BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

The second sun was John, who had the land [i.e., the manor of Beches at Wokingham] from William, first by composition, and afterward, he dying without issue, became heir, but was fayne to agree for it withe his brother William the heir. This John lived neer fowerskore yeares, and dyed miserably tormented withe the stone, above the space of a dozen whole yeares before his deathe.

His wife was the daughter of on Planer of Okingham, and by her he had many children, and left her surviving at his deathe; he was 45 year olde before he maryed, and his wife very yong; about 17 yeares of age.

Since we know from the burial register of All Saints parish at Wokingham that John Whitlock was buried in that parish on 20 July 1589, if John was aged 80 at the time of his death, he would have been born in (or around) 1509.[4]

Notes by Jim Whitelock at the Whitlock Family-One Name Study site abstract a deed dated 23 April 1558 showing John Whitlock of Wokingham conveying land called Wildhull in Wokingham.[5] The abstract contains no further information.

Will of John Whitlock

John Whitlock made his will at Holt, Wokingham, on 20 December 1586.[6] As the previous posting notes, Holt, the dower house of Beches Manor in which John was living at the time he died, was at this point in a portion of Wokingham that was in Wiltshire and not Berkshire, though the will states, correctly, that John was of Wokingham in Berkshire. The will directs that John be buried in the Wokingham parish church, and names his wife Agnes, sons William, Clement, Beache, Thomas, and Richard, and daughters Rachell, Jane, and Margery. Also named are John’s brother-in-law John Planner and cousins John and Thomas Grove.[7] John’s will was proven 30 September 1589.

As the previous posting notes, John Whitlock’s will left Beches manor at Wokingham, which had come to him from his brother William as Liber Famelicus states, to John’s oldest son, also named William. After mortgaging Beches to his youngest brother Richard Whitlock and others, William failed to pay the mortgage and in this way, Beches passed from William to his brother Richard (abt. 1583 – 1642). About William, Sir James Whitlocke says the following in Liber Famelicus:[8]

His [i.e., John Whitlock’s] sun and heir was William Whitelock, now living, and owner of the land as heir to the family; and he maryed Ursula Beresford, daughter of George Beresford and Marye daughter of John Colte, my mother’s brother, and by her hathe divers children. This George Beresford was sun to on Beresford an alderman of London. His mother did afterward marye sir John Langley sumtimes maior of London. He had a sister maryed first to Mr. Colte of Woodwicks in Hartfordshire, my mother’s cosen german, by whome she had John Colte now owner of Woodwicks, and Ursula wife first to Robert Woodford of Burnham, and now to Hughe Holland. Afterward she maryed mr. John Norris of Barkshire, now sir John Norris, by whome she had only on daughter and heir, first wife of sir Edward Norris of Englefeilde and now of vicount Fenton, [after erl of Kellye,]t a Scot, capteyne of the king’s gard.

William Whitelock hathe a second brother, called John Whitelock, that is now a servant in the king’s house in the waferye.

If John Whitlock was born about 1509 as Liber Famelicus suggests and if he married Agnes Planer/Planner when he was 45, as this source also maintains, then this marriage took place about 1554. Sir James Whitlocke says that Agnes was 17 when the marriage occurred, so she would have been born about 1537. As the previous posting notes, a coat of arms for the Whitlock family of Wokingham found in The Visitation of London 1633, 1634, 1635 gives the name of Agnes Planer/Planner Whitlock’s father as John Planer/Planner, but William is the correct name.[9]

Will of William Planner

Agnes, wife of John Whitlock, is named as William Planner’s daughter in his 16 July 1659 will made at Wokingham in Wiltshire and identifying William as a clothier of that place.[10] About John and Agnes, the will states,

Item I give and bequeathe to my sonne in lawe John Whitlock / and to Agnes my daughter nowe the wife of the same John, a pidle of land lieing at beare lane nowe in the teanure of the same John sometyme percell of the saide channtreye lande / To have & to holde the saide pudle of lande with thappurtenannces to the saide John Whitlock and Agnes his wife, and to theires of theire two bodies begottenn / To holde of the cheefe lorde of the fee by the rentes and services thereof dewe and of righte custome and for lacke of yssue of theire ij bodies, begottenn to reverte and retourne to the righte heires of me the saide william planner forever.

