80 High Street, Lowestoft, and Wilde Family Connections
“The South Flint House”, as it is sometimes called, is a high-quality merchant’s residence of the late Sixteenth Century. Its westward elevation, abutting the street, is an imposing one – built to impress, with plinth and coping, dressed flint cladding and stone quoining around the windows and door. The initials WM above the door (which are replicated on the spandrels of the stone fire-place in the hall chamber, on the first floor) represent the Christian names of William and Mary Wilde, for whom the house was built, and the year 1586 gives the time of construction. The couple were married in August 1569 and the property came to them in May 1575 via the will of Mary’s father, Richard Dericke (also known as Derick Harman), a master-shoemaker, who died without male heirs. Therefore, an earlier dwelling was demolished to make way for the building we see today.
The Wilde family was an important one in the history of Lowestoft, both as a ruling force and a philanthropic influence. The Lay Subsidy of 1524 shows them to have been lesser merchants, with William Wilde’s father (also named William) paying the sum of one shilling tax on trading-stock worth £2. Within the next fifty to sixty years, the family’s fortunes had increased sufficiently for William Wilde Jnr. to build his imposing new residence. The money derived largely from fishing and maritime trade, and the upward trend in prosperity was reflected in the town as a whole. Even today, it is possible to detect a good deal of high-quality residential building along the High Street (especially on the eastern side) dating from the period 1550-1600.
The Seventeenth Century was a time of mixed fortunes for Lowestoft. During the first half, two serious plague outbreaks (of 1603 and 1635) ravaged the population and the herring industry declined noticeably in the face of competition from the Dutch. The Wildes remained unscathed during the epidemics and their fortunes were sustained by interests outside fishing (including agriculture and property ownership). As the town underwent recovery during the 1670s and 80s, they prospered further, and the will and probate inventory of James Wilde (grandson of the man who built the house and himself a merchant) show personal wealth of considerable scale.
James Wilde died in February 1684 and the list of his possessions is an important source document with regard to 80 High Street, because it shows how the house was organised and furnished. The internal arrangement of rooms was as it had been a century earlier, with a ground-floor layout of hall, parlour and kitchen, with chambers (or bedrooms) above, and with an attic used for storage and servants’ accommodation. There were also two outhouses in the yard (probably on the second terrace), one of which was used for brewing, and a summer-house on the same level. Good quality furniture was located in the six principle rooms (two of which had soft furnishings also); there were pictures on the walls of the hall, the parlour and the hall chamber; a cased clock was located in the hall, as well as a collection of books; and the kitchen contained a wide range of utensils. The overall impression conveyed is one of the comfort and affluence enjoyed by the upper levels of provincial society of the time – a standard of living which can still appreciated by any of us living today.
The purpose behind writing this article is not only to show a piece of sequential family history, but to demonstrate what can be achieved by using different sources and cross-referencing them. Primary and secondary material can combine to create a three-dimensional picture of earlier life-styles, which can then be further embellished by topographical work using the built environment as we see it today. The survival of particular buildings from a bygone era is always a bonus for the historian, when they relate to his or her researches, but identifying the sites of those which have long since disappeared is often possible and is perhaps even more rewarding than beholding what still stands.
A Summary of the Will of Wyllyam Wylde (12 February 1611)
Preamble: “Being of good & perfect Remembrance Thanks be given to god for it – first I give & bequeath my soul in to the hands of All mighty god hoping And steadfastly believing to be saved & delivered from ye guilt & punishment of all my sins And to be made partaker of the heavenly kingdom Through ye merits death and passion of my lord and only Saviour & Redeemer Jesus Christ – And my body I commit unto ye Earth to be decently buried where it shall please God.”
Daniel Wylde (5th son, aged 21) • Half the testator’s herring & mackerel nets.
• Dwelling-house [80 High Street] after widow’s death.
• Use of the yard for storage-space during her lifetime.
• All possessions & money not otherwise bequeathed.
• Made responsible for settling testator’s debts.
Margaret Wylde (2nd wife) • All goods & chattels which were hers before she married.
• Dwelling-house [80 High Street] for the rest of her life.
• Half the testator’s herring & mackerel nets.
• All victuals (except the malt and barley), wood & coal.
Derick Wylde (6th son, aged 20) • The house occupied by Thomas Clarke.
• All herring speets, riving vats & reed.
• A posted bedstead & all the bedding.
• A trendle bedstead & all the bedding.
• 4 cushions.
• A joined chair & one other chair.
• 2 silver spoons.
John Wylde (1st son, aged 39) • All houses & lands in Corton & Newton.
• The house occupied by Robert Arnold.
• A grazing dole on Drake’s Heath.
• Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
• 20 shillings, to be paid to Thomas Roose (within 2
months of testator’s death).
Alice Arnold (1st daughter, aged 35) • 2 silver spoons,
Sara ? (2nd daughter, aged 32) • 2 silver spoons.
Rebecca Bentlye (3rd daughter, aged 30) • 2 silver spoons.
Mary Arnold (4th daughter, aged 26) • 2 silver spoons.
