From the Middle Ages to the present day there have always been a few people who were either distinguished and famous before they made their homes in the Leverstock Green area, or who became famous or had distinguished careers, but already lived here in our village. In addition there have been a few who, though not actually living in Leverstock Green as we consider it today, have been very heavily associated with the village ( Sir Nicholas & Francis Bacon for example) and I have therefore included them in the list itself. I have also included one institution - Sidney Sussex College.
With the current (2003) population of the area being over 7000, it is not surprising that there are a handful of present day residents who would fall into the above category. However, in order to preserve their privacy I shall not include them on this website. Nevertheless their names will be included in my private Chronicle documents for posterity, or to be added once the persons in question have either left Leverstock Green or are no longer living.
The list of famous and distinguished names is a long one, some dating from the middle ages to the 1899, others from the 20th century. The list, shown on the left, enables you to click on their names to be taken to their individual section of this webpage, where if appropriate there will be links to individual webpages and relevant sites.
Abbot Geoffrey de Goreham
Geoffrey de Goreham was Abbot of St. Albans from 1119 - 1146. The Manor of Westwick, which covered the area now known as Leverstock Green, (see Westwick) had been given to St. Albans Abbey in the 10th century, but Abbot Geoffrey was to give the manor to a member of his family (see here for more details) and the Leverstock Green area was to remain under the authority of the de Goreham family for about a century until it passed to the de Ver family. It is extremely probable that the hall Geoffrey had caused to be built at Westwick was somewhere along Westwick Row, possibly on the same site as the later manor house built at Westwick Cottage. It was his family name which was to be given to the manor from the 17th century onwards i.e. Gorehambury, Westwick & Pre. See also Christina of Markyate below. Geoffrey is buried in St. Albans Abbey - see photos above and below.
Visitors to this page since October 2003
Christina of Markyate
Christina of Markyate is associated with Leverstock Green because of her friendship with Abbot Geoffrey de Goreham,(see page on the de Gorehams) who granted lands at Westwick to the Priory of Markyate where Christina was Prioress. The small sub-manor created out of Westwick for Christina's priory came to be known as Markate Oake, alias Leverstock Green. (Click here for more details on the manor)
The life of Christina of Markyate is a remarkable one, and one which, if time is taken to surf the Internet, can be seen to the centre of much intelectual thaught and discussion as her life forms the basis for many University courses troughout the English speaking world. What gives 21st century scholars considerable insight into her life is the fact that a biography was written about her by a monk who knew not only her, but her associates, and gives inside information of a very personal nature about Christina and her friends. An excellent edition and translation of this biography is available from the Oxford University Press by C. H. Talbot and was published in 1959, and was reissued in 1987. See http://www.oup-usa.org/isbn/0198212747.html ; another site: http://www.umilta.net/cell.html
The St Albans Psalter, is also associated with Christina of Markyate. This Psalter has recently been studied and photographed for inclusion on the Internet and can be accessed at: www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter This site also contains links to various essays concerning Christina and Abbot Geoffrey.
Dame Celia de Sanford
In 1230 - Sir William de Gorham died, holder of the manor of Westwick. His widow was Cecilia de Sanford who had been governess to Princess Eleanor, sister of Henry III. (Princess Eleanor, on the advice of Celia de Sanford took a vow of chastity after she became a widow at the age of 15. Later following a papal dispensation, Eleanor married Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester in 1238) Celia & William's son, another William de Gorham, inherited Westwick. Cecilia, William’s widow, also took a vow of chastity at her husband’s death. She was a very pious woman and was eventually buried in St. Albans Abbey in 1251. (see entry for 1251.) If as seems now highly likely, Sir William and his wife Celia lived when not at court at their manor of Westwick, this would have been along Westwick Row, in all probability at the Hall which became the present Westwick Cottage. Given that Celia died localy and was buried in St. Albans Abbey it also seems likely that she continued to use Westwick as her home after her husband's death. There was also a connection between the Sanford family and the de Vere's ( see below)[ VCH Vol 2. p.393; S329 ]
John de Vere, Seventh Earl of Oxford.
