Occasional Papers, no. 35. ELIZABETH SKYDMORE WHO DIED IN 1614, A SPINSTER OF MARLWOOD PARK IN THORNBURY,GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 1 [A POSTSCRIPT TO OccPap, no. 29] by Warren Skidmore The intricate will of this Elizabeth Skidmore has always intrigued me, since she was a great-aunt of the Thomas Skidmore who was at Boston, Massachusetts by 1636.2 In Elizabethan England unmarried women were almost always dependant on the kindness of their male kinfolk for their subsistence. However Elizabeth had managed to become a servant in a gentleman’s family at Thornbury, and later a respected member of her master’s household, a familiar of the local establishment in the town, and had managed to accumulate property worth at least £26. 2sh which she left to an amazing list of 45 different people in her long will probated in 1614.3 Clearly the purchasing power of £26 of today is much less than it was, but £26 in 1614 was still a tidy sum. Her master Sir John Stafford was a son of Lady Dorothy Stafford, and both of them were both prominent at the court of Queen Elizabeth. The Staffords were great friends of the John and Mary (née Shelton) Skydmore/Scudamore, also courtiers of the queen’s court. It is most unlikely that Elizabeth Skydmore believed herself related to the important family at Holme Lacy in Herefordshire, but she probably heard from the Staffords some bits of gossip about their Scudamore friends at court when her master (and his mother) came out to Thornbury. (WS) Elizabeth Skidmore was born at Mayshill in Westerleigh, and had gone in the 1590s to live in the household of Sir John Stafford (1556-1624) at Marlwood Park in Thornbury, Gloucestershire.4 A will survives signed by John Stafford at Thornbury (on the point of his leaving for the expedition to Spain) survives dated 10 May 1596.5 He left small bequests to several members of his household, 1Occasional Paper, no. 29. “Lady Mary Scudamore (c.1550-1603), courtier.” 2See Thomas Skidmore (Scudamore), 1604-1684, of Westerleigh, Gloucestershire and Fairfield, Connecticut. The latest revision is available currently on the Scudamore/Skidmore CD of 2006. 3This sum does not include the unknown value of her red cloth, petticoats, hats, aprons, smocks, linens, shoes left to her family and friends, or the contents of the coffer devised to her master. 4Now Marlwood Grange, about two miles south of Thornbury proper, and sixth miles northwest of Mayshill in Westerleigh. Thornbury was then a small town, but it still had mayors, aldermen, and constables (to keep the peace) appointed every year. 5A draft and a fair copy were both deposited for safe keeping with the Bishop’s Registry at Gloucester. He was still unmarried in 1596 and it made Lady Dorothy Stafford (not his wife but his −1− including a bequest of £5 to Elizabeth Skidmore. However he survived to come home (as Sir John) and this will was never called out for probate. Before dealing with Elizabeth Skydmore it is useful to look at Sir John and his family. His mother Lady Dorothy Stafford (1526-1604) was a close associate of Lady Mary (née Shelton) Skydmore/Scudamore of Holme Lacy in Herefordshire. Dorothy was the daughter of Henry Stafford, tenth Baron Stafford, and both a younger cousin and then the second wife Sir William Stafford.6 Her husband was a strong protestant and took his family to Geneva in Switzerland during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary.7 Their third son John was born there on 4 January 1556, and named for his godfather John Calvin. Stafford died soon after in 1559, and his widow Dorothy took her family home to England settling at Waltham in Essex. She became a lady of the bedchamber, and then the mistress of the robes to Queen Elizabeth. Mary Scudamore later had the same office at court, having apparently succeeded Lady Dorothy. Lady Dorothy also played the same patronage game as Mary Scudasmore, and used her influence at court to promote the causes of both her friends and casual acquaintances. In 1569 no less a personage than Matthew Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury, trying for a prebend for a colleague, wrote to Lady Dorothy requesting that she “speak some good word” on the subject to the queen.8 In 1576 Lady Dorothy broke her leg in a riding accident, and Mary Scudamore was hurriedly summoned back to court to replace her mentor as the queen’s favorite sleeping companion. Dorothy recovered and in 1578 it seems likely that it was her influence that saw her eldest son Sir Edward Stafford (1552-1605) named as the English ambassador to France, a rather important office for a gentleman from the court who was only 26 years old.. John