Difference between revisions of "MRP: 20th December 1666, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO, London"

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20th December 1666, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO, London

BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, ff. ?

Editorial history

06/02/09, CSG: Completed transcription
18/12/11, CSG: Page created
22/12/11, CSG: Posted transcription to wiki

Abstract & context

John Lewis wrote to Sir George Oxenden in a letter dated December 20th, 1666.

His seventeen hearth London residence was in "Litell britten South", in the parish of St Bartholomew the Less, though the location he specified in his letter was simply London.^[1]

The letter had both business and social purposes The primary purpose was to chase up some small investments made earlier by Lewis, but he also provided news of the naval war and of the great fire in London. His own house had been spared in the fire, and he was spending Christmas in London, due to foul weather and against his own desire. As a result he was without most of his family, though his wife was with him, she having come to London for the funeral of her mother.

The letter writer was probably Sir John Lewis, a senior London merchant and ironmonger. He can be clearly identified as the writer of an earlier letter^[2] to Sir George Oxenden, since Sir George Smith wrote an accompanying letter, dated March 24th, 1665/66, stating:

These few lynes are only to accompany the inclosed from S:r John Lewys who now is in Yorkshire^[3]

Sir John Lewis had acquired Ledston(e) Hall and estate, in Yorkshire, either in 1653, or about 1660.^[4] It was a large property, which had formerly been owned by Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Tim Mowl and Brian Earnshaw suggest that John Lewis, on the purchase of the estate, "promptly built a second, more orderly, Bolsover," referring to the family seat of the Cavendish family thirty-five miles to the south, which they describe as "part Gothic, part Florentine, infused with Jacobean symbolism." They describe Ledstone Hall, following Sir John Lewis building works, as having a "huge forecourt, eleven bays wide by five deep," which "is topped by a resounding salvo of nine scrolled and pedimented gables; all except one are of simple convex profile like the trio over the hall in Great Court at Bolsover."^[5]

Sir John Lewis (alias Lewys) (b. ?, d. ca. 1671) was a London merchant, made knight and baronet in 1660. He was Master of the Ironmongers Company, 1657-58, a member of the Council of Trade in 1660, and of the Council of Foreign Plantations in 1661.^[6]

He was a part-owner of the ship the Loyal Merchant, along with Sir George Oxenden. Sir George Smith and others.^[7]

Sir John Lewis was married to Sarah Foot, the third daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Foot, who had been Lord Mayor of London in ?1649.^[8]

He died in ca. 1671.^[9] There is a marble memorial to Sir John and his wife in the parish church All Saints, Ledsham, near Leeds in West Yorkshire.^[10]

Suggested links

See March 1665/66, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO (letter sent with Sir George Smith's letter)
See 24th March 1665/66, Letter from George Smith to Sir GO, London

To do

(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL

(2) Verify the writer is Sir John Lewis. Lewis was a common name and there is no identification of other partners or places

Ledston Hall, Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, Inkwash on Paper, 1776

Image credits & copyright information

Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, 'A view of the entrance front of Ledston Hall', ink wash on paper, 1773, BL, Add. MS 15548, f. 56
- Personal use licence from British Library^[11]

Transcription

This transcription has been completed, but requires checking

[RH SIDE]
London: Decemb: y:e 20:th 1666

Honoured S:r

Having answered yo:s of y:e 6:th March 1664: y:e 16:th ditto 1665, & not having reced any from yo:w since, have at this time little of enlargement, more y:n to ?improve this opportunity by y:e tending of my humble service w:th these ?paxanessingers, & so reitterating former intreaties for y:e dispatching of those small ??Concernmen:ts x:th I made bold to trouble yo:w w:th; if it may ly in my power to make part of a retaliation heere, by any service, amongst many abler friends, yo:w shall find me really greatefull, & sensible of soe greate a kindnes, The not hearing from yo:w by land, as y:e not yet arrivall o:e this years ships puts us into some ?panink feares, but God, I hope, will bless us w:th auspitious tidings of y:m, & prosp: o:e royall Navy, a squadron or 2: being suddenly intended out in quest of o:e Insolent enimies, who hath made a strong Confederacy w;th both french & danes, y:e sad disolation of y:e late merciless fire brought me to towne to look after my pticular Concernmen:ts, & dispose of my house w:tch providence had spared from soe great a Consumaton & am now by fowle weather forced to keepe my Christmas in London, & not w:th my family more y:n my wife,^[12] who came heither to y:e buriall of her mother^[13], I shall at y:s time in large no more, but to intreate yo:e kinde respect & kindness to ?Lans y:e Comp:a linguister in Persia^[14], & I doubt not but yo:w have done him justice in y:e wine business, as was by y:e Comp:a Comended to yo:w; y:e rest is y:e subscription of

[RH SIDE]
S:r
Yo:e most affectionate frend & humble servant
John: Lewis

Notes

St Bartholomew the Less, London hearth tax (1666)

