The Smithsonian Channel aired a three-part series about King Henry VIII and his men. The episodes provide good educational and entertaining biographies of those who associated with Richard Fermor of Easton Neston and his brother William Fermor of Somerton.
The book “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” spans a period from the 1400s to 1685 into nearly eight hundred pages. The challenge was to summarize almost three hundred years of English feudalism, land ownership, military technology, geography, history, court proceedings, international commerce, fashion, and other facets of life into those pages. In some cases, entire books have been written about persons or events that regrettably were condensed into a sentence, paragraph, or a few pages.
The Smithsonian Channel aired a three-part series providing good educational and entertaining biographies of Henry VIII and of his men who associated with Richard Fermor of Easton Neston and his brother William Fermor of Somerton.
Mentioned in the series and in the book are the following men:
Sir Richard Empson
Sir Richard Empson, born 1505 in Towcester, Northamptonshire, was a knight, high lawyer, Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire, Speaker of the House of Commons, High Steward of Cambridge University, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Empson was quite wealthy owning the manor and hundred of Towcester, the manors of Easton Neston, Hulcote, Alderton, Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger, Bradden, Cold Higham, Grimscote, Potcote and Burton Latimer, and lands in other parts of the country.
With his colleague, Edmund Dudley, Empson collected taxes for Henry VII using extortion, harassment, and other suspicious, but legal, methods. This made the king very rich but made Empson and Dudley very unpopular. When Henry VIII became king, he arrested the two men and stripped them of their land.
Sir Richard Empson (left), with Henry VII and Sir Edmund Dudley. The Duke of Rutland Collection.
Dudley was sent to Guildhall in London for trial on 18 July 1509, and Empson was sent to the castle of Northampton for trial on 03 October 1509. Richard Fermor, recorded as living in Isham, Northamptonshire, was named one of the jurors for Empson’s trial. Innocent yet convicted of treason, Empson and Dudley were beheaded on 17 August 1510.
The Easton Neston estate, still in attainder since January 1510, was initially granted to William Compton in 1512, said then to be of “late Comberford,” but then given by a petition and act of restitution to Sir Richard Empson’s son and heir, Thomas Empson, Esquire. By indenture dated 12 July 1527, Thomas Empson in consideration of £1,000 deeded Easton Neston and other lands to William Fermor. It is unclear if William purchased the Empson estates on behalf of his brother Richard, or if he relinquished ownership to Empson within three years of the indenture, as it is recorded that Richard purchased the manor of Easton Neston in 1530 from Empson, and not from William.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
Richard Fermor became a wealthy man due to his position as a Merchant of the Staple of Calais. Richard was at Florence, Italy, in December 1524 when he gave financial aid to John Clerk, an agent in Rome negotiating for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s election to the papacy.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
By 1527, Henry VIII ordered Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Unable to convince the Pope, Wolsey was arrested in 1529 and stripped of his government office yet permitted to remain Archbishop of York. He was also stripped of his property including his magnificent Hampton Court, which Henry took to replace the Palace of Westminster as his own main London residence.
After his fall in 1529, Wolsey owed £124 8s. 9d. by 13 October 1529 for silks Richard supplied him. In 1530, William Fermor was on the Commission of Inquiry into Cardinal Wolsey’s possessions in whose records show “To Roger Elys, for duties paid to William Farmer, Clerk of the Crown, for discharging my Lord’s praemunire, and entering his pardon, 4£.”[1] On 16 May 1530, probably for his work in the preparation of a pardon for Cardinal Wolsey, he received £100.
Accused of treason, Wolsey was ordered to London by Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland. He fell ill during the journey and died at Leicester on 29 November 1530.
Thomas Cromwell
Henry VIII, weary of the Pope’s delays in the matter of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, severed the Church of England from the Church of Rome in 1534.[2] While there were no discernible changes in the liturgy or the practice of daily religion, the faithful who had denied the king’s blasphemous title of “Head of the Church” were ordered to be drawn, hung, and quartered. In varying degrees of legislation, bribery of the nobility, and magnifying slander into a crime, the king confiscated church land.
