Person:William Culpepper (5)

William Culpeper of Hunton and Wigsell, born a youngest son, was named in his father's will (1514) as 'my sonne Willm,' with provision to be 'founde to schole.' That this injunction was carried out and that he was put through grammar school, and sent thence to London to reside at either Barnard's or Staple Inn, may be deduced from his admission to Grays Inn in 1530 (Foster, fo. 423). . This would be the year he came of age, when the deaths of his two elder brothers had already left him his father's heir. This appears both from the contemporary instrument (Harl. Charter, 76 H 12) which confirmed to William as 'son and heir' of his father, the dispositions of the will of Sir John in favor of Walter; and from his mother's will two years later. . It may be that William Culpeper began life as a practising lawyer. The earliest public record of him is not in itself inconsistent with such an hypothesis. In 1538 he was included in the long list of gentlemen enrolled as 'servants' to Henry VIII's servant Thomas Cromwell, then Lord Privy Seal and at the dizzy height of his prosperity; for he was not part of the household, but one of those who were to attend only when called (L. & P. Henry V111, Xiii, pt. 2, p. 497). The patronage resulting from this service was part of the contemporary spoil of the monasteries. He had a grant of an annuity charged on the priory of Christ Church at Canterbury, and on March io, 1538/9, the seizin of the lands of the dissolved priory of Losenham, which his Aucher ancestor had founded. (ibid., xiv, pt. I, p. 224; xx, Pt. I, p. 324). . It is significant that in all these testimonies William appears only in relation to Kent. In his grant of the priory of Losenham he is, indeed, described as 'of Hunton,' while his second son was listed at Winchester College in 1553 (Kirby, Winchester Scholars, 1888, p. 132) by the same qualification. Thus it appears that on his marriage, which took place in 1530 as appears from the record of the family settlement of that year, William established himself, not at Wigsell, but in the midst of the Kentish weald, on the river Beult near its junction with the Medway. This was an eminently agreeable place of residence, but Hunton was not a Culpeper lordship. It was vested in the Wyatts of Allington (Hasted, ii, 229), a family which, like the Culpepers, later produced a Governor of Virginia. . In relation to the Wyatts, William Culpeper achieved also his next appearance in a public record: for when, in January, 1540/1, Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet, was involved in Cromwell's downfall and for some weeks was held a prisoner in the Tower, William Culpeper was, on Wyatt's nomination, permitted by the Privy Council to have the custody of Allington Castle (L. & P. Henry V111, xvi, 229). He did not, however, persistently follow their fortunes. Whether, unlike his youthful kinsmen of Bedgebury and Aylesford, he remembered the check his family had had in the reign of Edward II, whether he had never accepted the break with Rome (three of his sons were named for saints), or whether it was merely his fortieth year which counselled prudence, William was loyal to Queen Mary's government in the crisis of 1553 and did not follow the poet's son into 'Wyatt's rebellion.' His record then was that of an active justice of the peace; at first in organizing police, and, after the danger had passed, charged with the custody of sequestered estates (Acts P. C., 1554-56) pp. 70, 85). . In the course of this last duty William moved his residence several times, which explains why his third son, Martin, was entered at Winchester (Kirby, supra) as 'of Barfriston' in east Kent. It follows that it was not until the very end of his life that William settled down at Wigsell, where he made his will: . "16 Nov 1559 (1 Elizabeth). I Willm Culpeper of Wigsell in the County of Sussex, Esquire. To be buried in the parish church of Salehurste, in the chapell where my good dere wife Cicely Culpeper doth lye. Poor householders of Bodyam 20s. ÐlO for a tome to sett on my grave. To reparation of Church of Newyndon Ð3. 6. 8. To William Grantham my seruant 20s. a yere for life. To Gybson's widow 10s. a yere for life. To Mr. Hyde scolemaster of Wynchester 30s. To Elizabeth Wilgosse and Anne Edolf my daughters Ð5 each for a silver cup with my arms to be graven on it. To Edward Donck of Hawkherst my newe cloth gowne furred and to John Twysden my ffryce coot. Residuary legatee and Executor John Culpeper my eldest son and my nephew John Tufton of Hothfield Esq my overseer to whom my graye curtall geldynge. Witnesses Willm Grantham, Willm Lopham, John Webbe, George Pix, John Tufton, Marye Tufton, Symon Edolfe, Anne Edolfe, Rich. Lacheford. . "As to my lands in Sussex and Kent to John my son, my manors of Lossenham and Louedean in Kent, my m'she in Newynden called the ffryers m'she, my lands called Scotts in Sandherste and Newynden and and a yerely rent of Ð3 out of Walland marshe, also two parts of my manor of Wigsell in the county of Sussex in three partes divided, if the said John pay unto Fraunces Culpeper my second son, Marten Culpeper my third son, Walter Culpeper my fourth son, Thomas Culpeper my fifth son Edmonde Culpeper my vijth son Ð5 a year each for life, and to Richard Culpeper my vjth son an annuity of Ð6. 13. 4. --all the above with the right of entry in default of payment on the two parts of the manor of Wigsell. My manor of Heryngden in Kent to John my son to pay my debts and legacies and if he will not to Francis and Martin my sons. Proved 6 Dec. 1559 by John Colepeper executor." . Source: Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck"

Last Edited: 2 Oct 2002

1.   Bannerman, William Bruce; Robert Cooke; and Thomas Benolte. The visitations of Kent, taken in the years 1530-1 by Thomas Benolte, and 1574 by Robert Cooke. (London: [Harleian Society], 1923)
   p. 70.