"Litell britten South

Sr John Lewis 17 hearths

Smith side

Aldr Fox 7 hearths"^[15]

Samuel Pepys, Sir John Lewis, Saturday 22 March 1661/62

"At the office all the morning. At noon Sir Williams both and I by water down to the Lewes, Captain Dekins, his ship, a merchantman, where we met the owners, Sir John Lewes and Alderman Lewes, and several other great merchants; among others one Jefferys, a merry man that is a fumbler, and he and I called brothers, and he made all the mirth in the company. We had a very fine dinner, and all our wives’ healths, with seven or nine guns apiece; and exceeding merry we were, and so home by barge"^[16]

Inventory, Sir John Lewis, 1671

"1671, September 23-- Fifty-five sheets containing "The Inventory indented...of all and singular the goods, chattelles, rightes and credittes which late belonged unto Sir John Lewis, knight and baronett, late cittizen and ironmonger of London, deceased"; sworn before Sir Richard Ford, knight, Lord Mayor of London. The whole estate..."^[17]

J.R. Woodhead (1966), Alderman Thomas Lewis

"LEWIS, Thomas

Ald Broad Street, 11-20 Jun 1661, disch, F £620 (1) St Mary Colechurch, 1647, St Helen, 1677 (2) VIN, appr, 1632, to Edward Darling (£300 bond), fr, 1640, L, 1645 (3) f George Lewis of Peckleton, Leic, gent, mar (A) 1647, Frances, da of Ald Zachary Highlord of St Olave Hart Street, (C) Elizabeth, da of Ald Francis Dashwood of St Botolph Bishopsgate, Turkey merchant (4) RAC stock £1,000 of original stock, 1671 (5) Land Bucks (? land agent for Samuel DASHWOOD) (6) MP Wycombe, 1679, 1679-81, 1681, 1689-90 Sheriff of Bucks, 1673-4 (7) ? Dissenter (8) Bro-in-law of Samuel DASHWOOD Son Thomas Lewis, MP Wycombe, 1690-5, 1695-6 (d) (9)

(1) Beaven, I, p 75 (2) Boyd 28161, VBk, St Helen (3) Beaven, I, p 75, VIN, Appr Pres, 6 Nov 1632, Co Bk, 1638-58, ff 11, 184 (4) VIN, Appr Pres, 6 Nov 1632, Boyd 28161, Pink MS 306, f 172, Lipscombe, Buckinghamshire, III, p 654 (5) PRO, T 70/100 (6) Lipscombe, Buckinghamshire, II, p 482, III, pp 653-4 (7) Pink MS 306, f 172 (8) H of L, MS 154 (m) (9) Boyd 14016, Pink MS 306, f 172"^[18]

Ledston Hall, Yorkshire

"[1712. September.] 27. Morning, read, &c.; then, had Dr. Tomlin-son's company to Ledstone Hall, where most kindly received by the excellent and most pious Lady Elizabeth Hastings, who showed me some valuable books and pictures of relations, both of the Earl of Huntingdon's family and Sir John Lewis's, the benefactors ; amongst other, the Lady Davis's, (the Irish prophetess,) and a treatise of her husband's, (the Attorney-General,) concerning the Immortality of the Soul; these and the agreeable conversation tempted us to stay too long, that we were late enough home ; but, blessed be God, had good weather, (though sore rains this morning,) and tolerable way."^[19]

Ledsham from Fairburn Ings, Yorkshire

There is a memorial to Sir John Lewis in the saxon parish church of Ledsham from Fairburn Ings, Yorkshire, withreclining white marble figures of both Sir John Lewis and his wife

See Photograph of Sir John Lewis monument, parish church, Ledsham from Fairburn Ings, Yorkshire

Effigy of Sir John Lewis holding a skull, All Saints Church, Ledsham, near Leeds, West Yorkshire.

http://www.godsowncounty.co.uk/02/yorkshire/ledsham-from-fairburn-ings/

Elizabeth Hastings, eldest daughter of Sir John Lewis

"Elizabeth Hastings (1654-1688) was the eldest daughter and coheir of Sir John Lewis, baronet, of Ledstone Hall, Yorkshire, and his wife Sarah (Catherine S. Patterson, "Hastings, Theophilus, seventh earl of Huntingdon (1650-1701)", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)."^[20]

Possible primary sources

TNA

C 6/41/65 Short title: Bush v Lewis. Plaintiffs: Edward Bush. Defendants: John Lewis. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. Document type: answer only. 1659
C 6/192/122 Short title: Wilson v Wilson. Plaintiffs: Richard Wilson. Defendants: Thomas Wilson, Francis Tindall, Sir John Lewis baronet, Sir Joseph Ash baronet and Lewis Palmer. Subject: property in North Wheatley, Nottinghamshire. Document type: bill, answer. 1669

