Monday 17 February 2014

Update - The Milton Fitzwilliam bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac

The Milton / Fitzwilliam bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac once belonging to William Murray, Lord Mansfield at Kenwood House, Hampstead update.

Since my previous post on the subject of the Milton / Fitzwilliam bust of Pope on the 15th January 2014 there has been an essay published in the Sculpture Journal 22.2 by Malcolm Baker entitled "Busts and Friendship: the identity and context of William Murray's version of Roubiliac's bust of Alexander Pope" (always one for a snappy title).

It adds very little to my original researches (provided to Malcolm Baker in 2002) except to give details of the fourth codicil of the will dated 30 April 1793, proved 20 September 1796, of David, the 2nd Earl Mansfield. The bequest reads "To Earl Fitzwilliam who continued to me the friendship he showed to Lord Mansfield I leave the bust of Pope at Kenwood".

I had already pointed out to him in 2002 the similarities in the motto around the bases of both the bust of Pope by Roubiliac and the bust of Lord Mansfield by Nollekins.

The form of the Roubiliac bust is unmistakeably depicted on the doorcase above William Murray, Lord Mansfied in his portrait by John Singleton Copley of 1783, now in the National Portrait Gallery.

Harris Neate (1706 - 1742).




Harris Neate (1706 – 1742). The father of the Two Children in the Portrait of the Neate Children Accompanied by their Tutor by Joshua Reynolds in the Metropolitan Museum, New York


The information of births, marriages and deaths of the Neate family came from the Quaker Records at the Friends Library, Euston Rd, London.

The first records of the Neate family suggest that they originate in the 17th century in the North Wiltshire Area and were early Quakers. There were Quaker Meeting Houses at Calne, Devizes and Chippenham.


1672. - Birth of Thomas Neate, son of John and Ann Neate of Calne, Wiltshire the father of Harris Neate.


1704. - Thomas Neate described as Merchant of Bristol, previously a soap maker of Chippenham bought land at Chippenham, Langley Burrell, Potterne and Hardenhuish in Wiltshire, Documents at Trowbridge records Office showing a close association of Thomas Neate – Merchant of Bristol and Thomas Harris, Apothecary of Chippenham (info in Rich.Colviles note book), Thomas either the father or brother of Nathaniel Harris, father of Love Harris / Neate, mother of Harris Neate.

Nathaniel Harris was party to a lease in 1706 of Gods Place, on the High Street in Chippenham, from the Church in 1713. This is probably the date of his death. Thomas Harris rents Gods Place until 1735. Love Harris (mother of Harris Neate) lived at Gods Place until 1757. Harris Neate had an “estate” at Gastard, Nr Corsham, Wilts.


1705. Marriage of Thomas Neate I of the City of Bristol, merchant to Love Harris, daughter of Nathaniel Harris of Chippenham, Wiltshire at Chippenham,


1706. Marriage of Anthony Neate, (d. 1735 of fever), Haberdasher of Georges Yard, Lombard Street, London (son of Thomas Neate of Chippenham) married Hannah Marsh (d.1723) of Bermondsey. (Anthony is the brother of Thomas Neate I). They have a son also Anthony (b1717).


1706. Birth of Harris Neate, the first husband of Martha Vandewall, ne Barrow at Castle Green, Bristol. In 1716 the family are described of James Square, Bristol. This suggests that the family are very prosperous. Castle Green was built in the grounds of Bristol Castle, which was destroyed in the Civil War in the late 17th Century.


1729. April 1, Sale of messuage and land called Knowles in parish of Hardenhuish. (Just north of Chippenham, Wilts)
Parties - (1) Thomas Neate and Love his wife of Bristol, Charles Harford, Walter Hawkesworth, James Davis,
(2) Nathaniel Harris of Bristol.
See at
Wiltshire and Swindon Archives : Note 212B/3356. 

1734. - 6 Jan – Harris Neate, described as of the Island of Jamaica married Martha Barrow daughter of Jonathan Barrow of the county of Monmouth.


Martha had a brother Francis Barrow who was died at Charleston in America on12 July 1750, leaving his estate to Samuel Vandewall, see South Carolina Wills. p 47


The following notes relate to Thomas Neate of Jamaica and William Neate. I have not yet established the relationship of these two Neates to Harris Neate.


This Thomas Neate is perhaps the father or brother of Harris Neate

There is a reference to a brother in the will of – is this William Neate??

There are also two other companies in London bearing the Neate name – Neate and Pigou,(Kents Directory 1763, St Marys Hill, London) and Neate and Neave.


1744. The ship the Dragon was part owned by Nehemiah Champion of Bristol, she was supplied with guns and shot from Coalbrookedale in June and August of 1744: see The Goldeney Family, Stembridge. 1998.

1737. Saturday, April 30; Issue 660. Read's Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer (London, England), Reports the Death of Thomas Neate –

by letter from Jamaica, we are informed of the death of Mr Thomas Neate, a merchant who had resided there about eight years. He died in very good circumstances and beloved by all who were acquainted with him”



1737. Thursday, July 28; Daily Post, London, England, Issue 5578, reports – Gravesend, July 26. The Dragon, Neate from Jamaica.



1738. Monday, June 5, Daily Post, London, England; Issue 5845 reports –under Port News – Deal, June 2 arriv’d the Dragon, Neate from Jamaica



1738 – 40 Anthony Neate of Jamaica, ref. RGO/ Sp Tw Liber 23 from Index of Early Wills of Jamaica



1738, Monday, June 5, London Daily Post and General Advertiser (London, England), Issue 1123 – reported -The Dragon, Captain Neate from Jamaica which ship spoke with the St Quinten, Cathcart from the Bay of Honduras in lat 49, 30m, which ship had lost her main mast, foretop mast, boats, guns and anchors, was very leaky and most of the crew sick or dead. On Saturday in the afternoon the above ship (whose holding is wholly log wood arrived in the downs.



1739, March 20; London Daily Post and General Advertiser London, England, Tuesday, Issue 1370 – reports – The Dragon, Neate, from Philadelphia is arrived at Jamaica in 21 days



1739, Monday, July 2, Daily Post, London, England; Issue 6181- reports Deal, June 30, Dragon, Neate from Jamaica.



1739, Saturday, September 29, Country Journal or The Craftsman, London, Issue 690 –reports The Dragon, Capt William Neate, bound to Philadelphia and Jamaica is sail’d, having a letter of marque.



Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette reports arrival of Capt. William Neate, 5 Dec, at Phila. from London with European News



1740, Friday, May 30, London Daily Post and General Advertiser, London, England, Issue 1747 – reports The Dragon, Neate from Philadelphia is arrived at Jamaica.



1740; Friday, August 8, Daily Post, London, England, Issue 6527 reports under port news - Deal, August 6, arrived the Dragon, Neate from Jamaica.



Undated Ref in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette to the Dursley Galley –William Neate, Commander will sail from Phila. As a privateer to Jamaica (9 July)



1742; Saturday, January 9, London Evening Post (London, England), Issue 2211. – reports – Extract of a letter from Captain Neate of the Dursley, Galley, to his owners in London dated Oct 17 –describes an engagement between the Dursley Gally and two Spanish privateer sloops off Jamaica - one of which was sunk.


From the American Mercury, Thurs July 23, 1741.

For Jamaica; The Ship Dursly GallyWILLIAM NEATE, Commander

Burthen about 400 Tons, mounts 22 Cannon, six Pounders, and 8Swivel Guns, with small Arms and all other Matterials fitting for a Ship of War, & is to carry 50 Men. This is is therefore to give Notice to all Gentlemen Sailors that are willing to enter on board said Ship they shall have monthly Wages as they shall agree with said Commander, and on half of all Prizes or Booty that shall be taken during the Voyage divided between Captain, Officers, and Men, in such manner as Privateers generally divide, the other half to go to the Owners, and in Case any Man in Battle loose a Limb he shall be intituled to 50 l Sterling out of the first Booty or Prize that shall be taken, if an Eye 30 l. Sterling, if a joint 10 l. Sterling, and further if any Man get wounded or maim'd in defence of said Ship and no Captor be made, the Owners of the said Ship do oblige themselves to allow to every such Man 5 l Sterling.
 
