MRP: Sir Nicholas Crispe will

'Bold text'Sir Nicholas Crispe will

Editorial history

27/02/12, CSG: Created page

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Abstract & context

Sir Nicholas Crispe (b. ?, d. 1666) wrote his will in 16XX. He appears to have been in relatively poor physical shape at the time of making his will, and made reference in the will to "my soe long shortnes of breath."

In his will, Crispe described his mansion house as being "of Hammersmith." The 1666 hearth tax return shows this house to have been of substantial size, with forty-five hearths. It appears in Fulham under the name of his widow "Lady Crispes," who was Anne XXX (b. ?, d. ?). At the time Hammersmith was within the parish of Fulham.

Sir Nicholas Crispe referred in his will to Anne Crispe, the widow of his son Ellis Crispe. Ellis Crispe presumably died between Lady Day 1664, when he appeared in the Surrey hearth tax returns in Mortlake with a house of twenty-four hearths, and the time of writing of Sir Nicholas Crispe's will. Sir Nicholas Crispe appears to have been generous towards Anne Crispe, his daughter-in-law, as he anticipated his own death, bequeathing her an annuity of three hundred pounds per annum. However, her father, Sir George Strode, displayed considerable bitterness towards Sir Nicholas Crispe in his own will written in ?1664. In that will, Sir George Strode criticised Sir Nicholas Crispe for misappropriating Anne Strode's portion. Several Chancery records in the 1650s suggest that there had been a protracted legal dispute between Sir George Strode and Sir Nicholas Crispe as to Anne Strode's portion.

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To do

(1) Check the transcription

(2) Follow up Sir Nicholas Crisp's proposal that a sluice be constructed at Deptford to hold two hundred ships

(3) Look at commercial links between Sir Thomas Cullum (d. 1664) and Sir Nicholas Crispe. Supposedly Sir Thomas Cullum's wife was Sir Nicholas Crispe's first cousin. Cullum was a draper and a farmer of the Excise duties (1643-1651). Cullum supposedly had a villa, destroyed by the 1666 fire. Its grounds were subsequently let out on building leases to form Cullum Street, near Fenchurch street

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Images

Sir Nicholas Crispe, engraving, from a painting, undated

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Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion, Walford, 1815

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Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion, Faulkner, circa 1839

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Site of Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion (later Brandenburgh house), Hammersmith, after Roque, 1746

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Image credits & copyright information

(1) 'Sir Nicholas Crispe, from a painting in the Earl of Leicesters collection,' engraving, undated, anon, reproduced in Thomas Faulkner, The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith (London, 1839), op. title page

(2) 'Brandenburgh house, in 1815,' engraving, anon, in Edward Walford, Old and New London: the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ?1878), p. 541

(3) 'Brandenburgh house,' engraving, ca. 1839, anon, reproduced in Thomas Faulkner, The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith (London, 1839), p. 278

(4) Extract from 'Hammersmith in 1746. (From Rocque's Map.),' showing site of Sir Nicholas Crispe's mansion, subsequently known as Brandenburgh house, in Edward Walford, Old and New London: the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ??1878), p. 541

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Transcription

IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I Nicholas Crispe of Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex Knight and Barronett

In due and serious consideration of ?humane frailty and mortality That is the great XXXX for every man once to dye Doe hereby ordaine and declare this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following And therefore ffirst and in all humility and devotion of a Contrite heart I heartely begg meritts of my alone Saviour JESUS CHRIST and though I have beene a most greivous sinner and most Prodigall sonne yet my steddy hope is in Christ That for his sake God my most mercifull Creator will not ?cast of the ?Bowells and compassion of a ffather upon which confidence I cast myselfe into his armes AMEN. AMEN. Lord Jesus in hope in that last moment of tyme att my departure to ?render up my soule with Comfort in the mercyes of God the ffather through the meritts of God the sonne in the Love of God the holy Ghost And humbly pray that most blessed and glorious Trinity our God to prepare me for and preserve me in that hower of my dissolution and make me waite every moment when my Change shall come and in my Change to receive me into that Rest which he hath prepared for all them that love and feare his name soe ?Amen Lord Jesus Amen FOR my ffaith I dye as I have lived in the true Orthodox Profession of the Catholicke ffaith of Christ ?foreshewed by the Prophetts and preached to the world by Christ himselfe his blessed Appostles and their Successors and a true member of his Catholicke Church within the Comunion of a Liveing part thereof the present Church of England as it now stands established by Lawe

WHOMSEVER I have in the last degree offended I heartily aske God and them forgiveness and whosever have offended me I pray God forgive them and I heartily doe And I hopeand pray that God will forgive me many great and greivous Transgressions against him Amen Amen

I LEAVE my body to the Earth whence it was taken in full assureance of the resurrection of it from the Grave att the last day This Resurrection I constantly beleive my deare Saviour JESUS CHRIST will make happy to me his poore servant the cause of my soe long shortnes of breath to be helpfull to my Posterity that are troubled with the same Infirmity AND I order and appoint that my Executo:rs cause my heart to be Imbalmed And to be put into a ?funall urne made of the hardest stone and ffastned XXXX placed upon a ?Pillar of the best and hardest Black Marble to be sett up in Hammersmith Chappell neare my Pew the place I soe dearely loved And I appoint my body to be put into a Leaden Coffin and laid in a vault in S:t Mildreds Church in Breadstreete in London That I made for my Parents and Posterity Which Leaden Coffin I appoint to be put into a Stone coffin to be covered with a stone And that there be noe other funerall Pompe att my buriall than that my wife Children and Grandchildren have
mourning

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MOURNING And the servants of my owne family that shall be of my househould att the tyme of my death And noe other charge but my Three Trumpetters with my owne Trumpetts attend my body to the Grave with my Cornett and a Ledd ?horse in Black And abother with my best Saddle and furniture give particular ?nature by a ?Tickett to all my noble ffreinds kindred and relations That on such a day at such an hower from such a place my body shalbe carried to be interred and that all that come haveing nothing but a Branch of Rosemary and presented to all of the better quality of my Effigies with my Armes impressed upon vellour or other Parchment and in Paper with this inscription THI IS THE EFFIGIES OF S:R NICHOLAS CRISPE KNIGHT AND BARONET WHO FFIRST DISCOVERED AND SETLED THE TRADE OF GOLD IN AFFRICA AND BUILT THERE THE CASTLE OF CORMENTINE BY WHICH HEE LOST OUT OF PURSE ALSONE A HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS ABOVE ALL RETURNES FROM THENCE) I not doubting but my Nation (when I am dead) will make Compensation or amends to my family for soe great a service done to my Country att my soe great losse which will be better understood in the future

