Edward Latymer

Edward Latymer (1557–1627) was a wealthy legal official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.

Edward Latymer
Individual suspected to be Edward Latymer
Born	c.1557 Freston, Suffolk
Died	January 1627
Burial place	St Dunstan-in-the-West
Occupation	Clerk at the Court of Wards and Liveries
Known for	Founding The Latymer School and the Latymer Upper School
Parents	William Latymer (father) Ellen English (mother)
Signature

Coat of arms of Edward Latymer in All Saints' Church, Edmonton, London

Life

Edward was the older son of William Latymer, a cleric who later became Dean of Peterborough. When the Catholic Mary I of England came to the throne, his father's position became untenable, and he retired to Ipswich close to the family estates at Freston. This is where Edward was born in 1557. In the next year, Elizabeth I of England came to the throne and William Latymer was restored to his former positions, and became the Treasurer of Westminster Abbey.

Edward was educated living in the Deanery at Peterborough. He went to study at St John's College, Cambridge at the age of fourteen and left in 1575 (there is no record of his graduation).^[1] There is a following gap in his records for twenty three years.

Latymer was a clerk in the Court of Wards and Liveries,^[2] a position involving collecting debts. Over the next 25 years he became a man of wealth from his fees, particularly from complex inheritance cases. He lived most of his adult life at 'the Signe of the Cocke' in Ramme Alley in the Parish of St Dunstan's in the City of London. In 1615, he purchased a small country property in Edmonton. In 1622, he purchased the Manor of Butterwick in Hammersmith; it consisted of 120 acres (49 ha) of land including meadows, pasture, and woods, the manor house, two houses on Brook Green, and four cottages.^[3]

Bequest and death

Latymer never married and did not have children, and made his will in 1625 (but it was dated 1624). He gave most of his wealth to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's, today Latymer Upper School, and a less generous bequest for the Parish of Edmonton, today The Latymer School. This provided, amongst other things, clothing and education for eight poor boys of Edmonton and eight of Fulham (which then included Hammersmith).^[2] The clothing, which incorporated a red cross on the left sleeve, was to be distributed twice a year on Ascension Day and All Saints' Day, and the boys were to learn reading in English and 'God's true religion' at existing petty schools, until the age of thirteen. Separate groups of trustees administered the property on behalf of the boys in the two parishes.

The main source of this income was the rental from his property situated at Pymmes Brook on the main road to Scotland, which later became a coaching inn The Bell, and was renamed The Angel in 1780. It was demolished in 1968 through a compulsory purchase order for the widening of the North Circular Road.

Edward died in January 1627 and was buried in the south aisle of St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street on the 20th^[4]. His relations challenged his will in the Court of Chancery, resulting in a seven-year delay before the bequests could take effect while the case was fought.

Latimer Road, a road in Kensington, and the nearby tube station, are both named after Edward Latymer,^[5] as are Latymer Road and Latymer Way in Edmonton.