Some notes on the will of Richard Hawkins

Before Christmas I posted my transcription of the 1640 will of the recusant Kent landowner, Richard Hawkins, the husband of Mary Langworth. In this post I’ll share some reflections on what the will can tell us about Richard, his family and his Catholic connections.

Richard asks to be ‘decentlie buryed’ in the parish church at Boughton-under-Blean, next to his brother Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, who was recently deceased, and his parents Thomas Hawkins the elder and ‘Dame Anne his wife’, both of whom had died about fifteen years previously.

Hawkins family tomb, parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Boughton-under-Blean

Richard Hawkins makes generous provision in his will for five children – his sons John and Charles, and his daughters Katherine, Bennet and Martha. I haven’t been able to discover what became of any of them, though Katherine is probably the niece who is mentioned in the will of Richard’s brother Thomas Hawkins the younger. Notable by her absence from the will is Richard and Mary Hawkins’ other daughter Anne who, as I mentioned in an earlier post, joined a community of English Franciscan nuns in exile in Brussels and would have been about thirty years old when her father died.

Among the properties left to his younger son Charles is one in Selling, near Boughton, called ‘Solestreete’, which Richard had apparently purchased from Anthony and Thomas Langworth. These were almost certainly the sons of Adam Langworth, the brother of Richard’s father-in-law Dr John Langworth – and therefore his wife Mary’s cousins. This suggests a continuing close relationship between the Hawkins family and their Langworth relatives, though I have no information as to whether Adam Langworth or his offspring were also recusants.

At least two other relatives were among the witnesses to Richard Hawkins’ will. One of these was William Pettit, who was probably his cousin (Richard’s mother’s maiden name was Pettit). The Pettits, who lived at Colkyns in Boughton, were another prominent Kent recusant family. The other was Katherine Kirton, who was almost certainly a relative of the recusant physician John Kirton, described as a nephew in the will of Richard’s brother Thomas Hawkins the younger. Katherine may have been John Kirton’s sister, or perhaps his mother.

Wootton Lodge, Staffordshire, built by Sir Richard Fleetwood (photograph by Roger Temple, via geograph.org.uk)

We learn from Richard Hawkins’ will that he had purchased annuities from two prominent members of the Staffordshire gentry, suggesting a connection of some kind with that county. Sir Richard Fleetwood of ‘Kullwidge’ (Culwich or Caldwick) had been created a baronet in 1611 by James I and served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire. Sir Walter Heveningham of Pipe had also served as High Sheriff. Both men were staunch Catholics and, despite their public status, had suffered for their recusancy, with Sir Walter and his wife being fined frequently for their non-attendance at church.

‘A perfect member of his misticall bodie the auntient holly Catholique and appostollicall Church’: the last will and testament of Richard Hawkins

In the last post I wrote about the recusant Richard Hawkins of Selling, Kent, who married Mary Langworth, daughter of the clergyman and poet Dr John Langworth. Richard Hawkins died in 1642, the first year of the English Civil War, but he had made his last will and testament two years previously. My transcription of the will follows, and in the next post I’ll discuss what we can learn from it about Richard’s family and associates.

