Pope: His Descent And Family Connections Part 3

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1832.

AN HISTORICAL DEFENCE of the Trustees of Lady Hewley's Foundations, and of the Claims upon them of the Presbyterian Ministry of England. 8vo. 1834.

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POPE: ADDITIONAL FACTS CONCERNING HIS MATERNAL ANCESTRY.

BY ROBERT DAVIES, F.S.A.,

IN A LETTER TO MR. HUNTER, AUTHOR OF THE TRACT ENt.i.tLED "POPE: HIS DESCENT AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS."

It is one of the most pleasing offices of the genealogist to trace the descent and to show the alliances of GENIUS.

HUNTER'S _South Yorkshire_, vol. ii. p. 297.

LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE.

M.DCCC.LVIII.

"Let any one bethink him how impressive the smallest historical fact may become, as contrasted with the grandest fict.i.tious event;--what an incalculable force lies for us in this consideration;--the thing which I here hold imaged in my mind did actually occur; was, in very truth, an element in the system of the All whereof I too form part; had therefore, and has, through all time, an authentic being; is not a dream, but a reality!"--CARLYLE'S _Essays_, vol. iii. p. 43.

POPE.

My dear Sir,

In that section of the interesting and valuable tract you have recently given to the world, which treats of the maternal ancestry of Pope, you suggest the possibility of "ascending a generation above" Lancelot Turner, the uncle of William Turner, the Poet's maternal grandfather.

Having had the good fortune to discover this higher step in the genealogy of the Turners, and to obtain some additional information respecting several members of the family, I beg to be permitted to communicate to you, in this form, the facts which have come to my knowledge.

The descent of the maternal ancestors of the ill.u.s.trious Poet may be traced to a source whence many families among the present aristocracy of Yorkshire have originally sprung,--the trade or commerce of the city of York.

At York, in the reign of King Henry VIII., Robert Turner carried on the business of a wax-chandler, which, before the Reformation, when this commodity in various forms was profusely and constantly used in the celebration of religious services, was a lucrative and important occupation. Had he not been a person in good circ.u.mstances, and belonging to the higher cla.s.s of tradesmen, he would scarcely have brought up his son to one of the learned professions. In the year 1553, "Edward Turner, skryvener," son of Robert Turner, wax-chandler, being ent.i.tled by patrimony to be admitted to the city franchise, was duly enrolled upon the register of York freemen.

This Edward Turner was the father of Lancelot Turner; and what you have hazarded as a probable conjecture with regard to the son,[6] is quite true as regards the father: he was connected with the Council of the North; and there can be no doubt that great part of the property he possessed at the time of his death had been acquired by the influence and emoluments which arose from his official connection with that court.

We have decisive evidence of his having been one of the officials of the Council of the North in a circ.u.mstance which is recorded upon the minutes of the proceedings of the corporation of York. Being a freeman of the city, Edward Turner was liable to serve munic.i.p.al offices; and it may be regarded as a proof of the estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens, that they thought him a proper person to sustain the dignity and responsibility of the office of sheriff of the city. In October, 1562, he received an intimation from the corporate body, that they intended to elect him to be one of their sheriffs for the ensuing year. When this was made known to the Lord President and Council of the North, Mr. Secretary Eymis "went in all haste" to the common hall where the corporation were a.s.sembled, and told them that "Edward Turner was a clerk to the Council, and they must not make him sheriff."

The citizens did not deem it expedient to act in opposition to the wishes of the Council thus peremptorily expressed. They abandoned their design of electing Mr. Turner sheriff, and he was never afterwards called upon to bear that or any other office in the corporation.[7] It was of more importance to him to retain the favour of the Council, than to accept a munic.i.p.al appointment which was attended with no profit, and might have interfered with the due discharge of his official or professional duties.

The Mr. Secretary Eymis who is here spoken of, was Thomas Eymis, Esq., one of the chief functionaries of the great Court of York for nearly thirty years. A gentleman by birth, and, doubtless, a lawyer by profession, he was first const.i.tuted a member of the Council of the North, and appointed to the important office of its secretary, by the commission under which the Earl of Shrewsbury was made Lord President in the 4th year of King Edward VI. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth, under the commission which appointed the Earl of Rutland Lord President, and under the subsequent commissions issued in that reign, he continued to hold the office of Secretary, and was also Keeper of the Queen's Signet.

From the alarm shown by Mr. Secretary Eymis when he heard that the efficiency of Edward Turner's services as clerk to the Council was in danger of being impaired by his advancement to civic honours, it seems probable that the appointment he held was that of one of the clerks of the seal,[8] the duties of which would be more immediately under Mr. Eymis's superintendence. It is obvious, however, that the office, whatever name it bore, was of great respectability, and placed the holder of it upon a footing of friendly intercourse with numerous persons of family and distinction, members of or connected with the Council, who at that period const.i.tuted the highest cla.s.s of society in York.

Edward Turner's place of residence was in the centre of the city. The house in which he lived and died, stood in that part of the parish of Saint Helen Stonegate, which was then called Stayngate, but is now known as Saint Helen's Square. This and an adjoining mansion occupied by Lady Beckwith (the widow of Sir Leonard Beckwith, Knight, one of the Council of the North), and several other houses situate in the adjacent streets, were his property. Some of them he had most probably inherited from his father.