The Clopton Chronicles

A Project of the Clopton Family Genealogical Society

 

 

 

Regarding

 

The Cloptons of Warwickshire

 

 

Compiled By

Suellen Clopton Blanton,[1] [email protected]

 

 

 

The information contained in the following genealogy must be judged on the evidence submitted supporting each claim.  Any additional information which will add to our knowledge of this family will be gratefully accepted.  The documentation is rather thin.  The Cloptons of Warwickshire were most certainly connected to the Cloptons of Suffolk.  However, only the most circumstantial evidence exists to connect the families, namely the time frames all synchronize and the uniqueness of the surname.

A descendant of the Cloptons of Suffolk, Ambrose Rookwood, at one time resided in a home owned by the Cloptons of Warwickshire.  Rookwood, who was eventually found guilty and executed for his participation in the infamous Gunpowder Plot, received at Clopton House many of his fellow conspirators after the discover of their plot.  See Two Hundred Men in Velvet .  Of all the homes available near London, it is difficult to believe that it was merely coincidence that brought him to this particular house.

Until more substantial documentation is found, however, the Cloptons of Warwickshire will be treated as separate and distinct from the Cloptons of Suffolk.

 

                The colorful Cloptons of County Warwickshire made their home in the Stratford-Upon-Avon area.  The famous playwright, William Shakespeare, was befriended by the Cloptons, and, in 1597, he lived in one of the Clopton houses, New Place, which was built by Sir Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of London.  The Bard’s grave is found in Holy Trinity Church near the Clopton Chapel.

Between 1825 and 1827, while receiving her education at Miss Byerley’s, in Stratford Upon Avon,  Elizabeth Gaskell visited Clopton House .  Her reminiscence of this visit was published in 1840 in William Howitt’s Visits to Remarkable Places, in a chapter entitled “Visit to Stratford-on-Avon, and the Flaunts of Shakespeare.”

The fledgling author mentions the gory folklore surrounding the deaths of Charlotte Clopton and Margaret Clopton.  In January 2002, England’s “The Daily Telegraph,” reported that archaeologists had uncovered an old well where Margaret allegedly drowned herself.  It is believed her death could have inspired Shakespeare to create the character of Ophelia, who is driven out of her mind and drowns herself in Hamlet.  As recorded by Miss Gaskell, tradition holds that Margaret Clopton drowned after being abandoned by her lover.  Shakespeare is said to  have written Hamlet in the 1590’s, shortly after Margaret’s supposed death.  Possibly this Clopton descendant is Margaretta Clopton, the daughter of William Clopton, Esq., of New Place and his wife, Anne Griffith.  The well is 300 yards from the Clopton’s former home on the 170 acre Welcombe Hills and Clopton House nature reserve.  The well had been inaccessible for years because of its boggy surroundings.

Exactly who Charlotte Clopton also remains a mystery, although she may be the daughter of William Clopton, Esq., of Clopton and New Place, and his wife, Elizabeth Grey.  The gruesome story of her death dates from one of the plague years, of which Stratford, notoriously unsanitary, had much experience.  The supposed incident, which is repeated gleefully to tourists of Holy Trinity Church, is thought to have occurred in the summer of 1564, when the town was stricken by one of the most horrifying epidemics in history.  About one-seventh of its inhabitants died.

                For centuries the inhabitants of Warwickshire have repeated the story that some characters found in The Taming of the Shrew are based on Cloptons, most notably, the “local Lord,” who is mentioned first in the Induction, Scene 1.

                The Cloptons of Suffolk may claim one of their own in Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Thomas Erpingham, K.G., Lord Marshall of England, and the husband of Joan Clopton of Suffolk, is a minor character in this play.  On the eve of the battle of Agincourt, Sir Thomas rejects King Henry’s suggestion that he is too old to sleep on the hard ground, asserting that he enjoys being able to say, ‘Now lie I like a king.’  See Saint Crispin’s Day.  The Suffolk Cloptons have also long maintained that it was the trials and tribulations of John Winthrop, husband of Thomasine Clopton, and his fleet that inspired.  See Brief Communion.

 

 

"I wonder if you know Clopton Hall, about a mile from Stratford-on-Avon. Will you allow me to tell you of a very happy day I once spent there? I was at school in the neighbourhood, and one of my schoolfellows was the daughter of a Mr. W --, who then lived at Clopton. Mrs. W -- asked a party of the girls to go and spend a long afternoon, and we set off one beautiful autumn day, full of delight and wonder respecting the place we were going to see.

