Walter
B 1493
D 1553
Walter for a great part of his younger working life, appears to have lived at Hilton running the farm even after he became, a Master at Arms in 1513, for which he was paid the sum of twelve pence a day. He was at that time about Eighteen years old. The master, sergeant and yeoman at arms, formed part of the local militia, and were likely to be called on at any time to form part of the Kings bodyguard, this happened to Walter, later on when he was promoted to Sergeant at Arms, when he is was recorded, to have been part of the escort of the coffin, at Jane Seymour’s funeral, when her body was transported, from Hampton Court to Windsor.
These men at arms would also have it in their duty, to arrest anyone who flouted the king’s law, and would quite often have to escort them to London to stand trial at the Palace of Westminster. Quite often these wrongdoers would not have actually committed any it would probably be that they had just merely had the misfortune to fall out of the kings favour: After his promotion, he seems to have spent more time in, London, Hampton Court, and in later years, Windsor where He lived in Frogmore House which was in the Great Park.
In the whole
of his working life as a sergeant at arms, there is no record of him ever being
sent to arrest anyone, this was probably due, to the
fact that so many of the Kings
activities, were of such a dubious nature, that they
were not recorded in official documents. There is however a report that he was
part of a force sent to Amtphill, which I believe is in Bedfordshire, to quell
an uprising. I don’t know how long he lived at Frogmore, but by
1557 it is stated in state paper transcripts that the
house recently inhabited by
Walter Chaldecott was said to have been in such a
dilapidated condition that it was
uninhabitable and therefore had to be demolished. At that time he would have been aged around
fifty.
For his services to the king, Walter was not only given the tenancy of Frogmore, but also was between 1546 –1548 was given land at Windsor and Datchet, and the mansion of Elland. It would appear that he was not actually given ownership of these lands and property, only the right to receive the rent from them for life, he was also given, according to one transcript, the right to a House boat, but I believe this to be a misinterpretation and Should read Horseboat, which is a ferry that carried both passengers and horses between, what is now known as Old Windsor and Datchet, A smaller ferry that just carried passengers was in operation right up until 1994
He also was given
the hunting rights in the forest of Westminster, also the same rights to land
in Sussex. I also found a reversion Indenture in the Surrey records Office, for
land in Tanbridge Surrey, this type of document meant, it couldn’t be passed to
his heirs upon his death, it had to be passed to a person nominated, In the
original. Document. It would appear that
the sudden bestowing of grants to Walter at this period was to ensure him a comfortable and financially secure retirement.
All of the forgoing information, I gathered in my earlier
researches, but there were still a few facts that needed further clarification.
I had already been able to establish, that Walter’s heir John who had inherited
estates, in Dorset, he was then known as John of Hilton. This was stated in the
state papers of Philip and Mary page 207 1556, this I assumed was around the date which Walter died, but
later on, I was to find this to be incorrect.
The Marriage
As I have mentioned earlier, I have over the past few years been doing some research, in the Berkshire Records Office. In one of my first visits about ten years ago, I discovered that Walter had not married Bridget until 1548, it was mentioned in Hutchins that she was a widow by the name of Fetiplace (or Phetiplace) who lived at Sulhampstead banister, but I’d always, assumed that he had married her much earlier. Being sceptical, about the timing, of this marriage it looks as though his reason for getting married was due to the fact, that his house was no longer habitable, so he had to seek other accommodation. It would appear that he moved in with her at her home in Sulhampstead Manor, Sometime before the marriage.
Sulhampstead Bannister is a small village on the outskirts of Reading, it forms part of a cluster of hamlets where there are still some houses of that period remaining to this day, the village is now surrounded by gravel pits. With Burghfield village to the West and the M4 motorway and reading to the North and is adjacent to Aldermaston. There is a house standing on the site at the present time and it is known as Meals farm, which is according to the Victorian History of Berkshire a corruption of the name St Michaels, the name of the parish church.
Also according to this publication that at that time, it was written that it was the original house, but the house there today as more the appearance of being of
Victorian construction, there may however be some of the original house there covered by a Later exterior.
Bridget’s late husband was Anthony Fetiplace who like Walter
had also been in the Kings service; he came from a similar background to
Walter, in a family with a long history of distinguished service to the crown.
During her marriage to Anthony she had borne him five sons, these were Edward,
John, George, Thomas and William: On
seeing that one
of the sons was named John set alarm bells ringing, from
this stepson of this I knew that Walter
and Bridget could not have named another son John , the sudden thought crossed my mind could this indeed be John of Hilton ?.
