1676 Robert Wynch Haberdasher

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In the name of God Amen.  I Robert Wynch Citizen and Haberdasher of London being at this present somewhat sick and weake in Body but in good sound and perfect mind and memory praised be Almighty God therefore considering with my selfe the uncertainty of this transitory life and that as nothing is more certaine than Death and nothing is more uncertaine than the time when; Doe therefore make and declare this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following that is to say Ffirst I commend my Soule into the hands of Almighty God my only Maker and Creator hoping assuredly through the alone merritts of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to be made partaker of everlasting happiness; And my Body I committ to the Earth to bee decently buried at the instruction of my Executrix hereafter named.  And as touching all such Estate a well reall and personall which it hath pleased the Lord of his mercy to make mee a disposer of; I doe give devise bequeath settle order and dispose of the same in manner and forme following that is to say; ffirst I will that all such debts as I shall truly owe at the time of my decease to any person or persons be truly paid within as shorte a time after my decease as conveniently may be; And after my debts are paid and ffunerall expenses discharged all my personall estate whatsoever shall bee divided into three equall parts according to the laudable Custome of the Citty of London; One full and equall third part whereof I give unto Susanna my Loving Wife[1] as due unto her by the said Custome; One other full and equall third parte thereof I give unto my sonn John Winch[2] as due unto him by the said Custome and the other third parte thereof which is in my own power to dispose of by the said Custome I give and bequeath the same in manner and forme following that is to say; In Primis I give and bequeath unto my Mother in Law Susanna Wynch[3] tenn pounds to buy her mourning. Item I give and bequeath unto my Brothers in Law William Waltham[4] Charles Harper[5] John Burt[6] and Luke Pead[7] ten pounds a piece to buy them mourning. Item I give and bequeath unto my Brother Walthams five children viz. Anne Waltham John Waltham Susan Sarah and Mary Waltham one hundred pounds a piece of lawfull money of England to bee paid into their ffathers hands for their use within seaven yeares after my decease and his receipt shall bee unto my Executrix a full discharge for the same.  Item I give and bequeath unto my Brother Harpers two daughters Susan Harper and Elizabeth Harper one hundred pounds a piece of lawfull money of England to bee paid into their ffathers hands for their use within seaven yeares after my decease and his receipt shall bee unto my Executrix a full discharge for the same.  Item I give and bequeath unto my Brother Burts two children John Burt and Suzan Burt one hundred pounds  a piece of lawfull money of England to bee paid unto them at their severall ages of one and twenty yeares.  Item I give and bequeath unto my Aunt Judith Etheridge[8] and to Mary Han tenn pounds a piece.  Item I give unto my maid servant Anne the summe of ffive poundes.  Item I give and bequeath unto my Uncles William Mattingly[9] and William Winch[10] and to my Cozen Edmund Wynch[11] ffive pounds a piece of lawfull money of England.  Item I give to the poore of the Parish of St Brides alias Bridgett the sum of ffive pounds to bee paid and distributed amongst them within one yeare after my decease and I give to Suzan Hastings[12] ffive pounds.  Item I give unto my Cozen Northeway the summe of ffive pounds and to her sonn George I give the summe of tenn pounds to putt him out to Prentice and to clothe him willing and [directing] my Executrix to take care in the maintaining of him till hee bee putt out.  Item I give to Mr Edward Perry the summe of fforty shillings.  Item I give unto my Cozen John Hawthorne[13] Cozen William Wynch[14] and to Mr Samuell Draper and to Capt. Henbury[15] and to Cozen Jackson[16] twenty shillings a piece.  Item I give and bequeath unto Mr Thomas Player Mr Samuell Kendall Mr Curtis Mr Smith Mr Man Mr Jarvis and Mr Robert Smith belonging to the Chamber twenty shillings a piece to buy them rings to weare in remembrance of mee.  Item I give unto Mr Robert Hunt Major Brookes Andrew Clarke Thomas Hamnett and Edward Goodyeare tenn shillings a piece to buy them rings.  Item I give unto my Cozen Parrott ffive pounds and Cozen John Hastings[17] twenty shillings.  All the rest and residue of my said third part not before by me disposed of I give leave and bequeath unto my said loving wife Suzanna Wynch for and during the terme of her naturall life and after her decease I give the same unto my said sonn John Wynch.  And as for and concerning my ffreehold Messuages Lande Tenements and Hereditaments I give the same unto my said sonn John Wynch and to his heires forever. And I make and ordaine my said wife Susanna Wynch full and sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament.  And I desire and entreate my loveing Brothers Wiliam Waltham Charles Harper John Burt Luke Peade and my loving friend Samuell Kendall to be Observers hereof and I give and bequeath unto the said Samuell Kendall for his care advice and paines to bee taken therein the summe of twenty pounds to buy him mourning.  In witness whereof I the said Robert Wynch have to this my Last Will and Testament contained in two sheetes of paper with this present sheete to such sheetes sett my hand and seale the Nyneteenth day of July Anno Dm 1676 and in the eight and twentieth yeare of the raigne of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles the Second over England – Robert Wynch – Signed sealed published declared and delivered by the Testator as and for his last Will and Testament the day of the date hereof in the presence of after the interlining of these words in this sheete And I give to Suzanna Hastings ffive pounds in one place and to Capt. Henbury and Coz. Jackson in another place and twenty shillings in another place – Witness Joseph Perkin Edmo. Wynch Snr.