1329 -1330 - Free warren in his manor of Westwick was granted to John, the seventh Earl of Oxford. His father, Alphonsus, had been willed the estate by John de Goreham. (See Westwick) The seventh earl had fought bravely at Cressy and Poietiers, and was 8th Great Chamberlain of England. (see ttp://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pmcbride/james/f042.htm ) For information on the de vere family see http://www.oxfords.btinternet.co.uk/ancestry2.html
Thomas de Vere, Eighth Earl of Oxford (1337-1371)
Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford, served with King Edward III in battle. He was married to Maud, daughter and heir of Sir Ralph de Ufford, Chief Justice of Ireland. After Thomas’s death his wife involved herself in a conspiracy against King Henry IV, she was sent to the Tower but later pardoned. Thomas was succeeded by his son Robert. When Thomas died, he settling the manor of Westwick on his wife Maud. Maud held the manor of Westwick for life, with reversion to the crown on her death. The countess was unable to will the manor to her son Robert, as he was convicted as a traitor, after which all his lands became forfeit. [ VCH Vol.2 p.394.] However, in 1395 - Abbot Thomas of St. Albans bought the reversion of the manor of Westwick, from Maude, Dowager Countess of Oxford, for a sum in excess of 800 marks. (A mark was 13s 8d.) [http://www.oxfords.btinternet.co.uk/ancestry2.html]
Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, at the age of 15 acted as Chamberlain of England at the coronation of Richard II. Richard II created him Marquess of Dublin in 1385 and in 1386 Duke of Ireland. Robert lost the so-called battle of Radcot Bridge, against the Lords Appellant (headed by Gloucester and Henry of Bolingbroke) in December 1387 and in the proceedings of the Merciless Parliament of 1388 was attainted for treason and sentenced to death, although by that time he had fled into self-imposed exile in France (and later Brabant). He died childless in 1392 and was succeeded by his uncle Aubrey. In 1395 he was re-buried in England in a funeral arranged and attended by Richard II. That same year Abbot Thomas of St. Albans bought the reversion of the manor of Westwick, from Maude, Dowager Countess of Oxford, for a sum in excess of 800 marks. (A mark was 13s 8d.)The Manor was therefore returned to the Abbey until the disolution. [ttp://www.oxfords.btinternet.co.uk/ancestry2.html]
The lands of the priory of St. Mary de Pre - which included various scattered parcels of land around the Leverstock Green area- (see 1248 and 1278), were granted to Cardinal Wolsey, who gave them to his foundation called Cardinals College at Oxford. [VCH p.400 ] They had previously been annexed by the Abbey of St. Albans by Papal bull, but Wolsey obtained another bull to give them to his college.[ VCH Vol. 2, p.401 ] In 1529 - Cardinals College Oxford was dissolved upon Wolsey's disgrace, and the manor of Pre and all its holdings, was leased for 30 years to Richard Raynshawe, a yeoman of the guard. (This included lands and woods at Westwick - see entry for 1527 ) [ VCH Vol. 2, p.400 ]
Sidney Sussex College
According to the E.P.N.S. (English Place Name Society).the first recorded evidence for the name Leverstock Green (Leveleystocke grene) is in a document dated 1551 belonging to Sidney Sussex College. Although not founded till the 17th century, the manor of Abbots Langley was given to Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, and Trinity College Oxford jointly by Francis Combe, and the college holds numerous documents related to the manor from the previous century. The archivist at the college is hoping to locate the relevant document for reference.
William Ibgrave, King Henry VIII's embroiderer.
Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII sold the manor of Abbots Langley to Richard Lee, a military engineer, but sold the patronage and the remaining revenues of the living of St. Lawrence's church (Abbots Langley's parish church), along with the manor of Chambersbury, to William Ibgrave on September 28th 1540. William was a member of the Hertfordshire Commission of the peace and the King's embroiderer. Thereafter the Chamberbury Estate in Leverstock Green came into the Ibgrave family for 65 years, finally reverting to the Crown in 24th January 1605/06 . See Chambersbury.
