Middlemore Family Genealogy

5. Richard Middlemore, of Edgbaston, esquire, described in his will as "lord of Eggebaston." Asappeared from family papers shown to Dugdale, he was in 1446-47, when his father died, a minor, and consequently a ward to his feudal superior, Sir William Birmingham, of Birmingham. Un-fortunately, his proof of age has not been found, 'and 'the exact date of his birth is therefore unknown to us. In I478 he was one of the jurors at the Inquisitio post mortem of Sir William Birmingham.  In 1483 he witnessed a grant of the manor of Arley made by William Littleton, lord of Frankley. In 1490 he was party, together with John Middlemore, of Haselwell, his brother, or perhaps his nephew, to a final concord relating to lands in King's Norton.  In 1496 John Mytton, of Weston, devised to him, apparently as trustee, the manor of Bobington, in Staffordshire. His son's inquisition indicates that he was possessed of the manor of Studley and a messuage in Solihull, which he conveyed to Robert Throgmorton and others in trust for his son, Thomas Middlemore, and the latter's wife, Anne.  His own inquisi­tion shows that he also held the manor of Edgbaston of Edward Sutton, lord of Dudley, as of his Castle of Weley by the service of one knight's fee, worth 20 marks yearly, and that the manor of Studley was of  the same yearly value.  He died 16 February, 1503, leaving Thomas Middlemore his son and heir, aged 30 years.

His will, dated 28 November, 1502,, was proved 14 March, 1503: he desired to be buried in the churchyard of St. Bartholomew, of Eggebaston. He gave for the repair of that church vd., and the like sums to the Cathedral Church of St. Cedde, of Lichfield, the gild of the Holy Cross of Byrmyncham, the gild of St. John of Deryten; six pounds of wax were to be burnt on the day of his funeral. Margerie, his wife, was executrix and residuary legatee of his goods "to dispose them for the advantage and profit of my children."

Richard Middlemore married Margery^[5], daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton, of Coughton, near Studley, and still the seat of that ancient family, who derived their name from Throckmorton, in the parish of Fladbury, Worcestershire.

After her husband's death she took a solemn vow of chastity. Dugdale has preserved the text of the commission, as recorded in the Bishops' Register, and it seems desirable to reprint it here as he gives it, and at the same time to add a translation. He writes as follows:

"And now having mentioned her vow of chastitie to the end it may appeare with what ceremony the same was performed, I shall here exhibite the form of a commission made by the Bishop of this Dioces for the effecting thereof:

"Johannnes (&c.) Cov. & Lich. Episc. dilecto fratri nostro N. N. salutem & fraternam in Domino caritatem.

"Per partem honestae mulieris Margeriae Midlemore relictae Ricardi Midlemore nostrae Dioc. nobis est humiliter supplicatum ; quod cum ipsa propter ipsius animae salutem uberiorem, ac viduitatis ordinem strictiorem, ad Dei honorem devotius ac celebrius servandum, votum continentiae emittere, ac continentiam express & solempniter fovere; nec non in signum viduitatis suae hujus modi perpetuo, Deo dante, servando, Velum sive Peplum cum habitu hujusmodi viduis, continentiam perpetuam expresse et solemniter profitentibus debitam & consuetam, seu ab eis communiter usitatam, sibi sumere, & ad vitam ea uti in castitate, ut asserit devote intendat, ipsam ad hujusmodi suum pium propositum admittere dignaremur : Nosque hujusmodi supplicationem piam atque devotam, ac Deo placabilem reputantes, aliasque multiplicis occupati, quo minus hujusmodi intentum prefatae Margeriae ad debitum valeamus perducere effectum ; ad recipiendum igitur expresse & solemnitur contin entiae votum, & castitatis promissum dictae Margeriae; ac in signum hujusmodi continentiae & castitatis promisso perpetuo servando, eandem Margeriam Velandam seu Peplandam habitumq: viduitatis hujusmodi viduis, ut praefertur ad castitatis professionem dari & uti consuetam, cum unico annulo assignandum, caeteraque omnia & singula faciendum, excercendum & expediendum, quae in negotio hujusmodi de jure vel consuetudine necessaria seu oportuna fore dinoscuntur,vobis committimus potestatem per praesentes. "Sigillo nostro signatum (&c.)." "John, etc., Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, to our beloved brother N. N. health and brotherly love in the Lord.

