So Who Was John Byworth? Here is a timeline of his life:
| 1546: John Byworth born about 1546 in Kent |
| 1567: Finished apprenticeship as a cloth merchant and granted Citizenship of London – allowing him to do business in London and take on apprentices |
| 1568: John Byworth of St Gabriel Fenchurch parish, London married widow Joyce Brenting in St Mary Fenchurch Church |
| 1569: Took on the first of 10 apprentices wanting to learn the cloth trading business |
| 1577: Daniel Byworth (John’s brother) married Thomasin Taffield in Tonbridge, Kent |
| 1582: Taxed £12 on his goods in Fenchurch (a significant amount) |
| 1603: Master of Clothworkers’ Company, London |
| 1604, Feb: Death of second wife Susan Byworth, who was buried in the church of St Gabriel Fenchurch on the south side of the chancel – a costly burial spot |
| 1604, July: Married widow Petronell Bradbridge in Guildford’s St Mary’s Church; Petronell was the widow of wealthy Guildford cloth merchant, Robert Bradbridge (some time Mayor of Guildford). |
| 1604: Certificate of residence showing John Byworth now liable for taxation in Surrey |
| 1606: John purchased ” the house with buildings and garden plot in the street known as West Street in Farnham” from Thomas Over and his mother Agnes Over. |
| 1607: Burgess of Farnham |
| 1610: Bailiff of Farnham |
| 1615: Bailiff of Farnham |
| 1616: Taxed £16 on his goods in Farnham |
| 21 March 1623: John Byworth ‘Citizen and Clothworker of London’ wrote his Last Will and Testament – it ran to 6 pages |
| 4 October 1623: John Byworth died in his West Street residence, age 77, and was buried in Farnham Parish Church 2 days later. |
| 16 Dec 1623: John’s Will was proved with administration to his widow, Petronell |
John Byworth lived in West Street, Farnham
We are very fortunate as the Farnham and District Museum Society published an excellent article in 1992 written by Leni Grosset. A big thank you to the current President of the Society, Roy Waight, for providing me with a copy of the Newsletter. Leni Grosset tells us exactly where John Byworth lived in West Street and even provides a map showing that the property was on the south side. Today, this is the Farnham Adult Learning Centre at 25, West Street, previously the home of Farnham Boys Grammar School followed by Farnham Girls Grammar School prior to the purpose-built facilities for those two schools.
Let me share some more research by Leni Grosset:
John Byworth purchased the copyhold lease for the double plot on West Street from the Over family. I have found a copy of John Over’s Will and he described the property when he passed it down to his son, Robert, who in turn passed it down to his son, Thomas. The owner of the land was the ‘Lord of the Manor’ which was probably the Bishopric of Winchester which owned most of Farnham Manor.
I give unto Robert Over, my son, and his wife Agnes, my house in which I now dwell in a street called West Street in Farnham, which was some time past two houses during their natural lives, such as shall live the longest, and then to Thomas Over, the son of Robert and Agnes.
The cloth industry in Farnham was in decline by the time John Byworth retired to Farnham and the Over family, being weavers, may well have become wage-labourers and could no longer afford the West Street property. John Byworth, being at the top of the cloth-making hierarchy, was in a position to afford to buy it and to renovate the dwelling house that fronted on West Street.
John Byworth’s Will
The London Clothworkers’ Company has a transcript of the entire Will, plus a short bio of John – his last name is spelled ‘Bayworth’, one of a number of variations of ‘Byworth’. You can access that information by selecting the button below.
When John Byworth died, the vicar of Farnham, Samuel Cosens, summarised the items in John’s Will that pertained to his charitable bequests to Farnham in the Farnham Parish Register under John’s burial record on 6 October 1623. Note ‘Biworth’.
John gave his London property in St Mary Fenchurch Parish to the Clothworkers’ Company in trust and specified that 40 shillings of the profits derived from the rent income to be sent to the ‘Parson and Churchwardens of Farnham’ each year on the feast day of St Michael the Archangel (November 29) to cover the costs of the following:
- 10s to the Farnham Vicar or some learned preacher to make a godly Sermon each year for the edifying of the Inhabitants of the Parish (the Byworth Sermon); immediately after the ending of the Sermon, 10s to be distributed unto Farnham poor people. 6s 8d to the Schoolmaster who shall give a Sermon one month later.
- 10s towards the reparation of the Parish Church and of the Schoolhouse
- 3s 4d to the Clerk of the Farnham Parish Church to keep and make clean my monument
We know from the Clothworkers’ Company’s account books that this money was dispatched to Farnham until at least 1881:
John Byworth gave his West Street, Farnham property to his wife, Petronell, for life and her death, he designated his heirs as his godsons: one half of the West Street property to Byworth Horsford, age 11, and the other half to Thomas Horsford, age 6, both born in Farnham to Thomas Horsford, Yeoman of Wrecclesham and his wife Elizabeth, formerly Byworth. John, clearly, did not have any children of his own and he referred to the Horsfords as ‘cousins’, which was an umbrella term at the time for anyone not related to you as closely as your own children or your siblings. The Horsford family came from Dorset and were related to John’s wife Petronell (born Petronell Stickland) so John was related to Thomas Horsford both through his marriage to Petronell and through Thomas’s marriage to Elizabeth Byworth (the daughter of John’s brother, Daniel). This double connection probably explains the choice of the Horsford boys as John’s heirs. Young Thomas Horsford died in May 1623 (before John in fact but after the Will was written), so let’s focus on Byworth Horsford – the custom of using the mother’s maiden name as a child’s first name was becoming increasingly popular in the 17th Century.