N.B. As the Ship is principally engaged to carry Kings Provisions the Company need be under no Apprehensions of being Pressed
                           ---------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of notes on other Neate Companies,

Neate and Pigou

From - http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/merchants/merchants9.htm

In April 1761 Frederick Pigou Jnr became partner of William Neate. Pigou Snr was in manufacturing and selling gunpowder, a partner with Miles Peter Andrews, at 28 Budge Row. Pigou Jnr went from Neate in 1768 and tried to take over Neate's correspondents. Booth had been briefly in New York, in 1759 with a store. By 1773, Pigou Jnr's father was a director of the East India Co, and wanted tea consigned. The owners of the Nancy to carry tea to New York were William Kelly and Co and perhaps John Blackburn qv in Kellock. After the revolution began, Pigou returned to England, but in 1777 as British troops occupied he returned to New York, but back in England by 1779 or 1780. The partnership had been ended. Booth tried to set up alone but by 1782 was bankrupt. Booth once wrote a book on a complete system of book-keeping. Pigou and Booth in 1790 claimed £6056 from New York and Pennsylvania.
(On Frederick Pigou, see Olson,
Making the Empire Work, citations p. 244, Note 59.)



From - The London Mercantile Lobby and the Coming of the American Revolution - Alison G. Olson

The Journal of American History, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Jun., 1982), 21-41

Before the 1760s Quakers had held back from cooperating with non-Quaker merchants. The

most powerful had lobbied with ministers and the Board of Trade on their own; lesser ones had

channeled their influence through the London Meeting for Sufferings, but their names were con-

spicuously absent from mercantile petitions. In the 1760s Quakers like William Neate, David

Barclay, Daniel Mildred, and, before his early death, Hanbury had begun cooperating with the

larger merchant community. Quaker influence is also suggested by John Fothergill's statement

that three or four Quaker merchants got the merchants mobilized on the Stamp Act opposition,

though Fothergill was clearly writing for Quaker consumption. John Fothergill to James Pember-

ton, April 8, 1766, in Chain of Friendship: Selected Letters of Dr. John Fothergill of London, 1735-

1780, ed. Betsy C. Corner and Christopher Booth. (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), 257-61



From Franklin's Autobiographical Writings


On the 24th I received the following note from a considerable merchant in the city - "Mr. William Neate presents his most respectful compliments to Dr Franklin, and as a report prevailed yesterday evening that all the disputes between Great Britain and the American colonies were, through his application and influence with Lord North, amicably settled conformable to the wish and desire of the late Congress, W. N. desires the favor of Dr. Franklin to inform him by a line, per the bearer, whether there is any credit to be given to the report”.

"St. Mary Hill, 24th December, 1774."

1740 - 11 April, Thomas Neate II was born at Laurence Pountney Hill, City to Harris Neate and Martha Neate ne Barrow.


1740 - Harris Neat & Co, Merchants of Laurence Pountney Hill noted in Kent’s Directory of London.

1741 – Birth of Martha Neate.


1742 - 6 September – Harris Neate of the parish of St Lawrence Jewry, died of a fever and is buried at Friends Burial Ground, Long Lane. London.


1743 - Saturday, June 18, Daily Advertiser, London, England, Issue 3874.

A black negro women about nineteen years old with two letters on her breast and her shoulder made her escape from the ship Hannah, Capt Fowler, for Jamaica the 6th inst. Goes by the name of Sabinah is supposed to be deluded away by some other black about Whitechapel, Rag Fair or Rotherhith, whoever brings her to the late Mr Neates, on Lawrence Pountney Hill, shall have three guineas reward, or if put on board the ship again any time between this and next Tuesday, ten shillings more.

The above advertisement was repeated in the Daily Advertiser (London, England), Wednesday, September 14, 1743; Issue 3949 without the last sentence.


1740’s – Both Harris Neate’s and Samuel Vandewall’s portraits were painted perhaps by George Knapton, (1698 – 1778).

Provenance - Anne Bulley & Mark Garthwaite through Patricia Allen (their mother) who inherited from grandfather, Charles Eden Neate (son of Walter Neate) now with Susanna Harris Hughs. Info from Susannah Harris Hughes a direct descendant of Thomas Neate.


Martha Neate was also painted by Knapton at around the same time. The portrait sold by Christies King St, London Lot 28, 25 November 2003 and sold by a member of the family. Described by Christies - Portrait of Mrs Neate, of Donnington, Hampshire, half-length, in an embroidered silver shawl trimmed with fur, seated by a table with a spaniel her lap, in an interior, beside a pole screen.


The will of Harris Neate of 2 December 1740 states:

Firstly I give and bequeath unto my dearly beloved wife Martha Neate one thousand pounds and all my household goods linen plate jewels rings watches and all furniture of what kind so ever……..”


He leaves his sisters Love Neate and Anne Grant £200 each. He also wishes that his wife is not pursued for any of his brother’s debts. (William Neate??)
The Will of Harris Neate 1740 (in full)
In the name of God Amen
I HARRIS NEATE of London ~ Merchant ~ being in perfect health and of sound and disposing mind memory and understanding do make this my last Will and Testament in manner following
Firstly I give and bequeath unto my dearly beloved wife MARTHA NEATE one thousand pounds and all my household goods linen plate jewels rings watches and all furniture of what kind so ever I also give unto my mother LOVE NEATE one hundred pounds and do hereby release and discharge my said mother from the payment of and every sum or sums of money as may be due and owing from her to me at the time of my decease and and I also give and bequeath to my sister LOVE NEATE and my sister ANN GRANT the sum of two hundred pounds each which said last mentioned legacies of one hundred pounds and two hundred pounds I will shall be paid by my Executrix herein after named within twelve months after my
decease I also give to JULINES BARFFORD of Lincolns Inn Fields ~ Esquire ~ and JOSHUA FFLEETHAM of Cornhill London ~ Woollen Draper ~ Twenty guineas each I give unto my servant JOHN GORDON ten guineas if he shall be living with me at my death and from and after payment and satisfaction of the above mentioned legacy's and of all such Debts as I shall owe at my death and of the Charges attending the Probate and execution of this my Will I do hereby Will direct and appoint the rest and residue of my personal estate to be paid by my Executrix hereinafter named within two years next after my decease unto the said JULINES BARFFORD and JOSHUA FFLEETHAM upon Trust that they the said Juline BARFFORD and Joshua FFLEETHAM //
[2 pages] // Security as my said Executrix shall approve to her not to molest sue or implead her for or on account of all or any of the Estate or Effects of my said late Brother which were in partnership between us or on any other account whatsoever // And I do hereby make constitute and appoint my said dear wife MARTHA NEATE sole executrix of this my Last Will and Testament in witness whereof I the said HARRIS NEATE to the my last Will and Testament contained in two sheets of paper have sett my hand and seal to each sheet thereof this second day of June in the thirteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of
the ffaith and so forth and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and fforty
HARRIS NEATE Signed sealed published and declared by the said Testator Harris NEATE as and for his Last will and Testament in the presence of us who in his presence and at his request have subscribed our names as Witnesses hereunto Thom's GRIFFITHS Edward WHITE Jno MIDDLEBROOKE of CLIFFORDS jur.

This Will was proved at London the second day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty two Before the Worshipful Robert CHAPMAN Doctor of laws Surrogate of the Right Worshipful John BETTESWORTH Doctor of Laws and master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully instituted by the solemn and sincere declaration or affirmation of MARTHA NEATE ~Widow the Relict of the Deceased and sole Executrix named in the said Will to whom Administration was granted of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the said deceased having first made the Declaration or Affirmation aforesaid according to Act of Parliament Duly to Administer.