Sir Nicholas Bacon 1509-79
Nichola Bacon was a prominant Tudor lawyer. Called to the bar in 1533, he was made attorney of the court of wards and liveries in 1546 and, despite being a staunch Protestant, held this office through the reign of Mary I. On the accession (1558) of Elizabeth I, he was appointed Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, possibly through the influence of William Cecil, later Lord Burghley (whose wife's sister Bacon married). In 1559 he was authorized to exercise the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor. In 1561 Nicholas Bacon acquired the manors of Gorhambury,Westwick & Pre, thus becoming Lord of the Manor for much of the area of Leverstock Green. From this time on there is a great deal of documentation concerning the farms, properties and land in the area. It was also dating from this time that consolidation of the estate proper began, and the gradual acquisition of Copyhold properties by the Lord of the manor took place, so that by the eighteenth century the Lord of the manor was also the principle landowner of the district.
Sir Nicholas had actually purchased Gorehambury from his brother-in-law Ralph Rowlatt in 1561, and had known manor woth its medieval manor house well. Deciding to build a new house, Sir Nicholas demolisahed the old manor house (the precise location of which at this time is debatable, but which was almost certainly not near present day Gorhambury, but still along Westwick Row, either at Westwick Cottage, Westwick Row Farm or the Old House near today's Westwick Warren (for details of the arguments and theories see ) and built a new one. Work started in 1563 and finished in 1568. Bacon's house remained in use until the late 18th century when the present day Palladian Gorehambury was constructed.
Sir Nicholas Bacon's Gorehambury - as depicted in an 18th century watercolour.
BELOW:
All that can be seen of Bacon's Gorehambury today.
BELOW:
Sir Francis Bacon.
Sir Francis Bacon was Sir Nicholas Bacon’s youngest son – though there is a theory that he was in fact the adopted son of the Bacon’s being in reality the son of Queen Elizabeth I & Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. (See the various links below) There is also another theory that Fracis Bacon was in fact the real writer of the works of William Shakespeare. Whatever the truth, he was certainly a very distinguished and important person in his day, as well as one of the foremost philosophers this country has ever had.
Francis eventually came in for the Gorehambury estates in 1601 after the death of his elder brother Anthony, and was therefore Lord of the Manor which included the area of Leverstock Green until his death in 1626. During this time Bacon attained high ofice. In 1613 he bacame Attorney General; in 1617 he was made Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal ( the same office his father had held); 1618 made him Lord Chancellor and he was given the title of Lord Verulum; in 1621 he was Created Viscount St. Albans. He was later charged with bribery and found guilty upon his own admission. He was fined forty thousand pounds, sentenced to the Tower of London, prohibited from holding office for the state, and prohibited from sitting on parliament. The sentence was reduced and no fine was paid and only four days were spent in the Tower but he never again held office or sat for parliament. He died in March 1626 having decided to experiment with the effect of cold on the decay of meat, purchasing a fowl and stuffing it with snow. He caught cold and developed bronchitis, dying on April 9th.
After Sir Francis Bacon's death in 1626, the estate was eventually acquired by his long-time friend and Secretary Sir Thomas Meautys. Sir Thomas's widow Anne (who incidently was the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon of Culford, and a great grand-daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon), married Sir Harbottle Grimston, who purchased the reversion of the manors of Gorhambury, Westwick, Kingsbury and Prey for £10,000 from Henry Meautys, Sir Thomas' brother and heir. Sir Thomas was also Clerk to the Privy Council under two kings.
Gorhambury had been left to Anne Meautys for life with the reversion to their daughter Jane. Having met, fell in love with and married the recently widowed 49 year old Harbottle Grimston. With the death of little Jane Meautys in 1652, the estate reverted to Sir Thomas's elder brother and heir, from whom Anne's husband baught the reversion. Gorhambury thus became the property of the Grimston family, with whom it has remained ever since. The present 7th Earl of Verulam being John Duncan Grimston. It is through the association with the Bacon family on one side, and the Grimstons on the other that we are fortunated enough to day to still have all the records left by the Bacons concerning the Gorehambury estate and hence Leverstock Green. Like his Bacon predecessors at Gorhambury, Sir Harbottle Grimston played a major part in national politics and was a distinguished statesman, being made Speaker of the House of Commons and later he too was to hold the position of Master of the Rolls until his death, aged 81, in 1685.
