MRP: Sir Nicholas Crispe will

Sir Nicholas Crispe will

Editorial history

27/02/12, CSG: Created page

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Abstract & context

Sir Nicholas Crispe (b. ?, d. 1666) wrote his will in 16XX. He appears to have been in relatively poor physical shape at the time of making his will, and made reference in the will to "my soe long shortnes of breath."

In his will, Crispe described his mansion house as being "of Hammersmith." The 1666 hearth tax return shows this house to have been of substantial size, with forty-five hearths. It appears in Fulham under the name of his widow "Lady Crispes," who was Anne XXX (b. ?, d. ?). At the time Hammersmith was within the parish of Fulham.

Sir Nicholas Crispe referred in his will to Anne Crispe, the widow of his son Ellis Crispe. Ellis Crispe presumably died between Lady Day 1664, when he appeared in the Surrey hearth tax returns in Mortlake with a house of twenty-four hearths, and the time of writing of Sir Nicholas Crispe's will. Sir Nicholas Crispe appears to have been generous towards Anne Crispe, his daughter-in-law, as he anticipated his own death, bequeathing her an annuity of three hundred pounds per annum. However, her father, Sir George Strode, displayed considerable bitterness towards Sir Nicholas Crispe in his own will written in ?1664. In that will, Sir George Strode criticised Sir Nicholas Crispe for misappropriating Anne Strode's portion. Several Chancery records in the 1650s suggest that there had been a protracted legal dispute between Sir George Strode and Sir Nicholas Crispe as to Anne Strode's portion.

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To do

(1) Check the transcription

(2) Follow up Sir Nicholas Crisp's proposal that a sluice be constructed at Deptford to hold two hundred ships

(3) Look at commercial links between Sir Thomas Cullum (d. 1664) and Sir Nicholas Crispe. Supposedly Sir Thomas Cullum's wife was Sir Nicholas Crispe's first cousin. Cullum was a draper and a farmer of the Excise duties (1643-1651). Cullum supposedly had a villa, destroyed by the 1666 fire. Its grounds were subsequently let out on building leases to form Cullum Street, near Fenchurch street

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Images

Sir Nicholas Crispe, engraving, from a painting, undated

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Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion, Walford, 1815

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Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion, Faulkner, circa 1839

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Site of Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion (later Brandenburgh house), Hammersmith, after Roque, 1746

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Image credits & copyright information

(1) 'Sir Nicholas Crispe, from a painting in the Earl of Leicesters collection,' engraving, undated, anon, reproduced in Thomas Faulkner, The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith (London, 1839), op. title page

(2) 'Brandenburgh house, in 1815,' engraving, anon, in Edward Walford, Old and New London: the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ?1878), p. 541

(3) 'Brandenburgh house,' engraving, ca. 1839, anon, reproduced in Thomas Faulkner, The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith (London, 1839), p. 278

(4) Extract from 'Hammersmith in 1746. (From Rocque's Map.),' showing site of Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion, subsequently known as Brandenburgh house, in Edward Walford, Old and New London: the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ??1878), p. 541

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Transcription

IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I Nicholas Crispe of Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex Knight and Barronett

In due and serious consideration of ?humane frailty and mortality That is the great XXXX for every man once to dye Doe hereby ordaine and declare this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following And therefore ffirst and in all humility and devotion of a Contrite heart I heartely begg meritts of my alone Saviour JESUS CHRIST and though I have beene a most greivous sinner and most Prodigall sonne yet my steddy hope is in Christ That for his sake God my most mercifull Creator will not ?cast of the ?Bowells and compassion of a ffather upon which confidence I cast myselfe into his armes AMEN. AMEN. Lord Jesus in hope in that last moment of tyme att my departure to ?render up my soule with Comfort in the mercyes of God the ffather through the meritts of God the sonne in the Love of God the holy Ghost And humbly pray that most blessed and glorious Trinity our God to prepare me for and preserve me in that hower of my dissolution and make me waite every moment when my Change shall come and in my Change to receive me into that Rest which he hath prepared for all them that love and feare his name soe ?Amen Lord Jesus Amen FOR my ffaith I dye as I have lived in the true Orthodox Profession of the Catholicke ffaith of Christ ?foreshewed by the Prophetts and preached to the world by Christ himselfe his blessed Appostles and their Successors and a true member of his Catholicke Church within the Comunion of a Liveing part thereof the present Church of England as it now stands established by Lawe

