Culpepper Family Tree (complete version)

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight¹

M, (say 1470 - 1541)

Father

John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury (s 1430 - 22 Dec 1480)

Mother

Agnes Gainsford (s 1445 - )

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1470

Alexander was born say 1470.

Marriage*

say 1490

He married Agnes Davy say 1490.

Marriage*

say 1495

He married Constantia Chamberlayn say 1495.

(4) Will

14 September 1514

He is mentioned in the will of Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell on 14 September 1514.^2,3

(12) Will

22 September 1516

He is mentioned in the will of Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst on 22 September 1516.⁴

Will*

20 May 1540

He made a will at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, on 20 May 1540.

The 20 day of Maye 1540, 32 Henry VIII, I ALEXAUNDER COLPEPER of Begeburye wt in the parishe of Goutherst [Goudhurst] in Kent, Knighte.
     To be buried in the Chappell being on the sowthe syde of the churche of Goutherste wherin I have preparide my Tombe for my body therein to be buryde or in some other place afore the blesside Sacrament. My body to be broughte in earthe and to be don for at the day of my buryall and at the day of my mounethe mynde according as shalbe meate for a man of my degre and because that greate multitude of prese of people will resorte and come at the day of my buriall by the wch resorte prese and mulhlude dyners and many parsons mighte therby perishe and also dyners other inconvenyents mighte therby ensure and for avoyding the occasyon therof.
     I bequeth certeyne somes of money particulary to be dispoaside tin dyners and sundry parishes that is to say I will my Knyll to be ronge in Goutherst with the greate bell the day of my buryall and dyrige to be song there the same daye and three masses one of the Trynitie and other of oure Ladye and the thirde of Requiem to be song the next daye after my buryall for the whiche I give and bequethe three poundes to be dealyde at Goutherst in fourme following: To the vycar for his payne and labor yf he be there present 20d., and to the parishe priste for the tyme being 16d., and to euery priste 12d., to the parisshe clarke 8d. to euery singyng man 4d. and to euery childe that singithe in the Queare 2d. and to the Sexlyn for the bell knylle and the grave suche some of money as shalbe thoughte meate by the discretion of myne executrix and the Resydue in almys to pore people of the same parishe in twoo penny dole to pray for my soule my frendes soules and all xpen soules.
     I will my knyll to be Ronge in Cranbroke the day of my buryall and dyrige to be songe there the same daye and 3 mases [as before] and I geve or bequethe fourtye shillinges [same as beofre only "to the Sexten for the bell and knyll suche some as shalbe thoughte mete by my executrix]. [Same at Haulkherste and 20s. but only two masses one of the Trynite and the masse of Requiem]. [Same at Lamberhurst and two masses one of or Ladye and one of Requiem and 13s. 6d.]. [Same at Horsemonden, Merden and Stapleherst with two masses one of Trynitie and the other of Requiem].
     I will myne executrix geve to 12 pore men to euery of them a black goune wt a hood and 4d. and they to stande about the hearse holdinge euery of them a Torche praying all the servyce tyme for my soule my frendes soules and all xpen soules at the day of my buryall and on the morowe all the tyme of the masses and other obsequies to be doon there in lyke manner at the day of my mounethes mynde.
     Also I will that Dame Constance my saide executrixe (Constantia Chamberlayn) shall geve to as many parson or parsonnes blacke gownes and cotes as she shall thinke convenyent.
     All my detts to be fully contentid and paide and restitution to be made of all wornges and miuryes by me done if anny suche cane be duely provide before myne executrix and ouerseers.
     Dame Constance my executrix shall exhibite and fynde one honest seculer priste to sing and pray for my soule within the forsaide Chappell by the space of fyve yeres and my saide executrix geving to the saide priste yerelye for his Sallary and wage £6. 13. 4., the same priste findinge hym selfe waxe, wyne and breade to syng and say masse with.
     To the churche of Goutherst £20 wt in 6 yeres towards the Reparacons of the same churche and vestry there.
     To twoo of my doughters Margaret (Margaret Culpeper) & Katherin (Catherine Culpeper) £200 towards theire maryages being not maryed in my life, to either £100.
     To Alyce Colpepper one other of my doughters (Alice Culpeper) one yerely pencon of £3. 6. 8. for 20 yeres but if she be advanced in maryage then the saide pencon to cease and to be utterly voyde.
     I bequethe £10 for to by fyve Vestmentes for pristes to syng masse yn wherof the furst thereof to be for the priste that shall singe masse for me in the saide Chappell where I have prepared my Tombe and the secounde to the churche of Awsteley in the county of Warwyk and the thirde to the churche of Manchester in the saide County of Warwyk and the fourthe to the churche of Fynchingfelde in the county of Essex and the fyfte to the churche of Sainte Marye Bewers in the County of Suffolke.
     An obyte at Goutherste the space of 20 yeres 6s. 8d. Tenne marks to the porist people and inhabitants of Goutherste in almys that is to say yerelye 33s. 4d.
     To Thomas Willenhall 20s., Alexander Dodde 20s., John Browne 20s., Robert Thorpe 20s., Jane Porter 20s., John Dod 13s. 4d., William Haddon 13s. 4d., John Wateman 13s. 4d., Hughe Pecoke 10s., Thomas Arglas 10s., Rycharde Kempe 6s. 8d., George Cots 6s. 8d., John Style 6s. 8d, Rycharde Mose 6s. 8d., John Emery 6s. 8d., Leonarde Larshar 6s. 8d., William Clowte 6s. 8d., John Emery, cooke, 6s. 8d., to all other of my saruauntes as shall happen to be in my servyce at the tyme of my death to euery one of them 3s. 4d.
     Resydue of all my goodes, juells &e to Dame Constance my wife to her owen proper vse, the whiche Dame Constance I doo ordeyne and make my sole executrix and supervysours and Ouersears my brouther Sr. Edwarde Chamberlayne, Knighte (Alexander's brother-in-law, the son of Sir Robert Chamberlayn of Sussex), and John Baker, Esquier, generall attorney to the Kynges highness and to either of them a blacke gowne and 40s.
     In wittness whereof I the saide Sr. Alexander to this my pnt testament and laste will have putt my seale and written this lyne wt myne owen hande by me Ser Alexander Culpeper Knight. By me Thomas Harlakenden ( an unknown person ), by me William Sydenham, William Hyne priste, Henry Rogers, Thomas Willinhall, Symonde Willenhall, Thomas Darell, Henry Sampson, John Wellys curate of Goutherst.

--------------------

This Codyceel made by me Sr. Alexaunder Culpepper Knighte the 5 May 33 Henry VIII. Furste where as Thomas Culpepper myne eldist sonne (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst) with other doo rest and standen bounden vnto the saide Ser Alyxander Culpepper and to other by ther writing oblygatory in the some of £1000 and endorsyd apon certeyne condycons as by the same it doth apeare, whiche condycons be not parfourmde, wherfore the some of £1000 is due to be paide as a verry dett. Yett neuerthelesse I doo declare my will and mynde as followinge:
     If the saide Thomas Culpepper myne eldist sonne doo well and truly paye £300 to myne executrixe, £100 within one monethe after my deceasse in the parishe churche of Goutherst and within one yere £50, of that remaynethe, the same £50 to be delyuerede to the Reparacon of the churche of Goutherst and of the vestrye there, and other £50 parcell of the Resydue to be paide in the saide parishe churche of Goutherst to John my sonne (John Culpeper of St. Stephens) to his exhibicon and findinge, and also fourescore poundes parcell of £100 the last of the saide £300, the same fourescore pounds I will and geve as folowithe: To Anne (Anne Culpeper), John [Johanna] (Johanna Culpeper), Margaret and Katherine my doughters evenly to be shisted and paide, and £20 the hole resydue of the £300 I give to Robert Gaen, Thomas Willenhale, and Symonde Willenhale egally, and if the saide Thomas my sonne well and truly kepe paye and parfourm all the payments, then the writing oblygatory of £1000 shalbe clerly acquited.
     And if not my executrixe to procede in sute of the saide oblygacon and with the £700 resydue my foresaide executrix shall lye and purchase the parsonage of Goutherst with the Advouson therto belongyng, and the same to remayne to one of my sonnes and his heyres whome I t shall happen to have the Maner and Denne of Goutherste.
     And if the £700 will not purchase the saide parsonage then £200 to be bestowed in repayring and amending of the highe waye between the parsonage gate of Goutherst and Begebury Crosse and £100 in the high way from Goutherst Church vnto Iden Crosse and £100 in the highe way from the playne of Goutherst a long and through the Stony lane there and so forthe to Techinghole Mylle and so vpp along to Winshott hill and £100 in the highe way ledyng from Winshot hill vnto the Crosse in Merden Streten. Also £100 in the highe way from Harteley Crosse vnto Cranebroke and £100 Resydue of the £700 vnto 12 parsonnes that shall have the Rule and ouersight of the Repayring and amending of all the highe wayes above written to euery of them £8. 6. 8.
     In wittness wherof to this pnt codycell in paper I the foresaide Ser Alexaunder Culpepper have subscribed my name with myne owen hande. By me Alexaunder Culpeper knighte.
     Proved, with codicil 21 June 1541 by relict and executrice. (P.C.C. 30 Alenger.)^5,6

Burial*

1541

His body was interred in 1541 at St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. There is a splendid memorial to Sir Alexander and his wife Dame Constance on a tomb in St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst. This is two lifesize recumbant figures carved in wood and painted in contemporry colors. Sir Alexander is in asuit of armour and Dame Constance in a tunic and gown, with a pedimental head-dress. Both of their feet rest upon dogs -- his a hound, hers a pet dog. These animals represent some quality of the deceased person, such as bravery, gentleness or affection. See photographs at:
http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/places/goudhurst2.htm.

Death*

1541

He died at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, in 1541.

Probate

21 June 1541

Probate action was taken on Alexander's estate on 21 June 1541 at co. Kent, England,

P.C.C. 30 Alenger.

Biography*

Sheriff 1499-1500, 1506-7, 1514-15, 6 Hen VIII.

Family 1

Agnes Davy (say 1472 - say 1493)

Child

Alice Culpeper (say 1491 - )

Family 2

Constantia Chamberlayn (say 1470 - 1542)

Children

John Culpeper of St. Stephens (say 1495 - )
Catherine Culpeper (say 1496 - )
Elizabeth Culpeper (say 1497 - )
Johanna Culpeper (say 1498 - )
Margaret Culpeper (say 1499 - )
Anne Culpeper (say 1500 - )
Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst+ (say 1501 - 13 May 1558)

Last Edited

2 March 2014

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005.
Page 249.
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Colepepers of Wigsell, in Salehurst (pages 60-74).
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Pp 65-66.
Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury Will, 20 May 1540
Tudor P.C.C. Will Transcription by L. L. Duncan - Book 54 page 28.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Goudhurst_1541.pdf.

Isabel Culpeper¹

F, (say 1473 - )

Father

John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury (s 1430 - 22 Dec 1480)

Mother

Agnes Gainsford (s 1445 - )

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1473

Isabel was born say 1473.

Married Name

say 1491

As of say 1491, her married name was Roberts.

Marriage*

say 1491

She married Walter Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent say 1491.

Family

Walter Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent (say 1442 - say 1522)

Last Edited

23 May 2011

Citations

1574 Visitation, Kent, England.

Joyce Culpeper

F, (say 1477 - )

Father

John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury (s 1430 - 22 Dec 1480)

Mother

Agnes Gainsford (s 1445 - )

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1477

Joyce was born say 1477.

Married Name

say 1495

As of say 1495, her married name was Haume.

Marriage*

say 1495

She married Gerald Haume say 1495.

Married Name

say 1500

As of say 1500, her married name was Pekham.

Marriage

say 1500

She married Sir Reginald Pekham say 1500.

Family

Gerald Haume (say 1470 - say 1498)

Last Edited

23 May 2011

Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst¹

M, (say 1435 - circa October 1516)

Father

Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull (s 1400 - 24 Nov 1462)

Mother

Agnes Roper (s 1400 - 2 Dec 1457)

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1435

Richard was born say 1435.

Marriage*

say 1464

He married Margaret Wakehurst say 1464. Richard and Margaret had no children.

Biography*

Nicholas, with his brother, Richard, under somewhat romantic circumstances, married the Wakehurst sisters, (granddaughters and co-heiresses of Richard Wakehurst, sen., of Wakehurst, in Ardingly). These two girls were confided by Elizabeth, their grandmother, to the care of John Colepeper and Agnes, his wife, the former of whom "promysed on the faithe and trouthe of his bodye and as he was a gentylman," that they should not be wronged. In spite of this promise, however, Richard and Nicholas, "with force and armes riotously agense the Kynges peas arayed in the manr of warre at Goutherst toke and caried" them away to Bobbing, Alexander Clifford's place in Kent, and afterwards transported them to London to a place of John Gibson, "the seide Margarete and Elizabeth at the tyme of their takyng away makyng grete and pittious lamentacion and wepyng."

This high-handed proceeding on the part of the two fortune hunting brothers was productive of much litigation, as Elizabeth Wakehurst, grandmother of the two heiresses, refused to resign the title deeds of their estates, and it was some time before a peaceable settlement was obtained. Richard died without issue, but Nicholas became the ancestor of the Colepepers of Wakehurst, and as the brass to him and his wife Elizabeth in Ardingly Church shows ten sons and eight daughters, we may conclude that they lived long and happily together.²

Also see on this website "Abduction: An Alternative Form of Courtship?" This is a paper written by Julia Pope, M.A. and presented at the International Medieval Congress, Kalamazoo. MI, May 2003. Based upon the 15th century abduction of the Wakehurst sisters by the Culpeper brothers, it can be viewed at: http://gen.culpepper.com/ss/p8456.htm.

Will*

22 September 1516

He made a will on 22 September 1516.

An abstract (partly translated from Latin) of the Will of Richard Culpeper, Esq., follows:
22 Sep 1516, 8 Henry VIII. I Richard Culpeper of the parish of Ardingly, co. Sussex, Esq. and son of Walter Culpeper late of Goudhurst co. Kent Esq. (Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull) and brother of Sir John Culpeper late of Goudhurst (John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury) aforesaid make my testament. To be buried in the chancel of the church of Ardingly next the sepulture of Margaret Culpeper late my wife (Margaret Wakehurst). Bequests to the brothers of the house of Moatenden in Kent, Lewes in Sussex, Newgate in London and Lossenham in Kent. To Anne Pympe my cousin 10 marks at marriage or at 26. To the mending of the roads within the manor of Wakehurst and Seldwyke Cross 13s 4d. To Richard Culpeper (Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst) son and heir of Nicholas Culpeper (Nicholas Culpeper of Wakehurst) a bond or obligation of the said Nicholas for £5 6s 8d. To Master Edward Culpeper (Rev. Edward Culpeper D.C.L.) brother of the aforesaid Richard 40s. Residuary legatee Elizabeth Culpeper (Elizabeth Wakehurst) widow of my late brother Nicholas, and I appoint her together with Thomas Culpeper (Thomas Culpeper of Crawley, Esq.), George Culpeper (George Culpeper of Naylands in Balcombe, co. Sussex) and Richard Culpeper (Richard Culpeper of Lewes), younger sons of the aforesaid Nicholas Culpeper executrix Culpeper, Esq. and Master Edward Culpeper brother of the aforesaid Richard my overseers. Witnesses John Yonge, Vicar of West Hoathly, Henry Wellys, Thomas Doggett, Christopher Payne, and William Hordys with others.
Will as to lands of Richard Culpeper, Esq. "one of the sons of Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Esquire, and brother to Sir John Culpeper, sometime of Goudhurst, Knight" 22 Sep 1516. To Elizabeth Culpeper (Elizabeth Culpeper) my sister a croft (a small piece of land, usually attached to a house, used for farming or pasture) in Horsemonden in Kent, with remainder to Alexander Culpeper (Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight), and no more for "thanks be to God he has no need." The male heirs of Walter Culpeper my nephew (Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell) to have the manor of Heronden, and the tenement of the Bavre. Loggelond in Ardingly to the churchwardens to keep an obit, with beer bread and cheese, by 10 priests at 8d each to pray for self, Margaret my wife, Walter Culpeper and Agnes (Agnes Roper) his wife, my father and mother, Richard Wakehurst the elder and Richard Wakehurst the younger (Richard Wakehurst of Ardingly) and Agnes his wife (Agnes (?)), my wife’s father and mother. Parishes of Ardingly, Balcombe, West Hoathly, Lindfield and Whyhyme. Elizabeth Culpeper, late the wife of Nicholas Culpeper my brother to take up the rents and issues of all other lands in Horsemonden or Goudhurst in Kent, and in Monfield, Salehurst, Ifeld, Crawley, Slaugham, Worth and West Hoathly in Sussex and in Leigh in Surrey or elsewhere in England for life, and after her death the lands in Leigh, which I bought, to Richard Culpeper son and heir of Nicholas and Elizabeth. To Thomas Culpeper one of the sons of the said Nicholas and Anne (Anne (?)) wife of the said Thomas, lands in Ifeld, Crawley, Slaugham and Worth which I bought of John Wodye &c. To George Culpeper (after Elizabeth's decease) the messuage and lands of Stroudgate for life, with remainder to Richard Culpeper son and heir of the aforesaid Nicholas. Also to the said George Busses in West Hoathly and a mill called Hope Mill in Southerst (Goudhurst?) and the halfendele of a fulling mill in Horsemonden to him and his heirs. And as for Pipstye I cannot put it from George for it is copyhold. To Richard Culpeper, youngest son of the foresaid Nicholas and Elizabeth, a messuage or tenement called the Feryn in Ninfield and Salehurst co Sussex, and land and messuages at Turnerhill also two tenements in Southerst sometime John Bechefeld, Richard Mylis, Thomas Burges. Remainder after death of Elizabeth to foresaid Richard his heirs and assigns. If Thomas Culpeper, George Culpeper, or Richard Culpeper the youngest son die during the lifetime of the said Elizabeth, without wife or children, his part to remain to the other living of the aforesaid three. Proved at Lambeth 8 Nov 1516 by Richard Culpeper, George Culpeper, and Thomas Culpeper in person and by Elizabeth Culpeper in the person of William Crowland.³

Death*

circa October 1516

He died at Wakehurst, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England, circa October 1516.

Burial*

circa October 1516

His body was interred circa October 1516 at St. Peter's Church, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England. ⁴.

Probate

8 November 1516

Probate action was taken on Richard's estate on 8 November 1516 at Lambeth, co. Surrey, England,

P.C.C. 24 Holder.³

Family

Margaret Wakehurst (say 1448 - 1504)

Last Edited

23 May 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Pp 65-66.
now in West Sussex, England

Ursula Woodcock^1,2

F, (before 27 January 1566 - before 2 June 1612)

Father

Ralph Woodcock Alderman of London (1519 - 1 Sep 1586)

Mother

Good Bower of co. Wilts (c 1534 - 29 Jun 1573)

AFN*

Her Ancestral File Number is AFN: G5Q0-GH.

Birth*

before 27 January 1566

Ursula was born at London, England, before 27 January 1566.

Christening

27 January 1566

She was christened at St. Lawrence Jewry, City of London, London, England, on 27 January 1566.