I desire my worthy kinsman M:r Andrew Crispe ffellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford doe that last service for me as to Preach my funerall Sermon appointing him mourning and M:r [Blank in original document] Durham my deare ffreind to doe the office of my buriall To whome I alsoe appoint mourning and Tenn pounds a peece in money And I desire my Executors and Trustees to Collect my Papers together of my doeing and proceeding in that business of Affrica and to deliver them to my said Cosen Andrew Crispe who at his convenience I desire to draw such a Narrative as he and my Executors and Trustees shall think fitt to be put in Print and Published praying them to requite his paines fully therein

And as to my worldly Estate I have considered of the nature thereof ?which consist in Lands some ffreehold some Coppyhold some Estates for XXXX ?some for yeares A great part of my said lands att present being in severall persons Trust for me my heires Executo:rs and assignes And I haveing alsoe severall Interests in the ffarme of the Customes and Subsidies A?Allome and ?Copperas & the Office of Collector of the Subsidies and customes Outwardes for Three lives ?to ?take effect after the death of S:r John Wolstenholme and of and in diverse and sundry other things and proffitts of severall natures And considering that after my decease great partes thereof will require Care and vigillance rightly to manage the same Therefore and to the end that my Trustees and Executors may understand what my Estate and rights consist in I DID heretofore by Indenture dated the Eight and Twentieth day of ffebruary In the yeare of our Lord One Thousand Six hundred Sixty ffoure grant and convey and directed all persons interested in trust for me to convey and assure unto my deare wife and to my Two sonnes John and Thomas Crispe all such Lands and hereditaments And all other Interests and proffitts belonging unto me either in Law or equity And my XXXX being that all my Estate both reall and personall and all ?meanes of Interests and proffitts whatsoever I have or belongs unto me or that any other person or persons are seized possessed or interested of for me in Trust shalbe duely and Legally setled and vested in my said wife and Two sonnes their Executo:rs and assignes I DOE therefore confirme the said Indenture and all Eszazes therein granted or made And I doe hereby give and bequeath unto my said wife and my Two sonnes their heires executors and assignes All my Messuages Lands Tenements and hereditaments whereof I am seized or interested on ffee for life for yeares or any other s Estate whatsoever And I doe direct and appoint all persons who are interested of my lands Tenements or hereditaments in trust for me or possessed or interested of any proffitts office or other thing whatsoever Doe alsoe duely and legally grant and assigne their whole Interest therein and every part
thereof

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THEREOF unto my said Wife and Two sonnes And to the intent that my said Wife and Two sonnes shalbe inabled to performe the trusts in them reposed and declared by this my last Will I DOE MAKE my said wife and my said Two sonnes John and Thomas Crispe Executors thereof

YET NEVERTHELESS my said wife and Two sonnes shall stand seized possessed and Interested of all and every the lands Tenements and hereditaments offices proffitts and other things granted or conveyed unto or to the use of my said wife and Two sonnes by the said recyted Indenture or given unto them by this my last will in Trust as followeth:

ITEM I doe hereby declare my meaning to be that my said deare wife from and after my decease shall have and retaine Six hundred pounds the yeare for her life the same to be paid unto her Quarterly (viz:t) upon the Annunceation of the blessed Virgin Mary the Nativity of S:t John Baptist the ffeast of S:t Michaell the Archangell and the Nativity of our Lord God by equall portions the ffirst payment to begin upon the ffirst of the said ffeasts which shall happen next after my decease And I doe direct my said Trustees duely to pay the same out of the ffirst of the proffitts which shall arise out of my whole Estate they are intrusted with

AND I doe hereby further declare my Will to be And I doe bequeath into my said Wife Two Thousand pounds which Two Thousand pounds I leave to the discretion of my said wife to dispose of to such of her Children and Grand Children one or more of them as she shall by her last Will direct or appoint

AND I alsoe give unto my said Wife for her life soe much of my dwelling house in Charterhouse Yard London as I did lately use for my selfe and ffamily

AND I doe further give unto my said Wife All my Lynnen which I have in any of my houses And I doe give unto her the use of all my househould goods Plate and furniture of household which I shall dye possessed of for her life yet my meaning is and I direct that a true and perfect Inventary (sic) shall be made of the said goods and Plate (The said Lynnen Excepted) To the Intent that the said goods and Plate which I have hereby given her the use of shall after her decease be disposed of Towards the performance of this my Will

ITEM Whereas my intent is That my daughter in Law Ann Crispe Widdow of my sonne Ellys Crispe deceased shall have Three hundred pounds the yeare for her life for her Joynture And a hundred pounds the yeare for the Educatcon and breeding of her Daughters by her said husband untill her said daughters shall attaine the Age of One and Twenty years or be married I doe therefore direct and appoint my said Trustees and Executo:rs To pay unto my said daughter Crispe for her life the yearly summe of Three hundred pounds And alsoe a hundred pounds more yearly for the maintenance of her said Daughters untill her said daughters doe attaine the age of One and Twenty yeares or be married PROVIDED alwayes And I doe hereby declare my mynde to be That from and after such tyme as my said Trustees shall have duely and Legally setled upon my said daughter Crispe lands in the Kingdome of England of the cleare yearly vallue of Three hundred pounds for her life Then and from thenceforth the payment of Three hundred pounds p Annum of the said ffoure hundred pounds p Annum shall cease And I doe desire That with what convenient speed may be my said Trustees shall settle upon my said daughter Crispe the said Three hundred pounds p Annum for her Joynture as aforesaid And my will is That the said ffoure hundred pounds the yeare shalbe paid unto my said daughter Crispe quarterly. AND I doe give unto my said daughter Crispe One hundred pounds to buy her a Ring or Jewell

ITEM I doe give unto my Grandaughter Rebecca Crispe when shee shall attaine unto her Age of One and Twenty yeares or be married The sume of One Thousand pounds Soe that she marry not without the consent of her mother during her said mothers life And in case the said Rebecca Dye before here age of One and Twenty yeares
Unmarried

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UNMARRYED Then my will is That the said Thousand pounds shall beXXX XXXX paid unto the Surviving Sister or Sisters of the said Rebecca att their respective XXX XXXX XXXX XXX one and twenty yeares or Marriage So that they marry not without their XXXXXXX of their said mother dureing her life And for such of them as shall soe marry XXX XXX XXXX consent of their said Mother their XXX is thereof to cease

ITEM XXX XXX XXX shall respectively attaine unto their severall ages of One and Twenty yeares or be married the summe of Six hundred pounds a peece soe that they marry not without the consent of their mother dureing her life And in case any of them dye before their Age of One and twenty yeares unmaried then the portion or portions of her soe dyeing shall ?survive and be equally devided amongst the rest of the said Three daughters surviving

