Brokets of South England

Lines of several generations of Brokets—as opposed to isolated nuclear families—have lived in southern counties of England. Several may well have been related to each other. Their male lines all died out in their locations, some probably moving up to London:

+++Berkshire
+++Hampshire
+++Kent
+++Somerset
++++++Wells (separate page)
+++Surrey
+++Sussex

Individuals were also recorded in Cornwall in 1297 and Jersey in 1416.

Berkshire

The IGI shows Broket baptisms in only 2 parishes in the county, both in Reading, a main market town c 28 m N of Winchester and 40 m W of Westminster. It records 4 marriages in Reading plus one each at Burghfield, c 3 m S of Reading, Tilehurst, c 1 m W, and Sunninghill, c 15 m E, now in Surrey.¹

It appears that there were one or two Broket families in St Giles Reading in the first decade of the 17th C, and one or two in St Mary Reading in the 1630-60s. These 17th C Brokets were probably related to the small clans in Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex. Like them they died out or moved on before the 18th C.

Richard must have died before 1646, as on 13 Jun 1646 Administration of the estate of Isabel HASKER, alias BROCKETT, widow, Reading, Berks, was given to Elizabeth COX, daughter, widow.²

John Brockett, bap 1666, probably emigrated to Barbados 1682.

The IGI also has an erroneous record of a Mary Brockett marrying Thomas REEDE in Berkshire in 1545 with no parish, month or day listed. Mary was the daughter of Sir John II and heiress of Brocket Hall, but in 1545 Sir John wasn’t even 10 years old. Patrons subsequently submitted marriage dates of ‘Abt’ 1574 and 1586, again however without parish, month or day.

James ‘Broket’ of Donnyngton, Berkshire, Gent 1483

The National Archives, Kew, holds a writ sent to the Sheriff of Berkshire 12 May 1483 by John Brown, Mayor of the Staple of Westminster, requesting he enforce payment of a large debt owing to William Capell, Citizen and Draper of London, by a Gentleman of Donnington, Berkshire. The document is damaged at the start of the surname and they have transcribed it as ‘Broket’, however we hope to demonstrate here that this is incorrect.

On pointing this out in 2016, the response from TNA was “This cataloguing was completed by an external academic on a funded project a few years ago and not by TNA staff. The work was very thoroughly done. I was not involved, so do not know the editorial standards that were applied, but some cross-referencing might have been made to other work on commercial debt, and names were modernised (Broun to Brown, for example). There was therefore probably good reason for the cataloguing decision to enter Broket as the surname in this case.”³

This TBA presents the results of intensive and prolonged research into the Brokets of England and none are known to have lived in Berkshire in the 15th C. As recorded above, there were one or two families that lived near Reading in the 17th C but they were ordinary, untitled folk. Gentlemen had money and property and almost invariably left records, as this James did in this case. TBA also presents an exhaustive record of all Brokets who were of the Gentleman class in those times, and there wasn’t a James among them. Donnyngton, Berkshire, is clearly different from Donyngton, Northumberland. So a James Broket Gent of Donnyngton doesn’t fit the existing contextual evidence. For a professional translation of the writ:+Read more

A careful examination of the orthograhy in the document follows to support the argument that James’ surname wasn’t Broket. Here is a snip from the document showing the defendant’s whole name “Jacobus … de Donnyngton”, i.e. “James … of Donnington”—with these words on the line below “[eius]d’m & recognouit se teneri Will’mo [Capell]”, which mean “the same and recognized that he was bound to William …”:⁵

The parchment has been torn at the beginning of James’ surname and has obscured it. However, what at first sight might look like ‘oket’ is actually ‘rker’. The shape of the letter ‘r’ both before the ‘k’ and after the ‘e’ is clear when compared to the letter ‘r’ in the words “recognouit” and “teneri” below, the latter with a preceding ‘e’. A final ‘t’ had a higher vertical stroke with a horizontal stroke right through it, as can be seen in the same words “recognouit” and “teneri”. This demonstrates that the 4 fully visible letters at the end of James’ surname are ‘rker’. Furthermore, the pointed peak of the letter preceding ‘rker’ looks like the top of an ‘a’, as in the word “Jacobus”, i.e. ‘..arker’. A close-up of James’ surname shows this pointed peak of the ‘a’ preceding the ‘rk’:

And the ‘ar’ combination can be seen clearly in the words “Edwardi quarti” [Edward the fourth]:

A u/v lamp unfortunately doesn’t elucidate what preceded the ‘a’ in James’ surname. But with a following ‘..arker’ a ‘B’ or a ‘P’ might have been expected, i.e. Barker or Parker. Capital ‘B’ and ‘P’ can be seen in “Broun” and “Pannario”:++

In sum, James’ surname was clearly not Broket, but could have been Barker or Parker, or perhaps some other name ending ‘…arker’.

