Pages from Volume II,Row 83 UNPDF

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59

Barber 1 coincided with Neville in his extreme political opinions, as

appears by many entries in the journal of the latter, wherein he styles

Barber "a sensible and honest man, a republican, and an ardent admirer

of the character of Sydney."*

Row to No. 83, from South Quay to Middlegate Street At the north-

west corner there stood in the reign of Queen Elizabeth a very old house,

then in a ruinous* condition, the property of Benjamin Cowper, a

prosperous merchant, who, in the year 1596, pulled it down, and on. the

site erected a spacious and magnificent mansion fronting the Quay, and

surrounding on all sides a square interior court with a large garden

towards the east. It had a red-brick front, with a range of gabled dormer

windows on the second floor. This house still stands, although

considerable alterations have been made to adapt it for the requirements

of two residences, it being now No. 3 and 4, South Quay. The whole

exterior has been modernized by easing the ancient front with white

brick, and adding an additional story to No. 3 and a high parapet at No.

4. In the first house there are but few remains of the original decorations,

except a long many-lighted Elizabethan window on the first floor on the

west side looking into the interior court; but in No. 4 several apartments

retain their ancient decorations. The dining room has a carved-oak

chimney piece reaching from the floor to the ceiling, the upper part

being divided by pilasters into three compartments, and in the central

one appears the date 1596, with the initials B , C, A , The walls are panelled

in wainscot, divided at regular intervals by fluted pilasters supporting

the frieze. The principal room, on the first floor, is thirty feet in length,

having three windows looking upon the Quay. At the north end,

projecting into the room, is a chimney piece extending from floor to

ceiling, richly and elaborately carved. At either end

* "Writing in 1770 Sylas Neville says—"Nov. 1.—Yesterday went to Yarmouth.

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; but the writer sorrowfully adds, last

night and this morning had a headache, occasioned by drinking claret before dinner

with Mr. Barber."

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Robert Barber – He and Sylas Neville were of the following

party. “12 th April 1770, this being the day of Mr. Wilkes’ enlargement from prison,

45 of us met at the White Horse , where we had 45 bottles of wine, 45 glasses, 45

pipes 45 wilkes (shell fish), &c”. Youell’s Diary. He might have added, “and made

45 fools of themselves”. Barber was a corn merchant, and Youell the diarist, was

with him some years to learn that business. (Palmer, the snob, here, I feel.) On 11 th

December 1776, Youell recorded – Mr. Mayor was at ours this morning. I believe

my master is endeavouring to make himself a common councilman. I wish he may,

for then he will go to church 2 ; it being expected of the corporation that they attend

each Sunday. Barber “had his picture drawn by Edward Miles” in 1770, and died

12 th October 1781.

2 Youell was himself no Christian, if he thought that mere attendance at church

would achieve any distinction in the eyes of God.

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of what was originally an open fireplace, two fluted Corinthian pillars

support an entablature of curious workmanship, above which, four other

pillars, richly carved, divide the upper part into three compartments. A

central panel of rich open work contains two minute shields, bearing

respectively the letters B. and C, being the initials, as in the dining

room, of the builder. In the frieze, which is also richly carved, there is a

shield with the Cross of St. (George, a guild to which Cowper probably

belonged. The walls of this apartment are wainscotted in panels to the

height of six feet, divided at regular intervals by fluted pilasters, which

bear terminal figures, alternately male and female, supporting the frieze;

and between them there is a series of flat arches supported on smaller

pilasters, all of which, with the spandrils, are richly carved. At the north

end of the room are two geometrical panels. The ceiling which is

extremely elegant is divided by mouldings and pendant bosses Into

fifteen compartments, which are filled with the representation of fruit

and flowers. " This drawing room," says White in his Eastern England,

"is a singularly beautiful specimen of the genius and handiwork

available nearly three hundred years ago, and he truly adds, "the rich

warm colour of the walls tells with good effect on the complexion of

ladies during an evening party, investing beauty with brighter charms."

It presents, indeed, a most perfect and pleasing specimen of interior

decoration prevalent in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.* The room above

described possesses some historical interest, as will presently be seen.

An adjoining chamber, fronting the Quay, has also a carved chimney

piece reaching from floor to ceiling, the upper part of which is likewise

divided by four corinthian columns into three compartments, with a

projecting frieze, in the centre of which is a shield with the initials B.C.

The walls are lined with wainscot in panels. The apartment now used as

a kitchen has two long original windows at a distance of six feet from

the floor, one looking into the court yard towards the north, whilst a

similar window at the opposite end looks into Row No. 83.

* The editor of the present work (Charles Palmer) made drawings of all the

principal carvings throughout this house, forty-three of which he caused to be

engraved by Shaw. These, with some letter plates attached, he published in 1838, for

private distribution only, under the title of Illustrations of Domestic Architecture in

England in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Reviewed in the Gent. Mag. vol, x. n.s. p. 397.

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61

This room is still lined throughout by wainscot in small panels, but no

carvings remain. In a small apartment, formerly a passage and now used

as a dressing and bath room, there is a fine Elizabethan window,

looking east into the court yard; and in the latter there was a leaden

cistern, on the front of which were the initials of the builder of the

house, the date 1604 (which is eight years after the house was erected),

the arms of Yarmouth, the rose and crown, and the fleur de lis, all in

high relief.*

Cowper, the builder of this house, took a leading part in municipal

affairs. In 1609 he was selected to fill the office of bailiff; and in 1612

he was commissioned to ride to Norwich "to confer about an aid for the

marriage of the Lady Elizabeth;" that unhappy Bohemian match which

led to so many troubles; and it was agreed to levy 2d. in the pound upon

the yearly value of every inhabited house. He filled the office of bailiff

again in 1618 and 1628; and in 1620 was returned to Parliament for the

borough; and again in 1623. He distinguished himself by his opposition

to the gathering of money by writs of privy seal, in which he had the

concurrence of Sir Ralph Crewe, who had been Steward and also

Recorder of Yarmouth, and was then Chief Justice of England, f

*It was formerly the fashion to put the date and the initials of the owner upon water

tanks, pump heads, and such-like things made of lead. Many of these remained for

generations, but most of them have been broken up in consequence of the introduction of

water from Ormesby. At a house in Laughing-Image Corner there was in 1865 a pump

which had a square head, on the front of which was the date 1699, with the initials M. W.,

and a rose surrounded by shamrocks. Perhaps the owner was an Englishman married to an

Irish lady. On each side was the representation of a bat." Another pump in the same

locality bears the date 1625, with the initials B. W. E., and the device of a rose and crown.

f " The king having determined to demand of all his subjects so much money by way

of loan as they axe set in subsidy (via.), he that's set at £20 in subsidy to lend unto the king

£20, the judges were urged to subscribe. They paid their money, but refused to admit the

legality of the proceeding ; for which. Sir R. Crewe, Chief Justice of England, had his

patent taken from him, and he was displaced. At the following Lent assises at Bury St.

Edmund's, Drue Drury, Esq., repeated these lines so near to Sir Nicholas Hyde, the

succeeding chief justice, who was then sitting on the bench, that it was thought he must

have heard them.

Learned Coke, curt Montague,

The aged Leg, and honest crewe,

Two prefer'd, two set aside,

And then starts up Sir Nicholas Hyde.

Sir Edward Coke had been removed, and Sir Henry Montague and Sir James Leg

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It was through Cowper's exertions that letters patent were obtained,

authorising a collection throughout the kingdom towards the main-

tenance of Yarmouth harbour, which was justly considered a matter of

national importance. His pedigree is recorded in the Herald’s Visitation

Book for Norfolk in 1644, signed, by his grandson,

Nicholas Cowper. He bore—a bend eng., charged

with three billets, betw. two lions ramp.

Cowper sold this house in 1635 to John Carter,

merchant, who took a conspicuous and influential part

in the troubles which were soon to follow. The

C ARTER family had been, says the epitaph on the last

of the race, "venerable in this town for ages;" yet we find, no mention of

any member of it as having taken a conspicuous part in municipal

affairs until the time of the alderman above named. He was born in

1595. When a youth a circumstance occurred, which seems to have

greatly influenced his future career. His fortune was in the hands of a

guardian, named Scratton, an unprincipled man of dissipated, habits,

and by him it is was entirely lost before young Carter had completed his

apprenticeship. When this came to his knowledge it caused him great

dejection; but having accompanied his master to London, his attention

was there drawn one day to a number of porters pursuing their work

with energy and cheerfulness. "Have I not," thought he, "youth and

strength and if reduced to the last extremity, cannot I get

were successively appointed to the post of lord treasurer. The promotion of Sir Nicholas

Hyde was not fortunate to him. Within a week after taking his seat he lost two of his

children; and in 1631, after riding fifty miles on a hot day whilst on circuit (for it was then

the practice for the judges to travel on horseback), he was seized with fever of which he

died. Sir Ralph Crewe married Juliana, one of the daughters and co-heirs of John

Clippesby of Clippesby, the last of that ancient house and this "brought him into

connection with the county of Norfolk. He repurchased the Manor of Crewe in Cheshire,

which had passed from his family in the reign of Edward III., and he built the hall

recently burnt to the ground, but now rebuilt by the present Lord Crewe, who is

descended from Sir Clippesby Crewe, the recorder's son. Sir Ralph Crewe died in 1645,

aged 87; and there is a portrait of him, engraved by Hollar, in Dugdale's Origitus

Juridiciales, Crewe bore quarterly 1st and 4th az., a lion ramp, or., and 2nd and 3rd arg.,

across flory gu., charged with a lion pass, of the field. Clippesby bore quarterly org. and.

sa, on a bend gu., three mullets of the first.

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63

" my living honestly by my own exertions as these men are doing ?" He

thereupon redoubled his attention to business, and in the last year of his

term his master having again taken him to London, the persons with

whom the latter principally dealt and who knew the young man's worth,

and how ill he had been used by his guardian, insisted upon advancing

to him, without interest, a sufficient sum of money to enable him to

commence business on his own account. Success attended his

endeavours; he became an eminent merchant, and in 1626 we find, him

as a member of the corporation opposing the scheme for changing the

government of the town from two bailiffs to a mayor, which was

supposed to be favored 1 by the crown. In 1628 he was appointed by the

bailiffs to the disagreeable office of collector of a benevolence or forced

loan, levied under the sole authority of the king f and although "in

consequence of urgent letters from the privy council" he was compelled

to quicken all such as were behind in lending," yet he was unable to get

in more than half the amount required, with which he rode to London

with letters from the bailiffs entreating the council to be satisfied, as the

inhabitants defaulting could not be persuaded to pay any more. In 1635

Carter was admitted into the freedom of the Fellowship of Merchant

Adventurers of England, of which society mention has already been

made (vol. i. p. 358). In 1641 Carter was chosen bailiff, at a time when

the eon of his defaulting guardian was in gaol for debt, f During his year

of office two political events of great importance

* Edward IV. was the first monarch who thought of the expedient of raising money

without the aid of Parliament, by a voluntary contribution called a benevolence; but he

was a debonair prince, with fascinating manners which it was difficult to withstand. In the

" Subsidy Rolls" for Yarmouth there are preserved the returns made to the assessments on

the town from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Charles II., which are interesting as they

contain the names of all the principal inhabitants at the time such assessments were made,

with the sums paid by each person. They have never been published; but no space can be

found for them in the present work. The poll-tax for 1666 gives the names and number of

the servants in each family, and the names of the females which vary much from those of

the present day, some being quite obselete; and In the style of some of the trades we find

words which have dropped out of use, such Pasteler for baker or pie-man.

f "As had as old Scratton," was a term of reproach in Yarmouth which has come

down to the present century.

1 Note Victorian English spelling.

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occurred. Parliament claimed the right of raising money for the

suppression of the rebellion in Ireland, and published proposals offering

the lands which, would escheat to the crown by forfeiture of treason, to

such as would subscribe. Garter headed the Yarmouth list with £15, and

promoted a subscription among the members of the corporation which

amounted to £600; and if the measure were intended, as Clarendon

asserts, "a trial of men's affections and how far they might be trusted

and relied, on, Parliament had reason to be satisfied with the number

and seal of their adherents in this town.* Soon after his accession to

office, a letter was received from the Speaker of the House of Commons

desiring the corporation to supply what money they could in the way of

loan for the necessary affairs of the kingdom, to be repaid with interest

at eight per cent., whereupon the aldermen of wards with the constables

were sent round to ascertain who were willing to lend. He also received

a letter from Miles Corbet, informing the bailiffs that they could have

ordnance for defence of the town on paying the charges of bringing it

down, which offer was accepted. A "town gunner" was appointed; and a

nightly watch was set at each gate, furnished with muskets. The armed

inhabitants were to be ready to come forth "at the beating of the drum,"

the places of rendezvous being for the north end, the Market Place, and

for the south, the Artillery yard at the Greyfriars. On the 9th of July,

1642, Carter read in assembly two proclamations which he had

received; .one from the king forbidding the levying of any forces

without the king's express authority; the other from the Commons for-

bidding the publication of the king's proclamation; and the matter being

submitted to the corporation, they decided that the bailiffs should

"rather observe the orders and directions of Parliament as the most fit

way to preserve the public peace for king and kingdom." Thus was

decided the course which the town took in the great national struggle

which had commenced; and "the times being troublesome and dan-

gerous," strict "watch and ward" was ordered to be kept, and the

fortifications were examined and put into a state of defence. Houses

outside the town wall were demolished, and the bridge was drawn up

* By this means the corporation acquired the Irish estate now vested, in the

Charity Trustees. See vol. i. p. 33.

GREAT YARMOUTH

65

every night. Subsequently an order was received from Parliament

calling out the Train Bands, and Carter was appointed Captain of the

South Company, he nominating Nicholas Cutting to be his lieutenant,

and Robert Huntingdon his ensign.; and the artillery yard was chosen as

the place of muster.

When the news came from Nottingham,

The standard was unfurled!

Men's hearts were in their mouths, I wis;

Men's brains in tumult whirled.

Carter never hesitated what course to pursue. He invited the inhabitants

to bring in "moneys and plate for the payment of soldiers and

providence of horses, arms and ammunition;" he himself subscribing

£25.* The money thus raised amounted to £ 2,000, which was expended

in strengthening the fortifications especially on the land side towards the

North; and in 1643 the Earl of Warwick, who had been appointed Lord

High Admiral by Parliament, came to Yarmouth and inspected what had

been done for the defence of the town. We have seen (vol i. p. 154) how

strongly the inhabitants opposed the appointment of a military governor,

which resulted in the withdrawal of Colonel Russell and the formation of

a local militia of which John Carter and Thomas Johnson were

appointed "commanders-in-chief," with power "to execute martial law

upon all offenders and delinquents;" and in 1645 the Earl of Manchester,

then commanding the Parliamentary forces, came to Yarmouth and

inspected the force. Carter subscribed to a fund of £100,000 then being

raised "for our brethren in Scotland towards payment of their army raised

for our assistance, f and he signed the "Solemn league and covenant." An

event next occurred which gave to the house above described some

historical interest. The king was in captivity; and Cromwell and his

followers had no confidence in the

* It is much to be lamented, that the necessities of the fames required the destruction

of much family plate; for otherwise many curious and instructive specimens of the state

and progress of art might have remained to this day.

f Thomas Manthorpe, his brother-in-law, was local treasurer for this fund, which was

to carry interest at 8 per cent; and his receipt for Carter's loan is still preserved. He filled

the office of bailiff in 1638. The name of Manthorpe has been, of long continuance in

Yarmouth and the neighbourhood.

