Whatmore Family History

One of the most famous members of the Whatmore family is WILLIAM WATMER who was baptised on 12 August 1569 at Stottesdon, Shropshire, the son of William Watmer the Elder and his wife Margaret.

 The research on William Watmer and his brother in law Robert Wynn was carried out by Dorothy Gardiner and was published as ‘The Mayor of Canterbury: William Watmer, The Children’s Friend’ by the Kent Archaeological Society (Volume LXI 1948). Geoffrey Whatmore did some subsequent research and his findings were published in ‘Archaeologia  Cantiana (Volume CII 1985).  Geoffrey also retells the story in ‘Wat’s Brother in Law’ (CD ROM) and in his book  ‘Whatmore Panorama.’ I am deeply indebted to both Dorothy Gardiner and to Geoffrey Whatmore, whose accounts I have used as the sources for this post.

Geoffrey Whatmore’s book  and CD ROM are described and can be ordered at this link: www.genfair.com   Look under ‘Browse Suppliers’ for ‘Whatmore Family History’

William was one of a large family – his known siblings were Thomas the Elder, Ales, James, Richard, Margaret, Margerie and Frances.  Since the Stottesdon parish registers are extant from 1565 and none of the baptisms of these children are shown, we must assume that they were all born before that date. This is quite important as FRANCES WATMER was to marry ROBERT WYNNE and one of their descendants was to emigrate to America where he became the first Speaker of the House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia. For Americans, the Wynnes are therefore of much greater interest than the Watmers, so perhaps readers will forgive me if I consider initially the likely date of birth of Robert Wynne.

Looking on the internet one finds a great many families claiming descent from Robert and Frances Wynne, but in none of the family trees is his baptism given. Most of the trees give his place of birth as Shrewsbury  and claim that his parents were a John Wynne and his wife Sidney Sarah Gerrald. A few trees give his parents as Morus Wynn and his second wife Anne Greville and one tree states that Robert was born at Cantlop, a township in the parish of Berrington near Shrewsbury, his parents being a Robert and Katherine. In almost all these trees Roberts date of birth is given as about 1563.

The truth is that no-one really knows where or when Robert was born, nor who his parents were. We do, however have some information which might help us. A document written by Robert Wynne in 1599 purportedly records that he ‘was in swaddling cloths in S…..bury, County Salop, twenty years ago.’  What this document is, I have not been able to ascertain, but apparently it is too badly damaged to read the place of birth, but most researchers have assumed that it was Shrewsbury. This seems reasonable as Shrewsbury was the centre of the wool trade at that time and we know that Robert became a wool draper in Canterbury. A recent researcher tells me, however, that she was unable to trace this document on a visit to Canterbury, but she did locate a document listed in the CC Deposition Book DCb J/X 11,9,9  dated 12 Feb 1604/5 in which Robert Wynne stated that he was aged 41 and had lived in Canterbury for 25 years. This document points to a birth date in 1563/64 and an arrival in Canterbury in 1579/80.  ( 12 February 1604 would be in the year 1605 by modern reckoning, due to the change in the calendar in 1757.)  A birth date in 1563/4 is also indicated by the document of 1599.

If we consider, however, how Robert could have got to know Frances Watmer, we would seem to have a problem, as she was from Stottesdon which is a long way from Shrewsbury and there is no reason why she should have visited the town. The next parish to Stottesdon is however, Sidbury, and the Sidbury parish registers show that there a was a Wynne family living there from  at least 1577. The Stottesdon parish records also show a Wynne family living there from at least 1567. Several family members in each register are shown as ‘alias Hankyn’ so it is clearly a single family.  Given that fact that Robert was clearly an educated man, and there would have been few opportunities for schooling at that time in Sidbury, I am inclined to think that he was from Shrewsbury but was closely related to the Sidbury and Stottesdon family and perhaps was even brought up there. There were definitely Wynnes living in Shrewsbury. The Burgess Roll shows that a Roger Wynne, a baker and the son of William of Felton Butler, husbandman, was sworn in as a burgess in 1551. Perhaps of even greater relevance was the swearing in as burgess in 1581 of Richard Wynne, draper, son of Nicholas of Forden, yeoman. Here we have a draper descended from a  yeoman – so of a good family. Was he Robert Wynne’s father?

