 Celebrities of the Yorkshire Wolds |
DRIFFIELD AND WOLDS GENEALOGY |
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Trade Directories Historical Directories - a brilliant online resourse Parish Registers Driffield Parish Church Baptisms 1836-1850 (incomplete) A - L Driffield Parish Church Baptisms 1836-1850 (incomplete) M - Z Flamborough Marriages by Banns 1754-1779 North Burton (Burton Fleming) Parish Registers Wesleyan Baptisms 1837-1867 A-H only Monumental Inscriptions North Frodingham & North Dalton Cemetery MIs BMD Announcements &c from the Driffield Times Religion List of Priors etc of Monastic Establishments on the Yorkshire Wolds Driffield Congregational Church Religious Meeting Houses Licenced 1708-1808 The Blockhouses of Kingston Upon Hull (the persecution of local Catholics) WW1 Soldiers who died in WW1 with a connection to Driffield WW2 Social History
History of the Driffield Post Office Trevor Malkin on the Driffield Railway Biographies &c They left Nafferton in 1863 - Where are they now? Some Old Driffield Schoolmasters Thomas Saulsbury Wright- one of yours? Miscellaneous Useful links & Online family trees
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Copy of an old book, written by a local resident. Also contains a list of Priors etc of monastic establishments on the Wolds, which I have put on THIS PAGE CELEBRITIES OF THE YORKSHIRE WOLDS BY FREDERICK ROSS (Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Member of the English Dialect Society) Author of “The Progress of Civilization,” “Life behind the Counter,” “Two ways of making a fortune,” Etc; And joint author of “A glossary of words used in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire.” London Trubner & Co, 57 & 59 Ludgate Hill Driffield: T. Holderness, “Observer” Office 1878 PREFACE Every district of country has its Heroes and Men of Renown; its Divines, Philosophers and Poets – a line extending backward, until lost in the misty haze of the remote past. Of the greater number of these, existing generations have but vague and shadowy conceptions; some are only known to the Antiquary or Local Topographer, whilst of others there remains a mere name and nothing more. Frequently will their names crop up in reading or conversation, when curiosity is excited to know something about them, and it is often only after a search through half a score volumes that the desired information can be found, whilst, in many cases, nothing whatever can be ascertained from the resources of a private or even a public provincial library. It is only in the great National Collections, such as those of the British Museum and the Bodleian Libraries, that materials – at times enshrined in costly, rare and even unique books – can be gathered, wherewith to construct a History of these forgotten Worthies. From such sources has emanated much of the matter contained in the pages of the little volume now presented to the public. Nothing is attempted beyond a mere compilation and the sketches are little more than outlines, so as to bring the cost within the reach of all. The compiler believes that in the main, the facts and dates are approximately, if not absolutely, accurate; and he trusts that there are not any errors of sufficient magnitude to mar the usefulness of the work as a Handy Book of Reference to the Celebrities of the Yorkshire Wolds. London, 1877. THE YORKSHIRE WOLDS The tract of country so called (formerly York Wold), is situated in the East Riding of the County, and consists of ranges of chalk hills with intervening depressions, extending from Flambrough Head towards Pocklington and Market Weighton and sloping down hence to the Humber near Welton; and from the north of Beverley to Malton, whence commences the rise of the more elevated hills of Cleveland. Many of the higher points command magnificent prospects – easyard of the German ocean, Flambrough Head and Lighthouse and the Priory Church of Bridlington; north-westward of the vale of York and York Minster; southward, of the flat expanse of Holderness, the majestic Humber, Beverley Minster and the churches of Hull and Hedon. Wold is a Saxon word, signifying a treeless, bleak, unprotected upland; and such were the characteristic features of the district until the present century, when it was brought under cultivation and planted to some extent with trees; the earliest improvers being Sir Christopher Sykes, Bart, Humphrey Osbaldereston, of Hunmanby and Major Edward Topham of Wold Cottage. The multitude of Barrows and Tumuli, scattered over the hills, indicate a numerous population at a very remote period, reaching far down into the pre-historic ages, when the use of metal was unknown, and sharpened flints supplied weapons of war and agricultural implements. In the British era it formed a portion of the kingdom of the Brigantes; under the Romans, of the province of Maxima Caesarensis; and under the Saxons and Danes, of the kingdom of Northumbria, being situated during the frequent disruptions of that kingdom, in Diera, the southern portion. In the British period it was unquestionably the home of numerous tribes, although the mass of the population would be gathered in the oak groves of the lowlands round the Llyn-yr-avanc (Beverley) where they celebrated their mystic rites and the site of Beverley Minster. Doubtless many of the sepulchral mounds scattered over the Wolds cover the remains of chieftains and heroes of the Brigantian race- celebrities of the Wolds, of whom we have no record; and it seems to be highly probable that the mysterious monolith, which stands in silent solitary dignity, in Rudston church-yard, telling not of its origin, was upraised by this people some two or three thousand years ago. Over its hills and valleys the Romans constructed one of their wonderful military roads, from Eboracum, the capital, where Emperors were born and died, to the seaport of Bridlington or Filey, a portion of which may still be seen near Sledmere. After the departure of the Romans from Britain, the Yorkshire Wolds witnessed many a fierce conflict; first between the Britons and Picts, who made continual forays over the Roman wall; then with the Saxon freebooters, who landed on the East coast; and afterwards between that people and the Danish Vikings, one of whose chief landing places was Flambrough, where they established a camp, by digging a trench and throwing up earthworks across the peninsula, which still exist, now popularly called Danes’ Dykes. Multitudes of the heroes of these battles occupy the Barrows of the Wolds. The common soldiers would probably be buried promiscuously, or left to rot on the surface; and the honour of a tumulus accorded only to the leading warriors. Four miles north of Driffield, in a secluded grove, four acres in extent, are some two hundred mounds, called Danes’ Graves, some of which were opened in 1849, and found to contain each one skeleton alone; thus proving that only the leaders were so interred. In 1846 and 1849 a large tumultus was opened at Driffield, which belonged to this era; and was exceedingly rich in weapons and ornaments, with several skeletons; one only being female. During one period of the Heptarchy the Northumbrian King had a palace or castle at Driffield, and round it would, most probably, be a clustering of the residences of Earls, Thegns and other appanages of a Court. Where it was located is not known, but most likely at, or In the vicinity of, Little Driffield, where King Alchfrid lies buried. The sturdy independence of the Northumbrians was the last to submit to the Norman Conqueror; and even after yielding a reluctant submission, repeated insurrections broke out in favour of Eadgar the Atheling, which resulted in the barbarous but politic measure of King William, of desolating sixty miles of country north of the Humber, slaying the inhabitants and burning the villages, farmsteads and crops; leaving a howling wilderness where had formerly been smiling landscapes. Owing to the interposition of St John, a Woldsman, Beverley escaped; the Saint having stricken dead a sacrilegious Norman soldier who attempted to enter his monastery, when the superstitious King, fearing the further wrath of the defunct Prelate, gave orders that Beverley should not be molested; but the Wolds most likely participated in the savage butchery accorded to the Northumbrian rebels; and from that time, until quite recently, they were left with a scanty population, who obtained the means of subsistence by pasturing a few sheep on the bleak hill sides. Cox (1720), says, “The choreography of this division will be but short, because these barren mountains are not much inhabited. The fee of this division, if it be a Bailiwick, is in the crown, and is governed by the Sheriff and his officers. It hath no Market Town in it but a few villages.” Marshall, in “The Rural Economy of Yorkshire, 1788,” says, “Should the day arrive when the higher swells (of the Wolds) shall be crowned with wood, and the intervening vales be covered with living fences, forming enclosures of eight or ten acres, the climate will be rendered some degrees of latitude more congenial than it is at present; and the produce be increased in a duplicate ratio.” Cooke, in the beginning of the present century, writes, “The climate of the Wolds is severe; the winds, as they sweep over the plain and unbroken surface, being extremely violent and penetrating …. Still the Wolds are healthy and the most grass is produced in the driest summers; but when the crops are exposed to the sea fogs they are usually small and the grass thick-skinned and coarse. The houses of this county (East Riding) are generally good, except upon the Wolds, where the materials are indifferent. The old buildings are composed of chalk stone, with mud instead of lime mortar, and covered with thatch …. Many farms are found of £20 and £50 per annum, and a farm