ITEM WHEREAS ?Prescott Crispe younger sonne of my said sonne Ellis Crispe is by XXXX from his ffather by the Custome of the Mannor of Fulham seized and possessed of some Coppyhold lands within that Mannor as ffee And if it shall XXXXX that XXXX dye without surrendering of some other Coppyhold lands whereof I am ?seized within the said Mannor whereby the same should XXXX XXXX XXXX unto him It is my intent That noe part of such lands shall XXXX from my Mansion house att Hamersmith nor from my other XXX

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ITEM if my Neece Martha Martyn the wife of Benjamin Martyn shall after my decease to my Trustees or unto myselfe in my life tyme duels and Legally under their hands and seales release and acquitt all their right clayme or pretence which they or either of them have or may have to any summe or summes of money from mee or out of my personall Estate ThenI give unto my said neece Martha one hundred pounds to be paid into her owne hands

ITEM if my Neice Hester ?Vickaridge Wife of Robert ?Vickaridge and the said Robert Vickaridge shall after my decease to my Tristees or unto my selfe in my life tyme duely and Legally under their hands and seales release and acquitt all their right clayme or pretence which they or either of them have or may have to any summe or summes of money from mee or out of my personall Estate

Then I give unto my said Neece Hester One hundred pounds to be paid into her owne hands

ITEM if my Neeces Rebecca and Mary Crispe Two of the daughters of my brother Samuell Crispe shall after my decease to my Trustees or unto my selfe in my life tyme respectively duely and legally under their hands and seales release and acquitt all their right Clayme or pretence which they or either of them have or may have to any summe or summes of money from me or out of my personall Estate Then I give unto each of my said Neeces the summe of Eight hundred pounds

ITEM if my Nephews Ellis Crispe and Samuell Crispe sonnes of my said brother Samuell Crispe shall after my decease to my Trustees or to my selfe in my life tyme respectively duels and Legally under their hands and seales release and acquitt all their right clayme or pretence which they or either of them have or may have to any summe or summes of money from me or any of my personall Estate Then I give unto each of them ffive hundred pounds over and above what I have before given into them

ITEM I give unto my deare and Loving Nephew Ellis Crispe of Martyn Abbey Esquire ffifty pounds to buy him a Ring And I give to my sister Rowe Twenty pounds to buy her a Ring

ITEM I give to my Nephew Robert Charnock ffifty pounds And I give to my Neece ffalconberge ffifty pounds to be paid to her owne hands

ITEM I give to my brother and sister Leman mourning att my funerall

ITEM I give to M:r Wade Curate att Hammersmith Tenn pounds and mourning

ITEM I doe give to the poore of the parish of S:t Mildred Bredstreete London and to the poore of Hammersmith One hundred pounds a peece the same to be distributed in such sort as my executors and Trustees shall thinke fitt And I give unto the poore of S:t Sepulchre and to the poore of S:t Bartholomew the great London To each of them ffive pounds to be distributed as aforesaid To the poore of ?Marsfeild bear ?Bristlow fforty shillings and distributed as aforesaid

ITEM I give to the poore of the hospitall at Marsfeild One hundred pounds which summe my will is my Executors and Trustees shall ?lay out and dispose of for the best benefitt and advantage of the said poore as my Executo:rs and Trustees shall in their discretions think fitt

ITEM I give to the Company of Salters in the Citty of London silver Plate of the value of a hundred pounds the same to be bought by my Executo:rs and Trustees

ITEM I give to the now wife of my sonne John Crispe ffifty pounds to
buy

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BUY HER a Ring or Jewell AND I having taken serious Consideration how and in what manner All my Legacies guifts and Provisions hereby given and made unto and for my wife Childrena nd ?alliance And alsoe haveing an affectionate Care of my Grandsonne Nicholas Crispe being the cheife of my family I doe hereby declare my mynd to be And I doe direct and appoint That my said Trustees and Executors and the Survivo:rs and Survivor of them and the Executo:rs of the Survivo:r of them shall have power And I doe hereby impower them and every of them in the ffirst place out of the proffitts of all my lands Tenements and hereditaments before given and appointed unto them and out of the proffitts which shall arise and renew out of the said ffarme of the Customes proffitts of Allome and Copperas the said Office after the death of the said S:r John Wolstenholme and out of all other the proffitts which shall or may arise out of all and every other thing and things apperteyning unto me and which I have hereby declared are and shalbe vested in my said Trustees and Executors And for the better inabling of my said Trustees and executors to performe the Trust hereby reposed in them I doe Impower them and the Survivors and Survivor of them and the Executo:rs of the Survivor of them to sell my said mansion house and soe much of my lands Tenements and hereditaments both Coppyhold and ffreehold as they shall find necessary and fitting to be sold in order to the performance of the said Trusts I hereby declaring my apprehension to be that by sale of the said Lands it will prove advantageous to my said Grandson and his Posterity by laying out soe much as shall accrue to him in other lands and hereditaments more convenient

AND I Takeing into further consideration the great trouble and care which my said Trustees will be put unto in the due execution of the said Trust which I have not the least doubt of their most faithfull performance of, And therefore am resolved to make unto them a handsome recompence for their care therein DOE hereby declare my mynd to be AND I doe direct and appoint that in the ffirst place my Trustees shall be allowed in their Accompts All such summe and summes of money as they shall Justly expend and lay out and be put unto by reason of their said imployments And that not onely for their expences which they shall or may be put unto by and sute att Lawe or in Equity and in keeping of Accompts but for all other necessary Expences whatsoever relating thereunto

AND I further takeing into consideration that their said imployments will necessarely draw them from their owne particuler occasions

I DOE hereby further declare my mind to be And I doe direct and appoint that my said Dearely beloved wife (in whom I repose an Inexpressable confidence and much depend upon her prudence herein) shall have allowed unto her over and besides the said six hundred p annum for soe long tyme as the said Trusts continue the yearly summe of One hundred pounds

AND alsoe although I have already given unto each of my said Two sonnes John and Thomas Crispe Two Thousand pounds Yet I declare my mynd to be and doe hereby direct and appoint That my said Two sonnes John and Thomas Crispe shall have each of them allowed in their said Accompts the yearly summe of ffive hundred pounds for their care and paynes in the said imployment and trust for and during the continuance thereof

AND forasmuch as there may happen some Questions and controversies in or about the order and precedency of payment of the said severall summes of money hereby bequeathed In regard it may soe fall out (Although I hope it will not) that the proceed and Income of my said Estate and interests as aforesaid shall not be such as from tyme to tyme to pay and discharge all and every the said payments and Legacies according as I have directed

