convenient; and I

have a heart which sincerely bids you welcome." In another letter to Mr. Bowle,

he says "I am now, thank God, settled in a manner equal to my wishes, and in

that state of literary retirement for which I always found the strongest

propensity. Tho' in the midst of a large town, my house is so contrived, that I

hear not its bustle, and can always retire from its impertinents. Come and take a

peep into my "sanctum sanctorum." There was at that time a large garden at the

back of the house into which some of the principal rooms opened. Ives erected a

private printing press, at which he struck off A Pastoral Elegy on, the death of

Thomas Martin, Esq., which he dedicated to his friend, Thomas Barber, already

mentioned ante. p. 57. f

* His coat of arms and motto were carved on the dining-room chimney piece,

f The title page states that it was "Printed by John Ives, 1772." It is now

very rare. The following dedication was written on a copy:—

" To Mr. Thomas Barber.

" Accept, my friend, these elegiac lays,

"And join, the songstress in our Martin's praise;

" Revere his memory, emulate his fame,

" So future ages shall conjoin the name

" Of Martin and of Barber —happy men

" Who bring past ages hack with flowing pen,

" And teach Old Time, here to revert again.

404

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Martin when a youth longed to go to the University of Cambridge,

but was compelled to adopt the profession of an attorney, which he

thoroughly disliked. He was one of the nine children of the Rev. Wm.

Martin, Rector of St. Mary's, Thetford, and of Livermere in Suffolk,

who died in 1775, by Elizabeth his wife, only daughter of Thomas

Burrough, Master of Caius College, Cambridge, and grandson of the

Rev. Wm. Martin, Rector of Stanton in Suffolk. "Honest Tom" married,

first, Sarah, relict of Thomas Hopley and daughter of John Tyrrel of

Thetford, who after bearing him eight children died in 1731.* Martin

afterwards married Frances, widow of Peter le Neve, the herald, and

with her obtained possession of the books and papers of that eminent

genealogist. He was not happy with either wife. Possibly his devotion to

archaeology, his inattention to business, and his fondness for society,

especially of a literary kind, were "aggravating" peculiarities, which

ruffled the temper of his helpmates. After an altercation one evening

with his second spouse, he declared his intention "to pass one night at

least with a quiet and silent wife;" for which purpose he slept in the

porch of Palgrave Church, where his first wife was buried; f and there in

1771 he was himself interred; a monument being erected to his memory

by Sir John Fenn. His collections, including many pictures, some being

curious portraits, were after his death sold by auction, Ives being a

principal buyer. Martin was a frequent visitor at Yarmouth; and in his

letters to Ives he often mentions Mrs. Barber, to whom he says he was

"entirely devoted;" she being "a lover of venerable antiquity," and he

speaks of her as his "very agreeable and respected acquaintance."

Ives at his private press printed in 1772 a true copy of the Register

of Baptisms and Burials in the great and opulent town of "Yarmouth for

seven years past, humbly presented to the Right Worshipful Anthony

Taylor, Esq., Mayor of Great Yarmouth, by the "Minister of the

Parish." It is very rare. On "St. Alban's day,"

* John Tyrrel, eight times Mayor of Thetford, died in 1718, aged 68. He bore

arg. two chevrons az., in a bordure engrailed gu.

t He might, with advantage, have brought his wives to Yarmouth, where, in the

reign of Edward I., the inhabitants had the privilege of tumbril or ducking stool,

the dread of every scolding quean."— Gay.

GREAT YARMOUTH

405

1774, Ives published Memories upon the Gariononum of the Romans, of

which in 1803 Mr. Dawson Turner edited a reprint with a preface and

some notes.* He also published Sigilla Antiqua Norfolciensia ; f

* This Roman camp, already mentioned vol. i., p. 243, is one of the most perfect in

Britain; its massive walls, fourteen feet high, remaining almost entire. "Burgh Castle,"

sometime held by the Prior of Bromholme, was granted by the crown in 1560 to William

Roberts, Steward of Yarmouth, whose daughter married Simon Smyth of Beccles, and

passed to General Fleetwood, who, as we have seen (ante. p. 68), married the widow of

General Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law. General Fleetwood by his will gave to "Capt.

John Nicholas and Nathaniel Gould, merchant, their heirs and assigns, all his Manor or

Lordship of Burrough, alias Burrough Castle, Co. Suffolk, in trust to pay legacies, &c,

and afterwards to convey the same to his son and heir, Smith Fleetwood, and his heirs for

ever." These heirs male failed as we have seen in the second generation: and the castle,

after descending as before stated (vol. i., p. 242), is now the property of Sir Francis G. M.

Boileau, Bart. On the other side of the estuary was, as has already been mentioned, a

summer camp at Caister, unprotected by wall 1 , the site being probably immediately to the

west of the water-works reservoir, where in making some trial holes in 1871 human

remains were discovered, some being the bones of a man of large stature.

f It has been already mentioned (ante. p. 18) that Ives was desirous of publishing the town

seal, but was refused an impression by the careful corporation. Previous to 1630 this seal

was kept in the vestry of the Parish Church as being the most secure place, but in that year

it was removed to the Guildhall and deposited in the hutch, the assembly clerk keeping

the key of the hall. It could only be used in the presence of a committee annually

appointed for that purpose, whose proceedings were recorded in what was called the

"Hutch book." At the commencement of the 18th century the entries are very brief, but

before it was half over they became more explicit, and the names of those present were

inserted. It was not however until 1734 that the entries were authenticated in any way, but

from that period the members of the committee who were present signed their names-in

the book. There are entries of several small sums received of members of the committee "

for lamb money," which term, was inexplicable until a further entry in 1724 explained

that such payments were made by those who had "never been upon the committee before"

and were naturally as innocent as lambs, and therefore to be fleeced. The lamb money

probably was expended in a whet, as a luncheon with ale and

wine was then called; which was intended to sharpen the

appetite for dinner, but was often so plentifully partaken of as to

defeat that object. Here is an engraving of this ancient and

curious seal on a very reduced scale.

1 Note here that Palmer thought that Caister Roman fort never

had a wall. Spelman, had however seen and described that wall in the 17 th century.

406

THE PERLUSTRATI ON OF

and Select Papers chiefly relating to English Antiquities. Ives also made

proposals for printing a Topographical History of Lothingland Hundred

in the County of Suffolk, towards which he made extensive collections.*

He gave, as we have seen, considerable assistance to Swinden; f and

had his life been spared, and had he succeeded to the large fortune of

his father, Ives, no doubt, would have been a generous and munificent

patron of literary men. But it was not to be: for he died in 1776, in the

26th year of his age. Immature, eheu abreptus, as his epitaph in Belton

Church, where he was buried, written by the Rev. E. Thomas of

Faversham, truly records. Ives was a Fellow of the Royal Society and

also of the Society of Antiquaries ; and, the office of Suffolk Herald

extraordinary was revived and conferred upon him . t During his short

life Ives had formed a choice and valuable collection of pictures, coins,

stained glass, books, and M.S.S.; the latter chiefly relating to heraldry

and archaeology; all of which were dispersed at his death. They were

* In some verses which, were written after his death Ives is described as anxious

Thy ancient records, Suffolk to explore,

"Enroll thy ruins, pen thy History o'er.

" His force of genius burst, e're yet a man,

" With thirst of knowledge; and he strove to scan

"Antiquity's whole store;—but in the attempt

" His earthly frame gave way—untimely rent

" From my fond friends, whose only joy and pride,

" Centured in him, and now with him it dyed.

" Lamented shade, oh! had all gracious heaven

"A longer date to thy existence given;

" To ripen judgment to digest the hoard

" Of sacred relics, thou with care had stor'd;

" Then would thy name, in future times have stood

" In rank with Leland, Dugdale, Hearne, and Wood."

f See ante, p, 56. Swinden is probably a Dutch name. Jan Hendrick Van Swinden

was a professor at Amsterdam in 1785. Crouse, who printed Swinden's History, died in

1796, aged 58, having published the Norfolk Chronicle for thirty-five years. Martin,

writing to Ives in 1770, says "I should he very glad to have Sir, Swinden’s account of

Yarmouth, as far as it is published, being desirous before I leave the world of seeing

every thing of that kind which I can; for in my decline of life I may not probably live to

see it finished."

t His seal of office, now in the possession of J. O. Fowler, Esq., late of Blofield, is,

by his permission, engraved under the annexed portrait.

GREAT YARMOUTH

407

sold by auction in London in 1777, and realized more than £2000; and it

is surprising now in so short a time, and with, no means but what he had

from his father (who had no sympathy with him in this respect), he

could have got together so rich and interesting a collection. Among the

antiquities were “Two ancient pictures on boards, being the shutters to

the altar of the Abbey of St. Edmund's Bury, with the portraits of

Cardinal Beaufort, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and Abbot

Bodington”. Among the books was a copy of Nash's Lenten Stuffe on

the Prayse of Red Herring, The sale of the books and M.S.S. occupied

seven days. Although bred a dissenter, Ives became a sincere member of

the Church of England. He took no prominent part in politics; but was

always an advocate for enlarged and liberal views. "I am a citizen of the

world," says he, writing in 1770, "and wish well" to all mankind. Peace

therefore would best please me if it were consistent with the honor and

interests of my country." He was partial to the society of literary men;

and always ready and anxious to give his assistance to those who

needed it. "I often think of poor Scott," says he, writing in 1770, "and as

often, I believe, miss him. Fortune does not always shower her

blessings upon the head of the worthy, nor do ease and affluence always

attend the deserving; else sure he might have been one of their common

favorites, for with as few faults as most he had an understanding and

disposition superior to many." On Scott's death Ives placed a mural

tablet to his friend's memory in St. Nicholas' Church, with this

inscription—

Solis et paucis

Notus amicis

Hic jacet Scotus

Vivitur ingenio.

On the monument in Belton Church appear the arms of Ives (see ante. p.

72), with the motto Moribus Antiquis. Beneath is carved an oak

* Ives had in his possession, the "Liber, trium annorum commercium epistolare Rev.

Fran. Blomfield completens" commenced in 1733, and continued during the busy period

when the Norfolk historian was preparing to publish his great, work, and while a portion

of it was given to the public. After the death of Ives this interesting M.S. passed into the

possession of Thomas Barber, already mentioned (ante. p. 58), and was afterwards in the

library of the late Dawson Turner, Esq.

408 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

broken in the middle, from which a, few acorns only have fallen to the

ground. The antiquary left no issue; and on the death of his father the

family became extinct . His widow married in 1796 the Rev. B. Davies,

D.D., Prebendary of Chichester. There is an engraved portrait of Ives by

Basire, from a drawing by Edward Miles, the Yarmouth artist

already mentioned; and another portrait etched by Lamborne.

Ives frequently signed his letters with a double I, and he used a

seal with the same monogram which is still preserved.* In the

commencement of the present century Ives' house was occupied

by the Rev. J. M. Beynon, already mentioned (ante, p. 137),

who married, first, in 1785, Ann, daughter of John Fowler, Esq. (ante. p.

119); and, secondly, Mary, daughter of Timothy Steward, Esq. The

latter died in 1810, aged 45, and was buried in the Parish Church.

At the south-east corner of Row No. 140 was a public house called

the White Swan, afterwards the Earl St. Vincent. At the north-east

corner are some newly-built premises belonging to the Charity

Trustees, occupying the site of some old houses, recently pulled down,

which came into the possession of the corporation in 1685, and were called

James' Houses. In that year John James, f who had been a tallow

chandler, and Matthew Springall, "writing schoolmaster," who had

married

* Penes J. C. Fowler, Esq., late of Blofield.

f It has already been, stated that Earl St, Vincent was popular in Yarmouth (vol. i., p.

