William Butching (1546-1607) & Dorothy.
My 11th great-grandparents.
I don’t know when my 11th grandfather William Butching was born or where he was baptised but manorial records offer strong clues.
These show that William inherited a copyhold property known as Butchings, in Nutfield, Surrey, in 1560 at the age of 14, pinning his birth year down to 1546. His father John Butching had died the same year and the farm passed to his eldest son John Jnr, but he died a short time later (their burials recorded on 25 September and 18 October 1560).
At some point William married Dorothy but I’ve yet to locate a record so her surname remains unknown. The only mention of her is in her husband’s will, which also reveals that he was a husbandman, a term that usually referred to a free tenant farmer who was a rank below a yeoman.
The farm Butchings is known these days as Ridge Green Farm and lies in the southern part of Nutfield. It was the home of the Butching family from at least the 15th century and in 1477 the court rolls of Reigate Manor show that it constituted a tenement and 30 acres. Copyhold essentially involved a tenant holding the property from he Lord of the Manor in return for certain duties, such as working for the manor for a set number of days each year. This had gradually been changed to a monetary rent and in 1560 this was 4s 31/2d – a figure that remained unchanged into the 19th century. In effect, the Butchings were still regarded as ‘possessions’ of the local lord and copyhold was the modern version of villeinage.
There were other ways the Lord of the Manor could make money from his tenants, including levelling an entry fine every time an heir succeeded to the property. In 1560 William’s older brother John Butching had to pay 10 shillings on the death of his father John. The manor also received the payment of a ‘heriot’ – in the form of the best animal – at the death of a tenant. In 1560 this was an ox valued at 20 shillings. When John Jnr died suddenly and the property passed to William the manor received another 10 shillings entry fine and a cow valued at 20 shillings as heriot.
In 1577, the Earl of Derby leased part of the Manor of Reigate to Lord Howard and the deal included five named men – the villeins and bondmen belonging to the manor and their issue. Among them mentioned in a document from 1596 was William Botching of Nutfield and a John Botchinge. Records also show that William Boutcheing was appointed in Nutfield with Robert Clement to be collectors of the land tax known as the landscott from wealthier residents.
William was buried on 4 February 1607 (or 1608 in the modern calendar) in Nutfield. A year earlier, on 20 March 1606, he signed a will that outlined the following bequests:
- To the poor people of Nutfield three shillings four pence – Jane Maten 6d, Richard Mills 6d, John Howell 6d, Thomas Killicke 6d, Robert Roffe 6d, Thomas Sparke 6d and John Ashborne 4d.
- To son William Butching three oxen, one browne redd nagg, one redd mare, a plough, carte and all the yokes and the harnesses; one featherbed, two bolsters, one pillow, one covering, one blanket, two pair of good sheets, two bedsteads; a large chest and little chest; a great malting vat, a great brewing vat, two of the great firkins; shelves, boards and benches; large ladders, short ladders, a great brewing kettle; one pewter platter, one pewter dish so on.
- To sister Mercer, wife of Roger Mercer, a bushel and a half of wheat.
- To Katherine Butching three shillings four pence.
- To servant William Osborne three shillings four pence.
- To servant Elizabeth Morton three shillings four pence.
- To Jane Butching daughter of son William Butching one ewe; to William Butching son of my son William one ram; to John Butching son of my son John one ewe.
- His black cow was given to the lord of the manor as heriot while other bequests were made to his wife Dorothy and sons John and Thomas.
I’m not clear where Dorothy came from or when she died. But the couple had a least four children:
- William Butchin (1575-1633), my 11th great uncle. William was baptised on 21 October 1575 in St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Nutfield. I’m 99% certain that William married in London, at St Saviour’s Church in Southwark, on 31 December 1601. Quite why the wedding took place so far from his home village I have no idea but the marriage did take place by licence. William’s bride was Margaret Killick, daughter of William Killick. The latter’s 1602 will is the crucial evidence and shows that he lived at Warners, Nutfield. Among his bequests was one “to my daughter Margaret Butching 5s and the bedstead in the room in which I lie”. It’s likely that William Butching inherited the tenancy of the family farm Butchings on his father’s death in 1607. Indeed, a document called a Ratement, dated 1613, refers to William Butching, tenant of the copyhold property Butchings in Nutfield. He was assessed for payments on this property, said to be ‘his owne land’, and on another called Bushcroft. Peter Finch (no relation) wrote about this document in The Local Historian, the journal of the British Association for Local History, Vol 18 No 1, Feb 1988. He concluded that the document was related to the poor law and listed what occupiers of land locally were expected to pay. The Ratement suggested he was paying two shillings for each of the properties. William’s wife Margaret died in 1626 after raising a big family and was buried on 17 March (1625 in the old calendar). William died in February 1633 and was buried at St Mary’s on the 27th. I’ve yet to find a will for him. William and Margaret’s offspring included: Jane Butchin (baptised March 1602 in Nutfield), William Butchin (baptised 1603 and a man with a fascinating wife and offspring), Elizabeth Butchin (1611), John Butchin (born and died in 1613), Susanna Butchin (1614), Margaret Butchin (1616), Ann Butchin (1618), George Butchin (1621-23) and Richard Butchin (who died in 1625).
- John Butchin (1578?-?), my 10th great-grandfather.
- Thomas Butchin (1580-1582), my 11th great uncle. He was baptised on 17 November 1580 at St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Nutfield but died in 1582.
- Thomas Butchin (1584-?), my 11th great uncle. He was baptised on 23 May 1584 at St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Nutfield. Thomas was mentioned in the 1607 will of his father but I’ve not been able to track him down after this.
Sources: Society of Genealogists’ will records. BMDs at Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk. Bourne Society Local History Records Vol XXVI. Wilfred Hooper: Reigate, Its History Through The Ages (Surrey Archaeological Society). Reigate Manor records (Surrey History Centre, Woking). The Local Historian, the journal of the British Association for Local History, Vol 18 No 1.