Alice (Wilkes) Owen (abt. 1547 - 1613)

Born about 1547 in Islington, Middlesex, England [uncertain]

Wife of William Elkin — married about 1587 in London, England [uncertain]

Wife of Thomas Owen — married 3 Mar 1595 in St Pancras, Soper Lane, City of London, England

Descendants

Died 26 Nov 1613 at about age 66 in Islington, Middlesex, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Alice Wilkes (or Wykes) was a daughter of Thomas Wilkes of Islington, Middlesex^{[1][2][3][4][5]} and was born about 1547.^[6]

She had a brother Robert^[7], and a sister Margery who married John Draper, Brewer.^[8][9]

Her father's name was recorded in a deed dated 3 November 1556 as tenant or occupier of 8 acres within the manor of Barnerdsburie, Islington.^[10]

When quite young in the fields at Islington,..,’ she had a narrow escape of being killed by an arrow, shot by some unskilful archer, which ‘pierced quite thorow the hat on her head.’ For this providential escape she recorded her gratitude in later life.^[4][6][11]

Marriages

Her first husband was Henry Robinson, Citizen and Brewer of London.^[2][12]

The will of Henry Robinson was dated 15 Aug 1585 and proved 07 Sep 1585.^[7] His will was to be buried in the parish church of St Dunstan in the West in Fleet Street [London]. The principal beneficiaries were his wife Alice and his children (not named). He made a bequest to his brother Richard Robinson, resident at Egremont in Cumberland, and a significant bequest to the poor of Egremont, suggesting perhaps that Henry Robinson's origins were in Egremont. His Executors were his wife Alice and brother in law Robert Wilks.

Her second husband was William Elkin, Mercer and Alderman of London.^[1] The date and place of the marriage have yet to be identified [but it was possibly at St Dunstan in the West around 1587].

Alice arranged a posthumous grant of a coat of arms, with right of descent to their daughter Ursula, later married to Sir Roger Owen, her stepson, son of Thomas of Condover, Shropshire, Alice's third husband. In 1595 she acquired an estate, Cransley Hall near Kettering, which she settled on her son Henry Robinson.

She married third Thomas Owen, Serjeant at Law, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas:^[1]

"Thomas Judge Owen and Alice Elkyn were married the thirde day of Marche Anno Domini 1594" [03 Mar 1594/1595] at St Pancras, Soper Lane, City of London^[13]

Children

Children by Henry Robinson:^[2]

• John Robinson
• William Robinson
• Henry Robinson
• John Robinson
• Thomas Robinson
• Henry Robinson
• Margaret Robinson(married Sir John Brett)^[14]
• Susan Robinson
• Ann Robinson
• Ann Robinson (married Robert Rich)
• Alice Robinson (married John Washborne)^[15]

Children by William Elkin:

• Ursula Elkin^[2][16]

Career

In 1576 she was recorded in the will of her brother in law John Draper, Brewer.^[17]

She was recorded in the will of her sister Margery Draper in 1601.^[9]

After Judge Owen died, she bought land, and to vest the same and other lands, to the value of £40 a year, in the Brewers' Company. ... (6 June 1608), by the erection of a school (Dame Alice Owen's School) and a chapel and a hospital for ten poor widows (almshouses) on the spot, known as the 'Ermytage' field, on the east side of St. John Street Road, which stood till 1841. In one of the gables "three iron arrows" were fixed, as a memorial of the childhood event previously described.

By indentures dated in 1609, she gave to the Brewers' Company a yearly rent-charge of £25, in support of her almshouses. On 20 September 1613, she made rules and orders for her new school. She had previously, by her will, dated 10 June 1613, directed the purchase of land to the amount of £20 a year for the maintenance of its master. She made many other bequests, especially to Christ's Hospital and the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge.^[3]

Arms

Her arms have been described as:^[3]

Dexter gules a chevron or between three lions rampant of the second

impaling

her father's arms of .. Azure a pomegranate tree eradivated vert fructed or

The above arms show those of Owen and Wilkes.

