Lowestoft Lords of the Manor 1212-1974

It is stated in the Book of Fiefs/Fees (al. Liber Feodorum) – an Exchequer listing of feudal estates compiled at the beginning of the 14th century – that Lowestoft was a manor in its own right by the year 1212. This possibly being when its status was raised from that of mere outlier to the Lothingland Half-hundred manor (as recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086), whose hub was Gorleston. It was a crucial development in the history of the township which cannot be overstated, enabling it to eventually become (by the 15th century) the dominant community in its locality. A royal manor, to begin with, it subsequently passed into other hands – as recorded below. [technical note the links on this page demonstrate the search capability of this site and ability to link information togerther]

• King John – 1212-16 – He may well have instituted Lowestoft’s increased status, raising it from outlier to independent estate. Born 1166 and died in 1216.

• King Henry III – 1216-28 – Son of King John and only nine years old when he acceded to the throne – his early years being conducted under a regency led first by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke – died 1219 – and Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent. Born 1207 and died in 1272.

• John & Dervorgille de Balliol – 1228-59 – Received manorial title – along with many others – in exchange for lands located in Cheshire belonging to Dervorgille, as a means of strengthening English defensive capacity in the Welsh Marches area. Year of accession to the title found the couple still their teens, after an arranged bethrothal and marriage at about the age of 13. Both of them born c. 1210, with John dying in 1268 and Dervorgille in 1290. Co-Founders of Balliol College, Oxford, c. 1263.

• John de Balliol Jnr. – 1259-94 – Son of the previous holders and reigned as King of Scotland 1292-96. Abdicated in July of the latter year. Born c. 1249 and died during 1314.

• King Edward I – 1294-1302 – Reversion to the Crown following John de Balliol Jnr. renouncing his homage to Edward. Confiscation of English estates followed. Born 1239 and died in 1307.

• John de Dreux 2 – 1302-5 – Earl of Richmond and brother-in-law of Edward I. Born 1239 and died in 1305. Son of John de Dreux I, Duke of Brittany, who was born in 1217 and died in 1286. Earldom of Richmond granted to John I by Henry III in 1268.

• John de Dreux 3 – 1306-41 – Earl of Richmond. Son of the previous title-owner and nephew of Edward I. Born 1286 and died childless, after three marriages, in 1341. Royal grant of a weekly market and annual fair for the town made in 1308. It was during his tenancy that the manorial status of both Lowestoft and Lothingland Half-hundred seem to have become fixed as a joint-holding – being carried in tandem with each other, thereafter. Something which probably had its roots during the time of John & Dervorgille de Balliol. 

• John de Dreux 4 – 1341-2 – Nephew and heir of predecessor. Born c. 1286 and died in 1344.  Earldom of Richmond title reverted to King Edward III in 1342, along 

with Lowestoft and Lothingland manorial titles. 

[The de Dreux connection with Lowestoft manor was extremely difficult to piece together, as the family were not only Earls of Richmond but also Dukes of Brittany from 1213 to 1488 – the latter title acquired by the marriage of Peter de Dreux to Alix, Duchess of Brittany, during 1213.]

• King Edward III – 1342-76 – no stated reason to be found for royal assumption of former de Dreux titles, but start of the Hundred Years War in 1337 is one possibility. Born 1312 and died in 1377.

• Sir John de Surrey – 1376-80 – Granted for life only. Reason for transfer of title to him from King Edward III not known. Probably better known as Sir John Warren – descendant of the de Warenne Earls of Surrey, a Norman family with 1066 connections. Born c. 1343 and died in 1386. 

• Thomas de Holland – 1380-5 – Earl of Kent and half-brother of Richard II. Re-assignment of previous grant. Born in 1350 and died in 1397.

• Michael de la Pole – 1385-9 – Made 1st Earl of Suffolk by Richard II in 1385, following promotion to Chancellor of England in 1383. Lowestoft title probably acquired by purchase or a land-swap. Born c. 1330 and died in 1389. The family was originally wool merchants from the city of Hull.

