Sir John Fermor Archives - PHILIP ALAN FARMER

February 15, 2026February 15, 2026

The Fermor Protection of Catholic Recusants in Somerton

Short biographies from the book “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney“ about members of the Fermors of Somerton mentioned in a YouTube video by Tim Guile.

While conducting some research, I discovered the following video posted on YouTube by local historian Tim Guile:

Guile, Tim. “Ember Burning, Catholic Recusancy and the Fermor Family of North Oxfordshire.” English Catholic History Association.

For more than one hundred years, the English monarchy tried to rid the country of Catholicism through ever-increasing legislation and punishment. The Fermor family allowed a small Roman Catholic community to flourish in Somerton and Hardwick during most of the post-Reformation period.[1] The Fermors’ influence was especially noticeable in the religious life of the villagers, with the Catholic faith openly practiced.

Included below are excerpted and edited short biographies of those mentioned in the video.

William Fermor and Somerton, Oxfordshire

The Aston Family owned Somerton since at least 1327. In February 1504, William Fermor paid £287 to William Aston for the reversion to the moiety of the manor of Somerton. Aston held Somerton until 21 April 1504, when he conveyed his moiety of Somerton to a group of feoffees which included William Fermor’s brother Richard Fermor and step-brother Richard Wenman. The quitclaim deed also included ten messuages, ten gardens, four hundred acres of land, one hundred acres of meadow, sixty acres of pasture, forty acres of wood, one hundred shillings rent in Somerton, Fretewell, Dunstewe, Fewecote, and Tusmore, several fisheries of Charwell, and the advowson of the church of Somerton.[2] Two years later after the death of Aston, Somerton was finally “covenanted with William Fermor.”

Another moiety of the manor of Somerton which had been held by the Earls de Grey reverted to the Crown in December 1495 with the second attainder of Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell. William purchased the moiety in 1498 but was received fourteen years later in 1512 by formal grant from Henry VIII at a yearly rent of £15 11s.

With the manor re-united and William in possession, he at once built a new residence house on the rising ground southeast of the village upon the river Cherwel. It was here that William resided for almost forty years.[3]

William Fermor and Hardwick, Oxfordshire

After purchasing a third part of Hardwick from Thomas Colyer and his wife Margery in 1514,[4] William rebuilt the house by 1520. In 1523 William Spencer, son of Robert Spencer and Elizabeth Arden, released to Fermor his right to a share of the manor. The remaining third part seems to have been held in 1511 by Edmund Bury, who conveyed it to Edward Chamberlain, but William evidently acquired this share also by 1548, when he made a settlement of the whole manor.[5]

Hardwick had a separate church around 1249 or 1250 when William D’Aundeley, the lord of the manor, presented, but two years later, the advowson was with the Knights Hospitallers. In 1532, by reason of a grant from the Knights Hospitallers, William presented. After the suppression of the Knights Hospitallers in 1540, Henry VIII sold the advowson in 1545 to John Pope of London, an associate of William Fermor. The advowson then descended with the manor with the Fermors presenting until the mid-nineteenth century. For Hardwick in the reign of Edward VI, its location and size under the protection of the rich Fermor family allowed a small Roman Catholic community to flourish during most of the post-Reformation period.[6]

Will of William Fermor

William Fermor died on 29 September 1552, having made his will eighteen days earlier.[7] His wife Elizabeth (Norrys) Fermor was appointed sole executrix and directed to “bear and pay all my funerals after a convenient degree and order and with no pomp or vainglory.” As neither of his four wives bore any children, the principal beneficiaries were the sons of his brother Richard Fermor namely John, Jerome, and the youngest Thomas as heir.

At the church of Somerton, the east end of the south aisle was lengthened and converted into a chantry by William Fermor. He installed new windows, constructed a new entrance, and built a round-headed arch giving access to the aisle from the chancel. The aisle became the burial-place of the Fermor family noted for the fine sixteenth century monuments and the family maintained the chantry until the end of the nineteenth century.

