Richard Acworth (abt. 1532 - 1590)

Born about 1532 in London, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1590 at about age 58 in London, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ian Acworth [send private message]

Biography

Richard Acworth was born in the City of London, England.

Early Years

Richard Acworth was born about 1532 in the City of London. The birth date is estimated on the assumption that he matriculated^[1] from Cambridge at about 18 years of age. He was therefore the eldest son^[2] of Thomas Acworth and Ann Wylde. His siblings are George, Thomasyn, Thomas, Chad and Anne. The children are all thought to have been born^[2] in Watling Street in the Parish of St Augustine, near Paul's Gate to the City of London.

Education

Richard Acworth matriculated^[1] from Christ's College in November 1550.

He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn^[3] on April 28 1562^[1].

Work Related Items

Goldington Manor and Puttenham Wood

In 1086, Hugh de Beauchamp held in Goldington, as appurtenant to Puttenhoe, 3 hides and 1 virgate, which was conferred upon Newnham Priory in the foundation charter of Simon de Beauchamp^[4]. In 1543 the manor was granted^[5] to Sir John Gostwick of Willington^[6][7] (see location just east of Bedford and close to the Newnham Priory Site), personal paymaster to Thomas Cromwell, who oversaw the dissolution of the religious houses in England. Sir John Gostwick and Joan his wife had already in 1539 obtained other lands belonging to Newnham Priory in Goldington.

Sir John Gostwick may have succeeded George Acworth as MP for Bedfordshire in 1530. George Acworth and Sir John Gostwick and both served Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell and would have been well known to each other.

Godlington Area - showing the locations mentioned in the text.

The Gostwicks were continually involved^[4] in disputes over their Bedfordshire property especially the manors of Ravensden, Goldington and Puttenhoe whose locations are shown on the map. Sir John Gostwick married Joan and had a son William. Sir John died on 15 April 1545. His son William married Margaret St-John, but died 8 months after his father in December 1545. There was no issue. Margaret married for a second time Francis Russell (2nd Earl of Bedford) before 1556 and had several children including a son Francis who became a significant figure^[8].

As William, the eldest son of Sir John Gostwick had died without issue in 1545, a proportion of the estates passed in 1545 to Margaret St-John, who died 27 August 1562.

William (born 1488 - died 1549) was the younger brother of Sir John. He married Anne Pyke (born about 1520 - died after 1549). They had a son John Gostwick (born 1537 - died 1582) who married Elizabeth Petre (born 1585 - died 1593) about 1559.

William Gostwick considered that the dowry acquired by Margaret St-John was unreasonably large and an appeal was made to Thomas Lord Wriothesley, by whose decision Margaret St-John acquired Goldington and Ravensden Manors for life. Upon her death on 27 August 1562, her son Francis Russell obtained a lease of the premises for 60 years from John Gostwick and his son and heir John Gostwick.

The problems of inheritance appear to start here as the Estate manors Goldington and Ravensden should have returned to the Gostwick line after the death of Margaret St-John.

On her death on 27 August 1562 her third son, Francis, leased the manors from John Gostwick, William Gostwick’s son, for sixty years. But, on 21 May 1562 Richard Acworth had bought the property (Lease) from John Gostwick. Richard is said to be of Furnival's Inn^[9], London at this time. Although not reported in the Acworth Pedigree^[2], Richard's cousin George was a partner to the purchase. It is worth noting that George Acworth had been living in Potton when John and William Gostwick had been born at Willingdon and went to School in Potton. They must have all been familiar with each other's families.

In 1568, Francis Russell challenged Richard Acworth over the ownership of the property but the challenge failed. In this action John was described^[4][2] as being a man of great simplicity and having 'very little or noe understanding who had entered into a number of incompatible leases which gave his relatives and heirs great trouble(!)

In 1576 Richard sells this Bedfordshire property to his cousin George. The property was split^[2] with part going to George, and part going to Sir Robert Gatlyn, Lord Chief Justice.

In 1598, William Gostwick, son of John Gostwick, disputed^[4] the claim of the Earls of Bedford (Francis Russell) to the estate on the basis that, the month before John Gostwick leased the manor to them he had leased it to someone else. This someone else was presumably Richard Acworth and his cousin George.

Richard was also involved^[2] in a dispute about Puttenhoe Wood in 1588. He was challlenged in Chancery for the ownership of Puttenhoe Wood and pastures called Highfield Friars claimed to have been purchased from John Gostwick by Richard Acworth and George Franklin but there are few details as to where this claim fits into the tangled web above. Richard had sold both 24 years previously.

Richard Acworth was described in recognizances in 1572 and 1574 as of Waresley^[10] (Worsleye) in the Huntingdonshire District (West of Cambridge) of Cambridgeshire: as a gentleman.

