The Middlemores of London and Bristol

 

 T

HOSE Middlemores with whom we now concern ourselves settled in London and Bristol, where they became wealthy merchants, and largely benefited the Clothworkers' Company in the former city, which still possesses silver plate with the Middlemore arms. No positive evidence absolutely proving their connection with the Middlemores of Edgbaston has been discovered, but from the fact that they were, as shown by their wills, closely related to the Chetwynd family, we can only assume that they descended from a brother of that Mary Middlemore, daughter of Robert Middlemore (7), of Edgbaston, who married John Chetwynd, esquire, of Ingestre.      The only brother of Mary Chetwynd, other than the squire of Edgbaston, who could have been their ancestor was William Middlemore, the Birmingham merchant, afterwards of Longdon, Staffordshire, with whom we have already dealt (p. 49 ante).  That these Middlemores engaged in the important clothing trade, while one of them was a dyer at Bristol, of which cathedral his cousin, Dr. Chetwynd, was dean, indicates a connection in the sixteenth century with the west of England, anciently the principal seat of the clothing industry.  At Stonehouse, in Gloucestershire, where clothiers are numerous, there was settled at that time a family of Middlemore, as is shown by the will of William Middlemore, of Stonehouse, in 1551.  It is scarcely likely that he was son of William Middlemore,

Figure 16  Key pedigree F.  The Middlemores of London and Bristol and of the Clothworkers' Company

 ofLongdon, who was living in 1589, nearly forty years later, for it is more probable that there was an earlier connection with the clothing trade, and that William Middlemore ofStonehouse was of a previous generation. However this may be, the precise connection, if it existed, between the Middlemores ofStonehouse and Edgbaston is a puzzle not likely to be solved, for naturally the record left by younger sons who engaged in trade is but scanty. The Middlemores ofGloucestershire will consequently be dealt with separately amongst the unidentified lines of Middlemore, but there seems sufficient justification now to place the London and Bristol Middlemores amongst those of Edgbaston, and we accordingly commence their genealogy with:

13. William Middlemore, of Birmingham, merchant [son of Robert Middlemore (7) ofEdgbaston], and afterwards ofLongdon, Staffordshire.  What is known ofhim is given at p. 49 ante.  It is presumed that he married and was father of:

i. Samuel Middlemore, of whom next (14).

ii. William Middlemore, of the city of Bristol, dyer, at which place he was residing in 1628, when his brother, Samuel Middlemore, of London, bequeathed to him L200. His wife was Mary, daughter of Mr. Frauncis Hawkins.

 They had children, for he desired to be buried in the church of Temple, as near as possible to his children. His own will is dated 3 December, 1656.  He devised to his wife for her life, two houses in Bristol, Newport Temple, which at her death were to go to the poor for the term of five years, and then were to descend to John Middlemore, the eldest son of his deceased kinsman Henry Middlemore, with remainder to John's sister:  The overseers were Mr. Frauncis Hawkins, father-in-law, and Mr. John Graye. The will was proved by his wife Mary, the sole executrix and residuary legatee on 2 October, 1658.

iii. Grace, who married Richard Millard who is named, 1628, inthe will of her brother Samuel as a legatee for L100 for her preferment if she survived her husband. Possibly she is the "cousin "Grace Middlemore, a legatee for L10in the will, 1643, of William Middlemore, of Ipsley (son of William Middlemore of Hawkesley, 4q). If so, it is singular that she should be mentioned under her maiden name, since she had then been married some fifteen years.  On the assumption that she was daughter of William Middlemore, of Longdon, she would be first cousin to Margaret Middlemore, of Edgbaston, wife of William Middlemore (4q), of Hawkesley, and mother of William Middlemore, of Ipsley.

14. Samuel Middlemore[presumably son of William Middlemore ( 13), of Longdon], was a citizen and clothworker of London, and a very considerable benefactor to the Company of Clothworkers[1]. He took up his freedom in that Company in 1603 by servitude, having been apprenticed to Mr. John Dudley, of London, clothworker, whom he describes as a "loving and kind maister," and to whose son, Mr. John Dudley, he gave £30
 as an acknowledgment. He was a parishioner of St. Clement's, Eastcheap, and desired to be buried in that church. As his "anniversary" is on 12 October, 1628, that, no doubt, was the date of his death[2].

