Family:Whitney, Henry (s1535-1591)

Family Relationships

Robert = Joan =2 Lord John =3 Sir Thomas Wilford Fermor Mordant Kempe, Kt. ? |_____________________________________ | | | | | Henry = Anne Joan = Robert Audrey William Whitney Wilford Wilford Apreece Wilford Wilford |________________________ | | | | Joan Henry Robert Thomas Whitney Whitney Whitney Whitney

Henry Whitney, Esquire, parentage unknown, was born say 1535,^[1] and died 11 Nov 1591, Mitcham, Surrey.^[2]

He married, before 1558, Anne Wilford, daughter of Robert and Joan (Fermor) Wilford.^[3] Joan Fermor was the daughter of Richard Fermor, Knt. of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire by Anne, daughter of William Browne, Knt.^[4] Robert Wilford, a merchant tailor and citizen of London, wrote his will 18 Sep 1545 and it was probated 23 Oct 1545. His widow Joan married (2) John, Lord Mordant, who d. 1572. She m. (3) Sir Thomas Kempe, Knight. In addition to their daughter Anne, wife of Henry Whitney, Robert and Joan Wilford were also the parents of Johane Wilford, wife of Robert Apreece, Awdrye Wilford, and William Wilford.

According to A History of the County of Surrey:^[5]

"At the Dissolution Biggin is set out as yielding £11 1s. 7d. in rent, the perquisites of court in Mitcham being worth 7s. to the priory. Henry VIII in 1544 granted it under the name of the manors of Biggin and Tamworth to Robert Wilford, together with land called Mareslonde in Mitcham. (Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. xxvii) Wilford's widow Joan married Lord Mordaunt, (His name is mentioned in Star Chamb. Proc. Hen. VIII, bdle. 17, no. 169) who held his court as life-tenant in his wife's interest in 1567. Wilford left two daughters - Anne the wife of Henry Whitney, and Joan, who married Robert Apreece. In 1564 (Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 6 & 7 Eliz.) Henry Whitney and Anne conveyed their moiety to John Reynolds on trust and in 1595 (Ibid. East. 37 Eliz.) gave one George Smythe a right of free fishery. In 1583 Robert Apreece, his wife and son sold their moiety to Henry Whitney, probably son of Henry Whitney and Anne Wilford (described as a servant to Sir Thomas Bromley, the chancellor). (Manning and Bray, Hist. of Surr. ii, 498.) In 1603 (Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 Jas. I.) Henry and Ann Whitney, Ann Whitney, widow, and John and Thomas Whitney sold the manor to Sir John Carryll. The manor extended into Tooting Graveney and Streatham and comprised 640 acres, including 200 of wood."

According to A Topographical History of Surrey:^[6]

"The Manor of Biggin and Tamworth. - This was, probably, one of the manors held by Fitz-Anseulf at the time of the Domesday survey. The fee afterwards belonged to the Clares and their successors, earls of Gloucester; for Hugh de Audele, earl of Gloucester in right of his wife Margaret de Clare, died seised of it in 1347; but it was held as of the Honour of Gloucester, by the prior and canons of Merton. Soon after the suppression of that priory, Henry the Eighth granted the manors of Byggin and Tamworth, with other lands and tenements, to Robert Wylford, citizen of London, and Joan his wife. She appears to have survived her husband, and is supposed to have remarried John, lord Mordaunt, who was lord of the manor in 1567. This estate afterwards came into the possession of the two daughters and coheirs of Wylford; and Henry Whitney, who married one of them, having purchased the other share, conveyed the whole to Sir Francis Carew, in 1583; who sold it, in 1603, to Sir John Caryll, sen."

According to The Environs of London: Volume 1: County of Surrey:^[7]

"The manor of Bigging and Tamworth belonged to Merton Abbey, and was granted by Henry VIII. after the suppression of that monastery to Robert Wilford, merchant taylor, for the sum of 4861. 14s. (Pat. 36 Hen. VIII. pt. 27. May 19) In 1569 it appears to have been the property of John Lord Mordaunt, in right of his wife (Extracts from the Court Rolls of the Manor, communicated by Mr. R. Barnes, the steward. The whole of the following account is derived from the same source). In 1582 Henry Whitney, Esq. held a court as lord of this manor, though it appears that he purchased a moiety thereof the ensuing year of Robert Aprece, Esq. The Whitneys alienated the manor in 1603 to Sir John Carrill."

In 1558, Henry Whitney and his wife Anne sued William Wilford, probably Anne's brother.

