Margate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in Kent, England. It lies 38.1 miles (61.3 km) east-north-east of Maidstone, on the coast along the North Foreland. Margate comes from the Old English ‘mere’ meaning ‘sea or water’ with ‘geat’ as ‘gate’; therefore, a ‘gateway to the sea’. Records in 1254 show Margate as Meregeat. In the 15th Century, Henry VI added Margate as a limb of Dover in the confederation of Cinque Ports. As a ‘limb’, or administrative part of the port and town of Dover, Dover was responsible for the implementation of law in Margate. This was a constant irritant to the town, and even after receiving its Charter of Independence, the complexities of the Cinque Port System were such that the inhabitants of Margate were sent to Dover for trial and were imprisoned in Dover jail. The painter JMW Turner described the Thanet skies as the "loveliest in all Europe." Margate has been served by several windmills over the centuries. Humber's (or Chamber's) Mill was marked on Robert Morden's map of 1695, Harris' map of 1719 and Bowen's map of 1736. It was at Lydden, north east of Fleete village. There is a 16th-century 2-storey timber-framed Tudor house built on a flint plinth in King Street. For more information and photos, see http://www.margatelocalhistory.co…
North Foreland -- A chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, forming the eastern end of the Isle of Thanet. The high cliff commands views over the southern North Sea. The first documentation we have about a lighthouse on the North Foreland was in 1636 when King Charles, by letters-patent, granted to Sir John Meldrum licence to continue and renew the lighthouses erected on the North and South Forelands, so there was some sort of light there before this. Sir John's lighthouse was made of timber, lath and plaster, with a light on the top which was kept in a large glass lantern. This helped ships chart their course around the Goodwin Sands. This lighthouse burned down accidentally in 1683, and for a few years they used a beacon on top of which a light was hoisted. Near the end of the 1600s an octagonal flint lighthouse was built, with an iron grate on top, open to the air, in which a coal fire was kept blazing at night. This could be seen far out to sea because the wind constantly fanned the blaze.
Two naval battles during the Anglo-Dutch Wars are sometimes called the Battle of the North Foreland. They were: The Battle of the Gabbard, 2–3 June 1653, in the First Anglo-Dutch War. The St. James's Day Battle, 25–26 July 1666, in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
"Where the other commissioners fit in the organization, I don't know yet."
The New Year, a good time to review the cast of characters:
The members of the Navy Board were appointed by Charles II. By 1663 the Board was run by his brother, James, Duke of York the Lord High Admiral, and James' private secretary, Sir William Coventry MP, and Sir William Penn MP, for whom a new position had been created, making him over the fleet at sea.
Sandwich volunteered to fight in the Second Dutch War in order to earn back his place which he had let slip last year (James was threatened by his competence and popularity with the seamen; Coventry just didn't like him).
Pepys was Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board, and not a Commissioner.
The Commissioners of the Navy Board did the admin work:
Sir George Carteret, an impeccable royalist whose service at sea had begun under Charles I, was Treasurer.
Sir John Mennes, whose naval career went back to the 1620s. He had fought with Prince Rupert -- probably against William Penn, was the Comptroller. (In January 1664 we find out he has a shaking condition, possibly Parkinson's, so I suspect Pepys does all the work, and he signs off on it.)
Sir William Batten, a professional who had served on both sides during the civil war, was the surveyor, with particular responsibility for the dockyards and the design, building and repair of ships.
Sir William Penn MP had the brief to be interested in every aspect of the Board's work, and owed his appointment to his years of experience as a naval commander. Given James' inexperienced at sea, Penn will sail with him and tell him what to do. He has gout and is away from work a lot.
Peter Pett, the master-shipwright at Chatham, had served Cromwell; but no change of government could unseat the Pett family which had a monopoly of shipbuilding in the Thames yards for several generations.
Sir William, 2nd Viscount Brouncker was appointed as a Commissioner in December 1664. He seemed interested in everything, but Pepys has not told us of a particular portfolio. Probably an extra set of eyes for the war effort.
