The origins of William Rous, Apothecary and Citizen of London are by no means easy to discern.
His desire to be buried near the vault under the tomb of Sir John Frederick (whose wife was Mary Rous) sent me on a search mission that led through Huguenot families but was ultimately fruitless.
I had wondered whether a reference to his father being Thomas Rous “of Topsham” was born more out of a desire to find a connection rather than as a genealogical fact.
I looked out the apprentice records at the Society of Apothecaries and found the following:
William Rous (211 211 211 21), Apothecary, was apprenticed to Alderman John Lorrimer (also Lorymer, Lorrymer and Lorimer)[2] on 9th April 1657 for nine years (see below) and became free in 1664 (two years earlier than the indenture provided) and became Junior/Senior Warden of Apothecaries in 1702 and Master of the Society of Apothecaries in 1705.
From the marriage licence of his first marriage to Anne Regnier we see he was born circa 1640 – entry in the Marriage Allegations in the Registry of the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury as follows:
July 3rd 1669: William Rous of St. Olave’s Old Jury London, Cit. & Apothecary, Bachelor abt 29 & Anne Regnier of St. Leonard’s Shoreditch Middx. Spr abt 20 with consent of her father; at St. Bartholomew the Great or St. Botolph Aldersgate, Lond. or St Mary Newington or Clerkenwell Middx.
On 5th July 1669 (as shown below) at St Bartholemew the Great in London William Rous married Ann Regnier
Extract from the Parish Register of St Bartholemew the Great held at the Metropolitan Archives, London, accessed via www.ancestry.co.uk
William married second, by licence from the Vicar-General (dated 1679/80)[1] to Susanna WYNCH (211 211 211 12), the widow of Robert Wynch of London, haberdasher, on 24th February 1679/80 at St Bartholemew the Great, London:
23rd February 1679-80: William Rous of St Olave Old Jury, London (aged about 39) licence to marry Susanna Wynch of St Giles, Cripplegate, London (aged about 34) at St Bartholemew the Great or Less, or St Sepulchre, London). (Marriage Allegations in the Registry of the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury)
His subsequent marriage to Susannah Wynch (widow), therefore, puts him at aged about 39 on 23rd February 1679-80.
The combined dates from his Marriage Licences suggest that William may have been born between 6th July 1639 and 22nd February 1639/40.
This does not match any entry in the Trees excellently deduced in his book by Professor John C. Street (A Genealogy of the Rouses of Devon; Madison, Wisconsin, 2002).
Three further interesting coincidences, however, seem to give credence to the concept that William was an unrecorded youngest son of Thomas Rous of Topsham:
- William’s mother would have been Hester Martyn – he then giving his surviving daughter the name Hester;
- Luke Justice, son of Luke Justice of Knighton, Staffs, gent. was apprenticed to William Rouse on Jul 3 1677; and
- John Rouse, son of Robert Rouse of Farringdon, Devon, gent. was apprenticed to William Rouse on May 6 1690;
Luke Justice, Apothecary of London, married Catherine Rous (Thomas’s granddaughter) and John Rous, apothecary of Topsham and Farringdon, was Thomas’s grandson.
It seems appropriate, therefore, in the absence of firm evidence of lineage, to consider in greater detail the Rous family from Professor Street’s gleanings.
First of all, here is an outline of the Family descent from the thirteenth Century in Cornwall (to see the various branches and detailed genealogy, it is necessary to search out a copy of the book (I read it at the Society of Genealogists in London) – to this (in red) I have annotated information deduced from www.stirnet.com:
1. Ralph LE RUFUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 111 11) of “Little Modbury” (alive between 1234-1250) (26 generations back from our daughter)
possibly married daughter of Asceline de Yvery ;
