Lawrence Washington (1602–1653)

Rev. Lawrence Washington
Born	Lawrence Washington 1602 Sulgrave Manor, Northampton, England,
Died	1653 Little Braxted, Essex, England
Ethnicity	English
Occupation	Rector
Religion	Anglicanism
Spouse	Amphillis Twigden
Children	John Washington,

Rev. Lawrence Washington (1602–1653) was an English rector, and the great-great-grandfather of George Washington. Rev. Washington was born about 1602 in Sulgrave Manor, Northampton, England, and died about Jan 1652/53 in Little Braxted, Essex, England. Rev. Washington was buried 21 Jan 1652/53 in Maldon, Essex, England.

Biography

Washington was a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. His degree there was awarded in 1623. He resigned from his Fellowship in 1633. According to the college records he left in debt, "owing 17s 10d personally and £9 5s 9d on behalf of a pupil" (approximately £118 and £1,230.00 in today's money). College Fellows at Oxford at the time were held liable for their students' debts. The college accounting books read: "Mr Washington to be sued", but no lawsuit was ever filed.

The college recounts the following story of the debt: "In 1924 a party of Canadian and American lawyers were shown the account of these debts during a visit to the College, and they suggested that they should pay the personal debt of 17s 10d, subject to no interest being charged. A pound note was produced amidst much laughter. Unfortunately this light-hearted gesture was not appreciated by some of George Washington's more seriously minded supporters. A letter to the Daily Express and an article in the New York Herald both denied that any debt had ever existed."[1]

Lawrence's stay at Oxford coincided with the rectorate (1619-1645) of Giles Widdowes at St Martin's. Widdowes was chaplain to Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham of whom Lawrence became the in-law.

Purleigh

Washington became rector of the village of Purleigh, in Essex, from 1632 until 1643. He lost his position during the Civil War when Essex where his living was situated came under the government of the Long Parliament. He died in poverty after he had been ejected from Purleigh and relocated to the rectorate of Little Braxted, at present an eastern outskirt of Witham (1643). He is buried in the nearby town of Maldon [2].

By then Sir Samuel Argall had become Deputy Governor of Virginia (between 1617-1619). When his widowed mother, Mary Scot, had remarried Laurence Washington of Maidstone (great uncle of Lawrence Washington (1602–1655)), Sir Samuel became the first Washington relative with firm footing in America.

George Washington: a Biographical Compendium (Frank E. Grizzard, Jr., 2002) details the portrait of Lawrence Washington with the contemporary phrasing of the charge laid against him and that led to his removal from Purleigh:

common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting daily tippling there, but also encouraging others in that beastly vice

in op. cit. p. 5, s.v. Ancestry

See also

• Strickland (surname), The Washington family are direct descendants of the Strickland family from Westmorland in England.

References

• Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. George Washington, A Biographical Compendium Santa Barbara California, ABC-CLIO, 2002
• C. V. Wedgwood, The King's Peace 1637-1641 London and Glasgow, Collins Fontana, 1973
• C. V. Wedgwood, The King's War 1641-1647 London and Glasgow, Collins Fontana, 1973
• Christopher Hill, The Century of Revolution 1603-1714 London and New York, Routledge Classics, 2006
• A. L. Rowse, The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society London, Penguin Classic History, 2000
• A. L. Rowse, Ralegh and the Throckmortons (1962) The Reprint Society, London, 1964 (index s.v. Sulgrave, Washington)
• Wallace Notestein, The English People on the Eve of Colonization 1603-1630 New York, Harper&Brothers, 1954 in: The New American Nation Series (Steele Commager and Morris ed.)
• Blair Worden ed., Stuart England Oxford, Phaedon 1986
• Helen Gardner, (introduction, edition) The Metaphysical Poets Penguin Books, 1972 (biographical notes pp.306-323)
• Henry Morley, Character Writings of the Seventeenth Century London, George Routledge and Sons, 1891 in: The Carisbrooke Library. XIV
• Hugh Ross Williamson, George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham: Study for a Biography London, Duckworth 1940
• Glyn Redworth, The Prince and the Infanta: The Cultural Politics of the Spanish Match New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2003 (index s.v. Washington)
• The Brazen Nose [the college's magazine], volume 41 (2006-7), page 110, for the story of the unpaid debt left by Lawrence.

External links

• Sources
• Family background
• Family history
• Sulgrave/Virginia family tree
• Lawrence Washington/Sandys connection
• 17th century family coat of arms (document)
• Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour...
• Virginia/Maryland 1649
• Purleigh on the map
• Little Braxted on the map