Capt. John Taylor was appointed as a Navy Commissioner to Harwich on Nov. 1, 1664. -- Which leads me to think there were probably Commissioners at Plymouth, Portsmouth and other major Naval ports throughout the country. Pepys hasn't reported doing anything with them that I can recall.
"10th. To Sandwich, a pretty town, about two miles from the sea. The Mayor and officers of the Customs were very diligent to serve me.
"I visited the forts in the way, and returned that night to Canterbury.
"11th January, 1665. To Rochester, when I took order to settle officers at Chatham."
Evelyn is organizing the care for wounded and sick seamen, and anticipated prisoners taken in the upcoming Second Anglo-Dutch War. He doesn't seem to be having a hard time with the cold.
Jan: 1 1664/65: Began the new year in the Sabbath work, wherein god good to me, the season good wintery, I had my company at church and praises to god for our liberty to walk abroad.
"10th. To Sandwich, a pretty town, about two miles from the sea. The Mayor and officers of the Customs were very diligent to serve me. I visited the forts in the way, and returned that night to Canterbury."
Evelyn is touring the south coast making arrangements for the care of sick and wounded seamen, and Dutch prisoners, when the war finally starts.
It occurs to me that young Edward doesn't want to come home to a war, so he asked De Prata to tell his father that he wants to continue his studies. That way he could say "Yes Sir" to his dad as we saw yesterday.
John, 1st Baron Belasyse MP PC (24 June 1614 – 10 September 1689) was a Royalist, closet Roman Catholic, English nobleman, conspirator and soldier. Belasyse was one of the first members of the Royalist underground organisation The Sealed Knot. During the Interregnum, Belasyse was in frequent communication with Charles II and his followers in Holland. After the Restoration, Belasyse was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire (1660–1673) and Governor of Hull (1661-1673), while from 1665 to 1666 he held the posts of Governor of Tangier and Captain-General of the forces in Africa. Belasyse was married three times, and had children with his first and third wives. His first wife was Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Boteler. His second wife was Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Crane, 1st Baronet, and widow of Sir William Airmine, 2nd Baronet, who died August 11, 1662. His third wife was Anne, daughter of John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester, who died in 1694.
Thanks Chris. My English teacher at college wrote on my report card that I speak good English, but it's a shame I don't know why. Many years later that remains true.
With the inevitable war looming, Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchinbrook isn't the only son being recalled from their educational years abroad. No one wants a son to be held hostage by the Dutch or French. Also, with the probability of the French being pulled into the fray, the route home isn't that obvious. I'd also ask my dad's advice. Maybe Edward should go to Malaga or Lisbon and catch a ride with on a navy ship?
Tomorrow is 12th Night. For the entire holiday season Bess has been stuck at home, cavorting with the staff. Reestablishing control and respect will take a little doing.
This morning I find this detail from our own Encyclopedia:
"Ashmole records the birth of the Earl of Oxford's son by [Hester Davenport], April 17, 1664, which shows that the liaison continued. The child was called Aubrey Vere. — Ward's Diary, p. 131."
So, considering Pepys own words, "Lay long, and then up and to my Lord of Oxford’s, but his Lordshipp was in bed at past ten o’clock: and, Lord helpe us! so rude a dirty family I never saw in my life."
I think Pepys yesterday saw the Earl and not much else besides a small house. Today he finds his Lordship and "the Countess" in bed, and baby Aubrey creating a ruckus upstairs. After a few (in)discrete words with the groom at the front door, Pepys discovers this household isn't what it should be. I don't say "footman" because a small house probably wouldn't accommodate one, but Oxford would have one to look after his horses.
If the actress-Countess wasn't big on housekeeping, that would explain "rude and dirty family".
Sometime in the early 1660s, Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, married the popular actress, Hester Davenport. Or did he? There is little doubt that a wedding took place; the question is, was it sufficient to create a legally-valid marriage?