320). He was more liked by the sailors than by the officers of his fleet; for he was very

strict, especially in the article of dress. When onboard the Ville de Paris in the Tagus in

1797 he issued the following general, order, worded in a very characteristic manner:—

" The commander-in-chief having seen several officers of the fleet on shore dressed like

shopkeepers in coloured clothes, and others wearing round hats with their uniforms in

violation of the late orders from the Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners of the

Admiralty, do most positively direct that any officer offending against this wholesome

and necessary regulation in future, is put under arrest and reported to the admiral; and let

the sentence of a court martial upon such officer so offending he what it may, that he

never is permitted to go ashore while under the command of Earl St. Vincent. To the

respective captains. (Signed) Robert Colder. The above is taken from an order book found

among a large quantity of official documents sold as waste paper when the Naval Hospital

at Yarmouth was closed after the peace of 1816.

J A John James was a Cinque-Port Bailiff to Yarmouth in 1349; and another was

Prime Bailiff for Yarmouth in 1508 with Henry Plumstead.

II

GREAT YARMOUTH

409

Ruth, the sister of John James, conveyed the equity of redemption in

this property to the corporation, who were already mortgagees in

possession.* On the north side of these premises is a half row called

Cock row or alley, as it leads to the back premises of the Cock tavern in

Middlegate Street,

Row No. 141, from Middlegate Street to King Street

Row No. 142, from South Quay to Middlegate Street, sometime

called Peacock Row f also Fishing-boat Row and Mariners’ Compass

Row, from successive signs of adjacent public houses. J At the south-

west corner stood a house which in the early part of the 17th century

was the property of William Greenwood, Esq.

The family of G REENWOOD was one of considerable antiquity and

importance in Yarmouth. John Greenwood, described as a principal

burgess in 1577, filled the office of bailiff in 1586; and again in 1612.

* The unhappy schoolmaster, in a letter addressed to Alderman Godfrey, deplores, in

very beautiful penmanship, having become bound for his brother-in-law, and pathetically

describes his miserable condition. " First," he says, "considering my employment, I am in

feare of every one that come neere me whether beneneficiall or pre-judiciall—then,

secondly, considering a deprivation of my liberty for a whole yeare and a halfe; —then,

thirdly, what loss I sustained from the towne for foure years space together, performing

the office of a constable in the greatest difficulty when the soldiers lay in camp, and in the

height of the press and my reward for my three years, my mittimus was made, and I went

under bayle a night and a day and was at the Gaol door ready to enter, but the rough

persuasion of some friends "I served the fourth, yeare, by what means I incurr'd the ill will

of the parents of those children under my charge; and my being outward from, my

employment, as the towne's business then required, was almost an utter overthrow of my

school. Besides I have a family to provide for, and the state and condition. I am now in,

without mitigation, will prove ruinous to me;" and he concludes with, "let these lines

come in compeletion to justify and cleare my innocence, for this is the verity of him who

is, Sir, your reall friend."

f This is a very ancient sign, the Peacock possessing a mystic character from its

supposed incorruptibility; so that to swear "by the Peacock" was to keep an oath

inviolably.

J The latter sign, is sometimes accompanied by the following admirable adage :

“Keep within compass

" And then you'll be sure,

" To avoid many troubles

" That others endure."

VOL. II.

410

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Dean Suckling addressed him as his "ancient acquaintance" when he

asked Greenwood 1 to exert his influence in supporting a Mr. Brown for

the then vacant mastership of the Yarmouth Grammar School; the latter,

being, says the Dean, a very fit man, having ever since he left the

university practised teaching. William Greenwood, who married Jane

Girling of Lynn Regis, took an active part in the troubles of the ensuing

reign. When in 1648 the town resolved to raise a sufficient force for

self-defence, and avoid the necessity for a garrison, he was appointed to

the command of a troop of horse, having Thomas Wilde for lieutenant,

Benjamin Sayer for cornet, and William Bell for quartermaster. In the

following year he was appointed one of the "Committee for Trade

sitting at Westminster." He died in 1656, and having a considerable

estate at Burgh Castle in Suffolk, was buried within the altar rails of the

Parish Church there. Thomas Greenwood, his son, married Rebecca,

daughter of Richard Garrard of Southwold. At the restoration he

petitioned the king for the office of Collector of Petty Customs, which

he said had been held by his ancestors from the time of Queen

Elizabeth, but of which his father had been dispossessed for his loyalty.

His application, backed by Lord Chancellor Hyde, was successful.* He

died in 1677, aged 56 , and lies buried with his father. Each sepulchral

slab is inscribed with a Latin epitaph; and bears the

family arms— sa., a chev. erm, betw. three saltires arg.;

and for a crest; a lion sejeant sa., holding a saltire arg.

See the Visitation for Suffolk, 1664. f Thomas

Greenwood sold the house on the South Quay to Sir

George England, Knt., who conveyed it to E DMUND

T HAXTER , Esq., who, as we have already seen (ante. p.

226), had married his daughter Sarah. Thaxter filled

the office of bailiff in 1666, and as such, entertained

the Lord Townshend, who, attended by a troop of

gentlemen, rode up to the

* Docquet Book, p. 20. Thomas Mann of Yoxford, Suffolk, petitioned for the

same place, "which he said he could "improve by skill in its execution." State Papers,

p. 156. A family of this latter name has been of long continuance in Suffolk.

f These are also the arms of the Greenwoods of Greenwood Lee in Yorkshire,

and were also borne by John Greenwood, Rector of Brampton, "ejected for loyalty,"

1 Palmer’s addenda: Greenwood – a family of the name of Greenwood resided at

Norwich in the 17 th century. William Greenwood, son of Miles Greenwood, by Anne his

wife (born Scath), left England during the episcopate of Bishop Wren, and joined the

church at Rotterdam. He returned with other co-religionists in 1642, and was one of those

who established the independent church at Yarmouth under Bridge as pastor. See vol.ii,

p.36; and Rippon’s Baptist register. Nathaniel Greenwood, born at Norwich in 1631, was

the progenitor of the Greenwoods of Boston and New York in the United States. Mr Isaac

John Greenwood of New York, is now the eldest male representative, of the latter family

(1875).

GREAT YARMOUTH

411

"bailiff's house where he dined; the object of his coming being to obtain,

volunteers to serve under him. "When Charles II. intimated a visit to the

town, Thaxter was one of those appointed "to consider of, doe , and

order what is fitte aboute making provision for the reception of his

majesty." He was again bailiff in 1675, and at his private residence

received the Earl of Yarmouth, when the latter came to the town to be

"sworn in" as Lord High Steward. On this occasion Thaxter had £40

allowed him for his expenses; and Lord Yarmouth left £10 with him

"for the poor." Thaxter died in 1690, aged 62.*

The house No. 60, at the north-west corner of Row No. 142, stands

upon the site of an ancient messuage, which early in the 17th century

was the residence of Thomas Felstead; hence this row was formerly

called Felstead's row. He was of an old family who bore two cheverons

between as many roses and a crescent (Papworth, p. 546). In the year in

which Charles I. was beheaded he was elected bailiff. He signed the

Solemn League and Covenant, and at the restoration his name was

ordered to be erased wherever it appeared. He died in 1705, aged 80;

his wife, Beatrice, daughter of John Knapp, having predeceased him in

1659, aged 31. f His son, who married Katharine, daughter of Robert

Davey, died vita patris, and the name became extinct .

Early in the eighteenth century the above-mentioned house was

converted into a tavern called the Black Lyon, and afterwards the Trinity

Arms, and was then the property of Samuel Wakeman, Esq. The family

of W AKEMAN were at that time very numerous and of

considerable influence and importance in Yarmouth.

They bore vert., a saltire wavy erm., and for a crest, a

lion's head arg., breathing fire, ppr . In 1574 John

Wakeman and Katharine his wife had license to export

4,000 quarters of wheat and 4,000 quarters of barley

and malt out of Norfolk and Suffolk

who sealed his will therewith in. 1659 ( proved at Norwich in 1663), whereby he "bequeathed to

his son, George, the ring which he was wearing, with the said arms cut upon it". Mr. Isaac J.

Greenwood of New York has made collections respecting the Greenwood family of

Norfolk.

* He disclaimed arms at the Herald's Visitation in 1664.

t Knapp of Suffolk bore or., in chief three close helmets, in base a lion pass. sa.

412

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

during the ensuing five years; but their ventures were not successful, for

in 1579 a testimonial was sent to the Privy Council, signed by the

Bishop of Norwich, the Mayor of Norwich, and others, declaring the

great losses sustained by Wakeman on the seas. Thomas Wakeman was

married in 1601 to Susan Smythe. Alderman Robert Wakeman

contributed a quantity of plate to the defence fund on the breaking out

of the civil war, and died in 1645, aged 58. Robert, his son, died in

1721, aged 80; and Nathaniel, his grandson, in 1751, aged 78. Giles

Wakeman died in 1693, aged 70,* leaving by Susannah his wife (who

died in 1709, aged 80) Samuel Wakeman, their only son, who died in

1787, aged 72, and who by Judith his wife, second daughter of Thomas

Godfrey, left a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Edward Sayer of

Norwich; and another daughter, Susannah, who married John Roope

solicitor. Roope died in 1749, aged 35. His widow survived him forty-

six years, dying in 1795, aged 89. f Giles Wakeman, the younger, a

surgeon, had in his employ as errand boy a young lad named E DWARD

M ILES , who at a very early age displayed considerable talent for

drawing, which was encouraged by his master, and in time Miles began

to take likenesses as a means of livelihood. Sylas Neville, in his diary

under date 17th December, 1770, says, "Went to Yarmouth and sat for

my picture for the first time to Edward Miles, a young man of that

place, who discovers a fine genius for drawing. Dined at Mrs. Harmer’s

and invited Miles; and on the 21 st he says, sat again to Mr. Miles, was

desirous of being taken in a Roman dress, but have no there any print or

drawing of it, as it was in their times of liberty. Mr. Miles dined with

me. Took this opportunity of subscribing for his maintenance

* His arms are on his sepulchral slab in St. Nicholas ’ Church, impaling arg.,

three heron's heads erased, being the arms of Hemway. He resided in Middlegate

Street, and had leave to place posts before the door of his house there (to stop the

carts coming dangerously close).

f The arms of Roope— arg., a lion ramp. betw. seven pheons az ., imp. Wakefield

—are on his sepulchral slab in the south aisle of the Parish Church ; and on another

slab the arms of Wakeman are impaled by those of Sayer, ante. p. 87.

t Mrs. Harmer, a widow lady, appears to have kept a select boarding house and

table d' hote, Yarmouth in the eighteenth century was much resorted to by the county

families; the difficulties of travelling being then great. The Norwich papers during

the summer season usually gave a weekly list of fashionable arrivals at Yarmouth.

