Since Alderman John Bence has his own page, he probably isn't this Mr. Bence.
I propose this might either have been Navy Commissioner Alexander Bence, who was appointed Master of the Trinity House by the House of Commons in February, 1660, just before the Restoration.
Or it might have been Navy Commissioner Squire Bence (Squire seems to have been his name, not a title). They were both brethren of Trinity House, Commissioners of the Navy during the Civil War; they were prominent merchants and adventurers in the American and West Indian trade, as well as owners of privateers. They both appear to have resided in Wapping at some time, as their names are found in the parish registers there.
Trinity House enjoyed a varying degree of popularity during the Civil Wars. Although a few of the members were Royalists, many of those who were not at least desired settlement by peaceful means. There are very few records left in existence so they both drop from view around the Restoration.
These notes are from a 1952 paper, presented by Capt. William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London. It contains information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and along the Thames, the history of the Seething Lane offices, Quakers and Puritans, and the characters Commissioner "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage (the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws and cousins from Wapping during the Cromwell years and at the Restoration).
Bence, Ald. John (d.1688). Merchant; appointed Navy Commissioner 1646; M.P. for Aldeburgh Jan.-Apr. 1659; Alderman 1664 (discharged 1665). His second wife was Joan (nee Cotton).
In 1630 the Bourne family shipyard, the “old Bell” Dockyard which occupied the site of the present Wapping Basin entrance to the docks, was leased to Mary Bourne Whare’s son-in-law, John Hoxton, and to John Taylor, both master shipwrights.
(This was probably the John Taylor who later became a prominent shipbuilder, and in Cromwell’s time built the London, which was accidentally blown up off the Nore in 1665 with considerable loss of life. Also in 1665, John Taylor was chosen by Charles II to build her successor, the Loyal London.)
Early in May 1656 the Navy Commissioners appointed three of their number, Major Nehemiah Bourne, Capt. Francis Willoughby and Capt. John Taylor, to go to Portsmouth to report on the dockyard there.
On 23 May, 1656 they reported that they had surveyed the yard “and find there is convenience for the erecting of a drydock there, at a cost of £3,200 and that it could be extended for £500 more.”
These notes are from a 1952 paper, presented by Capt. William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London. It contains information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and along the Thames, the history of the Seething Lane offices, Quakers and Puritans, and the characters Commissioner "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage (the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws and cousins from Wapping during the Cromwell years).
The parish of Stepney (including Limehouse, Poplar, Whitechapel, Blackwall, Shadwell and Wapping) owed its development to the naval enterprise which began in the reign of Henry VII.
Deptford, Kent, rose to prominence, the shipyards eventually extending upriver to Rotherhithe, and, on the north side of the Thames some of the more famous shipbuilders laid out their yards at Blackwall, Poplar and Wapping.
As the shipbuilding increased, Stepney attracted adventurers including Humphrey Gilbert, Stephen and William Borough, and many others famous in maritime history, and here, too, the Trinity House transferred from its original home at Deptford, probably in the late 16th century, although it always retained its title of the Trinity House of Deptford Strond (in accordance with the wording of its charter) and here it soon became a monopoly of the merchant mariners of Stepney who were largely prominent in the chartered companies, such as the Virginia Company, the East India Company, and others.
The Trinity House moved in 1661 from Stepney to Water Lane near Tower Hill.
Also drawn to the riverside parishes were the mariners and shipbuilders of Leigh, Woodbridge, Aldeborough and other Essex and Suffolk ports which were declining.
Coincident with the rise of Stepney was the growth of Puritanism, which had its birth in East Anglia, Leigh being foremost in the controversy. By 1580 it was firmly established in Stepney, although it would be decades before it broke from the established church.
Nehemiah Bourne was born in 1611, so he was old enough to remember the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower in 1620; the Mayflower was a Rotherhithe ship just across the river from Wapping.
Nehemiah Bourne would also have seen and appreciated the significance of the steady stream of adventurers who followed them. Brought up in a Puritan environment, which had now spread over the southern counties, he would see the growing political and religious confusion which eventually led to the Civil Wars, and the frequent persecutions which were creating in some of the best craftsmen a desire to emigrate to a land of economic opportunity, and freedom for the religious life they wished to lead, and wished to see their neighbors lead.
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and Wapping, the history of the Seething Lane offices, and the characters "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
Brian Harrison was born at Sedgfields, County Durham, but from his associations in shipping he appears to have been related to the Harrisons, all mariners, from Leigh and Wapping.
On 18 Feb., 1620 Brian Harrison married Elizabeth Bourne, widow of William Harris, which made him a cousin of Nehemiah Bourne.
Elizabeth Bourne Harris Harrison is recorded in the Register of St. John’s, Wapping, as being buried on 9 Aug., 1625.
Capt. Harrison married again (don't know when or where) to Susanna, widow of James Carter of Wapping, late master of the ship Anne of London, with whom Harrison had been part owner in the Virginia trade.
In May, 1630, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty granted a warrant for issuing letters of marque to Capt. Harrison and others, owners of the Unicorn of London, the ship to be commanded by Capt. Brian Harrison.
In 1637 Adm. William Rainsborough was appointed to command the squadron sent to suppress the Algerian pirates, He petitioned the Admiralty for Capt. Brian Harrison to have command of one of his ships (Cal. State Papers. Dom. 15 January 1637).