• Anne of Bohemia – 1389-90 – Queen of England and wife of Richard II. Briefly granted  Lowestoft and Lothingland titles following the death of Michael de la Pole. Born 1366 and died in 1394.

• John de Holland – 1390-9 – Duke of Exeter & Earl of Huntingdon. Brother of Thomas de Holland and half-brother of Richard II. Executed by Henry IV for conspiracy to murder him after his usurpation of the Crown in 1399. 

• Michael de la Pole – 1400-15 – 2nd Earl of Suffolk. Title probably acquired via grant of Henry IV following the execution of Thomas de Holland. Born 1367 and died of dysentery during the Siege of Harfleur, 18 August-22 September 1415.

• Katherine de la Pole – 1415 - ? –  Countess of Suffolk and widow of previous holder of title. Older son Michael – nominally and briefly 3rd Earl – born 1395 and slain at the Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415. Uncertain as to how long his mother retained the Lowestoft title. Born c. 1373 and died c. 1423. 

• William de la Pole – 1415?-50 – 4th Earl & 1st Duke of Suffolk. Younger son of 2nd Earl, born 1396. Became influential during the reign of Henry VI, but was murdered at sea on his way to exile in France on 2 May 1450. Not known exactly when he acceded to the family’s various titles.

• Alice de la Pole – 1450-63 – Duchess of Suffolk & widow of William. Granddaughter 

of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet. Born c.1404 and died in 1475.

• John de la Pole – 1463-92 – 2nd Duke of Suffolk, acceding to his father’s title at the age of twenty-one. Born 1442 and died in 1492.

• Edmund de la Pole – 1492-1509 – 3rd Duke of Suffolk & younger son of the 2nd Duke. Born 1471. Imprisoned in the Tower of London by Henry VII in March 1505/6. Executed for treason by Henry VIII in 1513. His older brother John, Earl of Lincoln, had pre-deceased him in 1487 – killed at the Battle of Stoke, leading a Yorkist rebellion against Henry VII.

• Sir Edward Jernegan – 1509-15 – Born 1462 and died in 1515. Lordship of the manor of Lowestoft, and other local titles, granted by Royal Letters Patent – Edmund de la Pole being incarcerated in the Tower of London.

• Lady Mary Jernegan – 1516-48 – Left the Lowestoft title for term of her life, following husband’s decease. Second wife of Sir Edward, post March 1504 – née Scrope – and died 26 August 1548, having remarried at some stage to Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London,  prior to 31 March 1531. Year of birth not known.

• Sir Henry Jernegan (al. Jerningham) – 1548-72 – Older son of Sir Edward Jernegan – born 1509/10 and died 1572 – changing the form of the surname to Jerningham at some stage. His main place of residence was at Costessey, near Norwich.

• Henry Jerningham/Jernigan – 1572-1606 – Son and heir of the previous holder of title. Lived in a family home at Wingfield, in Suffolk, until moving to Costessey in 1583. Born 1536 and died 1619. Seems not to have had the status of knighthood. 

• Thomas & Christopher Hirne  – 1606-9 – Acquired by purchase from the title-holder above by these brothers, living in Norwich and Haveringland, Norfolk. Thomas Hyrne – as the surname is usually found spelled – was MP for Norwich 1604-29 (knighted in 1609) and High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1621. Born pre-1566 and died in 1637/8. Nothing to be found regarding his brother.

• Sir William Paston – 1609-10 –  A badly written Manorial Survey of June 1610 (Suffolk Archives, Ipswich, 194/A10/72) states that it was carried out for Paston – of Oxnead, North Norfolk – and names him as Lord. His granddaughter Bridget was the wife of Sir John Heveningham. 1610 was the year of Paston’s death: on 20 October, at the age of eighty-two. He had probably acquired the Lowestoft manor by purchase from the Hirne/Hyrne brothers, with it then passing to relatives by marriage following his death –  either by bequest or purchase. He is best known for the Grammar School bearing his name, founded in North Walsham in the year 1604.