The Grimston coat of Arms
Dr.Richard Field ~ 1561 ~ 1616
Dr. Richard Field was to become chaplain to Queen Elizabeth and James 1, & "born in 1561 about 6 miles from St.Albans" , is I beleive a member of the Field (or Feilde or sometimes even Felde) family who for many years owned land in and around Leverstock Green, and during the 17th century became Lords of the Manor of the small manor named Markate Oak, alias Leverstock Green. William Hatche sold the Manor to John Feild in 1619. (John was possibly Richard's brother, as Richard was known to be the eldest of his siblings(*). All the members of the Field family holding land in and around Leverstock Green were named John, Richard or Benjamin.The Field family had already held various parcels of land in the Leverstock Green area from the 16th century, and in 1581 had obtained the Copyhold on Blackwater Pond House, together with 50 acres of land. Blackwater Pond House (later Blackwater Farm), was part of the Manor of Gorhambury and Westwick, but some of its lands were part of the Manor of Market Oak. Dr. Richard Field is known from one source to have been born in the parish of Hemel Hempstead and to have attended Berkhamsted School.(*) It should be remembered that approximatly one third of the area of Leverstock Green came within the parish of Hemel Hempstead.
As well as a well known University preacher and later becoming Royal chaplain, Fielde also became reknowned for various theological publications, the greatest of which "Of The Church Five Books" was piblished in 1606.
* Field Genealogy, by Frederick Clifton Pierce, published by the Hammond Press Chicago 1901.
Edward, Lord Bruce of Kinloss 1548- 1610/1611
Edward, Lord Bruce of Kinloss, was another distinguished personage owning land and possibly residing for some time in Leverstock Green (at Chambersbury) and who also held the high office of Master of the Rolls.
Sir Edward Bruce was made commendator of Kinloss Abbey and appointed judge in 1597. In 1601 he was appointed a Lord of Parliament with the title of "Lord Kinloss". He accompanied James VI to claim his english throne in 1603 and was subsequently appointed to English judicial office as Master of the Rolls. In May 1608 he was granted a barony as Lord Bruce of Kinloss. His son, Thomas, was created first earl of Elgin in 1633. [http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/legends/clan.htm]
Lord Bruce of Kinloss, owner of Chambersbury died in 14th January 1610/1611.
The manor of Chambersbury (Chambersbury) had previously been settled to Magdalen, wife of Edward Lord Bruce for the remainder of her life, and entailed to his youngest son Thomas, later the Earl of Elgin. It is reasonable to assume that Dame Magdalen Bruce resided at Chambersbury at least from the time of her first husband's death, as she was married in St. Lawrence’s Church in 1616 to Sir James Fullerton (See entry for 9th April 1616.) [VCH vol.2 p.326; S299 ] In May 1624, with the agreement of Thomas Bruce, his mother and her new husband Sir James Fullerton, the Manor of Chambersbury, (along with the Manor of Sarrett) was sold to Thomas and John Child, who were already the owners of the Langleybury estate.