The arms on her monument were described as:^[2]

1 Argent on a mount in base proper, a fig tree vert, fruited or. (Wilkes)

2 Azure three roebucks trippant or, three lozenges gules on a chevronel or (Kemp [Robinson]) impaled with Wilkes

3 Gules, a bar on a fess argent, between two tigers courant or, three mullets pierced sable (Elkin) impaled with Wilkes

4 Gules, a chevron between three lions rampant or (Owen) impaled with Wilkes

The designation of the second coat as Kemp impaled with Wilkes is incorrect and should read Robinson impaled with Wilkes.^[18]

Death and Burial

She died on 26 Nov 1613.^[2][12]

Dame Alice Owen was buried in the parish church of St Mary's Islington, Middlesex.^[2]

There was a monument in the church but it was largely lost when the church was rebuilt in 1751, although surviving elements of it are to be found at Potters Bar.^[19]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Visitation of Shropshire Taken in the Year 1623. Edited by Grazebrook G and Rylands JP 1889. Part II. The Publications of the Harleian Society. Vol 29. Owen Pedigree pp 388 Internet Archive.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} Lewis S, Jr. The History and Topography of the Parish of Saint Mary, Islington. 1843, p 203, 225, 418-422 HathiTrust.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Bird, W H. Heraldry and Brewers' Hall. Journal of the Institute of Brewers, Vol. 43 Issue 6, Dec. 1937, pp 490-506 pdf.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Tomlins, T E. Yseldon. A perambulation of Islington. 1858, p 119 Internet Archive.
5. ↑ Daniel Lysons, 'Islington', in The Environs of London: Volume 3, County of Middlesex (London, 1795), pp. 123-169. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-environs/vol3/pp123-169 [accessed 29 June 2021].
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} 'Rawstorne Street to the Angel', in Survey of London: Volume 46, South and East Clerkenwell, ed. Philip Temple (London, 2008), pp. 336-357. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol46/pp336-357 [accessed 30 June 2021].
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Will of Henry Robinson, Brewer of London. 07 September 1585. PROB 11/68/520. The National Archives, Kew.
8. ↑ Will of Robert Wilkes, Beer Brewer of Islington, Middlesex. 28 August 1598. PROB 11/92/148. The National Archives, Kew.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Will of Margery Draper, Widow of Islington, Middlesex. 13 January 1601. PROB 11/97/12. The National Archives, Kew.
10. ↑ Tomlins, T E. Yseldon. A perambulation of Islington. 1858, pp 161-162 Internet Archive.
11. ↑ The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. LXI part I, 1791, p 217 Google Books.
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Hughson, D. London; Being an Accurate History and Description of the British Metropolis and its Neighbourhood, to thirty moles extent, from an actual Perambulation. Vol. VI, 1809, p 351 Google Books.
13. ↑ St Pancras Soper Lane, City of London. Register. Image of Register accessed via Ancestry.
14. ↑ Brett, John (c.1558-1620), of London; later of Edmonton, Mdx. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981 HOP.
15. ↑ The Washbourne family: notes and records, historic and social of the ancient family of Washbourne of Washbourne, Wichenford and Pytchley from the 12th century to the present time. Peach, R E M (Ed.). 1896, p 6 Internet Archive.
16. ↑ Notes on Shropshire Churches. Upton Magna. Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Vol VI, 1883, p 362 BHL.
17. ↑ Will of John Draper, Brewer of Saint Dunstan in the West, City of London. 26 May 1576. PROB 11/58/164. The National Archives, Kew.
18. ↑ Cromwell, T. History and Description of the Parish of Clerkenwell. 1828, p 387 Google Books.
19. ↑ The Life, Marriages and Times of a Tudor Lady. By Clive Rose. Phillimore and Co, 2006. Reviewed in Camden New Journal by Mary Cosh Alice Owen.

See also:

• Alice Owen Wikipedia