Marriage

1581

She married Solomon Pordage of Rodmersham, co. Kent in 1581.

Married Name

1581

As of 1581, her married name was Pordage.

Marriage*

1600

She married John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, in 1600.

Married Name

1600

As of 1600, her married name was Culpeper.

Burial*

2 June 1612

Her body was interred on 2 June 1612 at Feckenham, Worcestershire, England.

Death*

before 2 June 1612

She died at Feckenham, Worcestershire, England, before 2 June 1612.

Biography*

She was bur. in Feckenham, June 2, 1612, as 'Ursula, the weiffe of John Culpep' Esquier.' Her recital on the MI. in Hollingbourne as dau. of Thomas Woodcock is a confusion of her father with her brother. She was bapt. in St. Lawrence Jewry, London, January 27, 1565/6, as 'Ursula, dau. of Ralph Woodcock;' and the will of that Ralph, dated September 1, 1580 (P.C.C. Windsor, 47), reciting himself to be 'citizen and Alderman of London,' describes her as 'my daughter Ursula, now wife of Solomon Pordage.' The identification is completed by an inquisition held at East Greenwich, October 23, 1599 (Chancery inq. p.m., Series 11, 256; 38), which found that Solomon Pordage of Rodmersharn had died September 12, 1599, having made a settlement on the occasion of his m. in 1581 with Ursula, dau. of Ralph Woodcock. Solomon Pordage's will (P.C.C. Kidd, 74) commended his wife to his kinsman, William Stede of Harrietsham, and it was through the Stedes that the widow Pordage met her second husband. (Source: Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck.")

Family

John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. (1565 - circa 16 December 1635)

Children

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple+ (say 1602 - say 1652)
Cicely Culpeper (say 1604 - circa 4 November 1664)
John Culpeper the Merchant+ (circa 1606 - circa 1674)
Frances Culpeper (say 1608 - )

Last Edited

1 April 2000

Citations

LDS Church, compiler, Ancestral File, Intellectual Reserve, Inc..
http://www.familysearch.org
AFN: G5Q0-GH.
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.

Margaret Wakehurst¹

F, (say 1448 - 1504)

Father

Richard Wakehurst of Ardingly (s 1418 - b 1465)

Mother

Agnes (?) (s 1421 - )

Birth*

say 1448

Margaret was born at Ardingly, co. Sussex, England, say 1448.

Marriage*

say 1464

She married Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst say 1464. Richard and Margaret had no children.

Married Name

say 1464

As of say 1464, her married name was Culpeper.

Burial*

1504

Her body was interred in 1504 at St. Peter's Church, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England.

Death*

1504

She died at Wakehurst, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England, in 1504.

(3) Will

22 September 1516

She is mentioned in the will of Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst on 22 September 1516.²

Biography*

Abduction: An Alternative Form of Courtship?
by Julia Pope, M.A.
Presented at the International Medieval Congress, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2003

Some time between 1457 and 1460, two young sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret Wakehurst, were allegedly abducted.¹ The legal battle that followed would hound them and their families for decades. By incorporating the ample resources of legal records, we can reach a greater understanding of problems traditionally viewed solely through the lens of social history. Pieced together as much as possible from the surviving documents, the story of the Wakehurst heiresses, though exceptional, can shed light not only on the ambiguous nature of the crime of abduction, but also on more general questions of courtship, marriage, and the value of female consent.

Medieval English lawmakers considered abduction a serious problem. No fewer than eight statutes on the subject can be found on the books between 1275 and 1487. I will only mention the two with most bearing on the Wakehurst case. The Statute of Westminster II of 1285 made abduction a felony. If the female victim did not consent, or consented after the fact, the punishment remained the same. If, however, she had consented in advance, under this law no crime had been committed. Second is the statute of 6 Richard II (1382), which gave a woman’s next of kin the right to prosecute her abductor even if she consented to the abduction. It also debarred an abductor from inheriting property by marrying his victim.

These statutes comprise the legal frame of reference for the Wakehurst case. They did not bear on it directly, however, because it was largely fought in the court of Chancery. In the late medieval period, Chancery functioned (among other things) as a court of equity - a last resort for people who could not get justice through normal channels.² Chancellors were meant to supplement the common law, but were not strictly bound by it; instead, their rulings were supposed to be based on ‘conscience’.³ In petitioning the Chancellor, a plaintiff was seeking remedy for an offense that either was not adequately covered by existing statute law, or for which they would be unable to obtain justice in the regular court system for some reason. The work of Cameron, Ives, and Post has demonstrated that the common law courts were not a popular option for resolving abduction disputes, leaving Chancery as a prime alternative venue.

Scholarship on medieval abduction has tended to focus on two distinct but related aspects of the crime. First, much ink has been devoted to the confusion surrounding the Latin term raptus, meaning “carrying off, abduction, rape, or plunder.” The preferred English translation is “ravish,” since it incorporates a similar ambiguity regarding of sexual contact. This terminological conflation of what we consider two separate crimes, kidnapping and rape, has proven problematic for historians attempting to tease out the medieval concept of abduction. In my research, however, this debate is of secondary importance. The documents I have examined were written in the vernacular, and therefore rely on less ambiguous terminology, such as “carried away”.

Second, scholars have debated the amount of female agency involved in abduction. Some, drawing on the work of Susan Brownmiller, have argued that abduction was fundamentally considered a property crime against men, and that female agency was unimportant. However, this claim is based largely on an examination of statute law, not case evidence. Arguing against the ‘property crime’ theory is Garthine Walker, who has contended that it was not the victims themselves who were seen as property, but rather the lands and wealth that would be transferred through them, a crucial distinction to bear in mind. Others, drawing more on literary than historical records, have seen abduction as a romantic crime, and suggest that many (perhaps even most) so-called abductions were actually concealed elopements, which assumes the consent of both parties. More recently, Emma Hawkes has taken a different position, arguing that though some abductions were consensual, many were not, and that a woman’s consent or lack thereof was of fundamental importance in determining the outcome of a legal case.

I have examined some fifty cases of abduction presented to Chancery between 1389 and 1515. My research has shown that many abduction cases in Chancery records were heavily connected with wardship, money, and marriage. Although Ives argued that “abduction for gain is almost unknown”⁴ in the fifteenth century, it would be more accurate to say that abduction for ransom was not common (out of fifty cases I examined, only four followed such a pattern). If we consider the potential wealth that a valuable wardship or the marriage of an heiress could bring, many abductions could be called ‘abductions for gain’ (at least eighteen out of fifty, in my sample group). The Wakehurst case is one such. Because of the unusual amount of detail we have regarding this particular abduction incident, we can use it to examine some of the surrounding issues, particularly the role courtship may have played in abduction.

I will turn now to the facts of the case itself. Richard Wakehurst the Elder, who had been a member of Parliament and Justice of the Peace, died in 1455. In his will he named Thomas Hoo and William Gaynesford as the supervisors who would ensure that the executors fulfilled their duties properly.⁵ His only son, Richard the Younger, had predeceased him. Thus, Richard the Elder’s only heirs were his two granddaughters Margaret and Elizabeth, the children of his son Richard and daughter-in-law Agnes Gaynesford (a sister of William and John). Although their ages are not certain, they were still unmarried at the time of their grandfather’s death. They were probably quite young, most likely in their early teens. Their wardship apparently fell to their grandmother Elizabeth’s relatives.

Not long afterwards, a petition was sent to the chancellor by the girls’ grandmother Elizabeth, who was writing along with Thomas Etchingham, Thomas Hoo, and John and William Gaynesford, esqs.⁶ This petition stated that her granddaughters had been placed under the care of Sir John Culpepper. Incidentally, in a detail apparently not mentioned in Elizabeth’s original petition, Sir John had, some time previously, married Agnes Gaynesford, the girls’ widowed mother.⁷ Their joint tomb remains in the Lady Chapel at Goudherst, Kent, and it indicates that together they had six children.⁸ Culpepper had, the petitioners claimed, “promysed on the faithe and trouthe of his bodye and as he was a gentylman” that no harm would come to the girls. The plaintiffs made serious accusations against John, along with his brothers Richard and Nicholas Culpepper and their brother-in-law Alexander Clifford, claiming that they “with force and armes, riotously agense the Kinges peas, arayed in the manner of warre…toke and caried away” the girls to Clifford’s home in Bobbing, Kent. At the time of their abduction, we learn, Margaret and Elizabeth made “grete and pittious lamentacion and weping.” Elizabeth and her co-petitioners ended by claiming that the two young women were still being detained against their wills in London at the home of one John Gibson.

The various families involved here, all members of the local gentry, were heavily connected through several marriages.⁹ There is strong evidence that Etchingham and Hoo (whose father was married to a woman named Elizabeth Etchingham) were relatives of the girls’ grandmother Elizabeth (whose maiden name was also Etchingham), although the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear.¹⁰ The Gaynesford family was doubly married into the Wakehurst family, and thus could also be expected to have a strong interest in the matters at issue.

No further evidence is forthcoming from this basic text, which follows many of the standard conventions of the genre, but other documents can fill in some of the surrounding story. The two young co-heiresses, Margaret and Elizabeth, married their alleged abductors not long after the incident, though the exact date of their weddings is not certain. Margaret was married to Richard, and Elizabeth to Nicholas. In marrying this way, the couples violated a number of the traditions and standards surrounding marriage at this time, to say the least. First, they were within the prohibited degrees of affinity by medieval standards, the Culpeppers being the girls’ step-uncles by reason of Sir John and Agnes’s marriage. That this relationship was uncomfortably close to home would have been abundantly clear to everyone involved. Secondly, the process by which the marriages were conducted was well outside the norm. Abduction, even if Margaret and Elizabeth were willing victims, was not a socially acceptable substitute for courtship, wherein gaining the consent of family and friends was an important step. Finally, the couples apparently married in London, when they should have married within their home parish, with the banns read in advance. Presumably the flight to London was necessary because of the two factors mentioned earlier – the overly close bond between the couples, and the opposition of at least some of their family members to the match.

In situations such as this, where the legal and moral grounds for marriage were somewhat dubious, the most likely course of action would have been for the couples to marry quickly, and before a priest, though preferably one who would not ask too many questions. London, even then the anonymous metropolis, would have been the easiest place for them to locate such a priest. The authority provided by a solemnized ceremony would have considerably outweighed the secrecy of a clandestine marriage, if the couples expected the marriages to be challenged in the ecclesiastical court system. Perhaps the journey to Bobbing, Kent, to Alexander Clifford’s home (which would have taken them considerably out of their way) was undertaken in order to obtain Clifford’s help and/or advice in these matters. Unfortunately, the identity of the John Gibson they are said to have stayed with in London is unknown, but he could also have aided them in the process of getting married.

The main opponents to the young couples was the girls’ grandmother Elizabeth Wakehurst, and to a lesser extent her relatives, the Etchingham and Hoo families. Elizabeth’s precise reasons for objecting to the marriages are not immediately evident from the documents available, but several possibilities spring to mind. First and foremost, she probably thought that the Culpeppers were too closely related to her granddaughters. She may have considered the men to be poor matches for her wealthy heiress granddaughters because Nicholas and Richard were younger sons and thus were not likely to inherit a great deal of wealth or property in their own rights – in short, she probably thought Margaret and Elizabeth could do better, given their considerable inheritance. Finally, and most tentatively, she may have objected to the Culpepper brothers themselves on some more personal grounds. The Culpepper family may have been social climbers with a penchant for marrying heiresses (their grandfather and great-grandfather had both definitely married women much wealthier than themselves), and it is not too far-fetched to imagine Elizabeth Wakehurst considered them presumptuous upstarts.

Her decision to resort to Chancery for remedy is not unusual, judging by the number of cases I have examined from that venue. Although verdicts have not survived, the tactic of petitioning the Chancellor in an attempt to forestall an undesirable union and protect family property was evidently unsuccessful in this case. We are forced to wonder how much truth there is in the original petition, given that it was designed to sway the Chancellor’s opinion into line with Elizabeth Wakehurst’s own. But if Elizabeth Wakehurst’s petition had not presented her granddaughters’ departure as a case of abduction, complete with heart-wrenching descriptions of their “grete and pittious lamentacion and weping,” her case would more than likely have been hastily dismissed, as voluntary elopement was not criminal. The petition seems not to have raised the question of the violation of wardship. Evidently Elizabeth (or more likely, her lawyers) did not consider this strategy to be the most effective means of achieving her goal – not primarily the return of the girls (which the Chancellor would have had few means of effecting), but safe-guarding the family property from their new husbands. This petition was thus a legal manoeuvre of some skill, and, although the chancellor’s ruling is not known, the care and thought that went into the preparation of the argument were evidently considerable.

Subsequently, Elizabeth and her family set about blocking as much of the girls’ inheritance as they could. Even twenty years later, the two couples were still engaged in legal disputes with their grandmother’s relatives over various manors and pieces of property that were originally part of the Wakehurst women’s inheritance from their father and grandfather.¹¹ Although her attempt to disinherit completely the two couples eventually failed, Elizabeth Wakehurst probably managed to make things very unpleasant for them while she lived with her numerous petitions to Chancery and, no doubt, by other means as well.

One question arises here: given that the marriages were well within the forbidden degrees of affinity, why did Elizabeth not attempt to have them dissolved? Surprisingly, as far as can be determined, she made no mention whatsoever in her various petitions to Chancery of the girls’ mother being remarried to Sir John Culpepper. There is no evidence that she brought the case before the ecclesiastical courts of London or elsewhere in the province of Canterbury, though the survival of such records from this period is chancy at best. Searching further afield, there is no sign that the couples were granted a dispensation to marry by papal authorities, nor that any (possibly lost) local ecclesiastical verdict was appealed to Rome, although there are many other surviving appeals for dispensations on grounds of affinity. We are left to wonder, then, how much the question of affinity bears on this case. While Helmholz would have us believe that people in medieval England rarely violated the bonds of consanguinity if they were aware of them, perhaps we can tentatively say that in this case, ties of affinity (ties of marriage, not of blood) were not seen as a major obstacle to marriage, at least by the couples themselves.

While Elizabeth Wakehurst and her relatives were the main antagonists to the young couples, Richard, Margaret, Nicholas, and Elizabeth also seem to have had a considerable support network. The girls’ mother Agnes and her second husband Sir John must have permitted the marriages to go ahead, or at least done nothing to hinder them. Certainly grandmother Elizabeth considered Sir John equally as culpable as his younger brothers, though it seems unlikely he actually accompanied them on their abduction journey. Brother-in-law Alexander Clifford probably also provided support, along with a place to lay low for a time. The mysterious John Gibson in London presumably also assisted them in some capacity, whether in finding a priest who was amenable to solemnizing a more-than-slightly-questionable marriage, or simply providing lodgings in the city. Traditional courtship involved gaining the consent of family and friends, and it seems the couples had managed this, to a certain extent.

The consent of the Wakehurst girls themselves must also have been secured – the question being, was it before or after they were carried away? Certainly the men who were said to have abducted them were no strangers to Margaret and Elizabeth, though they were likely a good deal older than their step-nieces. It would not have been unusual for unmarried younger brothers of a well-off family to spend at least some of their time at their family estate. If there was an abduction, I suspect it was a carefully orchestrated act, planned in advance due to some previously-expressed opposition from the girls’ grandmother and guardians towards a proposed match. Or, more likely, there was never a violent abduction as described in the petition. Perhaps there was merely a calm journey to the house of another relative, and the description provided in the petition is pure legal rhetoric intended to sway the Chancellor with a sense of the horrors of the alleged crime. It is worth noting that the girls were taken from the home of John Culpepper, and that it is unlikely Elizabeth Wakehurst or any of her associates actually witnessed it.

After the death of grandmother Elizabeth in 1464, the couples returned to Wakehurst Place and seem to have lived in comparative peace, aside from occasional legal wrangling with the Etchinghams and Hoos over the ownership of several manors. Richard Culpepper died in 1516, and his wife Margaret had predeceased him; they left no children.¹² Sir Nicholas Culpepper, who had been knighted in 1465, died in 1509, and his wife Elizabeth outlived both him and his brother Richard. Burke’s states that Nicholas and Elizabeth had five surviving sons, Richard, Edward, Thomas, George, and another Richard,¹³ but their funeral brass in Ardingly Church, Sussex, shows a remarkable ten sons and eight daughters. It has been colourfully described as “so crowded as to look like a poster warning against rush hour travel.” ¹⁴ In all likelihood many of these children died young or at least predeceased their parents.

Of the four main players in this little drama, only Richard’s will survives. He had evidently done quite well for himself, for it details property in Kent, seven separate named locations in Sussex, and land in Surrey. He named his sister-in-law Elizabeth as a co-executrix of his will, along with some of her sons, which suggests the two couples remained unusually close. Richard also requested that the churchwardens at Ardingly keep an obit, praying for him, Margaret his wife, his parents Walter and Agnes Culpepper, Richard Wakehurst the elder (his wife’s grandfather), and Richard Wakehurst the younger and his wife Agnes (his wife’s parents). Although we should not read too much into such a request, it seems irresistibly telling that he did not request prayers for Richard the elder’s wife Elizabeth, who had caused him so much trouble.

Although this case is complicated, and almost certainly some of the details, such as the exact role of the girls’ mother Agnes, are likely to remain obscure, it nevertheless presents a much fuller story than many of the other petitions I have examined. We can see that what was originally presented to Chancery as a violent abduction incident could eventually form the basis of an enduring marriage, or two enduring marriages in this case. It is not necessary to make recourse to Stockholm syndrome to explain this outcome – it is much more likely that these were in face consensual marriages that were only presented as abductions.

A brief summary of my findings demonstrates that the Wakehurst case was exceptional in some ways, but quite conventional in others. Perhaps because of the nature of the legal forum to which they were being directed, most Chancery petitions do not depict abduction primarily as a violent, or even a sexual, crime. Instead the focus is on rightful guardianship of wards, distribution of inheritance, and control of property and marriage. Like the vast majority of the petitions I have examined, this case shows young women being abducted by adult men who were interested in their property.

The first exceptional aspect of the case is that we know the outcome. In only two other cases I examined was I able to determine the eventual result of the alleged abduction (one resulted in marriage, the other did not). And secondly, there is considerable (if circumstantial) evidence that the alleged abduction was actually no such thing. The apparent complicity of the girls’ step-father (and possibly of their mother as well, given her absence from the legal wrangling), as well as various other relatives, and the likelihood that the consent of the girls themselves would have been needed, suggest that the description of the girls being carried off kicking and screaming by armed men is pure legal fiction. While in most petitions we are left to wonder at the veracity of the claims made by the aggrieved parties, in this case I believe that much of the incident described by Elizabeth Wakehurst did not take place as claimed, but was instead an attempt to “spin” the story to suit her own purposes.