Thomas Roose • 20 shillings (to be paid to him by John Wilde).
Executor: Daniel Wylde (5th son)
Witnesses: Thomas Ward (yeoman)
Rychard Berye (yeoman)
Thomas Roose
• Thomas Ward was the man who wrote the will. He and Rychard Berye signed their names, Thomas Roose used his initials: TR. Wyllyam Wylde also signed his name on the document.
• John Wylde bought out both his brothers’ interests. Daniel was a cooper by trade and established himself in Great Yarmouth. The house he had been bequeathed stood on the site of what is now No. 176, High Street. The one left to Derick Wilde stood on the opposite side of the road, a little further to the north, occupying a plot on what is now an open, grassed area (between Nos. 4 and 27, High Street – this the result of bomb damage during World War II, when a row of houses was destroyed and not replaced.
Glossary: grazing dole – a strip of rough pasture (this one was situated near today’s TK Maxx store on the North Quay Retail Park.
herring speets – wooden rods onto which the fish were threaded through mouth and gill before being smoked into red herrings.
joined chair – a chair whose parts were joined together by mortices and tenons, rather than just being nailed.
reed – used to seal gaps between the staves of a barrel, thereby stopping leaks.
riving vats – large wooden tubs in which herrings were salted before being put into the smokehouse.
trendle bedstead – a small bed on castors, which could be moved around.
• The parish of Newton lay to the north-east of Corton. It had long suffered from sea erosion and has now almost completely disappeared. Part of one field only is left – located in the present-day parish of Hopton-on-Sea, to the east of Potter’s Leisure Resort.
• John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was (after the Bible) the most popular book of the late sixteenth and early/mid seventeenth centuries. It told the story of the various people burnt at the stake for their Protestant faith during the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-58) and therefore was closely identified with Church of England practice, as well as reinforcing many people’s fear and suspicion of Rome.
• The summary of this will (and the ones which follow) is given in modern spelling, with the exception of people’s names. Original grammatical forms and use of capital letters are retained in the preamble(s).
• Wyllyam Wilde’s first wife Mary (née Harman) had died in June 1608. He remarried, a year later, to a widow named Margaret Atkins.
• Wyllyam Wylde himself died on 23 March 1611 and was buried two days later, aged 87 years, inside St. Margaret’s Church. His grave-slab is no longer to be found there, but it apparently recorded that “he lived harmless as a child”.
• His will is held in the Norfolk Record Office: ref. NCC 19 Stywarde. A copy is also lodged in the Lowestoft branch of the Suffolk Record office.
A Summary of the Will of John Wilde (4 April 1641)
Preamble: “Being in reasonable bodily health But p[er]fect in Remembrance Thanks be given to God for it – First I give and bequeath my Soul into the hands of the everliving God and my most merciful father in Jesus Christ Being fully assured of free p[ar]don and remission of all my sins, only in, by and through the Death and bloodshedding of the same his dear son Jesus Christ my only saviour and Redeemer. And consequently everlasting life in him. And my body I Commit to the earth from whence it came.”
The poor people of Lowestoft • 40 shillings (20 to be paid on the day of the funeral, the
other 20 within 6 months of decease).
Mary Wilde (wife, aged 70) • All houses & lands in Corton & Newton, for rest of life.
• Almshouse Meadow and Webbes Meadow, for life.
• Mortgages held on property in Gt.Yarmouth, Southtown,
Gorleston, Bradwell & Lowestoft.
• Dwelling-house & appurtenances, for life [80 High Street].
• Land known as Stingates, with the stable thereon, for life.
• Lease of land on which the Town Barn stood, for life.
• Half of the malthouses, yards, straw-houses and stables
purchased from brother Derick, for life.
• Barns, yards & buildings bought from daughter Rebecca
Prest, for life.
• All other goods & chattels, money owing & livestock.
James Wilde (8th son, aged 28) • Half-share in mackerel boat Elizabeth & Alice, with
her mackerel & herring nets & other equipment.
• £300 (£100 to be paid within one year of decease, the
other £200 a year later).
• Almshouse Meadow, after mother’s decease.
• Dwelling-house & buildings [80 High Street] after
mother’s decease.
• Land known as Stingates, after mother’s decease.
• Lease of Town Barn land, after mother’s decease.
John Wilde (son of James, aged 4) • Almshouse Meadow, after parents’ decease.
• £20, payable at age of 21.
Deborah Wilde (daughter of James, aged 2) • £20, to be paid at age of 18.
Josiah Wilde (7th son, aged 30) • Equal share with his wife in their dwelling-house.
• The grazing dole on Drake’s Heath.
• Dwelling-house which had belonged to Christopher
Murrell, after mother’s decease.
• Half-share in mackerel boat Elizabeth & Alice, with her
mackerel & herring nets & other equipment.
• £300 (£100 to be paid within one year of decease, the
other £200 a year later).
• Webbes Meadow, after mother’s decease.
• Half of the malthouses, yards, straw-houses & stables
purchased from Derick Wilde, after mother’s decease.
