Lady Alice Le Strange 1585

Lady Alice Le Strange 1586-1656 Lady Alice Le Strange was the wife of Sir Hamon Le Strange of Hunstanton, a Stuart landowner, whose estates were spread across North-West Norfolk and beyond. As well as being a member of the local gentry, Sir Hamon, whose family had held the manor of Hunstanton since the Norman conquest, was also a prominent figure in county politics. He represented the people of Norfolk as a Member of Parliament and like his father before him was Sheriff of Norfolk. Sir Hamon was an ardent supporter of the monarchy and church and openly displayed his Royalist sympathies in a county which had strong Parliamentarian leanings. The principal source of this article is the series of household accounts kept by Alice herself. No letters or personal papers have been found and it seems likely that these were deliberately destroyed, perhaps by Alice herself. But she speaks to us from these meticulously kept accounts. Those who spend some time reading these ledgers begin to feel they know Alice, her likes and dislikes, her character and even her favourite colour. Ketton Cremer calls her “… a woman of unconquerable spirit” and Alfred Kingston speaks of “…a capable woman, whose opinion of men and things, one feels, would have been worth having”. Her husband in his will in 1652 spoke of her thus: - “I thank thee [Lord]... abundantly for that comfortable union and blessed harmony which I have for many years enjoyed with that life of my life my dear wife…her ever dear esteem of my life and person and her most pious and painful care in the education of my children… and her ever incessant industry in straynes of knowledge above her sex”. “...for a further legacy of my love I give unto…Alice my wife one hundred pounds”. A touching testimony of the love and affection between husband and wife. In fact the marriage between Alice and Hamon had started as a business arrangement, a merger probably planned even before Alice’s birth. Lady Alice Le Strange 1586-1656 1 Richard Stubbs, Alice’s father, was a lawyer and M.P. for Castle Rising, owning land and property across Norfolk, in Lynn, Heacham, Snettisham, Ringstead, Hunstanton, Holme, Fring, Harply, Edgefield, Runton and Wiggenhall. He also owned or leased most of Sedgeford. In 1584 Richard had married Anne the widow of John Le Strange of Sedgeford, who was Hamon’s great uncle. From this marriage Richard acquired lands originally belonging to the Le Strange family. The children of Ann’s first marriage weren’t happy that Richard had managed to acquire assets that they felt they were entitled to and there were some legal battles instigated by the husbands of two of Ann’s daughters. The will of the third unmarried daughter Katherine also hints at some resentment. Although the children of Ann and John Le Strange were unsuccessful, the Le Strange family were still anxious to have the land in Sedgeford restored to the family. A marriage between Richard’s daughter and the Le Strange heir was a mutually beneficial solution. The lands would be returned to the Le Strange family and Alice would marry into the gentry. In 1602 when Alice was sixteen and Hamon nineteen the marriage was formally agreed between Richard and Sir John Payton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, Hamon’s guardian. The laborious legal process of settlements began with Richard putting nearly everything he owned into the marriage, transferring virtually all his property to the use of Hamon and Alice. In March 1603 Hamon accompanied Sir Robert Carey to Scotland on horseback to inform James VI that Elizabeth I was dead and that he was now King of England. On his return Alice and Hamon were married on 20th October and within a year their first son Nicholas was born. Hamon came of age in 1604 and was knighted at the coronation of James. The portrait of Hamon now hanging in King’s Lynn Town Hall and the matching one of Alice probably date from this time. In 1605 their second son Hamon was born and to provide Alice with an income if she was left a widow Hamon settled the manor of Gressenhall on her. The young couple settled down to married life at Hunstanton Hall. In the March following his coming of age Hamon began keeping the estate accounts, recording all the family and estate expenditure and income. Their first daughter Dorothy (named for Alice’s half sister) was born in 1608. The day after Dorothy’s christening Hamon recorded that he gave Alice 30s to pay for the midwife. In March 1609 Alice took over the responsibility of keeping the accounts, a task that she was to perform diligently for nearly fifty