"On behalf of the worthy woman Margery Midlemore, relict of Richard Midlemore, prayer was humbly made to us, that whereas she piously intends for the more profitable health of her soul and the more stringent order of widowhood to be kept to the honour of God more devoutedly and openly, to take on herself a vow of continence and to cherish continence in an explicit and solemn manner; also to take upon herself as the sign of widowhood of this character for ever, God granting, by wearing the veil or cloak with the dress due and accustomed by widows of this class, and to adopt it for a life of chastity as she alleges, we are willing that she should enter upon her pious purpose.

"And considering a prayer of this nature to be pious and devout and pleasing to God, and being otherwise much occupied, whereby we cannot give due effect to the intent of the said Margery, We therefore entrust authority to you by these presents expressly and solemnly to receive the said Margaret's vow of continence and promise of chastity, and for the sign of continence and chastity of this class, by keeping a perpetual promise, the said Margery is to be veiled or clad in a cloak, and is to be given the habit of widowhood usual to be assigned to widows of this class at the profession of chastity, together with one ring only, to do, exercise and perform all other things which in affairs of this sort are known to you to be by law or custom needful or convenient.

"Sealed with our seal, etc."

Dugdale also refers to a tradition that she ^" built the fair tower steeple " of Edgbaston, and the faft that her husband left by his will a legacy towards the repair of that church, and her own subsequent charitable bequest seem to strongly confirm the story^[6]. As executrix, she would be interested in the administration of the legacy, which it is likely enough she would augment from her own evidently ample means.

In her will, dated 14 August, 1530, her name is given as Marie, though in the calendar it is correctly rendered as Margery. This must be a clerical error, unless, indeed, she adopted the former name on taking the religious vow.

Dame^[7] Marie Middlemore; to be buried in the Church of Saynt Bartholmew of Eggebaston, bequests to "St. Chadd of Lichfield," "Saint Peter's aulter of Horborn " and " the chappell of Mosseley." Lands which she bought in the parishes  of Hales Abbey, Horborn, Eggebaston and elsewhere (excepting a term of years bought of Robert Walker to go to Elizabeth Taylour my servaunt), she devises to Robert Myddelmore; a lease bought of Elynor Hosyer to go to Richard Swyfte of Bermyngham, he paying 40s., "which I give to Margerye Agard "-legacies to servants, John Tonks and Thomas Povey-to Wenefride Middelmore, "a demyssent girdle," etc. "to Margerye Middelmore my goddaughter a goblet," to Thomas and Elizabeth Newhay, each a cow.

She directed "John Baker my preest to sing in the church of Eggebaston a hole year. Sir William Hatfield to have the bed he now lyeth on" my executor to kepe my mind every moneth during one yeare and bestow upon priests and clerks at every moneth according to the discretion of my godson Robert Middelmore. "And all my lands I bequeth to the said Robert Middelmore upon this condition following, so that he the said Robert and his heires shall fynd a preest at his wages to be resident at Stodeley to sing for the soules of my husband Richard Middelmore, som tyme lord of Eggebaston, and my soule, with all oure consangwynyte and affinitye giving to the same preest and to eury preest for his tyme bein for his wages and salarye vij marks of lawful money and yerely so t0 endure for ever more."

Robert Middelmore executor and residuary legatee; overseers "m} brother Dr. Throgm'ton and William Wyllington;" to each 50s. Proved by the executor, 6 February, 1530.