• Barns, yards & buildings purchased from Rebecca Prest after mother’s decease.
Thomas Wilde (son of Josiah, aged 16 months) • Webbes Meadow, after parents’ death.
• £20, payable at age of 21.
Mary & Elizabeth Wilde (daughters of Josiah, aged 6½ & 4) • £20 each, payable at age
of 18.
Samuel Wilde (5th son, aged 35) • £200 (£100 payable within 6 months of decease, the
other £100 within a further 6 months).
Thomas Wilde (6th son, aged 32) • Half-share in bark or crayer Judith & her equipment.
• £250 (£150 payable within a year of decease, other
£100 one year later).
Unborn child of Thomas Wilde • £20, payable at age 21 or 18, according to gender.
William Wilde (son of William dec’d) • £100, to be paid within 2 years of decease &
invested in the Chamber of London until he
was 21 years of age.
Mighell, Mary, Alice, Margaret
& Sarah Wilde (children of William dec’d) • £20 each, payable at age of 21.
Margaret Wilde (widow of William) • All houses & lands in Corton & Newton, after
mother-in-law’s decease.
Mary Andrewes, wife of Samuel (2nd daughter, aged 42) • £100 (£50 payable within a
year of decease, the other
£50 a year later).
John & Deborah Andrewes (children of Samuel & Mary) • £20 each, payable at age of
21.
Third child of Samuel & Mary Andrewes (not named, but stated as having been born
in Barbados) • £20, payable at age of 21.
Daniel Wilde (brother, aged 51) • 20 shillings, to buy a ring.
Children of Derick Wilde (nephews & nieces) • 10 shillings each.
Alice Arnold, wife of Nathaniel (sister, aged 65) • 20 shillings, to buy a ring.
Rebecca Prest, widow of William (sister, aged 59) • 20 shillings, to buy a ring.
Sarah ? (sister, aged 62 ) • 20 shillings, to buy a ring.
Mary Thornton, alias. Arnold, (sister, aged 56) • 20 shillings, to buy a ring.
Children of Rebecca and Nathaniel Bentley (nephews & nieces) • 10 shillings each.
Children of Sarah ? (nephews & nieces) • 10 shillings each.
Children of Robert & Mary Thornton, alias. Arnold (nieces) • 10 shillings each.
Executor: Mary Wilde (wife)
Witnesses: Nicholas Pacy (mariner)
Robert Underwood (scrivener)
• Note that there were five surviving children of Rebecca and Nathaniel Bentley: William, 38; Rebecca, 34; Isaac, 32; Mary, 31; and John, 26. Their mother had married William Prest after the death of her first husband.
• There were three surviving children of Mary & Robert Thornton, alias Arnold: Mary, 38; Alice, 31; and Margaret, 31.
Codicil (13 November 1642)
Made with reference to land & buildings purchased from James Rant of Norwich (gentleman) and Henry Jenkenson of Oulton (gentleman). This property lay below the cliff and adjoined the ground belonging to the testator’s house (now 80 High Street) on its northern boundary. The buildings referred to were two fish-houses and a salt-house.
Mary Wilde (wife) • The land & buildings referred to above, for rest of life.
James Wilde (8th son) • Property referred to immediately above, after mother’s decease.
• £100 (to be paid within one year of decease).
Josiah Wilde (7th son) • £100 (to be paid within one year of decease).
Thomas Wilde (6th son) • £100 (to be paid within one year of decease).
Samuel Wilde (5th son) • £100 (to be paid within one year of decease).
• The £400 bequeathed to the testator’s four surviving sons, in the codicil, was to derive from the profits of Icelandic cod voyages and from North Sea fishing activity. Smaller, proportionate sums were to be paid out to the beneficiaries if the sum of £400 had not been realised by the time of John Wilde’s death.
• John Wilde wrote his own will and signed his name at the bottom. The two witnesses each signed their own names on the document. Nicholas Pacy was Wilde’s next door neighbour, living in the house which is now 81-83 High Street. Robert Underwood was a lesser lawyer of some kind, who would have been experienced in drawing up legal documents. He may have advised Wilde on the writing of the will.
• The Town Barn and the land known as Stingates were located next to the market place, which lay opposite the family home. The lease-money on the former was used by trustees for charitable purposes; the latter was named after a former owner, Jeffrey Stingate.
• The crayer Judith was a small coastal trading vessel of some kind. Thomas Wilde, to whom the half-share in it was bequeathed, settled in Great Yarmouth. He held the rank of major in the army and was killed in February 1666, on the Corton/Gunton denes by a musket shot to the throat. He and a shore party were shadowing the movements of a hostile Dutch vessel which had come in close to shore, and shots were exchanged. He was buried in the middle aisle of St. Margaret’s Church, next to his parents.
• The sums of 20 shillings left to the testator’s surviving brother and his four sisters were for the purchase of mourning rings in memory of him.
