The Grafton Portrait

There was an Elizabethan portrait of a young man floating around Grafton for some years. It is believed that it was moved from the old royal manor house for safe keeping in 1643, prior to the manor coming under attack from Parliamentary forces, first to a house on the site of the present village hall, and later to another house near the White Hart. After a fire at that house in 1908 the portrait was again moved for safety and sent to a house at Winston-on-Tees in County Durham. It was here that the portrait came to the attention of a man called Thomas Kay, who wrote a book about it published in 1914.

What excited Thomas Kay was that the portrait was executed in 1588 and was of a 24 year old young man. These dates are painted on the portrait. He quickly associated 1564 with the year of Shakespeare’s birth and claimed that this could be an early portrait. The portrait is now on display in the John Ryland’s Library in Manchester.

It can be asserted with certainty that this painting is a genuine 16th century portrait. The association with William Shakespeare is an act of faith with no supporting evidence. Many young men were born in 1564 and the portrait could be of anyone born in that year. The arguments against the attribution are principally that in 1588 Shakespeare was an unknown actor who was possibly learning his craft as a writer. He was nowhere near prosperous enough at that date to afford the luxury of n expensive portrait, and in any case, the subject of the painting is quite expensively dressed, a further indication of a person of means. Many different families occupied the Grafton manor during the 17th century, but the most likely subject would be a member of the Crane family who were occupying the manor at the time of the civil war.

The Beestons of Titchfield and Shakespeare

William Beeston was a prosperous man who was living at Posbrook House towards the end of his life. He was a tenant of the earl and had the means to educate his children. His eldest son, Henry, became Master at Winchester College and New College, Oxford and his second son, William became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica and was knighted. Great Posbrook House still stands today and would have been a substantial and expensive house when it was built. It is probably correct to assume that the Beestons were well-to-do and well-connected. William Beeston married Elizabeth Bromfield, a daughter of Arthur Bromfield, a man with manors middlesex and Hampshire. William Beeston died in 1638 and is buried in Titchfield. It should be noted that Sir William Beeston was born in 1636, two years before the older William Beeston died. This is possible of course as Elizabeth Bromfield, the wife of William Beeston, was considerably younger than her husband, although it has been suggested that Sir William Beeston may have been a grandson. The DNB states that he was the son of William Beeston of Posbrook.

A 19th century drawing of Great Posbrook House

This would excite no great interest are it not for the fact that John Aubrey wrote that he had been told by William Beeston that William Shakespeare was sometime a schoolmaster in the country. What Aubrey actually wrote was this:

Though, as Ben Jonson says of him that he had but little Latin and less Greek, he understood Latin pretty well, for he had been in his younger years a schoolmaster in the county - from Mr Beeston.

This man was William Beeston, but not the buccaneering Sir William Beeston, who made a pile of money in Jamaica; he was a well known actor and producer of plays, the son of Christopher Beeston, an actor and colleague of William Shakespeare. This William Beeston was born 1610/11 and died in 1682

Any scrap of information about Shakespeare tends to send the imagination into overdrive and several scholars have been tempted to make the Beeston connection with Titchfield. Is there a connection?

At first glance the connection may rest only on the name. The Titchfield Beestons were, as described above, well-to-do and the sons and daughters would have good opportunities in life without considering the rough and uncertain trade of an actor. Both Henry and Sir William Beeston were able to slide into prestigious positions and need not have given acting a second thought. In William Beeston's relatively straightforward will he bequeathed everything to his wife, presumably because the children were still very young.

Now let us turn to Christopher Beeston. He was a child actor in 1592 and grew up with the theatre. He acted with William Shakespeare in Ben Jonson's play Every Man in his Humour and he probably did well enough out of his trade. He had at least one son, the William mentioned by Aubrey, and he died in 1638, coincidentally only a few days after William Beeston of Titchfield. He was probably born c. 1582.

If he was connected to the Titchfield Beestons, his choice of a career on the stage appears unlikely. It was possible to make a living during Shakespeare's lifetime but most families would be very wary of a future for their sons in this trade. The large majority of the actors and playwrights of Shakespeare's day came from modest backgrounds and had little to lose. They were clever men of course and could readily undertake the hack work of putting together a play. Boy-actors, who took the parts of women, were unlikely come from a well-to-do family.