Tuesday 11 February 2014

The Vandewall Family History



Early Family history of the Vandewalls.


Philip Vandewall 1 of Sandwich, Kent.


Born abroad – Netherlands. A Philip Vandewall was born at Ypres.

Many Dutch refugees from the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands arrived in 1561 and subsequently settled in the coastal towns of the South East of England. He appears in a list of aliens in London 22 Jun 1561 - he is listed as a member of the Dutch Church at Austin Friars in 27 Dec 1584. 

1585 Philip Vanden Waall of the Dutch Church resides in the parish off St Olave in Shorte Southwarke.

There were 351 Flemish householders in Sandwich in 1582 – most were involved in the cloth industry See Boys - History of Sandwich.
 
Philip Van den Wall II (c.1565 –c.1653)

Philip Vandewall of Hythe, is settled there by 1615 first appears in a list of strangers at Hethe (Hythe) dated 28 April 1622.

Philip Vandewall whoe is by trade a wolcomber and professeth the same, he sum tymes deals in marchandize and keeps a shop of small wares here; he was born of stranger parents at Sandwich”
These details are contained in a letter from the mayor and jurates of the town to the Lieutenant of Dover Castle, only two other strangers are named viz. John Jacobb alias van de Stat, a physician, nursery gardener, grazier, and flax grower of Hythe who with Philip Vandewall had “inhabited here lythe space of seven yeares together last past …….

In history of Flanders by Sanderus, 1641, are listed noblemen called van Waal at Ypres

1619. Philip Vandewalle (1590 ……) Woolcomber and merchant, of Colchester, Essex formerly of Hythe, Kent, born at Sandwich Kent, married Sarah …..?

They had four children, Daniel (1645 of Colchester), John of Harwich, Sarah and Maria.

1620. birth of Daniel Vandewall of Colchester, father of Daniel Vandewall of Harwich (1645 – after 1707)…) who became a Quaker before 1667.


1621. Birth of John Vandewall I of Harwich


1633 – 23 April Philip Vandewall of Colchester marries for the second time Sarah Springers of Sandwich.

He eventually settled at Wirksworth, Derbyshire where he became a merchant and owner of the lead mine at Naverton. This was a very astute move – lead was a very important industry, used in buildings, pipework, roofing and windows and also as ammunition. This “mineral inheritance” was named in the wills of his son John, in 1657, of Daniel Vandewalle in 1702 and Jno Vandewall in 1707 and of William Markes, brother in law of Daniel Vandewall  who mentions 1/24th in1784.

1653. Death of Philip Vandewall at Wirksworth.

1657. Death of Sarah Vandewall (Springers) at Wirksworth.
John Vandewall I (1621 - 1657).
Second son of Philip and Sarah Vandewall. Baker and ship owner. Not a quaker. Father of John Vandewall II
c.1645 marries Mary ……
1646. Birth of John Vandewall II. (father of John Vandewall III)
1648. Birth of Philip Vandewall
1650. Birth of Daniel Vandewall
1652 - John Vandewall, Baker of Harwich – issued brass farthing, trade tokens.
Mary Vandewall becomes a Quaker before 1661, and is imprisoned in February 1662 with Steven Crisp. She dies after 1670.
1657. In his will he leaves his house to his wife for life and then to his son, and to his wife and sons his lead mine inheritance at Wirksworth.
John Vandewall II (c.1646 - 1707).
son of John Van de Wall I of Harwich.
1659. - By this time he has become a Quaker.
1660. – Imprisoned for three months for refusing the oath of allegiance at Harwich.
1669 - 11 Aug. – marries Hannah Mace junior of Harwich at Friends Meeting House Colchester
1674. John Vandewall with his brother Daniel supplied bread to the towns poor and made an agreement with the boroughs churchwardens to rent the windmill from which most of the town’s inhabitants bought their bread. Info from Quakers in English Society by Adrian Davis, 2000.
1677. - In the original MS of William Penn’s Journal he says ”The morning 24 V 1677 I took my journey to Colchester and met George Watts of London upon ye way who returnd with me, came well to ye town ye evening we lodged at John Furleys ye elder; but had a blessed meeting at Jonathan Furleys house that night 25 V 1677. The next morning early I left Colchester and came to Harwich about noon accompanied by G. Watts and John Furley ye elder, Wm Talecote and George Whiterly (Weatherly father of Daniel Vandewalls wife Ann) of Colchester, where we found dear G.F. (George Fox) at John Van de Walls house with many moor friends etc. the meeting done we returned to John Vandewalls house, where we took our leave of Friends….. George Fox mentions lodging with John Vandewall before leaving for Holland, in his journal of the same time.
From The Autobiography of George Fox
1677. At Colchester, the party's hosts were Steven Crisp, another famous Quaker leader, who had many links with the Friends of Holland, and John Furly, the father of Benjamin of Rotterdam.
After the meeting at Harwich we returned to John Vandewall’s, where I had lodged; and when the boat was ready, taking leave of Friends, we that were bound for Holland went on board about nine in the evening, on the 25th of the Fifth month, 1677. The Friends that went over with me, were William Penn, Robert Barclay, George Keith and his wife, John Furly and his brother, William Tallcoat, George Watts, and Isabel Yeomans, one of my wife’s daughters.
Note : George Fox was the son of a weaver and left home at age 18 in search of religious experience. Probably beginning as a Puritan, he reacted even more strongly than the Puritans against the tradition of the Church of England and came to regard personal experience as the true source of authority, placing God-given “inward light,” or inspiration, above creeds and scripture. He traveled the countryside on foot, preaching to small groups, and he and other preachers established congregations. The Society of Friends arose in the 1650s. The Quakers' denunciation of ministers and public officials and their refusal to pay tithes or take oaths led to persecution, and Fox was imprisoned eight times between 1649 and 1673. He made missionary trips to Ireland, the Caribbean islands, North America, and northern Europe. His Journal gives an account of his life and of the rise.

1679. - 4 Nov. - John Vandewall I of Harwich, baker marries Susannah Cottisford of “Trimble Mary” at FMH Ipswich. There are no children
1681. – His brother Philip, born in 1648, dies at Colchester aged 33
1682. – 11 Aug - marries his third wife Mary Dove of Clements Lane, London, mother of John Vandewall, at Friends Meeting House, Bull and Mouth, St Martins le Grand, London. Amongst those signing the wedding certificate were two Daniel Vandewalls, Henry Dove, George Whitehead, Stephen Crisp, Robert Barclay (the apologist).
1684 – his daughter Mary is born. In 1709 Mary Vandewall of Clements Lane marries at FMH. Bull and Mouth, William Markes, citizen and glover of London, son of Nathaniel Markes, citizen and glover of Cheapside.
1685. birth of John Vandewall III.
Mary (Dove) Vandewall predeceases her husband
1696. John Vandewall II is admitted Free Burgess at Colchester.
1707. John Vandewall II dies at Harwich, his will is proved 16 Jun 1707, he gives to his son John (Vandewall III) his dwelling house at Harwich, and a share of the lead mines at Wirksworth, Derbyshire.

Monday 10 February 2014

Samuel and Martha Vandewall.


Samuel Vandewall (1719 – 1761) 
and his wife Martha ne Barrow (d. 1793).


Samuel Vandewall was an active Quaker and member of the Linen Drapers Guild.

A Chronological History prepared to illustrate the social and cultural life of the owners of a marble bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac.

A few chronological notes on John Vandewall III – (1685 -1731) father of Samuel Vandewall.

1685. Born at Harwich. the son of John Vandewall II.

1710. – Member of the Linen Drapers Guild and Citizen of French Ordinary Court, Crutched Friars, London marries his first wife, Martha Diamond at the Friends Meeting House, Devonshire House. William Penn, and George Whitehead are amongst those who sign the marriage certificate.