In 1620 with William Wollaston, of Ancott, Staffordshire, esquire, he purchased from William Cressey, ofOldcotes, Notts, esquire, and Leonard Cressey, his son and heir, the manor of Oldcotes, and premises in Blyth, Harworth, Farworth, Owldcoats, Sturrop, and Morney, Notts, but in 1622 they resold to William Terry, citizen and draper, of London. It was probably but a speculation or trust transaction.

He married, at Waltham Abbey, 5October, 1612, Sara, fourth daughter of Henry Wollaston, citizen and draper of London, by Alice Wollaston his Wife. She is named in her father's Will as legatee ofa "gold ring with a whistle in it that was her mother's."  She was buried in St. Clement's church, Eastcheap.  Her brother, Thomas Wollaston, was Sheriff ofLincoln in 1629, and died in 1666, aged eighty-six.

 

Text Box: Wollaston.-The Wollastons were an old Staffordshire family, and the name occurs as early as the fourteenth century, when John de Wolaston and William de Wolaston were members of Parliament for Stafford. But this family, which still exists, traces back to William Wollaston a prosperous yeoman at Perton, near Wolverhampton, whose curious rimed epitaph, early in Elizabeth's reign, is in Tettenhall church, from which we learn that "with sweat of brow he went to plow," and that "he fourscore years and eight did live, beloved of rich and poor." One of his three sons, Henry Wollaston the prosperous London citizen, and practically the founder of this family, was father of Sara Middlemore. He obtained a grant or confirmation of arms in 1616. Of this family was William Wollaston, author of "The Nature of Religion delineated," who wrote a history of his family in 1709 which is printed in Nichols's "History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester." This is reprinted with additions and corrections in Waters's " Chesters of Chicheley." Another notable member was Dr. W. H. Wollaston the celebrated chemist, and President of the Royal Society. A detailed pedigree of Wollaston of Shenton, bringing down the family to modern times, is given in "Leicestershire Pedigrees," by the Rev. W. G. D. Fletcher. The arms of Wollaston are, Argent, three mullets sable.
The children of Samuel Middlemore and Sara Wollaston were:

 

i.   Samuel Middlemore, buried in St. Clement's church, Eastcheap.

ii.  Hester, buried in St. Clement's church, Eastcheap.

iii. Henry, of whom next (15).

iv. John Middlemore, of London, merchant.  Like his father, he was a substantial benefactor to the Clothworkers' Company, of which he became a freeman by patrimony in 1645.

His will, dated 22 June, 1647, was proved by Edmund Trench, 3 August, 1647 ; contains numerous charitable bequests, and he recites that his father, Samuel Middlemore, bequeathed £800 to the Clothworkers' Company, he desired to add to it, and gave them £100 for the purchase of land : to uncle William Middlemore, £5 : to brother Henry Middlemore, £300, and, £100 to each of Henry Middlemore's two children, John and Rebecca: to brothers-in-law, Dr. Trench and Dr. Drake, and to sisters Mary Trench and Susan Drake, £10each, and the residue he gives to the children of his three brothers, Henry Middlemore, Dr. Trench and Dr. Drake.  Names the Wollaston family and his cousin, Sarah Edlin, and desires to be buried in St. Clemenes, Eastcheap, near his father.

v. Mary, living in 1669, married Dr. Edmund Trench.

vi. Susan, married Dr. Drake.

His will dated 22 October, 1628, and proved on the 28th of the same month, is to the following effect:

 