• William Wilde (deceased), whose six children were left cash bequests, was the oldest of John Wilde’s children. He had been captured by Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean during the year 1633 (he was 40 years old at the time) and forced to become a galley-slave. A letter written from Constantinople to his father, in November that year, telling of his plight, somehow reached Lowestoft. Edmund Gillingwater’s An Historical Account of the Ancient Town of Lowestoft (1790) has a copy of part of it, on page 382.
• The reference to Samuel and Mary Andrewes (the latter baptised 13 July 1598) being in the West Indies may mean that they had emigrated there and were involved in running a plantation – growing tobacco and/or sugar cane. Barbados was claimed by England in 1625 and a colony was started there in 1627. [Addendum: Samuel Andrews is named in a list of the inhabitants of Barbados, who held more than 10 acres of land, in the year 1638. Ref. P.F. Campbell, Some Early Barbadian History (Wildey, Barbados, 1993); the book is a reprint of an earlier, eighteenth-century publication.]
• The total amount of cash bequests made in the will (over £1500) and in the accompanying codicil shows how wealthy John Wilde was. A modern-day equivalent of the sum cannot be given, but a skilled craftsman at the time (depending on his trade) would have earned about £8-£10 a year.
• John Wilde died on 10 August 1644 and was buried three days later, aged 72 years, under the middle aisle of St. Margaret’s Church, not far from the chancel steps. His grave-slab may still be seen. His wife, who died in October 1651, lies beside him. She was 80 years old and had married her husband in September 1589. Her maiden name was Eache and her father had been a shoemaker and leather-worker.
• John Wilde’s will is held in the Suffolk Record Office (Ipswich): ref. IC/AA1/82/116a & b. A copy is also lodged in the Lowestoft branch.
A Summary of the Will of James Wilde (7 July 1682)
Preamble: “Being in my perfect health and memory – First I give & bequeath my soul into the hands of Almighty god my most merciful father in Jesus Christ trusting through his merits to have free pardon and remission of all my sins and joyfully to rise again to life eternal – and my body I commit to the earth from whence it came to be decently buried at the discretion of my executrix.”
Alice Wild (wife, aged 64) • All houses & lands in Lowestoft, for rest of life.
• All goods, chattels, mortgages & debts.
• Charged with maintaining testator’s servant, William Cory.
John Wilde (1st son, aged 46) • Everything left to mother, after her decease.
• Half of a small pightle purchased from Henry Church of
Great Yarmouth.
• £300, to be paid within 2 years of decease.
• Clock & table in the hall, after mother’s decease.
• Jack in the kitchen, after mother’s decease.
• Large silver tankard, given to testator by the townsmen of Lowestoft.
Alice Durrant (3rd daughter, aged 37) • £500, to be paid within 2 years of decease.
John Durrant (son-in-law) • Half of a small pightle purchased from Henry Church of Great Yarmouth.
Deborah Wells, wife of William (1st daughter, aged 43) • £300.
Children of Deborah & Andrew Leake (grandchildren) • £200, to be paid out in equal shares at their coming of age.
The Poor People of Lowestoft • £50, to be spent as thought best by executrix, testator’s children & leading townsmen.
St. Margaret’s Church • A piece of silver plate, to be used for the consecrated bread during communion services.
Joseph Hudson (vicar of Lowestoft) • £3, as a token of testator’s love & esteem.
William Cory (testator’s servant) • Food, drink & clothing for rest of life, at executrix’s
expense.
Executor: Alice Wilde (wife)
Witnesses: Samuel Pacy Jnr. (gentleman)
William Pacy (merchant)
Thomas Glover (customs officer)
• James Wilde had married at Somerleyton some time during 1635 to a woman named Alice Carman. Their first child was a son, John – the boy referred to in his grandfather’s will of April 1641 and the man named above in that of his father.
• Note that there were four children of Andrew & Deborah Leake: Andrew & William, whose ages are not known, Margaret, aged 8, and Deborah, aged 6. Andrew Leake Snr., a merchant, was Deborah Wells’s second husband, who had died in August 1675 and whom she had married in October 1664. Her first partner had been a man named John Scaps (or Scops) of Great Yarmouth, a gentleman, whom she had married at Somerleyton in June 1660.
• James Wilde wrote his own will and signed his name at the bottom. The three witnesses all signed their own names on the document. The first two were the sons of Wilde’s next-door neighbours, Samuel & Elizabeth Pacy (living in what is now 81-83 High Street), who were members of a merchant family and were also related to the Wildes. Samuel Pacy Jnr. styled himself a gentleman on the strength of his parents’ money; his younger brother, William, was a merchant, who eventually moved from Lowestoft and became mayor of Great Yarmouth. Both men were the grandsons of Nicholas Pacy, who had acted as one of the witnesses for the will of John Wilde. James Wilde would have known Thomas Glover through being involved in North Sea and overseas trade. Glover was the first customs official appointed in Lowestoft, on its being granted port status in May 1679.
• Andrew Leake Jnr., referred to in the note above, became one of England’s most notable naval commanders during the reign of Queen Anne, winning a knighthood for his services at sea and dying heroically at the Battle of Malaga (13 August 1705) in a major action against the French.