We passed through desolate half-cultivated fields, till we came within sight of the house - a large, heavy, compact, square brick building, of that deep, dead red almost approaching to purple. In front was a large formal court, with the massy pillars surmounted with two grim monsters; but the walls of the court were broken down, and the grass grew as rank and wild within the enclosure as in the raised avenue walk down which we had come. The flowers were tangled with nettles, and it was only as we approached the house that we saw the single yellow rose and the Austrian briar trained into something like order round the deep-set diamond-paned windows.

We trooped into the hall, with its tesselated marble floor, hung round with strange portraits of people who had been in their graves two hundred years at least; yet the colours were so fresh, and in some instances they were so life-like, that looking merely at the faces, I almost fancied the originals might be sitting in the parlour beyond. More completely to carry us back, as it were, to the days of the civil wars, there was a sort of military map hung up, well finished with pen and ink, shewing the stations of the respective armies, and with old-fashioned writing beneath, the names of the principal towns, setting forth the strength of the garrison, etc.

In this hall we were met by our kind hostess, and told we might ramble where we liked, in the house or out of the house, taking care to be in the 'recessed parlour' by tea-time. I preferred to wander up the wide shelving oak staircase, with its massy balustrade all crumbling and worm-eaten. The family then residing at the hall did not occupy one-half - no, not one-third of the rooms; and the old-fashioned furniture was undisturbed in the greater part of them.

In one of the bed-rooms (said to be haunted), and which, with its close pent-up atmosphere and the long-shadows of evening creeping on, gave me an 'eirie' feeling, hung a portrait so singularly beautiful! a sweet-looking girl, with paly gold hair combed back from her forehead and falling in wavy ringlets on her neck, and with eyes that 'looked like violets filled with dew,' for there was the glittering of unshed tears before their deep dark blue - and that was the likeness of Charlotte Clopton, about whom there was so fearful a legend told at Stratford church.

In the time of some epidemic, the sweating-sickness or the plague, this young girl had sickened, and to all appearance died. She was buried with fearful haste in the vaults of Clopton chapel, attached to Stratford church, but the sickness was not stayed. In a few days another of the Cloptons died, and him they bore to the ancestral vault; but as they descended the gloomy stairs, they saw by the torchlight, Charlotte Clopton in her grave-clothes leaning against the wall; and when they looked nearer, she was indeed dead, but not before, in the agonies of despair and hunger, she had bitten a piece from her white round shoulder! Of course, she had walked ever since. This was 'Charlotte's chamber,' and beyond Charlotte's chamber was a state-chamber carpeted with the dust of many years, and darkened by the creepers which had covered up the windows, and even forced themselves in luxuriant daring through the broken panes.

Beyond, again, there was an old Catholic chapel, with a chaplain's room, which had been walled up and forgotten till within the last few years. I went in on my hands and knees, for the entrance was very low. I recollect little in the chapel; but in the chaplain's room were old, and I should think rare, editions of many books, mostly folios. A large yellow-paper copy of Dryden's 'All for Love, or the World Well Lost,' date 1686, caught my eye, and is the only one I particularly remember. Every here and there, as I wandered, I came upon a fresh branch of a staircase, and so numerous were the crooked, half-lighted passages, that I wondered if I could find my way back again.

There was a curious carved old chest in one of these passages, and with girlish curiosity I tried to open it; but the lid was too heavy, till I persuaded one of my companions to help me, and when it was opened, what do you think we saw? - BONES! - but whether human, whether the remains of the lost bride, we did not stay to see, but ran off in partly feigned, and partly real terror.

"The last of these deserted rooms that I remember, the last, the most deserted, and the saddest, was the Nursery, - a nursery without children, without singing voices, without merry chiming footsteps! A nursery hung round with its once inhabitants, bold, gallant boys, and fair, arch-looking girls, and one or two nurses with round, fat babies in their arms. Who were they all? What was their lot in life? Sunshine, or storm? or had they been 'loved by the gods, and died young?' The very echoes knew not.

