We are grateful to these organisations for their permission to republish the following images: • Myddleton portrait: permission of Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London • Wittewronge portrait: permission of Lawes Agricultural Trust Co Ltd • Old Harpenden church window: permission of Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies www.stalbanshistory.org June 2015 Photo b,1/ Thurston, Harvenden. SIR THOMAS MYDDELTON (1550-1631), Lord Mayor of London. (From the Portrait at Rothamsted.) The Myddelton and Wittewronge Families BY JOHN WOLFE LYDEKKER, M.A., F.R.Hist.S. MONG the portraits at Rothamsted, Harpenden, is a painting of Sir Thomas Myddelton, brother AL of the celebrated Sir Hugh Myddelton, who constructed the " New River " water supply from Hertfordshire to London in the early years of the seventeenth century. It is the purpose of these notes to trace the alliance between this ancient Welsh family and the Flemish family of Wittewronge, who became lords of the manor of Rothamsted. The Myddelton family of Denbigh was one of the oldest in Wales. It claimed descent from one Ririd ap Blaidd (or " the wolf "), a Welsh chieftain, who flourished in the twelfth century. He is said to have married his cousin, the grand-daughter of Blaidd Rhudd (or " the bloody wolf "), Lord of Gest, Penmorva. Ririd's descendant, Ririd, ap David, ap Blaidd, married Cilicia, daughter and heir of Sir Alexander Myddelton, Governor of Montgomery Castle. His son, Ririd ap Blaidd, assumed his mother's name of Myddelton, and his grandson, David Myddelton, of Denbigh, became Receiver-General of North Wales in the reign of Edward IV.1 This David married Elyn, daughter of Sir John Done of Utkington, Cheshire having (it is said) slain her first husband (and kinsman), Richard Done of Croton, as the newly-wedded couple were leaving the church after their marriage. Foulke, the younger son of this ill-omened alliance, became the father of Richard Myddelton of Galch-Hill, who was made Governor of Denbigh Castle in the reign of Edward VI and served in that office under Queens Mary and Elizabeth. By his marriage with Jane, daughter of Hugh Dryhurst of Denbigh, Richard Myddelton had a numerous family among whom were Sir Thomas and Sir Hugh above mentioned. Their elder brother, William, was the famous poet who translated the Psalms into Welsh and who wrote the Barddoniaeth or Art of Welsh Poetry. He also achieved some distinction as a seaman and was present 1 He is also styled Valectus Coronae Dni. Regis in the 2nd Ric. TIT : cf. Williams, Ancient and Modern Denbigh, 1856. 34 ST. ALBANS AND HERTS ARCHITECTUR AL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. at the battle of the Azores (1591), where he was sent in a pinnace by the Earl of Cumberland to warn Lord Thomas Howard of the approach of the Spanish fleet. Myddelton himself narrowly escaped capture, and the Vice-Admiral, Sir Richard Grenville, refused to seek safety in flight and perished in the epic fight of the Revenge. Sir Thomas, the fourth son of Richard Myddelton, was born in 1550. He and his brother Hugh were sent by their father to London to take up a commercial career. Thomas became an Alderman of the City and was one of the original " adventurers " in the New River Company, and in 1613, the year that the New River was completed, he became Lord Mayor of London. He purchased Chirk Castle, Denbigh, in 1595, and also the manor of Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex, in 1615. Sir Thomas married four times; first, Hester, daughter of Sir Richard Saltonstall of South Ockenden, Essex; secondly, Elizabeth, widow of John Olmestead of Ingatestone, Essex (whose daughter, Elizabeth, became his brother Sir Hugh Myddelton's second wife); thirdly, Elizabeth, widow of Miles Hobart, of London; and, fourthly, Anne, widow of Jacques (Jacob) Wittewrongle alias Wittewronge, of West Ham. By his first wife Sir Thomas had a son, Thomas (born 1586), who was knighted in 1617 during his father's life-time and became a Parliamentarian General in 1643. By his second wife Sir Thomas had several children of whom the eldest surviving son was Timothy who inherited the manor of Stanstead Mountfitchet. He had no issue by his third or fourth wives. The latter, Anne (widow of Jacques Wittewrongle), was the second daughter and co-heiress of Gerard Van Acker, a merchant of Antwerp and London.2 Anne Van Acker's first husband, Jacques Wittewrongle, was the a According to an MS. written by Sir John Wittewronge in 1690 (not to be confused with the account of his family written in 1664 and transcribed by Clutterbuck) the Van Acker family were originally French Catholics and their name was Champaine. Having removed to the Netherlands they changed their name to Van Acker (i.e., " of the field "). Gerard Van Acker became a Protestant, visited England and returned to Holland and died at Middelburg. At the time of the " French Fury " at Antwerp in 1583 he was a Captain of the Trainbands of that city and was wounded—" shott through both his cheeks "—in the affray. Cf. Wittewronge Muniments, Bundle 34 p. trans- cribed by Mr. B. P. Scattergood. PHOTO BY Thurston, Harpenden. Sir John WITTEWRONGE, Knight and Baronet, 1618-1693 FROM the portrait at Rothamsted by Kneller.) THE MYDDELTON AND WITTEWRONGE FAMILIES. 