GREAT YARMOUTH

413

during his apprenticeship." On the 28th of March following he writes,

"Mr Miles dined with me. He came to deliver my picture, intending to

set off for London on Monday. It is a profile in Indian ink, and thought

a striking likeness. Under the picture is a pileus with these words

around it— Salus populi. Mr. Walker made the words in Indian ink with

a camel's hair pencil. As they have not the best effect, I wish they had

been omitted. I did intend to countermand their being put." Again he

says "Yesterday I went to Yarmouth and before dinner was with my

friend Barber to see a drawing by young Miles, after a print of Sir

William Paston by Faithorne. Among other memories we drank to that

of Miles Corbet, Recorder of Yarmouth and member for the town in the

great Parliament, and one of Charles Stuart's judges. On my return to

dinner at the Wrestlers found Mr. Sykes. Miles brought my picture,

which, at the desire of Mr. Barber, I sent to him at Mr. Dade's. He

thinks it “very like” f " Sylas Neville, Wakeman, and others subscribed

to send young Miles to London, where he was introduced to Sir Joshua

Reynolds, who took great interest in him. t Miles took up his residence

in Tavistock Street, Convent Garden, but shortly after removed to

Berkeley Street, Berkeley Square, and soon attained to considerable

celebrity as a painter of miniatures, of which he was an annual exhibitor

at the Royal Academy from 1786 to the end of his life. In 1792 he was

appointed miniature painter to the Duchess of York, and in 1794 he

painted a portrait of Queen Charlotte, which greatly increased his

* See vol. i., p. 372. The pileus and motto are copied in the engraving; which is

taken from, the original in the possession of the Rev. T. G. F. Howes of Bolton. Neville

had also the pileus engraved on his seal, and upon the gold head of his cane. He was all

his life a lover of walking sticks, and at his death left a considerable number, some of

them, being very curious.

f Neville had also his portrait painted in Yarmouth by Sykes. "I am drawn," says he

"in a Vandyke dress, the colour dark grey, sleeves and breast slashed with crimson " . In

the foreground is an ancient sepulchral urn, inscribed D. M. G. G. Diis manibus

Gracchorum. J. Sykes had been a pupil of Hogarth,

t Sylas Neville in his diary says (1772) "At Mr. Giles Wakeman's saw a small

picture of Lord Carlisle, copied from, a large one (by Sir Joshua Reynolds) by Edward

Miles this picture has a great deal of merit. The young man is much taken notice of by Sir

Joshua, and I hope will do well."

414

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

reputation, and he was appointed miniature painter to her majesty.

During his frequent visits to Yarmouth he painted the portraits of many

of the leading inhabitants. One of his last works was a miniature of the

Emperor Alexander, which was presented to Lord Hawkesbury, He died

in 1798.

The above-named Giles Wakeman succeeded to

this mayorality in 1752 on the death of Christopher

Taylor, Esq., while filling that office, and died in 1775,

aged 68, leaving Elizabeth his wife who died in

1777, aged 60. He bore over the arms of Wakefield

the coat of Symonds on an escutcheon of pretence.

In 1750 Wakeman sold the before mentioned house

to William Danby Palmer, Esq., who took it down

and erected the present house on the site for his own

residence.* He died in 1788, aged 73. At a

subsequent period this house became the property

and residence of Mr. George William Giles, who died in 1860.

The name of G ILES has been of long continuance in Yarmouth,

especially in connection with the fisheries. John Giles was bailiff in

1579. He was, says Manship, "a worthy and grave alderman," and the

first merchant who brought the trade of herrings with Leghorn from

Calais to Yarmouth, by which the latter port was greatly benefitted. He

exerted himself for the improvement of the haven, and it was in his year

of office that possession was taken of Scratby Island already

mentioned. In 1583 he was released from delivering five coombs of

wheat to the town (for it was then the custom to keep a public store

against a season of scarcity), on condition that he lent the town £50 for

nine months, and set up and kept a clock and dial in the tower of his

house. He was again bailiff in 1603, and during his year of office, a new

cross, "in stateliness not much inferior" to the one then decayed, was set

up in the Market Place, on the top of which a place was provided where

malefactors, adjudged for their offences, were to

* In 1765, as John Carr, a bricklayer, was going up a ladder to repair the roof of this

house a stave broke, and he fell on the iron palisadoes and died in great agony.

GREAT YARMOUTH

415

receive accordingly," Thomas Giles filled the office of bailiff in 1608;

and in 1614 was appointed custos of the Lazar houses beyond the North

Gate, or "Sickman's Houses" as they were called after the Reformation.

In 1626 Thomas Giles having presented a petition to the corporation,

setting forth that John Giles, his son, had been captured and was then in

prison at Dunkirk in much penury and misery, and praying that

something might be done towards his redemption, the chamberlains

were directed to pay over to him a sum of money provided for such,

purposes, and a collection was ordered to be made at the church door

on a day to be named by the bailiffs.

Row No. 143, from South Quay to Middlegate Street, called Morling's

Row, the house at the south-west corner having been for many years

occupied by Daniel Morling, grocer. In the 16th century the house then

standing was in the possession of a family named Grosse;* and in

* It has already been mentioned (vol. i., p. 204) that Sir John le Gros, Knt, married

Alice, daughter of John Perebrowne, the Yarmouth, admiral. The family of Le Grose,

Grose, or Grosse flourished in Norfolk from the time of King Stephen down to the last

century, when it became extinct in the male line. They held lands at Sloley, Crostwight

(by Dilham), and Stalham. In connection, with the lords of the first-named manor, there is

some curious evidence of the late period at which serfdom existed in this county. Servants

born on a manor were from generation to generation "bondmen," who passed, with the

land, were unable to leave the service of the lord, and incapable of holding any property

of their own. In 1502 John Grose, Esq., the lord of Sloley, claimed Thomas Trafford alias

Galte of Yarmouth as being of "natyle and servyle condycion regardant to the seid

maner," and bound to do for the lord all base services; he being, as was alledged, the son

of Robert Galte, who was the son of Peers Galte, a servant regardant of the manor. But it

was proved on oath by Sir John Clere, Knt., and others, whose depositions were attested

before the Bailiffs of Yarmouth under their seal of office (because the seals of the

deponents might to many be unknown), that Robert Galte alias Ufford was the son of

Emma Ufford, a free woman in the household of Oliver Grosse, Esq., of Sloley, who was

never married to the father of her child, so that the rule of civil law partus sequitur

ventrem came into operation, the child having no legal father, for

" Cui pater est populus, pater est sibi nullus et omnis;

" Cui pater est populus, non habet ipse patrem."

The Lord of Sloley had therefore to " quit claim," and to declare the man "to be free and

of from condition for evermore ." It will be observed that if the parents had been married

the result would have been different, for then the son and his children would have been

"nativi" and servants regardant and in bondage to the lord. Some of the depositions are

published in extenso by Swinden, p. 12. The Crostwick estate of

416

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

1616 was purchased of Sampson Cawson, baker, who died in 1675, and

whose widow married Nicholas Turner. She, in 1630, with the

concurrence of the Rev. Nicholas Felton of Fordham, son and heir of

Dr. Nicholas Felton, then late Bishop of Ely, sold the above-mentioned

house to Joseph Maye, baker, who in 1652 conveyed it to Gabriel

Woodroffe, grocer.*

N ICHOLAS F ELTON , Bishop of Ely, was born at Yarmouth in 1563.

He was the third son of John Felton who had filled the office of bailiff

in 1585 with Jeffery Ponyett, f and in 1585 with Thomas Mansfield. J

He was Parson of St. Antholin's and Bow Churches in London, for

twenty-four years, was a fellow and afterwards Master of Pembroke

Hall, Cambridge, and a Prebendary of St Paul's. He was consecrated

the Le Grose family passed about the year 1720 to the Walpoles, and is now possessed, by

the Earl of Orford. Servants were in the fourteenth century the subjects of bequeaths. Thus,

in a will made by John Rookhaghe of Great Yarmouth in 1382 is as follows:— I give to

Christiana, my wife my four hosts fishers (namely), Arnold Reynman, John Stacyson,

George Williamson, and George Cook of the same town, to fish for the said Christiana for

the term of her life, to receive of the said hosts the chattels due to me, &c." Bondsmen

were sometimes the subject of sale and purchase. In the Complete Clerk published in 1677

there is (p. 659) a form for the manumission of a bondsman. If a fugitive serf resided in a

chartered town like Yarmouth for a year and a day he could not be claimed by his lord,

unless he were found again in his old nest, when the lord might take hint at any distance of

time. Yearbook of Edward I. One of the objects of Kett's rebellion was the abolition of

bondage or serfdom; but it was not utterly extinguished by law till the reign of Charles II.

In 1560 John Grose and William Grose were members of the select committee appointed

to confer with Mr. Drury of Aylsham, "an ingenious person," Sir Thomas Wodehouse, and

others, and to view and consider the place where the new haven should be cut. John Grose

filled the office of bailiff in 1616, and took a leading part in municipal affairs,

* He was named an alderman in the charter of Charles II. In this charter Marmaduke

Jenkinson was named a councillor. The Jenkinsons of Tunatal, Norfolk, bore or., two bars

gemel gu. between three boars' heads erased at the neck sa. Papworth's Ordinary, p. 48.

f Ponyett died during his year of office, and J. Bartlemewe was elected instead by

the same inquest who had chosen Ponyett.

j This has been a name of some continuance in Yarmouth. He was named an

alderman in the charter granted by James I. Sarah, widow of Robert Mansfield, some time

master of the Commerce, London trader, died in 1871, aged 89. He had been "in the

trade" for forty years, and died in 1829, aged 64 .

GREAT YARMOUTH

417

Bishop of Bristol in 1617,* translated to Coventry and Lichfield in the

same year, and finally to Ely in 1618. He was chaplain to Queen

Elizabeth and James I.; and was one of the prelates selected by the latter

to make a new translation of the Bible. He married, first, Elizabeth,

daughter of John Baker of Cambridge and widow of Robert Norgate,

D.D., Master of St. Bennet’s College, Cambridge, Prebendary of Ely

and Rector of Forncett in Norfolk. f Bishop Felton died in 1626, and

was

* Among the prelates present on this occasion were Dr. Abbot, Archbishop of

Canterbury, and Antonio do Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro.

f Dr. Norgate died in 1587, aged 43. He was the third son of John Norgate of Norwich,

who died in 1657, by Alice Haward his second wife, descended from Alexander de

Norgate of Cawston in Norfolk, who lived in the reign of Edward I. By her first marriage

the bishop's wife had three sons, of whom Edward the second was Windsor Herald, and

died in 1650. John, the youngest, a posthumous child, was a citizen of London, and at first

kept a stationer's shop on old London Bridge at the sign of the Sheaf of Arrows, and

afterwards became an expert bookbinder, although "born lame on all his right side, and

did write altogether with his left hand." He drew up an account of himself and family,

which is now in the possession of the Rev. Thomas Starling Norgate, Rector of Sparham,

Norfolk, a son of Thomas Starling Norgate of Hethersett, who died in 1859, aged 87 (by

Mary Susan his wife, daughter of Benjamin Randal of Norwich), and grandson of Elias

Norgate, Mayor of Norwich in 1787, who died in 1803, aged 76, having married Deborah,

daughter of Thomas Starling, Esq., Mayor of Norwich, of whom there is a portrait in St.

Andrew's Hall, painted by Williams in 1767. The arms of Starling, borne by this family,

are az., a cross patée or. between four etoils or. The arms of the above family of Norgate

are gu., two gauntlets in saltire arg., garnished or.; and for a crest, on a wreath of the

colours (upon a helmet of polished steel, close, adorned or .) a demi wolf ramp, couped

arg., armed and langued gu., with an étoile gu. on the sinister breast. Motto— Virtus

constat in actione. See Edmonston's Heraldry, fo. ed.

