The De Wauton Family

LEETE Chronicles Vol. 2 North American Immigrants 6/26/2021 9:28 PM

Figure 53. Manor Farm, a successor to Roger Harleston's Harlestones Manor, in Cottenham.

The de Wauton Family

Figure 54. The de Wauton (Walton) COA, Huntingdonshire (argent a chevron sable: chevron, silver on black) (British History Online, n.d.)

The de Wauton family9 records go back to the Norman Conquest. However, as quoted in The History of Parliament Online (The Institute of Historical Research, University of London, n.d.):

9 The de Wauton surname has many spellings, evolving from De Wauton or Waweton to Walton over time. I will use de Wauton to be consistent.

Although they were a prolific and evidently quite influential family, the Wawetons are not well documented during the 13th and early 14h centuries, during which time they settled in the area where the three counties of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire converge.

There are three apparent direct relationships that are of interest to the Leet3 family story: the marriage of John de Wauton to Margaret Sutton and the marriage of Margaret de Wauton to Roger Harelston in the 14th century. In the 17th century, Valentine de Wauton married the sister of Oliver Cromwell and was one of the “regicides.” This relates to Gov William Leete (see the section 1662-1664: Connecticut and New Haven Colony Merge and the Regicides)

To put some detail to these events, I will start with an interesting excerpt from the discussion of Great Staunton in (British History Online, n.d.):

Meanwhile, John Empol had granted this third to Thomas de Wauton or Walton, a minor, son of Thomas de Wauton, and action was postponed until Thomas should be of full age. (fn. 53) The conveyance to Thomas Wauton was repeated when he came of age in 1376. (fn. 54) The other two parts of the manor passed to Alice Bray, who in 1385–6 conveyed them to John de Hemingford and others, evidently feoffees, who reconveyed them to her. (fn. 55) They were again settled in the same years (fn. 56) and in 1406 the whole manor was conveyed by John Stukeley and Robert Scott, two of the feoffees, to Thomas Wauton and Elizabeth his wife. (fn. 57) It would seem that Thomas de Wauton, who married Eleanor de Stokes of Boughton in Southoe (q.v.), had a son Thomas, aged 30, in 1349. His son Thomas was the grantee of the third of the manor in 1376 when he came of age, (fn. 58) and it was he and his wife Elizabeth who in 1406 acquired the whole manor. (fn. 59) He was succeeded by John de Wauton, his son or more probably his brother, who was returned as member of parliament for Huntingdonshire in 1393. Thomas, son of John, served from 1396 for 30 years as member of parliament for Huntingdonshire or Bedfordshire and became Speaker of the House in 1425. (fn. 60) He died in 1436 and was succeeded by his son Thomas. The manor later passed to Robert Wauton, mentioned in 1502 as lord of the manor. (fn. 61) John son of Robert married Joan, sister of Sir William Gascoyne, on whom the manor was settled about 1497. Joan after John's death married Thomas Knighton, and in 1529 Thomas Wauton of Great Staughton, the elder, and Thomas Wauton, the younger, were sued for forcibly entering the lands held in dower by Joan. (fn. 62) Thomas Wauton, the elder, was the son of John. (fn. 63) Thomas Wauton, the younger, his son, was dealing with lands in Great Staughton in 1541, (fn. 64) and in 1554 settled annuities payable out of the manor on his sons William and Gilbert. He died in 1555, his heir being his grandson George, son of his son Thomas. (fn. 65) In 1563 George Wauton conveyed the manor to Henry Laurence and William Thomas, (fn. 66) probably in connexion with a lease of the manor for 21 years to Thomas Beverley in 1562. In the course of Chancery proceedings it was alleged that while 'a young man, void of learning and knowledge in common affairs of the world,' George Wauton had made this conveyance to Thomas Beverley, 'a crafty and subtyll man,' the property being well worth £80 a year, in return for the sum of £80, of which he received £50 in hand, with 2 nags worth 5 marks, and a lute worth 5s. (fn. 67) Thomas Beverley must have retained possession of the lease, which he assigned in 1579 to John Farewell (fn. 68) at the rent of £34. In 1605 Sir George Wauton, who had been knighted at Whitehall by the king in the previous year, (fn. 69) was dealing with the manor and advowson, evidently in performance of a settlement of the manor made in that year on himself for life, with remainder to the heir male or issue male of John Wauton, deceased, son of Nicholas Wauton, deceased, uncle of Sir George, and second brother of Thomas Wauton, deceased, father of Sir George. (fn. 70) Sir George died in 1606 at Great Staughton without lawful issue, (fn. 71) when his heir male under the above settlement was the future regicide and brother-in-law of the