Behind the house, in a hollow now wild, damp, and overgrown with elder-bushes, was a well called Margaret's Well, for there had a maiden of the house of that name drowned herself.   "I tried to obtain any information I could as to the family of Clopton of Clopton. They had been decaying ever since the civil wars; had for a generation or two been unable to live in the old house of their fathers, but had toiled in London, or abroad, for a livelihood; and the last of the old family, a bachelor, eccentric, miserly, old, and of most filthy habits, if report said true, had died at Clopton Hall but a few months before, a sort of boarder in Mr. W --'s family.  He was buried in the gorgeous chapel of the Cloptons in Stratford church, where you see the banners waving, and the armour hung over one or two splendid monuments.

Mr. W -- had been the old man's solicitor, and completely in his confidence, and to him he left the estate, encumbered and in bad condition. A year or two afterwards, the heir-at-law, a very distant relation living in Ireland, claimed and obtained the estate, on the plea of undue influence, if not of forgery, on Mr. W --'s part; and the last I heard of our kind entertainers on that day, was that they were outlawed, and living at Brussels.  

 

 

 

 

Generation No. 1

 

        1.  Robert¹ Clopton, of Clopton, Warwickshire  He married Marshall². 

                Robert Clopton or De Clopton, was a tenant at Clopton in 1221.

       

Child of Robert Clopton and Marshall is:

+      2                 i.    John² Clopton, of Clopton, Warwickshire.

 

 

Generation No. 2

 

        2.  John² Clopton, of Clopton, Warwickshire (Robert¹)  He married Amabella⁴. 

                John Clopton or De Clopton, was a tenant at Clopton in the reign of Henry III, 1216-1272.

       

Child of John Clopton and Amabella is:

+      3                 i.    James or Jacobus³ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, died in Clopton Manor, possibly, Stratford--Avon.

 

 

Generation No. 3

 

        3.  James or Jacobus³ Clopton, of Clopton Manor (John², Robert¹) died in Clopton Manor, possibly, Stratford--Avon.  He married Margeria. 

                James Clopton or De Clopton, Templar to Edward I, was granted the Manor of Clopton at Stratford-on-Avon, by Robert De Montford of Beaudesert in 1265.

       

Child of James Clopton and Margeria is:

+      4                 i.    John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, born in Clopton Manor, possibly, Stratford--Avon; died in Clopton Manor, possibly, Stratford--Avon.

 

 

Generation No. 4

 

        4.  John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor (James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) was born in Clopton Manor, possibly, Stratford--Avon, and died in Clopton Manor, possibly, Stratford--Avon.

        John Clopton or De Clopton was living in 1310.

       

Child of John Clopton, of Clopton Manor is:

+      5                 i.    Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight.

 

 

Generation No. 5

 

        5.  Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight (John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married Johanna. 

                Walter De Cockfield, aka, Walter De Clopton, assumed the surname of Cockfield.  He owned Cockfield, County Essex.  His grandfather, James or Jacobus De Clopton, Templar to Edward I, settled upon him and his heirs Clopton Manor or Clopton House, at Stratford-on-Avon.

       

Child of Walter De Cockfield and Johanna is:

+      6                 i.    Thomas⁶ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire.

 

 

Generation No. 6

 

        6.  Thomas⁶ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire (Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)

        He was living in 1317 in the reign of Edward III.

       

Child of Thomas De Cokefield, of Warwickshire is:

+      7                 i.    Walter⁷ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire.

 

 

Generation No. 7

 

        7.  Walter⁷ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire (Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married Matilda. 

        He was living in 1343 in the reign of Edward III.

       

Child of Walter De Cokefield and Matilda is:

+      8                 i.    John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire.

 

 

Generation No. 8

 

        8.  John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire (Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married (1) Margareta.    He married (2) Christina De Bykemerth, daughter of Richard De Bykemerth. 

       

Child of John De Cokefield and Margareta is:

+      9                 i.    John⁹ Clopton, of Warwickshire, born in Clopton Manor, probably, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon.

 

 

Generation No. 9

 

        9.  John⁹ Clopton, of Warwickshire (John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)⁶ was born in Clopton Manor, probably, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon.  He married Agnes. 

        Named De Clopton in documents, Sir John was living in 1382, during the reign of Henry VI, when he resumed the surname Clopton after four generations of De Cockfields.  He received a license to erect an oratory in Clopton Manor in 1450.