1714 – 16 Feb, - John Vandewall is described as an eminent corn factor, and merchant marries his first  wife, Ann Moore, daughter of Joseph Moore of Clements Lane, merchant, and mother of Samuel Vandewall at the Bull and Mouth Quaker Meeting House in Aldersgate, City of London.

1714 – 30 December – Birth of Joseph Vandewall at French Ordinary Court, Crutched Friars, the oldest son.

Note: French Ordinary Court – from Strypes Survey of London 1720 - This Crouched Fryers Street hath several good Buildings and Places of Name, viz. on the North Side, French Ordinary Court already mentioned, being a large open Place with very good Buildings, especially on the East Side; having Pallisado Pales, with Trees before the Court Yards of the Houses, and a Free Stone Pavement betwixt the Houses. Out of this Court is a Passage down Steps into Fenchurch Street.
Now underneath Fenchurch St Station.







The entrance to French Ordinary Court, Crutched Friars City of London.

1719 - 24 December - Birth of Samuel Vandewall, at French Ordinary Court, he is the future stepfather of the Neate children in Reynold portrait in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

1722. John Vandewall was one of the signatories to an address by Quakers to King George I.

1726 - 6/7 January – his wife Ann Moore / Vandewall (daughter of Joseph Moore) dies of consumption.

1728 - John Vandewall marries his third wife at the Friends Meeting House Bristol, Martha Goldney daughter of Thomas Goldney the elder, of Clifton, Bristol.

1728 - both John Vandewall and Silvanus Bevan are subscribers to A view of Sir Isaac Newtons Philosophy by Henry Pemberton.

1731 – 5 January - John Vandewall III dies of a fever and is buried at the Friends Burial Ground at Whitechapel Mount, his executors are his brother in law Thomas Gouldney II of Bristol, maker of the famous grotto at Clifton, Bristol, his father in law from his second wife Joseph Moore and the Apothecary and amateur sculptor Silvanus Bevan.

His estate is left in trust to his children, Joseph Moore is the owner of a house lands and the Copperas Works at East Greenwich, which is later to be inherited by Sam. Vandewall.

1742 - 16 September - Martha Gouldney / Vandewall bereaved wife of John Vandewall marries Nehemiah Champion (1709 -1782 ) of Bristol at the Friends Meeting House, Bristol.

Notes - 

Nehemiah Champion - After Abraham DARBY left the brass mills at Baptist Mills, on the Avon near Bristol Nehemiah CHAMPION, a Bristol Quaker, assumed leadership. He was son of Nehemiah, a Bristol merchant who lived at 68 Old Market, who traded, with his son Richard, with Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale, buying and re-selling his hollow-ware pots and pig iron. 

In 1723 Nehemiah held a patent for a new method of preparing copper for use in brass making which was used at Baptist Mills.

Nehemiah had three sons, the eldest being John (1705-1794), the second Nehemiah (1709-1782) and the youngest William (1710-1789). William travelled extensively to the continent to learn the art of brass making, returning to Bristol in 1730. He then experimented at Baptist Mills with producing metallic zinc sulphide (which at that time was imported from India and Asia at a high price) from English calamine. He was the first man, in this country, to produce zinc on a commercial scale and it took him about six years to achieve success. He obtained a patent for his method in July 1738 and his system remained in production for over 100 years.

In 1742 father Nehemiah Champion married the widow of John Vandewall, Martha VANDEWALL (a sister of Thomas GOLDNEY), and moved to a new home in Clifton opposite the family home of the Goldneys. This cemented a relationship with the Goldney family, which was to last for many years.

In 1746 Champion broke away from the Bristol Brass & Copper Co. and formed the partnership called the Warmley Company for "the making of copper and brass, spelter and various utensils in copper and brass". His chief objective in founding the new company was to exploit his patent for making spelter or zinc from calamine. William Champion recruited workmen from the continent who agreed to come if they could have free exercise of their religion for which permission was obtained.

At this time large quantities of spelter were being imported from the East Indies, and desperate efforts were made by the merchants to crush him. Before his invention spelter had been selling at £260 per ton, but the Bristol importers undercut him until in 1750 they were selling it at £48 to discourage him from continuing to smelt zinc. Although they were losing money at this price they made it impossible for William to sell his stock at a profit - he lost about £4000 on the cost of his stock.

The early partners in this venture were Sampson LLOYD, a Quaker ironfounder of Birmingham who had married William Champion's sister Rachel, Thomas GOLDNEY, a Bristol Quaker, and Thomas CROSBY a Quaker (married to Charles HARFORD's widow, Rachel nee REEVE), and others. These Quakers were all related to the Champion family. The shares in the new Company were divided eight ways and the partners contributed over £1000 each. Because some of the partners were members of The Bristol Brass Co. it was the cause of some ill feeling, which later developed into acrimony.


1739. John Vandewall's eldest son aged 25, Joseph Vandewall (married to Frances Ingram) dies of fever at French Ordinary Court.



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



A Chronological history of Samuel Vandewall (1719 - 1761).


1719 – 24 December. Samuel Vandewall is born at French Ordinary Court, Crutched Friars, London – the son of John Vandewall II and his second wife Anne Moore.


1731. The death of his father John Vandewall III. The executors of his fathers will are his grandfather, Joseph Moore, the owner of property and Copperas business at East Greenwich, Thomas Goldney and Silvanus Bevan, apothecary of Plough Court, Lombard St. London


Some notes on Silvanus Bevan F.R.S. of Plough Court, Lombard St. London. (1691 -1761).


I intend to write a more detailed history of Silvanus Bevan in a future entry to this blog. His name appears several times in the Vandewall family history, but his connections with Pope and the Vandewall / Neates is perhaps more than mere coincidence.

Silvanus Bevan was a very important figure in the Quaker world and a close associate of the Vandewall family throughout his life. He was born in Swansea, South Wales of a Quaker Family with mining and copper smelting interests.

Bevan was apprenticed with Thomas Mayleigh, Quaker Apothecary of Gracechurch Street. Mayleigh had interests in America.

Silvanus Bevan obtained his "Freedom" from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1715 having served his seven years’ apprenticeship. He then established his Pharmacy at Number Two Plough Court, Lombard Street in the city of London, the former family home of Alexander Pope, the poet, where Pope was born in 1688. He leased the building at Plough Court from linen draper and tobacco dealer, another Quaker Salem Osgood. William Cookworthy (1705 - 80) (see below)  was one of his apprentices.

On 9 November 1715, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Daniel Quare, the royal clockmaker at the Gracechurch St, Friends' meeting-house in the City. His wedding was attended by many of the Great and good including Sarah the Duchess of Marlborough, Lord Finch, Lady Cartwright, William Penn, the Venetian ambassador and his wife. Elizabeth died soon after their marriage in giving birth to a son, who lived for only a few hours.

Silvanus Bevan subsequently married Martha Heathcote, by whom he had no children. His business at Plough Court  prospered and he was joined by his younger brother, Timothy Bevan (1704-1786) in 1725.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society 1725 and was a friend of the renowned Dr Richard Meade. 

Timothy Bevan, who married Elizabeth Barclay of the Barclays Banking family continued the Plough Court Pharmacy after his brother's retirement. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph Gurney Bevan (1753-1854). 

 Plough Court Pharmacy became one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in London in the nineteenth century, under William Allen and the Hanbury family, called Allen & Hanburys. It still exists as Smith, Kline, Beecham.

There is a portrait of Timothy Bevan illustrated in Plough Court, The Story of a Notable Pharmacy by Ernest C. Cripps 1927 which appears to be by Thomas Hudson of about 1740 but it has disappeared.