Thomas Fermor of Somerton

Richard Fermor’s youngest son, Thomas Fermor, was born by 1526. On his uncle’s death in 1552, Thomas inherited Somerton subject to the life interest of his aunt who was still lady of the manor as late as 1568.[8] Thomas could afford to wait for his inheritance, having wed by 1552 to Frances Horde, the only child and heiress of Thomas Horde of Hord Park or Bridgnorth Park, Bridgnorth, by his wife Dorothy Harpur.[9]

Frances died 10 July 1570 and was buried at Astley Abbots on 12 July.[10] Thomas remarried to Bridget Bradshaw, the daughter of Henry Bradshaw of Halton, Buckinghamshire, and the widow of Henry White of South Warnborough, Hampshire. Thomas and Bridget had one son and two daughters: Richard Fermor who married first Jane Lacon and secondly Cornelia Cornwallis; Anne, who died 12 April 1575 and was buried at Somerton; and Mary, who married Francis Plowden.[11]

While a staunch Catholic who may have been on Queen Mary’s side in reversing Henry VIII’s Protestant reformations, Thomas Fermor was not one of the Members of Parliament who “stood for the true religion” against the initial measures for the restoration of Catholicism.

Thomas was one of the Shropshire Catholics who sheltered the priest John Felton after 24 May 1570 when Felton posted Pope Pius V’s Regnans in Excelsis excommunication of Elizabeth I to the gates of Edmund Grindal, the Bishop of London. Wanted for treason and implicated by his friend William Mellowes during torture, Felton was arrested on 04 August, racked, convicted, condemned to die by execution, hanged, and quartered alive on 08 August.

By 1573, Thomas Fermor had succeeded his aunt Elizabeth (Norrys) Fermor. For twenty-eight years, Thomas lived at Somerton, although a land deed from 02 February 1575 describes him as “Thomas Farmor of Chynnor” a location thirty miles from Somerton yet must have been special to Thomas for him to bequeath 20s. to the “pooreste people inhabitings in Chinnor.”[12]

Tomb of Thomas and Bridget Fermor

Bridget died on 15 June 1580; Thomas Fermor died on 08 August 1580. Thomas’ will was written on 15 June 1580 – interestingly the same day as when his wife Bridget died – and probated on 13 August 1580. He was buried in Somerton Church next to his wife Bridget with all of the recognized rites and customs of the time.

oxford-3-150317 — Copyright (C) 2017, Snowpetrel Photography. Snowpetrel Photography | Flickr

Thomas left £40 for the erection of an alabaster tomb to be erected over his grave. By indenture made on 20 September 1582 between George Shirley of “Staunton Harrolde in ye county of Leic’esquier,” Richard Roiley of “Buron uppo Trente in ye county of Stafford, Tumbe maker,” and Gabriell Roiley, the son of Richard Roiley, the details of the tomb’s construction and appearance were fully described and witnessed by William Tortone, John Toplines, and Thomas Nodine. Having previously constructed the tomb of George’s father, John Shirley, the Roiley’s were well known tomb-makers from Burton, an area celebrated for its alabaster.[13]

oxford-2-150317 — Copyright (C) 2017, Snowpetrel Photography. Snowpetrel Photography | Flickr

Thomas’ will also illustrates “seigneurial Catholicism” by leaving rent-charges or leases to a number of servants who, or whose families, can be traced among Oxfordshire Catholics for some years afterwards. Among his charitable bequests was the “Castle Yard in Somerton and the Chappell therein standing” for procuring a license and erecting a free school in the chapel for the service of God, the Crown, and the commonwealth. His will also stipulated that the schoolmaster should be nominated by one of the ecclesiastical, secular, or academic dignitaries of Oxfordshire or by the Lord of Somerton. The executors invested £160 in land in Milcombe in Bloxham parish, and the chapel in the castle courtyard, which had fallen into disrepair after the penal laws banned Roman Catholic services, was converted into a school building.[14]

Sir Richard Fermor

In 1596 after attaining his majority, Sir Richard Fermor (son of Thomas and Bridget Fermor) inherited Somerton and Hardwick. The executors of his father’s will had well-fulfilled their trust for Sir Richard to financially purchase the manor of Tusmore from Thomas and Bridget Williamson in 1606, uniting Tusmore with Hardwick.

Sir Richard married early to Jane Lacon, daughter of Rowland Lacon of Willey, who died young after bearing a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Jane. At the age of twenty-five in about 1601, Sir Richard remarried to Cornelia Cornwallis, the third daughter of Lucy Neville and Sir William Cornwallis.