       

Children of John Clopton and Agnes are:

+      10               i.    Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, born in Clopton Manor, probably, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon.

        11              ii.    Hugh Clopton, Knt., Lord Mayor of London, born in Clopton Manor, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon; died September 15, 1496 in London, in the Parish of St. Margaret's, Lothbury, and buried at the parish church⁷.

               Hugh, a younger son, left his ancestral home at an early age for London and quickly became a wealthy mercer.  He was named Alderman of Dowgate in October 1491, and sheriff in 1486.  As Mayor, he was knighted in October 1491.  His vast fortune permitted him to obtain the family estates at Clopton in Warwickshire which had been inherited by his elder brother, Thomas.

               About 1483 he erected in Chapel Street, in the town of Stratford overlooking the Avon River, 'a pretty house of brick and timber,' which was ultimately purchased by William Shakespeare in 1597.  Renovated, it became the celebrated poet's residence under the name of "New Place," until his death in 1616.  Although the house was torn down at the beginning of the eighteenth century and rebuilt in another style, it is known from deeds and the original foundations that the house had a sixty-foot frontage, ten fireplaces, and a bay window on the side facing the garden.  The land boasted a fine garden and orchards, dating from the day's of Sir Hugh.

               At his own considerable expense, Sir Hugh removed an old, narrow wooden bridge over the Avon River and had constructed a great stone bridge which opened the town to year-round traffic between Stratford and London.  Stratford became a thriving market community and was one of the largest towns in Warwickshire.

               Sir Hugh was the great benefactor of the Collegiate Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity at Stratford-upon-Avon.  The church has been described as "one of the most beautiful parish churches in the world."  It was his wish to be buried there if he died in that town, but his death took place in his London house.  His cenotaph, an empty tomb, is located in the Clopton Chapel at Stratford Church and is very beautiful.  Both Clopton Chapel and Sir Hugh's bridge are still a notable feature of modern Stratford.

+      12             iii.    John Clopton, of London, born in Clopton Manor, probably, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon.

 

 

Generation No. 10

 

        10.  Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon (John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) was born in Clopton Manor, probably, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon.

        He obtained permission from Pope Sixtus IV in 1474 to add a chapel for the celebration of divine service at Clopton Manor.

       

Child of Thomas Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon is:

+      13               i.    Clopton¹¹ John, Esq..

 

        12.  John¹⁰ Clopton, of London (John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) was born in Clopton Manor, probably, about a mile from the town of Stratford-on-Avon.

        He was a merchant of Staple and Mercer of London.

       

Child of John Clopton, of London is:

+      14               i.    John¹¹ Clopton, of London.

 

 

Generation No. 11

 

        13.  Clopton¹¹ John, Esq. (Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married (1) Elizabeth.    He married (2) Margareta. 

       

Child of Clopton John and Elizabeth is:

+      15               i.    William¹² Clopton, Esq., of "New Place", died May 29, 1521.

 

        14.  John¹¹ Clopton, of London (John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)

        Like his father, he, too, was a merchant of London.

       

Child of John Clopton, of London is:

+      16               i.    John¹² Clopton, Esq., the Elder, of Yorkshire.

 

 

Generation No. 12

 

        15.  William¹² Clopton, Esq., of "New Place" (Clopton¹¹ John, Esq., Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) died May 29, 1521.  He married Rose. 

       

Child of William Clopton and Rose is:

+      17               i.    William¹³ Clopton, Esq., of Clopton and New Place, died January 4, 1559/60.

 

        16.  John¹² Clopton, Esq., the Elder, of Yorkshire (John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)

       

Child of John Clopton, Esq., the Elder, of Yorkshire is:

+      18               i.    John¹³ Clopton, Esq., the Younger.

 

 

Generation No. 13

 

        17.  William¹³ Clopton, Esq., of Clopton and New Place (William¹², Clopton¹¹ John, Esq., Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) died January 4, 1559/60.  He married Elizabeth Grey, of Whothington, Staffordshire⁸, daughter of Edward Grey and Ann Middleton.  She was born 1505.

       

Children of William Clopton and Elizabeth Grey are:

+      19               i.    William¹⁴ Clopton, Esq, of "New Place", born 1537; died April 18, 1592 in England and buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Clopton Chapel.

        20              ii.    Thomas Clopton, of Warwickshire.