VOL. II.

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adherence by Charles to any terms which might be agreed to by him;

besides which many were resolute to put an end to kingly power.

Several secret consultations tool; place between the principal officers of

the Parliamentary army and the leaders of the republican patty, many of

whom believed that no settled form of government could be established

while the king lived; and it is said that a private meeting upon this

important question was held in the house of Carter, at which it was

determined that the unfortunate monarch should be brought to trial,

with probably an expectation of the result.

The story is told by Mr. Hewling Luson (of whom we shall have

occasion to speak), in a communication addressed by him to Dr. Brooke

of Norwich in 1773, published in Hughes' letters vol. iii. p. 168, and in

Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell vol. ii. p. 340.

He says:—" When I was a boy they used to show a large chamber in

"the house of Mr. Nathaniel Carter, which had also been the house of

his father, in which, as the tradition went, the infamous murder of

Charles I. on the scaffold was finally determined. A meeting of the

principal officers of the army was held in this chamber —they chose "to

be above stairs for the privacy of their conference —they strictly

commanded that no person, should come near the room, except a man

appointed to attend;—their dinner, which was ordered at four o'clock,

was put off from time to time till past eleven at night; they then came

down to a very short repast, and immediately all set off post, many for

London, and some for the quarters of the army."*

In 1651 Carter again filled the office of bailiff, f at a time when the

miseries inflicted by civil strife were severely felt in the loss of trade

and

* Nathaniel Carter was a lad of about fourteen years of age when the above

occurrence took place in his father's house—an event which was calculated to make a

strong and lasting impression upon his mind; and as he was accustomed to show the room

and to relate the circumstances, it is evident that a meeting of the principal officers of the

array actually did take place there at that momentous period.

f He declared to the first assembly of the corporation that the ancient forms of

prayer, with which those meetings had been commenced, were "offensive," and at his

suggestion the four popular preachers, Brinsley, Bridge, Allen, and Tillinghurst, were

intreated to "bestow their pains to meet at every assembly to pray with the members

before beginning." See the form of the ancient prayer in P.C . p. 154.

GREAT YARMOUTH

67

general impoverishment. He signed officially a petition to the

committee of the navy, stating it to be impossible for the inhabitants

any longer to employ their poor, that the weekly assessment had been

raised from £8 a week to £30 a week, which was still insufficient, and he

makes the curious complaint that the inhabitants were constrained to

pay five quarters in a year; and the charge growing higher and higher

every year many of the ablest men had removed their habitations into

the country, and many more would do the same if some way were not

found out to ease the local charges; and it was prayed that the coal duty

might be applied to this purpose. In religion Carter was a strict

independent, and one of the elders of his church. At the restoration he

ceased to take any part in public affairs; and died in 1667, being then in

his 74th year, and was buried in the north aisle of St. Nicholas' Church,

under a stone which bore the following touching inscription:—

His court — his fight — his race

Thus finished, fought, and run,

Death brings him to the place

From whence is no return.

Never did seaman harbour spie,

Nor pilgrim see his home draw nigh,

Nor captive hear of his return,

Nor servant his indenture burn,

Nor banish’ d prince retrieve his crown,

Nor tir'd man at night lie down,

With greater joy than he express ’ d

At sight of his approaching rest

There is a three-quarter portrait of him at the age of 31. On one side is a

skeleton holding an arrow.* This portrait, which was long in the

possession of Mr. Alcock of Norwich (who also possessed Carter's buff

jacket), has been engraved by Edwards; and is now in the collection of the

* He had a desire to be constantly reminded of death, and kept a skeleton in his

room. From the time that Albert Durer and Holbein, illustrated the dance of death, the

morbid taste they had excited in Germany found its way to this country, distracted already

with religious wrangles and controversial polemics. The superstitious and the pious were

alike fain to have constantly before their eyes objects winch would remind them of the

charnel house. The same feeling led to the display of a skull and cross bones on almost

every tomb, a practice now out of fashion.

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Earl of Orford. Upon Carter's death, the house above described

descended to his eldest son, John Carter, who took no part in municipal

affairs. He died in 1700, s.p.* and this property then came to his next

and only brother, Nathaniel Carter, already mentioned, who also appears

to have eschewed the turmoil of politics. John Carter, the younger, by

his will, in the event of his brother dying without issue (as happened),

devised his estates at Ormesby, Caister, and Scratby, "for the benefit and

towards the maintenance of his poor kindred for ever;" and if there

should be none in need of relief, then he gave three-fourths of the net

income to the poor of Yarmouth, and the other fourth part to the poor of

Ormesby," until such poor of his kindred should appear;" and to this end

he willed that a book should be kept in which names might be entered

that they or their posterity after them might have the benefit of the

devise f . Nathaniel Carter married, at Stoke Newington, in 1678, Mary,

daughter of General Ireton and granddaughter of the Lord Protector. t He

died in 1722, aged 88, s.p., and with him this family became extinct , but

says his epitaph, "the memory of their good deeds shall never be extin-

guished," Both the brothers were like their father, independents, but

being men of liberal education they united to their Christian characters

those accomplishments which fitted them for the society of gentlemen,

and scholars. § Sincerely attached to liberty of conscience they suffered

much in those troublous times to serve their friends. Their houses were

always open to the oppressed; and the ministers of their persuasion

found there not only entertainment but most agreeable society. The draft

of the will of Nathaniel Carter in his own handwriting is still

* His widow, Mary, married William Hamby of Ipswich.

f This estate is still managed by trustees. They have in their possession an undoubted

miniature of Cromwell, by Walker, which, had been the property of Nathaniel Carter.

t General Fleetwood, who had married the widow of General Ireton, and was

consequently father-in-law to Mrs. Carter, by his will made in 1692 (published in Notes

and Quartet vol. ix. ser. 4. p. 363), gave "unto his deare daughter Carter, £100." Mrs.

Carter before her marriage adopted the name of Fleetwood instead of Ireton, probably

thinking the former less obnoxious to the royalists than the other.

§ Nathaniel Carter made a transcript of Allen's Analecta Sacra or Choice Crums,

being a collection of the several sermons preached at Yarmouth by John Allen, to which

transcript Carter wrote a preface.

GREAT YARMOUTH

69

preserved, He commences it with a long preamble characteristic of the

man, by saying, "being of sound and well composed mind and memory"

(blessed be God for the same), yet considering within myself the

shortness and uncertainty of this mortal life, do make and declare this

"my last will and testament, revoking all others, in manner following,

"that is to say—First and principally and in the most humble, awful,

solemn, and deliberate manner that is possible for so sinful, frail, and

unworthy a creature to do, I herein and hereby commit and commend

"my immortal soul into the hands of the ever living One, my all

glorious and omnipotent Creator and most compassionate Father,

through whose abundant mercy in and by the merits of Jesus Christ, my

only and all-sufficient Redeemer, I do assuredly hope and trust to be

saved; and after this mortal life ended, my body to the earth I commit to

be decently buried at the direction of my executor, in the hope of a

joyful resurrection at the last day to everlasting glory. And as to the

worldly estate which it has pleased God to favour and bless me, I do

hereby dispose thereof as follows." He then devised an estate at

Ormesby to be held by trustees for charitable purposes, and bequeathed

very numerous legacies, amongst which were the following. " To my

loving cousin, Katherine, the wife of Thomas Bendysh, Esq.., £25, to

buy close mourning for herself and her son, Ireton"— "to my loving

cousin, Capt. Henry Bendysh of London, £30, to buy mourning for

himself and family;"—"to my good friend, Mr. Peter Finch of

Norwich,* my silver tobacco box with my coat of arms upon

* He was minister of the independents at Norwich. There is a portrait of him in the

Octagon Chapel, which has been engraved. His father was ejected from his vicarage in

Lancashire by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. He was a progenitor of Peter Finch

Martineau, Esq., who died in 1847, aged 92; and he having been born in the life time of

the Rev. Peter Finch, who lived to the age of 93, their two lives embraced a period of 185

years from the passing of that act. The Martineaus were one of the French families which

settled in Norwich after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Peter Finch was for many

years Clerk of the Peace for the County of Norfolk, and died in 1807, aged 81, leaving a

grandson, Peter Finch, who was Sheriff of Norwich in 1825, and mayor in 1827; and by

his will left his fortune to his godson, Peter, son of Timothy Steward, Esq., of Heigham

Lodge, who has, by royal license, taken, the name and arms of Finch; and bears arg. t

between three griffins pass, wings indorsed sa.; and for a crest, a griffin as before. He

resides at Hurst Grove, Twyford, Berks.

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It”* ;—"to my cousin, Richard Ferrier, Esq., my carved looking glass

hanging in my fore parlour;"—"to my cousin, Richard Ferrier his son,

my great gold seal-ring with the two coats of Merchant Adventurers'

and Drapers'' arms ;" f — " to my sister (in law), Bridget Bendysh, the

gold watch which my dear wife did use and wear;"—"to my dear niece,

Bridget Bendysh, junior, single woman, a legacy of £450 ;"—" to my

niece, Sarah Say, wife of Samuel Say, late called Sarah Hamby, and to

Sarah Say, her daughter," legacies to the amount of £800. He gave to

his "loving and respected nephew, Sir John Hartopp, Bart., two guineas

for a mourning ring ; " t — and to his "loving nephews, Charles

* It would he interesting to find this tobacco box, for the arms used by this family of

Carter have never been authenticated,

f This ring had probably belonged to his father, as John Carter was admitted to the

freedom of the Merchant Adventurers of England in 1636. The form of oath which he took

will be found in F. p. 138. Cowper had probably been a member of the games company, as

their shield of arms appears carved over the door of the principal chamber in the house

above described.

t He was the son of Sir Edward Hartopp, Bart., who raised a regiment for the

Parliament during the civil war. Sir John, who represented the county of Leicester in

Parliament, married Elisabeth, daughter of General Fleetwood (who married the widow of

General Ireton, the Lord Protector's daughter), by his first wife Frances, daughter and hear

of Thomas Smith, Esq., of Winston in Norfolk, The latter was the son of Simon Smith, of

Beccles, by a daughter of W. Roberts. Thomas Smith had two sons, the elder of whom

married Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Sir Edmund Mundeford of Feltwell in

Norfolk; but as neither brothers left issue, all their estates devolved on their sister*, Mrs.

Fleetwood, who by her husband had an only son, Sir John Hartopp, Bart., who died in

1762, leaving an only surviving daughter, who, on the demise of her kinswoman, Mrs.

Jane Fleetwood, succeeded by device to the Fleetwood property in Norfolk; and in her son

the baronetcy was recreated, The arms of Hartopp as now borne are— sa., a chev. erm.

betw. three otters pass, arg.; and for a crest, out of a ducal coronet or. a pelican arg,

vulning herself ppr. In consequence of his marriage (for the third time) with Dame Mary,

the widow of Sir Edward Hartopp, Fleetwood went to reside at an old house at Stoke

Newington, where he died. This house had been the seat of the Hartopps, and their arms

appeared in plasiter on the ceiling of one of the principal rooms. Frances, daughter of Sir

John Hartopp, married Sir Nathaniel Gould; and their daughter, Elizabeth, married

Thomas Cooke, a Turkey merchant 1 , who resided in the Stoke Newington house in the

last century. It was palled down in 1372. Elizabeth, sole heir of Smith Fleetwood, second

son of Smith Fleetwood, eldest son of the general, married Fountains Elwin of Thurning,

Norfolk, by whom she had a son, Fleetwood Elwin, who died young. The Elwins of

Norfolk bore—arp., a chev. gu. betw. three martlets sa.; and for a crest, a stag's head

erased ppr., horns or.

1 So Bernard Matthews wasn’t the first to get wealthy from Norfolk Turkeys!

GREAT YARMOUTH

72

and Smith Fleetwood, two guineas each for the like purpose J He appointed his

friend, Thomas Manning, executor; and there are other numerous legacies to his

relations and friends. He was buried in the north transept of St. Nicholas'

Church near his father. Alcock had also an original portrait of Nathaniel Carter

in a carved oval frame.

By the above will, Nathaniel Carter devised his residence on the Quay to his

“loving cousin, Captain John Davail of Michelstow-Hall near Harwich, eldest son

of his cousin, John Davail, deceased”. By him it was divided into two occupations,

as it remains to the present day. The principal portion of the house, containing the

rooms above described, passed through the hands of successive purchasers, until in

1780 it became the property of John Ives, Esq., a wealthy merchant, who by his

second marriage with. Mary, daughter of the Rev. James Hannot, became the

father of the antiquary, of whom we shall have occasion to speak. The family of

I VES had been of long continuance in Yarmouth. Thomas Ives, son of John Ives of

Swaffham in Norfolk, settled here, and married Elizabeth Cooper. He was

admitted a member of the congregationalists in 1678, and died in 1711, aged 63,

leaving a son, John Ives,* who was a very successful merchant, and died in 1758,

aged 74, worth £50,000, which fortune his son more than doubled. He married,

first, Elizabeth Greenwood, who died in 1711, leaving no surviving issue, and,

secondly, Anne, daughter of James Watts, who died in 1771, aged 59, leaving a

son, the above-named John Ives, who purchased the house above mentioned. The

latter married, first, Elizabeth Emms, daughter of the Rev. Robert Emms, who died

in 1747, leaving no surviving issue; secondly, as above mentioned; and, thirdly,

Mary Soame, daughter of Mr. Robert Cooke of Aylsham. He died at Hobland Hall

in 1793, aged 74, and having survived his son, the antiquary, and having no other

children, he left the bulk of his fortune to his widow, who afterwards married

Thomas Fowler, Esq. f The Family of Ives then became * extinct in Yarmouth. They

bore org., a chev. set. between, three Blackamoors' heads, couped, ppr.; and for a

crest, a boar passant ppr., chained

* At the Norfolk election in 1714 he voted for Astley and De Grey.

f He purchased the Gunton estate near Lowestoft, and built the new hall at Gunton in

1802, where he died in 1831, aged 71.

72

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

iniature in the possession of Robert Cooke

Fowler, Esq., of Gunton Hall, who has also a curious full-length portrait

of Ives taken when a boy, by Heins, in 1728.

In 1809 the house above described was purchased by John Danby

Palmer, Esq., who filled the office of mayor in 1821, and again in 1883,

and died in 1841, aged 72. § He left, besides a son the editor of this

* A wealthy family named Ives flourished at Norwich in the last century. There is a

portrait of Joremiah Ives, Mayor of Norwich, in St. Andrew's Hall, painted by Stoppelaer

in 1756 ; and of Jeremiah Ives, jun., painted by Catton in 1781.

t There was a house on the Bradwell estate which down to the last century was

called “Fastolfe's," and probably had belonged that family 1 .