The other appointments seem to have been Adm. Rainsborough’s choice, as two of the smaller ships were commanded by Wapping men, Capt. Thomas White and Capt. Edmund Seaman, who, years later, became Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, the former 1660 - 1675, and the latter 1665 - 1672.
Capt. Brian Harrison commanded the Hercules of London (a hired merchant ship and probably the one of that name which had taken settlers to New England) and was appointed rear admiral of the squadron.
Early in Sept. 1637 Rear Adm. Harrison arrived at Falmouth in advance of the rest of the squadron, bringing the first news of their success.
In 1650 Harrison commanded the Rainbow in the fleet under Adm. Richard Deane.
In June 1653 Capt. Brian Harrison still had a share in the Unicorn, as there is a reference in the State Papers to a petition by him to the Council of State about her, which was referred to the Committee for Foreign Affairs.
In 1640 - 1649, Capt. Brian Harrison was elected an Elder Brother of Trinity House, but evidently was one of the members proscribed by the Act of January, 1649, His name does not appear again until 1659, when -- together with other former members of the Corporation -- he was prominent in the re-establishment under its former charter and was re-elected an Elder Brother at the Restoration.
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and Wapping, the history of the Seething Lane offices, and the characters "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
St. Katherine’s by the Tower was situated just east of the Tower of London; the Hospital to which it was attached in earlier times having been founded by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen (1135–1154).
On the south wall of the chancel there existed, in 1633, according to Stowe’s Remaines, the following inscription: “The gift of Master John Bourne, being five pounds per annum to be distributed in Bread amongst the poore of the Precinct, beganne the 10 day of May Anno Dom. 1609, to be continued unto them for forty years following.”
St. Katherine’s by the Tower was not a large or important church, but was a memorial of more than local interest as it was the personal property of the Queens of England, and as such escaped the fate of the monastic establishments when Henry VIII carried out his ruthless policy of confiscation.
[The site of the parish of St. Katherine’s, some 23 acres, the church, hospital, and over 1,200 houses were acquired and demolished in 1824 for the construction of St. Katherine’s Dock].
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and has lots of information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston, the history of the Seething Lane offices, and the colorful characters "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
From June, 1649, when the Commonwealth established its administration after the fall of the monarchy, the Navy Commissioners had occupied rooms in the Victualing Office on Little Tower Hill.
In 1653 the Navy Commissioners objected to the victualers’ on-site slaughterhouse, so in 1654 Sir John Wolstenholme Jr.’s house in Seething Lane was purchased for them for £2,400 and this became the Navy Office for many years.
Until September, 1653, each Navy Commissioner was allowed one clerk at £30 a year, scanty assistance for their work; the number was then doubled and two purveyors were added.
Seething Lane had many association with the navy and maritime interests, as it had been the town house of Sir John Wolstenholme Sr.
Sir John Wolstenholme, Sr. (1562–1639) was one of the richest merchants in London and took a prominent part in early English trade with America, as well as in colonization and maritime discovery.
In December, 1600, Wolstenholme was one of the incorporators of the East India Company; in 1609 became a member of the Council of the Virginia Co, and for many years was one of the farmers of Customs in London. He helped finance voyages to discover a northwest passage made by Henry Hudson in 1610 and William Baffin in 1615.
In 1619 Wolstenholme was appointed a Commissioner of the Navy, and in 1635 to the Commission for the Administration of the Chatham Chest.
He died in 1639 and was buried in Stanmore Church.
His son, Sir John Wolstenholme Jr., knighted in 1633, inherited the collection of the customs dues, and for many years was a leading member of the Court of the East India Company. There are many references to him in the minutes of the company.
Sir John Jr. supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War and subscribed liberally with money and plate, for which he was heavily fined by the Parliament, and his estates sequestrated to the value of £100,000.
Wolstenholme Jr. was declared a bankrupt in 1651 (it was said improperly so) and for several years he was in financial difficulties and it was then that his house in Seething Lane was sold.
Wolstenholme Jr, weathered the storm. At the Restoration he recovered his estates and his patent of Collector of Customs for London. He was created a baronet by Charles II in 1665.
After leaving Seething Lane, Sir John resided in Fenchurch Street, where he died in July, 1670, and was buried at Stanmore.
Sir John Jr. was an intimate friend of Chancellor Clarendon.
This 1952 paper was presented by Capt, William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and has information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War, shipbuilding in Boston MASS, and the characters Major [Rear Admiral] Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Interregnum.
Major Nehemiah Bourne (1611 - 1690) was a man of his times.
He was the eldest son of a Puritan Wapping shipbuilder. He would have seen the Mayflower set sail in 1620, and possibly met the settlers.
As a young man Nehemiah Bourne emigrated and became a prominent merchant in Boston, MASS. (not then founded), later returning to England to fight for the Parliamentary cause in the first Civil War.
Nehemiah Bourne became a major in the land forces, a captain at sea in the Parliamentary ships, then promoted to rear admiral all in Cromwell’s time. For whatever reason, he was always referred to as Major from his Army days. Later he was appointed a commissioner of the navy board, and, after the Restoration, an Elder Brother of the Trinity House, from which he resigned to return to Massachusetts.
He became a successful trader and shipwright there; his berths are still in use today.