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell urged Henry VIII to plunder the gold and silver chalices and other sacred religious objects that had been bestowed by the parishioners to the churches and monasteries.[3]Thomas Wriothesley and Richard Pollard coldly relate in a letter to Cromwell the confiscation of objects from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmund valued at five thousand marks, along with treasures from other places of worship. In preparation of seizing and confiscating abbey lands in Oxfordshire, a writ dated at Westminster on 30 January 1535 authorized an enquiry to the inventory and value of each place of worship and was addressed to the mayor, knights, and several other prominent men, including William Fermor.[4]
In 1535, William was appointed one of the Royal Commissioners for Oxfordshire for collecting the tenths of spiritualities forbidden to be paid to Rome.[5] Cromwell commissioned William in June 1537 to inquire into allegations of treason made against the abbots of Eynsham and Osney. Considering William as a totally reliable servant of the Crown, Cromwell secured his return as a Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire in 1539. William reported to Cromwell again in 1540 about alleged seditious speeches by a priest and by a wool-winder.
For denying the king’s supremacy and maintaining the supremacy of Pope Paul III, Henry VIII condemned the “traitorous” James alias Nicholas Thayne, with a praemunire and imprisonment at Buckingham Gaol in autumn 1539. Richard came to the aid of his former priest and confessor with a couple of shirts and 8d., the equivalent of a day’s wages for a skilled laborer.[6] For this egregious act of charity, Richard incurred Henry VIII’s wrath. With the efforts of his “false friend” Thomas Cromwell, Richard was arraigned in Westminster Hall and sentenced on 09 May 1540 to life imprisonment. Additionally, Richard’s entire estate including Easton Neston was seized for the king’s use, and executed with such strictness and severity that nothing was left for him, his wife, or his children.[7]
Will Somers
Richard Fermor’s freedom and wealth were later fully restored to him due to an unlikely ally. During his prosperous days, Richard employed comedian Will Somers from Shropshire as his personal fool. It was Somers’ first job, and enjoying his professional successes, was appointed court jester by Henry VIII in 1525 after Richard made introductions at Greenwich and presented him to the king.
Will Somers
Lean and “hollow-eyed,” Somers had a comical face, and with a monkey on his shoulders, walked in a mincing way with a stoop around the room, rolling his eyes. Somers would tell jokes, himself laughing uncontrollably at the punchlines, or mercilessly impersonating those who were the subject of his jests. Even the monkey performed tricks. Somers’ sense of humor was very much in demand leaving monarchs and courtiers in fits of laughter. For twenty years he was the king’s constant companion and entertainment, yet never sought to capitalize on his friendship with the king, keeping in the background when not performing and preserving his privacy.[8] Using all of his wit, charm, and well-timed speeches, Somers made all attempts to restore his former employer’s fortunes, particularly when Henry VIII was feeling melancholy from his failing health.
[1] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.104.
[2] Hankins, “Papists, Power, and Puritans: Catholic Officeholding and the Rise of the ‘Puritan Faction’ in Early-Seventeenth-Century Essex,” The Catholic Historical Review, vol.95 no.4 (October 2009), p.689.
[3] Lee, History and Antiquities of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame (1883), pp.298-302.
[4] Lee, History and Antiquities of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame (1883), p.302.
[5] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.105.
[6] Dyer, A Country Merchant, 1495-1520 (2012), p.7.
[7] Hamilton, The Chronicle of the English Augustinian Canonesses Regular of the Lateran, at St Monica’s in Louvain, vol.2 (1906), pp.118-120; Evans, Highways and Byways in Northamptonshire and Rutland (1918), p.318; Collins, The Peerage of England, vol.5 (1768), p.49.
[8] Weir, Henry VIII: The King and His Court (2001), p.29.
In an earlier blog, we highlighted the fascination that two characters from William Shakespeare’s play had with a coat of arms. Even today, there is a modern fascination with wanting to display family heraldry. You see it on family trees, or with companies selling you a certificate or coffee mug. Regrettably, some of these companies and genealogists are assigning the wrong coat of arms. This blog examines various Farmer family heraldry and how it can be used to build a good family tree.
When the Heralds convened their county visitations, they called “all persons that do pretend to bear arms or are styled Esquires or Gentlemen… to produce and show forth by what authority they do challenge and claim the same.”[1] Families or their agents arrived and provided documentation of their family pedigree. Additionally, the Heralds documented the arms displayed at the churches, universities, and other houses. Those persons who could not defend their claim or stole the arms were shamed in the market square and the wrongfully displayed arms were pulled down or defaced. When the Heralds visited Shropshire in 1623, Edward Farmer of Brome, John Farmer, and Roger Farmer were disclaimed.[2]
The visitations provide a good source of genealogical data; however, the Heralds’ abilities to take good notes, the abilities of families to document their family trees, and editorial mistakes have produced some errors. Some good examples include children listed as siblings, incorrect names, and omissions of entire generations. One slight issue is one heraldic description, with a multi-generational pedigree.