I DOE therefore hereby declare my mynd to be And I doe direct and appoint That in the ffirst place my said deare wife
shall

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SHALL HAVE the said summes of money hereby appointed for her paid unto her next after that my said daughter Anne Crispe, widdow of my sonne Ellis Crispe to be paid the said summes and yearly payments appointed for her Next after that the said yearly payment appointed to my said Grandson Nicholas Crispe

IN the next place unto my owne daughters before named

THEN and after that unto the Children of my sonne Ellis Crispe

NEXT after that unto the Children of my brother Samuell Crispe And after that the said other Legacies given unto other Legatees

AND I DOE further hereby declare direct and appoint That from and after the payment and satisfaction of all and every the said summes of money hereby given and appointed to be paid That then all and every the residue of my said Lands tenements and hereditaments and all and every the aforesaid Estates interests and proffitts whatsoever before mentioned either in the said recited Indentures or by this my last Will And all other proffitts and Incomes whatsoever apperteyning unto mee shall remove and be unto my said Grandsonne Nicholas Crispe his heires Executo:rs and Administrato:rs And that my said Trustees and the Survivo.rs and Survivor of them and the Executo:rs of the Survivor of them shall Justly accompt for the same unto my said Grandson Nicholas Crispe his heires Executo:rs and assignes

YET NEVERTHELESS takeing into consideration That it may soe happen that ?Suites and controversies may arise betweene my said Trustees and him the said Nicholas Crispe my Grandson concerning the said accompts For avoiding of which I doe hereby declare my mynd to be And I doe direct appoint and desire my said Trustees once every yeare during the tyme of their said Trust to make up and state their Accompts concerning their receipts and disbursements in Relation to the said Trusts and cause the same to be fairely written in a Booke and appoint a certain day in every Month of November to Auditt the said Accompts and to give notice thereof unto my said Grandson Nicholas Crispe of the said day att some convenient place within the Citty of London to passe the same And to the end that such meetings shall not be fruitles I doe hereby desire and earnestly request the Master and Two Wardens of the Company of Salters in London for the tyme being tobe Auditors of the said Accompts And that my said Grandson if he please shal and may be present And I doe hereby declare my mynd to be And I doe hereby direct and appoint That such accompts as shall from tyme to tyme be passed and alllowed of by the said master and Wardens of the Company of Salters aforesaid for the tyme being under their hands shall be allowed of by my said Grandson Nicholas Crispe And shall conclude him his heires executo.rs and assignes from Questioning of the same either att Lawe or in Equity

AND I doe hereby further direct That my said Trustees shall upon every such Audit day prepare a dinner thereby to entertaine the said M:r and Wardens and such other persons as shall be necessary for the perfecting of the said Accompts And therein to Expend the summe of ffive pounds And alsoe then and there to pay and give unto the said Master and Wardens Each of them fforty shillings to buy them Gloves

AND WHEREAS the Estate of Inheritance of and in my said mansion house att Hammersmith and diverse lands and hereditaments in Hammersmith aforesaid and in the parish of ffulham both Copyhold and ffreehold doth yet in law remaine in S:r Nicholas Strode Knight or in some other person or persons in Trust for him

AND whereas the accompts and Reckonings betwixt the said S:r Nicholas Strode and me have beene stated and agreed on And it was and is acknowledged (And for the truth is) that there remaines due unto him onely the summe of a Thousand pounds upon payment whereof the said S:r Nicholas Strode hath agreed that the said Mansion house and lands shall be conveyed unto such person and persons and their heires as I should direct

I DOE therefore hereby desire appoint and direct that the said S:r Nicholas Strode and all such person or persons as are interested in any of the said lands as aforesaid duly and
legally

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LEGALLY to convey and assure the said Mansion house and Lands unto my said Trustees their heires and assignes And I doe hereby desire my said Trustees to demand and request the makeing of the said Assureances And although I doe not doubt of the performance of the said S:r Nicholas Strode herein YET in regard it is a businesse of soe great a concerne to my Relations to have the same done It is my Will and Mynd And I doe hereby direct and appoint That my said Trustees and Executo:rs nor any of themshall pay unto my said daughter Anne Crispe or to any of her Children any of the said summes of money by this my said Will appointed to be paid unto them untill such tyme as he the said S:r Nicholas Strode and his Trustees have made Conveyance and assureance of the said Lands and hereditaments unto my said Trustees and their heires

IN WITNESSE Whereof I have hereunto sett my hands and seale The Three and Twentieth day of ffebruary in the yeare of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty ffive And in the Eighteenth yeare of the Reigne of our Soveraigne Lord King Charles the Second over England xr

NI: CRISPE

Signed Sealed and published in the presence of Charles Dalyson Daniell Colwall Edm: King Ro: Saunderson W:M Jackson ?Jo:n ?Master

PROBATUM FUIT testamentum suprascriptum apud London Coram venerabili viro Domins Guilelimo Mericke Milite LegXX doctire Cura Prerogativa Canto MagXX Custode sine Comissaria litimi constitute Quinto die mensis Aprilis Anno Domini Millimo Sexcentesimo Sexagesimo Sexto Juramentis domina Anne Crispe vidua Relicta et Johannis et Thoma Crispe fil et Executorum in hummoi testo nomate Ximbus Commissa fuit Administraco omnium et singula bonora Jurium et Creditorum dirti defuncti de bene et fideliter Adminstrando eadem Ad Sancta dei Evangelia Jurate

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Notes

Sir Nicholas Crispe, House of Commons members (1660-1690), Cruickshanks (1983)

"Constituency: Winchelsea Apr. 1640
Constituency: Winchelsea Nov. 1640 - 2 Feb. 1641
Constituency: Winchelsea 1661 - 26 Feb. 1666Nov. 1640 - 2 Feb. 1641

Family and Education

b. c.1598, 1st s. of Ellis Crisp, Salter, of Bread Street, London by Hester, da. of John Ireland, Salter, of London. m. by 1619, Anne, da. and coh. of Edward Prescott, Salter and goldsmith, of London, 5s. (3 d.v.p.) 5da. suc. fa 1625; kntd. 1 Jan. 1640; cr. Bt. 14 Apr. 1665. (fn. 1)

Offices Held

Member, Salters’ Co. 1619, master 1640-1; member, Artillery Co. 1621; Merchant Adventurer; member, Barbary Co., Guinea Co. 1631; capt. of militia ft. London by 1632-?42, common councilman by 1640-1; j.p. Mdx. by 1641-2, July 1660-d., Cornw. 1644-6; commr. of array, London 1642, loyal and indigent officers, London and Westminster 1662, assessment, London 1661-3, Mdx. 1661-d.; dep. lt. London 1662-d.; asst. R. Adventurers into Africa 1663-6. (fn. 2)

Jt. farmer of customs 1638-40, 1662-d.; commr. for customs Sept. 1660-2, trade Nov. 1660-d., plantations Dec. 1660-d.; gent. of privy chamber 1664-d.; jt.-farmer of alum works 1665- d. (fn. 3)

Col. of horse (royalist) 1643-5.

