Hampshire Lay Subsidy Rolls - 1586

This was one of my Christmas presents - Hampshire Lay Subsidy Rolls 1586. It can be purchased from the Hampshire Record Office and I received it just one week later so doesn't take too long to be shipped from England to Canada. I wanted it to go along with all the other records I am slowly collecting for the 1500s and 1600s just to provide more details on the Blake families in the Andover area (since mine stayed there for about 500 years and all within 2 miles of Andover (or within Andover itself)).

My grandfather was most knowledgeable on his family and I wish I had actually written down all that he told me but I can remember some of it even yet although I was only eight years old when he died. He repeated some of the items many many times. I think now he was wanting to make sure that I would remember and indeed my memory is quite clear back to my 4x great grandfather with somewhat of a jumble of the names back to my 12 x great grandfather although the names fit into the ones that I remember.

Fortunately the parish registers for Andover and Upper Clatford are quite readable and it is possible to continue working one's way back. Especially I remember that one of my ?X great grandfathers died at Old House and this proved to be a good memory to hold. My father could still remember when Old House was a ruins but it isn't there now as we drove by where it should have been when we visited in the spring.

I am trying to figure out who Peter Blake is at the moment - I think he was the third son of my 11x great grandfather William. I also think he never married and the property which he lived on ended up being the one with the highest taxes compared to his two older siblings. However, the oldest sibling was heavily in debt and eventually moved to Essington (sp) Hampshire. It was his daughter that is the 10x great grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. My ancestor received only 50 pounds British currency in the will (he was the youngest son) but he bought a Draper Shop in Andover and that would appear to be the occupation of the next two generations of my family with the great grandson Thomas dying young and leaving a widow to raise his five year old son.

At this point my family line appears to become dependent living in a small cottage (1714-1767) belonging to the Hinxman family (Thomas' great grandfather's sister married Joseph Hinxman) where Thomas died in 1767. His only surviving son Joseph is found in Upper Clatford married to Thomas King's only surviving daughter Joanna. An interesting item is that Thomas King mentions the daughter of John Blake malster at Abbots Ann in his will. The will for John Blake can be found on my webpage under Blake. The relationship between these families is unknown at the moment.

Thomas King was a farmer (leaseholder) at Upper Clatford. Joseph died in 1767 leaving Joanna with three small children to raise (one born posthumously) and Joanna continued on the farm eventually marrying Thomas Collins when he was widowed (1781). The land she farmed was leased from Thomas Collins.

My ancestor Thomas (born posthumously) lived at Upper Clatford but I have no idea what he did there. His grandson Edward (my great grandfather) was an agricultural labourer on the old Collins farm.

I made one really excellent discovery in that my William Blake (9x great grandfather) married Dorothy Madgwick but the name should actually be spelled Magewicke and so I have solved the mystery of who Dorothy is possibly as there is only one Magewicke listed. I need to find more proof for that - hopefully a will.