Robert Kemp (1627 - 1710)

Born 2 Feb 1627 in Little Walsingham, Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Kerridge) Kemp — married 15 Jul 1650 (to 1655) in Shelby, Suffolk

Descendants

Died 26 Sep 1710 at age 83 in Gissing, Norfolk, England

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Biography

Sir Robert Kemp was a member of the aristocracy in England.

Sir Robert Kempe (or Kemp) was the son and heir of Robert Kemp, 1st Baronet, and Jane Browne.^[1][2]

Kemp’s ancestors acquired Gissing by marriage in 1324 and sat for Castle Rising and Eye in the reign of Elizabeth. Sir Robert Kemp's father, a courtier, raised a troop of horse for the King in 1642 and was rewarded with a baronetcy, but he fled abroad without taking any part in the Civil War, and his estate, valued at £1,200 p.a., was discharged from sequestration in 1644. He advanced £100 and three horses worth £30 to Parliament in 1646; but after the Restoration Kemp applied for the advowson of Gissing on the plea that his father had been "plundered and sequestered in the service of the late King"

Robert Kemp, the second Baronet, may be said to be the first of this line to establish the spelling of his name without the final "E"; in this he was merely following a custom of the age. The only fixed exception to this change existed in Cornwall, the Kempe family, of which have studiously maintained the older spelling (pg 46, chapter X of Frederick Hitchin-Kemp;s "a general history of the kemp and kempe families etc.....(1902).

He married first to Mary, daughter of Thomas Kerridge of Shelley Hall in Suffolk^[1] and had four children, all who died in their minority.^[2] After her death in June 1655,^[1] he left Antingham for Gissing Hall and then continued to Ubbeston Hall which he acquired in 1657 from his second marriage. He married second to Mary, daughter and sole heiress of John Sone, Gent. of Ubbeston, Suffolk,^[2] on 20 November 1657.^[1]

His second family was baptized at Ubbeston Church, the entries being as follows:

• Mary Kemp, married Sir Charles Blois,^[2] first daughter of Sir Robert and Mary, born 20 March, 1659.
• Jane Kemp, married John Dade,^[2] second daughter of the same, baptized 23 November 1662.
• Sir Robert Kemp,^[2] son of Sir Robert and Mary, bap 25 Jan 1667 at Ubberston, d. 18 Dec 1734 at Ufford, Suffolk; m1. Letitia Kemp, m2. Elizabeth Brand, m3. Martha Blackwell, m4. Amy Phillips, wid. of John Burrough^[1]
• William Kemp,^[2] son of Sir Robert and Mary, baptized 5, December 1675.
• John, died young^[2]

Sir Robert Kemp, second Baronet, was Lord of the Gissing, Flordon, and other family manors for 62 years. Sir Robert tore down Gissing Hall, after the manor had started decaying from past fires and neglect, it had not been used as a residence for some time (Antingham was the preferred location). All that is left is the wide and deep moat. Gissing Hall sat on an island which is now occupied by ducks and such. Only access to the island is over a tree trunk which lays across the stream at a spot where the fragments of an ancient bridge are just traceable. (pg 43 Chapter X., of Frederick Hitchin-Kemp's " A general history of the Kemp and Kempe familes of Great Britain etc....(1902).

150 years later, Kemp(e)'s of the times decided to rebuild Gissing Hall, but on a higher ridge overlooking the prior location.

Sir Robert Kemp, 2nd Baronet, died 26 Sepember 1710 and was buried at Gissing,^[1] the inscription on his tomb being as follows: "Sir Robert Kemp of Gissing in the County of Norfolk, Baronet, was born at Walsingham Abbey upon the 2nd day of February, 1627, and died the 26th day of September 1710, in ye 83rd year of his age. His first lady was Mary the daughter of Thomas Kerridge, by Susan, his wife, she was born in London in February 1631 or 1633. They were married July 15th 1650 and she died in June 1655. They had a son and two daughters born and chrisrtened which died young. The second lady of ye sd Sr. Robert Kemp, was Mary, the daughter of John Sone of Ubbeston in ye County of Suffolk, Gent. by Mary ye daughter of William Dade and of ye said County , Esquire. She was born April ye 6th 1637. They were married November the 25th 1657, she died July 29th, 1705 at Ubbeston, by whom he had 3 sons and 2 daughters. Both these ladys were very prudent and pious--few exceeded ye former and scarce any the latter.^{[citation needed]}

Sir Robert Kemp's will was was proved in Suffolk Archdeaconry in 1710.^[1] The will, dated 3 May 1704, he names his wife Mary as his executor, however she died before her husband.^{[citation needed]} Sir Robert also mentions Thomas and Peter, sons of his deceased brother Matthew Kemp who died in Virginia.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Cokayne, George E. Complete Baronetage. Vol. II, 1625-1649 (Exeter: W. Pollard & Co., 1900), online at Archive.org, page 163.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} Wotton, Thomas, et al. The Baronetage of England. Vol. 1. (London: Printed for G. Woodfall, 1771), online at Archive.org, page 439: Sir Robert Kemp.

See also:

• Hitchin-Kemp, Frederick (1902). A general history of the Kemp and Kempe families of Great Britain and her colonies, with arms, pedigrees, portraits, illustrations of seats, foundations, chantries, monuments, documents, old jewels, curios, etc. Published: London: The Leadenhall Press: New York: C. Scribner’s Sons. [database on-line]. Provo UT. The Generations Network, Inc. 2005.
• Kemp, Sir Robert, 2nd Bt. (1628-1710), of Gissing Hall, Norf. and Ubbeston, Suff. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983