• William Wells, Deborah Wilde’s third husband, had married the widow in November 1676. He was a victualler by trade and bought The Crown inn early in 1682 for £280. The money was raised by him mortgaging the property to his father-in-law, James Wilde. The couple’s son James was a lieutenant in the navy, who was drowned in a boating accident at Lowestoft, with his friend William Scholdam, in September 1704. Their daughter Ann married the Rev. Gregory Clarke, who was rector of Blundeston.
• The pightle (a small field, often of awkward or irregular shape) referred to as being shared between John Wilde and John Durrant later became known as Rotterdam Meadow. It lay where the allotments next to the houses at Newson’s Meadow are situated. It gave its name to Rotterdam Road. The Church family, who once owned it, were mariners and merchants from Kirkley, who moved into Lowestoft during the second half of the seventeenth century, with a further branch of the family establishing itself in Great Yarmouth.
• The clock and table in the hall, to be inherited by John Wilde after the death of his mother, are referred to in the inventory of household goods drawn up to accompany the will. It is not possible to ascertain whether the clock was a long-case model or a smaller one.
• The jack referred to in both the will and the inventory was a clockwork device which turned spits and helped meat to roast evenly over an open fire.
• The silver tankard left to John Wilde was one of the three listed in the inventory among the contents of the parlour. It was presented to James Wilde by the leading citizens of Lowestoft in 1674, in recognition of his successful efforts on behalf of the town (during the 1660s) in resisting Great Yarmouth’s attempts to control the local herring industry.
• The £50 bequest left to the poor people of Lowestoft was eventually used to buy a cottage and piece of land along Whapload Road, the rents of which were used to give 12 free penny-loaves to the needy every Sunday, after morning service, at the parish church. The cottage became known as “James Wilde’s bread-house”. The building was later replaced by the one which now houses the Lowestoft Maritime Museum and the land which accompanied it is the Sparrow’s Nest bowling green and surrounds.
• John Durrant was a brewer, who owned a dwelling-house and brewery two plots to the south of James Wilde’s house (what is now 84 High Street and part of 85-86).
• The bequest of debts to beneficiaries at this time was common, because those debts represented money owed to testators through the conduct of their business activities and also from the loans advanced to people who needed cash. In the absence of banks, wealthy local people (women as well as men) were the main providers of funds. The ability of James Wilde to act as a community banker is reflected in the fact that he left £1350 in cash bequests to family members.
• James Wilde died on 11 February 1684 and was buried two days later, aged 72, under the floor at the west end of St. Margaret’s Church, just to the south of the font. His grave-slab may still be seen. His wife died in September 1702, aged 84, and lies near him, her memorial being located just to the north of the font.
• James Wilde’s will is held is held in the Public Record Office, London: ref. 50 Bowyer. A copy is also lodged in the Lowestoft branch of the Suffolk Record Office.
James Wilde’s Inventory (14 March 1684)
An Inventory Indented of all and singular the goods
and Chattels of James Wilde late of Lowestoft in the
County of Suff[olk], merchant, valued and appraised
the Fourteenth day of March in the year of our Lord
One Thousand six hundred eighty three by Joshua
Smithson, Nicholas Utting, Robert [ ? ] and John
Aldred of Lowestoft aforesaid, Merchants, as Followeth
In the hall
six Russia leather chairs………………………………………..
one table & carpet, two forms & eight cushions……………….
two small chairs & one cushion…………………………..........
a Clock and Case……………………………………………….
a looking glass & three pictures………………………………..
a library of books……………………………………………….05 00 0
a fire cradle as it stands………………………………………….
a parcel of arms…………………………………………………03 00 0
In the parlour
four Russia Chairs, two turkey work & two Cane Chairs………
a table, three stools, one Couch, seven Cushions & a carpet…...
one Chest of drawers……………………………………………01 00 0
one looking glass & three pictures……………………………...03 00 0
one fire cradle, andirons, tongs & fore-iron………………........
four Curtains with Curtain rods & a lute…………………..…...00 15 0
three silver tankards, one salt, two cups, one porringer
& nineteen spoons………………………………………………35 00 0
In the kitchen
one fire cradle, tongs & fore-iron……………………………….01 00 0
one Jack, with weights, & six spits……………………………...01 10 0
a pair of steelyards & other small irons…………………………00 15 0
one Keep & a parcel of earthen ware……………………………01 00 0
one table & screen, ten Chairs & four Cushions…………..........01 00 0
a looking Glass…………………………………………….........00 02 0
four & twenty pieces of brass……………………………………
a parcel of pewter…………………………………………..........10 00 0
six leather Buckets & a cupboard………………………………..
several small things in the pantry………………………………..
