Nicholas Edwards, 1676 – 1743

Nicholas Edwards, maltster, of Westbury, Wilts, was the father of Bryan Edwards, maltster (1704-1758), and grandfather of Bryan Edwards (1743-1800), historian of the British West Indies.

Nicholas was the son of John Edwards, maltster, of Westbury, who married Elizabeth Mills in 1672.[1] He was baptised in Westbury All Saints on 22 Sept 1676. On 12 June 1703 he married Esther [Hester] Hayward, daughter of Bryan Hayward, in Little Cheverell, Wilts. They had three children: Bryan, born 1704; John, 1705; and Hester, 1707. John is not mentioned in either parent’s will and presumably died young. Burials of two people named John Edwards, in 1727 and 1734, are registered at Westbury All Saints.

Nicholas’s residence at the time of Bryan’s birth was “Priory, Westbury”. Priory manor was owned by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey. Manorial court rolls show that on 11 May 1702 Nicholas Edwards was granted tenure of ‘unum horreum unum gardinam unum pomarium’ [a granary, garden, and orchard], together with 24 arable acres, 2 acres of meadow, 6 acres of pasture, and 8 acres of land in the common land. [2] He still held the land when he made his will in 1743, leaving the tenancy to his son-in-law, John Whittaker, not to his son. Copyhold leases were transferable, subject to permission from the Dean and Chapter, but no record survives of the transfer to Whittaker. Why Nicholas chose to disinherit his only surviving son can only be guessed, but a possible cause was that he objected to Bryan’s marriage to a dissenter, Elizabeth Bayly, in 1742.

Nicholas died in 1743 and was buried at Westbury All Saints on 6 June. His will was signed on 28 April 1743.[3]

Transcription of Will, proved 12 July 1743

I Nicholas Edwards of Westbury in the County of Wilts revoking all former Wills by me heretofore made do make & ordain this my Last Will & Testament in manner & form following That is to say I give unto my Son Bryan Edwards my Silver Tobacco Box Item I give into [sic] my Soninlaw John Whittaker all that pasture [and] arable Land belonging to the Malt House being Forty Acres more or Less for the term I have

to come upon it Item I give unto my Wife all my Household Goods & my Will is that my Rick Stavels & Stones belonging thereunto shall not be moved by my Executors hereafter named Item I constitute my Soninlaw French Mattock my Whole & Sole Executor of this my Last Will & Testament in Witness whereof I have hereunto Set my Hand & Seal this Twenty Eighth Day of April in the year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Three

Signed Sealed published

& Declared by the                                             His

Testator Nicholas Edwards                 Nicholas  | |  Edwards

as his Last Will and                                          Mark

Testament in the presence

of us

Will Gaisford              John Crosby

Nicholas’s inability to write his name may have been due to illness rather than illiteracy. His family appear to have had genteel pretensions: a barely decipherable armorial seal is attached to the will.[4] His widow Hester Edwards bequeathed her son Bryan a ‘black armorial ring’ which presumably belonged formerly to Nicholas.[5]

[1] References in this paragraph are from Wiltshire and Swindon Archives.

[2] WAM 20931; with grateful acknowledgments to Matthew Payne, Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey.

[3] Wiltshire and Swindon Archives: Wills P25/1743/11, transcribed by John Wintrip, genealogy specialist.

[4] I am grateful to Steven Hobbs, FSA, Archivist, Wiltshire Council, for examining the will on my behalf.

[5] Will of Hester Edwards, proved 20 Dec 1756; Wiltshire and Swindon Archives, Wills P25/1756/2