FRS 1663.
Biography

Crisp’s grandfather, a native of Leicestershire, acquired the manor of Marshfield and other property in Gloucestershire, and his father was one of the richest merchants in Jacobean London. Crisp invested in numerous projects and built himself a magnificent house at Hammersmith for £25,000. He was largely responsible for opening up the Guinea trade, and contracted for the great farm of the customs in 1638. Expelled from the Long Parliament as a monopolist, he joined the King at Oxford, and executed the London commission of array. He raised a regiment for the King’s service, and supplied him with ‘thousands of gold’. In 1647 he retired to France. He compounded on the Exeter articles, a fine of £1,000 imposed in 1649 being reduced to £356 two years later, when his interest in the Guinea trade and personal estate valued at £140,000 was set in the balance against debts amounting to £300,000 incurred in the late King’s service. (fn. 4)

Crisp was active in the royalist conspiracies prior to the Restoration, and signed the declaration of London Royalists in support of George Monck in April 1660, disclaiming ‘any thoughts of revenge for past mischiefs’. The following July he petitioned from a debtors’ prison

for an order for payment of £20,000. ... This is his own special portion of the great debt of £100,000 due to him and other farmers of the customs from the Long Parliament who promised to pay the King’s debts on their advancing money to discharge the two armies.

He was soon at liberty, and became one of the customs commissioners at a salary of £2,000 p.a. Nominated for London by the court party in 1661, he was ‘stiffly cried down’ by the dissenters as a friend to the bishops. But he was returned for Winchelsea on the lord warden’s interest, and listed by Lord Wharton as a friend. A moderately active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, he was appointed to 42 committees, including the committee of elections and privileges in five sessions, and several concerned with the revenue. In 1661 he was appointed to the committees for the restoration of bishops to the House of Lords, the uniformity bill, and the bill of pains and penalties. After the Christmas recess he was added to the committee to consider abuses in the customs and appointed to that for the additional corporations bill. On the last day of the session he was given special responsibility, with William Morice I and (Sir) Robert Brooke, for recommending the case of a merchant’s widow to the King. During this period he obtained for himself a moiety in the farm of sea-coal exports, two-thirds of the customs duties on spices until the repayment of £20,000 due to him for his factories in Guinea, and a special grant of £10,000 for his services in compounding the debt owed by Charles I to the East India Company; while his son was granted the reversion of the office of collector of customs outwards in the port of London. After 1663, when he helped to consider a petition from the loyal and indigent officers and an additional bill for their relief, his activity declined. Nevertheless he was listed as a court dependant in 1664, and attended the Oxford session, acting as teller on the third reading for the bill to encourage the planting of hemp and flax. He formed a syndicate with Sir Hugh Cholmley which was granted the alum farm for 21 years on payment of a yearly rent of £5,260. He died on 26 Feb. 1666, aged 67, and was buried in St. Mildred’s, Bread Street. At his request, his heart, enclosed in an urn, was placed on the pedestal of the bronze bust ‘of that glorious martyr, King Charles I, of blessed memory’ erected by him in his chapel at Hammersmith. The family never fully recovered from his losses in the Civil War, but his grandson Charles sat for Woodstock in 1721-2 (fn. 5)

Notes

   1. F. A. Crisp, Crisp Colls. iv. 4-5; C. J. Feret, Fulham Old and New, iii. 68.
   2. S. Watson, Salters’ Co. 145; Ancient Vellum Bk. ed. Raikes 32; CSP Dom. 1631-3, pp. 186, 237; Keeler, Long Parl. 147; T. K. Rabb, Enterprise and Empire, 273; V. Pearl, London and the Outbreak of the Puritan Revolution, 121; SP29/61/5; Sel. Charters (Selden Soc. xxviii), 179.
   3. R. B. Turton, Alum Farm, 187; Carlisle, Privy Chambers, 174.
   4. Crisp, iv. 2-5; Feret, iii. 60-61; Clarendon, Life, ii. 232-3; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xv), 201; DNB; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1651; K. G. Davies, R. African Co. 40.
   5. D. Underdown, Royalist Conspiracy, 37; A Declaration of the Nobility and Gentry that adhered to the late King now residing in and about the City of London (1660); CSP Dom. 1660-1, pp. 122, 538, 605; 1661-2, pp. 14, 25, 320, 331, 608; 1663-4, p. 639; 1665-6, pp. 79, 400; Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 226, 446, 553; CJ, viii. 436, 620; Turton, 182; Crisp, iv. 3; T. Faulkner, Fulham and Hammersmith, 128."

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Hammersmith mansion house of Sir Nicholas Crispe

Sir Nicholas Crispe built his mansion house in Hammersmith in XXXX.

Faulkner cites Bowack's Middlesex, which provided a description of the house in 1705:

Upon the Thames, adjoining to Hammersmith, though within the limits of the Fulham division, is a noble seat, built by Sir Nicholas Crispe, Bart. a gentleman of unshaken loyalty to King Charles I. It stands at a very convenient distance from the Thames, in a sweet and wholesome air, and has a large spot of ground of several acres inclosed, adjoining to it. The building is very lofty, regular, and magnificent, after the modern manner, built with brick, cornered with stone, and has a handsome cuppola at the top. It contains several large handsome rooms, very spacious, and finely finished. The foundations and walls are very substantial, and the vaults underneath arched in an extraordinary manner. The whole house in building, and the gardens, canals, &c. in making, is said to cost near £25,000.

Some time after the death of the said Sir Nicholas Crispe, this house was sold to Mrs. Margaret Hughes, a lady much esteemed at Court about that time, for her air and beauty, in whose possession it had not remained many years, before she disposed of it again, to Timothy Lannoy, Esq. one of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for this county, and Mr. Treadway, his brother, both Turkey merchants, and gentlemen of known worth, as well abroad as at home. These gentlemen have for many years past lived in this noble seat, and made several other buildings, as dye-houses, &c. for carrying on their business.