WHOMSEVER I have in the last degree offended I heartily aske God and them forgiveness and whosever have offended me I pray God forgive them and I heartily doe And I hopeand pray that God will forgive me many great and greivous Transgressions against him Amen Amen

I LEAVE my body to the Earth whence it was taken in full assureance of the resurrection of it from the Grave att the last day This Resurrection I constantly beleive my deare Saviour JESUS CHRIST will make happy to me his poore servant the cause of my soe long shortnes of breath to be helpfull to my Posterity that are troubled with the same Infirmity AND I order and appoint that my Executo:rs cause my heart to be Imbalmed And to be put into a ?funall urne made of the hardest stone and ffastned XXXX placed upon a ?Pillar of the best and hardest Black Marble to be sett up in Hammersmith Chappell neare my Pew the place I soe dearely loved And I appoint my body to be put into a Leaden Coffin and laid in a vault in S:t Mildreds Church in Breadstreete in London That I made for my Parents and Posterity Which Leaden Coffin I appoint to be put into a Stone coffin to be covered with a stone And that there be noe other funerall Pompe att my buriall than that my wife Children and Grandchildren have
mourning

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MOURNING And the servants of my owne family that shall be of my househould att the tyme of my death And noe other charge but my Three Trumpetters with my owne Trumpetts attend my body to the Grave with my Cornett and a Ledd ?horse in Black And abother with my best Saddle and furniture give particular ?nature by a ?Tickett to all my noble ffreinds kindred and relations That on such a day at such an hower from such a place my body shalbe carried to be interred and that all that come haveing nothing but a Branch of Rosemary and presented to all of the better quality of my Effigies with my Armes impressed upon vellour or other Parchment and in Paper with this inscription THI IS THE EFFIGIES OF S:R NICHOLAS CRISPE KNIGHT AND BARONET WHO FFIRST DISCOVERED AND SETLED THE TRADE OF GOLD IN AFFRICA AND BUILT THERE THE CASTLE OF CORMENTINE BY WHICH HEE LOST OUT OF PURSE ALSONE A HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS ABOVE ALL RETURNES FROM THENCE) I not doubting but my Nation (when I am dead) will make Compensation or amends to my family for soe great a service done to my Country att my soe great losse which will be better understood in the future

I desire my worthy kinsman M:r Andrew Crispe ffellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford doe that last service for me as to Preach my funerall Sermon appointing him mourning and M:r [Blank in original document] Durham my deare ffreind to doe the office of my buriall To whome I alsoe appoint mourning and Tenn pounds a peece in money And I desire my Executors and Trustees to Collect my Papers together of my doeing and proceeding in that business of Affrica and to deliver them to my said Cosen Andrew Crispe who at his convenience I desire to draw such a Narrative as he and my Executors and Trustees shall think fitt to be put in Print and Published praying them to requite his paines fully therein