I am most grateful to Mike Morrough, the Archivist of Shrewsbury School who has very kindly looked at the registers for me and  informs me that a Robert Wyn was enrolled at Shrewsbury School in October 1570. He was registered as an ‘alienus’ which means that he came from outside the town. He was put into the 6th class out of seven  to eight classes. If he progressed through one class a year he would have completed the top class in  1576, four years before his arrival in Canterbury. Is this our Robert Wynne?

Records show that Robert Wynne was apprenticed in Canterbury to a John Rose and that he was released from his indentures in 1590. His first child Thomas Wynne was born in Canterbury in 1592 so it is likely that he married Frances Watmer in 1591. It would have been unusual for an apprentice to marry during the period of his apprenticeship.

 If Robert Wynne was born in 1564 and arrived in Canterbury in 1580 when he was about 16, then his apprenticeship must have been for ten years, as we know it finished in 1590.

 Whilst the parish registers for the churches in Shrewsbury are extant in several cases from a somewhat earlier date than 1564 and do not contain Robert’s baptism,  those for St Mary’s (which significantly was the church of the Drapers’ Company)  are extant only from 1584 so he could have been baptised there.

If Robert was born about 1564, we would expect his wife to be about the same age or a bit younger. If Frances Watmer was the last child of William Watmer the Elder and Margaret, Frances could also have born about 1564. This would make Frances about 27 when she married Robert Wynne in about 1591. There was a Frances Wotmar baptised at nearby Neenton on 18 January 1570/71  and this might be our Frances, but there is no reason for her baptism not to have been ar Stottesdon where her parents lived. I am inclined to think that this Frances was the daughter of the Thomas Wotmar of Neenton who was buried there on 14 May 1572.

We know a little more about Robert Wynne at Canterbury. He became a Freeman of the city in 1590 and after their marriage he and Frances lived above their woollen draper’s shop on the north side of the High Street, west of Mercery lane, in the parish of St Mary Bredman, Canterbury. The house belonged to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral. Robert became an alderman of the city and in 1599 he served as Mayor. (Source: Dorothy Gardiner).

Mercery Lane, Canterbury. Robert and Frances Wynne lived nearby. Copyright: John Darch. Reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Disaster befell the family in 1609 when the plague arrived in Canterbury. Robert Wynne died on 4 September 1609 and his wife  a few days later. They were buried together on 8 September 1609 in St George’s church, probably in a vault for a local saddler, Leonard Ashenden arranged for the graves to be paved and the stones relaid.

When the magistrates realised that Robert and Frances Wynne had died of the plague they ordered the doors of their home to be fastened and posted watchmen to ensure that no-one went in or out. It was at this point that William Watmer, the children’s uncle, arranged for the children to be taken out of the infected house and placed in an outhouse, i.e. a house set aside for infectious people, under the charge of   goodwife Maple.

The swiftness of the onset of the plague meant that Robert Wynne had no time to make a written will and had to make a ‘nuncupative will’ on his death bed i.e. an oral statement which had to be committed to writing within six days. This will has survived and a transcription of it by Dorothy Tuttle can be read at this link:

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmddlton/famdox16.html

On this same web page is the will of William Watmer, also transcribed by Dorothy Tuttle.

The children of Robert and Frances Wynne were:

Thomas Wynne born 1592 and married first Mary Wickham on 20 July 1613 at Ospringe Canterbury. They had one child whose name is unknown and who died at Canterbury in 1625. Thomas  remarried to an Ann on 26 October 1629 at Canterbury.

Peter Wynne born 1593  and who married Martha Coppin on 12 August 1620 at Canterbury. Peter died at Canterbury in 1638  and Martha died at Canterbury in 1641. Their children were Robert Wynne born in 1622 at Canterbury and who married Mary Sloman and emigrated to Virgina where Robert died in 1675, and Sarah Wynne born in Canterbury and died there in 1630.

John Wynne born in 1595 who married a Joan on 23 September 1633 at Canterbury.

Elizabeth Wynne born 1597 and died 1632 at Canterbury.

Ann Wynne who married Paul Maye in Canterbury. Ann died in 1632 in Canterbury and Paul died in 1631 in Canterbury. They had one child whose name is unknown who died in 1628 in Canterbury.

When the period of quarantine had passed, William Watmer arranged for Peter and John Wynne to board with Rowland Dixon, a tailor and took Elizabeth and Ann Wynne into his own home. Thomas Wynne returned to the Wynne house.

