15.14. GAWNTE

Cory, Baker Tree

THOMAS GAWNTE and ELIZABETH (15.14.)

 

THOMAS and ELIZABETH GAWNTE are our ancestors twice over: through their daughter Alice, who married George Culmer of Stourmouth, and through their daughter Joan, who married Richard Pettit of Ringwould.

Thomas and Elizabeth were born too early for the parish registers, which began in 1537. They were probably born in the earlier part of the reign of Henry VIII, perhaps in the second decade of the 16^th century.

We know from Elizabeth’s will that Thomas became a yeoman. He probably came from farming stock.

When the Ringwould registers begin in 1569, there are only a few entries for Gawnte. These seem to be members of Thomas and Elizabeth’s family. The absence of an extended family leads us to believe that Thomas came to Ringwould from another parish.

Ringwould village stands on high ground, on the Deal to Dover road. It is chiefly known for the ancient yew trees in the churchyard, which are thought to be over a thousand years old.

In the Gawntes’ time, the parish extended down to the sea at Kingsdown, where the fishermen’s principal catch was herrings.

 

ELIZABETH. The surviving Ringwould registers date from 1569. This is too late to include the marriage between Thomas and Elizabeth, so we do not know Elizabeth’s maiden name, or the parish she came from.

From the baptism dates for their own children, it is likely that the Gawnte children were born before the middle of the century. Alice, for instance, had her first child baptised in Stourmouth in 1564. This is too early for her siblings’ children first children to appear in the Ringwould registers.

We find the names of at least some of Thomas and Elizabeth’s children in Elizabeth’s will. There was a son Richard and three daughters: the wife of George Culmer, who we know from his will was Alice, Anne, who married Francis Smith, and Joan, who married Richard Pettit. In addition, we learn from the administration of Thomas’s goods that there was a second son, Robert. There may have been others who predeceased their mother.

There is the possibility of a third son. In a case of Gaunt v Marsh in 1562, we read that:
“Christine Marsh, widow of Ringwould, fell down on her knees before her brother George Coppyn, desiring him to be a good brother unto her and a friend also, for that he rebuked her and threatened her for having made a promise to George Gaunt…
“[She] was reported to have said that she was willing to marry George Gaunt, ‘that he was the man that she could be content best to fansy syns her husband dyed, for that alwaies he did most cherist and make of her child syns her husband departed’.”[1]

We know nothing further of George Gaunt, but the date makes it possible that he was also Thomas and Elizabeth’s son.

Thomas and Elizabeth lived through turbulent times in England’s religious history. 1531 saw Henry VIII break with Rome and form the Church of England. His young son Edward I introduced a more fervent Protestantism. There was an end to services in Latin and the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer. Then Mary I swung the country back to Catholicism. Protestant clergymen were martyred. Elizabeth I began her reign hoping to reconcile Protestants and Catholics. But that changed in 1570, when the Popeexcommunicated her and encouraged Catholics to assassinate her.

It is against that background that we find the first Gawnte entry in the Ringwould parish register.

Burial. St Nicholas, Ringwould.
1571 Oct 15  Thomas Gawnte.
No further details are given.

He was buried in the churchyard.

We do not have a will for Thomas, but administration of his goods was granted to his widow Elizabeth.[2] Normally, this would have required a visit to Canterbury, but on 20 Oct 1571, the Parson of Ringwould was commissioned to issue this himself. Bound with her were “Richard Gawnte and Robert Gawnte of the parish of St George, Canterbury, sons of the deceased, gents”.
Thomas was a yeoman, but it appears that his sons had acquired a higher social status.
Administration was granted to Elizabeth on 6 Dec 1571.

In the evening of 6th April 1580 the whole of Kent was rocked by the powerful Dover Straits Earthquake. Dover is only 5 miles from Ringwould.
“At Dover itself, a piece of the cliffs fell, and so did part of the castle wall…
“A passenger on a boat from Dover reported that the vessel on which he was travelling had touched the sea bed five times and that the ensuing waves had risen well above the ship’s mast. About 12 hours later, a tidal wave struck the coast at Dover, demolishing houses, and pulverising ships along the shore.”[3]

That same year, there was a more personal tragedy. In the nave of St Nicholas’ church, there is brass plate, commemorating Thomas and Elizabeth’s likely daughter-in-law. It has been damaged, but it is thought to read:
“Here lyeth Elizabeth wyffe of Robert Gaunt who lyved vertuufly and dyed in Child bed very godly the xxth of September 1580.”
Robert and Elizabeth’s daughter Anne was baptised on 16 Sept.

Robert remarried. In some of the subsequent baptisms he is referred to as “Mr Robarte Gawnte”. At that time, the title “Mr” was only given to the gentry.

Elizabeth senior wrote her will on 23 Feb 1583/4. She died in 1585.

Burial. St Nicholas, Ringwould.
1585 Sep 2  Elizabeth widow of Thomas Gaunt.
In another record she is named “Mother Gawnt”.

We have notes for her will, but not the complete text.[4]
She describes herself as “ Elizabeth Gawnte wydowe of Thomas Gawnte of Ringwolde yeoman.”
She asks to be buried in Ringwould church yard beside her husband, if she dies there.
She says that she has £32 of stock in the hands of her son-in-law George Culmer, (husband of her daughter Alice), £14 stock with her son Richard Gawnte, and £10 stock with Isaacke Nowar.
Out of this £32 she leaves legacies of £18 to the children of George Culmer, and £10 to her daughter Anne, wife of Francis Smith, to be paid to her at Michaelmas 1591,
To Richard Petit the elder 40s, part of the £32 at Michaelmas 1585, to discharge her promise in respect of the 40s he paid to Robert Railton, Town Clerk of Canterbury, with his son Richard.
To Valentine and George Pettyt, sons of Richard Pettit the elder and her daughter Joan, 40s, residue of the £32, to be paid at Michaelmas 1591.
The absence of the names of her executor(s) leads us to believe this is not the complete text.
The will was proved on 30 Dec 1585.   

 

[1] Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library MS. X/1018, ff. 205v.-6, Gaunt v. Marsh (1562). MS. X/10/ 8., f. 195, Gaunt v. Marsh (1560/2?). Quoted in:  Diana O’Hara , “Sixteenth-century courtship in the diocese of Canterbury.”, University of Kent thesis. 1995. kar.kent.ac.uk/86072/1/DX187649.pdf.
[2] Frank Watt Tyler. The Tyler Collection, Kent, England, Tyler Index to Wills, 1460-1882. Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.[3] Lisa Jardine, “Echoes of another tremor”, BBC News Channel, 4 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6624957.stm
[4] PRC/17/46/374. Original will ref. PRC/16/84 G/10