It seems evident from this will that Margery Middlemore though she selected Edgbaston for her burial-place, as her husband had done nearly thirty years before, yet must have considered Studley as possessing greater claims upon her. This might be expected, for here, as we have seen, her husband's grandfather, Thomas Middlemore, had founded a chantry, while her own family of Throckmorton was settled, as they still are, at Coughton, hard by. The endowment of seven marks is evidently that £4 13s. 4d. mentioned by Dugdale in his account of the chantry; and her qualification, that the priest was to be " resident," explains the cause of the complaint "that he did not duly attend here, but sang in other places at his pleasure."  Dame Margery was doubtless  an aged woman at the time of her death, and if she were the mother of Joan Middlemore, the wife of John Mytton, of Weston, she must, if we accept the given date of Joan Mytton's death in 1465 or 1475, have been well over ninety years of age. It is more likely that the dates given as to Joan Mytton are inaccurate, or that she was sister and not daughter of Richard Middlemore.  Assuming that Margery was about sixty-five at the time of her death, she would be about twenty-four when her son Thomas was born, and it has been suggested that she was but the second wife of Richard Middlemore, and not the mother of his children, and that this theory would explain the difficulty of the existence of a daughter, Joan Mytton, born probably, if we accept the printed pedigrees of Mytton, between 1535 and 1555. It is further suggested that the expression " godson " and not " grandson" in Margery's will; and " my " not ^" our" children in Richard's will confirms the view that she was not the mother of his children.  There is, however, not one item of evidence to show that Richard Middlemore was twice married, and the total absence thereof is not to be hastily rebutted.  In truth the difficulty of age is not avoided by suggesting that " godchildren " were not grandchildren, and obviously the chronological difficulty is scarcely lessened since a sponsor is usually not much the junior of the parents, while it would be natural enough for a devout lady like the vowess, Dame Margery, to use in her will the term godchild rather than grandchild.  That her husband used the term "my" children, not "our," in appointing his wife their guardian, is not remarkable and means little.  It is more significant that she benefited mainly the Middlemore family and endowed the Middlemore chantry, leaving to her own family merely the complimentary legacy for her brother and overseer, Dr. Throckmorton.

Of the family of Richard Middlemore and Margery Throckmorton we know for certainty only Thomas, their heir, and Anne Willington, but Joan Mytton is also stated to be a daughter. It does not seem unlikely that we may rightfully ascribe to them William Middlemore, rector of Birdingbury, and the Blessed Humphrey Middlemore, the Carthusian monk who, a few years ago, by the papal decree, was beatified with other English martyrs who, under Henry VIII, suffered for their faith.  In no other line of Middlemore does it seem possible to place the martyr, while it is interesting to note that the name of Humphrey^[8] was perpetuated by the Edgbaston Middlemores in the person of Humphrey Middlemore [8, iii], who was born about 1560, less than thirty years after the martyrdom of his namesake, and also in the succeeding generation [9, iii].  It is likely that the Middlemores of Edgbaston, so deeply attached as they were to the Roman obedience, would thus commemorate the martyrdom of Humphrey Middlemore, the Proctor of the Charterhouse. But it must be confessed that no confirmatory evidence of this theory has so far been discovered.

Children of Richard Middlemore and Margery Throckmorton:

1. Thomas Middlemore, of whom next (6).
2. Anne, mar. to William Willington, of Barcheston, near Shipston on-Stour, Warwickshire, son of John Willington of Toddenham, Gloucestershire, whose will was proved in 1512.  Of this William Willington, Dugdale says, "I find, that being a wealthy merchant of the Staple and settling himself here at Barcheston, he depopulated the town in 24 Hen. VII, making enclosure of 530 acres of land so that there was no more than 64 acres left for tillage, which were used by him as belonging to his Mannour house there and managed with one plough ; and that he had a very fair estate in lands in this county as also in Oxford and Gloucester shires ; but having no issue male advanced his seven daughters in marriage to divers good families." He predeceased his wife, leaving "divers large sums of money amounting to ,£3000 besides debts due to him of £2000 and a large personal estate in cattle, sheep and household goods." His will, dated 28 March, 1555, also shows that he had lands in Calice, which he left to George Bradney, brother of William.  He names, besides relatives of his own name, his cosens Robert Myddlemore, Richard Myddlemore, priest, Godith Bulstred, Elenor Agarde, Wenefred Standley and, Alice Barnes," and specifically names his seven daughters. The will, which contains a long settlement of his estates, became, on the death of his widow, the subject of a Chancery suit at the instance of Willington's stepson, Robert Myddil­more, who filed a bill against William Sheldon and his co­executors for payment of legacies.

After his wife's death Willington married Anne Mydelmore of Brayles, in which place he had purchased property. She was the widow of his brother-in-law, Thomas Middlemore, 0f Edgbaston and daughter of Richard Littleton, of Pillaton; their marriage licence was issued from the Faculty office, 8 November, 1545.