The Banffshire Ogilvies (mentioned in vol. i., p. 228, had

lands in Norfolk. James Ogilvie of Swannington, who died

in 1848, s.p., was the only child of General George Ogilvie,

who married Maria Rebecca Barbure, only child of John Bladwell.,

Lord of Swannington, grandson of William Bladwell, Lord of

Swannington, by Philippa his wife, daughter of Thomas Browne of

Elsing. Charles Bladwell of Swannington, elder brother of the

above-named John Bladwell, married Amy Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Nicholas Helwys

of Morton in Norfolk, and by her had an only child, Elizabeth, heiress to Morton, who

married Charles Le Grys, who fought at Culloden, and died in 1803. They had a daughter,

Judith Catharine, who married Benjamin Randall, and had issue Charles Randall of

Swannington, a Major in the Grenadier

VOL. II.

418

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

buried in St. Antholin's Church, London, under the communion table

near his wife who died in 1605.* He was "a most reverend, grave,

learned, and religious good man, and lived a most

godly, Christian, and charitable life, beloved both

of God and all good men." Another account says

that Bishop Felton was a great scholar and powerful

preacher. He had a sound head; was very hospitable

to all, and charitable to the poor. f There is an

excellent portrait of him in the palace at Ely, in one

corner of which are the bishop's arms— gu., two

Lioncels passant in pale erm., ducally crowned or.,

impaled with those of the See of Ely. This portrait

was given to Bishop Gooch to belong to the palace

for ever. t Another portrait is in the hall of

Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Guards, who died in 1848, leaving by Rachel his wife, daughter of Dr. Christopher

Harvey, a daughter, Elizabeth Rachel, married to Hastings Parker, Esq., who is tenant for

life of the Swannington estate, which on her death devolves on the above-named Rev. T,

S. Norgate; her father having inherited Swannington on the death of James Ogilvie. In the

old hall at Swannington there was a portrait of Lord Banff, under which were these lines,

written by Arthur Johnson, a physician at Aberdeen, who died in 1641:—.

VIXIT. OLYMPIADES. TER. SEPTEM. BANFIVS. ÆTAS.

TER. FUIT. ILLVSTRI POSTERITATE. MINOR. VIRTUTES.

NUMERA. PAUCOS. LIQVISSE. NEPOTES. COMPERIES. PAUCOS.

EVOLVISSE. DIES.

which have been, thus translated :—

Banff lived thrice seven Olympiads : his brave issue

Was thrice as numerous as such sum of life.

Reckon his virtues ; then you'll find their sum

Makes his descendants and his days seem few.

Taking the Olympiad at five years, the tough old nobleman departed this life (in 1612) at

the age of 105; and his descendants must have numbered 315. General James Ogilvie of

Banff was a guest at No: 4, South Quay, in the second quarter of the present century. The

Ogilvies of Banff, according to Papworth (Ordinary of Arms, p. 63), bore arg., a lion pass,

guard, gu., crowned or.

*St. Antholin's Church (a corruption of St. Anthony), at the corner of Size Lane,

rebuilt by Wren, in 1682, is about to be pulled down under the Union of Benefices

Act.

f Fuller's Church History, vol. ii., p. 134. Bentham's Ely, p. 199, M.S. by John

Norgate.

t Felton, the assassin of the Duke of Buckingham, was of an old Suffolk family

GREAT YARMOUTH

419

Robert Norgate, who in 1602 married Jean Harrison, was one of

the bailiffs in 1626, when an attempt was made to change the govern-

ment of the town, which he opposed. In his official capacity he went to

London and prevailed upon the Privy Council to permit the town to

erect an artillery yard wherein "to learn the true use of all sorts of arms,

offensive and defensive, and he practised therein aright." A copy of the

Privy Council order is published in extenso by Swinden, p. 120. On the

King's recommendation Norgate was re-elected bailiff in 1629. He

however joined the popular party, and in 1648 subscribed to the Solemn

League and Covenant; having previously in 1639 again filled the office

of bailiff.

The house at the south-west corner stands on the site of one which

in 1628 was conveyed by Robert Melling* and Anna his wife to

Nicholas Titshall. f The present house, the front of which is cased with

white brick, was purchased in 1766 by Nathaniel Palmer, merchant and

ship owner: who resided in it until his death in 1793, aged 54, leaving it

to his son, James Palmer, surgeon, who after living here for many years

long seated at Shotley and Playford, who bore the same arms. Their estates are now

inherited by the Marquis of Bristol, by a marriage with the heiress of that branch of the

Felton family. Page's Suffolk, p. 26. Sir John Felton was one of the admirals of Edward

III. See Holinshed, vol. i., p. 578. Nicholas Felton, who was Rector of Stretham, Ely, in

1621, and ejected by the Earl of Manchester in 1644, is supposed to have been the

bishop's eldest son.

* Bernard Melling wast a member of the corporation in 1667.

f The name is derived from the Parish of Titeshall in Norfolk, the concealed lands in

which belonged to Coxford Priory, and were in 1575 granted to Andrew Palmer. John

Fastolfe of Yarmouth and Sir John Fastolfe, K.G., held lands in Titeshall. There are in the

Parish Church some sumptuous monuments to the Cokes of Holkham, upon one of which

appear the arms of Coke with seventeen quarterings, including the arms of Paston and

Titshall—cheque or. and gu., a chief erm. Another shield of Coke has six quarterings, one

of which being Yarmouth— arg., a chev. between three lions' gambs erect sa. See vol. i.,

p. 99, and Blomefield, vol. x, p. 70.

J He was the eldest son of Nathaniel Palmer, who died in 1779, aged 70, second son

of Ambrose Palmer already mentioned, and grandfather of Nathaniel Palmer mentioned

in vol. i., p. 391, who for thirty years held the office of recorder, and died on the 30th of

March, 1872, in the 80th year of his age, and was buried in the Rosary at Norwich, For

some time previous to his death the recorder at each sessions appointed as his deputy,

John Hillam Mills, Esq., of the Norfolk circuit. The latter who was called to the bar in

1840, died at Lowestoft in 1872, aged 57 years.

420

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

died at Iver in Buckinghamshire in 1838 . He married Maria Barrow, by

whom he had two sons, James Barrow Palmer, who died in London in

1870, aged 72, and Edward Barrow Palmer, who settled at Hamilton in

Upper Canada, and died at Toronto in 1847, aged 47. The above-named

Nathaniel by Martha Spinks his wife, who died in 1782, aged 43, had a

daughter, Martha, who married Edmund Reeve of St. Augustine's,

Norwich, sheriff of that city in 1796 .

The R EEVES of Norwich were freemen of that city for more than:

three centuries, during which time they held property in St. Augustine's,

still belonging to the family. They were also from an early period down

to 1835 possessed of small landed estates at Middleton and Walpole in

Suffolk. The name signifies a governor—as Port-Reeve— whose duty it

was to levy contributions and collect fines and amercements. It is

derived from the Saxon gerefa, and hence our English word grabber.

Edmund Reeve of Norwich, who died in 1779, had two sons, the before

named Edmund Reeve and Stephen Reeve who married Mary Newman,

and died in 1792 leaving two sons, John Reeve and Joseph Newman

Reeve. The latter, who died in 1862, married Mary (who died in 1872),

sole daughter and heiress of Law Simms, who died in 1835. The issue of

this marriage was S IMMS R EEVE , Esq., who being called to the bar,

joined the Norfolk Circuit, and was appointed-Recorder of Yarmouth in

1872. He inherited an estate at Brancaster in Norfolk, which, with the

manor there, his maternal grandfather purchased in 1792 of Elizabeth,

Duchess Dowager of Beaufort, who was the daughter of John Berkeley,

Esq., of Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, and sister and heiress of

Narborne Berkeley, who was summoned to Parliament in 1764 as Lord

Botetout, after that title had been, for upwards of three hundred years in

abeyance and who was Lord of the Manor of Brancaster, Lord

Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, and keeper of Dean Forest. The recorder

in 1865 purchased of the Rev. James Lee Warner the site of the Roman

camp at Brancaster, called Brannodunum, which occupied about eight

acres of land, and, as a coast defence, was placed under the care of the

Count of the Saxon-shore, who had the command of 2,200 foot and 200

Dalmatian horse. The arms borne by the recorder are gu., a chev. vaire

betw. three,

GREAT YARMOUTH

421

roses az. ; crest, a griffin's bead erased arg., collared or., which were

granted in 1590 to the Reeves of Maiden.

Mr. Thomas Bruce, father of John Bruce, F.S.A.,* resided in the

before-mentioned house for some years.

Some fish houses on the south side of this row, formerly the

property of John Andrews (ante. p. 180), were in 1837 conveyed to J.

D. Palmer, Esq. f

Row. 144, from Middlegate Street to King Street. On the north

side is an old half-timbered house overhanging the row.

Row No. 145, from South Quay to Middlegate Street, being the

last row in the town. At the north-west corner is an old house (No. 65),

now cased with white brick, which in 1778 was conveyed to W ILLIAM

P ALMER , Esq., eldest son of Nathaniel Palmer who died in 1779. He,

the son (usually called "Gentleman Palmer"), married Elizabeth Liddel,

and by her had an only child, William Palmer, who by Mary his wife,

daughter of Richard Hotson of Long Stratton in Norfolk, by Mary his

wife, daughter of Nicholas Wales, t had an only child, Elizabeth, who

on the death of her father in 1802, aged 28, vita patris, became sole

heiress of her grandfather. She married Thomas Blake, Esq.,§ a

* This excellent antiquary, who was well known and much esteemed in Yarmouth,

died in London in 1869, aged 63. He was indefatigable in his diligent search after historic

truth, and whatever came from his pen was marked by the most scrupulous accuracy. He

contributed largely to the Archaeologia, edited many volumes for the Camden Society,

was a contributor to Notes and Queries, and greatly exerted himself to obtain for students

a ready access to our national, records. In private life he was greatly beloved by all who

enjoyed the warmth and sincerity of his friendship.

f See ante. p. 72. He was buried in the north aisle of the Parish Church of Gorleston

beside his wife. There is a portrait of him by J. P. Davis, and a bust by Turnerelli which

has been lithographed.

t Mary Hotson died in 1834, aged 84, and Mary her daughter in 1855, aged 82, The

latter married, Secondly, James Palmer already mentioned ante. p. 419.

§ He was the third son of William Blake of Swanton Abbott Norfolk, by Catherine

his wife, daughter of Robert Ferrier, Esq., who assumed, by royal license in 1837, the

surname and arms of Jex—arg., on a fesse eng. sa., betw two plain cottises., three

escallops of the field; in addition to those of Blake— arg., a chev.

422 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Proctor in Doctors Commons, but dying in 1821, six months after her

marriage, without attaining her majority, her large fortune was under

the provisions of her grandfather's will, divided among the children of

her great-grandfather, Nathaniel Palmer, and their descendants. William

Palmer, the grandfather, died in 1810, aged 73, and the before-

mentioned house was then sold by the executors of his will to Ambrose

Palmer, shipbuilder, who was for many years a member of the

corporation and a magistrate for the borough. He was the third son of

Nathaniel Palmer (who died in 1799) by Lorina his wife, daughter of

John Barton, water bailiff, by Mary Ferrier his wife. He built a house at

Burgh Castle for a summer residence, and died there in 1849, aged 64.

By Mary his wife, daughter of Stephen Reeve of Yoxford, by Mary his

wife, daughter and co-heiress of Newman Cookley, he had a numerous

family.

At the south-west corner is an old house with a square cut-flint

front, now painted. It has long been a public house, and was anciently

called the Nag's Head.* In 1734 it was named the Hat and Feather.

Subsequently it was called the Unicorn, which name it retains. This

house was the property of the Cobb family.

