John Brokett of Wheathampstead, London and Grimston
bap 1612 d 1664
Do you agree that these two signatures were written by the same hand?
The top one was the signature of John Brokett Gentleman on his bond condition to marry Mary Blackwell in Sandridge, Hertfordshire, in 1635. The one underneath was the signature of John Brokett, Clerk of Sion College, Master of Arts, on his Will of 1646, proved at Norwich, Norfolk, 1664.
The only Gentleman John Brockett who could have married Mary Blackwell in 1635 was the son of John Brokett Esq of Mackery End, later of Caswell, Hertfordshire. The bequests in the Will of John Brokett of Sion College, later of Grimston, Norfolk, show that he too was the son of John Brokett of Caswell Esq. Madsen previously claimed that this John, baptised 1612, was the John Brockett who emigrated to New Haven, and many other websites have reproduced the claim. But this is clearly an error, as the evidence on this webpage further shows, and as Madsen has since acknowledged. Read more
Madsen’s claim—or proof statement—came in his 1999 article under the subheading “The Correct Connection”. However the connection is unfortunately not correct. A basic principle of proof statements is that they should be open to re-evaluation if new evidence arises, and the evidence that John Brokett was a Rector in Norfolk England 1646-63 was published on this Broket Archive as long ago as 2003 and was brought to Madsen’s attention. But as of Sep 2018 it is still available online. The very first item of ICAPGEN’s professional Code of Ethics is “I will not publish or publicize as fact anything I know to be false, doubtful, or unproven; nor will I be a party, directly or indirectly, to such action by others.” Madsen’s 1999 publication was a correction of his own earlier 1983 article as a result of new evidence that Madsen himself discovered; now he needs to do likewise with his 1999 article. The reputation of ICAPGEN’s accredited genealogist status will be damaged if Madsen’s conclusion isn’t formally put on public record as withdrawn.
Contents of this page:
++Other contemporary John Brokets of the Gentlemen class
++Childhood to university
++Marriage to Mary BLACKWELL
++London
++Marriage to Ann THOROWGOOD
++Rector of Grimston, Norfolk
++The Thorowgoods
++Other records
++Will
++Inventory made on probate of John’s Will
++Grimston Rectory
Other contemporary John Brokets of the Gentleman class
- John, b c 1594, son of Nicolas of Willingale, Esq. He married Elizabeth TAVERNOR and lived in Essex. His signature on his father’s Will is different to this John’s.
- John, b by 1601, son of Edmund. He was a student at Cambridge 1618 and became a priest in Herts and Hampshire. He married Susan …, who bore him 3 sons by 1634.
- John, b c 1602, son of Gentleman John and Dorothy of Codicote. He is recorded in London in 1638 along with his family as a Citizen of London.
- John, bap 1611 20 May Wheathampstead, son of John Esq of Wheathampstead and his first wife Mary Garroway. Madsen thought that this was John of New Haven, but changed his opinion in 1999. John was buried 1628.
- John, bap 1619 22 Nov Hemel Hempstead, only son of Gentleman William and Mary of Codicote. Mary died late 1620 or early 1621 and her father and brother then looked after John through to at least May 1636, but John died before 1640.
For other contemporary Johns not of the Gentleman class, see here.
Childhood to university
“John Son of Mr John Broket of Mackerie End” was baptised in Wheathampstead 29 Jul 1612. Like his father, John would have grown up in the fine Elizabethan manor house of Mackery End, probably till his teenage years, when in 1628 when it was conveyed to his aunt’s husband. He is recorded as going to school in Watford.
In April 1634 John became a student at Christ’s College Cambridge, where he would have studied liberal arts: Read more
“The conscientious tutor of the early seventeenth century … grounded his pupils in ‘humanity logick and philosophy’ – that is, in classical literature, philosophy and the natural sciences led by mathematics and astronomy; or in other words, most of the seven liberal arts of the medieval university. The principal changes which we can discern in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were, first, the growing predominance of classical studies in the wake of the Renaissance, and second, the increasing interest in mathematics and astronomy in the seventeenth century, culminating in the intellectual adventures of Isaac Newton”.
The University record reads:
BROCKETT, JOHN. Admitted Fellow-Commoner (age 21) at CHRIST’S, Apr 23 1634. Son of John of Wheathampstead, Herts. Born there. School Watford. Matriculated 1634. One of these names Rector of Graveley with Chesfield, Herts, 1643-7: one, Rector of Hertingfordbury 1646.
