Chapter 1
by Jack Edwards and Peter Rooke
The Dewhurst family had been associated with the parish of Cheshunt at least since the latter part of the sixteenth century, for Barnar Dewhurst, Robert’s father, was secretary to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer of England in the reign of, Elizabeth I. Lord Burghley purchased Theobalds in 1564 and Barnard died in 1596, so it would appear that Barnard Dewhurst came to Cheshunt during that time. He died on 20 December 1596 at the age of 63. The family monument records that he was descended from the Dewhurst family of Lancashire.
Robert seems to have been the second son of Barnard Dewhurst. Although his father was connected with Cheshunt at least by 1596, Robert states quite clearly in his will that he was born in Wormley Unfortunately the baptisms register of Wormley for this period is missing, so confirmation from this source is not possible. He was, at any rate, destined to follow a legal career, and entered Gray’s Inn. In his will he mentions two men, Apollo Pepys and Thomas Tyndall, as having been “companions of my youth in Gray’s Inn.”
He also, in his will, left the sum of £50 to Gray’s Inn, “where I have spent most of my dayes,” to be spent on a silver basin and ewer suitably inscribed.
He attained some eminence in his profession, being at the time of his death Keeper of the Briefs in the King’s Bench. He held this post in partnership with one Paget, who after Dewhurst’s death was to pay the executors £2,500 for the right to take over the whole post. Dewhurst had two chambers in Gray’s Inn, the unexpired portion of the lease of which, together with bedding, furniture and books, he left to a nephew.
Very little can be learned of Robert Dewhurst as a man; his will throws a little light on his generosity and also shows that he had a host of relatives and god-children. There are one or two very human touches about this will which show us a little of the man himself; and the impression one gains is one of shrewdness mingled with thoughtfulness and care for the welfare of others. He left, for example, £400 to his nephew Barnard Dormer “towardes the paymt of his debtes,” and £500 to his niece Darkham so tied up “that her husband shall have no power to meddle with it. ” He also provided for the payment of £500 in “new gould” to his great-niece Anne Gill the younger, which sum of money “I have layen by divers yeares for her in my yron Chest at Cheshunt Nunnery.” Apart from the many legacies to his relatives, he made provision for such gifts as a gold ring to his clerk Thomas Phipps, five pounds to “my good friend Dr Wincopp,” Vicar of Cheshunt, with the request that he should preach at the funeral, and a year’s wages to all the household servants who had completed at least a year in his service.
There is no mention of his school in the will, as this had already been handed over to trustees in 1642.
Robert Dewhurst owned land in Lincolnshire, which had descended to him from his brother Thomas , This was to pass on as specified in an earlier agreement which we have not been able to trace. Cheshunt Nunnery – that is to say the lands of the former nunnery and the house built upon the site of it – are described as having been bought by Robert Dewhurst from King James I. Cheshunt Nunnery had been surrendered to the Crown by Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, together with Theobalds in 1607. After Dewhurst’s death this property was also to go as stipulated in an earlier agreement.
Cheshunt Nunnery, Robert Dewhurst's home, by H.G. Oldfield c.1800
The principal beneficiary under the will was Dewhurst’s niece Anne Gill senior, who was also his executrix. The whole of his property, after the other items mentioned in the will, passed to her.
Dewhurst requested that he should be buried in Cheshunt church “as neere the bodies of my two wives as conveniently may be,” and “without any great solemnitie, only with a sermon for the preparacon and mortificacon of those that shall live after me.”
The Dewhurst monument (the inscription on which is given in full in (Appendix 1) had been erected by Robert himself some ten years before his death to record his father, three of his brothers and two of his wives. His own name was added later. He was in fact married three times: his first wife was Prudence , the daughter of Sir Thomas Dacres of Cheshunt; she died in 1621 aged 29. His second wife was Anne, daughter of Roger Dye, a London merchant; she died in 1631 at the age of 23. The third wife, who is buried at Tewin, was Juliana, daughter of Beckenham Boteler of Tewin. She died in 1637 at an unspecified age.
Dewhurst had at least one still-born child, but died without surviving issue. However, many generations of Cheshunt children have since been beholden to him for his fatherly forethought for their training to take their place in the world, and it is fitting that since 1954 past and present pupils of his school have gathered in the church every year, near the anniversary of his death, in his memory. In this sense, Robert Dewhurst’s issue is legion.
Chapter 2
The Founding of the School
Coming soon…
