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In the early 17th century - the Stuart period leading up to the English Civil war - there were several BRUSH families in London. There is nothing to suggest any significant BRUSH presence in or before the Tudor period. We have only a few scraps of evidence. Although a lack of information proves nothing (and a lot of records were lost in the Great Fire of London) it is interesting to note that the earliest entries for London only appear well after the earliest entries elsewhere. London seems to have been a destination for the family rather than a source.
This chapter is slightly different to some others in that there is little narrative thread. For the most part, the detail has all been included within the chapter rather than being left to go in an Appendix. This is done in the hope that some reader will be able to seize on and develop some detail, resolve some loose end or provide a missing link. As a part of this approach I have included in the chronology some entries for 'target birthdates' for individuals(1) we meet later. These have typically been based on the formula, mentioned in previous chapters, assuming birthdates 25 years before a woman's marriage, 28 years before a man's marriage and 30 years before the birth of a child.
1537 The very earliest London record we have, in the early middle 16th Century is completely isolated from all other records. "Rog", presumably Roger, BRUSHE, a freeman of the Pastelers company, is listed in a typed transcript of a list of freemen of the city companies resident in London & Westminster(2). A Pasteler was a pastrycook.
1575 The next London record(3) we have, nearly 40 years later , is for the burial of Susan BRUSH [L1(2)] on 17th November 1575 at St Peter le Poer, Broad Street - a beautifully clear written record. Would that they were all like that. Unlike other register entries on the same page there is no mention of her being 'wife of' or 'daughter of' anyone. Which suggests she is an adult. Maybe a spinster, maybe a widow? As so often we are left with no idea. I'm not aware of any other early references to a Susan or any similarly named Brush daughters anywhere so it is a complete dead end.
c. 1579 Target birthdate for Richard BRUSHE[L3](4), mynyster & preacher , parent in 1609.
c. 1583 Target birthdate for Thomas[L30](4) married 1611, haberdasher 1605
1585 George Brush [L2(2)] may(4) have been buried in Southwark in 1585.
1590 Also south of the river, to the east of Southwark, and outside the city of London itself, John BRUSSHE [L10(3)] (target birthdate c.1562) marries Alice HALE [L10a(3)] at St Olave, Bermondsey in September 1590. Four months later in January 1590/1 Henry [L20(4)] is baptised there, the son of "Joc,BRUSH(5), a Sayler".
1593 Henry, son of John, is then buried in March 1593/4. (at Bermondsey?)
On the principle that "everyone comes from somewhere" it is quite possible that the entries at 1537/75/85/90 (and some from 1605 onward) are the first BRUSH migrants from the countryside to London. We know nothing more of John but most of the Henry references at this period come from Cornwall so maybe that is where John the sailor came from.
c.1591 target birthdate for Elizabeth [L22(4)] married 1616.
c.1592 target birthdate for Thomas [L26(4)] married 1620.
c.1594 target birthdate for George BRUCHE [L28(4)] who married in 1622 ( a highly speculative connection back to George buried in 1585?)
1599 On 24th June 1599 Richard BRUSSHE, the son of JOHN BRUSSHE a slater of Marlborough in Wiltshire, signed up as an apprentice to Thomas DAWSON, a citizen and stationer of London. If Richard was about 14 this places his birth around 1585.
"Master Dawson Richard Brusshe son of JOHN BRUSSHE of MARLBOROUGH in the county of WILT[S] slater hathe putt hym self an apprentice vnto Thomas Dawson citizen and Stationer of London for Seven yeres from the Day of the Date hereof whiche is 24th Junij 1599 41 Master Woolf. Begin[a]e W VJ id"
1603 The year in which the Tudor dynasty ended with Elizabeth I succeeded by James VI of Scotland as James I of England. A little east of the City; Elizabeth Brush [L12](3?) is buried at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney on 28 November 1603.
1605 At 8th October 1605 Thomas BRUSHE [L30(4)] is made free 'by redemption' in the 'Companie of Haberdashers' in the City of London. By redemption means by purchase rather than by serving time.
1608 Three years later, a Thomas BRUSH [L31(3/4)] is recorded dying as a prisoner. We have no idea if Thomas the prisoner is the same man who became a freeman three years before. Probably not as I confidently think Thomas the Haberdasher reappears shortly as Thomas the Feltmaker.
The entry of Thomas's death in the registers of St George the Martyr, Southwark, says "prisoner in the ??" It looks like 'souch' to me but that means nothing. Stan Cook(7) suggested it refers to the Marshalsea Prison in Southwark. [ expand background history on the Marshalsea?]