Fellow-Commoners were wealthy students from monied, landed families. The phrase ‘One of these names‘ means the Venns interpreted some non-University references to suggest that someone called John Brockett—but not necessarily this John Brockett for certain—was Rector of Graveley with Chesfield, and he or another was Rector of Hertingfordbury.
They were in fact wrong suggestions. John Brockett Rector of Graveley and/or Hertingfordbury could not have been John son of John of Caswell. Nine years before John matriculated at Christ’s a distant cousin and namesake had gained an MA from another Cambridge College:
BROCKETT, JOHN. Admitted pensioner at PETERHOUSE, Mar 18, 1617-8. Migrated to Sidney Sussex College Oct. 25, 1619, age 15. Son of Edmund (1581). Born at Luton, Beds. School, Luton. B.A. 1621-2. M.A. 1625. Ordained deacon (Peterborough) Sep 25, priest Sep 26, 1625. Rector of Hertingfordbury, Herts 1629-30. Died 1630.Up to 1751 there had been 5 John Brocketts at Cambridge and 1 at Oxford: Read more
- One matriculated 1554.
- One matriculated 1584 at Oxford and went on to study at Gray’s Inn.
- One was admitted to Peterhouse in 1617, but died that year and was buried at Little St. Mary’s, Cambridge Aug 19, 1617. [Who was he?]
- One was admitted to Peterhouse Mar 18, 1617/8, changed to Sidney Sussex College the next year and graduated as BA 1621-2 and MA 1625, cited above.
- One was admitted to Christ’s 1634—son of John of Wheathampstead/Caswell Esq—cited above.
- One was admitted to King’s 1692/3.
Nos 1, 2, 3 and 6 are not relevant here, but had the Venns not thought he had died 1630 they probably would have suggested that John no 4 became Rector of Graveley with Chesfield as well as of Hertingfordbury. Other records confirm that this John—son of Edmund—was a clergyman at both Hertingfordbury and Graveley.
Because the Venns mistakenly thought that John son of Edmund had died in 1630, they attached his post-1630 details to John son of John of Wheathampstead/Caswell. In reality John son of John became a Clerk at Sion College, London, and then Rector of Grimston, Norfolk.
Marriage to Mary BLACKWELL 1635
John and John Mott each pledged £100 to secure a licence for John to marry Mary Blackwell in in Sandridge, Hertfordshire. This was a large sum of money.
Bond
+Read more
| Latin |
English translation |
1. Nouerint uniuersi per presentes nos Iohannem Brockett parochia Sancti Michaelis in Comitatu Hertf’
2. generosum et Iohannem Mott de villa Sancti Albani in Comitatu predicto Glouer
3. teneri et firmiter obligari venerabili viro Thome Westfield sacre Theologie
4. professori Archidiacono Diui Albani London’ diocesis in centum libris legalis monete Anglie
5. soluendis eidem Archidiacono aut suo certo Attornato – Executoribus Administratoribus vel Assignatis
6. suis Ad quam quidem solucionem bene et fideliter faciendam obligamus nos et
7. vtrumque nostrum per se pro toto et in solido heredes, Executores et Administratores nostros
8. firmiter per presentes sigillis nostris sigillatas date decimo quarto die mensis
9. Augusti Anno Regni domini nostri Caroli dei gratia Angliæ, Scotiæ,
10. Franciæ et Hiberniæ Regis fidei Defensoris &c vndecimo 1635
|
1. May everyone know by this document that we, John Brockett of the parish of St Michaels in the County of Hertford
2. Gentleman and John Mott of the town of St Albans in the same county, Glover,
3. are held and firmly bound to the venerable Doctor of Divinity Thomas Westfield
4. Archdeacon of St Albans in the diocese of London in £100 of legal tender of England
5. to be paid to the same Archdeacon or his certified attorney, executors, administrators or assigns
6. to making which payment indeed well and faithfully to do we bind ourselves and
7. each of us by himself for the whole [sum] and [we bind] for the whole our heirs, executors and administrators
8. firmly by this document sealed with our seals. Given on the 14th of the month
9. of August in the year the reign of our lord Charles thanks to God of England, Scotland,
10. France and Ireland king, defender of the faith etc the 11th. 1635 |
Condition
+Read more
|