In the name of God Amen the twentie fourth daie of November Anno Domini One thousand six hundredth fortie and one I Richard Hawkins of the parish of Boughton under the Bleane in the Countie of Kent Esquire beinge in perfect health and in a disposing memory I give God heartie thankes And yet knowinge nothinge to be more uncertaine than the houre of Death, Therefore while good opportunitie serveth, And also to prevent worldlie cogitacons against the time or houre of my death, And that I maie bee wholly intentive to the good of my Soule in prepareinge for the greater Accompt of all Accompts I have to make, to sett a perfect order and stay for my wife and children, that after my death noe variance strife or debate neither in present or future maie arrise about the same soe neere as in mee lyeth to prevent, ffor which respecte I doe make and ordaine this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following ffirst I bequeath my Soule into the handes of Almightie God my Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier most humblie and from the bottome of my hearte craving and asking mercy pardon and forgivenesse of all my sinnes that through frailtie I have comitted in the whole course of my life, appealing in this behalf from his Justice, unto his incomprehensible Mercie without the which noe flesh can bee saved, Trustinge and confiding through the merritte of the precious passion of Christ Jesus his sonne whome I acknowledge to bee my Mediator and Saviour, will graunt mee full remission of all my former sinnes and misdeeds whatsoever comitted, beseeching him whensoever I shall departe this life, I maie dye a perfect member of his misticall bodie the auntient holly Catholique and appostollicall Church, And my bodie I will to be decentlie buryed in Boughton Church next unto my Brother Sir Thomas, and neere my ffather Sir Thomas Hawkins knight, and Dame Anne his wife my deere and most honoured Parents which I leave to the discrecon of my Executor hereafter named. Imprimis I give to the poore of the parish of Boughton abovesaid twelve pence a piece to fortie of the poorest people the next daie after my buryall. And also I doe give to thirtie two of the poorest of the said parish every St Thomas daie before Christmasse one seame of wheate and halfe a seame of Maulte for five yeares together The wheate to bee delivered out in Pecks and the Maulte in gallons by my Executor or his assignes. Item I give unto thirtie of the poorest in Hernhill twelve pence a piece the next daie after my buryall Item I give unto twentie of the poorest of the Parishe of Sellinge twelve pence a piece the next daie after my buryall. Item I give and bequeath to my Daughters Katherine and Bennett to each of them One thousand poundes apiece of lawful money of England to bee paid unto them by my Executor hereafter named at their respectives age of twentie one yeares or daies of marriages which shall first happen. Item I give and bequeathe to my Daughter Martha the remainder of her porcon I promised her three hundreth and fiftie poundes to bee paid unto her by my said Executor within one yeare after my decease If it bee not before that tyme paid. Item I give and bequeath to my youngest sonne Charles the some of fower hundreth poundes of lawfull money of England to bee likewise paid unto him by my said Executor within one yeare after my decease If I make not a provision for him to that value over and above the lands and tenements I give him here in this present expressed. And untill the said respective porcons shall become due and payable unto my said Daughters Katherine and Bennett, my will and meaning is my Executor shall paie and satisfie unto them fortie poundes per Annum a piece at the two usuall feasts and daies of payment vizt. At the feast of Saint Michaell Tharkaungell and Thannunciacon of our blessed Lady St Mary the virgin by even and equall porcons toward their maynteynance and livelihood. And to my Daughter Martha in like manner until her said porcon shall become due and payable twentie poundes per Annum to be paid her. And in case my said Executor shall not paie and satisfie unto my said Daughters respectively their said respective porcons as alsoe unto my said sonne Charles the said some of fower hundreth poundes at the tymes before lymitted, Then my will and meaning is That my said sonne and Daughters shall and maie as their said porcons shall become due and payable, And I do hereby give them full power and authoritie to enter into and upon Eleaven Closes of arable land meadowe and pasture lying in the severall Parishes of Boughton under the Bleane ffeversham and Hernhill in the Countie of Kent, three of which Eleaven Closes are called Knockinges the residue are called Beckleton, Washfield, Beadlesfield, the fower acres olde Boldry meade, longe meade, water meade and Lylly dolone [?] meade And alsoe into and upon one other parcel of land called Johnsens Crofte and Bournefield conteyninge fowerteene acres lyinge in Boughton and ffeversham aforesaid, And alsoe unto and upon all those six parcells of land called Black Marsh heelers Marsh foord uplands and Denby Lees lyinge in the Parishes of Hernhill, Graveny, and Seasalter with their and every of their appurtenaunces in the said countie of Kent, And to take and receive the yssues and profitts thereof to their [???] uses to bee devided amongst them according to the proporcons of money each and one [???] to receive and not satisfied And if my said Executor shall not within the space of one yeare next after such Entry as aforesaid paie and satisfie unto my said Daughters and sonnes their said respective porcons, Then my will and meaning is, That my said Daughters or such of them as shall be living and unsatisfied of their said porcons shall and lawfully maie And I doe by this my will give them full power and authoritie to sell all or anie parte of the said premisses to anie person or persons whatsoever, And out of the moneys that shall bee made thereof, to paie themselves what shall be justlie due unto them together with all such damages as they shall anie waies have sustained by reason of their non payment of their said porcons accordinge to this my will, And after their said respective porcons and damages shall bee satisfied, what shall remaine over and above my will and desire is that shall be paid and delivered to my said Executor. And alsoe I give and bequeath unto my sonne Charles my Messuage or Tenemt called Solestreete in the Parishe of Sellinge in the countie of Kent aforesaid purchased of Anthony and Thomas Langworth gentlemen And all the orchards profitts and appurtenances thereunto belonginge or apperteyninge to him my said sonne Charles and the heires male of his bodie lawfully begotten. And for fault of such yssue, to the heires males of my sonne John lawfully begotten, if he my said sonne John have anie heirs male of his bodie at the tyme of my sonne Charles his decease Otherwise to my said sonne Charles and his heires for ever. And alsoe my will and meaning is, And I doe give him all the furniture in the howse and stocked without doors, as it shall bee found at the tyme of my decease, or as usually it hath beene furnished within and without doors when I dwelled there. And alsoe I doe give and bequeath unto my said sonne Charles my Tenement called Barne Wyland, And all the newe found lands, newe fresh marshes Together with the salte in the said Tenement belonginge or apperteyninge late purchased of John Abrooke belonginge I give unto my said sonne Charles to him and his heires for ever. And whereas differences and questions maie arrise after my decease betweeene my wife and my sonne John concerning the third of my Estate for her Dowrie if shee be not satisfied with her former Joynture My desire is That in regard the severall somes of moneye given to my Daughters for their porcons, as alsoe the land given to my sonne Charles, together with my debts and legacies rises to a considerable value I wish and heartily desire that for good respecte my said wife incline for the consideracons aforesaid to moderacon and Motherly love least hee bee pinched with the maine [???] and debt, And I will and desire, and my true meaning herein is, That if good accord happen betweene them in the aforesaid premisses without too much stricktnesse on my wifes parte, Then I will and bequeath unto my said wife one hundred Markes and a Chamber well furnished for her degree and calling Otherwise I must leave it to God and their best natures and [???] [???], And hope they will soe compose thinges, That their friends and neighbours maie be edified by their example. And whereas I have purchased longe since of Sir Richard Fleetewood of Kullwidge, in the countie of Stafford Knight for the consideracon of five hundred poundes an Annuitie of twentie poundes per Annum for ever, with a proviso therein to bee redeemed upon the payment of the aforesaid some, and all the arrears thereon due which on the five and twentieth daie of this present November there is due unto mee Eleaven yeares and a halfe behind and unpaid. And whereas alsoe I have purchased longe since of Sir Walter Heveningham of Pype in the aforesaid countie of Stafford knight for the consideracon of two hundred poundes An Annuitie of twentie poundes per Annum for ever with a Provisoe therein to be redeemed upon the repayment of the aforesaid some, And also rents and arrears that shall happen then to bee due and unpaid. Both which said Annuities and all the arreares thereon due or hereafter shall bee due unto my Executor, I give it unto him for and towarde the raising of my childrens porcons above menconed And alsoe I give him all my goods and chattles of what name or nature soever Except that I have before herein bequeathed for the raising of my said childrens porcons, And for and towards the payment of my debts and legacies and pforming this my last Will and Testament. And I doe make constitute and ordaine my lovinge sonne John Hawkins gent my sole Executor, And whatsoever is or maie bee defective in this my Will and Testament for want of right understandinge in the laws, I doe ratifie the same by my will intention and playne meaning herein, And doe further charge my said sonne John by all the power and prereogative due to a ffather that he not onlie performe this my last will and Testament according to my intention and playne meaning, But alsoe that he be dutifull to his Mother, loving to his Brothers and Sisters, and helpful in all occasione to doe them good whereby true love maie be conserved amongest them, In all which I am right confident hee will. And whereas since I began the writinge of this my last Will and Testament, I have sealed a Deed unto my sonne Charles of those lands in Wade [???] [???] And alsoe Solestreet and the land thereunto belonginge purchased of Thomas and Anthony Langworth gentlemen in the parishe of Sellinge before in this presente menconed which in consideracon of his marriage and advancement, I have settled it upon him parte in present for his lyvelyhood and his wifes Joynture, the rest after my decease, And also I have sealed unto him a bond of Eight hundred poundes fo the payment of ffower hundred poundes one yeare after my decease. This therefore is a confirmacon both of my bequest aforesaid and my late Deed and bond to his use, Accordinge to the Deed therein expressed and not otherwise. Item I give unto my eldest and youngest daughter to each of them tenn poundes a peece to buy a piece of plate if they thinke good. Item I give unto all my servaints that dwelleth with mee at the tyme of my decease twentie shillinges a piece, Except William Blake thirtie shillinges, and to [???] ffin a Noble. The residue of all and singuler my goods chattels and cattles of what name or nature soever they bee called not before herein given or bequeathed I give unto my Executor abovesaid nominated and appointed for and towards the raising of my childrens porcons and payment of my debts and legacies, and for and towards the pformance of this my last Will and Testament. And so leaving Gods blessing and myne amongest my children beseeching Almightie God to indue them all with his holy grace, I comitt myself to the infinite mercy and goodnes of the Almightie, and them to his holy protection. In witnes whereof I have hereunto put my hand to every one of the three sheetes of paper wherein my last will and Testament is expressed and declared, and my hand and seale to the last sheete the daie and yeare first above written One thousand six hundred fortie one. Richard Hawkins. Subscribed Sealed and Declared this to bee my last Will and Testament in the presence of those who names are hereunder written. William Petit, Katherine Kirton, Elizabeth Smith, Walter Watson.

Mary Langworth and Richard Hawkins

My exploration of a network of recusant families in Elizabethan and Jacobean Kent and Sussex began with the Langworth family, and specifically with the children of Dr John Langworth, the cleric and poet who was reputed to be a church papist. Having examined the life of John Langworth’s daughter Helen, who married Nathaniel Spurrett and whose daughter Frances joined an exiled Franciscan convent, I turned my attention to Helen’s sister Mary, who married into the Catholic Hawkins family of Boughton-under-Blean near Canterbury. I’ve taken a roundabout route to finally arrive at Mary herself, having followed a number of detours to explore the Hawkins family and their connections with other noted Catholic families, such as the Hildesleys, Finches and Knatchbulls. In recent posts I’ve written about Mary’s three brothers-in-law: the poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, the physician, translator and grammarian John Hawkins, and the Jesuit priest and author Henry Hawkins; and about her three sisters-in-law: Susan Finch of Grovehurst, Anne Hildesley of Little Stoke, and Benedict Hawkins who joined the exiled Benedictine community in Brussels.

Parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Boughton-under-Blean

Now it’s time to turn to Mary Langworth, who married Richard Hawkins, yet another Hawkins sibling. The parish register of Boughton-under-Blean includes the following entry for 1581:

The 28^th of Decebr was bapt. Rychard Haukyns the sonne of Thomas Haukyns, Ju., gent. 

(Note: the person referred to here as Thomas Hawkins junior was the man I have been calling Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder, who was in fact the son of yet another Thomas Hawkins.) Like his brothers and sisters, Richard was born at Nash Court, Boughton, while Mary, his future wife, would have grown up either in nearby Canterbury, where her father Dr John Langworth served as Prebendary until his death in 1614, or at one of the country properties that he is said to have owned, possibly even closer to Boughton. I don’t have a record of their marriage, but I would imagine it took place some time in the first decade of the seventeenth century, either in the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign or in the early years of the reign of King James I.

