Compiled from family papers & other sources.
Illustrated with portraits.
Edited and arranged by Stamford Raffles fFlint, B.A. Nniv. Coll., oxon.
Truro: printed by Netherton & Worth. 1883.
Only One Hundred Copies Printed.
■Truro : printed by Netherton and Worth, Lemon Street.
To My Mother - This Record of her Ancestors.
He notes in the handwriting, for the most part, of Mr. Richard Rosdew of Beechwood, from which I have gained much information, have been placed at my disposal by my father.
I have confined myself, as far as possible, to arranging and transcribing the matter before me; hence the archaisms in phraseology, which occur on the earlier pages.
As the sources of information relative to the subjects of these memoirs are limited and scanty, the following lines do not profess to be more than sketches.
Such as they are I commit them to the press, and I do so respectfully, ever mindful of the memory of those whom they record.
I beg to express my thanks to Dr. Ginsburg for his seasonable advice, and for the loan of some valuable mezzotint proofs, and to all those from whom I have received assistance ; and I beg further to acknowledge my obligations to the late Mr. Alfred Mudge, for the pains he took with the proof of the genealogical table.
In conclusion, I must add that it is with deference I put forward this book, so unskilfully handled, and intended originally for those to whom it would be of family or personal interest, trusting that whoever takes it up will treat it with leniency and consideration.
Nansawsan, 1883.
In order to follow the lives of the different family members, the memoirs have been interspersed with genealogical and other researched information.
The name of Mudge was originally Mugge; both spellings occur in a pedigree of the 15th century, which is recorded in one of the early Visitations of Surrey, to be found in the Harleian MSS. 1561, fol. 7, and 143 1 1, fol. 139, in the British Museum.
additional MSS
The pedigree is as follows : —
John Mugge = Mudge
John Mugge = Mudge
Stephen Mugge -
Thomas Mugge = Johanna fil et coheres Walter Broke, I
"Walter Mugger Johanne (of Guildford, co. Surrey.
Galfridus Mugge
Michael Mugge = , I Agne
Daniel Mudge=Isabell dau. and ob. s.p. heir, of John Hill, alias Hull of Spridelston, and widow of Thomas Engler.
Margaret, ux Sir Christopher More, of Losely, co. Surrey, Knight, Remembran cer of the Exchequer
temp. Henry viii,
(issue).
Anne, ux John Allen.
Jane, ux Jonea.
Thomas Jonea,
The will of the Walter Mugge mentioned in this pedigree, made on the 9th of February in the year 1494- 95, was proved on the 1st of April following. In it he bequeaths his lands in Surrey to his wife Johanna for life, wath remainder to his son Daniel. His lands in Devonshire he leaves to his executors on trust. The will is specially interesting, on account of the description it contains of the Mudge Arms.
He directs his executors to erect within the Church at Guildford, where he desired to be buried, two stones of marble over the graves of Thomas Mugge, his father, Geffrey Mugge, and Walter Broke and
Alice his wife.
On these stones pictures of these persons were to be engraven, and also their arms, which he particularly describes. Those to be engraven on the Broke monument were to be ' three red lions with a chevron sable, the field silver;' the arms to be cut on the Mudge stone were to be 'three cockatrices in sable and the field silver.'
In the pedigree of Sir Christopher More, in ' Le Neve's Baronets,' the alliance with Mudge, as above, is stated, and the arms of the family are given, also 'Argent, a chevron between three cockatrices sable,' which agree with those described in the will.
I am indebted to Mr. Alfred Mudge for bringing these facts under my notice, which I have however verified for myself.
Memorials, being a genealogical, biographical, and historical account of the name of Mudge in America from 1638 to 1868, by Alfred Mudge. Boston : printed by Alfred Mudge & Son, for the family. 1868.
Other wills bearing the name of Mudge are as follows:
WALTER MUGGE, Clerk, dated November 2nd, 1565, proved 4th of May, 1566.
JOHN MUDGE, of Thorn Falcon, in the county of Somerset, dated the 6th of April, proved the 3rd of May, 1571-
ROBERT MUDGE, citizen and clothworker ' of London, dated the 12th, and proved the 17th of September,
EDMUND MUDGE, citizen and wax chandler of London, dated 21st of November, proved the 14th of December, 1603.
HAMLET MUDGE, of Milton near Gravesend, dated loth of March, 1630-31, proved 3rd of April, 1632.