And as to my worldly Estate I have considered of the nature thereof ?which consist in Lands some ffreehold some Coppyhold some Estates for XXXX ?some for yeares A great part of my said lands att present being in severall persons Trust for me my heires Executo:rs and assignes And I haveing alsoe severall Interests in the ffarme of the Customes and Subsidies A?Allome and ?Copperas & the Office of Collector of the Subsidies and customes Outwardes for Three lives ?to ?take effect after the death of S:r John Wolstenholme and of and in diverse and sundry other things and proffitts of severall natures And considering that after my decease great partes thereof will require Care and vigillance rightly to manage the same Therefore and to the end that my Trustees and Executors may understand what my Estate and rights consist in I DID heretofore by Indenture dated the Eight and Twentieth day of ffebruary In the yeare of our Lord One Thousand Six hundred Sixty ffoure grant and convey and directed all persons interested in trust for me to convey and assure unto my deare wife and to my Two sonnes John and Thomas Crispe all such Lands and hereditaments And all other Interests and proffitts belonging unto me either in Law or equity And my XXXX being that all my Estate both reall and personall and all ?meanes of Interests and proffitts whatsoever I have or belongs unto me or that any other person or persons are seized possessed or interested of for me in Trust shalbe duely and Legally setled and vested in my said wife and Two sonnes their Executo:rs and assignes I DOE therefore confirme the said Indenture and all Eszazes therein granted or made And I doe hereby give and bequeath unto my said wife and my Two sonnes their heires executors and assignes All my Messuages Lands Tenements and hereditaments whereof I am seized or interested on ffee for life for yeares or any other s Estate whatsoever And I doe direct and appoint all persons who are interested of my lands Tenements or hereditaments in trust for me or possessed or interested of any proffitts office or other thing whatsoever Doe alsoe duely and legally grant and assigne their whole Interest therein and every part
thereof

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THEREOF unto my said Wife and Two sonnes And to the intent that my said Wife and Two sonnes shalbe inabled to performe the trusts in them reposed and declared by this my last Will I DOE MAKE my said wife and my said Two sonnes John and Thomas Crispe Executors thereof

YET NEVERTHELESS my said wife and Two sonnes shall stand seized possessed and Interested of all and every the lands Tenements and hereditaments offices proffitts and other things granted or conveyed unto or to the use of my said wife and Two sonnes by the said recyted Indenture or given unto them by this my last will in Trust as followeth:

ITEM I doe hereby declare my meaning to be that my said deare wife from and after my decease shall have and retaine Six hundred pounds the yeare for her life the same to be paid unto her Quarterly (viz:t) upon the Annunceation of the blessed Virgin Mary the Nativity of S:t John Baptist the ffeast of S:t Michaell the Archangell and the Nativity of our Lord God by equall portions the ffirst payment to begin upon the ffirst of the said ffeasts which shall happen next after my decease And I doe direct my said Trustees duely to pay the same out of the ffirst of the proffitts which shall arise out of my whole Estate they are intrusted with

AND I doe hereby further declare my Will to be And I doe bequeath into my said Wife Two Thousand pounds which Two Thousand pounds I leave to the discretion of my said wife to dispose of to such of her Children and Grand Children one or more of them as she shall by her last Will direct or appoint

AND I alsoe give unto my said Wife for her life soe much of my dwelling house in Charterhouse Yard London as I did lately use for my selfe and ffamily

AND I doe further give unto my said Wife All my Lynnen which I have in any of my houses And I doe give unto her the use of all my househould goods Plate and furniture of household which I shall dye possessed of for her life yet my meaning is and I direct that a true and perfect Inventary (sic) shall be made of the said goods and Plate (The said Lynnen Excepted) To the Intent that the said goods and Plate which I have hereby given her the use of shall after her decease be disposed of Towards the performance of this my Will

ITEM Whereas my intent is That my daughter in Law Ann Crispe Widdow of my sonne Ellys Crispe deceased shall have Three hundred pounds the yeare for her life for her Joynture And a hundred pounds the yeare for the Educatcon and breeding of her Daughters by her said husband untill her said daughters shall attaine the Age of One and Twenty years or be married I doe therefore direct and appoint my said Trustees and Executo:rs To pay unto my said daughter Crispe for her life the yearly summe of Three hundred pounds And alsoe a hundred pounds more yearly for the maintenance of her said Daughters untill her said daughters doe attaine the age of One and Twenty yeares or be married PROVIDED alwayes And I doe hereby declare my mynde to be That from and after such tyme as my said Trustees shall have duely and Legally setled upon my said daughter Crispe lands in the Kingdome of England of the cleare yearly vallue of Three hundred pounds for her life Then and from thenceforth the payment of Three hundred pounds p Annum of the said ffoure hundred pounds p Annum shall cease And I doe desire That with what convenient speed may be my said Trustees shall settle upon my said daughter Crispe the said Three hundred pounds p Annum for her Joynture as aforesaid And my will is That the said ffoure hundred pounds the yeare shalbe paid unto my said daughter Crispe quarterly. AND I doe give unto my said daughter Crispe One hundred pounds to buy her a Ring or Jewell