Oast house at Selling, Kent (via wikipedia)

We can ascertain a certain amount about Richard and Mary Hawkins from the Who were the Nuns? website. From this we learn that their daughter Anne, who was born in about 1610, joined the Franciscans in Brussels, being clothed on 15^th September 1629 at the age of 17, and taking the additional name Bonaventure. Her cousin Frances Spurrett had joined the same convent a few years earlier and was actually professed two days after Anne’s clothing. The website provides us with some clues about Anne’s family. For example, we learn that they lived at Selling, about three miles south of Boughton. But we also learn that Anne was born in Clerkenwell, leading us to assume that the Hawkinses also kept a house in London – although, intriguingly, her uncle Henry Hawkins, S.J., was said to live at the Jesuits’ secret residence in Clerkenwell. Anne Bonaventure Hawkins left the Franciscan convent in Brussels in 1658/9 to help found a Conceptionist community in Paris. She served there as novice mistress, portress and later as vicaress, a post which she resigned in 1680. Apparently she accompanied Abbess Elizabeth Timperley on business to England in 1662. Anne died in Paris on 4^th May 1689 at the age of 79. The Hawkins family tree at the Who were the Nuns? website suggests that Richard and Mary had at least two other children. Apparently their son John  married Mary Wolllascot and they had four children: Thomas Hawkins, who married Catherine Gifford; Mary Hawkins, who married James Bryan; and Susanna Joseph Hawkins and Anne Domitilla Hawkins who joined their aunt Anne’s Conceptionist convent in Paris.  Another niece of Anne Hawkins who became a Conceptionist was Mary Teresa Harris, one of the two daughters of Richard and Mary Hawkins’ daughter Martha, who married Richard Harris. Richard and Martha Harris’ other daughter was named Winifred Mary.

St Beatriz da Silva, founder of the Conceptionists

Unsurprisingly, Richard Hawkins, like other members of his family, was frequently in trouble because of his recusancy. For example, in 1640 Richard’s name appeared in a list of local recusants, together with his nephew Clement Finch of Milton and his cousin William Pettit of Boughton. However, in an account of the diocese of Canterbury during the reign of Charles I we read the following:

Eventually, a few harried recusants, such as Richard Hawkins of Selling, Henry Roper of Hartlip, and Susan Finch of Preston-next-Faversham, were permitted liberty of conscience.

Richard Hawkins’ will, made in November 1640 (he died in 1642), is a useful source of information about his family and associates. For example, we learn from this document that he and Mary had another son, Charles, and two other daughters, Bennet and Katherine. I’ll share my transcription of Richard’s will in the next post.

Benedict Hawkins (Sister Barbara Benedict): 1586 – 1661

The parish register of Boughton under Blean, Kent, for the year 1586 includes the following entry:

The 31th of Julye was bapt. Bennett the Daughter of Thomas Haukins, gent.

Bennett or Benedict Hawkins was the youngest daughter of the recusant Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder and his wife Anne Pettit who lived at Nash Court, Boughton. She was the sister of the Jesuit priest and author, Henry Hawkins, the poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, and the physician, grammarian and translator John Hawkins.

16th century map of Brussels (via http://www.leejacksonsmaps.com)

Benedict was the first of a number of female members of the extended Hawkins family to join one of the English monastic communities in exile. On 22^nd July 1610 she was received into the English Benedictine convent in Brussels. Exactly a year later, at the age of twenty-four, she was ‘invested with the holie Habitt of St Benedict’, and a year after that she made her profession, taking the name Barbara Benedict. Her dowry was 3800 florins. Sister Barbara Benedict served as sacristan in 1623 and again in 1652. She died in 1661, at the age of 75.

Six of Benedict Hawkins’ nieces would follow her example, choosing the life of a nun in an exiled English convent, as would five of her great nieces. This was in addition to Frances Spurrett, the niece of Benedict’s brother Richard Hawkins (Frances was the daughter of Helen Langworth, sister of Richard’s wife Mary; she entered the English Franciscan convent in Brussels in 1626). Richard and Mary Hawkins had one daughter who, like Frances Spurrett, joined the Franciscans in Brussels. Benedict’s sister Susan, who married John Finch of Grovehurst, had a daughter who joined the Benedictines in Ghent. Another sister, Anne, who married William Hildesley, had four daughters, all of whom joined the Sepulchrine order in Liège.

Benedictine nuns

To a modern sensibility, the idea of sending one’s daughters to a foreign country, to live in an enclosed, celibate community for the remainder of their lives, is difficult to understand. However, the historian Caroline Bowden has argued that, in the case of the English religious communities in exile, ‘care was taken to ensure that women entered convents of their own free will and evidence has survived from many of the convents showing that candidates could, and in fact did, leave if they changed their mind about joining.’ Bowden claims that, far from resenting the experience of religious enclosure, the exiled nuns seem positively to have welcomed separation from a secular world in which they and their families had experienced persecution and had been prevented from practising their religion freely.

I’ll write about the families of Ann, Susan and Richard Hawkins in separate posts.

Reflections on the will of Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger (died 1640)

The last will and testament of the Catholic poet and translator, Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, which I transcribed in the previous post, includes references to a number of members of his family. Notable by their absence from the will (probably for the same pragmatic reasons as their omission from their father’s will of 1617) are Thomas’ brother Henry, the Jesuit priest, and his sister Bennet or Benedict, a nun in Belgium, both of whom were still living. Another significant absence is Sir Thomas’ brother John, the physician and author, and it seems likely that he predeceased him.

Thomas Hawkins appoints another sibling, his ‘wellbeloved brother’ Richard Hawkins, as sole executor of his will. It was Richard who married Mary Langworth, daughter of Dr John Langworth, with whom we began this exploration of connected recusant families. I believe that Thomas’ nephew Charles and his niece Katharine, both mentioned in the will, were the children of Richard and Mary. We’ll return to them in another post.

Panel of the Hawkins monument in Boughton church, showing Sir Thomas the younger and his brothers

Thomas makes bequests to his cousins Ann and William Pettit. These were members of his late mother’s family; as mentioned in previous posts, the Pettits were another known recusant family, also resident in Boughton under Blean. The will also includes a reference to ‘Ann Breadstreet my Aunts daughter’. The will of Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder had mentioned his cousin Ann Breadstreet or Bradstreet, and also Christopher Bradstreet, who may have been her husband.

Thomas leaves money to ‘my sister Finch’: this is Susan or Susanna Hawkins who married John Finch of Grovehurst, at Milton near Sittingbourne. They were the parents of Thomas’ nephew Clement Finch of Grovehurst, appointed as one of the overseers of the will. ‘My sister Hildesley’ is Ann Hawkins, the husband of ‘my loving brother William Hildesley’ of Little Stoke, Oxfordshire, also named as an overseer. I’ll discuss the Finches and Hildesleys, both of them well-known recusant families, in future posts.

I haven’t been able to find out anything further about the person Thomas Hawkins describes as ‘John Rookes my kinseman’. As for ‘my god sonne Thomas Crompton’, it’s possible he was a relative (son?) of Sir Thomas Crompton, the Member of Parliament and government officer, a number of whose family were said to be Catholic.

Pra del Valle in Padua by Canaletto (via wikimedia)

Thomas Hawkins makes a substantial bequest in his will to ‘my lovinge nephew John Kirton doctor of phisicke’. I’ve been unable to discover John Kirton’s precise connection to the Hawkins family. Given his surname, he might have been the son of one of Thomas’ sisters, but I haven’t found any trace of another surviving sister who might have married a man with the surname Kirton. Alternatively, John might have been related to Thomas Hawkins via his wife Elizabeth Smith: perhaps another Smith sister married a Kirton?

Interestingly, John Kirton seems to have studied medicine in Padua, Italy, and then to have been ‘incorporated’ at Oxford in 1633. There is a suggestion that Thomas Hawkins’ younger brother John, who was also a physician, followed a similar path, perhaps because completing his degree at Oxford would have meant taking the Oath of Allegiance. It appears that Padua was popular among Catholic students as an alternative to Oxford and Cambridge, partly for this reason. However, as Jonathan Woolfson explain in his book on English students at Padua in the Tudor period, there were other reasons for the city’s appeal: both Catholics and Protestants were drawn there because of its long tradition of welcoming foreign students, its reputation as a centre for humanist learning, and the fact that it existed outside the control of any civic or religious authority.

