The history of the family of Werge of Northumberland; with notices of the family in Oxfordshire, and of the family of Worge in Sussex,
By Colonel Ralph Edward Carr and Cuthbert Ellison Carr (C.E.), Newcastle-upon-Tyne and London, 1891
Late commanding 36th (now 2nd battalion Worcestershire regiment) and afterwards the 29th regimental district, Worcester; esquire of the order of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and chevalier of the legion of honour
pp 23-29
The earliest facts connected with the appearance of the family of Ellison in the local annals of Newcastle are well summarised by Mr. Richard Welford:—
The ancestry of the great local family of Ellison has been traced as far as the beginning of the sixteenth century. A little license—not at all rare in genealogical matters-would have carried it back to the time of Henry III. For in the Pipe Rolls of that monarch's reign the name of " Rob. fil. Elye " frequently appears; and what transformation more natural than from Robert the son of Elye, or Elyas, to Robert Elyason, Elyson, and Ellison? Indeed 200 years later a Robert Elyson occurs—Robert Elyson of Haukwell.
It is a notable circumstance that the Ellisons make their appearance in Newcastle history all of a sudden as it were. The books of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of Newcastle contain entries of the names of John and Cuthbert Ellison, dated respectively 1523, 1524; the books of the Trinity House show that in the last named year "Sir" Robert Ellison was chaplain, and John Ellison alderman of the fraternity. Six years later Robert Ellison occurs in the Merchants' books as entering upon his apprenticeship. Thus in the space of seven years we have five Ellisons living in Newcastle, of whom no previous mention occurs—a chaplain, an elder brother of the Trinity House, and three young men just commencing life as merchant adventurers.The following notices of the early history of the Ellisons are mainly taken from the account of the Hebburn branch of the family in the " History of the Carrs of Northumberland," by the authors of the present work. It is, however, equally applicable to that branch of the family of Ellison with which we are now dealing.
The family of Ellison, of Hebburn, as stated in Surtees' "History of Durham," was connected with Newcastle-on-Tyne from the middle of the XVIth century, from which time it furnished mayors, sheriffs, and members of Parliament for the Burgh during the next two centuries; and thus the family chronicles, now in the possession of Lord Northbourne, contain much interesting matter bearing on the local history of the northern counties during the Civil Wars, the Revolution, and the Rebellion of the North.
The pedigree of the Ellison family, of Hebburn Hall, in the county of Durham, is completed (with the exception of a few minor details in the earlier part) as far back as the time of Henry VII., when the house was represented by Robert Elyson, of Hawkwell, near Stamfordham, in the county of Northumberland. [A full and interesting biographical notice 0f the Ellisons 0f Hebburn and Newcastle may be found in the "Newcastle Monthly Chronicle," commencing part xlii, of August, 1889, by the pen of Mr. Richard Welford.]
Rowland Elyson (B1), the son of Robert, also of Hawkwell, by deed bearing date December 16th, 1494, entailed his lands at Hawkwell, and left two children at his decease. Cuthbert (C1), the, eldest, was apprenticed in 1524; and became a merchant adventurer in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
"In 1539 he was a substantial householder, and appears in the ward 0f Alderman Thomas Baxter; with Andrew Bewick, the mayor, George Selby, the sheriff, and representatives of the great local families 0f Ord, Fenwick, Riddell, Shafto, Carr, and Liddell, as "well appointed with one servant, iaks, bowys and Sallets," ready for the king's service." [Richard Welford, Monthly Chronicle, August 1890] He was sheriff of the town in 1544, and mayor in 1549 and 1554.
A citation to him at this time is found in the Belvoir MSS., in a letter from the Earl of Rutland, 17th November 1549, referring to a loan of L25 which Ellison had made for the use of Captain Andrea, the commander of a band of foreign cavalry then employed by the English Government upon the Scottish Marches. These and other mercenaries were, however, found to be more troublesome to the friendly population among whom they were quartered than to the Scotch. Their services were therefore soon dispensed with.
He married twice, his first wife being named Anne, and his second, Isabella. The latter, in all probability, belonged to the old family of Selby [See the supplementary pedigree in the corner of the main pedigree sheet 0f Ellison, and the inscription 0n the tombstone 0f Cuthbert Ellison (Ci), as recorded in the pedigree entered at the College of Arms in 1666.]. During the years of his mayoralty he was governor of the Merchant Company. His will bears date 24th February, 1556.