I would suggest that instead, what we see here are the traces of a partially successful courtship. I say “partially successful” because it seems clear that the Culpepper men did manage to gain the consent of both the Wakehurst girls and at least some of their relatives, probably through entirely ordinary ways. Where they failed was in gaining the consent of Elizabeth Wakehurst and her family, who were most likely among the girls’ guardians, and this is where the case took a dramatic turn away from the norm. Instead of a conventional wedding, the couples resorted to what amounted to an elopement, and what was subsequently depicted by angry relatives as an abduction. We cannot know now just how they arrived at this decision, but considering the amount of legal and financial trouble it caused them, it cannot have been lightly taken. To marry without the full support of family and community was a difficult choice, but one which was ultimately successful for the Culpeppers and their brides; despite the clear opposition they faced, there is no evidence of any legal challenge to the validity of their marriages – despite the fact that any such challenge would have had several grounds on which to stand (affinity, force, or marriage outside their home parish). Ultimately, however, there was little an irate family could do to end a marriage that was consensual on the part of both partners - as long as the Wakehurst girls consented before their abduction and not afterwards, no crime had been committed, and the main ramifications would have been financial and social in nature.

Footnotes:

     1. PRO C1/26/304, 1457-60.
     2. Although Haskett debates whether the use of the term ‘equity’ in a strict legal sense (meaning the provision of a remedy that was outside the law, but fulfilled the intention of the law) is truly applicable to the late medieval court, I will use it here for the sake of clarity, with the understanding that some believe it may not be the proper technical term. Haskett, 266-68.
     3. Haskett, 253.
     4. Ives, “Inception and Operation,” 26.
     5. PRO, PCC Prob. 11/4, 24rv.
     6. All of these men were relatives of the family and had been feofees of Richard Wakehurst; in all probability one or more of these writers may also have held the girls’ wardship.
     7. This detail seems not to be present in the petition, although the damage makes it uncertain. It is, however, included in Richard Wakehurst’s entry in The History of Parliament, 732.
     8. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/goudhurst.htm
     9. I have compiled a family tree of the known members of the families involved in this case, which is included as Figure 1. Members of each family whose exact relationship is unknown have not been included on this chart.
     10. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/wakehurst2.htm
     11. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/wakehurst2.htm
     12. John Burke, Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, 2nd ed. (London: John Russell Smith, 1844), 145.
     13. Burke, Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 145.
     14. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/wakehurst2.htm.

Family

Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst (say 1435 - circa October 1516)

Last Edited

23 May 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Pp 65-66.

Gerald Haume

M, (say 1470 - say 1498)

Birth*

say 1470

Gerald was born say 1470.

Marriage*

say 1495

He married Joyce Culpeper say 1495.

Death*

say 1498

He died say 1498.

Family

Joyce Culpeper (say 1477 - )

Last Edited

2 April 2000

Walter Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent¹

M, (say 1442 - say 1522)

Birth*

say 1442

Walter was born say 1442.

Marriage*

23 October 1463

He married Margaret Penn on 23 October 1463.

Marriage*

say 1491

He married Isabel Culpeper say 1491.

Marriage*

say 1495

He married Alicia Naylor say 1495.

Death*

say 1522

He died say 1522.

Biography*

Sheriff of co. Kent in 5 Henry VII. Built the moated house in the valley of Glassenbury. For his ancestors and descendants, see the Robertes Pedigree in the Visitation of Kent, 1574 and 1619.

Family 1

Margaret Penn (say 1443 - 6 May 1540)

Family 2

Isabel Culpeper (say 1473 - )

Family 3

Child

Elizabeth Roberts+ (13 March 1492 - )

Family 4

Alicia Naylor (say 1465 - )

Child

Thomas Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent+ (say 1496 - )

Last Edited

22 July 2000

Citations

1574 Visitation, Kent, England.

Constantia Chamberlayn

F, (say 1470 - 1542)

Father

Sir Robert Chamberlayn of Sussex (s 1425 - )

Name Variation

She was also known as Constance.

Birth*

say 1470

Constantia was born say 1470.

Marriage

say 1488

She married Richard Harper say 1488.

Married Name

say 1488

As of say 1488, her married name was Harper.

Marriage*

say 1495

She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight say 1495.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Married Name

say 1495

As of say 1495, her married name was Culpeper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

(1) Will

20 May 1540

She is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, on 20 May 1540.^1,2

Will*

4 October 1541

She made a will at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, on 4 October 1541.

     The 4 October 1541, 33 Henry VIII, I DAME CONSTANCE COLEPEPIR, wydow, of Goutherst [Goudhurst] in the countie of Kent. To be buryed in the paryshe churche of Goutherst in the chapell where my husband lyethe. To high aulter 6s. 8d.
I will my body be brought in erthe and to be doon for at the daye of my buryall and at the daye of my mounethes mynde connenyent and according as shalbe mete for a woman of my degree. (Then as in her husabnds will to avoid multitude of people). That is my knyll to be rownge at Goutherst wt the grete bell the daye of my buryall and dirige to be songe there the same daye, three masses, one of Trinytie and other of our Lady and the thyrde of Requiem to be songe the next day after my buryall and £3 there for &e &e (as in her husbands will) and at Cranebroke, Benenden, Lambersherst and Stapleheerst.
     Also my executours do fynde two tapers of waxe to berne upon my herse and as many tapers to bernne about the Chapell as I nowe fynde about the ayd Chapell to contynue one hole yere.
     To 12 poore men a gowne wt a hod and 4d. and thaye to stonde aboute my herce holding euery of theym a Torche praying all the service tyme for my soule, my husbond soule and all xpen soules. Fyve por women to cum ons a weke vnto the churche on the same daye yet shall happen me to dye and there to here mass wt in my foresayd Chapell during the space of one hole yere to praye for my soule &e and my executors to content and paye vnto euery of the seyd por women quarterly 3s. 4d.
     One honest preest to singe and saye masse and to pray for my soule my husbands soule and all xpen soules wt in the foresayd Chapell by the space of one hole yere and the same prest shall saye dirige euery day in the weke wt in the foresayd chapell from the daye of my decease vntill the morowe after my monethes mynde &e and to have £7 he fynding wax, wyne and brede.
     Also I will that my vestment of blake veluet wt the cresse of clothe of gold lyncell vpon yt now remaynyng in my chapell at Begebury shall remayne and be occupyed in my chapell at Goutherst during one hole yere and remayn to the behoof of the churche of Goutherst for euer.
     To the paryche churche of Goutherst £20 towards the Reparacons or byinge of new ornaments.
     Unto my sone Thomas Colepepyr (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst) my basone and ewer of syluer wt his fathers armes and myne graven in them, two grete salts of syluer all gilte with a cover, two syluer quarte potts parcell gilt wt his fathers armes and myn graven on the lyddes of theym, three syluer bolls wt a couer parcell gylte, two of my best dyaper table clothes, two of my best dyaper towells, 12 of my new dyaper napkyns, a garnyshe of my bet pewter vessell, my hanging of areys that hangith in the chambr called the blewe chamber wt the Tester, seelez, curteyns, fetherbed, bolster, pyllowes fustyans and counterpoynte as yt now lyeth and my best cusshyon of clothe of golde wt two carpetts in the foresayd Chambr one ouer the cupborde and the other in the wyndowe a long carpett for a table which ys my best carpett. Also sixe moo fetherbedds for seruaunts to lye on. Also my best aulterclothe, my best vestments of white damaske embrothered, wt all things therto belonging, wt a corporas clothe and a corporas case of blewe clothe of golde, my chaleys, my masse boke and my Ringe that I was maryed wt to his father wt A and C graven in the ynnesyde of the same rynge. And also 12 workinge oxen wt plowes, harrowes, wagnes, corts and all things to them belonging.
     Also vnto my sone John Colepepyr (John Culpeper of St. Stephens) in redy mony £26. 13. 4., 6 syluer spones wt rounde playne knoppis gylte, two lytel gilte salts with a couer, a longe cusshyn of clothe of golde Tyncell and blake veluet wt Trayfoyles of gold vpon ytt embrithered, 6 cusshyns of verder, a garnyshe of new pewter vessell, a tester of ceeler of tawny veluet and tawney damaske paned wt three curteyns of blacke silke, my fetherbed that lyeth in the greate Bedsted in the new parlor, a bolster two pillowes two payre of shets, a payr of blanketts and my best counterpoynte of blewe sylk and golde.
     Also vnto my foresayd two sonnes Thomas and John all my harneys or Armure that is to saye Almayne Ryvetts, splents, brykenders, saletts, aporns of mayle, gorgetts, bowes, shevys of arowes and bylls egally betwene theym to be devyded and shisted.
     To my sone George Harpur (Sir George Harper) my Ringe of golde with a dyamond three square sett therein, a grete boll of syluer wt a couer all gilte, a spone of syluer with a steale gilte wt a forke a thende, my chayre coueryd wt blake veluett, my fetherbed that lyeth in the lytell bed in the newe parloour wt the bolster, pillowes and blanketts to the same wt a couerlett of tawny silke of bawdekyn wt a tester and ceeler of the same silke of Bawdekyn and 5 cusshyns of redd saye embrothered wt silke vpon theym.
     Unto my doughter Margaret Chone (Margaret Culpeper) halfe of my flagon chayne of golde, one of my brasletts of golde, halfe the chayne of golde that I hadd of my brother Sr. Edwarde Chamberlyn, knight, a grete boll of syluer all gilte wt a foote, a chayne of gold that I was wonte to weare two folde aboute my neke, a ryng of gold wt a grete Safewre sett therein which the King dyd gyve my husbond, a cruse of stone that I do vse to drynke in with a couer of syluer and gilte, six playne syluer spones, a browche of gold wt a maydennys hed enamyled, my worser vestment of white damaske wt all things therto belonging wt an aulter clothe halowed, a corporas cloth and a corporas case of crymsyn veluet wt Ihus of gold enbrothered vpon ytt and the auter cloth of grene saten and crymsyn damaske, my cupbord whiche stondith in my chambr which sumtyme seruith for an aulter, my trussing bedsted in the letell parlor wt the Irous therto belonging, a table and a payre of trestells of sypres, a frenche carpet, my best bonet of veluet, my partelet of blake saten poothered, my night gowne of blake saten, my kyrtell of crymsyn saten, the fetherbed that she lyeth on wt the bolster, two pillowes wt a couerlett of sarsenett, a tester, a ceeler, three curteyns all paned russett and yelowe sarsenett, a longe cusshon of white cloth of bawdekyn and blake veluett wt trayfoyles of golde enbrothered vpon yt a square cusshyon of silke wrought with needell worke, 2 grete grene carpet cusshyons, 2 new pewter basons, a litell chaffer of brasse. Also a bay colte, the dam of yt I bought of Luce Harpur and my best sadell with the gilte pomell wt the brydell and harneys therto perteynyng and also my pylion of fustyan of Naples wt brydell, harnes and foote scale therto belonging.
     Unto my doughter Kateryn (Catherine Culpeper) my chayne of gold I dyd weare for a girdell sowen vpon a blake lace, thother half of my flagon chayne of gold, thother half of the chayne of golde that I hadd of my forsayd brother Sir. Edward Chamberleyn Knight, thother of my brasletts of golde and a Rose of golde enamyled white with viij Rubyes and a poynted dyamond sett therein, a grete boll of syluer all gilte wt a foote, six palyne spones of syluer, a stone cruse wt a couer of syluer, a browche of golde wt a crucifix and seynt Jerom graven in ytt. Also my new parlor and the cupbord that standith in the dynyng parlor, a chayre of Sypres, two cusshions wherof one of them ys alonge cusshyon of white cloth of bawdekyn and blake veluet wt trayfoyles of gold enbrothered and thother ys a square cusshyon of silk wrought wt nedellworke and two grete grene carpett cusshyns and my grete grene carpett that I occupye euery daye in the parlour, my worser bonett of veluet, my fruntelett of blak veluet, my best poothered bonett, my parrys and larbes. Also my nyght gowne of tawny damask, my kyrtell of crymsyn veluet, my olde kyrtell of blake veluet, my two aulter clothes of white and grene sarcenet paned, embrothered wt Imagery and flowers. Also my fetherbedd whiche I now lye on with the bolster, two pillowes, the tester, celler and couerlett as yt now ys with three custens of grene silk wt all other things to the same bed belonging, two pewter basons, a little chaffer of brasse and my sorell Colte that I bought of Bruer the Colyer and my sadell couered wt tawny veluet wt brydell and harnys therto belonging and my pilyon of tawny veluet wt brydell and harnes therto apperteyning. Also my thirde vestment of silk wt all things therto belonging wt the aulter cloth halowed and a corporas cloth with the corporas case of crymsyn cloth of gold and grene tyncellyed wt gold.
     Also unto my foresayd two doughters Margarett and Kateryn my gowne of blak veluet to be departyd betwene theym and also all my sleves of silk and lynen in like maner betwene the same Margarett and Kateryn to be deuyded and shisted.
     Also I bequeth vnto my doughters Anne Molyns (Anne Culpeper) and Johane Fitzyames (Johanna Culpeper) my hole folde of chaynes of gold egally and indifferently betwene them to be deuyded and shysted. Also unto the same Anne a stone pott wt a couer of syluer and gilte wt a rose graven on the lydde therof and also a pece of syluer withoute a foote and sixe spones of syluer wt Lyons gilte on the knoppes. Also my gowne of blake taffata and my best kyrtell of blak veluet. Also vnto the foresayd Johane Fitzyames six spones of syluer wt lyons on the knoppes gilte and a litell pece of syluer all gilte withoute a foote, a stone pott wt a couer syluer and gilte wt a Rose graven vpon ytt, also my gowne of blak damask and my kyrtell of blake damask chekeryd.      Also unto my foresayd foure doughters Anne, Johane, Margaret and Katheryn all my dyaper sheets, bordeclothes, cupbordclothes, towells, napkyns and pyllowbeers not before nor hereafter by me wylled.
     Unto my nephew Rafe Chamberleyn my litell gilt pott wt a couer which my brother dyd gyve me, and to my neece his wyf my gilte spone which my brother also dyd gyve me. Unto my nephew George Chamberleyn two syluer spones with flatt knoppes gylte and to my neece his wyfe my Ringe of golde wt a litell turkes in ytt. Unto my nephew Leondard Chamberleyn two syluer spones wt flatt knoppes gilte. My nephew Francis Chamberleyn one spone of syluer wt a flatt knoppe gilte. Unto my neece Marye Ryther my Ring of golde wt a table dyamonde and a browche of golde wt a mans hedd sett therein and sett with redd amell with a wreathe of perle aboute yt.
     Unto my Lady Gray of the Mote in Kent a payre of beades of golde with a tassell of golde athende and 19 grete beade stones, besyds the smale beade stones in the same. Unto my Lady Baker my grete Ringe of golde with a grete Turkes sett in yt and a grete button of golde for a pertelett wt a grete Baleys sett therein.
     Unto my cosyn John Colepepyr (John Culpeper of Ingham, co. Norfolk) the yonger sonne of my cosyn Rycharde Colepepyr of Wakenherst (Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst) in redy money foure pounds. Also my cosyn Jasper Colepepyr (Jasper Culpeper of Penshurst, Kent & Arlington, Sussex) his brother my lytell lantern of syluer.
     Unto my sonne Nicholas Clyfford my flagon bottel of syluer to cast swete water wt.
     Also I give unto Alice Colpeper my husband doughter (Alice Culpeper) my gown of blake clothe wt stayte (sic) sleves of my kyrtell of blak Russell worsted, a fetherbed, a bolster, two payre of sheets, 2 blanketts and a couerlett, a tester and ceeler wt three curteyns of white cloth and two kyne.
     Unto Jane Porter my gowne of frenche blake cloth and my kyrtell of blake saten and tenne pounds in redy money and my worste partelett of blacke veluet and also a fetherbed, a bolster, two pillowes, a payr of blanketts, two payre of sheets of bokeram and the tester, ceeler, three curteyns and a counterpoint of Redd and yewlow saye paned.
     Unto the foreseyd Alice Colepepyr and Jane porter all my Rayles, Kerchers and Smocks.
     Unto my neece Mary Watno my best wrytten prymer with two clapses of syluer and gilte couered with blake veluet and three pounds in money.
     Also unto my nephew Edward Colepepyr doctor (Unidentified by Culpepper Connections), in redy money foure pounds.
     Unto Elizabeth Ryther a syluer spone wt a flatt knopp gilte. Vnto my cosyn Henry Sampsons wyffe my partelet of tawny veluet poothered.
     Unto my two sonnes in lawe, Aldred Fitzyames (Alfred Fitzjames of Somerset) and Wylliam Nolyns (William Molyns) in redy mony fyve pounds apece.
     Unto Thomas Darells wyf thelder of Scotney a gilte spone with a perle at thende, my lytell penner and ynkehorne of gold enameled with blake and my best partelett of blake veluet.
     Unto Henry Rogers of Westwell my best tablett of golde. Nicholas Fynche my baye horse and 40s. and to Agas hys wyfe 20s. to by her a gowne. Wylliam Syddenham gent 20s. My goddoughter Constance Fynche a cowe. Margarett Curle my matens booke couered with blake veluet harnessed and clapsed wt syluer, wt the letter of A and C, chayned, and my signet of golde with the bies of A and C, chayned, and 40s. and my long blake beades wt fyve peecys of golde on them ,my worser tablett and my dooble gelding. To George Kendall her sone my Iron gray Colte of two yeres ole.
     Unto Robert Gawen 40s. Alexaunder Dence a cowe. Wylliam Asten thelder 6s. 8d. Richard Meryham 6s. 8d. My goddaughter Constance BesByche a cowe. Feythe Coocheman a cowe. My godsone Rycard Brykendennys sone of Cranebrooke, clothyer, a cowe. Thomas Wyllenhale ten poundes and the yonge gelding which I bought of Hugh Pecok and the fetherbed &e whiche he nowe lyeth on and a payre of bokeram sheets.
     Unto Symond Wyllenhale other tenne pounds and the young Roane gelding of my owne brede and the fetherbed &e whiche he nowe lieth on and a payre of bokeram sheets. And for William Pyerson, my chapelyn 20s. To Cristofer Petter 40s. and the gelding that was bought of Hovenden. Alexaunder Dod thre pounds 6s. 8d. and 2 kyne and a fetherbed, bolster payer of shets a payr of blankets and a couerlet.
     nto John Dod 20s. and a cowe. Robert Thorpe 40s. and a cowe. John Browne 40s. and a cowe. John Whatman 20s. and a cowe. Wylliam Hadden 20s. and the gelding called Essex. John Sharpe 20s. and a gelding called Collshawe. Hugh Pecok 20s. and a cowe. Anthony Lyle 13s. 4d. Thomas Arglas 20s. and a cowe. Henry Cooke 13s. 4d. Wylliam Clowte 20s. and a cowe. Richard Kemp 10s. and a cowe. Anne Basset 10s. and a cowe. Lore Raper 10s. and a cowe. George Cots 10s. and a cowe. And to all other of my seruants as shall happen to be in my service at the tyme of my dethe 6s. 8d. a pece.
     And where Sir Alexaunder Colepepir Knight my late husbande, whose soule God pardon, by his last wyll willed that yf I dye my doughters Margarett and Katheryn being unmaryed that they shall have towards theire gynding yerely £6. 13. 4. a peece out of the manors of Hardyshall and Austeley to me the foresayd Dame Constance by my forsaid husbande wylled and bequethed for the space of 20 yeres and also one hundreth pounds a pece towards their maryage, my wyll mynde and entent ys that my sayd two doughters Margarett and Katheryn shall have the yerely rents and profytts for the space of 9 yeres and a half next aftir my decease which be of the yerely value of £66 sterling deducting oute therof yerely for theyr forsayd annuyties £6. 13. 4. a pece and also an anuyte yerely of £3. 6. 8. vnto Alice Colepeper according to her fathers wyll and 26s. 8d. of my gyfte to her yerely during the same nine yeres.
     Also for my lord Marques fee 20s., for Alexaunder Parker and Mighell Parkers fees 20s., for Wylliam Hylles fee 20s. for his fee that shall gather the rent yerely 33s. 4d. for costs of the Corte 6s. 8d. All whiche deduccioun yerely allowed Remayneth yerely vnto the foresayd Margarett and Katheryn £43 egally betwene theym to be devyded and shysted. The whole yerely value of £43 in nine years and di amounteyth vnto the some of £408. 10s. wherof £200 ys of their fathers bequest towards theire maryages and £208.10 Resydue ys of my gyfte vnto the sayd Margarett and Katheryn.
     If it happen the forsayd Margarett to dye or deceas, whiche God forbyd, unmaryed, at any tyme before the 9 yeres di be fully expyred endyed, lyvyng her syster Kateryn or yf the sayd Kateryn dye then the sum to revert vnto her syster [and then to her other systers Anne and Johane egally and to their children and to her two brothers Thomas Colepepyr and John Colepepyr equally].
     Also I wyll my cosyn John Colepepyr the yonger, one of the sonnes of my foresayd cosyn Richard Colepepyr of Wakeherst shall have out of the rents of the foresayd maners after my sone John Colepepyr be payd his parte and porcion £10. Also my sone George Harpur £40. My goddaughter Constance Colepepyr £20 out of the rents &e of the foresayd maners ymmedyately after my forsayed sone George Harpur be contentyd and payd of hys parte. To my goddaughter Dorothey Fitzyames £20 [after Constance is paid]. Also I wylle that Constance Molyns have £10 [similarly]. To my goddaughter Constance Clyfford £10. To Ursula Clyfford £5 in like maner when her syster Constance ys payd [the will then arranges in case any of these die].
     My executours shall sell so much tymber growing vpon lands of the manor of Hardyshall and Austeley as shall amount vnto £30 wherof I bequeth vnto Sir John Baker, Knight, £20, and £10 of the resydue to Thomas Darell thelder of Skotney esquyer to see my testament and last will truly executyd.
     The obit in last will of my husband Sir Alexaunder Colepepyr to be kept. Also where the same my husbande by his last wyll wylled an honest seculer prest to sing and saye masse for his soule and all xpen soules in the Chapell of Seynt George and Seynt Sebastian wt in the parysshe churche of Goutherst aforesayd during the terme of fyve yeres and the same preest to have £6. 13. 4. and to poore people in almes 33s. 4d. and also yerely towards the reparacions of the same churche £3. 6. 8. during six yeres, whereof my sayd husband dyd wyll and bequeth vnto me all the Rents, revenues &e of his purchased lands and tenements called the Market Place of Goutherst wt the shoppis, fayre and the Tenement and lands called Besshefelds, for the space of fyve yeres which be of the clere yerely value of £5. 7.7. and also his purchased lands and tenement called Paynetts and Tryggs of the yerely value of £9. 12. by yere which be of the yerely vallue of £14. 19. 7. by yere. Whereof deducte and alowe oute for the prests wages £6. 13. 4. and for almes 33s. 4d. for reparacons of the churche of Goutherst £3. 6. 8. and for hym that shall gather the rents and fermes for fyve yeres 20s. – sm. of all the deducions and allowaunces yerely £13. 6. 8. and so remayneth yerely clere vnto me 33s. 9d., the which I geve vnto my sone John Colepepyr.
     Sir John Baker and Thomas Daroll to ordeyn for my soule and all xpen as also to kepe hospitality and howsold ymmedyately after my deceas wt in the maner of Regebury and to fynde all my doughters and other my household and I make them my executours. To the whiche Sir John Baker I do give my Ringe of golde whiche ys edged on euery syde lyke a smale Jenumour and six fatt steeres and to Thomas Darell my ringe of gold wreathed wt a Rubye sett in yet and foure fatt steers.
Supervisors my nevewe John Ryther Esquire and my cosyn Harry Sampson Esquyre.
     Witnes: Wylliam Asten thelder, clothier and Richard Meryham.
     By me Constance Colepepyr.
******
The Codicell of Dame Constance Colepepyr deceased made after the making of her testament and last wyll.
     In primes to Sr. John Baker, Knight, a bason and an ewer of syluer and percell gylte wt three moryons hedds enamyled vpon them. Wynes therunto Nicholas Fynche, Thomas Wyllenhale, John Browne and other.
     Item to Verny 40s. Wytnes Mr. Sampson, Nicholas Fynche, Robert Grene and John Browne. To John Rade 40s. Wytnes Nicholas Fynche and Thomas Wellenhale.
     Item she wylled that Sir Wylliam Pyerson clerke should sing for her soule in the chapell of Seynt George and Seynt Sebastyan in Goutherst one yere ouer and above the yere expressyd in her sayd wyll and to have for his labour £7. Wytnes: Nicholas Fynche and Thomas Wyllenhale.
     To Peter 40s. and a gelding called Hovenden. Wytnes Mastres Margart Masteres, Kateryn Colepepyr, Nicholas Fynche and other.
     To her doughter Margarett the gray gelding that was bought of Maye, a lytell goblet of syluer wt a cover.
     To her doughter Kateryn a goblet of syluer wt out a couer and a few saddell of fustyan of Naples with a gylt pomell and a fork of syluer and gylte with a dogge at thende.
     To her doughters Margarett and Kateryn fowre grote pecs of golde in a purse of blake veluet.
     To Mayes wyfe, to Chemannys wyfe, Woodes wyfe and Benchekyns wyfe foure elles of lynyn clothe egally devyded and shysted.
     To her doughters Margarett and Kateryn the some of fourtye pounds due to her for woode sale viz £10 due by Burges and £30 due by Dorley and moreover she gave to Margarett and Kateryn £10 due to her by Raaf Chamberleyn esquyer.
*****
Proved at London 13 November 1542 by Robert Alen notary public for executors. (P.C.C. 12 Spert.)^3,4