The article by Dorothy Gardiner contains a lot more information about the children  and what happened to them. There are numerous sites with information about the Robert Wynne who emigrated to Virginia. One of these can be found at this link, but I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information:

http://www.thefourwinns.net/winn.html

We now return to William Watmer. In 1598 he stated that he had been in Canterbury for seven years which would mean he arrived there in about 1591. It seems likely, therefore, that William brought his sister Frances  from Stottesdon to Canterbury to be married and that he was persuaded to stay on in the city. In  1591 William would have been about 22. He had somehow managed to acquire a good education, perhaps at Bridgnorth Grammar School, and he may also have served an apprenticeship as a notary  as he seems to have quickly started to work as a notary in the city. On 4 July 1597  he paid the appropriate fee which made him a Freeman of the City.

Tower on the city wall of Canterbury  Copyright: Peter Collinson and reproduced here by his kind permission.

On 23 January 1598, when he was 29, William Watmer married  Maryan  Bonnar or Bonarde  (nee Binge) at St. Peter’s church . Maryan was a widow and her husband Leonard, who was a former Sheriff, had died a few months earlier leaving her with two children to bring up.

 In about 1602, William was appointed Chamberlain to the city and started to keep the City Treasurer’s Accounts.

In 1608 William was elected Mayor of the city for a one year term. In that year, William’s wife Maryan died. William and Maryan had no children.

1609 was the year of the plague in Canterbury, as described above, and in that year, on 30 March,  William remarried at Ashford, Kent  to  Joan Hatch  of Tenterden. Joan gave birth to a still born child in 1623  and  gave birth to a William Watmer who died in  infancy  in 1626, but there were probably other children, who also failed to survive.

By 1619, William Watmer had adopted the coat of arms and crest of his distant kinsman Francis Watmough of Micklehead Hall, Prescot, Lancashire and that year he had to justify to the Heralds on their Visitation of Kent, his right to bear these arms. The Heralds endorsed William’s right to both the coat of arms and the crest. William’s pedigree back to the Watmough family of Prescot was recorded on a manuscript which still exists at the College of Arms in London.   In recent years, John Whitmore of Malvern has investigated the right of Whatmore descendants to this coat of arms. Apparently anyone who can prove an unbroken descent in the male line from the person to whom the coat was originally granted, can claim the coat of arms as his/her own. (The original grant of the Watmough coat of arms has been lost, but it would have been held by John Watmough, the father of Francis, and probably also by Richard Watmough who was Francis’ grandfather.) The terms of the award of the crest in 1602 to Francis Watmough, however, make it clear that only the direct descendants of Francis Watmough  can bear this. The pedigree of William Watmer thus shows that he was entitled to the coat of arms, but not the crest.

By now, William and Joan were living in a tower on the city walls in the parish of Westgate. Their home was called ‘The Rosiers ‘ and it had a garden. Peter Collinson has set up a virtual tour of the city which is well worth viewing. You can see this at this link:

www.hillside.co.uk/tour/

Tower on the City walls Canterbury  Copyright: Peter Collinson and reproduced here by his kind permission

Joan  died in 1625 and William Watmer remarried the following year at Thannington to Mary Master. They had three children – Giles, Mary born 1630 who married first a man whose surname was  Terry and then to Thomas Elwyn, and Dorothy who died in 1638 in infancy. There were probably other children who did not survive.

In 1629, William Watmer was elected for the second time as Mayor of Canterbury.

By now William was wealthy enough to have a second home outside the city so at Sturry, two miles to the north he began to build Whatmer Hall using materials from an earlier house on the site. It was a substantial mansion with nine rooms and amongst its contents were tapestries, curtains and a great map of the world. Whatmer Hall still exists.

Whatmer Hall, Sturry near Canterbury  Copyright: Canterbury Local Studies Library and reproduced here by their kind permission

William Watmer died in 1640 and was buried in the central aisle of the church of  St Margaret. The church was bombed in 1942 and William’s memorial stone was subsequently covered over with wooden flooring.

Mary, William’s widow must have continued to spend some time in the tower on the city walls because after his death she petitioned the city council regarding the building work which was taking place on the walls.

Giles Watmer did well for himself, entering the Middle Temple in London and returning to Canterbury in 1646 to practise law as a public notary.  He married Mary Randolph and they had one known child - Giles Watmer born in 1654. There is evidence that he and his wife lived at Whatmer Hall, where he died in 1675. He left no will and had a lot of debts when he died. Whether his son Giles survived to adulthood is unknown, but it seems unlikely.

Thus we come to the apparent end of the story of the Watmers at Canterbury – founded by a most remarkable member of our family from Shropshire, whose name is still revered by members of the Wynne family in America.