33

CHAPTER 11.

-----

RICHARD BROWNLOW, 1553-1638.

RICHARD BROWNLOW of Holborn, and afterwards of Ringston, Kirkby Underwood, and Belton near Grantham in Lincolnshire, was the son of John Brownlow of High Holborn, by Jane Arden, as shewn in the last chapter. "He was born in the last year of Edward 6th and baptized April 12th, 1552, at St. Andrew's, Holborn," according to a memorandum in his son Sir John Brownlow's note-book. Sir John has here written by mistake 1552 instead of 1553, as we find the following entry in his other son Sir William Brownlow's family Bible, "Myfather Richard Brownlowe Esquire was borne as he said the seconde day of April one thousand five hundred and fiftie (alias 1553) for soe his note in his book was."*

We know nothing of John Brownlow, the father of Richard, but we may surmise that he came up to London, perhaps from Nottinghamshire, to make his fortune, and that he attained some success in life, probably as a lawyer like his son, for he seems to have lived in the large house with a garden in Holborn " above Warwick House and the White Hart," afterwards occupied by his descendants as their town house for more than a hundred years. The present Brownlow Street, built on part of its site, still perpetuates the memory of its former owners.

How many other children John and Jane Brownlow had does not appear, but we know that Richard Brownlow had at least one sister, who married . . . . Brynnesmeade, whose son George was living in 1637 and whose daughter Ellinor married in September 1608 one Robert Thomlinson, Gent., with her uncle Richard Brownlow's consent.

Richard Brownlow began his legal career at Clement's Inn, from whence at the age of thirty he migrated to the Inner Temple, of which he was admitted February 14th, 1583-4, as -Richard Brownlowe of London late of Clement's Inn gen." He became a Bencher in 1591 and was Treasurer of the Inner Temple in 1606.

Richard Brownlow's abilities and energy of character had no doubt procured him a good position at the Bar by the year 1591, when he was appointed to the important and lucrative office of Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, which he held till his death in 1638. Still, it may be reasonably supposed that although gifted with considerable talents a Young man like Richard Brownlow, without any definite rank or position, could hardly have attained such a lucrative appointment without some


* These notes are printed in the Appendixes to Chapters III. and IV.


34

RECORDS OF THE CUST FAMILY.

powerful influence having been exercised in his favour. Circumstances seem to suggest that his friend and patron may have been Sir Gilbert Gerard, then Master of the Rolls, and that his advancement was connected with his marriage, not long before this time, with Katherine, daughter of John Page of Harrow-on-the-Hill and Wembley, whose cousin Dorothy. daughter of Richard Page of Sudbury Court and Wembley, had married William Gerard of Flamberds, Harrow, brother to Sir Gilbert Gerard. What could be more natural than that Dorothy Gerard should press the claims of her cousin's husband on her brother-in-law, who may even himself have met the young lawyer when staying at Flamberds. Another way in which Richard Brownlow may have been known to the Master of the Rolls would be through his mother Jane Arden, who according to the arms assigned to her by Segar belonged to the Ardens of Alvanley, between whose family and the Gerards of Ince and Harrow several connections existed. John, son and heir of Thomas Arden of Alvanley, who died young, seems to have been betrothed to Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Gilbert Gerard, and in 1584, Dorothy Gerard of Flamberds' second son, the Rev. Richard Gerard, rector of Stockport, Cheshire, married Ursula, daughter of Ralph Arden of Alvanley. It is therefore quite possible that it was at Flamberds that Richard Brownlow first met and won the hand of the fair Katherine Page.

John Page her father was a personage of some note at Harrow, and was one of the first governors of Harrow School. He appears to have been the son of Henry Page of Wembley, and the grandson of Thomas Page of Harrow- and Wembley, whose eldest son was Richard Page of Sudbury Court, the father of Dorothy Gerard of Flamberds.* John Page married July 3rd, 1559, Audrey, daughter of Thomas Redding of Hedgeston, and died a very old man in 1623, leaving, according to the inscription on his tomb in Harrow churchyard, 75 children and grand children. John Page, his eldest surviving son, a Master in Chancery, was living in 1637; Katherine, the wife of Richard Brownlow, was baptized at Harrow September 29th, 1565 ; Frances, the second daughter, baptized December 10th, 1571, married in 1595 her cousin Philip Gerard of Gray's Inn, the fifth son of William Gerard and Dorothy Page; and Awdrey, the youngest daughter, baptized April 22nd, 1573, was the wife of Sir Robert Bennet, Surveyor of the Works at Windsor Castle. His second


