Richard Luther of Kelvedon Hatch and Boldre (Born 1700)

6^th Great Grandfather – FFFMFFMF¹

Rebecca Luther, John Taylor’s wife and my 5^th great grandmother was the daughter of Richard Luther.

Richard Luther was born in 1700 and baptised at St. Nicholas, Kelvedon Hatch in Essex on 23^rd February 1700². His parents were Edward and Sarah (nee Dawtrey) Luther

I haven’t been able to find out anything about Richard’s education. Many people of the landed gentry attended Oxford or Cambridge Universities and many of Richard’s ancestors are found in the records of those institutions, but there is no record of Richard attending either insitution.

The first reference to Richard I have found is in the Poll Book for Essex for the 1722 Parliamentary Election³. It is interesting to note that in the 18^th century voting was not by secret ballot as Richard, who voted in Stondon Massey, but was listed as living in Kelvedon Hatch, is shown to have voted for William Harvey and Robert Honywood, who were the winners of the election, and not for Viscount Castlemaine.

On the 10^th January 1728/9⁴ Richard married Charlotte Chamberlen, the daughter of Hugh Chamberlen, at St Stephen, Walbrook in London. They were married by License which was registered on 14^th December 1728⁵.

St Stephen’s was one of many churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and the new church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and had opened about 40 years before Richard and Charlotte’s marriage.

Richard and Charlotte had 6 children. The eldest Charlotte was baptised on 11^th October 1729⁶. The next child was a boy, called Dawtrey after his paternal grandmother Sarah Dawtrey’s family. He was baptised in London at St Martin, Ludgate on 3^rd January 1730/1⁷. The baptism entry for Dawtrey says that Charlotte was “lodging at Mr Wyatt’s”. I could not find a baptism entry for the next child, Richard, but he was buried on 17^th October, 1732⁸.

The next two children were baptised at St Swithen, Walcot in Bath, Jane on 20^th September 1733⁹ and John on 7^th September 1738¹⁰. It is not clear why the family were living in Bath at that time, or at least happened to be visiting twice when Charlotte was pregnant, but Bath was a favorite place for the landed gentry and nobility to visit to “take the waters”.

The last child to be baptised was my 5^th great grandmother, Rebecca, named after her great grandmother Rebecca Rudge, and her aunt. She was baptised in Kelvedon Hatch on 17^th July 1741¹¹.

As mentioned above Richard, the child, died in infancy, while Dawtry died at the age of 14 and was burried on 8^th November 1744¹². The remaining children all survived to adulthood. Charlotte was the first to marry on 13^th August 1748 at St Martin of Tours, Chipping Ongar¹³, when she became the third wife of Henry Fane of Wormsley, Oxfordshire.

On 19^th December 1748, Richard and Charlotte petitioned the House of Lords to bring in a BIll to explain and amend their marriage settlement, for the benefit of their 4 infant children¹⁴. The Bill was subsequently passed on 22^nd March 1749¹⁵.

John, who was the only boy to live to adulthood was educated at Hackney school, under Mr Newcombe before being admitted to the Middle Temple on 13^th January 1755 and Trinity College, Cambridge on 16^th June 1756¹⁶.

Jane never married, but Rebecca, my 5^th great grandmother married John Taylor on 4^th June 1763 at St Andrew in Clifton¹⁷

Sometime in the 1760s, probably soon after his son John married Levina Bennet on 21^st January 1762¹⁸, Richard signed over Myles to his son John and purchased property in Vicar’s Hill¹⁹, Boldre near Lymington in the New Forest, and he and Charlotte settled there. According to Morant, before he gave up Myles Richard had “much enlarged and beautified the House”²⁰.

Richard died on 27^th December 1767 and was buried at Boldre on 4^th January 1768²¹. Charlotte lived for another 9 years, most of it spent near her daughter Rebecca Taylor in Bath where she died 1 February 1776, being buried in Weston, just outside Bath on 16^th February 1776²².

In his will Richard leaves his estates to his son John. An interesting side note is his comment regarding his daughter Rebecca’s marriage to John Taylor, where he states that she married without his consent. As a result his legacy to her of 4000 pounds is to be held in trust until her husband provides a marriage settlement of at least 8000 pounds, and only then to release the money to Rebecca. In the meantime the trustees John Luther and John Goebell were to pay Rebecca any interest earned.

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