ITEM I doe give unto my Grandaughter Rebecca Crispe when shee shall attaine unto her Age of One and Twenty yeares or be married The sume of One Thousand pounds Soe that she marry not without the consent of her mother during her said mothers life And in case the said Rebecca Dye before here age of One and Twenty yeares
Unmarried

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UNMARRYED Then my will is That the said Thousand pounds shall beXXX XXXX paid unto the Surviving Sister or Sisters of the said Rebecca att their respective XXX XXXX XXXX XXX one and twenty yeares or Marriage So that they marry not without their XXXXXXX of their said mother dureing her life And for such of them as shall soe marry XXX XXX XXXX consent of their said Mother their XXX is thereof to cease

ITEM XXX XXX XXX shall respectively attaine unto their severall ages of One and Twenty yeares or be married the summe of Six hundred pounds a peece soe that they marry not without the consent of their mother dureing her life And in case any of them dye before their Age of One and twenty yeares unmaried then the portion or portions of her soe dyeing shall ?survive and be equally devided amongst the rest of the said Three daughters surviving

ITEM WHEREAS ?Prescott Crispe younger sonne of my said sonne Ellis Crispe is by XXXX from his ffather by the Custome of the Mannor of Fulham seized and possessed of some Coppyhold lands within that Mannor as ffee And if it shall XXXXX that XXXX dye without surrendering of some other Coppyhold lands whereof I am ?seized within the said Mannor whereby the same should XXXX XXXX XXXX unto him It is my inetnet That noe part of such lands shall XXXX from my Mansion house att Hamersmith nor from my other XXX

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Notes

Sir Nicholas Crispe, House of Commons members (1660-1690), Cruickshanks (1983)

"Constituency: Winchelsea Apr. 1640
Constituency: Winchelsea Nov. 1640 - 2 Feb. 1641
Constituency: Winchelsea 1661 - 26 Feb. 1666Nov. 1640 - 2 Feb. 1641

Family and Education

b. c.1598, 1st s. of Ellis Crisp, Salter, of Bread Street, London by Hester, da. of John Ireland, Salter, of London. m. by 1619, Anne, da. and coh. of Edward Prescott, Salter and goldsmith, of London, 5s. (3 d.v.p.) 5da. suc. fa 1625; kntd. 1 Jan. 1640; cr. Bt. 14 Apr. 1665. (fn. 1)

Offices Held

Member, Salters’ Co. 1619, master 1640-1; member, Artillery Co. 1621; Merchant Adventurer; member, Barbary Co., Guinea Co. 1631; capt. of militia ft. London by 1632-?42, common councilman by 1640-1; j.p. Mdx. by 1641-2, July 1660-d., Cornw. 1644-6; commr. of array, London 1642, loyal and indigent officers, London and Westminster 1662, assessment, London 1661-3, Mdx. 1661-d.; dep. lt. London 1662-d.; asst. R. Adventurers into Africa 1663-6. (fn. 2)

Jt. farmer of customs 1638-40, 1662-d.; commr. for customs Sept. 1660-2, trade Nov. 1660-d., plantations Dec. 1660-d.; gent. of privy chamber 1664-d.; jt.-farmer of alum works 1665- d. (fn. 3)

Col. of horse (royalist) 1643-5.