Interestingly, Faulkner describes Timothy Lannoy, one of the house's joint occupants from the mid-1690s till 1718, as a "scarlet dyer". Recent archaeological work by the Museum of London (2001-XXXX) discovered probably brick lined dye vats, but the write up of this work dates them to occupation by Sir Nicholas Crispe. It has been suggested that Crispe used the vats to dye cloth, employing dye wood imported by him from West Africa.

Crispe's mansion was modified in post-1740 by Lord Melcombe, first known as George Bubb, Esq., and subsequently known as George Doddington, Esq. Melcombe was the son of an apothecary. He purchased the house in 1740 from Leonora, the only daughter of James Lannoy. The building had been in the tenure of the Duke and Duchess of Athol (Faulkner, 1839: 281). According to Faulkner, Lord Melcombe "repaired and modernized the house, giving it the name of La Trappe, and built a magnificent gallery for statues and antiquities" (Faulkner, 1839: 279)

Three plates of the house as modifed by Lord Melcombe, showing the "elevation towards the Thames, the ground plan, and section of the gallery" (Faulkner, 1839: 283). Faulkner includes an engraving of the house in his own work, showing the house from the river Thames (Faulkner, 1839: 278).

Faulkner provides a detailed description of the house was it was "splendidly fitted up by her Highness, the Margarvine [of Brandenburgh-Ansbergh]," following its acquisition from Lord Melcombe:

The state apartments consisted of five rooms, besides the great gallery, the whole of which were filled with a magnificent collection of paintings, and objects of vertu...

In the small dining-room...

The drawing-room was thirty-eight feet by twenty-three feet...

In the state bed-room...

In the drawing-room was a cabinet, containing a large collection of miniatures, ...a silver oval Medallion of Charles the First and his Queen, dug up a few years since, in the grounds near Brandenburgh-house...

The gallery was eighty feet by twenty, it was originally fitted by Lord Melcombe, and floored with marble...

In the dining-room and dressing-room...two Views of Brandenburgh House, and seat in the gardens, by Wigstead...

In the bed-chamber,...

In the hall, ...

Leading from the hall was the conservatory, connecting the house with the apratments adjoining the theatre; this suite contained a billiard-room, a coffee-room, and the library, .... The theatre was erected near the waterside, in a castellated form, resembling an ancient ruin...

In the Memoirs published by the Margravine, we find the following description of the premises: XXX

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Sir Nicholas Crisp's project for a harbour at Deptford, Lysons, 1798

"Project of making a harbour at Deptford.

During Cromwell's usurpation a project was set on foot by Sir Nicholas Crispe, of making a mole at Deptford, for the harbour of 200 sail or more to ride in 17 or 18 feet of water, without cable or anchor. The demesne lands of the manor (being about 200 acres, lying now within the parish of St. Paul) were purchased for that purpose at the price of 6000l. and a considerable sum of money was expended in erecting storehouses, and setting up a sluice. After the Restoration Sir Nicholas Crispe, joining with the Duke of Ormond, the Earl of Bath, and others, who were embarked with him in this undertaking, petitioned King Charles II. to grant them the land so purchased in fee-farm; it was stated in the petition that Sir Nicholas Crispe had formed this project principally with a view of ingratiating himself with the then ruling powers, that he might the better watch a favourable opportunity of bringing about his Majesty's restoration. Sir Charles Harbord, the King's surveyor, to whom the petition was referred, advised his Majesty by no means to grant the land in feefarm, but to offer a lease of 31 years, at a rent of 160l. per annum, with a fine of 2000l. (fn. 20) These terms, it is probable, were not accepted, for it does not appear that the projectors proceeded any farther with their design."

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Glass manufacture on Sir Nicholas Crispe's estate at Hammersmith

Report of a paper given by G. Egan (Museum of London) in the section on 15th and C16th glass at the AIHV 17th Triennial Congress, Antwerp, 4th-8th September 2006. The first part of the paper dealt with "a glass bead factory operated on Sir Nicholas Crispe's Hammersmith estate in the 1630s."

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Inhabitants of London, 1638: St Mildred, Bread Street

"MS. p. 268.

The Signe of the Sheppard being part of Capt. Crispe his house £12/10
The Signe of the Two Black Boyes, being the other part of the said house £ 12/10...

Mr. Crispe £11...

By me Nich. Bradshawe, Rect. eccles.
St Mildred's in Bread Street, London."

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Irish adventure, June 1642

"June 1642

[17 June 1642]

Whereas Sir Nicholas Crispe, Knight, Maurice Thompson, Thomas Chamberlaine, Gregory Clement, Richard Waring, John Wood, Richard Shute, George Thompson, William Pennoyer, Thomas Vincent, William Thompson, William Willoughby, Thomas Rainsburrough, Samuell Moyer, and Richard Hill, and their Associates, as well out of their pious and charitable Disposition towards their distressed Brethren His Majesty's Protestant Subjects in the Realm of Ireland, who, being brought into great Misery and Distress, are ready to perish for Want of Relief, as also out of their loyal Respect to His Majesty, and Detestation to that Rebellion, and to reduce the Rebels in the said Realm of Ireland to their due Obedience, and (as much as in them shall lie) to prevent and hinder all such Supplies as shall be sent unto the said Rebels, and likewise, by all possible Ways and Means, to assist and help His Majesty's good Subjects there, and to infest, spoil, and waste the said Rebels by Land and Sea, have lately made known, to the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, their voluntary Disposition and Readiness to undertake, by themselves and their Associates, the setting forth and employing of Twelve Ships and Six Pinnaces, with a convenient Number of Land Forces, Horse and Foot (as an additional Increase of their former Adventure), at such Rates and Prices as have been usually allowed for other Ships and Seamen, and formerly entertained by the Lords and Commons, and for such Allowance for Land Soldiers as have been formerly accustomed in other expeditions upon the Sea; which being well approved by the Lords and Commons in Parliament, as a good means to further the reducing of the said Realm of Ireland and the Rebels therein to their due Obedience..."