| The condicion of this obligacion is such that whereas the aboue bounden John Brockett of St. Michaells Batchelor And one Mary Blackwell of the same maiden daughter of Elizabeth Blackewell the late Relicte & widdowe of Richard Blackwell late of Bushey deceased. are licensed to be married together If therefore there shall not hereafter appeare any lawfull lett or impediment by reason of any precontracte, consanguinity or Affinity or any other lawfull meanes whatsoeuer but that the said parties may be lawfully married together And that there be noe suite or demand moued or dependinge before any Judge Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill for or concerninge any such lawfull hindrance And that the said parties doe not proceed to the solemnizacion of the said marriage without the goodwill or consent of theire parents or gouernors whoe are hereby licensed to marry And that the said marriage be openly solemnized in the parish Church of Sandridge And that betweene the howers of eight & twelue of the clocke in the forenoone that then this present obligacion to be void or ells to stand in full force and vertue. |
| [signed and sealed:] |
John Brokett
John Mott |
|
Sigillatum et delibatum in manus nostri Sam Field Notarij Publici ad vsum prefati Archidiaconi
|
Signed and delivered into my hand, Samuel Field, Notary Public, for the use of the said Archdeacon. |
These documents were standard forms, issued by the Diocese on a regular basis—
Huntingdonshire ones were almost identical. In tightly-knit communities, consanguinity at marriage was a major concern, hence the practice of Banns.
Marriage licences were a socially up-market alternative to Banns, which some perceived as vulgar. They also
enabled people to get married elsewhere than their own parish.
St Michaels is the main parish church in St Albans, a couple of miles south of Sandridge Parish—which adjoins Wheathampstead—and about 6 m N of Bushey. Sandridge Parish Register recorded the marriage there the same day: 14 August 1635 Mr John Brocket and Mary Blackwell:
The Registers span 1559-1840 and these are the only Broket and Blackwell entries. The wedding was the same day as the licence and it was not in their own parish, but as the licence said, parental consent ought to have been given.
Mary would have died during the next 7 or 8 years because John married again 21 May 1646. A search through available records found no relevant burial for Mary in England, whether under the name Broket or Blackwell. She and John must have married as John is referred to as widower on his second marriage.
London
John’s Will shows that in 1646 he was ‘of Syon colledge Clerk within the Cittie of London’. Read more
Sion College, London Wall, was founded on the site of a 14th C priory, rebuilt in 1623, for the general improvement of clergymen of the city of London belonging to the Established Church. A president, two deans, and four assistants, with all the rectors and vicars, lecturers and curates, of the city and suburbs, were constituted to be a corporation, with free access to its extensive library. The edifice was plain and neat, consisting of brick buildings, surrounding a square court; and under the library were almshouses for twenty poor persons.
John may have been an ‘assistant’, although he was not recorded in the Minute Books.
Second marriage 21 May 1646
The St Mary Aldermary Parish Register, London, recorded: “The 21th of May 1646. Mr John Brockett Clarke of the parish of Alphage London widow-woer was maryed to Mrs Ann THOROWGOOD of the parish of Faiths in London Mayden by licence” +Read more
‘Mrs’, ie Mistress, was a title used by both married and unmarried daughters of the minor gentry; it didn’t mean ‘married’ as it does today. It was a social-status indicator like ‘Mr’, which meant Gentleman. The following entry in the St Mary Aldermanbury Parish Register also referred to the bride—again a Mrs—as a ‘Mayden’.
+++
Neither John nor Anne were listed as inhabitants of St Mary Aldermary in the City of London in 1638, nor in St Faiths.
+++
The Burial Register of St Alphage London Wall recorded no Brokets 1634-46, so John’s first wife Mary was buried elsewhere. Perhaps John joined Sion College (by London Wall) after her death.
We can be sure that John and Ann had no other children than the following 3 sons, since John was minister from soon after his marriage through to his death and had oversight of the registers of births, marriages and burials, which have no gaps, despite the turbulent times:
- Thomas, bap 18 Jun 1647 Grimston, Norfolk: “Anno Domm’ 1647 … the Sonne of Mr John Brokett Minister of Grimston was baptized the 18th of June”.+Read more
By 1669 Thomas had come into possession of two properties in Grimston—had his mother died?—with attached land and buildings in neighbouring parishes, all of which he sold on 16 Oct of that year: “Bargain and sale by
Thomas Brockett, Esquire, of Grimston, to John Ollye of Ashwicken, gentleman, of the reversion of a messuage in Grimston, with the buildings and lands in Grimston, Congham, and Geyton, and another messuage in Grimston”.