William Cookworthy, Apothecary went into partnership with the Bevan Brothers in Plymouth, as an apothecary but he is probably best remembered and most importantly for the part he played in the development of the English porcelain industry using China Clay from Thomas Pitt, Lord Camelford’s estates in Cornwall. They primarily made decorated tea services, jugs and vases. However, the business was not very profitable at Plymouth, and it amalgamated with a pottery in Bristol.

Cookworthy made his cousin, Richard Champion (1743 – 91), his manager of "William Cookworthy and Company." In 1774, Cookworthy sold his interest in the business and patent to Champion. Champion continued to buy the ingredients for the porcelain from Camelford, and paid a royalty to Cookworthy. A London warehouse, at 17 Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, was opened in 1776 and the best period of the enterprise seems to have been from 1776 to 1778, but at the end of that time Champion was forced to sell up to Wedgwood and a consortium of Stoke on Trent Potters.
Cookworthy and Bevan's apothecary shop in Plymouth, Devon was established in 1735, and continued in business as a pharmacy premise until 1974 when the last proprietor retired.

Silvanus Bevan was associated with another London Quaker business man Thomas Hyams, and Benjamin Franklin with the establishment of The Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in the 1750’s.

Silvanus Bevan is also known for carving in ivory the only known portrait of William Penn and carved many other portrait reliefs in stone and ivory some of which were reproduced by Wedgwood in the late 18th century.

In later life he lived at Barber's Barn, off Mare Street in Hackney where he had a famous garden and where Busch, the future gardener to Catherine the Great of Russia was employed, leaving in 1771. This garden later became the famous Loddiges Nursery.

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1737. The marriage of Samuel Vandewall's older brother Joseph Vandewall to Frances Ingram daughter of Joseph Ingram of Cheapside, Draper, amongst those at the wedding were the apothecary Silvanus Bevan, Joseph Moore, and many of the Ingram family.

1739. – 5 Nov. His older brother Joseph (b. 1714) dies of fever at French Ordinary Court. Crutched Friars, He leaves to his dear wife Frances his personal estate and the reversion of an estate at Greenwich “settled on testator” by his father in law Joseph Ingram on his Marriage.

1740. Samuel Vandewall inherits Ravensbourne House and the Copperas works at East Greenwich next to the Ravensbourne at Deptford Creek and also property in Peckham, South London from Joseph Moore, his grandfather on his mothers side. The Gentleman’s Magazine in its usual mercenary manner reports the death of Joseph Moore and estate of £30,000, an immense amount of money at the time. See Public Records Office, Kew London, Will of Joseph Moore. Prob 11/705.

Copperas was a valuable substance used in the production of acids & chlorine, as a dye fixative, printers ink, tanning agent and as a component of gunpowder. It was obtained from iron pyrite-rich nodules found within London Clay. The stones were placed in chalk or clay-lined beds and left to weather for up to 6 years! The resulting liquid was boiled with scrap metal for 3 weeks then cooled for 15 days during which time it crystallised. The ferrous sulphate crystals were then heated to melting point and poured into moulds. Copperas works prospered for some 200 years and by 1746 England was amongst the largest sources in Europe. However this method of production was superseded during the 18th century and the Deptford works closed in 1828.

Charles Pearson a member of the Glovers Company took over the Copperas industry at East Greenwich and was living at Ravensbourne House in 1780. He married Elizabeth Radford. He seems to have taken over the manufacture of Copperas products throughout the Thames Estuary area including those at the Crispe works at Deptford on the West side of the Deptford Creek and at Tankerton, Whitstable, Kent.

Mr Sympsons works at Tankerton in Kent were sold to Thomas Gold who left them to Elizabeth Radford.

See -The Copperas Industry (Allen and Pike 1997; Allen, Pike and Cotterill) provided the foundation for the development of the modern chemical and pharmaceutical industries and was also the first heavily capitalised industry to be established in Britain.

For an excellent in depth study of the Copperas Industry in Kent see also 


1740’s – Both Samuel Vandewall and Harris Neate had their portraits painted by George Knapton (1698 -1778) at about the same time. George Knapton, and Thomas Hudson had both been pupils in the studio of Jonathan Richardson and had become very successful portrait painters. (both portraits now in the possession of Susannah Harris Hughs).

1740 - 11 April, Thomas Neate II was born at Laurence Pountney Hill, City to Harris Neate and Martha Neate ne Barrow.

1740 - Harris Neat & Co, Merchants of Laurence Pountney Hill are noted in Kent’s Directory of London.

1741 – Birth of Martha Neate.

1742 - 6 September – Harris Neate of the parish of St Lawrence Jewry, died of a fever and is buried at Friends Burial Ground, Long Lane. London.

1743 - Saturday, June 18, Daily Advertiser, London, England, Issue 3874.

"A black negro women about nineteen years old with two letters on her breast and her shoulder made her escape from the ship Hannah, Capt Fowler, for Jamaica the 6th inst. Goes by the name of Sabinah is supposed to be deluded away by some other black about Whitechapel, Rag Fair or Rotherhith, whoever brings her to the late Mr Neates, on Lawrence Pountney Hill, shall have three guineas reward, or if put on board the ship again any time between this and next Tuesday, ten shillings more".

The above advert was repeated in the Daily Advertiser (London, England), Wednesday, September 14, 1743; Issue 3949 without the last sentence.

1744, Samuel Vandewall married`Martha Neate the widow of Harris Neate, nee Barrow at the Hereford, Worcester and Wales, Quaker Meeting House.

1744. 22 November. The marriage was also celebrated at the Friends Meeting House, Devonshire House in London, amongst those present were Samuel Hoare, Hannah Harman, Grizzel Hoare (nee Gurnell), Thomas Gurnell, John Barclay, Thomas Samuel and Mary Ingram, Sarah Gurnell, Gabriel and Margaret Goldeney, William Markes, Sarah Nichols, Frances, Daniel, Anna, Sarah, and Elizabeth Vandewall, Anthony Neate, Nathaniel and Elizabeth Newberry, William and Jane Lorance, Thomas and George Marishall, Thomas and Ann Hyam, Michael Russell etc.

Intriguingly Samuel Johnson in his famous dictionary uses as an example of the use of the word eminent in the notice of the Gentleman’s Magazine 1745 p.51 “Mr Samuel Vandewall, an eminent merchant was married to the relict of Mr Harris Neate”.

I have also found a reference to the Vandewall - Neate marriage in the Daily Advertiser, 23 November 1744: 'Yesterday was married at the Quakers Meeting at Devonshire-Squire, Mr.Samuel Vandewall, a Merchant of this City, to Mrs. Martha Neate, Widow and Relict of Mr.Harris Neate, late an eminent West-India Merchant of this City, a beautiful Lady, with a handsome Fortune.'

The London Evening Post reported on Thursday 22 November 1744, issue 2660 “Last Thursday was married at the Quaker Meeting in Devonshire Street, Mr Vandewall an eminent merchant to Mrs Neate, widow of Mr Harris Neate, a West India merchant, an agreeable lady with a large fortune, after the ceremony was over there was an elegant entertainment prepar'd at the White Lion Tavern in Cornhill, consisting of 60 dishes where 110 persons sat for dinner”  It was again reported in the General Advertiser 23 November 1744 issue 3129 using the same wording.




Scan of the Thomas Hudson Portrait of Samuel Vandewall c. 1744.


In about 1744. Samuel Vandewall, aged about 25, has his portrait painted by the celebrated portrait painter Thomas Hudson (1701 -1779) who was then at his peak of popularity. Hudson lived and worked at 55 - 56 Great Queen St. 

It seems most likely that this is a portrait painted to celebrate his wedding to Martha Neate and that a matching portrait of Martha also existed. 

Thomas Hudson was a former pupil and son in law of the portrait painter Jonathan Richardson, He was the most successful portrait painter of this period and amongst his pupils were Joshua Reynolds and Allan Ramsay.