Finally, Major Nehemiah Bourne returned to his native London and ended his days as a merchant there, trading with the New England states. His house backed onto the Quaker Meeting House in Gracechurch Street where Fox used to preach, and William Penn Jr. will be arrested (after the Diary). Bourne knew them all as he was probably a Quaker by now.
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and has lots of information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston, the history of Seething Lane offices, and the colorful characters Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
Hi Mary K ... according to the Encyclopedia, this is the first mention of Joseph Hayes, the dancing author. Do you have info about him from another source?
"I to dinner with Sir G. Carteret to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where I find mighty deal of company — a solemn day for some of his and her friends, and dine in the great dining-room above stairs, where Sir G. Carteret himself, and I, and his son, at a little table by, the great table being full of strangers."
How weird. Obviously Sir George felt obligated to be there, but was free to sit at the over-flow table with Pepys and Philip so their solemn friends were solemn without him.
In the past an uninvited Pepys has been late for lunch and left quietly to eat elsewhere ... maybe this time Carteret said "no, come on in lad, save me from this lot!"
Maybe the Carterets were hosting something like a funeral lunch?
On 26 Nov. 1669 Holles compared the condition of the Dutch and English fleets, to the disadvantage of the latter.
Holles’ continued hostility to the Court was noted, and his troop was reassigned.
Holles offered his services to Louis XIV, and, perhaps to ingratiating himself, spoke against the proposed prohibition of brandy, all in vain.
During the recess, Holles went to Ireland, presumably to escape his creditors.
Sir Frescheville Holles MP paid two visits to the French Embassy in Dec. 1670, offering to ensure the Grant of Supply would not be made dependent on the maintenance of the Triple Alliance, and to engage some Members in the interests of France at £100 a head.
Highlights from Holles' Parliamentary bio., covering the Diary years:
In Nov./Dec,, 1662 Frescheville Holles married Jane Lewis Crome (with £5,000), but found her to be an ‘old, foul wife’ whom he soon discarded, but keeping her money.
Frescheville Holles inherited the martial spirit of his family: Capt. of militia foot, Westminster 1663, maj. of foot 1664-1667; capt. RN 1665-7, 1672;
Before going on active service in the Anglo-Dutch war, Capt. Frescheville Holles wrote his epitaph, declaring he required no other monument ‘than what my sword should raise for me of honor and of fortune’.
Capt. Holles lost an arm in the Four Days’ battle of 1666, after which he was knighted.
According to Henry Savile MP, Holles and Sir John Harman ‘got immortal fame, and are extremely in the favor of their generals and our sovereign’. But Adm. Penn called Holles ‘a conceited, idle, prating, lying fellow’, and Pepys, always hostile to “gentlemen captains,” complained of his profanity and the indiscipline of his men.
At the end of the war Capt. Sir Frescheville Holles received a bounty of £300, and was commissioned as a major in the guards.
Major Holles stood for Grimsby at the Oct. 1667 by-election. His father held the other seat, and Holles bragged to Pepys that his family had represented the borough for 140 years. [NOT TRUE.] Major Holles was defeated by Sir Philip Tyrwhitt, but that was reversed on petition.
A moderately active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, Sir Frescheville Holles MP was appointed to 45 committees and made 20 speeches. On taking his seat, Holles was added to the Committee of Inquiry into the Miscarriages of the War. He was among those ordered to bring in a proviso to the Public Accounts bill on 17 Dec. 1667, and to take the accounts of the Loyal and Indigent Officers Fund over Christmas recess.
When the House resumed in Feb. 1668, Holles took a lead in attacking the Navy Board, to which his empty sleeve entitled him.
A follower of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, Holles was particularly severe on Sir William Coventry MP, whom he blamed for the division of the fleet in 1666. Together with Sir Richard Temple MP, Holles was rumored to be sponsoring a petition for the repayment of fees exacted by Coventry for naval commissions.
On 20 Feb. 1668 Holles told the House ‘the defect of provisions of victualling is as great a miscarriage as any’, but defended Lord Brouncker over the discharge of seamen by ticket.
In the debates on the Miscarriages of War, Holles wanted Adm. Harman to have an opportunity to clear himself of the charge of failure to press home the success off Lowestoft in 1665,
Holles attacked Adm. Penn over the disposal of prize goods. He was one ordered to attend the Lords with the articles of Penn’s impeachment.
Holles urged the Public Accounts Commission be ordered to prove their charges against Sir George Carteret MP.
L&M: Sir Frescheville Holles was elected to Parliament on 24 October, 1667 in place of Sir Henry Belasyse, who was killed in a quarrel reported by Pepys: (http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ) and thus became fellow M.P. for Grimsby with his father, Gervase Holles, who had sat for the town in three parliaments since 1640. That was the extent of the family's parliamentary service for Grimsby. The first Holles to be an M.P. was William, member for Nottinghamshire in 1553. Sir Frescheville Holles was perhaps enlarging on that fact; or he may have been misled by his family's residence in or near Grimsby since 1558. His father was an antiquary and in the 1650s Gervase Holles MP wrote “Memorials of the Holles Family 1493-1656” and dedicated it to Frescheville
Tatnell, Capt. or Lieut. Valentine, senior -, commission to -, letters of -, Valentine, jun., letter of -, Capt. Wm., children of, grant to
General Index: T, U, V Pages 670-675
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1653-4. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1879.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
Citation: BHO 'General Index: T, U, V', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1653-4, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1879), pp. 670-675. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… [accessed 9 March 2021].