J Penes John P, Fowler, Esq., late of Blofield. Although principally a record of the

weather and of the catch of fish, it occasionally contains glimpses of social life and

remarkable events. It is written in a bold clear hand. The spelling is peculiar— unkel for

Uncle, whent for went, cobel for coble. He frequently speaks of a " stout of wind," and of

the weather being "lasli " and of a "great roke" and a "thick roke." Cobles (from the

Anglo-Saxon couple-navicula) were open boats which came from Whitby, Scarborough,

and other places in the north, manned by Yorkshiremen, who let themselves out to fish for

the merchants of the town during the herring season, This practice has been discontinued

for some years past,

§ When of age he was placed by his father in command of a vessel in the merchant

service, as wait the custom with young men, the sons of shipowners, at that time, and

when so employed was, with Mr. Robert Rising, Mr. Isaac Preston, and other captains of

Yarmouth, vessels, blockaded in the port of Genoa by the French fleet for the space of

nine months. In 1820 when Mr. Charles Barclay of Bury Hill canvassed the borough, in

anticipation of a general election, he was a guest at No, 4, South Quay. He retired from

the contest; and afterwards represented West Surrey. He died in 1855, aged 73. Mr.

Arthur Kett Barclay, F.R.S., his eldest son, who accompanied his father on the above

occasion, took much interest in archaeological pursuing. He died in 1869, aged 63. In

1848 M. Guizot, then late minister of Louis Philippe, with his two daughters, were

entertained in the above house, being at that time on a visit to Baron Alderson.

or.* In 1778 Ives purchased of Sir James Riddell

estates at Belton, f Bradwell, and Burgh Castle, which

eventually devolved upon, the Fowler family. He had

previously held an estate at Belton which had been his

father's, and where the latter had erected or enlarged a

house which is frequently mentioned in the son's

journal. When only ten years of age, Ives commenced

a journal, the M.S. of which up to 1740 J is still

preserved. The annexed portrait is taken from a

m

1 Some ancient deeds came to the attention of Percy Trett, and unknown to him and to

the owner, who was not aware that either of us had seen them at all, I copied them. They

show Fastolf’s ownership of Caldecott, and of Browston, but this particular house is not

identified by Palmer or by the deeds. Nevertheless we have the evidence of Fastolf’s

substantial land-holdings in the area.

73

GREAT YARMOUTH

work, an only daughter, Cordelia Anne, who married John Joseph

Robinson, Esq.,* and died at Redhill in 1866, aged 63, where in the

* He was descended from the Robertsons of Struan (Clan Donaohy), whose

armorial bearings are— gu., three wolves' heads erased arg., armed and langned

az.; and for a crest, a dexter arm holding by the hand

an imperial crown ppr. Beneath the escutcheon is a wild

man lying in chains, in commemoration of the capture,

by Duncan Robertson, of the murderer of James I. of Scotland.

Robertson of Struan, a man much esteemed and very

popular in his day, fought for King James at Killiecrankie.

He was out in the rebellion of 1715, and after the battle of

Sheriffmuir fled to France, where he resided for many

years. Lord Townshend, when Secretary of State, permitted

him to return to Scotland, where he died in 1746 at a

very advanced age. His funeral was attended by two

thousand persons, some coming from a considerable distance

See Struan Papers, Skene's History of the Scottish Highlands,

Douglas' Baronage p. 405, Chalmers' Domestic Annals of

Scotland iii, p. 526, and the Life and Times of Lord Brougham

vol. i. p. 7. Sir Noel Paton is at present engaged in pre

paring a history of the Robertsons of Struan. James

Robertson of Bervie, of the Clan Struan, was born in 1660, and died in 1750, being

then in his 91st year. By his wife (whose maiden name was Burnes, and from

whose family descended Sir Alexander Burnes of Cabal celebrity) he left two sons,

George and William The latter settled at Banff, where he built a house in 1745,

at which a sad event occurred. For a long time after the suppression of the last

rebellion in Scotland, it was thought necessary to keep a large military force in

all the northern towns; and this was the case at Banff. Returning from a dinner

party in 1771 Mr. Robertson found some English officers in company with his female

domestics. High words ensued, both parties being probably inflamed with wine

or whiskey as well as by political animosity;—blows were exchanged, and one

of the officers being placed hors de combat, the other rushed across the street to the

opposite hotel for his sword, with which he ran the unfortunate gentleman through

the body. He left, with other children, George Robertson of Clarmiston, a distinguished

lawyer, one of whose daughters married Captain Alexander Gordon of Banff,

and their daughter married Professor Millar of Edinburgh. Of the daughters of

William Robertson, Mary married Mr. Rose of Moncoffer; Elizabeth married General

Hay of Montblairy, who fell at the battle of Orthes; Jane married Dr. Law of

Edinburgh; Bathia married Mr. Mc Dugald, an advocate; and Anne married Mr.

Cummine of Auchry, of which match was a daughter who married Francis Garden

Campbell of Troup and Glenlyon. George Robertson, eldest son of the above-named

James Robertson, came into England about the year 1730; and settling at Bulwell

in Nottinghamshire, changed his name to Robinson 1 . He had a numerous family.

James, his second son, left four sons (viz.), Frederick and James who established a

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Robinson Arms – The horizontal position of the man in chains is

equivalent to what is known in blazonry, a “compartment”. See Nisbet’s System, i, p.323,

ii, p 153; Mackenzie’s Science , chap 31, p.95; and Seton’s Heraldry , p.277. A full

account of the Robertsons or clan Donachie, is given in Anderson’s Scottish Nation .

74

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churchyard there is a monument to her memory erected by her children.

The name of P ALMER has been of long continuance in Yarmouth.*

bank at Chesterfield; John, in Holy Orders, whose only child married Col. Monckton, a

son of Viscount Galway; and George, a Captain in the Royal Navy, whose eldest son,

George Coke Robinson, a Captain in the 17th Lancers, of Widmerspool and Staunton in

Nottinghamshire and Woodhouse Priory in Derbyshire, has (under the will of his uncle,

James Robinson of Chesterfield and Springbank, Derby, from whom he has inherited a

large fortune) resumed the name of Robertson, and now represents that branch of the

family. George Robinson, the eldest son of the first-named George Robertson, otherwise

Robinson, returned to Scotland and settled at Banff, where he died in 1827, aged 84,

leaving, by Bathia his wife (who died in 1825, aged 81) daughter of George Garden 1 , Esq.

(by Joanna his wife, daughter of Archibald Dunbar of Fillynaught), a numerous family, of

whom the above-named J. J. Robinson was the youngest son. The latter was a Deputy-

Lieutenant for Banffshire, and died at Banff in 1850. Besides seven daughters he left two

Bona, the eldest of whom, George Palmer Robinson 1 of Croydon and Bombay, now

represents the eldest male line of the above-named James Robertson of Bervie. George

Robinson of Banff (above named) and Colonel George Garden Robinson his son, held the

Provostship of that Burgh alternately and uninterruptedly (except for two years) from

1784 to 1831.

*A Palmer was one who made it his sole business to visit different holy shrines and

places, travelling incessantly and subsisting on charity ; whereas the Pilgrim after

journoying to some particular spot, retired to his usual home and occupations. Scott thus

describes him : in the poem of Marmion, canto I. : —

" His sable cowl o'erhung his face ;

" In his black mantle was he clad,

'With Peter's keys, in cloth of red,

" On his broad shoulders wrought ;

" The scallop shell his cap did deck ;

" The crucifix around his neck

" Was from Loretto brought;

" His sandals were with travel tore ;

" Staff, budget, bottle, scrip, he wore;

" The faded palm-branch in his hand,

" Shewed pilgrim from the Holy Land."

These Palmers were in - every place welcomed and entertained. The people listened with

thrilling interest to their tales of moslem tyranny, and their lamentations over the

desecration of the holy places. They were instrumental in fanning the flames which broke

out in the crusade*. When the south aisle of the Parish Church was reseated in 1846, a

stone coffin was discovered near the wall, in which wore the remains of an escallop shell;

an evidence that this'' tenant of the tomb'' had been to the Holy Land, Though sometimes

called the cockle-shell, the escallop was probably one of the larger pectinated shells,

perhaps the Pectus Major. Some years ago this, shell was used in

1 In recent times, one George Garden, was prominent in the local entertainment business.

There had bee a succession of lessees of the Wellington Pier and theatre, all encumbered

by penal clauses in the lease from the council that prevented them from making the

investments needed, at the same time being saddled with maintenance of the pier itself.

The holiday business was in decline during the 1970’s and 80’s from external forces (the

advent of cheap air travel). All of those taking on the pier, including George Garden, were

forced ultimately into bankruptcy.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: G. P. Robinson – he has one brother, James Duff Robinson, a godson

of James, 2 nd . Earl of Fife, he has been long resident at Colombo, Ceylon.

GREAT YARMOUTH

75

Richard Palmer was bailiff in 1510, and during his year of office "a

shippe of Breteyn (Brittany) was throwne upon the shoore and sore

brosed and broken on the bottom," and to maintain the lights of the

corporation he received "of the handys of the said Breteyns xx s for

groundage." In 1512 he obtained from the crown a release of the arrears

of the fee-farm rent, provided the town would keep four iron guns,

capable of throwing stone or iron missiles a mile," for its defence. In

1516 John Palmer had a royal license to exercise the office of bailiff,

although he was then collector of customs; and he was named in a

commission of gaol delivery with Sir James Hobart and others. There is

also in the library of the British Museum, a commission from Henry

VIII. in 1521, constituting him (with Sir William Paston and

the Highlands of Scotland for skimming milk. It seems evident that it; was adopted as the

pilgrim badge, either as an emblem of difficult and dangerous travel, or from its frequent use

to him a drinking cup in His long and toilsome journeys. A punning epitaph upon one of the

name runs thus:—

" Palmers all our faders were,

" I a Palmer livyd here;"

And travyld still, till worue wyth ago,

" I endyd this world's pilgrimage "

On the blyst assention day "

In the cheerful month of May, "

A thowsand wyth fowre hundryd seven, "

And took my jorney hence to haven."

In 1524 a Palmer's Guild was established at Ludlow. They had three chaplains to celebrate

three services—one for the living, another for the dead, and a third in honor of the Holy

Cross. They also maintained a " scolemaster of gramer, and thirty-two pore almes people."

Toulmin Smith's English Guilds p. 193.

Among laudatory epitaphs the following upon John Palmer of Leicester, who died in

1614, is one of the most extraordinary:—

" Thou wast religious, temperate, just, and wise,

Firm, wittie, chaste—the muse's exercise:

" Whose charities thy bountie ne'er confined,

"Fraught with all phases of an upright mind.

"Oh! thou a Palmer, was't in truest weede,

" Thou didst all other Palmers far exceed.

"Eyed like an eagle in the light of faith;

"A heart that feared God, and scorned wealth;

""Wing'd with these graces thou win'st heaven's bliss,

" Earth was not worthy of thee, heaven is!"

Nichol's Leicestershire p. 1442.

76

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others) a commissioner of gaol delivery.* He again filled the office of

bailiff in 1523 and 1583. During the time he was bailiff a ship, called

the Admiral of Sluys, was stranded on the North Beach, and the wreck

was carried away by Sir William Paston; for allowing which Palmer

was " discommoned." To retrieve his character for vigilance he seems to

have "interrupted and hindered the Bailiffs of the Cinque Ports in

the execution of their office of keeping the king's justice in the time of

the Free Fair, of which behaviour they complained to Henry VIII.,

petitioning that Palmer might be compelled to "avoyde the bench;" but

the corporation represented that such removal by the crown would be

contrary to their ancient liberties and usages; and in confirmation

thereof they offered "to attend before his majesty in person, and there

depose upon a crucifix for the clere and evident proof of the same

* It is beautifully written on vellum, and in perfect preservation. It was purchased

of Rodd the bookseller in 1846.

GRE AT YARMOUTH

77

usage." William Palmer, born in 1672, had lands at Ellingham in

Norfolk, as well as property in Great Yarmouth, and voted at the county

election in 1734 for Coke and Morden. He left three sons. Ambrose, the

eldest, voted at the county election in 1768 for Astley and Coke, and.

died in 1771, leaving an only child, Mary, who married. Timothy

Steward, Esq. Nathaniel, the second son, who married Margaret

Hammond, also voted, for Astley and Coke, and died in 1779, and was

the great-grand-father of Nathaniel Palmer, Esq., the late Recorder of

Yarmouth. William Danby,* the youngest son, died in 1788, leaving

four sons, of whom the above-named John Danby Palmer was the third.

The arms borne by the Yarmouth family of Palmer are— or., two bars

gu., each charged with three trefoils vert., in chief a lion pass, guard,

ppr. ; and for a crest, a demi leopard guard, and regard, holding in his

paws a branch of palm, with flames issuing from his nostrils and ears,

all ppr. f Motto— Palma Virtute. See Papworth p. 35.

The adjoining house to the north (No. 3) which, as we have seen,

originally formed part of the mansion erected in 1596, came, after the

death of Nathaniel Carter, into the possession of Joseph Neech, who

filled the office of mayor in 1743, and died in 1750, aged 56. Susannah

his widow, who died in 1767, aged 62, devised the house to John

Barnby, sometime "commander of the custom-house smack," who was

mayor in 1762, and died in 1774, aged 66. t By his children the house

was conveyed to William Taylor, who was chosen mayor in 1794.

On a cold morning in January, 1795, the thermometer standing at

twenty-eight, with a sharp breeze from the east, thirteen Dutch schuyts

* The name of Danby is probably derived from that of a manor in Yorkshire. The

ancient family of Danby of Swinton bore— arg., three chevronels braced in the base point

of the escutcheon sa., on a chief of the second three mullets of the first.

f The arms engraved on the previous page are taken from a silver tobacco box long in

the possession of William Palmer, Esq., who died in 1809, aged 73.

t Barnby is a name derived from the Danish Barnbie—the residence of Barne— and

is given to a village in Suffolk, long consolidated with Mutford 1 . Joseph Barnby in 1723

had an untimely death. He was found drowned in a ditch where there was little water,

coming from Lowestoft; and was brought to town to be buried at Yarmouth. Ives M.S.

Journal. The widow of Capt. Joseph Barnby died in 1795, aged 70.

1 In 2007, Barnby is most noted for the cusine at the Swan Inn, where there is a most

exceptional seafood menu of local (Lowestoft landed) fish. This restaurant has maintained

a very high standard for some 15 years or so.

78

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were seen making their way through the Cockle-gat. As soon as they had

brought up in Yarmouth Roads abreast the town, an officer landed with

the information that the Princess of Orange was on board one of the

vessels, she having embarked at Scheveling on the previous day.

General Leland, who then commanded the forces at Yarmouth,

immediately procured a chaise from Larlham's (ante. p. 34), and went to

the beach to receive her. Sir Edmund Lacon took the mayor down in his

carriage, but his horses could not be got near the surf, which was

breaking on the beach, so that when the princess landed, which she did

at two o'clock in the afternoon, she got into Larlham's coach. She was

handed from the boat by Captain White, and with her landed her

daughter-in-law, the Hereditary Princess, with her son, only two years

old, and his nurse; Count Byland, who had come over with the princess,

also landed and took his seat with the mayor and Sir Edmund Lacon, in

the carriage of the latter to which they had walked. Mr. Symonds, Mrs.

