RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS,

AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD.

BY THE REV. EDWARD TURNER.

AMONG the Sussex families whose descent may be traced from an early period to the present time, and who have risen from circumstances comparatively humble to positions of considerable eminence and importance, is that of the Kidders of Maresfield, in the Register Books of which parish the name frequently occurs. These registers commence with the year 1538, and the earliest events recorded in them are connected with this family. That the Kidders were of respectable standing as yeomen in the parish, may be inferred from the circumstance that they held from time to time some of the principal parochial offices, such as guardians of the poor, churchwardens, &c.; and where the names of sponsors are entered in the same register books, which is the case from 1571 to 1585, they are associated in this capacity with some of the leading gentry of the neighbourhood in the record of baptisms of the children of such parents as ranked above the common class. One of the family is also sometimes designated "the bayliffe," at other times, vulgo, "the bayly," by which I understand the holder of a crown office connected with the extensive forest of Ashdown, or perhaps with that part of it only which was enclosed by John à Gaunt as a royal park, and which was called on that account "Lancaster Great Park," much of which was in Maresfield. Of this office the heads of the Kidder family were perhaps the hereditary possessors. Even so late as the time of Charles I. large herds of deer were kept up in the different enclosures, into which, for the accommodation of the different ages and sexes, this park was divided, as is still indicated by the names Hartfield

www urwal, Backhurst, Buckstead and Buckstve, Hindover indicap, Kidbrook, &c., which are all of them places in lindate vicinity of what now remains of this once exsche forest tract. As "the bayliffe" was, according to Manwood, the principal superintendent of the forest and its subordinate officers under the verderer, the name Kidder may possibly have been originally derived from the nature of the duties imposed upon him as the holder of this office. Mr. F. Kidder, of Boston, U.S., one of this family, informs me that there is a coat of arms, "which," to use his own words, "I trace in our family for over a hundred years, but do not find it in any book on heraldry. It is cut in stone. The principal figures are three kids or deer. There is no crest or motto.' This seems to bear out my conjecture. Another suggestion which has been advanced is this: the name has been variously spelt at different times. In some documents of an early date it is written Kyddwr; and this has led to the supposition that the family were of very early Welsh extraction, and that the name is compounded of two Celtic words, Kyd, a town situated on a hill, and dwr, a stream of water. Kidder is the Saxon for a dealer in corn.

But whatever might have been the derivation of the name, that the office itself in the forest was an honourable as well as a profitable one, may be inferred from its having been held at an early period by persons of rank and distinction, unconnected apparently with the county. In Wright's History of Rutlandshire, published in the year 1660, Sir William Durant, Knt., is called "the bayliffe of Archedown Forest, in the county of Sussex." At what date he held this office this quaint old historian does not mention; but, as Sir William lived in the reign of Edward II., he probably received the appointment from him, and might have been the first "bayliffe" after the formation of Lancaster Great Park. The family of Durant held large possessions in the county of

Rutland.

The residence of the Kidder family is sometimes called in old writings "the Hole," at other times "the Hole House," and "the Pool," and when Latinized, "de la Stagno," which are all names very descriptive of its situation in a deep forest

1 Manwood's Treatise of the Laws of the Forest, &c.

dell, a considerable portion of which was evidently once occupied by water. Of this pool a part still remains, called “the Lake"; and the adjoining property, which, if it was not the entire, was, no doubt, parcel of the Kidder patrimonial estate, is now called "Lampool." The house, which was of a moderate size, and possessed no claim to architectural notice, has been taken down some years. In an old manorial book belonging to Viscount Gage, lord of the manor of Maresfield, in which the property is situated, it is described as "the Hole House, and certain lands called Arthurs or Athurs, consisting of 35 acres of land, lying between Horney Common and Lampool Green, late Newnham's, before Hoath's, and formerly Kidder's."

In the annexed genealogical table, the first of the family mentioned in the Maresfield Register is Richard Kidder of the Hole, who was buried in 1549; but his father, we learn from other sources, was resident in the parish in 1492. The family indeed may be traced back as landowners in Maresfield to the time of Edward II. On the Subsidy Roll for Sussex, 6 Edward III., 1332, the name appears as follows: "Simon at Hole js. jad." And again, 13 Eliz. (1570-1), "John Kydder, lands xxs." "John Kydder, J., lands xxs." In the Muster Roll, temp. Henry VIII., the name frequently occurs, but is usually written Kether, which arose probably from the name being entered as it was usually pronounced.

