Izaak Walton (bef. 1593 - 1683)

Descendants

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early Life 1.2 Family and Early Publishing 1.3 Retreat to the Country 1.4 The Compleat Angler 1.5 Later Life 1.6 Death, Bequests and Memorials 1.7 Legacy 2 Research Notes 3 Bibliography 4 Sources 5 Acknowledgements

Biography

Early Life

Izaak was born in about 1593 and was baptised on 21 September 1593 at St Mary's Church, Stafford, Staffordshire.^[1][2] He was the son of Jervis (or Gervase) Walton and Anne Griffin. Izaak's date of birth has been traditionally thought of as 9 August 1593, but the event went unrecorded, and that traditional date stems from a mis-reading of Izaak's will.^[3]

Izaak's father was the keeper of a Stafford alehouse, and died in February 1596/7 when the boy was only three years old. Eighteen months later, Anne married again, to another alehouse keeper by the last name of Burne or Bourne, who would later (in 1610) take over the Swann Inn.^[3][4]

There is no record Izaak's early schooling, but presumably he attended the elementary school at St Bertelin's Chapel, St Mary's Church, Stafford.^[3] At age 18, he was sent to London to apprentice with Thomas Grinsell, the husband of his sister Anne.^[5]

There are conflicting claims in various sources as to his occupation. Some state that he apprenticed as a linendraper (a wholeseller or retailer of linen),^[3] while others list him as an ironmonger (a retail seller of household and kitchen metal products).^[6] Others suggest that he was employed as a linendraper by the Ironmongers Company,^[4]which led to the confusion.

In any case, he was quite successful. At first his shop was a small stall in the upper storey of Gresham's Royal Burse in Cornhill, but by 1614 he had moved to a shop in Fleet Street, two doors west of Chancery Lane.^[6] Izaak deliberately associated himself with men of learning in London, and was quite well read for having come from such modest means.^[7] By 1619, Walton was also publishing his poetry.^[5]

Family and Early Publishing

On 27 December 1626, Izaak married Rachell Floud at St Mildred's Church in Canterbury, Kent,^[8] a great-great-niece of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the leaders of the English Reformation.^[6] It would be a marriage marked by repeated tragedy. Together, they had six sons (or seven, see Research Notes), none of whom lived past the age of four, and then Rachell herself died at the age of 35 on 22 August 1640. Their sons included:

1. Izaak, b. 1627, d. 1631
2. John, b. 1629, d. 1630
3. Thomas, b. 1631, d. 1631
4. Henry, b. 1632, d. 1632
5. Henry, b. 1634, d. 1634
6. William, b. 1635, d. 1637

Walton's house and shop at 120 Chancery Lane

From 1627 to 1644, the Walton family lived at 120 Chancery Lane,^[4] near St. Dunstan's-in-the-West Church in London, and he became active in Parish affairs, serving as a verger and churchwarden, and drew close to the vicar, John Donne, who was an avid angler, and who introduced Izaak to the sport. When Donne died in 1631, some of his poems were published a couple of years later, and Izaak wrote “An Elegie” for the book. With its success, he then wrote a short biography The Life and Death of Dr. Donne which accompanied a collection of Donne's sermons in 1640.^[7][4]

Retreat to the Country

The notoriety which came from his publishing gave him a public voice. When the English Civil War broke out in 1642, he publicly identified as a Royalist and sided with King Charles I.^[7] In 1644, after the Royalist setback at Battle of Marston Moor, Izaak retired and left London, moving to Clerkenwell, to be closer to nature.^[9] Donne had introduced Izaak to a number of eminent churchmen, including Dr. Hales of Eton, Dr. Henry King and Sir Henry Wotton, and he spent much of his time in their company.^[5]

Wotton's aspect especially seemed to inspire Izaak, and he later wrote of him:

"...and I do easily believe that peace, and patience, and a calm content did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton, because I know, that when he was beyond seventy years of age he made this description a part of the present pleasure that possest him, as he sate quietly in a Summers evening on a bank a fishing."^[10]

Wotton and Walton shared a deep love of angling, and it was another Wotton quote that Izaak recorded in A Compleat Angler which reveals the calming, therapeutic quality about the sport Walton, with all the tragedies he'd suffered, found particularly captivating:

"'Twas an imployment for his idle time, which was not idly spent; for Angling was after tedious study, a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a divertion of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts..."^[10]

