Earls Colne Manor Records

Once again, I've been wading into waters that were only vaguely familiar to me beforehand: this time it's been those of the Medieval manorial system that developed after 1066 and lasted until the Tenures Abolition Act of 1660.  It was dissolving with the development of a money-based market economy by the late Middle Ages, but the vast quantity of records kept in the form of "Manor court rolls" that have survived are the source of much information on many aspects of life during this time.  Manors were the primary administrative units in England in the Middle Ages, and it is from these records that family researchers and historians alike can glean some very good information.

According to the Earls Colne records site, about two fifths of the two manors in the study were let to copyhold tenants, and  our Brewer relations appear to have been in this category.  Copyholders, so called because of the practice of giving a copy of the manor court's record to the tenant as a title deed, had property rights protected by law, but could not transfer their lands without license of the lord of the manor and payment of a fine, as a freeholder could.

Section of Earls Colne map showing "Francis" tenement 103 and 104 across from the old priory.

Here are the entries into the Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls and Fine Book that trace the passing of the land from one generation to the next through the family, starting with Adam Brewer.  I have left the text exactly as it was transcribed onto the Earls Colne website, without punctuation, etc.

Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls (ERO D/DPr79)

(Tuesday 12 July 1664)

document 39402316

whereas at a court here held 20.10.1624 Eliz Somerson afterwards wife of Wm Garrett took for herself and her heirs one cottage with a way and place belonging there and one yard parcel of a tenement called Francis and whereas at a court here held 2.4.1662 it was presented by the homage that after the then last court the said Eliz died seised thereof without heirs of her body and that Thos Somerson is her brother and heir but no one came then etc now to this court came the said Thos Somerson and sought admittance as tenant of the lord for the premises to whom the lord by the said steward granted and delivered seisin thereof by the rod to have and to hold the said premises with appurtenances to the said Thos Somerson his heirs and assigns from the lord by the rod at the will of the lord according to the custom of the said manor by the rents services and customs thereunto belonging and by right accustomed and he gave to the lord his fine etc and afterwards in the same court and in open court the said Thos Somerson came and by the rod surrendered into the hands of the lord by the hands of his said steward the said cottage way and yard with appurtenances to the use and behoof of Adam Brewer his heirs and assigns forever who present in court humbly sought admittance as tenant of the lord for the premises to whom the lord by the said steward granted and delivered seisin thereof by the rod to have and to hold the said premises with appurtenances to the said Adam Brewer his heirs and assigns from the lord by the rod at the will of the lord according to the custom of the said manor by the rents services and customs thereunto belonging and by right accustomed and he gave to the lord his fine etc
______________________

Earls Colne Manor: Fine Book (ERO D/DPr100)

(1664)

document 24200269

Adam Brewer 1664 admitted to the same cottage of the surrender of Thos Somersom fine given
______________________

Earls Colne Manor: Fine Book (ERO D/DPr100)

(1676)

document 24201380

Thos Brewer 1676 admitted to a cottage and a garden parcel of Francis after the death of Adam Brewer his father worth 15s per annum fine 1li

________________________

Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls (ERO D/DPr80)

(Friday 27 December 1676)

document 39801039

fine 20s

whereas at a court here held 12.7.16Chas2 Adam Brewer was admitted to him and his heirs to one cottage with a way parcel of a tenement called Francis now at this court it appeared to the homage that the said Adam Brewer died after the last court so seised and that Thos Brewer is his son and next heir who present in court petitioned admittance etc to whom the steward delivered seisin to have and to hold the said cottage to the said Thos Brewer his heirs and assigns of the lord etc and he gave the lord for fine etc

___________________________

Earls Colne Manor: Fine Book (ERO D/DPr100)

(1678)

document 24201656

Thos Brewer and Kath his wife 1678 admitted to a cottage called Francis worth 13s4d per annum fine 1li

______________________

Earls Colne and Colne Priory rental (ERO D/DPr113)

(Tuesday 19 March 1678)

document 22500678

Brewer Thos holds by copy a little tenement called Francis sometime Fuller's rent 1d1h (103a) Thos Hutton (inserted)

___________________________

Earls Colne and Colne Priory rental (ERO D/DPr113)

(Tuesday 19 March 1678)

document 22501945

Grimston Dan gentleman doth hold by copy 30a of land with a barn called Morlands late of Jn Brewer in the tenure of Thos Brewer rent 12s (165) (166) (167) (168) (171) (169) (170) Edw Harrington Jn Lay in right of his wife(inserted)