A descendant may have made at least two changes to have a new coat of arms granted. Therefore, as shown below, family heraldry is subject not only to geography – of Northamptonshire, or of Leicestershire – but also subject to a moment in time.
Richards
Henry Richards, of Welsh ancestry, was born in 1420. At the age of twenty-four, he met Agnes Fermor, born in 1426.[3] Sometime after their 1446 marriage, Henry took his wife’s surname, an indication that Agnes, the daughter and heiress of her father’s estate, was from a family of higher social distinction than the Richards. Henry Richards alias Fermor had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Thomas.
FERMOR, quartering 1. Azure a saltier between four eagles displayed or [RICARDS]; 2. Gules on bend argent three trefoils slipped vert [HERVEY]; 3. Per pale indented argent and or a chevron between three escallops gules [BROWNE].[4]
Fermor (top left) quartered with Richards (top right), Hervey (bottom left), and Browne (bottom right).
The Hervey arms signify the marriage of Thomas Richards alias Fermor to his second wife Emmote Hervey. The Browne arms signify the marriage of Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s son Richard to Anne Browne.
Fermor (ancient) & Wenman
When Thomas Richards alias Fermor married Emmote Hervey as his second wife, the expectation would be for the Richards arms on the dexter to impale Hervey on the sinister, with possible quarterings to signify Emmote’s first marriage to Henry Wenman. The Wenman coat of arms granted by Roger Machado, Clarenceux and King of Arms in London, is described as:
WENMAN: on a fess between three anchors as many lions’ heads erased.[5]
Wenman Coat of Arms
However, Richard Lee, Portcullis and Pursuivant of Arms, in his 1574 visitation of Oxfordshire, records among the arms in Witney Church the following below the inscription “Thomas Ffarmor and Alice and Emote his wyfes.”
FARMER (ancient): arg[ent] on a fess Sa[ble] between three lions’ heads erased Gu[les] three anchors Or.[6]
Fermor / Farmer Coat of Arms (ancient)
Interestingly, the Wenman and Fermor heraldry is very similar, signifying there may have been a family connection much earlier than Thomas and Emmote’s marriage.
The “anchors and lions” coat of arms remained with Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s line with his sons William and Richard, and then by Richard’s son Sir John Fermor. The arms were passed down to Sir John’s sons and daughters. For example, Mary Fermor married Thomas Lucas, son of John Lucas of London and Colchester by his first wife Mary Abell of Essex. Mary (Fermor) Lucas died on 05 July 1613, and the Lucas coat of arms on her tomb has three shields impaling Fermor.[7]
Fermor (modern)
Sir John Fermor’s son Sir George Fermor had the anchors removed in 1591 with approval from Clarenceux Robert Cooke and Richard Lee of Richmond.[8]
These arms were passed down to Sir George’s sons and daughters, as also seen on his tomb.
Fermor / Farmer Coat of Arms (modern)
I to VI: FERMOR
VII: Argent an eagle displayed sable collared or within a border sable Bezanty [KILLIGREW] impaling FERMOR. [Jane Fermor’s marriage to Sir John Killigrew.]
VIII. FERMOR ancient [sic?], impaling FERMOR modern. [Agnes Fermor’s marriage to Sir Richard Wenman?]
IX to XI: FERMOR
XII: Argent a fess between three blackbirds sable [HOBY] impaling FERMOR. [Katherine Fermor’s marriage to William Hoby.]
XIII. FERMOR impaling 1. Argent a chevron between three crosses flory sable [ANDERSON]; 2. Argent three cocks gules [COCKAYNE]. [Sir Hatton Fermor’s marriage to Elizabeth Anderson and Anne Cokayne.]
XIV: 1. Or a chevron gules canton ermine [STAFFORD OF BLATHERWICK]; 2. Gules an inescocheon argent between eight mullets in orle or [CHAMBERLAYNE], impaling FERMOR. [Elizabeth Fermor’s marriages to Sir William Stafford and Thomas Chamberlayne of Wickham.]