Sir Richard died at the age of forty-six on 07 January 1642 without a long or serious illness, having made his will on the day of his death, and his burial at Somerton Church was hurried.[15] A grandiose monument was constructed immediately beside the table tomb of his parents. Soon after his death, the House of Commons seized Sir Richard’s money because he was a papist.

Sir Richard Fermor of Somerton. Somerton, Oxfordshire, St James Church, History & Photos | Historic Oxfordshire Guide

Sir John Fermor

Sir Richard’s son John Fermor was knighted on 29 August 1624 at Shotover Lodge owned by Sir Timothy Tyrrell,[16] and dying the next year, left his widow Cecily Compton, the daughter of Sir Henry Compton of Brambletye, Sussex, to remarry Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour. Sir John’s will dated 10 July 1625 and probated 23 November 1625 names his father as executor, made provisions for his wife “dame Cicelie, and my child, if she be with child,” and mentions his wife’s grandmother “my Lady of Dorsett.”[17] Sir John’s tomb in the church at Somerton shows the young knight reclining, under a melancholic Latin epitaph.

At this time in 1625, it is believed Sir Richard moved from Somerton into Hardwick. As the Somerton was part of her dowry, Cecily moved and remained there during her life.

Sir John Fermor of Somerton. Somerton, Oxfordshire, St James Church, History & Photos | Historic Oxfordshire Guide

Jane Fermor and Colonel Thomas Morgan

Sir Richard Fermor’s eldest daughter, Jane Fermor,^{115} married Colonel Thomas Morgan of Weston-under-Wetherley, Warwickshire, son of Anthony Morgan, Esquire of Mitchell Town, Monmouthshire, and Bridget Anthony, daughter and heir of (another) Anthony Morgan of Heyford.

At his own expense, Morgan, a Royalist, raised a troop of horse and fought on 16 July 1643 in the Battle of Roundway Down near Devizes, Wiltshire. In the first Battle of Newbury, Berkshire, Charles I personally led the Royalist forces, whose cavalry of seven thousand horses outnumbered the Roundhead cavalry led by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. As the landscape of open fields would have exposed Essex’s troops, he chose to engage the Royalists under the concealment of the hedges, ditches, and sunken lanes. Entangled in the dense brush, Morgan was killed on 20 September 1643 and was buried in the Fermor aisle of St. James Church at Somerton with a black marble slab inscribed in his memory.[18]

Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” tracing the family history from 1420 to 1685, and “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh” following their 1685 arrival from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky.

[1] Stapleton, History of the Post-Reformation Catholic Missions in Oxfordshire (1906), p.80; Lobel, A Victoria History of the County of Oxford, vol.6 (1959), pp.168-173.

[2] CP 25/1/191/31, No. 58. The other querents were William Bulcombe, Edward Cope, Richard Eryngton, William Eryngton, John Byllyng, and Edmund Hobell.

[3] Stapleton, History of the Post-Reformation Catholic Missions in Oxfordshire (1906), p.66; Collins, The Peerage of England, vol.5 (1768), p.48.

[4] Perhaps the Margery who had previously married William Gygour.

[5] Lobel, A Victoria History of the County of Oxford, vol.6 (1959), pp.168-173.

[6] Stapleton, History of the Post-Reformation Catholic Missions in Oxfordshire (1906), p.80; Lobel, A Victoria History of the County of Oxford, vol.6 (1959), pp.168-173.

[7] Hutchens, “Will of William Fermor of Somerton,” Oxfordshire Family History Society (OFHS.uk). nd. An abstract also found in Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.105. The will has been included in a separate chapter.

[8] Baker, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.1 (1822), p.707.

[9] Grazebrook et al, The Visitation of Shropshire, Taken in the Year 1623, pt.1 (1889), p.183.

[10] Clark-Maxwell, “The Chantries of St. Leonard’s Church, Shropshire,” Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, ser,4 vol.8 (1920), p.54. “On the demise of Frances Fermor without issue, Holicote passed to her cousin-german Thomas Horde, who held it in 1594, and was living 1603. He was son of John Hord (first cousin of Frances Fermor) by Katharine, daughter of Adam Otley of Pitchford…” (Purton, “Some Account of the Manor of Chetton,” Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, ser.2 vol.6 (1894), pp.184-185.)

[11] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), pp.11-12, 122; Plowden, Records of the Chicheley Plowdens, A.D. 1590-1913 (1914), pp.10, 51.