FRS 1663.
Biography

Crisp’s grandfather, a native of Leicestershire, acquired the manor of Marshfield and other property in Gloucestershire, and his father was one of the richest merchants in Jacobean London. Crisp invested in numerous projects and built himself a magnificent house at Hammersmith for £25,000. He was largely responsible for opening up the Guinea trade, and contracted for the great farm of the customs in 1638. Expelled from the Long Parliament as a monopolist, he joined the King at Oxford, and executed the London commission of array. He raised a regiment for the King’s service, and supplied him with ‘thousands of gold’. In 1647 he retired to France. He compounded on the Exeter articles, a fine of £1,000 imposed in 1649 being reduced to £356 two years later, when his interest in the Guinea trade and personal estate valued at £140,000 was set in the balance against debts amounting to £300,000 incurred in the late King’s service. (fn. 4)

Crisp was active in the royalist conspiracies prior to the Restoration, and signed the declaration of London Royalists in support of George Monck in April 1660, disclaiming ‘any thoughts of revenge for past mischiefs’. The following July he petitioned from a debtors’ prison

for an order for payment of £20,000. ... This is his own special portion of the great debt of £100,000 due to him and other farmers of the customs from the Long Parliament who promised to pay the King’s debts on their advancing money to discharge the two armies.

He was soon at liberty, and became one of the customs commissioners at a salary of £2,000 p.a. Nominated for London by the court party in 1661, he was ‘stiffly cried down’ by the dissenters as a friend to the bishops. But he was returned for Winchelsea on the lord warden’s interest, and listed by Lord Wharton as a friend. A moderately active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, he was appointed to 42 committees, including the committee of elections and privileges in five sessions, and several concerned with the revenue. In 1661 he was appointed to the committees for the restoration of bishops to the House of Lords, the uniformity bill, and the bill of pains and penalties. After the Christmas recess he was added to the committee to consider abuses in the customs and appointed to that for the additional corporations bill. On the last day of the session he was given special responsibility, with William Morice I and (Sir) Robert Brooke, for recommending the case of a merchant’s widow to the King. During this period he obtained for himself a moiety in the farm of sea-coal exports, two-thirds of the customs duties on spices until the repayment of £20,000 due to him for his factories in Guinea, and a special grant of £10,000 for his services in compounding the debt owed by Charles I to the East India Company; while his son was granted the reversion of the office of collector of customs outwards in the port of London. After 1663, when he helped to consider a petition from the loyal and indigent officers and an additional bill for their relief, his activity declined. Nevertheless he was listed as a court dependant in 1664, and attended the Oxford session, acting as teller on the third reading for the bill to encourage the planting of hemp and flax. He formed a syndicate with Sir Hugh Cholmley which was granted the alum farm for 21 years on payment of a yearly rent of £5,260. He died on 26 Feb. 1666, aged 67, and was buried in St. Mildred’s, Bread Street. At his request, his heart, enclosed in an urn, was placed on the pedestal of the bronze bust ‘of that glorious martyr, King Charles I, of blessed memory’ erected by him in his chapel at Hammersmith. The family never fully recovered from his losses in the Civil War, but his grandson Charles sat for Woodstock in 1721-2 (fn. 5)

Notes

   1. F. A. Crisp, Crisp Colls. iv. 4-5; C. J. Feret, Fulham Old and New, iii. 68.
   2. S. Watson, Salters’ Co. 145; Ancient Vellum Bk. ed. Raikes 32; CSP Dom. 1631-3, pp. 186, 237; Keeler, Long Parl. 147; T. K. Rabb, Enterprise and Empire, 273; V. Pearl, London and the Outbreak of the Puritan Revolution, 121; SP29/61/5; Sel. Charters (Selden Soc. xxviii), 179.
   3. R. B. Turton, Alum Farm, 187; Carlisle, Privy Chambers, 174.
   4. Crisp, iv. 2-5; Feret, iii. 60-61; Clarendon, Life, ii. 232-3; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xv), 201; DNB; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1651; K. G. Davies, R. African Co. 40.
   5. D. Underdown, Royalist Conspiracy, 37; A Declaration of the Nobility and Gentry that adhered to the late King now residing in and about the City of London (1660); CSP Dom. 1660-1, pp. 122, 538, 605; 1661-2, pp. 14, 25, 320, 331, 608; 1663-4, p. 639; 1665-6, pp. 79, 400; Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 226, 446, 553; CJ, viii. 436, 620; Turton, 182; Crisp, iv. 3; T. Faulkner, Fulham and Hammersmith, 128."