We must here refer to two pedigrees of Ellison, viz., the "Pedigree of Ellison of Newcastle," which appears in Flowers's " Visitation of Yorkshire 1563-q.," as printed by the Harleian Society from a MS. copy which formerly belonged to William Flowers, Norroy; and "The Pedigree of Cudberd Ellyson," which is found on fol. 16, Add. MS. 12477, Flowers's "Visitation of Somersetshire, Lancashire," etc., 1567-73. Against the latter is the note "no armes," and neither pedigree is found in the copies of the above named Visitations in the College of Arms. These two pedigrees agree altogether with each other, but it is quite impossible to reconcil them with that given in Hodgson's " Historv of Northumberland," which forms the ba is of the large pedigree of Ellison in the present work. It has therefore been thought best to reproduce them in the small pedigree given on the same sheet as the main pedigree, in the hope that some future enquirer may be able to eliminate the erroneous portions of the conflicting statements.
We may, however, point out that the pedigrees n the Visitations are much fuller in the early generations than that adopted by Mr. Ho gson, and it is quite possible that in some of the collateral branches mentioned in the for er, may be found the ancestors of other families of the name, such as the Ellisons of Li olnshire, of Ireland, and of the State of New York, whose traditions point to Newcastle, as the original home of their progenitors.
It should also be pointed out that it seems as if there had been two Cuthbert Ellisons, priests, at the same time, for the pedigree of 1567-73 says, "Anthony, the furthe son" (of Edward) "maryed dowghter to and had issue John, Sr Cudberd a preste, Anthony a bacheler of Aerte."
"Cudberd, now of Newcastell, Alderman and Merchante of the same, maryed Anne, dowghter to Will'm Selbye, merchante, of Newcastell; and had issue Cudberd and Barbara nowe lyvynge."
And in his will dated 24th February, 1556, the elder Cuthbert mentions, his son Cuthbert and daughter Barbara, and then makes Sr. Cuthbert Ellison, Clarke, one of the supervisors of the will [A Cuthbert Ellison was, about this time, priest at the chapel of St. Thomas, near the end of the Tyne Bridge]. The statement that the elder Cuthbert Ellison was a priest, and also a merchant and alderman of Newcastle, a married man and the father of a family, is explicable only by the circumstances of the time in which he lived. It is therefore necessary to refer briefly to certain ecclesiastical events that would not otherwise have come within the scope of this work. The second Cuthbert Ellison is recorded in the books of the Merchants' Company to have been apprenticed to his father in 1552. This indicates that he was. born about 1540 or 1541, during the ecclesiastical anarchy that accompanied and followed the quarrel of King Henry VIII with the Papacy, and of which the suppression of the monasteries in 1539 was the most striking incident. That the marriage of priests, or persons who had been priests, was no uncommon event, is proved by a clause in the " Bloody Statute" of 1539, which dissolved all marriages of priests, and enacted that all priests who were found living with their wives should be punished with death. The women were to be punished in like manner. This law was somewhat mitigated in the next year, when forfeiture of benefices and goods was substituted for the death penalty, and was repealed soon after the accession of Edward VI in 1547. In 1548 an act was passed. permitting priests to marry, and in 1552 a further act was passed declaring the marriages of priests to be valid. On the accession of Queen Mary everything was again altered, and when, in 1554, she issued her order to purge the church of married bishops and priests, about three-quarters of the 16,000 clergy in the country were said to be liable to deprivation. Cuthbert Ellison would not be affected by that order, for he was at the time Governor of the Merchants' Company and mayor of Newcastle. Yet if he, being a priest, had married, adopted the Protestant religion; and turned merchant, he must undoubtedly have been in great danger throughout Queen Mary's reign. It is no wonder, therefore, that he thought it prudent to make his will in 1556, and appoint a namesake, still in the priesthood, to be one of the supervisors. Probably Cuthbert Ellison owed his safety to nothing but his distance from the seat of misgovernment. Burnett, in his "History of the Reformation," gives the localities in which 277 of Mary's victims were burned to death for their faith ; and from this it appears that Derbyshire was the most northern county afflicted with such atrocities. The martyrs included 5 bishops, 21 clergymen, 8 lay gentlemen, 84 tradesmen, 100 husbandmen, 55 women, and 4 children. Rapin gives 284 as the lowest permissible statement of the numbers burned, in addition to whom there was a vastly greater number of victims who were done to death by torture and imprisonment. In 1559 Queen Elizabeth's Parliament again legalised the marriage of priests, and passed a law re-enacting all the ecclesiastical legislation of Edward VI.