Samuel Vandewall is portrayed in the van Dyke manner popular at the time and unusually for a Quaker he is shown three quarter length with a sword at his side and a masquerade mask in his hand – the clothing was probably painted by Hudson’s drapery painter van Aken.

This portrait was sold from the collection of Admiral Sir Walter Cowan Bt. By decent from the sitter by Sotheby’s, Bond St, London lot 45, 22 November 1967. Information – Heinz  Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London.


If the note on the Metropolitan Museum website with reference to the Diary once in the possession of Eleanor Neate is correct then it would have been at about this time that the friendship between the young Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Vandewall developed.


It is interesting to surmise his possible relationship with other members of the St Martin's Lane artistic community including architect Isaac Ware, who was the architect for the division of Lindsay House, (bought by Samuel Vandewall in 1752), Hogarth to whose prints he later subscribed, and the men who made his furniture and who supplied his pictures.


Perhaps the pocket book mentioned in the Walpole Society Journal in 1916, once in the possession of Eleanore Neate and recording a payment to Joshua Reynolds for the portrait of Joseph Vandewall still exists somewhere and will one day reappear.


Records of National Portrait Gallery Portrait of Samuel Vandewall in Collection Admiral Sir Walter Cowan. bought. Sothebys, Nov. 22 1967 Lot 45. Prov. By descent from the sitter? Catalogue Illustration.


1745. – 26 July - Joseph Moore Vandewall was born at Brabant Court, in the City of London, the child in the portrait by Joshua Reynolds.






No. 4, Brabant Court today - perhaps the address of Samuel Vandewall in the 1740's.

1746 to 1756 Samuel Vandewall is listed as one of the Governor 'takers in' of St Thomas Hospital, Southwark who met weekly to deal with admissions to the hospital.


1748. – 28 Feb – Joseph Moore Vandewall died of teething. This is the child painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.


1747. Joseph Moore Vandewall was painted by Joshua Reynolds. This painting sold by Christie's London 1 December 2000, lot 31. Provenance - by descent to Commander C.E. Neate; Sotheby's London, 3 July 1956, lot 31, (1,350 gns. to Agnews). It was sold by Agnews to Vice-Admiral B.C.B. Brooke, 1957. It was acquired through Agnews by Sir Michael Sobell, 1959.

See - D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, London, 2000, p. 452, no. 1785, fig. 27.

September 1748 Sam. Vandewall gave £20 for the relief by the fire in Cornhill on 25 March – Gentlemans Magazine Vol XV111.

1748. The Neate children, Thomas and Martha Neate his two stepchildren with their tutor Mr Needham are painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. See above.

See Walpole Society Journal 1918 “the father of the two children (Samuel Vandewall) was a friend of the young artist (Reynolds) and a diary once in the possession of Miss Eleanor Neate recorded a payment to Reynolds for a portrait, but the sum mentioned was thought too small to apply to this portrait group. (This payment obviously refers to the portrait of Joseph Vandewall only child of Sam. Vandewall and Martha who died aged two and a half). 

An old label on the back of the Met. portrait gives us a little help. It says “Boy the paternal grandfather of the Rev. A. Neate. / Girl sister of the above married — Williams of —, Esqre / Tall figure Needham tutor of the Boy. / Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

It is an unusual portrait in that it prominently shows the children's tutor Thomas Needham. Samuel Vandewall left in his will, to Mr Thomas Needham of Clifford’s Inn. Gent. £800.

This portrait illustrates the cultured world that Samuel Vandewall inhabited, employing the up and coming portraitist who was to supersede Thomas Hudson by the 1750’s as the premier portrait painter in England.

1750. Brother of Martha Barrow / Neate / Vandewall – Francis Barrow, of Charleston.
Brother-in-law: Mr. Samuel Vanderwall of London, all estate.
Mentions: Alexander Broghton and Thomas Broghton, Jr. of Charlestown, merchants, executors.
Wit: William Michie, John Snow
D: 12 July 1750, P: 20 July 1750 R: nd P. 30 Page 117.


1750. Both Samuel Vandewall and his wife Martha subscribe to The Posthumous Works of Jeremiah Seed, MA.

1751. Sam Vandewall subscribes to two engravings by William Hogarth of Paul before Felix and Moses brought to Pharoah’s Daughter – The subscription ticket – an engraving entitled Paul before Felix (Burlesqued) was advertised in The General Advertiser, 15 May.


1751. A copy with the Robert McDougal Gallery Christchurch, New Zealand noted 2002, with Saml Vandewall Jun 5th 1751. written in as subscriber.

Note: Autograph Letters and Historical Documents‎ - Page 136 Catalogue of Maggs Bros, Maggs Bros - Autographs - 1928 - 304 pages.


2522 HOGARTH (WILLIAM, 1697-1764). Famous Painter and Engraver. ... Vandewall for the first instalment of his subscription to two Prints, " Moses brought to …This was the source of the McDougal Gallery engraved subscription ticket. Source -Google Books

30 Dec 1751 - From – The Oxfordshire Record Office

E8 ALVESCOT ESTATE - ESTATE OF THOMAS NEATE & ARTHUR NEATE: MAINLY PROPERTY IN MIDDLESEX AND KENT (E8/8) TITLE DEEDS and Associated Papers

E8/8/D/01-02 Lease and Release.

Parties:

  1. Silvanus Bevan of London, apothecary, and Walter Coleman of Black Fryars, London, woollen draper.
  2. Frances Vandewall of Bloomsbury, Middx. Widow.
A few notes - Frances Vandewall (ne Ingram see below).

Captain George Augustus Killigrew was born sometime before 1719. He was the son of Thomas Killigrew.
He served in Col. Douglas' Regiment of Marines according to the 1740 Army list: Captain George Augustus Killigrew, commission dated 10 Dec 1739, Ensign 17 Dec 1735 on 10 December 1735.

Captain George Augustus Killigrew married Isabella Unknown before 1743.

Captain George Augustus Killigrew and Frances Vandewall obtained a marriage licence on 27 June 1753 at London.

Captain George Augustus Killigrew married Frances
Vandewall after 27 June 1753.

Capt George Augustus Killigrew to Sir R Wilmot. Scheme to dispose of his troop and retire on the half-pay of captain on the Irish establishment. Stewart Douglass willing to resign half-pay for him.
George died before 20 August 1757 at Bond Street, Soho, Westminster.

His will was proved on 20 August 1757 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. He was a Captain in the Regiment of Carabiniers.


3. Samuel Vandewall of East Greenwich, Kent, Esq.

Property: Moiety of seven messuages and lands in St.Giles without Cripple Gate, Middx., eight messuages and lands in Whitecross St. St.Giles messuage with summer house, messuage in Gloucester Court, ten messuages in Crown Court, Whitecross St., messuages and lands in Whites yard, eight messuages in and near Basket alley near Golden Lane, eight messuages and lands in Carpenters Yard, Whitecross st., three messuages and lands in Golden Lane, thirteen cottages or almshouses in Golden lane, St.Giles, in the Lordship of Finsbury; parties 1. and 2. convey to 3. Comments: deed recites details of Lease and Release dated 12/13 Aug 1737.







1751. Sam. Vandewall takes Lindsey House, Arch Row, now 60, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Described as ‘Perhaps historically, the most important single house in London’ (John Summerson). It was purchased from The Duchess of Somerset. This house was divided into two by the architect Isaac Ware.





Originally one great house, the centrepiece of Arch Row, perhaps designed by Inigo Jones and put up for the gentleman speculator William Newton in 1638 - 41, (see Vitrouvious Britanicus for the elevation and plans).




Lindsey House was divided into two in 1751 and altered by Isaac Ware (who sat to the sculptor Roubiliac in 1741). New staircases were inserted. These two houses become 59 and 60 Lincolns Inn Fields. Other residents include the future Prime Minister Spencer Percival (1762 - 1812). The house still stands although much altered. Henry Shiffner, M.P. an executor of Sam Vandewall’s will lived next door at 59 the other half of Lindsay House from 1757. 

