Page images
PDF
EPUB

1690.-PEERS MAUDUIT, Esq.-See next reign.

WILL. & M.

Heralds.

CHESTER.

Cha. 11.-THOMAS MAY, Esq.

Eldest son of Thomas May, of Sutton Caynell, in the parish of Bosworth, in Leicestershire, sprung from a very genteel family, originally a branch of the Mays, of Mayfield in Sussex. He was born in February 1643-4, and baptized March following: he died in Leicestershire in December 1689. By Frances, third daughter and coheir of Thomas Lee, Chester herald, he had Jeffrey, Thomas, and Elizabeth, who were all infants in 1681. Jeffrey, the eldest, possessed the manor of Ambion, in which Bosworth Field lies, where Richard III. fell. His extravagancies occasioning him to mortgage his estates, and they being sold after his death. to satisfy the mortgagees, his family was reduced to poverty. He was baptized at St. Bennet's, Paul's Wharf, February 25, 1678-9. Elizabeth, born April 29, and baptized May 6, 1680. Besides these three children. he had Ann, baptized there April 26, 1676, and buried in that church, August 21, 1675, and Frances, baptized April 8, 1677, who, we must suppose, died before 1681. Quere, What relation was Chester to Baptist May, Esq., privy purse to Charles II., who dying March 2, 1696, aged 69, was buried at Windsor?

1689.-CHARLES MAWSON, Esq.-See next reign.

Chester.

[blocks in formation]

WILL. & M.

Heralds.

Richmond.

May 31, 1700.-SAMUEL STEBBING. Esq.-See next reign.

RICHMON D.

Cha. 11.-HENRY DETHICK, Esq.-See next reign.

Lancaster.

LANCASTER.

Cha. 11.-FRANCIS SANDFORD, Esq.

Descended from a very ancient and respectable family, still seated at Sandford in the county of Salop, third son of Francis Sandford, of that place, Esq., by Elizabeth, daughter of Calcot Chambre, of Williamscot in Oxfordshire, and of Carnow in Wicklow in Ireland. The head of this family in Shropshire was fined by the Parliament, for his loyalty to Charles I., £459. Our herald drew his first breath in the castle of Carnow in the province of Wicklow: it was a part of the half barony of Shelelak, purchased of James I., by his maternal grandfather, Chalcot Chambre. He partook in an eminent degree the miseries of the period which marked his youth. At eleven years of age he sought an asylum in Sandford, being driven by the rebellion from Ireland. No sooner had his pitying relatives determined to educate him to some profession, than they were proscribed for adhering to the cause of their Sovereign; he received, therefore, only that learning which a grammar school could give. As some recompense at the Restoration for the hardships he and his family had experienced, he was admitted into the College of Arms; but conscientiously attached to James II., he obtained leave to resign his tabard to Mr. King, Rougedragon, who paid him £220 for his office. He retired to Bloomsbury,. or its vicinity, where he died, January 16, 1693, and was buried in St. Bride's upper church-yard. The last days of this valuable man corresponded too unhappily with the first, for he died" advanced in years, neglected, "and poor." He deserved a better fate. He married Margaret, daughter of William Jokes, of Bottington, in the county of Montgomery, relict of William Kerry, by whom he had issue Charles, living in 1666; Mary, buried July 8, 1663; Francis, buried August 8, 1663, at St. Bennet's, Paul's Wharf; and Francis, (perhaps should read Robert) buried at St. Giles', Cripplegate. His literary works are, "A genealogical History of the Kings

" of

[ocr errors]

Heralds.

Lancaster.

"of Portugal," &c. London, 1664 fol., partly a translation, published in WILL. & M. compliment to Catherine of Braganza, consort to Charles II. It is become scarce. "The Order and Ceremonies used at the Funeral of his Grace, "George Duke of Albemarle." Savoy 1670. This is a thin folio, the whole represented in engraving. "A genealogical History of the Kings of "England, and Monarchs of Great-Britain, from the Norman Conquest, "Anno 1066, to the year 1677, in seven Parts or Books, containing a "Discourse of their several Lives, Marriages, and Issues, Times of Birth, "Death, Places of Burial and monumental Inscriptions, with their Effigies, Seals, Tombs, Cenotaphs, Devices, Arms, &c." Savoy, 1677, fol., dedicated to Charles II., by whose command the work was undertaken. It is his best and most estimable performance. The plan is excellent, the fineness of the numerous engravings greatly enrich and adorn it: many are by Hollar, others by the best artists of that period, inferior to him, but not contemptible, when seen at this age of improvement in graphic art. The original notes are not the least valuable part of the work, they conveying great information, relative to the heraldic history of our monarchs, princes, and nobility. Mr. Stebbing, Somerset herald, reprinted it in 1707, continuing it until that year, giving some additional information to the original works; but the plates being worn out, or ill touched, this edition is far inferior to the first. "The Coronation of K. James II., and Q. Mary," &c., illustrated with sculptures, Savoy 1687. It is a most superb work. When James declared he would have the account of his coronation printed, Mr. Sandford, and Mr. King, then Rouge-dragon, obtained the Earl Marshal's consent to execute it; the latter says, the greatest part passed through his hands, as well as the whole management and economy of it, though he declined having his name appear in the title page, contenting himself with one-third part of the propriety, leaving the honor, and the two remaining shares of it, to Mr. Sandford; well foreseeing he says, that they would be maligned for it by others of their office: and he was not mistaken, for poor Sandford, with all the honor, had all the malice, for having opposed the Earl Marshal's appointing Mr. Burghill to be receiver of fees of honor for the heralds, and endeavoring to vest it in the King; so that the affair was taken and argued at the council table. The Earl Marshal, at the insinuation of some of the heralds, suspended him, under pretence that he had not finished the history of the coronation; but submitting, the suspension was

[blocks in formation]

Heralds.

WILL. & M. soon taken off. The book, at last, did not answer either his, or Mr. King's purpose; for the engravings being many, and taking a long time to execute them, the book was not finished until Christmas 1687, and the Revolution being in the following year, there was no time to dispose of the copies, so that they had only just saved themselves the expenses, which amounted, in the whole, to near six hundred pounds.

[blocks in formation]

PORT CULLIS.

Ja. 11.-THOMAS HOLFORD, Jun. Gent.

Son of Holford, Windsor. He resigned this office. His arms were the same as his father's, with a label as eldest son.

Nov. 1689.-LAURENCE CROMP, Gent.-See York.

JOHN HESKETH, Gent.-See next reign.

WILL. & M.
Pursuivants.

Portcullis

« PreviousContinue »