Barney, and Miss Church also sent their carriages for the accom-

modation of the other fugitives. The carriages entered the town by

Theatre Gate. The horses were then taken from the coach in which the

princesses were seated, and the populace drew them twice round the

Market Place, where the Suffolk and Pembroke Regiments of Militia

were drawn up and presented arms. The procession then passed over

Fuller's Hill, and thence by the Quay to the mayor's house, where a large

party of officers and some of the principal inhabitants had assembled.

The princesses exhibited much fortitude, and appeared well pleased with

their reception. Going upstairs to the front windows they gracefully

acknowledged the loud huzzas and shouts of Orange boven with which

they were greeted.* They each wore a blue riding habit, over which was

a loose drab travelling coat. The Princess of Orange had on a black

velvet cap with black ribbons lied in a bow at top; and the Hereditary

Princess wore a black beaver and feathers. The mayor was on that day to

receive a party at dinner, and, seeing the exhausted state of her serene

highness, he requested to know whether it would be agreeable to her

feelings to join the party or to have dinner served for her in another

room. She chose the former, and she and her

* An old Dutch cry used by the adherents of the house of Orange.

GREAT YARMOUTH

79

daughter-in-law sat down to the table and behaved with the utmost

composure until the mayor, in compliment to his illustrious guests,

proposed the health of the Prince of Orange; when, remembering the

peril in which he had been left, her fortitude gave way and the

Hereditary Priucess fainted.* " In the evening," said the Rev. Richard

Turner, " I called at the mayor's house and went up into the nursery,

where I saw the little prince and some female domestics who talked

French. The " boy was very spirited and. good humoured, and smacked

with his lips "when asked what his papa and mamma did, to indicate

their affection," f The schuyt which brought over the illustrious exiles

entered the harbour and came up to the Quay, where such valuables as

had been secured were landed and consigned to the care of Mr.

Warmington, the Dutch consul. ''I went on board the schuyt," said Mr.

Turner, in which the princesses came over. It was a common fishing

vessel, with the cabin in the fore-castle, only eight or nice feet square

with a hearth fireplace, and no light or air but from the hatch. On one

side was the bed of the Princess of Orange, on the other that of the

Hereditary Princess, at whose head lay the little boy. Mats nailed at the

sides alone concealed the boards." At five o'clock on the morning of the

21st the Hereditary Prince, who, with the prince his father and Lord St.

Helens, had landed at Harwich on the previous afternoon, came to

Yarmouth, and the princesses were awakened from their repose to

experience the joy of once more beholding a son and a husband. t After

a late break-

* At this period Dr. Maclaine was Minister of the English Church at the Hague, and

much in favor at court. He also hurried to Scheveling in order to quit the country, but

being unable to get on board any vessel, was obliged to return. Some days after the flight

of the Stadtholder, the French troops entered the Hague, wheie they plundered the palace

of the Prince of Orange, Sometime afterwards, obtaining permission to depart, Maclaine

joined the Prince and Princess of Orange in London. The latter he described as a woman

of great firmness of character, inheriting some of the best qualities of her uncle, Frederick

the Great. When she married the prince she was extremely beautiful; but soon afterwards

suffered from the ravages of the small pox. See Warner"* Literary Recollections vol. ii. p.

49, in which he gives a very erroneous account of the landing at Yarmouth.

f He lived to become King William I. of the Netherlands.

t Abandoned by the army of General Walmoden, unable with his single forces to

make head against the republican, forces, and distracted by the divisions in all the

80

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

fast, the whole party left Yarmouth in five carriages and four to join the

Prince of Orange at Colchester, and on reaching London, Kew Palace

was assigned to them as a temporary place of residence. Soon

afterwards the Duke of York (who had travelled all night) arrived in

Yarmouth to pay his respects to the princesses, and was disappointed at

finding that by taking the route by Newmarket and Norwich he had

missed meeting the objects of his journey. After refreshing himself for a

few hours at the Angel, where he was waited upon by the mayor, Sir

Edmond Lacon, Capt . Larke, and Mr. Warmington, the duke entered his

carriage, which was drawn by the populace along King Street, Friars'

Lane, and the South Quay, until having passed over the bridge the

horses were put to the carriage, and his Royal highness departed with all

speed to town. Count Byland, with his countess and some of the

attendants of the Stadtholder, remained a few days in Yarmouth.

The family of T AYLOR was numerous and influential at Yarmouth in the

last century. Thomas Tayor, in 1642, contributed £10 in money for the

use of the Parliament. William Taylor married a daughter of Andrew

Bracey, and had two sons—William Taylor, surgeon,

who died in 1735, aged 25; and Bracey Taylor, a

solicitor, who died in 1770, aged 54. Christopher

Taylor died in 1752, aged 63, when filling the office

of mayor. Anthony Taylor, who has a sepulchral slab

in St. Nicholas' Church, upon which are sculptured

his armorial bearings— sa. a leopard pass. —died in

1731, aged 63. Anthony Taylor, his son, filled the office of mayor in

1771. He resided on the Church Plain, where he died in 1795, aged 73.*

William Taylor, his son, was mayor in 1783, and again in l794 , f as

mentioned above, and died in 1816, aged 61. He

great towns in his rear, the Prince of Orange abandoned the United Provinces and

embarked for England. (Alison iv. p. 384).

* Ann, his widow, died in 1818, aged 86, and was buried at North Walsham, where

her first husband, the Rev. Henry Headley, had been vicar. The latter died in 1785, aged

57. Henry Headley, their son, died in 1788, aged 23.

t At the Michaelmas feast this year, among the company present, were the Bishop of

Troyes, the Right Hon, Charles Townshend, the Hon. Capt. Murray, and

GREAT YARMOUTH

81

married Elizabeth, daughter of John Barnby above mentioned, who died in

1827, aged 81. William Taylor, their eldest son, "a man of infinite humour," was

an eminent surgeon, who lived in the Market Place (vol. i. pp. 63, 210). He

married Mary, daughter of Mr. Cowpees of Luton, by whom, who died in 1819,

aged 36, he had two sons—William. Hancock Taylor, a surgeon, who died of

cholera in 1834, aged 31, s.p.; and Christopher Taylor, surgeon, who died in

1844, aged 36, s.p., with whom this once flourishing family became extinct *

Anthony Taylor, son of the first-named William Taylor, a surgeon in the service

of the H. B. I. Company, died at Poonah in 1808, aged 30. There were also two

daughters ; Elizabeth who, for her first husband, married John Lucas Worship,

Esq., by whom she had two sons, the Rev. J. Lucas Worship, Hector of

Stokesby, Norfolk; and the Rev. William Taylor Worship, Rector of Holton,

Suffolk, and afterwards of Beeston St. Andrew, Norfolk; and, secondly, Capt.

Larke, R.N.; and Mary Anne, who married Lieut. Popplewell. The Rev.

Christopher Taylor, elder brother of the first-named William Taylor, was

notorious for his conviviality, and many amusing anecdoteis of him are still in

circulation, which serve to illustrate the great change which during the last half

century has taken place in society, especially as regards the habit of drinking,

and more particularly so among the beneficed clergy. In 1771 he built a good

house at Ormesby, which after his death passed by purchase to the Bamptons

and the Boycatts, The Rev. W. Boycatt, Rector and Patron of Burgh St. Peter,

Norfolk, died at the above-mentioned house in 1871, aged 73. Besides the two

sons above named, William Taylor, the younger, had three daughters; Mary

Anne, the eldest, married Capt. Claxton, R.N., who in 1818 commanded the.

Tartar cutter on the Yarmouth station, f

General Garth. The latter, who was some time in Yarmouth, served with the army in

Flanders, and died in 1829, aged 85. He was the ostensible father of the well-known

Captain Garth. See Annual Register, vol. 72, p. 270.

* Portraits of the second Anthony Taylor, of his son the first named "William Taylor,

and of his wife (the latter by Sir William Beechey), are in the possession, of their

descendant, John Lucas Worship, Esq., of Riverhead near Seven Oaks, Kent. The last-

named William Taylor married, secondly, Mrs. Rebecca Gunton, who died at Great

Yarmouth in 1872, in her 91st year, leaving a son, Thomas Taylor, who settled in

Australia.

f Being on the jetty one day when a boat was upset and a man thrown into the

VOL. II.

82

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Caroline, the second daughter, married Dr. Sabine;* and Elizabeth, the

third daughter, married Henry Brayne, merchant, London.

In 1803 Taylor sold the above-mentioned house to Isaac Preston,

Esq., who occupied it for sixty-three years, dying there in 1866, aged

92; having retained his faculties in a remarkable manner until nearly the

close of life. He was the second son of Jacob Preston, Esq., of whom

hereafter. When a young man he commanded a merchant vessel trading

to Portugal, called the Douro; and being captured was detained as a

prisoner in Prance for some years, where he acquired a perfect

knowledge of the French language, and was for many years Vice-

Consul for France at Great Yarmouth. f " When a regiment of local

militia was formed in 1803 he received a captain's commission, and

attained the rank of major. J He filled the office of mayor in 1816 and

again in 1822. On the former occasion he attended a levee at Carlton

house, and presented a loyal address to the Prince Regent which had

been voted by the corporation, and on the following day waited upon

the Earl of Liverpool and Viscount Castlereagh, and presented each

with the freedom of the borough which had been voted to them. He was

a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Norfolk. He married Elizabeth,

daughter of Samuel Tolver, Esq., by whom, he had a numerous family.§

Row No. 83 formed the north boundary of the precincts of the

Franciscans or Grey Friars; and at the south-west corner, on ground

which

water, he jumped into the sea and brought him on shore. This it was said was the ninth

person rescued from drowning by Capt. Claxton, who received a well-deserved medal

from the Royal Humane Society.

* Dr. and Mrs. Sabine resided for some years at Brussels before the Belgian

revolution; and there, received civilities from the Royal Family of Holland, in

acknowledgment of the hospitality they had met with in Yarmouth.

f He also held many other Consular appointments.

t His younger brother, Mr. Edmund Preston, already mentioned (vol. i. p. 220),

became a captain in the same regiment in 1805.

§ There is a portrait of him by Lane; also a privately printed lithograph portrait of

Mrs. Preston, from a drawing by Wageman. Elizabeth, their eldest daughter, married

Richard Gwyn, Esq. (second son of Hamond Gwyn, Esq., who died in 1805) who was

lineally descended from Rice Gwyn, Esq., sergeant-at-law, who purchased Baron's Hall

near Fakenham in Norfolk in 1593, and was Recorder of Yarmouth from 1610 till 1625.

The arms of Gwyn are— gu., a chev. betw. three lions ramp. or.; and for a crest, a lion

ramp. or. See P. C. p. 341.

GREAT YARMOUTH

83

once belonged to them, stands a house which, early in the 18th century

was in the possession of William Kett, sailmaker; and subsequently

became the property and residence of James Sayers 1 , Esq.*

This family of S AYERS appear to have formerly spelt their name

without the final letter, f Robert Sayer, a member of the corporation in. the

early part of the 17th century, took an active part in municipal affairs, and

was one of those who in 1626 resisted the attempt then made to change the

government of the town from two bailiffs to a mayor.; and was rewarded

by being himself, in that year, elected bailiff. During his year of office ,

letters of privy seal were issued for the collection of a forced loan in the

borough j and complaints having been made that the same had not been

diligently gathered in. Sayer, in a letter to the Privy Council, assured their

lordships that he had obtained from the collector the names of all such of

the inhabitants as had not paid towards the previous subsidy,

distinguishing those that were then dead, such as had removed out of

town, others who had paid a part, some who had paid nothing, and the rest

who were poor and unable to pay at all; and he declared that the bailiffs

had "performed their utmost endeavours to accomplish his majesty's

pleasure," but that they found it impossible "to persuade the inhabitants

defaulting to pay their loans without farther authority;" the fact being that

there was then a great and general antipathy to these forced loans, levied

without the authority of Parliament. Robert Sayer was bailiff for the second

time in 1635, when much against his own inclination he was appointed an

assessor in respect of a loan for £940, then imposed upon the borough. He

took a decided part in supporting Brinsley; and was one of those who

petitioned to have all suits and differences in ecclesiastical matters

referred to the decision of the Lord President of the Council, the Bishop

of London, two Common Law Judges, Dr. Dun and Sir Henry Martyn, or

to any three of

* The latter was presented by the fish-merchants, as their solicitor, with a silver

salver and soup tureen; and by the Black Lion Shipping and Insurance Club with two

silver vases, in. appreciation of his services.

f Probably derived from the ancient christian name of Saer or Saier. There was an

old family of Sayer at Pulham in Norfolk. John Sayer died there in 1583, in his 90th year.

Blomefield, vol. v., p. 401.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: James Sayer, the caricaturist , some notice of him may be

found in Taylor’s Records of my Life , p. vol 1, p.42 and p.190, and in Notes and Queries.

84

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

them. * Benjamin Sayer also took an active part in local affairs. In 1648

he was appointed cornet to a troop of horse then "raised for the safety of

the town;" and in the same year he subscribed the Solemn League and

Covenant. After the beheading of Charles I., he and many other

members of the corporation resigned their offices; but Sayer, by a

special order of the "committee of Parliament for indemnity," was

reinstated. It is probable, however, that he favored the restoration, for

his name was inserted as a common councilman in the charter granted

by Charles II. Christopher Sayer of Yarmouth had a freehold at

Ormesby, for which he voted in 1714 in favor of Astley and De Grey,

Francis Sayers, who died circa 1726, was possessed of considerable

property, including an estate at Ormesby and several shares in vessels . f

William Sayers, his grandson, master and owner of a trading vessel,

was the father of J AMES S AYERS , the caricaturist. Born in Yarmouth,

and intended for the profession of the law, he was articled to Mr.

Ramey (vol. i. p. 369); and on being admitted to practice, entered into

partnership with Mr. William Taylor, and was elected into the

corporation. His abilities as a satirist with pen and pencil were not to be

suppressed; and they soon involved him in many disagreeable

consequences. In 1780 he left Yarmouth for London, where he entered

into another partnership, which, however, he soon relinquished; and he

then retired altogether from the profession, devoting himself

exclusively to politics. He attached himself to the party of Pitt; and,

taking the leading topics of the day for his themes, was unsparing in his

satire upon Fox. The coalition between North and Fox was extremely

unpopular in Yarmouth, as it was generally throughout the country. It

was considered a flagrant violation of all political principle; and the

electors were not slow in

* We find that he lived in Middlegate Street, for in 1658 a committee was

appointed to view a porch he had erected in front of his house there, and if necessary

to remove it.

f It appears by his will that these ships, which were each from 300 to 350 tons

burthen, were called “katts.” Ives, in his journal, says in 1732—"Mr. John

Symonds lost his katt coming in at the Cockle Gat at night. She cost him £2,460,

and had made but three voyages. Mr. Thomas Clifton lost his new katt, cost

£2,480. She was five months old." Cat is a "sort of ship," says Johnson, The term

is not now in use.

GREAT YARMOUTH

85

evincing the sense they entertained of it, for at the next general election

they resisted, as we have seen, the Walpole and Townshend influence,

and returned Sir John Jervis, afterwards Earl St. Vincent, and Mr.