The following very interesting letter to Sir R. Sadleir and Sir James Croft, about money required for the fortification of Berwick-upon-Tweed, is signed by Oswald Chapman, mayor of Newcastle, and by the six aldermen of the town. Among the names of the latter we find those of Cuthbert Ellison (C1) and Robert Ellison, probably the same as the Robert Ellison who was one of the executors of the will of this Cuthbert Ellison. Appended are the signatures of Robert and Cuthbert Ellison taken from the letter in question:
The Maior and Aldremen of Newcastell to Sir R. Sadleir and Sir James Croft. [From Add. MS. 33591 in Brit. Museum.]Please it, your woorshipes to understande, that we have received your lettres by Mr. Pretie; whereby you require us, that for the provicion, and advauncement of the woorkes at Barwick, we wolde let him have upon credyt-sucheconvenyent-proportion—of coles as maye at this tyme serve for, the present necessitie ; and also, that we wolde take order for the fraught and cariage of the same to Barwick by see; for that you looking dailly for the treasor, you woold see us contented upon the repaire of the same. Woorshipfull, as for the coles, Mr. Pretie maye have his furnyture therin whan he thinketh convenyent. Albeit, for the paiement of the fraught of those coles, he requireth to have of us the lone of cl'. But right sorie we are, that we canne not presently aide his want in that byhalf; consydering, that forsomooche as aboote Julye last, upon like request for thaffaiere of Barwicke, we lent unto Mr. Treasorer there ccl'- to have bone repaied unto us at the first paie that than next sholde comme. Howbeit, as yet we have none intelligence or knowledge whan or hove to be paied. Which monnye so being owte of our hands, and also our monnye that we are hable to make at this present disbursed for suche commodities wherof our trades and lyvings dooth depende ; the said monnye therfore cannot be well gotten amonge us. And as we understand here is twoo hundred pounds in the towwe left by the customere to be paied to Mr. Treasorer for the queynes majesties use, upon warrant if Mr. Pretie and Mr. Cocks may have cl of that monnye to suche tyme as the Treasorer maye be spoken with. We woold be glad to helpe therin that we canne, and to spair as mooche of our monnye, alredy disbursed, untill the tyme that Mr. Leis furnyture or paye shall comme. Wherby we thinke the queynes majestie, in that behalf, shalbe served, and we eased. Wherein, we beseche you, that we maye have your lawfull favours. So fare your masterships most hartely well. At Newcastell, the with of Novembre, ano 1559.
Yours mastershipes at commaundement, The Maior and Aldermen of Newcastell upon Tyne
OSWALD CHAPMAN [mayor], ROBERT ELLYSSON, CUTHBERT ELLYSON, ROBERT BRANDLYNG, RYCHARD GODFREY, ROBERT LEWEN, CHRYSTOFER METFORD
We do not know the date of the death of the elder Cuthbert Ellison, but if the pedigree of 1567-73 can be trusted, he was still living at some date within that period. Below are the coat of arms and epitaph that were placed upon his tombstone in the church of St. Nicholas, Newcastle, taken from the pedigree registered in 1666 by his greatgrandson, Robert Ellison (F4), and also a woodcut of the tombstone itself. For this, and also for the portrait which will be found below, which has been sketched from a painting in the possession of Lord Northbourne, we are indebted to the kindness and courtesy of the editor of the Newcastle "Monthly Chronicle," in which interesting periodical they originally appeared.