Among those who at an early period had houses on the South Quay

was R OGER G AVEL who filled the office of bailiff in 1305 and in

betw. three garbs gu. betw. a bordure of the last, charged with eight fleurs-de-lis of

the field. The above-named Thomas Blake married, secondly, Maria Emily, youngest

daughter of Thomas Cubitt, Esq., of Honing.

* There was a good tavern at Lambeth with this sign in the time of Queen

Elizabeth, at which, after the consecration of Archbishop Parker in the chapel of the

palace, the bishops, clergy, and nobles, who assisted at the ceremony were provided

with a "grand dinner," which enabled "the sticklers for the Romish church" to

term it "the Nag's-head consecration." Parker was of an old Norwich family who

bore gu., a chev. betw. three keys arg., to which the archbishop added, on the chev. as

many estoiles. See Heylin's Ecclesia Restaurata and Godwin's Life of Parker.

f To stick a feather in the covering for the head has been considered a mark of

distinction by many nations from the earliest times. "It hath been an ancient

custom among them," says a writer upon the Hungarians in 1598, "that none should

wear a feather but he who had killed a Turk," the number of feathers indicating the

number of slain. Hence we say in allusion to any successful exploit, " That is a

feather in his cap."

GREAT YARMOUTH

423

several subsequent years. In 1321 he purchased of Walter de Cain,

whose daughter, Constance, he is believed to have married, the Lord-

ship of Kirby-Cane in Norfolk, for which he did homage to the Abbot

of Bury St. Edmund's, and held also the advowson of the church there;

and Richard, the second son of Walter de Cain, subsequently released

all his right for an annuity of 20s. and a new robe every winter. This

Roger Gavel was the son of John Gavel of Yarmouth (living in 1281),

who was the son of Jeffery Gavel of the same town, by Alice his wife,

daughter of Richard Fastolfe. Roger Gavel, above named, was also

Lord of Mettingham in Suffolk in 1331; and by the above-mentioned

marriage was father of Edmund Gavel, Lord of Kirby in 1336, who in

1343 leased his manor in Thurverton to another Yarmouth man,

Anselm de Fordele, he paying therefore £5 per annum and finding

Gavel and his wife diet at his table for two years.* In the next year

Gavel was in rebellion against the king, riding about Suffolk with

banners displayed, imprisoning, and committing many murders, for

which crimes he was indicted before the king's judges, but obtained a

pardon under the great seal. Nicholas Gavel, his son, married Mary

Myniot, and became Lord of Myniot's Manor in Kirkstead in Norfolk in

her right, f

* See vol. i., p. 101. Bartholomew de Thorpe, John de Jurnemuth, Thomas Aleyn,

John de Wytton, and Hugh de Kimberley, Burgesses of Yarmouth, wore witnesses to this

deed.

f A knight's fee in this parish was held by the singular tenure of appearing annually

before the king on Christmas day, per saltum, sufflatum at pettum. Some of the privileges

of a manor were however of a serious nature, for in his court baron the lord had

frequently the power of life and death. On the assize roll for the 14th Edward I. it is

recorded that Robert Gavel having wounded Simon de Spalding at Bokenham in Norfolk

fled to his own house; and when Richard Fitzwilliam endeavoured to take him Gavel

struck the latter on the head with a staff, from which blow Fitzwilliam died the day after.

Gavel having been apprehended, was brought before Robert de Tateshal, Lord of

Bokenham, sitting in his court baron, when, instead of being proceeded against for

murder, which was out of the power of the court, Gavel was accused of stealing a cloak;

and failing to clear himself, was adjudged to be hung, and he was hung accordingly at the

lord's gallows. The accusation of theft was a false pretence in order to hang the man, and

the parties were fined for not having sent him prisoner to the king's gaol. Three other

instances are given in which men accused of petty thefts were brought before the same

court baron, and "without the suit of any one" were severally condemned to be hung and

were immediately executed; and yet the Manor of Bokenham was no larger or of more

424

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Robert Gravel, their son, by his will made in 1439 desired to be buried

in the Chapel of St. Mary in the Parish Church as did Thomas his son in

1461, and Henry his grandson in 1474. Bartholomew Gravel, son of

Henry, was last heir male of this family. He married Anne, daughter of

Henry Everard of Linstead in Suffolk, by whom he had four daughters

and co-heiresses.

Among those who had houses here was Robert Grower, who filled

the office of bailiff with John Garter when the civil war broke out. He

subscribed nine pieces of plate weighing 75 oz. to the defence fund; and

was appointed by the Earl of Manchester to be one of the commanders-

in-chief of the militia of the town.* The name is now extinct .

Mr. Thomas Whitfield, who in 1642 was appointed curate at the

Parish Church by the corporation, had a house in Middlegate Street,

adjoining a house which in 1646 was conveyed by William Baret to

Charles George Cock, Esq., f and by him in 1659 released to Thomas

Baret. J Among the earliest "preachers" appointed to the Parish Church

after the reformation, was the Rev. Mr. Dyke in 1582.

A family named R IDDLESWORTH resided in Yarmouth in the last

century, now extinct. They derived their name from the parish of

Riddlesworth in Norfolk, where the family, who bore vert,, a bull pass.

or., became extinct in 1450. Likewise families named H OLLEY and

H OG ; names which prevail in Norfolk.§

importance than many others in Norfolk where the lord had "right of gallows;" and the

efforts of the superior courts to restrain these local jurisdictions were for a long time very

ineffectual.

*Gower the poet, the friend of Chaucer, is said to have possessed the Manor of

Moulton in Suffolk.

f He succeeded Miles Corbet in the recordership in 1655. He published An Essay on

Christian Government and A Summary Survey of the Household of God on Earth. He was

one of the sequestrators; and in 1656 was returned to Parliament for the borough. He

married Anne, daughter and heiress of Richard Bond, whose arms arg., a chev. betw.

three bezants, he bore with his own, quarterly gu. and arg.

t This name appears to have been spelt indifferently Baret and Barrett. It may be

Danish, and derived from Barrett near Horsens in North Jutland.

§ Two neighbours of these names quarrelled about a right of way.

Said Holley to Hog, But Hoy said to Holley,

You impudent dog, I laugh at your folly,

Come here and I'll prick you I swear; I’ve got the wrong sow by the ear.

GREAT YARMOUTH

425

Some mention has already been made (ante. p. 196) of the family

of F ROST , who for several generations held property and resided in

Great Yarmouth, Meadows Frost of Great Yarmouth, who died in 1782,

was the only son of Edmund Frost* of Houston Hall, Suffolk, who died

in 1742, aged 64, by Rebecca his wife, daughter of the Rev. John

Meadows. This Meadows Frost, called of Castle Rising, lived the

greater part of his life in Great Yarmouth, and was buried here.

Meadows Frost, his eldest son, died without male issue. Thomas

Gibbons Frost, the second son, died unmarried. Francis Aylmer Frost

was the third son. The eldest son of the latter is M EADOWS F ROST of St.

John's House, Chester, and Meadowslea in Flintshire; a Magistrate for

the Counties of Chester and Flint and for the City of Chester. He now

represents this ancient family, f and has a son, Meadows Arnold Frost,

thus carrying the name of Meadows to the fifth generation.

At the north-east corner of Row No. 145 is a public house called the

Fourteen Stars, t which in 1778 was the property of Anthony Taylor, Esq.

James Prickle, who was son-in-law of Mr. Bailiff Burton (vol. i., p.

383), and had assisted in the escape of Miles Corbet, had a house

hereabouts. §

* This Edmund Frost was the son of Edmund Frost of Hunston Hall, who died in

1700, aged 68, and was buried in the Church of St. George at Tombland in Norwich with

Letitia his wife. He was the son of Thomas. Frost of Hingham Hall, Suffolk, who died in

1642.

f The arms on the tomb in the Church of St. George,

mentioned in the preceding note, are arg., a cheveron gu. betw

three trefoils az. By a recent; grant obtained from the Herald's

College the cheveron is changed to two chevronels, surcharged

with a pelican vulning to mark the descent from the family of

Meadows; some account of which latter family will be found in

vol. i., p. 153, and ante. p. 208. Mr. Frost registered his descent

from Edward III.

t The sign of the Star is derived from the star of Bethlehem.

At Manchester there is a tavern, which was called the Seven Stars so far back as 1350.

There was formerly a public house on the Quay called the Three Hammers, a sign not

mentioned by Hotten ; and another called the Artichoke, which sign was in vogue when

this "noble thistle" was a rarity, for Evelyn tells as that in his time artichokes "were

commonly sold at a crown apiece."

§ On the 31st of May, 1660, the House of Commons was informed that James

Puckle, with Thomas Ellis, a servant of the bailiff, had, by hiring a vessel, assisted in

VOL II.

426

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Having now reached the end of the Quay, except such portion of it

as lies between Friars' Lane and the South Gate, let us pause to consider

that on the 19th of April, 1814, a dinner of old English fare, roast beef

and plum pudding, was given to 8,023 persons, in celebration of the

overthrow of Napoleon Bonaparte and the restoration of peace to

Europe. Thirty-eight tables were placed in one long line, commencing

opposite the house, No. 59, then occupied by Samuel Paget, Esq., and

reaching Quay House at the north extremity of the Hall Plain, then

occupied by Sir Edmund Lacon, being in length 2,568 feet. Three other

lines of tables were placed on the Hall Plain, and one on the south side

of the Town Hall. 6,844 lbs. of beef were consumed, and 70 barrels of

ale drunk. The expenses were defrayed by a public subscription

amounting to £1,106, besides numerous contributions in kind. This was

the first example of an open-air dinner on this occasion. It was followed

by some other towns, but not one had the facilities for such a spectacle

as were afforded by Yarmouth Quay .

conveying away into parts beyond the seas the above-named regicide, who had then lately

been condemned to death, by means whereof Corbet had made his escape; and that the

commissioners for the militia in Norfolk had seized and secured Puckle and Ellis, and had

sent up several examinations and informations relating to the business; whereupon, the

House ordered Puckle and Ellis, to be sent up in custody of the sergeant-at-arms, and

referred the matter to a select committee to report thereon to the House.— Commons

Journal.