In the parlour chamber
One bed & bedstead as it stands…………………………………10 00 0
Six chairs, one table, one stool…………………………………..01 00 0
A Chest of drawers, a looking glass & two pair of andirons……01 10 0
A parcel of fine linen…………………………………………….20 00 0
In the hall chamber
one bed & bedstead as it stands………………………………....20 00 0
two tables, eleven chairs & three stools…………………………03 10 0
one Looking glass & three pictures……………………………...05 00 0
a parcel of linen…………………………………………………..05 10 0
two pair of andirons & two cabinets……………………………..00 10 0
In the kitchen chamber
one bed & bedstead as it stands…………………………………..05 00 0
one Trendle bed as it stands……………………………………...03 00 0
one trunk, one box, two chairs, one press & two stools………….01 10 0
two pair of andirons & a cushion………………………………...00 04 0
two small baskets & a voider…………………………………….00 03 0
a bed & bedstead in the closet……………………………………02 10 0
a parcel of linen…………………………………………………..09 14 0
In the Garret
one bed as it stands……………………………………………......03 00 0
one case of bottles, one trunk, three chairs & three stools………..01 05 0
twelve pair of sheets……………………………………………....03 00 0
two beds & bedsteads as they stand……………………………….03 00 0
one table, three chests, one close stool & two chairs……………..01 00 0
four coverings……………………………………………………..01 10 0
a parcel of twine…………………………………………………..00 10 0
Fourteen pair of sheets…………………………………………….06 00 0
one bed & bedstead more………………………………………….03 00 0
one table, three chairs & four stools……………………………….00 10 0
one Chest, one trunk & one standard……………………………....00 10 0
a parcel of Canvas………………………………………………....20 00 0
a parcel of strings……………………………………………….....01 00 0
eight pair of sheets………………………………………………...03 00 0
six dozen Napkins…………………………………………………01 04 0
eight board cloths……………………………………………….....01 16 0
three dozen towels…………………………………………………00 09 0
In the outhouses
four Iron pots, two roast irons, two frying pans…………………..01 10 0
two hundred paving stones………………………………………..01 10 0
two coppers & one pot…………………………………………....10 00 0
a parcel of brewing vessels………………………………………..01 10 0
In the summerhouse
Six Chairs, one table & a bell……………………………………..01 10 0
twenty dozen bottles……………………………………………....01 10 0
his wearing apparel, linen & woollen……………………………..15 00 0
an eighth part of the ship called the Lion…………………………70 00 0
an eighth part of the Riga merchant………………………………75 00 0
an eighth part of the Tricon……………………………………....75 00 0
a fourth part of the Ermin………………………………………...80 00 0
three sixteenth parts of the Oak…………………………………..60 00 0
the Envoy………………………………………………………...200 00 0
the Mermaid……………………………………………………..140 00 0
the James………………………………………………………...100 00 0
the Swallow………………………………………………………100 00 0
the Amity……………………………………………………….. ..50 00 0
four Ferry boats & props………………………………………….18 00 0
twenty dozen swills…………………………………………….....06 00 0
two hundred Coombs of barley & malt………………………….100 00 0
herring & mackerel lint……………………………………….......15 00 0
two horses, two carts & one Calash with furniture……………….15 00 0
half a hundred deals……………………………………………....01 10 0
a draught net……………………………………………………....01 00 0
eight hundredweight of rope………………………………………08 00 0
one barrel of white herrings & a firkin…………………………....00 14 0
three spare anchors………………………………………………...03 10 0
Lumber in the upper & lower houses……………………………...05 00 0
five wey of salt………………………………………………….....15 00 0
four thousand billet………………………………………………...06 00 0
Glossary: andirons – fire-dogs (a pair of metal stands used to support logs in a hearth).
arms – weapons and armour.
billet – a small split section of ash or oak, used for curing red herrings.
board cloths – tablecloths.
calash – a light, two-wheeled carriage used for personal transport.
carpet – usually imported from Turkey and used to cover a table.
close stool – a commode.
coomb – a measure of grain amounting to four bushels.
deals – softwood planks (usually pine, spruce or fir.)
draught net – a draw net (A small, hand-operated seine).
ferry boats – rowing craft used to convey goods to and from vessels at anchor.
firkin – a cask of nine gallons volume. A herring barrel was thirty-two gallons.
fore-iron – a small spit used for roasting in front of an open fire.
furniture – equipment, gear.
jack – an oscillating, clockwork device for turning spits above an open fire.
keep – a small, closed cupboard; a safe.
lint – drift-net mesh.
lumber – odds and ends; items of no great worth.
napkins – serviettes.
parcel – a quantity or amount.
porringer – a small, two-handled bowl or cup.
props – oars.
Riga merchant – a vessel engaged in Baltic trade.
Russia leather – highly rated for its quality and durability.
screen – a portable wooden barrier to act as prevention against draughts.
standard – a tall wooden candle-holder, or a large packing-case of some kind.
steelyard – a weighing balance, with horizontal arm and counter-weight.
swills – baskets used for washing herrings after they had been salted.
turkey work – tapestry or raised embroidery.
voider – a basket or container for plates, cutlery etc.
white herrings – fish which had been gutted and pickled in brine.
wey – forty bushels; one ton by weight.
