The
Ancestors of the Kingdom Sisters
Part
1
The
Family Lineage of Joan Spry
They
called Plymouth Home
Plymouth
c 1540
Tavistock
at left top, Plympton at right, Saltash at left. It is interesting to see just
how much of Plymouth was invaded by tidal waters, and the ways across them -
often with tidal mills.
The Merging of the Sprye and
Kingdom Families
Over years of family history researching,
my genealogical tree has become rather large.
Probably that stems from being a direct ancestor from King William The
Conqueror. It could be said that half of
England was related to him. Not quite
so, but many families can trace their beginnings to those of his loyal Knights
who came with him and fought the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
In 2014, we visited England, and
walked the our Ancestors footsteps. We
visited the town of Battle, and stood on the same ground that this momentous
battle was fought. At the time, we had
no idea, that some of the ancestors of Jane Sprye's lineage, could be traced
through these lineages as well.
Through the help of some
genealogical charts compiled around 1838, researching old books, and wills, the Sprye/Syry/Sprey family from Cornwall has
been identified. However, those old
records in some cases, just listed the name of a son. Everyone of them named their sons William or
John, for the most part. Often, it
requires following a naming pattern, and a twenty year age gap, particularly in
the 16th and 17th century.
The families branched into so
many different areas, and in particular the Spry family from Millbrook, in the
Parish of Maker Cornwall, belongs to the ancestors of Jane Spry.
During the Visitation of Cornwall
in 1620 the Arms of Spry[1]
was allowed.
In those times, there existed a system amongst the
Aristocracy, where positions of importance were guaranteed for the sons of the
Nobility. Perhaps nepotism is more the correct
word!
From the 16th century, members of
the Spry family made their homes in Plymouth.
They were, due to their positions, wealthy landowners. Their children married those of similar
ilk.
At this point in time, there were
major events occurring within English history.
Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, from 1588 to her death in 1603, and
during this Elizabethan period, exploration was encouraged. It was the time of Sir Frances Drake, and his
discoveries.
Late 1500s
Note Rame
Head on left and a pretty huge Mewstone (an island) on right. The Norman Motte
and Bailey Castle at Plympton St. Maurice is to be seen at right (toppish).
In 1577 - 1580, Sir Frances Drake
circumnavigated the Globe.
In 1584, Sir Richard Grenville,
set sail with 100 settlers and landed at Roanoke Island (Virginia). In 1586 when Sir Frances Drake returned to
the site, all the settlers abandoned the venture and returned to England.
In 1606, Captain James Smith, who
was involved in the Virginia Company of London, sailed in a convoy of 3 ships
to settle land in Virginia, with some settlers.
In 1607, they were still living in temporary housing, when Captain
Edward Maria Wingfield, settled the town of Jamestown. Many of the settlers died, from starvation. In 1608, another 70 settlers arrived, with no
supplies. These settlers included the
first women to America.
In May 1609, the treasurer of the
Virginia Company, Sir Thomas Smith arranged for another 500 settlers, including
women and children to be sent. A fleet
of nine ships set sail, and in a storm one was wrecked in the Bermuda
Islands. They finally arrived in
Jamestown in 1610.
Later the Pilgrims, who left
Plymouth on the Mayflower, landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In 1642, a Civil
War erupted, where Oliver Cromwell
fought the Royalists. The nation was
split.
After the brief history lesson,
you may ask what has that to do with the Spry family? The short answer is a great deal.
A Civil War Map. Saltash at top left, St.
Budeaux Church and Eggbuckland Church at top, Plymstock at bottom right. Note
fortified town of Plymouth fed with drinking water from Drake`s Leat.
The Spry Family connections to
Plymouth, flow into the Royal Navy, to Adventurers, to Merchants, to Ships
Officers, to Members of Parliament, Mayors, Sheriffs, Explorers, Doctors, Pharmacists, Ship
builders, Military officers and the like.
Quite co-incidentally, it was
those very same fields that the Kingdom family were involved.
Rather than a random marriage
between a Kingdom lady, and the husband of her choosing, it appears that every
marriage between any of the Spry family, was to a spouse of the same or similar
social standing.
Strengthening those Aristocratic
links!
This ancient family, whose name has been variously
written De Spre, De Spray, De Sprey, Spreye, Sprie, Sprye, and Spry , was
seated at a very early period in the county of Devon, where several places
still bear the designation, in its more ancient spelling; as the parish of
Spreyton , Sprieton , or Spryeton , in the hundred of Wonford , Spray , or
Sprey , in the parish of Maristow , in the hundred of Lifton , and Sprye Comb ,
in the parish of East Ashford , in the hundred of Braxton . (Spray Radulphus ,
styled "Servicus Regis," was named in writs tested at Westminster ,
29 Aug , and at Windsor , 29 Sep , 6 Edward II. 1312 , touching cattle purveyed
for the king in Devon , and to be sent up to Westminster . -Parliamentary
Writs.)