Christopher Beeston doesn't seem to fit.

Except, as Stewart Trotter has ventured, he was an illegitimate son. What is attractive about Stewart Trotter's theory is that acting was in many respects the perfect opportunity for a boy born on the other side of the blanket. He had no reputation to lose and the more respectable opportunities enjoyed by his half brother or brothers were closed to him. William Beeston of Titchfield may have been a hard driving character and possibly only in his sunset years did he settle into marriage and family at Posbrook. Thomas Nashe, the pamphleteer and sometime playwright, wrote a pamphlet called "Strange News" and dedicated it to William "Apis Lapis" (Latin for Bee-stone). From the text William Apis Lapis emerges as a bon viveur who was not always scrupulous about the way he made money. He may also have fathered illegitimate children. The pamphlet also indirectly informs us that Beeston was a man about town (London) and one suspects that this washer he made his money before settling on a quieter life at Posbrook.

Could one of them have been Christopher Beeston? If this was the case then William Beeston would have taken minimal responsibility for the child, providing a few pounds for maintenance and then largely leaving the woman to make theist of it. In this scenario we can imagine young Christopher being put on the stage at an early age to help with the household budget He also signed himself Christopher Hutchinson,which may suggest that this was his mother's name.

There may be an issue with dates. William Beeston was established and well-known in 1592 and we believe that Christopher Beeston/Hutchinson was about 10 years old at that date. This would place William Beeston's birth in the early 1560s - possibly even 1564! That would place him in his mid-70s at the time of his death, and in his 70s when he sired his son William. Not at all impossible of course, but at the very least raising some questions.

I can't arrive at any definite conclusions about the connection between William Beeston and Christopher Beeston - if any. Christopher may have come from another Beeston family altogether; however, there are some rounds at leat for considering a link.

For a fuller account please go to Stewart Trotter's blog, The Shakespeare Code.
https://theshakespearecode.blog/2011/08/23/shakespeare-was-a-schoolmaster-in-the-country-titchfield/

Old Roads through Titchfield

Tis map published by Milne in 1791 is one of the more advanced 18th century maps, but is does reveal very different travel patterns to those we experience today. The main road between Southampton and Portsmouth was the old medieval high road that went along the downs through Wickham and eventually down into Southampton through Stoneham. Progress would have been slow and a journey by sea was probably quicker.

As far as Titchfield is concerned, there was no forerunner of the A27. There was a track from Porchester, through Fareham and Catisfield that brought one down to the stone bridge adjacent to Place House. This was probably the route taken by Margaret of Anjou when she travelled from Porchester to Titchfield in 1445 for her marriage to Henry VI.

By far the more important road in 1791 appears to be the road to Gosport, which goes through Rowner and Crofton and down into Titchfield, entering the village on Bridge Street. The road follows the present route through South Street, High Street and up Southampton Hill and across the common to the Burseldon Ferry, and from there to the Itchen Ferry at Bitterne in order to reach Southampton.

What is also of interest in this map is that Titchfield at the end of the 18th century still retained its medieval importance. Apart from fareham, which seems to have just overtaken Titchfield in size, the ancient village is much larger than Wickham and Botley, and the  land between Titchfield and Gosport (not shown on this section) is only populated by farms and scattered cottages.

The Library at Titchfield Abbey

The monks of Titchfield followed the Order of Prémontré and were all ordained priests. They were therefore literate and educated, in contrast to many Benedictine and Cistercian houses, so it is not surprising that the abbey would have a library.

From accounts that we have, the library was well-endowed and 224 volumes were catalogued in 1400. It appears too, that Titchfield had a separate room, accessible from the eastern cloister, where the manuscripts were stored. There were four cases for books, two on the eats wall, and one each on the north and south walls, and each case had eight shelves. The first case held the Bibles and glosses related to various books. Case II held works of general theology and case III was occupied by sermons, legends, rules and canon and civil law. The fourth case was filled with non-theological works, such as books on medical practice, grammar, logic, philosophy and other subjects.