Samuel Ewer ~ Baptist Minister, Wood Lane End d.1708
In 1679 some Baptists from the parish of Kensworth, near St. Albans, moved into Hemel Hempstead with the Rev. Samuel Ewer as their first minister. Ewer is considered to be the founder of the Baptist Church in Hemel Hempstead, and as the records of the Abingdon Association show Hemel Hempstead to have joined them in 1656, it would seem likely that Ewer had already taken up residence in the area, when the group from Kensworth joined him in 1679.( see also entries for 1656 and 1657) It is thought this group met in Wood Lane End House (later known as Wood Lane End Farm) where Samuel Ewer lived until his death in 1708 (See entry for that date). These premises were certified for use in 1712 - see the entry for that year, and belonged to his widow Sarah. [ S1 p.255; S142, p.208;S143 p.178 ]
In 1689 as a direct result of the Accession of William and Mary, in 1689, The Toleration Act was passed which allowed nonconformist congregations to worship in their own way, without interference from the law. This Act had considerable impact over the years in Leverstock Green as the Quakers and Baptists and others already meeting to worship within the area, were now able to do so without fear of prosecution, and there are several instances of groups registering their places of dissenting worship within the area, including Wood Lane End Farm where Samuel Ewer lived and peached. He was amongst those who attended the London Assembly in 1668 [S144,p.210; S142,p.208] See also: http://www.ccel.org/creeds/bcf/biose.htm
24th December 1708 The funeral of Samuel Ewer, referred to by a contemporary as " a generous worthy man, well beloved and respected by his people" took place. Ewer had been the Baptist Minister for the "church" in Hemel Hempstead until 1707. He and his family had lived in WoodLane End House, it had also served as the local Baptist Church. Mr. John Piggott of London preached the sermon at Ewer's funeral, his address giving us an insight into the character of one of the principle residents of this area in the late 17th century. These are some extracts from that address:
" He was justly esteemed by all men of probity and good sense, who had the advantage of his aquaintance: for if we consider the Reverend Mr. Ewer in any relation while living he was very desirable."
"He has distinguyished himself for several years as an exemplary Christian, whose piety towards God, and affability towards men, have recommended him to the esteem and aprobation of all...."
"...he was well qualified with useful learning and ministerial gifts: a man vigilant, sober and of good behaviour; given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, nor greedy of filthy lucre, but patient: not a brawler....one that ruled well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.......He coveted no man's gold or silver; he was the farthest in the world from a little mercenary spirit: it was not the prospect of earthly gain, but the love of souls that engaged him in the ministerial work. He did forego that which he ought have demanded, I mean the maintenance of himself and family.......Yet you be witnesses for your deceased pastor, that he always generously gave his labours; and yet that did not cause him to take less pains in the promoting of your salvation...."
"If the sermons of your deceased pastor had not all the embellishments of language which some boast of, they had this peculiar advantage, to be full of solid Divinity.........the praise of this useful minister is in all the churches, where the knowledge of him hath reached. Here, indeed he lived, here he constantly preached; and I believe you will all own that his life was an excellent sermon: for in that you may see the practicalness, and usefulness of relative duties."
"In him you might behold the manly tenderness of a loving husband, the melting compassion of a kind father, the generous freedom of a true friend, and the admirable qualifications of a faithful pastor........"
"As to his particular behaviour during his last sickness, I am told by those who were nigh him, that he did not pass the time of his illness without some violent assaults from Satan: and it pleased the Lord to afford him speedy relief..........his indisposition was but short; he was well and dead within the compass of seven days. He did not apprehend that he should die of his illness until about two days before his death. His pain was so great that he feared to discourse but little; and when he drew near his end he was sometimes delirious. Yet when he had the least interval, he expressed a very great concern for the church under his care...."
Mr. Ewer was survived by his wife and children, and some of his descendants lived in the Hemel Hempstead/Leverstock Green neighbourhood for many years. It would appear that Samuel Ewer had been a man of some learning, writing a reply to "The Infant's cause pleaded, cleared, and vindicated." by Edward Hutchin. The manuscript to this reply was finished just before his death, and was so highly thought of that it was referred to by Thomas Davye of Leicester in 1788 in his "Treatise of Baptism"; and was also translated into Welsh and published in that language.
Members of Samuel Ewer's congregation: Thomas Marsom, James Hardinge, John Ward and Matthew Dunn, corroborated the view of Ewer given by Piggott in his funeral address, finishing their written account with :
"His name and memory will be deservedly precious in the churches of Christ, not only in this but succeeding ages." [S143, pp. 178 -183; S142, p.208.]