XV: FERMOR
XVI: 1. Argent lion rampant azure [CRICHTON]; 2. Gules three lions passant in pale or [O’BRIEN], impaling FERMOR. [Mary Fermor’s marriages to Robert Crichton and Barnabas O’Brien.][9]
Burke’s A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1884) has “lions and anchors” for the Farmers of London; of Somerton, Oxfordshire; and from Northamptonshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire. For descendants who claim Sir George Fermor as an ancestor, “lion heads,” to include the descendants of Oxfordshire; Mount Pleasant, Sussex; Nonsuch Park, Surrey; Northumberland; and Clarvil, Sussex.
Descriptions of the heraldry for other Farmer families are as follows.
Farmer of Norfolk (1552) Argent, on a saltire sable (sometimes sable), between four lions’ heads erased gules, a martlet between four bezants, on a chief azure an anchor between two pallets or.[11]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Norfolk
Farmer of Walsh, Sussex (1575) gules, a chevron vaire between three lions rampant or.[12]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Walsh, Sussex
Farmer of Sussex Ermine a chevron Sable between three roses Gules [Farmor].[13]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Sussex
Farmers of Worcestershire argent, on a fesse sable between three lion’s heads erased gules, as many acorns slipped or.[14]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Worcestershire
Farmers of Leicestershire sable, on a chevron between three lamps argent, flammant proper, a leopard’s face between two mullets gules.[15]
Farmer Coat of Arms, Leicestershire
Draper alias Farmer
At one time, the Fermor’s became Draper’s through the line of Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s son John, born to his first wife Alice ___, possibly Draper.
When examining the arms granted to Thomas Draper alias Farmer, the letters included in the Visitation of Berkshire are those of Thomas Draper of Lincoln’s Inn (ThomasA) whose arms granted in 1612 are identical to the arms of Thomas Draper of Great Marlow (ThomasB) granted in 1571.
Draper alias Farmer, 1571 & 1612
On a column within the Old St. Pancras Church near Islington are the same arms belonging to Richard Draper, Serjeant-at-Law, who died at Highgate in 1756 at the age of sixty-one (b. ca. 1695). The same arms are claimed by Richard Draper’s father Thomas Draper. When proof of descent was requested at the 1687 visitation of London, Thomas produced an untinctured steel seal.[16]
At another point in family history, the surname dropped the alias and simply became “Farmer.” The arms for John Farmer of Cookham, son of ThomasB, at his tomb in the north transept of the All Saints church in Great Marlow has the sinister showing the relationship of his father’s marriage to Agnes Barker,[17] while the dexter description is described as…
Langley, History of Buckinghamshire (1797) Arms, Baron and femme. In chief, 3 fleurs de lys in base 3 bends [DRAPER] ; impaling quarterly, 1 and 4, a lion [BARKER] — 2 and 3, three spears [BURGHLEY].[18]
Lipscomb, History of Buckingham (1847) On a Chief three fleur-de-lis: in base three bendlets: repeated on another shield. Quarterly, 1 and 4, party per chev. Engrailed, a lion ramp… counter charged; 2 and 3, a chief… surtout three spears in pale.[19]
Burke, General Armory (1884) bendy of eight or and gu. on a chief ar. three fleurs-de-lis az.[20] [Most closely matches the untictured arms for Thomas William Farmer (1786-1837), a hop and seed merchant buried with his wife Mary Ann (1791-1838) at St. Saviour, Southwark.] [21]
Stephenson, Monumental Brasses (1903 & 1926) (1). (Gu.). three bendlets (or), on a chief per fess (arg.) and ermine three fleur de lys in the upper part (sa.) DRAPER. (2). Per chevron engrailed (or) and (sa.) a lion rampant counterchanged. BARKER. Quartering. Per chief (sa.) and (arg.) over all three tilting spears erect counterchanged. BURLEY.[22]
John Farmer of Cookham, d.1631
The 1797 and 1847 description has led to speculation that Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s first wife Alice may have been related to John Norman, Lord Mayor of London in 1453 based on descriptions for his coat of arms.
Burke’s General Armory: or, three bars gules; in the chief argent as many fleur-de-lis sable.[23]
Harleian MSS: or, three bendlets gules, a chief per fess argent and ermine, charged in chief with three fleurs de lys sable.