The Berkshire Search
After this discovery I carried out a frenzied
search, through every document I could lay hands on within the Berkshire
office, and the more I looked, the more I began to think my supposition was
right What made it worse, was that I discovered a Number of calcots and one or
two caldecotts. Some of these bearing the same, Christian names as Bridget’s
sons, and having no evidence that Walter had been married before I could only
fear the Worse. What I needed was to find some sort of wedding document to see
if there were any conditions within it regarding property an inheritance but my
search was fruitless.
Being a little disheartened with my efforts
I let the matter drop for about a year, then one day, I decided to revisit The
Berkshire records Office, when I did so I found that they had moved to a new
building and the whole set-up was more organised. After spending a few hours
searching for anything I could find regarding either Bridget or Walter, After
some
time not
being able to find anything new I decide to leave, on the way out, I was
replacing some index cards, back into the Fetiplace section, and whilst doing
so spotted, a piece of paper. In the bottom of the drawer under the other
cards, written on it was Bridget
Fetiplace
widow Wedding agreement.
It would appear that, when they moved, this
document was one of a number they had found in the back of their archives in a
deteriorated condition, but it had recently been restored. After I had retrieved this document, I had
some difficulty in reading it so I sought the help of one of the Curators. He
gave me a verbatim translation of it, but it was not conclusive, I therefore
decided to ask for a transcription, It took him more than two hours. Even upon
the receipt of this transcription I found it to be, a trifle difficult, to
understand, due to the rather jumbled Phrases and grammar they used in those
days.
Anyway I
won’t bother to bore you any more, at this stage, other than to say, that
although it was not conclusive, it did give me, some very useful information,
they main thing being, that when went he into the marriage he did have
Heirs. Following this discovery and
with other information contained within.
I yet again did some more research in the deaths and will indexes, and
was able to identify at least three of the Bridget’s sons died with the name of
Fetiplace in the Reading locality. I
also did a close search of my records, to confirm one or two dates, also more
research into the state paper transcriptions and decided that we are all
well and truly Chaldecotts and not
members of the family with a very peculiar name. You will find a copy of the transcription with my comments
farther on in this account.
The
manor at Sulhampstead, did not belong to Bridget, but her late husbands brother,
during the marriage according to records Walter appears to have, run the estate
in the position of bailiff, which is most surprising due to the fact that by
1551. Walters father Richard had died and left him his entire estate. This
consisted of all of the Shaftesbury properties and land. All of the same at
Buckland Newton and Hilton as well as all of the Somerset estate and also some
property in Dorchester, all of which according to the records he appears to
have visited fairly frequently, accompanied at times with Bridget and indeed on
one such a visit sometime about 1553 that their son Francis Was born at Ashbrittle in Somerset.
The Robbery
Whilst living at
Sulhampstead the following traumatic event took place concerning Walter and his
wife on the
14th February
1553, as recorded in Records Patent, Phillip and Mary.
Wherein Robert
heasly of smyfield a gentleman and Ralph haggers a Yeoman of the guard with
others at 10 am did feloniously and burgleously with force of arms did break-in
and entered the mansion of Walter Chaldecott at Sulhampstead and Assaulted and
ill treated, the said alter and his wife Bridget, so that they were in fear of
their
Lives
and robbed them of.
1.
Cloak value 20s.
1. Sword value 10s,
1. Silver cup value 40s,
1. Silver box value 40s,
2. Shirts value 30s, and 3 pounds in coin of the realm in a purse value 6p
There
are number accounts of this matter referred to, in various sections of state
papers, giving both different dates and names of the wrong doers. But it appears
that there were at least four people involved. I could only find two references
however of anyone being tried for this crime the first was Ralph heasley was
pardoned on the 19th. Feb 1558. And apparently the reason being, was so that he
could stand to the right, I would presume by this that it meant he could still
continue in his post with the royal household, a later reference to this case
dated some when in 1561, when a pardon. It would appear from this granting of
pardons that they must have both been found previously unnamed Thomas Cave,
described as a Sergeant at Arms, was tried, he also was found to be guilty of
the crime.
The
marriage Document.
As I have said earlier on in this section, the original document
was virtually unreadable, to the average layman. After I received the
transcript I could not at first get the gist of it even although it was typed.
But after a little while I believe I did manage to get the general drift, which
is this.
