For in Foley’s “_Records_”[70] we are told that Father George Ward, alias
Ingleby, was a son of Marmaduke Ward, Esquire, of Newby, near Ripon, by
his wife Ursula Wright.[A] And in a note at the foot of the self-same
page, it is stated that William Ward entered the English College at Rome
in the name William Ingleby vere Ward, 4th October, 1614, at the age of
twenty-three; that the family was of distinction in the county, _and his
uncle lived at Court_. (The italics are mine.)
[Footnote A: I am, however, inclined to think that Ursula Ward died early
in the year 1588, after the birth of her son, probably George, and that
the Elizabeth Ward, who is mentioned in Peacock’s “_List of Roman
Catholics in Yorkshire in 1604_” as the wife of a Marmaduke Ward, of the
Parish of Ripon, was the mother of Elizabeth Ward, Teresa (or Ann) Ward,
William Ward, and Thomas Ward. Indeed, the mother of all Mary Warde’s
father’s children, except Mary herself, Barbara, John, and George.
I think, moreover, that Elizabeth Ward was a Sympson, probably of Great
Edston, near Kirbymoorside, Rydale, in the North Riding of the County of
York. The Sympsons, of Edston, had a daughter Elizabeth at this time.——See
Foster’s Ed. of “_Glover’s Visitation_.”
In the Ripon Minster Registers there is certainly the entry under date
15th May, 1588, of a wedding between a “Marmaduke Warde and Elizabeth
Sympson.” Now Mary Warde, the eldest child of Ursula Warde, was born the
23rd day of January, 1585-86, and Barbara in the year 1586; so that if
Ursula Warde died in the year 1588 (at the early part) after giving birth
to George Warde, Marmaduke Warde might be conceivably married again in
May, 1588. Sir Thomas More’s case would afford a precedent for so early a
second marriage. The marriage of Marmaduke Warde and Elizabeth Sympson may
have taken place at Ripon from the house of friends, in the presence of
some semi-popish conforming Vicar. Winefrid Wigmore styles George Ward
Mary’s “owne brother,” implying that there was at least one
half-brother.——See “_Life of Mary Ward_” vol. i., p. 427. John Ward, the
elder brother, died from wounds received in a duel. He must have taken
after his uncle John Wright, who was one of the most expert swordsmen of
his time, and never happy but when sending a challenge to some swordsman
or another who specially boasted himself of skill in the use of that
ancient weapon.]
Moreover, there is evidence tending to prove, with absolute certitude,
that the “Ward” or “Warde” family, of Givendale, Newby, and Mulwith were
connected with the family of Mounteagle, both on his mother’s side through
the Mounteagles, and on his father’s side through the Barons Morley.[71]
Also is there evidence tending to prove, with moral certitude, that either
through the Stanleys or the Morleys, or some other family or families, the
Wards (or Wardes) were connected by marriage and actually related to Lord
Mounteagle by blood.
The proof is this:——In the “_Life of Mary Ward_,” [72] by Mary Catherine
Elizabeth Chambers, it is stated that Mary Ward was in some way related to
the before-mentioned lady of high family, Winefrid Wigmore, of Lucton,
Herefordshire, who was an accomplished woman, speaking five languages
fluently.
Now it is known that Winefrid Wigmore’s father, Sir William Wigmore, had
married Anne Throckmorton, one of the daughters of Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton. Now Lady Wigmore, through the Throckmortons and the
Treshams, “was connected with the families of Lord Mounteagle, Morley,
Berkeley, and Vaux.”[73]
Hence it follows that, through the Wigmores,[A] the Throckmortons, and the
Treshams, there was a connection of some kind or another between Mary
Ward’s family and the families of Mounteagle, Morley, Berkeley, and
Vaux.[74]
[Footnote A: Since the text was written, I have found out that Winefrid
Wigmore, through her mother, was a cousin once removed to Elizabeth, Lady
Mounteagle (_née_ Tresham).——See Notes 30 and 76 _postea_.]
Again, Mary Ward was related to Mary Poyntz (pronounced Poynes), a lady
whose ancient family had come over with William the Conqueror.[75] Mary
Poyntz, herself a lovely woman, was the daughter of Edward Poyntz,
Esquire, of Iron Acton and Tobington Park, in the County of
Gloucester.[76]
Sir Nicholas Poyntz, who was living in 1580, the father of Edward Poyntz,
had married Margaret Stanley, the daughter of Edward Earl of Derby. This
lady was the mother of Edward Poyntz, the father of Mary Poyntz, the
relative of Mary Ward.
Now I find (from Burke’s “_Extinct Peerages_”) that Henry Parker Lord
Morley, the grandfather of William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle, had
married Elizabeth Stanley, daughter of Edward Earl of Derby.