Death*

1542

She died at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, in 1542.

Burial*

1542

Her body was interred in 1542 at St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst, co. Kent, England.

Family 1

Richard Harper (say 1460 - say 1494)

Child

Sir George Harper (say 1490 - )

Family 2

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight (say 1470 - 1541)

Children

John Culpeper of St. Stephens (say 1495 - )
Catherine Culpeper (say 1496 - )
Elizabeth Culpeper (say 1497 - )
Johanna Culpeper (say 1498 - )
Margaret Culpeper (say 1499 - )
Anne Culpeper (say 1500 - )
Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst+ (say 1501 - 13 May 1558)

Last Edited

23 May 2011

Citations

Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury Will, 20 May 1540
Tudor P.C.C. Will Transcription by L. L. Duncan - Book 54 page 28.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Goudhurst_1541.pdf.
Constance Culpeper of Goudhurst Will, 4 Oct 1541
Tudor P.C.C. Will Transcription by L. L. Duncan - Book 54 page 37.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Constance_of_Goudhurst_1542-1.pdf
and http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Constance_of_Goudhurst_1542-2.pdf.

Agnes Davy

F, (say 1472 - say 1493)

Father

Roger Davy of Northfleet, Kent, Esq. (s 1442 - )

Birth*

say 1472

Agnes was born say 1472.

Marriage*

say 1490

She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight say 1490.

Married Name

say 1490

As of say 1490, her married name was Culpeper.

Name-AltSpell

say 1490

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Death*

say 1493

She died say 1493.

Family

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight (say 1470 - 1541)

Child

Alice Culpeper (say 1491 - )

Last Edited

23 May 2011

Philippa Hinckstead¹

F, (say 1549 - before 7 July 1574)

Birth*

say 1549

Philippa was born say 1549.

Married Name

say 1567

As of say 1567, her married name was Culpeper.

Marriage*

say 1567

She married Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, co. Kent at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England, say 1567.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Burial*

7 July 1574

Her body was interred on 7 July 1574 at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England.

Death*

before 7 July 1574

She died before 7 July 1574.

Biography*

The christian name appears from her burial at Harrietsham, July 7, 1574, as 'Philippa, uxor Francisci Culpep'.' The description quoted ('dau. and heir of . . . of Hinckstead.') is that given in one of the Rowe More Kentish pedigrees (B. M. Add. MS. 5528, fo. 176). No other identification has appeared.
.
Source: Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern neck."

Family

Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, co. Kent (1538 - 31 May 1591)

Children

John Culpeper of Folkington, co. Sussex+ (1568 - 6 October 1607)
Walter Culpeper (before 2 November 1573 - 1595)

Last Edited

15 June 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.

Joan Pordage¹

F, (1538 - 23 March 1598)

Father

John Pordage of Rodmersham, co. Kent (1493 - 14 May 1589)

Birth*

1538

Joan was born in 1538.

Marriage

1550

She married William Stede of Harrietsham, co. Kent, Esq. in 1550.

Married Name

1550

As of 1550, her married name was Stede.

Married Name

1574

As of 1574, her married name was Colepeper.

Married Name

1574

As of 1574, her married name was Colepeper.

Married Name

1574

As of 1574, her married name was Culpeper.

Marriage*

1574

She married Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, co. Kent at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, in 1574.

(1) Will

20 May 1590

She is mentioned in the will of Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, co. Kent at co. Kent, England, on 20 May 1590.²

Will*

8 March 1594

She made a will on 8 March 1594.

Abstract of the Will of Joan (Pordage) Colepeper

My goods and chattels to my welbeloved son Wm. Steede of Harrietsham Esq (Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight) to pay my debts. He is executor. £100 to purchase land for the poor in Harrietsham and Hollingbourne. To my son (i.e. son in law) William Covert (William Covert). Executor to have 10 rings made for the following:

To my sonne Wm. Covert and his wife: 2.

To my sonne (i.e. son in law) Richard Colepeper (Richard Culpeper of Newton Longville, co. Bucks.) and his wife: 2.

To my sonne Thomas Colepeper (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne, the Elder, Knight): 1.

To my sonne Edward Patriche (Edward Partriche) and to my daughter Susanna (Susanna Stede): 2.

To my sonne Walter Colepeper (Walter Culpeper): 1. (This must mean her stepson, the half brother of Thomas Colepeper above, who in putting up the monument to his parent's memory in Hollingbourne Church, styles himself "unicus iis communis filius" and therefore shows that he was not "slain in Holland" before 1594.)

To my sonne Steed (Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight) to retain 1 for himself and to deliver 1 other to my daughter his wife (Cicely Culpeper). Residue to my son Thomas Colepeper (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne, the Elder, Knight) when 24. As to Greenway Court I give it as I am empowered by my husband's will to my son Thomas for a period of 2 years after my decease.³

Death*

23 March 1598

She died at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 23 March 1598.

Burial*

7 April 1598

Her body was interred on 7 April 1598 at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England.¹

Probate

9 May 1598

Probate action was taken on Joan's estate on 9 May 1598 at co. Kent, England.³

Biography*

For Pordage of Rodmershain (near Sittingbourne and only a few miles north of Greenway Court) see Hasted, ii, 593; The Genealogist, vi, 76.
For Stede of Harrietsham, with whom the Wigsell Culpepers several times intermarried in consequence of this alliance of Francis, see the pedigree returned at the Visitation of Kent, 1619 (Harl. Soc. Pub., xlii, 71) and Berry's continuation in his Kent. One of these Stedes, whose mother was a Culpeper, served in America as Governor of Barbados.
Joan Pordage was buried in Hollingbourne, April 7, 1598, as Joane Culpeper, vidua' and left a will, which combines genealogical material of the Stedes and Culpepers.⁴

Family 1

William Stede of Harrietsham, co. Kent, Esq. (say 1529 - )

Children

Susanna Stede (after 1550 - )
Elizabeth Stede (after 1550 - )
Jane Stede+ (circa 1562 - )
Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight+ (say 1566 - )

Family 2

Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, co. Kent (1538 - 31 May 1591)

Child

Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne, the Elder, Knight+ (circa 1575 - circa 26 January 1661/62)

Last Edited

16 May 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P.C.C. 85 Sainberbe, Will dated May 20, 1590, Proved November 22, 1591.
Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
C. Liber 38, No. 168.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.

Lettice Clarke

F, (say 1560 - )

Father

Humphrey Clarke of Westhalks in Kingsnorth, Kent (1501 - )

Mother

Margaret Mayne (s 1530 - )

Birth*

say 1560

Lettice was born at Kingsworth, co. Kent, England, say 1560.

Marriage*

say 1578

She married Dr. Martin Culpeper of Feckenham in Astwood, co. Worc. say 1578.

Married Name

say 1578

As of say 1578, her married name was Culpeper.

(2) Will

1 October 1605

She is mentioned in the will of Dr. Martin Culpeper of Feckenham in Astwood, co. Worc. on 1 October 1605.¹

Family

Dr. Martin Culpeper of Feckenham in Astwood, co. Worc. (1540 - circa 9 October 1605)

Children

Sir Martin Culpeper of Deane, co. Oxon+ (say 1580 - 25 June 1604)
Sir Stephen Culpeper of Chipping Campden, Glouchester (1581 - 13 July 1611)
Mercy Culpeper+ (say 1582 - 1629)

Last Edited

20 January 2011

Citations

Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Will of Dr. Martin Culpeper of Astwood in Feckingham; P.C.C. Hayes, 88; Will dated October 1, 1605; Proved December 12, 1605.

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple¹

M, (say 1602 - say 1652)

Father

John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. (1565 - c 16 Dec 1635)

Mother

Ursula Woodcock (b 27 Jan 1566 - b 2 Jun 1612)

Name Variation

He was also known as Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Culpeper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1602

Thomas was born at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England, say 1602.

Marriage*

10 July 1628

He married Katherine St. Leger at Ulcombe, co. Kent, England, on 10 July 1628.

(3) Will

14 December 1635

He is mentioned in the will of John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. on 14 December 1635.²

(2) Will

13 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 13 January 1644.^3,4

(3) Will

30 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^5,6

Death*

say 1652

He died at Virginia say 1652.

(3) Biography

He is referenced in a biographical note for John Culpeper the Merchant.⁷

Biography*

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple, son of John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. is the lost pleiad of the Wigsell pedigree. A victim of the disorganization of society during the Civil Wars, he left few certain genealogical records, and it is necessary to tie together such material for him as is available by deduction and argument; but by careful tests of that material in relation to the other Thomases of his generation, the logical process of elimination makes it possible to reconstruct his career. The difficulty begins with his birth, for the mutilated parish register of Harrietsham, which records his younger brother's baptism, does not testify for him. Although Dr. Martin Culpeper's will, written in October, 1605, seems to imply that he did not then know of the existence of the great nephew for whom he intended a portion of his estate, this Thomas must have been born in 1602 so as to be of age in 1623, when his record requires that estate.

The first certain testimony for him is his admission to the Middle Temple on May 7, 1621, as 'Mr. Thomas Culpeper, son and heir apparent of John Culpeper of Astwood, Esq.' (Bidwell, ii, 662). He was then bound with his father and the 'Mr. John Culpeper, jun.,' who was about to be knighted and eventually became the first Lord Culpeper (see: R:3]), with whom he was associated to the end of his life. That he had embarked on a serious professional career in the tradition of his father appears from the fact that chambers were assigned to him in the Temple in 1623, when we assume he had attained his majority; and an incidental recital of his name in the Middle Temple records him in 1630 as 'of the utter bar.'

We have seen that his father was one of the original subscribers to the Virginia Company; in 1623, while John was still living, 'Mr. Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple, London, Esq.' became a member of that company also, in his own right, when his kinsman, George Scott, 'passed' to him three shares in the company (Records of the Virginia Company, L. C. ed., pp. 389, 412). That the investment connoted more than a casual investment interest appears from the later record (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1633-34, p. 223) of his ownership of a half interest, with his merchant brother, in a ship, the Thomas and John, which was destined to carry many immigrants to Virginia.

The other records of him, until the beginning of war between King and Parliament, are his marriage at Ulcombe in 1628; the baptism and burial there of his first child in 1629; the baptism of three younger children from 1630 to 1634 at Hollingbourne; his probate of his father's will in January, 1635/6, and his name as first born child on his father's MI. (1636). These testimonies show that on his marriage he went to live with his uncle, Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight, at Ulcombe; but soon transferred his residence to Greenway Court, where his father later joined him.

It may fairly be assumed that he was one of the 'gentlemen from the Inns of Court' who offered their services to the King after the passage of the Grand Remonstrance (Gardiner, x, 124; Bedwell, Middle Temple, p. 52) and that he subsequently served in the royalist army; but his name does not appear in the army lists of 1642 (Peacock, Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers, 1863; Masson, Life of Milton, ii, 445), nor has diligent search turned up any reference to him in other printed sources for biography during the first war. The next definite record is therefore in January, 1644/5, at Oxford; where he witnessed the will and a codicil of his uncle, Sir Alexander Culpeper; under which the inheritance intended for him was placed in trust for his young son (Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA) with the palpable purpose of avoiding the political forfeiture which might follow a bequest to Thomas himself.

Thereafter the record is silent again until 1648, when he turns up as a participant in the royalist plots in Kent (Markham, The Great Lord Fairfax, p. 305). In this adventure he was drawn along with the earl of Norwich's little army in its irresolute passage of the Thames, after a smashing defeat at Maidstone, to the refuge found in Colchester in June of that year. And so Thomas became one of the gallant band who, to the astonishment of all England, for eleven weeks maintained themselves behind improvised fortifications against the grim and angry leaguer of an ever victorious general 'whose name in arms through Europe rings.' When at last starvation brought the garrison of Colchester to its inevitable collapse, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Culpepper was one of the 'lords, Superior officers and gentlemen of distinction' named by Matthew Carter who, by the terms of the capitulation, were 'rendered to the mercy of the Lord General.' After executing Lucas and Lisle and reserving the others 'who bore the principal command' for action by the parliament, 'the General distributed to every regiment a certain number of gentlemen who were prisoners, as slaves to the gallies, to ransom themselves; and most of them did afterwards purchase their liberty, by giving as much as they were able for the same, and returned home.' That Thomas Culpeper availed himself of that rigorous quarter and in doing so impoverished himself may be deduced from Sir William Berkeley's later testimony that he 'lost all his estate, life and liberty in the King's service' (Am. & W. I., 1669-74, No. 571).

What next became of him appears in the precedent of the experience of his kinsman and recent comrade in arms, Col. Samuel Tuke, whom John Evelyn records having met in Paris soon after the surrender of Colchester. Thomas Culpeper seems also to have made his way to France. His immediate attraction was that Lord Culpeper was already there. It was thus that our next record is at St. Germains, where, in the court of the 'King of Virginia,' on September 18, 1649, Thomas Culpeper was made one of the original patentees of the Northern Neck.