Hampshire

20th C Hampshire Brokets include Frank Neil Brockett of Portsmouth Hampshire 1916-75.

Pre-20th C Hampshire Brokets comprised:

• William 1242-3 in the service of the Countess of the Isle of Wight and recorded on a mission from Winchester
• a clan in and around Alton 16th to early 18th C
• 2 brothers from the Hertfordshire Grouping, whose father married a Brocas of Beaurepaire in the 1590s, but whose connection with Hampshire ended 1677
• a couple of families recorded at St Mary’s Portsea in the early 1700s.
• (Ancestry.com’s 1841 cemsus transcription for Thomas Brokate, 40 [i.e. b c 1801] in Fareham should be either Bockett or Beckett,⁶)

Alton, Heckfield and Sherfield on Lodden in Hampshire

These 3 parishes each already had a family in the 2nd half of the 16th C just before Parish Registers began and a few descendants lived on into the 17th C. This was a similar pattern to clans in neighbouring Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex, with whom they were probably related. Alton was only c 35 m W of Cuckfield, the contemporary Broket centre in Sussex.

Sherfield registers began 1574, Heckfield’s 1583 but Alton’s only really from 1660 with some entries from 1615. Gilbert of Sherfield had a son baptised and buried in nearby Silchester.

Alton was on the main London-Winchester road and quite a wealthy town at the end of the medieval period due to the wool trade. It had a population of c 500.⁷ The late 16th C Brokets there were of middling to lower prosperity—well-off craftsmen. A century later, by 1665, the small clan had all but died out or moved on; none paid the Hearth Tax then:

1. Robert Brocket was assessed in the Lay Subsidies for Alton c 1571, 1586 for goods worth £4. Of the 31 persons assessed—excluding the 6 assessed on lands—values ranged from £3 to £22. 7 paid on £8 or over and the rest on £3, £4 or £5. Then on 28 Jan 1575 Robert was one of 6 witnesses to a deed of release of property in Alton Eastbrook near Alton Church.⁸ He was one of the witnesses and overseers of the Will of Roger King of Alton 22 Jan 1577.⁹ Roger had property in Petworth, Sussex—c 15 m W of Cuckfield—so he or his wife may have come from there. As overseer, Robert would have been a senior associate of Roger, hence probably b by 1540. In 1593 he was an overseer to brother Rauphe’s Will. Robert was also recorded selling a property on 20 Oct 1598:+    Read more
   Conveyance by Robert Brockett of Alton Shoemaker to William Prowtings of Weald husbandman of All that his messuage with appurtenances in Alton Estebrook, now in occupation of John Bull “abutting on the Queen’s broade highe waye on the east and on a lane leadinge from the same highe waye towards the Church on the south and upon a tenement or st cunde of the Queene’s holding now in the occupation of Thomas Godfrey … on the north and west. Mark of Robert Brocket”.¹⁰

2. Rauphe married 16 May 1583 Margaret … in Alton,¹¹ hence was born by c 1558, perhaps much earlier. Will of Rauphe Brocket of Alton, Shoemaker, written 16 May 1593,¹² overseers: brother Robert Brocket, Symmon Hall, William Gooderige and Richard Pratt. The Will included bequests to:+    Read more
   Edward Hacker of Reading’s 2 children: 50s for a cow
   sister Cornellis: 6s 8d
   godchildren 12d each
   brother Walter’s 2 children: 2s each
   brother Robert: a last knife, a little hatchet and a Sise
   wife Margeret: full executrix.

   Inventory 8 Jun 1593.¹³ No issue?

