William Paston (1528 - 1610)

Born 1528 in Paston, Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Husband of Frances (Clere) Paston — married 5 May 1551 in Paston, Norfolk, England

Descendants

Died 20 Oct 1610 at about age 82 in Oxnead, Norfolk, England

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Biography

William Paston was born in Norfolk, England.

Sir William Paston, the son of Erasmus Paston MP, and Mary his wife the daughter of Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg, Norfolk. When William's father, died in 1540, he became his grandfather Sir William Paston's heir. ^[1][2]

On 5 May 1551, he married Frances Clere, daughter of Sir Thomas Clere of Stokesby, Norfolk. ^[2][3]

Children:

1. Christopher Paston
2. Wolfstan Paston
3. Anne Paston
4. Eleanor Paston
5. Frances Paston
6. Gertrude Paston

Sir William died on 20 Oct 1610 at the age of 82. ^[2] He was placed in his grand tomb at St. Nicholas in North Walsham, Norfolk. ^[4] He had hired John Keyes, a master freemason from London 3 years earlier to erect his tomb. His friend Sir Thomas Knyvette wrote the epitaph for William's tomb. ^[5]

The epitaph of Sir William Paston

"Pietati et beneficentiæ sacrum—Obdormit hic in domino Gulielmus Paslonus eques auratus, antiquâ et nobili stirpe ortus. Cognatione, nobilissimis familiis, conjunctus. Hospitahtate per annos quinquaginta quinqe, ei post mortem viginti duraturâ, clarus. Ad reparandas cathedrales ecclesias Bathoniæ et Norvicj, collegiumq; Gonevilli et Caij munificus. Pauperibus Villæ Yarmuthiæ beneficus. Qui scholam in hoc loco ad informandam juventutem, concionesq; ad divinum verbum disseminandum, redditibus in perpetuum assignatis, pie instituit, et mortalitatis memor hoc monumentum certâ spe in Christo resurgendi sibi vivus posuit, Ao. Dni. 1608, ætatis suæ 80"^[5]

" Sacred to Piety and Beneficence. Here rests the Lord William Paston, an illustrious Knight sprung from an ancient and noble stock, most noble in his descent and family connections, famed for a hospitality of fifty-five years standing, which is to continue twenty years after his death, munificent in repairing the cathedral churches of Bath and Norwich, and Gonville and Caius College; a benefactor to the poor of the town of Yarmouth, who has piously founded by perpetual endowment a school in this place for the instruction of youth and the propagation of the Word of God: and he, mindful of his mortality, has set up in his lifetime, in the year of the Lord, 1608, this monument, in the sure hope of rising again in Christ." ^[2][4]

Research Notes

Sir William Paston (1528–1610), was knighted on 22 Aug. 1578 and is famous as the founder of North Walsham grammar school. He succeeded to the property of his grandfather in 1540 and of his uncle Clement in 1597. In the latter year he removed to the new house which Sir Clement Paston had built at Oxnead; and Caistor, which the Paston family had such difficulty keeping in the fifteenth century, suffered to fall into ruin. He died on 20 Oct 1610 and was buried in the church at North Walsham. A portrait is at North Walsham, and another said to be by Zucchero, was at Empingham Rectory, Rutland. He settled 40l. per annum on the school, with 10l. for a weekly lecturer; he was also a benefactor to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He had married, on 5 May 1551, Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Clere of Stokesby, Norfolk, and by her, he left, issue, Christopher, his heir, who became insane in 1611, and who was the great-grandfather of Robert Paston, first earl of Yarmouth

Sources

1. ↑ England. College of Arms, et al.. The Visitation of Norfolk In the Year 1563, Vol. 2, Pg. 272. Norwich: Printed by Miller and Leavins, 1878-1895. babel.hathitrust.org
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Francis Blomefield. "Hundred of South Erpingham: Oxnead," in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 6, (London: W Miller, 1807), 477-496. British History Online, accessed December 15, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol6/pp477-496.
3. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N2P2-T6T : 13 March 2020), Willm. Paston, 1551.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} thisispaston.co.uk/williamtomb.html The Tomb of Sir William Paston knt
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Blomefield, Francis. "Tunstede Hundred: North Walsham. An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 11. London: W Miller, 1810. 73-79. British History Online. Web. 7 May 2020. Description and epitaph on the Tomb of Sir Willaim Paston knt

• Judith Ford, ‘Paston, Sir William (1528–1610)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p31882.htm#i318815
• Reports and Papers of the Architectural and Archaeological Societies of the Counties of Lincoln and Northampton (Savill and Edwards, London, 1850) Vol. 1, Page 92.
• "Letters and Papers: November 1539, 21-25," in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14 Part 2, August-December 1539, ed. James Gairdner and R H Brodie (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1895), 196-208. British History Online, accessed August 10, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol14/no2/pp196-208.
• Sir William Paston: "Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22"
  London, England: Oxford University Press; Volume: Vol 22; Page: 1010
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1981 #101072 (accessed 6 May 2022)
  Name: Sir William Paston of Norfolk, England; Birth Date: 1528; Death Date: 1610.
• Le Neve, John. Monumenta Anglicana (W. Bowyer, London, 1717) Vol. 1, Page 20-21. In North Walsham Church in Norfolk.