This volume has gold page scans. Access these scans with a gold subscription WHICH ARE CURRENTLY FREE UNTIL COVID-19 ENDS. But as usual they don't seem to want to get you from the index to the documents!!! If I figure it out, I'll let you know.
Will of Valentine Tatnell, Jurate of Town and Port of Dover Kent Ordering and viewing options -- £3.50 - sign in to get this free Download format PDF Approximate size 8.5 MB Add to basket Order up to 10 items per basket, and up to 100 in a 30 day period. More ways to view this record Reference: PROB 11/294/659 Description: Will of Valentine Tatnell, Jurate of Town and Port of Dover, Kent Date: 24 August 1659 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Image viewer Preview an image of this record. [FREE]
A JURAT is a municipal officer or magistrate. Since Mayor Valentine I died in 1659, this will may refer to our Capt. Valentine II, but was not written by him.
Letter of Capt. Valentine Tatnell jun., on the 'Rosebush' nr. Gravesend. Ordering and viewing options This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded. Reference: SP 46/115/fo138 Description: Letter of Capt. Valentine Tatnell jun., on the 'Rosebush' nr. Gravesend. Requests issue of shot and addition to his crew. 25 Sept. 1653. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
I wonder what the clerks had been preparing for all these weeks. I imagined Pepys would enter into the official record books of accounts from the beginning to the end of the war, plus copies of official instructions received which they executed. Apparently not. But he had read and discussed the specifics so often that he could make the presentation as if he was in the office.
As for not finding a transcript, it is possible to find the essence: L&M: The professors had found an office copy in Hayter's hand, 21 February, 1668 entitled in Pepys' hand "Considerations offered by the Principal Officers & Commissioners of the Navy touching their discharging Seamen by Ticket' at Oxford in the Bodleian Library among the Papers of Samuel Pepys, 191, ff. 233-5; signed by Pepys and Mennes. On the flyleaf Pepys has written a note that unsigned copies were sent to Col. Birch, Sir John Lowther and Mr. Joliffe. https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.u…
Helpful as this appears to be, it takes you to a page with Samuel Pepys documents clearly indicated as being available, but I have not been able to puzzle out how to access any of them on-line.
At the bottom it says: "Physical Storage Information for Staff Box: 606674715 (mixed materials)"
so perhaps we have to go there and see the original?
"I did also present a demand of mine for consideration for my travelling-charges of coach and boat-hire during the war, which, though his Royal Highness and the company did all like of, yet, contrary to my expectation, I find him so jealous now of doing any thing extraordinary, that he desired the gentlemen that they would consider it, and report their minds in it to him. This did unsettle my mind a great while, not expecting this stop: but, however, I shall do as well, I know, though it causes me a little stop."
There goes another assumption: As the Clerk of the Acts I thought he had a petty cash float for such things. We read years ago about the money given to Creed/Howe for Sandwich when he took out the fleet so they could pay emergency expenses.
Now I wonder how the Navy Board paid for business expenses like candles, coal and Pepys' experiments with waxed paper?
And I wonder yet again why the Navy Board didn't have an office coach and some horses available for business purposes? They had a dedicated skiff and boatman ... why no horses and stableman?
Possibly the answer is that it is assumed that well-heeled GENTLEMEN perform these tasks. It is only recently that bright, poor, middle-type men have been able to go to University and qualify for government work. It is convenient to assume everyone comes to the office equipped with a family coach and horses; that men are taking the jobs in order to get close to the Monarchy and accumulate power -- not because, security alert, they need money on which to exist.
"At my sending to desire it, Sir J. Robinson, Lieutenant of the Tower, did call me with his coach, and carried me to White Hall, where met with very many people still that did congratulate my speech the other day in the House of Commons, and I find all the world almost rings of it."
This is the second time he's gone to the Whitehall end of town since the hearings, and been acclaimed. But on March 6 he had gone for business reasons, but that's not the case today by the sound of things.
I'm thinking that by being available around Westminster he is giving MPs the opportunity to talk to him about any part of his presentation they didn't understand, and counteracting any naysayers who might want to negatively influence the verdict which will be voted on in a few days. Granted he's enjoying every minute of it ... but it's good for any doubting MPs to see the accolades.
Plus it will remind the Duke of York that he has earned his travel reimbursements!
Comments
Second Reading
About Mr Bence
San Diego Sarah • Link
Since Alderman John Bence has his own page, he probably isn't this Mr. Bence.
I propose this might either have been Navy Commissioner Alexander Bence, who was appointed Master of the Trinity House by the House of Commons in February, 1660, just before the Restoration.
Or it might have been Navy Commissioner Squire Bence (Squire seems to have been his name, not a title). They were both brethren of Trinity House, Commissioners of the Navy during the Civil War; they were prominent merchants and adventurers in the American and West Indian trade, as well as owners of privateers. They both appear to have resided in Wapping at some time, as their names are found in the parish registers there.
Trinity House enjoyed a varying degree of popularity during the Civil Wars. Although a few of the members were Royalists, many of those who were not at least desired settlement by peaceful means. There are very few records left in existence so they both drop from view around the Restoration.
These notes are from a 1952 paper, presented by Capt. William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London. It contains information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and along the Thames, the history of the Seething Lane offices, Quakers and Puritans, and the characters Commissioner "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage (the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws and cousins from Wapping during the Cromwell years and at the Restoration).