3. Rychard. ?Married 15 Jun 1595 Margery ROSIER in Farnham,¹⁴ c 9 m SW of Alton. Hence he was born by the early 1570s, perhaps much earlier. The Will of Rychard Brockatt of Alton, Shoemaker, written 18 Mar 1597/8 was proved 4 May 1598 Winchester by Margerie Brockett widow, witnesses: Thomas Walter, Robert Brockatt, Symon Hall, Jesper Upton?, Thomas Mathew.¹⁵ It mainly comprised a list of creditors and debtors. No issue? Buried in Heckfield?
4. A Brockett married William GOSDEN in Ropley, c 7 m SW of Alton in 1599.¹⁶
5. Marie Brocket married 11 Oct 1630 Edward FEILDER in St Lawrence’s Alton. Marie was buried 3 Dec 1654 Alton.¹⁷
6. John Brocket—most probably husband of Sarah—was buried 11 June 1666 at St Lawrence’s Alton.¹⁸
7. Sarah Brocket alias Hunt of Alton, Widow; inventory 8 Jul 1667 totalling £7 6d, no items suggesting any trade.¹⁹ No burial was recorded in Alton for Sarah, but there are gaps in the register for the end of 1666. Sarah’s married daughter Elizabeth, married to William Constance, was alive 1667. They were not well off—in 1665 William was assessed for 2 hearths but wasn’t charged. William and Elizabeth had children baptised 1645-61.

Notes: But for the fact that Robert was not styled ‘senior’ or ‘junior’, he could have been considered father and son. He could have been born 18 years or more before Rauphe; and a Shoemaker father with 2 Shoemaker sons is more likely than 3 Shoemaker brothers. Also, John and Marie may not have been siblings, nor may they have been the 2 children of Walter.

Heckfield with Mattingly (c 12 m N of Alton):²⁰

Sherfield on Lodden (c 10 m N of Alton, 4 m S of Heckfield):²²

Was Clement, buried 12 Jan 1634/5, the husbandman recorded in Royston 1609?

Silchester (c 4 m NW of Sherfield, c 6 m W of Heckfield):²⁴

Rev John of Ellisfield and Bentworth, Hampshire c 1601-62

John was the 4th son of Rev Edmund and Mary of the main line of Brocas of Beaurepaire, and brother of Edmund of Bramley. He also was a clergyman—first in Hertfordshire, then from the 1640s in Ellisfield and Bentworth in Hampshire. The sale of John’s Bentworth property 1662-72 was the last record of John’s family in the county.

Edmund of Bramley, Hampshire Gent 1605-77

Fifth surviving son of Rev Edmund and Mary of the main line of Brocas of Beaurepaire, and brother of John of Ellisfield and Bentworth. Bramley is c 10 m N of Bentworth. With the death of Edmund and his brother John, records of Brokets in Hampshire are limited to seafaring individuals in Portsmouth, and land dealings of the 19th C Brocket Hall Estate.

Portsmouth, Hampshire, early 1700s

Robert and John Brockett had children baptised at St Mary’s Portsea in the early 1700s and Elizabeth married nearby. Robert may not necessarily have been a Sailor, but could have come along the coast from Sussex:²⁵

Kent

The following records have been found:

1. Thomas of Chidingstone, Esq; Will proved 1667;²⁶ eldest son of William, eldest son of William of Esyndon. Thomas’ only known son Thomas of Penshurst, Gent, died unmarried; Will proved 1670.footnote ref=”PCC .”]
2. Ellen married John FLOYD 17 Jul 1669 at St George, Gravesend.²⁷
3. Boycott bap 1 Nov 1723 in Gravesend, s/o Thomas.²⁸
4. Catherine married John Francis SLEGAR at St Nicholas, Rochester 13 Oct 1802.²⁹
5. Elizabeth, aged 20, ie b c 1826, d/o William, married George Robert WEBB, aged 23, in Erith, Kent 22 Mar1846 – not far from Woolwich.³⁰ No relevant birth of Elizabeth or Eliza recorded in the GRO.
6. Thomas, the Lambeth Bricklayer, was recorded as being born in Bexley in the 1851 census, but this may not have been correct.
7. Harriet, b c 1835 Erith (1881 and 91 censuses). No IGI baptism. Sister of Thomas, the Lambeth Bricklayer? Or daughter before he came to London? Married James SMITH.+Census records for Harriet and family:+Read more
   1881: At 2 Essex Cottages, Hackney, Middx, James SMITH, General Labourer, b Clapton, Middlesex, and Wife Harriet, 46 [ie b c 1835], b Earith, Kent. Boarders: George BROCKETT, Widower, aged 37, Bricklayer, b Lambeth, and 4 children.
   +++
   1891: At 2 Lea View, S Hackney, James SMITH, Head, 55, Wharf Labourer (Docks), b Lea Bridge, London and Wife Harriet, 56, b Erith, Kent. Three of George BROCKETT Bricklayer’s children were there: George, 21, Nephew, Wharf Labourer (Docks), b Stoke Newington; James, 16, Nephew, Fishmonger’s Assistant, b Hackney; andMarie, 14, Neice, b Hackney. Also there was Jane SHARMAN, 17, Neice [?of James], b Lea Bridge, London.