of £200 per annum is of a respectable size …. The old-fashioned foot plough has continued too much in use, being a clumsy, heavy, ill-formed implement.” Since then immense improvements have been introduced; some of the largest and best-cultivated farms in the county being found on the Wolds. Science has been introduced into farm operations; steam has been enlisted into the service of the farmer; villages have grown up, and Driffield, the capital, is rapidly rising in population and importance; Education is spreading and literature fostered in the towns and villages; and there cannot be a doubt but that, in a few years, a considerable addition may be made to the list of the “Celebrities of the Wolds.” LORDS OF THE MANOR OF DRIFFIELD “Driffield, a village about 16 myles from Kynston upon Humber; where Ealfride, some tyme Kinge of Northumberland, had a house and dyed. Leland sayeth this was in Little Driffield, at whiche place also the thre braunches of the Humber mete and runneth to Hull.” So wrote Lambarde, “Dict. Ang. Topog,” in 1730. During the Saxon era Driffield appears to have been a place of some importance and a royal residence, where the learned and estimable Alchfrid, King of Northumbria, held his court, and banqueted with his Nobles; and where he was brought to die, after receiving his death-wound at the hands of the Picts. When lying on his death-bed he granted a charter to the town, for holding four fairs annually. In the year 1784, search was made in the church of Little Driffield, by a party of gentlemen, for the relics of the King, but without discovering anything whatever. Nevertheless, it was stated and published that a deputation from the Society of Antiquaries came to Driffield to make search for his burial place, who, “on Tuesday, the 20th Sept, entered the church with proper assistants to be directed to the indentical spot, by a secret history. After digging some time, they found a stone coffin, and on opening the same, discovered an entire skeleton of that great and pious Prince, together with most part of his steel armour, the remainder of which had probably been corroded by rust and length of time. After satisfying their curiosity, the coffin was closed, as well as the grave, that everything might remain in the same state as when found.” This apochryphal narrative found its way into most of the subsequent Topographies of Yorkshire, but it was altogether untrue and was nothing more than a hoax, put forth to test the credulity of antiquaries. After the conquest Driffield appears to have sunk down to a mere village and Kilham became the chief town of the Wolds, with a market and fairs for grain and wool. There are many remains of the foundations of extensive buildings about Kilham, which shew that at one time it has been a place of much greater importance than now. The decline of the town is attributable to the more favourable situation of Driffield for trade, and perchance to the greater enterprise of the Driffield people; which have transferred the trade to the latter town and made it what it now is – the Capital of the Wolds. Leland, who made an Itinerary of Yorkshire in the 16th century, writes, “The Hulne riseth of three seueral heads, whereof the greatest is not far from Driffield, now a small village, sixteen miles from Hull. Certes it hath been a goodlie towne, and therein was the Palace of Egbright, King of the Northumbers, and place of Sepulture of Alfed, the noble King, somtime of that nation, who died there 727, the 19th Cal of Julie, the twentieth of his reign, and whose tombe doeth yet remaine (for ought that I doe knowe to the contrarie) with an inscription upon the same written in Latine letters.” Driffield remained a village until the present century; containing in 1801 only 1,315 inhabitants, increased in ten years to 1,857; since which time the population has been quadrupled and is still progressing, with the establishment of manufactories connected with agriculture, a well-attended market and railway and canal communication with all parts of the kingdom; giving promise of becoming, in a few years, a large and important town. In the reign of Edward the Confessor and Harold II, the Manor of Driffield formed part of the vast possessions of Morkere, Viceroy Earl of Northumbria, who also held Market-Weighton, Pocklington, Pickering and its castle, Warter, Kilnsea in Holderness, &c. He was son of Aelfger, who was a younger son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his mother was Aelfigu. He was of Danish descent; and, with his brother, Eadwine, Earl of Mercia, played an important part in the annals of England, at the period of the Conquest. The Vice-royalty of Northumbria had been held from its establishment, in 945, by a native race, the descendants of Oswulf, Lord of Barmborough, until the death of Siward, 1055, when it was given by King Eadwarde to Tosti, a younger son of Earl Godwin and brother of Harold II; but the hatred of the Northumbrians to a foreign ruler and the tyranny of the Earl caused the Nobles to revolt; who called a Gemot at York which formally deposed Tosti and elected Morkere in his place. This act of a local Gemot was illegal, dispositions and appointments vesting in the King, with the sanction of the national Gemot; and Eadwine sent Harold with an army to put down the revolt and replace Tosti. But when Harold heard the particulars of his brother’s cruelty and misgovernment, he returned to the King, and recommended him to confirm the proceedings of the York Gemot, which was done. But Harold, by this act of justice, incurred the hatred of his brother, who, after he ascended the throne, invaded England, in conjunction with Harald Hardrada, king of Norway; and defeated Earls Morkere and Eadwine at Fulford; which induced Harold to march into the north and fight the battle at Stamford Bridge; where he signally defeated the invaders. When celebrating his victory, at a banquet in York, news reached the King of the landing of the Norman Duke, in Sussex; whom he had to meet with an army lessened in numbers by the recent battle, and wearied with the hurried march from York; and the result was his defeat and death. Had it not been for the invasion of Tosti the subsequent history of England might have been altogether different. Harold left orders with the brother Earls to follow him with a northern contingent, but they lingered by the way, to shape their measures according to events, and arrived in London only to hear of the death of the King. They attended the Westminster Gemot, assembled to decide on the successor to the throne, when they put forward the claims of the house of Leofric; but the decision was in favour of Atheling. When the question was discussed about raising a fresh army to oppose Duke William they declined having anything to do with it, and returned to the north. After the entire subjugation of the south the two Earls maintained a sort of independence; the one in Mercia, the other in Northumbria. They afterwards joined in the insurrections of Gospatric, in favour of Eadger, which were so ruthlessly put down by the new king. Morkere escaped, fled to Hereward, in the “Camp of Refuge,” where he was afterwards captured, and sent to perpetual imprisonment, in Normandy, and all his estates confiscated. The Manor of Driffield was given by the Conqueror to his nephew, Hugh de Abrinci, a notable Norman warrior, who came to England in the train of his uncle, and had a grant also of Whitby, which he disposed of to William de Percy. He was created Earl of Chester, 1070; married Erementrude, daughter of the Earl of Bevois, in France; lived a gay and dissipated life when young, and in atonement retired in old age to the abbey of St Werburge, where he died, 1101. Richard, his only legitimate son, succeeded as second Earl; married Maud, daughter of Stephen, Earl of Blois, and was drowned, with his wife, in the memorable shipwreck of the Blanche Nef, along with the children of King Henry I. Dying issueless, the Earldom and estates passed to his cousin, Ranulph de Meschines, son of Maud, fourth daughter of Hugh, first Earl. He died 1126; was succeeded by his son, Ranulph, surnamed de Gernons, who at first sided with the Empress against Stephen, then treacherously went over to the King, and died under excommunication, 1153. Hugh, his son, a conspirator against Henry II, died 1181, leaving an only son, Ranulph, surnamed Blandevil, who was a staunch adherent of King John, in his contest with the Barons, and died issueless, 1231, his possessions falling to his sisters and co-heiresses and their issue. John Scott, son of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, King of Scotland, by Maud, daughter of Hugh de Meschines, third Earl, succeeded to the Earldom and the Co Palatine of Cheshire, also to the Manor of Driffield, and died 1244, poisoned, it was suspected, by his wife, Helen, daughter of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales. Dying issueless, his sisters became his co-heiresses, but Henry III, thinking it not desirable that a Dominion to which pertained Regal privileges should be held by women, seized Cheshire, and gave them other lands in exchange. Driffield passed to Christian, who married William de Fortibus, third Earl of Albermarle and Lord of Holderness, but dying issueless it was inherited by her sister, Helen, who married Roger de Quincy, second Earl of Winchester, who left three daughters – Margaret, who married William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby; Elizabeth, who married the Earl of Buchan and Ela, who married Alan, Baron Zouch of Ashby, but which of them succeeded to Driffield is not known. The Prebend of Driffield, York Cathedral, has been held by many distinguished men, among whom were the following – John, Roman Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor to the Pope, 1317-43 Guncelinus, “Episcopus