And yes, Pepys and the Diary get some mentions.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About Ald. John Bence
San Diego Sarah • Link
the only Bence in L&M Companion:
Bence, Ald. John (d.1688).
Merchant; appointed Navy Commissioner 1646;
M.P. for Aldeburgh Jan.-Apr. 1659;
Alderman 1664 (discharged 1665).
His second wife was Joan (nee Cotton).
About Capt. John Taylor
San Diego Sarah • Link
In 1630 the Bourne family shipyard, the “old Bell” Dockyard which occupied the site of the present Wapping Basin entrance to the docks, was leased to Mary Bourne Whare’s son-in-law, John Hoxton, and to John Taylor, both master shipwrights.
(This was probably the John Taylor who later became a prominent shipbuilder, and in Cromwell’s time built the London, which was accidentally blown up off the Nore in 1665 with considerable loss of life. Also in 1665, John Taylor was chosen by Charles II to build her successor, the Loyal London.)
Early in May 1656 the Navy Commissioners appointed three of their number, Major Nehemiah Bourne, Capt. Francis Willoughby and Capt. John Taylor, to go to Portsmouth to report on the dockyard there.
On 23 May, 1656 they reported that they had surveyed the yard “and find there is convenience for the erecting of a drydock there, at a cost of £3,200 and that it could be extended for £500 more.”
These notes are from a 1952 paper, presented by Capt. William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London. It contains information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and along the Thames, the history of the Seething Lane offices, Quakers and Puritans, and the characters Commissioner "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage (the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws and cousins from Wapping during the Cromwell years).
And yes, Pepys and the Diary get some mentions.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About Stepney
San Diego Sarah • Link
The parish of Stepney (including Limehouse, Poplar, Whitechapel, Blackwall, Shadwell and Wapping) owed its development to the naval enterprise which began in the reign of Henry VII.
Deptford, Kent, rose to prominence, the shipyards eventually extending upriver to Rotherhithe, and, on the north side of the Thames some of the more famous shipbuilders laid out their yards at Blackwall, Poplar and Wapping.
As the shipbuilding increased, Stepney attracted adventurers including Humphrey Gilbert, Stephen and William Borough, and many others famous in maritime history, and here, too, the Trinity House transferred from its original home at Deptford, probably in the late 16th century, although it always retained its title of the Trinity House of Deptford Strond (in accordance with the wording of its charter) and here it soon became a monopoly of the merchant mariners of Stepney who were largely prominent in the chartered companies, such as the Virginia Company, the East India Company, and others.
The Trinity House moved in 1661 from Stepney to Water Lane near Tower Hill.
Also drawn to the riverside parishes were the mariners and shipbuilders of Leigh, Woodbridge, Aldeborough and other Essex and Suffolk ports which were declining.
Coincident with the rise of Stepney was the growth of Puritanism, which had its birth in East Anglia, Leigh being foremost in the controversy. By 1580 it was firmly established in Stepney, although it would be decades before it broke from the established church.
Nehemiah Bourne was born in 1611, so he was old enough to remember the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower in 1620; the Mayflower was a Rotherhithe ship just across the river from Wapping.
Nehemiah Bourne would also have seen and appreciated the significance of the steady stream of adventurers who followed them. Brought up in a Puritan environment, which had now spread over the southern counties, he would see the growing political and religious confusion which eventually led to the Civil Wars, and the frequent persecutions which were creating in some of the best craftsmen a desire to emigrate to a land of economic opportunity, and freedom for the religious life they wished to lead, and wished to see their neighbors lead.
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and Wapping, the history of the Seething Lane offices, and the characters "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
And yes, Pepys and the Diary get some mentions.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About Capt. Brian Harrison
San Diego Sarah • Link
Brian Harrison was born at Sedgfields, County Durham, but from his associations in shipping he appears to have been related to the Harrisons, all mariners, from Leigh and Wapping.
On 18 Feb., 1620 Brian Harrison married Elizabeth Bourne, widow of William Harris, which made him a cousin of Nehemiah Bourne.
Elizabeth Bourne Harris Harrison is recorded in the Register of St. John’s, Wapping, as being buried on 9 Aug., 1625.
Capt. Harrison married again (don't know when or where) to Susanna, widow of James Carter of Wapping, late master of the ship Anne of London, with whom Harrison had been part owner in the Virginia trade.
In May, 1630, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty granted a warrant for issuing letters of marque to Capt. Harrison and others, owners of the Unicorn of London, the ship to be commanded by Capt. Brian Harrison.
In 1637 Adm. William Rainsborough was appointed to command the squadron sent to suppress the Algerian pirates, He petitioned the Admiralty for Capt. Brian Harrison to have command of one of his ships (Cal. State Papers. Dom. 15 January 1637).
The other appointments seem to have been Adm. Rainsborough’s choice, as two of the smaller ships were commanded by Wapping men, Capt. Thomas White and Capt. Edmund Seaman, who, years later, became Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, the former 1660 - 1675, and the latter 1665 - 1672.
Capt. Brian Harrison commanded the Hercules of London (a hired merchant ship and probably the one of that name which had taken settlers to New England) and was appointed rear admiral of the squadron.
Early in Sept. 1637 Rear Adm. Harrison arrived at Falmouth in advance of the rest of the squadron, bringing the first news of their success.
