http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society photo: Ms K. c'orttford. PLATE I. BRADBOURNE, LARKFIELD, KENT. West and South Fronts (1713-1774). photo: Miss E. C. T lampoon. PLATE II. THE GREAT HALL, with Portraits, looking East, ( 43 ) NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF TWYSDEN AND TWISDEN. together with a List and brief Description of the Family Portraits bequeathed to the Kent Archceological Society by the late Sir John Bamskill Twisden, 12th and last Bart., prepared' by RONALD G. HATTON, C.B.E., D.SC., F.R.S., AND THE REVD. CHRISTOPHER H. HATTON, O.S.B. EXTRACT from the last Mitt ant testament of Sir John Ramskill Twisden, Baronet, 29.11.1929. "11. I Bequeath to my Executors all my portraits of members of "Twysden and Twisden family and of persons related to that family "hereinafter called "my Family Portraits" UPON TRUST to deliver to "the Trustees for the time being of the National Portrait Gallery to be "exhibited there— "(First) either the two miniatures framed together of Sir William " Twysden first Baronet of Roydon Hall and his Wife or in lieu thereof "the portrait in oils of the same Sir William "(Secondly) one of the portraits of Sir Roger Twysden Second Baronet "of Roydon Hall. "(Thirdly) One of the Portraits of Sir Thomas Twisden First Baronet of "Bradbourne. "(Fourthly) One of the portraits of Dr. John Twisden their brother. "(Fifthly) The portrait of Colonel Matthew Thomlinson and "(Sixthly) such other of my Family Portraits as the Trustees for the "time being of the said Gallery may desire to have and subject to the "foregoing bequests my Executors shall hold the remainder of my "Family Portraits UPON TRUST for the Kent Archceological Society "provided that my Executors shall be satisfied that such Society can "make proper provision for their custody but if my Executors shall not "be so satisfied or failing the acceptance thereof by the said Society my "Executors shall hold the remainder of my Family Portraits UPON "TRUST for the Corporation of Maidstone for their Museum upon the "same conditions as to provision being made for their custody but in "case my Executors shall not be satisfied as aforesaid or failing the 2 Sources: The Family of Twysden and Twisden—their History and archives from an original by Sir John Ramskill Twisden, 12th Baronet of Bradbourne ; completed by C. H. Dudley Ward, D.S.O. M.O. John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, W. 1939. "Catalogue of The Bra:dbournPietures" ( Z.K. 1863) and the " Manuscript Oataloguecompiledby Sir John.RamskillTwisden," 1912, 44 TEA FAMILY OF TWYSDEN AND TWISDEN "acceptance thereof by the Corporation of Maidstone my Trustees shall "hold the said Portraits UPON THE TRUSTS of the Bradbourne Estate "or as near thereto as may be as heirlooms therewith AND I DIRECT my "Executors to permit the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery the "Kent Archeological Society and the Corporation of Maidstone to "inspect and take extracts from the notes and memoranda which relate "to the said portraits or the history or authenticity of them or any of "them." The Kent Archeeological Society accepted this bequest on June 9th, 1938, and under an agreement made with the Kent Incorporated Society for Promoting Experiments in Horticulture (better known as the East Mailing Research Station) the portraits remain at Bradbourne, Larkfield (Plate I), lately the seat of Sir J. R. Twisden, Bart., but now the property and headquarters of the Research Station. On hearing that the rest of the family portraits were to remain at Bradbourne, the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery returned the six portraits especially bequeathed to them in order that the collection might remain complete in its most appropriate setting (Plate II). Bradbourne is open to members of the Kent Archmological Society on the first Saturday in each month or on special applicatiOn between 2 p.m. and dusk, for the purpose of seeing the portraits. The principal references in Archceologia Cantiana to the Twysden and Twisden family are as follows: "Sir Roger Twysden's Journal," 1, 184; II, 175; III, 145; IV, 131. "Will of Roger Twysden" (1464), III, 200. "Will of Thomas Twysden" (1500), III, 203. "A Chapter of County Gossip," V, 87. "A Passage in the History of the Twysden Family," VIII, 50. "The Diary of Isabella Twysden," LI, 113-36. "The Family of Twysden and Twisden" (Review), LI, 221-4. NOTES ON "THE FAMILY OF TWYSDEN AND TWISDEN " AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE PORTRAITS. Bradbourne, for the past 280 .years the home of the Twisdens, was a moated house in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It belonged to George Catlyn—himself a connection of the Twysdens through his Roydon wife and mother. He had no .heir and sold the property to Richard Manningham, who died in 1612, and