Southwark is at this time not formally a part of London but is in Surrey. But Southwark and the City of London are bound inextricably together. Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames is the rough end of town, the wrong side of the tracks, keeping the sins of the flesh separate but within easy reach.
c.1606 target birthdate for Anne[L40(5)] married 1633
c.1608 target birthdate for An [L42(5)] married 1633
Just outside the mainstream of London, five miles to the west of the City, there is at least one family in Kensington headed by "Mr Brushe mynyster & preacher". If we take the various Kensington register entries between 1609 and 1614 as a single family group we get the following family:
"Mr" Richard BRUSHE [L3(4)] , mynyster & preacher and wife Katheren [L3a](4) (died 1614) plus children Jonah [L45](5) (bap. 1609), James Henry or Henry James [L46](5) (1611), Ezriel [L47](5) and Martha [L48](5).
This certainly sounds like a non-conformist clergyman rather than a vicar in the established church. There is no ground or evidence for making the connection but a marriage around 1607 or 1608 would sit neatly after the end of the apprenticeship of Richard the stationer which began in 1599; a seven year term would have ended in 1606.
An unusual footnote to the family is the 1613 baptism record of Thomas Wade who is described as "a strangye woman's son at Mr Brushes". Strange meaning 'odd', or strange meaning 'a stranger to Kensington'?
Most of the remaining entries we have are all in or immediately around the City of London itself or across London Bridge in Southwark and Bermondsey. It must be remembered that in 17th century London there are multiple tiny parishes within a small area (one source says 109 within the City), that not all registers exist or are complete and that there was believed to be a good deal of non-registration in London. There will be no remaining record of many BRUSH baptisms, marriages and burials.
In 1611-13 we find a small family group at St Olave, Bermondsey, Surrey. Thomas BRUSHE marries Alice Hudson [L30a](4) , by licence (unlike most of the listed marriages on the page) on 29 June 1611 and Francis (daughter) [L50](5) is baptised shortly afterwards the same year on 20 October. Rebecca is baptised on 24 October 1613. Thomas is described at both baptisms as what appears to be a feltmaker.
The website of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers indicates that, following a merger of various guilds involved in hat making , the craft of feltmaking was within the scope of the Haberdashers company from 1502. The Feltmakers were the only group to survive in name and became synonymous with hatters. So the combination of crafts and dates gives us lots of grounds for suggesting that Thomas the Feltmaker is Thomas the Haberdasher [L30](4) who became a freeman in 1605 and whose target birthdate I have suggested as 1583.
The Feltmakers became a separate guild in 1604, when King James 1 came to the throne and needed funds. They were granted a Charter of Incorporation - the first of eight granted at that time - in the name of 'Master, Wardens and Commonaltie of the Art or Mysterie of Feltmakers of London'. It was claimed there were 'seven thousand persons of the said trade'. Which leaves a small question of why in 1605 he was admitted as a Haberdasher.
The Feltmakers' site also records that, at least back in 1588, Blackfriars and Southwark were the then centre of the hatting industry in London.
In 1616 Elizabeth BRUSH [L22(4)] marries Peter LAWSTONE at St Gregory by St Pauls
A panorama of London in 1616 by Claes van VischerIn 1617 John BRUSH, Labourer, [L8(3)] is buried at St Giles Cripplegate. He could possibly be John of Bermondsey [L10(3)] but by nothing more than a common name and a rough correlation of dates.
Also in 1620 Thomas BRUSH [L26(4)] marries Maudlin MILLER [L26a(4)] at St James Clerkenwell 'by Licence out of the Faculty'. Someone new or a second marriage for Thomas the Feltmaker [L30(4)] ?
In 1622 a George BRUCHE [L28(4)] marries Grace REYNOLDS [L28a(4)] at St Michael Wood Street & St Mary [Stainway]. There is a separate chapter about BRUCH/BRUCHE but at this period they may belong in this story.
As I said at the beginning of this section, the entries up until now do not fit into any family tree structure, and probably never will. Though in real life of course they did. In the next section we begin to develop a bit more of a storyline.
(1) back to text The numbering system is the same as used elsewhere but I have left multiple gaps in the sequence in the hope that some gaps may in time be filled. The generation numbers cannot be matched directly with family groups elsewhere but are all approximations using 1500 as a baseline for generation (1) adding 30 years for each generation.
(2) back to text The typed list says it is extracted from Vol 2 of Thos. Allen's "History of London, Westminster & Southwark" 1837 where it is stated that the original list is in the Chapter House, Westminster. It is available in Ancestry.
(3) back to text There is one reference in a list of court cases transcribed by the University of Houston to Bruche, William, of London, merchant tailor suing Massy, Robert, of Egerley, Cheshire, gent for debt in 1537. And one to another Bruch entry ? But there is a separate chapter on the Bruche family of Cheshire. Also an unsupported note added onto an earlier draft of Jone BRUSH burial 1547
(4) back to text According to the Ancestry collection of London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 there is a burial of George Brush on 17 June 1585 ( the index incorrectly shows 17th May) at St Saviour, Denmark Park, Surrey ( which is apparently St Saviour Southwark). I can't read the entry as Brush though; I'm glad others can.
(5) back to text I have not been able to find any reference to Joc as a name - it is not one of the regularly used Latin forms.
(6) back to text text