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John Crisp, ?son of Sir Nicholas Crisp, Woodhead (1966)

"CRISP, John

Co Co Bread Street, 1669-83, 1689-93 Bread Street, 1677, St Mildred Bread Street, 1664, 1679, 1689 (1) SALT, M, 1683 (2) d 6 Jun 1708, bur St Mildred Bread Street (3) f ? Sir Nicholas Crispe, Bt, of St Mildred Bread Street, m ? Anne, da of Edward Prescot (4), mar Anne Page (3) Salter, 1674, merchant, 1677 In partnership with Richard BAGNALL, George POCHIN, Richard SHERWOOD, and Richard YERBURY in a brazil ware- house (5) ? Whig ("rather bad", 1682) (6) Neph of Abraham REYNARDSON (7)

(1) Directory, 1677, ChWA, St Mildred Bread Street, VBk, St Mildred Bread Street (2) Boyd 30918, SALT, Co Orders, f 461 (3) Boyd 30918 (4) Boyd 30918, 9287, 14350 (5) SBk, Jul-Oct 1674, Directory, 1677, will of Edward SHERWOOD (6) SP/29/418/199, 435/99 (7) Boyd 9286, 9287"

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Edward Crisp, Barbados, died 1678

"[Parish of St Michaell. St. Michael's Cathedral Church] 14. (Ab.) MR. EDWARD CRISP, MERCHANT, ELDEST SON OF NICHOLAS CRISP, MERCHANT IN BRED STREET, LONDON, IN YE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND ..........OB. 14:th JENVARY, 1678, AET. 50. — ALSO, MR. THOMAS YEATS. OB. 2:nd MARCH, 1681/2. — ALSO, MRS. MARY YEATS, WIFE TO THE ABOVE-MENTIONED PERSONS.....OB, 25:th AUGUST, 1682...."

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Possible primary sources

TNA

C 5/413/211 Strode v. Crispe: Middlesex. 1667
C 6/33/55 Short title: Strode v Smyth. Plaintiffs: Sir Nicholas Strode kt and Dame Katherine Strode his wife. Defendants: Matthew Smyth and others. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. Document type: two bills, one answer. 1667
C 6/41/131 Short title: Crispe v Strode. Plaintiffs: Ellis Crispe. Defendants: Henry Strode and others. Subject: property in Fulham, Middlesex. Document type: answer, schedule. 1657
C 6/43/171 Short title: Strode v Crispe. Plaintiffs: Sir George Strode kt. Defendants: Sir Nicholas Crispe kt and another. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. Document type: answer only. 1655
C 6/85/91 Short title: Strode v Strode. Plaintiffs: Sir Nicholas Strode. Defendants: Margaret Strode, Elizabeth Strode and Anne Strode. Subject: money matters.Document type: answer only. 1668
C 6/110/95 Short title: Strode v Martin. Plaintiffs: Sir George Strode kt, Nicholas Strode and William Strode. Defendants: James Martin, Sir Nicholas Crispe kt and Ellis Crispe. Subject: property in Fulham, and Hammersmith, Middlesex. Document type: bill, answer. 1650
C 6/112/88 Short title: Strode v Colwall. Plaintiffs: William Strode. Defendants: Thomas Colwall, Sir Nicholas Crispe kt, John Wood and Nicholas Strode. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. Document type: two answers. 1650
C 6/584/155 Short title: Strode v Crispe. First plaintiff: Strode. Defendants: Crispe. Document type: bill only. [1649-1714]

E 115/363/150 Certificate of residence showing Sir Nicholas Stroud (or the variant surname: Strode, Strowde) to be liable for taxation in London. (Details of which pouch this certificate was removed from are now lost.) 1547-1685

E 351/660 CUSTOMS, &c.: FARMERS, COMMISSIONERS, AND COLLECTORS.: Sir J. Wolstenholme and others. Farm of Sir J. Wolstenholme, Sir J. Harrison, Sir J. Shaw, Sir J. Jacob, Sir N. Crisp, and Sir Job Harvey. 24 July 1660-29 Sept. 1662
E 351/661 CUSTOMS, &c.: FARMERS, COMMISSIONERS, AND COLLECTORS.: Sir J. Shaw and others. Farm of Sir J. Wolstenholme, Sir J. Harrison, Sir J. Shaw, Sir J. Jacob, Sir N. Crisp, and Sir Job Harvey. 29 Sept. 1662-29 Sept. 1663
E 351/662 CUSTOMS, &c.: FARMERS, COMMISSIONERS, AND COLLECTORS.: Sir J. Shaw and others. Farm of Sir J. Wolstenholme, Sir J. Harrison, Sir J. Shaw, Sir J. Jacob, Sir N. Crisp, and Sir Job Harvey. 29 Sept. 1663-29 Sept. 1664
E 351/663 CUSTOMS, &c.: FARMERS, COMMISSIONERS, AND COLLECTORS.: Sir J. Shaw and others. Farm of Sir J. Wolstenholme, Sir J. Harrison, Sir J. Shaw, Sir J. Jacob, Sir N. Crisp, and Sir Job Harvey. 29 Sept. 1664-29 Sept. 1665
E 351/664 CUSTOMS, &c.: FARMERS, COMMISSIONERS, AND COLLECTORS.: Sir J. Shaw and others. Farm of Sir J. Wolstenholme, Sir J. Harrison, Sir J. Shaw, Sir J. Jacob, Sir N. Crisp, and Sir Job Harvey. 29 Sept. 1665-29 Sept. 1667

E 351/825 CUSTOMS, &c.: COLLECTORS OF NEW IMPOSITIONS AT THE PORTS OF CHICHESTER, SOUTHAMPTON, POOLE, EXETER, DARTMOUTH, PLYMOUTH, FOWEY, BRISTOL, BRIDGWATER, CHESTER, CARDIFF, AND MILFORD.: Sir N. Crispe and R. Charnocke. 29 Sept. 1638-29 Sept. 1639
E 351/826 CUSTOMS, &c.: COLLECTORS OF NEW IMPOSITIONS AT THE PORTS OF CHICHESTER, SOUTHAMPTON, POOLE, EXETER, DARTMOUTH, PLYMOUTH, FOWEY, BRISTOL, BRIDGWATER, CHESTER, CARDIFF, AND MILFORD.: Sir N. Crispe and R. Charnocke. 29 Sept. 1639-29 Sept. 1640
E 351/878 CUSTOMS, &c.: FARMERS AND COLLECTORS OF PRETERMITTED CUSTOMS AT THE PORT OF KINGSTON-UPON-HULL.: Sir N. Crispe. 25 Mar.-25 Dec. 1640
E 351/3382 WORKS AND BUILDINGS (MISCELLANEOUS).: Sir N. Crispe (per executors) and others. Works for alum in Yorkshire and Dorset. 25 Dec. 1665-24 June 1674