In the first
named, the Spryes held lands by inheritance at a remote date, and so far back
as the 15 Henry VI.(15th year of Henry's reign) John Sprye , of Spryeton , was M.P. for
Tavistock . His descendant and representative, John Sprye , of Spryeton ,
living temp. Henry VII. having no male issue, conveyed his lands and tenements
in Sprye, Spryeton and Stowford , Devon , from the male line of the family, to
trustees, for the use of Beatrice , his daughter, and William Gregory , her
husband, and their issue in tail; which settlement became, in the reign of
Elizabeth, the subject of a suit in Chancery, between their grandson and heir
William Gregory , and others. (In the same reign, Thomas Sprie , was defendant
in a suit in chancery, touching a tenement in the parish of Buckland Monachorum
, in Devon , previously the inheritance of William Crymer , esq. of that
parish: while Hugh Sprye , was defendant of a suit in the same court, touching
a messuage and lands part of the manor of Penpoll , in Cornwall , of which John
Treggian , esq. was theretofore lord: and Nicholas Sprey , the defendant in
another suit in that court, concerning the manor and lands of Tregenver ,
within the parish of Budock , also in Cornwall ; the pleadings in which mention
a fine levied between the defendant and John Killigrewe , esq. and others, of
lands and tenements in Rosemaryn , Budock , Caryvet , Govyse , Prebend , Cubert
, and Cranlocke ,-Proceedings in Chancery in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.)
After this alienation of the lands bearing the name
in Devonshire , the heir male moving across the river Tamar , settled on its
opposite bank at Cutcrewe , in the parish of St. Germans , while a younger
member of the family seated himself at Bodmin , both in Cornwall , in which
shire they received territorial grants from Henry VIII. at the dissolution of
the monasteries, including the Priory of Place.
.
|
A Genealogical and Heraldic History of The
Commoners of Great Britain And Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions or
High Official Rank: But Uninvested With Heritable Honours.[1]
|
History of the Commoners of Great Britain
and Ireland.
|
Spry, of Place.
|
An Association with
the Plymouth Docks.
During Elizabethan times, new
discoveries were being made, and England was increasing the Empire. That was the way of the world, in the 16th
and 17th Century. Sons born to
"important" families became the leaders in their particular
fields. Those professions can be found
throughout the Kingdom/Sprye family.
More importantly, was the family
connections to the Plymouth Docks.
Plymouth as a port was
established around 1459. During the
period of the Hundred Year War, its importance as a Maritime and Military Base
was established. Ships began trading to
other ports in 1528, and Sir Frances Drake sailed from there in 1577. In 1588
he managed to defeat the Spanish Armada in Plymouth Sound. The Pilgrims,
persecuted due to their religious beliefs, sailed from Plymouth on the
Mayflower to America, in 1620.
In 1768, Captain James Cook
sailed from Plymouth on his journey to Australia and New Zealand, Labrador and
Newfoundland.
As a Military Base, King Charles
II ordered the construction of the Royal Citadel in 1655. It contained cannons pointed to sea. In 1690 the first Naval Dockyard was
constructed, by 1790, it had become the largest Dockyard in England, due to
construction of more docks 1727, 1762 and 1793.
My 4th great grandfather, Col
Andrew Durnford, from the Royal Engineers, worked on the fortifications around
1762. To protect the British fleets in
1812, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, a mile long breakwater was constructed. In 1824, Plymouth Dock was renamed Davenport.
It's links to early Australia
stem from the fact that prisoners were kept onboard the Hulks, in Plymouth
Harbour, prior to being sent to Botany Bay.
Sketch of Plymouth c 1600.
The map c 1854, shows the Three
Towns, Devonport, with its defences, to the left, Stonehouse in the centre and
Plymouth to the right. Home of the Spry and
Kingdom families
In 1758 to 1762, a Naval hospital
was constructed at Stonehouse. It housed
1200 hospital beds, and the need for surgeons was important. The hospital was constructed in a pavilion
style, to minimise infection. It
contained a dispensary, and staff quarters.
The first doctor in Plymouth, was
James Yonge[1].
In 1658 aged 11, he was apprenticed to a ship's surgeon, and by age 16 he was
working as a surgeon on a warship.
After the opening of the Devonport Dockyard he obtained a warrant to be
a surgeon to the Navy and to the Yard.
