Lawrence Washington (1602 – 21 January 1652)
[ was a ]High Church
A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...
rector of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. He was an early ancestor to the Washington family
The Washington family is an American family of English origins that was part of both the British landed gentry and the American gentry. It was prominent in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America and rose to great economic and p ...
of Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, being the paternal great-great-grandfather of U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
.
Family
Washington was born in 1602. He was the fifth son of Lawrence Washington (1565–1616) of Sulgrave Manor
Sulgrave Manor is a mid-16th century Tudor architecture, Tudor hall house in Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, UK, built by Lawrence Washington, the 3rd great-grandfather of George Washington, first President of the United States.
The manor passed o ...
, Northamptonshire, son and heir of Robert Washington (1544–1619), of Sulgrave by his first wife Elizabeth Lyte, daughter and heiress of Walter Lyte of Radway Grange, Warwickshire, and wife Ursula Woodford. His mother was Margaret Butler (1568 – 16 March 1651), the eldest daughter and co-heiress of William Butler of Tyes Hall in Cuckfield
Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northea ...
, West Sussex, and Margaret Greeke, the daughter of Thomas Greeke, gentleman, of Palsters, Lancashire.
Lawrence Washington had seven brothers: Robert, Sir John, Sir William, Richard, Thomas, Gregory, and George; and nine sisters: Elizabeth, Joan, Margaret, Alice, Frances, Amy, Lucy, Barbara, and Jane. His elder brother, Sir William Washington, married Anne Villiers, half-sister of James I's favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ( ; 20 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and self-described "lover" of King James VI and I. Buckingham remained at the heigh ...
.[
Washington was a great-grandson of Lawrence Washington (c. 1500-c. 1583) and wife Amy Partiger (?-1564) and a great-great-grandson of John Washington (1478–1528) and wife Margaret Kitson, the sister of Sir Thomas Kitson of ]Hengrave Hall
Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor era, Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Rokewode-Gage baronets, Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusant ...
in Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
.[
]
Career
Washington was admitted to Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...
in 1619. He graduated in 1623 with a Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
, and within a few days was elected a Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of the College. In 1626, he was awarded a Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
, and in 1627 appointed university lector
Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses.
Academic
The title ''lector'' may be applied to lecturers ...
.
On 26 August 1632 the Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
made Washington proctor
Proctor (a variant of ''wikt:procurator, procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another.
The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts:
# In law, a proctor is a historica ...
at Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
. In accordance with the desires of King Charles I, the Supreme Head of the Church of England, Laud sought to enforce the High Church
A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...
reforms – known as Laudianism
Laudianism, also called Old High Churchmanship, or Orthodox Anglicanism as they styled themselves when debating the Tractarians, was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England that tried to avoid the extremes of Rom ...
– and to rid the university of Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
clergy. Dr. Washington was instrumental in carrying out the archbishop's purges. Washington's services to Laud earned him an appointment to the well-compensated rectory
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...
of All Saints parish at Purleigh
Purleigh is a village on the Dengie peninsula about south of Maldon in the English county of Essex. The village is part of the Purleigh ward of the Maldon district.
The place-name 'Purleigh' is first attested in a charter of 998, where it a ...
in Essex, a position he assumed in 1632. The appointment enabled Washington to marry Amphilis Twigden, a literate, wealthy young widow. Oxford dons were forbidden from marrying, and Washington had risked his post at the university by courting her.
During the Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
more than one hundred Church of England clergymen, referred to as "scandalous, malignant priests", were dismissed from their parishes for alleged high treason, Laudianism, or immorality by the Puritan Parliament. In 1643, Washington was censured on trumped-up charges of being "a common frequenter of ale-houses" who " ncouragedothers in that beastly vice" and lost his benefice.
Following his ejection from Purleigh, Washington became rector of the impoverished parish of Little Braxted, also in Essex. His wife and children did not accompany him there, as they were given shelter by the family of Sir Edwin Sandys, sympathetic relations whose patriarch had served as treasurer in the Virginia Company
The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the objective of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day ...
. Through the Sandys, Lawrence's son John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
secured an apprenticeship with a London merchant where he learned the tobacco trade.
Washington died in poverty, leaving an estate of insufficient value to require the issuance of letters of administration, and was buried in the churchyard of All Saints' Church at Maldon
Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is prod ...
, Essex.[
Three of Washington's children emigrated to ]Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, as did another family member, Sir Samuel Argall, whose widowed mother, Mary (d. 1598), had married Washington's great-uncle, Lawrence Washington (d. 1619) of Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...
, Kent; he was Registrar of the Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...
.[
]
Commemoration
In 1928 the Washington window, commemorating the Washington family, was given to All Saints' Church, Maldon, by the citizens of Malden, Massachusetts
Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people.
History
Malden is a hilly woodland area no ...
.[All Saints Maldon - History of Our Parish and Church]
Retrieved 13 March 2019.
Marriage and issue
In 1630 Washington met Amphilis Twigden on a visit to Pendley Manor in Tring
Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London.
Tring is linked ...
