A Calendar of the Registers of the Freemen of the City of Gloucester 1641-1838
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■ '' ■ GLOUCESTERSHIRE RECORD SERIES VOLUME 4- ' *r: A..._ ; A CALENDAR OF THE REGISTERS OF THE FREEMEN OF THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER 1641-1838 Transcribed by Peter Ripley and revised and edited by John Jufica The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Gloucestershire Record Series Hon. General Editor David J.H. Smith, M.A., F.S.A. County and Diocesan Archivist of Gloucestershire Hon. Editorial Advisors Christopher Elrington, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. General Editor of the Victoria History of the Counties of England Brian S. Smith, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. Secretary to the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts Volume 4 A Calendar of the Registers of the Freemen of the City of Gloucester 1641-1838 ed. A. R. J. Jufica J A CALENDAR OF THE REGISTERS OF THE FREEMEN OF THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER 1641-1838 Transcribed by Peter Ripley and revised and edited by John Jufica The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 1991 i The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Gloucestershire Record Series © The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society ISBN 0 900197 32 3 This volume was published with the generous assistance of a grant from the Twenty-Seven Foundation Produced for the Society by Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS Page Memoir of the late Peter Ripley vii Abbreviations used in the notes ix Introduction xi Acknowledgements xxvii Abbreviations and symbols used in the Calendar xxix Calendar of the registers of the freemen of the City of Gloucester 1 Appendix I: The Freeman’s Oath in the early 16th Century 261 Appendix II: The Freeman’s Oath in 1746 262 Appendix III: Honorary Freemen of Gloucester since 1885 263 Editorial note on the indexes 265 Index of personal names 266 Index of occupations 303 Index of place names 318 PETER RIPLEY M.A. M.LITT ‘The Freemen of Gloucester’ was Peter Ripley’s last major study in Gloucestershire history; with his death on 29 March 1988 the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society lost a long-standing member, and local studies a good friend. He joined the Society in 1970 and in 1987 was elected General Editor of this Record Series, a task he tackled with zest and absolute commitment, achieving a prodigious amount in a very short time. The long term success of the Record Series would be the best appreciation of his service both to the Society and to local history studies in Gloucestershire. As an undergraduate Peter Ripley studied Modern History at Queen’s College, Oxford. After taking his degree in 1951 he entered the colonial education service in Kenya where he worked for twelve years, first as a teacher, then in training teachers, and finally as an inspector. East Africa captured his interest, which led to his writing a textbook for use in African schools, and several monographs. Later he took the opportunity to introduce the subject to students in this country. He came to Gloucester from Bridlington Grammar School in 1967 to join the History Department at the Gloucestershire College of Education where he worked for eleven years. During that time- his fruitful commitment to Gloucestershire history took root. His first major study in this field (outside his work for students) was ‘The City of Gloucester 1660-1740’, his M.Litt thesis for Bristol University completed in 1977. This was followed by several articles published in the Transactions. Though Peter Ripley’s career then took him to Kent for two years he was glad to return to this area in 1980 as Head of Humanities and Social Science at Brunel College of Technology, Bristol. In spite of a very busy professional life he again took up the threads of his research and found time to transcribe the registers of the Freemen of Gloucester 1653-1838. As he had a premonitory indication of heart trouble early in 1988 he decided to retire that summer. He was then looking forward to having more time for his own research and to edit this Record Series for which he had only recently taken responsibility. Sadly those hopes were not to be realised. E.A.C. Dec. 1990 vii i ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES Alumni Cantab. Alumni Cantabrigienses, ed. J. and J.A. Venn (10 vols. 1922-54) Alumni Oxon. Alumni Oxonienses, ed. J. Foster (8 vols. 1887-92) Atkyns, Glos. R. Atkyns, Ancient and Present State of Glostershire (1712) Austin, Crypt School R. Austin, Crypt School, Gloucester, 1539-1939 (Gloucester, 1939) B.G.A.S. Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Bigland, Glos. Historical, Monumental, and Genealogical Collections Relative to the County of Gloucester. Printed from the Original Papers of Ralph Bigland (3 vols. 1791-1889, issued in parts) Complete Baronetage G.E. Cfockayne], Complete Baronetage (6 vols. 1900-9) Complete Peerage G.E. C[ockayne] and others, Complete Peerage (2nd edn., 13 vols. 1910-59) D.N.B. Dictionary of National Biography Fosbrooke, Glouc. T.D. Fosbrooke, Original History of (he City of Gloucester almost Wholly Compiled from New Materials . including also the Original Papers of Ralph Bigland (London, 1819) GBR Gloucester Borough Records in Gloucestershire Record Office Glos. Colin. The Gloucestershire Collection, in Gloucester Divisional Library, comprising printed works, manuscripts, prints and drawings, etc. Glos. N.&Q. Gloucestershire Notes and Queries (10 vols. 1881-1914) Glos. R.O. Gloucestershire Record Office Glouc. Corp. Rec. Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester, ed. W.H. Stevenson (Gloucester, 1893) Glouc. Jnl. Gloucester Journal Gray, Antiquaries I. Gray, Antiquaries of Gloucestershire and Bristol (B.G.A.S. 1981) Heref. R.O. Hereford Record Office Hist. MSS. Com. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts Hockaday Abs. The ‘Hockaday Abstracts’, being abstracts of ecclesiastical records relating to Gloucestershire, compiled by F.S. Hockaday mainly from diocesan records, in Gloucester Divisional Library. Nash, Wo res. T. Nash, Collections for the History of Worcestershire (2 vols. 1781-2) P.N. Glos. (E.P.N.S.) Place-Names of Gloucestershire (English Place-Name Society vols. xxxviii-xli, 1964-5) P.R.O. Public Record Office Rep. Com. Mun. Corp. First Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, App. I, H.C. 116 (1835), xxiii (1) ix i x FREEMEN OF GLOUCESTER Rudder, Glos. S. Rudder, New History of Gloucestershire (Cirencester, 1779) Rudge, Hist, of Glos. T. Rudge, History of the County of Gloucester (2 vols. Gloucester, 1803) Trans. B.G.A.S. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeo logical Society V.C.H. Victoria County History Visit. Glos. 1682-3 Visitation of the County of Gloucester, 1682, 1683, ed. T. FitzRoy Fenwick and W.C. Metcalfe (Exeter, priv. print. 1884) Williams, Pari. Hist, of Glos. W.R. Williams, Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester (Hereford, priv. print. 1898) INTRODUCTION The early history of the freedom1 By the mid 12th century the leading townsmen of Gloucester were seeking legal and commercial privileges from the Crown. Their efforts were rewarded by Henry Il when, soon after his accession, he granted the burgesses their first charter of liberties. In time the burgesses secured additional privileges or freedoms and restricted them to themselves and their sons. They admitted others to their circle, the freeman body, on payment or on completion of a term of apprenticeship. The achievement of liberties and the history of the freedom followed in their broad outlines a pattern common to many boroughs but influenced by local circumstances and considerations. The development of the freedom in Exeter and Oxford, for example, often paralleled its evolution in Gloucester.2 The freedoms granted by Henry II to the burgesses of Gloucester were the same exemptions from toll and the same procedures in their courts as the citizens of London and Winchester enjoyed.3 In 1165 the burgesses acquired the right to collect royal dues arising in the town in return for an annual payment but in 1176 that right was revoked. In the late 1160s some burgesses had attempted to form a commune to gain greater control over the administration of the borough. The right to farm royal dues was conceded anew by Richard I in 1194 and a new charter of liberties was granted by John in 1200. John's charter gave the burgesses the right to elect two bailiffs and four coroners, confirmed their freedom from tolls and, among a number of legal franchises, protected them against pleading in external courts except in cases concerning land outside the borough. It remained the basis of the town's liberties until 1483. Those liberties, though not immune from challenges from the Crown and other authorities, were widened by a number of charters in the 13th and 14th centuries. By 1200 the town’s commercial life was regulated by a merchants' guild. In referring to lour burgesses of Gloucester of the merchants' guild’ John's charter indicates that the guild embraced all the townsmen with full burgess rights. Merchants’ guilds in many other towns were similarly constituted though that in Oxford may have had a more exclusive membership in the early 13th century.4 Further evidence of the close relationship in Gloucester between borough and guild is provided by the inscription ‘sigillum burgensium de gilda mercatorum Gloucestrie’ on the town’s earliest common seals.5 By 1409 men acquiring the 1 This section is based on Victoria History of the Counties of England, Gloucestershire, iv: City of Gloucester, 28-35, 54-9. 2 Cf. Exeter Freemen 1266-1967, ed. M.M. Rowe and A.M. Jackson (Devon & Cornwall Record Society extra series i. 1973), pp. xi-xxxv; V.C.H.