Actresses had a dubious moral reputation at the time, but Hester Davenport refused to give in to Oxford’s advances unless they were married. She wore a white satin gown decorated with silver ribbons for their wedding in the dining room of a chandler’s shop in a somewhat insalubrious street near what is now London’s Northumberland Avenue.
The wedding was conducted by a man dressed as a clergyman. Later rumors suggested he was actually one of Oxford’s servants, described as his groom or trumpeter.
The couple lived together as man and wife, and they had a son together. Hester Davenport was acknowledged as the Countess of Oxford.
Until recently historians believed that before the passage of Hardwicke’s Marriage Act in 1753 such a union constituted a genuine marriage – one that would be recognized as legal under common law. (That belief has been exploded by the research of Rebecca Probert.)
Accordingly when Oxford married Diana Kirk at Whitehall in January 1672, in an Anglican ceremony conducted by his chaplain, no one questioned that this was a legal marriage even though Hester Davenport was alive and still calling herself the Countess of Oxford.
An action in the church courts in the mid-1680s confirmed that Hester Davenport and Oxford had gone through a ceremony, but failed to establish that it had been performed by a genuine clergyman.
Hester Davenport was unable to prove she was anything other than a discarded mistress. She did not accept the result, even after losing an appeal to the court of arches, and continued to call herself the Countess of Oxford and, insist their son was legitimate, attempted to establish him as the heir to the earldom.
Hester Davenport remained single until Oxford died in the spring of 1703 when she married the Flemish merchant Peter Hoet.
Sadly the earldom died with Aubrey de Vere -- I wonder why he did not recognize Hester's son before he died? Oh, that would have admitted he was a bigamist, I suppose.
Sir William Batten and Sir John Robinson objected after-the-fact to the appointment because he was a fanatic.
Then on 19 December 1664 Mr. Coventry had "to vindicate himself before the Duke and us, being all there, about the choosing of Taylor for Harwich" -- http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… , because a hold had been put on sending Capt. John Taylor there until that day's rather pro forma proceedings.
Later in December 1664 Sir William Batten obtained a patent from Charles II to provide two lighthouses at Harwich. He left on January 4, 1665.
No wonder it was so important for Coventry and the Duke of York to make a point that Capt. Taylor was their choice and make Batten reveal his objections first. No doubt they had to work together to build those vital lighthouses.
Sir William Batten and Sir John Robinson objected after-the-fact to the appointment because he was a fanatic.
The on 19 December 1664 Mr. Coventry had "to vindicate himself before the Duke and us, being all there, about the choosing of Taylor for Harwich" -- http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… , because a hold had been put on sending Capt. John Taylor there until that day's rather pro forma proceedings.
Now we hear that in December 1664 Sir William Batten obtained a patent from Charles II to provide two lighthouses at Harwich. He leaves on January 4, 1665.
No wonder it was so important for Coventry and the Duke of York to make a point that Capt. Taylor was their choice and make Batten reveal his objections first. Tee Hee ... they are going to have to work together now.