Info. Survey of London.








In Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House, the sinister solicitor to the aristocracy Mr Tulkinghorn has his offices in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and one of its most dramatic scenes is set there. The description of his building corresponds most closely to Lindsey House. 

After a spell as a patent agents, Lindsey House, 60 Lincolns Inn Fields has become home to the leading civil liberties barristers', Garden Court Chambers.







1752-57 his neighbour at 59 was Samuel Wegg – of the Hudson Bay Company.

Note -Wegg, Samuel, Governor, Hudson’s Bay Company, 1782-1799.

Samuel Wegg was the second son of George Wegg of Cochester, Essex, a merchant tailor, born on 17 November 1723. His mother was Anna Maria Cowper, daughter of John Cowper of Cornhill, London; she was the third wife of George Wegg. He attended schools at Colchester and Bury St. Edmunds before being admitted to St. John’s, Cambridge. He was admitted to Gray’s Inn in 1741 and admitted to the Bar in 1746. Samuel Wegg received his first stock in the Company at the age of 25, on the death of his father in 1748. He was elected a member of the Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1760; and served as Governor from 1782-1799. Wegg was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753 and played an important role in the relationship between the Society and the Company. He died at his own in Action in December 1802.

Elected fellow of the Royal Soc.1753.

Samuel Wegg was followed by Henry Shiffner who lived there from 1757 – 1762.

Henry Shiffner was executor of the will of Samuel Vandewall.

Notes -Henry Shiffner who married Mary, a Bridger heiress, came of a merchant family. His grandfather, Matthew, was a Russian subject who became a naturalized Englishman in 1711 under the Act 7 Anne, c.5 (1708), and is described as 'an Antient Member of the Russia Company in England'; he took up residence in London. Matthew's father was reputedly an Archbishop of Riga, Matthew married Agnata Brewer, said to be gouvernante to the Duchess of Courland, who later became Empress Ann of Russia, 1730-1740 (not Elizabeth, as stated in some papers i The Empress was godmother to Matthew's daughter Benigna.) but no such dignity seems to have ever existed. Matthew refers to five of his six children in his will proved in 1756, and it appears that his sons Henry and John carried on his trade as merchants in Broad Street, London, principally with Northern Europe, and we have some accounts and papers relating to their insolvency in 1761 which Henry, in a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, ascribed to his brother's foolishness. It was an unfortunate event because Henry has just been elected Member of Parliament for Minehead, Somerset.

For more see the Shiffner Archive -

1751. From Oxfordshire County Records, Alvescot Estate.

Lease and Release - E8/8/D/01-02  30 Dec 1751 - Parties:

1. Silvanus Bevan of London, apothecary, and Walter Coleman of Black Fryars, London, woollen draper

2. Frances Vandewall (ne Ingram) of Bloomsbury, Middx., widow (of Joseph Vandewall, brother of Samuel)

3. Samuel Vandewall of East Greenwich, Kent, Esq.

Property: Moiety of seven messuages and lands in St.Giles without Cripple Gate, Middx., eight messuages and lands in Whitecross St., St.Giles, messuage with summer house, messuage in Gloucester Court, ten messuages in Crown Court, Whitecross St., messuages and lands in Whites yard, eight messuages in and near Basket Alley near Golden Lane, eight messuages and lands in Carpenters Yard, Whitecross St., three messuages and lands in Golden Lane, thirteen cottages or almshouses in Golden lane, St. Giles, in the Lordship of Finsbury;     parties 1. and 2. convey to 3.

Comments: deed recites details of Lease and Release dated 12/13 Aug 1737.

1752. Vandewall, Samuel is listed in the Complete Guide as at Brabant Court, Philpot Lane.

1753 Samuel Vandewall subscribes to The Works of the late Aaron Hill Esq.

1753 Sam. Vandewall subscribes £5 to a fund for the suppression of Lawlessness at Blackheath.

1753 - Reported sold at auction in 2008 - see Artnet - Brecon - Pipton. A large nine-page vellum indenture, 25th July 1753, concerning the release of lands in Pipton to John Lloyd and Thomas Williams, for the sum of £6,240, somewhat soiled and some lettering faded, with ten seals and signatures, including Thomas Foley, Phineas Andrew, Samuel Vande Wall, Nathaniel Newberry, Thomas Browne, Thomas Williams, Mary Williams, S Alston and P Case, overall 64 x 75 cm.

1753.It was reported in Read's Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer (London, England), Saturday, September 15, 1753; Issue 1486. - Mr Goulding of St Paul's Churchyard was chosen Master of the Drapers Company for the year ensuing, in the room of Mr Vandewall who has paid his fine to be excused from the said office.

1754. Sam.Vandewall purchased the Lordship of the Manor, and the Rectory of Aldenham, Hertford from the Prime Minister Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle (1693 - 1768), who lived two doors away from Sam.Vandewall at Newcastle House, Arch Row, Lincolns Inn Fields. (Newcastle was Prime Minister (1754 - 1756 and 1757 - 1762).

Martha Vandewall in turn became patron of the living at Aldenham and presented three rectors in 14 April 1774, 7 June 1775 and 20 March 1794.

1755. Dr Johnsons Dictionary is published – for the word eminent he uses the example of Samuel Vandewall, an eminent merchant, was married to the relict of Mr. Harris Neate.' Gentleman’s Magazine 1745.

1756. Samuel Vandewall and Sylvanus Bevan are both listed as Governors and Guardians of the foundling Hospital.

1755. - 65 - Benjamin West paints the portrait of Mrs Vandewall.

C.1760. A miniature enamel portrait of Samuel Vandewall is painted by Gervase Spencer (d. 1763) a leading miniature portrait painter of his day. Sold Sotheby’s.

1757. - 11 August Samuel Vandewall makes his will at Greenwich.

1758. Samuel Vandewall subscribed to “History of the life and reign of Philip King of Macedon the Father of Alexander by Thomas Leland DD

1758. Both Samuel and Martha Vandewall subscribe to Milton – Paradise Lost, published by Tonson.

1758 Samuel Vandewall subscribes £5. 5s. To the Marine Society, from June 1756, to February 16, 1758.
note. philanthropist Jonas Hanway founded the Marine Society the first seamans charity.

1760. Easter Term 1760. Court of Kings Bench, Rex v Vandewall presided over by Lord Mansfield. Samuel Vandewall was Lord of the Manor of Aldenham.

1760. June 5. Is listed as a member of the Soc. for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

1761. 22 – Feb. Death of Sam. Vandewall, Esquire at Lincolns Inn Fields. See The Gentleman’s Mag.

It was reported in the London Chronicle (Semi-Annual) (London, England), Saturday, February 21, 1761; Friday morning died at his house in Lincolns Inn Fields; Mr Vandewall a gentleman of large fortune.

In his will he leaves his wife Martha £500 a year, and gives her a further sum of £5,000, he also gives her the house in Lincoln's Inn Fields “where he resides when in London and also gives her all his furniture, books, pictures etc. at both his houses at Lincolns Inn Fields and at Greenwich”. (Lindsey House and Ravensbourne House).

For a comprehensive history of the Copperas works owned by Sam. Vandewall, inherited by his stepson Thomas Neate and then owned by Pearson see - 


He also left Thomas Needham Esq. of Clifford's Inn, Gent. £800. ) ( PCC 110 Cheslyn.)              

The rest of his property he leaves in trust for Thomas and Martha Neate and four other relatives.

Executors are Henry Shiffner (of 59 Lincolns Inn Fields, MP of Pontrylas, Hereford, and from a family of former German / Russia Merchants) and Nathaniel Newberry merchant (who owned land in Pennsylvania).

He left John Bynes, supervisor of his Copperas works at Greenwich £20.