2 Palmer’s Addenda, page 212, The Bishop’s house at Ludham – The Rev Anthony Harrison gives

a minute account of the fire at Ludham Hall in 1611, of which he was a witness; and from his

narrative we gather many curious particulars. The house was built by the Abbott of St Bennett’s for

a “Grange” in 1450, and when the possessions of the abbey passed to the see of Norwich, it was

used by the bishops as a country residence. The fire broke out soon after noon in the brewhouse, in

the absence of the brewers who had gone to dinner, and in the space of about two hours a very

extensive pile of buildings was destroyed, the whole being thatched except the gentlemans’s

lodgings recently built by Bishop Freake, which were tiled, and which alone escaped. Besides the

brew-house, we read of the bake-house, the slaughter house, the stables, the hayroom, the

gentleman’s stable for saddle horses, the chamber of the grooms, the secretary’s chamber and

study, the malt house, the fish chamber, the corn cellar, the kitchen, larders and pantries, the

chamber of the clerk of the kitchen and his study, the clerk’s storehouse, the pantry and buttery of

the great hall, and the great hall itself, with the wainscot, tables, forms, benches, and furniture

therein, and the “harness” (military accoutrements) hanging about the hall; the new buttery and

wine cellar stored with beer and wine “plentifully” ; another wine cellar, a tailor’s chamber, a

women’s chamber, the dining parlour, the chambers and the bedrooms, the “gallery” which was

the study of the Lord Bishop, in which there were many books, the most choice for use and many

M.S.S. And all the audit rolls, and divers evidences of the bishoprick with £800 of silver and gold

&c. “Many of the swine, which were all shut up, were by me”, says Harrison, “let out of their styes,

but much scorched”. Several valuable horses were burned, as also the coach houses with all the

coaches therein, the granaries of wheat and wool, the lodgings for the “plough servants”, cooks,

scullions, and carters, the backhouse, the dove house, the foreyard, the smith’s forge, the lodge for

the hop poles, and other buildings. Truly the prelate had been comfortably lodged! For as the

parson says, “Bishop Jeggon had made the place very fit and convenient for a retiring country farm

or grange”; but he adds, “not befitting for the lord Bishop to make therein any long abode, being

only a lodging for the time of summer; but Bishop Jeggon preferred it because he found the air of

Norwich too thin and sharp for him who had spent the most part of his time at Cambridge, where

the air is thick and gross”. Attached to the grange were several parks or closes, an oak yard, a hop

yard, a garden, an orchard, two pond closes and a warren for conies, with arable land, woods and

marshes. It throws light on history when we read an account of a bishop’s country house. That

night, the burned out bishop and his wife , who is styled by Harrisson, “his old mistress and friend”,

lodged at Ludham in the house of Mr George Berney, and remained until after the following

Sabbath, when with “such household stuff” as had been saved out of the fire, they retired to a house

which the bishop had at Aylsham, where he died in 1617, and “lyeth buried in the chancel of the

church there”. The widow of Bishop Jeggon married Sir Charles Cornwalleys , knt., “a man, says

Anthony Harrison, “of great judgement and experience”, who had been Lord Ambassador in

Spain for King James, and served in that court for four years, and after his return was made

treasurer to the household of Prince Henry” He resided at Aylsham.

GREAT YARMOUTH

427

CHAPTER VIII.

Friars' Lane

" Come with me to Blackfriars."

NARROW roadway leading from South Quay to Dene Side, was called

F RIARS ' L ANE , because it divided the houses already described from the

possessions of the Dominicans or Black Friars (so called from the colour

of their dress), who established themselves in this part of the town in the

reign of Henry III., their grounds extending southward as far as the town wall. This lane

was widened in 1866 by the town council, who purchased and removed a portion of the

buildings on the north side.

In 1271 Henry III. gave the Black Friars permission to take in a piece of ground, 500 feet

square, called Le Stronde. The conventual buildings were finished in 1273, and in 1314

Edward II. gave them permission to enlarge their property.* They also obtained the

confirmation of a grant of some adjoining ground from Sir Edward Charles, f

Thomas Fastolfe, who had the "keeping of the passage in the king's name" under Sir

John de Botetout, the Lord Admiral in 1295, was a principal benefactor; but Godfrey

Pilgrim, vir nobilis as he is

* Some account of this religious house will he found in F. pp. 20,59,78 ; and in the

Notes to Manship's History, p. 409.

f Pat. Roll. 55, H. III. m. 15. He was called de Jernemutha; and held lands at Loddon

in Norfolk, where there was a manor called Charles'. In 1336 Sir Edward Charles was

Admiral of the North, from the Thames to Berwick, having in his fleet many Yarmouth

ships. The family bore erm., on a chief gu., five lozenges of the first.

t Thomas Fastolfe and Margaret his wife in 1296 conveyed to John le Lund a piece

of land lying between land of Godfrey Pelrin, north, a lane south, land of Thomas de

Scrouteby, east, and land of John Page, west, he paying yearly to the light of the Blessed

Mary in the Church of St. Nicholas 12d. at the Feast of St. Martin, and to the heirs of

Geoffrey de Somerton 6d. John Fastolfe, Doctor of

428

THE PERLUSTRATION

styled by William of Worcester, who died in 1304, is said to have built the

church. Eventually their possessions extended the whole length of Friars' Lane,

and were bounded towards the east as well as south by the town wall.* Within

this ample space were large gardens and orchards and also a dove cote, a very

usual appendage to a monastery.

The site of the Church of the Black

Friars and of the Conventual Buildings

is unknown, but a recent discovery has

led to the supposition that some

building's belonging to them may have

been on the north side of Friars' Lane,

for upon recently taking down a

bulkhead partly projecting in front of

the south part of the Unicorn public

house, formerly used as a cobbler's

stall, but more recently as a baker's

shop, a very lofty and handsomely

decorated stone gateway, having a pointed

arch, was discovered. The stone mouldings were set in a front of flints most

carefully smoothed and squared. In each spandril was an ornamental flat arcade

of stonework and flints, with a square drip stone above.

There is evidence of the building having been

damaged by fire. Beyond, in a straight line

eastward, is a doorway having a flattened arch

in red brick. In 1861 a fish office in Row No.

143 was destroyed by fire. On removing a

stone which had formed the lintel of a door,

Divinity, a friar preacher of eminence, was

buried here with many more of that ancient and noble family, for the repose of

whose souls the brethren were bound to pray. Hugh Pastolfe, “ burgensis mercator de

Jernemutha,” was an Alderman and Sheriff of London in 1388; and afterwards

Governor of Dover Castle. Sir John Fastolfe, of Caister, KG., was a benefactor, It is

noteworthy that he was one of the negotiators of a proposed peace with France in

1342. See vol. i., p. 11.

*Calendar Inquisitions Post mortem, 18 Ed I.

GREAT YARMOUTH

429

and presented a smooth surface externally, it was found that on the other three

aides it was richly carved, leading to the belief that it had at one time formed

the base of a pinnacle belonging to the Church of the Black Friars, and had thus

been utilised. Each aide exhibits a figure standing within a canopied recess, as

may be seen in the annexed engraving.*

The privilege of sanctuary was not confined to the Parish Church (see vol.

i., p. 52); for that of the Black Friars was also resorted to. In 1295 John Schot of

Norwich, placed himself in the Church of the Friars Preachers "on Friday after

the conception of the Blessed Mary," and acknowledged that he had stolen

goods from merchants of Winchelsea and Flanders to the value of £30, and had

broken, out of gaol. He was allowed to abjure the kingdom, and ordered to take

his departure from Portsmouth within three weeks. Geoffrey Gom, of Lynn also

craved sanctuary in the same church, confessing to the coroners (whose duty it

was to examine all such persons) that he had broken out of prison after killing a

man of Gascony. He was desired to take ship from St. Botolf's, as Boston was

then called, within, fifteen days. f The privilege of sanctuary was not finally

taken away from churches and churchyards until 1623. J

This house was greatly enriched by legacies. Simon de Ormesby§ who

died in 1349, desired his body "to be buried in the Church of the

* In. the cellar of a house on the south side of Friars' Lane may he seen built

into the wall a stone gargoyle, which, no doubt came from, the Church of the Black

Friars; as did also some corbels built into the face of the south-west tower.

f What would have happened had he not done so, may be gathered from the

Norwich Rolls, 23 Edward I, where it is recorded that Roger Tril who abjured the

realm before the city coroner, and having been again arrested, confessed his abjuration

and was thereupon hanged without further ceremony.

j A remarkable instance occurred at Norwich. In 1285 Walter Eghe having

been found guilty of stealing cloth was adjudged to be hanged, and was hanged

accordingly; but when, the body had been taken to St. George's Church to be buried

it was found that the man was living. He claimed sanctuary; and although watched,

contrived to escape to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he remained until the

King's pardon was obtained.

§ No doubt he or his predecessors came from the neighbouring village of

Ormesby, and was therefore so called. There was a knightly family of that name

who bore six cross crosslets fitch é e or., a bend composed gu. and az. Sir William d e

Ormesby fell at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Their possessions in Ormesby

430

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

order of Friars Predicants," to whom he bequeathed 10s.; and he gave to

Friar Alexander de Briston of that order an annuity of 12d. to be

received of testator's son, John; and to Friar de Boton 2s. Walter

Calthorpe, Bishop of Norwich, called de Suffield, gave by will to this

house in 1257 five marks. Sir John de Ptaiz of Weeting bequeathed in

1389 five marks.* Richard, Duke of York, slain at the battle of

Wakefield in 1460, was a benefactor, as was Sir Miles Stapleton of

Ingham. f The families of Clere, Paston, Godell and many others also

bequeathed legacies to this house. Another source of revenue was from

"interments." It appears by a M.S. preserved in the College of Arms,

that Thomas, son of Sir Thomas Bowett, Knt., was buried here; t The

conventual seal was oval, and represented within a triple canopy in front

of a church or monastery, the Virgin with the infant Saviour in the

centre, between a prior on her right hand and a

passed to the Clares (see vol. i., p.11) by the marriage of Annable, daughter and heiress of

Sir William de Ormesby with Nicholas de Clere.

There is in the Daunce collection in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, a large folio M.S.

written in the latter part of the 13th century, which formerly belonged to Norwich

Cathedral, and has a note on a fly leaf at the beginning to the effect that “it was the Psalter

of brother William de Ormesby, and by him assigned to the Church of the Holy Trinity at

Norwich, to be before the sub-prior for the time being for ever." This splendidly

illuminated M.S. is believed by Dr. Waagen to have been executed at Norwich, and is

cited by him as proving that the art of painting existed in England in the middle ages, and

was entitled to rank with the works of France and Italy. Treasures of Art in Great Britain,

vol, iii. p. 92.

Alice Piers, the beautiful mistress of Edward III., was the daughter of John Piers or

Perirs, Lord of Holt, by Gunnora, one of the three daughters of Sir Thomas de Ormesby.

She first married Sir Thomas de Narford, and secondly William de Wyndesore.

* He bore per pale or. and gu., a lion passant arg. He was the last heir male of this

ancient family; and having married Joan, daughter of Sir Miles Stapleton, left an only

daughter who married Sir John Howard.

f He probably became acquainted with the town from having held the office of

commissioner for the care of the beacons in Norfolk. He died without male issue in 1466.

Stapleton bore arg., a lion ramp, sa., quartering Ingham, per pale or., and vert, a cross

moline gu.

t In the chancel of the Priory Church of Horsham St. Faith's, Norfolk, there was a

shield bearing the arms of Bowett— arg., an etoile pierced betw. three reindeer's heads

embossed sa., which arms are now quartered by Lord Dacre, who represents that knightly

family, who were also seated at Wrentham in Suffolk.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

431

bishop on her left. Beneath is an arch spanning some water in which two

herrings are swimming. Above the canopy may be seen a crescent and a star,

one being an emblem of St. Dominic, the Patron Saint of the Order, and the

symbol of the Epiphany, the other the spreading of the gospel of Christ. About

the year 1525 "the Churche and Queere of the Black Friars in this Towne of

Yermouthe was burnte with fire," quoth Manship the elder; and his son informs

us that before the end of that century the walls were pulled down, and the very

foundations digged up and dispersed to other uses. Edmund Hercock was the

last prior,* and by him the convent was probably surrendered. In 1542 the whole

site was granted by Henry VIII, to Richard Andrews, who seems to have been a

dealer in this description of property. In 1558 there was another grant from the

crown to Gilbert Walton, who in 1585, by virtue of the queen's license,

conveyed to Nicholas Mynne "all that capital messuage late of the Friars

Mendicant or Black Friars then lately dissolved, with the houses, barns, stables,

dove cotes, orchards, gardens, lands, and appurtenances to the same, belonging

which premises abutted upon the town wall towards the east and south, upon

Blackfriars' Lane towards the north, and with the Quay upon the haven towards

the west." In 1590 Mynne, by license from the crown, sold a considerable part of

the property adjoining Friars' Lane to John Clamp and Beatrice his wife, who in

1593 levied a fine, the uses of which were declared to be in favor of Robert

Wakeman for 1000 years, from the anniversary of the Decollation of St. John

the Baptist, with remainder to the said John Clamp and Beatrice his wife.

