John Eldred JP (abt. 1565 - 1646)

Born about 1565 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Rusham) Eldred — married 16 Jan 1592 in St Leonard's Church, Colchester, Essex, England

Descendants

Died 1646 at about age 81 in Birch, Essex, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Note: Not to be confused, conflated or merged with the profile of John Eldred of Nutmeg Hall, the merchant and traveller to the east.

John Eldred was a son of Thomas Eldred, tallow chandler of Ipswich, Suffolk, and his wife Margery Studd, from another family of chandlers. ^[1] It is notable that John's baptism does not appear to have been recorded in the register of St Mary's at the Quay, Ipswich, as the rest of the Eldred children were.

John Eldred became an apprentice to John Hunwick, merchant and alderman of Colchester, and a member of the Eastland Company, which traded in the north, along with the Muscovy Company. ^[2] Through Hunwick, he married Elizabeth Rusham, a kinswoman of John Hunwick, who had been her guardian after her father's death. Through this connection, Eldred was able to prosper in Colchester. By 1608, he was a member of the Eastland Company, and in 1609 and 1623 he was elected one of the two Bailiffs (aldermen) of Colchester, in which capacity he also served as a Justice of the Peace. ^[3]

The marriage of John Eldred and Elizabeth Rusham took place on 16 January 1592, at Colchester St Leonard. ^{[4] [5] [6]} Their children were:

Anne - bp. 22 May 1595

Mary - bp. 1596; m. John Brand 1618; d. before 1646

Elizabeth - bp. 2 May 1599; 1599; bur. 9 September 1618

Thomas - bp.1 January 1601; bur. 18 May 1616

John - heir - bp. 1603; m. Anne Godman; d. 1682

Aquilla - bp. 1609; m. Edmond Thurston

Edward - bp. 9 December 1613

John, his wife, and his children were named in the 1624 Will of his brother Thomas Eldred. ^[7]

On 14 Febuary 1630/1, John Eldred received a grant of arms: Azure, a cross patee fitchee or, on a chief of the second, three covered cups of the field. Crest: A triton proper holding an escallop. Eldred, John, Colchester, Essex, 14 Feb. 1630-1, by R. St. George. Add. MS. 14,295, fo. 69 ; C. 21, [Visit] Essex [1634], fo. 156, Her. Coll. ^[8] The triton would seen to indicate that some member of the family was a mariner. He entered his arms in the 1634 Visitation of Essex. ^[5]

In 1636 John was called as a witness in a libel case between John Leming of Colchester and William Clopton of Groton. The court documents described him as being of Birch, Essex. gent having lived there for 2 years but being born in Ipswich and aged about 70 years. ^[9] During the proceedings, John Eldred was described by numerous witnesses as one of "gentlemen of good repute and such persons as are to be believed on their oaths, and soe they are reputed." "held to be honest men and such as will speak the truth on their oaths and such."

At some point perhaps about in the 1620s, John Eldred purchased the manor of Olivers in Stanway, Essex. This was not, as some sources allege, a former home of the Cromwell family but the original seat of a family of that name seated there in the 13th century. ^[10] It was over the fireplace in the dining room of this house that the paintings were found which gave rise to the claim that John's father Thomas Eldred had circumnavigated the globe in the ship portrayed there. ^{[6] [11]} The account in the Archaelogia article refers instead to another, distantly-related member of the family, and recently-discovered evidence, however, suggests that this connection may be spurious.

Later, in about 1634, John Eldred purchased the manor of Little Birch, Essex, where he lived for the remainder of his life. In his Will, proved 21 October 1646, ^[12] he styled himself as "of Little Birch". He died there at age 81 in 1645 and was apparently buried in the local church of St Mary the Virgin, which he had restored from a ruinous state in the previous decade, but further dilapidation ^[13] occasioned his monument being removed by 1682 to Earls Colne: "on S. wall—(4) to John Eldred, 1646, rectangular tablet with marble frame and cornice and resting on two carved stone heads." ^[14]

In John Eldred's Will,^[12] he named his eldest son John as his heir and as executor. He also bestowed on him his ring with his arms inscribed. He also named, as his "daughter Eldred", his son's wife, who was Anne Godman, to whom he left two diamond rings. He left property and a sum of money to his second son Edward.

He made a bequest to his son-in-law Edmond Thurston, husband of his daughter Aquilla, and he also made a bequest to their daughter Hannah, his goddaughter and grandchild. In addition, he left a sum of money to Joseph Thurston, second son of Edmond, which suggests that Thurston had a previous marriage.

Not mentioned were his wife Elizabeth nor his elder daughter Mary Brand, who can both be presumed deceased by the date he signed his Will.

Research Note:

A son William Eldred was previously attached to John and Elizabeth Eldred. There being no record of such a son William, the profile has been detached.

Sources

1. ↑ A. D. Harrison (1929) THOMAS ELDRED: MERCHANT, The Mariner's Mirror, 15:1, 52-64, DOI: 10.1080/00253359.1929.10655495
2. ↑ Baggs, A P, Beryl Board, Philip Crummy, Claude Dove, Shirley Durgan, N R Goose, R B Pugh, Pamela Studd, and C C Thornton. "Tudor and Stuart Colchester: Economic history." A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9, the Borough of Colchester. Eds. Janet Cooper, and C R Elrington. London: Victoria County History, 1994. 76-87. British History Online. Web. 26 December 2022. Eastland
3. ↑ Baggs, A P, Beryl Board, Philip Crummy, Claude Dove, Shirley Durgan, N R Goose, R B Pugh, Pamela Studd, and C C Thornton. "Bailiffs and mayors." A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9, the Borough of Colchester. Eds. Janet Cooper, and C R Elrington. London: Victoria County History, 1994. 374-381. British History Online. Web. 26 December 2022. Colchester
4. ↑ Essex Record Office: D/P 245/1/2 findmyPast
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Metcalf, Walter C. The visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634 ... p. 391. Visit 1634
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "Pedigree of the Eldred Family", The Gentleman's Magazine, New Series, vol VII, 1837, p. 487. Gentleman
7. ↑ Will of "Thoma Elored" aka "Thomas Eldred, Merchant of Ipswich, Suffolk", Ancestry PROB 11/143/738
8. ↑ Foster, Joseph. Grantees of arms named in docquets and patents to the end of the seventeenth century,... London: 1915. Arms
9. ↑ Richard Cust and Andrew Hopper. "367 Leming v Clopton," in The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640, ed. Richard Cust and Andrew Hopper , British History Online, accessed December 26, 2022, BHO
10. ↑ "Stanway: Manors and other estates." A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10, Lexden Hundred (Part) Including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe. Ed. Janet Cooper. London: Victoria County History, 2001. 263-266. British History Online. Web. 26 December 2022. Stanway
11. ↑ Archaeologia Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Volume 15, 1806. p. 402 ff. Archaeologia
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} "Will of John Eldred, Merchant of Little Birch, Essex PROB 11/197/562 Will
13. ↑ "Birch: Churches." A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10, Lexden Hundred (Part) Including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe. Ed. Janet Cooper. London: Victoria County History, 2001. 50-53. British History Online. Web. 26 December 2022. Birch
14. ↑ "Earls Colne." An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 3, North East. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1922. 87-90. British History Online. Web. 26 December 2022. monument

See Also:

• A visitation of the county of Essex by Bysshe, Edward, Sir, 1615?-1679. cn; Howard, Joseph Jackson, 1827-1902 ed; England. College of Arms Publication date 1888. [1]