Probable likeness of Sir Robert Dudley, c. 1591 (via wikipedia)

John Kirton appears to have a had long association with Italy. He was physician to the explorer and cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, whom he assisted in his chemical experiments in Tuscany. After a colourful maritime career, Dudley had abandoned his family and left England in 1605 with his cousin and lover Elizabeth Southwell, who was disguised as a page. The couple declared that they had converted to Catholicism and Dudley married Elizabeth in Lyon in 1606, after receiving a papal dispensation, and then settled in Florence. Apparently John Kirton was still living in Florence in 1673, at the age of 70.

I’m not sure of the exact identity of the man whom Thomas Hawkins describes as ‘my deare friend Mr Thomas Chester’. He might be the Thomas Chester of Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, the Royalist, described in one source as ‘an old Cavalier’, who was fined and had his property sequestered during the Civil War for ‘having adhered to the Forces raised against the Parliament’.

‘That then I may bee wholly attentive to the good of my soule’: the last will and testament of Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger

The opening lines of the will of Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger

In the previous post I wrote about the recusant poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger of Nash Court, Boughton under Blean, Kent, who died in 1640. In this post I’m sharing my transcription of his will, and in the next post I’ll discuss what we can learn from it about Hawkins’ family and associates. (I’ve highlighted key names on their first appearance.) 

In the name of God Amen the nyne and twentieth day of october one thousand sixe hundred thirty nyne And in the fyfteenth yeare of the Reygne of our most gracious Sovereigne Lord Kinge Charles of England I Sr Thomas Hawkins of Nash in the parish of Boughton under the Bleane in the County of Kent knight beinge not well in health but yet of perfect mynd & memorie for which I doe give most humble thanks to Almighty God) And well considering of the uncerteynty of mans life and especially to free my selfe in my last sickness from all worldly care that then I may bee wholly attentive to the good of my soule, do therefore make and ordayne this my last will and testamt in manner followeing & first I bequeath my soule into the hands of Allmighty God my Creator redeemer and sanctifier and my bodie to bee decently buried in the parish church of Boughton aforesd and neere as may bee to the burial places of the bodies of Sr Thomas Hawkins knight and dame Ann his wife my deceased deare & ever honord parents which I leave to the discretion of my executr hereafter named Imprimis I give to the poore people of the sayd parish of Boughton eight pounds in money to bee distributed amongst them ymmediately after my death at the discretion of myne executor. Item I give to the poore people of the parish of Heurnehill in the sayd countie three pounds to bee likewise distributed Item I hgive to the poore of the parish of Sr Sepulchre in London fower pounds Item I give & devise to my lovinge nephew John Kirton doctor of phisicke all those eleven closes bee the same more or lesse or severall grounds in closes of agrable [?] lands medows & pasture ground conteyninge together in the whole by estimacon one hundred and tenne acres or thereabouts situate lyeing or beinge within the severall parishes of Boughton under the bleane aforesd and Feaversham and Heurnehill or some or one of them in the countie of Kent three of which closes before menconed or more now are or late weare commonly called or known by the name of Knockemors and the residue of the same nowe are or late weare called or knowen by the severall names of Hockleton Hashfeild Bendleffeild the fower neare ould Bouldsy mead longe mead water mead and lillydowne meadowe or by what other name or names the same or any of them are otherwise called or knowen by with all the proffitts commodities and appurtenances to the sayd severall closes or enclosed grounds belonginge or appurtenayng unto the sayd John Kirton his Executors and assignes ymedtiatly from after my decease for the tearme of three score years thence next ensewinge upon condicon followeing, vizt Provided allwayes and my full intended meaning is that If my wellbeloved brother Richard Hawkins or his heirs shall within sixe months next after my decease pay unto the sayd John Kirton or to his Executor or Assignes the some of three hundred pounds of lawfull money of England Then and in such case my sayd wish[?] and desire of the sayd closes lands and tenemets unto the sayd John Kirton his Exeuctors and assignes shall cause determine and bee payd and that then my will and meaning is that the same closes lands and tenemets shall remayne and bee and I doe hereby devise bequeath and appoynt the same unto my sayd brother Richard Hawkins his heirs and assignes forever for the better performance of this my last will and testament. I give and bequeath to my neece Katherine Hawkins my diamond ringe of fower stones and a scarfe [?] Item I give and bequeath to Ann Breadstreet my Aunts daughter the yearely some of fifty two shillings & p Annm to bee weekly paid new [?] by twelve pence a weeke during her natural life Item I give and bequeath to my ould servant John Kennett fower pounds yearly and everie yeare duringe his natural life to bee yssueinge out of certeyne closes or grounds called the blacke marshes Johnson Croft and Crearneffeild [?] lyeinge in the parishes of Boughton and Seasalter or some of them in the sayd countie of Kent to bee payd at the twoe usuall feast dayes vizt the annuntiacon of the blessed virgin Marie And St Michaell th’archangell by twoe equall porcons the first payment thereof to begin at the first of the sayd feast dayes as shall next happen And ensewe After my death If the sayd John Kennett bee then living and for non payment thereof by the space of twentie dayes next after either of the sayd dayes of payment it shall be lawfull for the say(d) John Kennett or his assignes to enter into the sayd closes and grounds last menconed and to dystreyne for the same and to deteyne such dystresses as shall bee taken untill the sayd yearely payment of such part thereof as shall bee then due and all the arrearages thereof any bee shall be fully satisfied and payd Item I give unto John Rookes [?] my kinseman twentie pounds and to my cosen Ann Pettitt three pounds Item I give unto my nephew John Hawkins all my books in my studdy at London And at my house at Nash except the bookes hereafter particularly given Item I give unto my nephew Charles Hawkins all my musicke Bookes at London And at my house at Nash together with my viols Item I give unto my nephew Charles Hawkins my sister Finch five pounds to be bestowed in a peece of plate And to my sister Hildesley five poundes to be bestowed in a peece of plate Item I give twenty shillings a peece to each of my sister Finches children And to each of my syster Hildesleys children Item I give my mercator booke of mapps to my deare friend Mr Thomas Chester Item I give to everie one of my servants that shall bee dwelling with mee at the tyme of my death the sayd John Kennett excepted to each of them yxt [?] a peece over and above their wages I give to my cosen William Pettitt twentie shillings to bee bestowed in a ringe Item I give to my god sonne Thomas Crompton Item I give to William Blayne And his wife duringe their natural lives and the life of the longer liver of them three pounds yearely and everie yeare to bee yssueinge out of the foresaid chloses and grounds called the black marshes Johnsons Croft and bearnefields to bee payd at such dayes and with power to dystreyne for non payment of the same in such manner as is before limitted and appointed to and for John Kennett as aforesaid And I doe heerby make and ordayne my sayd wellbeloved brother Richard Hawkins sole executor of this my last will and testament desireinge him out of his love and affection to mee to see all things fully performed according to my will intent and meaning herein expressed. And I doe heerby revoke all former wills by mee heretofore made And I doe heerby make and desier my loving brother William Hildesley of Littlestocke in the county of Oxford Esquier and Clemment Finch of Grovehurst in the countie of Kent my nephew to bee overseers hereof and I doe give to either of them fourtie shillings in witness whereof I have to this my last will and testament beinge fower sheets to everie one of the same sheets subscribed my name And to the last sheete hereof have putt my seale the day and yere [?] first above written Thomas Hawkins Sealed subscribed and published by the sayd Sr Thomas Hawkins as his last will and testament in the presence of us William Forrest William Linsey John Ruck [?] John Comberford

 

Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, poet and translator (1575 – 1640)

Henry Hawkins, SJ, was not the only son of Sir Thomas Hawkins of Nash Court with literary accomplishments to his name. Henry’s older brother, another Sir Thomas Hawkins, was a poet and translator who moved in London literary circles. Thomas Hawkins the younger was baptised in the parish church of Boughton under Blean, Kent, on 20^th July 1575. He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder and his wife Ann Pettit (I’m aware that in an earlier post I described this Thomas Hawkins as ‘the younger’ to distinguish him from his father, the first Sir Thomas Hawkins. Apologies for any confusion. Perhaps I should have labelled them Thomas Hawkins I, II and III.)

