5

March Tree

 WILLIAM BYSH and JONE (13)

 

WILLIAM BYSH. William is the oldest member of the Bysh family we can trace. Our information about him comes from an article about Snouts Farm by Michael Chappell[1], and the will of William Bysshe of Godstone, Sheather[2].

The surname is variously spelt as Bysh, Byshe, Bysshe or Bish.

Chappell gives William’s dates as 1540-1591. The death date matches his will. Among his sources, Chappell quotes Joe Bysh, so the birth date and the name of his wife may come from family knowledge. The Godstone registers do not begin until 1662

Godstone is a village in Surrey, 6 m east of Reigate and 4 m west of Oxted. Some of its growth came from its position on the road from London through Croydon to East Grinstead and Rye, but it was chiefly agricultural.

The present-day Clayton Arms was formerly the White Hart, built in Elizabethan times. William would have known it.

In his will, William asks to be buried in Burstow. This is a village 7 miles south of Godstone. The overwhelming majority of the Bysh records in Surrey are from the Burstow registers, though this may be because other registers start later. We have not found William’s baptism in Burstow, or anywhere else. He is said in Chappell’s article to have been born in 1540, very soon after Henry VIII decree that all parish churches should keep a register of christenings, marriages and burials.

He became a sheather, making protective casings for swords and knives. It seems to have been a family business. William’s son Thomas and his son-in-law Richard Tasker were also sheathers.

Chappell tells us that his wife’s name was Jone, but, if so, she must have pre-deceased him, since the wife named in his will is Alice.

Alternately, this may be a mistake. William’s grandson, also William, was married to Jone, but her name does not appear in Chappell’s article. It is strange that he does not mention Alice.

 

JONE/ALICE. We have no information about Jone. We assume from Chappell’s account that she was the mother of his children, unless she has been entered in the wrong generation, and their real mother is Alice.

We know the names of most of these children from William’s will: daughters Agnes, Elizabeth, Johan, Mercy, Susan, and Sara. There is a son Thomas, also a sheather, and his youngest son William, who was only two years old when William senior died. Alice is charged with bringing up William until he is old enough to make his own living.

If his mother was indeed Jone, we may speculate that she died giving birth to William junior.

Two children not mentioned in his will probably predeceased their father.

William wrote his will on 1 July 1591. It was proved on 28 Sep the same year.

He was born in the reign of Henry VIII, lived through those of Edward VI and Mary I and well into that of Elizabeth I. He was only 51 when he died, but he had seen great changes.

The only property mentioned in his will is Millinges als Millers in the parish of Walcombstead als. Godstone, with its barn, garden, orchards and croft, and an acre of land, which he had recently bought from Tobias Kempe. William was in debt to the tune of £68 when he died. Today, this would be something in the region of £20,000. He requests that his son Thomas and son-in-law Richard Tasker sell Millers to pay this debt.
The remaining money from the sale he bequeaths to his six daughters, as well as other items now illegible, ending with a reference to “at Smalefeld at his son’s house.”
Smallfield is a little village 6 mile south of Godstone, and close to Burstow, where we find so many early Byshes. In his will, he eldest son is referred to as Thomas Bysshe of Burstow.
There is a legacy of £10 to his son William.
He appoints Alice his sole executrix and bequeaths her the rest of his good and chattels.
Percival Cansted, Nicholas Blundell and John Paine are appointed overseers of his will.
The witnesses are Thomas Bysshe, James Jordan, Thomas Lyfe.

 

[1] Michael Chappell, “Snouts Farm Now The Red Barn”, The RH7 History Group, 2006. https://www.rh7.org/factshts/snoutsfm.pdf
[2] Some Surrey Wills. https://thesignsofthetimes.com.au/WPA/Surrey.html

 

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