Stafford, her third son, had immediately lost his father after his birth on 4 January 1556. He matriculated in 1569 at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and was enrolled in 1572 at Gray’s Inn, London to study the law. Stafford became a Gentleman Pensioner to Queen Elizabeth in or about 1577 where he became a companion of Sir John Scudamore (1542-1623) of Holme Lacy.9 He became a member of Parliament in 1584-5, and again in 1586-7. He was enlisted by the Earl of Essex in June 1596 for the expedition to France, and was knighted there by the earl along with Sir James Scudamore (1568-1619) after the successful siege of Cadiz. He eventually married Millicent, a daughter of Edward Gresham as his first wife .10 Sir John went back to Parliament again in 1601 mother) as his sole executrix. John Gough Nichols has published a transcript of this will in the Topographer and Genealogist, vol. I (1846), 142-4. 6She was Sir William Stafford’s second wife. His first wife was Mary Boleyn, a daughter of Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire, and an aunt of Queen Elizabeth. 7C. H. Garrett, The Marian exiles: a study in the origins of Elizabethan puritanism (Cambridge University Press, 1938) 293-6. 8Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, l984) 66. On another occasion Lady Dorothy and Elizabeth, the countess of Lincoln, both signed two different but identical letters for Sir Bassignbourne Gawdy (1560-1606) who wanted to be the Sheriff of Norfolk. Presumably both letters had been copied out by Gawdy himself, and he doubtless offered some token of appreciation for their the ladies’signatures. 9Sir John Stafford served James I later in the same office, who gave him the Constableship of Bristol Castle. 10Lady Millicent Stafford was buried 24 December 1602, and left no children. −2− representing Wareham, Dorset. He was gone from Thornbury in 1608 when a great muster was taken of the county, although his eldest brother Edward (also a non-resident) is listed as the lord of the manor of Thornbury.11 He died on the 28th September 1624, and signed his last will on 10 August 1624 at Thornbury.12 Sir John left no surviving issue, and he was succeeded at his death by his nephew William Stafford.13 He was buried on 30 September 1624 inside the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Thornbury where a fine monument was erected later to his memory that celebrated his character: Here lyeth the Body of Sir John Stafford, Knight. A Gentleman Pensioner during the Space of 47 Yeares to Queene Elisabeth and King James, Hee had as a Reward of his Valour and fidelity conferred upon Him by her Majestie the Constable-ship of Bristoll Castle, wherein hee continued a long time. He lived (as himselfe on his Deathbed had confessed) in the frail and slippery course of a souldier and a courtier from the time of his manhood neere unto on to the Time of his Death: Notwithstanding, sensible of his End and that accompt hee was to give at the last Day, Hee did fully and freely forgive all men, sealing the same by calling for and receiving the blessed Sacrament, as a pledge of his forgivenesse of his ownes sines for whatever the Frailty of his Life, or bitterness of the disease, whereof hee died might be, his hope of a better Life through the Mercies and suffering of his Redeemer made him a Conqueror over and beyond those humane frailties hee dying in the sound faith of a Penitent Sinner, a Loyall Servant to his prince, a lover of his Country, wherein Hee did beare the chiefest Offices of trust and credit, and a founder of an Almhouse in the parish where he lived, endowing the same with 10 Pounds per Annum, to be paid forever. Obiit 28 Septemb. A. Dni. 1624.14 To return to Elizabeth Skidmore. She was also buried in the churchyard at St. Mary the Virgin, Thornbury, on 18 September 1614 leaving a long and interesting will dated the same day. She left her master Sir John Stafford “the chest or coffer now in the chamber within the dayhouse” and he was named the sole executor of her will. There was a great many other bequests, both in cash legacies and in personal property, to her numerous friends at Thornbury. She also remembered most of her nephews and nieces back home at Westerleigh. It is sad to note that Elizabeth, while she had engaged Thomas Morris to write her will, still hoped on that day that she might recover from her illness.15 11Men and Armour for Gloucestershire in 1608 (London, 1902) 224-5. Elizabeth Skydmore’s brother Richard is found in 1608 as a yeoman at Westerleigh, described as “Unable in body but hath one musket furnished.” Their dates of birth are unknown, but probably both were aged about 60.