OXLADE FAMILY HISTORY
"Dwellers in the Valley of the Oaks"
Oxlad, William, Tilemaker of Iver, Will proved August 1775 Piece No.1010
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN
William Oxlad of the Parish of Iver in the County of Bucks Tilemaker being sick in body but of sound mind and understanding do make my last Will and Testament as follows I commend my Soul to Almighty God and my Body I commit to the Earth to be decently interred at the discretion of my Executor hereafter named and as to my Worldly Estate I dispose thereof in manner following I give and devise unto my brother Richard OXLAD of MITCHAM in SURRY the sum of one shilling I give to my sister Mary BLACKBURN after payment of my Debts and ffuneral Expenses the Sum of ffifteen pounds I give and devise unto my sister Sarah BIRCH of IVER all my two Messuages or Tenements in IVER aforesaid now in the Occupation of Mary PARSONS and John HANBOROUGH(HENSBOROUGH ?) To hold the same to her during her life and from and after her decease I devise the said Messuages or Tenements to and among her children Sarah Thomas Mary and Joseph BIRCH and to their heirs for ever But in case the said Thomas Sarah Mary and Joseph BIRCH should die before intitled to the same I devise the said Messuages or Tenements on the decease of my said sister to any other children she may hereafter have and their heirs or if only one so such only child and his or her heirs I give and devise unto nephew John Birch his heirs all that my Messuage or Tenement in IVER aforesaid adjoining to that in the possession of John Hanborough with the Garden and appurtenances thereunto belonging but in case he shall depart this life before the age of twenty one I devise the said premises to and among all and every other the children of my said sister Sarah BIRCH and their heirs forever I give and Devise unto my sister Mary BLACKBURN before named all my Copyhold Estate situate in the Parish of LANGLEY in the County of Bucks to hold the same to her her heirs and assignees for ever all the Rest Residue and Remainder of my Estate and Effects of what nature or kind so ever I hereby give unto my said Brother in Law Thomas BIRCH his Executors and Administrators and I do hereby appoint the said Thomas Birch sole Executor of this my Will hereby revoking all former Wills by me made and declaring this sheet of paper to contain my last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal this sixth day of August in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy five The Mark X of William OXLAD O Signed Sealed published and declared by the said Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in our presence Jno DAWSON-Uxbridge Joseph (HOFFORD) Margaret (HOFFORD)
THIS WILL was proved at London the Twenty ninth day of August in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy five Before the Worshipful Ffrancis Simpson Doctor of Laws and Surrogate of the Right Worshipful Sir George Gray Knight also Doctor of Laws Master Keeper or Commissary of the prorogative Court of Canterbury Lawfully constituted by the Oath of Thomas Birch the sole Executor named in the said Will to whom Administration was granted of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the deceased having been first sworn duly to administor.
Copyhold was a form of perpetual tenancy, which could be inherited and withthe right to sell. Former servile holdings (technically owned by theLord of the Manor) were converted to copyholds c1500, and from then aslong as the family kept going, it passed on from father to son -normallyeldest son, unless the custom of the manor decreed the youngest son; ifthere were no sons, the daughter might inherit collectively (and one husband usually bought the others out or made a straight split). The copy of court roll described the extent and location of the land,in relation to neighbours or to phsical features like roads and streams.
The widow generally had a right to remain in the copyhold for life (while widow), enjoying a third of the profits. This depended on thecustom. The property could be sold to raise money, technically with theprior approval of the Lord or Steward.
A fine (final payment) was made at each death or change of owner, also a heriot (originally the best beast on the holding, later usually a cash sum based on animal values in 1520ish, a cheap period). A small annualrental was payable, a few shillings or sometimes produce in lieu.
Originally, services of work on the lord's land were also due, but most of these were bought out in the 1600s. Copyholds were generally on offer for sale to tenants in the 1890s and the system ended in 1925.