8. Sarah was recorded in 1871, Domestic Servant in the house of Photographer Edwin MAYALL from Yorkshire at 174 Kensington High St, unm, born Bexley, aged 29, ie c 1842.³¹ No IGI baptism or other record has been found of her. Was she another sister of Thomas, the Lambeth Bricklayer, who may also have been born in Bexley?

Somerset

A Broket clan lived in the Parish of St Cuthbert in Wells from at least the beginning of the 17th C to the end of the 18th.

Surrey

Dorking. At least 5 generations of a small Broket clan lived in and around this market town, some 23 miles SW of London on the road to Horsham, and 18 individuals from it were recorded in the Parish Register from 1540-1640. For the century prior to that, from 1440-1540, there may have been a similar number, but records are scant and so far only four or five have been found. These Brokets may have been related to one or more of the small contemporary clans in neighbouring Berkshire, Hampshire and Sussex—Dorking is only c 16 m NW of Cuckfield for instance—and like them they died out or moved on before the 18th C.

The earliest record of a Dorking Broket found is of Richard from 1449:³²   Read more

In 1536 around the time the Parish Register began to be kept, 3 or 4 brothers were recorded in Dorking and from two of them the clan descended for several generations. Transcriptions of the Wills of the 3 brothers can be found on this separate page.

1. George Brokett of Dorking 1536
2. Richarde Brogat of Dorking 1536
3. William Brokett of Dorking 1536
4. Frances Brockett of Walton Yeoman 1571

Then a century after the Dorking Parish Register began the clan died out or moved on. The entries in the Dorking Parish Register read:³⁵

1540 Lyon bur 21 Jul
1540 Clemence mar 25 Oct to William MAIE
1550/1 Marie bap 10 Jan
1556 Frauncis mar 12 Oct to Joane BURNELL
1562 Grace bur 14 Oct
1563/4 Myles mar 24 Jan to Joane STILWELL
1563 Alice mar 22 Sep to Nicholas CRONEY
1564 Jone bap 5 Apr
1599 John bap 25 Apr s/o Raphe
1602 William bap 29 Aug s/o Raphe
1605 Ann bap 14 Apr d/o Raphe
1608 Jane bap 1 May d/o Raphe
1621 Mary bap 10 Mar d/o John³⁶
1624 Frances bap 24 Oct s/o John
1627 William bap 11 Apr s/o John private
1627 William bur 14 Apr s/o John
1628 Jane bap 30 Apr d/o John
1634 John bap 19 Oct s/o John
1635 Mary bur 24 Aug wife of John
1640 Joan bur 14 Jul widow of Raphe
+++
Note: The IGI‘s baptism entry of Margarett 29 Dec 1627 d/o Edward was not found in the Parish Register itself.³⁷

Notes on individuals in the chart

Myles Brockett was recorded in the Dorking muster July 1559.³⁸ And Myles Brockette was one of 6 “billmen of the best sort” listed for the parish of Waybridge in the muster of May 1569.³⁹

Frauncis Brokett was recorded in the Betchworth muster June 1559 as an Archer.⁴⁰ Betchworth is c 2 m E of Dorking. It’s likely he was the Yeoman of Walton—c 4 m NE of Dorking—whose Will was proved 4 Mar 1571/2.

Roberte, recorded in 1571 as the younger brother of Frances, Yeoman, was probably the Robert Brocket, one of 3 harquebusiers recorded in the muster for Martha, Surrey, May 1569,⁴¹ St Martha’s or St Martha upon the Hill or Chilworth is a small parish bounded on the south by Wonersh and c 8 m W of Dorking. A harquebusier was a cavalryman who carried a firearm, and as such wouldn’t have been a young recruit, so he probably would have been born by the mid 1540s. It isn’t known if he was also the Roberte Brockett “Billman of the best sorte” listed for the parish of St Martha upon the Hill in 1583/4.⁴² Would a harquebusier be a billman 15 years later? If not, perhaps the billman Robert was a son of the 1569 Robert, or at least from the next generation?