Albanensis Cardinalis,” circa 1333-43 Hugh, Roman Catholic Cardinal, 1363-72 Lewis, Roman Cardinal, 1386-7 Nicholas de Bubbewith, 1401-6. A very eminent man, born at Bubwith, near Howden, about the middle of the 14th century and died at Wells, 1424, where he was buried in a chapel of the Cathedral, which he had built for that purpose. He commenced life as a Clerk in Chancery, the usual stepping-stone to preferment in Church and State, becoming successively Prebendary of Wolvey, Diocese of Lichfield, 1396-7; Prebendary of Offley, Diocese of Lichfield, 1397-1406; Archdeacon of Exeter, 1399-9; Archdeacon of Dorset, 1400-6; Archdeacon of Richmond, 1401, which office he held only two days; Prebendary of Driffield, 1401/2-6; Prebendary of Tame, Diocese of Lincoln, 1403-6; Bishop of London, 1406-7; Bishop of Salisbury, by Papal provison, 1407-7; Bishop of Bath and Wells, by Papal Bull, 1408-24. Holder also of the following Offices of State – Receiver of Petitions to Parliament; Master of the Rolls, 1402-5; Lord Treasurer of England, 1408-24; and Keeper of the Privy Seal. In 1415 he was one of the Prelates summoned to Rome, to assist the Cardinals in the Papal Election, when Martin V, whom he opposed, was chosen; and the same year attended the Council of Constance, when John Huss and Jerome of Prague were condemned to the flames. He is described as having been “discreet, provident, circumspect, and charitable, feeding twenty-four poor men and women daily.” He built, at his own expense, the north tower and western front of Wells cathedral; also, a chantry and chapel; and gave to the establishment a magnificent library; founding a hospital as well, in the city; all “with his arms fixed up in diuers places.” William Percy, 1451-2; Bishop of Carlisle, 1452-62 William de Grey, 1452-54; Archdeacon of Richmond, 1449-50; Bishop of Ely, 1454-78; Lord Treasurer, 1469. The Prebend was held, 1485, by Wm Beverley, who was also Precentor of York, when Archbishop Scott de Rotherham annexed it to that office, in augmentation of the stipend, and it consequently merged in that dignity. ACEBORNE, or ACHORNE Vix. temp, AthelstaneA Danish or Saxon Thegn, resident on the Wolds, at a period when that portion of the County of York was an open upland, thinly populated, uncultivated and infested by wolves, which attacked travellers, and frequently tore them to pieces. As some sort of protections, Aceborne, a charitable kind-hearted man, erected, at Flixton, a house to serve as a refuge, to which wayfarers might fly when attacked, and placed therein fourteen brothers and sisters, under the government of an Ealderman, to succour the fugitives, much in the same manner as the monks of St Bernard render aid to travellers in the Alpine pass, endowing it with lands in Flixton and the adjoining hamlet of Folkton, with pasture run for twenty-four cows and a bull. King Henry VI, 25 Reg, confirmed the brethren and sisters in their lands and rights, and named the Hospital “Carman’s Spittle,” why, is not known; at which time it was usual for the Vicar of Folkton to celebrate mass in the chapel, on the feast of St Andrew, and grant indulgences to all who attended the service. A farm house, bearing the name of “Spital” now stands on the site, and the land which belonged to the hospital still retains the name of “Wolf-land.” ACHARDUS Vix. 685A Saxon noble, of great piety, the intimate friend of St John, of Beverley, who made a grant of the village of North Burton to the monastery at Beverley; built a church at North Burton, and a chapel in the neighbouring village of Scorbro’. When the church was completed St John went to perform the ceremony of consecration; and when that was over accompanied the Earl to his mansion, to partake of the consecration banquet. Before sitting down he was requested to visit one of the Earl’s servants, who was paralysed and lay at the point of death. He found the young man speechless, with his coffin by his bedside, as was then usual, when recovery was hopeless. The Archbishop stretched his hands over the afflicted youth, gave him his blessing, and added the words, “May you recover.” The Earl and his guests then sat down to the feast and were presently surprised by a message from the sick man, requesting a cup of wine. The Saint blessed a goblet of liquor, which the paralysed man drank, and immediately afterwards felt strength return to his limbs and health to his body, and leaping from his bed he dressed himself, went down to the banqueting hall and saluted the Earl and the Archbishop, when he was invited to sit down at the table and make merry with them. Such is the narrative as given by Bede, in his “Ecclesiastical History,” on the authority of Berthun, Abbot of Beverley. ALCHFRID, KING OF NORTHUMBRIA Ob. 705In the year 547, Ida, an Anglican Viking, from the shores of the Baltic, landed at Flambrough, at a period when the Northern Britons, abandoned by their protectors, the Romans, were enfeebled by the repeated incursions of the ferocious Picts, from beyond the Roman wall of defence, which stretched across the island, but which proved to be no defence at all, when it was no longer manned by the disciplined Legions of the Tiber, and he was enabled to establish himself on the island and found the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; which extended, east and west, from sea to sea, and northward as far as the Forth, where King Eadwine built a fort, round which a town sprung up, called Eadwinsburgh – now Edinburgh. A few years after, Aella, his kinsman, sailed up the Humber, and reft from him the southern portion of his dominions, from the Tees southward; and established his head quarters at Aellastown (Elloughton), near the modern Hull. His name is perpetuated also in the neighbouring villages of East Ella, West Ella, Ellerker, Ellerton and Ellerby. Ida was too much occupied in keeping in subjection the Britons and opposing the incursions of the Picts to march against the invader of his territory in the south; and at his death was only able to leave the northern portion, from the Tees to the Tweed which was called Bernicia, to his son, Aethelfrith, whilst Aella retained that portion called Deira. In after times the two were alternately one or separate and distinct kingdoms; when united bearing the name of Northumbria. When Aella died, his son Eadwine was a child, and Aethelfrith usurped the crown of Diera, the young Prince being conveyed beyond his reach by his guardians. He wandered about for several years an exile, until Redwald, king of East Anglia, took up his cause, and invaded the dominions of Aethelfrith, who was slain in battle, and Eadwine placed upon the throne of Northumbria. Eadwine was the first Christian Saxon king of the north, and the patron of Paulinus, but was slain in battle by Penda, the pagan king of Mercia, who had vowed to extirpate the heresy of Christianity from the island, and Paulinus, with the Queen and young Princes, fled to the kingdom of Kent. Osric I, son of Aelfric, Eadwine’s uncle, succeeded to Deira and Eanfrid to Bernicia, who were both slain in battle, 634, by Cadwallon, the Welsh king and ally of Penda. St Oswald, the restorer of Christianity, the second son of Aethelfrith and brother of Eanfrid, succeeded to the entire kingdom; but he also was slain in battle by Penda; it is supposed at Oswestry, which took its name from that circumstance. Oswy, a natural son of Aethelfrith, and brother of Oswald, succeeded to Bernicia; and Oswine, son of Oslac, to Deira. Oswy murdered Oswine, becoming thus king of Northumbria; and defeated the incorrigible old pagan, Penda, who had again invaded Northumbria, in the battle of Winwinfield, in which the Mercian king fell. Oswy is famous also as having presided at the great synod at Whitby, when the vexed questions of the time and mode of celebrating Easter, the tonsure, and other matters, which the adherents of Rome and those of the old British Christianity were quarrelling over, much in the fashion of modern rival Christian sects, were settled. After a prosperous and glorious reign of twenty-eight years, blotted, however, by the foul murder of Oswine, Oswy died, leaving, with other children, Alchfrid, or Aelfrid, illegitimately born, and Ecgfrid, his eldest son by his queen. At the time of the death of Oswine, Alchfrid was a bold energetic and ambitious young man, and persuaded his father, partly by menaces, to place him as his co-adjutor, on the throne of Deira. He desired to be absolute king, but Oswy refused to place him thereon in any other capacity than that of viceroy, which office he held until his father’s death, 670, when he hoped to succeed as king of Northumbria; but the nobles objected to the bar sinister, and Ecgfrid, his younger brother, was elected, when Alchfrid was deposed from Deira, or deemed it prudent to expatriate himself. Hitherto, he had devoted himself to politics and the usual athletic sports of the time; but now he went to Ireland – the seat of learning and light – and spent fifteen years at the feet of the best teachers, in the assiduous study of Theology, Philosophy, Science and General Literature, eventually becoming one of the most learned and accomplished scholars of the age, as did his namesake, Aelfrid of Wessex, a century afterwards; and at a time when few, even of the priesthood, could write their names. Ecgfrid died, 686, when the Northumbrians, having heard of his accomplishments, re-called Alchfrid and placed him on the vacant throne. He governed his people nineteen years, with great vigour and wisdom, encouraged learning, patronized ecclesiastics of merit, established churches and monasteries and placed the secular affairs of his kingdom on a firm basis. He was the friend of Wilfrid, by whom he had been educated at Ripon, and bestowed upon him the mitre of York; but that seventh century Becket, encroaching upon the