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Hammersmith mansion house of Sir Nicholas Crispe

Sir Nicholas Crispe built his mansion house in Hammersmith in XXXX.

Faulkner cites Bowack's Middlesex, which provided a description of the house in 1705:

Upon the Thames, adjoining to Hammersmith, though within the limits of the Fulham division, is a noble seat, built by Sir Nicholas Crispe, Bart. a gentleman of unshaken loyalty to King Charles I. It stands at a very convenient distance from the Thames, in a sweet and wholesome air, and has a large spot of ground of several acres inclosed, adjoining to it. The building is very lofty, regular, and magnificent, after the modern manner, built with brick, cornered with stone, and has a handsome cuppola at the top. It contains several large handsome rooms, very spacious, and finely finished. The foundations and walls are very substantial, and the vaults underneath arched in an extraordinary manner. The whole house in building, and the gardens, canals, &c. in making, is said to cost near £25,000.

Some time after the death of the said Sir Nicholas Crispe, this house was sold to Mrs. Margaret Hughes,a lady much esteemed at Court about that time, for her air and beauty, in whose possession it had not remained many years, before she disposed of it again, to Timothy Lannoy, Esq. one of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for this county, and Mr. Treadway, his brother, both Turkey merchants, and gentlemen of known worth, as well abroad as at home. These gentlemen have for many years past lived in this noble seat, and made several other buildings, as dye-houses, &c. for carrying on their business.

Interestingly, Faulkner describes Timothy Lannoy, one of the house's joint occupants from the mid-1690s till 1718, as a "scarlet dyer". Recent archaeological work by the Museum of London (2001-XXXX) discovered probably brick lined dye vats, but the write up of this work dates them to occupation by Sir Nicholas Crispe. It has been suggested that Crispe used the vats to dye cloth, employing dye wood imported by him from West Africa.

Crispe's mansion was modified in post-1740 by Lord Melcombe, first known as George Bubb, Esq., and subsequently known as George Doddington, Esq. Melcombe was the son of an apothecary. He purchased the house in 1740 from Leonora, the only daughter of James Lannoy. The building had been in the tenure of the Duke and Duchess of Athol (Faulkner, 1839: 281). According to Faulkner, Lord Melcombe "repaired and modernized the house, giving it the name of La Trappe, and built a magnificent gallery for statues and antiquities" (Faulkner, 1839: 279)

Three plates of the house as modifed by Lord Melcombe, showing the "elevation towards the Thames, the ground plan, and section of the gallery" (Faulkner, 1839: 283). Faulkner includes an engraving of the house in his own work, showing the house from the river Thames (Faulkner, 1839: 278).

Faulkner provides a detailed description of the house was it was "splendidly fitted up by her Highness, the Margarvine [of Brandenburgh-Ansbergh]," following its acquisition from Lord Melcombe:

The state apartments consisted of five rooms, besides the great gallery, the whole of which were filled with a magnificent collection of paintings, and objects of vertu...

In the small dining-room...

The drawing-room was thirty-eight feet by twenty-three feet...

In the state bed-room...

In the drawing-room was a cabinet, containing a large collection of miniatures, ...a silver oval Medallion of Charles the First and his Queen, dug up a few years since, in the grounds near Brandenburgh-house...

The gallery was eighty feet by twenty, it was originally fitted by Lord Melcombe, and floored with marble...

In the dining-room and dressing-room...two Views of Brandenburgh House, and seat in the gardens, by Wigstead...

In the bed-chamber,...

In the hall, ...

