Elizabeth (Smythe) Fanshawe (abt. 1573 - abt. 1631)

Born about 1573 in City of London, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Henry Fanshawe — married 21 Jul 1595 in St Gabriel Fenchurch, City of London, England

Descendants

Died about Jun 1631 at about age 58 in Ware, Hertfordshire, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Elizabeth Smythe was the youngest daughter of Thomas (Customer) Smythe and Alice Judde.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

She was baptised Elizabeth Smithe on 10 Feb 1572/1573 at All Hallows, Lombard Street, City of London.^[6]

The portrait below of Elizabeth Smythe was sold at auction in 2013. The portrait is believed to date from 1579-1580 when a series of portraits of family members were painted by Ketel.^[7] On the painting is written aetatis 7 suggesting that she was born around 1572 which ties in with the record of baptism.

Elizabeth Smythe age 7

In the will of her father Thomas (Customer) Smythe, the will made on 22 May 1591 and proved on 29 October 1591^[8][9] Elizabeth was bequeathed £1500.

Elizabeth was also a beneficiary of the will of her mother, Dame Alice, the will made on 10 Jul 1592.^[10]

Marriage

Mistress Elizabeth Smyth married Henry Fanshawe, gentleman, by Licence on 21 Jul 1595 at St Gabriel Fenchurch, City of London.^[11]

In 1597 Elizabeth, recorded as Mistress Fanshawe the younger, was granted a legacy of £120 following the death of her youngest brother Simon Smythe.^[12]

Elizabeth along with her brother Sir Richard Smythe and her son Thomas Fanshawe were the Executors of the will of her husband Sir Henry Fanshawe, kt., Remembrancer of the Exchequer, the will made on 3 Nov 1613 and proved on 01 Apr 1616.^[13]

In the memoirs of her daughter in law Lady Ann Fanshawe^[14] it was stated that :

[Lady Elizabeth Fanshawe] "being left a widow at thirty-nine years of age, handsome, with a full fortune, all her children provided for, kept herself a widow, and out of her jointure and revenue purchased six hundred pounds a year for the younger children of her eldest son ; besides, she added five hundred pounds apiece to the portions of her younger children".

Children

The children of Dame (or Lady) Elizabeth (Smythe) Fanshawe and Sir Henry Fanshawe:^[15]

• Thomas [1st Viscount Fanshawe of Dromore] (born about 1596; died 1665)^[16][17]
• Alice (about 1597-1667; married Sir Capel Bedell)
• Mary (about 1599-unknown; married William Newce)
• Henry (1600-died before 1630)
• Elizabeth (about 1602-1657?)
• John (about 1603-unknown)
• [Sir] Simon (1604-1680)
• Walther [a daughter] (1605-1606)
• Joan (about 1606-1672; married Sir William Boteler and Sir Philip Warwick)^[18]
• [Sir] Richard [1st Baronet Fanshawe of Donamore] (1608-1666)^[19]
• Anne (1609-1625)
• Michael (1611-1611)

Bequests

Elizabeth was noted in the following wills made by her brothers and sisters:

Robert Smythe: His will made on 01 Dec 1600 and proved on 28 Jan 1600/1601^[20];

Ursula (Smythe) Butler: Her will made in 1619 (no date given) and proved on 11 Jun 1621^[21];

Mary (Smythe) Davy: Her will made on 16 Oct 1620 and proved on 02 Jul 1624^[22];

Sir Thomas Smythe: His will made on 30 January 1621/1622 and proved 12 October 1625^[23]; and

Sir Richard Smythe: His will made on 12 Oct 1627 and proved on 01 Aug 1628.^[24]

She was also noted in the will of her cousin Elizabeth King of Finchley, Middlesex, the will made on 20 Mar 1620/1621 and proved on 21 Feb 1621/1622^[25] and made a bequest of a bason and ewer of silver to the value of £30 in the will of John Chamberlain, gentleman [author of the Chamberlain Letters], in 1627.^[26]

Burial

"Elizabeth Fanshaw the wife of the right worshipfull Sir Henry" was buried on 03 Jun 1631 at Ware, Hertfordshire.^[27][28]

Summary of the Will of Elizabeth Fanshawe 1631

In her will made on 20 Feb 1629/1630 and proved on 02 Jun 1631 she was recorded as Elizabeth Fanshawe widow and late wife of “Sir Henrie Fanshawe knight deceased sometimes Remembrancer to our late Soveraigne Lord Kinge James of his highnes Court of Exchequer”.^[29] Her will was to be interred in the parish church of Ware, Hertfordshire, near to her late husband.

In the will was noted a deed of 20 May 1629 in which Elizabeth had conveyed her lease of the Manor of Dengy alias Dengy Hall in Dengy St Lawrence and Bradwell, Essex, in trust to her son in law Sir Capell Bedle, her nephew Sir Arthur Harris/Herris and her brother in law William Fanshawe esq. The legacies which she then bequeathed in her will were to largely come from the future rents and profits from the Manor of Dengy Hall.

She made significant bequests to:

• her sons John Fanshawe, Simon Fanshawe and Richard Fanshawe;
• her daughters Elizabeth Fanshawe and Joane Fanshawe;
• her son in law William Newce esq. for the use of her grandchildren: Thomas Newce, William Newce, Henry Newce and Clement Newce; and
• Anne Fanshawe the only daughter of her son Sir Thomas Fanshawe Knight of the Bath.

She also made bequests to:

• Sir Capell Bedle Bt;
• her daughter the Lady Bedle;
• her grandchild John Bedle, son of Sir Capell Bedle Bt;
• her daughter Mary Newce;
• her son in law William Newce esq.;
• her daughter in law the Lady Fanshawe;
• her brother William Fanshawe, Sir Arthur Herris and John Ward, three of her foeffes;
• a number of named servants;
• the poor of the parish of Ware, Hertfordshire; and
• the poor of the parish of Christ Church in London.