• Sir John Heveningham – 1610-33 – Lord of the manor of Ketteringham, Norfolk, and both Sheriff and MP for Norfolk. Born c. 1577 and died in 1633. Sheriff of Norfolk in 1615, he became MP for the county in 1629 – this being the year in which Charles I dissolved  Parliament for a ten year period, with its resumption in 1640 leading to

political turmoil and the start of the First English Civil War.

Sir William Heveningham – 1633-61 – Son of Sir John Heveningham, born in 1604 and a leading Parliamentarian of the English Civil Wars period. Sat on the panel which 

tried Charles I for High Treason, but would not sign the death warrant. Escaped execution on Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, but forfeited his estates under an Act of Attainder – lands which were then held for his second wife by trustees. He was imprisoned in Windsor Castle in 1664 and remained there until his death in 1678. Aforesaid second wife was Mary Carey (1631-96) whom he had married in 1655.

• Philip Ha[y]ward 1 – 1662-6 – Title purchased by this local gentleman of some kind, living In Carlton Colville, from the trustees of Lady Mary Heveningham. The nearest to Lowestoft of its non-resident lords. Died in May 1666. He paid the sum of £525.00 on 13 August 1662 to the said Trustees of Lady Heveningham, in purchasing the manor, and acceded to the property four days later on 17 August. He was great-great-uncle of John Hayward of Lowestoft (mariner) – one of the town’s leading citizens of the late 17th/early 18th century. 

• Philip Ha[y]ward 2 – 1666-72 – son of the man above and died in May 1676. Great-uncle of John Hayward, whose burial entry of 28 June 1719 (aged 63) refers to his endowment of a bread charity of 52 shillings per annum (624 penny-loaves) for the Lowestoft poor – to be distributed weekly (12 loaves), after Sunday morning service at St. Margaret’s Church. This family-group owned The Swan inn from March 1640 (Philip 1) up until, and after, the death of said John – who had inherited the property in March 1702.

• Sir Thomas Allin – 1672-85 – Lowestoft’s most famous sailor, serving in the Royal Navy of Charles II as a front-line commander during the 1660s and knighted following the Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665. Comptroller of the Navy 1671-80 and made a baronet (hereditary knighthood) in February 1672-3. Retired from active service in 1678. Master of Trinity House 1671-2. Purchased the Somerleyton title, as well as that of Lowestoft, and made its Hall his permanent residence following his retirement. Born in November 1612, the son of Robert Allen (draper) and died in 1685.

• Sir Thomas Allin – 1685-96 (Son of the man above. Born c. 1651. Married Mary Caldwell of London, but died without issue in 1696 and left title to his sister Alice. Elected MP for Dunwich in 1679. 

• Mrs. Alice Anguish – 1696-9 – Sister of previous lord and married at Lowestoft to Edmund Anguish of Moulton St. Mary, Norfolk, on 11 June 1663 (baptised 19 February 1636/7). Father and mother (Rebecca Whiting) married at Redisham 8 July 1635. May have held the Lowestoft title jointly with husband. She died in 1698, her husband in 1699. Oldest son Richard adopted the surname Allin and was created baronet on 14 December of the latter year, becoming lord of Lowestoft manor also.)

• Sir Richard Allin – 1699-1725 – Born post-1663 and died on 19 October 1725, the manorial title passing to older son Thomas.

• Sir Thomas Allin – 1725-64 – Born 1702 and died unmarried on 11 August 1764,with the manorial title and baronetcy passing to his brother Ashurst Anguish, who then adopted the Allin surname.

• Sir Thomas Allin – 1725-64 – Born 1702 and died unmarried on 11 August 1764, 

with the manorial title and baronetcy passing to his brother Ashurst Anguish, who then adopted the Allin surname.

• Sir Ashurst Allin – 1764-70 – Born 1709 and Rector of Blundeston and Flixton, 1732-70. Died on 6 November 1770 with both title and baronetcy devolving upon only son Thomas.

• Sir Thomas Allin – 1770-94 – Born 1739 and died unmarried and insane on 30 April 

1794. Lowestoft manorial title and Allin baronetcy bequeathed to cousin Thomas 

Anguish in1794.

[The Allin baronetcy and name terminated at this point.]