Churchyard, Ashby Folville (via woodforde.co.uk)

Like his brother Henry, Thomas Hawkins was probably educated at home by the recusant schoolmaster Mr Greene, before going up to Gloucester Hall, Oxford, where he matriculated on 15^th October 1591, though he left Oxford without taking his degree. The precise date of Thomas’ marriage is unknown. His wife was Elizabeth Smith, daughter of George Smith of Ashby Folville; the Smiths were another noted Catholic family. Thomas and Elizabeth Hawkins had two sons, John and Thomas, but both died at a young age.

When Sir Thomas Hawkins senior died in 1617, the younger Thomas inherited Nash Court and extensive property in Boughton, Faversham, Herne Hill, Seasalter and elsewhere in Kent. Thomas’ recusancy seems to have been no barrier to finding favour at court, and on 4^th May 1618 he was knighted by King James at Whitehall. However, this does not mean that his religious loyalties escaped censure. In 1626 he and Elizabeth were indicted for recusancy and in December 1633 the Privy Council ordered a search of Nash Court, describing Thomas as ‘a great papist and harbourer of priests’. However, Elizabeth Hawkins refused entry to the officers without a warrant, on the grounds that her husband had the great seal in his trunk to protect the house, and the matter seems to have been dropped. This appears to be another example of the Hawkins family escaping the worst effects of the penal laws due to their social status. On the other hand, members of the family continued to be pursued for nonconformity, with a number of indictments being issued in the years following.

Ben Jonson, by Abraham van Blyenberch, circa 1617 (via wikimedia.org)

In 1624 Thomas Hawkins was one of the nominees for Edmund Bolton’s proposed Royal Academy (Bolton had been brought up as a Catholic). He was also a friend and correspondent of the author and traveller James Howell, as well as the Catholic poet Sir John Beaumont, for whom he wrote an elegy in 1629. It is also apparent that Thomas Hawkins was connected with Ben Jonson’s circle. In April 1636 a letter from Howell began by noting that Hawkins had been ‘deeply remember’d’ at a dinner with the poet. Hawkins knew Jonson’s patron, Sir Kenelm Digby (another Catholic), and Hawkins composed this elegy on Jonson for the commemorative collection Jonsonus virbius (1638):

To the Memory of Master Benjamin Jonson

To press into the throng, where wits thus strive

To make thy laurels fading tombs survive,

Argues thy worth, their love, my bold desire,

Somewhat to sing, though but to fill the quire:

But (truth to speak) what muse can silent be,

Or little say, that hath for subject, thee?

Whose poems such, that as the sphere of fire,

They warm insensibly, and force inspire,

Knowledge, and wit infuse, mute tongues unloose,

And ways not track’d to write, and speak disclose.

But when thou put’st thy tragic buskin on,

Or comic sock of mirthful action,

Actors, as if inspired from thy hand,

Speak, beyond what they think, less, understand;

And thirsty hearers, wonder-stricken, say,

Thy words make that a truth, was meant a play.

Folly, and brain-sick humours of the time,

Distemper’d passion, and audacious crime,

Thy pen so on the stage doth personate,

That ere men scarce begin to know, they hate

The vice presented, and there lessons learn,

Virtue, from vicious habits to discern.

Oft have I seen thee in a sprightly strain,

To lash a vice, and yet no one complain;

Thou threw’st the ink of malice from thy pen,

Whose aim was evil manners, not ill men.

Let then frail parts repose, where solemn care

Of pious friends their Pyramids prepare;

And take thou, BEN, from verse a second breath,

Which shall create Thee new, and conquer death.

Hawkins was described by the antiquary Anthony Wood as an ‘ingenious man … as excellent in the fac[ulty] of music as in poetry’. However, it is as a translator that he is mainly remembered. In 1625 he published a translation of Horace, The Odes of Horace the Best of Lyrick Poets, which was republished in 1631, 1635, and 1638. Hawkins also translated works by Giovanni Botero (The Cause of the Greatnesse of Cities, 1635), Giovanni Battista Manzini (Political Observations upon the Fall of Sejanus, 1634) and three works by Pierre Matthieu (including another on Sejanus) and the translation A Saxon Historie, of the Admirable Adventures of Clodaldus and his Three Children (1634).

Thomas Hawkins’ skills as a translator were employed by the Jesuits. The following extract from Thomas’ entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provides the details:

In addition to this literary and historical work his translating skills were used extensively by the Jesuits, presumably through his brother Henry, to produce pious works aimed at the English market. Between 1626 and 1638 came Hawkins’s translation, with the assistance of Sir Basil Brooke, of the massive four-volume work, Holy Court, by the French Jesuit Nicholas Caussin. Published in France these volumes were dedicated to Queen Henrietta Maria, the earl of Dorset, the countess of Portland, and the duchess of Buckingham respectively. The work, which included biographies and portraits of Mary, queen of Scots, and Cardinal Pole, proved immensely popular among Catholics; at least three editions of the work were published in London between 1650 and 1678. Hawkins also translated Caussin’s Christian Diurnal (Paris, 1632), dedicated to Viscountess Savage (this edition differs from the Cambridge edition of 1648 which was aimed at protestant readers), and Étienne Binet’s The Lives and Singular Vertues of Saint Elzear (Rouen, 1638), dedicated to the earl and countess of Shrewsbury. Hawkins has also been plausibly identified as the translator of The Angel-Guardian’s Clock (Rouen, 1630) by the Jesuit Jeremias Drexelius; Hawkins’s brother Henry had already produced a translation of another of Drexelius’s works.

Thomas Hawkins died at some point between the drawing up of his will on 29th October 1639 and its proving on 13th April 1641, probably towards the end of 1640. He would have been about sixty-five years old. Thomas is said to have died in the parish of St Sepulchre, London, where he must have kept a house. Although he asked to be buried in Boughton parish church, as close to his parents as possible, his burial is not recorded in the parish registers.

The will of Sir Thomas Hawkins’ the younger is a useful source of information about his family and associates, and I’ll reproduce a transcription of it in the next post.

Reflections on the will of Sir Thomas Hawkins

What insights can we glean from the last will and testament of Sir Thomas Hawkins of Boughton under Blean, Kent, who died in 1617, a transcription of which I shared in the previous post? For example, does the will throw any light on Sir Thomas’ religious beliefs?

The opening lines of the will of Sir Thomas Hawkins

The explicitly ‘religious’ section of the will, the part dealing with the fate of the testator’s soul, before he gets down to the practical business of disposing of his property, is much longer than in many contemporary wills – nearly 400 words by my estimation. And it seems much less explicitly Catholic than other recusant wills. Indeed, in places the language is difficult to distinguish, at least to my untrained eyes, from that of many Protestant wills of the period, with its emphasis on the author’s wretched sinfulness, his ‘belief in god the sonne my onely Redeemer and Saviour by whose most previous death and bloudshedd both I and all mankynde else have meanes to be saved’ and the claim that he is ‘trusting assuredlye that in the precious bloudshedd and passion of my sweete Saviour Christ to be one of them that shall inherit his everlasting kingdome which god grannte for his sweete sonnes sake Jesus Christ’. A later sentence seems to express an almost Calvinistic hope that Sir Thomas will be ‘saved amonge his elect which god grant even for his sonnes sake Jesus Christ’.

How are we to explain this? Firstly, we need to remember that historians warn against over-interpeting will preambles. Eamon Duffy has a useful discussion of this issue in The Stripping of the Altars (2005). He writes: ‘[P]reambles which simply declare trust in the merits or Passion of Christ cannot be assumed to be Protestant or even “reformist”.’ Quoting an example of a sixteenth-century will that, like Sir Thomas Hawkins’, emphasises salvation through the merits of Christ’s Passion, Duffy adds: ‘There is nothing necessarily Protestant about this sort of formula; as a matter of fact…many wills containing similar sentiments were made by Catholics in England before, during, and after the Reformation’. Elsewhere Duffy warns against assuming ‘that pre-Reformation Catholics needed to be told that Christ was in a unique and special sense their divine Saviour’. Duffy and other revisionist historians of the Reformation have demonstrated that there was more continuity between pre-Reformation Catholic spirituality and post-Reformation Protestant piety than some have imagined: indeed, the latter should be seen as emerging from developments in the former, rather than simply appearing out of thin air.