- 23 Feb 1613: Byworth Horsford was baptized in Farnham and in 1627, began his own apprenticeship in London. He returned to Farnham, and in 1635, at age 23, married Rose Figg of Frensham and the next year, Byworth Horsford Junior was born. Sadly, Rose Horsford died a few months after baby Byworth was born.
- Byworth’s was leased by his relative Robert Horsford during this time.
- Byworth moved back to London and the West Street property was sold to Henry Vernon (but continued to be called Byworth’s). Byworth married Mary Munday in Westminster in 1641, but Mary died just a few months after that marriage. It looks as if Byworth settled in Westminster and married for a third time, dying in 1673.
- Records suggest that Byworth Horsford Junior remained in Farnham – probably with his grandparents – and in 1659, had a son of his own: another Byworth Horsford. This last Byworth was listed as a ‘poor child’ in 1668 and at the Surrey Assizes, Richard Harding, husbandman of Tilford was paid £10 to take him in. Later, in 1685, we have a record of Byworth Horsford going to the colony of Carolina in 1685.
John made monetary bequests only to his immediate family: “To my brother Daniel Byworth £20 to be paid unto him within one year next after my decease if he shall be then living.” To Anne Byworth (eldest daughter of Daniel) 40 shillings, to Daniel’s other two daughters: Alice Byworth £20, and to Martha Byworth £10 on the day of their marriage. Alice claimed her £20 in 1627 when she married James Holloway of Farnham. Plus one curious bequest: “I give unto Nicholas Mannering the Cobbler that dwelleth over against me 1s/ 4d to buy him leather”. In addition, he gave 40 shillings each to those servants living with him when he died.
Everyone else listed in his Will, received silver gilt cups of various worth starting with the parents of his designated heirs: “I give unto my cousin Thomas Horsford and my cousin Elizabeth, his wife, a silver cup, value of £5 where upon shall be engraved my name, his name, his wife’s name, and the year of our Lord God.” In all, he commissioned 11 silver cups all with appropriate engraving. In addition to Thomas and Elizabeth Horsford, John gave cups to:
| Robert Horsford and unnamed wife – cousins | Robert was brother to Thomas Horsford and he married Joan Bicknell (of the prominent Bicknell family) in Farnham in 1613. |
| Christopher Stickland – brother-in-law | Christopher was a wealthy clothier from Dorset and lived in Yelden, Bedfordshire. |
| Christopher Fyven and unnamed wife, and sister Ellen Fyven – cousins | Had been John’s apprentice and lived in Yelden, Bedfordshire (also spelled ‘Vivan’. |
| George Moore and unnamed wife – cousins | George married Eleanor Fyven in Farnham in 1616 and lived in Farnham. |
| Oliver Moore and Elizabeth, his wife – cousins | Oliver married Elizabeth Abbott in Farnham in 1605 and lived in Guildford. |
| Robert Nybart and unnamed wife | Lived in Stanford Rivers, Essex. |
| Joan Parkins, widow – daughter-in-law | Not found; possibly a step-daughter as not given more prominence. |
| Augustine Phillips and unnamed wife | An acquaintance from London. |
| Robert Quinnell – servant | Robert was probably John’s steward – he was a nephew of Petronell’s first husband. |
John Byworth’s Funeral on 6 October 1623
John left nothing to chance when he wrote his Will in March 1623. “I wish to be buried in the Parish Church of Farnham where I am now a parishioner as near unto my pew there, as is convenient. Over my grave, I will that a stone of marble costing £7 or £8 price shall be laid and engraved in great Roman letters with these words: ‘Herre lyeth buried the bodie of John Byworth borne in Kent who departed out of this world the … day of … Anno Domini 162 … to rest with his Saviour Jesus Christ’. And these words also ‘What I gave I have, what I kept I lost’. The stone to be of such longness as may cover both my body and the body of my wife if she shall be minded to be buried by me. I will that my Executrix (within such fit time after my decease as she shall think good) shall cause 6 sermons to be made within the Church by some godly, learned preacher for the better edifying of the parishioners to praise Almighty God and give hearty thanks for His daily blessings bestowed upon us. For these sermons, I do allow £3. I give 40s for a drinking or repast for the Clerk, Sexton and Ringers on the day of my funeral or on the next day after at the Clerk’s discretion.
As Executrix, Petronell certainly had her work cut out for her! But she did have some help: “And I make and appoint Mr. Cosens (Vicar of Farnham), Mr. Johnson, (Farnham Schoolmaster), my cousin Robert Horsford, and Augustine Phillips of St Gabriel Fenchurch, overseers of my testament upon trust that they will be aiding my executrix. For their pains, 40 shillings a piece.”
1624 Farnham Bailiffs’ Account Book: “Received from Mr. Byworth’s widow, executrix of John Byworth, gent. one greate silver boule gilt, given by his will to be of the value of £6/13 shillings, and for want of the full weight received 2s/4d.”
John Byworth’s Monument
As we have seen, John’s Will provided for his monument to be cleaned for hundreds of years. Leni Grosset explained that the grave-stone is now lost:
Petronell Byworth of Farnham (born in Rampisham, Dorset) deserves her own post and that is the one I shall be working on next:
Select Sources
- Farnham and District Museum Society Quarterly Newsletter Vol 9 No. 9 March 1992
- Farnham and Its Borough by Rev. R.N. Mitford M.A. 1859 (Google Books)
- Reports of the Commissioners … to Inquire Concerning Charities and Education 1839 (Google Books)
- exploringsurreyspast.org.uk
- britishhistoryonline.org
- FindMyPast.org
- The National Archives
- Farnham Buildings & People by Nigel Temple 2nd Edition London: Phillimore, 1973
- clothworkers.co.uk
Contact: skay1011@outlook.com