Sir George Puttenham, of Sherfield, KB

Biography

Updated 1 December 2024

Sir George Puttenham of Puttenham and Sherfield was son and heir of William Puttenham and Anne Hampden.

He was born about 1460 and died after 26 July 1534/1535, the date he wrote his will.

George Puttenham married Alice Windsor before 1479 (he is mentioned in the will of her father Thomas Windsor in 1479 as married to his daughter). From this marriage he gained the manor of Sherfield in 1485.

He married secondly Rose, daughter of Sir John Gainsford. She survived him, and married 2nd to William Sackville of Blechingly in County Surrey.

George Puttenham had 10 children - 1 surviving son and 9 daughters - with his two wives, as compiled from two sources: his 1535 will, and the Visitation of Hampshire.

1. Dorothy b.? (Visitation)
2. Robert b.1480 (Visitation & Will)
3. Anne b. ? (Visitation)
4. Bridget b. 1484 (Visitation and Will)
5. Mary b. ? (Will)
6. Elizabeth b. 1507 (Visitation)
7. Alice b. ? (Will)
8. Audrey b. ? (Visitation and Will)
9. Dorothy (again) b. ? (Will)
10. Ursula b. ? (Will)

Dorothy, Anne and Elizabeth don't appear in the will, presumably because they were already married and therefore provided for. Bridget at first appeared in the will before Mary, but her name crossed out and changed to Mary, presumably because she was older

Presumably Alice Windsor's daughters up to Elizabeth/Alice.

With Alice Windsor he had the following children:

• Robert, son and heir. d. abt 1546 & married Marjorie Elyot.
• Bridget, married Christopher Bullock of Aberfield, Berks.
• Dorothy, married Thomas Dabridgecourt of Stratfield Saye.
• Anne, married John Norton of Tisted [who died 5 July 1561].

According to the Visitations of Hampshire, with Rose, he had the following children:

• Audrey.
• Dorothy, married Unknown Adams of Kent. [sic: Adam Aldey of Sandwich in Kent, gent.]
• Elizabeth, married Thomas Oxenbridge.

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His only son Robert Puttenham mentioned having 9 sisters.

George Puttenham wrote his will on the 26th July 1534/1535. In it he names his wife as Rose, and includes children Robert, Mary, Bridget, Dorothy, Alice, Ursula & Audrey, so not the same as the visitation tree. He may have more daughters not named.

In his will, George Puttenham asks to be buried before the "High Altar" at St Leonards, Sherfield.

The penmanship in George's will is "challenging" but my [Jenny Joyce/stiles] poor transcript is still useful. I will endevour to improve it.
In the name of God, Amen, I george Puttenham, Knight, the 23 day of January, thev year of our lord
God 1534 in the yere off the rygn off Kyng Henry the VIII the XXI. beinge off G? my
& god pffyt re? ? make & ordeyn this my last will of the ?ing off Chr? & ? ?
hereby? ? off XXII or the ? in ? & same following it is my mynd and very will that ? ? wy?
knyght? ? wy? other wich ? se?sed? off & in the sorsand? ? to my use for the pro? of the
my last will I geve ? also? my executor to ? herby ? ly ? mind? off ? ? ?
& other revemmys? owe off all the sayd m? [money?] to ? & to the yerely ? off 21 aforesaid untill all my
daughters live able ? ? & other ? ? I bequeth her after folowing be fully < payde by my
sayde executors
I ? comitt my soll to almighty God & lady & to all the holy companey off God and my body to
be buryed in the church of Saynt Leonard in Shyrffeld before the high altar off the saint ?
I geve and bequeathe to the same altar 3s4d Item I geve to Saynt Swythinys Church 12d
Item I will and ordeyne myn executors that all my detts shall cause to be swiftly de??ed & payde which I do
owe unto my ?th or to my ? ? be fyrst ? & payed before my legacies
Item I will that my ? ? all & other obligations be due by the D? & good ? of my sayd
executors
Item I geve and bequethe to my daughter Mary 10 pounds to be paid at hyr marriage off it and to ? ?
owe off my said m? or ol? wyn? ? tyme after ? ? payd off my decease aforesaid ?
Item I geve and bequeath to my daughter Bridgyt 20 pounds to be payde at her marjority
Item I geve and bequeath to my daughter Alis 10 pounds in like money to be payde Item I geve to
my daughter Dorote 10 pounds of money to be pyed in forme aforsaid Item I geve to my daughter Audrey
10 pounds to be payed in manner aforsayd Item I geve and bequeathe unto my daughter Ursula 10 pounds
to be payed . all such ?d & forme as is aforesaid ? And iff it happens that any
off my sayd daughters do dye before ther sayde maryage or there ? then there sayd portion or portions to then
II give ?st the residue and ? of the ? And iff her happen that they all ? dye
before all my sayd bequests ? as god is ? I will then that after all my other
legacies debts & other obligations directed that the residue remaining of Ch? I W? be ?
? & d?d & ? the sayd ? ? mynd? & other ? ? ? of ?
to the only use of my heirs for ?
Item I will in my wy? th? all my sayd daughters ? h?sty ? & founded as well
with apparell as otherwise ? the tyme of th? sayd marriage & they ? have all my sayde bequests
I noching? r? off to r? ded?ed the ? fynding I of ? ? I will also that my sayde executors do duly
with the sayde ? & ? ? of
Item I geve and bequeth to Rose my wyff & to Robert Puttenham my sonne all my goodes and chattels
as well moveable and unmovable wich Rose & Robert & John Heth? I doe appointe
De? & make my executors. ??
?difficult line?
Item I will unto my daughter Audrey & Alyse give 10 off my best kyne [cows] to be delayed
? ? by the ? of my sayd executors. Item I will ? & wish? blest?by
?? for the tyme of his lyff p? ? for the same but at his ? ? ? ?
Hard line
Before Godoll ?soy, Thomas Dabrystott [D'abridgecourt] Thomas Norton with others.