A second point to make is that wills were legal documents and not intended as a confessional expression of personal belief, as we would understand it. Wills often tended to draw on stock, ‘ready-made’ formulations, especially if they were composed by, or with the assistance of, a lawyer or scrivener. There may have been good reasons why, in a public text of this kind, a known recusant like Sir Thomas Hawkins chose to emphasise certain aspects of his faith and place less emphasis on others.

Parish church and surroundings, Boughton under Blean (via flickr.com)

It may seem surprising, too, that Hawkins decrees that his body should be buried in the parish church at Boughton, and that he bequeaths money to the local vicar. With historical hindsight, it is tempting, but rather anachronistic, to see Catholicism and Anglicanism in this period as completely separate structures. From the perspective of Jacobean Catholics like Sir Thomas Hawkins, it was less than a century since the English Church had broken away from the universal Catholic Church of which it had been a part for a millennium. Indeed, in Sir Thomas’ own lifetime, under Queen Mary, that breach had been healed, albeit temporarily, and it was the dearest hope of Catholics that it might happen again, perhaps under a different monarch (there had been some expectations of this, or at least of greater toleration, before the accession of James, but these had been cruelly dashed).

Against this background, the local parish church was not yet seen as the territory of an alien sect, but as the historical home of the universal Church, temporarily occupied by a schismatic faction. Not only that, but noble families like the Hawkinses could visit the parish church and see the tombs and monuments erected to their Catholic ancestors on prominent display: the monument to Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder is still one of the most best-known features of Boughton church. Why should they not expect to be buried in the same place, and with the same degree of pomp, as their predecessors?

At the same time, it’s worth noting that Sir Thomas’ bequest of thirteen shillings to the vicar of Boughton is recompense ‘for my tythes forgotten’. Forgotten – or deliberately withheld? It’s important to remember that members of the Hawkins family were regularly indicted for not conforming to the established Church. The parish records of Boughton from 1587 declare that ‘Mr [sic] Thomas Hawkins the elder [Sir Thomas’ father] hath not received the communion at Easter last past.’ A similar accusation is made against ‘Mr. Thomas Hawkins the younger, and his wife’ and various members of their household, including ‘Greene a schoolmaster in Mr Hawkins’ house’. In the records for 1603 we read: ‘We present Mr. Thomas Hawkins and his wife…..for that they have not received the communion this last Easter within our parish at Boughton Blean’. In the years following Sir Thomas’ death, there are records of numerous similar accusations being made against his sons and their families.

I’ve not been able to discover anything about William Place, the vicar of Boughton from 1589 to 1637. However, I’ve discovered that a later vicar, Samuel Smith, had definite Laudian (i.e. ‘high church’) sympathies and that these, together with some rash words about Parliament, got him into trouble during the Civil War.

Benedictine nuns (via http://world4.eu)

If caution about expressing his Catholic beliefs too openly in a public document lay behind Sir Thomas’ published aspirations for his eternal soul, then similar motives may have led him to exclude two of his children from his will. There is no mention in the document of Sir Thomas’ son Henry Hawkins, who had fled abroad to join the Jesuits two years before his father made his will, and who would return to England, only to be captured and sent back into exile a year after his father’s death. Nor is there any reference to Sir Thomas’ daughter Bennet or Benedicta, who had been professed as a Benedictine nun five years earlier, at the age of twenty-five. Benedicta, whose name in religion was Sister Barbara Benedict, had paid a dowry of 3800 florins, presumably provided by her family, on entering her Belgian convent. It’s likely that Henry Hawkins had received similar material support. Since being a Catholic priest and joining a Catholic religious order were criminal offences in England, I assume that aiding and abetting priests and religious were also proscribed. Hence, perhaps, Sir Thomas’ silence in his will about these members of his family.

Those children of Sir Thomas Hawkins and his wife Ann (who I assume predeceased him, since she is not mentioned) who are referred to in the will are as follows: Thomas Hawkins, his eldest son, who is named as ‘my sole and onelie Executor’; John Hawkins, ‘doctor of physicke’; Ziriach or Cyriac Hawkins, ‘my youngest sonne’; ‘my sonne Richard Hawkins’, the husband of Mary Hawkins née Langworth; ‘my daughter Susanne Fynch the wife of John Finch Esquier’; and ‘Anne Hilsley [or Hildesley] my daughter the wife of William Hilsley’. We shall have more to say about all of these in later posts. Also missing from this list is Sir Thomas’ son Daniel, who I believe died either in infancy or as a young man.

Other relatives bequeathed money or property in Sir Thomas’ will include his sister ‘Jonne [Joan?] Brewer, the wife of Thomas Brewer, who may have been the Kent landowner of that name whose property was later sequestered on account of his recusancy. Also mentioned in the will is Mary Pettit, widow of Henry Pettit, who I believe to have been Sir Thomas’ brother-in-law, the son and heir of Cyriac Pettit. William Pettit, another beneficiary of the will, was probably Henry’s son. As for Sir Thomas Hawkins’ ‘cosen’ Anne Breadstreete, she may have been the husband of the Christopher Bradstreet, named as a tenant of one of Sir Thomas’ properties later in the will. I’ve found a christening record for a Christopher Bradstreet, son of Christopher, in Boughton in 1615, though it’s unclear how the Bradstreets were related to the Hawkins family.

The Roper family chapel in Lynsted church (via photo4me.com)

‘Katherine Rooper the wife of Henry Rooper’, who is to receive ‘a double soveraigne of gould of the valewe of two and twentie shillings’, was almost certainly a member of the famous Roper family of Kent that I’ve discussed before. Henry Rooper or Roper may have been the son of Anthony Roper of Faringham, and it’s likely he belonged to the branch of the family that lived at Linsted Lodge near Sittingbourne and would later include the barons of Teynham. It’s perhaps relevant that Henry Hawkins, S.J, Sir Thomas’ son, would dedicate his History of St Elizabeth, published in 1632, to Lady Mary Roper, daughter of Christopher Roper, the second Baron Teynham. Lady Mary ended her life as the abbess of a Benedictine convent in Ghent. I’ve also read that the Ropers were connected with the Pettits of Boughton by marriage.

Finally, Sir Thomas Hawkins’ will provides a reminder of the family’s considerable wealth. We learn from the will that Sir Thomas owned property in a number of parishes throughout Kent besides Boughton, including nearby Hernhill, Selling, Chilham and Faversham, and further afield in Whitstable, Seasalter, Graveney, Broomfield and Leeds (near Maidstone). Clearly, recusancy was not necessarily incompatible with extensive land ownership, and not all recusant families suffered the sequestration of their property.

In the posts that follow, I’ll be exploring the lives of some of Sir Thomas Hawkins’ illustrious offspring.

‘Calling to mynde the brittlenes and the instabilitie of mans lyfe’: the last will and testament of Sir Thomas Hawkins

Sir Thomas Hawkins of Nash Court, Boughton under Blean, Kent, died in April 1617. He was the father of a Jesuit priest, a Benedictine nun, a translator of recusant texts, and a physician, as well as being the father-in-law of Mary Langworth, whose family I have been  attempting to trace over the past few weeks. Thomas Hawkins’ last will and testament, written in the month of his death, is a useful starting-point for exploring the illustrious Hawkins family. In this post, I’m reproducing my transcription of the will, and in the next post I’ll discuss what we can learn from it. I’ve kept to the original spelling and punctuation as far as possible. A question mark [?] indicates uncertainty about an individual word. Where words or passages are completely illegible, I’ve indicated this in parentheses. For ease of reading, key names are emboldened thus when first mentioned.