 

Probate (26/7/1676)

 


[1] Robert Wynch married Susanna Henbury on 3rd August 1672 – she was the daughter of James Henbury (d. 1654) by his wife Susanna Johnson (d. 1710) who had married in 1666 as her third husband, John Wynch (Robert’s father); Robert’s widow married William Rous (d. 1711) in 1679 and she died in 1708.

[2] John Wynch was born in August 1673.  He married his mother’s step-daughter Hester Rous (d. 1728) on 22nd May 1694;  they had four surviving children and he died in 1707 (bur. Highgate 7th September 1707).  His widow, Hester, remarried in 1711 to Robert Pead (d. 1736), the widower of John Wynch’s cousin Susanna Burt (b. 1671 by Robert Wynch’s sister Judith and John Burt).

[3] Susanna Johnson (b. 1622, d. 1710) who had married in 1666 as her third husband, John Wynch (Robert’s father).  She was the daughter of George Johnson (d. 1641) by his wife Katherine Hastings (d. 1673); she married firstly (1644) James Henbury (b. 1618, d. 1654) by whom she had four daughters and secondly (Feb 1662/3) William Markland (b. 1622, d. 1664).

[4] William Waltham married 29th October 1663 at St Olave Old Jewry, London to Ann Winch

[5] Charles Harper married 24th December 1669 to Susanna Wynch

[6] John Burt married 13th April 1669 at St Katherine Creechurch, London to Judith Winch

[7] Luke Peade married 16th August 1674 to Sarah Henbury (Susanna Wynch née Henbury’s sister), the daughter of James Henbury (d. 1654) and his wife Susanna (née Johnson) who subsequently married Robert Wynch’s father John Wynch in September 1666 just after the Great Fire of London.

[8] Judith Etheride (or Edridge) was the sister of Robert Wynch’s father, John Wynch.  She married William Edridge (d. 1678) of Asperden, Herts in 1650 and died in 1684.

[9] William Mattingly married 20th December 1625 at St Martin in the Fields, Westminster to Joane Winch, the sister of Robert Wynch’s father, John Wynch (by Robert Wynch d. 1618 and his second wife Joan Hathorne d. 1619). William Mattingly was the son of William Mattingly (d. 1615) by his wife Anne Loggins whose second husband was Nathaniel Hathorne (b. 1576, d. 1654), the brother of John Wynch’s mother, Joane Hathorne).

[10] William Wynch was the brother of Robert Wynch’s father, John Wynch (by Robert Wynch d. 1618 and his second wife Joan Hathorne d. 1619)

[11] Is this the same Edmund Winche listed in the Historical Gazeteer of London Before the Great Fire: Winche, Edmund (fl. 1666) 95/SJ (r)?

[12] Presumably a relative of Robert’s widow, Susanna née Henbury, the grand-daughter of George Johnson by his wife Katherine Hastings?

[13] John Hathorne, possibly the son of Robert Hathorne (b. 1618), brother of Robert’s paternal grandmother, Joane Hathorne (d. 1619)

[14] Not yet identified but possibly the son of Robert Wynch’s father John Wynch’s brother, George Wynch – one such candidate was William Wynch chr. 9 Nov 1636 at St Botolph Aldgate, the sone of George Wynch and Mary his wife.

[15] Captain Stephen Henbury (brother to the late James Henbury, Robert’s widow Susanna’s father) who married Martha Johnson (sister to Robert’s father’s widow, Susanna); he was born in 1623 and died in 1678.

[16] There is a John Jackson referred to in George Johnson’s will (1641) as a kinsman and, in Katherine Johnson’s will (1673) as joint executor with Robert’s father, John Wynch.  Elizabeth Jackson is listed by George Johnson as one of his sisters but no further link has been identified either as his sister or sister-in-law.

[17] Presumably a relative of Robert’s widow, Susanna née Henbury, the grand-daughter of George Johnson by his wife Katherine Hastings?

Marginal Notes to Robert’s Will in the PCC Register:

Wills4

Wills5

Wills6

Comments or questions are welcome.

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