It would appear that Bridget’s uncle, Edward Fabian esquire of
Compton Beuchamp, was the instigator of this pact with Walter Chaldecott a
gentleman. To ensure that she got the best deal from this marriage, Bridget
herself seems to have played no part in this agreement.
In it Walter agreed that all of his land and properties, in both
Sulhampstead and Somerset and elsewhere including that of his heirs. Would come
under the common ownership of both Bridget and himself, and their lawfully
begotten heirs.
To sign such an agreement Walter must have been entirely mad, it
Appeared to mean that upon his death Bridget and her heirs could take every
thing, the legal implications of this document could have been disastrous to
Walters heirs, they would have received nothing.
I don’t think that it actually meant this, due to the fact that as
we all know now, with hindsight this didn’t happen there could have been some
important wording missing to the effect that it would only be for Bridget’s
lifetime and after that it would return to Walters’s successors. This I think
in effect is what did happen.
To the bottom of this agreement and in the
margin an appendix had been added in 1558, stating that Bridget had died, and
that Walter had died some time earlier it would appear. That after Walter’s
death she had left the manor, and returned to her uncle’s
village of Compton. Where she remarried to a John Boswell who had taken all the
rents of properties, From Walters death to that time. After that these rents
were transferred to a John Bartholomew of London a Gentleman.
From the above I would think that were for
the reversion properties which I described earlier.
There is no mention of the date of Walter’s death
but I would think that it was around
about
1554. I set his time of death, upon the fact that it was reported in the state
papers, which I mentioned in the first page, that his son John took over the
Buckland Newton and Hilton estate in 1556. In those days most things probably,
did not get recorded until at least two years after the event.
Below is a copy of the wedding document transcript, as you will see it is rather jumbled. And as you will appreciate it is quite difficult to decipher and you will interpret.
It would appear that
perhaps as a matter of economy that upon Edith’s death this document was added
, so as to form an inquest pm.
Transcript of Berkshire
Record Office document ref. D/ER F124
VI [1q48] Walter Chaldcott by his deed indented
made between Walter Chalcott by the name of Walter Chalcott [letter d deleted]
of Sulhamstead Bannister in the county of Berkshire gentleman one of our said
Sovereign Lord the King’s Servants at Arms on the one part and Edward Fabyan
(by the name of E, bearing date the 13th day of October in the 2nd[?]
year of the reign of Edward.F.) [inserted] of Compton Beauchamp in the Vale of
White Horse in the said county of Berkshire esquire of the other part, for and
in consideration of a marriage to be solemnised and had between the said Walter
and Bridget Fetiplace widow one of the nieces of the said Edward Fabian as for
diverse other good causes and reasonable considerations the said Walter
especially moving, the said Walter Chaldcott and his heirs and every other
person and persons which the day of the date hereof stand and be seised of and
in all and singular such messuages, lands, tenements, rents, reversions,
services and hereditaments which now be or which before the feast of Pentecost
last past before the date thereof were the said Walter Chalcott’s in
Sulhamstead Bannister aforesaid and in Burghfield and Okefield [Wokefield?] in
the said county of Berks and in “Ashebrittell” in the hundred of Milverton [?]
in the county of Somerset and elsewhere within the realm of England with all
and singular the appurtenances, shall from the day of the date of these present
indentures for the considerations aforesaid stand and be seised of and in all
the said messuages, lands, tenements, rents, reversions and hereditaments with
all and singular the appurtenances to the use of the said Walter Chaldcott and
of the said Bridget Fetiplace and of the heirs of the body of the said Walter
on the body of the said Bridget lawfully begotten and for default of such issue
to the use of the right heirs of the said Walter Cbalcott for ever by force
whereof and by the statute of uses. And after ... they two intermarried and had
issue (... he[?] saith in Somer[set] ... time but when he knoweth not)
[inserted in margin] Frances Chaldecott and [Walter?] died and the said Bridget
her[self?] held ... [ At this point the document goes into Latin ] in her own
right, and afterwards John Boswell took her to wife and took the rents and
profits from the time of the death of Walter up to the 19th December in the
first year of the reign of our Queen [1558] (by right of Bridget his
wife) [inserted] on which day the same Bridget died at Compton Beaucham~ and
from the said 19th December a certain
Bartholomew Okerne [?] of
London gentleman has received the rents and profits of the premises.
I hope
your conclusions as to the meaning of this document match mine.