Izaak Walton's Halfhead Farm, Shallowford

After seven years alone, dealing with the loss of his entire family, Izaak married Ann Ken (or Kenn/Keen) at St. James' Church, Clerkenwell, London on 23 April 1647;^[11] she was the half-sister of Thomas Ken, the Bishop of Bath and Wells.^[4] Together they had three children:

1. Anne, b. 1647/8^[12]
2. Izaak, b. 1650,^[13] d. 1650^[14]
3. Izaak, b. 1651

In 1651, Izaak published the biography The Life of Sir Henry Wotton^[7] about his good friend and fishing companion, who was also a diplomat, Member of Parliament and author; Wotton had died in 1639.^[15]

That same year, with the defeat of the Royalists at the Battle of Worcester, Charles II sought to flee to the Continent. He first hid out in Shropshire, then disguised as a servant, he tried to make his way to Bristol, but had to get rid of the crown jewels. The jewel known as the "Lesser George", was passed from loyalist to loyalist, including Izaak Walton, who smuggled it to London and handed it off to Charles II's Groom-of-the Chamber Colonel Blague, who upon his escape from the Tower of London, took it to Charles II on the Continent.^[7][16][5]

Title page for the first edition of The Compleat Angler

Since meeting Donne years before, Izaak spent countless hours pursuing the tranquility of fly-fishing in the chalk streams of Staffordshire. He captured his feelings about the "sport" in the book The Compleat Angler, or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation, while living in Shallowford. He first published it when he was age 60 in 1653. The first edition sold out almost immediately with minimal advertisement.

The Compleat Angler

The book was a sort of living manuscript to Izaak, and he continually revised and republished it. The second edition was completely rewritten and enlarged, and received an additional character.^[5] The book was republished at least four times during the next few years.^[17]

His feelings about the sport and the wildlands that the streams flowed through could be summed up by the line in the book, “God did never make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling”.

In the educational magazine The R. I. Schoolmaster, a couple hundred years later in 1859, Izaak's life was described as "Few men’s lives present so perfect a picture of quiet contentment, as does Izaak Walton’s. Living during the stormiest, and the gayest periods of modern times in England he yet allowed his serene mind neither to be ruffled by commotion, nor to be intoxicated with pleasure."^[9] While the quote refers to the stormy political times, the statement is even more poignant when considering that Izaak suffered the loss of seven children and his first wife. To find that kind of contentment within both his faith and his fishing is beyond remarkable.

In May 1655, he purchased Halfhead Farm from Walter Noel in Shallowford for £350. The property included a farmhouse, a cottage, courtyard, garden and nine fields; he largely rented it out to tenants. Izaak spent much time fishing on Shallowford Brook, now known as the River Meece, which bordered some of his fields.^[3][4]

Later Life

Izaak became close friends with Bishop George Morley while the Bishop was serving in Worchester, and worked as Morley's steward, or business agent.^[3] In 1660, after the Restoration of Charles II, Morley was offered the bishopric at Winchester, and Izaak followed him, and lived out rest of his life in Dome Alley in Winchester.^[7]

In 1662, Ann died and was buried in Worcester Cathedral.^[6] A year later, Izaak began the two-year work of writing The Life of Richard Hooker, which he dedicated to Morley.

He split his time between Morley and Dome Alley, and spending time with his dear friend and fishing companion George Cotton at the latter's small fishing house on the River Dove. The retreat, known as 'The Temple', was built in 1674 in honour of his friend and their initials are carved in stone about the doorway of the Grade II listed stone-built structure. [1] He convinced Cotton in 1676 to write his own treatise on fishing, which was included in a later edition of The Compleat Angler.^[5]

In 1678, Izaak's only surviving daughter Anne married Dr. William Hawkins, a prebendary of Winchester, and Izaak began spending time in their home as well.^[5] Anne and William had a son, John Hawkins^[3] and possibly a daughter (see Research Notes)

Death, Bequests and Memorials

Izaak died at the age of 90 at his daughter's home during a severe frost on 15 December 1683,^[5] . He was interred in the floor of Silkstede Chapel, part of Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire.^[18]

Izaak had written out his will four months before his passing, from 9 August to 16 August 1683, and it was executed on the 24th. He took pains to declare his faith in God, "to whome I shall give an acount of all my actions, which are not to be justified, but I hope pardoned, for the merits of my saviour Jesus", and went on to carefully align himself with "in all poynts of faith, as the Church of England now professeth."^[19]