From the Manorial Books we learn also that other members of the Kidder family were copyholders in Maresfield. At a court held September 12th, 1599, William Kidder of Maresfield, was presented as dying seized of two parcels of land called the Scope and the Steake. In 1606, William Kidder of London is mentioned as a tenant owing suit and service; and Richard Kidder surrendered a copyhold called Adderal's Fields, containing 12 acres. At a court held the next year, Richard Kidder of the Hole was one of the homage, and Richard Kidder was presented as dying seized of a cottage and half an acre of land called the Slype. In 1608, Philip Kidder surrendered a messuage, barn, and garden, called Moyses, and 40 acres of assart land and other lands in Maresfield, to Barnabas Hodgson, a large ironfounder. There are entries in the same records of the deaths, surrenders, and

admissions of many other Kidders as tenants of the same manor previous to the year 1722. In that year John Kidder surrendered lands held by him to Andrew Gatland, and he appears to have been the last copyholder in it; and it is probable that he was the last of the family connected with the parish, for from that time to this the name of Kidder has ceased to exist in Maresfield. Among the MSS. Inquisitiones post Mortem (i. 95, Sussex, 42 Eliz.) is the record of an Inquisition taken at East Grinstead, January 2, 1600, before sundry jurors, who say, that John Kidder died June 21st, in the year preceding, and that at the time of his death he was seized of a demesne, as of fee, of and in a messuage, barn, stable, garden, orchard, and 80 acres of land with the appurtenances, in Marysfield, called Rolfe Colvyells, formerly Frytters; and that the said messuage and premises were held of our said Lady the Queen "ut de honore suo de Aquila per servicium militare, sed per quantam partem feodi militis juratores predicti ignorant; et valent per annum, ultra reprisalia, 208.' A farm adjoining the Pool, or Lampool Farm, is still called the Frytter Bank, and is probably the land here alluded to. By his will dated 1650, and proved in 1651, Drew Kidder of Maresfield, yeoman, devises his estate, called Kenates, to his son John; and other lands, together with a house in Maresfield Street, to his younger son Drew.

Richard Kidder, who died in 1549, had three sons. Richard, the eldest of these, had a large family, the five firstborn of which were sons; and the descendants of the three eldest of these attained in different ways to considerable eminence. The elder branch continued to reside at Maresfield until the commencement of the eighteenth century, but Richard, the eldest son of Thomas the second son, removed to Lewes about the year 1590, where his family continued to reside for upwards of a century, and became opulent merchants. They are mentioned in the Town Records eight times as constables of the borough, the first appointment being in 1586, and the last in 1657. In Rowe's MS. of the customs of different manors in Sussex, they are represented as living in All Saints parish. "Lewes Burgus, Parochia omnium sanctorum, pars borealis, Thomas Kydder, pro tenemento, &c. Pars Australis, Richardus Kydder, pro tenemento, &c." Again, at

pages 73, 74, of the present volume, Richard Kidder is stated, in 1621, to have held goods valued £3. 58. in Lewes Burrowe, and lands valued at £20. 28. 8d. in Southover Burrowe. The Thomas Kydder here alluded to was probably the father of Anne Kydder, who married George Howard of Bookham, Surrey, son of Sir Charles Howard, Knt., and brother of Francis, fifth Lord Howard of Effingham, from which marriage the present Earl of Effingham is descended.

Another member of this family removed from Maresfield to East Grinstead at a somewhat earlier period, where he settled as a tradesman. In the Subsidy Roll of the 13th of Eliz. (1570-1), under the head "Borough of East Grinstead," occurs "Thomas Kidder, lands xxs. ;" and again, in 22 James I. (1624-5), "Hundred of East Grinstead, Richard Kidder, lands xxs." In the East Grinstead register books the name first appears in 1571, about seven years after they commence. Among the wills to be found in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury is that of Richard Kidder of East Grinstead, mercer, who was baptised there in 1579. He is called the son of William Kidder, and died in 1636. His will was proved May 30th of the same year, by Margaret, his widow, in which he mentions an estate which descended to him as the heir of Elizabeth, the daughter of Jeremiah Kidder. In 1671 the will of William Kidder of East Grinstead, dated 1669, was proved at Exeter House, in the Strand, before Sir Leoline Jenkyns. He is probably son of the person mentioned in Richard Kidder's will as "my brother William." In the entry of his burial he is described as of Sackville College, so that he must have lived to become a decayed tradesman. By his wife, whose name before marriage was Elizabeth Wichenden, he had a numerous family, for whom, as they grew up, he was able to do but little, his kind and generous disposition, which led him to become surety for others, having brought him into so great straits and difficulties, that he was compelled to sell the small estate he had, on which account, probably, we find him an inmate of the college. But, notwithstanding the difficulties with which he had to contend, their son Richard became a distinguished member of the Established Church, and eventually Bishop of Bath and Wells.