John Dickinson 1782~1869
John Dickinson, the founder of the papermills at Apsley & Nash Mills, ( buying Apsley Mill Nash Mill in 1810) had a great impact on Leverstock Green, as he not only did he purchased the Chambersbury Estate but was also one of the principle patrons and moving forces behind the building of Holy Trinity Church.
As John Dickinson owned Chambersbury and Bunkers Farm by 1850 when his daughter and son-in-law moved in it seems likely he purchased the Leverstock Green end of the estate following the death of John Field in 1844. Dickinson had already been in possession of the Nash Mills end of the estate by the Tithe Survey of 1840. [S262, S366]
In 1846 a meeting was held at Abbots Hill (the home of John Dickinson) which decided that a new church should be built in Leverstock Green, as it then formed the junction of St. Mary's, Hemel; St. Michael's (St.Albans); and Abbots Langley, each being at least 2 miles distant. The minutes of the meeting began:
"In consequence of an opinion having prevailed generally among landowners, clergy and gentry residing in the neighbourhood of St. Albans, Abbots Langley and Hemel Hempstead, that the district in and about Leverstock Green was insufficiently provided with Church Accommodation...."
In August 1849 Holy Trinity was completed. As well as having contributed a considerable sum to the building fund for the church, John Dickinson also donated the oak pulpit at a cost of £30, and the font, at a cost of £10.
John Evans married Harriet Dickinson, daughter of his uncle John Dickinson, on September 12th 1850 at St. Lawrence's Church Abbots Langley. Nash Mills having been within hte parish of Abbots Langley until the new parish of Leverstock Green was formed in 1850. Harriet's father was having a house built for them in Nash Mills Village, The Red House, but at the time of their marriage it was unfinished. They therefore went to live at Chambersbury in Leverstock Green. (See entries from Sept. 1850 - June 1851) The 1851 census shows both the Evans to be 27 years of age, with John listed as a papermaker. They had a cook, a housemaid and a stable boy to wait on them as live-in servants at Chambersbury.
They moved to The Red House in July 1851, and in 1856 they had moved to Nash House at Apsley; sadly Harriet was to die the following year. [ S84 ] Whilst living at Chamberbury, the Evans' worshipped at the newly completed Holy Trinity Church and John Evans was one of our first churchwardens. As newly weds the Evans' suffered two incendiary fires thrown at the house by agreeved mill workers from Nash Mills & Apsley. Fanny Pratt Barlow recorded in her diary for December 31st 1850 the 2nd of these devices:
"...made Papa very unhappy, poor dear; he is so sensitive as to his popularity and the attachment of the poor around him!" [ S92, p.94]
John Evans was for many years head of the paper manufactory at Nash Mills, taking over from his father-in-law, but was especially distinguished as an antiquary and numismatist. He was the author of three books, now standard texts: The Coins of ‘the Ancient Britons (1864); The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain (1872, 2nd ed. 1897); and The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland (1881). Whilst living in Leverstock Green he discovered a Bronze Hoard along Westwick Row, now partly housed in the Ashmolian Museum and partly in the Bristish Museum.
He was President of the Geological Society from 1874—1876; the Anthropological Institute, 1877—1879; the Society of Chemical industry,’ 1891—1893; the British Association, 1897—1898; and for twenty years (1878— 1898) he was treasurer of the Royal Society. As president of ‘the Society of Antiquaries he was an cx officio trustee of the’ British Museum, and subsequently he became a permanent trustee. His academic honours included honorary degrees from several universities, and he was a corresponding member of the Institut de France. He was created a K.C.B. in 1892. He died at Berkhamsted on the 31st of May 1908. He was buried with his first wife Harriet, at St. Lawrence's Church Abbotts Langley.
2008 being the centenary of Sir John Evans' death, the Ashmolean Museum have launched a project in his name. Full details of which can be found on the Project's website: http://johnevans.ashmolean.org/index.html Sir John & Harriet's son Sir Arthur Evans, an even more famous archaeologist than his father, was born shortly after his parents left Chambersbury on 24th June 1851. He was born on 8th July at The Red House, Nash Mills, the house Harriert's father had built for the young couple.