The following wills are at Somerset House:-


35

RICHARD BROWNLOW.

son, Sir Richard Page, Knight, of Uxenden, was knighted at York June 2nd, 1645, and had an honourable augmentation of his arms granted to him for his services in the battles of Edgehill, Brentford, Alresford, and Newbury;* at Brentford he was seriously wounded.

Whatever may have led to Richard Brownlow's appointment as Chief Prothonotary of the Common Pleas, he and his wife must have at once found themselves in the receipt of a very large income, far exceeding their modest wants. The Hon. Daines Barrington tells us in his work, "On the more ancient Statutes," when speaking of Richard Brownlow:-

"His profits as Prothonotary were £6000 a year. I received this account from one who had examined Brownlowe's books and who informed me that he used to close the profits of the year with " Laus Deo " and when they happened to be extraordinary with " Maxima Laus Deo."

This statement of Barrington's is confirmed by one of Richard Brownlow's neatly kept yearly account books which has been accidentally preserved at Belton, written in the neat stiff handwriting of his day. In this year, beginning January 1st, 1616-17, his total expenditure was £6062 10s. 1d., of which sum £4706 was expended in the purchase of land, leaving only £1356 for his ordinary expenses. At the end of each quarter is this pious ejaculation:-

"Dominus dat incrementum et mirabilia sunt opera ejus, sit ejus nomen benedictum nunc et semper, ipse enim exaltavit me de stercore supra inimicos meos, eripiens me de manibus eorum, et collocans me inter divites hujus mundi. R: Brownlowe."

The family mansion in Holborn was soon filled with children. John, the eldest son of Richard and Katherine Brownlow, seems to have been born in 1589, and to have died young. Next came two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and then another son, born January 20th, 1593-4, who was baptized at St. Andrew's, Holborn, under the name of Anthonie after his godfather, whose surname has not come down to us. This child's name was changed to John after his elder brother's death, and he was afterwards Sir John Brownlow, Bart., from whose note-book already mentioned we derive these facts. A younger son William, afterwards Sir William Brownlow, Bart., was born in 1595, and the youngest daughter Audrey was born two or three years later. Katherine Brownlow their mother probably died about this time, and must have been dead before 1617, as no mention is made of her in the account book of that year, although Richard Brownlow mentions all his children by name.

In 1593 Richard Brownlow evidently thouglit the time had come to establish his right to bear arms, and he obtained from Robert Cook, Clarelicieux, a confirmation of the arms borne by his family, Or an escutcheon within an orle of martlets sable, and received the grant of a greyhound for his crest.† Not content with this, Richard Brownlow in


           * Walker's Grants, R., 23, 812.           † -See Appendix. 2

36

RECORDS OF THE CUST FAMILY.

1602 obtained from William Segar, Norroy King of Arms, the grant described at the end of Chapter I., the chief object of which appears to have been to establish his right to quarter the arms of Panelly, a right never exercised by his descendants.

Money continued to flow in, and Richard Brownlow, like other rich citizens of London, indulged himself in the luxury of a country house within reach of London. His account book forthe year 161 7 shews that at that time he had hired a house at Sudbury near Harrow at the rent of £90 a year. This house was probably Sudbury Court, then owned by the Page family. Later on the. Prothonotary bought a house at Enfield where he often stayed between the years 1626 and 1638, and from whence he could easily come tip to his office in London when his presence was required.

Not content with these suburban residences, Richard Brownlow aspired to be a country gentleman, and during the rest of his life invested large sums of money in the purchase of estates in Lincolnshire He was perhaps attracted to this county by the circumstance that some of the Brownlow family, probably his near relations, were settled at Belton in the Isle of Axholm. Richard Brownlow's first purchase about 1598 seems to have been a country residence called Ringston Hall in the parish of Rippingale* and land at Kirkby Underwood.