In 1650 Harrison commanded the Rainbow in the fleet under Adm. Richard Deane.
In June 1653 Capt. Brian Harrison still had a share in the Unicorn, as there is a reference in the State Papers to a petition by him to the Council of State about her, which was referred to the Committee for Foreign Affairs.
In 1640 - 1649, Capt. Brian Harrison was elected an Elder Brother of Trinity House, but evidently was one of the members proscribed by the Act of January, 1649,
His name does not appear again until 1659, when -- together with other former members of the Corporation -- he was prominent in the re-establishment under its former charter and was re-elected an Elder Brother at the Restoration.
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston and Wapping, the history of the Seething Lane offices, and the characters "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
And yes, Pepys and the Diary get some mentions.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About St Katharine
San Diego Sarah • Link
St. Katherine’s by the Tower was situated just east of the Tower of London; the Hospital to which it was attached in earlier times having been founded by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen (1135–1154).
On the south wall of the chancel there existed, in 1633, according to Stowe’s Remaines, the following inscription: “The gift of Master John Bourne, being five pounds per annum to be distributed in Bread amongst the poore of the Precinct, beganne the 10 day of May Anno Dom. 1609, to be continued unto them for forty years following.”
St. Katherine’s by the Tower was not a large or important church, but was a memorial of more than local interest as it was the personal property of the Queens of England, and as such escaped the fate of the monastic establishments when Henry VIII carried out his ruthless policy of confiscation.
[The site of the parish of St. Katherine’s, some 23 acres, the church, hospital, and over 1,200 houses were acquired and demolished in 1824 for the construction of St. Katherine’s Dock].
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and has lots of information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston, the history of the Seething Lane offices, and the colorful characters "Major" Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
And yes, Pepys and the Diary get some mentions.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About Navy Office (Seething Lane)
San Diego Sarah • Link
From June, 1649, when the Commonwealth established its administration after the fall of the monarchy, the Navy Commissioners had occupied rooms in the Victualing Office on Little Tower Hill.
In 1653 the Navy Commissioners objected to the victualers’ on-site slaughterhouse, so in 1654 Sir John Wolstenholme Jr.’s house in Seething Lane was purchased for them for £2,400 and this became the Navy Office for many years.
Until September, 1653, each Navy Commissioner was allowed one clerk at £30 a year, scanty assistance for their work; the number was then doubled and two purveyors were added.
Seething Lane had many association with the navy and maritime interests, as it had been the town house of Sir John Wolstenholme Sr.
Sir John Wolstenholme, Sr. (1562–1639) was one of the richest merchants in London and took a prominent part in early English trade with America, as well as in colonization and maritime discovery.
In December, 1600, Wolstenholme was one of the incorporators of the East India Company; in 1609 became a member of the Council of the Virginia Co, and for many years was one of the farmers of Customs in London. He helped finance voyages to discover a northwest passage made by Henry Hudson in 1610 and William Baffin in 1615.
In 1619 Wolstenholme was appointed a Commissioner of the Navy, and in 1635 to the Commission for the Administration of the Chatham Chest.
He died in 1639 and was buried in Stanmore Church.
His son, Sir John Wolstenholme Jr., knighted in 1633, inherited the collection of the customs dues, and for many years was a leading member of the Court of the East India Company. There are many references to him in the minutes of the company.
Sir John Jr. supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War and subscribed liberally with money and plate, for which he was heavily fined by the Parliament, and his estates sequestrated to the value of £100,000.
Wolstenholme Jr. was declared a bankrupt in 1651 (it was said improperly so) and for several years he was in financial difficulties and it was then that his house in Seething Lane was sold.
Wolstenholme Jr, weathered the storm. At the Restoration he recovered his estates and his patent of Collector of Customs for London. He was created a baronet by Charles II in 1665.
After leaving Seething Lane, Sir John resided in Fenchurch Street, where he died in July, 1670, and was buried at Stanmore.
Sir John Jr. was an intimate friend of Chancellor Clarendon.
This 1952 paper was presented by Capt, William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and has information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War, shipbuilding in Boston MASS, and the characters Major [Rear Admiral] Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Interregnum.
And yes, Pepys and the Diary are mentioned.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About Maj. Nehemiah Bourne
San Diego Sarah • Link
Major Nehemiah Bourne (1611 - 1690) was a man of his times.
He was the eldest son of a Puritan Wapping shipbuilder. He would have seen the Mayflower set sail in 1620, and possibly met the settlers.
As a young man Nehemiah Bourne emigrated and became a prominent merchant in Boston, MASS. (not then founded), later returning to England to fight for the Parliamentary cause in the first Civil War.
Nehemiah Bourne became a major in the land forces, a captain at sea in the Parliamentary ships, then promoted to rear admiral all in Cromwell’s time. For whatever reason, he was always referred to as Major from his Army days. Later he was appointed a commissioner of the navy board, and, after the Restoration, an Elder Brother of the Trinity House, from which he resigned to return to Massachusetts.
He became a successful trader and shipwright there; his berths are still in use today.
Finally, Major Nehemiah Bourne returned to his native London and ended his days as a merchant there, trading with the New England states. His house backed onto the Quaker Meeting House in Gracechurch Street where Fox used to preach, and William Penn Jr. will be arrested (after the Diary). Bourne knew them all as he was probably a Quaker by now.