royal prerogative, was banished by him and fled to Rome, making complaint at the feet of the Holy Father, John VII, who sent him back with a missive, peremptorily ordering Alchfrid to reinstate him. The time, however, was not yet come when kings trembled at papal frowns, and the King bravely replied, “You bring a writing, from the Apostolic Seat, as you choose to term it, couched in dictatorial terms, to me, the King of Northumbria; but I wish you to understand that I do not alter my course of conduct at the dictation of a foreign priest; nor do I render obedience to any writing, whether from the Apostlic Seat or elsewhere.” At this time Driffield was a somewhat important place, situate near the Roman road from York to Filey; and the multitude of burial mounds in its vicinity indicate a considerable population, then or previously. This spot was chosen as a place of residence by some of the Northumbrian kings; and here Alchfrid had a castle or mansion, the site of which has not been identified, where he kept court with his nobles and warriors, and held gatherings of the literati of his time. His death is involved in mystery, there being conflicting narratives; but the most probable appears to be that the Picts had descended into Northumbria, and penetrated as far south as Scarborough, and that he met them in battle at the village of Ebberston; where, after an obstinate conflict, he was wounded, crept into a cave for refuge, whence he was conveyed to Driffield and there died. Tradition points out the spot where the battle was fought, by the name of “Bloody Field;” and the cave of refuge is still called “Ilfrid’s Hole.” He was buried in Little Driffield Church, and although search has been made for his grave, which was reported to have been discovered in 1784, it has not been identified. As a political act, he married Kyneburga, a daughter of Penda, and had issue a son, Osred, who succeeded him and was slain in an insurrection of his subjects, at Winandermere, 716. In the church of Little Driffield have been placed two inscriptions in modern times. First – “in the chancel of this church lie the remains of Alfred, King of Northumbria, who departed this life in the year 705” The present on runs thus – WITHIN THIS CHANCEL LIES THE INTERRED BODY OF ALFRED KING OF NORTHUMBERLAND WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 19TH A.D. 705 IN THE 20TH YEAR OF HIS REIGN STATUTUM EST OMNIBUS SEMIL MORI During the Heptarchy, Northumbria was the only kingdom which possessed both a silver and a copper coinage. The silver coins were the sceatta and the penny. The earliest sceatta known, of which there exists an unique specimen, was coined by Alchfrid, at York. Formerly there was considerable doubt relative to its identity; but it is now unhesitatingly ascribed, by all numismatitians, to this Saxon monarch. There is also in existence a single specimen of the copper styea, a coin peculiar to Northumbria, of the same king, bearing on its obverse his name and a cross, and on the reverse a rude figure of a four-footed animal. See an elaborate Paper on the York Mint, by Robert Davies, in “Proceedings of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society,” vol. 1, p. 191. ANDERSON, EDWARD, POET Ob. 18— Thomas Anderson, his grandfather, was a farmer, at Cottam, where his ancestors had held the same farm two hundred years. In 1661 he removed to East Lutton, on the Wolds; was twice married; had nine children by his first wife and six by his second, whom he married at the age of sixty-one, dying 1744, aged eighty-three years. Robert, his eldest son, by his second wife, married Eliza Robson, had seventeen children, and died at the age of seventy-three. Edward, his son, was brought up a shepherd, and wrote “The Muse oft Charmed me when a Lad;” but at an early age went to sea; and, after a few voyages, retired into Westmorland, “admiring still a country life.” Soon after he was subpoenaed to London, as a witness on a trial relative to the scuttling of an insured ship, when, although “They thought a honest Yorkshireman a was fond,” he gave his evidence in so straight a manner that he was complimented for it, and got an appointment as captain of a ship trading to Lisbon. In 1797 he was captured by a French frigate, and made a prisoner of war. On obtaining his liberty he returned to Yorkshire, settled down at Filey, married, joined the Weslyans and became a local preacher. He was author of “The Sailor, a poem descriptive of Fisher Life at Filey and the Natural Objects of the Shore,” a poem somewhat doggerel in style of composition, but very popular, as is evident by the fact of a 14th edition having been published, in Hull in 1872. BEST, HENRY, ELMSWELL; AUTHOR OF “THE FARMING BOOK” Ob 1645 Richard Best, of Middleton Quernhow, Wath, near Ripon, who died 1581-2, left issue (by two wives), Henry and James. Henry was a scrivener, in London, who purchased Elmswell (which had formerly been granted by King William II to St Mary’s Abbey, York), for £2,000 and sold it to his brother James, of Hutton Cranswick, for £2,050 and a fee farm rent of £29 7s 0d. James had issue, Paul and Henry, the former, who died s. p. 1657, succeeding to Elmswell, and selling the manor to his brother Henry 1618, for £2,200, in whose family it remained a couple of centuries and was sold by the Rev Francis Best, who died 1844, Rector of South Dalton, to William Joseph Dennison, for £42,500, who devised it to his nephew, Albert Conyngham, afterwards Lord Londesborough. Henry, who purchased the manor, 1618, died 1668-9, having married Mary, daughter of John Lawrence, of the county of Essex, by whom he had issue John, who succeeded to Elmswell. This Henry was the writer of “The Farming Book,” a very curious work, giving some most interesting details of Wold farming, prices of produce, wages of labour, rents of farms, and the social life of the district a couple of centuries ago. It was published by the Surtees Society, Durham, 1857, entitled, “Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641, being the Farming and Account Book of Henry Best, of Elmswell, in the East Riding of the county of York. Edited by C. Best Robinson, University College (of Snaith), with Appendices of the Account Book of H.B., a Genealogy of the Best family and a Glossary.” The chapters are headed – on Sheepe – how to know Tuppes from Wethers – on greasing Lambes – felling of Woll, &c – Directions for cutting Grasse and Tiftin of hay – of Harvest work – for mowinge of Haver (oats) – for traylinge of the sweath-rake (after the mower) – for eizinge of a wall, &c – Bees and how to order them – for Destroying of Robbers from amongst Bees, &c – The Manner or Forme of a Distingas or Levy – For Marketing, with a list of the chief fayers hereabouts – other short Remembrances, concerning our Fashions at our Country weddings – for providing Heck-stowers – for breaking of Wilfes and Saughs, &c – for Letting Farms and Cottages – For Hyring of Servants – observations concerning Beastes, &c. “At the Little Driffield Whitsuntide fayer the men of Nafferton and Lowthorpe come with clubbes, to keep good order and rule the faire, and have a piper to play before them. At the Little Driffield Easter faire and at Brandesburton and Weeton St Hellen’s ffayres, handsome lean beastes, lean weathers and old ewes have a very good vent, being bought by Holderness men, for stockinge their pasture grounds. The Beverley great ffayre begins aboute the 7th of May, but look in your kalender for John Beverley, and it begynneth always on that daye; thither the Londoners sende their wares by water, and thither come the Yorke Grocers, &c. Most of this side doe use to drape out the worste of theire lambes and send to Pocklington Faire. I have knowne 4 lambes sold for 11d and the seller gave the buyer a penny again.” In one part of the book, instructions are given how to trim sheep to make them appear better when they are for “ffayres.” The rent of farms in the manor were; Layborne, eight oxgangs, £16; Skelton, six oxgangs, £16, Lynsley, six oxgangs, £12; and Westhouse, four oxgangs, £16. There is a difference of opinion as to what an oxgang comprehended; when Driffield was enclosed it was reckoned as twenty-four acres but was only twenty. The wages he paid were; Hay Mowers, 10d a day, to meat themselves; in harvest, Mowers 10d; Outliggers, Binders and Stookers, 8d; women 6d per day; and Sweath-rake Trailers (boys), 22d per week; 2d per score for washing sheep, and 4d per score for clipping, with a groat’s worth of ale, bread, cheese and a cheesecake, at noon, and a substantial dinner of five or six services of which one was invariably a leg of roast mutton. The prices realized for produce were; Oats, 14s; Barley, 22s; cleane Rye, 27s 6d; Dodd-read-masseldine, 29s 6d; cleane dodd-reade wheat, 30s; and Best white wheat, 35s per quarter. Woll fetched 8s per stone, besides 12d earnest; and Butter, sold either by pownde or cake, varied from 3d to 5d per pownde, according to the time of year. BEVERLEY, ST JOHN OF Ob, 721 This bright luminary of the Anglo Saxon Church was born at Harpham, of noble parentage, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and died in his monastery at Beverley. He was educated at Whitby, under the Abbess Hilda, the nursing mother of many an illustrious churchman; afterwards under Archbishop Theodore; and completed his education at Oxford, where he graduated M.A. and D.D., having been, it is supposed, the first on whom the degree of M.A. was conferred. On the death of Eata he was elected Bishop of Hagulstadt (Hexham) and whilst there had the venerable Bede for his pupil. In 705, he was promoted to the Archbishopric of York, succeeding Bosa, and ruled the see with prudence, judgement and piety, until 717, when he resigned and retired to spend the remainder of his days in acts of devotion and ministering to the