[12] Thorpe, “Fermor, Thomas (by 1523-80), of Horde Park, Bridgnorth, Salop and Somerton, Oxon,” The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (1982); Stapleton, History of the Post-Reformation Catholic Missions in Oxfordshire (1906), pp.66-67; Shirley, “Original Documents Extracts From The Fermor Accounts, A.D. 1580,” Archaeological Journal, vol.8 no.1 (1851), pp.179-186; Gomme, The Gentlemen’s Magazine Library, pt.9(1897),pp.208-215.

[13] Macklin, The Brasses of England (1907), p.10. Richard Roiley of Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.

[14] Reports of the Commissioners For Inquiring Concerning Charities in the Hundreds of Banbury & Bloxham et al (1826), pp.144-146. The report contains a short history, detailed list of landholders, and contribution of payments. “There are now 14 or 15 free children in the school, who are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic… (p.146)”

[15] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.120. The will of Richard Fermor, probated on 08 June 1643 at Oxford, “mentions son Henry Ffermor, daughter in law Ursula, daughter Lucy Peter, daughter Jane Morgan, grandson Richard Fermor under age, and grandchildren Peter and Henry Ffermor and their sisters Mary and Anne Ffermor all under age. Mentions grandchildren, the children of my daughter Lucy Peter. Other relatives include Chamberleyn, Lek, etc.. Sons in law William Peter and Thomas Morgan, nephew George Gyfford, and Edmund Plowden, son of Ffrancis Plowden the younger to be Executors.”

[16] Shaw, The Knights of England, vol.2 (1906), p.186.

[17] Blomfield, History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon (1882), p.120.

[18] Hamilton, The Chronicle of the English Augustinian Canonesses Regular of the Lateran, at St Monica’s in Louvain, vol.2 (1906), pp.3-4.

Title photo: Poliphilo. “St James’ parish church, Somerton, Oxfordshire, seen from the southeast.” 2013. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication of Creative Commons.

May 19, 2023May 19, 2023

Farmer Coat of Arms

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.

We know this from the tomb of Thomas Richards alias Fermor’s great grandson Sir George Fermor in St. Mary’s Church at Easton Neston. The dexter spandril of the arch has the Fermor arms, and on the sinister spandril:

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]

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]

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.

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.

For the Irish descendants of Sir George’s son Robert Farmar, to include the Farmar’s of Bloomfield and Dunsinane, County Wexford, a crescent signifies the difference, with exception to Robert’s son Major Jasper Farmar.[10]

Farmer (other)

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 of Walsh, Sussex (1575)
gules, a chevron vaire between three lions rampant or.[12]

Farmer of Sussex
Ermine a chevron Sable between three roses Gules [Farmor].[13]

Farmers of Worcestershire
argent, on a fesse sable between three lion’s heads erased gules, as many acorns slipped or.[14]

Farmers of Leicestershire
sable, on a chevron between three lamps argent, flammant proper, a leopard’s face between two mullets gules.[15]

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 (Thomas^A) whose arms granted in 1612 are identical to the arms of Thomas Draper of Great Marlow (Thomas^B) granted in 1571.

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 Thomas^B, 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]

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]

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.”

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: 5^th 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.

April 23, 2023April 23, 2023

Fermor Connection to Shakespeare

In “Merry Wives of Windsor,” did William Shakespeare satirize Sir Thomas Lucy, a great grandson of Thomas Richards alias Fermor?

Justice Shallow

Written sometime between 1596 and 1599, William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2, introduces the character of Robert Shallow, a tall, thin, elderly, and wealthy landowner and Justice of the Peace in Gloucestershire. As the story is told, Justice Shallow is raising a troop to fight against the rebellion in the north and meets with his old friend, Sir John Falstaff, a character introduced in Henry IV, Part 1. The scenes of the two gentlemen provide comedic relief to the drama.

Shallow reappears in Act I, Scene 1 of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and in the first twenty-four lines, Shallow, Slender, and Sir Hugh Evans discuss their coat of arms:

SHALLOW Sir Hugh, persuade me not. I will make a Star-Chamber matter of it. If he were twenty Sir John Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert Shallow, Esquire

SLENDER In the county of Gloucester, Justice of Peace and Coram.

SHALLOW Ay, Cousin Slender, and Custalorum.

SLENDER Ay, and Ratolorum too; and a gentleman born, Master Parson, who writes himself “Armigero” in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation— “Armigero!”