George Puttenham was made a knight of the Bath on the 17th November 1501, when Henry VII'S son Prince Arthur married Katherine of Aragon. In 1504 he was sheriff of Hampshire, and he held the manorial court at Tandridge, Surrey, in 1499, 1509, and 1527. After Henry VIII became King, Sir George reviewed the troops with the marquis of Dorset in 1512 and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. On the death of his first wife Alice, he married Rose, daughter of Sir John Gainsford of Crowhurst, Surrey, whose family had long been neighbours of the Warbletons at Tandridge. In 1526 he owned the manor of Stoke Doyle in Northamptonshire. His will dated 1534 provided for four of his nine daughters and his widow Rose (3) received the manor of Puttenham, valued at £25. A memorial window (4) in the church of St Leonard at Sherfield shows Puttenham quartered with Warbleton and impaling Windsor (Fig. 22) Sir George's only son Robert married Margery, sister of the author Sir Thomas Elyot. In 1522-24 he was Master of the Revels in the Middle Temple, for the Puttenhams were now well established in the legal, literary and learned circles of the time. When his father died Robert's inheritance of all the family estates was confirmed by Henry VIII. In 1540 he was one of a train of nobles and gentlemen sent to welcome Anne of Cleves. However, the needs of his five aunts, his nine sisters, and his own four daughters were making serious inroads into his capital. By 1536 Stoke Doyle had passed to Andrew, first Lord Windsor, and the sale in 1542-of Tandridge and Willey, Surrey, to a London Goldsmith, John Cooke.

A memorial window in the church of St Leonard at Sherfield shows Puttenham quartered with Warbleton and impaling Windsor quartered with Andrews and Stratton:

Puttenham - sable, crucilly fitche argent, a heron of the second.

Warbleton -lozengy or and azure.

Windsor - gules, a cross saltire argent between sixteen crosses crosslet or.

Andrews - argent, on a bend cotised sable, three mullets pierced of the first.

Stratten - argent, on a cross patonce sable, five bezants.

Notes

Putnam, Eben. "The Putnam Lineage." (1907) < PDF >

THE PUTTENHAMS OF SHERFIELD. Ivi - lviii

Sir George Puttenham, of Puttenham, Sherfield, etc., son and heir of William, above, married, previous to 1479, Alice, daughter of Thomas de Wyndesor. After her death he married Rose, daughter of Sir John Gainsford, of Crowhurst, Surrey. She married, secondly, William Sackvjlle, who died at Bletchngley, Surrey, 1538. Myldred, ilaughter of William Sakevylle,gent., and Dame Rose Potingham, buried 1541; and on the last day of March, 1545, Dame Rose Potenham, wife of Mr. William Sakvylle, buried. (Church Wardens' Accounts, Bletchingly.) Thomas Wyndesor, the father of Sir (George's first wife, is the ancestor of the Earls of Plymouth and other noted English families. In his will of 13 Aug., 1479 he provided for payment of what he owed to William Puttenham by his daughter's marriage. Sir George Puttenham was knighted upon the occasionof the marriage of Prince Arthur, 17 November, 1501. His arms at that time are described as follows: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Sable, crusily filched and a stork argent; 2 and 8, Lozengy, azure and or.* Crest: a hind's head gules.* ...