Izaak initially left Halfhead Farm, at Shallowford, to his son Izaak, with the proviso that he marry before the age of 41, and if he didn't (and he didn't), then the farm was to be entrusted to the Corporation of Stafford as a charitable bequest to the town.^[3] From the income and rent generated by the farm, "two boys, the sons of honest and poor parents, to be apprentices to some tradesmen or handicraftmen, to the intent that the said boys might the better afterwards get their own living." In addition, an annual bequest of £5 was to be be given "to some maid servant that should have attained the age of 21 years, or to some honest poor man's daughter, to be paid to her on her marriage." Of the remaining rent, 20 shillings was to be given to the mayor of Stafford, and the rest was to be used to buy coal for the poor of the town.^[19]

At the time of his passing, maintained rooms at Farnham Castle, and he gave to Izaak, "all my books, not yet given, at Farnham Castell; and a deske of prints and pickters; also a cabinet nere my beds head, in wch are som littell things that he will valew, tho of noe greate worth." He had other properties as well. A farm lease in Norington was left to Izaak to collect the revenue upon. He held a 50 year lease on a house and shop in Paternoster Row, the heart of the publishing district of London, as well as a house in Chancery Lane, London; both were left to his daughter and son-in-law. "^[19]

Several other relatives were remembered, with Izaak being charged to "be kinde to his Ante Beacham, and his ant Rose Ken, by alowing the first about fiftie shilling a yeare, in or for bacon and cheise, not more, and paying 4 a yeare toward the bordin of her son’s dyut to Mr John Whitehead for his Ante Ken, I desyre him to be kinde to her acording to her necessitie and his owne abillitie; and I comend one of her children, to breide up as I have saide I intend to doe, if he shall be able to doe it, as I know he will; for they be good folke."^[19]

One request specified by Izaak in his will was ignored. Near the bottom of the document, he had written, "I desyre my buriall may be nere the place of my deth, and free from any ostentation or charg, but privately." Where he is interred in the floor of the chapel is a large black marble marker which reads,

"Here resteth the body of Mr Isaac Walton who dyed the 15th of December 1683. /Alas hee's gone before, / Gone to returne noe more / Our panting breaths aspire, / After their aged sire / Whose wellspent life did last, / Full ninety years and past / But now he hath begun, / That which will nere be done / Crownd with eternal bliss, / We wish our souls with his. / VOTIS MODESTIS SIC FLERUNT LIBERI"^[19]

In addition to the floor monument, there are a pair of stained glass windows in the Cathedral's Chapel of St John the Evangelist and the Fisherman Apostles depicts Walton; they were donated to the Church in 1914 given in 1914 by the fishermen of England and America.^[17] and is visited by anglers from all over the world.^[20]

In St Mary's Church in Stafford where Izaak was baptized, a marble bust of the author was purchased by subscription and installed in 1878.^[3]

Since 1924, Izaak's Halfhead cottage has housed a museum dedicated to his memory.^[21][22]

Legacy

It would be an understatement to say that The Compleat Angler had an influence after Izaak's death. The book has become the most reprinted work in the English language after the Bible.^[17]

While it can't necessarily be said that The Compleat Angler led to the modern best-selling book A River Runs Through It by Norman MacClean (and it's Acadamy Award-winning film adaptation), it certainly inspired aspects of it, and is discussed by two of MacClean's characters.^[23]

In his essay "Religion and fly fishing: taking Norman Maclean seriously", Theodore Weinberger highlights the interplay between religion and fly-fishing in both works.^[24] In a footnote to the essay, he observes:

Walton has the Angler say, "And it is observable, that it was our Saviours will, that these our four Fishermen should have a priority of nomination in the Catalogue of his twelve Apostles, (Matt. 10.), as namely first St. Peter, St. Andrew. St. James and St. John, and then the rest in their order." Reverend Maclean, the narrator's father in "A River Runs Through It," similarly speaks about "Christ's disciples being fishermen"

In the United States, the Izaak Walton Leauge was formed in 1922 by a group of hunters and anglers who banded together to conserve wildlands being threatened by pollution during the industrial revolution. They took their name and inspiration from "the revered early conservationist" Izaak Walton.^[25]

Research Notes

• Izaak's first name had numerous spelling variations, including Isach in his baptism record.
• While most sources list only six sons with Rachell, the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Dictionary of National Biography states that they had seven.^[7]
• Likewise, most sources list the year of Rachell's death as 1640, while Britannica lists it as 1642.
• Izaak's grandson John Hawkins married Anne Wettenhall.^[10] In Izaak's will, he left a trunk of linen to his "grand-doughter Anne Hawkins"^[19] It is unclear if the recipient of his trunk is John's wife, or if this indicates that he had a natural-born grand-daughter named Anne.