WILLIAM MUDGE, of Badbury, in the parish of Chiseldon, Wilts, dated loth of May, 1604, proved 9th of February, 1604-5.
ANTONY MUDGE, of Kingsteignton, in the county of Devon, letters of administration dated 8th of October, 1630.
THOMAS MOUDGE, of Alborne, in Wiltshire, dated the 13th of March, 1632-33, proved the 6th of July, 1633.
ELIZABETH MUDGE, of Stroud, in the county of Kent, dated loth of June, 1639, proved 12th of March, 1640-41.
JOANE MUDGE, of the parish of St. Nicholas, in the county of Devon, widow, dated the 29th of January, 1650-51, proved the 13th of May, 1654.
WALTER MUDGE, of North Curry, in the county of Somerset, dated the 30th of November, 1659, and proved the 4th of December, 1660.
GILBERT MUDGE, of Shadwell, in the county of Middlesex, i8th of March, 1679--80. *
JOHN MUDGE, of Radcliffe, county of Middlesex, 20th of December, 1692.
Wills proved in the City of Exeter : —
THOMAS MUDGE, of Little Walsingham, county of Norfolk, dated June 4th, 1527, proved June 26th, 1527.
THOMAS MUDGE, of Paignton, dated March 4th, 1598-99, proved July 6th, 1599.
THOMAS MUDGE, of Blackdon, in the parish of Paignton, dated December 28th, 1595, proved January 6th, 1592-96.
SIMON MUDGE, of Deane, dated April 14th, 1605, proved May i6th, 1605.
THOMAS MUDGE, of Morvale, dated May 29th, 1613, proved May 31st, 1613.
ROBERT MUDGE, of Instow, dated August 19th, 1616, proved September 7th, 16 16.
JOHN MUDGE, of Bishop's Blagdon, in the parish of Paignton, dated April 17th, 1628, proved October 21st, 1628.
The name of Mudge is to be found in the register books of many a Devonshire parish, and is still common in the west of England.
Of the derivation of the name, there have been many conjectures ; it may come from the Anglo-Saxon Mod, courage; though the ancient spelling of the name Mugge, would suggest rather its affinity to the name Mugge, which is often met with in Germany, and points more certainly to a Teutonic origin; or it may be derived from the Old English Mugge, Mug, to hide or conceal.
A word or two with regard to the following pages.
They are the records, not of men who have risen to any special distinction in the history of their times, but of men who have made the most of small means and common opportunities. Opportunities all men have ; but it is those who make full use of them in the line of their calling and according to the natural bent of their genius, who are enabled to rise above the common level of mankind. It is the glory of our country that men such as these should have in all periods abounded, not all equally distinguished, but men penetrated with the spirit of excelling- in the sphere of life in which they found themselves. With the subjects of our memoirs, these spheres were those of a clergyman, a physician, a mechanician, a soldier who had little to do with the din of battles, and a sailor.
It may be said that there have been many such characters; I trust there have been, but all such records are interesting and useful, and bring with them lessons of encouragement for those who follow
after them. One without any social advantages made for himself his position by his own ability, a man of powerful intellect, who is acknowledged to have exercised a permanent influence on the mind of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Another devoted his long life to the course his genius directed ; and his perseverance enabled him to overcome the obstacles which prevented his inventions receiving for a long period their just acknowledgment. A third showed the superiority of a mind, attuned by discipline, over bodily
pain; and though for many years a martyr to disease, made such use of the hours of relaxation from the duties of his profession, as to be able to complete an invention, requiring laborious experiments, which received the approval of the scientific world.
Again another by steady application to his work, brought topographic and geodesic art to an excellence hitherto unattained in this country, and prepared the way for the further improvements which later years have developed. To say no more on what will be gathered better from the Records themselves, all 1 would here say is this, that each little (and in many cases it may be very
little) of what is good and noble, that a man does, in any way making use of the great and varied qualities bestowed upon him, developing his talents, or benefiting his fellow-men — each little helps to bring us nearer that perfection which is the true destiny of man.
*In 1679 - 80 Gilbert Mudge of Shadwell, in the County of Middlesex, Mariner made his will. He died on board the Portsmouth Frigate. Shown below.
A port-quarter view portrait of the Portsmouth (Willem van de Velde, ca. 1675)
The Mudge family and the Devon Rolls of 1641
Some of the family of Mudge were listed in the Return of 1641/42.