SHALLOW Ay, that I do, and have done any time these three hundred years.

SLENDER All his successors gone before him hath done ‘t, and all his ancestors that come after him may. They may give the dozen white luces in their coat.

SHALLOW It is an old coat.

SIR HUGH The dozen white louses do become an old coat well. It agrees well, passant. It is a familiar beast to man and signifies love.

SHALLOW The luce is the fresh fish. The salt fish is an old coat.[1]

Shallow then meets with Falstaff who accuses Shallow of killing his deer. With a story about stealing deer and the subsequent trial, threatened imprisonment, and a move to London, there is a belief that Shakespeare intentionally satirized Sir Thomas Lucy in the character of Justice Shallow. The opening conversation about the Lucy coat of arms, “three luces hauriant argent,” further reinforces the controversy.

Sir Thomas Lucy

Sir Thomas Lucy, the son of Sir William Lucy and Anne Fermor, with his long tenure in Warwickshire politics and as Justice of the Peace, may have had some association with the Shakespeares. William Underhill, who married as his second wife Dorothy Hatton, the sister of Sir Christopher Hatton, owned a house at Stratford-upon-Avon that became home of John Shakespeare, William’s father.

An indenture executed on 30 May 1568 has William Clopton, Esquire, of the first part, and Sir Robert Throckmorton, Sir Thomas Lucy, Edmund Plowden, Esquire, and William Underhill, Esquire of Newbold Revel, of the second part.[2] While Underhill was of no relation to the persons comprising the second party of the deed, Sir Lucy after this date would be distantly related to Throckmorton and Plowden. Sir Robert Throckmorton was the son of George Throckmorton and Catherine Vaux, the sister to Maud Vaux the wife Sir John Fermor. Sir Robert’s brother, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, married Anne Carew, and their son, Sir Arthur Throckmorton, married Anne Lucas, the daughter of Sir Thomas Lucas and Mary Fermor, the daughter of Sir John Fermor and sister to Anne Fermor, Sir Thomas Lucy’s mother. Edmund Plowden was the father of Edmund Plowden and another son Francis Plowden who was married to Mary Fermor, the daughter of Bridget Bradshaw and Thomas Fermor of Somerton, the brother to Sir John Fermor. Clopton’s grandmother was Joyce Horde whose niece Frances Horde married Thomas Fermor of Somerton.[3]

It is likely that Sir Thomas was not a well-liked person, but he was respected. As justice, he was obligated to enforce a Parliamentary act in 1581 to keep citizens obedient to the state religion, with new penalties and instituting commissions very unpopular with Catholics. His association with and execution of orders from Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, portrayed Sir Thomas as exceedingly harsh with recusants.

In 1591, John Shakespeare’s name was included in a list of recusants sent up to the Privy Council by Sir Thomas, with a second certificate signed on 25 September 1592. It has been argued if this “John Shakespeare” of Stratford-upon-Avon was the bard’s father. Evidence suggests that he was not, but rather another John Shakespeare who was a widower, Master of the Shoemaker’s Company, and who disappeared from town immediately after the list was submitted. As a widower, it would explain why the name of William’s mother was not listed on the recusant certificate.[4]

William Shakespeare: Poacher?

Perhaps the first mention that gives the “direct” association is from the early eighteenth century, and possibly earlier from the late seventeenth century. The story first related by Reverend Richard Davies, the rector of Saperton, Gloucestershire, and Archdeacon of Lichfield who died in 1708, was added to Reverend William Fulman’s biographical manuscript, and then documented in Nicholas Rowe’s The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare (1710).

Egan, James. *William Shakespeare before Sir Thomas Lucy for Shooting his Deer* (1834). National Portrait Gallery, London: NPG D41662. Mezzotint.