Leading from the hall was the conservatory, connecting the house with the apratments adjoining the theatre; this suite contained a billiard-room, a coffee-room, and the library, .... The theatre was erected near the waterside, in a castellated form, resembling an ancient ruin...

In the Memoirs published by the Margravine, we find the following description of the premises: XXX

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Sir Nicholas Crisp's project for a harbour at Deptford, Lysons, 1798

"Project of making a harbour at Deptford.

During Cromwell's usurpation a project was set on foot by Sir Nicholas Crispe, of making a mole at Deptford, for the harbour of 200 sail or more to ride in 17 or 18 feet of water, without cable or anchor. The demesne lands of the manor (being about 200 acres, lying now within the parish of St. Paul) were purchased for that purpose at the price of 6000l. and a considerable sum of money was expended in erecting storehouses, and setting up a sluice. After the Restoration Sir Nicholas Crispe, joining with the Duke of Ormond, the Earl of Bath, and others, who were embarked with him in this undertaking, petitioned King Charles II. to grant them the land so purchased in fee-farm; it was stated in the petition that Sir Nicholas Crispe had formed this project principally with a view of ingratiating himself with the then ruling powers, that he might the better watch a favourable opportunity of bringing about his Majesty's restoration. Sir Charles Harbord, the King's surveyor, to whom the petition was referred, advised his Majesty by no means to grant the land in feefarm, but to offer a lease of 31 years, at a rent of 160l. per annum, with a fine of 2000l. (fn. 20) These terms, it is probable, were not accepted, for it does not appear that the projectors proceeded any farther with their design."

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Glass manufacture on Sir Nicholas Crispe's estate at Hammersmith

Report of a paper given by G. Egan (Museum of London) in the section on 15th and C16th glass at the AIHV 17th Triennial Congress, Antwerp, 4th-8th September 2006. The first part of the paper dealt with "a glass bead factory operated on Sir Nicholas Crispe's Hammersmith estate in the 1630s."

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Inhabitants of London, 1638: St Mildred, Bread Street

"MS. p. 268.

The Signe of the Sheppard being part of Capt. Crispe his house £12/10
The Signe of the Two Black Boyes, being the other part of the said house £ 12/10...

Mr. Crispe £11...

By me Nich. Bradshawe, Rect. eccles.
St Mildred's in Bread Street, London."

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Irish adventure, June 1642

"June 1642

[17 June 1642]

Whereas Sir Nicholas Crispe, Knight, Maurice Thompson, Thomas Chamberlaine, Gregory Clement, Richard Waring, John Wood, Richard Shute, George Thompson, William Pennoyer, Thomas Vincent, William Thompson, William Willoughby, Thomas Rainsburrough, Samuell Moyer, and Richard Hill, and their Associates, as well out of their pious and charitable Disposition towards their distressed Brethren His Majesty's Protestant Subjects in the Realm of Ireland, who, being brought into great Misery and Distress, are ready to perish for Want of Relief, as also out of their loyal Respect to His Majesty, and Detestation to that Rebellion, and to reduce the Rebels in the said Realm of Ireland to their due Obedience, and (as much as in them shall lie) to prevent and hinder all such Supplies as shall be sent unto the said Rebels, and likewise, by all possible Ways and Means, to assist and help His Majesty's good Subjects there, and to infest, spoil, and waste the said Rebels by Land and Sea, have lately made known, to the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, their voluntary Disposition and Readiness to undertake, by themselves and their Associates, the setting forth and employing of Twelve Ships and Six Pinnaces, with a convenient Number of Land Forces, Horse and Foot (as an additional Increase of their former Adventure), at such Rates and Prices as have been usually allowed for other Ships and Seamen, and formerly entertained by the Lords and Commons, and for such Allowance for Land Soldiers as have been formerly accustomed in other expeditions upon the Sea; which being well approved by the Lords and Commons in Parliament, as a good means to further the reducing of the said Realm of Ireland and the Rebels therein to their due Obedience..."