When this charter was renewed, May 8, 1669, that Thomas Culpeper was recited to be dead (Am. & W. I., 1669-74, No. 63). It appears elsewhere that Katherine, his wife, died a widow in 1658; but it remains for a final deduction as to when and where she lost her husband. The Virginia records prove that some months after the Northern Neck charter was sealed, Sir Dudley Wyatt, the other junior among the proprietors, went out to the colony and there soon died. There is no such evidence for Thomas Culpeper, but the tradition (W. & M. Quar., x, 274) is that he was Wyatt's companion to the end. This is persuasive because it is supported by the facts that both Thomas Culpeper's daughters married in Virginia in 1652, that one of his sons was described by a Virginian in 1671 as 'a gentleman of this Country,' while the other was making a career in Carolina; that his brother John Culpeper the Merchant is shown to have been established in Accomac, and that Thomas himself left no English record of his death or of administration of his estate. We conclude, therefore, that he went out to Virginia in 1650, hoping to establish himself in the Northern Neck; that he took his family with him, and that he died in the colony not later than 1652, when his widow and son returned to England.

Source: Fairfax Harrison.⁸

(2) Biography

He is referenced in a biographical note for Henry Culpeper of Lower Norfolk Co., VA.^9,7

(3) Research note

18 August 2011

He is referenced in a research note for Susanna Culpeper of Connecticut.

Family

Katherine St. Leger (circa 1602 - 1658)

Children

Mary Culpeper (circa 1629 - circa 2 December 1630)
Anne Culpeper (circa 1630 - 1695)
Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA (1631 - 24 December 1694)
John Culpeper son of Thomas & Katherine (circa 1633 - circa 1674)
Frances Culpeper (circa 1634 - after 31 May 1695)

Last Edited

3 May 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Transcription of Will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court Hollingbourne Kent 1649
Ref: 422.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1649.pdf .
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Lewis W. Griffin Jr. (#47), e-mail address.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 4: XIII Thomas Culpepper.
Warren L. Culpepper (#1942), Former publisher of Culpepper Connections, e-mail address.

Cicely Culpeper¹

F, (say 1604 - circa 4 November 1664)

Father

John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. (1565 - c 16 Dec 1635)

Mother

Ursula Woodcock (b 27 Jan 1566 - b 2 Jun 1612)

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1604

Cicely was born say 1604.

(6) Will

14 December 1635

She is mentioned in the will of John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. on 14 December 1635.²

(5) Will

30 January 1644

She is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^3,4

Death*

circa 4 November 1664

She died circa 4 November 1664.

Burial*

5 November 1664

Her body was interred on 5 November 1664 at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England.

Biography*

She was probably baptised in London, but the record has not been found. As a consequence she first appears in her father's will (1635) as 'my dau. Sicely C.' As 'Cecil' she is entered the second child on the MI. in Hollingbourne. In the will of Sir Alexander (1645) she appears as 'my neice Cicely C.'
.
Chester (Westminster Burials, Harl. Soc.) cites the burial in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, November 5, 1664, of 'Cicely Culpeper;' who, as may be demonstrated by the process of elimination, can only have been this daughter of John of Feckenham. .
Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck."

Last Edited

15 June 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.

Frances Culpeper¹

F, (say 1608 - )

Father

John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. (1565 - c 16 Dec 1635)

Mother

Ursula Woodcock (b 27 Jan 1566 - b 2 Jun 1612)

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name Variation

She was also known as Frances Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1608

Frances was born say 1608.

Marriage*

7 January 1626

She married James Medlicote of Feckenham, Co. Worc. on 7 January 1626.

Married Name

7 January 1626

As of 7 January 1626, her married name was Medlicote.

Biography*

The Feckenharn register records the m., January 7, 1625/6, of 'James Medlico and Francis Culpeper' and the baptism, May 22, 1627, of 'Urslye the dau. of James Meadlicoote, gen.' She is named in her father's will (1635) 'Frances Medlicote, my daur.,' and in that of Sir Alexander12 as 'my neice Medlicoate, wife of James M. esq.' On her father's MI. she is entered 'Franciscum' the youngest child.

(8) Will

14 December 1635

She is mentioned in the will of John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. on 14 December 1635.²

(7) Will

30 January 1644

She is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^3,4

Family

James Medlicote of Feckenham, Co. Worc. (say 1605 - )

Last Edited

13 February 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.

Katherine St. Leger¹

F, (circa 1602 - 1658)

Father

Sir Warham St. Leger (1579 - 11 Oct 1631)

Mother

Mary Hayward (c 1580 - 1662)

Birth*

circa 1602

Katherine was born at co. Kent, England, circa 1602.

Marriage*

10 July 1628

She married Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple at Ulcombe, co. Kent, England, on 10 July 1628.

Married Name

10 July 1628

As of 10 July 1628, her married name was Culpeper.

(1) Will

13 January 1644

She is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 13 January 1644.^2,3

(2) Will

30 January 1644

She is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^4,5

Death*

1658

She died at Maidstone, co. Kent, England, in 1658.

Probate*

28 August 1658

Probate action was taken on Katherine's estate on 28 August 1658 at co. Kent, England.

Biography*

Katherine St. Leger, who was adopted by Sir Alexander Culpeper, and, as rehearsed post, married his nephew, Thomas Culpeper of Feckenham, one of the proprietors of the Northern Neck named in the charter of 1649, and was the mother of Frances Culpeper, wife of Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia.

From Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck":
The m. is entered in the Ulcombe register, July 10, 1628, as 'Thomas Culpeper et Katherina Sentleger.' The bride appears in her place, and the m. is noted, in the Stemnuzta St. Leodigaria (hereinbefore cited), but the best evidence for her is the reference in the will of Sir Alexander C. (1645) to 'Katherine, the grandchild of my wife, whom I therefore call daughter... on her marriage with my nephew Thomas Culpeper.' The only other contemporary testimony available is the admon. granted August 28, 1658 (P.C.C. Admon. Act Book, 1658) on goods of 'Katherine Culpeper of Maidstone, Kent, to her son Alexander C.' That she was sister to that Ursula St. Leger, wife of Daniel Horsmanden, parson of Ulcombe, and grandmother of the wife of the first William Byrd of Virginia, explains the intimacy in Virginia between the Byrds and Frances, Lady Berkeley, as shown by contemporary letters. See Va. Mag., xxvi, 128.

Family

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple (say 1602 - say 1652)

Children

Mary Culpeper (circa 1629 - circa 2 December 1630)
Anne Culpeper (circa 1630 - 1695)
Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA (1631 - 24 December 1694)
John Culpeper son of Thomas & Katherine (circa 1633 - circa 1674)
Frances Culpeper (circa 1634 - after 31 May 1695)

Last Edited

18 March 2001

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Transcription of Will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court Hollingbourne Kent 1649
Ref: 422.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1649.pdf .
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.

Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA¹

M, (1631 - 24 December 1694)

Father

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple (s 1602 - s 1652)

Mother

Katherine St. Leger (c 1602 - 1658)

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

1631

Alexander was born in 1631.

(5) Will

13 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 13 January 1644.^2,3

(14) Will

30 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^4,5

Marriage*

19 December 1689

He married Judith Culpeper at St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London, England, on 19 December 1689.

Biography*

Alexander Culpeper, 1631?-1694, makes his first appearance on the available record in the will (1645) of his great uncle, Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight, as 'my godson Alexander C., son and heir apparent of my said nephew Thomas C.', with the characterization that 'whereas said Alexander C., son of my said nephew Thomas C., is yet young and under age so as it is not certainly known how he will prove.' Lacking testimony of his baptism in the registers of Ulcombe, Hollingbourne and Harrietsham, it is a deduction that he was born in 1631; for that is the year in which, alone, he fits in between the proven baptisms of his elder sisters and younger brother. He would thus be fourteen when Sir Alexander described him as 'young and under age.'

We have conjectured that he was taken to Virginia by his father in 1650 and returned to England after his father's death in 1651; certainly he was in Kent in December, 1652, when, having probably recently come of age, he witnessed the will of his uncle, William Godd (P.C.C. Brent, 120; Cf. Va. Mag., xxiii, 382). After administering upon his mother's estate in August, 1658 (P.C.C. Admon. Act Book, 1658) he was still in England in July, 1660, when he witnessed the will of the first Lord Culpeper (John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway). In 1664 and 1666, while the second Lord Culpeper (Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway) was Governor of the Isle of Wight, 'Capt. Alexander Culpeper' was his Secretary, Commander of Cowes Castle and Vice-Admiral's deputy; and, as such, in correspondence with Secretary Williamson (Cal. Treasury Papers, 1660-67, p. 627). A year later, as 'Alexander C. of Leeds Castle,' he took title, on behalf of Lord Culpeper, to the manor of Newport in the Isle of Wight (Close Roll, 21 Car. II, pt. xiii, No. 151; Cf. Victoria County History, Hampshire, v, 261).

That he went out to Virginia after Lord Culpeper gave up his post in the Isle of Wight may be deduced from the fact that in June, 1671, he was in the colony preparing for a voyage to England, when he was described by William Sherwood of Jamestown, in a letter to Lord Arlington, as 'a gentlemen of this country' (Am. & W. I., 1669-74, No. 540). On this occasion he carried also letters from his new brother-in-law, Sir William Berkeley Governor of Virginia, soliciting for him a patent for a post in the colony recently vacant by the death of Edmund Scarbrough.

Culpeper, Alexander (in Virginia 1672, &c.) In 1672 Governor Berkeley applied to the English Government for the appointment of his wife's brother, Alexander Culpeper, to the office of surveyor general of Virginia. He stated that Captain Culpeper was a person who had lived a number of years in Virginia, and whose father had lost his estate, liberty and life in the King's service. V. M., I, 83. (from "Some Emigrants to Virginia"
byW. G. Stanard, Publ. 1911. )

The recommendation was effective: on November 17, 1671, there was enrolled (Patent Roll, 23 Car. II, pt. 8 [3131], No. 16; renewed by James II under date of October 21, 1685; there is a transcript in the MS. collection known as Blaythwayt's Charters, ii, 349, now in the Library of Congress) the following patent:

Alexander Culpeper's patent to be Surveyor General of Virginia
     CHARLES the second by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, ffrance and Ireland Defender of the ffaith &c. To all to whom these presents shall come Greeting-
     KNOW yee that Wee for divers good causes and considerations us hereunto especially moving, of our especiall grace, certain knowledge and meer motion Have given and granted, and by these presents for Us Our heirs and Successors Doe give and grant, unto Our Trusty and welbeloved Alexander Culpeper Esqr. the Office and Place of Our Surveyor Generall of and within Our Colony and Plantation of Virginia;
     And him the said Alexander Culpeper Our Surveyor Generall of & within our said Colony and Plantation of Virginia and of all and Singuler the Messuages Mannors Lands and Tenements to Us there belonging or which at any time hereafter shall or may belong Wee have ordained named constituted and appointed And for Us Our heires and Successors Doe ordain, name, constitute and appoint by these presents;
     Giving, and by these presents for Us Our heires and Successors granting unto the said Alexander Culpeper full power and authority to survey Our said Colony and Plantation of Virginia and the Bounds and limitts thereof; And to performe do and execute all and every other matter and thing belonging and appertaining to the said Office and Place of Surveyor Generall, according to such Orders & instructions as hee the said Alexander Culpeper shall from time to time receive from Us Our heires and Successors or from the Governor and Councell of Our said Plantation now and for the time being.
     TO have, hold, exercise and enjoy the said Office and Place of Our Surveyor Generall of Our Colony and Plantation of Virginia unto him the said Alexander Culpeper by himselfe or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies for and during Our Pleasure, with all ffees, profitts, priviledges, advantages and emoluments thereunto lawfully belonging and therewith heretofore usually received and enjoyed; and in as ample manner and forme as Thomas Loveing and Edmond Scarburgh or either of them or any other person or persons have formerly enjoyed the same.
     And wee do further by these presents Grant and Declare That these Our Lettrs. Patents or the Enrollment thereof shall bee in all things firme good and effectuall in the Law according to the true intent and meaning thereof. Notwithstanding the not reciting or mentioning any former Gift, Grant, Letters Patents or Estate heretofore made or granted of or in the premisses by Us or any of Our late Royall Progenitors to any person or persons whatsoever; and notwithstanding any other deficiency imperfection or want of forme in these presents contained, Or any Law, Statute, Ordinance, Proclamation, Provision, Restriction or other matter or thing whatsoever to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
     Witness ourself at Westminster, vicesimo quinto die Octobris, anno regno nostro vicesimo, tertio [1671].
     By writ of Privy Seal.

It does not appear that the Surveyor General ever returned to the colony. His duty there was performed by deputies, first, Thomas Ludwell, and, later, Philip Ludwell of James City, VAl (brother-in-law No. 3), and his relation to Virginia affairs was henceforth chiefly in respect to his interest in the Northern Neck. But he appears several times in other relations to Virginia affairs. Following Bacon's Rebellion, Governor Berkeley consigned to him the indian queen of Wyanoke, when it appears that he was living at Leeds Castle, for it was there he lodged the pinchbeck majesty (Am. & W. I., 1677-80, No. 512). Again, when, in July, 1677, the old cavalier Governor was recalled and reached. England, so reduced by a 'tedious passage and griefe of mind to extreame weakness,' that he died without ever having seen the royal master he had served loyally, if not wisely, administration on the goods of 'Sir William Berkeley, late Governor of Virginia, but died at Twickenham, Middx the seat of his brother John, Lord Berkeley was granted to 'Alexander Culpeper, esq. natural and lawful brother of Dame Frances Berkeley, relict of deceased, during absence and to use of said Dame Frances Berkeley' (P.C.C. Admon. Act Book, 1677) ; and thereafter he vigorously defended Berkeley's official memory (Am. & W. 1., 1677-80, Nos. 374, 506, 512).

Except for the fact now evident, that he never married, that he held of the estate of Thomas Lord Culpeper a messuage or farm in Hollingbourne, known as Tot[nams, but lived at Leeds Castle in the household of the deserted chatelaine, Margaret, Lady Culpeper (House of Lords MS., 1695-97, ed. Hist. MSS. Com., ii, 533), little remains to record of the Surveyor General. (Actually, he did marry, see correction below)

That the planters came to resent his non-resident office holding appears from his petition to the Crown in 1678 (Va. Mag., xxiii, 397, 398), the direct attack upon him in the Assembly in 1691 (ibid., xxviii, 15) and his final complaint to the government on December 12, 1694, that Governor Nicholson had 'dispossessed him' of his office (Am. & W. I., 1693-94, No. 1593).48 This was the last act of his life. He was in London pushing a petition for redress when he died, just before Christmas, 1694. Once more Lady Culpeper journeyed up to town on a dead man's affairs: but this time it was to honour a faithful friend. She did for him what she did not deign to do for her husband: she brought his body back to Leeds Castle. He was buried in Bromfield, December 26, 1694, as 'Captain Alexander Culpeper of Leeds Castle'

Although the Northern Neck charter of 1669 recited his father's interest in the original Northern Neck grant of 1649 and subsequent death, Alexander did not then assert on the record a claim of inheritance of that interest. Following the example of his cousin, the second Lord Culpeper, he postponed such a claim until something might be made of it. The opportunity seemed to present itself in 1675 with the proposal of the Virginia colony to buy out the proprietary, and it was then, in the course of futile negotiations, that Alexander made his appearance as one of the proprietors of the Northern Neck, in a certificate (Burk, ii, Appendix, p. liv) by those who were named in the charter of 1669 that 'Thomas, Lord Culpeper, and Alexander Culpeper, Esq. by a collateral agreement with us do hold two-sixths part of the said grant.'

That this interest was kept alive also after the grant of the charter of 1688 appears from the recital of the proprietors by Philip Ludwell when he opened the Northern Neck land office in 1690 (N. N., I, passim), as

..."the Honorable Mistress Katherine Culpeper, sole daughter and heire of Thomas, late Lord Culpeper, & Allexr. Culpeper, Esqe., who cometh in part proprietor by lawfull conveyances from Thomas, late Lord Culpeper, and confirmed by the sd. Mistress Katherine Culpeper, who are now become the lone and lawful Proprietors of said tract or territory."

In this right, Alexander joined in the petition to the Crown, May 21, 1691, for confirmation of the charter of 1688, with the consequence that before his death his interest therein was officially recognised and adjudged by decree of the Privy Council (Acts P. C., Colonial, ii, 188).

The only thing his father had left him had thus become an hereditament to be disposed of by will; and, being now the last surviving male heir of the Feckenharn family, extant in England if not in fact, he felt free to make such a disposition of it as gratitude dictated. In doing this he defined his interest precisely. (Will set forth below)

By virtue of this will, of which no record was made in the colony, an undivided one-sixth interest in the Northern Neck remained a thing separate and apart from the other property rights in the proprietary to puzzle the Virginia lawyers a century later when they came to interpret the will of the last proprietor.

Correction and amplification by Warren Culpepper: Harrison was unaware that Alexander, late in his life, married his second cousin Judith Culpeper, daughter of John, 1st Lord Culpeper, and sister of Thomas, 2nd Lord Culpeper. Alexander, age 58, and Judith, age 53, were married on 19 Dec 1689 at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street in London. Thus the couple was living in Leed's Castle with Judith's sister-in-law, Margaret, Lady Culpeper. Judith died two years later and was buried on 21 Nov 1691. On 29 Nov 1691, Alexander wrote his last will and testament, and while he had no reason at that point to mention his recently deceased wife, he did leave his interest in the Northern Neck to his deceased wife's sister-in-law, Margaret who had invited them to live with her at Leeds Castle.⁶

Will*

29 November 1691

He made a will on 29 November 1691.

Alexander Culpeper of Hollingbourne, co. Kent, esq. All my goods to the Right Hon. the Lady Culpeper, Baroness Dowager of Thoresway, she to be extrix. Whereas, I am seized to me and my heirs of and in one full sixth part, the whole in six parts to be divided, of and in a certain tract of land in the Continent of America, called the Northern Neck of Virginia, under and by virtue of a grant thereof formerly made by his late Majty, King James II, to the Rt. Honble Thomas, Lord Culpeper, and his heirs forever, I do hereby give the said sixth part unto the said Rt. Honble Margaret, Lady Culpeper, widow and relict of the said Rt. Honble Thomas, Lord Culpeper, deceased, and to her heires for ever.
Witns. Fairfax, John Cripps, Charles Pleydell.
Prob. by Margaret Baroness Dowager of Thoresway, the extrix.^7,8

Death*

24 December 1694

He died at London, England, on 24 December 1694.

Burial

26 December 1694

His body was interred on 26 December 1694 at Broomfield, co. Kent, England.

Probate*

5 January 1695

Probate action was taken on Alexander's estate on 5 January 1695 at co. Kent, England,

P.C.C. 3 Irby.⁸

(Previous Landowner) Will

27 November 1779

He identified as the previous landowner(s) of land being bequeathed in the will of Thomas Fairfax Sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron on 27 November 1779.⁹

(4) Biography

He is referenced in a biographical note for Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple.¹⁰

Family

Judith Culpeper (circa 1638 - circa 20 November 1691)

Last Edited

10 September 2016

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Transcription of Will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court Hollingbourne Kent 1649
Ref: 422.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1649.pdf .
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 4b.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Hollingbourne_1695.pdf.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P.C.C. Irby, 3., Will dated November 29, 1691 and proved January 5, 1694/5.
Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, Will, 1782
Frederick W. B. 4: 583
Will dated November 8, 1777
Codicil dated November 27, 1779
Proved May 5, 1782.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 4: XIII Thomas Culpepper.