Protector, Valentine Wauton, then a boy of twelve, the son of Nicholas Wauton, and grandson of John Wauton. (fn. 72) After Valentine Wauton had attained his majority, possession of the manor was again disputed, and something like a siege seems to have been sustained in 1624 by the old manor house, then in the possession of his kinsman, one of the heirs of Sir George, John Throgmorton. In January Sir Robert Osborne wrote from Godmanchester to Secretary Conway that the sheriff, going by commission from Chancery to take possession of the manor from John Throgmorton and deliver it to Mr. Wauton, was resisted and several of his men slain or wounded; he added that the house was double moated and of great strength, and that the company, most of whom were Papists, had intrenched themselves in it, with aid of divers foreigners who had joined them. (fn. 73) In March he wrote to the Council that he had made proclamation at Great Staughton against John Throgmorton, but found the house had been abandoned, and therefore placed ten men in it, till directions were sent as to who was to be put in possession. (fn. 74) The abandonment was possibly a ruse and evidently temporary, as on May 25th he wrote that John Throgmorton had surprised the sequestrators and taken forcible possession of the manor house, refusing to give up his servant Allabone, indicted for the death of one of the sheriff's men, but promising to surrender the house, if so ordered, when the Council had answered his petition. (fn. 75) Valentine Wauton was in 1651 (fn. 76) and 1657 (fn. 77) dealing with the manor, for possession of which there was keen competition after the Restoration in 1660, even before Col. Wauton's attainder was passed, between Robert Montague Lord Mandeville, son and heir-apparent of Edward Earl of Manchester, and Sir Charles Howard, the former succeeding in 1661 in obtaining a lease of the manor, site, chief messuage, etc., for 31 years, in spite of the king's intention to grant it to the Duke of York. (fn. 78) In the same year Sir Edward Green petitioned for a lease of 500 acres of pasture land in Great Staughton and 400 of fen ground, part of the estate there forfeited for treason by Valentine Wauton, (fn. 79) who is said to have lived disguised in Holland and worked there as a gardener till he died. John Gaule, minister of the parish, was a petitioner in 1660 for satisfaction of arrears from Wauton's confiscated estates. He represented that Valentine Wauton had detained for 6 years the benefits of his living, valued at above £400 a year, from the petitioner, who had been kept prisoner by Cromwell and Ireton for declaring the war against the king unlawful. (fn. 80) In 1662 the reversion of the manor, with a rent reserved upon the lease to Robert Montague Lord Mandeville, was granted to the Duke of York; (fn. 81) by whom, as King James II, a grant for 21 years in reversion was made in 1688 to Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe. (fn. 82)

Let’s deconstruct this narrative into a family tree:

1. In 1353 a Thomas de Wauton, a minor, son of Thomas de Wauton, had a third of a manor. Later in the narrative it is revealed this Thomas was married to Eleanor de Stokes, who father had the Boughton manor, which was located in both Southoe and Diddington. 2. He had a son, also a Thomas, (Thomas II) who was age 30 in 1349 (born in 1319) 3. His son, also a Thomas (Thomas III) came of age in 1376, so you would assume the son was born in about 1355. 4. In 1406 that Thomas (III), whose wife was Elizabeth, received the whole manor 5. Next, John de Wauton (John I) is mentioned as a son or more probably a brother, who was an MP for Huntingdonshire in 1393. 6. Next, John’s son, a Thomas (IV) served for 30 years as MP and was Speaker of the House in 1425. This Thomas died in 1436 7. Thomas IV son, Thomas V, succeeded Thomas IV as the lord of the manor.

8. The next sentence says that Robert de Wauton had the manor in 1502. 9. Robert’s son, John (II), was married to Joan Gascoyne. For some reason it says the manor “was settled” about 1497. So, there is some conflict with Robert having the manor in 1502. Maybe they had it together? 10. John II died, and Joan remarried. (No date given for death.) Apparently two de Wauton Thomas’s, the elder and the younger, were sued in 1529. Thomas (VI) the elder was identified as the son of John II, and Thomas (VII) the younger was the son of this Thomas. This younger is mentioned as being alive in 1541 and again in 1554, and died in 1555. 11. Thomas VII had a son George (I), who succeeded Thomas VI, who had the manor in 1563. There was a lot of legal goings-on from that point with respect to the manor. This George I was knighted in 1604. He died in 1606 12. Thomas VII brother, Nicholas had a son, Valentine, who was 12 in 1606, making his birth year as about 1594. Valentine was the regicide. 13. Valentine had a son, Charles, who was alive in 1684.