____________________________

Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls (ERO D/DPr80)

(Monday 28 October 1678)

document 39900484

whereas at a court here held 27.12.1676 Thos Brewer was admitted to him and his heirs to one cottage with a way and a yard parcel of a tenement called Francis now at this court came the said Thos Brewer and in full court surrendered by the rod into the lord's hands by the hands of the steward the said cottage and yard with appurtenances now in the occupation of the said Thos to the use of the said Thos Brewer for the term of his life and after his decease to the use of Kath Brewer his wife for the term of her life and after her death to the use of the right heirs of the said Thos forever who present here in court humbly petitioned admittance to whom the steward delivered seisin etc to have and to hold the cottage and yard aforesaid to the said Thos Brewer and his assigns for the term of his life and after his death to the said Kath and her assigns for the term of her life with the remainder as in the surrender aforesaid of the lord etc and gave the lord for fine etc

____________________________

Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls (ERO D/DPr83)

(Tuesday 28 April 1713)

document 41001155

at this court first proclamation of three was made that heirs of Thos Brewer or others who had right to his customary tenement of which said Thos died seised should come into court and lay claim etc but nobody comes etc

____________________________

Earls Colne Manor: Fine Book (ERO D/DPr100A)

1725  document 24401741

Thos Belcham son and heir of Sarah Belcham and Jeremiah Waller son and heir of Mary Waller which said Sarah and Mary were sisters and coheirs of Thos Brewer admitted by moieties to a cottage in Holt St fine    

____________________________

Earls Colne Manor: Fine Book (ERO D/DPr100A)

(1725)  document 24401767

Thos Belcham 1725 admitted on surrender of the said Jeremiah Waller to his moiety of the said cottage and paid fine for the whole in all 1li

_____________________________

Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls (ERO D/DPr84)

(Friday 9 April 1725)  document 41600270

at this court appears to homage that Thos Brewer a customary tenant of this manor died since last court seised of a customary cottage or tenement with appurtenances lying and being in Holt Street parcel of a tenement called Francis and that Jeremiah Waller son and heir of Mary Waller deceased and Thos Belcham son and heir of Sara Belcham which Mary and Sara were the sisters of said Thos Brewer are next heirs to said Thos Brewer which Jeremiah Waller and Thos Belcham present here in court lords by steward granted delivery of seisin by the rod to have and to hold etc giving lords fine etc

______________________________

Earls Colne Manor Court Rolls (ERO D/DPr84)

(Friday 9 April 1725)  document 41600304

to this court comes Jeremiah Waller son and heir of Mary Waller who was one of the sisters of Thos Brewer late deceased and in open court surrendered by the rod into hand of lord by permission of said steward all his half of a customary cottage or tenement with appurtenances lying and being in Holt Street being parcel of a tenement called Francis to which premises said Jeremiah and Thos Belcham son and heir of Sara Belcham who was another sister of said Thos Brewer at that court were admitted to half as next heirs of Thos Brewer all his right title interest and claim of said Jeremiah therefore to use of said Thos Belcham his heirs and assigns forever which Thos Belcham present here in court lords by steward granted delivery of seisin by the rod of half said cottage with appurtenances etc.
______________________________

 Rental of the Manors of Earls Colne and Colne Priory (ERO D/DPr118)

(1854) document 80000605

title to portion marked b (on sketch plan) 1725 Thos Belsham surrender of heirs of Thos Brewer ( Waller and others).



This is part of a map that shows how the Holt Street tenement had been divided by 1725

History Lottery Win

Lower Holt Street late 14th century two-bay hall with late 15th century cross-wing.

The photograph above is one of the handful that appear on the Earls Colne "Records of an English Village 1375-1854" site that I referred to a few posts ago - the one that took 27 years of scholarly effort to compile.  This building is now numbered 18 and 20 Lower Holt St., but was once known as Francis 104, 103, and 103a (Francis being the name of this piece of manorial land, as was the convention to name land, and the numbers being the plot numbers).  All very interesting, you say to yourselves, stifling yawns and wishing I would get on with it.  Well, my beloved relations, distant cousins, and interested parties visiting the blog, what would you say if I told you that half of this little cottage once belonged to our great-x's 9-grandparents, Adam and Rose Brewer?   It turns out that a piece of historical architecture still standing in Earls Colne (looking quite worse for wear in this 1980 photograph), belonged to our ancient relations.  Once again: what are the chances?  Man... it's days like this that fuel the addiction to genealogy.