In the 1830's cholera was the
major health concern, and reforms began to improve the conditions inside
hospitals.
Several members of the extended Spry family
became doctors, some became pharmacists.
Given the importance of the Naval base, is would be assumed that many of
the family worked under such conditions, both in private practice or for the
Navy.
Overview
Typically,
Devonport/Plymouth Dock is considered first and foremost a naval town - both by
our own local residents, and by non-residents. While that remains true,
Devonport was and still is a naval district and dockyard area, there is a
period in our history when we were also recognised as one of England's major
garrison towns. And that period is not too far in our past.......
This 1850 map, below, presents the situation very
clearly. On one side, to the west, we were hemmed in by the Admiralty; they had
claimed almost the entire river frontage for the dockyard and navy. On the
north and east we were surrounded by the Army, with a series of barracks
encircling the land side of Devonport. The thick black line outside of the
barracks, surrounding the town, was the garrison wall - in some places 20 foot
high, in other places 30 foot. Residents referred to this wall as 'The Lines'.
The Lines were built with one purpose - as defensive fortifications surrounding
Devonport to protect the dockyard from attack. Abutting the outside of the
garrison wall was a dry moat/ditch. Finally there was the glacis - a wide band
of grassland arcing around the entire town - shown on the map as plain white
space with footpaths across it.
Devonport - extracted from the Map of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse
engraved by Rapkin, published by Tallis c1850
Although residents of the period were virtually hemmed in, (for many
years the only land exit was via drawbridge) I prefer to think of them as being
protected. I suspect that the isolation created by both the garrison wall, and
by the green arc beyond that, nurtured a territorial culture that exists to
this day. Devonportees, of all residents within Plymouth, have the
strongest sense of place.
For 140
years the townsfolk of central Devonport lived inside the walls - and if you
were born inside the garrison, 'within the Lines', you were a true Devonportee.
As the town grew and expanded with the new build of Morice-Town, Stoke, etc.,
then of course many Devonport people were born 'without the Lines' - this
adding to Devonportees' sense of place, whether you were born 'Within or
Without'.
Throughout
the 18th and 19th centuries Plymouth Dock was crowded with soldiers - with
Infantry (Marlborough, Granby and Cumberland barracks), Royal Engineers and
Artificers (Frederick Square barracks), Royal Artillery (Legonier Square
barracks), and in Mount Wise barracks were the Royal Engineers' workshops.
Around 1854 began the build of Raglan barracks, replacing Frederick, Legonier
and Cumberland barracks. Raglan held 2000 men and their officers, that is, two
full regiments. The garrison church in nearby Cumberland Road could seat 1000
men. The town was indeed crowded.
Can't you just imagine the colour and spectacle of life in Devonport
then? Unlike today, uniforms then were worn both in and out of barracks. Also,
uniforms and military costumes during those centuries were more flamboyant and
colourful than now. The grandeur of dress was important to each regiment -
little touches here, more feathers in the hat maybe, more buttons, badges or
gold braid... Regiments would scrutinise each others’ uniforms minutely.
Myerly 1996 commented ** When an officer appeared
one Sunday evening (c1804?) at the Plymouth Dock promenade wearing hussar boots
with a silk tassel hanging from the pointed brim, Captain Mercer wrote: "I
shall not in a hurry forget the sensation caused ... ‘Oh, the puppy!’ was heard
on all sides. ‘If he has not silk tassels to his boots! Only think! Silk
tassels on boots!’* Such pride in their outfits enhanced the Esprit de corps of
a company or regiment. It was all part of the spectacle, an ever changing
spectacle, since regiments moved in and out of Devonport constantly - some
stayed only months, some years, some returned regularly for long stays, such as
the Devon & Cornwall Light Infantry. There were Regiments of Foot, Rifle
Regiments, Volunteer regiments, the Plymouth Dock regiment, the Plymouth Dock
Cavalry, the list goes on. The town was alive with colour, mostly red.
The 46th Foot Regiment c1850
Review of
the Troops. Lower Brickfields. Frith 1871. The photographer had his back to Devonport Hill. The road lined with
spectators, across the top right corner, is Kings Road. Military reviews were a
regular and popular feature of life in Devonport - always well attended by
residents. The Reviews were held on both parts of the Brickfields, upper and
lower.
[1] A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners
of Great Britain, Volume 4 By John
Burke 1838, provides the genealogical background
of the Spry family.
[1] The British Herald; Or, Cabinet of Armorial Bearings
of the Nobility ...By Thomas
Robson 1830 is a good reference source for understanding the purpose of the
Heraldry.
No comments:
Post a Comment