The altar tomb of William Willington and his first wife, Anne Middlemore, still exists in Barcheston church, " in that part of the church called Willington's ilea" It is engraved by Dugdale. The following inscription remains upon the tomb:

Here lyeth the bodies of William Willington of barson esquyer and Anne his Wyeffe Whiche William dyed the fyrste daye of Maye in the yere of our lorde God MCCCCClb unto whose Soules & Bodyes God grante a joyfull resurrection ; Amen.

Upon the tomb is the' effigy of Willington, dressed in sixteenth-century armour, but with ruff and tunic and sleeves slashed from elbow to wrist.  His wife's effigy, with similar sleeves and ruff, lies beside,

Figure 10  TOMB OF WILLIAM WILLINGTON AND ANNE MIDDLEMORE

while on the side of the tomb are half-length figures of the children. The arms shown are those of Willington impaling Middlemore. They had issue

1. Margery, married (i) Sir Ambrose Cave, knight, Privy Councillor and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Their only daughter married Henry Knollys, elder brother of the first Earl of Banbury, and from this match descended Paget, Marquess of Anglesey. And she married (2) Thomas Holte, esquire, of Aston, ancestor of the Holtes of Aston, Baronets.
2. Dorothy, named in will of her grandfather, John Willington, of Toddenham, and doubtless died young.
3. Alys, also so named and likewise died young.

4. Godith, married Basil Feilding, of Newenham Padox, Warwickshire, son of Sir William Feilding, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Poultney, of Misterton, a name already associated with the Middlemores and Edgbaston in the preceding century (see p. 21, ante). From this alliance descend the Earls of Denbigh, the first Earl being the Royalist leader who, in 1643, attacked Birmingham, and was killed in a skirmish at Smethwick.
5. Mary, married William Sheldon, of Beoley in Worcestershire, and thus became ancestor of Ralph Sheldon, of Beoley, the antiquary, whose assistance is warmly acknowledged by Dugdale.
6. Elizabeth, married Edward Boughton, of Lawford, Warwickshire, and from them descend the Boughtons and Rouse-Boughtons, now represented by Sir Charles Rouse-Boughton, Bart.
7. Margery, married Sir Edward Greville, of Milcote, knight, who was nephew of that Fulk Greville who married the heiress of the Willoughby family and became ancestor of the Lords Willoughby de Broke.
8. Anne, married Francis Mountford, of Kingshurst, and their descendants continued at Bescot, near Walsall, till the beginning of the eighteenth century, and they have doubtless left descendants in the male line, for the name is still to be found in the district.
9. Katherine, the youngest of the co-heiresses, was thrice married. Her first husband was Richard Kempe; her second was Sir William Catesby, of Lapworth, great-grandson of that Sir William Catesby referred to in the well-known lines

   "The rat, the cat, and Lovell the dog, Rule all England under the Hog."

The grandson of Sir William Catesby and Katherine Willington was that notorious Robert Catesby who "being unhappily confederate with the gunpowder conspirators in 3 Jac. and thereupon slain with Percy at Holbeach House in Lincolnshire, was afterwards by Aft of Parliament attainted, as is fully mani­fested by our vulgar writers."

Her third husband was her own cousin Anthony Throckmorton, the eighth son of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton.

In 1555 William Willington settled various lands in the counties of Oxford, Worcester, and Gloucester, upon his daughter Katherine and her husband Anthony Throckmorton, Robert Myddlemore being one of the trustees.

3. Joan; apparently she married (i) Thomas Brome, of Wodlow, a son of John Brome of Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, and (2) John Mytton^[9] of Weston-under-Lizard.

There seems to have been anciently an inscription in Birmingham church, described in the Bridges MSS.. as "a monument of Birmingham defaced."

Johanna >Mitton nuper uxoc Joh'is >Mitton ar. et quo'dam uxoc Thome Browne ar. 1500

Browne is probably a copyist's error for Brome, a common mistake, as Dugdale points out. In a window of the library at Baddesley Clinton the arms of Brome appear impaling Middlemore with the names "Thomas Brome," ^[10]"Joan Middlemore."

