Person:Christopher Rawlinson (1)

—Christopher Rawlinson Esquire the last of the male line of the Plantagenets. He was born at Newhall in the Parish of Springfield in the County of Essex June 13 1677 & died in Jan 1733 unmarried.—^S1

A Brief Biography of

Christopher Rawlinson, born 13th June, 1677, was of Queen's College Oxford and made Upper Commoner on May 10th, 1695. Possessed of a naturally strong genius he was noticed for his application to his studies and distinguished for his skill in Saxon and Northern literature. While he remained at College, he published, at his own expense, a beautiful edition of King Alfred's Saxon translation of "Boethius de consolations Philosophic" (Oxon., 1698, octavo), from a transcript by Franciscus Junius, of a very ancient manuscript in the Bodleian Library, collated with one in the Cotton Library. A proof how highly he was esteemed as a man and a scholar may be drawn from the circumstance that the Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica ex Hickesiano Thesauro excerpta, printed at Oxford in 1711, is dedicated to him in these words—"Tiro eximio Christophero Rawlinson Armigero, Literaturæ Saxonicæ Fautori egregio, hasce breviculas Institutiones Grammaticas dicat, dedicat, Editor."

After leaving college Christopher Rawlinson employed the chief part of his time in antiquarian pursuits. During his residence at Carke Hall his principal attention was directed to the collection of manuscripts illustrative of the history of Lancashire and Westmorland, particularly of that part called the "Barony of Kendal," consisting of extracts from the escheators' books, and other evidences. From the manuscripts in his collection Sir Daniel Fleming extracted so much as concerned the county of Westmorland, which extracts make a part of the valuable collection at Rydal Hall. The information which these extracts contain has been embodied in Burns's History of Westmorland; but that part of Christopher Rawlinson's researches which relate to Lancashire is probably lost; and this is more to be regretted as Lancashire has produced so very few antiquarians that the ancient history of the county is more difficult to be traced than that of any other.

These manuscripts would most likely be lost in the following manner. At the death of Christopher Rawlinson intestate, his property passed to his heirs at law, his five cousins, ladies, of whom four were married. The furniture and effects at Carke Hall were realised by public sale, and it is rumoured that after this sale the farmhouses and cottages of the neighbourhood were full of manuscripts bought for a trifle and not understood, and therefore probably soon destroyed.

...

Christopher Rawlinson died of a dropsy at his lodgings in Holborn Row, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, London, on the 8th of January, 1733, aged fifty-five years, having previously left written instructions that he should be buried in the Abbey Church of St. Albans, his body to be wrapped in a coffin of sheet lead, and that to be enclosed in one of heart-of-oak covered with red leather.

At the north end of the north transept of the Abbey Church of St. Albans, is a white marble sarcophagus, with a figure of History sitting on it, reclining on her left arm, holding in her hand a pen, with which she writes in a book, while two other books lie under her feet, under which is the following epitaph:—

That he was a man of public esteem in his day is evident from the engravings which have been published of him. There is one of him by Nutting, with his initials in cipher at the corner, representing him in a wig and dressing gown, in a frame of oak leaves. Nutting also engraved another portrait of him, along with —Robert Rawlinson, his grandfather; Curwen, his father; Elizabeth, his mother; and Dr. Nicholas Monk, Bishop of Hereford, his mother's father. The oil painting from which this portrait was engraved is now in the possession of the Rawlinson family of Graythwaite, a branch of the family descended from William the second son of William Rawlinson, of Greenhead, who married in 1509, a daughter of Robert Benson, of Skellett (Qy. Seathwaite, which is adjacent to Greenhead).* Christopher was descended from John the eldest son of the same. John and his brother William each married daughters of Myles Sawrey, of Low Graythwaite. This oil painting was presented to the late John Job Rawlinson, of Graythwaite, by the late Mr. Wilson, of Dallam Tower, to whose ancestor, as a relative, it had probably been given by Christopher Rawlinson. There is also a mezzotinto half sheet by Smith, representing him as a younger man, it is dated "Anno Christi 1701, ætatis suæ 24."

—taken from 'CARK HALL' in Annales Caermoelenses or Annals of Cartmel by James Stockdale, published in 1872.—^S2

* "Skellett" is more likely a variant of Skelwith (now marked on maps as 'Skelwith Bridge,' which is two miles to the west of Ambleside and three miles north of Hawkshead). And many Bensons have been recorded as living in Skelwith. There is also a 1787 map of Windermere North by James Clarke, which shows a road running from Ambleside and Brathay Wood along with the words: "To Skellett Bridge".^S8 The "Greenhead" in question may be a little closer to Seathwaite - lying as it does within the parish of Colton (or Coulton), nine miles to the east of Seathwaite and eight miles south of Hawkshead. But Skelwith is only two miles further away - being eleven miles north of Colton. Modern maps show a 'Greenhead Farm' there. —R.C.A.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} College of Arms ms 5.D.14, 108: 'The Pedigree of Adam Askew, Esquire, of Newcastle upon Tyne'.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8} Annales Caermoelenses or Annals of Cartmel. By James Stockdale. Ulverston: Wllliam Kitchin, Printer, Market Street. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1872 pp. 433-469 ‘CARKE HALL.’.

   Accessed 16 Aug 2013 at: books.google.co.uk

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
   p. 770.

   This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data: Stephen, Sir Leslie, ed. Dictionary of National Biography, 1921–1922. Volumes 1–20, 22. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1921–1922.
   Accessed 16 Aug 2013 at: ancestry.co.uk

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} W. W. Wroth, ‘Rawlinson, Christopher (1677–1733)’, rev. Mary Clapinson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

   Accessed 16 Aug 2013 at: oxforddnb.com

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.

   Original data: Venn, J. A., comp.. Alumni Cantabrigienses. London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922-1954.
   Accessed 16 Aug 2013 at: ancestry.co.uk

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Chalmers, Alexander: The General Biographical Dictionary. A New Edition. Vol. XXVI.
   p. 67, 1816.

   Biographical Dictionary: containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation; particularly the British and Irish; from the earliest accounts to the present time, A New Edition, revised and enlarged by Alexander Chalmers, F. S. A. Printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, Red Loon Passage, Fleet Street, London. 1816
   Accessed 16 Aug 2013 at: books.google.co.uk

7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Collection of National Portrait Gallery, London.

   Christopher Rawlinson (1677-1733), Antiquary - Sitter associated with 5 portraits
   1. 'Nicholas Monck and the Rawlinson Family' by Joseph Nutting, line engraving, early 18th century - NPG D29541
   2. 'Christopher Rawlinson' after Unknown artist, line engraving, early 18th century - NPG D27321
   3. 'Christopher Rawlinson' by John Smith, after A. Grace, mezzotint, 1701 - NPG D3959
   4. 'Christopher Rawlinson' by John Smith, after A. Grace, mezzotint, 1701 - NPG D11684
   5. 'Christopher Rawlinson' by John Smith, after A. Grace, mezzotint, 1701 - NPG D3960
   Accessed 16 Aug 2013 at: npg.org.uk

8.   Old Cumbria Gazetteer — 'Skelwith Bridge' on a website of the Geography Department, Portsmouth University, by Martin and Jean Norgate: 2012.

   « Clarke 1787 map (Windermere N)
   Map series, lakes and roads to the Lakes, by James Clarke, engraved by S J Neele, 352 Strand, London, included in A Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, published by James Clarke, Penrith, and in London etc, from 1787 to 1793.
   A road near Windermere is labelled:- To Skellett Bridge. »
   Accessed on 16 Aug 2013 at: geog.port.ac.uk & a close-up of the map image at: Clarke 1787 map