C 10/69/87 Sir John Lewis baronet and Jane Lewis widow v Josiah Prymate, Jeremy Elwes, Thomas Levett, George Lilbourne, George Grey, George Grey and Cuthbert Morley: Harraton and others, Durham. Answer 1663
C 10/73/77 Sir John Lewis baronet v Edward Bush: money matters, Middlesex. Bill and answer 1664
C 10/109/85 Sir John Lewis baronet v Edward Bush: money matters. Answer and demurrer 1665
C 10/469/170 Sir John Lewis baronet v Edward Bush: money matters, Middlesex. Bill only 1664
C 10/488/141 Sir John Lewis baronet, Sir James Muddiford baronet, Sir George Smith knight, Sir George Oxendon knight, Thomas Hussey and others v Nicholas Millett, William Kennon, George Male, William Stevens, John North, Samuel Roberts and others: money matters, Middlesex. 1666

PROB 11/337 Duke 102-158 Will of Sir John Lewys 01 December 1671
PROB 11/344 Bruce 1-53 Will of Edward Lewis, Merchant of London 09 April 1674

Possible secondary sources

1. ↑ 'Hearth Tax: City of London 1666: St Bartholomew the Less ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=118512 Date accessed: 24 January 2012
2. ↑ March 1665/66, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO
3. ↑ "24th March 1665/66, Letter from George Smith to Sir GO, London"
4. ↑ Tim Mowl and Brian Earnshaw give the date of purchase of the estate of Ledston Hall as 1653, though English Heritage in its listing details for the building states circa 1660 (Tim Mowl, Brian Earnshaw, Architecture without kings: the rise of puritan classicism under Cromwell (Manchester, 1985), p. 169; 'Ledston Hall', IoE 428817, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=428817, viewed 24/01/12)
5. ↑ Tim Mowl, Brian Earnshaw, Architecture without kings: the rise of puritan classicism under Cromwell (Manchester, 1985), p. 169
6. ↑ XXX Latham & XXX Mathews, XXXX (XXXX, XXXX), p. XX
7. ↑ See Bill of Complaint in Court of Chancery by 'S:r John Lewis of London Kn:t and Barronett, S:r James Maddifford Kn:t and Barronett, S:r George Smith of London kn:t S:r George Oxenden Knight Thomas Hussey of London Esq Henry Sparstow of London Esq Daniell Pennington [??] Jonathan Dawes, Phillip Mirell [Mirsell?] and Richard Binly of London Merchants and part owners of the good shipp called the Loyall Merchant of London' (C10/488/141)
8. ↑ Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Genealogical gleanings in England, vol. 2 (?Boston, or ?Cambridge, MA, 1901), p. 1275
9. ↑ PROB 11/337 Duke 102-158 Will of Sir John Lewys 01 December 1671
10. ↑ This is the footnote text
11. ↑ http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/terms/copyright/index.html, viewed 24/01/12
12. ↑ John Lewis' wife was Sarah Foot, the third daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Foot, who had been Lord Mayor of London in ?1649 NEED TO CONFIRM (Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Genealogical gleanings in England, vol. 2 (?Boston, or ?Cambridge, MA, 1901), p. 1275)
13. ↑ John Lewis' mother-in-law was XXXX. See Missing faces
14. ↑ CHECK THE NAME. This may be an Armenian. Several years earlier, a letter from the English East India Company in London to Surat had stated: "Wee have received a peticion from one William Bell an Armenian, whoe hath formely lived as an interpreter to Mr William Garway and Mr Buckridge in Persia. Hee hath peticioned to us, to recomend him to you, that hee may bee imployed as one of those for the making of wine in Persia, to which his request wee condiscend, and referr him unto you." ('Company in London to Surat, 10 August 1663, E/3/86 Extract from ff. 150-150v.' in Vahé Baladouni, Margaret Makepeace, Armenian Merchants of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries: English East India Company Sources, (Philadelphia, 1998), p. 54)
15. ↑ 'Hearth Tax: City of London 1666: St Bartholomew the Less ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=118512 Date accessed: 24 January 2012
16. ↑ http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1662/03/22/index.php, viewed 24/01/12
17. ↑ H.M.S.O., Report on the manuscripts of the late Reginald Rawdon Hastings, Esq., of the Manor house, Ashby de la Zouche (London, 1928), p. 402
18. ↑ 'Lewis, Thomas', in J.R. Woodhead, 'Lambert - Lytler', The Rulers of London 1660-1689: A biographical record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London (1966), pp. 104-101
19. ↑ Joseph Hunter (ed.), The diary of Ralph Thoresby, author of the topography of Leeds (1677-1724), 2 vols. (London, 1830), reproduced on website of the Thoresby Society, http://www.thoresby.org.uk/diary/1712.html, viewed 24/01/12
20. ↑ http://www.warwick.ac.uk/english/perdita/html/ms_HUNHAL16_context.htm, viewed 24/01/12