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John Crisp, ?son of Sir Nicholas Crisp, Woodhead (1966)

"CRISP, John

Co Co Bread Street, 1669-83, 1689-93 Bread Street, 1677, St Mildred Bread Street, 1664, 1679, 1689 (1) SALT, M, 1683 (2) d 6 Jun 1708, bur St Mildred Bread Street (3) f ? Sir Nicholas Crispe, Bt, of St Mildred Bread Street, m ? Anne, da of Edward Prescot (4), mar Anne Page (3) Salter, 1674, merchant, 1677 In partnership with Richard BAGNALL, George POCHIN, Richard SHERWOOD, and Richard YERBURY in a brazil ware- house (5) ? Whig ("rather bad", 1682) (6) Neph of Abraham REYNARDSON (7)

(1) Directory, 1677, ChWA, St Mildred Bread Street, VBk, St Mildred Bread Street (2) Boyd 30918, SALT, Co Orders, f 461 (3) Boyd 30918 (4) Boyd 30918, 9287, 14350 (5) SBk, Jul-Oct 1674, Directory, 1677, will of Edward SHERWOOD (6) SP/29/418/199, 435/99 (7) Boyd 9286, 9287"

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Edward Crisp, Barbados, died 1678

"[Parish of St Michaell. St. Michael's Cathedral Church] 14. (Ab.) MR. EDWARD CRISP, MERCHANT, ELDEST SON OF NICHOLAS CRISP, MERCHANT IN BRED STREET, LONDON, IN YE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND ..........OB. 14:th JENVARY, 1678, AET. 50. — ALSO, MR. THOMAS YEATS. OB. 2:nd MARCH, 1681/2. — ALSO, MRS. MARY YEATS, WIFE TO THE ABOVE-MENTIONED PERSONS.....OB, 25:th AUGUST, 1682...."

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Possible primary sources

TNA

PROB 11/133 Parker 1-73 Will of Edward Prescott, Salter of All Hallows Bread Street, City of London 05 June 1619
PROB 11/147 Clarke 103-147 Will of Ellis Crispe, Alderman of London 07 November 1625
PROB 11/175 Goare 119-168 Will of Nicholas Crispe, Skinner of All Hallows Lombard Street, City of London 08 December 1637
PROB 11/192 Rivers 1-56 Will of Doctor Tobias Crispe of City of London 15 March 1645
PROB 11/205 Essex 108-149 Will of William Crispe of Island of Barbados, West Indies 17 October 1648
PROB 11/319 Mico 1-46 Will of Nicholas Crispe of Hammersmith, Middlesex 05 April 1666
PROB 11/331 Coke 108-166 Will of Anne Crisp of Hammersmith, Middlesex 06 October 1669

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Possible secondary sources

Bannerman, W. Bruce (ed.), The registers of St. Mildred, Bread Street, and of St. Margaret Moses, Friday Street, London (London, 1912)
- Several records of baptisms to parents named Crispe (presumably relations of Sir Nicholas Crispe, who chose to be buried in the parish of St Mildreds, Breadstreet. He stated in his will that his father was buried in this parish
- Earliest records in the registers are post 1666. Bannerman presumes that the pre-1666 parish registers were burned in the fire of 1666
Faulkner, Thomas, The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith (London, 1839)
- Portrait of Sir Nicholas Crispe, facing title page
Jamieson, Dave (Museum of London Archaeological Services), 'Beady eye on Crisp,' in Hammersmith and Fulham historic buildings group, Newsletter, 16, Spring 2007, pp. 7-8
Zook, George Frederick, The company of Royal Adventurers trading into Africa (Lancaster, PA, 1919)
- Reprinted from the Journal of Negro History, vol. IV, no. 2, April 1919

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Possible image sources

Anon, 'Hammersmith embankment history overview,' web publication, undated
Anon, 'Brandenburgh house, in 1815,' in Edward Walford, Old and New London; the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ?1878), p. 540

Anon, 'Brandenburgh house, in 1815,' in Edward Walford, Old and New London; the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ?1878), p. 541