Much given to all unluckinesse in stealing venison and rabbits, particularly from Sr ___ Lucy, who had him oft whipt and sometimes imprisoned, and at last made him fly his native country, to his great advancement: but his revenge was so great that he is his Justice Clodplate, and calls him a great man, and that in allusion to his name bore three louses rampart for his arms.[5]

He had, by a misfortune common enough to young fellows, fallen into ill company, and amongst them, some that made a frequent practice of deer-stealing, engaged him more than once in robbing a park that belonged to Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, near Stratford. For this be was prosecuted by that gentleman, as he thought, somewhat too severely ; and, in order to revenge that ill usage, he made a ballad upon him. This, probably, the first essay of his poetry, is said to have been so very bitter, that it redoubled the prosecution against him to that degree, that he was obliged to leave his business and family in Warwickshire, for some time, and shelter himself in London…[6]

Nothing is known of the ballad, but a few popular songs were attributed to Shakespeare. Joshua Barnes, an English scholar, heard an old woman singing a song during his stay at an inn sometime between 1687 and 1690. He paid the lady with a new gown, and she sang the first two stanzas, of which she could only remember from the song’s entirety.

Sir Thomas was so covetous
To covet so much deer
When horns enough upon his head
Most plainly did appear

Had not his worship one deer left?
What then? He had a wife
Took pains enough to find him horns
Should last him during life.[7]

The English Shakespearian critic, Edward Capell, came into the possession of another poem from a Mr. Jones who was born in 1613 near Stratford-upon-Avon and written in his old age, and Capell allegedly added the first two lines giving it more association to Sir Thomas.[8]

A parliament member, a justice of peace,
At home a poor scarecrow, at London an asse;
If lousie is Lucy, as some volke miscalle it,
Then Lucy is lousie whatever befall it.
He thinks himself greate,
Yet an asse in his state,
We allow by his ears, but with asses to mate.
If Lucy is lowsie, as volke miscalle it,
Sing lowsie Lucy, whatever befall it.[9]

That Shakespeare and Sir Thomas had some minor animosity with each other may be based on some truth, but the amount of speculation and embellishment has obscured what is fact, and what is fiction. While Sir Thomas did introduce a Parliamentary bill “for the better preservation of game and grain” in March 1585, his deer park was in Worcestershire on his wife’s inherited property, almost fifty miles away from Charlecote and Stratford. He never owned a deer park and no chancery record in Stratford, Warwick, or the Star Chamber chronicling Lucy’s prosecution of Shakespeare for deer poaching can be found, although a Star Chamber case was prosecuted by his son in July 1610 eight years after the play was written. In 1828, the owner of Charlecote told a story to Sir Walter Scott that the incident occurred at Sir Thomas’ deer park at Fulbroke, of which Sir Lucy did not own, although it was acquired by Sir Thomas’ grandson.[10]

Coat of Arms

Twice, the opening lines of The Merry Wives of Windsor has the number of fish on the coat of arms as twelve, which supposedly is the best evidentiary proof; however, the Lucy shield had three luces.

Source: https://archive.org/details/antiquitiesofwar00dugd/page/400/mode/2up

Other families, like Way and Geddes, also had a coat of arms with three luces, and the Company of Stock Fishmongers were of “two luces in saltire argent.” Shakespeare may have been humorously pointing out “partible differences” between a coat with two fish, three fish, or twelve fish, a phrase the heralds used when describing their objections when granting the coat of arms to John Shakespeare on 20 October 1596. The acting copy of The Merry Wives of Windsor is taken from the Folio Edition of 1623 and the dialog about the coat of arms may have been added as there is no mention in the publications from 1602 to 1619.[11]

Shakespearian scholars and critics generally argue and agree that William did not cast his “nemesis” as a caricature in two of his plays, and strongly suggest Justice Shallow is William Gardiner, a Member of Parliament on bad terms with Francis Langley, the proprietor of the new Swan Theater. Gardiner first married Frances Wayte, the widow of Edmund Wayte, whose son, William Wayte, “swore the peace” against Shakespeare and Langley to appear in court on 29 November 1596.[12]

Be it known that William Wayte craves sureties of the peace against William Shakspere, Francis Langley, Dorothy Soer wife of John Soer, and Anne Lee, for fear of death and so forth. [Writ of] attachment [directed] to the Sheriff of Surrey, returnable on the eighteenth of [St.] Martin.[13]

And the coat of arms? Frances Wayte was the daughter of Robert Lucy, Gentleman, whose coat of arms bearing three luces haurient was quartered on Gardiner’s shield.