Bibliography

Izaak Walton's published works include:

• 1631: "An Elegie", introduction included in the Poems of John Donne
• 1640: "The Life and Death of John Donne", biographical sketch included in the volume of Donne's LXXX Sermons. (Revised, and published separately, 1658.)
• 1651: The Life of Sir Henry Wotton, a preface to Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (further editions appeared in 1654, 1672, and 1685).
• 1653: The Compleat Angler, or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation; revised and enlarged through several subsequent editions, with his final rewrite being published in 1676.
• 1665: The Life of Mr. Richard Hooker
• 1670: The Life of Mr. George Herbert
• 1670: Walton's Lives, the biographies of Donne, Wotton, Hooker and Herbert collected and published in a single volume.
• 1678: The Life of Robert Sanderson

Sources

1. ↑ "England, Staffordshire, Church Records, 1538-1944," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL3P-ZXZ2 : 8 July 2020), Jarvis Wallton in entry for Isach Wallton, 22 Sep 1593; citing Baptism, Stafford, Staffordshire, England, Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Service, Stafford; FHL microfilm 7,605,027.
2. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5LC-VCN : 20 September 2020), Isach Walton, 1593.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8} The Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Stafford, Izaak Walton: The Compleat Anglican, accessed from archive.org on 30 May 2022.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Wikipedia contributors, "Izaak Walton," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Izaak_Walton&oldid=1088921340 (accessed June 6, 2022).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7} Wikisource contributors, "Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walton, Izaak," Wikisource , https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Walton,_Izaak&oldid=10753248 (accessed May 30, 2022).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} Wikisource contributors, "1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Walton, Izaak," Wikisource , https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Walton,_Izaak&oldid=12142495 (accessed May 30, 2022).
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6} Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Izaak Walton." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 11, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Izaak-Walton.
8. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NNCN-N2S : 13 March 2020), Isaack Walton, 1626.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} “Izaak Walton: the Contented Angler.” The R. I. Schoolmaster 5, no. 4 (April 1859): 104-105. quoted by Lyon and Turnbull
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} Walton, Izaak, The Compleat Angler, First Edition, 1653.
11. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V52S-G9Q : 12 March 2020), Isaack Walton, 1647.
12. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J38C-7ZF : 21 September 2020), Ann in entry for Ann Walton, 1648.
13. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQ1Z-LZV : 21 September 2020), Isaac Walton, 1650.
14. ↑ "England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSJ7-TDJW?cc=3734475 : 15 October 2021), > image 1 of 1; London Metropolitan Archives, England.
15. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Henry Wotton," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Wotton&oldid=1088515231 (accessed May 27, 2022).
16. ↑ Ashmole, Elias. The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. United Kingdom: A. Bell, 1715, page 183. Available at Google Books
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1 17.2} "Izaak Walton in Hampshire", Hampshire History Online, accessed 27 May 2022
18. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22421/isaac-walton : accessed 27 May 2022), memorial page for Isaac Walton (9 Aug 1593–15 Dec 1683), Find a Grave Memorial ID 22421, citing Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, City of Winchester, Hampshire, England ; Maintained by Find a Grave .
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5} Izaak Walton League of America, Transcription of Izaak Walton's Will Accessed 31 May 2022.
20. ↑ "Famous People, Winchester Cathedral website, accessed 27 May 2022.
21. ↑ BBC, Izaak Walton Remembered Accessed 5 June 2022.
22. ↑ Izaak Walton League of America, The Cottage, accessed 5 June 2022.
23. ↑ Excerpt from A River Runs Through It with reference to The Compleat Angler
24. ↑ Weinberger, Theodore, "Religion and fly fishing: taking Norman Maclean seriously"
25. ↑ Izaak Walton League - A Century of Conservation Leadership produced by the Izaak Walton League, accessed 27 May 2022

See also:

• The Izaak Walton League official website

Acknowledgements

Biography improved as part of the England Project Orphan Trail by Alan Radecki