Volume 19 Number 1, March 2004

The big news this time round is that the publication of Lady Anne Blencowe’s Cookbook by Christina Stapley is within sight. I visited her at her picturesque thatched home in East Meon (Hampshire) earlier this month and was treated to an afternoon feast: examples of Tina’s modern-day interpretation of Lady Anne’s recipes. The lemon syllabub was particularly delicious. I was also given a bottle of “Shrub” a brandy-based drink; Lady Anne had said, “Three pints of Hot or Cold water put to a bottle … will make good Punch and, taken sole, a Pleasant Dram”. Trying out the latter back in Oxford I realised it was well that I had not sampled it before setting out to drive home!

The planned price for the hard-cover A5-size volume is £7.50 (or about US$14.00) with a substantial discount for Association members. It should make an attractive and affordable Christmas gift for friends and relatives.

On 7 September Tina will be teaching enthusiasts how to produce modern-day versions of the dishes that the 17thC Blencowes enjoyed at Marston Hall. The one-day course will be conducted at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton near Chichester in West Sussex. A booking form is printed in the centrefold. On 28 September she lectures on the same subject at Gilbert White’s House and Museum in Selborne. (Gilbert White was the 18thC parson who wrote the seminal work ‘The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne‘.)

Even if you do not wish to attend the cookery course, I am told that the Downland Museum is an interesting place and it occurs to me that if you were to visit on that day you could enjoy meeting other members and buy your copy of Tina’s book at the same time. Your reactions to this suggestion please!

Jack Blencowe,
Oxford, March 2004.

All of those who attended the Blencowe Reunion on May 25th 1996, will be sad to hear of the death on January 14th 2004 of Francis Sitwell. Francis, and his wife Susanna, entertained over fifty of us at Weston Hall on that day, and we were able to admire many of the Blencowe treasures that are housed in that very beautiful home.

Francis Sitwell was a member of a very talented literary family. His grandparents were Sir George and Lady Ida Sitwell, and their children were the brilliant but eccentric trio of poets and writers, Osbert, Edith and Sacheverell. Francis was the younger son of Sacheverell, always known as Sachie, and Georgia, a tempestuous and beautiful Canadian. He inherited Weston Hall and restored it into the gem of an English Country House that it is today.

Weston’s connection with the Blencowe Family goes back to 1714. Sir John Blencowe, the Judge, first leased the original farmhouse in that year for his recently widowed, youngest and favourite daughter, Susanna, at a cost of £14 a year. Susanna married Richard Jennens of Princethorpe, co Warwick in 1708, but he died in 1710, leaving Susanna to face a widowhood of 47 years. As Weston is within a few hours riding distance of Marston St Lawrence, it was a convenient arrangement and Sir John, as a devoted father, was, no doubt, able to keep a close eye on Susanna and her young family, Mary and another Richard. In 1721, Sir John went a step further and bought Weston for £999 for his much-loved Susanna as a Valentine present. It was later enlarged and renamed Weston Hall.

Susanna was remarkably skilled at needlework; her needlework bed and the six contemporary chairs, which she designed and covered, can all be seen at Weston Hall today, along with an oil painting of Susanna from the school of Sir Godfrey Kneller. Next to this portrait, is one of her son, Richard, known to have been given her by her elder brother John’s father-in-law, William Holbech of Farnborough, co Warwick.

Weston Hall has the unusual distinction of having had seven female owners and only one male in over 200 years between 1714 and 1923, never having been bought or sold since 1721. Francis took a great interest in the history of the house, and in his retirement, lectured on the Sitwell Family and did much to encourage the literary and artistic talents of young people.

I know the Blencowe Family Association will want to express their condolences to the present Susanna and her family on their sad loss.

Peter Blencowe, Walderton,
January 2004

You will probably have read the note I put in the Blencowe book about DNA analysis. In 2000 I and a number of other Blencowes (this spelling) were invited by Prof. Bryan Sykes of Oxford University to take part in a survey of the genetic make-up of our male [“Y”] chromosome. In brief, men having the same Y chromosome share a single common male ancestor. The survey revealed that about half of the fifty or so participants had a common ancestor. There were other, smaller groups, persons in families where the Blencowe line of descent had been interrupted by an adoption or birth out-of-wedlock.

It had been hoped that the results would have been published or at least released individually to participants but, for reasons of ‘medical confidentiality’, this has not proved possible.

Meanwhile, a company ‘Oxford Ancestors’ founded by Sykes and colleagues has gone commercial; one of our members who did not take part in the survey has commissioned an analysis of his DNA. The report he received was very nicely presented, with a lucid explanation of how to interpret it. However, it gave him no additional information, there were no other Blencowe results available with which he could make a comparison. So, our ‘cousin’ is no further forward.

I felt that it was worth doing something more about the problem and was given some help by Dick Winwood in the States who had written about a ’Winwood’ survey. He pointed me towards another company ‘Relative Genetics, Inc.’ located in Salt Lake whose charges were a good bit cheaper than Oxford Ancestors had published on the Internet.