• Thomas Anguish – 1794-1810 – A London barrister, born 1760 and died unmarried

and insane in 1810. Succeeded by younger brother George Anguish.

• Revd. George Anguish – 1810-43 – Born 1764 and Rector of Gisleham 1797-1833. Retired to live at Somerleyton Hall, holding the manor’s lordship there also. Died unmarried and insane 5 July 1843.

• Sydney Godolphin Osborne – 1843-4 – Nephew of the Revd. George Anguish. Clergyman, philanthropist and writer. Third son of Francis Osborne, the 1st Baron Godolphin. Later acquired the courtesy title of “Lord”, when his older brother George became the 8th Duke of Leeds in 1859. Born 1808 and died 1889.

• Samuel Morton Peto – 1844-63 – Purchased the Lowestoft manor from the previous holder of title (as well as those of Somerleyton and other local communities) as part of his construction projects in the town: harbour, railway and seaside resort. Sold these assets in 1863, at a time of financial difficulty, in order to pay off certain of his debts. Born 1809 and died 1889.

• Richard Henry Reeve – 1863-88 – Lowestoft solicitor, living at No. 6 The Esplanade (1874) in one of Samuel Morton Peto’s mid-late 1840s, large, detached, sea-front villas, and also at No. 15 (1885) – with office at No. 48 High Street, next door to long-time family home at No. 49 (occupied by his great-aunt, Lady Pleasance Smith). Grandson of Robert Reeve, attorney, who had been steward of the manor during the late 18th/early 19th century. Acquired the Lowestoft manor, along with many other local titles, from Samuel Morton Peto. Born 1821 and died in October 1888. A memorial column to him, erected in 1890 by a cousin Mary Ethelind Franey, stands in Kensington Gardens – removed from Royal Plain, when the town’s War Memorial was placed there in 1921. Can be broadly accepted as the only resident lord of the manor during its long existence – though not technically in Lowestoft parish itself, but in that of neighbouring Kirkley.

• Lowestoft Borough Council – 1889-1974 – Acquired the Lowestoft title from the estate of Richard Henry Reeve, as a corporate asset, in order to have control of The Denes and its traditional uses and rights of access. All of this lapsed on 1 April 1974, when the Local Government Act of 1972 was implemented and Waveney District Council was formed. Lowestoft Town Council chose not to adopt Successor Parish Council status, under the new structure, and continue as a local forum. This was a serious error of judgement and proved to be of no advantage to the community whatsoever.

1. By way of overview regarding the information above, the first thing to be said is that the importance to the development of Lowestoft during the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods, particularly, lay in the fact that it never had a resident lord of the manor until Richard Henry Reeve acquired the title in 1863. This meant that the running of the unit was in the hands of its chief tenants and steward – the latter of whom would have been responsible for seeing that all of the various rents due to the  lord were collected and paid over. And, as long as this was done, the many non-resident lords would have been satisfied. A resident lord would have been directly involved in the running of the manor and would have dictated what was done. Having an absentee (especially a long-distance one) placed power in the hands of the chief tenants, who were then able to shape the community in the way that they wanted and control its development. And this is exactly what happened, following Lowestoft’s establishment as a manor, c. 1212, right through to the end of the 18th century. The chief tenants were in the driving seat and steered Lowestoft into becoming the dominant community in the Lothingland and Mutford Half-hundreds. This might possibly have happened under a resident lord, but would by no means have been a certainty.

2. The best example of attempted direct interference in its running, by its lord, came during the early 1670s from Sir Thomas Allin. At some point, not known, he had built a large house on the north side of Swan Lane(later called Mariners Street) – at its western extremity and close to the Fairstead – which is recorded in the Suffolk Hearth Tax return of 1674 as having eleven fire-places and was five more than certain other of the town’s leading citizens had. With the late medieval Town Chamber  (venue for Annot’s Free Grammar School) being in a state of poor repair, Allin tried to relocate the school to his large and empty dwelling – a move successfully resisted by both townsmen and Henry Britten, the schoolmaster. It is also worth noting that there was perhaps some resentment on the part of leading citizens (especially those in his age-group who had grown up with him) at the way he had purchased the Lowestoft manorial title – among other local ones – then chosen to reside at Somerleyton and lord it over his birth-place. There is more than a hint of this in the way that the chief tenants of the manor took the opportunity of fining him the substantial sum of 20s at the annual leet courts of 1672 and 1673 for not maintaining a steelyard (a weighing-balance for commercial goods) in the town’s main market place.