Beaufoy to Parliament. Mr. Coke also lost his seat for Norfolk. The

coalition ministry and their proceedings formed admirable subjects for

the satirical pen and pencil of Bayers.* When Fox introduced his Indian

Bill, "which," said Lord Thurlow, "if carried would take the crown from

the king's head and place it on that of the minister," he got the title of

Carlo Kan, as supreme dictator of the east; and Sayers eagerly seized

the opportunity of ridiculing him. Fox, whose corpulent and well-

known figure made him a fit subject for caricature was represented as a

giant carrying the India house on his shoulders to St. James'; and

shortly afterwards Sayers produced his most famous, although perhaps

not his best work, "Carlo Kan's triumphant entry into Leadenhall

Street." Fox is represented on the back of an elephant, whose head

exhibits the full, face of Lord North. He is conducted to the India house

by Burke as his imperial trumpeter, for Burke had been the loudest

supporter of the bill in the House of Commons. A crow, a bird of ill

omen, is resting on the house.

The flight crow cried, foreboding luckless time"

This caricature had a prodigious sale, and such was the effect produced

that Fox is said to have declared that his bill had received from it a

deadly blow. f When Pitt obtained power he gave Sayers the appoint-

ment of Marshal of Exits, the duties of which, for £200 a year,

consisted in walking before the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he

annually went to prick for sheriffs; and he subsequently obtained the

appointment of cursitor from Lord Eldon. The numerous productions of

his pencil deservedly ranked him among the first artists of the day in

that particular line; and he was also much esteemed as a political

songwriter. One of his first attempts was a poem called Mundungus, in

which he lam-

* Some of his political squibs have been republished in Notes and Queries.

f Probably the most interesting of Sayers' productions at the present time, is a series

of slightly caricatured portraits of all the political celebrities who flourished at the time of

its publication in 1782. They are excellent likenesses, and are valuable as keys to the

caricatures of the day.

|

86

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

pooned his old master Ramey, the town clerk (Spurgeon), and many of

the Yarmouth worthies of that day. In London he resided with his

mother and sister, first in Great Ormond Street, and afterwards in

Curzon Street, where he died in 1823, aged 72, and was buried in St.

Andrew's Church, Holborn.*

A family of the name of Sayer or Sayers resided at Colchester in

the 15th century, f of whom was John Sayers, a man of wealth and

dignity. His grandson, Richard Sayers, married Anne, daughter of

Edmund Wilson of Ashwelthorpe, but differing with his family on

account of religion, he retired to Amsterdam, where he died in 1540.

His grandson acquired a large fortune by marrying an heiress of the

family of Egmont; and died leaving two sons, of whom Richard, the

eldest, captivated by the eloquence of the separatists then assembled at

Leyden, followed the "pilgrim fathers" to America, where he assisted in

founding the towns of New Plymouth and Boston. In 1643 he removed

to Mattakeese, where he founded a town, which he called Y ARMOUTH .

He died there in 1676, aged 86, and one of his descendants has erected a

costly monument to his memory in Yarmouth churchyard (U.S.). The

name is now corrupted into Sears, and the family is represented by the

Hon. David Sears, a Senator for Massachusetts.

James Sayers, the owner of the above-mentioned house, was the

eldest son of Christopher Sayers, § some time pier-master, who married

a Ward; and grandson of James Sayers, who died in 1727, aged 69.

* The portrait of Sayers, already given vol. i. p. 294, taken, as it records, by himself

in 1814, when he was aged 65, is from a private plate in the possession of Mrs.

Goodchild, and is published by her permission.

f George Sayers, a descendant of the Colchester family, Vice-Chamberlain to Queen

Catharine, consort of Charles II., married Frances, daughter and sole heir of Sir Philip

Honywood of Pett in Kent; and acquired a considerable estate now enjoyed by their

posterity.

J There are other Yarmouths in the United States; one in the county of Barnstable

in the state of Massachusetts, and another at Cumberland in Maine.

§ He was a "pulley maker," as mast and blockmakers were then called, an

occupation much more important than at present; and lived at the north-west corner of the

New Broad Row, where in 1771 he had leave to erect posts near his dwelling-house. In

the following year he was elected an alderman, but declined to serve. He died in 1792,

aged 71. Mary Sayers died in 1787, aged 94.

GREAT YARMOUTH

87

He married in 1785, Jane, daughter of Mr. Thomas Utton of Aldeby,

Norfolk, "a young lady possessed in an eminent degree of those rare

mental endowments which are so inducive to connubial happiness," as

the Norwich Gazette informs us, and died in 1827, aged 69, and was

buried at Hopton, Suffolk, in which parish he had an estate, where he

built a house 1 which, much enlarged and improved, is now the residence

of James Henry Orde, Esq, He left two sons; the Rev. Thomas Sayers,

who married Maria, daughter of Thomas Burton, Esq., and died s.p.;

and Christopher Sayers, solicitor, who died in 1858, aged 61, and with,

him the name became extinct in Yarmouth.* Some time after the death

of Mr. James Sayers, the above-mentioned house was purchased by Mr.

George Wells Holt, solicitor, who, on the passing of the Municipal

Corporation Act in 1835, was appointed Clerk to the Magistrates, which

office he held till his death in 1860, aged 69. f

The adjoining house, No. 6, was in 1749 in the possession of

Thomas Cashing, eldest son and heir of John Gushing, by Elizabeth his

wife, one of the daughters and devisees of Elizabeth Milleson, widow,

from whom he derived this property. It had previously been occupied

by a "peruke maker," a business of some importance when every man

pretending to be a gentleman wore a wig. In 1757 it was conveyed to

John Stephens, whose daughter, Martha, married the Rev. Thomas

Howe, pastor of the Congregational Church. She devised the property

to her nephew, John Stephens Creed of Bury St. Edmund' S , surgeon, and

* By his marriage with Mary Anne, daughter of Timothy

Steward, Esq., he left one son, Christopher Sayers, Esq., of the

General Post Office, who lives near Manchester. Sayers bore— gu.

a chev. erm. betw. three seapies ppr.; and for a crest, a hand holding

a dragon's head erased.

f The name of Holt is probably derived from the town so called

in Norfolk. One Christopher Holt, who lived in All Hallows,

L ondon, had this epitaph—

This Holt, alas ! hath lost his hold,

" By death called hence in haste ;

" Whose Christian- name being Christopher,

" With Christ is better placed."

John, son of G.W. Holt, was drowned by the upsetting of a boat in False Bay, Cape of

Good Hope, in 1847.

1 This house, west of the A12, Hopton bypass, is that now owned by John Tooley of

Bunn’s fertilizer Co., importers of fertilizers and chemicals on the Southtown side of the

river at Yarmouth. (1995)

88

THE PERLUSTRATION

He in 1786 conveyed it to his father, Samuel Maltwood Creed of

Beccles, who in 1804 sold it to Mr. Thomas Carrington. The latter died

in 1813, aged 70, leaving a daughter who lived in the above-mentioned

house, where she conducted a young ladies' boarding school for many

years.*

At the north-east corner of Row No. 83 is an Elizabethan house

with a modernised front. The original rounded-brick chimney shafts

still remain; and adjoining to the west is another Elizabethan house,

containing a room on the ground floor lined with wainscot panels,

divided by carved pilasters, and having an oblong many-lighted

window. Early in the last century these houses were, with two others

adjoining to the north (Nos. 182 and 183), the property of John Ireland,

Esq. (of whom hereafter), the first being a public house called the

Angel. They were purchased of Ireland's executor by Thomas

Manclarke, and sold by his heir, Austin Palgrave Manclarke, to the

above-mentioned William Taylor. In 1790 the next house, No. 184, was

in the possession of Elizabeth Hurry,

At the south-east corner of Row No. 83 stands a warehouse in

which for many years the business of a dealer in iron has been carried

on. It was long known as Tawell's warehouse, because in 1810 Mr.

Thomas Tawell of Norwich established here the business of an iron

merchant, f

* Under her charge was a daughter of Admiral Lukin, who became Countess of

Listowel, and died, in 1871, aged 67. Admiral Lukin, when a captain, in command of the

Mars, ship of the line, accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen from Yarmouth Roads

in 1607, and brought back the Danish ship Fyen, seventy-four guns. He soon afterwards

conveyed Rear-Admiral Keats and Lieut.General Sir John Moore to Sweden. His mother,

after the death of the admiral's father, the Rev. J. W. Lukin, Dean of Wells, married the

father of Right Hon. William Windham, the last of the and ancient and honorable family

of the Windhams of Felbrigge, upon whose death the Norfolk estates came by device to

Admiral Lukin, who thereupon assumed the name of Windham, He was the father of

William Howe Windham, Esq., sometime M.P. for East Norfolk, and grandfather of W. F.

Windham, who died at Norwich in 1866, after having in a few years scattered the large

estates of the ancient family whose name he bore, but whose blood did not run in his

veins. For a short time he held a commission in the East Norfolk Regiment of Militia. The

Felbrigge estate, which had been in possession of the Windhams for centuries, passed by

purchase to John Ketton, Esq., of Norwich. In 1575 Sir Francis Windham, was one of the

justices appointed to settle the differences between Yarmouth and the Cinque Ports, He

died in 1592. There is an engraved portrait of him.

f Of this family was John Tawell, who was hanged at Aylesbury in 1845 for a

murder committed by him under peculiar circumstances. To get rid of a woman

GREAT YARMOUTH

89

New Broad Row , from South Quay to Middlegate Street, now called

Q UEEN S TREET . All the ground extending from Row No. 83 to Row No .

96, and bounded by the haven towards the west* and by Middle-gate

Street towards the east, belonged to the Franciscans, called Friars Minor

from their profession, of poverty, and more commonly Grey Friars from

the colour of their dress, f They came into England early in the

thirteenth century, and settled in Yarmouth in the reign of Edward II.,

principally through the exertions of Sir William Gerbrigge, a man of

considerable local influence, who filled the office of bailiff in 1271. J

then residing at Slough, he gave her poison concealed in an apple, and then left by railway

for London. Suspicion fell upon Tawell who had been seen to leave the woman's cottage,

and a telegram was sent to detain him. On his arrival Tawell was tried and convicted;

notwithstanding the ingenious defence of his counsel, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, afterwards Chief

Baron, who contended that the unhappy woman died from prussic acid naturally

contained in apple pips. Tawell was born, in 1784 at Aldeby near Beccles, where his

father kept a general shop; and in 1798 entered into the service of a widow, one of the

Society of Friends, who had a shop at Pakefield near Lowestoft, and remained there five

years, adopting the garb and phraseology of a quaker, which he ever afterwards retained.

During this period he was frequently in Yarmouth, especially on "first days,'' where he

formed an intimate acquaintance with Joseph Hinton (vol. i. p. 287). In 1803 Tawell went

to London and became a linen-draper's assistant; but was afterwards employed by Mr.

Marsden, a wholesale druggist, as a "commercial traveller." After seven years well doing

he was convicted of forgery, and transported to Sydney, where his intelligence soon

obtained for him an exemption from convict discipline. Having opened a shop he grew

rapidly rich, and in 1831 returned to England with a considerable fortune. Thomas Tawell

of Norwich founded in 1808 the Institution for the benefit of the Indigent Blind in Norfolk

and Norwich, of which Dr. Sayers of Norwich, was an active supporter. He died in 1820,

aged 57, and is buried in Norwich Cathedral, where, in the nave, is a mural monument to

his memory bearing his coat of arms az ., betw. three roundlets arg ., a chev. charged with

five trefoils arg.

* The convent was required to repair the opposite Quay; and cautioned not to

"annoy " it by anchors and goods. It was called Friars' Quay.

f Some account of this convent may be found in the Appendix

to Manship's History; p.418.

j He lies buried, with Joan his wife, under an altar tomb,

bearing their effigies, still remaining in the chancel of

Wickhampton Church, a few miles from Yarmouth, the lordship of

which parish was held by his family of the Bigots, Earls of

Norfolk. On the above tomb is his shield of arms— erm., on a

chief gu., five lozenges of the first, surmounted by a barulet sa,

V OL II.

90

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

They were certainly established prior to 1296, for in that year William

de Catt* was found murdered in Middlegate Street, next the Friars

Minors. The man who first found him, and four of the neighbouring

householders were attached to answer for the crime . f The conventual

church, dedicated to St. Francis, was erected towards the east end of the

ground now occupied by Queen Street, having a cloister enclosing a

green yard to the south, some remains of which may still be seen at the

back of the houses on that side of the street . t In the church and cloisters

many persons of distinction were interred,§ as were the bodies of those

who gave largely to the convent. ¶ The conventual buildings were to the

south of the cloisters; and one of the old walls containing portions of

stone mouldings and the mullions of ancient

* A family of this name held lands in several of the neighbouring parishes. John

Fastolfe married Margery, relict of Henry de Cat, who had a considerable estate at South

Walsham, temp, Edward I. They bore arg. , two cats pass. gu.; varied to sa.

f This was in pursuance of the old Teutonic law which made a community

responsible for crimes committed within its limits; and was carried to strange lengths, for

if a man entertained a merchant or stranger in his house for three nights and supplied him

with food, and such guest committed a crime, the host was compelled to bring him to

justice or answer for it.

t Within the cloisters the bailiffs frequently held then courts —See Roll 4, Ed. 4, and they

were resorted to by the inhabitants as a place for quietude or for private conference. One

friend would say to another in the language of Shakspear—

" Go with me to the Abbey,

And let us there at large discourse our fortunes."

In a pantry at the back of one of the houses on the south side of Queen Street, there is a

portion of this cloister, with its groined roof in a very perfect state.

§ So late as 1828 whilst making a drain in Queen Street, the workmen turned up a

skull and a number of human bones, proving that they wore working upon a site where

burials had taken place. 1

¶ (See vol. i. p. 229). William atte Mawe, bailiff in 1354, directed his body to be

buried in the Church of the Grey Friars, and all his real and personal estate to he sold and

the money applied in celebrating masses and alms for the repose of his soul at the

discretion of his nephew Thomas Sond, a friar of this house, or in his absence, of the

lecturer of the convent. Ives says that in his time an ancient stone coffin could be seen

built into a wall, and supposed to contain the bones of the founder. In 1484 the Prior of

Yarmouth complained to the Bishop of Norwich "against the friars minor for unlawfully

burying three men killed in the ship of our Lord the King, called the Elizabeth;" and he

incurred an expense of 10s. 5d. in hiring horses for three journeys to Norwich about the

business.

1 Following the Second World War, many lead coffins were dug up close to the Grey

Friars Monastery. Nothing was properly recorded, but I have on tape an interview with

Robert Postle who described coffins being opened, some with young girls inside, their

hair golden, and in perfect preservation, but all of which fell to dust. The numbers and

postions of the coffins, their contents and all of the associated archaeological features

were entirely ignored.