(Full details including examples of documents and how to extract the meat from the Latin (to 1733) phraseology in Manorial Records in my guides series.
Eve(McLaughlin)
Langley:
"In 1626, it was granted in fee to Sir John Kederminster, whose family had long been resident in the parish. His only daughter and heir married Sir John Parsons, of Boveney, whose son William, being then described as of Langley, was created a baronet in 1661 and was ancestor of the present Sir Mark PARSONS bart. of Epsom, in Surrey. The executors of Sir William Parsons, the first baronet, sold Langley in 1669, to Henry Seymour esq.*** .... 1806 version of Lysons & Lysons
Magna Britannia for Bucks.
Looking at the dates in Lysons and Lysons, it would seem that theParsons family were only there for a limited time in the 17th century. Boveney is a small village, and parish, nearby in Bucks, just a little further up the Thames. Pasons baronetage was extinct by 1930. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 1930 edition.
Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake - Drake Software web site: http://www.tdrake.demon.co.uk
John Parsons first appears in Bucks in 1606, when he bought the estateof Boveney in Burnham, with the aid of a loan from his friend, John Leigh. He could not repay the loan, so the estate was handed over to Leigh when JP died in 1612. His then under age son, also John, later bought it back in 1618, and married an heiress (probably how he got the cash to do it.) The heiress was Elizabeth Kederminster.
Langley Park manor was at first a woodland estate, in a marshy area, and it became waterlogged. It was so badly neglected, that the yield of timber to the crown had dropped. Edmund Kedermister, a lawyer, leased it, took on the task of getting it drained and productive again, and came into full ownership in 1606. Probably the manor house was built by him. His son, Sir John Kederminster, Kt. was the last male of the family, and a great benefactor to the village, who died in 1631.
His only daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, had married John Parsons the younger, created a knight as recognition of his wife's status. They inherited Langley Park and an amount of other Kederminster land, including Rokebys in Burnham in 1631, but had to sell off Rokebys to finance the Langley estate.
Sir John Parsons died in 1653 and his heir was his son William, who was created a baronet when the king was restored in 1661. This cost serious money, since Charles II was eternally on the make. Sir William died within a few years (?1667); there are no surviving monuments to the family, apparently, and there is a gap in the registers 1663-7 inclusive. He could not have been more than about 48-49, and perhaps his constitution was weak. The Parsons held Langley about 38 years in total.
The estate was then sold (finalised in 1669) by his executors – no male heirs are mentioned, in this or female ones, though there may have been such. They are possibly not mentioned because they did not, however, inherit Langley Park, which was then sold to Sir Henry Seymour. It remained in this family for another century or so.
Eve McLaughlin & B.T.D.
It is possible that William Oxlade of Iver is connected to the William Oxlade who purchased the Lease of the Tile kiln and adjoining buildings from Dulwich College on 4th March 1779. Information about this Oxlade Line can be found by clicking on "Next" below. It is possible that the Widow Oxlade mentioned in the Dulwich College records of 1787 is Joyce, wife of Richard Oxlade who had children Christened in Great Marlow, Bucks, Reading, Berks and Dulwich, Surrey. There is a Burial recorded for a Joyce Oxlade, widow, on 20 April 1791 at Great Marlow, Bucks.
This would tie the Dulwich Oxlades to Great Marlow, possibly Lane End , whence, it appears the Fulmer/Iver Oxlades may have originated. The Wills of several Oxlades who were Brickmakers in and around the Parish of Great Marlow give tantalizing clues but do little to make clear the relationship between them.
Legal Documents, however, make it clear that Richard Oxlade of Iver, Isleworth and Mitcham was both the brother of William Oxlade of Iver and the Richard Oxlade who appears to have had an ex-nuptial child with Elizabeth Corby/Corbee in Great Marlow and purchased a Mortgage on her behalf. Mitcham is 4.5 miles or 7.2 kilometres from Dulwich College.
The document can be found via the Legal Documents Index under Property on this site.
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