Interesting that he should be styled ‘Esquire’, implying some wealth. The following records from Swaffham, c 10 m SE of Grimston, and nearby, are doubtless of him,
wife Barbara and two children:
- Mary, bap 19 Feb 1670/1 Swaffham, Norfolk: “daughter of Thomas Brockett and Barbery his wife bapt. 19 February”. On 19 April 1714, Jeremiah Benton, Beer Brewer of Necton, c 4 m E of Swaffham, and Mary his wife, and John Rolfe of the same, clerk, were given administration of the estate of Barbara Brockett, late of Swaffham, widow, who died intestate, Mary being her lawful daughter. No marriage record of Mary and Jeremiah has so far been found, but the parish Records show that there were at least two Benton families in Necton at that time, and that Mary and Jeremiah were probably the parents of Mary, bap Jul 1702, ?buried 24 Jun 1707; Jeremy, bap 19 Mar 1706, ?buried 5 Dec 1710; and Jeremiah, bap 24 Oct 1722. The burial of Jeremy on 20 Apr 1729 could have been this son or his father. No Will was found in the Norfolk Record Office.
- John, bur 27 Jun 1685 Swaffham, Norfolk: “Burialls Anno. 1685 … John the Son of Thomas Brocket was buried June the 27th”.
- Barbara, bur 13 Feb 1713/4 Swaffham, Norfolk: “Buried Anno 1713 … Barbara Brocket Widow Feb 13th”. Administration of her estate to daughter Mary and her husband, above.
Whether Thomas and his family lived in Swaffham for the whole 43 year period 1670-1713 is unclear; no record of his burial there was found, for instance, nor anywhere else in Norfolk, although not all Norfolk parish Records are currently online. A burial of a Thomas in the port of Lowestoft on 21 Sep 1689 was transcribed as Bracket but could have been Brocket. However Lowestoft is upwards of 45 m E of Swaffham. By coincidence a Bracket family was recorded in Swaffham and nearby Marham in the 1580s through 1634, but no baptismal record of a Thomas Braket has been found there or elsewhere in Norfolk that could have been of this Thomas, husband of Barbara, and the 1634-70 gap in the records between them and this Thomas rules out any connection. One Broket record could be a misspelling for Braket, two close in time could be a coincidence, three will be a pattern.
- John, bap 22 Sep 1648 Grimston, Norfolk: under 1648 “the Sonne of Mr John Brokett minister of Grimston was Baptized the 22 of September Anno Domm'”. John, married Margaret CARTER 8 Nov 1669 in Congham, Norfolk: Under 1669 “John Brocket & Margaret Carter were maryed Novemb’ 8”. Congham is 1 m NW of Grimston.+Read more
The entry in Boyd’s Marriage Indexes spells the surname Brockut. The clerk’s way of writing ‘e’, as in Margaret and elsewhere could be mistakenly read as a ‘u’. Boyd’s was compiled 1925-55 from printed and transcribed Parish Registers. Also Margaret’s surname was wrongly indexed as Canter by FMP. No record was found of Margaret’s baptism in Congham or so far in Norfolk as a whole. No further record of the couple has so far been found.
- Briant, bap 16 Mar 1654/5 Grimston, Norfolk: “the Sonne of John Brokett Minister of Grimston was Borne the 3 day of March 1654 and baptized the 16th Daye”. Emigrated to Maryland 1669.
The only recorded Broket burial in Grimston was Rector John’s own on 27 Jan 1663/4. A search through available records found no relevant burial for Ann in Norfolk or England, whether under the name Broket or Thorowgood, and variants—sometimes widows of the gentry reverted to their maiden names on becoming widows.
Grimston, Norfolk, England 1646-64
John Brokett MA was instituted to the rectory and living of Grimston—c 6 m E of King’s Lynn near the Wash—on the resignation of the previous parson, Thomas Thorowgood, also the patron. Like John, Thomas had gone to Christ’s College Cambridge, which is perhaps how they met. John subscribed on 16 Jun 1646: Read more
‘Subscription’: From 1558 all clerks were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the crown and in 1571 all clerks before their ordination or institution to a new benefice were to declare their assent to the three Articles of Religion: recognition of royal supremacy, use of the Book of Common Prayer and adhesion to the 39 Articles of 1562. To these requirements was added an oath against simony and other oaths before institution.