• Note that the transcription has omitted the word “item” at the beginning of every entry and has used modern spelling, while retaining original grammatical forms and use of capital letters. Monetary values of the household goods have only been given in cases where the entries could be clearly read and there was no doubt as to the amount recorded.
• The three identifiable assessors were classified as merchants in the preamble. Only Nicholas Uttting had that occupation; Joshua Smithson was a woollen draper and John Aldred a grocer. The fourth assessor’s surname cannot be read because of imperfections in the document.
• The summerhouse referred to stood on the second terrace-level down from the street. After the contents (three separate entries) had been recorded, all of James Wilde’s business activities and materials were then listed. The Lion, Riga, Tricon, Ermin and Oak were trading craft; the Envoy, Mermaid, James, Swallow and Amity were fishing vessels. The Riga speaks of a well-established Baltic trade and is, of course, the capital of the modern state of Latvia.
• The remains of the summerhouse were located during archaeological work carried out during 2001 and 2002, prior to landscaping of the garden area adjacent to the Lowestoft Heritage Workshop Centre. They consisted of a square, brick-built chamber, below ground level, with plastered interior walls – a cellar of sorts, which presumably had the summerhouse itself set immediately above. Considerable numbers of late seventeenth-century wine bottle fragments were also found – some of which, at least, may possibly relate to the “twenty dozen” bottles referred to in the inventory.
• The table and chairs listed were obviously for recreational use and the bell (presumably, a hand-bell) employed for summoning servants, as and when needed. But what were all of James Wilde’s clothes doing there? His wife had obviously had a quick clear-out following his decease and used the summerhouse to store them. Two possibilities for this are either his dying from something infectious, with consequent removal of particular personal effects, or the widow’s desire to distance herself (in her loss) from items intimately connected with her husband.
• The six main rooms of the house, listed in the document above, now have the following uses in a restaurant established there: the hall and parlour form the bar area; the kitchen is occupied by the toilets; the hall chamber and parlour chamber constitute the dining-space; and the kitchen chamber is the kitchen itself.
• The determining factor in the internal layout was – and still is – the large, off-centre chimney-stack, which provided a heating and cooking facility in four of the rooms (it would also have warmed the attic for the people living there). Another, smaller stack on the end wall of the house, next to the entry-way to the score, would have done the same for the other two.
• The inventory above is held in the Public Record Office: ref. PROB/4/12299. A copy is also lodged in the Lowestoft branch of the Suffolk Record Office. The dating of 14 March 1683 is that of the old Julian calendar; the year is 1684 by modern reckoning.
A Summary of the Will of James Wilde (4 November 1723)
Preamble: “In the name of God Amen – not being well in health, but of sound & perfect memory (praised be God for the same) but knowing the uncertainly of this life & being desirous to settle things in order for a better – First & Principally I commend my Soul to Almighty god my Creator & merciful Father in Jesus Christ. Trusting through his merits to have free pardon & remission of all my sins & Joyfully to Rise again to life Eternal – and my body to the Earth from whence it came I commit decently to be buried at the Discretion of my Executors.”
John Wilde (1st son, aged 35) • Half-share of all property & possessions not otherwise
bequeathed.
• Half-share of money remaining after bequests had been
made.
James Wilde (2nd son, aged 27) • Half-share of all property & possessions not otherwise
bequeathed
• Half-share of money remaining after bequests had been
made.
Alice Hayward (2nd daughter, aged 32) • £100, to be paid within 2 years of decease.
John Wilde (brother, aged 53) • £20, to be paid within a year of decease.
Margaret Ward, widow of Henry (sister, aged 47) • £5 per annum, for 10 years.
The four female residents of St. Martin’s Hospital • 5 shillings each.
The Lowestoft churchwardens • Charged with replacing the St Martin’s residents with
suitable widows & elderly spinsters, as opportunity
arose – no rent to be charged.
The poor people of Carlton Colville • 20 shillings.
Elizabeth Hots (testator’s maidservant) • All testator’s clothes and bed linen – to be
inherited if she was still in his employment
at the time of his death.
Executors: John and James Wilde (sons)
Witnesses: Nath[aniel] Welham
Edward Ellys
Samuel Guild
• James Wilde was the grandson of the man of the same name, whose will and inventory are reproduced above. His father, John, is mentioned in that will – a major beneficiary as the testator’s oldest son. John Wilde himself died in May 1700, at the age of 63, and his burial entry in the parish refers to him as a gentleman. This may mean that the family had “gone upmarket” socially and were living on rents deriving from property rather than being directly involved in fishing, maritime trade and other enterprises. On the other hand, it may simply reflect Wilde’s desire to be regarded as of higher degree in people’s minds than merchant status was able to achieve.
• John Wilde had married out of parish during the mid 1660s to a woman named Margaret Reeve. Their first child, James (the man here), was born in either 1666 or 1667, but his baptism is not recorded in the parish registers. It was once the custom, however, to have first-born children christened in the mother’s parish of origin. Both John & Margaret Wilde (the latter of whom had pre-deceased her husband in December 1698) lie buried to the south of the font in St. Margaret’s Church, near other family members.