• Another matter perhaps worth referring to in the information relating to certain lords of the manor listed above is the matter of possible genetic mental incapacity in members of the Anguish family – with three of them being described as “lunatics”, at the time of death, in surviving documentation of the time. The first two – the last Sir Thomas Allin and his cousin Thomas Anguish – were only 53 and 50 years old, respectively, when they died – whereas the latter’s younger brother, the Revd. George Anguish, was 79. This makes the possibility of old age (and what might be described today as either  dementia or case-specific Alzheimer’s Disease) a factor in his decease – but his two predecessors were much younger than him. Which does not allow for any firm judgement to be made concerning the origin of their mental condition.

• It will not have escaped the reader’s attention as to just how socially elevated the Lords of the Manor of Lowestoft were for almost the first three hundred years of its existence (1212- 1509): both the Monarchy itself (which would have held hundreds of such titles) and the upper levels of the Aristocracy where extensive estates would also have been the order of the day. Though probably not always on the scale of those held by The Crown. There then followed almost as lengthy a period of tenure (1509-1794) mainly among the nation’s Baronetcy – the lowest order of the hereditary Aristocracy, with the distinguishing title of Sir attached to it. A span of years broken only by Thomas & Christopher Hirne, Philip Ha[y]ward and Mrs. Alice Anguish. Thereafter, it remained largely in what may be termed the Gentry level of society – though Sydney Godolphin Osborne was also from an aristocratic family and Samuel Morton Peto (builder-contractor) was made a Baronet during 1855 for his railway construction work in the Crimean Peninsula during the war there (1853-6) between the allies Great Britain and France and their Russian opponents. The last genuine (for want of a better term) lord of the manor was a lawyer by occupation who – given the age in which he lived – might well have thought of himself as a gentleman. That is conjecture only, of course – not a statement of fact. The social status of the various manorial lords is broadly indicated by colour coding of the names: red (monarchy), purple (upper aristocracy), blue (baronetcy) and green (gentry). 

• Though no specific documentary indication has been found concerning the final transfer of the various local manorial titles in both Lothingland and Mutford Half-hundreds – cumulatively acquired over the years and blocked up with that of Lowestoft by different lords – the implication would seem to be that these all passed to Richard Henry Reeve’s cousins, the Franey family, at about the same time as Lowestoft Borough Council acquired the Lowestoft title itself. An extremely large collection of manorial documentation, relating to Lothingland and Mutford Half-hundreds and belonging to E.S. Franey Esq. (presumably the son of Mary Ethelind Franey referred to above) – and including copious material connected with Lowestoft – was put up for sale by auction during 1966. Fortunately, East Suffolk County Council (as it was then) purchased this important body of seigneurial items for its Ipswich & East Suffolk Record Office, and it was classified and summarised by the late Derek Charman (Archivist there) – later used to provide information relating to the sale of the various manorial titles themselves in 1971, following the death of E.S. Franey himself and authorised by his executors. The whole assemblage was referred to in-house as the Franey Collection and had been given the overall accession number of 194. Eventually, in 1974, East Suffolk and West Suffolk councils were merged by implementation of the Local Government Act of 1972 into a single entity (Suffolk County Council) – with the record offices of each (Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds) continuing to operate. In 1985, a branch of the Suffolk Record Office, as it had become, was opened in Lowestoft to serve the North-eastern area of the County – remaining in operation until it closed in 2021. The Franey Collection was among the many muniments lodged there and this writer was able to use it as one of the main building-blocks in studying the history and development of the town during the Early Modern period particularly. If the material had remained in Ipswich, such in-depth research would not have been possible.

CREDIT:David Butcher