The Devon Heritage Organisation holds the records of these rolls. It was quite a surprise to learn that my 12th cousin, the noted poet William Herrick, featured in the records. He became the Vicar of Dean Prior, and perhaps did not enjoy his time in Devon, judging by his poems of the time.
By the end of 1640, King Charles I had become very unpopular. Parliament forced him to make changes in the Constitution which gave them a bigger say in how the country was governed. From then on, Parliament was split into two factions - Royalists (Cavaliers) who supported the King and Parliamentarians (Roundheads) who wanted political and religious reform.
On 3 May 1641, every Member of the House of Commons was ordered to make a declaration of loyalty to the crown. This was ratified next day by the House of Lords. They called it their Protestation against " an arbitrarie and tyrannical government" and another order was made that every Rector, Churchwarden and Overseer of the Poor had to appear in person before the JPs in their Hundred to make this Protestation Oath in person. It was to be a declaration of their belief in the" Protestant religion, allegiance to the King and support for the rights and privileges of Parliament".
They then had to go back home to their own parish where any two of them were to require the same oath of allegiance from all males over the age of 18. The names of all who refused to make the oath were to be noted and assumed to be Catholics.
We have, in the Devon Protestation Returns, a set of amazing documents - something akin to a census even though no women or children are named. A transcription is available in the West Country Studies Library in Exeter.
The Protestation Returns are arranged by parish.
Dean Prior belonged to the Hundred of Stanborough
(The original spelling has been retained)
* Robert Herrick, the great 17th century poet, was ordained in the Church of England on 25 April 1623. He arrived in Devon to become vicar of Dean Prior in 1630 where he remained until 1647 when he was expelled from his living by the Puritans. He returned to Dean Prior in 1662 after the restoration of the Monarchy, dying here 15 October 1674. The first of the signatures at the foot of this document was his.
1st cousin 12th removed of the author.
http://www.devonheritage.org/Places/Dean%20Prior/DeanPriorProtestationReturn1641.htm
Herrick, who was born in 1591, lived in turbulent times which may explain why his creative period ended so abruptly with the publication of his only book in 1648. This was shortly after he was dispossessed of his living in the parish of Dean Prior by the Puritans who were angered by his continued support for King Charles I. We have very few records of the events of his early life beyond the 1403 poems published under the title Hesperides: or the Works both Humane and Divine of Robert Herrick Esq.
A project attempting to date each poem and, possibly, to ascertain where Herrick was when he wrote it, is underway, sponsored by the Oxford University Press. Of interest to local people in Devon will be the knowledge that so many poems were directly influenced by his first 17-year stay in Devon. (Hesperides, his volume of collected works)was published before he returned to Dean Prior). Herrick made no secret of the fact that he did not much like Devon or the village of Den Prior or its inhabitants.
DISCONTENTS IN DEVON
by Robert Herrick
More discontents I never had
Since I was born than here,
Where I have been, and still am sad
In this dull Devonshire;
Yet, justly too, I must confess
I ne'er invented such
Ennobled numbers for the press,
Than where I loathed so much.
Dean Prior Vicarage and church c. 1910
One hundred years after this photograph was taken, the traffic of the A38 constantly roars past the rear of these buildings, within just a few feet of the lych gate of the church and the house.
The tiny vicarage which was home to Robert Herrick can just be seen at the rear of the house on the left. Here he lived with Tracie, his spaniel, a pet sparrow and Prue, his maid - "by good luck sent".
Some time after Prue's death, he wrote:
"In this little urne is laid
Prewdence Baldwin (once my maid)
From whose happy spark here let
Spring the purple violet."
After the death of his spaniel, he wrote
"Now thou art dead, no eye shall ever see
For shape and service, spaniell like to thee."
No doubt the existing records about Robert Herrick at Devon can be enlarged and they may find them very interesting.
Our mutual grand-parents owned the Priory in Leicester, the same place that King Richard II was buried. They placed a marker on the exact spot, and that position was recorded in the diaries of Sir Christopher Wren's father. The Herrick children went to University with the Wren children. Christopher Wren Senior was their teacher. The Herrick's were Mayors of Leicester.
The digging a council carpark was not quite the story, failing to tell the historical facts is rather disappointing. The women given the credit for the find, has not even the courtesy to respond to emails. One wonders why?
Reference is now made to the Book written in 1883
GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE MUDGE FAMILY.
Note when this table was compiled, the names of all of Zachariah Mudge's descendants were not presented, nor was their knowledge of many of the spouses.
The following chapters are arranged in the names of the children of Zachariah Mudge born 1694.
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