Person:William Strode (3)

He was a clothier.

Born sometime before 1555, William Strode was the last of his parent's eight children. He spent his entire life in Shepton Mallet. William and Elizabeth Strode were the parent of five children. Two of the three sons were knights, Sir William and Sir George Strode. A grandson, John, is recorded as the Governor of Dover Castle.

The Strodes probably prospered from raising sheep as there was a big surge in the wool trade under aggressive promotion by Queen Elizabeth I. She decreed that wool must be used for everything except shifts and few other items, which could be made of linen. The long-locked fleece of English sheep not only supplied clothing domestically but was a profitable export, making wool merchants extremely wealthy. The wool was packed for shipping in sacks which weighed a ponderous 360 pounds.

In addition to wool, sheep provided a variety of other necessities. Ewes were milked to provide the makings of cheese and mutton was a staple of the diet. Virtually every other part of a butchered animal was used as well: Hooves provided gelatin and glue; horns were made into drinking cups, powder horns, windows for lanterns and rams horns for sounding signals; both horn and bones were used for knife handles, spoons, skewers, buttons, and bobbins, tallow was employed for greasing leather and lubricating mill gears, door hinges and the axles of church bells as well as in making candles (if hardened by beeswax); stomachs provided containers for cooking puddings, such as haggis, and bladders were useful, when inflated, to clean out clogged wooden pipes. The skin was prized for making parchment and vellum, a specialized craft in which the English excelled. It was prepared by stretching the skin taut on a square left to dry. With the importance of sheep, it is not entirely surprising that stealing one was a hanging penalty.

William Strode died in August 1592 at age 32, exactly six months before the birth of his last child the following February. But before he died, William would see English sea power emerge. In 1577, Sir Frances Drake sailed around the world; earlier he had been privateer commissioned by Queen Elizabeth to plunder the Spanish West Indies. He also was a commander during the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588. About the same time, Sir Walter Raleigh was making his mark (he spelled it Ralegh, the same way as an ancestral branch of the Strodes). During his eventful life; he explored the east coast of North America from present-day Florida to Virginia (which he named) in 1584; established a colony at Roanoke Island in 1585, but gave it up a year later; made further unsuccessful attempts to colonize Virginia; introduced potatoes and tobacco into England and Ireland; and, tragically, upon the accession of James I to the throne, was condemned to the Tower of London on a charge of conspiracy and ultimately beheaded. (Taken from: A Family History, by Donovan Faust)

1. ↑ A. Donovan Faust (Foust). A Family History: The Ancestors of Thomas Wilson Faust. (1997).