I decided to give it a go; at US$175 (about £95) it is not cheap but not too much more than making four or five journeys to the Central Records Office! I contacted half a dozen of our membership and we have made a start. It is not necessary to make a large random survey, we can choose a relatively small number of family groups that we may be able to link to the main line of Adam de Blencow.

It is too soon to give you a report but some initial results show that the system works: the Y chromosome of one of the American Blincoes whose descent from the ‘Immigrant James’ was suspected but not proven was shown to have an almost identical make-up to that of one whose ancestry is clearly recorded back to 1670.

I expect to have much more to tell in the next issue. Meanwhile, I am seeking some more volunteer participants from some of the main family groups:

• Blencoes of Wisconsin
• Blencowes of Autralia
• Blencowes of Bicester and Brackley
• Blencowes of Kings Sutton
• Blincoes of Kentucky
• Blenkos
• Blincos/Blinkos of Slough & Windsor
• Blinckos
• Blincows of Long Buckby

I know it’s a pretty expensive price tag, but the results should make it worthwhile!

The wealth of family history information available on the Internet is truly amazing, it just takes time and patience to look for it! Mike Walton in St Andrews has sent me a number of items he spotted:

• Notice of the sale of a publication by Sir John Blencowe:An essay for lowering the gold and raising the silver coin. London: printed for Timothy Goodwin, 1696. 31, [1] p. 4^o.First edition of this contribution to the currency debate by the lawyer John Blencowe (1642-1726), estimated price £1250 [!]
• NORTHERN HISTORY, Volume 39, Number 2, September 2002 Breeze, A.C. The Celtic names of Blencow and Blenkinsopp [notes and documents]
• Iter Boreale: A full and extensively annotated translation of Dr Eedes Latin poem describing his journey when he and Anthony Blencowe accompanied Dr Toby Mathew to his installation as Dean at Durham Cathedral. The journey was described at some length in the Blencowe book, but there’s a good deal of additional detail and interesting historical comment. One example:‘Thence we came to Nottingham, badly laid out and built on a cliff. Here you could see homes hewn out of the living rock, you could also see evil fumes rising up as if from the Inferno. I do not imagine Avernus emits a more horrible stench. … pressing onward to Mansfield. There is nothing notable there, unless it is worthy of note that more than six hundred carrier horses inned there one night (so-called because they do naught but carry baggage).
• Renaissance Latin Drama in England John Blencowe (1609-<48): Mercurius Sive Literarum Lucta Acted 1629-1638[I can’t trace which Blencowe this one is! JWB]
• Items from the Northampton 1838-1846. Mostly Blencowes who were wronged or wrong-doing:1840 Commitments to the county gaol Frederick Smith, charged with stealing two asses, the property of Thomas Blencow, of West HaddonBlencowe, John of Brackley St Peters. Assizes – county prisoners John Blencowe, charged with having, at the parish of Brackley St Peters, feloniously stolen three night caps, three pairs of stockings, and sundry other articles, the property of his master, William King Malins. Transported for 14 years.Mr R. Blencowe of Aynho died on the 16th inst. aged 92, father of Mr. Blencowe, baker of Banbury.

  [This snippet of information allowed me to identify ‘R. Blencowe as Richard B. baptised 15 Aug 1748 in Culworth and the ‘baker of Banbury’ as William, grandson of John Blencowe (1687-1757) of Brackley and Temperance Painter. This links William’s descendants in Banbury, and later in Kidderminster, directly back to the Blencowes of Marston St Lawrence and to Adam de Blencow.]

  1842 Blencow, John to the house of correction for six weeks, for refusing to perform a contract entered into for manufacturing a quantity of leather into boots.

  1843 Northamptonshire summer assizes Joseph Moran, charged with stealing a pair of trowsers, the property of James Blencowe, of Kings Sutton – no bill

  Commitments to the county gaol and house of correction William Timms, charged with stealing a cotton handkerchief and a pair of spectacles, the property of Joseph Blencowe of Middleton Cheney. Three months hard labour.

  Hannah Balderson, for assaulting Sarah Blencowe, on the 20th August, at Spratton … convicted in the penalty of 6d. and costs 8s. 6d.

  1845 At Northamptonshire quarter sessions John Kiteley stood charged with stealing a smock frock, the property of John Blencowe of Middleton Cheney. No bill

  1846 At Northampton county sessions William Blencowe of Marston St. Lawrence was convicted of having stolen twenty ounces of butter, the property of William Tompkins. One month’s hard labour

  Brackley petty sessions William Blincoe, and George Padbury, youths of Brackley, were brought up and reprimanded for misconduct in Brackley churchyard during divine service

• Proceedings at the Old Bailey:1720. John Blincoe , of St. Botolph-without-Aldgate, was indicted for feloniously stealing a Black Mare value £5 the Goods of Vincent Miller , on the 20th of October last. He was a second time indicted by the Name of John Blincoe, of St. Mildred Poultry, for feloniously stealing a Black Mare value £10 the Goods of Thomas Reeve, on the 14th of December last; but it not appearing that he was ever possest of either of the Mares in London, but at Chinkford in the County of Essex, the Jury acquitted him of both Indictments.1728. John Mayow , of St. Dunstan’s Stepney, was indicted for stealing a Bay Mare, value £5 on the 31st of July last, the Property of George Isgig .The Prosecutor depos’d. That he lost his Mare out of an open Field near Islington, and by the Honestly of Mr. Blinco he found her again with the Prisoner in Custody.