Merchant Taylor's Company

Richard Acworth was admitted (by patrimony) to the Merchant Taylor's Company^[11] on 11 January 1582. He was the eldest son of Thomas who was a Master of the Company in 1559. The admittance appears to be after the death of his mother who had been admitted^[2] on the death of her husband. Female members of the Merchant Taylor's Company were not common but there are other recorded instances^[11], such as Ellen Langwith^[12].

Richard Acworth is associated with his cousin Richard Charnock and his brother in law Thomas Pope, Merchant Taylor (Close Rolls 892 and 947) in business dealings.

Family

Richard Acworth married^[2] and had 5 children but there is no record of the wife or the marriage. His children were: Ann (born 1570 - died 1627), Richard (born 1572), Thomas (born 1574 - died 1601), John (born 1576) and Edward (born 1578 - died 1632). His first child Ann was born at Charing in Kent and suggests that this is where Richard Acworth was living at the time. Charing is at the foot of the North Downs^[13] between Ashford and Maidstone in Kent.

Richard Acworth entered 3 boys at the Merchant Taylors' School^[14] on 18 June 1587:

Richard, born 1572, matriculated at St. John's Oxford, 17 October 1589, aged 17; was a schoolmaster at Milton in March 1597 and at Whitstable April 1597; married Julyann Martin at St. Dunstan's Canterbury on 31 December 1596.

John who appears to have been a Curate at Chislet in July 1604 and of Warehorne in September 1615.

Thomas of whom little information is available.

There is no record of the younger son Edward attending Merchant Taylor's School, yet it was Edward that became a member of the Merchant Taylor's Company on his father's death.

Richard acted for his sister Ann on her marriage to William Scott of Camberwell. Ann is William's second wife, he firstly married Ann Croft on 24 January 1564 but she died on 17 June 1566.

Richard was living in 1589^[2].

Death

There is a record in Boyd's London Burials^[15] of Richard Acworth's burial at St Lawrence Jewry, London in 1590.

Research Notes

Richard's son Richard may have migrated to America. This is entirely speculative!

Thomas Pope is married to Richard's sister Thomasyn so Richard and Thomas are brothers-in-law.

Merged with another Richard Acworth

There was a Richard^[2], who was thought to be the son of George and Agnes Joye. However his birth date was exactly the same as William who is known to be a son of George. It is most likely therefore, that there was only the one Richard who was a Merchant Taylor and the son of Thomas Acworth and Ann Wylde and the two (who also had exactly the same date of birth) had become confused and have now been merged. The original^[2] Richard as a son of George is noted as being a Tanner at Brentford in 1564 (Close Rolls). The Richard Acworth who is at Furnival's Inn in 1562 is unlikely to have been a Tanner in 1564. Brenford is in Essex and there is a suggestion of an, as yet unidentified line of the family, in that part of the world.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Alumni Cantabrigienses:
   Venn, John Archibald, Comp. Alumni Cantabrigienses (Cambridge University Press, 1922)
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10} 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. ↑ [Wikipedia contributors, "Lincoln's Inn," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lincoln%27s_Inn&oldid=1038336387 (accessed October 13, 2021).]
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} ["Parishes: Goldington," in A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London: Victoria County History, 1912), 202-209. British History Online, accessed October 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp202-209.]
5. ↑ ["The Manor of Goldington" https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Goldington/The-Manor-of-Goldington.aspx]
6. ↑ [Wikipedia contributors, "John Gostwick," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Gostwick&oldid=936961381 (accessed October 25, 2021).]
7. ↑ "History of Parliament Online" - accessed 26 October 2021 for John Gostwick [1]
8. ↑ "History of Parliament Online" - accessed 26 October 2021 for Francis Russell [2]
9. ↑ [Wikipedia contributors, "Furnival's Inn," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Furnival%27s_Inn&oldid=1039607084 (accessed October 13, 2021).]
10. ↑ [Wikipedia contributors, "Waresley," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waresley&oldid=1040185112 (accessed October 22, 2021).]
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} ["Information provided by the Archivist of the Merchant Taylor's Hall" Email of 20 October 2021 - Detailed in the Profile of Thomas Acworth]
12. ↑ [Wikipedia contributors, "Ellen Langwith," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ellen_Langwith&oldid=1045318559 (accessed October 22, 2021).]
13. ↑ "Google Maps reference for Charing, Kent. https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Charing,+UK/@51.2166036,0.7379558,10.5z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47ded635657d3533:0x239edb5e65d708b7!8m2!3d51.211095!4d0.794606?hl=en
14. ↑ ["A register of the scholars admitted into Merchant Taylors' School : from A. D. 1562 to 1874 by Robinson, Charles John, Rev., 1833-1898" https://archive.org/details/aregisterschola01schogoog/page/n49/mode/2up Page 30]
15. ↑ Burial: "Boyd's London Burials"
    FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 31 May 2023)
    Richard Acworth burial (died in 1590) in 1590 in London, England.