GREAT YARMOUTH

91

windows may still be seen at the back of some houses in Row No. 92.*

At the dissolution this convent, with all its possessions, was granted to

Thomas Cromwell, the vicar-general, afterwards Earl of Essex, but on

his attainder in 1540 it was bestowed by the crown upon Sir Richard

Williams, Knt., f who took the name of Cromwell, and was the father of

Sir Henry Cromwell of Hinchinbroke. He sold the Grey Friars to Sir

William Woodhouse, Knt., of Waxham," j a great dealer in this

description of property, from whom it eventually passed to the

corporation, who obtained possession in 1569. They utilized the

conventual buildings and appropriated some of the rooms to the rise of

their under steward, Serjeant Flowerdew;§ upon whose death in 1586

the corporation, pending the choice of a successor, permitted Jeffery

Whitney to receive the steward's fees, and to have the occupancy of the

rooms at the Grey Friars, rent free. ¶ Upon the appointment of the

* Among the many references to the Grey Friara in the town rolls, there is one

which records the fact that in 1492 John Rokeby, a friar of the order then living, weighed

twenty-four stone. He must have been "a jolly friar." Roll. 8, Henry VII The records

possessed by the several friaries in Yarmouth were probably destroyed.

f He had been one of the visitors of religious houses., and his zeal in their suppression

had been rewarded by liberal grants of their possessions, including the nunnery of

Hinchinbroke, which thenceforth became the seat of the family until it was purchased by the

ancestor of the present Duke of Manchester.

j This family of "Woodhouse had no connection with that of Woodehouse of

Kimberley. They bore quarterly az. and arm., in. the first quarter a leopard's head or. Sir

William died in 1564, and was buried at Hickling in Norfolk, leaving by his will

numerous curious bequests of articles of dress, such as "my best short gown of velvet,

and one velvet cap, set with buttons of gold, which my Lord of Leicester gave me,"—See

P. C. p. 587. His dealings with monastic possessions did him no good, for the family

became extinct 1 . See Blomefield's Norfolk.

§ The under stewardship was a judicial office similar to that afterwards filled by the

recorder. Flowerdew had been previously retained as standing counsel for the town, for

the corporation appears to have been always alive to the advantage of securing the best

legal advice, and Flowerdew was considered one of the ablest lawyers of his day. He

resigned the stewardship on being appointed a Baron of the Exchequer. (See a further

account of him in P.C. p. 337.) He bequeathed a silver cup, gilt, to the town. He bore per

pale arg. and sa., three sea bears counterchanged.

¶ He was a native of Nantwich, and spent some time at Magdalen College,

Cambridge, where he had for his tutor Stephen Limbert, afterwards master of the

Norwich school. On leaving Yarmouth he retired to Leyden, where he published

1 Why Palmer should make this comment is at the least strange, since he himself was

childless, and though buying an old monastery is surely not to curry favour with God,

that is hardly evidence that he spent none of his life doing good for his community.

92

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

famous John Stubbe to the vacant office,* Whitney was required to

quit, and a dispute arose between him and the corporation which was

settled in 1587 by their paying him £45, on condition that be certified

his satisfaction to the Earl of Leicester, then High Steward, through

whose patronage Whitney had originally been employed. Subsequently

his " Choice of emblemes and other devises, for the most part gathered out of sundrie

writers, Englished and moralized and others newly devised; a worke adorned with varietie

of matter, both pleasant and profitable ; wherein those that please maie finde to fit their

fancies; Bicause herein by office of the eie and eare, the minde may reape dooble delight

throughe holsome preceptes shadowed with pleasant devises, both fit for the virtuous to their

encoraging, and for the wicked for their admonishing and amendment."

A new edition was published in 1866 by the Rev. Henry Green of Knutsford, who while

engaged upon it, personally examined the Yarmouth rolls, and caused Whitney's

"Account of a visit to Scratby Island " to be photographed as an illustration. (See vol. i.,

p. 316.)

* His father had a good estate in Norfolk. He matriculated at Trinity College,

Cambridge, in 1555, and was called to the bar. In 1579 he published The Discoverie of a

Gaping Gulf to here unto England is like to be swallowed by another French marriage, if the

Lord forbid not the banes, by letting Her Majestie see the sin and punishment thereof. This

work gave great offence to Queen Elizabeth and her ministers. It was ordered to be

suppressed; and Stubbe was indicted and convicted under the 1 and 2 Philip and Mary,

which had been passed against the authors and sowers of seditious writings. He was

condemned to have his right hand cut off with a cleaver driven through the wrist by the

force of a "beetle" or wooden mallet, upon a scaffold in the Market Place at Westminster.

When brought to execution he professed ardent attachment to the queen's person and

government, but declined to save his hand at the expense of his conscience. He desired the

people to pray with him that God would strengthen him to abide the pain he was to suffer,

and that the loss of his hand should not withdraw any part of his duty and affection

towards, his sovereign. When his right hand was struck off, he seized his hat with his left,

and cried " God save the Queen," and then swooned. The bystanders were horror struck at

this barbarity to a man who was esteemed as being of most honest and honorable report;

and who had only openly spoken what was in the hearts of most men; for the proposed

marriage was generally detested. His punishment was not at an end, for he was sent

prisoner to the tower. He was released probably by the influence of Lord Burghley, and

retired to Catton near Norwich. Lord Burghley was chosen High Steward of Yarmouth in

1588, and in the same year Stubbe became Under-steward, and was returned to Parliament

for the borough, upon which occasion he presented the corporation with a silver basin and

ewer for the use of the bailiffs. He soon afterwards laid aside the pen for the sword, and

accompanied the army, which was despatched to France to aid Henry IV. against the

Spaniards, and dying there in 1592 was buried in the sea sand near Havre de Grace with

military honors. He bore sa., on a bend or., betw. three pheons arg., as many buckles gu.

See Froude's History.

GREAT YARMOUTH

93

the "Town arms" were set up and the precincts were used for the purpose of

mustering the Train Bands (the volunteers of that day) and also as an artillery

yard, so that the tramp of soldiers succeeded to the soft footings of the friars,

and the clank of arms, with martial music, to their solemn chants. Attached to

this convent there were extensive gardens where the friars cultivated fruit and

flowers, then but little known in England. We find mention made of the

“Strawberry Yard”; and in 1571 the corporation sold "the mulberry tree" for

4s.* In 1575 a subscription was entered into for the building of a house of

morning prayer in the south part of the town, f and the corporation offered to

give as much ground at the Grey Friars as would suffice to build the same, and

such stones as were there already; but the design went no further. It is to be

regretted that the Conventual Church was not preserved for the purposes of

divine worship. In 1650 it was proposed to convert some of the buildings of the

Grey Friars into an exchange for the daily meeting of merchants, the hour of

meeting being from one till two p.m., and the town bell to be rung at the time of

meeting and departing; but the project did not "take," and there has never been

anything of the kind in Yarmouth, In 1657 the corporation agreed to sell the

whole of this property to Mr. John Woodroffe J for

* The mulberry is a native of Persia, and had then been very recently introduced into

England. It was chiefly found in the grounds attached to religious houses. There are four

large mulberry trees still standing on the site of the old monastic garden, which now

forms part of the pleasure grounds of Sion house.

t The reformers adhered to the ancient practice of early prayer. In 1573 the

corporation ordered prayers to commence at five o'clock from All Hallows to Candlemas

Day, and for the remainder of the year at six o'clock; and the minister was to be fined for

They allowed sufficient money ''for lights'' during the winter months. The bailiffs would

not be trifled with; for in 1532 they displaced Mr. Goodwin, one of the preachers, and

committed the other, Mr. Mowse, to prison, "for disobeying their commands," and he

was only released "on making his submission." These early hours were gradually

abandoned (except in some cathedrals) until at last early morning prayer ceased

altogether ; and it was not until the 19th century was half over that a partial revival took

place.

j This name, which has been of long continuance in Yarmouth, is probably a

corruption of wood-reeve an overseer or bailiff of a wood. Woodroof is the name of a

plant, found wild in many parts of England, the young shoots of which are used in mixing

a cooling drink of Rhenish wine. John Woodroffe 1 took a leading part in

1 Palmer’s Addenda: In 1639, Thomas Woodrufe “Lyme Quincher”, aged about 40

years, had licence to go into Holland, “and upon lyking, the country to inhabit, otherwise

to return in a month”.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

£2,600, upon condition that he made a broad row and narrow row for

the convenience of the public, from the Quay to Middlegate Street; and

in the same year he conveyed the estate of the Grey Friars to Samuel

Pacey * and Thomas Mighells, f both of Lowestoft, merchants. J They

pulled down the conventual buildings and cleared away the ruins of the

church; and in compliance with the above condition made a broad row,

the affairs of the town for many years. He was active in supporting the cause of the

Parliament, and in 1648 signed the Solemn League and Covenant. He was bailiff in 1658,

and in this capacity presented an address to Richard Cromwell, calling upon him to

assume the reins of government. Nevertheless we find him named as an alderman in the

charter of Charles II. He continued to be employed and trusted in many important affairs,

and in 1677 he again filled the office of bailiff.

* Pacey was an eminent merchant at Lowestoft, where he died in 1680, aged 56.

(See vol. i., p. 286.) In 1663, believing that two of his daughters were bewitched, he

caused an old woman whom he suspected to be placed in the stocks. This not proving

effectual, she and another old crone were apprehended and committed to prison, and at

the following assizes at Bury St. Edmund's they were tried before Sir Matthew Hale,

found guilty, condemned, and hanged. The evidence given was of the most inconclusive

character, and the verdict was in opposition to the opinions of Lord Cornwallis, Sir

Edmund Bacon, and Mr. Serjeant Keeling, who after a private enquiry had declared the

accusation to be groundless. The judge, it is said, was far from being satisfied, and

declined to sum up the evidence; but he pronounced the sentence and allowed the

execution, See Hutchinson's Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft; and Gillingwater's

History of Lowestoft, p. 369.

f He was of an old Lowestoft family and an eminent merchant, as his ancestors had

been from the time of Queen Elizabeth. Of this family was Vice-Admiral Mighells, who

greatly distinguished himself on several occasions, but especially in the great sea fight off

Malaga in 1704, when he commanded the Monk, 64. In 1723 the admiral was made

Comptroller of the Navy, and died in 1733, and was buried in Lowestoft Church. The

arms of Mighells are gu., a bendlet or. surmounted of a fesse, sa,; and for a crest, on a

wreath of the colours an eagle's head erased or. In 1788 Richard Mighells of Yarmouth

lost his "katt" upon Alborough Paps, and he was drowned with thirteen men. Ives'

Journal.

J Some portions had however been previously disposed of, for in 1618 William

Clark and Cecilia his wife conveyed to John Swann and Agnes his wife a tenement which

then occupied part of the site of the above house, and was described as then abutting in

part upon land called The Strawberry Yard, south, and a garden, then lately sold to John

Palgrave, called Le Cloister Yard, towards the east, and land, then of Richard Hurry, " to

the piles “in part towards the west”. This Richard Hurry was a member of the corporation

opposed to the change of municipal government in 1626, and a supporter of Brinsley in

1630. There had also been an orchard; for we find that in 1599 it was let to Mr. Stanton

and Mr. Trower for ten years.

GREAT YARMOUTH

95

now called Queen Street, and a narrow row, now No. 92, and laid out the

ground on all sides for building; purposes. The houses on both sides of Queen

Street were erected upon ground within the precincts of the Grey Friars; and

some bear evidence that the ruins of the church and conventual buildings were

used in their construction.

The house at the north-west corner was conveyed in 1801 to William

Danby Palmer, jun,, Esq.,* who resided in it until 1834, when he died

unmarried and intestate, aged 62, and it then descended to his brother and heir,

G D. Palmer, Esq. It is now occupied by Vice-Admiral Gooch, second son of

the late Sir Thomas Sherlock Gooch, Bart., of Benacre in Suffolk. The latter for

many years represented that county in Parliament before it was divided. We

have already mentioned this family as having been of long continuance in

Yarmouth (vol. i., p.126). Thomas Gooch, who took a leading part in borough

politics during the most eventful part of the 17th century, was born at Ilketshall

in Suffolk in 1599. He settled in Yarmouth as a merchant, and acquired large

property. In 1642, when the town declared for the Parliament, he brought in

plate to the value of £25. Two years afterwards he was elected bailiff j and

during his year of office a gallery was erected in the south transept of St.

Nicholas' Church, upon one of the pillars supporting which his name was

inscribed. In 1648 he signed the Solemn League and Covenant; and in 1656 he

again filled the office of bailiff. In 1658 he signed the address to Richard

Cromwell begging him to accept the protectorate. He appears however to have

speedily changed his politics, for we find him named as an alderman in the

charter granted by Charles II. in 1663. He was one of a deputation of four

named, in 1667, to wait upon Sir Robert Paston at Oxnead, and

* He was the eldest son of W. D. Palmer, Esq., of whom hereafter. He had some

amusing eccentricities, one of which was the keeping on some marsh land a drove of

ponies which never knew bit or bridle; and it was his amusement to witness their

gambols. He made a large collection of clocks; and, like Charles V. in his retirement at

the Monastery of St Juste in 1530, he might have exclaimed how futile was the endeavour

"even to make a few watches keep uniform time." The emperor had squandered much

blood and treasure in the vainer attempt to make men think alike; and when a clumsy

monk overthrew all his watches, he good naturally said "I have been labouring for some

time to make them go together, and now you have effected it in an instant."

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arrange for the incorporation of Southtown with Yarmouth; and in 1674 he was

again bailiff. His last service was in 1678, to "journey to Norwich" with Sir

Thomas Medowe, Sir James Johnson, and Mr. England, and there to " wait upon

the Lord Bishop, and discourse with and satisfy him as to the right of the town

to appoint the incumbent. He died the same year, aged 79, and lies buried in the

north transept, of the Parish Church, under a stone bearing the arms of Gooch—

per pale arg. and sa ., a chev. betw. three talbots passant counter changed, on a

chief gu., three leopards' heads, or .,—impaling those of his wife, Joan, daughter

of Thomas Atkin, Esq., Alderman of London, who bore a cross voided betw.

four mullets pierced. She died in 1669, aged 51, leaving an only child, Martha,

married to Thomas Browne, Esq., eldest son and heir of Thomas Browne, Esq.,

of Elsing, grandson and heir of Sir Anthony Browne of Elsing, who was the son

of William Browne, who died in 1578, by Anne his wife, eldest daughter of Sir

Hugh Hastings of Elsing, the lineal descendant of John Lord Hastings, one of

the competitors for the crown of Scotland, in 1285. Elizabeth, younger daughter

of Sir Hugh Hastings, married Hamon Le Strange, Esq., and in the descendants

of these two sisters the Barony of Hastings remained in abeyance until 1844,

when it was terminated in favor of Sir Jacob Astley, Bart., of Melton Constable,

who claimed as heir of Lucy, daughter and ultimately co-heir of Sir Nicholas Le

Strange of Hunstanton, wife of Sir Jacob Astley the third baronet, The other

parties then entitled were Mrs. Browne of Elsing, and Mr. Styleman Le Strange

of Hunstanton. The will of Thomas Gooch, and the settlement which he made

on his daughter upon her marriage, are printed in extenso in the minutes of

evidence adduced before the committee of privileges to whom the claims were

referred. Among other bequests, Mr. Gooch gave to his grandchild, Anne

Browne, his silver basin to her sister, Philippa, his best silver can and his

biggest silver salt. He ordered no more than £130 to be spent on his funeral,

exclusive of mourning; and he desired Mr. Spendlove, the Minister of the

Parish, to preach his funeral sermon, and gave him £3 for his pains; but as the

latter died before the testator, he made a codicil directing Mr. Meen, the

lecturer, to perform that office for whom he thought 40s. would

GREAT YARMOUTH.