Anne Culpeper¹

F, (circa 1630 - 1695)

Father

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple (s 1602 - s 1652)

Mother

Katherine St. Leger (c 1602 - 1658)

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

circa 1630

Anne was born at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, circa 1630.

Baptism

16 September 1630

She was baptized at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 16 September 1630.

Married Name

say 1652

As of say 1652, her married name was Danby.

Marriage*

say 1652

She married Christopher Danby of Thorpe Perrow, co. Yorks. say 1652.

Death*

1695

She died at Yorks, Yorkshire, England, in 1695.²

Biography*

She was baptized in Hollingbourne, September 16, 1630, as 'Anne, the dau. of Thomas Culpeper, esq.' Ralph Thoresby's pedigree of Danby of the West Riding of Yorkshire (Ducatus Leodiensis (1715), p. 202; Cf. also LeNeve, Book of Knights, Harl. Soc. Pub., viii, 436) shows Christopher Danby's marriage to 'Anne, d. of... second brother (sic) of John, Lord Colepepper.' Dr. Stanard's trained eye was the first to note (Va. Mag., i, 83) that this marriage took place in Virginia.
     Christopher Wandesford (1592-1640), who was lord deputy of Ireland for a few months following Strafford, had two daughters, Catherine, who married Sir Thomas Danby of Thorpe Perrow, and Alice (1627-1707), who married William Thornton of East Newton. Mrs. Thornton kept a diary, which has been edited for the Surtees Society (Publications, 1875, lxii, 139-224). Writing about 1668, she makes bitter complaint of the ingratitude of the wife of her nephew, Christopher Danby:
     "Thus did this woman requite my kindness.... I was forced to give of my disbursements for maintaining of herself, husband, and children on all accounts whatever for the space of twenty years: they being cast out of favor by Sir Thomas Danby on her inveighling his son to marry her in Virginia, and her pride afterwards."
     The editor for the Surtees Society records that this Anne Culpeper was buried at York in 1695. She apparently had descendants who returned to Virginia. Her son, Anstropus Danby of Farnley, Yorkshire, knighted 1691 and subsequently M. P., had P.C.C. Admon. November 20, 1703, on the estate of Thomas Goodrich, late of Virginia, infant, on the allegation that he was 'uncle on the mother's side and next of kin.' On this Dr. Stanard argues persuasively (Va. Mag., xx, 94) that this Thomas Goodrich was a grandson of Anne Culpeper: that she left a dau. who m. the Joseph Goodrich shown by the Essex (VA) records to have died ante. 1703, seized of lands in that county and leaving sons in the colony.²

Research note*

28 April 2011

Al Batts wrote Warren Culpepper regarding the descendants of Anne Culpeper Danby, "Please reference the following, which I posted on the James City Co., VA forum on Genealogy.com"

-------------------------------------

James City Co. will of Francelia (Danby) Sanderson Goodrich Parker - 1699

The following will is found in the Sir Abstrupus Danby Papers 1654-1706 (microfilm) at the Virginia Historical Society. I find few mentions of these names on-line, so I thought others might find it of interest. Francelia Danby m. 1st Edward Sanderson/Saunderson, 2nd Joseph Goodrich and 3rd Thomas Parker. Francelia's brother Sir Abstrupus Danby lived in England.

Will of Francelia Parker of Ja. Citty County. To loving son Danby Goodrich one island of land commonly called by the name of Hope Island; loving son Thomas Goodrich all the rest of my lands in generall belonging to me in Ja. Citty County. If either son to die without lawfully begotten heirs, their share to the surviving son. In case my two sons die without lawful [heirs], to my loving brother Abstrupus Danby [Sir Abstrupus Danby] all my lands in generall lying and being in Ja. City County. My two sons Thomas Goodrich and Danby Goodrich all the ????? money that now I have lying in my loving brother hands Sir Abstrupus Danby to be equally divided between them and to lye in my said brother hands untill they both come of age and the said money to run upon? interest…..my two sons Thomas and Danby dies before they come to lawful age, then I give and bequeath to my loving husband Thomas Parker what money soever lies in my loving brother hands with interest as above specified. The will also mentions legacies of "???? of gold amounting to ???????" and gold rings. The husband Thomas Parker is to enjoy the lands until the two sons come of age or until brother Sir Abstrupus Danby or his heirs shall demand as aforementioned. To my loving nephew Abstrupus Danby [son of Sir Abstrupus Danby] twenty shillings to buy him a ring. Ordain and appoint my loving husband Thomas Parker to be sole and whole executor of this my last will and testament. Dated: March 25, 1699. Signed and sealed in the presence of us Samuel Chappell, Willm Glover, Jonath Ogden.

The will above is not verbatim and is slightly abbreviated, but I think I covered the main points. Included in the Sir Abstrupus Danby papers are letters having to do with the will and whether or not Sir Abstrupus Danby was heir to the lands willed to him by his sister, and that Joseph Goodrich's eldest brother's son was claiming an interest in the lands due to Joseph and Francelia being tenants-in-common (prior to their marriage) under the will of Edward Sanderson. The letters state that sons Thomas Goodrich and Danby Goodrich both died in their infancy (within the margin are the dates, 13 Aug 1702 and 20 Jun 1703, which would appear to be the death dates for the two children) and that Joseph Goodrich died without a will. The letters state that Edward Sanderson died without issue and by will (within the margin is "Will dated ???? 1684") left all his lands there [Virginia?] in generall "whether purchased by him or otherwise patented and of which he was possessed to his said wife and to his friend Mr. Joseph Goodrich and their heirs forever and leaves them joynt executors". Widow Francelia (Danby) Sanderson afterwards married the said Joseph Goodrich. In the letters, the will of Francelia is referenced and within the margin is "Will dated 25 March 1699".

There are a number of James City Co. land grants for an Edward Sanderson, the latest being in 1668 and for 3,500 acres. Within this grant is mention of Hope Island, the property identified in the will above.³

Family

Christopher Danby of Thorpe Perrow, co. Yorks. (1630 - )

Last Edited

15 June 2011

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
E-mail written 28 Apr 2011 to Warren Culpepper from Al Batts Jr., e-mail address.

Frances Culpeper¹

F, (circa 1634 - after 31 May 1695)

Father

Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple (s 1602 - s 1652)

Mother

Katherine St. Leger (c 1602 - 1658)

Name Variation

She was also known as Frances Culpepper.

Name Variation

She was also known as Frances Colepeper.

Birth*

circa 1634

Frances was born at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, circa 1634.

Baptism

27 May 1634

She was baptized at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 27 May 1634.

Married Name

1652

As of 1652, her married name was Stephens.

Marriage*

1652

She married Samuel Stephens of Warwick, VA in 1652.

Married Name

1670

As of 1670, her married name was Berkeley.

Marriage

1670

She married Sir William Berkeley Governor of Virginia in 1670.

Married Name

1680

As of 1680, her married name was Ludwell.

Marriage

1680

She married Philip Ludwell of James City, VA in 1680.

Death*

after 31 May 1695

She died after 31 May 1695.²

Burial*

Her body was interred at Jamestown Church Cemetery, Jamestown, James City Co., Virginia.³

Biography*

She was baptised in Hollingbourne, May 27, 1634, as 'Francis, dau. of Thomas Culpeper, esq. and Katherine his wife.' The earliest evidence for her in Virginia is the reference in the will of Samuel Filmer (1667, P.C.C. Penn, 58; cf. Va. Mag., xv, 181) to 'my friend and cousin Mrs. Frances Stephens wife of Mr. Samuel Stephens of Virginia.' Stephens' death and her subsequent m. to Sir William Berkeley are recited in a Virginia act of September, 1674 (Hening, ii, 322). Her final m. is reported in Lord Culpeper's letter to his sister in 1681 (Va. Hist. Register, iii, 192) ; and it was from the son of her third husband by an earlier m. who succeeded to Green Spring, that the Lees inherited her portrait which we reproduce. She was living in good health in her fifty-sixth year in July, 1690, as reported by William Byrd the elder (Va. Mag., xxvi, 128), but must have died soon after, for there is no mention of her in the will of her brother, Alexander (1691). She was buried in the church yard at Jamestown, where Dr. Tyler (Cradle of the Republic, p. 129) deciphered a fragment of her tombstone as follows: "...yeth the Bod... Lady Franc... eley..."

Dame Frances Berkeley appears in Virginia history a woman of high spirit, loyal and intensely partizan. When Col. Jeffreys and the other Commissioners reached Virginia to investigate her husband's conduct of the government during and after Bacon's Rebellion, she organized the 'Green Spring faction' to frustrate their politics and with the aid of Ludwell and Robert Beverley carried the Assembly along with her. The best of the anecdotes of this campaign is of her putting the common hangman up as an improvised postilion when the Governor's coach conducted the Commissioners away from a visit of ceremony at Greenspring (See Jeffreys' complaints in Am. & W. I., 1677-80, passim). At Leeds Castle the Historical MSS. Commission (Sixth Report, 465) brought to light a document in this quarrel–a. letter addressed to Berkeley, dated Virginia, August 2, 1677, and signed 'F. Berkeley,' It begins: 'My dear, dear Sir,' and, after some discussion of property in Jamaica, proceeds, 'as soon as your back was turned, the Lieut. Governor [Jeffreys] said he would lay 100 £ that you would not be permitted to see the King, but would be sent to the Tower.' On the date of this letter the Governor was already dead, but the news had not reached Virginia. It was her last message to her husband, and came into her brother's hands. Under Berkeley's will (Hening, ii, 558, in which she is described, six years after marriage, as 'my dear and most virtuous wife') she became one of the proprietors of Carolina. By a curious combination of circumstances she had the good fortune to sell this interest twice, in 1682 and again in 1684, and each time to be paid for it. The story is well told in McCrady, South Carolina under the Proprietary Government, p. 234.⁴

News Article*

Lady Berkeley Was A Formidable Colonial Force

Apart from Pocahontas, Lady Frances Berkeley, the strong-willed, thrice-married and childless Colonial dame who ruled the political roost in Virginia from around 1670 until her death in the 1690s, was the Old Dominion's most notable 17th century woman.
     Proud, imperious and fiercely partisan, Lady Berkeley was the sworn enemy of anyone who dared to question her own or her three husbands' aristocratic convictions. From the time of her first marriage when she was 18 until her death in her middle 60s, she was in the thick of the Virginia political melee. So much so that during the seven years of her married life to royal governor Sir William Berkeley, she became such a powerful behind-the-scenes factor that many blamed the blunders of her doddering husband on her none-too-subtle tugging at the governmental reins.
     Lady Berkeley came from an ancient English family accustomed to command. Her great-great-grandfather, Walter Culpeper (c. 1475-1516), was the Under Marshal of Calais. Also, her haughty cousin, Thomas, Lord Culpeper, was one of Virginia's less distinguished Colonial governors during the latter part of her life.
     The youngest of the five children of Thomas and Katherine (nee St. Leger) Culpeper, she was baptized in Hollingbourne Church, Kent, on May 27, 1634. Her father, one of the original proprietors of Virginia's Northern Neck, lost most of his English property during the British Civil War. After the execution of Charles I, he emigrated with his entire family to the Old Dominion in 1650.
     Two years later, when she was 18, Lady Frances became the wife of Samuel Stephens, governor of the Albemarle settlement in North Carolina and the owner of Roanoke Island, the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony.
     But Lady Frances never exchanged what few amenities Virginia then offered for the Carolina frontier and lived with Stephens at "Balthorpe," his Warwick County plantation until he died in 1669.
     Meanwhile, her vivacity and intelligence had attracted the attention of aging Virginia Gov. Sir William Berkeley (1606-1677), and six months after Stephens' death she became Lady Frances Berkeley and mistress of "Greenspring" in James City County, the finest country seat in English America.
     Later, in 1676, when Lady Frances' cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, headed a revolt against her husband, the latter sent her to England to enlist help in putting down the troubles headed by Bacon, whom Lady Frances branded as a liar and deep-dyed ingrate.
     When she returned in 1677, accompanied by 1,000 troups to restore order, she discovered not only had "Greenspring" been reduced to shambles by Bacon's henchmen, she also learned that their leader had died. Angered by her property losses and the shameful way her husband had been treated, Lady Frances became a leading light in the pro-Berkeley "Greenspring Faction" and in no time wholesale hangings and confiscation of "rebel" property became common.
     Later, when Charles II sent three commissioners to Virginia to look into the causes of the rebellion, Lady Frances openly flouted their authority. And this serves to introduce one of those anecdotes that throw a searchlight on the dry bones of history. Here is how Philip Alexander Bruce in his "Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" recounts the episode:
     "The Commissioners, sent out to Virginia to inquire into the sources of the insurrection of the previous year, had called at Greenspring, the home of Sir William Berkeley, whose bitter enmity they had incurred by their condemnation of his violent conduct in punishing the unfortunate followers of Bacon.
     "When they left the house, the Governor's coach was waiting at the door ready to convey them to Jamestown. Apparently they were to be the recipients of an attention worthy of their rank; after taking their seats within the vehicle, however, they observed to their indignant horror their postilion was the common hangman. As they drove away, they saw Lady Berkeley peeping at them in evident derision through a broken quarrel of glass in the window of her chamber."
     Even after Berkeley returned to England in 1677 to plead his case before Charles II, Lady Frances continued to be a thorn in the sides of the commissioners.
     Finally, when the news arrived at Jamestown that Sir William had died shortly after his return to London, she married Col. Philip Ludwell of "Rich Neck" plantation, her late husband's chief supporter, and remained a power behind the throne in the "Greenspring Faction" that continued to thwart successive attempts on the part of royal representatives to impose arbitrary measures on the Virginia colony.
     Interestingly, even though she took Ludwell as her third husband, Lady Frances never relinquished her title and she continued to be known and feared (or respected) as Lady Frances Berkeley until she died in the 1690s and was buried at Jamestown.
     In summing up her character, historian Jane D. Carson has this to say: "Opponents called her arrogant, grasping and devious, but friends trusted her and respected her judgment. Her letters, written with force and polish, reveal strength of character and proud integrity, personal warmth and tact, intense loyalty and affectionate regard for kinsmen and friends."⁵

(3) Biography

She is referenced in a biographical note for John Culpeper son of Thomas & Katherine.^6,4

Family

Samuel Stephens of Warwick, VA (say 1631 - 1670)

Last Edited

31 October 2012

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Warren M. Billings, compiler, The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677, Richmond, Virginia: Library of Virginia, 2007.
On 31 May 1695, Frances wrote a letter from Green Springs to her nephew, Sir Abstrupus Danby (son of her sister, Anne).
Find a Grave (online database)
http://www.findagrave.com
Jamestown Church Cemetery, Jamestown, James City Co., Virginia
+ Frances Culpepper Berkeley, 68324648, 1634 – 1691 (sic).
Warren M. Billings, compiler, The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677, Richmond, Virginia: Library of Virginia, 2007.
Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA.
http://www.pilotonline.com
George Tucker, 22 Feb 1999, Section: Local, Page: B3.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.

John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway¹

M, (7 August 1599 - 11 July 1660)

Father

Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell (1561 - b 19 Sep 1613)

Mother

Anne Slaney (c 1575 - 20 Feb 1600/1)

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

(Witness) Note

See the page for Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway for an article entitled "Four Lords, Not Enough Sons" which discusses the erroneous notion passed down to many modern-day Culpeppers that they are descended from Lord Culpeper of Virginia.²

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

7 August 1599

John was born at Wigsell, Salehurst, co. Sussex, England, on 7 August 1599.

Baptism

17 August 1600

He was baptized at Salehurst, co. Sussex, England, on 17 August 1600.

Marriage*

29 October 1628

He married Philippa Snelling at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, London, England, on 29 October 1628 at age 29.

Marriage*

12 January 1631

He married Judith Culpeper on 12 January 1631 at age 31.

(5) Will

14 December 1635

He is mentioned in the will of John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. on 14 December 1635.³

(8) Will

13 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 13 January 1644.^4,5

(13) Will

30 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^6,7

Will*

3 July 1660

He made a will at co. Kent, England, on 3 July 1660.

John Lord Culpeper Baron of Thoresway. To be bur. in vault which Sir Thomas Culpeper (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne, the Elder, Knight) hath builded in Hollingbourne if convenient.
     Whereas His Majesty in answer to my petition Of 27 June last hath engaged his Royal word for payment of £2,000 out of his first receipts, for clearing of my paternal estate and towards paying portions to my younger children. And whereas there is due to me from Mr. William Longville & Mr. Robert Hales £1,500 which is secured to my brother Ralph Freke (Ralph Freke of Aldington in Thornham, co. Kent) for me by bond dat. 17 June 1660; and whereas there is due to me from Mr. Robert Peyton & Elizabeth Robinson widow £1,000
     To my daur. Elizabeth (Elizabeth Culpeper) in full of her portion £4,000 she to release her right in mtge made to her of manors of Morghue & Godden & of lands called Greenway Court, Kent, for payment of £1,300, & also her fourth part of manor of Kavenlite, co. Radnor, also her right in £300 debt due to her from Sir John Greenvill & such securities as sd. Sir J. Greenvill hath made to her or to Sir Edward Ford (Sir Edward Ford of Harting, co. Sussex) to her use, also her right to £750 which my exer or my brother Ralph Freke has already secured to her.
     To my daur Judith (Judith Culpeper) (besides the fourth part of manor of Kavenlite which I heretofore settled on her) £500 at her marriage with consent of my sister Lady Brooke (Elizabeth Culpeper), my brother Mr. William Cage (Sir William Cage of Bersted, Knight), & of my exer: also £1,500 out of His Majesty's debt.
     To my son John (John Lord Culpeper 3rd Baron of Thoresway) (besides his fourth part in sd. manor of Kavenlite & £50 annuity settled on him out of manor of Morghue & Greenway Court) £500, also £1,000 I enjoin him to make his brother Thomas (Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway) his exer in case he die under 21 or unmarried.
     To my son Cheney (Cheney Lord Culpeper 4th Baron of Thoresway) (beyond his quarter of manor of Kavenlite & of a £50 Annuity from manor of Morghue & Greenaway Court) £500 also £1,000 with same injunction as to his will.
     To my son Francis (Francis Culpeper) (beyond the £50 Annuity which I heretofore settled on him out of sd manor of Morghue & Greeneway Court) £1,000 at 21, also £1,000 more, out of King's Debt; but if he die under 21, exer discharged.
     To my daur Philipp (Philippa Culpeper (The Younger Sister)) in full lieu of her portion £500 also £500, both at her marriage, my exer to educate her until 18: also to her £1,000 out of King's debt.
     To my servant John Rowe for care of me in my sickness £120
     To Sir Edward Ford in whose house I now lie, for his trouble £200
     To the servants of his house £20.
     Rest of all debts owing to me, one particularly of £750 which Sir Thomas Culpeper owes me on mtge of parsonage of Hollingbourne to my Brother Ralph Freke in trust for me, also sums which I left at several times in hands of Mrs. Elizabeth Bridgman at Amsterdam, as appears by her letter of 10 June; & all other goods, to my exer towards disburthening & repurchasing of my estate sold during the late troubles by the then pretended authority at any time since 1643.
     I beg His Majesty towards redeeming of my distressed family & estate from ruin. His Majesty will take order with his Court of Exchequer that the whole debt of £12,000 may be punctually paid to my exer.
     My eldest son & heir Thomas C. to be exer.
     Witns. J. Hamilton (James Hamilton Groom of the Chamber to Charles II), Edmund Gibbon, Alexander Culpeper (Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court), John Hatton, Nicholas Myram, Richard Halfhedd.
Codicil. All my real estate to my eldest son Thomas C. in fee; & whereas I am seised of divers maners & lands in co. Kent which may be Gavelkind, I leave all these to my sd. eldest son Thomas C. in fee. Witns. Tho. Pordage, A. Culpeper, Jo. Collyns, J. Reves.
Prob. per juramenturn Domini Thomae Culpeper filii... et exoris.⁸

Death*

11 July 1660

He died at co. Kent, England, on 11 July 1660 at age 60.⁸

Probate*

3 August 1660

Probate action was taken on John's estate on 3 August 1660 at co. Kent, England.⁸

Biography

John Culpeper (also spelled Colepeper and Culpepper; died 11 Jun 1660), was an English statesman and an influential counselor of Charles I during the Civil War and of Charles II in exile.
Elected member for Kent in the Long Parliament, he took the popular side, supporting the Earl of Strafford's attainder and receiving an appointment to the Parliamentary committee of defense in 1641. He separated, however, from the popular party on the church question, opposing the proposals to abolish episcopacy and for religious union with the Scots. In 1642 he joined the King's supporters, taking office as chancellor of the exchequer, but he disapproved of Charles's attempted arrest of five members of the Commons. In the Oxford Parliament he advised concessions to secure peace. He received a peerage in 1644.
Culpeper was sent with Edward Hyde (afterward earl of Clarendon) in charge of the Prince of Wales, after Charles's final defeat in 1645, to the Scilly Isles and thence to France (1646). In 1648 he accompanied the Prince on his unsuccessful naval expedition and returned with him to The Hague. After Charles I's execution he pressed upon Charles II the acceptance of the Scots' proposals. The treaty between Oliver Cromwell and Cardinal Mazarin in 1654 compelled Culpeper to leave France for Flanders. At the Restoration he returned to England but lived only a few weeks.⁹

Biography*

Sir John Culpeper, first baron Culpeper of Thoresway, (and the First Lord Culpeper) was baptised in Salehurst, August 7, 1600, as 'Johanes Colepeper, filius Mri Thomae, armigeri'; was named by his maternal grandmother, Dame Margaret Slaney in her will (1612) as 'my godson John C. another of the sons of my dau. Anne C.,' as well as in her codicil (May, 1618) in the language already quoted; and, in the inq. p.m. of Slaney C. (May, 1619) appears as 'John C. his only brother and heir, and heir of the body of said Thomas by Anne his wife; and is at taking of this inq. under :21, viz: 18 years, 9 months and 9 days and no more.'