Hence the Poyntz and the Mounteagles were cousins. Again, the Wards were
in some way or other related to the Poyntz family. Hence it follows that
through the Poyntz the Wards were related in some sort with Lord
Mounteagle, by means of the Stanleys, Mounteagle’s father’s ancestors and
mother’s ancestors.[77]
For it is obvious that families connected with or related to the same
family are connected with or related to each other.
Again, there was certainly a further marriage connection and a probably
blood relationship between the Morleys, Mounteagles, and Wards through the
great House of Neville.
(We may be sure that a young nobleman like the fourth Lord Mounteagle
would be glad to recognise the Wards of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale as
“Cousins” if such were the fact, and to treat them in every respect as
being on an equality with him.)
Therefore the combined Evidence so far gives us this conclusion:——
That a Christopher Wright was the brother-in-law of Marmaduke Ward, of
Mulwith, in the Parish of Ripon.
That Marmaduke Ward was of the same place——Mulwith (or Mulwaith)——as a
person named Thomas Warde, who was married in a church in York in the year
1579, and whose wife died in the year 1590, and whose burial is recorded
to this day at Ripon Minster.
That _a_ Christopher Wright, most probably the brother-in-law of Marmaduke
Ward, and thus most probably the connection of Thomas Warde, was residing
at Newby, near Mulwith,[78] in the Parish of Ripon, between the years 1594
and 1596 inclusive, and in the neighbourhood of the City of Ripon, and
within the boundary of its parish, from the year 1589 to 1601.
That Marmaduke Ward’s son, William, had an uncle who lived at Court.[A]
That the Wardes were connected with, and related to Lord Mounteagle by
common family ties.[79]
[Footnote A: The fact that a Christopher Wright who lived at Newbie in
1596, and at Skelton (Newbie itself is in the Parish of Skelton) in 1601,
when he called one of his children “Marmaduke,” raises a strong
presumption, I maintain, that this Christopher Wright was the
brother-in-law of Marmaduke Ward.
At this time there was also a Francis Wright at Newbie, and a John Wright
at Grantley. They may have been the children of John and Christopher
Wright, _the uncles_ of John and Christopher Wright, the Gunpowder
plotters. And, of course, it is _possible_ that the Christopher Wright who
lived in Bondgate, Newbie, and Skelton between the years 1589 and 1601
_may have been a cousin or other kinsman_ of Christopher Wright the
plotter, or even of different families altogether. But in the Register of
Welwick Church are the following entries of Burials: “13 October 1654
ffrauncis Wright Esquire and 2 May 1664 ffrauncis Wright Esquire”
(communicated by the Rev. D. V. Stoddart, M.A., Vicar of Welwick), entries
which tend to prove that the Newby Wrights and the Plowland Wrights were
one and the same persons, and, therefore, of one and the same clan.
There seem, from the “_Memorials of Ripon_,” vol. iii. (Surtees Soc.), to
have been “Wrights” in Ripon and the neighbourhood for many generations,
certainly long before the reign of Henry VIII., when the grandfather of
the plotters is said to have come from Kent into Yorkshire.——See Foster’s
“_Glover’s Visitation of Yorkshire_.” Possibly the Wrights of Kent
originally sprang from Yorkshire.
“A Christopher Wright” lived at South Kilvington, near Thirsk, in the
nineteenth century.——See the tablet to his memory in the church of that
parish.]
Hence, from the foregoing evidence, the conclusions are inevitable, first,
that Thomas Warde, of Mulwith, who married Marjory (or Margery) Slater[A]
in 1579, was almost certainly a connection and relative of Lord
Mounteagle, in whose household Warde held an honoured and honourable
position; or, as doubtless we should say nowadays, was the young peer’s
private secretary: and, secondly, that, through the said Thomas Warde,
Christopher Wright likewise was almost certainly by affinity connected
with, if not related by blood to, the same highly-favoured English
nobleman.
[Footnote A: This marriage of Thomas Warde, of Mulwaith, to Marjory (or
Margery) Slater, “servant to Mr. Cotterill,” of the Parish of St. Wilfrid,
York, forcibly reminds one of the romance which Lord Tennyson has
immortalized in his charming little poem, “The Lord of Burleigh.”
Moreover, it is worthy of remark that there was a family connection
between the family of Cecil and a family of Ward, most probably the Wards
of Mulwith, or those akin to them.——See Hatfield’s “_Hist. MSS._” (Eyre &
Spottiswoode), pt. viii., p. 553, where it says, “Pedigree connection of
the Cecil and Ward families, partly in Lord Burleigh’s hand,” pt. i.,
204-289.]