Comments
Second Reading
About Margate, Kent
San Diego Sarah • Link
Margate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in Kent, England. It lies 38.1 miles (61.3 km) east-north-east of Maidstone, on the coast along the North Foreland. Margate comes from the Old English ‘mere’ meaning ‘sea or water’ with ‘geat’ as ‘gate’; therefore, a ‘gateway to the sea’. Records in 1254 show Margate as Meregeat. In the 15th Century, Henry VI added Margate as a limb of Dover in the confederation of Cinque Ports. As a ‘limb’, or administrative part of the port and town of Dover, Dover was responsible for the implementation of law in Margate. This was a constant irritant to the town, and even after receiving its Charter of Independence, the complexities of the Cinque Port System were such that the inhabitants of Margate were sent to Dover for trial and were imprisoned in Dover jail. The painter JMW Turner described the Thanet skies as the "loveliest in all Europe." Margate has been served by several windmills over the centuries. Humber's (or Chamber's) Mill was marked on Robert Morden's map of 1695, Harris' map of 1719 and Bowen's map of 1736. It was at Lydden, north east of Fleete village. There is a 16th-century 2-storey timber-framed Tudor house built on a flint plinth in King Street. For more information and photos, see http://www.margatelocalhistory.co…
About North Foreland
San Diego Sarah • Link
North Foreland -- A chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, forming the eastern end of the Isle of Thanet. The high cliff commands views over the southern North Sea. The first documentation we have about a lighthouse on the North Foreland was in 1636 when King Charles, by letters-patent, granted to Sir John Meldrum licence to continue and renew the lighthouses erected on the North and South Forelands, so there was some sort of light there before this. Sir John's lighthouse was made of timber, lath and plaster, with a light on the top which was kept in a large glass lantern. This helped ships chart their course around the Goodwin Sands. This lighthouse burned down accidentally in 1683, and for a few years they used a beacon on top of which a light was hoisted. Near the end of the 1600s an octagonal flint lighthouse was built, with an iron grate on top, open to the air, in which a coal fire was kept blazing at night. This could be seen far out to sea because the wind constantly fanned the blaze.
Two naval battles during the Anglo-Dutch Wars are sometimes called the Battle of the North Foreland. They were:
The Battle of the Gabbard, 2–3 June 1653, in the First Anglo-Dutch War.
The St. James's Day Battle, 25–26 July 1666, in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
About Wednesday 11 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Where the other commissioners fit in the organization, I don't know yet."
The New Year, a good time to review the cast of characters:
The members of the Navy Board were appointed by Charles II. By 1663 the Board was run by his brother, James, Duke of York the Lord High Admiral, and James' private secretary, Sir William Coventry MP, and Sir William Penn MP, for whom a new position had been created, making him over the fleet at sea.
Sandwich volunteered to fight in the Second Dutch War in order to earn back his place which he had let slip last year (James was threatened by his competence and popularity with the seamen; Coventry just didn't like him).
Pepys was Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board, and not a Commissioner.
The Commissioners of the Navy Board did the admin work:
Sir George Carteret, an impeccable royalist whose service at sea had begun under Charles I, was Treasurer.
Sir John Mennes, whose naval career went back to the 1620s. He had fought with Prince Rupert -- probably against William Penn, was the Comptroller. (In January 1664 we find out he has a shaking condition, possibly Parkinson's, so I suspect Pepys does all the work, and he signs off on it.)
Sir William Batten, a professional who had served on both sides during the civil war, was the surveyor, with particular responsibility for the dockyards and the design, building and repair of ships.
Sir William Penn MP had the brief to be interested in every aspect of the Board's work, and owed his appointment to his years of experience as a naval commander. Given James' inexperienced at sea, Penn will sail with him and tell him what to do. He has gout and is away from work a lot.
Peter Pett, the master-shipwright at Chatham, had served Cromwell; but no change of government could unseat the Pett family which had a monopoly of shipbuilding in the Thames yards for several generations.
Sir William, 2nd Viscount Brouncker was appointed as a Commissioner in December 1664. He seemed interested in everything, but Pepys has not told us of a particular portfolio. Probably an extra set of eyes for the war effort.
Capt. John Taylor was appointed as a Navy Commissioner to Harwich on Nov. 1, 1664. -- Which leads me to think there were probably Commissioners at Plymouth, Portsmouth and other major Naval ports throughout the country. Pepys hasn't reported doing anything with them that I can recall.
Have I missed any one?
About Wednesday 11 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
THE DIARY OF JOHN EVELYN 1665.
http://brittlebooks.library.illin…
9th January, 1664/65. To Deal.—
"10th. To Sandwich, a pretty town, about two miles from the sea. The Mayor and officers of the Customs were very diligent to serve me.
"I visited the forts in the way, and returned that night to Canterbury.
"11th January, 1665. To Rochester, when I took order to settle officers at Chatham."
Evelyn is organizing the care for wounded and sick seamen, and anticipated prisoners taken in the upcoming Second Anglo-Dutch War. He doesn't seem to be having a hard time with the cold.
