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High Church Rector of the Church of England, great-great-grandfather of George Washington From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lawrence Washington (1602 – 21 January 1652)[1][2] was a High Church rector of the Church of England. He was an early ancestor to the Washington family of Virginia, being the paternal great-great-grandfather of U.S. President George Washington.[1]
Lawrence Washington | |
|---|---|
Rev. Lawrence Washington (1602–1652) | |
| Born | 1602 |
| Died | 21 January 1652 (aged 49) |
| Resting place | All Saints' Church, Maldon, Essex |
| Occupation | Rector |
| Spouse | Amphillis Twigden |
| Children | John Washington Lawrence Washington William Washington Elizabeth Washington Margaret Washington Martha Washington |
| Parent(s) | Lawrence Washington (1565–1616) Margaret Butler |
| Family | Washington family |
Washington was born in 1602. He was the fifth son of Lawrence Washington (1565–1616) of Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire, son and heir of Robert Washington (1544–1619), of Sulgrave by his first wife Elizabeth Lyte, daughter and heiress of Walter Lyte of Radway, Warwickshire. His mother was Margaret Butler (1568 – 16 March 1651), the eldest daughter and co-heiress of William Butler of Tyes Hall in Cuckfield, West Sussex, and Margaret Greeke, the daughter of Thomas Greeke, gentleman, of Palsters, Lancashire.
Lawrence Washington had seven brothers: Robert, Sir John, Sir William, Richard, Thomas, Gregory, and George; and nine sisters: Elizabeth, Joan, Margaret, Alice, Frances, Amy, Lucy, Barbara, and Jane.[3] His elder brother, Sir William Washington, married Anne Villiers, half-sister of James I's favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.[4][1][5][6]
Washington was a great-great-grandson of John Washington (1478–1528) and Margaret Kitson, the sister of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave Hall in Suffolk.[1]
Washington was admitted to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1619. He graduated in 1623 with a Bachelor of Arts,[2] and within a few days was elected a Fellow of the College. In 1626 he was awarded a Master of Arts, and in 1627 appointed university lector.
On 26 August 1632 the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud made Washington proctor at Oxford University. In accordance with the desires of King Charles I, the Supreme Head of the Church of England, Laud sought to enforce the High Church reforms – known as Laudianism – and to rid the university of Puritan clergy. Dr. Washington was instrumental in carrying out the archbishop's purges.[7] Washington's services to Laud earned him an appointment to the well-compensated rectory of All Saints parish at Purleigh in Essex, a position he assumed in 1632. The appointment enabled Washington to marry Amphilis Twigden, a literate, wealthy young widow. Oxford dons were forbidden from marrying, and Washington had risked his post at the university by courting her.[7]
During the Civil War more than one hundred Church of England clergymen, referred to as "scandalous, malignant priests", were dismissed from their parishes for alleged high treason, Laudianism, or immorality by the Puritan Parliament.[8] In 1643, Washington was censured on trumped-up charges of being "a common frequenter of ale-houses" who "[encouraged] others in that beastly vice" and lost his benefice.[9]
Following his ejection from Purleigh, Washington became rector of the impoverished parish of Little Braxted, also in Essex. His wife and children did not accompany him there, as they were given shelter by the family of Sir Edwin Sandys, sympathetic relations whose patriarch had served as treasurer in the Virginia Company. Through the Sandys, Lawrence's son John secured an apprenticeship with a London merchant where he learned the tobacco trade.[10]
Washington died in poverty, leaving an estate of insufficient value to require the issuance of letters of administration, and was buried in the churchyard of All Saints' Church at Maldon, Essex.[2]
Three of Washington's children emigrated to Virginia, as did another family member, Sir Samuel Argall, whose widowed mother, Mary (d. 1598), had married Washington's great-uncle, Lawrence Washington (d. 1619) of Maidstone, Kent; he was Registrar of the Court of Chancery.[1][11][12]
In 1928 the Washington window, commemorating the Washington family, was given to All Saints' Church, Maldon, by the citizens of Malden, Massachusetts.[2][13]
In 1630 Washington met Amphilis Twigden on a visit to Pendley Manor in Tring, Hertfordshire.[14] Amphilis, baptized 2 February 1602, was the daughter and co-heiress of John Twigden of Little Creaton, Northamptonshire, and Anne Dicken, daughter of William Dicken. Lawrence and Amphilis married in Tring in December 1633, and had three sons and three daughters:[2][3]
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