John’s wife Ann was the daughter of the previous Rector of Grimston, Thomas Thorowgood, baptised there as Anna 1625/6.
John Brokett would have been a good choice of husband for the eldest daughter of the priest and patron.
Much of John’s tenure was during the turbulent Commonwealth period 1649-60. Read more
For part of this period—the 7 years 1653-60—the Anglican Register was not kept, but the Parliamentarian Register survived. And in each section of the Anglican Register a note at the end of 1653 reads—with slight variations—this one from the baptisms section: “It is to be noted the Regestringes of Mariges Births & burialls are in an other Regester Booke herevnto Anexed from the date aforesd to that which followeth being 7 years distante as appeare.” 7 was amended to 8 years in the marriages section. A NRO research assistant thought the handwriting was John’s, however it is unsophisticated and somewhat scrappy; not at all similar to the confident style in John’s signatures reproduced above. Signatures are of course stylised, however the shapes of the individual letters are also different. Something could have happened to John in the meantime to have made his handwriting less secure, 1660 was only 2½ years before he died.
The Thorowgoods
To follow.
Other records
1638-9: Manors of Saunceys. On 20 Jan 1638 John shared with his father in conveying the manor of Sansey to James Ellis Esq and Alexander Humfries Gent. John was termed his father’s ‘heir apparent’:+Read more
1. This is the final agreement made in the Lord King’s court at Westminster 20 Jan in the year of the reign
2. of Charles, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith etc after the conquest the thirteenth
…
4. … between James Ellis Esq and Alexander Humfries Gent purchasors and John Brockett
5. senior Esq and John Brockett junior son and heir apparent of the said John Brockett senior
6. vendors of the Manor of Sansey with appurtenances and 6 messuages, 10 cottages, 2 watermills,
7. 1 dovecote, 10 gardens, 10 apple orchards, 370 acres of land, 30
8. acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture and 5s rent, with appurtenances in Wheathampstead
9. Harpenden & Kimpton …
17. … for £500 sterling
A treaty alledgedly existed c 1639 between Samuel Baker snr and John snr and jnr re the purchase of the Manor [singular] of Sancey, Rothamstead & Chivills. The Manors of Saunceys and Rothamsted were combined at this time
but Chivills, acquired by Sir John Brockett I by 1555, was linked to Symondshyde.
1639-1653: Brocket v Baker. John specifically figured in this long-running dispute between 1642-3 when he sold his reversionary interest in the estate, and in the 1650s when he and his father are alledged to have created secret estates and antedated the deeds.
1655: John was mentioned in his father’s Will of 7 Mar 1655/6 line 9.
1663/4: John Brocket Esq, Master of Arts, Rector of the parish church of Grimston was buried 26 Jan. The parish register recorded his name in extra large writing on a page headed Anno Domini 1663: “Johannes Brocket Armiger, Magister in Artibus, Rector parochialis ecclesia Grimston sepultus fuit vicesimo sexto die 26 Januarij Anno predict.”