wants of the afflicted, in his monastery of Beverley, where he died four years after. Eminent as he was in learning, becoming one of the scholars of his age, he was equally so for his gentle and amiable character and his sincere piety; which manifested itself in his rigid adherence to monastic rules and his practice of set times of devotion, with fasting and fleshy self-denial; yet was he withal a true Yorkshireman in his love of horsemanship and passion for witnessing horse-races. During his life he is said to have performed many wonderful miracles, notably those of Earl Punch’s wife of South Burton, and of a servant of Earl Addi, of North Burton, near Beverley and after his death other miracles were wrought at his tomb of so unquestionable a character that Pope Benedict IX canonized him. He was buried in the porch of his monastery at Beverley, but Archbishop Aelfric translated his relics to the Minster, placing them in a golden shrine, which in after time became a perfect blaze of gems, from the gifts of devotees. In 1416, the Synod of London directed his festival to be kept annually and not once but thrice a year, when his relics were carried with reverential ceremonial through the streets of Beverley, followed by the principal burghers in procession, bare-footed and fasting. Athelstane, when marching northward, 934, against Constantine of Scotland and the Northumbrian Rebels, spent a night in Beverley, prostrate before his tomb, imploring his aid and took thence his banner from the church, to be borne before him in battle, leaving his dagger on the altar, as a pledge, which, if successful, he promised to redeem with princely gifts. He came up with the enemy at Brannaburgh, and on the eve of the battle had a vision of St John, who promised him victory. The next day he completely routed his foes, returned to Beverley, and made many valuable gifts to the monastery and a charter of privileges and immunities to the church and town, commencing – “Als free mak I thee As hert may thinke or egh may see.” His second banner, also carried, along with those of St Peter, of York, and St Wilfred, of Ripon, attached to a mast or standard, fixed on a wagon, at the battle of the Standard; whence its name. It was also carried by Edward L., in his Scottish wars. On the day of Agincourt, his tomb was reported to have sweated blood, and popular rumour ascribed the victory to his supernatural assistance; Henry V, and his Queen coming afterwards to worship at his tomb, in gratitude for the aid he rendered in the battle. In 704, he founded a college for Secular Canons at Inderawood (Beverley) endowing it with lands at Middleton, Welwick, Bilton and Patrington. There had been a church previously there, which was destroyed, 450, by Hengist and Horsa, which he re-edified; he built also the oratory of St Martin; established a nunnery; and made his scholar, Brithune or Berthun, the first Prior of his monastery. He ended his life within its walls, and one hundred and sixty-four years after his death the building was destroyed by the Danes; but was re-established; found many benefactors, notably in King Edward the Confessor; and flourished as a centre of light and learning until its dissolution, by Henry VIII, when it was surrendered by Thomas Winter, natural son of Cardinal Wolsey, the last Provost; its revenues being found to be of the value of £109 8s 8¼d per annum. By the way side, near the church-yard at Harpham, is St John’s Well, a representation of which appears in Hone’s Table Book, vol. 2, p. 546, after the stone had been thrown down by a wagon, which was replaced 1827. William of Malmesbury says that the most fierce bull, when brought before it, becomes gentle as a lamb. The church of Whitton, county of Nottingham, is dedicated to St John of Beverley. In the reign of Henry VI a portraiture of St John was placed on one of the windows of University College, Oxford. He is usually represented, in sculpture and painting, in archiepiscopal robes, with the left hand holding a crosier and the right uplifted in the act of blessing. Godwin says of him, “He always had the reputation of a wonderful holy man, and Beda reporteth many miracles done by him, as the curing of diuers folks desprately sicke, by prayer; opening the mouth of a dumb man, &c; which thinges, either they were true or Beda is muche to blame.” Fuller says, “He was tutor to the Venerable Bede, who wrote his Life, which he hath so spiced with miracles that it is of the hottest for a discrete man to digest into his belief.” BIGOD, SIR HUGH, KT Ob, 1266 Second son of Hugh Bigod, of Settrington, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, by Maud, daughter of William Mareschal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. He married first, Joane, daughter of Robert Burnet, and had issue, Roger, who succeeded as 5th Earl of Norfolk; secondly, Joane, daughter of Nicholas de Stuteville, Feudal Baron of Cottingham, and relict of Hugh de Wake, issue by whom succeeded to Cottingham. By her he had no issue. Sir Hugh was a gallant and accomplished Knight, an eminent lawyer, and a prominent actor in the stirring events of his time. He accompanied Henry III in his Welsh expedition, to aid him in negociation as well as in the field, and was constituted Chief Justicier, 1257. At the earnest entreaty of his brother, Roger, 4th Earl, he joined the Barons in their struggle with King Henry, and had the Tower of London placed under his charge. He returned, however, to his allegiance, fought for Henry, at Lewes, and fled after the disastrous issue of that battle; but returned to England after the restoration of the King’s authority, at Evesham, and was appointed Governor of Pickering Castle, the following year. BIGOD, SIR FRANCIS, KT Executed 1537 A member of the ancient family of Bigod, or Bigot, of Settrington, formerly Earls of Norfolk. He was the son of Sir John Bigod, Kt, of Settrington and Mulgrave Castle, Whitby, which latter he obtained by marriage with Constance, daughter and co-heiress of Peter de Mauley. Sir Francis gained the favour of King Henry VIII, by advocating the dissolution of the monasteries in “A Treatise on the Impropriation of Benefices;” but remaining all the while attached to the old Faith, and afterwards changing his views with respect to the dissolution of the monasteries, becoming eventually a vehement opposer of the extreme measures of the King. He stood aloof from the first Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536, saying that although he approved of the rebellion, he did not wish to put himself prominently forward, as people looked upon him with jealousy on account of his superior learning. Throwing aside, however, this scruple, when the second rash outbreak took place, 1537, which was organised at Settrington, in his house, by an assembly of monks, priests, and laymen, to protest against the King’s violation of his promises, the preceding year, he became the leader, along with Hallam, of Cawkill, who raised their banner and were soon surrounded by an undisciplined mob of rustics and expelled monks, enthusiastic in their cause, but lacking every other requisite of successful operations. It was arranged that Beverley and Hull should be seized as preliminary to further advances. Beverley was taken by Bigod, whilst Hallam and others, disguised as market people, attempted to take Hull, but were captured by the authorities, and Hallam hung. Bigod marched to Hull to resuce his fellow captain, but finding the gates shut, laid siege to the town, burning some windmills outside the walls; but finding the attempt hopeless, he retreated towards Beverley, pursued by Sir Ralph Ellerker, Sir John Constable and Harrison, the Mayor of Hull, with an armed force, at sight of whom his followers fled in every direction, and he was captured, sent to London, tried for High Treason and executed at Tyburn. BONNER, EDMOND, BISHOP OF LONDON 1500 – 1569 This notorious member of the Bench of Bishops was born of obscure parentage, towards the end of the 15th century and presented to the Rectory of Cherry Burton, 1530, by the Canons of Beverley; afterwards becoming Bishop of London, 1540. He is remembered by his relentless persecution of the Protestant Reformers, temp Mary; having condemned two hundred persons to the stake in three years. In the reign of Henry VIII, he favoured the Reformation; but the death of that monarch, and the probable succession of Mary, quenched his Protestant zeal and for his Popish proclivities, he was deprived, 1549, and committed to the Marshalsea. On the accession of Mary, he was liberated and restored, signalising his career during the reign by the most cruel atrocities. He was again deprived on the death of Mary, and committed to prison, where he deservedly died, universally execrated. BOYNTON, SIR MATTHEW, 1ST BART, BARMSTON Ob. 1646 A Parliamentary officer in the great civil war, the 3rd son and heir of Francis Boynton, of Barmston, by Dorothy, daughter and heiress of Chris. Plaice, of Halnaby; married first, Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Griffith, Kt, of Burton Agnes, and heiress of her brother, Sir Henry, by whom Burton Agnes came to the Boynton family. By her he had issue, Sir Francis, 2nd Bart; Matthew, six other sons, and four daughters; married secondly, Katherine, daughter of Thomas, 1st Baron Fairfax, and had issue one son, Perceval. Member of Parliament for Hedon, 1628 and 1643; and for Scarborough, 1645, in place of Sir William Boynton, Kt, disabled. High Sheriff, county of York, 1628 and 1643; Knighted and created Baronet by King James I, 1618. At the commencement of the struggle of King Charles with the Parliament, Sir Matthew drew his sword on the side of the latter and became an active and able General. On the death of Sir John Meldrum, he took command of the forces besieging Scarborough Castle, 1645, which