Books, which at this time were all manuscripts, were expensive, rare, and highly prized, and it is somewhat surprising that a middling house such as Titchfield should be so well endowed. One modern estimate of the "224 volumes" suggests that this might represent 1700 books. Naturally the books were well-protected and there were strict rules about the time and location of reading. No book was ever left unattended and it was always returned to its case when not being read. The librarian was known as the armarius, that is, the man who looked after the amarium, the case where the books were held.

At the time of the dissolution there was not a single book to be found in the abbey.When Sir Thomas Wriothesley took possession of the abbey at the end of 1537, it had been stripped of all assets and even left with an unpaid debt of £200. There is no record to tell us what happened so it must be presumed that the abbot and monks, knowing the fate of the house well in advance, took it upon themselves to cash in the assets of the house.

Baron of Titchfield

The first Baron of Titchfield was Sir Thomas Wriothesley, who was granted the title in 1544. It was retained by the family after he became earl of Southampton in 1547 and typically bestowed on the eldest son until they succeeded to the earldom.

Sir Thomas WQriothesley, Baron Wriothesley of Titchfield 1544

The fourth earl was survived by three daughters and the title of Baron of Titchfield passed to the husband of one of them Baptiste Noel, earl of Gainsborough. The title passed to his son, Edward, in 1681 and continued in this family until the last of this male line died in 1798.

At this point the title became extinct.

The inheritance then fell to the dukes of Portland and in 1809 the Titchfield title was upgraded to Marquis (or Marquess) and granted to William Bentinck-Scott-Cavendish in 1809. He subsequently became the 3rd duke of Portland.

He died suddenly at the age of only 27 and his titles passed to his brother John. A younger brother, George, also use the title of Marquess of Titchfield.

William John Cavendish Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland (formally the Marquis of Titchfield)

Both died without male issue and the titles passed to a cousin, also William Cavendish Bentinck.
The 7th duke of Portland and Marquis of Titchfield died on 21 March 1977 without a male heir and the dukedom passed to a cousin. The Titchfield title seems to have died with him.

William Cavendish-Bentinck, Marquis of Titchfield, 1927

The very first earl of Southampton

The ist earl of Southampton is commonly thought to be Sir Thomas Wriothesley, who became the first of his dynasty to hold the title in 1547. It is indeed conventional practice to number the golders of a title from the first holder of a new family, and when an extinct title is revived for a new family, the numbers start at one. Thomas Wriothesley's male descent went down to the fourth generation, so in that context, the "1st Earl" has some meaning.

The earl of Southampton never existed in the middle ages but on 18 October 1537 William FitzWilliam was created earl of Southampton. He held considerable estates in Hampshire and parts of Sussex and Surrey, some 16,000 acres, as well as other manors scattered around the country. He was well able to support his new dignity.

He was born c. 1490, the son of Sir Thomas FitzWilliam of Aldwark in Yorkshire's West Riding, and Lucy Neville. a daughter of John Neville, Marquess Montague, and therefore a member of the powerful Neville clan. On the death of his father, his mother married Sir Anthony Browne and bore him a son, also Anthony (c 1500-1548) and it was this family which the Wriothesleys later married into later in the 16th century.

FitzWilliam was able to make his way at court and became a very close friend of Henry VIII. He was employed on many diplomatic and military missions and between 1526 and 1530 was Captain of Claais, one of the prized postings for English soldiers and held at one time by his acncestral relative, Richard Neville, the earl of Warwick known as the kingmaker.

Both FitzWilliam and his half-brother, Anthony Browne, were committed to the old faith, but they were also firmly committed to the king, and this overrode any scruples they might have about the reforms to the church of the 1530s. He worked for the king to persuade people to accept the reforms of the 1530s and he also helped to engineer the fall of Ann Boleyn.

He was made Lord Admiral in 1536 and this was closely followed by his elevation to an earldom. He was sent by Henry to negotiate the marriage with Ann of Cleves. Henry was disappointed when he eventually met her but Southampton escaped censure. He was certainly on hand to help the king to get the marriage nullified and on the downfall of Cromwell in 1540 he was quick to distance himself from his former associate. He was made Lord Privy seal.

