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GunnerFamily

Page history last edited by Peter Tipton 12 years, 10 months ago

The Gunner family of Frimley and Farnborough

Page prepared by Peter Tipton 18 Feb 2008

Revised 26 Feb 2008 having read through Phil Stevens translation of the surviving 17th century Frimley Courts Baron.

NB in order better to enable digital searches the various spellings of the family surname have been standardised as GUNNER in modern text throughout this website.See Gunner Family in Frimley Registers for further explanation.

 

Of the 20 taxpayers assessed in the 1571 Lay Subsidy for Frimley four people had the surname GUNNER:

 

Thomas GUNNER, goods £3

Robert GUNNER, goods £5

William GUNNER, lands £1

Alice GUNNER, widow, lands £1

In 1558 there had only been two taxpayers with surname GUNNER: Thomas and Robert. By 1640 there was only one taxpayer surnamed GUNNER - Thomas. Despite this rise and fall in the apparent fortunes of the family, in order to trace the antecedents of Robert Gunner, potter of Frimley, it will be necessary to try to track several different branches of the family tree through at least three generations. Because there are so few wills of Gunners dying in Frimley, and because of the apparent propensity of the Gunners to migrate away from Frimley, a full reconstruction of the family appears to be impossible. However some interesting family relationships between the Gunner family and other potter families do emerge.


The descendants of Thomas Gunner (d.1586)

Thomas Gunner of Frimley, yeoman, made his will on 16 Sep 1586. He mentioned his wife Agnes, and his sons Thomas, John, Richard, and Harry. He also made bequests to his daughter Alice Watts. The testator's executor was his son Thomas. Two other Gunners are mentioned: Robert Gunner, senior, an overseer and witness, and William Gunner, a witness. These latter two men may be his brothers or merely men with the same surname.

 

Four years later John Gunner made his will on 9 May 1591. He mentioned his mother Agnes, and brothers Thomas, Richard and Harry. He was therefore the John Gunner mentioned in Thomas Gunner‘s will. John‘s death thus left 3 surviving brothers: Thomas Richard and Harry.

 

Except for more two Gunner wills in the first years of the 1600s, which I will treat below, we have to wait almost 40 years for the next batch of Gunner wills in Frimley:

 

Are any of these three men who left wills in 1637/38 the children named in the will of Thomas Gunner (d.1586)? Technically this would be possible since neither Thomas, nor his son John, mentioned any of Thomas' grandchildren in their wills. These grandchildren had therefore probably not yet been born. Although Thomas‘ daughter Alice Watts was already married, Thomas was therefore probably relatively young when he died in 1586. If Thomas' four sons were younger than 21 in 1586 they would have been younger than 73 in 1638.

 

When considering if any of the three men who died in 1637/38 were Thomas' sons we can rule out John Gunner (will 1638) since we have already established that Thomas' son John died five years after his father in 1591. Henry (will 1638) may have been named Harry in Thomas' 1586 will, but Henry (d.1638) named brothers George, John, Robert and Humphrey in his will and these names do not correspond with Thomas' sons in the 1586 will. Robert, the Frimley potter, is not a christian name found in the 1586 or the 1591 wills. This means that Thomas' three surviving sons listed in these two Elizabethan wills did not themselves leave a Frimley will. This might leave us searching elsewhere for the wills of Thomas, Richard and Harry.

 

Firstly though we must review other evidence to determine whether Thomas, Richard and Harry might have remained in Frimley throughout their lives but not left a surviving will. Luckily the Frimley baptismal registers date from before 1600. Gunner men named Thomas, John , Richard and Robert Gunner all baptised children between 1591 and 1600. The fathers Thomas and Richard could be the sons of Thomas (d.1586). It does appear likely that the deaths of both Thomas and Richard are recorded in the Frimley burial registers: Richard was probably either the Richard buried in 1617 or the Richard buried in 1639; and Thomas was probably either the Thomas buried in 1633 or the Thomas buried in 1635. I have found no wills surviving from any of these four men. No Thomases nor Richards recorded baptisms in the Frimley registers of any sons named Robert, Richard or Ralph Gunner. Although there is evidence that Thomas & Richard Gunner were the sons of Thomas (d.1586) we must that forget that two other male Gunners witnessed Thomas‘ will so were probably related. They were probably not Thomas‘ brothers, otherwise he would likely have said so. The closest they might have been is Thomas‘ cousins. Evenso they were likely to have used similar christian names to Thomas‘ sons. So at best the evidence argued so far is inconclusive.