This 1952 paper was presented by Captain William Robert Chaplin, of the Trinity House, London, and has lots of information about the growth of shipbuilding under James I and Charles I, the Civil War years, shipbuilding in Boston, the history of Seething Lane offices, and the colorful characters Nehemiah Bourne was related to by marriage ... the entire Trinity House Brotherhood were his Puritan in-laws from Wapping during the Cromwell years.
And yes, Pepys and the Diary get some mentions.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/n…
About Saturday 7 March 1667/68
San Diego Sarah • Link
Hi Mary K ... according to the Encyclopedia, this is the first mention of Joseph Hayes, the dancing author. Do you have info about him from another source?
About Sunday 8 March 1667/68
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I to dinner with Sir G. Carteret to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where I find mighty deal of company — a solemn day for some of his and her friends, and dine in the great dining-room above stairs, where Sir G. Carteret himself, and I, and his son, at a little table by, the great table being full of strangers."
How weird. Obviously Sir George felt obligated to be there, but was free to sit at the over-flow table with Pepys and Philip so their solemn friends were solemn without him.
In the past an uninvited Pepys has been late for lunch and left quietly to eat elsewhere ... maybe this time Carteret said "no, come on in lad, save me from this lot!"
Maybe the Carterets were hosting something like a funeral lunch?
About Sir Frescheville Holles (MP Grimsby, Lincs.)
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
On 26 Nov. 1669 Holles compared the condition of the Dutch and English fleets, to the disadvantage of the latter.
Holles’ continued hostility to the Court was noted, and his troop was reassigned.
Holles offered his services to Louis XIV, and, perhaps to ingratiating himself, spoke against the proposed prohibition of brandy, all in vain.
During the recess, Holles went to Ireland, presumably to escape his creditors.
Sir Frescheville Holles MP paid two visits to the French Embassy in Dec. 1670, offering to ensure the Grant of Supply would not be made dependent on the maintenance of the Triple Alliance, and to engage some Members in the interests of France at £100 a head.
@@@
Lady Jane Lewis Crome Holles got off lightly.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Sir Frescheville Holles (MP Grimsby, Lincs.)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Highlights from Holles' Parliamentary bio., covering the Diary years:
In Nov./Dec,, 1662 Frescheville Holles married Jane Lewis Crome (with £5,000), but found her to be an ‘old, foul wife’ whom he soon discarded, but keeping her money.
Frescheville Holles inherited the martial spirit of his family:
Capt. of militia foot, Westminster 1663,
maj. of foot 1664-1667;
capt. RN 1665-7, 1672;
Before going on active service in the Anglo-Dutch war, Capt. Frescheville Holles wrote his epitaph, declaring he required no other monument ‘than what my sword should raise for me of honor and of fortune’.
Capt. Holles lost an arm in the Four Days’ battle of 1666, after which he was knighted.
According to Henry Savile MP, Holles and Sir John Harman ‘got immortal fame, and are extremely in the favor of their generals and our sovereign’.
But Adm. Penn called Holles ‘a conceited, idle, prating, lying fellow’, and Pepys, always hostile to “gentlemen captains,” complained of his profanity and the indiscipline of his men.
At the end of the war Capt. Sir Frescheville Holles received a bounty of £300, and was commissioned as a major in the guards.
Major Holles stood for Grimsby at the Oct. 1667 by-election. His father held the other seat, and Holles bragged to Pepys that his family had represented the borough for 140 years. [NOT TRUE.] Major Holles was defeated by Sir Philip Tyrwhitt, but that was reversed on petition.
A moderately active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, Sir Frescheville Holles MP was appointed to 45 committees and made 20 speeches.
On taking his seat, Holles was added to the Committee of Inquiry into the Miscarriages of the War.
He was among those ordered to bring in a proviso to the Public Accounts bill on 17 Dec. 1667, and to take the accounts of the Loyal and Indigent Officers Fund over Christmas recess.
When the House resumed in Feb. 1668, Holles took a lead in attacking the Navy Board, to which his empty sleeve entitled him.
A follower of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, Holles was particularly severe on Sir William Coventry MP, whom he blamed for the division of the fleet in 1666.
Together with Sir Richard Temple MP, Holles was rumored to be sponsoring a petition for the repayment of fees exacted by Coventry for naval commissions.
On 20 Feb. 1668 Holles told the House ‘the defect of provisions of victualling is as great a miscarriage as any’, but defended Lord Brouncker over the discharge of seamen by ticket.
In the debates on the Miscarriages of War, Holles wanted Adm. Harman to have an opportunity to clear himself of the charge of failure to press home the success off Lowestoft in 1665,
Holles attacked Adm. Penn over the disposal of prize goods. He was one ordered to attend the Lords with the articles of Penn’s impeachment.
Holles urged the Public Accounts Commission be ordered to prove their charges against Sir George Carteret MP.
About Sir Frescheville Holles (MP Grimsby, Lincs.)
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M: Sir Frescheville Holles was elected to Parliament on 24 October, 1667 in place of Sir Henry Belasyse, who was killed in a quarrel reported by Pepys: (http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ) and thus became fellow M.P. for Grimsby with his father, Gervase Holles, who had sat for the town in three parliaments since 1640.
That was the extent of the family's parliamentary service for Grimsby.
The first Holles to be an M.P. was William, member for Nottinghamshire in 1553.