About Wednesday 11 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
Tony Eldridge evidently didn't know that "the Straights" refers to the Straights of Gibraltar.
About Sunday 8 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earl…
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection)
Sunday 8 January 1664/65
Jan. 8. A very cold time; god good to me and mine in many mercies - our family abroad again, to god be glory; news stronger of a dutch war.
About Sunday 1 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earl…
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection)
Jan: 1 1664/65: Began the new year in the Sabbath work, wherein god good to me, the season good wintery, I had my company at church and praises to god for our liberty to walk abroad.
About Tuesday 10 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
THE DIARY OF JOHN EVELYN 1665.
http://brittlebooks.library.illin…
"9th January, 1665. To Deal.—
"10th. To Sandwich, a pretty town, about two miles from the sea. The Mayor and officers of the Customs were very diligent to serve me. I visited the forts in the way, and
returned that night to Canterbury."
Evelyn is touring the south coast making arrangements for the care of sick and wounded seamen, and Dutch prisoners, when the war finally starts.
About Tuesday 10 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
It occurs to me that young Edward doesn't want to come home to a war, so he asked De Prata to tell his father that he wants to continue his studies. That way he could say "Yes Sir" to his dad as we saw yesterday.
About Monday 9 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
cgs's link for the Second African Expedition no longer works. I found this one which has a good section of information:
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Rob…
About Monday 9 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
The picture of Belasyse in his orange suit on Wikipedia makes me wish once more that we had a picture of Pepys in his red Court suit.
About John Belasyse (1st Baron Belasyse)
San Diego Sarah • Link
John, 1st Baron Belasyse MP PC (24 June 1614 – 10 September 1689) was a Royalist, closet Roman Catholic, English nobleman, conspirator and soldier. Belasyse was one of the first members of the Royalist underground organisation The Sealed Knot. During the Interregnum, Belasyse was in frequent communication with Charles II and his followers in Holland. After the Restoration, Belasyse was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire (1660–1673) and Governor of Hull (1661-1673), while from 1665 to 1666 he held the posts of Governor of Tangier and Captain-General of the forces in Africa. Belasyse was married three times, and had children with his first and third wives. His first wife was Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Boteler. His second wife was Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Crane, 1st Baronet, and widow of Sir William Airmine, 2nd Baronet, who died August 11, 1662. His third wife was Anne, daughter of John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester, who died in 1694.
About Sunday 11 December 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thanks Chris. My English teacher at college wrote on my report card that I speak good English, but it's a shame I don't know why. Many years later that remains true.
About Friday 6 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
With the inevitable war looming, Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchinbrook isn't the only son being recalled from their educational years abroad. No one wants a son to be held hostage by the Dutch or French. Also, with the probability of the French being pulled into the fray, the route home isn't that obvious. I'd also ask my dad's advice. Maybe Edward should go to Malaga or Lisbon and catch a ride with on a navy ship?
About Thursday 5 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
Tomorrow is 12th Night. For the entire holiday season Bess has been stuck at home, cavorting with the staff. Reestablishing control and respect will take a little doing.
About Wednesday 4 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
This morning I find this detail from our own Encyclopedia:
"Ashmole records the birth of the Earl of Oxford's son by [Hester Davenport], April 17, 1664, which shows that the liaison continued. The child was called Aubrey Vere. — Ward's Diary, p. 131."
So, considering Pepys own words, "Lay long, and then up and to my Lord of Oxford’s, but his Lordshipp was in bed at past ten o’clock: and, Lord helpe us! so rude a dirty family I never saw in my life."
I think Pepys yesterday saw the Earl and not much else besides a small house. Today he finds his Lordship and "the Countess" in bed, and baby Aubrey creating a ruckus upstairs. After a few (in)discrete words with the groom at the front door, Pepys discovers this household isn't what it should be. I don't say "footman" because a small house probably wouldn't accommodate one, but Oxford would have one to look after his horses.