John’s Will
On 3 Jun 1646, less than a fortnight after he had married for the second time, and when he was still a Clerk at Sion College, John wrote his Will. It remained the same till it was proved in Norwich 26 Feb 1663/4 and was not altered to mention any of his sons who had been born in the meantime: Read more
[seal]
1. In the name of God Amen The Third
2. daye of June Anno Domini 1646: And the Two and Twentith yeare of the
3. raigne of our nowe soveraigne Lord Charles by the grace of God Kinge of
4. England Scotland France and Ireland defender of the faith &tc I John
5. Brokett of Syon colledge Clerk within the Cittie of London Clerke and Master of Artes
6. beinge in good health of Bodie and of Sound and perfect minde and memorie prayse and
7. thankes bee rendered vnto Allmightie God therefore, And knoweinge to bee soe certaine
8. as Death and nothinge Soe vncertaine as the hour thereof, Doe make and declare
9. this my Last Will and Testament in manner and forme following That is to saye First
10. and principally and before all Earthlie thinges I bequeath my Soule into the ha[nde]s
11. of Allmightie God my Maker And to Jesus Christ my Allsufficient Saviour & Redeem[er]
12. by whose most pretious death and bloodsheddinge I hope to bee freely pardoned all my Sinnes
13. and after this mortall life ended to bee made partaker of the kingdome of Heaven amongst
14. the Elect: And my Bodie I comitt to the Earth from whence itt came to bee buried in such
15. decent manner as to my Executrix herevnder named shall seeme most meete: And as
16. touchinge the disposeall of such worldly meanes and estate as God of his greate mercie
17. and liberallity hath blessed mee withall in this life I doe hereby give devise & bequeath
18. the same as hereafter followeth That is to saie : Inprimis I doe give and
19. bequeath vnto my Lovinge Brother Edmond Brokett the Somme of Twenty shillings
[signature: Jo. Brockett]
[seal]
20. And to my Sister Elizabeth Brokett the somme of Twenty shillings, And more
21. I doe give and bequeath vnto my Lovinge cozen Benjamin Hare the somme
22. of Five Poundes of Lawfull money of England :. And
23. whereas I the said John Brockett am att this pointe seized in Fee to mee and my heires
24. for ever of and in divers Messuages Landes Tenements and hereditaments with
25. theire appurtenances lyeinge in severall places and within severall counties of this
26. Kingdome of England as by the deeds and Evidences of the same att large will
27. appeare :. All which said messuages Landes Tenements and hereditaments with
28. theire and every of their appurtenances And all other my Messuages Landes
29. Tenements and hereditaments whatsoever within the whole Realme of England
30. which I shalbe possessed of and stand seized in att the tyme of my decease : I doe
31. hereby fully wholly freely and absolutely give devise and bequeath the same
32. vnto Anne Brokett my lovinge wife her heires and assignes for ever, out
33. of that good Love and affection which I have vnto her : To haue and to hold
34. the said messuages Landes Tenements and hereditaments with all the Rents yssues
35. and proffitts of the same vnto the said Anne Brokett her heires and assignes for
36. ever To the sole and onely proper vse and behoofe of the said Anne Brokett her
37. heires and assignes for evermore And to none other vse intent or purpose whatsoever
[signature: Jo. Brockett]
[seal]
38. All the rest and residue of my Goodes and
39. Chattells and personall estate whatsoever as Plate, ready money, Bondes, Billes
40. Leases, Mortgages, all manner of Household stuffe, and all other my Estate whatsoever
41. wheresoever remayninge, or by whatsoever name or names the same are or maye
42. bee called or knowne, after my legacies herein bequeathed shalbe paide and my
43. Funeralls discharged I doe in like manner fully freely wholly and absolutely give
44. and bequeath the same vnto Anne Brokett my loving wife . whome I doe
45. hereby make nominate and appointe to bee sole Executrix of this my Last Will and
46. Testament And I doe hereby revoake countermaunde and make voide all former
47. Wills and Testaments Codicills and Executors by mee heretofore made named
48. and appointed and doe hereby will that none other shalbe of any force or effect
49. saue this my Last Will and Testament :./ In witnes whereof I the said John
50. Brockett the Testator to this my Last Will and Testament conteyninge allmost Three
51. sheetes of paper, haue to the bottome of everie one of them subscribed my name, and to
52. the topp of them have putt to my seale The daye and yeere first abovewritten:
[signature: Jo. Brockett and seal]
[witnesses: Townshend Wilson, Thomas Jesop]
Along with its
attachment,
inventory and
seals, John’s Will shows him as a comfortably-off land-owning gentleman Clerk and Farmer.
He made small bequests to:
- brother Edmond
- sister Elizabeth—almost 20 at the time
- ‘cozen’ Benjamin Hare, that is his brother-in-law, the husband of his sister Lacon. A John and Richard Hare were among the defendants in a Broket v Broket case brought by Edmond’s widow Judith.
Otherwise John left everything to his wife Anne, his sole executrix, their children of course were not yet born. But he didn’t alter the Will to add them later.
Charles I was still on the throne, and John’s Will bore a royal date (lines 2-4). The 1662 Will of his distant relative, Rev John Brokett of Bentworth, mentioned no king, even though the Restoration had occurred and Charles II had been on the throne for two years.