Wakeman died in 1596, and the premises were sold by his executors and became

sub-divided; and from that time they passed rapidly through the hands of many

persons, and the property is still held under the above-mentioned term. In 1592

Clamp demised another portion of

* Harris' Collections. William de Repps was prior in 1313. There was an old Norfolk

family of this name who traced their descent from the time of the conquest, and bore erm.,

three chevronels arg.; and for a crest, a, plume of feathers erm., issuing out of a coronet

with a pair of wings or. This family in the male line became extinct on the death of John

Repps, Esq., of West Walton, who died at Mattishall in Norfolk in 1760. Sir Henry

Repps, temp. Richard II., married Joan, daughter of Sir John Fastolfe.

432

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

the precincts adjoining Friars' Lane to John Symonds for 900 years, under

which term that portion of the property is now held. The southern and more

extensive portion of the precincts, including the monastic gardens, was

conveyed by Mynne to Roger Drury, Esq.

D RURY , a nobleman of Normandy, came to England with William the

Conqueror and became the founder of a family of considerable note, possessed

of extensive estates in Norfolk and Suffolk. Sir Drue Drury, who built

Riddlesworth Hall, was sometime Governor of the Tower of London and

Gentleman Usher of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth. In 1577 he was

appointed a commissioner to determine a dispute which had arisen respecting

the right of fishing in the Yare, as to which there had been a chancery suit

between the corporation and the Paston family; and in 1593 as a Norfolk justice

he signed a letter to the Privy Council urging some relief to the town in respect

of the cost of the haven. He died in 1617, aged 99.*

The above-named R OGER DRURY was the second son of William Drury of

Bestford, by Dorothy his wife, daughter of William Brampton of Letton, and

held the Manor of Berking in Rollesby, Norfolk, by knight's service f married

Katharine, daughter of John Lovell and relict of William Lister, and having

taken up his residence in Yarmouth was made a free burgess and elected bailiff

in 1584. He represented the town in Parliament in the memorable year of 1588;

was again bailiff in 1593, and died in 1599, and was buried at Rollesby. By his

will he gave the Black Friars to his second son, together with his houses and

lands at Rushmer, Mutford, and Bradwell. He bequeathed numerous legacies,

one of which was to his friend Henry Manship. His eldest son was Sir Drue

Drury, respecting whom a singular legal question arose. He was under age when

his father died, and his wardship was granted by Queen Elizabeth to his relative,

Sir Drue Drury of Riddlesworth. It was pleaded that the young man was already

a

* Further particulars of the Drury family will be found in Dale's M.S.S., vol. 7;

Coll. Arms; Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. i., p. 278; Gage's Suffolk, p. 428; Odium's

Hawsted, p. 128 ; and P. C, pp. 113, 306.

f In 1590 he purchased an estate at Bradwell in Suffolk, "being part of the

lauds of John Throgmorton, of high treason attainted and convicted." Clare Rolls,

32 Eliz.

GREAT YARMOUTH

433

knight, and was also a freeman of Yarmouth, but the Court of Wards decided

that his wardship was not thereby discharged, and that having refused an offer

of marriage he was liable to pay " the value of his marriage" to his guardian,

which it is to be presumed he did, for he followed his own inclination, being yet

under age, by marrying Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Lord Burgh, KG.,

grandson of the Lord Burgh already mentioned (vol. i., p. 61).* Roger Drury,

the second son, who became possessed of the Black Friars under his father's

will, granted in 1618 a lease to Hamon Claxton f of Gray's Inn for a term of

1000 years, under which the property, now much divided, is still held. J At the

north-west corner of Friars' Lane there was a fine old house which early in the

17th century was purchased of William Browning

* Having sold his estate at Rollesby, Sir Drue Drury went, to reside at Eccles, a

moiety of the manor there having been purchased by his father of the Brampton family,

who bore gu,, a fesse arg., in chief three bezants. This manor possessed many curious

privileges, including wreck of the sea, resting geld, free bull and boar, gallows, tumbril,

bed geld, &c.

f The families of Drury and Claxton were intimately connected. Rose, daughter of

William Lister, the first husband of Roger Drury's wife, married Frances Claxton, and

died in 1601, aged 22, and was buried in Rollesby Church, where "her sorrowful husband,

whose heart was a treasury of her excellent virtue," erected a monument to her memory.

Among other bequests to her by her father was "a cup which Sir Drue Drury gave me on

my marriage." To understand dates it is necessary to mention that besides the above-

named Sir Drue Drury there were two other knights of the same name in Suffolk." The

Claxtons, deriving their name from a parish in Norfolk, were seated at an early period at

Chediston in Suffolk. Hamon Claxton of Chediston was much in favor with Thomas,

Duke of Norfolk. William, his son, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Throgmorton of

South Elmham, and their son, John Claxton, married Elinor, daughter of Thomas Sydney

of Walsingham, Norfolk. Hamon Claxton, second son of William, had a son, Hamon, who

married Philippa, daughter of Sir Robert Bacon; and dying in 1671 left a son, Maurice,

who married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Felton of Playford, and ahe married,

secondly, Sir John Poley, Knt., of Boxsted, Suffolk, and died in 1713. The Claxtons bore

gu., on a fesse betw. three hedgehogs arg., an escutcheon of pretence barry of ten of the

second az., a canton erm.

t In Davey's, Suffolk collections in the British Museum, Add. M.S.S. 19, 127, there

is a carefully compiled pedigree of the Drury family. It is not shown that either the

above-named Sir Drue Drury or Roger Drury left any issue. They bore arg., on a

chief vert., a tau betw. two mullets pierced or.; and for a crest, a greyhound courant

arg. The tau was added by Nicholas Drury, who accompanied John of Gaunt into

Spain, and thence to the Holy Land. It was a symbol of great antiquity;

VOL . II .

434

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

by J OHN R OBINS . He was of a Warwickshire family seated at Claverton, Stratford-upon-

Avon, and settled in Yarmouth as a merchant, where he acquired a considerable fortune.

He entered the corporation and took an active part in municipal affairs. In 1626 he

opposed Neve's scheme for changing the local form of government so often referred to;

and in 1629 he supported Brinsley.* In 1634 he filled the office of bailiff. By his will f

made in 1639, after bequeathing- “£5 to the church, £5 to the haven, and £5 to the poor”,

he devised his Warwickshire property to his eldest son, John Robins, t together with a

brewery in Yarmouth, and he devised his Friars'-Lane house to his second son, Robert

Robins. The latter pulled down the old house and built another, which had a cut-flint front

with stone dressings and dormer windows to the roof; and here in 1655 he filled the office

of bailiff. He died in 1669. John Robins, his son, succeeded to the Friars' Lane house, in

which, when filling the office of bailiff in 1692, he had the honor of receiving and

entertaining William III. when his majesty landed at Yarmouth on his return from one of

his visits to Holland. When it became known that this would probably be the case, great

preparations

* In 1638 proceedings were taken against him in the Court of Star Chamber, and he

was fined £ 500, with 1000 marks for damages, A messenger sent with a warrant to serve

on Charles Gooch to give evidence "against John Robins of Yarmouth, merchant,"

complains bitterly that no one would pay his fees. (State Papers.)

f He appointed his sons executors, and Aldermen Thomas Thompson and Henry

Davy supervisors, giving the latter 40s. apiece to buy rings. He declared his mind to be

that they should "have their residence and abode within his dwelling-house for the space

of one whole year next after his decease, for the better administration of his goods and

household stuff then being there." He gave his brothers, Clement, Mephibosheth, and

Sampson, 50s. apiece to purchase plate; and legacies and annuities, to all his servants. He

left one daughter, Elizabeth, who was amply provided for, having among other things all

her father's "napery." Robins left to his friend Anthony Specke 40s., "to buy him a ring to

keepe and weare in remembrance of my love towards him." Specke appears to have acted

with him in political matters for many years; and to have served the office of bailiff in

1639.

t He on the breaking out of the civil war brought in £10 in money, and plate to the

value of £10 towards the defence fund. In 1643 he was selected to wait upon the Earl of

Manchester to deprecate the sending of troops into the town. In 1648 he subscribed the

National Covenant, and in the following year, "having withdrawn his habitation out of the

town and removed the same to Norwich for his health's sake," he was at his own request

dismissed from the corporation.

GREAT YARMOUTH

435

were made to receive the king. An express was sent to acquaint Lord

Nottingham of the King's being at sea; and Mr. Palgrave went to Sir Thomas

Allin at Somerleyton with a letter from the bailiffs begging the loan of his

coach and horses. The king on landing was waited upon by the corporation, in

their robes of office, and conducted to Bailiff Robins' house, where his majesty

received a congratulatory address read by the recorder. Colours were displayed,

guns were fired, and the militia "raised," the expenses of all which including

the entertainment to the king and his retinue amounted to £106, which sum was

defrayed by the corporation. Robins got rid of the family fortune, and died in

1707, aged 64.*

Early in the last century this house became the properly and residence of

Andrew Bracey, Esq., and in 1734 it was conveyed by Charles Le Grice Esq., to

Edmund Cobb, who in 1754 settled it upon his wife, the trustees being Leonard

Mapes of Rollesby and James Barnham of Norwich. Cobb died in 1787 leaving

two daughters; Ann, the eldest, married William Hurry, and Mary, the

youngest, married Thomas Ives. Early in the present century it was occupied by

Admiral Lord Gardner, K.C.B., when in command of the North-sea fleet; and

here died on the 22nd of March, 1811, Charlotte, Lady Gardner, his wife. f It

had been purchased in 1808 by Capt. Parker, R.N., afterwards Admiral S IR

G EORGE P ARKER , K.C.B., who after Lord Gardner left Yarmouth resided in it

for nearly forty years; at which time and

* Dean. Davies thus describes a visit to Mr. Robins. 1689, Sept.—"I went to

church and read prayers, and Mr. Meen preached. I dined with Mr. Bailiff

England, and after dinner went to the coffee house, and thence to see Mr. Crow,

with whom I went to the pier at the haven's month, where we sat and saw near

twenty cobles come in laden with herrings. At our return we went into Capt.