William (C3), brother to Cuthbert (C1), was in the entail of lands at Bamburgh on the death of Cuthbert. William died without issue, while Cuthbert left a son bearing his own name, and a daughter, Barbara (D3), who married Cuthbert Carr of Benwell Tower, in the county of Northumberland. Her brother Cuthbert (D1), apprenticed to his father in 1552, became a merchant adventurer in Newcastle, and married Elizabeth (D2), daughter of —- Metcalfe of Gloster Hill, near Warkworth, in the county of Northumberland.
He was buried at St. Nicholas on the 29th January, 1580-81, and his widow, by whom he had several children, administered to his will on the 4th July, 1581. Their eldest son, Cuthbert (E1), was baptised on the 31st January, 1579-80, and became a merchant adventurer in Newcastle. He married Jane (E2), daughter of Christopher Ile, a merchant of Newcastle. This Cuthbert seems, by an old lease of 1632, to have owned lauds at Hewarth in the county of Durham. He died in 1626. His wife was buried on the 23rd March, 1618-19.
His eldest son, Christopher Ellison (F1), received baptism on the 26th January, 161213, when there were present Robert Ellison, as godfather, and Elizabeth Ellison, his grandmother. He became a merchant adventurer, He married Margaret (F2), daughter of —- Cooke of Newcastle-on-Tyne; died adventurer, 1675, and was buried on the 13th of December of that year. His brother, Robert Ellison (F4), was baptised on the 2nd February, 1613-14, and, as a merchant in Newcastle, he obtained the shrievalty of that town in 1644. He eventually represented the town in the Long Parliament in the years 1648 and 1660. On the 29th of March, 1635, at St. Nicholas' Church, Newcastle, he married Elizabeth (F5), daughter of Cuthbert Grey of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Backworth in the county of Northumberland, and sister of William Grey, the author of the "Chorograpbia."* This Robert Ellison purchased Hebburn in the county of Durham in 1658. He was elected governor of the Merchants' Company October 20th, 1676.
His wife Elizabeth was buried on the 3rd July, 1665, and, on the 27th July, 1672, he married, secondly, Agnes (F3), widow of mes Briggs, a merchant of Newcastle, who had been sheriff of the town in 1659. She died in 1674, being buried on the 3rd of April of that year; and left no issue. Robert Ellison's will is dated the 11th January, 1678. He died at the age of 64, leaving numerous issue by his first wife, and was buried at St. Nicholas on the 15th of January, 1677-78. From his sons Cuthbert (G7) and Nathaniel (G16) descend the Hebburn and Newcastle branches of the Ellison family respectively, while Joseph (G11) founded the Lintz Green family. In 1666 Robert Ellison registered a pedigree beginning with his great-grandfather, Cuthbert Ellison (C1), and agreeing in all particulars with the main pedigree of Ellison here given. On the preceding page is an engraving of the arms from a drawing furnished by the College of Arms.
The accompanying portrait of Robert Ellison is the one referred to above as having been sketched from a painting in the possession of Lord Nortbbourne, for the Newcastle "Monthly Chronicle." The subjoined particulars of the career of Robert Ellison are also taken from an article by Mr. Richard Welford in the "Monthly Chronicle" for September 1890. The extracts are nearly, but not quite, verbatim:
On 19th January, 1642-3, he was assessed at £6 for his contribution to the pay of the Scotch garrison of the town. The amount of the assessment shows; by comparison with others, that he was a substantial burgess; but it affords no clue to his opinions. Like many others, he was a moderate Royalist in the early stages of "the conflict, and was gradually drawn into taking the side of the Parliament by the force of circumstances. Among the anti-Royalists he was certainly found when Newcastle had been stormed and taken. For on the 5th of December, 1644, his name appears in the journals of the House of Commons in a series of important resolutions affecting the government of Newcastle. The House on that occasion displaced, disabled, and disfranchised the mayor, sheriff, recorder, collector of customs, and several of the aldermen.... In the room of James Cole, sheriff, they put "Mr. Robert Ellison." At the same sitting they elected a committee of fourteen persops to sequestrate the estates of local delinquents, and "Mr. Robert Ellison" was one of the fourteen. On the l0th of June of the same year (1645) propositions, signed by himself and Edward Man, town clerk of Newcastle (and his fellow "assistant" in the Merchants' Company), concerning the management of collieries belonging to local delinquents were submitted to Parliament.
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