Catherine (Acworth) Barker (abt. 1569 - abt. 1617)

Born about 1569 in Canterbury, Kent, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Robert Barker — married 4 Dec 1600 in Plymouth, Devon, England

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Biography

Catherine (Acworth) Barker was born in Canterbury, Kent, England.

Birth

Catherine Acworth was born between 1569 and 1575. She was the youngest daughter of George Acworth and Elizabeth Horne. Elizabeth was the daughter of Bishop Robert Horne. This birth date is an estimate based upon the marriage date of her parents of 1564 at Farnham in Surrey and the baptismal records of her elder siblings Richard (baptised at Winchester in 1565) and Frances (baptised at Winchester in 1567). Catherine may have been born in Kent in 1569 as her father moved to work^[1] with Archbishop Mathew Parker in Canterbury before 1570 and after he left his employment with Bishop Robert Horne in Winchester^[1]. While a birth date of 1569 is not unreasonable, her birth could have been as much as 6 years later (1575) when her father completed his work with Archbishop Parker. A later birth date would fit better with a marriage in 1600. It could even be the case that she was born in Ireland in 1578 or 1580 if her mother accompanied her father to Dublin in 1578. However, the Visitation to Shropshire in 1623 records Catherine as being the daughter of George Acworth of Kent. As George was in Kent until 1575 approximately, that probably gives the latest birth date as 1575. No birth registration has yet been found.

Catherine Acworth was probably brought up for the first 5 or 10 years of her life in the household of Archbishop Mathew Parker in Canterbury, Kent. Her father was assisting Archbishop Mathew Parker with his work De Antiquitate Britannicæ Ecclesiae and the first 24 pages of that work are in her father's handwriting. De Antiquitate Britannicæ Ecclesiæ (https://www.anglican.net/news/now-online-matthew-parker-on-the-antiquity-of-the-church-in-britain-de-antiquitate-britannicae-ecclesiae-1572/) was probably printed at Lambeth in 1572, where the archbishop is said to have had an establishment of printers, engravers, and illuminators^[1]. Mathew Parker also funded and oversaw the preparation of The Bishop's Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishops%27_Bible) at that time.

Marriage

Catherine Acworth married Robert Barker^[2]. This reference does not give a date for the marriage but does show three sons: John Barker (of Calverhall and Coulchurst, Shropshire), Robert Barker and William Barker. The marriage^[2] is cross referenced in both the Pedigree of Horne and the Pedigree of Barker and Bulkeley family trees. Robert Barker is said to be associated with Coulchurst (probably Colehurst) and Calverhall in Shropshire. He was the second son of his father Captain Barker of Coulchurst.

The Pedigree of Barker and Bulkeley is included from Wills and Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica as found on Page 25 of the Acworth Pedigree^[2]

Pedigree of Barker and Bulkeley

There is a record of a marriage^[3] at Plymouth St Andrew in Devon of a Robert Barker and a Katheren Ackford on 4 December 1600. Catherine's father George was no longer alive but a ceremony in Plymouth could well fit with the Acworth family in Plymouth at that time. Her father's cousin, also a George, was in business in Plymouth and involved with the 'naval set' but died in 1593. His son John was born in Plymouth^[2] in 1580 and lived there until 1600 before leaving for London in 1601 or 1602. John was one of Catherine's closest relatives alive at the time. John's son, another John was born in Woolwich, London in 1608 and returned to Plymouth to work in the family business interests.

Further confimation of the marriage is found in the Visitation to Shropshire^[4] of 1623 (Page 29) that provides evidence of nine children from the marriage, viz:

Barker Genealogy

John (baptised 19 October 1600),

Robert (baptised 9 February 1602),

William (baptised 16 May 1604),

Thomas (baptised 18 Jun 1606),

Marye (baptised 25 Jan 1608),

Bridgett (baptised 11 Jan 1610),

Johanne (baptised 1 Nov 1612),

George (baptised 10 Apr 1614) and

Mathew (baptised 11 Apr 1617).

These nine children are all baptised in the same church that Catherine and Robert were married in on 4 December 1600. Clearly the first child comes before the marriage if the dates are correct. It is strange that all nine children are baptised in Plymouth yet by 1623, they all appear in the Visitation to Shropshire. Presumably, Robert and Catherine stayed in Plymouth - perhaps until Robert's father George died in 1619 when Robert may have inherited the family home. This makes the assumption that Andrew (the elder brother of Robert) inherited somewhere else.

Death

There is a possible death of a Catherine Barker recorded^[5] at St Nicholas, Depford, Greenwich, Kent on 24 April 1617. If this is the correct Catherine (Acworth) Barker it would place her in the same London suburb as her close relative John Acworth who moved from Plymouth to Depford in 1601 and in 1617 would have been the Navy Storekeeper at the Depford Shipyards. Catherine was possibly visiting John as her husband Robert is thought to have died in Shropshire in 1618. Note however, that the date of death is only 3 weeks after the baptism of her youngest child. Perhaps Catherine, who would have been 48 at the time died from an accident.

Research Notes

There are many trees that give a birth date for Catherine of 1584 in Kent and a marriage to Robert Barker in Plymouth in 1600. The trees nearly all give George Acworth as father and Elizabeth Acworth (nee Horn) as mother. The 1584 birth date is improbable as George Acworth is living in Ireland^[1] from approximately 1577, when he was appointed to a position in Dublin by Queen Elizabeth, until his death (before 1587). He was working for the Bishop of Armagh in Ireland from 1581.

The location of the family in Plymouth for approximately 20 years requires some further research. However, it seems that the two elder sons (Robert and John) would have been in their late teens when the family moved back to Shropshire and may well have thought that they could make a better life for themselves in New England. They would have had many contacts with the Naval set in Plymouth and found passage on a ship easily. In addition, it seems that both their parents died around the same time.

With respect to the origins of Robert Barker of Coulchurst - or Colehurst, and Calverhall. These locations^[6] are close together to the west of Market Drayton in Shropshire. Buntingsdale is also in the same location, just to the north west of Colechurst (need to expand map).

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} 'George Acworth - A full account of his life':
   "L. Graham H. Horton-Smith (1953) George Acworth - A full account of his life together with a translation of his letters in Latin and a complete refutation of all aspersions. A monograph revised and much implemented from Notes and Queries (Oxford University Press) of 7 and 21 September 1947 and 1 and 29 April, 27 May, 24 June and 5 August 1950
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Acworth Family Pedigree:
   Green, W.A. and G. Brindley Acworth. Pedigree of Acworth of Bedfordshire, Etc.: Together with some notes on the genealogy. London: Mitchell Hughes and Clarke, 1905. FamilySearch. See also this space page: Acworth Pedigree
3. ↑ Marriage: "FreeReg UK Parish Register database"
   Devon; Plymouth; St Andrew; Parish Register; File line number: 1535
   FreeReg Transcription (accessed 23 March 2023)
   Katheren Ackford marriage to Robert Barker on 4 Dec 1600 in Plymouth, Devon, England.
4. ↑ Visitation of Shropshire:
   Visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year of 1623 by Robert Treswell, Somerset Herald and Augustine Vincent - Rouge Crois Pursuivant of Arms. Edited by George Grazebrook F.S.A. and Joun Paul Rylands, Part 1, London 1889. Original in Princetown University [[1]]
5. ↑ "London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812" London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P78/NIC/001 Ancestry Record 1624 #2419385
6. ↑ "Google Maps for Market Drayton, Shropshire" https://www.google.com.au/maps/@52.9054331,-2.5364246,13z?hl=en