97

suffice. Thomas Gooch, the nephew of the above-named Thomas Gooch,

succeeded to his uncle's house on the Quay. He filled the office of bailiff in

1681, in which year the Duke of York, having married the Princess Mary

Beatrice of Modena, was requested by Charles II. to take up his residence at

Holyrood until the excitement, which had been raised against his Royal

Highness on account of his having openly professed the Roman Catholic

religion, should have time to subside. On his return from Scotland,

accompanied by the Earl of Peterborough, Colonel Churchill (afterwards Duke

of Marlborough), and other persons of quality, the prince met with stormy

weather, and it became known that the royal yacht would probably bring up in

Yarmouth Roads and land her passengers. Notwithstanding the strong

protestant feeling which prevailed, it was determined to give his royal highness

a respectful and hospitable reception. Men were stationed at the top of

Winterton lighthouse to look out for the yacht; and as soon as she was

discerned, Mr. Engle Knights sent the "speadiest" of messengers to the bailiffs

with the intelligence, whereupon, as soon as the vessel had anchored in

Yarmouth Roads, Mr. Bailiff Gooch, Mr. George England, Mr. Thomas

Bradford, Mr. Samuel Penn, Mr. Jeffery Ward, and Mr. Thomas England went

off to her, and invited his royal highness to dinner. When the prince landed he

was received by the corporation in their robes of office; and Mr. Medowe, Capt.

Bransby, and Capt. Doughty having lent their coaches for the occasion, the

duke and his suite were conveyed to the house of Bailiff Gooch, where they

were entertained "with a noble dinner" at the town's charge. In 1684 the town's

charters were surrendered, and a new charter granted in which Mr. Gooch was

continued in office as an alderman; but in consequence of his determined

opposition to popery and arbitrary power, James II., in 1687, unmindful of

former hospitality, displaced him and several other corporators by a privy

council order. Gooch married Frances, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Lone of

Worlingham, Suffolk; and they had issue two distinguished sons. Thomas, the

elder, was born in 1674 and was educated at the Grammar School at Great

Yarmouth. He thence proceeded to Caius College, Cambridge, of which he

became first a fellow and then master and for three years in

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succession was chosen vice-chancellor. He was chaplain to Queen Anne,

Archdeacon of Essex, Canon-Residentiary of Chichester, and Prebendary of

Canterbury. In 1737 he was made Bishop of Bristol, and in the

following year was translated to Norwich; and soon afterwards

paid a visit to Yarmouth, upon which, occasion the corporation

presented him, with "a hogshead of red port wine," according to

ancient custom.* The mayor (Thomas Ellys, Esq.) entertained

the prelate on his first visitation at supper on his arrival, and the

following day a grand dinner was given to him at the Town

Hall. He repaired the episcopal palace at Norwich, which was

then in a dilapidated state, and opened a way to the same from

the upper close, thereby stopping the scandalous practice which

had previously prevailed of making the cathedral a thoroughfare; burthens of all

kinds having been carried to and fro, even during divine service. In 1748 he

was translated to Ely, where he died in 1754, aged 80. f He married

* This was an unusual present made to the bishop upon his consecration. The

last ceremony of the kind took place in 1805, and is thus described by Mr. E. Cory,

jun. The deputation consisted of the mayor, the deputy-mayor, the incumbent, the

town cleric, the chamberlains, and the churchwardens. Mr. Edmund Preston and myself "

went as churchwardens, and set off at six o'clock in the morning, and at the King's Head

at Norwich met the rest of the committee. After dressing we proceeded in "procession in

four chaises to the bishop's palace, one of our Serjeants going before" on horseback; two

others having previously gone to the palace gate to announce our arrival. "We were

introduced to his lordship by the Rev. Richard Turner. The bishop treated us with, an

elegant dinner, and we departed at about eight o' clock highly gratified.'' Cory M. S. S.

f See Bentham's Ely t p. 211. The Rev. F. Turner composed a long rhyming epitaph

upon him which contained these couplets:—

" Her bishop, Bristol, just beheld him,

" At Norwich, Ely, none excell'd him,

" No chance of more translations given,

He quitted earth, and went to heaven,

" February the fourteenth, fifty-four,

"Aged exactly years fourscore."

There are two portraits of the bishop, one by Hudson, the other by Heins, both of which

have been engraved. Caius College, of which Gooch was master, is usually pronounced

Keys. Dr. Wilcox was at the same time master of Clare Hall, and a

GREAT YARMOUTH

99

Mary, sister of Dr. Sherlock, Bishop of London. Their grandson, Sir

Thomas Sherlock Gooch, was grandfather of the present baronet. The

second son of Thomas Gooch of Great Yarmouth was born at the house

on the Quay in 1681. "He went young into the army," as we are

informed by his epitaph still remaining in St. Nicholas' Church (an

amusing specimen of the biographical and laudatory style prevalent at

the period of its erection), and behaved gallantly during all Queen

Anne's wars, at the end of which he married Mrs. B. Staunton of

Hampton, Middlesex, whither he retired, but not till after he had loyally

assisted in subduing the rebellion in Scotland in 1715. In 1727 the king

made him Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, and of him 'twas justly (and

what could be better) said, that he was the only governor abroad against

whom inhabitant or merchant never once complained. In 1740 he

became colonel of an American regiment, and was sent to the siege of

Carthagena, where, though providence remarkably preserved him, his

wounds and a bad climate greatly impaired him. For this, and his other

services, he was advanced to the rank of brigadier and major-general;

but these neither increasing his fortunes nor restoring his health he

returned to England, where, after unsuccessful journies to Bath, he

concluded his life, December 17 th . 1751. To whose memory, we are told,

his much afflicted widow erected this monument." She was Rebecca,

daughter of William Staunton, who bore wavy erm. and sa., a canton

gu., which arms are impaled with those of Gooch upon a mural

monument bearing the above inscription, now in the north aisle of the

chancel; and they also appear on a hatchment. Sir William Gooch was

created a baronet in 1746, with remainder, in default of male issue, to his

brother, the Bishop of Ely, who succeeded to this honor, and

transmitted it to his descendants. There is a considerable district in

Virginia still, called Gooch's county. As governor he was popular. It is

related of

Jeu d’ Esprit is in existence which, marks, the convivial habits of the "heads of

houses "- in those days.

"Says Gooch to old Wilcox, 'come take t'other bout.

"Tis late,' says the Master, 'I'll not be lock'd out, "

'Mere stuff,' cries the Bishop, 'stay as long as you please, "

What signify Gates ? arn't I Master of Keys'"

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him that being with a gentleman, in a street at Williamsburgh, he

returned the salute of a negro. "Do you descend so far as to salute a

slave," said his acquaintance. "Why yes," replied the governor "I cannot

allow him to exceed me in good manners."

The above-named Admiral Gooch married Anne Europa, eldest

daughter of Col. the Hon. W. H. Gardner, and became a widower in

1839.

On the north side of the New Broad Row was a tavern much

frequented at the commencement of the present century, called the

Black Lion.* The house is now divided and the sign removed. At the

north-east corner stands a large house, now in several occupations,

erected by William Emperor upon ground which had belonged to the

Grey Friars, f In 1659 Emperor was chosen one of the bailiffs ; and early

in 1660 Richard Cromwell, who had been proclaimed protector, called

"a healing Parliament," to which, as we have seen, Miles Corbet and Sir

John Palgrave were returned by the corporation; not however without

opposition by the freemen who, as already stated (ante. p. 38) chose two

royalists, Sir John Potts, Knt. and Bart., of Mannington in Norfolk, J

and Sir William

* Edward III. used the blank lion as a badge; and it appears in the arms of Philippa

of Hainault, his queen.

f In 1657 he had permission to add a porch, to this house; a structure which appears

at that time to have been greatly coveted, but which could not be erected without leave

from the corporation. These porches were usually enclosed, having a seat on each side, on

which the owner could indulge in a pipe during the summer season.

J He claimed descent from John Pots, who was of French extraction, and obtained a

grant of English arms in 1583. Settling at Mannington, this family increased their

possessions there by marrying heiresses of the Sumner and Dodge families acquiring

from the former the old hall which was of considerable antiquity, and built “Castle-ways”

by Royal License. Sir John Potts was knighted by Charles I., and advanced to the dignity

of a baronet in 1641, having in the previous year been returned to Parliament for the

county of Norfolk. Sir Charles Potts, his successor, died in 1731, aged 56, and with him

the title became extinct . He bore az., two bars over all a bend or., and quartered the arms

of Dodge, Sumner, Davy, Gournay, and Bishop of Yarmouth, those of the latter being az.,

on a bend cottised gu ., three bezants. Susan, only sister of Sir Charles, married Matthew

Long, Esq., of Dunston; and after the decease of Lady Potts, the manor and township with

the advowson of Mannington were conveyed to the Hon. Horatio Walpole. On the death

of Lady Potts in 1737, the effects at Mannington 1 were sold, comprising as the

advertisements of the day inform, us, "a variety of pictures, tapestry, an organ, two

spinnets, virginals, books, &c."

1 Mannington Hall remains in the possession of Lord Walpole in 2008.

GREAT YARMOUTH

101

D'Oyley of Shottisham,* and Parliamentary Committee of Privileges, to

whom the double return was referred, reversing a former decision,

declared the latter to be duly elected; although Emperor, attended by

Bends the town cleric, went to London for the purpose of defending the

right of election in the corporation. Hitherto Emperor had been a

staunch republican; but seeing the turn which public opinion was

taking, he endeavoured to mate peace with the royalists. The fee-farm

rent payable to the crown from the time of King John had on several

occasions been remitted as a matter of grace and favor; and when, in

1650 Parliament ordered all such rents to be sold, that payable by the

town was redeemed by the corporation. King Charles had however

bestowed this rent upon his queen; and anticipating that her majesty

would ignore the purchase, Mr. Bailiff Emperor in 1660 moved in

assembly, "that as a thing very reasonable and convenient, the fee-farm

of this town, formerly purchased of the Parliament, be freely returned to

the king's majesty with all arrears due unto him from the time of the

town's purchase;" and the money was sent up to the king in gold,

together with an address in which the corporation thanked God for

having preserved his majesty in such, continued and imminent dangers,

and also for restoring him to the possession of his rights and dominions,

and they themselves to the enjoyment of their birthrights, laws, and

liberties so long trampled upon by a treasonable usurpation." They also

testified their "unspeakable joy" at having been restored to their

allegiance, feeling the "comfortable effect" of his majesty's authority,

such allegiance having "for some time past been accompted as a crime

and reproach;" and in all humility "prostrated themselves at his

majesty's feet," acknowledging their obligation to pay the fee-farm rent,

"which the avarice and iniquity of the late defection, had swallowed

up;" and tendered the same, with the arrears to his majesty, "being not

only willing but very joyful thus to

* The family of D'Oyley was of great antiquity both in England and France; and

they possessed extensive estates in Norfolk and Suffolk. They bore gu., three bucks'

heads cabossed arg. Sir William D'Oyley took an active part in procuring the restoration,

for which he was created a baronet; and in 1663 was appointed a commissioner for sick

and wounded seamen and prisoners of war. He married Margaret, daughter of John

Randall, Esq., of Pulham, and died in 1677.

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render Caesar his due." They humbly implored "the continuance of his

majesty's benign aspect, but not otherwise than as they should, in the

highest degree of loyalty evidence themselves to be his sacred majesty's

most humble, obedient, and faithful subjects and servants."* Meanwhile

the queen had taken legal measures to recover her rent; and Emperor

refusing to take the oath of supremacy, was "expulsed" and dismissed

from the corporation; and die-hard Betts elected in his place. f General

Monk having complained that the prisoners of war at Yarmouth

suffered great misery, Emperor was required to report thereon to the

privy council, which he did by stating that "after some little discontent

at first, they had been and were satisfied, but earnestly desired

enlargement."— State Papers, p. 121.

In 1713 the representatives of Emperor t conveyed the above-

mentioned house, with all the property northward as far as Row No. 83,

to John Ives (ante. p. 71), who died in 1758, leaving it to his son, John

Ives, who devised it to Martha, daughter of Samuel Tolver, Esq., who

married Robert Postle of Horstead in Norfolk. §

Towards the close of the last century the house above described,

built by Emperor, was occupied by Ambrose Harbord Steward, Esq.,

when he commenced business as a prize agent, in which he rapidly

accumulated a large fortune . ¶ He removed to Stoke Park near Ipswich,

* The above address, printed in extenso by Swinden, p. 276, is in striking contrast to

the one then recently presented to Richard Cromwell, who, when compelled to leave

Whitehall, appeared particularly anxious about the safety of two old trunks. Upon being

asked what they could possibly contain, "no less," said he, "than the lives and fortunes of

the people of England.'' They were in fact filled with addresses from different parts of the

country, declaring that the salvation of the nation depended upon him; and that the "lives

and fortunes" of the signers were at his service.

f An old family of this name settled at Wortham in Suffolk in 1490. They bore sa.,

on a bend arg., three cinquefoils gu., all within a bordure engrailed of the second.

t Isaac Emperor, hosier, a brother of the above-named William Emperor went to

reside in Norwich, where he died, leaving a son, William Emperor.

§ The Postyls or Postles were an old family at Coltishall in Norfolk, where they had

a good estate which John, son of Simon Postle, sold in 1474 to John Seld, Master of St.

Giles' Hospital, Norwich, and Rector of Coltishall. Blomefield v. 6, p. 308.

¶ Mr. Steward acquired the goodwill of the officers of the Royal Navy by sending,

after a long prevalence of east winds, a cutter laden with good things to the fleet

GREAT YARMOUTH

103

where he resided until his death in 1837. He was a Justice of the Peace and a

Deputy-Lieutenant for Suffolk, and filled the office of High Sheriff for that

County in 1822,

At the south-west corner of Queen Street are warehouses which for nearly

a century were occupied by Messrs. Thomas Hurry 1 and son, ship agents and

hemp and iron merchants. The site of these buildings was early in the 18th

century conveyed by Robert Appleyard (vintner) and Mary his wife and Anne

Hill Mackye, spinster, to James Dawson, merchant, of whom we shall have

occasion hereafter to speak.* After the death of Dawson the property passed to

the Hurrys; a family who for many years took a leading and influential part in

the contests for the representation of the borough in Parliament. At the Norfolk

election in 1714, which has been so often referred to in these pages, Thomas

Hurry voted for Astley and De Grey. At the Borough election in 1754 the

Hurrys (five in number) voted for the Prime Minister's son, Sir Edward

Walpole, K.B., and the Right Hon. Charles Townshend, in opposition to Fuller

and Browne, the tory candidates; but the whigs were not sufficiently

'' advanced," especially on the subject of the repeal of the Corporation and Test

Acts, to please them; for in 1777 they supported the candidature of Mr.