35 son of Jacques Wittewronghele alias Wittewrongle, a Notary-Public of Ghent. His family had long been established in that city, being descended from Sohier Wittewronghele who flourished in the early part of the fifteenth century.3 In 1564 Jacques Wittewronghele emigrated to England to escape the religious perse- cution in the Netherlands which Philip II had renewed in August of that year by the enforcement of the Decrees of the Council of Trent.4 He arrived in England with his wife (nee Everdey) and his two young children, Abraham and Jacques (Jacob), and settled at West Ham. His younger son, Jacob, married Susanna, daughter and heir of Bernard Tielman, a German brewer, by whom he had several children. He became a partner in the brewery of Matthias Otten, and in 1609 he was appointed an Elder of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, London.5 The date of his wife's death is not known, but on May 3rd, 1614, he married as his second wife Anne Van Acker as stated above.6 By her he had a numerous family, of whom John Witte- wronge (born in October and baptized on November 1st, 1618) was the only son.7 In 1611 Jacob Wittewronge obtained a mortgage on the estates of Rothamsted from Edward Bardolph, the last of that family to own the manor, and in 1623 (the year after Jacob Wittew7ronge?s death) his widow Anne purchased the manor for her son.8 On December 18th of the same year Anne Witte- wronge married as her second husband Sir Thomas Myddelton (the elder). John, only son of Jacob and Anne Wittewronge, was brought up by his step-father, Sir Thomas Myddelton, 3 Cf. Pedigree of Wittewronge. G. Milner-Gibson-Cullum, F.S.A., privately printed in London, 1905. 4 Cf. Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, Vol. I., p. 420 (Ed. 1875). It has been erroneously stated by some authorities that Wittewrongle fled from Alva's persecution, whereas the Duke did not come to the Netherlands until 1567 (Motley, Vol. II, pp. 108, 109). 5 MS. Records, Dutch Church, Austin Friars. 6 Marriage Register, Dutch Church. Their names are recorded as ANNA VAN ACKER and JACQUES WITTEWRONGEL. 7 Baptismal Register, Dutch Church. Recorded as JOANNES WITTE WRONGEL. (Note in these cases the termination is EL, not LE.) 8 Anne Wittewronge's first Court Baron at Rothamsted was held on the 22nd July, 1623, William Wright, Esqre. being 41 Chief Steward," Witte- wronge Muniments, Vol. 1, Court Books of the Manor, fo. 39, 40. 36 ST. ALBANS AND HERTS ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETV. his father having died when he (John) was a boy of four years old.9 This was largely the reason of his choice of his first two wives, as will appear hereafter. In 1641 John Wittewronge was knighted by Charles 1, but on the outbreak of Civil War he sided with the Parliament and served on the Hertfordshire Committee of Cromwell's Eastern Counties Association. The example of his step-brother (and future father-in-law), Sir Thomas Myddelton the younger, who, as we have seen, took service under the Parliament, probably influenced Sir John in his political proclivities. From 1654 to 1656 he represented Hertfordshire in the Long Parliament, and he was appointed High Sheriff of the County in 1658.10 At the Restoration he received the Royal Pardon, and on May 2nd, 1662, he was created a baronet.11 He had in the meantime become the owner of an estate at Stantonbury, Buckinghamshire. Sir John Wittewronge married thrice; his first wife was Mary, second daughter of Sir Thomas Myddelton (the younger), of Chirk Castle, Denbigh, and grand- daughter of Sir John's own step-father, the first Sir Thomas Myddelton. Mary Wittewronge died of small- pox on April 4th, 1639, a year after her marriage, leaving an only child, John, who succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1693. On June 23rd, 1641, Sir John married as his second wife Elizabeth, second daughter of Timothy Myddelton of Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex,12 and first cousin of his first wife. By her he had four children, of whom the eldest surviving son, James Wittewronge, succeeded to the manor of Rothamsted.- Sir John's second wife died at Harpenden on October 6th, 1649, and in the following year he married Catherine, eldest daughter of Maurice Thompson of London, and sister of John Maurice, Lord Haversham.