was defended by the brave Sir Hugh Cholmondeley, who held it twelve months, and only surrendered when all the stores had been consumed and everything that could possibly afford nourishment eaten, the inmates when they marched or were carried out, looking like a procession of spectres. Sir Matthew assumed the government of the castle, but it fell again into the hands of the Royalists, from whom it was re-taken by Colonel Bethell, 1648. Sir Matthew was engaged all through the war, fought in many battles and skirmishes, and died just at its close. BOYNTON, SIR MATTHEW, KT., BARMSTON Slain, 1651 A Parliamentarian officer in the civil war, who played a more conspicuous part than his father, Sir Matthew, 1st Bart, of whom he was the fourth son. Along with his father, he took up arms against the King, and figured in “Newcastle’s List of Traitors;” defeated Colonel Slingsby, at Guisborough; put to rout a body of Royalists in a skirmish fought in the streets of Beverley, and in the same town apprehended his uncle, Sir John Hotham, when flying from Hull, after his treachery to Parliament, to fortify his house at Scorbro’, for the King, whom he conveyed back to Hull, whence he was sent to London and beheaded. In 1647, he succeeded his father as Governor of Scarborough Castle, and soon after repenting of his disloyalty, as had done his uncle, whom he was instrumental in sending to the block for the same crime – or virtue, whichever it was, he issued a declaration that he held the castle for the King, when Colonel Bethell was sent to besiege it, and he was compelled to surrender; an event which was precipitated by a mutiny of his garrison. He escaped the fate of Hotham, and lived until 1651, when he was slain in the fight at Wigan, in the army of Prince Charles, when on its march to the concluding defeat of Worcester. He married Isabella, daughter of Robert Stapleton, and had issue two daughters, one of whom married Richard Talbot, Earl, afterwards Duke of Tyconnel; the other, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon. BRADLEY, WILLIAM, “THE YORKSHIRE GIANT” 1787 – 1820 Born at Market Weighton, and buried under a marble slab in the church of that place. He was one of thirteen children, all the others being of the usual size; his father, 5ft 9½in in height, and his mother not taller than ordinary women. At the age of eleven he weighed eleven stones and at nineteen, twenty-seven, when he stood 7ft 8in and grew another inch afterwards. His shoe was 15in long and 5½ in broad; his stockings, 3ft 9in from top to toe; his walking stick was 49in and his crutch 5ft 10in in length; the size of his coffin was 9ft by 3ft. When young he worked in his father’s fields, and afterwards exhibited himself in London and the larger provincial towns. He was well proportioned, but before death became lame and was compelled to use a crutch. He never drank anything stronger than water, milk or tea and was a very moderate eater. It is a curious fact that in the neighbouring village of Shipton, was born Edwin Calvert, a dwarf, 36 inches in height, who hastened his death in 1859, at the age of seventeen, by excessive drinking. Brice, the French giant, after a tour of England, stated, in reply to a question by Mr Frank Buckland, that he met with the tallest man in Yorkshire and Lancashire, Buckland adding that in his experience as a Life Guards’ surgeon, he found that the tallest and largest-boned men came from the coal-producing counties. Portrait, published 1811. Cast of head, in the College of Surgeons, London. BRIDLINGTON, GREGORY OF, COMMENTATOR vix. 1173 A learned man, born at Bridlington, successively Canon, Precentor, and Prior of Bridlington, of whom little is known, excepting that he was the author of “A Commentary on Portions of the Bible;” that he was the successor of Robert the Scribe, and that whilst he was Precentor, or Prior, the Danes, who had plundered the Abbey of Whitby, laid siege to the Priory, but were obliged to retire in consequence of the strength of the walls and defences. BRIDLINGTON, ST JOHN OF 1319 – 1379 A man of great piety and considerable learning, born at Bridlington, of exemplary parents; who was educated at Bridlington and Oxford, after which he assumed the cowl in the Augustinian Priory of Bridlington, becoming successively Precentor, Almoner, and Prior, 1362-79. When he was elected Prior, he refused the office with tears, deeming himself unworthy of the dignity; but accepted it after a second election, at the earnest entreaty of the monks, although with great reluctance. He managed the temporalities with business like tact, leaving them more flourishing than he found them, and withal was a generous dispenser of charity to the poor. It was said of him that, “In that place (of Prior) he acted the part of both Martha and Mary, being as provident to husband their revenues, as devout in God’s service. There are some Prophecies and Rythmes fathered upon him still extant, but so ridiculous that we may believe them falsely attributed to him. He is, in these parts, reputed as a Saint, especially by the Papists.” – Cox He was so much esteemed for his talents, learning, piety, and meekness that he was Canonized and his relics translated, by direction of the Pope, to a splendid shrine, the ceremonial being conducted by the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham, which became the resort of pilgrims, and it was said the scene of many miracles. Camden says of him “Bridlington is famous for John de Bridlington, a Monkish Poet, whose rhyming Prophecies, which are very ridiculous, I have seen; and yet he has to this day in all that neighbourhood, the reputation of a Saint, and very justly, too, if all the mighty things were true of him, which Nicholas Horsfield, in his Ecclesiastical History, has related with gravity and assurance.” He is sometimes confounded with William Banister, a prophetic writer, temp. Edward III. BRIDLINGTON, ROBERT OF, “THE SCRIBE” Vix. 1160 A native of Bridlington, the son of Gerard, and a monk, eventually 4th Prior of the Canons Regular of Bridlington, succeeding to the office in 1152. He was famous for his skill in penmanship and for his assiduity in the transcription of Monkish Annals, Legends of the Saints, Homilies, etc., which obtained for him the sobriquet of “The Scribe.” He was author of several works and the compiler of a Commentary on the Bible, deduced chiefly from the writings of Hieronymus, Anselm, Bede, and others. His MSS were preserved for a long time in the literary of the Priory and were seen there by Leland in 1534, consisting of Commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the twelve Prophits, the Psalter, the Gospels of SS Matthew and John, the Epistles of St Paul and the Apocalypse; also a Dialogue, “De Corporae et sanguiniae Domini,” and a Treatise, “De Ecclesiae Catholicae” To these Bale adds, Commentaries on the Song of Solomon, the Creed, the Creed of St Athanasius, and the Lord’s Prayer; a Book of Sermons, and a Treatise “De Operibus sex Dierum.” Leland saw his grave in the cloister near the door of the Chapter Houes, with the inscription – Robertus Cognomento Scriba, Quartus Prior BURTON, HENRY, B.D., PURITAN DIVINE 1579 – 1647/8 Born at Birdsall; educated at Cambridge; graduated M.A. and B.D. at Oxford; Rector of St Matthew’s, Friday Street, London, 1626-36. After leaving college, he became tutor to the sons of Robert, Baron Carey, of Leppington, and Earl of Monmouth, and soon after Clerk of the Closet to Prince Henry, and after his death to Prince Charles, on whose accession to the throne he was displaced, when he retired from the Court in disgust, and wrote a letter of remonstrance to the King, in which he charged Dr Neile, who was appointed to the office, with Popish proclivities. In 1636, he preached two sermons, “For God and the King,” in which he charged the Bishops with plotting to re-introduce Popery, for which he was cited before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and committed to Fleet Prison, where he lay several weeks. Whilst in prison, he addressed an epistle to the King, another to the Judges, and a third to the “true-hearted nobility;” for which, at the instance of Laud, his inveterate enemy, he was summoned before the Star Chamber, 1637, as a seditious libeller, and subjected to a most severe sentence, along with Prynne and Bastwick. It was to be deprived of all Preferments and Degrees, to be fined £500, to be pilloried and have his ears lopped off, and to be imprisoned for life, all of which were carried out, excepting the fine, and he was sent to Lancaster Gaol, whence, in consequence of the sympathy of the people, he was removed to Guernsey. Three years afterwards, upon the petition of his wife, Sarah, Parliament reversed the judgement, decided that all which had been done against him was outside the law and made him a grant of £6,000 for the loss of his ears, which, however, in the subsequent confusion, he never got. Along with Prynne, who had been imprisoned in Jersey, he landed in England, and was received with loud acclamations by the people, and in 1642, was re-inducted into his Rectory, afterwards adopting the principles of Independency. CARLISLE, CHARLES HOWARD, 3RD EARL OF Ob. 1738 Son of Edward, 2nd Earl, by Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Uvedale, Kt, and a relict of Sir William Berkeley, and descended from a junior branch of the Ducal House of Howard, his progenitor being “Belted Will” of Border fame, who, by marriage with Elizabeth, sister and co-heiress of George 5th Baron Dacre, of Gillesland, came into possession of Hinderskelf, where Castle Howard now stands. His grandson, Charles, was created 1661, Viscount Howard of Morpeth and Earl of Carlisle, succeeding also the Barony of Dacre, through his grandmother. He was raised to the Peerage, for his loyalty to the Stuarts during the civil