, Hertfordshire. Amphilis, baptized 2 February 1602 and buried on 12 January 1655, was the daughter and co-heiress of John Twigden of Little Creaton, Northamptonshire, and Anne Dicken, daughter of William Dicken and wife Anne Thornton. Lawrence and Amphilis married in Tring in December 1633, and had three sons and three daughters:[
* Lt. Col. John Washington was born in 1633/4, shortly after his parents' marriage. He emigrated to ]Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
in 1656. He married firstly, in 1658, Anne Pope (d.1668), the daughter of Nathaniel Pope, gentleman, of Virginia, by whom he had two sons, Lawrence (grandfather of George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
) and John, and a daughter, Anne. He married secondly Anne (maiden name unknown), widow successively of Walter Broadhurst (d. 1658), and Henry Brett. He married thirdly Frances Gerard, widow successively of Thomas Speak, Valentine Peyton and John Appleton. He left a will dated 21 September 1675, which was proved 10 January 1677:8. After his death, his widow, Frances, married William Hardidge.
* Lawrence Washington, who was baptized at Tring
Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London.
Tring is linked ...
on 18 June 1635. He emigrated to Virginia before May 1659, but returned to England, becoming a merchant in Luton
Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census.
Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...
, Bedfordshire. He married firstly Mary Jones, daughter of Edmund Jones, gentleman, of Luton, by whom he had a son, Charles, and a daughter, Mary. He emigrated to Virginia a second time shortly before 27 September 1667. He married secondly, about 1669, Joyce Jones, widow successively of Anthony Hoskins and Alexander Fleming, and daughter of William Jones of Virginia, by whom he had a son, John, and a daughter, Anne. He left a will dated 27 September 1675, which was proved 6 June 1677. After his death his widow, Joyce, married James Yates.
* William Washington (baptised 14 October 1641).
* Elizabeth Washington (baptised 17 August 1636), who married a husband surnamed Rumbold.
* Margaret Washington, who married George Talbot.
* Martha Washington, who emigrated to Virginia in 1678. She married Samuel Hayward of Virginia, son of the London merchant Nicholas Hayward. There were no issue of the marriage. She left a will dated 6 May 1697, which was proved 8 December 1697.
Notes
See also
* Washington family
The Washington family is an American family of English origins that was part of both the British landed gentry and the American gentry. It was prominent in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America and rose to great economic and p ...
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. ''George Washington, A Biographical Compendium'' Santa Barbara California, ABC-CLIO, 2002, details the portrait of Lawrence Washington with the contemporary phrasing of the charge laid against him and that led to his removal from Purleigh:
:''common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting daily tippling there, but also encouraging others in that beastly vice'' in op. cit. p. 5, s.v. Ancestry.
*C. V. Wedgwood, ''The King's Peace 1637–1641'' London and Glasgow, Collins Fontana, 1973
*C. V. Wedgwood, ''The King's War 1641–1647'' London and Glasgow, Collins Fontana, 1973
*Christopher Hill, ''The Century of Revolution 1603–1714'' London and New York, Routledge Classics, 2006
*A. L. Rowse, ''The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society'' London, Penguin Classic History, 2000
*A. L. Rowse, ''Ralegh and the Throckmortons'' (1962) The Reprint Society, London, 1964 (index s.v. Sulgrave, Washington)
* Wallace Notestein, ''The English People on the Eve of Colonization 1603–1630'' New York, Harper&Brothers, 1954 in: The New American Nation Series (Steele Commager and Morris ed.)
*Blair Worden
Alastair Blair Worden, (born 12 January 1945), usually cited as Blair Worden, is a historian, among the leading authorities on the period of the English Civil War and on relations between literature and history more generally in the early modern ...
ed., ''Stuart England'' Oxford, Phaedon 1986
*Helen Gardner, (introduction, edition) ''The Metaphysical Poets'' Penguin Books, 1972 (biographical notes pp. 306–323)
*Henry Morley, ''Character Writings of the Seventeenth Century'' London, George Routledge and Sons, 1891 in: The Carisbrooke Library. XIV
*Hugh Ross Williamson, ''George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham: Study for a Biography'' London, Duckworth 1940
*Glyn Redworth, ''The Prince and the Infanta: The Cultural Politics of the Spanish Match'' New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2003 (index s.v. Washington)
*''The Brazen Nose'' he college's magazine volume 41 (2006–7), page 110, for the story of the unpaid debt left by Lawrence.
*''The Washingtons of Tring'' by Murray Neil (Tring, 2013, ) includes information on the time Ahphyllis and her children lived in this small Hertfordshire Town.
External links
Will of Lawrence Washington, Register of His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, proved 10 January 1620, PROB 11/135/14, National Archives
Retrieved 30 August 2013
at Rotherham Web, archived in 2009
Washington family, Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire
Retrieved 15 July 2013
Sulgrave Manor Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Lawrence
1602 births
1652 deaths
17th-century English people
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Burials in Essex
Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford
People from Maldon, Essex
People from West Northamptonshire District
Lawrence (1602–1652)