According to the Visitation of Shropshire, 1623, John Mytton, of Weston-under-Lizard, esquire, married (1) Anne, daughter of Thomas Swinnerton, of Hilton, Staffordshire, who died 1470, and (2) Joan, daughter of Richard Middlemore, of Edgbaston. One version states that she died 16 July, 1465, and another, 25 July, 1475. Presuming that she was the daughter of Margery Throckmorton, the latter must have survived her married daughter either fifty-five or sixty-five years.  Thomas  Middlemore, her brother, was, as we know, not born till about 1479.  As her father, Richard Middlemore, being ward to his feudal superior, Sir William Birmingham, in 1446, probably was born not earlier than 1432, it is just possible that he was father of Joan, born about 1550, and married at fifteen.  If we assume the later date, 1475, and suggest 1455, the difficulty would not be so great, as the father would be twenty-three at her birth, and she would be twenty at the time of his death.      This is on the assumption that in 1446 Richard Middlemore was on the eve of completing his feudal full age of fourteen years.  It seems safer to conclude that both dates, 1465 and 1475, are errors due to a mis-reading of the inscription on the monument. If the dates were given as mcccccrb, or mcccccrrb, it is possible that the last t was read as 1, thus mcccclrb, or mcccclrrb, i.e., either 1465 or 1475.  Now John Mytton, who died 7 February, 1499, mentions in his will, which bears date 21 Decemberi 1499, his wife Jane; from this it has been thought that he was thrice married, and that his last two wives bore the same Christian name, Joan or Jane.  But the Visitation of Stafford refers to the monumental effigies, no longer existing, of John Mytton and his two wives, and states that on the tomb were three shields: (i) Mytton quartering Peshale, (2) Swinnerton, (3) Middlemore quartering Edgbaston.  It is in the highest degree unlikely that had he been thrice married all mention of his third and last wife would have been omitted from his tomb.  Further, we have seen (p. 29 ante), that John Mytton, in 1496, demised the manor of Bobington to Richard Middlemore. It is certainly not probable that Mytton would seleft as his trustee the father of his second wife, who, according to the dates above given, had died twenty-one or thirty-one years before. But such a settle­ment of a secondary manor like Bobington would be a perfectly natural proceeding if he were then, 1496, about to marry Middlemore's daughter^[11].

It seems therefore probable that both the alleged dates of her death, 1465 and 1475 are erroneous; that she was probably born about that time, that she, a young widow, married in 1496 John Mytton, then presumably upwards of fifty years of age, that he died in 1499, and that she survived him, dying in her mother's lifetime in 1515 or 1525.

John Mytton, of Weston-under-Lizard in Staffordshire, sheriff of that county in 1495, was son of William Mytton of the same place, thrice sheriff of his county, viz., 1443, 1458 and 1463, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Corbett of Lee.

John Mytton's issue by his second wife were (perhaps) Griffith Mytton and two daughters.  The monument to him and his two wives unfortunately no longer exists.  The inscription now in Weston church, is a subsequent and apparently erroneous one, erected by Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham, when she restored the church in 1699-1702.

 In addition to the foregoing, it is not unlikely that the two following were sons of Richard Middlemore and Margery Throckmorton:

4. William Middlemore, presented to the reftory of Birdingbury^[12] 24 October, 1539, on the cession of Robert Throgmorton.This may be a brother of Dame Margery; it is not unlikely that his successor as rector of Birdingbury would be his nephew, his sister Margery's son. He had also a nephew, William Middlemore, son of his sister Eleanor, but this latter was the squire of Hawkeslow (47) who died in 1549
5. Blessed Humphrey Middlemore, who became a Carthusian monk, and was proctor of the Charterhouse, was executed with others of his fraternity in 1535; at the same time, William Mydmore, monk of the Charterhouse, was committed to the Tower.

In 1886, by a papal decree^[13], he was beatified with fifty three others, of whom the most distinguished were the pious Sir Thomas More and John Fisher, the aged bishop of Rochester.  Of Blessed Humphrey' Middlemore, like many others named in this decree of beatification, we know nothing more than their names, and the fart that they suffered death for their faith. A younger son who entered into religion would leave no traces behind him, and his position in the family pedigree is but a matter of supposition. Richard Middlemore's will fails to mention his children by name, and Dame Margery's was made after Humphrey Middlemore had suffered death. Still, it can hardly be deemed unlikely that a younger son of the vowess should become a monk. As already mentioned (p. 35 ante), the christian name of Humphrey is found perpetuated in later generations of this line.