Robins' house, where we met Mr. Bransby and his niece, Mr. Crow of Bilnay and

his son and two daughters, and several other ladies, who entertained us till supper;

and after eating until nine o'clock, with dancing and singing, and after waiting on

them home, I came to my lodging."—p. 51. Robert Bransby (see vol. i. p. 361)

by his will bequeathed to Capt. Robins his "pleasure boat." The fine streams which,

disembogue at Yarmouth, and the neighbouring broads have always rendered boating

a favorite amusement.

f She was the third daughter of Robert, Lord Carrington; and left a son, Adam

Legge, third Lord Gardner, and one daughter, Charlotte Susannah, who married in

1835 Edward Vernon, Lord Suffield.

436

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

for many years afterwards the ground in front was open down to the river. He was the

second son of George Parker, Esq., of Wexford, third son of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher

Parker, brother of Admiral Sir Peter Parker, Bart., who distinguished himself in the

American war, became Admiral of the Fleet, and died, in 1811, aged upwards of ninety:

Under his auspices Sir George entered the navy at an early age, and served in the

Lowestoft and other frigates, in the West Indies. In 1788 he was appointed to the Phoenix,

and served in her on the coast of Malabar, and was present at the capture of Cananor*. He

was first Lieutenant of the Phoenix when she captured the French frigate La Resolue, and

was sent by Admiral Cornwallis to England with dispatches, He was also first Lieutenant

of the Crescent when in 1798 she captured the R é union French frigate of 36 guns. He was

next appointed as a commander to the Albacere, and served under Duncan in the North

Sea. He next removed to the Squirrel, and served in the South Seas until 1796, when he

was appointed captain of the captured French frigate St. Margarita. In the Argo he joined

the blockading force off the Texel and this brought Sir George to Yarmouth, which town

he ever afterwards made his favorite place of abode. In 1805 he was appointed to the

Stately, 64,* and in her commanded for a short time a squadron on service in the Baltic;

and in 1805, in company with the Nassau, he destroyed, after a running fight of two hours

duration, a Danish ship of the line of 74 guns; an event considered at that time

* In this ship he had for his first lieutenant, William Fisher, afterwards rear-admiral,

already mentioned vol. ii., p. 277. Fisher had previously served in the L' Oiseau, 33, and

Tremendous, 74; flagship at the Cape of Good Hope, and had returned in the Crescent, 36.

When on board the Dragon, 74, he displayed singular intrepidity in leading the way aloft,

followed by two seamen, when the foremast during a violent storm was badly sprung and

the ship in a critical situation; and by cutting away the topmast the lower-mast was

preserved. In the same ship ho took part in the operations connected with the expedition to

Egypt in 1801. He served as Lieutenant in the Superb, 74 , Capt. R. G. Keats, in which ship

he accompanied Nelson to the West Indies in pursuit of the combined fleets of France and

Spain. Subsequently in 1816 he commanded the 20-gun ship Bann (not Banner as before

printed).

Admiral Fisher was not an only son, having had an elder brother, John James

Wilkinson Fisher, who died in 1829, in his 18th year. Ralph Rutherford was also a novel

written by Admiral Fisher. It should be mentioned that the Fisher window in the north

chancel aisle already; noticed is also in memory of the admiral and his wife.

GREAT YARMOUTH

437

of some political importance. On his return to England he was appointed

to the Aboukir, 74, which he commanded in the Walcheren expedition,

and in 1814 he retired from active service. He married successively two

of the daughters of Peter Butt, Esq., private secretary to the Duke of

Cumberland, and sisters of Richard Gathon Butt who was accused of

having been associated with Lord Cochrane in the celebrated Stock

Exchange hoax.* He took no active part in local politics until the

accession of Earl Grey to power, when he gave a warm support to the

Whigs, who were not unmindful of his services and he was made a

K.C.B. Sir George resided in his house on the Quay until his death in

1847, in the 81st year of his age; and was buried in St. Clement's

Church, Hastings, f There is a marble bust of him by Turnerelli. t He left

no issue. Arabella Lady Parker, his widow, resided here until her death

in 1850.

In 1865 this house was purchased by the Local Board of Health

and partially demolished for the purpose of widening Friars' Lane. On

removing the white bricks by which it had been cased, the fine old flint

front was brought to light, the ornamental ironwork still remaining upon

it. The undemolished part of the house has been rebuilt and turned into

a liquor shop called the Sceptre 1 .

The next house, fronting south, stood within a paved court, having

next the street a row of trees. The greater part of this court has been

added to Friars' Lane. This house was, with many of the surrounding

buildings, successively the property of the families of Robins, Bracey,

and Le Grice ; and in 1734 was conveyed to the before-named Edmund

Cobb, who died "universally esteemed and respected." His widow died

on the seventh day after, "far advanced in years." Their

* In 1799 Lieut. Butt, R.N., was drowned at Yarmouth in passing from one boat to

another.

f His hatchment bearing gu., on a chev. betw. three keys erect arg., as many fleur-

de-lys of the field; and for a crest, an elephant's head couped arg., collared gu., charged

with three fleur-de-lys or.; and for a motto— Try.

t This sculptor, who Italianized his English name of Turner, resided for some time

in Yarmouth, where his talents and the simplicity of his character procured him many

friends and some employment. He produced a marble bust of the first Lady Parker, and

died in 1839.

1 The Sceptre was a Victorian (Bullard’s Brewery) building before the (Second

World) war, certainly not appearing to retain anything of the ancient frontage. It has been

rebuilt entirely again post-war. See RRH, South Quay.

438

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

eldest daughter married "W ILLIAM H URRY , seventh, son of Thomas Hurry already

mentioned (ante. p. 129). William-Hurry resided here for many years, and died at the

house of his son-in-law, Mr. Maurice of Normanston, in 1807, aged 73.* The eldest son

of the above marriage was Edmund Cobb Hurry, f who settled at Gosport, where he

established himself as a merchant and banter. He married Miss Liddell,

* Mr. William Hurry was involved in a memorable litigation, which exhibits in a

strong light the virulence of party spirit which then prevailed. Hurry was in politics

violently and pertinaciously opposed to the corporation, by whom in consequence he was

much disliked. In his capacity of a ship agent he claimed from the Registrar of the

Yarmouth Admiralty Court (John Watson) the return of 11s. alleged to have been

overcharged for cartage. The latter tendered 3s. 4d., which Hurry refused to accept; and

when Watson had been elected mayor summoned him to the Court of Requests. Watson

considering that this was done purposely to insult him, refused to appear, whereupon

Hurry swore that the money was due, qualifying the oath, however, by adding that it was

owing to him in his capacity as agent. Watson indicted him for perjury; and the defendant

removed the proceedings to the superior court by writ of certiorari. When the trial came

on, the judge stopped the proceedings, the qualifying words being left out of the

indictment. Hurry proceeded against Watson for a malicious prosecution, but the

defendant pleading a variance he was non-suited. He then applied to the court to set aside

the non-suit and grant a new trial, which was done, and when the cause was tried obtained

a verdict with £3,000 damages, the costs on both sides amounting to about £2,000 more.

The original sum in dispute being 7s. 8d. Erskine, afterwards Lord Chancellor, was

brought down special for Mr. Hurry, and made an eloquent speech on his behalf. The

Norfolk Chronicle recording the death of Mr. William Hurry, said that "He was a kind

husband and indulgent father, affectionate and hospitable as a relation and friend; to the

young a patron, to the poor a benefactor. He was distinguished ''as an unbending

supporter of civil and religious liberty. His bounty of disposition, "his integrity of

principle, and his weight of influence will make him long and widely missed."

* In 1796 he took an active part in the endeavour to nominate Sir John Jervis, who

was then on foreign service, as a candidate for the representation, In that year Lady Jervis

addressed to him the following letter :—

" Rochetts, 14 July.

"Sir,—I am very sorry I have been prevented acknowledging your obliging letter,

and the attention shewn me by the gentlemen whose names you have sent me, sooner. I

can only say on this occasion I beg you will accept and present to them my best thanks for

their kind intention and communication, which I am sure Sir John will acknowledge by

the earliest opportunity.

I am, Sir,

Your obliged and obedient humble Servant,

To Edmund Cobb Hurry, Esq.

" M. JERVIS."

GREAT YARMOUTH

439

and died at Clifton in 1818, leaving two sons, William Cobb Hurry* and Edmund Cobb

Hurry, who both, died unmarried, and an. only daughter, Anne, who married Alfred

Hardcastle, Esq., of Hatcham House, Kent, Russia merchant, and died in giving birth to an

only child, Joseph Alfred Hardcastle of Netherhall, Pakenham, Suffolk, sometime M.P. for

Colchester and afterwards for Bury St. Edmund's, f The other children of William and

Anne Hurry were Ives Hurry, already mentioned p. 295; William Hurry, lost at sea;

Beckford, who died an infant; Anne, who married the Rev. G. C. Morgan J ; Mary, who

married David Tolroe, of whom hereafter; Elizabeth, who married John Goodeve § of

n

f This family of Hardcastle hear set., on a chev. between three

castles arg., as many leopards' faces gu.; and for a crest, a castle

arg., with the motto— Deus mihi munimen.

t See vol. ii., pp. 133, 162, The Morgans ultimately settled in

America, and their descendants are living at Hudson, State of New

York.

§ Their eldest son, Heavy Ives Hurry Goodeve, went to India

and became Professor of Anatomy in the University of Calcutta,

and the leading physician of that city. Retiring early from practice

he took up his residence at Cook's Folly, a picturesque residence n

the banks of the Avon. He is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant

for Gloucestershire. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of

William Gibson, of Gosport, Mr. John Goodeve had a son, William James Goodeve, a

physician, at Clifton, who in 1830 married the Lady Frances Jemima Erskine, daughter of

the 31st Earl of Marr, and their son, John Francis Erskine Goode,

claims to be, in right of his mother as heir general, 33rd Earl of

Marr. He was born in 1836, and graduated at Queen's College,

Cambridge. He has matriculated his arms, and assumed the name of

Erskine. He married Alice, daughter of John Hamilton Esq., of

Kilston Park, Monmouthshire, and has issue a son. Mr. John

Goodeve married a third time, and had issue Edward Goodeve, who

after practising as a physician, with great success at Calcutta, took

up his residence at Stoke Bishop near Bristol. John Goodeve,

another son of John and Elizabeth Goodeve, was a solicitor in

London; and Joseph Goodeve, a third son, was a Master in the

Supreme Court at Calcutta. Eliza Gibson, their sister, married

Henry Porter, and secondly, Charles D. Tolmé. The Goodeves bore

gu., a chev. or., betw. three martlets sa., with a martlet for a crest,

and the motto - Tenax Propositi.

* He was a man of extraordinary talents and acquirements, and established, himself

at Calcutta as a merchant, and there edited a newspaper called the Englishman. He died at

his residence, Cook's Folly, ear Clifton, in 1862, aged 72 years, s.p.

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GREAT YARMOUTH

Bury Hall, a banker at Gosport; and Priscilla, who in 1794 married the Rev. Michael

Maurice.*

David Tolmé, who as we have seen married one of the daughters of William Hurry,

purchased the above-mentioned house in 1808, and resided there until his death in 1825,

aged 72. f

* See ante. P. 134. The Rev. J. P. D. Maurice, his son, died in his 67th year, not 70th

as there mentioned. Harriet Theodosia, youngest child of Michael Maurice, married the

Rev. Edward Hayes Plumptree, Rector of Pluckley, of the very old Kent family of

Plumtre of Plumtre,

f He tore a griffin's head for a crest, with the motto— Audeo. He was

descended from the Scotch family of Tolmie, out was born in London, and

in early life entered the marine service of the East India Company. Settling

in Yarmouth he took an active part in promoting the volunteer movement of

that day. A corps was formed, afterwards embodied, in which Mr. Tolmé in

1805 obtained the rank of major. By the above marriage he had an only son,

Charles David Tolmé, Esq., who was for many years British Consul at Havanah, and died

at his residence, 21, St. George's Square, Pimlico, in 1872, in his 80th year. His widow,

by a second marriage, died at the residence of her brother, Dr. Goodeve, at Cook's Folly,

in 1874, aged 77. Mr. David Tolme had three daughters, one of whom, Isabella, married

Mr. William Hurry of Liverpool, and died at Dusternbrock near Kiel in 1873, aged 75;

another, Mr. George Hurry of Brixton, now residing at Melbourne, Victoria; and the third,

Mr. Thomas Jackson Millington of Hamburgh.

END OF VOL. II.

GEORGE NALL, PRINTER, KING STREET, YARMOUTH.