Ferney
When Sir George Fermor changed his arms, the Fermor coat of arms became identical to Fiernye of Yt Ilk from Fife, Scotland. According to Robert Stodart in Scottish Arms, Being a Collection of Armorial Bearings, A.D. 1370-1678 (1881), the arms in Illuminated Heraldic Manuscript (ca. 1565) once owned by James Workman in 1623 are described as…
the fess is sable… with three anchors on the fess; anchors are the bearing of Ferme or Fairholme.[24]
Burke’s General Armory notation for Ferny in Scotland is slightly different, perhaps as a result of location and moment in time for the family:
Or. a fesse az. betw. three lions’ heads erased gu.[25]
Ferney Coat of Arms
Burke’s Ferney tinctures were used by Thomas Trotter for his 1801 watercolors of the Fermor family monuments at Somerset church,[26] including the arms above the monument to Sir George’s uncle Jerome and his wife Jane. Today, the tinctures on the monument are of the sable fess and lions gules impaling “sable, a bend between two leopards’ faces or.”
Jane (Isaacs?) Fermor Coat of Arms
As Jane’s identity is unknown, a study of arms and pedigrees may suggest that she descended from the Isaacs of Kent. The research is supported by multiple associations with the Fermors. The Isaacs family arms changed over time, including the tincture of the leopard faces changing from gules to or, and the sinister bend changing to dexter bend.
Featured image: “St Mary’s Church, Easton Neston, Northamptonshire,” SeeAroundBritain.com. nd.
[1] Rylands, Disclaimers At The Heralds’ Visitations (1888), pp.iii-viii, 26.
[2] Rylands, Disclaimers At The Heralds’ Visitations (1888), pp.iii-viii, 26.
[3] Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer: His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” Pioneers Along Southern Trails, vol.3 (December 2009), p.212; Howard et al, Genealogical collections illustrating the history of Roman Catholic families of England (1887).
[4] Baker, History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.2 (1844), p.148.
[5] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), p.121.
[6] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), pp.103, 121; Turner, The Visitations of the County of Oxford (1871), p.46.
[7] Raven Visitation of 1612. Metcalfe, Visitations of Essex, p.235.
[8] Rylands, Grantees of Arms Named in Docquets and Patents to the End of the Sixteenth Century (1915), p 86.
[9] Baker, History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.2 (1844), p.148. Installed in 1609 on the east wall of the All Saints Church in Bisham is a window consisting of six panes, each pane with a shield on the top and a shield on the bottom. Presently, the bottom shield on the fifth pane from the left has Hoby impaling Fermor (modern). Also reference: Page, A Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, vol.3 (1923), pp.139-152.
[10] “Colonial Estates – Philadelphia, PA & Bucks County, PA,” Hobbs and Phillips Family Genealogy; Cook, “Farmar of Ardevalaine, County Tipperary, Ireland and of Whitemarsh, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, vol.21, no.2 (1959), p.93; “Wills Proved at Philadelphia 1682-1692,” Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, vol.1, no.2 (1896), pp.58-59. Endorsed on reverse: Mary Farmers Will 1686 Prob**1 in forme of Law l: 5th month 1687 & registered Book A: fol: 45 #32. In America, the arms were used by: 1) Edward Farmar (Committee on Heraldry, New England Historic Genealogical Society. A Roll of Arms. 9 vols. Boston, 1928-1980; Jordan, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, vol.4 (1932), p.168/169); 2) Edward’s nephew Thomas Farmar (NEHGS aforementioned; Crozier, William Armstrong. Crozier’s General Armory (1904, reprint 1972)); and 3) Robert Adolph Farmar who was the son of Major Robert Farmer, the British Governor of Mobile (Crozier aforementioned; Matthews, John. Matthews’ American Armoury and Blue Book (1907, reprint 1962). An incorrect coat of arms of “a fess between three cocks’ heads” appears in Bean, History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, vol.2 (1884), p.1139.
[11] Rye, The Visitacion of Norffolk (1891), p.119; Rye, A List of Coat Armour Used in Norfolk Before the Date of the First Herald’s Visitation of 1563 (1917), p.23; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.340.
[12] Bannerman, The Visitations of the County of Sussex, Made and Taken in the Years 1530 (1905), p.113. “by patent dated the xth of November 1575 17 of Q. Elizebeth by Cla. Cooke.”