 

It may however be significant that Coliberie, the wife of a Thomas Gunner was recorded in the Farnborough parish registers 29 Nov 1595 but she was buried in Frimley. Less than a year later, on 12 Sep 1596, a Thomas Gunner married Jane Gellie at Farnborough and a daughter named Agnes was born 27 Apr 1600. The batch of baptisms of the Thomas Gunner recorded in the Frimley registers end with John 13 Oct 1594, and then there is a gap to Eliza 15 Oct 1599. The two sets of records for Frimey and Farnborough are consistent. If these two sets of records are for the same Thomas Gunner, then Thomas must have lived and worked in Farnborough, giving added weight to my suggestion below that his brother Henry/Harry lived in Farnborough. Nevertheless there is as yet no conclusive evidence that the Thomas, Richard and Henry recorded in later records are the sons of Thomas (d.1586). It is possible that a series of property records might provide this.


Descendants of John Gunner of Sturtlane End, died 1606

A John Gunner died in Frimley on 2 Mar 1606. Since he was a grandfather he was probably of the same generation as Thomas (d.1586), but we do not know the relationship. John gave his residence as Sturtlane ende, Frimley. He had a son William, who had four children, and a daughter Agnes who had a son. He also mentions William and John, the children of Richard Gunner but gives no relationship with Richard. So we cannot know whether this Richard was the son of Thomas (d.1586) or another Richard. It is very likely that the Richard referred to in John's will is his own dead son, Richard Gunner, Miller of Frimley who made his will on 5 Jan 1600, proved 20 Mar 1600. In his will this Richard stated his father was named John. Richard also mentions a brother William and Richard's own second son was also named William. Both Williams coincide with names in the will of John of Sturtlane Ende. Richard mentions his eldest son George and John states that his godson is named George, who is probably Richard's son - though this is not usual. In Cliff Webb's will abstracts for the West Surrey FHS we find that George inherited Richard's cottage called Buckherst "with a malt querne and hoast in the south end of Frymley" to his eldest son George; his brother William Gunner was appointed Executor, "to have care of land and my four children, maintaining the mill stones, fences etc. All the implements belonging to the malt querne, as also two bushels, all the sieves, a horse or mane to draw the mill withal, a pain of hames and harness, a fan, a scuttle, a peck, a gallon and pint measures, a hammer, handsaw, rivet, auger, a 'tobe dishe' and handshovel.

 

The children of Richard the miller had probably been born before the start of the Frimley baptismal registers in 1590 since there is no baptism of a George or William though the girls could have been his. This adds weight to my assumption that the sons born in the 1590s were probably those of Richard son of Thomas Gunner. William baptised three children between 1598 and 1602 and these are probably 3 of the 4 children mentioned in John of Sturtlane Ende's will.

 

But the John christening children in the 1590s was probably not John of Sturtlane Ende, Frimley (d.1606) because the names of the baptised children are not the same as those mentioned in that John's will. Furthermore John of Sturtlane Ende did not mention a son named John in his own will, so we may have to account for a third John.


In my analysis so far I have only considered the descendants of Thomas Gunner (d.1586) and John of Sturtlane Ende, Frimley since these are the only four wills I have before 1610. The 1571 Lay Subsidy lists the names of two other men, Robert and William Gunner. These are probably the witnesses to Thomas' will so are probably near relations. There was a Robert and a completely unrelated John baptising children in the 1590s. However at present I have no further information about any of them. The other person I have not yet considered is Thomas‘s son Harry -- probably baptised Henry.

 

The descendants of Henry Gunner of Farnborough

The Frimley baptismal registers do not record any children of a Harry or a Henry Gunner until 1606 ie 20 years after the death of Thomas Gunner in 1586. It is possible that Harry was a young boy when Thomas died but there is another possibility that Harry/Henry had moved to Farnborough - and was christening his children at Farnborough church. This might seem to be wishful thinking on my part in order to try to link the Frimley Gunner family to the Borderware potteries then expanding production in Farnborough. However this migration to a neighbouring parish, probably literally just down the road and across the river, will seem more convincing when I reveal that when one of the sons of the Henry Gunner who lived in Farnborough died, the child was buried at Frimley and not in Farnborough where the unfortunate infant had been baptised only eight days earlier. These are entries from the Farnborough Parish Records:

Event Date Event
03 Mar 1594 Robert son of Henry Gonner baptised at Farnborough
21 Jan 1596 Henry twin son of Henry Gonner baptised at Farnborough
21 Jan 1596 John twin son of Henry Gonner baptised at Farnborough
29 Jan 1596 Henry son of Henry Gonner buried at Frimley
03 Sep 1598 Richard son of Henry Gonner baptised at Farnborough

There is no indication of Henry Gunner's trade and I have not found Henry's will. In 1600 he appears to have had three surviving sons: Robert, John and Richard. Could this Robert be the potter who was buried at Frimley on 22 May 1637? And were his brothers also involved in the pottery business?

 

Robert Gunner made his will on 10 May 1637 mentioning his brothers John and Richard and his sisters Alice and Susan. Robert‘s brothers‘ names correspond with those of the sons of Henry Gunner of Farnborough. The executors and trustees of Robert's will are Thomas Watts my unckle & John Cox my trusty and loveinge friends. If Robert was the son of Henry Gunner of Farnborough and he was the son of Thomas Gunner of Frimley (d.1586) then Alice Watts was his aunt. There is a bit a a problem with this since, although Robert the potter would have been 43 Thomas Watts would have been in his seventies. This is feasible if somewhat unlikely and the final confirmation will depend of whether Henry of Farnborough also had daughters Alice and Susan. Christian names run in families and we may have slipped a generation. It is unlikely that we shall find two families with four identical names also having an uncle with with surname Watts.

 

The Frimley Courts Baron confirm that Robert Gunner, potter of Frimley was indeed the son of Henry Gunner of Farnborough. At the court held 17 Oct 1603 the homage presented that "John Gonner second son of Henry Gonner de Farneborowe is a copyhold tenant ... and that Robert Gonner brother of the said John is his next heir."  In the entries below John Gunner, second son of Henry Gunner is recorded as being admitted to "a butticium of land and a cottage and garden and appurtenances lying next to Hawkyns Ridd in Frimley in the occupation of Thomas Reeves".  In 1603 John was 7 and Robert his brother was 9 years old. The next relevant entry is at a court held on 25 May 1637 when it was recorded that Robert Gunner had died "seized of 1 messuage half acre of land with appurtenances in Frimley and that Richard Gonner is Robert's brother and is admitted." Since I presume it was still Robert' same brother John who was still alive in 1637 it seems that John had in the meantime transferred the Frimley copyholding to his elder brother.


Gunner links with other potter families

The current project to digitise Cliff Webb‘s abstracts of Surrey Archdeaconry will abstracts by the West Surrey Family History Society will be of great benefit to local historians, as well as to family historians. Preliminary digital searches have been made for me by Chris Willis using various search criteria. A digital search for the surname Gunner in Cliff Webb‘s abstracts to catch all Gunner surname variants has been made for me by Chris Willis of WSFHS and the Yateley Society. This has revealed several extremely interesting family links between the Gunner family and other families known to be involved in the production of Borderware pottery in the late 16th and first half of the 17th century.

 

Will of Joane YOUNG, widow of Frimley, proved 4 Nov 1581

This will appears to establish a family relationship between the Gunner family and several other key Borderware families:

The Gunner familiy members named in Joan Young‘s will are John Gunner and Joan Gunner and her daughter Mary. John could have been the son of Thomas (d.1586).

 

 

 

Will of Elizabeth Gunner, of Farnborough, proved 21 Jan 1611

It appears to me that Elizabeth Gunner was a spinster. That she makes many bequests to children seems to be typical of spinster wills. However I remain open-minded as to whether the word "widow" has been accidentally omitted from her will, and that her maiden name was Finch.

Elizabeth only mentions two relatives by name: her brothers John Gunner of Heston, Middlesex and Robert Gunner of Frimley. This means that she could be the daughter of Henry Gunner, son of Thomas Gunner (d.1586) and that her brother Robert was the Frimley potter (d.1638). Why she then does not mention Robert‘s other brother Richard and his sisters Alice and Susan is a mystery and mitigates against a relationship with Robert Gunner the potter. She also makes a bequest to Marie the daughter of Robert Gunner of Frimley, not mentioning that this Robert was her brother. Robert Gunner the potter appears to have no wife and children at the time of his death. So suddenly we may have three Robert Gunners of Frimley to account for, adding to the evidence that Robert the potter may have been the grandson of Henry of Farnborough. If Elizabeth‘s maiden name were Finch then the Gunners would be her in-laws.