The (Harvey & al, 1884) Bedfordshire Visitation has this additional information:

Figure 55. Visitations of Bedfordshire, Wauton page

Since Nicholas was a unique name in this family, I can use him to place who is being documented in this chart. The John at the top of the chart is John II. Rewriting the list starting with #10:

10. John II died, and Joan remarried. (No date given for death.) Apparently two de Wauton Thomas’s, the elder and the younger, were sued in 1529. Thomas (VI) the elder was

identified as the son of John II. He married the daughter of a Barrey of Wales. Thomas (VII) the younger was the son of this Thomas. This younger is mentioned as being alive in 1541 and again in 1554, and died in 1555. In addition to Thomas VII and Nicholas, who married Elizabeth …, Thomas VI had the following children: a. Allice, who married Thomas Treheron b. William c. Osbert, who resided in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk d. Agnes, who married first Thomas Marleborough, of Pernall, Bedfordshire, and second Gabriell Throgmorton. There were two sons by this second marriage e. Audrey, who married John Dyve, of Bedfordshire, and then Gabriell Quadring, the second som of William Quadring of Irby, Lincolnshire. 11. Thomas VII had a son George (I), who succeeded Thomas VI, who had the manor in 1563. There was a lot of legal goings-on from that point with respect to the manor. This George I was knighted in 1604. He died in 1606 12. Thomas VII brother, Nicholas had a son, Valentine, who was 12 in 1606, making his birth year as about 1594. Valentine, who married the sister of Oliver Cromwell, was a regicide. 13. Valentine had a son, Charles, who was alive in 1684.

with the record of John de Wauton (I) (1295-1346).10 The record for his existence is found in Essex Feet of Fines and in IPMs. These two sources show he had a lot of property and he married into property. Michael Leete adds some documented information about the ancestors of John (Leete M. e., 2006):

2a. Sir John de Wauton, received a messuage and 234 acres at Steeple Bumpstead, Essex, 1316-17 [Essex Feet of Fines, 10 Edward II]; obtained the manor of Down Hall, Roydon, in 1329 [VCH Essex, Vol VIII]; knight of the shire for Essex, 1329-30; had property at Wimbush, 1343, together with his wife Elizabeth and John their elder son [Essex Feet of Fines, Michaelmas 1343]; died 31 December 1346 [writ 16 January 20 Edward III: held Wymbush; Stepel Bumpstead; Brydbrok, Essex; died 31 December last; son John aged 14 his heir: Calendar of IPMs Vol 8 Edward III:, #681]; married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert de Aspall, who afterwards married as his second wife, John, 2nd Lord Tibetot, and died in 1390 [HoP 1386-1421, sub Tiptoft]; issue:

3. Sir John de Wauton, born circa 1332; died c1366 [HoP 1386-1421 sub Waweton]; married Margaret [?Sutton], died in 1391 [VCH Essex, Vol VIII sub Roydon]. Issue:

10 The family name de Wauton is variously spelled Waweton and later Walton

4a. Margaret de Wauton, daughter and co-heir; married by April 1378 Roger Harleston and left issue [Cal IPMs Vol XVIII 1-6 Henry IV p 98], a son Ives, and a daughter, married to John Burgoyne.

The dates of Sir John, 2a above align with the dates provided for a brass found in the Church of All Saints in Wimbish parish, Essex. Unfortunately, the wife listed for the brass is “Ellen,” not Elizabeth. I don’t have any explanation for the difference other than, perhaps another wife.

Figure 56. John de Wauton I and wife “Ellen” in Wimbish, Essex Church of All Saints

The next entry in the quote above is for a second John. The wife listed, with a question mark, is Margaret Sutton. The Sutton family is discussed in the next section.

Their daughter Margaret, married Roger Harleston, and their daughter married a John Burgoyne, a familiar name: the family discussed in a previous section.

At this point we have the following family tree information for the first six generations:

Figure 57. Early generations of the de Wauton Family

In order to get the relationship to Valentine, the regicide, in I have to go a few more generations from John de Wauton II:

Figure 58. Later generations of the de Wauton Family

The dates in both diagrams come from various sources, some of which are not primary or trusted secondary sources, so don’t assume they are accurate.