[13] Metcalfe, The Visitations of Suffolk Made by Hervey, Clarenceux, 1561, Cooke, Clarenceux 1577, and Raven, Richmond Herald, 1612 (1882), p.113.
[14] Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire (1873).
[15] Fetherston, The Visitation of the County of Leicester in the Year 1619 (1870), p.179. Arms tricked for the descendants of Bartholomew Farmer and Margery ___ of Ratcliff. The coat of arms patented on 20 October 1663 by Sir Edward Walker to George Farmer of Holbeach, Lincolnshire, the fourth son of Bartholomew Farmer of Leicestershire and Ursula Mootus of Whitchurch, removed several charges as follows: “Sable, a chevron between 3 lamps Argent, flames Or.” (Ryley et al, The Visitation of Middlesex, Began in the Year 1663 (1820), p.50; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.340.)
[16] Woodcock, “Heraldry in Old St Pancras Church,” The Coat of Arms; Annual Journal of the Heraldry Society, ser.4 vol.1 no.235 (2018), pp.60-61. Thomas Woodcock, Garter Principal of Arms, writes, “As Thomas’ father Joshua Draper of Braintee [sic], Essex, died in 1686 aged 73, he must have been born in 1613, a year after the grant [to Thomas Draper of Stroud Green in Middlesex by William Camden, Clarenceux in 1612], so would not appear to be a descendant of Thomas Draper the grantee, particularly as his father is also recorded as another Joshua Draper of Braintree, who died in about 1630…” Woodcock also notes that its location as described in Lyson’s time was on the east wall of the chancel and had been relocated to the north wall of the nave (Lysons, The Environs of London, vol.3 (1795), pp.351-353).
[17] “[the] coats-of-arms for Barker and Burghley signify the marriage of William Barker and Anne Burghley, daughter and coheir of William Burghley who lived in Sonning… Who Thomas married though is unknown. John Barker of Wokingham and his wife Katherine Martin had two daughters, Anne and Bridgett, who are not shown in the visitations. All of the children of John Barker and Katherine were listed in John Barker’s will, dated 1551. Neither Ann nor Bridget were married at the time of his death. Both were given an inheritance, to be paid to them should or when they married… It is not clear how the coat-of-arms would have become attached to the Farmers…” (Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer: His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” Pioneers along Southern Trails, vol.3 (December 2009), p.234.) Per parish records, “1592. Dec. 19. Agnes ffarmer, wife of Thomas ffarmer alias Draper, gent., was buried…” (Stephenson, “Monumental Brasses Formerly In Great Marlow Church,” Records of Buckinghamshire, vol.8 (1903), p. 456.)
[18] Langley, The History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Desborough, and Deanery of Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire (1797), p.128.
[19] Lipsomb, The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, vol.3 (1847), p.603.
[20] Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.341.
[21] Bax, “On Some Armorial Ledgers in the Cathedral Church of St. Saviour, Southwark,” Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol.22 (1909), pp.23-24; Boumphrey, Surrey Coat of Arms (1983), p.123.
[22] Stephenson, “Monumental Brasses Formerly In Great Marlow Church,” Records of Buckinghamshire, vol.8 (1903), pp.454-455; Stephenson, A List of Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (1926), p.55. Based on a rubbing in the Society of Antiquaries. The 1673 Roll of Arms for Thomas Draper, Baronet, of Sonninghill Park will also omits the ermine as “656. Three bends, on a chief per fess and argent three fleurs-de-lis, badge of Ulster (Schomberg, “A Roll of Arms, 1673,” The Genealogist, vol.25 (1909), p.245.)
[23] Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer: His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” Pioneers along Southern Trails, vol.3 (December 2009), pp.215, 224-225; Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.737.
[24] Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester (1882), p.121; Stodart, Scottish Arms, Being a Collection of Armorial Bearings, A.D. 1370-1678 (1881), pp.168-169. “William de Ferny occurs in 1390; his descendants held the various Offices of keeper of Falkland forest, constable of Cupar, and mair of fee of Crail. Ferny was alienated early in the seventeenth century, and the heiress married Lovell of Ballumbie. The arms are cut in stone on a monument at Cupar of the fifteenth century. The coat given here is exactly that of Fermor, Earl of Pomfret, in England, and a family of Farmer, in England, bore the same, with three anchors or on the fess; anchors are the bearing of Ferme or Fairholme in Scotland, so it would seem that these southern families, with a surname certainly derived from an occupation, have wished to make out a Scottish descent…”
[25] Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884), p.341.