Source: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.501331/page/n109/mode/2up

Another compelling theory starts with the idea that William Shakespeare never wrote the play, and that the true playwright was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Edward was the only son of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford and Margery Golding. When John died in 1562, Edward at the age of two became a ward of Queen Elizabeth and was sent to live with Sir William Cecil whose daughter, Anne, became Edward’s first wife when she was fourteen. Anne had originally been pledged to poet, courtier, and scholar Philip Sidney two years earlier, until Sidney’s father, Sir Henry Sidney, backed out of the marriage negotiations. Sir Henry’s wife was Mary Dudley, daughter of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, and they had another son, Robert Sidney. Robert and Edward were both quick-tempered members of Parliament and always at odds with each other, with one infamous argument occurring during a tennis match in full view of the French ambassadors. During the argument, Edward called Robert a “puppy,” and Robert retorted, “Puppies are gotten by dogs, and children by men.” As the argument escalated, Robert stormed off the court and challenged Edward to a duel. Queen Elizabeth intervened rebuking Robert of the “difference in degree between Earls and Gentlemen, the respect inferiors out to their superiors…” commanding him to call off the forbidden duel.[14] This incident may have been portrayed in Act 2, Scene 1 of Hamlet when Polonius references a “falling out at tennis.”

John Dudley’s lands had been attained for his role in preventing the ascension of Mary I. After losing the Duke of Northumberland title before his son could inherit it, Robert could not display his father’s earlier coat of arms consisting of twelve luces, the number of fish on the shield as mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor. This explanation would associate Shallow as Robert who replies, “It is an old coat.”[15]

[1] Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I, Scene 1, Lines 1-24.

[2] Howard, Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, vol.1 (1874), p.42.

[3] Hord, Genealogy of the Hord Family (1898), p.22. John Horde (-1594) and Alice Bulkeley’s daughter Joyce Horde married Sir Edward Grey (1472-1528) of Enville, Staffordshire; their daughter Elizabeth Grey married William Clopton (-1560) and had issue, William Clopton.

[4] Stopes, Shakespeare’s Warwickshire Contemporaries (1907), pp.31-32.

[5] White, The Works of William Shakespeare, vol.1 (1893), p.xxxvii.

[6] Rowe, Life of William Shakspeare (1832), p.3.

[7] Levi, The Life and Times of William Shakespeare (1988), p.35.

[8] “Thomas Lucy and Shakespeare’s Lost Ballad,” StrangeHistory.net. 09 September 2017.

[9] Campbell, The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare (1838), p.xx.

[10] Lee, “Lucy, Thomas,” Dictionary of National Biography, vol.34 (1885), p.249; Stopes, Shakespeare’s Warwickshire Contemporaries (1907), p.41.

[11] Stopes, Shakespeare’s Warwickshire Contemporaries (1907), pp.38-39.

[12] Hannigan, “Shakespeare Versus Shallow,” The Shakespeare Association Bulletin, vol.7 no.4 (October 1932), pp.174-182.

[13] Hotson, Shakespeare versus Shallow (1931), p.9.

[14] Looney, “ ‘Shakespeare’ Identified (1920), pp.294-297; Ward, The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, 1550-1604, From Contemporary Documents (1928), pp.165-177.

[15] “Unpacking Merry Wives of Windsor,” ShakespeareOxfordFellowship.org. 07 October 1999.

April 10, 2022April 10, 2022

Nicholas Fermor

The 1580 will of Thomas Fermor of Somerton gifts his “well-beloved nephew” Nicholas Fermor. Which one?

Per the 1580 will of Thomas Fermor of Somerton,

In default of such issue [of Mary or Richard, the children of Thomas], the remainder goes to my brother Jerome Farmor, according to the gift of my Uncle William Farmer of Somerton. If Richard dies without lawful issue, I give the Manor of Gannow and all [my other property] in Gannow, to my nephew Nicholas Farmer and the lawful heirs of his body…

I give a £10 pa life annuity to my well-beloved nephew Nicholas Farmor… But if and when he has acquired enough lands, tenements, annuities or fees, whether by descent, purchase, gift, grant, marriage or otherwise, to provide a clear income of £100 pa during his own or his wife’s life, the £10 annuity is to cease.[1]

Thomas also appoints his nephew George Fermor and his brother-in-laws Sir Richard Knightley, Richard Fiennes, and Sir Thomas Lucy as executors and overseers of his will. He mentions no other brother or sister.

In determining the identity of Nicholas Fermor, there are two options: the son of Sir John Fermor, or the son of Jerome Fermor.

Nicholas, son of Sir John Fermor.