Nash Court in the 18th century

In the name of God: Amen: The First of Aprill 1617. And in the yeares of our Soveraigne Lord Kinge James by the grace of god of England France and Ireland defender of the faith the Fyftenth and of his Ma:ties Raigne over Scotland the Fyftith I Thomas Hawkins of the parish of Boughton under the Bleane in the Countie of Kent knight beinge in perfect memorie thankes be to Almightie god by calling to mynde the brittlenes and the instabilitie of mans lyfe with the diversitie of accidents wherein mans life is placed and pondering with my selfe the certeinetie of death and most uncerteinetie of the tyme and hower thereof and fearing the sodane occasion of death doe in institute make and ordaine this my present testament and last will in manner and forme hearafter following First and principallie I hould it to be the parte of everie Christian man to make a trewe veritall [?] of his faith wherein he lives and wherein I trust in Almightie god to end this my most wicked and unstable life First and principallye I do beleive in god the Father Almightie maker of heaven and earth who of nought hath made me and all mankind and whatsoever that hath beinge and in god the sonne my onely Redeemer and Saviour by whose most previous death and bloudshedd both I and all mankynde else [?] have meanes to be saved and in god the holie Ghost the comforter of my soule and all minde which as they are three persons soe are they but one only god at whose handes I instantly aske pardon of all my synnes past trusting assuredlye that in the precious bloudshedd and passion of my sweete Saviour Christ to be one of them that shall inherit his everlasting kingdome which god grannte for his sweete sonnes sake Jesus Christ Item I give and most humblie bequeath my wretched soule to Almightie god the Father of heaven my Creator and to his onelie sonne Jesus Christ my Redemer and to the holie ghost my spiritually comforter three parsons and one onely god hopinge to have full remission of all my sinns and sinfull life past by the meritts and death of Christes passion and to be saved amonge his elect which god grant even for his sonnes sake Jesus Christ And as touching the interment or buriall of this my sinfull bodie my desire is (yf with conveinencie it may be) for that as I am ignorant of the tyme of my death soe am I alsoe ignorante of the place where I shall end this my wretched pilgrimage of life to be buried in such place of the North chancell in the parish of Boughton under the Bleane as to my Executor shalbe thought meete And that there or els where it shall please Almightie god that my bodie shall rest to have some stone or monument as to my executor shalbe thought meete and convenient Item I will and bequeath to the vicar of the parish of Boughton for the tyme beinge for my tythes forgotten thirteen shillings fower pence Item I give to the parish church of Boughton twentie shillings and my will meaning and desire is that my Executor shall see me honestlie buried without any much showe or pompe at the discretion of my said Executor Item I give to the poore house houlden of the parish of Boughton and Herne Hill the some of five poundes vizt Three poundes to the poore of the parish Boughton And Fortie shillinges to the poore of the parish of Herne Hill by twelve pence a house to the poorest of the people their at the discretion of my Executor Item I will and bequeath to the poorest of the parishes of Boughton and Hernehill one quarter of wheate to be distributed by peckes [?] to the said poore poore for the space of seaven yeares next after my death at the Feast of the nativitie of Christ Fower bushels to the poorest householders of the parish of Boughton and other fower bushells of wheate to the poorest householders of the parish of hernhill and likewise at the Feast of Easter fower bushells of maulte to the poorest of the householders of the parish of Boughton And fower bushells of maulte to the poorest of the parish of hernehill yerelie for the space of seaven yeare next after my decease, Item I will and give to my sonne John Hawkins dtor of phisicke the some of fortie poundes to paye his debtes which to be paid within three monethes after my decease Item I will and give unto Ziriach Hawkins my youngest sonne the some of tenne pounds to be likewise payde within the space of three monethes next after my decease Item I will and give to my daughter Susanne Fynch the wife of John Finch Esquier the some of tenne poundes of lawfull English money Item I will and give to Mary Hawkins the wife of my sonne Richard Hawkins the some of tenne pounds Item I will and give to Anne Hilsley my daughter the wife of William Hilsley of the countie of Oxon gent the some of tenne pounds Item I will and give to my deare sister Jonne Brewer the wife of Thomas Brewer gent the some of five poundes thirteen shillings fower pence Item I will and give to Mary Pettitt the widow of Henry Pettitt Esquier over and above all debtes due by her to me the some of fortie shillings Item I will and give to Katherine Rooper the wife of Henry Rooper a double soveraigne of gould of the valewe of two and twentie shillings Item I will and give to William Pettit gent one other double soveraigne of gould of the valewe of two and twentie shillings Item I will and give to each of my grandchildren vizt to Thomas Hawkins the sonne of Richard Hawkins the some of five poundes and to Susan Finch the daughter of John Finch the some of five poundes and the rest the children betweene my sonne and daughter Finch and the children betweene my sonne Richard Hawkins and Marie his wife to each of them one fortie shillings a peece in goulde to be payd to them or to their parents within the space of one whole yeare next after my decease to be putt out by their said parentes to such use or uses as in their discretions shalbe thought meete for the better increase thereof which said sonne with their interest they to have at the age of twentie yeares Item I will and give to my cosen Anne Breadstreete one peece of gould of the value of twentie shillings and doe remitt to her husband and her three pounds which they owe me for halfe a yeares rent Item I will and bequeath to Godlie Scrymsby one twentie shilling peece of gould over and above her wages and alsoe a mourning gowne Item I will and give to Thomazine Lott widdowe a blackgowne and twentie shillings of goulde Item I will and give to Richard Robinson of the parish of Boughton the some of thirteen shillings fower pence a yeare duringe his natural lyfe to be payde by my Executor everie halfe yeare vizt five shillings eight pence at the feast of St Michael and six shillings eight pence at the Annunciation of our Ladie by even portions Item I will and give to my servant Andrewe Pett over and above his wages due to him the some of twentie shillings in gould Item I will and give to Ellen my chambermayde the some of thirtie shillings over and above her wages due Item I give to Marie my cookemayde over and above her wages the some of twentie shillings Item I give to James my man over and above is wages tenne shillings Item I will and give to John my boye and Hamonde my boye each of them tenne shillings a peece All other my goodes whatsoever playe money Jewells household stuffe corne cattle which I have within the Realme of England and not devised by this my last will and testament I will give and bequeath to my eldest sonne Thomas Hawkins Esquier whome I make my sole and onelie Executor of this my last will and testament In witnes whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name By me Thomas Hawkins.