whose effigy is in East Mailing Church. The fourth Manningham, Richard the younger, sold Bradbourne about 1656 to Thomas Twisden, more of whom anon. There were Twysdens established in Kent, both at Sandhurst and Goudhurst—where there is still a farm house of that name—at leastin THE FAMILY OF TWYSDEN AND TWTSDEN 45 the thirteenth and fourteenth century. By the fifteenth century they held estates at Chelmington and Wye, and one, Roger Twysden, was• in Jack Cade's rebellion (1450). One Thomas Twysden was a monk, Bede, at Battle Abbey, and, after its dissolution, successfully managed the estate at Wye for his brother's son and heir, Roger, while a minor. Subsequently William Twysden of Chelmington and Wye married Elizabeth (Plate III), the heiress of Roydon, East Peckham, in 1542, and this brought the main Twisden family definitely .back to West Kent. Elizabeth must have been both an attractive personality, for she married three times, and a good business woman, for, as Lady Golding, she survived all three husbands and actively helped her son, Roger Twysden (Plate III), to build up and acquire the Roydon Estate. This Roger Twysden became Sheriff of Kent (1599) and married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Wiat, the younger (Plate IV), of Allington Castle. (It is here interesting for Kent folk to note that Roger's sister Margaret married Richard Dering of Pluckley, while his daughter Margaret Twysden married Sir Harry Vane, the elder.) The eldest son of Roger and Anne, William Twysden (Plate V), born 1566, married into yet another Kentish family. His wife, Anne Finch (Plate V), was the daughter of Sir Moyle Finch, 1st Bart. of Eastwell, by Elizabeth, 1st Countess of Winchelsea. William was a great courtier and became the 1st Twysden Baronet of Roydon (1611). He and his wife lived in great style, and had a family of considerable interest. The daughters, Anne and Elizabeth (Plate VII), married Sir Christopher Yelverton and Sir Hugh Cholmley, both subsequently prominent in the Civil War. The latter ultimately had to leave his native county in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and is buried at East Peckham. Of the sons, the 4th, John Twysden,, M.D. (Plate VII), was a noted man of science in his time, as well as a qualified medical practitioner. He was particularly interested in mathematics, astronomy and chemistry and was famous for his "Viper Powder." He also wrote a treatise in defence of Christianity and was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster. The eldest son, Sir Roger Twysden (Plate VI), the second Baronet of Roydon, was a scholar and antiquarian. During the Civil War he suffered great hardships for his outspoken and =biased opinions. He was imprisoned by the Parliamentarians, his estates sequestrated and wilfully mismanaged. His wife, Isabella &under (Plate VI), behaved heroically in trying to obtain his release and pardon, but, despite the fact that his cousin, Sir Heneage Finch (Plate IV), was Solicitor General at the time, it was long before he obtained relief, and, although his son, William, 3rd Baronet of Roydon, tried to put the estate once more in order, this Roydon branch of the Twysden family became more notorious than prosperous. 46 THE FAMILY OF TWYSDEN AND TWISDEN One branch, with which the title remains, migrated to the West and served their country with distinction in the army and navy. Sir Thomas, 4th Bart., and Sir William, 6th Bart., were both spendthrifts. Though Sir William, 5th Bart. (Plate VIII), who married his cousin Jane Twisden (Plate VIII), was a farmer at heart, and tried to redeem the family fortunes, his third son, Philip, Bishop of Raphoe, was made bankrupt and, so the story goes, took to a highwayman's career, and was ultimately shot on Wrotham Heath while holding up one of his brother's guests. The home of the Bishop's daughter Frances, Lady Jersey, a favourite of George IV, became a society gambling rendezvous, at which the reputations of her cousins were in no way enhanced. Sir William Jarvis, the 7th Bart., while being pursued by his creditors, engineered an elopement to Gretna Green, and subsequently got even more deeply into debt, while William, the 8th Bart., with an annuity of £200 a year—the remnant of Roydon—posed as a "Regency Buck," and made a bigamous alliance. His brother Francis preferred to earn an honest living as a railway porter at Ashford. There is little wonder then that the Roydon Estate and family portraits finally changed hands in 1834. Thomas Twisden (Plate X), who bought and imparked Bradbourne, was the second son of Sir William Twysden, 1st Bart. of Roydon and Lady Anne, and the brother of much persecuted Sir Roger. He was a lawyer and set out to form a second branch of the family not only by his acquisition of Bradbourne and neighbouring properties but by his change of the letter y to i in his name.