Sir Frescheville Holles was perhaps enlarging on that fact; or he may have been misled by his family's residence in or near Grimsby since 1558.
His father was an antiquary and in the 1650s Gervase Holles MP wrote “Memorials of the Holles Family 1493-1656” and dedicated it to Frescheville
About Capt. Valentine Tatnell
San Diego Sarah • Link
Tatnell, Capt. or Lieut. Valentine, senior
-, commission to
-, letters of
-, Valentine, jun., letter of
-, Capt. Wm., children of, grant to
General Index: T, U, V
Pages 670-675
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1653-4. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1879.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
Citation:
BHO
'General Index: T, U, V', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1653-4, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1879), pp. 670-675.
British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
[accessed 9 March 2021].
This volume has gold page scans.
Access these scans with a gold subscription WHICH ARE CURRENTLY FREE UNTIL COVID-19 ENDS.
But as usual they don't seem to want to get you from the index to the documents!!! If I figure it out, I'll let you know.
About Capt. Valentine Tatnell
San Diego Sarah • Link
Will of Valentine Tatnell, Jurate of Town and Port of Dover Kent
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Reference: PROB 11/294/659
Description: Will of Valentine Tatnell, Jurate of Town and Port of Dover, Kent
Date: 24 August 1659
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
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A JURAT is a municipal officer or magistrate.
Since Mayor Valentine I died in 1659, this will may refer to our Capt. Valentine II, but was not written by him.
https://discovery.nationalarchive…
About Capt. Valentine Tatnell
San Diego Sarah • Link
Letter of Capt. Valentine Tatnell jun., on the 'Rosebush' nr. Gravesend.
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This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded.
Reference: SP 46/115/fo138
Description: Letter of Capt. Valentine Tatnell jun., on the 'Rosebush' nr. Gravesend. Requests issue of shot and addition to his crew. 25 Sept. 1653.
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
https://discovery.nationalarchive…
So it's confirmed that Valentine II was a Parliamentary captain.
About Friday 6 March 1667/68
San Diego Sarah • Link
This "Consideration" is not transcribed into THE LETTERS OF SAMUEL PEPYS edited by Guy De La Bedoyere, 2006. Sorry.
About Friday 6 March 1667/68
San Diego Sarah • Link
I wonder what the clerks had been preparing for all these weeks. I imagined Pepys would enter into the official record books of accounts from the beginning to the end of the war, plus copies of official instructions received which they executed. Apparently not. But he had read and discussed the specifics so often that he could make the presentation as if he was in the office.
As for not finding a transcript, it is possible to find the essence:
L&M: The professors had found an office copy in Hayter's hand, 21 February, 1668 entitled in Pepys' hand "Considerations offered by the Principal Officers & Commissioners of the Navy touching their discharging Seamen by Ticket' at Oxford in the Bodleian Library among the Papers of Samuel Pepys, 191, ff. 233-5; signed by Pepys and Mennes. On the flyleaf Pepys has written a note that unsigned copies were sent to Col. Birch, Sir John Lowther and Mr. Joliffe.
https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.u…
Helpful as this appears to be, it takes you to a page with Samuel Pepys documents clearly indicated as being available, but I have not been able to puzzle out how to access any of them on-line.
At the bottom it says:
"Physical Storage Information for Staff
Box: 606674715 (mixed materials)"
so perhaps we have to go there and see the original?
About Friday 28 February 1667/68
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I did also present a demand of mine for consideration for my travelling-charges of coach and boat-hire during the war, which, though his Royal Highness and the company did all like of, yet, contrary to my expectation, I find him so jealous now of doing any thing extraordinary, that he desired the gentlemen that they would consider it, and report their minds in it to him. This did unsettle my mind a great while, not expecting this stop: but, however, I shall do as well, I know, though it causes me a little stop."
There goes another assumption: As the Clerk of the Acts I thought he had a petty cash float for such things. We read years ago about the money given to Creed/Howe for Sandwich when he took out the fleet so they could pay emergency expenses.
Now I wonder how the Navy Board paid for business expenses like candles, coal and Pepys' experiments with waxed paper?
And I wonder yet again why the Navy Board didn't have an office coach and some horses available for business purposes? They had a dedicated skiff and boatman ... why no horses and stableman?
Possibly the answer is that it is assumed that well-heeled GENTLEMEN perform these tasks. It is only recently that bright, poor, middle-type men have been able to go to University and qualify for government work. It is convenient to assume everyone comes to the office equipped with a family coach and horses; that men are taking the jobs in order to get close to the Monarchy and accumulate power -- not because, security alert, they need money on which to exist.
About Sunday 8 March 1667/68
San Diego Sarah • Link
"At my sending to desire it, Sir J. Robinson, Lieutenant of the Tower, did call me with his coach, and carried me to White Hall, where met with very many people still that did congratulate my speech the other day in the House of Commons, and I find all the world almost rings of it."
This is the second time he's gone to the Whitehall end of town since the hearings, and been acclaimed. But on March 6 he had gone for business reasons, but that's not the case today by the sound of things.
I'm thinking that by being available around Westminster he is giving MPs the opportunity to talk to him about any part of his presentation they didn't understand, and counteracting any naysayers who might want to negatively influence the verdict which will be voted on in a few days. Granted he's enjoying every minute of it ... but it's good for any doubting MPs to see the accolades.
Plus it will remind the Duke of York that he has earned his travel reimbursements!