This is the last will and testament of me Thomas Hawkins knight of the parish of Boughton under the Bleane in the countie of Kent concerning the dispotition of all my landes tenements and hereditaments which I have in the parishes of Boughton under the Bleane Feversham, Hernehill, Chilham, Sellinge Whitstable cosine [?] Bleane, Herne, Ledes, Bromffeild Graveney Seasalter and the parish of Sannct Paule neare and without the walls of the cittie of Canterburie or else where in the countie of Kent Item I will and give to my [illegible words] rent of fortie poundes by the yeare issuing and goinge out after time [illegible words] of May in the tenure or occupation of Thomas Porredge, Matthew Helie [?] and Anthony [illegible name] which containe fortie Acres more or lesse as also out of one parcel of meadowe called Forde conteynynge fower teene Acres and alsoe out of one other peece or parcel of lande called Denlie less [?] All which prcells of meadowe marshes and upland groundes are lyinge and beinge in the parish of Heronhill which land Annuitie or annual rent I will and give to my saide sonne John Hawkins and to his assignes for and duringe the whole terme of his natural lyfe yearely to be payde vizt at the Feast of the Annunciation of the blessed ladie St. Marie the virgine and St. Michaell the Archangel by even and equall portions to be payd or within one and twentie dayes after either of the said feastes in which yt ought to be payd the first payment whereof to begyn at the first feast of the aforesaid feastes that shall happen next after my decease provided allwayes that yf the said Annuities or annual Rent of fortie pounds by the yere or any parte thereof be behinde and unpayde after the tyme aforesaid beinge lawfullie demanded That then and from thence forth it shall be lawful to and for the saide John Hawkins my sonne or to his assigne or assignes to enter and distraine into all or any parcel thereof before charged with this annuitie or annuall rent and to and for the arrerages thereof yf any be And the same distresse or distresses be lawfullie taken leade driven or carried awaye and yt to hold irreplegabelly [?] untill the said annuitie or annual rent of fortie pounds by the yere with the arrearages yf any be, be to the said John Hawkins or his assignes fullie satisfied contented and payd provided allways that yf my said sonne John shall alienate sell assigne or sett over this annuitie or annual rent then that he the said John Hawkins my sonne shalbe contented and pleased to lett my son Thomas Hawkins have it for a valuable consideration or whoe else shall for the tyme beinge stand remayne and be my Eldest heire male Nevertheless my will and meaninge is That yf yt shall happen my said sonne John Hawkins to marrie or take a wife That then yt shalbe lawfull for him to make a Joynture of the said fortie pounds [illegible word] Or any parcel thereof as he shall thinck fitt duringe her natural lyfe to stand good to all intents and purposes as if yt were oute of landes of Inheritance Item I will and give to my sonne Ziriach Hawkins my youngest sonne all that my mannor or mansion howse called Burges with all the howses edifices orchards gardens yards lying in the parishes of Leedes and Brumfeilde withall the landes meadowes pastures thereto belonginge and and usuallie [?] occupied lyinge and beinge in the parishes of Leedes and Bromefeild nowe in the tenure or occupation of Christopher Woullett or of his assignes Item I will and give to my said sonne Ziriach all that my howse or tenement called Younges lyinge and beinge in the parish of Boughton under the Bleane now in the tenure or occupation of Christopher Bradstreete or his assignes together with all the buildings edifices thereto belonginge togeather with all the landes woodes or underwoods tymber and trees thereuppon growing All which said mannors farmes and landes I give to my said sonne Ziriach and to the heires males of his bodie lawfullie befotten And for want of sure [?] heires males of his bodie lawfully begotten to be and remayne unto the eldest heire male of me the said Sir Thomas Hawkins and soe to remayne be and goe according to a former deede of intaile of other landes of me the said Sir Thomas Hawkins formerlie intailed to my eldest sonne Thomas Hawkins Esquier which said deede of intaile was upon the assurance of landes to my said sonne Thomas Hawkins upon the marriadge of his wife Item concerning the disposition of all the rest of my mannors Lands Tenements and hereditaments marshes fresh and salte woodes and underwoodes that I have within the countie of Kente or els where not formerlie willed or conveyed I will and give the same to Thomas Hawkins my eldest sonne And to the heire males of his bodie lawfullie begotten And for want of such heir males to stande remayne and be according to an anntient [?] intayle of other my landes formerlie intayled to my sonne Thomas Hawkins at the tyme of his marriage. By me Thomas Hawkins witnesses to this my last will and testament aforesaid whereto I the said Thomas Hawkins have to everie sheete thereof set to my hand date as aforesaid in the presence of William Burgoyne Willm Hildesley Richard Hawkins. 

Mary Langworth and the Hawkins family

In the last few posts, I’ve been exploring the lives of London haberdasher Nathaniel Spurrett, who died in 1614, his wife Helen Langworth, who died in 1625, and their daughter Frances, who was born in 1613 and died in a Franciscan convent in Belgium in 1635. After examining a range of documents relating to the Spurrett family, including the wills of Nathaniel and Helen, I’ve concluded that they were closely connected to some of the foremost recusant families of their day. It appears that the Spurretts lived in Southwark, possibly in Montague Close and under the protection of the Catholic Viscount Montague; Nathaniel’s executor Matthew Woodward, a convicted recusant, was certainly employed by Montague. After Nathaniel’s death, it seems that Helen and Frances were taken under the wing of the recusant Roper family of Eltham, and were supported financially by a number of leading Catholics, including Lord Windsor of Bradenham. It may well have been Thomas Roper, Helen’s executor, who entrusted the orphaned Frances Spurrett to the care of the recently-established English Franciscan convent in Brussels, where she was later professed as a nun.

Nathaniel and Helen Spurrett provide a fascinating case study of the complex and shifting religious identities to be found in early seventeenth-century England. As I’ve noted before, both were the children of Church of England clergymen, at least one of whom (Helen’s father, Dr John Langworth) was said to be a church papist; neither (as far as we know) was convicted of recusancy; and yet they counted among their associates some of the country’s leading recusant families; and their daughter became a Catholic nun.

Having exhausted (for now) the available information on the Spurretts, I’m moving on to explore the recusant connections of Helen Langworth’s sister Mary, who married into another Catholic family, and whose daughter also joined an English religious community in Belgium. I haven’t found a baptismal record for Mary Langworth, but I understand that her husband, Richard Hawkins, was born in about 1581, so I imagine that they were married some time in the first decade of the seventeenth century, during the early years of the reign of James I. As I noted in my earlier post about the Langworths, Richard was the son of Sir Thomas Hawkins of Nash Court in Boughton under Blean, near Canterbury, and his wife Ann, the daughter of Cyriac and Florence Pettit, also of Boughton. Since Mary’s father John Langworth was prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral, and owned a number of properties outside the city, one imagines that the two families might have been neighbours. Even so, the marriage between Mary and Richard suggests a surprising degree of familiarity between a conforming and high-ranking Church of England cleric and a leading recusant family.

Parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Boughton under Blean, Kent (via geograph.org.uk)

In this post, I’ll provide some background to the Hawkins family, before focusing in later posts on specific members of the family. Richard Hawkins was (I believe) the fourth son of Sir Thomas Hawkins. His older brothers, to whom we shall return in later posts, were Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, a translator of recusant texts; Henry Hawkins, the Jesuit priest and author; and Daniel. Another brother, John, was a physician and author; and there was a sixth brother named Cyriac. Richard’s sister Susan or Susanna, who was a year older than him, married the recusant John Finch of Grovehurst, at Milton near Sittingbourne. Another sister, Anne or Anna, married William Hildesley of Oxfordshire, also a recusant. The youngest Hawkins sister, Bennet or Benedicta, who was born in about 1587, became a Benedictine nun and, like her Franciscan nieces Mary Hawkins and Frances Spurrett, ended her days in a convent in Brussels.

Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder had been born at Boughton under Blean in 1548, during the reign of Edward VI. Boughton lay on the main road between London and Canterbury and was the first place from which travellers were able to see the towers of the latter city, a fact which earns the village a mention in ‘The Canon Yeoman’s Prologue’ in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Thomas was the son of another Thomas Hawkins who died in 1588, apparently at the age of 101, and was buried with his wife in the north chancel of Boughton church.  His tomb carries the following inscription:

He served King Henry VIII, which won him same, who was a gracious prince to him, and made well to spend his aged days; that he was high of stature, his body long and strong, excelling all that lived in his age.

On 12^th September 1574 Thomas Hawkins the younger married Ann Pettit, then aged twenty-two, from another Catholic family, the Pettits of Colkyns. Ann’s parents were Cyriac Pettit and his wife Florence Charnoke. In 1543 Pettit had been involved in the so-called Prebendaries’ Plot which denounced Thomas Cranmer for his excessive reforming zeal. During Queen Mary’s reign he was a Member of Parliament and was close to the Roper family, one of whose members – Christopher, brother of Sir Thomas More’s son-in-law William Roper – was a neighbour of the Pettits. He was buried on 15th October 1591 in Boughton parish church, where a brass plate was erected in his memory.

Monument in memory of Sir Thomas Hawkins senior in Boughton church

Despite the fact that Sir Thomas Hawkins was openly Catholic, with a son who was a Jesuit priest and a daughter a Benedictine nun, he and his family do not seem to have suffered unduly from the Elizabethan and Jacobean penal laws. According to one account of the life of Thomas’ son Henry: ‘There is evidence that Hawkins and his family were somewhat privileged through connections with the court and nobility and may at times have been protected from the full rigour of punitive measures that other recusants had to suffer.’

Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder died in 1617, his wife Ann having predeceased him. His last will and testament is a useful source of information about the Hawkins family and their connections, and I’ll share my transcription of it in the next post.