[26] CMD ID 19903, MS. Top. Oxon d., “Drawings of Somerton church and of the Fermor family monuments there,” Bodleian Library, Oxford.
The new book “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” includes portraits of Sir George Fermor and wife Dame Mary Curzon auctioned by Sotheby’s from the Easton Neston estate sale. Or are they a £78,000 fraud?
Additionally, the 3,319-acre estate, its private racecourse, and the entire estate village of Hulcote – was for sale.
House and Estate Village
Easton Neston has been the seat of the Fermor-Hesketh family since 1535 with its purchase by Richard Fermor (d. 1552), grocer and merchant who made a large fortune trading with Flanders and Italy. He lived there in great style until his estates were forfeited in 1540. However, King Henry VIII relented at the end of his life, and the Fermors once again occupied Easton Neston.
The estate passed to Richard’s eldest son, Sir John Fermor, and then to his eldest son, George Fermor. In September 1585, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, set off to the Low Countries with a substantial army to fight the Spaniards. Fermor was part of this expedition and was knighted by Leicester in 1586. On 27 June 1603, Sir George and his wife Mary Curzon entertained James I and Anne of Denmark on their way south from Scotland to assume the Crown of England. There was an enormous gathering and it was reported that the countryside could “scarse lodge the infinit companie of lords and ladies and other people.” Ben Jonson composed a special poetical entertainment for the occasions. The new King knighted a number of those gathered at Easton Neston, including Sir George’s eldest son Hatton.
The present house is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful country houses in England. Described in William Camden’s Britannia (1586) as a “beautiful seat,” the original house there was an amalgam of Tudor pitched roofs, gables, arched doorways and mullioned windows. This same house was home to six generations until, in the 1690s, Sir William Fermor (1648-1711) decided to consult Sir Christopher Wren (his cousin by marriage) for advice on building a new house. Wren’s office designed two wings for a new house (one of which no longer exists) and directed Sir William to his highly talented colleague Nicholas Hawksmoor around 1700.
Large 500-Year Fine Art Collection
The large collection up for auction consisted of over 1500 items to include fine English and French furniture, old master and British paintings, tapestries, silver, books, chinese cloisonné, Japanese lacquer work, and European porcelain and glass representing centuries of patronage and collecting at the highest level.
“The collection of works of art at Easton Neston is one of the most significant to have been put together by a British family over the last five hundred years. The house is full of rare and beautiful objects that reflect the changing tastes and fortunes of nearly 20 generations of the Fermor-Hesketh family, and Sotheby’s is extremely honoured to have been chosen to conduct such an historic sale.” Henry Wyndham, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe
The collection also contains an impressive collection of Old Master Paintings. Largely amassed during the 18th and 19th centuries, these include works by Jan van Goyen, Joseph van Bredael, Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, and Pieter de Bloot, as well as an interesting group of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish still-life paintings. Alongside is a splendid array of English portraits and a large group of family portraits by Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller.
Lely, Sir Peter. Portrait of King Charles III. Sotheby’s, Easton Neston Sale, Lot #162. Oil on canvas. Click here for more information.
Later works include the full-length portrait of the Countess of Pomfret (est: £60,000-£80,000) by Sir Joshua Reynolds and an unpublished portrait of King George III attributed to John Shackleton, possibly presented to the 2nd Earl of Pomfret by the King himself. Further to the portraits, the sale will include a number of particularly good bird paintings by artists such as Peter Casteels.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua. Portrait of King George III. Sotheby’s, Sale at Easton Neston, Lot #163. Oil on canvas. Click here for more information.
Unknown. Portrait of Sir George Fermor (and wife). Sotheby’s Sale at Easton Nest, Lot #164. Click here for more information.