Attached to the Will is a smaller sheet naming property he owned in 1646: Read more
For Example I giue
The Inheritance of 30 li per annum
of Free hold – land in the
parish of Bushey &c
The profits Rents & Errerages
of a Leace of 50 l per annum
in Milton &c
All bonds in my little Trunke
within the Iron Chest, as
John Walls, Josiah Wards,
Peter Stubbers &c
As also all Bills as John Whites &c
All Goods in my Chamber in
Sion Colledge & else wher as
Hangings Plate Beds bookes &c
The whole Estate settled vpon me
by Dame Margaret Lady Leigh
Drawne vp by the advise of Mr Kirkham
Counceller by the hand of Mr Stubbs
Atturney, whether Leases Bonds
Goods &c
[signature Jo. Brokett]
The Bushey land perhaps came through marriage to Mary Blackwell. Dame Margaret Lady Leigh was his father’s
sister.
Each page of the Will and the attachment was signed by John and also sealed with his seal measuring about 1.5 cm in diameter and containing a shield quarterly of 4—the essence on a small stamp of the 18 of his contemporary 3rd cousin Edward of Wheathamstead Gent 1606-69, or of the wider dynasty’s principal lineage claims:
+++
++++++++A cross flory—Broket
++++++++A saltire argent—Neville
++++++++A pile a griffin passant of the field—Broket?
++++++++A lion rampant—Fauconberg
Probate Inventory on John’s death in 1664
The Probate Inventory of John’s possessions gives a fascinating insight into the life of a country parson at that time. John’s Parsonage had 9 bedrooms—his own would have been the Parlor Chamber, large enough to take a table, 8 chairs, 3 stools and other items in addition to the bedstead. In the Parlor below, among other items was a pair of Virginals. The content of the barns suggests a thriving small farm, and in the yards and stables were various animals, including 8 horses, a colt and a foal, 11 cows, 2 bullocks, 2 bulls and 4 calves, 13 swine and 29 beehives.
The Inventory’s total value of £683 17s compares favourably with the £72 14s 10d total of the inventory taken on the death of Gentleman Farmer Robert Brockett of Bramfeld, Suffolk, in 1582, and with the inventory total of £4 9s worth of goods left to Lady Elizabeth Brockett by her first husband in 1583. Read more
Grimston in the County of Norf’ Thursday the xxviiijth January Anno 1663/4
+++
A True and perfect Inventory of all the Goods and Chattells plate
Moneys Apparell and Howsehold stuff with Corne & Graine &c. Left in
the Respectiue Parsonage howse and now Apparant vppon the Grounds
And in the Barnes Appertaining to the said howse and the severall Roomes
thereof in Grimston Aforesaid which did belong vnto Mr. John Brokett
Late Minister or Rector their. (now deceased) Invented As Followeth
+++
Imprimis For All his weareing Apparell — £25
Item In Ready Money — £80
Item Plate: A Siluer Tankard : Suger box ; Cawdle Pott : twoo porringers
Seauene Siluer spoones A sealed Ring with his Armes / A watch &c. — £30
+++
In the Parlor -/
Pickters and Mapps — £7
A paire of Virginnalls — £2
A Squaire Table A Leafe Table and twoo Liuery Cubbards — £2
Fower Leather Chaires twoo other Chaires fower Stooles with redd
Couers an old Green Couch and halfe a dozen Greene Cushings — £2 10s
A paire of And[i]rons fire pann & Tongs a paire Bellows & small Tongs — 10s
Twoo window Curtings with Rodds two Carpitts & a green Cubard Cloth — £2 10s
+++
In the Twoo Closetts -/
A little Leafe Table and a three Cornered Liuery Cubbard An old
buffitt Stoole and A Childes Chaire — 10s
+++
In the Pantry.
