John (Washington) de Washington (abt. 1346 - abt. 1408)

Born about 1346 in Warton, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Eleanor (Garnet) Lancaster — married 1363 (to 1370) in Westmorland, England

Descendants

Died about 1408 at about age 62 in Tewitfield, Warton, Lancashire, England

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Biography

This profile is part of the Washington Name Study.

John de Washington

Birth: Abt. 1346 • Warton, Lancashire, England

Death: Abt. 1408 • Tewitfield, Warton, Lancashire, England

Father: Robert de Washington (1296-1348)

Mother: Agnes Gentyl (1300-abt. 1380)

Marriage & Family

Spouse: Eleanor "Alma" (de Lancaster) Garnet (1343–1370)

Children:

1. John de Washington (1359–1423)

Acquisition of Washington Properties & Title

The village of Washington (anciently Wessington) is not far from the River Wear, four miles distant from Chester-le-Street.^[1]

About 1180, the Manor of Washington was acquired by William de Hertburne.^[2] Having given up his former possessions at Hartburn (poss. Hartburn in Durham)^[3] he acquired the right to call himself 'William de Wessington' instead of 'William de Hertburne.'^[4]

Eventually, the place name became a title, either by he or his son. The title of William de Wassinton is named as such on an Exchequer Roll of 1211 in the Public Record Office.^[4]

The family name of Washington or Wessington is known to have survived at the village of Washington itself until a few years from the end of the fourteenth century. For the first two or three generations, the name of William de Wessington occurs in a number of documents, presumably as that of successive heads of the family. But by the time of the Battle of Lewes in 1264, it was Sir Walter de Wessington who held the title. ^[4]

In an undated 13th-century deed in Durham Cathedral library, there is a seal containing a "lion passant within a circular legend" naming it as 'the seal of Walter, son of William de Wessing­ton. The document indicates Walter (the same as the one who fought at Lewes), was married to Diana Dilston. He appears he had three sons by this marriage: Walter, William, and John. All of these sons were consequently mentioned in many documents, linking up into the last two decades of the thirteenth century.^[4]

The property at Washington descended through the family of Walter the 2nd. The family of William came into possession of the property at Helton Flechan in Westmorland. It is this branch upon whose seal the celebrated device of 'stars and stripes' (heraldically two bars and three mullets) is first seen to have been used by a Washington. This is in 1346: about sixty years later there are similar seals on documents in Lancashire signed by descendants of the third brother, John.^[4]

It was from John that the Sulgrave and Virginia family was apparently derived. By his marriage in 1260 with Elizabeth de Burnsheved he acquired land in Westmorland, in several parishes near Kendal. His son Robert married into the Strickland family, and fought in 1297 at the Battle of Stirling. Robert also acquired half the manor of Carnforth in Lancashire, and his son, another Robert, who married Agnes le Gentyl, added to the property from other parishes. His grandson (or possibly great-grandson), John de Washington, was married some time after the middle of the 14th century to Joan Croft, and acquired through her Tewitfield in the Manor of Warton, and other lands.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Source: Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons
2. ↑ Source: Boldon Buke, a contemporary manuscript preserved in Durham Cathedral library
3. ↑ Source: Townships: Carnforth
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Source: Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons

• Source: From Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons by H. Clifford Smith, London 1933 pp 46-49. https://web.archive.org/web/20140320015214/http://www.sulgravemanor.org.uk/pages/53/early_years.asp

• https://web.archive.org/web/20121009230938/http://www.lawrencefamhis.com/ashton-o/p229.htm

• 'Townships: Carnforth', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 (1914), pp. 165-170. Date accessed: 18 December 2011. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53288&strquery=%22edmund lawrence"