wars, distinguishing himself as a diplomatist and published a Narrative of his three Embassies. Charles, his grandson, married Anne, daughter of Arthur Capel, 1st Earl of Essex, and had issue, with other children Henry, 4th Earl, and Anne, his 3rd daughter, who became celebrated as a poetess, and married Richard, 5th Viscount Irvine. He became First Lord of the Treasury 1701-2; Constable of the Tower, 1717; and Deputy Earl Marshall. He was the builder of Castle Howard, employing Vanbrugh as his architect and filling it with art Treasures, amongst which has since been included “The Three Mayrs,” by Carracci, the gem of the Manchester Exhibition, 1857, formerly one of the chief ornaments of the Louvre, and purchased during the French Revolution. He was also a man of great literary taste and a writer of poetry, as have been many members of the family. CARLISLE, FREDERICK HOWARD, 5TH EARL OF, K.T., K.G., P.C. and F.R.S. 1748 – 1825 Son of Henry, 4th Earl, by the Lady Frances, daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland; married 1770, to the Lady Margaret Caroline, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquis of Stafford, and had issue, George, 6th Earl; Frederick, slain at Waterloo, 1815; Rev Henry Edward John, Prebendary of York; William; and three daughters; was Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1780-2. Lord Carlisle was distinguished for his poetical talents and was also a contributor to “The Antijacobin.” CARLISLE, GEORGE WILLIAM FREDERICK, 7TH EARL OF 1802 – 1864 Son of George, 6th Earl, by the Lady Georgiana Dorothy, daughter of William, 5th Duke of Devonshire; educated at Eton and Oxford, where he obtained the highest classical honours. M.P. for Morpeth, 1826-30, County of York, 1830-1 and 1831-2, West Yorkshire, 1832-41 and 1846-8; Chief Secretary of Ireland, 1838-41; Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, 1846-50; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1852; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1855 and 1859-64; Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding, 1847; Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen, 1853. Lord Carlisle was a man of great reputation as a statesman, orator and a man of letters; lectured at Leeds with great applause on “America” and on “The Life and Writings of Pope,” both which lectures were published. He travelled in Asia and America and published a narrative of his Eastern wanderings, 1854, under the title of “A Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters,” and was author of “The Second Vision of Daniel,” a work on prophecy. DE CLIFFORD, HENRY DE CLIFFORD, 10TH BARON, “THE SHEPHERD LORD” 1453- 1523 The de Cliffords were an illustrious family, seated at Skipton, in Craven, who were afterwards Lords of Londesborough. Richard, 4th Duke of Normandy, had six sons, of whom were Richard, 5th Duke; Robert, 6th, who was father of William the Conqueror and William Ponce, Earl of Arques and Thoulouse, who came to England with his nephew. He had grants of land in South Wales, and his posterity moved northward on marrying the heiress of the de Viponts, becoming Lords of Skipton by a grant from King Edward II, after the fall of Gaveston, to whom it had been given on the execution and attainder of the Earl of Lancaster. Londesborough came into their possession by the marriage of John, 9th Baron, with the heiress of the Bromfletes, Barons de Vesci. Roger de Clifford was summoned by writ as Baron, 1299, which, after forfeitures and abeyance, is still extant. Henry, 11th Baron, was created Earl of Cumberland, 1525, the title becoming extinct on the death of Henry, 5th Earl, 1643, when Londesborough passed to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Richard, 1st Earl of Burlington, who was created Baron Clifford of Londesborough, 1666, from whom the Londesborough estates passed to the Cavendish family. Henry, 10th Baron, was son of John, “Black-faced Clifford,” 9th Baron, the murderer of the young Duke of Rutland, son of Richard, Duke of York, at the battle of Wakefield, who was a devoted Lancastrian and who was slain on the eve of the battle of Towton, after which decisive victory, which placed Edward of York on the throne, he was attained and Skipton given to Sir William Stanley, husband of Margaret Countess of Richmond and mother of Henry VII, and afterwards to Richard Duke of Gloster, the King’s brother. On the death of his father, his mother, the widowed Countess, daughter of Henry de Bromflete, Baron de Vesci, fled from Skipton with her two sons, Henry and Richard, to her father, at Londesborough, and, as her sons were sought for by the Yorkists, to imprison them, or perhaps put them to death in revenge for the murder of the Duke of Rutland, she sent the younger into to Flanders and the elder she committed to the charge of a shepherd and his wife, at Londesborough, to be brought up as their child until a reversal of the attainder, or a change in the dynasty should open out brighter prospects for the family. Here at Londesborough he passed some years tending sheep, without education, living on the hard fare of the peasants of the period, and supposing himself to be the son of the shepherd. Afterwards, when there appeared to be some likelihood of his retreat being discovered, he was sent, along with his foster parents, into the wilds of Westsmorland, where he remained until he was thirty-two years of age, when the battle of Bosworth placed the Earl of Richmond on the throne and terminated by the death of Richard III, the dynasty of York. The shepherd heir of Skipton was then brought from the bleak Westmorland hills; his claims were recognise; the attainder was reversed; and he was restored to the dignity and estates of his ancestors. Conscious however, of his lack of learning and his ignorance of the new world into which he was introduced, he lived some time in retirement, consorting with the Canons of Bolton, and applying himself to study and repair his deficiencies in mental culture. His favourite studies were alchemy, astronomy, natural history, and legendary lore; becoming a very fair proficient in these branches of learning, and at sixty years of age, came out of his retirement, and held a command at the battle of Flodden. He married first, Anne, daughter of Sir John St John of Bletshoe, and had issue Henry, 1st Earl of Cumberland; and secondly, Florence, daughter of Henry Pudsey, of Bolton, and relict of Sir Thomas Talbot, of Bashall in Craven. “Life of Henry Lord Clifford, by J. Heneage Jesse” (grandson of the Vicar of Hutton Cranswick) 1862 COIFFI, HIGH PRIEST OF WODEN Vix. 7th Century At the village of Delgovine stood a magnificent temple, of which Coffi was high priest. He lived during the reign of Eadwine, of Northumbria, and being a man of high spiritual position was frequently at the Court of the King. He was present when Paulinus, the Apostle of the North, who had accompanied Aethelburga, Eadwine’s second Queen, from Kent, proclaimed the glad tidings of the Gospel to the Northumbrian idolators, and became convinced of the truths preached by him. Eadwine was somewhat reluctant to abandon the faith of his fathers, and asked Coiffi what he thought of this heretical teaching. “I have long been sensible, Oh King,” replied the high priest, “that there was nothing in what we worshipped, because the more diligently I sought after the truth in that worship, the less I found it; and I now frequently confess that such truth appears evident in this preaching, as can confer on us the gifts of life, of salvation, and of eternal happiness; for which reason, I advise that we instantly abjure and destroy these our temples and altars, which we have consequently without reaping any benefit from them.” Eadwine, partly from conviction and partly in compliance with the desire of his beautiful and newly-married Christian wife, assented. “But who shall desecrate the great temple?” enquired the King. “I,” replied Coiffi, “I officiated at the altar of the false god, and it is fitting that I, who taught the people error, should disabuse them.” A day was appointed for the purpose, in the year 646, when Eadwine and his Court, accompanied by Paulinus and Coiffi proceeded to Delgovine, where Coiffi, girt with a sword and spurs and with a spear in his hand, mounted a stallion. It was not permitted for priests to wear war-like accoutrements, or to ride on any other beast but a mare; and when he thus appeared, the trembling bystanders looked menacingly at him as committing a most outrageous and sacrilegious act; but when he boldly rode onto the temple and hurled his spear at the idol, they set up a loud shriek, deeming the priest mad and anticipating some terrible manifestation of the wrath of the great god; but as no supernatural disaster followed and the sun continued to shine, with smiling radiance over the scene; as Coiffi was not stricken dead; and the earth opened not to swallow up the abettors of the act, whilst the helpless image of Woden remained undemonstrative with the spear quivering in his side, they lost faith in their ancestral god and Paulinus, taking advantage of the opportunity, preached to the assemblage the Gospel of Christ, and shortly afterwards baptised 10,000 converts in the river Swale. The Temple of Delgovine (the place of God’s image) was destroyed and a Christian church erected on the site, which was called Godmangham (God man’s house), now Goodmanham. CONSITT, FRANCIS, BURYTHORPE 1618 – 1768 Died, as is asserted, at the age of 150 years. He attributed his longevity to leading a temperate and chaste life and sucking raw eggs. CONSTABLE, JOHN, LL.D., DEAN OF LINCOLN Ob. 1528 This eminent divine and poet was the second son of Sir Robert Constable, Kt, of Flambrough, by Agnes, his wife, daughter of Sir Roger Wentworth, Kt, of the county of Essex. He was educated by Lylie, the