There was a Robert Brocket and family recorded between 1604-39 in Wonersh—c 9m W of Dorking—who would clearly have been younger than Robert the harquebusier recorded in 1569. A careful search through all the pages of the digitised volume of Wonersh St John the Baptist Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1539-1683—which have no missing years and only a few small parts of some pages of which are illegible—revealed the following Broket entries:⁴³

1604 Mar 25 “Alice the daughter of Robert brocket baptised”
1611 Nov 11 “Harry Gee & Annis Brocket maried”
1615/6 Mar 6 “Mary daughter of Robt’ Brocket baptized the 6th day”
1636 Nov 17 “Mary d: of Robt Brocket bur”
1637 Aug 14 “Tho: Walker & Johan or Jane Brocket mar:”
1639 May 5 “The wife of Robt Brocket bur:”
(1671: No Broket donation was recorded for the English captains captured by Turkish pirates in the long list from Wonersh parish.)
+++
The marriage of Robert and his wife wasn’t recorded at Wonersh, nor was his burial. It seems that they were married and he was buried elsewhere. Similarly no burial of their daughter Alice was recorded at Wonersh, nor—if she survived—her marriage. The Jane Brocket who married there in 1637 may have been a daughter of Robert and his wife, but if the Annis who married in 1611 was also it would mean that Robert had married by c 1590, and born by c 1570.
+++
On 7 Aug 1614 the Wonersh Register recorded the burial of Thomas West. The Will of Thomas West of Wonersh, husbandman, was dated the same day—7 Aug 1614—and was proved on 6 Oct 1614.⁴⁴ Among his bequests was: “to my sister Jane Brockett wife of Robert Brockett 10s and to her children John Brockett and Alice Brockett £1 each and to Joan Brockett £1 10s“.
+++
There can be little doubt that the Alice Brockett in Thomas West’s Will was the Alice baptised in Wonersh in 1604, but it’s unclear who Joan Brockett might have been, and also when and where son John might have been baptised. As can be seen above no baptism, marriage or burial of a John Brockett was found in the Wonersh Parish Register 1539-1683. Thomas West specified that some—though not all—of his other bequests to nephews and nieces were due when they reached 21. With John and Alice this wan’t specified, yet we know that Alice was still a minor. If Annis who married in 1611 was a daughter of Robert and Jane, then perhaps John also was no longer a minor in 1614, and if so would have been born by c 1593. If on the other hand John, like Alice, was under 21 in 1614, then he could have been born any time up to about 1612. What became of him? He may well have died young elsewhere or never married. We have no evidence of him other than this bequest, so we can only speculate. Records from America show that the emigrant John Brockett was in New Haven by 1639 and require his birth to have been between about 1609-18. Might this John Brockett of Wonersh have been the emigrant? 

Jane Brockett, baptised 1628, of the last generation in Dorking, was possibly transported to Virginia in 1655, see the separate page. However, Jane, Joan and Jean were often variant spellings of the same name and the emigrant could have been another Jane. Richard Nash speculated that the William Brockett who emigrated to Virginia in 1668 was the son of Jane’s brother Frances/Francis, bap 1624, however no evidence has been found that Francis married or had children.

Otherwise, 16-17th C Surrey records so far found consist only of:

1. 1595 15 Jun: A record of a Richard Brockett marrying Margery ROSIER in Farnham. Farnham is in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire, c 26 m W of Dorking and c 13 m W of Wonersh, and c 9 m SW of Alton. The West Surrey Family History Society transcribed Richard’s surname as Bruchett,⁴⁵ however this was probably either a mistranscription or an original scribal error for Brockett, as it is clear from later records that Richard was from the Hampshire Alton Broket clan married to a Margery, see above. It’s unlikely that he was the Richard, son of Frances Brockett of Walton (c 4 m NE of Dorking), who died 1571, who would have been born before 1550, since he was a co-executor of his father’s Will, and this marriage in Farnham would have to have been a late or subsequent marriage. Be that as it may, no other record of that Richard being married to a Margery has been found.
2. 1616 3 Mar: A record of a Nicolus Broket m Joan B… in Horley. Horley is c 12 m SE of Dorking and c 23 m E of Wonersh, and c 10 m N of Balcombe in Sussex.⁴⁶
3. In the 1620s the eldest son and heir of William Brockett of Esyndon Gent, also called William, and his wife Sara and family, held a house called Stockenden. There is a Stockenden Farm in Oxted, c 14 m E of Dorking. William died intestate in 1626 and Administration of the estate of William Brocket of Lymsfield—c 1 m N of Oxted—was given to son Thomas.⁴⁷ Several court cases on behalf of the younger siblings and their mother followed, see the separate page. Although Limpsfield is c 17 m E of Dorking, William was from the Hertfordshire Brokets and, as far as we know, unconnected with the Dorking clan.
4. In 1641/2 just before the Civil War William Brockett signed the Protestation in Reigate, c 5 m E of Dorking.⁴⁸ All males over 18 in England and Wales had to take an oath “to live and die for the true Protestant religion, the liberties and rights of subjects, and the privilege of Parliaments”.⁴⁹ William was therefore born 1623 at the latest. Was he son of Raphe and Joan? Or was he the son of William and Sara of Stockenden? Deeds dated 17-18 Jun 1698 in Surrey Archives⁵⁰ regarding the lease and release of a Burgage tenement in Reigate mention a ?William Brockett.

Further north from Dorking and getting nearer to London, the following records have been found:

1. 1626 20 Feb Adrey Brockett was buried in St James Weybridge. Weybridge is c 12 m N of Dorking and c 4 m W of Walton on Thames.⁵¹
2. 1639 5 Feb Elizabeth daughter of Robert and Phillis Brocket was baptised at Walton-upon-Thames.⁵² Walton-upon-Thames is c 15 m N of Dorking. She was probably the Elizabeth Brockett who married Richard ADAMS 22 Oct 1668 in Chertsey, c 5 m W of Walton-upon-Thames.⁵³ As for her parents, no record has so far been found from 17th C London, and searches countrywide for Phillis produced nothing of relevance,⁵⁴ and for Robert—apart from in Northumberland—only the youngest son of Rev Edmund Brokett, baptised 1616 in Luton Bedfordshire, and still alive 1662. This is assuming that Robert of Wonersh’s wife, who was buried 5 May 1639, was Jane.
3. The 17th C Southwark clan who moved to Croydon.

Bocketts Farm, sometimes wrongly called Brocketts Farm, is a contemporary working farm south of Leatherhead.

Sussex

1. Singletons

William Brockett Brighton 1800: St Nicholas, the parish church of Brighton,

William Brockett Shoreham 1828:

Thomas and Fanny Brocket Brighton 1841: The census—which approximated ages—recorded “Thos’ Brocket, aged 38 [i.e. b c 1803], M[ale] S[ervant]; with Fanny Brocket, 37 [ie b c 1804], F[emale] S[ervant]; Eliz’ Tisle, 19, FS;—all born in the County—at Regency Sqr, Brighthelmston Parish [ie Brighton], in the household of John DELL, 58, Surgeon, and Eliz’ DELL, 50, both born in I[reland].”⁵⁵ Thomas and Fanny were presumably a couple, but they haven’t been found in the 1851 or 61 censuses, and no suitable baptism or marriage in England has so far been found.

Searches in Mar 2021 in FamilySearch, Ancestrry.com and FMP for other Broket baptisms, marriages, or burials in Sussex 1780-1830 produced no results apart from the 2 above.

2. Parish records

When parish records began a small clan was living in the centre of the county. They were probably related to the small clans in neighbouring Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey and like them they died out or moved on before the 18th C. The IGI records 11 baptisms 1601-73:

The IGI records 10 marriages 1562-1690:

The two oo spellings in 1562 and 1618 were scribal variants; no separate name existed, not even in Scotland.

The Sussex Marriage Index also records the marriage of Joan and John SPONER in 1595 Ditchley (Ditchling?)

Sussex Burial Inscriptions:⁵⁶

Ninian 1601-60 was a relatively wealthy Yeoman, leaving bequests of £580 over and above property and goods and chattels. He was a Quaker, imprisoned for his beliefs:

Extracts from the Will of Ninian Brockett, written 7 Feb 1659/60 proved 28 Oct 1661:⁵⁸   Read more

What became of the last generation is not known.

Page Last Updated: September 30, 2022