years. The first pages of Alice’s accounts are touching in their neatness and legibility and are reminiscent of a child beginning a new exercise book and a strong contrast to Hamon more difficult hand. Sadly Dorothy died in April 1610, just one year old. Five year old Nicholas’s health worried Alice and she frequently called upon the apothecary for advice and “phisick” for the rest of the year Nicholas recovered but his health was to often worry Alice throughout his childhood. In the autumn an ape (monkey) was delivered to the house, perhaps Alice thought it would amuse the ailing Nick. The young couple enjoyed a good standard of living. The purchase of golden and silver lace, silks, taffetas and other rich cloth appears frequently in the accounts in the first ten years of their marriage. Alice appears to have particularly fond of green with many of her dresses made in that colour or trimmed with green lace; two of the three beds left in her will were draped with green hangings and she left green petticoats to her daughter in law and niece. She purchased silk stockings, at £1 5s a pair and paid £2 4s. for silk garters trimmed with gold lace; Hamon and the children wore stockings or hose, knitted for them by local women. It was not only Alice who dressed richly but Hamon and the children also owned many rich clothes trimmed with lace and ribbon. One of Nick’s coats was trimmed with five and quarter ounces of lace costing 12s 7d and a gown made for him cost £3 7s 2d. In February 1612 Jane, their next daughter was carried to her baptism on a bearing cloth of crimson taffeta 2 trimmed with silk and silver lace costing £2 13s. 4d. Alice held a dinner following Jane’s baptism for which the cook received 10s, a quarter of a years wages. At Jane’s birth a midwife employed by her relation Lady Knivett attended Alice, but for her subsequent children she used the services of Alice Chant a local woman whom she called “my keeper”. Alice, like many gentry ladies of the time employed a wet nurse for her children. This was a very well paid position with a wet nurse earning three times as much as a normal female servant and more than many men servants. Alice retained the services of a nurse for each of her children for between a year and eighteen months. The family enjoyed many leisure activities. The children played battledore and shuttlecock. The family employed a fool. Dice and cards feature in the accounts. Butt arrows and quivers show that archery was a pastime. Hawking was a favourite sport and hoods, hawking gloves, hawks and the wages of a falconer appear often in the accounts of the household. Small game was also shot with guns for sport and for the pot. The family was musical, John Jenkins the celebrated music teacher and composer spent many years living with the family. Sir Hamon played the viol and is said to have built an octagon in the garden especially to practice in away from his wife. He also enjoyed gambling. Alice records his losses at cards and the tables and even 3s lost playing shovelboard. On one occasion Alice allowed him 6d to play at tables. To date no entry has been found recording his winnings only his losses. Some of his losses and other expenses of £5 0s 3d were “layd out at Swaffham at the election of the Knight of the Shire” where Hamon was elected M.P. for Norfolk in 1614. Elizabeth was born in 1614 and the accounts record a payment to the vicar for Alice to be “churched”. Churching, which normally took place twenty-eight days after the birth was a ceremony that served as a thanksgiving and a marking of the return of the new mother into the community. Not including the children’s nurses, Alice and Hamon employed at least four maidservants and seven menservants. In addition Alice had a gentlewoman and often used women of the village when needed. Although Alice had many servants to do the work of the household, she was a very practical and down to earth woman who was not averse to getting her hands dirty. One anecdote written by her son Nicholas relates Alice skinning a rabbit. The growing family meant that more beds were needed and two were purchased in 1614 costing a total of £10 8s 8d without the hangings. Nick fell ill again in December 1614, as did his three year old sister Jane. Alice called on Doctor Rant to whom she paid the large sum of £6. It must have been serious for Alice to want the services of a doctor. She was used to tending the sick, not only within the household but also in the local area and was described as doing “great service to the poor in the way of surgery”.

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