She was particular about bequeathing her household goods and of note was a suite of damask linen of the story of Judith and Holofernes which she willed to her son John Fanshawe. A linen of the same story (presumably the same item) had been willed by Elizabeth’s mother Alice, to Elizabeth’s sister Joan.

She referred to her kinsman Richard Taylor Esq. for his pains in drawing up her will.

She stated that after the legacies had been paid any residue from the lease of Dengy Hall should be for the use of her son Sir Thomas Fanshawe for his life, and after his death for the benefit of his younger son or sons.

Similarly, any residue from her goods and chattels were willed to her son Sir Thomas Fanshawe.

She appointed as Executors her son Sir Thomas Fanshawe and her son in law Sir Capell Bedle Bt.

See also the Abstract of her will in Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica.^[30]

Sources

1. ↑ The Visitation of Kent. Taken in the Years 1619-1621. The Publications of the Harleian Society Vol XLII. Edited by Robert Hovenden, 1898. Smith Pedigree pp 113-114 Internet Archive.
2. ↑ Visitation of London 1568. Publications of the Harleian Society. Edited by Howard and Armytage. 1869. Smythe Pedigree p 69 Internet Archive.
3. ↑ Visitation of London, 1568: With Additional Pedigrees, 1569-90, the Arms of the City Companies, and a London Subsidy Roll, 1589. Publications of the Harleian Society. Vols 109-110. London H S and Rawlins S W. 1963. Smyth Pedigree pp 17-18.
4. ↑ Stocker, J J. Pedigrees of Smythes of Ostenhangar; Kent; of Smythes of Bidborough and Sutton-at-Hone; and of the Smythes of Viscount Strangford, of Dromore, Ireland. Archæologia Cantiana, being Transactions of the Kent Archæological Society. Vol. XX, 1893, pp 76-81 pdf.
5. ↑ Buckler, Benjamin. Stemmata Chicheleana. Oxford Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1765. See No. 1 and No. 6 Internet Archive.
6. ↑ All Hallows Lombard Street, City of London. Register. Accessed via Ancestry.
7. ↑ Hearn K (1995) Dynasties : painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630. Tate Publishing.
8. ↑ Will of Thomas Smythe of London. 29 Oct 1591. PROB 11/78/226. The National Archives, Kew.
9. ↑ Wadmore, J F. Thomas Smythe, of Westenhanger, Commonly Called Customer Smythe. Archæologia Cantiana, being Transactions of the Kent Archæological Society, vol. XVII, 1887, pp 193-208 pdf.
10. ↑ Will of Alice Smythe, Widow of London. 11 May 1598. PROB 11/91/377. The National Archives, Kew.
11. ↑ St Gabriel Fenchurch, City of London. Register. Image of Register accessed via Ancestry.
12. ↑ Summary of receipts and payments made by the unnamed brother of Simon Smith, deceased, acting as executor. Jul 1597. E 192/1/4. The National Archives, Kew.
13. ↑ 'Fanshawe Wills Part I. Communicated by Edward J Sage Esq. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica Vol II, 1876, pp 280-303. Will of Sir Henry Fanshawe (see pp 296-300) Internet Archive.
14. ↑ Memoirs of Lady Ann Fanshawe. First published by Colburne and Bentley, London 1830. John Lane Edition, 1907.
15. ↑ Visitation of England and Wales. Crisp F A (Ed). Notes. Vol 6, 1906, p 148 Internet Archive.
16. ↑ The Complete Peerage. Vol. V, 1926, p 255 Internet Archive.
17. ↑ Fanshawe, Sir Thomas I (1596-1665), of Warwick Lane, London. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983. HOP.
18. ↑ Warwick, Sir Philip (1609-83), of Westminster and Frognal, Chislehurst, Kent. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983. HOP.
19. ↑ Fanshawe, Sir Richard, 1st Bt. (1608-66), of Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Mdx. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983 HOP.
20. ↑ Will of Robert Smithe, Gentleman of London. 1601. PROB 11/97/37. The National Archives, Kew.
21. ↑ Will of Ursula Boteler, Widow of Biddenham, Bedfordshire. 11 Jun 1621. PROB 11/137/525. The National Archives, Kew.
22. ↑ Will of Mary Davy, Widow. 02 July 1624. PROB 11/144/20. The National Archives, Kew.
23. ↑ Will of Sir Thomas Smithe of London (1625). PROB 11/147/84. The National Archives, Kew.
24. ↑ Will of Sir Richard Smith of Leeds Castle, Kent. 01 August 1628. PROB 11/154/125. The National Archives, Kew.
25. ↑ Will of Elizabeth Kinge, Widow of Finchley, Middlesex. 21 February 1622. PROB 11/139/216. The National Archives, Kew.
26. ↑ The Letters of John Chamberlain. McClure N E (Ed.). Vol 2. Published by the American Philosophical Society, 1939, p 633.
27. ↑ Ware, Hertfordshire. Parish Register. Accessed via findmypast.co.uk.
28. ↑ Fanshawe. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica. Vol I, Part II, 1876, pp 4-15 (see p 7) Internet Archive.
29. ↑ Will of Elizabeth Fanshawe of Ware, Hertfordshire. 02 Jun 1631. PROB 11: Will Registers. 1624-1643. Piece 160: St. John, Quire Numbers 69-138(1631). Accessed via Ancestry.
30. ↑ Fanshawe Wills Part I. Communicated by Edward J Sage Esq. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica. Vol II, 1876, pp 280-303. (see pp 300-303) Internet Archive.