  William Blinco depos’d, That he sold the Mare to the Prosecutor, who afterwards saying he had lost her, this Deponent saw the Prisoner on her Back near Welch Fair, and apprehended him on suspicion of his having stolen her; but neither the Prosecutor nor Mr. Blinco appeared very rigid in the Prosecution of the Prisoner, and he having a very good Character from several People of Reputation, the Jury acquitted him.

  1738. Joseph Hodson , was indicted for privately stealing from the Person of John Pye, June 23, a Promissory Note, No H. 229. and subscribed Daniel Race , on Behalf of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, bearing Date June 2, value £500 by which Note the said Daniel Race, on Behalf of the said Governor and Company, did promise to pay to Nat. Bracey and Company, the Sum of £500 the Property of John Pye, the said Sum of £500 being then unpay’d and unsatisfy’d unto the said John Pye.

  Five hundred pounds was a huge sum of money and the verbatim account of the proceedings runs to many pages.

  Mr Pye told how his pocket had been picked. Sampson Solomon, a Jewish money dealer, told how Hodson had tried to sell him the Note at about half price; he had kept the negotiation open and reported to Aaron Polock who arrested Hodson and found him in possession of the Note and of what appeared to be lock-picking tools.

  Various witnesses attested that Hodson had been a habitual pickpocket since childhood; other witnesses, including one William Blincoe, told that so far as they knew Hodson was an honest man. The jury thought otherwise and brought in a ‘guilty’ verdict; Hodson was sentenced to death.

  1745. William Carter, of Finchley, was indicted for stealing a horizontal sun-dial, value 30s. the goods of Charles Hedges.

  Mark Sanders, a gardener to ‘Squire Hedges, told that the sundial had been taken from its pedestal in the garden.

  John Gregory, a metal founder told that he had bought the brass from the accused for scrap metal, paying him 9s. 1d.

  Carter claimed he had bought the sundial in Highgate from a man ‘who looked like a gardener’.

  A William Blincoe [the same William?], keeper of a public house, the White Swan, in Islington, told that he had known the about three years and took him to be an honest man. Other witnesses also attested to Carter’s good character, but he was found guilty and sentenced to transportation.

Condolences to Jenny Coulson whose mother Dorothy passed away last October at the age of seventy-two. She was a grand-daughter of George Blinco (1869-1901) whose great-grandfather Henry Blinker died at Barrow in Suffolk in 1816.

Congratulations! To Christopher and Alex Blincoe on the birth of their son Archie Thomas on 17 November 2003. Archie is a grandson of Julian Blincoe of Sowerby Bridge and is seven generations down from Robert Blincoe whose trials and tribulations in the textile mills of northern England were recounted in our book by Edward, Archie’s great-uncle.

Also to Frances Blaine Blencowe of Kilmarnock VA on her ninetieth birthday last August. The celebrations with family and friends lasted more than a month! Frances also enjoyed the wedding of her grandson John in November. Frances’ family is the American branch of the tree illustrating the note about Angela Blencowe’s hundredth birthday featured in our last newsletter.

Clive Blencowe wrote from Worcester giving news of two of his sons. Carl, the youngest, is taking his wife Sarah and their two young children to Beijing where he has an assignment, initially for a year. Meanwhile, his older brother Richard has pulled off a multi-million pound property deal in Brighton, involving the purchase of a shopping arcade, “one of the biggest property deals for years in Brighton”. Richard runs his business in partnership with his wife Azila.

Reported on the BBC: a Yorkshire couple baptised their daughter Diot Coke! However, this was in Adam de Blencow’s time, ‘Diot’ is believed to be a contraction of ‘Dionysia’ and fore-runner of ‘Denise’. Who’d have thought it?

Lady Anne Blencowe’s Receipt Book

‘An afternoon to explore the life, times & recipes of the wife of a judge & Member of Parliament at the dawn of the 18th century. Christina Stapley will be in costume and will bring samples of the recipes to view, discuss & taste. The newly published edition of Lady Anne’s book by Christina, with her most delicious recipes set out for modern cooks will be on sale’

Tuesday 28th September 2004: 2 p.m.– 4.30 p.m. The course fee of £20 will include tea. Contact the address below for reservations.

Gilbert White’s House, Selborne, Hampshire GU34 3JH