E 214/14 Parties: Charles I Thomas Dawes, John St. Amend, Robert Jacob, William Ashwell, Samuel Crispe and Harry Boothby, of London, esquires Place or Subject: Lease, for 3 years from 1639, of the customs, duties. etc. on currants and on wines 22 Mar 1638
- Is the above Samuel Crispe the brother of Sir Nicholas Crispe, as per Sir Nicholas' will?
E 214/298 Parties: James I. William Turner, Nicholas Crispe, Ellis Crispe and Abraham Chamberlain, merchants of London. Place or Subject: Agreement to buy out within 4 years the rent of 6044 l. p.a. due to Turner, Crispe, etc., for the lease of their interest in the manufacture and sale of alum under a licence for 33 years granted to Edmund, Lord Sheffield, Sir Thomas Challoner and others by Letters Patent of 3 Jan 4 James I. 27 Apr. 1613
E 214/464 Parties: Charles I Thomas Dawes, John st. Amond, Robert Jacob, William Ashwell, Samuel Crispe and Henry Boothby of London, esquires. Place or Subject: Covenant to pay 7,5000 l p.a. for 3 years in addition to other agreed rents for the lease of subsidies on currants and wines. 4 May 1638
E 214/548 Parties: James Lidsey of St. Lawrence Pountney, London, merchant, and Nicholas Crispe of St. Mildred in Bread Street, London, merchant. Charles I AND The Pinmakers of London. Place or Subject: Surrender of a tripartite indenture of 19 Nov 11 Chales I whereby James Lidsey and Nicholas Crispe had undertaken to pay to the King a yearly sum of 500 l, to provide a meeting house for the Pinmakers and to supply them with Latin wire for making the pins. 28 Apr 1640
E 214/1183 Parties: Charles I. George, Lord Coring, Sir Abraham Dewer, Sir John Jacob and Sir John Herby of London, knights, Nicholas Crispe and John Hulls of London, esquires. Place or Subject: Agreement to pay an additional sum of 7,500 l. p.a. on the rent of165,000 l. 4 May 1638

PROB 11/133 Parker 1-73 Will of Edward Prescott, Salter of All Hallows Bread Street, City of London 05 June 1619
PROB 11/147 Clarke 103-147 Will of Ellis Crispe, Alderman of London 07 November 1625
PROB 11/175 Goare 119-168 Will of Nicholas Crispe, Skinner of All Hallows Lombard Street, City of London 08 December 1637
PROB 11/192 Rivers 1-56 Will of Doctor Tobias Crispe of City of London 15 March 1645
PROB 11/205 Essex 108-149 Will of William Crispe of Island of Barbados, West Indies 17 October 1648
PROB 11/311 Juxon 52-102 Will of Sir George Strode of Saint James Clerkenwell, Middlesex 03 June 1663
PROB 11/319 Mico 1-46 Will of Nicholas Crispe of Hammersmith, Middlesex 05 April 1666
PROB 11/331 Coke 108-166 Will of Anne Crisp of Hammersmith, Middlesex 06 October 1669
PROB 11/373 Drax 52-101 Will of Sir Nicholas Strode of Chevening, Kent 30 August 1683

PROB 28/162 Crispe con Crispe 1665

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Possible secondary sources

Bannerman, W. Bruce (ed.), The registers of St. Mildred, Bread Street, and of St. Margaret Moses, Friday Street, London (London, 1912)
- Several records of baptisms to parents named Crispe (presumably relations of Sir Nicholas Crispe, who chose to be buried in the parish of St Mildreds, Breadstreet. He stated in his will that his father was buried in this parish
- Earliest records in the registers are post 1666. Bannerman presumes that the pre-1666 parish registers were burned in the fire of 1666
Faulkner, Thomas, The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith (London, 1839)
- Portrait of Sir Nicholas Crispe, facing title page
Jamieson, Dave (Museum of London Archaeological Services), 'Beady eye on Crisp,' in Hammersmith and Fulham historic buildings group, Newsletter, 16, Spring 2007, pp. 7-8
Zook, George Frederick, The company of Royal Adventurers trading into Africa (Lancaster, PA, 1919)
- Reprinted from the Journal of Negro History, vol. IV, no. 2, April 1919

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Possible image sources

Anon, 'Hammersmith embankment history overview,' web publication, undated
Anon, 'Brandenburgh house, in 1815,' in Edward Walford, Old and New London; the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ?1878), p. 540
Anon, 'Brandenburgh house, in 1815,' in Edward Walford, Old and New London; the southern suburbs, vol. 6 (London, ?1878), p. 541

"In the fourth volume of the Vitruvius Britannicus are three plates of this house, as altered by Lord Melcombe, consisting of the elevation towards the Thames, the ground plan, and sections of the gallery" (Faulkner, 1739: 283)

"There is a print of the Royal
Exchange in Campbell's second volume (" Vitruvius Britannicus").
Jerman followed the old courtyard plan of Gresham's building, with a
covered walk, and arcades on the sides to the court. The court was
entered by a lofty arch, flanked by engaged Corinthian columns with
segmental pediments. Above the arch was a tower in three storeys with
a kind of Gothic tracery to the windows, surmounted by Gresham's
grasshopper. The arcade was rusticated and, instead of an entablature,
had a moulded string course with foliage. The details throughout were
crude, and show but a faint acquaintance with the methods of classical
architecture, but the building as a whole appears to have been a good deal
more interesting than the present Stock Exchange. Campbell mentions
that " the rustic arcade is generally condemned by the critics for having
piers but one-fourth of the arch, which renders it weak," and this
criticism is certainly borne out by the engraving. As laid down by
Palladio, intercolumniations were never to be more than three diameters
of the columns (except in the Tuscan qrder) and never less than one
and a half, and he recommends two and a quarter diameters as a good
proportion. No other work of Jerman's is known." (p. 188)

Reginald Blomfield, A history of Renaissance architecture in England, 1500-1800, vol. 2 (London, 1897)
- Ch VIII: Wren's contemporaries and successors: Jarman, Wynne, Bell of Lynn, Talman, Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor, Aldrich, Clark, Burrough, Essex, pp. 187-212
- Ch. XII: House planning in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, pp. 276-301
- Ch. XIV: The Trades: Carpentry, Masonry, pp. 320-257
. Ch. XV: Brickwork, Plaster Work, Lead, and Iron, pp. 348-392

List of illustrations:
- Plan of Newcastle House (All Soul's collection), p. 191
- Wanstead in Essex (From Vitruvius Britannicus, I. 23), p. 219
- A plan showing proposed additions and alterations (late seventeenth century) to a sixteenth century house (All Souls' collection), p. 277
- Plans of Eltham club house, p. 283
- Half-timber house, Rolvenden, Kent. Early seventeenth century, p. 325
- House at Sissinghurst, Kent. Seventeenth century, p. 326
- Gatehouse, Sandwich, p. 337
- Entrance to stables, Cale Hill, Kent, p. 353

List of separate plates:
- The custom house, King's Lynn, face p. 192
- Sir Gregory Page's house, Blackheath, face p. 216
- Wanstead house (second design), face p. 218
- Mereworth castle, Kent. Section, face p. 226

- Chevening. Elevation and plan, face p. 280