An inquisition post mortem was taken upon George Puttenham, Knt., 33-34 Henry VIII. (1542), by which it appears that Robert Puttenham was son and heir.

Children:

1. Robert, son and heir.
2. Bridget, m. Christopher Bullock, of Aberfield, Berks.
3. Dorothy, m. Thomas Dawbridgecourt, of Stratfield Say, son of Thomas of the same. He died 20 Jan., 1539-40.
4. Anne, m. John Norton, of Tisted, whose son Robert married Mary, daughter of Richard Elyot, the Chief Justice. From this marriage Browne Willis derived his Putnam descent.
5. Audrey.
6. Dorothy, m. an Adams of Kent.
7. Elizabeth, m. Thomas Oxenbridge.

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Origins

From < "Early Putnam Family" PDF (document attached)

WILLIAM PUTTENHAM William Puttenham, the eldest son of Henry, was born in the late 1420s or early 1430s and died in 1492. William married Anne Hampton. Anne's family was related to the English and German Crowns on her father's side and to the French kings all the way back to Charlemagne on her mother's side. They had three sons, George, Edmond and Nicholas. Sir GEORGE PUTNAM was the eldest and son in heir. He was 1460 and made Knight of the Bath in 1501. He married first Alice Wyndesore and then Rose Gainsford. He died in Sherfield and his will was dated January 26, 1534/5.

His [William Puttenham's] heir was:

1. George Putnam. Other children were:
2. Edward Putnam who had only one child, a daughter, Elizabeth who married John Saunders.
3. Frideswide Putnam
4. Elizabeth Putnam
5. Alienore Putnam
6. Brigade Putnam
7. Agnes Putnam

The last five girls were all unmarried daughters and were mentioned in their father's will. They may have married later, I don't know. At this point the 'chain' becomes rather confusing. Read Putnam is the most current authority on the line and he questions the William Puttenham/Anne Hampton 'link' in the chain. Read feels the descent was directly from SIR ROGER and MARGARET de PUTTENHAM to a son RICHARD PUTTENHAM of Edlesborough. As Read has the benefit of all earlier studies plus new information I am taking his descent for the time being.

References

1. Eben Putnam, A history of the Puttenham family of England and America, The Salem Press and Publishing Co. 1891.
2. http://archive.org/stream/ahistoryputnamf01putngoog/ahistoryputnamf...
3. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kugerrand/mvincent.htm
4. The Putnams of Puttenham, XXVIII
5. WikiTree contributors, "George Puttenham (abt.1470-abt.1535)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Puttenham-40 : accessed 22 November 2024). cites
   1. Pedigrees from the Visitation of Hampshire Page 17: Puttenham < Archive.Org > Shows daughters Audrey, Dorothey, and Elizabeth (m. Thomas Oxenbridge) as children of wife Rose Gainsford.
   2. 'Parishes: Sherfield-upon-Loddon', in A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page (London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp103-108 [accessed 22 November 2024]. William settled the manor in 1485 upon his son George on his marriage with Alice daughter of Thomas Wyndesore. (fn. 51)
      1. 51. Cal. Pat. 1476–85, p. 551.
   3. Marlyn Lewis https://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p3154.htm... cites
      1. [S15] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, p. 293.
      2. [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, p. 104.
      3. [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 245.
      4. [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. II, p. 486.
      5. [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. V, p. 225.
6. The visitations of Kent, taken in the years 1530-1 by Thomas Benolte, and 1574 by Robert Cooke; v. 75. Volume 2, Appendix to the Visitation of 1592. < FamilySearch > page 121 (book viewer page 133). (document attached) "Adam Aldey of Sandwiche in the Countie of Kent gent Sonne and heire to Jeromye maried Dorothy daughter of Sir George Puttenham of Blechenie in the Countie of Surr. Knight ..."
7. http://www.billputman.com/the-genealogy/putnam-putman-families/Earl... (document attached)
8. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~kugerrand/ngraham.htm