Sometime after 1583, John Talbot (c1535-1607?), English Catholic layman, was restricted to the house of Henry Whitney, at Mitcham, Surrey, before being imprisoned in Wisbech Castle in 1588.^[8]

On 2 Mar 1584, Henry Whitney was licensed to convey to Richard Martin land in Clopham, in Surrey.^[9]

In 1586, Henry Whitney and his wife Anne were involved in a Chancery suit against Thomas Blancke, Knight, Mayor and escheator of the City of London. (See C 33/72)

On 2 May 1590, Henry Whitney was licensed to convey the manor of Biggin, in Surrey, to Sir Francis Carew.^[10]

His Inquisition Post Mortem, dated 1593, mentions widow Anne, son and heir Henry, aged 23 years, son Rob[er]t, son Thomas, and daughter Johanne wife of Richard Lane. His manors of Biggin and Tamworth are mentioned.^[11]

He lived in Carshalton and Mitcham, Surrey.^[12]

Children of Henry and Anne (Wilford) Whitney:

i.	Joan Whitney, b. say 1558, m. Richard Lane of Bridgtowne, Warwickshire.[13] She was listed in her father's IPM in 1593.[14] a. Edward Lane, b. ca. 1580, aged 39 in 1619; m. Maria Combes, daughter of Thomas Combes, of Old Stratford, Warwickshire. b. Maria Lane; m. Richard Bishop, of Cholsey, Berkshire.
ii.	Henry Whitney, b. ca. 1568,[15] supposedly bp. 12 Oct 1566, St. Bartholomew, London[16] though this claim is attributed to a known fraudster and has not been confirmed. He was the eldest son and heir. He m. Anne Saunders.[17]
iii.	Robert Whitney, b. say 1570, supposedly bp. 1567, St. Bartholomew, London,[18] though this claim is attributed to a known fraudster and has not been confirmed. In any event, he was listed in his father's IPM in 1593.[19]
iv.	Thomas Whitney, b. say 1578.[20] In Jul 1592, Thomas Whitney, son of Henry Whitney of Minehall, in the county of Surrey, gentleman, apprenticed to William Persie of Watling Street. On 14 Apr 1600, Thomas Whitney made free by Henry Pratt, his assigned master, from Mr. Rowe, who was his assigned master from William Persie, his first master. The report of Mr. Rowe for two years and by Mr. Persie for two years and three months, certified by their letters to Henry Pratt for the residue.[21] He was listed in his father's IPM in 1593.[22] On 27 Oct 1620, he brought suit against Robert Ap Reece.[23]

Notes

Henry Whitney's father-in-law Robert Wilford acquired Tamworth Manor, located in Mitcham, Surrey in 1544, but prior to that he was mentioned as being a merchant of London. It is possible that Henry Whitney was only in Mitcham due to his wife's inheritance, but was originally from London, or an as-yet-unidentified location.

References

1. ^  Supposition.

2. ^  Inquisition Post Mortem for Henry Whitney of Mitcham, Surrey, 1593, C 142/235/98; Henry Austin Whitney, Memoranda Relating to Families of the Name of Whitney in England (Boston: 1859), p. 9.

3. ^  S. Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney family of Connecticut, and its affiliations; being an attempt to trace the descendants, as well in the female as the male lines, of Henry Whitney, from 1649 to 1878; to which is prefixed some account of the Whitneys of England (New York: Priv. Print. [Bradford Press], 1878), p. xxiii.

4. ^  Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 556.

5. ^  'Parishes: Mitcham', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 229-234, found on British History Online.

6. ^  A Topographical History of Surrey by Edward Wedlake Braley, John Britton and Edward William Brayley. Published by R.B. Ede in 1844 in London, Vol. IV. Part I., p. 88.

7. ^  Daniel Lysons, 'Mitcham', The Environs of London: volume 1: County of Surrey (1792), pp. 350-60. Date accessed: 2 December 2006.

8. ^  Herbermann, Charles F. and others, The Catholic encyclopedia: an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church, Vol. 14 (The Universal Knowlege Foundation, Inc.: New York, 1912), p. 432.

9. ^  Whitney, Henry Austin, Memoranda Relating to Families of the Name of Whitney in England, (Boston: 1859), p. 9.

10. ^  Whitney, Henry Austin, Memoranda Relating to Families of the Name of Whitney in England, (Boston: 1859), p. 9.

11. ^  C 142/235/98

12. ^  Archive:The Whitney Family of Connecticut, page xxiii

13. ^  The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the year 1619; College of Arms (Great Britain) Taken by William Camden, John Fetherston et al., p. 307.

14. ^  C 142/235/98.

15. ^  He was 23 years when his father died per his father's IPM.

16. ^  S. Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney family of Connecticut, and its affiliations; being an attempt to trace the descendants, as well in the female as the male lines, of Henry Whitney, from 1649 to 1878; to which is prefixed some account of the Whitneys of England (New York: Priv. Print. [Bradford Press], 1878), p. xxiii.

17. ^  L.D.S. International Genealogical Index, extraction program, batch # M001611.

18. ^  S. Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney family of Connecticut, and its affiliations; being an attempt to trace the descendants, as well in the female as the male lines, of Henry Whitney, from 1649 to 1878; to which is prefixed some account of the Whitneys of England (New York: Priv. Print. [Bradford Press], 1878), p. xxiii.

19. ^  C 142/235/98.

20. ^  Supposition based upon apprenticeship.

21. ^  Frederick Clifton Pierce, The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635 (Chicago, 1895), p. 17.

22. ^  C 142/235/98.

23. ^  C 33/140, f. 345.

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