Sir John Fermor married Maud Vaux, daughter of Sir Nicholas Vaux. They had the following sons: George; Nicholas; Richard; and Arthur.[2] According to Baker’s History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton (1844), Nicholas was still living in 1585 and died unmarried.

Baker’s inclusion of John’s fourth son Arthur also seems to refute the number of sons mentioned in the memorial of Sir John and Maud. It is most likely Arthur died very young and the memorial notes the number of surviving sons.

Here lie ye bodies of Sr John Farmor, of Eston Neston Knight of ye Bath and dame Maud his wife daughter of Nicholas Vaux Lord Harroden, they had 3 sonnes and three daughters and died, hee ye 20th of December MDLXXI & shee ye xivth of April MDLXIX.

Nicholas, son of Jerome Fermor.

Collins in his Peerage of England (1812) provides a synopsis of Thomas Fermor’s will and states that it “appears Nicholas Fermour, his nephew, was son of Jerome, his brother.”[3] Baker’s Northampton pedigree also indicates that Jerome and his wife Jane had issue, although none are mentioned.

If Jerome and Jane had a son Nicholas, he is not mentioned in Jerome’s 1602 will, nor Jane’s 1606 will. This may indicate that Nicholas died prior to 1602. Additionally, no mention of Nicholas is provided in the memorial to Jerome and Jane.

The memoriall of Heiro Farmore Esq. & Jane his wife they lived to-geath’r in Wedlock 42 Years, & he attended to ye honor of a great grand unckle & after 74 years left this home for a better Septb’r 7th Ao, 1602.[4]

So who is who?

One could argue that by only mentioning his brother Jerome, Thomas did intend to gift Jerome’s son Nicholas. Also, considering the verbose nature of the will, one could argue that Nicholas was married in 1580, and that Thomas did not mean should Nicholas marry. This points even further to Jerome’s son given the data above. Even the inclusion of “but if and when he has acquired enough lands, tenements, annuities or fees, whether by descent, purchase, gift, grant, marriage or otherwise” is interpreted as the time Nicholas has acquired land, not when he has married.

With Gervase Clifton, Esquire, son and heir apparent of Sir John Clifton of Bassington, Somerset, Nicholas Farmor of Hardwick assumed the £400 recusancy debt of Sir Thomas Tresham, Knight of Rushton, Northamptonshire, by a recognizance before the Exchequer barons dated 15 May 1592.[5]

A “Nicholas Farmor of Easton [Neston], co. Northampton, esquire” is mentioned in a 1594 indenture, along with Sir Richard Knightley, Sir Richard Fiennes, Valentine Knightley, Jerome Fermor, Richard Fermor “of Easton [Neston],” Sir Henry Darcy and “Dame Katheryn [Fermor] his wife,” Gabriel Pulteney, John Cope, and Thomas Thorneton.[6]

A “Nicholas Fermor, Gentleman” admitted to the Middle Temple on 02 July 1571 was most likely the son of Sir John.[7] If Jerome and Jane had married in 1560 per the calculations from their memorial, their son Nicholas would have been admitted at a minimum age of eleven.

Conclusion and further research

The conclusion is there were two nephews of Thomas Fermor named Nicholas. Jerome’s son Nicholas “of Hardwick” was gifted by Thomas and living in 1592. Sir John’s son Nicholas remained in Easton Neston and living in 1594.

Sir John and Maud may have named their child Nicholas after Maud’s father. Jerome and Jane’s son may have been named after Jane’s father and may provide insight into her identity whose coat of arms suggest she was from the Isacke family.

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. The sequel “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” follows the family immigration from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky.

[1] Hutchens, “Will of Thomas Farmor of Somerton,” Oxfordshire Family History Society (OFHS.uk). nd.

[2] Metcalfe, The Visitations of Northamptonshire Made in 1564 and 1618-19 (1887), pp.19-20; Baker, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.2 (1844), p.143.

[3] Brydges, Collins’s Peerage of England, vol.4 (1812) p.201.

[4] Baker, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol.2 (1844), p.332.

[5] Bowler et al, Recusants in the Exchequer Pipe Rolls, 1581-1592 (1986), p.176.

[6] Lyte, A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, vol.3 (1900), p.199.

[7] Martin, “Minutes of Parliament of the Middle Temple (1501-1603),” Middle Temple Records, vol.1 (1904), pp.180, 182.