He matriculated at Oxford from Hart Hall, April 26, 1616, as 'of Sussex, aged 15' (Foster) and was admitted to the Middle Temple, February 6, 1617/8, as 'Mr. John C., second son of Thomas C. of Wigsell, Sussex, deceased (Hopwood, ii, 625). Having become, by the death of his elder brother in December, 1618, 'primi sternmatis Wigsellensis' (as he later described himself on the MI. of his first wife), he was knighted by James I at Theobald's, January 14, 1621/2 (Nichols, iii, 751).

Clarendon testifies that he 'never cultivated the muses.' If he ever had any intention of pursuing a career at the bar in the tradition of his uncle, John of Feckenham, he abandoned it when he became 'of Wigsell.' Being just of age as he was knighted, and having no home ties, he forthwith prepared to spend 'some years of his youth in foreign parts and especially in armies, ' and to that end liquidated his property.

He had inherited his father's share in the Virginia Company and had already taken a part in the politics of that society (in April, 1623, he allied himself with the Warwick faction, Brown, Genesis, 982), when at the court held May 7, 1623, 'Mr. Deputy propounded the passing of One Share from Sir John Culpeper to Mr. ffreake of the Middle Temple, gentleman' (Records of the London Company, L. C. ed., p. 412). In the same year, 1623 (Close Roll, 21 Jac. I, pt. 26) he sold Wigsell to Sir Thomas C. to be vested in his eldest son, Cheney. It would thus seem that Sir John must have left England in the autumn of 1623; for there is no further record of his until October, 1628, when he. contracted his first marriage. It was accordingly after five years of soldiering in the wake of Gustavus Adolphus that, as Clarendon says, 'in very good season and after a small waste of his fortune' lie returned to England, 'retired from that course of life and married and 'betook himself to a country life.' He now established himself in Hollingbourne (he describes himself 'of Hollingbourne' in his mar. lic., 1631, and is so described again in the Commonwealth act of 1650, and, under the influence of Sir Thomas, commenced politician. To quote Clarendon again, his school was county affairs, 'the business of the country and the concernments of it, in which he was very well versed: and being a man of sharpness of parts and volubility of language he was frequently made choice of to appear at the Council board in those matters which related to the country, in the managing whereof his abilities were well taken notice of.' The result was that he was returned (Official Returns of M. Ps. 1878) to the Short Parliament (1640) as burgess for Rye (Cinq Port). In the Long Parliament he was Knight of the shire for Kent and made his celebrated speech against monopolies (Rushworth, iv, 133).

The remainder of his career is part of the history of England. His fundamental conservatism soon drew him into opposition to the crescent 'reforming party.' In the small company of Falkland and Hyde he stood at last by the bishops and against the Grand Remonstrance; with the result that all three were invited by Charles I to join the government. On January 2, 1642, Culpeper was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, which office he exchanged the following year for that of Master of the Rolls. Notwithstanding these dignities, 'as his courage was always unquestionable,' when war came he did service also in the field: at Edgehill (Keinton) he charged with Rupert's cavalry, acquitting 'himself like a brave man-at-arms,' and at Newbury again 'enobled his Gowne with Martiall Achievements.' For the example of these acts, as well as his service in the Council Chamber, the King raised him to the peerage in 1644; but in so doing 'did much dissatisfy both the court and the army.' Clarendon's own comment (Rebellion, v, 4) is that 'though he did imprudently in desiring it, did deserve it.' In 1645 he became, with Hyde, a member of the Council set up in the west of England for the Prince of Wales; and eventually escorted his young master from Cornwall to Scilly. Thence Culpeper left to join the Queen mother in Paris: and so began his long wanderjahr on the continent.

During the exile, the future fortunes of Culpeper's family were shaped by two lawyer-drawn papers. On September 18, 1649, he and his cousin-german Thomas Culpeper (son of John of Feckenham) were included in the patent which created the proprietary of the Northern Neck of Virginia; and in 1651 the Commonwealth by act of Parliament (Acts, 1651, c., 10) declared forfeited and ordered sold all the manors and estates of 'Sir John Culpeper, late of Hollingbourne in the County of Kent, Knight:' a description which was intended for an insult by disregarding the warborn peerage.

Culpeper survived to take part, at the age of sixty, in Charles II's entry into London. After that dramatic 'ride in triumph through Persepolis' he was destined for a large part in the restoration government (see Ranke's comment on him) ; actually he assumed his function as Master of the Rolls (swearing in, in that capacity, his old colleague Hyde as Lord Chancellor), and for some weeks sat regularly at the Council board. But in June of the restoration year he fell ill, while he 'lay' at Hartinge, co. Sussex, in the house of his friend, Sir Edward Ford, whose daughter his dead son Alexander, had married. Weary after more than ten years of exile, he planned here a settlement of his disordered estate. His English property had been sequestered and sold and he was deeply in debt. 'He used to say,' his son reported later (Gent. Mag., lxvii (1797) p. 477) 'that the usurer and he were not yet even; for he had only scratched the usurer, the usurer had stabbed him.' He was, however, comforted by a promise from the King of a grant sufficient to put his house in order; and, quite unconscious of the part that promise was to play in the history of Virginia, died on July 11, 1660 [the date is on his MI.], having made the following will (See Culpepper Connections Archives)

It does not appear from the Hollingbourne register that he was buried there, but in 1695 two of his children then surviving erected in Hollingbourne church a monument with the following MI.:

'To the lasting memory of John, Lord Culpeper, Baron of Thoresway, Master of the Rolles and Privy Counsellor to two Kings, Charles the First and Charles the Second. For equal fidelity to the King and Kingdome he was most exemplary. And in an exile of above ten years was a constant attendant and upright Minister to the Prince last mentioned. With him he returned tryumphant into England on the 29th of May 1660; but died the 11th of July next following in the 61st year of his age to the irreparable loss of his family. He commended his soul to God his faithful Creator, and ordered his body here to expect a blessed Resurrection. His Patent of Honour from King Charles the First dated the 21st of October 1644 may serve for his immortal Epitaph. Part whereof is here below faithfully copyed from the Latine original & translated into English: [the latin text, which follows, is here omitted]

'Whereas our well beloved and most faithful Counsellor John Culpeper Kt. Mr. of the Rolles of our Chancery, of the Antient and Noble family of the Culpepers in our Counties of Kent and Sussex many ages past renowned for persons of eminent ability both in War and Peace, hath given us signall testimonies of his approved Loyalty, singular Manhood, and profound judgment; who, in that never to be forgotten Battell of Keinton, where both our own and the publick safety were manifestly at stake, being then chancellor of our Exchequer, acquitted himselfe like a brave man-at-arms; who, at Newberry, and on other occasions always enobled his Gowne with Martiall Achievements; and lastly, who, in our most perilous junctures by his seasonable and solid Counsells hath been a principal support of our Crowne and Dignity, &c.'

'By his wife Judith, daughter of Sir John (sic) Culpeper of Hollingbourne Kt. he had 7 children that survived him, Thomas, later Lord Culpeper, John now Lord Culpeper, Cheney, Frances, Elizabeth, widow of James Hamilton Esq. late Groom of the Bedchamber to King Charles the Second, Judith, and Philippa. Of these John Lord Culpeper and Elizabeth Hamilton, equally zealous of expressing their Duty, have on the 10th day of June in the year 1695 erected this Monument.³'

Biography

John Culpeper, first Lord Culpeper (d. 1660), was the only son of Sir John Culpeper of Wigsell, Sussex, and Elizabeth Sedley. (Hasted, History of Kent, ii. 476)

According to Clarendon he spent 'some years of his youth in foreign parts, and especially in armies, where he had seen good service and very well observed it, and might have made a very good officer.' (Clarendon, Life, ii. 10)

Returning to England he married Philippa, daughter of Sir John Snelling, and after his marriage, ‘betook himself to a country life, and studied the business of the country and the concernments of it, in which he was very well versed; and being a man of sharpness of parts and volubility of language, he was frequently made choice of to appear at the council board in those matters which related to the country, in the managing whereof his abilities were well taken notice of’.

Having thus become popular, he was in 1640 elected to the Long parliament as second of the two members for Kent. In the Long parliament on 9 Nov 1640, he distinguished himself by a great speech against monopolies; was ordered on 12 Feb 1641 to impeach Judge Berkeley on behalf of the commons; took part in the proceedings against Stafford, and spoke on behalf of the bill of attainder. He was also a member of the committee of defense appointed by the commons on 14 Aug 1641. (Gardiner, History of England, x. 2)

Nevertheless, even during the first session, his divergence from the leaders of the popular party was considerable. He opposed the acceptance of the London petition against episcopacy (8 Feb) and the demands of the Scots for religious union. When the House of Commons went into committee to discuss the latter subject, Culpeper was placed in the chair in order to silence him in the debate (17 May). On 11 Jun he moved an important amendment to the Root and Branch Bill, and on 1 Sept. brought forward a resolution in defense of the prayer-book (ib. ix. 281, 377, x. 14). Thus it was specially on religious questions that Culpeper separated himself from the popular party. Clarendon thus explains his attitude: "In matters of religion he was in his judgment very indifferent, but more inclined to what was established, to avoid the accidents which commonly attend a change, without any motives from his conscience, which yet he kept to himself, and was well content to have it believed that the activity proceeded from thence." (Life, ii. 12).

In the second session he opposed the Grand Remonstrance, and attempted to enter his protest against its being printed. He also spoke against the Militia Bill and against the declaration proposed by Pym to refuse toleration to the Irish Catholics (Gardiner, x. 76, 96). So soon, therefore, as the king decided to confer office on the leaders of his party in the commons, Culpeper became a member of the privy council and chancellor of the exchequer (2 Jan 1642, ib. x. 127). The king's attempt to seize the five members was made without his privity, and, like Hyde and Falkland, he was 'much displeased and dejected' thereby (Clarendon, Rebellion, iv.158).

But it was in accordance with Culpeper's advice, although mainly owing to the influence of the queen, that the king gave his assent to the bill for the exclusion of the bishops from the House of, Lords (13 Feb 1642, Clarendon, Life, ii. 18). It was also by Culpeper's sole advice, given without the knowledge of Falkland or Hyde, that Charles formed the design of removing to the north of England with the object of obtaining possession of Hull (ib. ii. 17). After the king left London, Culpeper continued to meet Hyde and Falkland at Hyde's lodgings to prepare the king's answers to the messages of the parliament and concert plans for his service, in spite of the warning that the parliamentary leaders intended to send all three to the Tower (ib. ii. 38-9).

Escaping this fate by his precautions, he remained in London till about the end of May, and then joined the king at York. He was one of the councillors who signed their names to the declaration professing their belief that the king had no intention of making war on the parliament (15 June), and to the promise not to obey any order not warranted by the known laws of the land, or any ordinance concerning the militia not assented to by the king (13 June, Husbands, Exact Collection, 1643, 350, 367).

In company with the Earl of Southampton and two others, Culpeper was dispatched from Nottingham on 26 Aug 1642 to hear the king's last offer to negotiate before the war began. He was refused permission to address the house from his seat, and obliged to deliver his message from the bar. ' There standing bareheaded,' says D'Ewes, ‘he looked so dejectedly as if he had been a delinquent rather than a member of the house, or privy counselor, or a messenger from his majesty (Sanford, Studies and Illustrations, 529).

Culpeper was present at Edgehill, where he charged with Prince Rupert, and vehemently opposed those who urged the king to retreat under cover of the darkness instead of holding his ground (Clarendon, Rebellion, Appendix 2Y). In December following the post of master of the rolls be came vacant, and the king appointed Culpeper to fill it, intending Hyde to fill his place as chancellor of the exchequer. But Culpeper, though he professed much friendship, had no mind he should be upon the same level with him, and believed he would have too much credit in the council.'

Accordingly, although installed as master of the rolls on 28 Jan 1643 (Black Docquets of Letters Patent signed by Charles I at Oxford, 2), he delayed the surrender of the chancellorship of the exchequer as long as possible (22 Feb 1643), and even after it persuaded the king to infringe the prerogatives of that office by a grant to Mr. Ashburnham. Nevertheless, though this caused considerable cool ness between Hyde and Culpeper, ‘it never brake out or appeared to the disturbance or prejudice of the king's service’ (Clarendon, Life, ii. 77, iii. 31).

In the Oxford parliament Culpeper played a considerable part, being one of the two privy councillors who were included in it (Clarendon, Rebellion, Appendix 3Y). It was believed in London that he took up an attitude of opposition, moved that peace propositions should be sent to Westminster, and urged the sacrifice of Digby and other obnoxious councillors (Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War, i. 351). His influence with the king in military affairs roused the hostility of the generals (Clarendon, Rebellion, viii. 28-93).

He was particularly charged with advising the siege of Gloucester; ‘all conspired to lay the whole reproach upon the master of the rolls, who spake most in those debates, and was not at all gracious to the soldiers’ (ib. vii. 239). Rupert in consequence ‘crossed all he proposed,’ and Wilmot plotted a petition of officers that he might be excluded from all councils of war (ib. viii. 96, 168). Hence, when the king created the master of the rolls Lord Culpeper of Thoresway in Lincolnshire (21 Oct 1644, Dugdale, Baronage, ii. 472), ‘it did much dissatisfy both the court and army’ (Clarendon, Rebellion, viii. 170).

The parliament also, when Culpeper was appointed one of the commissioners for the Uxbridge treaty, refused to recognize his new dignity (Whitelocke, ff. 125-6).

In March 1645, Charles appointed Culpeper one of the council of the Prince of Wales, effected a reconciliation between him and Hyde, and dispatched both with the prince to the west of England. A large amount of his correspondence with Goring and other royalist commanders during the disastrous campaign of 1645 is preserved in the Clarendon Papers and the Tanner MSS.

In August the king sent for Culpeper to Brecon, and there commissioned him in case of danger to convey the prince to France, a destination which later letters altered to Denmark. The council, including Culpeper, remonstrated and urged the king to select Scilly or Jersey as a refuge for the prince when all hope of holding out in Cornwall was lost (Clarendon, Rebellion, 74,112, 116).

Culpeper himself hoped still to get aid from Scotland, and with that object procured the liberation of the Duke of Hamilton from his imprisonment (ib. Appendix 4 0).

He urged Ashburnham to ‘bend all his wits to advance the treaty with the Scots. It is the only way to save the crown and the three kingdoms; all other tricks will deceive you. All they can ask, or the king part with, is a trifle in respect of the price of a crown’ (Clarendon State Papers, n. 188).

A few days later (2 Mar 1646) he was forced to embark with the prince for Scilly, whence he was sent to France to inform the queen of her son's position and needs. The queen won over Culpeper to the view that the prince's removal to France was absolutely necessary and when the rest of the prince's council determined to remain in Jersey, he alone decided to accompany Prince Charles to France. Apart from distrust of France, the chief reason was that the policy of making religious concessions to gain the Scots, which was advocated by the queen and by Mazarin, commended itself to Culpeper while it was disapproved by Hyde and the others (Clarendon, Rebellion).

From St. Germain Culpeper, in joint letters with Jermyn and Ashburnham, continued to press this policy on the king (Clarendon State Papers, ii. 271).

"As for your advice," replied the king to one of these letters, "you speak my soul in everything but one; that is, the church" (ib. ii. 243).

And in an earlier letter to the queen, Charles wrote: "As for Culpeper, I confess never much to have esteemed him in religion, though in other things I reverenced his judgment" (Bruce, Letters of Charles I in 1646, 30).

They also urged the king to retain at all costs his right to the militia, and neither to suffer himself to be handed over to the parliament without security for his safety, nor to leave his own dominions (Clarendon State Papers, ii. 301). Sir John Berkeley's mission to England in the following year to promote an agreement between the king and the army was largely the work of Culpeper (Berkeley, Memoirs; Masères Tracts, 356).

On the revolt of a portion of the fleet in the summer of 1648, Culpeper accompanied the prince to sea, and was his principal adviser. The failure of this expedition to achieve anything was generally attributed to him, and some accused him of corruption.

Clarendon repels this charge: "He was not indeed to be wrought upon that way, but having some infirmities and a multitude of enemies, he was never absolved from anything of which any man accused him." (Rebellion, xi. 82).

Lord Hatton, however, writing to Nicholas, goes so far as to say: "I am sure I saw him plot and design against the relieving Pembroke and Colchester, and endeavor what in him lay to hinder any commission to the Duke of Buckingham unless he would be solely under the Earl of Holland and declare for the covenant and such popular ways" (Nicholas Papers, 96).

