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B Barking & Dedham Family
B1 & A19. William COLCHESTER was buried on 6 Sep 1608 in Barking, Suffolk.1
In 1560 he inherited from his father all the family lands in Barking, once his mother died in 1583.1,2
A William Colchester of Badley was recorded on the Ley Subsidy return as paying 2s6d tax on £3 of goods in 1568.3 Either he was living in Badley at this time, or else this is a different unidentified William. He lent his brother Thomas money in 1573 which was charged on various properties, Butts, Damotts, Cokks, Pursers, Tybbes Wood, Scuttscroft, Long Emys, Syndoys.4 Either he extracted excessive security, or else this was a large loan. The charge or mortgage was released in 1577,4 possibly when Thomas had made his fortune in the clothier business (See C1).
He, or one of the other Williams, witnessed a series of wills for John Revell in 1576, Robert Fisher in 1576, Robert Salmon who was a wealthy man in 1589, and John Smith in 1595.5 He was a surety for his mother-in-law Elizabeth Scopes, in the performance of his father-in-laws will of 1585.6
In 1580 he bought 10' x 4' of land in Middlerow on Needham Street near Kings Lane. He sold a cottage and 1 acre with appurtenances in Needham Market to Roger Colchester in 1586 (see A26), but this may be another William (See F1). In 1592 he bought the 4 perches of land of the tenement Thornys. In 1596 he bought a newly built stable in Needham measuring 16 feet square from Thomas Colchester which he sold together with Thornys to Roger Bull in 1603.7
At the same court in 1596 William was appointed ale taster.7
In the 1607 court roll William Colchester was ordered to lop the branches which obstructed the road from Barking to Needham.4
In the 1607 rental of Lord Paul Bannings, William Colchester was occupying a house, barn, stable, hayhouse & other buildings, a yard & backhouse, for 1 shilling's rent.4
In his will of 1608 he left:
His sons Cyprian and Thomas Colchester £40 each. His daughter Susan £30 and his daughter Mirabel wife of Thomas Mayhew £40. His two grandchildren 20/- each. His brother 20/-, his servant Robert Havell 5/-, Rachell Havell widow 3/4, Mary Mortimer 5/-, mother Butler 2/6, Thomas Scopes 6/8, the poor people of Needham and Barking 10/- with the rest to his son William. The will was signed by two of the beneficiaries, which under modern law would have invalidated their legacies!8 Some how he failed to assign a piece of waste in Middlerow and there was a proclamation concerning this in 1618.4
He was married to Rose SCOPES in 1585. Rose SCOPES was buried on 27 Dec 1601 in Creeting St Peter.1 Her father Edmund Skopes left her £3-6-8 He also gave 'to Rose my daughter a balle and all that belongith to it and a gaild ....',6 but I am not clear what these are. Her brother William Skopes of Earl Stonham in 1585 left her a silver spoon in his will.9
Children of William COLCHESTER and Rose SCOPES were:
- B2 i. Anthonie COLCHESTER
- +B3 ii. Cyprian COLCHESTER.
- +B4 iii. William COLCHESTER.
- +B5 iv. Mirabell COLCHESTER.
- B6 v. Susan COLCHESTER was baptised on 4 Aug 1577 in Creeting St Peter.1 She received £30 from her father in 1608.8
- B7 vi. Edmund COLCHESTER6 was born in about 1578. We know from the rental record of 1631 that Edmund had once rented White Hall, on the corner of Hawk's Mill Street and Needham High St, once owned by the Chicherley family, for 3d. A widow Colchester was occupying it, so maybe it was his wife and if so, she had outlived him and this is the only reference we have to her.4
- +B8 vii. Thomas COLCHESTER of Erwarton, yeoman.