[I just went to Google Street View, and it looks like it's in much better shape now.  And probably worth a ridiculous sum of money.]

More to come on our Earls Colne family, and a bit about the manorial system of copyhold tenure that led me to this discovery.



image credit: http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earlscolne/reference/images/house2.htm, from the Earls Colne "Records of an English Village" repository.

Back We Go

Earls Colne today with St.Andrew's Church on the left.

Today I have added some of the information on the Brewers - the family of my great-x's 8-grandmother from Earls Colne - to the "Wallers & Meadows" page.  Apparently it's pronounced "cone", btw.  In the picture above, you can see the original part of the building of St. Andrew's Church, which would have been the site of their baptisms, weddings, and funerals.

Mary Brewer's parents were named Adam and Rose Brewer, and Adam was baptized January 31st, 1613.  In 1613, William Shakespeare was still alive, as was John Donne and Galileo; James I was on the throne, Elizabeth I had been dead a mere 10 years; and it was still more than 8 years before the Mayflower pilgrims  would leave England for the New World.

We're starting to get back a bit now.  I don't know how much further it will be possible to go, but if this branch of the family was in Earls Colne for a few more generations, then we're not at the end of the line yet.  

Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Earls_Colne,_Essex_-_geograph.org.uk_-_131645.jpg

Remarkable Clinic

We had a patient in the clinic yesterday who, when I noticed her English accent and asked where she was from, told me she was born in Essex.  She was giving me rough distances from London instead of names of places to begin with, but when I confessed to a freshly acquired geographical knowledge of the area she then told me that she was from Witham.   And her sister lives in Benfleet now.  What are the chances? These are places I had never heard of 10 days ago, before I transcribed all the Waller family history to this site last week, then this week I meet someone who is from the very place one branch of the family comes from.

That may have been the remarkable highlight of the day - I am not sure which is more amazing - but, we also had a patient with three (3) spleens.  I'm not making this up.

Wallers and Meadows Page

This sounds a very pastoral sort of page, but it is, in fact, my transcription of the hard work done before me on the Waller side of the family, by Mollie, a cousin of my mother's.  She died earlier this year and I don't think I ever met her (certainly not as an adult), but be assured that I am completely in her debt.  She did the legwork at Somerset House (one would now go to the National Archives at Kew), which is the ideal and most reliable way to research English ancestors.  This is not an option for me at this point from a thousand miles away, so I am very, very glad to have a huge chunk of our history done for us.  I'd completely forgotten that I had a copy of this research until Mum reminded me of it last week.   It came up, interestingly, because I had found copies of Mollie's letter and application forms to retrieve information on Lionel Waller's military records in the files I accessed last week on ancestry.uk.

I have spent the afternoon putting together this information on a separate page (a new link appears to the right), and adding a map and some other bits of information I had, and I will continue to add the Meadows information as I gather it as well.

One amazing mother lode of information that I found in my research today was to do with Earls Colne in Essex, where my great (x's 8) grandfather and grandmother were married in 1663, and which is very close to Coggeshall, where this line of the family was living in the 16th and 17th centuries.  There is a Professor Alan MacFarlane, and his team of social anthropologists from the University of Cambridge, who, over a 27 year span, undertook to create a database of the surviving records of Earls Colne parish from the period of 1380-1854.    This makes Earls Colne one of the most thoroughly socially researched and recorded towns in the U.K.

To anyone reading this who may be interested in seeing something absolutely fantastic to the modern family researcher, check the website for the database:  http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earlscolne/.   Just imagine - one day in the not too distant future, there will be something like this for every little town and village in the land!  Perhaps not so scholarly right away, but similar in scope.

I will go back to that and see if I can find out if my great-x's-8-grandmother, Mary Brewer, is from Earls Colne, and that's why they married there instead of Coggeshall.  There are a lot of Wallers (Walls) in the records as well.

image credits: http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com

Somerset Years in WWI

I'd started to put together a posting on Frank Greed before Remembrance Day, to lay out something of what he did in Yeovil during WWI, but then Ancestry.uk came along and gave me free days to investigate all the war records of Lionel Waller and the other family soldiers, so I had to concentrate on that.

Here's the first bit of what I was working on.  I have just learned how to add maps, too.  You can zoom in and out on them and move around just as you would on the Google maps site.