Ringston Hall had been the seat of the Gobands, the Bowers, the Marmions, and of the Hazlewoods, who sold it to Richard Brownlow, who seems to have resided here for a month or two every year. This mansion was eventually pulled down in 1684 by Sir John Brownlow, who made use of the materials to build his new house at Belton. During succeeding years Richard Brownlow bought up the remaining land- in Rippingale parish from several different owners, including Sir Thomas Coney and William Lister. Indeed, no land seems to have come into the market in that part of Lincolnshire which he did not buy, and if he had not sufficient cash at the moment he either borrowed the purchase money or paid it by instalments. For instance, the purchase from Sir Thomas Coney was not completed till November 11th, 1617, when we find these entries in the Prothonotary's account book: "Sir T. Coney remainder for Manor of Rippingale 270l," and paid for his lands and Heckington 355l."

Large prices were also paid by Richard Brownlow for other estates in Lincolnshire. Henry Pakenham of Belton being in embarrassed circum- stances sold to him in December 1600 for £2120 a considerable estate at Gosberton and Surfleet, comprising the manors of Launds and Newbery, which had formerly belonged to the de Ryes and the de la Laundes.†


* The Ringston and Kirkby Uuderwood property having been sold to Sir Gilbert Heathcote in 1714 after the division of the Brownlow estates between the four coheiresses of the second Sir John Brownlow, the title-deeds of the estate are now in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster, and the exact date of Richard Brownlow's purchase cannot be ascertained.
† Some account of its former owners will he found in the appendix to the life of the first Sir William Brownlow deduced from old title-deeds used by him in a law suit respecting the common rights of the people of Surfleet, in which he took their part.


37

RICHARD BROWNLOW.

Negotiations seem to have been soon after this entered into by the Pakenhams for the sale to Richard Brownlow, of Belton, their remaining Lincolnshire property. This appears from the following curious letter from Mrs. Pakenham, as she then was, written before 1603 when her husband Sir Henry Pakenham was knighted at Belvoir Castle by King James I. on his journey from Scotland:-

"SR.
" MY husband's desier to Live in good towiie makes me the willinger to part with a place that 1 have ever Loved above all places that ever 1 cam into, for the rates 1 know you well make much more than 1 rate them at because you' are able to Stocke the grownes. When it was sold it was valued by gesse, but now certainly 1 have noe reson to under value and one with another I know I doe not over value it as yourselfe well see, for the raising the tenants, ther is noe reason All Pa: & myselfe should doe it unless you will conferme Leases for 21 yeares, then 1 know they may be drawne to as much as 1 value them, for the yeares rent for a fine: if it were in our power to make a certaine lease at that rent, 1 know wee might have more & 1 have reason to esteeme my Life at more than 2 yeares certaine for howsoever it t'is as much to me, beside 1 must provid a house for myselfe, wcl, a lese rate will not doe conveniently, I have sent you here the rates as 1 value them if you like of them I shall be willing to proceede in this busines: other wayes 1 must be content with my estate soe long as it shall please God soe 1 leve it to your owne consideration & rest your Loving frend

"JANE PAKENHAM.

   

the yeare.

   

£

s.

d.

 

the dwelling house gardines & out houses

10

0

0

 

the closes joyning to the house called the old
orchard the south close, the spinny, ye hopyeard & bullers close

35

0

0

 

the mills 30l, the ingholme, ye homes ye Botwouge 35

65

0

0

 

the ings close 40l all the heath 60l

100

0

0

 

the grownes Air Godfrey hath

150

0

0

 

the grownes Mr Adam, hath

180

0

0

 

the gosse yeales at the least one yeare with another 20 thousand gosse

30

0

0

 

Mr Godfrey's house, orchard, close & dove cote

10

0

0

 

the farmers paids but 181 but they are worth

60

0

0

 

the cottage

10

0

0

 

the leeyes in gonnerby felde

1

0

0

 

ther is three lettall cottages wch I must except for the lives of them that dwells in them at the rent they pay wch is

2

4

0

   

635

4

0

"For the overpluse of this rent I shall desier noe more but that Mrs ------- still maye be paide her rent during her life,"