Beckford, and the family from that time opposed the Walpole and Townshend

interest. The character of Thomas Hurry, who died in 1780, aged 86, was, says

the Norfolk Chronicle, well portrayed by this description, that "he was an

honest, an independent, and a virtuous man." The Hurry family greatly

contributed to the return to Parliament of Sir John Jervis and Mr. Beaufoy in

1784; and at the general election in 1802 they successfully exerted themselves

to procure the return of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Trowbridge,

blockading the Texel; : and Nelson, when in the St George, acknowledged "with a

thousand thanks" Mr. Stewards' attention in forwarding his lordship's letters and

packages. See Dispatches and Letters of Nelson.

* The warehoused next the Quay were then occupied by Gerrard Trotter. Over the

grave, in the north transept of the Parish Church, of Esther Trotter, who died in 1742,

there is this shield— arg., a chev. gu. , betw. three boars' heads couped sa.; and for a

crest, a horse trotting; ppr., with the motto In promptu. Gerrard Trotter was lessee of

Hobland Hall in 1749, which estate has been the property of the President and Fellows of

Magdalen College, Oxford, for centuries.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Hurry – The memorials of the family of Hurry, were printed in

1873, having been compiled, as to the English family, principally by Mr.C.J.Palmer, and

as to the American Branch, by Mr. Edmund Abdy Hurry, of New York. One hundred and

fifty copies were printed at the expense of Mr.William Hurry of New York, fifty only, for

this country. Some information has since been obtained. Mary, the wife of Francis Hurry,

the sixth son of Thomas Hurry, (p.35) was a daughter of Thomas Airey of Newcastle and

Aunt to Lieut General Sir George Airey, G.C.B., colonel of the 39 th . Regiment. Bowditch

in his Suffolk Surnames , privately printed in Boston in 1857, mentions the Hurry family.

“9 th . May 1796. A three masted vessel belonging to the Hurrys, laden with salt, drove

ashore this evening on the South Ham, and broke to pieces”. Youell’s Diary.

104

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Bart.,* and Thomas Jervis, Esq., defeating for a time the Townshend

party. Annexed is a view of the old warehouse, which is now divided

into several occupations; and beyond it is an old public house, fronting

Queen Street, formerly also the property of the Dawson family, which

bears on the gable the date 1659, and was formerly called the Queen's

Head, and now the Golden Anchor. Farther east is a house long

occupied by Mr. William Smith, who died in 1858, aged 93. Adjoining

to the above-mentioned warehouse, towards the south, is a house which

for many years was occupied by Mr. William Saunders, shipping agent,

f The site of all the above buildings was sold in 1657 by John

Woodroffe to Robert Mackay, and described as comprising a messuage

occupied by Timothy Official , t between ground set out for a common

street, parcel of the Grey Friars, north, abutting with the Key upon the

* After this election the boat in which Sir Thomas Trowbridge was chaired was

retained by Messrs. Thomas Hurry and Co. as a memento of the political victory they had

been instrumental it achieving; and was placed in their warehouse, where it remained

until 1870, when at the final dissolution of the old firm it was sold, and now belongs to

Master Hargrave V. D. Harrison, and is used by him on the water at Wymondham. Lord

St. Vincent, some years before his death, had a boat built at Yarmouth precisely similar to

the one above-mentioned. It was placed on wheels, and in it the aged earl was dragged

about his grounds at the Rochetts. The practice of chairing the aspirants to senatorial

honors is a very ancient one, and flourished with great vigour in Yarmouth until 1847,

when it was observed for the last time. A chair was secured on a platform, which was

supported on either side by long poles resting on men's shoulders. The candidate stood in

front of the chair, steadying himself by resting one hand upon it. At intervals the bearers

were accustomed to send the chair up into the air, catching it again with, their hands as it

descended, and the upward impetus not being uniform, especially when the bearers were

unpractised or "beery," the candidate had considerable difficulty in preserving his

equilibrium. The most graceful "rider" in modern times was the Hon. George Anson.

When the candidate happened not to be present, a substitute was allowed. Thus, in 1820,

Mr. Charles Symonds "rode" for Sir E. K. Lacon; and in 1837 Mr. George Steward for

Mr. Wilshere. Occasionally the "chair'' on the platform assumed the shape of a boat, as in

the above instance.

f A family of this name long resided in Yarmouth. Susan, daughter of Capt. Francis

Saunders of Yarmouth, married Samuel Chandler; and to the memory of Katherine, their

daughter, who married Samuel Davy, there is a monument in Bumburgh Church, Suffolk.

Saunders of Yarmouth bore per chev. sa. and arg., three elephants' heads erased or. See

Topographer and Genealogist vol. i. p. 481.

t William Official, in 1642, subscribed sixty-three pieces of eight in aid of the

Parliament; and the name frequently occurs on the burgess roll.

GREAT YARMOUTH

105

haven, “west, and upon ground of Thomas Lucas, late parcel of the said

house, east”, and in the following year Woodroffe conveyed to Lucas a

piece of ground "abutting upon the piece of land set out as a lane,'' now

Row No. 92, south. Immediately after their purchase, Pacey and

Mighells sold some of the ground at the north-west corner of the

"narrow row" to John Master, who built thereon the house, No. 12,

upon the front of which may still be seen two tablets, the stones for

which came from the ruins of the Grey Friars' church. John Master, his

son, died in 1725, aged 52, leaving a daughter, Hannah, who married

Randall Hodskinson. The latter was for many years a member of the

corporation, and died in 1830, aged 82; and his widow in 1843, aged 84.

The above-mentioned house was in the occupation of Admiral Sir

Archibald Dickson, when he assumed the command of the North-sea

fleet in succession to Lord Duncan. "For the great attention paid by him

to the trade of the town" and for his public services, the corporation

presented Sir Archibald with the freedom of the borough. He had in the

previous year sailed from Yarmouth Roads in command of the Baltic

fleet, intended to afford protection to British trade and to give weight to

the negotiations of Lord Whitworth. By his marriage with Miss

Elizabeth Porter (who died in 1799, aged 53, and was buried in St.

Nicholas Church), he had issue an only child, Elizabeth, who married,

first, her cousin, Capt. William Dickson of the 22nd Foot, who died at

St. Domingo in 1792, and secondly, in 1804, Admiral John Child Purvis

of Vicar's-hill house, Hants. Soon after the death of his first wife, Sir

Archibald married Frances Anne, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Willens of

Norwich, and died in 1803, aged 64, without issue by that marriage,

and was buried at Yarmouth beside his first wife.*

*His widow married Lieut. Col. O 'Brien. Admiral Purvis died in 1825. As Sir

Archibald Dickson died without issue male, the title with an estate at Hardingham in

Norfolk descended to his nephew, Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson, son of the-

first baronet's brother, Admiral William Dickson, who succeeded Sir Richard

Onslow in the command of a division of the North-sea fleet, and appointed his son

to his flag ship, the Monarch 74, from which he removed to the Veteran 64, with

which ship he assisted at the capture of the Dutch Admiral Storey and his squadron,

in the Texel. The second baronet died in 1827, aged 55, leaving a son, Sir William

Dickson, who died in 1868, aged 70.

VOL II.

106

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Among those who entered the naval service, under Sir Archibald

Dickson, was Joseph Chappell Woolnough. When only 14 years of age

he was 6 feet 4 inches in height, but his growth, it is said, was checked

by falling down a ship's hold and breaking his thigh. He saw a great

deal of service, for he assisted at the battle of Trafalgar, joined in 1807

the expedition to Copenhagen, and was on board Nelson's favorite ship,

Agamemnon, when she was wrecked in the Rio de la Plata. Subsequently

he commanded the Arab on the North-sea station, and brought home

the news of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. After the peace he

commanded a revenue cruiser, and became well known in Yarmouth.

He was connected with the Suffolk family of Chappell and the Norfolk

family of Clarke; and died in 1839.

The adjoining house to the north was also erected by Master. It

became the property and residence of John Sayers, merchant, one of the

common council, second son of Christopher Sayers, pier master. He died

in 1794, aged 44,* when the above-mentioned house descended to his son,

John Sayers, born in 1782, who after serving for sixteen years with

distinguished credit in the revenue service, was, while in command of

the Ranger cutter in the zealous discharge of his duty, wrecked on

Hasborough Sand during a sudden and dreadful storm on the night of the

17th of October, 1822, when he perished with all his crew. In the old

church at Hopton, Suffolk, there was a mural monument to his memory,

which was destroyed when that church was burnt on the 8th of January,

1866. f Capt. Sayers died unmarried; and the above-mentioned house

descended to his sisters, the youngest of whom, Maria, married Capt.

Charles Pearson, R.N., j who from the time of his marriage became the

occupant until his death in 1856. He filled the office of mayor in 1850

* As an example of the fashion which then prevailed with gentlemen to keep a large

cellar of wine, it may he mentioned that he possessed at his death one hundred dozen of

fine flavored old red port wine."

f There are several epitaphs in Yarmouth churchyard to those who were lost in the

Ranger. One, of eighteen verses, from the pen of David Service,

j His first service as a midshipman was in the lsis at Copenhagen in 1801; and next

in the Vanguard at the capture of the Duguesne and three frigates off St. Domingo in

1804. He was Lieutenant of the Meteor bomb at the defence of Rosas; and he

commanded her boats in cutting out a privateer on the coast of Dalmatia. He was in the

Columbine at the siege of Cadiz, served in her boats when engaged in cutting

GREAT YARMOUTH

107

and 1851. It was during his first mayorality that a very serious riot took

place, arising out of a combination among the sailors to increase

out a privateer from under the batteries in Almerra Bay, and was Lieutenant of the Phoebe

when she captured the U.S. frigate Essex in 1814. The Senior-Lieutenant being killed in

this fight, Lieut. Pearson succeeded to that post, and was sent home in charge of the prizes.

He was then promoted to the rank of commander, and was employed from 1830 to 1833 in

the Coast Guard at Great Yarmouth; and from the latter year to 1837 he commanded the

Sparrow Hawk, 18, on the South American station. He then obtained his rank as post

captain, and retired from the service in 1851. He married, as above, in 1825, and had issue

two daughters; Emma Maria 1 , the elder, was at Rome when the attack by the Garibaldi was

repulsed by the French troops, of which she gives an account in a book entitled From

Rome to Montana; and when the war broke out between France and Prussia, she devoted

herself to attending at first upon the wounded of both armies, but after the battle of

Orleans exclusively to those of the French; and on the cessation of hostilities, Miss

Pearson published Our Adventures during the War of 1870. In acknowledgment of her

services she received the bronze cross and diploma of the "Societe de Secours aux

Blessés;" and in 1872 she was presented with the decoration of the "Sarutas Kreuz Militar”

of Hesse Darmstadt by the Grand Duke, who had founded the order in 1870. It consists of

a twelve-pointed cross of bronze, suspended from a crimson ribbon with silver edges.

Harriet, the younger daughter, married John Desborough Walford-Gosnall, Esq;., of

Bentley, Suffolk. He is the son of Desborough Walford, Esq., (son of William Walford of

Hatfield Hall, Essex) by Harriet his wife, only surviving child and heir of John Gosnall of

Bentley (who died in 1857, aged 78), by Harriet his wife, daughter of J. Josselyn, Esq., of

Copdock, Suffolk. On the death of his maternal grandfather and his own succession to the

Bentley estate, Mr. J. D. Watford assumed the name of Gosnall by royal sign manual. The

pedigree of Gosnall traces the descent from John Gosnall who flourished circa, 1440, and

the family possessed lands at Bentley and Otley in Suffolk for many generations. John

Gosnall of Otley, who died in 1628, aged 60, was gentleman usher to Queen Elizabeth and

King James, and was of the privy chamber to Charles I. He married Winifred, daughter of

Walter Windsor (third son of William, Lord Windsor), by Margaret his wife, daughter of

Sir Geoffrey Pole, Knt., of Lordington in Essex, son of Sir Richard Pole and the Countess

of Salisbury his wife, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV. See his

monument in the chancel of Otley Church, upon which the above descent is given; and see

also Page's Suffolk, p. 64. The above-named John Gosnall was the direct ancestor of the

late John Gosnall of Bentley. Mr. Walford-Gosnall has an emblazoned pedigree of his

family. He bears for Gosnall —per pale crenelle o r, and az,; and for a crest, a bull's head

guard, couped at the neck per pale or. and az.; and for Watford— arg., a fesse gu. , in. chief

a lion pass. gu.; with the crest of a demi-lion ramp. couped, holding in the dexter paw a

cross crosslett fitchée, gu. Among other coats on the above-mentioned monument is one of

Gosnall impaling Naunton, with which ancient family he had intermarried. See Memoirs of

Sir Robert Naunton, p. 25. There is a pedigree of Gosnall in Sylvanus Morgan's M.S.

Collections,

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Emma Pearson - she was also in 1874, presented with the war medal

by the Emperor of Germany.

108

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

the rate of wages. Having attacked the gaol and threatened the

magistrates assembled at the Town Hall, the aid of the military was

required, and the 11th Hussars speedily arrived from Norwich, under

the personal command of the Earl of Cardigan; and H.M.S. Black

Eagle, commanded by Capt. (afterwards Admiral) Mends, was sent into

the river. This sufficed; and the tumult subsided without bloodshed.

There was a family of the name of Pearson who flourished at Yarmouth

in the 18th century. John Pearson, Esq., filled the office of mayor in

1723; and William Pearson was a member of the corporation in 1734.

In 1716, in consequence of the death of a child caused by the fall of a

stack of Alderman Pearson's deals, a deodand of £12 was ordered to be

paid to the corporation, who, under the charter of King John, claimed to

be entitled to all such forfeitures arising within the borough.*

Row No. 84, from Middlegate Street to Howard Street. At the

south-west corner is a tavern called the Ship , j which greatly flourished

during

* By the ancient law any inanimate thing causing the death of a reasonable being

was forfeited to the king, to he applied to pious uses for the benefit of the soul of the

person thus snatched away by sudden death without the opportunity of priestly

absolution. Hence the name— gift to God. These forfeitures were commuted for money

payments, which after the reformation were usually made to the relatives of the deceased.

In the above case no deodand was really due, because the child, not having attained the

age of discretion, required no intercession. It was commuted to 30s., which sum was

given by the corporation to the child's father. In the above year (Mr. William Bracey

being then coroner) a horse belonging to Robert Waynford was declared to be a deodand,

because John Morphen had fallen from it and had been killed; but on account of the

poverty of Waynford the corporation remitted their claim,

j There is not a maritime town in England where the sign of the Ship is not to be

found. It was a favorite one in Yarmouth, and several houses were from time to, time so

called; but the above was the most considerable one. After the battle of Camperdown, the

sign which projected for into the street was repainted as a man-of-war, with the word

Venerable on her stern, being the name of Lord Duncan's flag-ship.

Enrolled in our bright annals, lives full many a gallant name;

But never British heart conceived a deed of prouder fame,

To shield her liberties and laws, to guard our sovereign's crown.

Than noble Duncan's mighty arm achieved at Camperdown.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Venerable was the ship that bore his flag to fame.

Our veteran hero well became his gallant vessel's name;

Behold his locks! they speak the toil of many a stormy day,

through fifty years through wind and waves he held his dauntless way.