The will also makes a bequest of 7 pence each to the five children of John Whitlock and wife Agnes, and makes John along with his brother Jerome, who was married to Agnes’s sister Margaret Planer/Planner, executors with William’s cousin Richard Planner. As Peter Whitlock notes, William Planner’s will tells us that in 1569 John Whitlock and his wife Agnes were living in Beare Street in Wokingham.[11]

Will of Agnes Planner Whitlock

Agnes Planner Whitlock made her will at Wokingham on 8 June 1629.[12] The will, which is, as Peter Whitlock notes, extensive, stipulates that Agnes wanted to be buried near the grave of her mother in Wokingham church (All Saints).[13] Agnes’s will was proven 29 July 1631.

According to notes for Agnes found at the descendancy chart for John Whitloke and Agnes de la Beche (d. 1491) at the Whitlock Family One-Name Study site, Agnes was buried at Wokingham on 20 July 1630.[14] I have not been able to discover the source of this information, but am assuming it’s from the burial register of All Saints parish in Wokingham.

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[1] James Whitlocke, Liber Famelicus of Sir James Whitlocke, etc., ed. John Bruce (London: Camden Society, 1858), p. 12.

[2] Ibid., p. 1.

[3] Ibid., p. 3.

[4] Peter Whitlock’s notes from Wren Hall, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, cite the bishop’s transcript of Wokingham parish records for this burial date: see the section of reference material at the website of the Whitlock Family One-Name Study site archiving Peter Whitlock’s notes, “Wren Hall, Salisbury, Wiltshire (SAL)” p. 1. FamilySearch has a microfilmed and digitized copy of the Wokingham parish register, 1580-1836, but it’s under lock and key. Find My Past also abstracts this burial record, citing Berkshire Burial Index, and giving the same date of burial, noting that John Whitlock was buried in All Saints parish at Wokingham and lived at Hoult, Wokingham, Berkshire.

[5] “Berkshire (1334-1789) and Surrey (1250-1802) Whitlock extracts from Jim Whitelock,” in the Miscellaneous Notes section of Whitlock Family One-Name Study site, file X0536/2.

[6] Prerogative Court of Canterbury 11/74, pp. 169-171.

[7] See Peter Whitlock’s abstract of the will in his notes from the Public Record Office in London, file PRO 18 in the section of Whitlock Family-One Name Study archiving Peter Whitlock’s notes.

[8] Liber Famelicus, pp. 3-4.

[9] Sir Henry Saint-George and Richard Saint-George, The Visitation of London, Anno Domini 1633, 1634, and 1635, vol. 2 (London: 1883), p. 347; and The Four Visitations of Berkshire Made and Taken by Thomas Benolte, Clarenceux, Anno 1532; by William Harvey, Clarenceux, Anno 1566; by Henry Chitting, Chester Herald, and John Philipott, Rouge Dragon, for William Camden, Clarenceux, Anno 1623; and by Elias Ashmole, Windsor Herald, for Sir Edward Bysshe, Clarenceux, Anno 1665-66, vol. 2, ed. W. Harry Rylands (London, 1908), pp. 225-6.

[10] Prerogative Court of Canterbury 11/52, pp. 104-7. A complete transcript of the will is at “Will of William Planner 1659,” Whitlock Family Newsletter 33,3 (September 2014), pp. 3-5.

[11] “Will of William Planner 1659,” p. 5.

[12] Probate Records of the Court of the Dean of Salisbury P5/1631/119. Peter Whitlock provides an abstract of the will at “Planer of Wokingham, Berkshire,” a posting dated 9 June 2005 at the Planer forum at Genealogy.com.

[13] “The Holt House, Berkshire,” Whitlock Family Newsletter 31,1 (March 2012), p.13.

[14] “Descent from John Whitloke and Agnes De la Beche (M1454?) with all historical detail and source references added,” chart WHITLOCK.02H in the family charts section of the Whitlock Family One-Name Study site.