• James Wilde, the testator here, wrote and signed his own will. The three witnesses, who also put their names to the document, do not appear to have been Lowestoft men. They were probably of similar status to Wilde and lived in neighbouring communities.
• Wilde had married Helen Stone of Bedingham (member of a south Norfolk gentry family) early in 1687. She died in May 1704, at the age of thirty-seven, leaving her husband with the three children named in the will. He did not remarry. His own burial entry in the parish register (12 December 1725) calls him a merchant, rather than gentleman, which means that he probably still had some kind of interest in commerce. Taking his year of birth of either 1666 or 1667, James Wilde was about 58 years old when he died. This was a respectable age for the time, in view of an average life-expectancy of 30-35 years for the country as a whole.
• The two sons named as executors, John and James, were charged with selling certain property of their father’s in Lowestoft and Carlton Colville for the best possible price, with settling his debts, with meeting the funeral expenses and probate charges, and with paying the various bequests. Exactly what the property consisted of is not specified.
• St. Martin’s Hospital, referred to above, was a small almshouse block of four units which provided free accommodation for elderly widows or spinsters (each unit consisted of a downstairs room with a chamber above). It had been built in 1716 with money left by Martin Brown, a relative of the Wilde family, who had been a merchant in Rotterdam for many years. James Wilde was charged with supervising the work and acting as sole trustee. In his will he passed on this responsibility to the St. Margaret’s churchwardens. The building stood at the junction of what is now Crown Street West with Thurston Road and the space is currently occupied by a small children’s play-area.
• The bequest of clothes and bed linen to a maidservant is not as strange as may at first appear. Both would have had good second-hand value, in addition to actual utility.
• James Wilde’s will is held in the Suffolk Record Office (Ipswich): ref. IC/AA1/154/34. A copy is also lodged in the Lowestoft branch.
• John Wilde retained possession of the family home (80 High Street) after the death of his father. When he made his own will in July 1735, he left all of his property in Lowestoft and Worlingham towards the founding of a free grammar school for forty boys. First, however, the estate was to be enjoyed for life by a woman named Elizabeth Smithson (afterwards Perryson), and she did not die until 1781 – a much longer life-span than Wilde probably envisaged. In 1788, the Lowestoft churchwardens duly constructed the school – a building which still stands today to the rear of 80 High Street, alongside the score which bears the family name. It now houses the Heritage Workshop Centre, run by the Lowestoft Civic Society.
• 80 High Street itself served as the schoolmaster’s residence for a number of years. The first occupant was Lewis Webb, who performed his function for about eighteen months only, dying in March 1790 at the age of 38 years. His epitaph described him as being “like the cover of an old Book, its contents worn out, stript [sic] of its lettering and gilding”.
• The school continued in existence up to the early part of World War II, though it had changed considerably in nature and extent from the one set up originally. One thing that was still being done, even towards the end of its life, was the Vicar of Lowestoft preaching an annual sermon in St. Margaret’s Church to the assembled pupils on the text, “Train up a child in the way that he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22. 6.). This had been stipulated as a condition of establishment in the founder’s will.
• John Wilde and his younger brother James never married, and with them the main male line of the Lowestoft Wildes came to an end. John died in 1738 and was buried at Worlingham, aged 53; James passed away in November 1748, aged 52, and was buried in Lowestoft. Thus ended a connection with the town that had spanned at least seven generations, six of them with family members resident in 80 High Street.
• As a last word, it is clear that the preambles of all four wills reveal deeply held and sincere Christian beliefs, especially when one considers that three of the documents were written by the testators themselves. The Wilde family were noted in Lowestoft for their charitable deeds and concern for the well-being of their fellow townspeople. It is fitting that they are commemorated by association with the house in which they lived for so long and in the title of the adjacent score which still carries their name.
Primary sources
Lowestoft parish registers, 1561-1649 & 1650-1786: NRO, PD 589/1 & PD 589/2.
The Lowestoft manor roll of 1610: SRO(L), 194/A10/72.
The Lowestoft manor roll of 1618: SRO(L), 194/A10/73.
Lowestoft manor court minute books, 1616-1734: SRO(L), 194/A10/5 to 17.
The Rev. J. Tanner’s court baron extracts: SRO(L), 454/2.
The will of Wyllyam Wylde: NRO, NCC 19 Stywarde.
The will of John Wilde: SRO(I), IC/AA1/82/116 a & b.
The will of James Wilde: PRO, PCC 50 Bowyer.
The probate inventory of James Wilde: PRO, PCC Prob/4/12299.
The will of James Wilde: SRO(I) IC/AA1/154/34.
S.H.A. Hervey (ed.), Suffolk in 1524 (Woodbridge, 1910).
W.A. Shaw (ed.), Calendar of Treasury Books, vi (London, 1913).
Secondary sources
E. Gillingwater, An Historical Account of the Ancient Town of Lowestoft (London, 1790).
H.D.W. Lees, The Chronicles of a Suffolk Parish Church (Lowestoft, 1948).
David Butcher
United Kingdom
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