        21             iii.    Elizabeth Clopton, of Warwickshire.  She married Arandall.

        22             iv.    Rose Clopton, of Warwickshire.  She married John Combe, Esq..

               John Combe's had by his first wife, Jocosa, a son, also named John, who was a great friend of William Shakespeare.  The son's monument, in the north east corner of the chancel at Stratford Church, is very beautiful.  The work of Gerard Janssen, who was also responsible for Shakespear's monument on the north wall of the chancel, features a recumbent alabaster effigy of John Combe, dressed in a long gown.  Upon his death July 10, 1614, he left Shakespeare a legacy of six pounds a year.  For the younger John's thoughtfulness, Shakespeare remembered Thomas Combe, John's nephew in his will and left him his sword, an intimate piece of personal property which would have gone to Shakespeare's own son if he had lived.

        23              v.    Eleanor or Elynor Clopton, of Warwickshire.

 

        18.  John¹³ Clopton, Esq., the Younger (John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)

       

Child of John Clopton, Esq., the Younger is:

+      24               i.    William¹⁴ Clopton, of Sledwick, Durham, born 1574.

 

 

Generation No. 14

 

        19.  William¹⁴ Clopton, Esq, of "New Place" (William¹³, William¹², Clopton¹¹ John, Esq., Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) was born 1537, and died April 18, 1592 in England and buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Clopton Chapel⁹.  He married Anne Griffith, of Stockton, Warwickshire, daughter of George Griffith, of Stockton, Warwickshire.  She died  in England and buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Clopton Chapel⁹.

       

Children of William Clopton and Anne Griffith are:

+      25               i.    Joyce or Jacosa¹⁵ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, died 1635 in England and buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Clopton Chapel.

+      26              ii.    Anne Clopton, of Warwickshire, born 1577.

        27             iii.    William Clopton, of Warwickshire⁹.

        28             iv.    Gitza Clopton, of Warwickshire⁹.

        29              v.    Elizabeth Clopton, of Warwickshire⁹.

        30             vi.    Margaretta Clopton, of Warickshire⁹.

        31            vii.    Ludovick Clopton, of Warickshire⁹.

 

        24.  William¹⁴ Clopton, of Sledwick, Durham (John¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹) was born 1574.  He married Anne Clopton, of Warwickshire⁹ 1586, daughter of William Clopton and Anne Griffith.  She was born 1577.

        When he married his cousin, Anne, he was twelve years old, and she, aged nine.

       

Children of William Clopton and Anne Clopton are:

        32               i.    Anne¹⁵ Clopton, the Elder.  She married William Clopton, Earl of Westmoreland.

+      33              ii.    Thomas Clopton, born 1606.

        34             iii.    Ursula Clopton.

        35             iv.    Anne Clopton, the Younger.

 

 

Generation No. 15

 

        25.  Joyce or Jacosa¹⁵ Clopton, of Clopton Manor (William¹⁴, William¹³, William¹², Clopton¹¹ John, Esq., Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)⁹ died 1635 in England and buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Clopton Chapel⁹.  She married George Carew, Baron of Clopton, Earl of Totnes^10,11 Bef. May 4, 1605¹², son of George Carew and Anne Harvey.  He died March 27, 1629 in Savoy in the Strand, and buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Clopton Chapel¹³.

        Dame Jocosa or Joyce Clopton was Lady in waiting to Queens Elizabeth and Anne.  Her title was Countess of Totnes.  Sir Carew created Baron of Clopton and Earl of Totnes, Master of Ordnance for Ireland and Lt. General of Ordinance for England in 1592.

        The Clopton estates ultimately passed to Joyce, not her sister, Anne as is sometimes stated.  Her husband, Baron Carew served with great reputation in Ireland.  He was named President of Munster.  After united his forces with those of the Earl of Thomond, he achieved many triumphs over the rebels in Ireland and was responsible for bring the Earl of Desmond to trial.  He was later named Privy Councillor in Ireland and Master of the Ordnance.  Upon the accession of Clopton descendant, King James I, in  1603, the only son of  Mary, Queen of Scots with her second husband, Henry Stuart, he was named Governor of the Isle of Guernsey.  He was elevated to the peerage on May 4, 1605, as Baron Carew of Clopton.  Later he was made Master of the Ordnance for Life, and sworn of the privy council.  In 1626, the first year of the reign of King Charles, I, he was created Earl of Totness.