 

The John Gunner of Frimley she mentions is not her named brother John Gunner of Heston. The John of Frimley is identified as being of Grovestile, Frimley. This is now a third address for a John Gunner in Frimley -- the others being Sturtlane End and Whitwell. The fact that her brother John is living in Heston should be noted since it is beyond Chertsey, thus indicating distances of migration of this family at this period.

 

Most interestingly she made bequests to John Rogers‘ children and identifies them as John, Harry, Elizabeth, Thomas and Jane, and probably John Roger‘s wife or daughter named Marie. The names of these children correspond with those in the will of John Rogers alias Marner, the Farnborough potter who died 1648, see also RogersFamily. I think Marie who received Elizabeth Gunner's chest with lock and key must have been John Rogers' daughter (bap. at Farnborough 27 Jun 1596) since she was the daughter of John Rogers' first wife Anne Finch. There are many bequests to members of the Finch family in Elizabeth's will and Robert and Christopher Finch were appointed executors. Marie Rogers later become Mary Milton, the surname of another potter family.

 

However, whoever she was - Gunner by birth or by marriage - Elizabeth Gunner appears to have had a very close relationship to the family of John Rogers alias Marner, one of the key players in the Borderware pottery industry.

 

Will of Francis MARNER, glover of Farnham, proved 18 Apr 1622

The West Surrey FHS abstract of this will contains the rather enigmatic bequests to my wife Ann Marner house and garden in Downing Street for life and then to my three daughters Susan Marner, Margaret Marner and Jane Marner equally and to my daughters £11 due them on bonds from Henry Gunner and Robert Gunner of Frimley at 21 or marriage and to each daughter a chest. It is likely that Francis Marner was closely related to [JohnMarnerGlover|John Marner, glover of Farnham, and therefore this family link may be a clue as the the links with the Rogers alias Marner families of potters working in Farnborough and Cove. There is only one Robert Gunner (bur. 1637) and one Henry Gunner (bur. 1634) listed in the Frimley parish registers. I am mystified as to why the Mrner girls were owned money on bonds from Henry and Robert Gunner owed. It would be nice to think that there were prospective marriage arrangements. However some of the Gunner family (in Farnborough) were tanners and tailors so the bonds could well have been commercial.

 

Evidence from Frimley Courts Baron

A couple of entries in the Frimley Court Rolls dated around 1636 reveal that John Gunner of Sturt Lane end had connections with potter production and may well have been a potter himself. At a court which Phil Stevens is unable to date precisely but appears to him to be 6 Fen 1636 John Gunner surrendered "1 parcel of land called Sturt Land containing 12 acres which he returns to the work and use of Richard Walton of Farnborough in the county of South potter." Some short time later another almost identical entry is recorded: "1 parcel of land called Stirts Land containing 12 acres ... to the work and use of Nicholas Weston of Farnborough Potter." At the court held 1 Oct 1602 the homage presented "that John Gounner of the Cornermake forfeiture in building a workshop in his new structure". At the end of the same court roll "the bailiff ordered that the lands and tenements of John Gonner be forfeit since he has built a new shop without licence of the Lord". This is interesting and may even record the contruction of the first pottery in Frimley but there is no way of knowing the purpose of this workshop except to link a series of court entries to the leases to the Farnborough potters and this I have not been able to do convincingly since John "of the Corner" appears to be a different John from John of Sturt Lane.


SUMMARY

In the key period of the expansion of the Borderware pottery industry in the century from 1560 to 1660 only one member of the Gunner family has so far been indentified as a potter working in the Blackwater Valley. However, through a complex web of family relationships the family appears to be intimately connected with the key figures in the Borderware pottery industry. Members of the family, whose wills did not survive, lived in Farnborough and Frimley and may have been potters. We have made a tentative attempt to construct a family tree. It is possible that Robert Gunner the potter of Frimley was born in Farnborough the son of Henry Gunner and the grandson of Thomas Gunner who died in Frimley in 1586. But there is not yet conclusive evidence to prove this categorically.


Back to biography of Robert Gunner, potter of Frimley

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