He died two years later in 1542 without heirs as his wife was unable to bear children. He was a very wealthy man at his death, and apart from generous bequests to family and friends and others, the bulk of his estates passed to his half brother, Sir Anthony Browne. Browne's granddaughter, Maria, was to marry Henry Wriothesly, 2nd earl of Southampton, and indirectly, some of the FitzWilliam estates fell to the Wriothesleys who, in 1547,  picked up the vacant title.

The Abbots of Titcfield

There are some fairly reliable documents about the early history of the abbey, not the medieval originals, but transcriptions made in the early 18th century of three registers. These transcriptions were checked against the original manuscript in 1830-1831, so they may be considered accurate. Unfortunately, the originals have since disappeared.

The first register contains a list of abbots. It was compiled in 1390 and continued to the dissolution. The following is a translation of the list:—

Richard, the first abbot, came from Halesowen with his brethren in the year 1222, and ruled this church well and religiously. He died on 16 June, and was buried before the door of the chapter-house. 

Isaac was the second abbot; in his time the manors of Cadlands and Inkpen were acquired. He died on 19 June, and was buried in the cloister before the door of the chapter-house, on the right hand of the monument of the first abbot.

After his death, Henry de Branewyk succeeded him. He was afterwards sought as abbot of Halesowen, and there rested in peace.

To him Henry de Spersholte succeeded, in whose time the manor of Newland was acquired and lost. He died on 22 September, and was buried in the cloister.

To him succeeded Brother Yvo, in whose time the manor of Mirabel was acquired and lost. He died on 3 March, and was buried in the cloister.

Adam, third abbot of this church, ruled with honour. He died on 14 September, and was buried in the cloister on the left of the monument of Abbot Peter de Wynton.

William de Byketon, the fourth abbot, was a venerable ruler of the church; he died on 8 November, and was buried in the church, at the altar of St. Richard.

John Sydemanton, fifth abbot, ruled well, and died on 3 December. He was buried in the cloister, between the door of the library on the south and the monument of Abbot Wynton on the north.

Roger de Candever, sixth abbot, ruled this church honourably and religiously for about eighteen years. He died on 5 August, and was buried in the cloister at the entrance to the church near the altar of St. Peter.

John de Combe, seventh abbot, in whose time the manors of Crofton and 'Fontelegh-Pageham' were acquired. He ruled this church for about twenty years, and died on 5 May, and was buried in the cloister, at the head of the monument of Abbot Roger de Candever.¶

Peter de Wynton, eighth abbot, ruled this house religiously for one year and six months. He died on 16 July, and was buried in the cloister between the monument of Abbot Adam on the north and Abbot Sydemanton on the south.

William de Wollop, ninth abbot, ruled this church in the best possible way for twenty years, nine months and three days. In his time the land and tenement of Markes and 'Brykoresland' were acquired and appropriated. He also acquired, but did not appropriate, the land and tenement of Ward, the land of 'Froghemour,' the land of 'Firsteburyesland' at Chirk, and the tenements which were John Goudale's in Titchfield. Also in his days John Edindon gave his manor of Portsea and 'Copenore' to the priory. He died on 23 May, and was buried in the cloister, north of the monument of Abbot Candever.

John de Thorni, tenth abbot, ruled prudently over this church for nineteen years, thirteen weeks and five days; in his time the lands and tenements mentioned under his predecessor were all appropriated. He died on 30 September, and was buried in the cloister at the feet of the image of the Blessed Virgin, which he had erected there in honour of the Mother of God by a buttress.

John de Romsey, eleventh abbot of this church, ruled honourably.

Thomas Bensteade, thirteenth abbot, ruled well, and resigned his staff under compulsion.

William Winchestour, alias Fryer, was fourteenth abbot, and ruled six and a half years.

William Auyten, fifteenth abbot, ruled this church well for sixteen years. He built the house commonly called 'The Grete Place.' He also restored the windows of all the chambers, and built another house near the cross in the body of the town. He died 25 October, and was buried near the monument of John Thorny.

Thomas Coyk, sixteenth abbot, ruled for twentyone years.

Thomas Blankpayn, seventeenth abbot, ruled for twenty years, and resigned on a pension.

The Rev. Father John, Bishop of Elphin in Ireland, abbot in commendam of Welbeck and Titchfield, prebendary of York and Southwell and visitor of the Premonstratensian Order, the eighteenth abbot, rebuilt the ruinous church.