        According to Sir. William Dugdale, in his "Antiquities of Warwickshire," "his noble employments, 'tis not a little observable, that being a great lover of antiquities, he wrote an historical account of all those memorable passages which happened in Ireland during the term of those three years he continued there, intituled 'Hibernia Pacata,' printed at London in 1633, and that he made an ample collection of many chronological and choice observations, as also of divers exact maps, relating to sundry parts of that realm, some whereof are now in the public library at Oxford, but most of them in the hands of Sir Robert Shirley, Bart., of Stanton Harold, County Leicester, bought of his executors." 

        The tomb of Baron Carew and his wife, the Countess of Totnes, is considered the finest Renaissance tomb in Europe.

       

Child of Joyce Clopton and George Carew is:

        36               i.    Anne¹⁶ Carew.  She married (1) Esq. Wilford, of Kent.  She married (2) Allen Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower of London.

 

        26.  Anne¹⁵ Clopton, of Warwickshire (William¹⁴, William¹³, William¹², Clopton¹¹ John, Esq., Thomas¹⁰ Clopton, of Stratford-on-Avon, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)¹³ was born 1577.  She married William Clopton, of Sledwick, Durham 1586, son of John Clopton, Esq., the Younger.  He was born 1574.

        When he married his cousin, Anne, he was twelve years old, and she, aged nine.

       

Children are listed above under (24) William Clopton, of Sledwick, Durham.

 

        33.  Thomas¹⁵ Clopton (William¹⁴, John¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)¹⁴ was born 1606.  He married Egletina or Eglantine Keyt. 

       

Children of Thomas Clopton and Egletina Keyt are:

+      37               i.    Edward¹⁶ Clopton.

+      38              ii.    Hugh Clopton.

+      39             iii.    John Clopton, Knt.

 

 

Generation No. 16

 

        37.  Edward¹⁶ Clopton (Thomas¹⁵, William¹⁴, John¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married Martha Middleton. 

       

Child of Edward Clopton and Martha Middleton is:

        40               i.    Frances¹⁷ Clopton.  She married John Partheriche.

 

        38.  Hugh¹⁶ Clopton (Thomas¹⁵, William¹⁴, John¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married Elizabeth. 

       

Child of Hugh Clopton and Elizabeth is:

+      41               i.    Anne¹⁷ Clopton.

 

        39.  John¹⁶ Clopton, Knt (Thomas¹⁵, William¹⁴, John¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  He married Barbara Walker. 

       

Child of John Clopton and Barbara Walker is:

        42               i.    Agnes¹⁷ Clopton¹⁶.  She married William Keyt, of Ebrington.

 

 

Generation No. 17

 

        41.  Anne¹⁷ Clopton (Hugh¹⁶, Thomas¹⁵, William¹⁴, John¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸ De Cokefield, of Warwickshire, Walter⁷, Thomas⁶, Walter⁵ De Cockfield, The Marshall Knight, John⁴ Clopton, of Clopton Manor, James or Jacobus³, John², Robert¹)  She married Thomas Boothby Skrymisher. 

       

Child of Anne Clopton and Thomas Skrymisher is:

        43               i.    Charles Boothby¹⁸ Skrymisher.

 

 

Endnotes

 

1.  Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, p. 524-5.

2.  The Visitations of Warwickshire 1619.

3.  Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, p. 524-5.

4.  The Visitations of Warwickshire 1619.

5.  Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, p. 524-25.

6.  Dictionary of National Biography, Volume IV, p 577.

7.  Dictionary of National Biography, Volume IV, p. 577.

8.  Mark Bridge provided this information unless otherwise noted.

9.  Monumental inscriptions in the Clopton Chapel, the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Registers in Stratford Church.

10.  Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire.

11.  Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages,  (Courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), p. 101.

12.  Sir George was elevated to the peerage May 4, 1605 as Baron Carew of Clopton.

13.  Monumental inscriptions in the Clopton Chapel, the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Registers in Stratford Church.

14.  Mark Bridge provided this information unless otherwise noted.

15.  Monumental inscriptions in the Clopton Chapel, the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Registers in Stratford Church.

16.  Mark Bridge provided this information unless otherwise noted.

 

 

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