A Presse for Lynnen a powdering Tubb a stilling Tubb a dressor
a Stiilage Sixe Dozen of Trenchers and holland Plates — £2
+++
In the Hall -/
A Square Table a long Table twoo old formes and an old Chest — £1
+++
In the Kitching
Pewter and Brasse — £4 10s
An Iron Pott A Jacke a fire Creadle Cobb Irons fire pann & Tongs
A pairr Speets and Racke dripping panns twoo Musquetts and a fowling
peece a dressor a pewter Case twoo old Chares and A salt boxe — £4 10s
+++
In the Larther -/
A Bulting Hutch dressor board and meale tubbs — 10s
+++
In the Kitching Chamber
A Liuery beddstead and bead full furnished — £5
A trundle beadstead bead & bedding — £1 10s
A Liuery Cubbard a table twoo Chaires a Chest a Shelfe a halbart & old sword — £2 10s
+++
In the Maides Chamber -/
An old beadstead and bead full furnished : A Skreene — £3
+++
In the buird Chamber -/
An old beddstead two olde bedds twoo boulsters blanketts & a Couerlette — £2
+++
In the old Studdy Chamber -/
Twoo old bedsteads an old feather bead boulster & blanketts — £1
[Sub total] £179 10s
+++
In the Hall Chamber -/
Item. A Liuery beddstead and bead full furnished: hangings A liuery
Table a Chest a forme and twoo old Stooles — £6
+++
In the Greene Chamber -/
An old beddstead and bead full furnished — £5
Sixteene pickters in frames — £1 10s
A Liuery Table twoo old Chaires and an old Stoole — 10s
+++
In the Parlor Chamber -/
A beddstead and bead full furnished with a Counter paine of needle worke — £35
A twoo Armed Chaire Sixe small Chaires & three Stooles with Couers of needle worke— £4
A Suite of hangings of Tapstery .xj. pickters : Curtings & Rodds for the windows — £30
A Cabbonette a Creadle Rugg of Camells haire & twoo wrought Couers for pillows — £10
A Table frame twoo boxes a Chest and twoo Trunkes — £2
Sixe paire of Sheets vnprized of which three paire of holland — £4 10s
Nyne fine pillow beares & sixe Course pillow beares — £3 5s
Twoo Long board Clothes & twoo short ones Seauen Cubard Cloths — £3
Twoo Diaper board Cloths fower Dozen napkins & six Towells — £4
+++
In the brewhowse
A brewing Copper a mash & Guile fatt A Cooler & a washing
Copper with other vtencells for brewing & washing — £20
+++
In the Diary -/
Tenn Milke bowles A butter Kealor twoo freame potts fiue
Shelues A Cheese presse eight Cheese fatts & a Churne — £2
+++
In the Storehowse -/
Twoo Sway Rakes hand rakes pitch forkes old Iron & Cart Roapes — £1 10s
A Store of Corne Seckes a mill Riddles &c — £2 10s
+++
In the Store howse Chamber -/
wheat Mesling pease hopps and a Skreene— £10 10s
+++
In the Green Yard & Gardines
Twenty nyne skepps of bees— £14
+++
In the Stables -/
Eight horsses and Maires a Coult and a foale — £35
A new Saddle with its furniture & a saddle Couer — £1 10s
+++
In the Yards & pasture -/
Eleauen Kowes twoo Bullockes twoo Bulls & fower yearelyn Calues — £45
Three Cartes & Cart Geares twoo plowes & plow Geares & harrowes — £10 12s
Thirteene Swine Great & Small — £7 10s
Pullery of all Sortes — £2 10s
Hay and neates Rackes — £7
+++
In the Twoo Barnes -/
Sixe Lastes of Barly — £60
In Curtis his barne & the little barne at home Twenty fiue Coombes pease & fetches — £15
The xiiij yeares in a Lease of Hillington & Walton — £25
The Mucke in the Yards and Laines — £15
Plowing & seed of Twelue Acres and a halfe Wheat & Rye — £12 10s
A Clocke which is over the Stairs Leading vpp to the parlor Chamber — £2
[Sub total] £397 17s
+++
In the Studdy over the Parlor and Greene Chambers
Item Bookes of all Sortes (for when the Army Came into London the
best parte of them to the value of £150 beeing sent into the
Cuntry by Sea. were taken by pyratts on the Coast of Norf’ -/
Butt These now in the Studdy are vallued at — £100
Twoo Gloabes with Couers of Leather and Moxons booke — £3
A Deske with a neast of Drawers twoo Cubbards with shelues
A Chaire and an old fire Creadle — £2
Twoo booke Cases or Shelues with other Lumber — £1 10s
+++
[Sub total] £106 10s
More on 1. page. £179 10s
2. £397 17s
Soma: Totalis: £683 17s
+++
[Signatures/signs of] Edmond Thorowgood Robert Burcham Malachy Scotte
…
The Rectory
To follow.
Page Last Updated: April 7, 2020