2. William LE ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 111 1) Sheriff of Devonshire (living 1175!?)
3. Ralph LE ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 111) of “Little Modbury” died circa 1290,
..and his wife Alice (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 112)
4. John LE ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 11)
…note there is some doubt as to whether this was a separate generation;
5. William LE ROUS kt (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 1) of “Little Modbury” (living 1291-1309)
and his wife Joan SPECCOT
(211 211 211 211 111 111 111 2), daughter of Richard SPECCOT kt
(211 211 211 211 111 111 111 21) of “Speccot” at Merton, Devon by his wife Matilda de BELSTON (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 22), herself the daughter of Baldwin de BELSTON (211 211 211 211 111 111 111 221) who died circa 1240 and his wife Agnes
(211 211 211 211 111 111 111 222);
6. Ralph LE ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 111) and his wife Joan GODNESFORD (211 211 211 211 111 111 112), daughter of Robert GODNESFORD
(211 211 211 211 111 111 112 1)
7. Robert LE ROUS kt
(211 211 211 211 111 111 11) Governor of Cherbourg (living 1376), [Knight Banneret under the Black Prince]
8. William LE ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 1) who, probably in 1376, married Alice EDMERSTON (211 211 211 211 111 111 2), the daughter and heiress of Thomas EDMERSTON (211 211 211 211 111 111 21) and Rosa AUNTE daughter of William AUNTE
9. William ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111) of “Edmerston” the son of William LE ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 111 1) married Margery LOWER (211 211 211 211 111 112), daughter of William LOWER
(211 211 211 211 111 112 1) of Cornwall
10. John ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 11) who married before 1464 to Isabel WORTH (or possibly DREWE) (211 211 211 211 111 111 12)
11. William ROUS (211 211 211 211 111 1) of “Edmerston” born before 1450 who married Sybil FOWELL (211 211 211 211 111 2), daughter of William FOWELL (211 211 211 211 111 21) and Eleanor of Fowlescombe at Ugborough
12. Roger ROUS (211 211 211 211 111) of “Edmerston” (living 1515-1544) who married Juliana HILL (211 211 211 211 112), daughter of William HILL (211 211 211 211 112 1) and Mabel of “Penguit” and “Fleet”
13. Richard ROUS (211 211 211 211 11) of Rogate, Sussex (1516-1587) who married Eleanor MERVYN (211 211 211 211 12), daughter of Sir Edmund MERVYN (211 211 211 211 121) of Fonthill Gifford, Wilts and his wife Eleanor WELLS
(211 211 211 211 122)
14. Edmund ROUS (211 211 211 211 1) of Rogate, Sussex died 1633; he marrried at Rogate Jan 18 1572/3 to Jane LEGG of Chalton, Hants who died 1632
15. Thomas ROUS (211 211 211 211), eventually ‘of Topsham’ (1589-1657) who married Hester MARTYN (211 211 211 212), daughter of Robert MARTYN (211 211 211 212 1) of Burford, Oxford
16. William ROUS, Apothecary and Citizen of London (211 211 211 21)
And so, taking the most recent two generations:
1. THOMAS ROUS (1589-1657) (211 211 211 211) Gentleman, “eventually of Topsham”, was baptised at Rogate, Sussex July 28 1589 and buried at Topsham Feb 2 1657/8, and married HESTER MARTYN (d. 1670)
(211 211 211 212), the daughter of ROBERT MARTYN of ‘Upton’, Burford, Oxfordshire; she was buried at St Saviour Denmark Park, Southwark on 10th October 1670.
They had issue:
a. Anthony Rous (d. 1663), Gentleman, was buried at st Saviour Denmark Park, Southwark on May 8 1663, “Attorney in the Quire”; he married Lettice Warcupp, the daughter of Samuel Warcupp (probably of London); they had issue:
i) Robert Rous who was christened October 14 1654 at St Saviour Denmark Park, Southwark
b. Robert Rous (d. 1691) Attorney of Farringdon, Devon; he married Katherine Bartholemew (d. 1700), the daughter of Reverend Wiliam Bartholemew and his wife, Catherine Harvey; they had issue:
i) Catherine Rous (1665-1686) was buried on April 4 1686 at St Olave Old Jewry, London; she married by licence dated May 19 1685 (she was a spinster aged 20, marrying with the consent of her father, Robert Rous of Exon, Co. Devon, Attorney, and he was a bachelor aged 23) to Luke Justice (1659-1686/7), Apothecary of London (having been apprenticed on Jul 3 1677 to William Rous), son of Luke Justice of Adbaston, Knighton, Staffordshire, gent, and his wife Mary. Luke was buried on January 25 1686/7 at St Olave Old Jewry, having made a will on January 17 1686/7 in which he refers to his uncle William Rous, Citizen and Apothecary of London and William’s wife Susanna Rous, his cousins Hester Rous and John Wynch; he also refers to another uncle Thomas Rous of Hatton Garden, London, Gentleman and his wife Elizabeth Rous among others – his will was proved October 16 1690:
they had issue:
A. Hester Justice
ii) Elizabeth Rous (1667- ) who married Richard Beavis and had issue;
iii) William Rous (1668-1742) Attorney of Exeter and Farringdon
iv) Anthony Rous apprenticed for seven years on October 28 1685 to John Daston, Citizen and Musician of London, (living in 1698);
v) Thomas Rous who had issue;
vi) Mary Rous
vii) Robert Rous (1673-1742) of Offwell, Devon, who married Elizabeth Satt who died before 1741.
viii) John Rous (1675-1763) Apothecary of Topsham and Farringdon (Apprentice on May 6, 1690 to William Rous); he married Judith Bishop (died 1745) and they had issue;
ix) Bartholemew Rous (died 1682)
x) Joseph Rous (died 1751)
xi) Hester Rous (1679- ) who married (1708) William Tross of Farringdon (1678- ); they had issue;
xii) Richard Rous (1681-1760) of Farringdon
xiii) Bartholemew Rous (1683-1749)
xiv) Martha Rous (1689- )
c. Lawrence Rous (1628- )
d. John Rous (1629- )
e. Hester Rous (1630- ); she married (1658) Thomas Skinnet
f. Edmund Rous (1631- )
g. Rebecca Rous (1633- )
h. Frances Rous who married (1657) Thomas Boomer; she is referred to as ‘My Aunt Mrs Frances Boomer’ by Luke Justice in his will (see above);
i. Thomas Rous (1635- ) who married Elizabeth and they had issue, a daughter, Elizabeth mentioned in Luke Justice’s will
j. Anne Rous (1637- )
k. WILLIAM ROUS (c1639-1719) Citizen and Apothecary of London
(211 211 211 21)
The clear link between Luke Justice and William Rous and the family of Thomas Rous of Topsham seem to indicate that William Rous, Citizen and Apothecary of London, is indeed, therefore, an undocumented son of Thomas Rous “eventually of Topsham”.
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