If the actress-Countess wasn't big on housekeeping, that would explain "rude and dirty family".
About Wednesday 4 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
I found out why Pepys thought the Oxford household "dirty":
Taken from https://thehistoryofparliament.wo…
Sometime in the early 1660s, Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, married the popular actress, Hester Davenport. Or did he? There is little doubt that a wedding took place; the question is, was it sufficient to create a legally-valid marriage?
Actresses had a dubious moral reputation at the time, but Hester Davenport refused to give in to Oxford’s advances unless they were married. She wore a white satin gown decorated with silver ribbons for their wedding in the dining room of a chandler’s shop in a somewhat insalubrious street near what is now London’s Northumberland Avenue.
The wedding was conducted by a man dressed as a clergyman. Later rumors suggested he was actually one of Oxford’s servants, described as his groom or trumpeter.
The couple lived together as man and wife, and they had a son together. Hester Davenport was acknowledged as the Countess of Oxford.
Until recently historians believed that before the passage of Hardwicke’s Marriage Act in 1753 such a union constituted a genuine marriage – one that would be recognized as legal under common law. (That belief has been exploded by the research of Rebecca Probert.)
Accordingly when Oxford married Diana Kirk at Whitehall in January 1672, in an Anglican ceremony conducted by his chaplain, no one questioned that this was a legal marriage even though Hester Davenport was alive and still calling herself the Countess of Oxford.
An action in the church courts in the mid-1680s confirmed that Hester Davenport and Oxford had gone through a ceremony, but failed to establish that it had been performed by a genuine clergyman.
Hester Davenport was unable to prove she was anything other than a discarded mistress. She did not accept the result, even after losing an appeal to the court of arches, and continued to call herself the Countess of Oxford and, insist their son was legitimate, attempted to establish him as the heir to the earldom.
Hester Davenport remained single until Oxford died in the spring of 1703 when she married the Flemish merchant Peter Hoet.
Sadly the earldom died with Aubrey de Vere -- I wonder why he did not recognize Hester's son before he died? Oh, that would have admitted he was a bigamist, I suppose.
About Harwich, Essex
San Diego Sarah • Link
Capt. John Taylor was appointed as Navy Commissioner to Harwich on Nov. 1, 1664, http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Sir William Batten and Sir John Robinson objected after-the-fact to the appointment because he was a fanatic.
Then on 19 December 1664 Mr. Coventry had "to vindicate himself before the Duke and us, being all there, about the choosing of Taylor for Harwich" -- http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… , because a hold had been put on sending Capt. John Taylor there until that day's rather pro forma proceedings.
Later in December 1664 Sir William Batten obtained a patent from Charles II to provide two lighthouses at Harwich. He left on January 4, 1665.
No wonder it was so important for Coventry and the Duke of York to make a point that Capt. Taylor was their choice and make Batten reveal his objections first. No doubt they had to work together to build those vital lighthouses.
About Tuesday 3 January 1664/65
San Diego Sarah • Link
So Sir William Batten is off to Harwick to build his fortune. Remember who is the new Navy Commissioner there?
Capt. John Taylor was appointed as Navy Commissioner to Harwich on Nov. 1, 1664, http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Sir William Batten and Sir John Robinson objected after-the-fact to the appointment because he was a fanatic.
The on 19 December 1664 Mr. Coventry had "to vindicate himself before the Duke and us, being all there, about the choosing of Taylor for Harwich" -- http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… , because a hold had been put on sending Capt. John Taylor there until that day's rather pro forma proceedings.
Now we hear that in December 1664 Sir William Batten obtained a patent from Charles II to provide two lighthouses at Harwich. He leaves on January 4, 1665.
No wonder it was so important for Coventry and the Duke of York to make a point that Capt. Taylor was their choice and make Batten reveal his objections first. Tee Hee ... they are going to have to work together now.
About Thursday 15 December 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Got it ... thanks! -- now to keep all those Barbara Villiers straight in my noggin.