Sr: Geo: Farmor of Easton Neston in ye County of Northampton K:t / son & Heir of S:r Iohn Farmor K:t of ye Bath by Matilda his Wife, One of ye / Daughters of Nich: Vaux Bar:t of Harowden by Anne his 2d wife Daugh / Heirefs of The: Greene of Greenes = Norton in ye County of Northampton Efq / And Grandfon of Rich: Farmor Efq who purchace’d ye Mannors of Eafton = Nef: / = ton and: by Ann his Wife Daughter & Heirefs of S:r Will:m Browne Knight / This S:r George spent his Youth in ye Neitherlands Fighting under ye Great / Captain William Prince of Orange ~ then Marrying lived w:th great Splen=/=der ~ Hofpitality at his Seat of Eafton where he had ye Honour to enter=/=tain King Iames ye 1:t and his Queen ye 1:t time they ever met in England. / Aet:s Ad:ri 1597
First, the head of British paintings at Sotheby’s, David Moore Gwyn, misdated the works when they were put into the auction, even though other experts claim to have seen “at first glance” that they were pastiches.
Art dealer Christopher Foley, one of many interested buyers and a specialist in 16th and 17th-century English paintings, visited before the sale.
“I viewed the pictures at Easton Neston carefully on behalf of the National Trust. I bought back on their behalf a number of pictures there which had formerly been in a Hesketh house in Lancashire and which is now National Trust. Both I and the trust’s art specialist dismissed the two [Fermor] portraits as wildly out of period at first glance. The painting technique was not remotely correct, the panels were of the wrong type of wood, the compositions of a style at odds with a dating to the late 16th century. They were obviously fanciful. I remember remarking to two other dealers at the time when standing in front of them that the cataloguing seemed absurdly optimistic.”
In the words of one respected dealer, “complete tat and worth a few grand at best as decoration.”
The general view is that the paintings were produced at some time in the 18th century, probably at the behest of a later Fermor who wished to have some grand-looking family portraits to give his pedigree a bit of class. “About as valid, chronologically, as getting Damien Hirst to paint the Duke of Wellington,” according to one dealer.
The works’ estimate at the time of the sale was £100,000-£150,000. But such were the doubts among specialist dealers that the buyer, fashion designer Jasper Conran, paid £78,000, thought to be the reserve price.
The paintings needed conservation work and the restorer began to doubt the pictures’ authenticity. The paintings were sent to Ian Tyers, a leading practitioner in the field of dendrochronology, a technique which can date with precision when a tree was felled by analyzing rings in a piece of wood.
“We were asked to look at the wooden panels on which these works were painted, which is something we are asked to do not uncommonly to verify what they are. In this case, however, our research unverified what they were. Our findings demonstrated clearly that they were not what they were sold as. The panels are in fact early 18th century – not, in other words, what they were thought to be. They were sold as being by followers of Peake, dated to around 1580 or 1590. The trees from which the panel were made were still growing then. My sense is that many people in the trade knew what they were all along.”
Return to Sale
Conran returned to Sotheby’s and after his money was reimbursed, the paintings quietly reappeared in another Sotheby’s sale. There is no reference in the illustrated catalog that these are known to be 18th century, with an arguably, misleading description of “manner of Robert Peake the Elder c1551-1619″ arranged among earlier Elizabethan and Jacobean works… rather than chronologically with the 18th century paintings.
The portraits were to come under the hammer again on November 23, with an estimate of £40,000-£60,000. Mr. Foley believes that an estimate of £10,000 gives a more reasonable indication of their value.
“to call them ‘magnificent’, as they do in the new catalogue is, well, completely over the top – and the new estimate of £40-£60,000 seems, shall we say, rather enthusiastic for a pair of 18th century pastiches in very fragile condition.”
Challenged on the description of the works, Gwyn said that “in the manner of” gave a clear indication of the works’ date: “If you look it up in the glossary you will see that it is our way of saying ‘painted at a later date’.”
Asked about the apparent failure of the catalog to make clear that the works are now the property of Sotheby’s, Gwyn pointed out that a triangle-shaped symbol in the paintings’ catalogue entry signified “property of Sotheby’s” – again, a definition available by reference to a glossary.
Asked about the omission of the real date of the works, he said:
“This is our normal format. It has been like this for 30 years. To anyone who asks me, I say they are 18th century. We are not intending to deceive in any way. I am happy to put up a note next to the painting [in the auction house] saying they are 18th century. I agree that maybe some people won’t know what ‘in the manner of’ means.”
As for the estimate, he said: “Well, I don’t know: we’ll have to see. Estimates are only estimates, and they come from one’s experience.”
“We’re not perfect,” Gwyn told the Guardian. “We do our best. I thought they were of the period.”
Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” a 790-page biographical history of the Fermors from 1420 to 1685. Another book “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” follows the family immigration from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky.