There existed an Account Book of Thomas Neate which was seen by Lt Cmdr Frederick. Colvile. (This account book unfortunately disappeared but notes with Susanna Harris Hughs). 

This extensive account book has now been found and will be the subject of new posts in due course.

It notes -

According to the inventory Samuel Vandewall who died 8.2.1761 had estates”

a) Aldenham - £16,109,           Freehold

b) Common Birch, Aldenham,                                        £400 Copyhold

c) Whitecross St,                                                            £2129.

d) Hyde Green, Ingatestone. (Essex),                             £1348.

e) Peckham,                                                                    £3,126.

f) Jordans, (Quaker meeting House properties)              £2,298.

g) Greenwich,                                                                £1,712:11.

h) Stable Yard St, Greenwich,                                           £230.

i) Copperas, the works and Ravensbourne House, Greenwich,        £5,000.

j) House Arch Row), Lincolns Inn Fields,                                         £3,972.

k) Lead Mines at Wirksworth,                                              £75 (1/48 share)

l) Lifehold from Harris Neate at Gastard,                        £2,500.

Samuel Vandewall was interred in the family vault that he had prepared in his lifetime at Jordans Quaker Meeting House Burial Ground, Chalfont St Peters, Buckinghamshire. Rebekah Butterfields Journal 27th Feb 1761 states that “Samuel Vandeval Esquier was buried at Jor. Thomas Whited (Whitehead) spoke at ye grave their was ye hairse and four coches”

William Penn of Pennsylvania is buried close by. Friends had objected to this outward display of ostentation by Samuel Vandewall but he simply added in 1748 a plot of his own land adjacent to the burial ground and made his vault. This was for many years separated from the main burial ground by a row of lime trees but these have now disappeared.

The appearance of the vault was like an ancient tumulus or burial mound, the enclosure was about 10 yards by 9 yards wide.

From the abstracts of trust property belonging to the Upperside Monthly Meeting, it appears that, "by indenture of lease and release, dated 23rd and 24th of 6th month, 1763, the devisees of the late Samuel Vanderwall added a piece of ground adjoining to Friends' Burial Ground on the north side, in the first place for a burying place for the family of the late S.V., and then for the use of Friends in the like manner as the Burial Ground is. The length of it is about twenty-two yards and width ten yards, taken from an orchard called Garden Orchard, a part of an estate called Jordans, which by recent purchase had become the property of the late Samuel Vanderwall." 

Another account states that Samuel Vandewall had made over the ground in his lifetime, by a deed dated 1748, but there would' seem to be some error here. Possibly 1748 was the date of his purchase of the old Jordans property. Later on, by indenture dated 17th day of July, 1777, the same piece of ground was transferred in trust to Joseph Steevens, T. Edmonds, sen., R. Eeles, sen., R. Eeles, jun., T. Bayley, and T. Edmonds, jun., whereby the whole of the property of the Friends at Jordans became vested in the same trustees.” - From Memories of Jordans and the Chalfonts… by WH Summers 1895.

Jordans Meeting House and burial ground founded 1688, also contains the bodies of William Penn, Founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, buried in 1718 and his family, Isaac Pennington and other early Quaker grandees. The meeting house recently suffered a fire and has been rebuilt as it was.

Amusingly for many years many visitors confused this vault, because of its grandness, with the grave of William Penn.

See - November 20, 1898, Wednesday. New York Times. Section: illustrated Magazine Supplement, Page IMS13,


Digitalised full text of Memories of Jordans and the Chalfonts and the Early Friends in the Chiltern Hundreds by WH Summers 1895.

1762. - Martha Vandewall leaves Lindsey House 60 Lincoln's Inn Fields.

1766. In 1767. Martha Vandewall’s address is given as Harley St, London –

See Assignments of mortgages in connection with DE/Wy/39603, and DE/Wy/39604, These are the Manorial Records, Title deeds and family papers of the Heaton Ellis family of Wyddial Hall, 1465-1885. Also Gulston Wyddial papers. Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies.

1771. Thomas Neate marries Charlotte Seward (sister of the dilettante author William Seward) at St Giles, Cripplegate, London.


In 1771, Martha Vandewall appears to be living with her daughter Martha Williams at Roehampton.

1773; General Evening Post (London, England), Tuesday, April 13, 1773; Issue 6164. The death of John Williams, husband of Martha Neate is reported.

on Monday last at Mrs Vandewalls house in Harley Street, - John Williams Esq of Pant Howell in the county of Carmarthen.

1777. Martha Vandewall moved to Bath.
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The History of St. Lukes, Golden Lane.

Previously properties owned by the Vandewalls.

The boys’ school began in a house in Golden Lane. Although there are no records of the Foundation, or Institution in actual documents, there are many references in contemporary writings to The Greycoat Charity School for boys, Golden Lane, founded 1698. The boys were dressed in a grey uniform, giving the school its name.

In the year 1732 the parish boundaries were altered. The school, now in a new parish changed its name to the St Luke’s Charity School for Boys, Golden Lane.

The boys’ school was fulfilling the hopes of its founders and its success inspired efforts to provide a similar school for the girls of the parish.

Twenty girls were admitted in 1761 and although there were many applicants each year the number remained constant until 1772.
Both schools were inundated with applications and had to turn down the majority because of lack of space.

In 1773 the committee decided that something must be done to make more space available so that more children could be admitted, for applications were still far in excess of the numbers that could be accommodated.

After a great deal of searching in the overcrowded parish a possible site was eventually found, and on the 3rd March 1780 the foundation stone of a new building was laid.

The site in Golden Lane was originally occupied by some dilapidated almshouses. The owners, Mrs. Mary Vanderwall? (Martha Vandewall) and her son, Thomas Neate Esq. agreed that the trustees could have the site, for the purpose of building a school and no other, on a 999 years’ lease.

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1780 - William Storer’s petition to Parliament for funding of experiments to improve his newly invented portable telescope, 1780 -

Note - From The Journal of the House of Commons, vol. XXXVIII November 26th 1778 to August 24th 1780. is signed by Mrs Vandewall and many of the great and good.

1784. Martha Vandewall inherits from William Markes, Citizen and Glover of Cheapside, (see family tree), £20 and the five pictures in his Dining Room.

18 Jan 1787 – In the newspaper The Bath Chronicle - Property: to let - modern-built house & court, coach-house, kitchen, gardens etc, next to Lansdown Rd, Walcot, late in occuptn Harford Lloyd, esq. Previous tenant Mrs Vandewall. Partcrs John Jefferys, Crescent, Bath. [No lease details/price given].

 22 Feb. 1787 – Bath Chronicle - Property: to let or for sale - large modern house with spacious area and court before it and coach house stable and kitchen gardens & pleasure grounds, late Harford Lloyd's, esq, & late in possession of Mrs Vandewall as tenant thereoff. Adjoins Lansdown Road in the parish of Walcot, near the city of Bath commanding a very rich and variegated prospect of the beautiful vale, river and hills environing Bath and not more than a quarter of a mile distant from it. For particulars and agreement please to apply to John Jeffery's, Crescent, Bath.

These probably refer to Lansdown Grove a very substantial house on the north slopes overlooking the city– now the Lansdown Grove Hotel.

27 Feb, 1794 – Bath Chronicle - Deaths: Mrs Vandewall of George Street, Hanover Square, London, at her apartments in Bennett Street, Bath. Yesterday.

She is buried in the family vault prepared by Samuel Vandewall at Jordans, Friends Burial Ground, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks.

From the Rebekah Butterfield manuscript.

"Martha Vandewall was put in the Vart [vault] to her husband, her son and husband's brother. She died 2nd day, 24th of 2nd mo. was brought from Bath, Beaven's wife of London spoke at her burial. She was 83 years old." This probably refers to the wife of the apothecary Timothy Bevan brother of Silvanus of Barbers Barn Hackney, and Plough Court, Lombard Street, London.



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