    View Larger Map

Westland, the aircraft company that Frank Greed worked for during WWI, was a true Somerset company.  Apparently, every bomber that was built at the Yeovil factory during WWI was "delivered to France complete with a barrel containing cider in the rear to act as a form of ballast".   That's what I call a good use of space.

Frank's work involved making wooden propellers for the aircraft, that much we know.  Whether it was an assembly line type of set-up or if his carpentry skills were used as required for the whole planes, I cannot say.  There is now an aviation museum in Yeovil, which would be interesting to visit one day.

Westland N16 with wings folded

A horse drawn cart takes wings of  Short Type 166 from factory to Yeovil 's Great Western Railway junction. 

aircraft images credit: http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Arts/Art5845.htm
http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/yeovil
wooden propeller (from Swiss aviation museum): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_War_I_wooden_propeller.jpg

Lionel Percy Waller

Ancestry.co.uk has got another period of free access at the moment, this time to World War I records - service, medal, and pension records - so I have been spending my morning learning more about my Great-Grandfather, Lionel Percy Waller, than I ever thought possible to know.  What a bonanza - there is even a copy of his record of death (reported by my dear old Grandad himself) among the records.

Lionel Percy Waller was a career soldier, joining the Royal Horse Artillery at the age of 20 (1893), and retiring in March of 1914.  Unfortunately for him, and the rest of Europe, World War I began July 28th of 1914, so back he went to his old regiment.

I can report to you that he was a short man (for our family), only 5' 8", and he weighed a graceful 129 lbs at the age of 20 when he was enlisted; he had black hair, brown eyes, and was Church of England.  And he was a gardener by profession beforehand, as was his father.

Here is Battery Sergeant Lionel Percy Waller's military service record, registration number 51473 (formerly 96489).

Service with the colours:
14-03-1893 to 13-03-1914, and after the outbreak of WWI,  10-10-1914 to 9-2-1919.

Overseas service:
India: 29-9-1893 to 10-8-1900
China:  11-8-1900 to 22-12-1902
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Dardanelles): 15-6-1915 to 25-6-1916

De-mobbed: 9-2-1919

                                                                                                    View Larger Map

If my research is correct, and trust me, trying to make sense of which brigade and battery was joining and merging with others as the war wore on is a challenge, it looks as though he just avoided Gallipoli, but landed in Salonika somewhere between 5-10 October, 1915 with the 10th Division (the "Irish" division).

We know from one of the old postcards that Len Adams was in Salonika as well.  I wonder if these two soldiers knew each other.  One day, one of Lionel's sons would marry one of Len's nieces, who would go on to become grandparents to a scattered horde, including me.

Lionel survived his time with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, then, presumably ill, he was posted to the No. 2 Royal Garrison Artillery Cadet School as an instructor on March 20th, 1917.  This looks like it was at Maresfield Park.  If so, here's a lovely tidbit of information that I found today: one of the cadets there in August of 1917 was a certain  R. Vaughn Williams, who wrote to Gustav Holst bemoaning the fact that he's been "bunged off [there] all in a hurry" for a 4 month course.  He described it as a "free and easy" place, but with a good deal of "stupid ceremonial", with white gloves on parade. (from Letters of Ralph Vaughn Williams, 1895-1956)

Lionel's medical discharge on June 2nd, 1921, reported the reason as malaria and rheumatism, and he was required to continue attending the "tropical clinic".

Of course, there is a lot more information on G-G-Waller, but I think I will probably start another page and post copies of all these military records on it.  In the next couple of days, I will find the rest of the records for any other members of the family and put them all together.




image credits: http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Regiments/RoyalHorseArtilleryWW1.html;
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103329&page=116

RVW letters retrieved http://books.google.ca/books?id=NlTUBqBtVxAC&pg=PT200&lpg=PT200&dq=maresfield+park+cadet+school&source=bl&ots=RDQ3-aB87F&sig=_zL4282oul6m6iTwLusSBPvHgPI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qvmeUKeMG_KO2QWvgoFA&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=fals)

November Already

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              



Hurricane season is nearly behind us for another year, and the clocks go back in North America tonight.  The very last outdoor painting has been done, and the garden is ready for winter.

Now come a couple of weeks of quiet before Christmas parties and the first snows arrive.  There's
a lot to be said for November, this most under-rated
of months; there is more time in it.   It is now that
 the poets and the writers can stay inside and write, and dogs will wait patiently for their walks and their apples.