On the return of the prince to the Hague the old quarrel between Culpeper and Prince Rupert broke out again, and was industriously inflamed by Herbert, the attorney-general. On one occasion, when Rupert in the council nominated a certain Sir Robert Walsh as agent for the sale of prize goods, Culpeper, who opposed the appointment, concluded by offering to fight Rupert, but the intervention of Hyde and Cottington induced him to apologize a few days later (Clarendon, Rebellion, xi. 128).

Walsh, however, instigated by Herbert, violently assaulted Culpeper in the streets on 23 Oct 1648, and was for that offence forbidden to appear at court and banished from the Hague (Carte, Ormonde, vi. 592; Clarendon, xi. 130).

After the execution of the king, Culpeper was one of the chief supporters of the Scotch proposals to Charles II (June 1649; Nicholas Papers, 135).

When Charles II decided to go to Ireland instead of Scotland, Culpeper was sent to Russia to borrow money from the czar, and succeeded in obtaining a loan of twenty thousand rubles in corn and furs. An account of his reception at Moscow (May 1650) is printed in the Nicholas Papers (182-5).

Shortly after his return he was, by the influence of Lord Jermyn and the queen, to whose party he still belonged, sent to Holland as agent for Charles II, to the hope of obtaining armed support from the United Provinces, then (June 1650) at war with England (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 106).

It was also intended to despatch him to Scotland in 1654, but this mission came to nothing (ib. iii. 225).

By the treaty of August 1654 between Cromwell and Mazarin (Guizot, Cromwell, ii. 468) it was stipulated that Culpeper should be expelled from French territory, and he seems to have spent the rest of his exile in Flanders. From occasional notices in Clarendon's correspondence he appears to have been in more prosperous circumstances than most of the royalists.

On the death of Cromwell, Culpeper wrote a remarkable letter to Hyde (20 Sept. 1658) on the policy to be adopted by the royalist party (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 412).

He urged that the English royalists should be kept quiet until the divisions of the republicans brought the true season for activity; meanwhile he advised him to apply secretly to the discontented officers and statesmen, but especially to Monck.

"The person that my eye is chiefly on, as alone able to restore the king and not absolutely averse to it neither in his principles nor affections, is Monk;" and he went on to point out the way to deal with him, and to predict with astonishing foresight the probable course of events.

In September 1659, Culpeper followed the king to the south of France during the unsuccessful attempt of Charles to obtain some advantage from the treaty of the Pyrenees. Several letters written by Culpeper during this journey are among the Egerton MSS. (Eg. 2536). At the Restoration he returned to England, but died in the same summer (11 June 1660; Kennet, Register).

Culpeper’s character is described at length by Clarendon (I, ii. 10; Rebellion, iv. 122) and Sir Philip Warwick (Memoirs, 196). Both agree in praising his ability in debate and his fertility in counsel, and complain of a certain irresolution and changeableness which prevented him adhering to his first conclusions.

Both agree also in the statement that the uncertainty of his temper greatly diminished his usefulness. Clarendon in his correspondence frequently speaks of the difficulty of doing business with him. Nicholas echoes the same charge (Nicholas Papers, 315), and Warwick talks of his ‘eagerness and ferocity.’ This was largely the result of his education. When he came to court, says Clarendon, ‘he might very well be thought a man of no good breeding, having never sacrificed to the Muses or conversed to any polite company."

Culpeper's estates were restored by a private act passed after his death (Kennet, Register, 255). By his first wife he had one son, who died young, and a daughter, Pliilippa, who married Sir Thomas Herlackenden. By his second wife, Judith, daughter of Sir T. Culpeper of Hollingbourne, Kent, he had seven children, of whom Thomas, the eldest, became his successor in the title, which passed to his two younger brothers John and Cheney, and became extinct on the death of the last in 1725 (Hasted, Kent; Collins, Peerage, ix. 422).¹⁰

(2) Biography

He is referenced in a biographical note for Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA.¹¹

(2) Will

12 August 1710

He is mentioned in the will of John Lord Culpeper 3rd Baron of Thoresway on 12 August 1710.^12,13

(3) Biography

He is referenced in a biographical note for Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple.¹⁴

Family 1

Philippa Snelling (1610 - before 16 September 1630)

Children

Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court¹⁵ (1629 - 2 March 1648/49)
Philippa Culpeper (The Elder Sister)¹⁵ (say 1630 - before 1660)

Family 2

Judith Culpeper (circa 1606 - November 1691)

Children

Elizabeth Culpeper¹⁵ (circa April 1632 - circa 8 April 1632)
Thomas Culpeper (circa 1633 - circa 24 August 1634)
Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway+¹⁶ (circa 1635 - 27 January 1689)
Elizabeth Culpeper+ (circa 1637 - February 1709)
Judith Culpeper (circa 1638 - circa 20 November 1691)
John Lord Culpeper 3rd Baron of Thoresway (say 1640 - 8 July 1719)
Cheney Lord Culpeper 4th Baron of Thoresway¹⁵ (circa 1642 - circa 18 June 1725)
Philippa Culpeper (The Younger Sister) (circa February 1650 - 1719)
Francis Culpeper¹⁵ (1652 - 1663)

Last Edited

1 January 2012

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Warren L. Culpepper (#1942), Former publisher of Culpepper Connections, e-mail address.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Transcription of Will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court Hollingbourne Kent 1649
Ref: 422.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1649.pdf .
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Nabbs, 235.
Will dated July 3, 1660.
Codicil dated July 9, 1660.
Proved August 6, 1660.
Britannica Online.
The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 4b.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Will of John 3rd Lord Culpeper, dated 12 Aug 1710, transcribed by Charles Andrew Grigsby. Image at: http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/John_Baron_of_Thoresway_1719-1.pdf and
http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/John_Baron_of_Thoresway_1719-2.pdf.
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 4: XIII Thomas Culpepper.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 3b.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 3c.

Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway^1,2

M, (circa 1635 - 27 January 1689)

Father

John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway² (7 Aug 1599 - 11 Jul 1660)

Mother

Judith Culpeper² (c 1606 - Nov 1691)

Note*

Four Lords, Not Enough Sons
By Warren Culpepper

A discussion of the widespread belief that some American
Culpeppers are descended from Lord Culpeper of Virginia.

Introduction
From childhood, I heard from my father that we were descended from Lord Culpeper of Virginia. He had determined this by retaining a professional genealogist to trace our family's roots. I never saw the document that was produced, and don't know the identity of the genealogist, However, until I started a serious pursuit of genealogy, I never had any reason to doubt the claim.

In discussions with other Culpepper descendants that I've met as a result of creating this web site, I have discovered that quite a few other Culpepper families have held the belief that they were descended from Lord Culpeper. However, a review of very well-documented research indicates that any Culpepper claim of Lord Culpeper ancestry is a myth.

There were actually four Lord Culpepers, but only one of them, Thomas, Lord Culpeper, Second Baron of Thoresway, ever lived in America.

Modern-day Culpeppers should be heartened by the fact that they are not descended from a man whose character was viewed so poorly by both his peers and historians:

     Hartwell, Chilton and Blair (1696) 'one of the most cunning and covetous men in England.'
     Beverley (1705, i, 80) 'he had the art of mixing the good of the Country with his own particular Interest.'
     Bishop Burnet (1723, i, 798) 'A vicious and corrupt man, but made a figure in the debates.'
     Chalmers (1782) 'having shown by his conduct that they who act under independent authority will seldom obey even reasonable commands, no more governors were appointed for life.'
     Bancroft (1837, ii, 246) 'He had no high-minded regard for Virginia: he valued his office and his patents only as property... yet Culpeper was not singularly avaricious. His conduct was in harmony with the principles which prevailed in England. As the British merchant claimed the monopoly of colonial commerce, as the British manufacturer valued Virginia only as a market for his goods, so the British Courtiers looked to appointments in America as a means of enlarging their own revenues or providing for their dependants. Nothing but Lord Culpeper's avarice gives him a place in American history.'
     Lodge (1881, p., 23) 'Culpeper's sole object was extortion, which he freely practised... Culpeper's administration was, as a whole, one of simple greed and violent exaction, varied by an extensive swindle in raising and lowering the value of the coin.'
     Doyle (1882, i, 259) 'His worst fault was rapacity, of which he stands convicted both by general tradition and certain specific actions.'
     Wertenbaker (1914, p. 239) 'Few British colonial Governors are less deserving of respect than Thomas, Lord Culpeper.'

In addition, his personal life was equally flawed, having spent most of his adult years with his mistress Susanna Willis, in spite of his marriage to Marguerite Van Hesse.

The four Lord Culpepers are identified below. The text associated with each name is exerpted from more detailed narratives written by Fairfax Harrison in The Proprietors of the Northern Neck. A study of this text should help remove any lingering doubts as to the possibility of any modern-day Culpepper being a descendant of any of the four Lord Culpepers.

1st Baron of Thoresway: Sir John Culpeper (1600-1660) of Wigsell and Hollingbourne. John inherited his father's share of ownership in the Virginia Company in 1617, and at the age of 21, was knighted by King James I (which gave him the title of "Sir"). In 1644, he was raised to the peerage, becoming the First Baron of Thoresway (which gave him the title of "Lord"). He became one-seventh proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia under the charter of 1649. He never lived in the colonies. and had seven children that survived him: Thomas (2nd Lord Culpeper), John (3rd Lord Culpeper), Cheney (4th Lord Culpeper), Frances, Elizabeth, Judith, and Philippa.

2nd Baron of Thoresway: Thomas Culpeper (1635-1689) of Leeds Castle. Thomas succeeded upon his father's death in 1660 as the second Lord Culpeper. He was a Member of the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1671-1674. Governor of Virginia, 1677-1683; Proprietor of the Northern Neck under charters of 1669 and 1688; viz: one-sixth until 1681, and thereafter, five-sixths. Proprietor of all Virginia under the Arlington charter of 1673; viz. one-third, 1673-1681, and the whole, 1681-1684, when he surrendered to the Crown. He was, however, in the colony only during two brief tours, from May to August, 1680, and from December, 1682, to May, 1683. He had three daughters and no sons. The only child from his marriage was, Catherine, who married Thomas, Lord Fairfax. His other two daughters, Susanna and Charlotte, were by his mistress Susanna Willis.

3rd Baron of Thoresway: John Culpeper (1641-1719). John succeeded upon his brother's death in 1689 as the third Lord Culpeper. He married his cousin Frances (1664-1740) daughter of Sir Thomas Culpeper the younger, of Hollingbourne. He never lived in the colonies, and he died childless.

4th Baron of Thoresway: Cheney Culpeper (1642-1725). Cheney gained notoriety in the roaring days of the Restoration when he killed an officer of the guards with a blunderbuss and was pardoned only because he was brother to a peer. He succeeded upon his brother's death in 1719 as Fourth Lord Culpeper. He never lived in the colonies. There is no record of a marriage, and when he died without a surviving son, the Culpeper peerage became extinct.

And with Cheney, Lord Culpeper's death, so dies the possibility of any further Culpepper descendants of any Lord Culpeper.³

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Birth*

circa 1635

Thomas was born circa 1635.

Baptism

21 March 1635

He was baptized at Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 21 March 1635.²

(1) Research note

He is referenced in a research note for Thomas Culpeper of Barbados.⁴

(6) Will

13 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 13 January 1644.^5,6

(11) Will

30 January 1644

He is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight on 30 January 1644.^7,8

Marriage*

3 August 1659

He married Margaretta van Hesse at The Hague, Holland, on 3 August 1659.²

(9) Will

3 July 1660

He is mentioned in the will of John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway at co. Kent, England, on 3 July 1660.⁹

Marriage*

say 1670

He married Susanna Willis say 1670. Susanna was the mistress, but not a wife, of Thomas, Lord Culpeper.²

Residence*

between May 1680 and August 1680

Thomas resided at Virginia between May 1680 and August 1680. (First of only two times in the colony.)

Residence

between December 1682 and May 1683

Thomas resided at Virginia between December 1682 and May 1683. (Last of only two times in the colony.)

Death*

27 January 1689

He died at Saint James Street, London, England, on 27 January 1689.

Biography*

Thomas, bap. 1634, succeeded his father as second Lord Colepeper, and by his marriage with Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Jean Van Hesse, Seigneur de Perschill and Wena in Holland, had an only daughter and heiress, Catherine.

The 2nd Lord Colepeper was not a very estimable character. After his death, 27th Jan., 1688/9, his widow stated that her late husband had two houses in London, one in St. James' Street, the other in Hammersmith. He died in St. James' Street and she was living at Leeds Castle, not having had the least notice that he was sick until some time after his decease. She immediately went to London and buried him, and wants to administer his estate in order to pay his debts, which she is informed are very great and many. But Susanna Willis, alias Weldon, alias Laycock, who had been living with him at his house in St. James' Street, has the key of his closets and has possessed herself of everything.

In her answer Susanna Willis mentions her two daughters by Lord Thomas Colepeper, Susan, wife of Sir Charles Englefield, Bart. (married at St. James', Westminster, 22nd Feb., 1685/6) and Charlotte, aged 13. By indenture in 1688 Lord Colepeper granted to her daughters land at Solihull, co. Warwick, the tithes of Mayfield, the Manor of Thoresway, 24 acres at Wittersham, land near Kent Bridge, in Wittersham, yielding £7. 10s. 0d. per annum, land in Erith, Lesnes and Plumstead, valued at £72 per annum, land in Buriton, co. Southants, 260 acres of marsh at Lydde and Bromehill, worth £185 per annum, a farm in Loose, Eastfarlegh and Maidstone, yielding £30 per annum. Then she mentions a will of Thomas Lord Colepeper, in which he revoked all his other wills, especially his last one, Aug. 23rd, 1681, and he settled on his natural daughter Susan, Wife of Sir Charles Englefield, an annuity of £100 for life out of Thoresway Manor and £3,000 portion, £3,000 to his natural daughter Charlotte, his house in Hammersmith to Susanna Weldon, alias Willis. The Manor of Arreton, Isle of Wight, to his natural daughter, Charlotte. The residue of his property to Katherine, his daughter, who is executrix.

A Bill in Parliament to annul the above gifts, whether by deed or will, to Susanna Willis, alias Weldon, alias Laycock, and her two illegitimate children, was rejected in the House of Lords 15 Jan 1689/90.

The preceding all from "The Sussex Colepepers", published in the "Sussex Archaeological Collections", Volume XLVII, 1904, pp 67-69 For a much lengthier discourse on the 2nd Lord Culpeper, see Chapter 3(c) of Fairfax Harrison's "Proprietors of the Northern Neck", found on Culpepper Connections! at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/3c-holling.htm.

(3) Biography

He is referenced in a biographical note for Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA.¹⁰

(3) Will

29 November 1691

He is mentioned in the will of Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA on 29 November 1691.^11,12

(3) Will

12 August 1710

He is mentioned in the will of John Lord Culpeper 3rd Baron of Thoresway on 12 August 1710.^13,14

(3) Research note

He is referenced in a research note for John Marlo Culpepper (Apocryphal).^3,15,16

Family 1

Margaretta van Hesse (12 January 1635 - circa 10 May 1710)

Child

Catherine Culpeper+ (1670 - May 1719)

Family 2

Susanna Willis (say 1645 - )

Children

Susanna Culpeper+ (1672 - 1720)
Charlotte Culpeper+ (1677 - after 1702)

Last Edited

4 March 2013

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 3c.
Warren L. Culpepper (#1942), Former publisher of Culpepper Connections, e-mail address.
E-mail written 1999-2011 to Culpepper Connections from William A. 'Bill' Russell, Alexandria, VA, e-mail address (Sep 2011).
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Transcription of Will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court Hollingbourne Kent 1649
Ref: 422.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1649.pdf .
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P. C. C. Nabbs, 235.
Will dated July 3, 1660.
Codicil dated July 9, 1660.
Proved August 6, 1660.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
Chapter 4b.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Hollingbourne_1695.pdf.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
P.C.C. Irby, 3., Will dated November 29, 1691 and proved January 5, 1694/5.
Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
Will of John 3rd Lord Culpeper, dated 12 Aug 1710, transcribed by Charles Andrew Grigsby. Image at: http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/John_Baron_of_Thoresway_1719-1.pdf and
http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/John_Baron_of_Thoresway_1719-2.pdf.
E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
Lewis W. Griffin Jr. (#47), e-mail address.
Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.

Sir John Culpeper of Oxen Hoath, Knight^1,2

M, (say 1366 - 1414)

Father

William Culpeper of Preston Hall in Aylesford, co. Kent (s 1342 - s 1402)

Biography

The Colepepers were of a very ancient Kentish family, which in the reign of Edward III, separated into two branches; one settled at Bay Hall, near Pepenbury, in Kent, from which descended Baron Colepeper, master of the Rolls in the time of Charles I; and the other seated at Preston Hall, near Aylesford, in the same county, to which John Colepeper, the judge, belonged.
     His grandfather was Sir Jeffrey Colepeper, who was Sheriff of Kent in 40 Edward III. And his father's name was William. We do not find any report of his forensic practice before 1 Henry IV. But this arises from the want of the Year Books of the preceding reign. In the fourth year of that reign he was appointed a king's Serjeant, and was one of that degree who advanced £100 each on loan to the king. On June 7, 1406, 7 Henry IV, he was raised to the bench as a judge of the Common Pleas; and continuing in that court during the remainder of the reign, he received a new patent on the accession of Henry V. His death occurred towards the end of the following year, no fines having been levied before him after the month of July, 1414. He was buried in the church of West Peckham, which manor, together with those of Oxenhoath and of Swanton Court, he gave to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem.
     By his wife Catherine he left a son, William, who was Sheriff of Kent in 5 Henry VI. To his lineal descendant a baronetcy (that of Preston Hall) was granted in 1627, which became extinct in 1723.
     There was also another baronetcy (that of Wakehurst, in Sussex) granted in 1628 to the other branch of the family, which also became extinct in 1740.³

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper.

Name-AltSpell

This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper.

Birth*

say 1366

John was born at East Farleigh, co. Kent, England, say 1366.⁴

Marriage*

say 1386

He married Catherine Charles say 1386.

Death*

1414

He died in 1414.

Burial*

1414

His body was interred in 1414 at West Peckham, co. Kent, England.

Biography*

The visitation of 1619, says, Sir John was "temp. Henry VI" (Henry VI ruled 1422-1461). However, the Colepeper of Aylesford pedigree says of Sir John, "ob. 1414".

Family

Catherine Charles (say 1370 - after 1424)

Children

Sir William Culpeper of Preston Hall, Knight+ (say 1387 - 20 July 1457)
Peter Culpeper of Bletchenden+ (say 1389 - before 1449)
John Culpeper of Oxen Hoath (say 1391 - after 1434)

Last Edited

9 November 2010

Citations

Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "Colepeper of Aylesford Pedigree in The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaelogical Collection, Vol. XLVII, 1904.
1574 Visitation, Kent, England.
Edward Foss, The Judges of England: With Sketches of Their Lives, and Miscellaneous, Google Books: Originals from Oxford University, Published 1851 and digitized 2006.
pages 202-203.
June Ferguson, Royals Gedcom.