grammarian, and at St John’s, Cambridge, where he graduated and became Fellow of his College, in which he afterwards founded four Fellowships. On his personal history but little is known, but he appears to have been a frequenter of the court of Henry VIII, and to have been intimate with many of the more eminent men of the age. He obtained preferment successively as Prebendary of Decem Librarum, Lincoln, 1494-1503; of Castor, Lincoln, 1502-38; Treasurer of Lincoln Cathedral, 1508-12; Archdeacon of Huntingdon, 1512-14; and Dean of Lincoln, 1514-38, in which city he died and was buried in the Cathedral. He was author of “Joannes Constabularii, Londinesia artivm, Professoris Epigrammate, Apud inclytam Londini urbem, MDXX,” printed by Pynson. The only known copy of this work is in th eBodleian Library. Amongst others are Epigrams addressed to King Henry VIII, and Queen Katherine; Bishop Latimer; Sir Thomas More; and his old master, Lylie. There are also Epitaphs to his father and mother; and to his brother Richard and his sister Martha, neither of whose names appear in the Constable pedigree. CONSTABLE, HENRY, POET 1561-1613 Until recently considerable doubt existed as to the identity of this Elizabethan sonnet writer, but the discovery of MSS, particularly those of Joseph Hunter, Roger Dodsworth and several which have been calendared under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, has cleared away the mists which hung around his name, and shewn inconsistently that he was a member of the Everingham branch of the Constables of Flambrough. Sir Robert Constable, Kt, of Everingham, was grandson of Sir Marmaduke, of Flambrough; he married Catherine, daughter of Sir George Manners, Baron de Ros, and niece of King Edward IV, by whom he had issue, with other children, Sir Robert, his second son. This Sir Robert served in the Scottish wars and was knighted there by the Earl of Surrey, and was author of a “Treatise on the Ordering of a Camp.” He married Christiana, daughter of John Dabridgecourt, of the county of Warwick, and relict of Anthony Wilson, with whom he is supposed to have obtained his estate at Newark, where he died in 1591, when the estate was sold to pay a debt due to the Crown. Henry, his son, was born probably at Newark, circa 1561, and was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1579-90, by special grace, but did not proceed further, in consequence of his Popish proclivities, which compelled him to retire abroad to avoid the Elizabethan persecutions. He travelled through the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Italy and in 1595 we find him in Paris, whence he was sent by the Legate at that city, on a mission from the Pope, accompanied by Lord Bonington, to the court of James VI of Scotland, to exhort him to return to the faith of his fathers, or at least to grant toleration to his Roman Catholic subjects; but he met with no success beyond courteous treatment and fair speeches. Whilst there he was closely watched by the agents of Cecil, whose despatches to their employer (1598-1600) have been published in the Calendars of State Papers, and throw a flood of light on the mission and on the Scottish history of the time. Soon afterwards he was in Arragon, whence he sent a printed book to King James, which Hazlett conjectures was his “Diana,” but it was really “A Counterfeit Discourse Between Counterfeit Travellers,” etc, a treatise on the succession to the English Throne. In 1604 he was in the Tower of London, but as it would appear, was released about the end of the year and banished, when he went to Spain again, and seems to have returned, without leave, as in 1607-8 he was cast into Fleet prison, but was set at liberty, very probably through the influence of his kinsman, the Earl of Shrewsbury. He went to Paris, about which time Dr B. Carrier, an eminent English divine, had embraced Catholicism and entered the Jesuits’ College, at Liege, and thither Constable was sent to confirm the proselyte in his new faith, but soon after his arrival he was seized with a sudden illness, and died in that city in 1613. As a poet he was held in high esteem both by his own and by succeeding generations. Ant. à Wood says, “There was no gentleman of our nation had a more pure, quick and higher delivery than he; witness among others that sonnet of his before the poetical translation called, ‘The Furies’ made by King James.” And in the ‘Return from Parnasus,’ 1606 occur these lines – “Sweet Constable doth take the wondring ear, And lays it up in willing prisonments.” His writings, which are lauded by Ben Jonson, Sir John Harrington and others, are full of quips, cranks, and strange conceits; but this was the style of the age. His earlier sonnets all relate to a hopeless passion for a lady of high rank, who is supposed to have been the Lady Penelope Devereux, afterwards the divorced Lady Rich, and eventually the disruptable wife of Charles Blount, Earl of Devonshire. CONSTABLE, SIR MARMADUKE, KT, FLAMBROUGH Circa 1463-1515 A notable warrior who accompanied Edward IV, in his French expedition 1474; assisted in the capture of Berwick, 1482 and was appointed Governor of the town and castle; and was one of the heroes of Flodden, 1513. He was the eldest son of Sir Robert Constable, Kt, by Agnes, daughter of Sir Roger Wentworth, Kt, of the county of Suffolk; married, first, Joyce, daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford, Kt; secondly, Margery, daughter of Henry, Baron of Fitzhugh, by the first of whom he had issue, four sons and two daughters. A partly obliterated inscription on his tomb, at Flambrough, informs us that “at the age of three score years and ten, he was present, with his sonnes, brothers and servants, and Kynsmenne at Brankeston (Flodden) where the Kynge of Scottys (James IV), was slaine.” He lived in the reigns of six monarchs – Henry VI, Edward IV and V, Richard III, and Henry VII and VIII. CONSTABLE, SIR ROBERT, KT, FLAMBROUGH Executed 1537 The eldest son and heir of Sir Marmaduke Constable, Kt, with whom he fought at the battle of Flodden, 1513; married Jane, daughter of Sir William Ingleby, of Ripley, and had issue, with other children, Sir Marmaduke, who succeeded to Flambrough and Holme-upon-Spaldingmoor. He was knighted at the battle of Blackheath, 1497, for his valour against the Cornish Rebels. In 1536 he became a prominent leader in the Cornish Rebels. In 1536 he became a prominent leader in the first Pilgrimage of Grace Rebellion and participated in the general proclamation of pardon at Doncaster. Not satisfied with the conduct of the King, relative to his promises at the Doncaster negotiation, he, with Aske and Lord Darcy, considered it necessary to take up arms again, to compel Henry to observe the conditions he assented to; but looked upon the rash attempt of Bigod and Hallam, at Settrington, as premature, and wrote a letter to them urging them to lay down their arms and maintain the peace of the country, for doing which he received the thanks of the King. Bigod and Hallam, however, went forward, took Beverley and attempted to take Hull, but were discomfited and executed. In April, Constable, Aske, and Darcy were suddenly arrested on a charge of High Treason, inasmuch as they knew of the second outbreak and had not given information thereof, and that although they had in a letter pretended to dissuade the conspirators, they were secret abettors and disapproved of the rising then, only as being untimely. They were tried, and by an evident straining of evidence, found guilty and condemned. Lord Darcy was beheaded on Tower Hill; Aske, executed at York; and Sir Robert Constable, as the Duke of Norfolk wrote, “On Fridaye beying market daye at Hull, suffrd and dothe hang above the highest gate of the towne so trimmed in the cheynes that I thinke his boones woll hang there this hundrethe yere.” CONSTABLE, SIR WILLIAM, KT. AND BART, FLAMBROUGH Circa 1575-1655 Son and heir of Sir Robert Constable, Kt, by his second wife, Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Widdrington, Kt; married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Fairfax, Kt, by whom he had no issue; knighted, 1599; created Baronet, 1611, extinct at death; MP for the borough of Knaresborough, in the Long Parliament; afterwards representative of the County of York. Sir William was knighted for his services in Ireland, under the Earl of Essex, in whose treasonable practices he became involved and was arraigned for High Treason; but remanded before trial, by direction of the Queen, on the ground that he had been “unwarily drawn in.” He was imprisoned, temp Charles I, for resisting the imposition of the Ship Tax; and, on the breaking out of the subsequent civil war, he unhesitatingly unsheathed his sword in defence of the liberties of the people, became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Parliamentarian army, and was actively engaged, all through the war. He fought at Edgehill, 1642; commanded at the siege of Scarborough, 1643; led a body of men from Hull in a raid upon the Wolds, 1644, where he surprised Sir Charles Lucas and scattered the forces of Sir Walter Vavasour. The same year he fought at Marston Moor, and after the battle was appointed one of the Commissioners to treat for the surrender of York; and in 1645, accompanied Fairfax to London on the appointment of the latter to the command of the “new modelled” army. He sat on the trial of King Charles and signed the warrant for his execution; and on the establishment of the Republic, was appointed a member of the Council of State. He died during the Protectorate, and thus escaped the fate of the Regicides who survived the Restoration; nevertheless, his body was exhumed after that event, dismembered and cast into a pit, and in the general pardon of Charles II, although dead, he was specially excepted, was attained and his e |