To be buried in the parish church of St. Clement's, Eastcheape, where I am now a parishioner, near where my late loving and kind wife, Sara Middlemore,
 and two of my children lie buried; lands to his fouer children, Henry, John, Mary and Susan, equally: leaves money to the two hospitals and three prisons of this city, viz., Christ's, St. Thomas', the two compters and Ludgate to free some of the prisoners ; £5to his god­children when they can say by hart the Lord's prayer, the creed and the ten commandments, and shall answer such reasonable questions of catechizing as they shall demand of them ; to Dr. Speight our parson, £6 13s. 4d. and 6 1/2 yards of good black cloth of 24s. a yard; our late minister Mr. Day; Mr. Edward Ashe that preached in the late great sickness at Ridgley in Staffordshire : considerable benefactions to the Clothworkers' Company; £200 to my loving brother, William Middlemore, of Bristol, clothier: to Jane, daughter of the late James Benson, of Worcester, clothier, lease of a house in Bristol, with remainder to my son Henry in recompense of the profit of £100 I received for him from his grandfather, Mr. Henry Wollaston: also to him £200 when he is of age "because he is my eldest son and to induce him to be loving and kind to his brother and sisters;" Grace Millard my sister: William Denson her son.         He names also; loving kinsmen, Mr. Thomas Chetwynd, Sir Walter Chetwynd, and Dr. Chetwynd, dean of Bristoll, and several members of the Wollaston family, besides many bequests of rings to friends; Mrs. Price, wife to the late William Price, our parish clerk, and who teacheth my children. Executors, well-beloved brother-in-law, Mr. T. Burnell, and loving kinsman, Mr. John Wollaston.

15. Henry Middlemore, of Anderton[3], Bucks, eldest son, was evidently named after his grandfather, Henry Wollaston, who bequeathed to him £100. He is not improbably the Henry Middlemore who, 28 October, 1639, had licence to marry Elizabeth Baynbrigge, spinster. He left no will, for on 6 November, 1654, administration of his effects was granted, during the minority of his children, John and Rebecca, to Philip Chetwind, their curator, who was doubtless their cousin.              Henry Middlemore was admitted to the Inner Temple in November, 1633.

His children were:

i. John Middlemore, under age in 1654. and living in 1669, and then mentioned as an annuitant in his sister's will. Nothing more is known of him.

ii. Rebecca, who was of St. Olave's, Hart Street, spinster, when she made her nuncupative will, about 28 December, 1669, leaving a house at Bristol, which she had bought from him, to her brother John, and £30.  She also gave to her aunt, Mrs. Mary Trench, £100, and the same amount to her cousin, Mr. Edmund Trench, jun., gives the like sum, each paying to her brother John an annuity of £6.  Her residuary estate, about £70,be spent on funeral and mourning expenses.  Declared in the presence of credible witnesses, Mary Trench and Thomas Trench.  Letters of administration were granted 21 January, 1669, to Edmund Trench.

Nothing further is known of this line of Middlemore, and they are now only remembered by their liberal benefactions to the Clothworkers' Company. It seems most probable that they became extinct for evidently no knowledge of any descendants survived in the next century, since in 1762 the Clothworkers, out of gratitude to their worthy benefactors, Samuel Middlemore and John Middlemore, granted the free­dom of this company to John Middlemore, of Grantham, who was of the very distinct line of Haselwell, but seems to have had an idea that he was nearly related to these benefactors of the Clothworkers' Company, though it is quite evident that such was not the case.

 

 


[1] The arms of Middlemore with crest and the motto, " Medio tutissimus ibis," appear on two salvers given by Samuel Middlemore to this Company. The Court of the Company on 2o Oaober, 1762, " as a testimony of their respect to the memory of their worthy benefactors Mr. Samuel Middle­more and Mr. John Middlemore (his son), was pleased to compliment John Middlemore, esquire, of Grantham, Lincoln, a descendant of those two worthy members of this Company, and merchants in London, with the Freedom of the Company," and he was admitted to the Livery as an honorary member on 26 November, 1766.

It is somewhat remarkable that John Middlemore, of Grantham, should have set up this claim to descent from the clothworkers, only a hundred and fifteen years after the death of John Middlemore, of London, in 1647, and we can only conclude that John Middlemore, of Grantham, knew nothing beyond his grandfather. So far from being descended from Samuel and John, the two lines had been distinct families since the days of Henry VII and John Middlemore, of Grantham, was but a very distant cousin, and as far removed as eighth in descent from their common ancestor !

[2] In 1874. was published "The Employment of Time, a sermon preached before the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers in the church of St. Clement's, near Eastcheap, in the City of London, Oct. 12, 1874.. The Anniversary of Mr. Samuel Middlemore, Citizen and Clothworker of London, who died 1628," by W. J. Hall, rector.

[3] It does not appear that there is any such place in Buckinghamshire, and perhaps Sanderton, near Prince's Risborough, is intended. The regis­ters do not begin till after the death of Henry Middlemore.