The Page Family of Plymouth: Murder, Merchants and a Legacy
In the audience for the first online talk of the project, broadcast by The Rose Playhouse, was, amazingly, a real-life descendant of William Page, the murder victim in the story. Harry Clarke has been researching the family history for years and let us know that Master Page had four children at the time of his death (neither the 1591 pamphlet nor ballads of the same period mentions them).
At the end of the project, Harry very kindly shared this Page family history. It tells the story from the Page family’s perspective and reveals what happened to the four orphaned Page children in the years following their father’s murder. It’s a reminder of what one person, looking in the archives, can achieve when researching their family. It’s also a reminder that the story didn’t end on that freezing night in Plymouth in February of 1591.
At the centre of the Paige of Plymouth Project is the oldest narrative set in Plymouth. A narrative taken from Thomas Scarlet’s pamphlet Sundrye Strange and Inhumaine Murders Lately Commited which documented shocking murders for the masses to hear about. Unfortunately for the Paige family, this murder was of the well-respected William Page. What the pamphlet leaves out is the family behind the victim of a calculated and historical murder – including 4 orphaned children. This is the information I, William Page’s 13-times great grandson, aim to fill in.
William Page – The Evidence
In the developing city of Plymouth, there dwelled a Mr William Page (otherwise Paige or Payge) from a family who had lived and shown prominence for centuries back into the 1400s. He was a man of good wealth having become a Freeman of the Burgh of Plymouth in 1576 – his first mention in the records of Plymouth – allowing him to live within the then town of Plymouth and take part within its corporation. His life prior to this is shrouded in mystery. He may have been an exile in the reign of Queen Mary and worked under Peter Vannes before becoming an MP for Bridport, Oxford and finally Saltash over the Tamar; he could have been the distributor of Stubbs’ A Gaping Gulf – an opposition to the marriage of Queen Elizabeth I to the Catholic Duke of Anjou. However, whether he was or wasn’t, William did become a wealthy merchant by the time the 1581 Lay Subsidy tax was enforced. He paid tax on goods that was only surpassed by 5 other citizens of Plymouth: William Hawkins, Gregory Cocke, John Blytheman, Stephen Wikes, and Oliver Harris. These were not ordinary townsmen but figures of wealth and influence. Page belonged among them. It was also in the mid-to-late 1570s, that William married his wife, Agnes. Unfortunately, the records of St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth do not stretch that far back to be precise, but with Agnes, he had 5 children: Gilbert, Mary, William, John and Matthew. The young William Page appearing in the burial records in 1587, aged just 5 years old.
However, by 1588, Plymouth was a target for the Spanish Armada which brought a sprightly Sir Francis Drake to Plymouth – a man that William could accustom himself with. And accustom himself he did. In Drake’s account books, we find that he paid William Page £5 and 8s ‘for his charge from Plymouth to the Court with advertisements of the descrying of the Spanish fleete.’
We then find a recollection of William’s murder from Scarlet’s pamphlet. Tragedy struck the Page family in February 1589/90, when Agnes passed away – leaving William a lonely widower with four young children to look after. With this news, he confided in his friend Nicholas Glanville of Tavistock who offered his daughter, Eulalia to William in marriage – this despite her relationship with George Stangwich. William and the young Eulalia must have quickly married in her hometown before returning to Plymouth with the children.
This was not a happy relationship as we know from Thomas Scarlet’s pamphlet and resulted in 2 stillborn children, so something had to change. Change is what Eulalia desperately craved in spite of her four young stepchildren, so in early February, she and her lover George Stangwich devised a calculated plan. Originally, they wanted to do it together; however, when it came to it, she enlisted the help of her servant Robert Priddeaux and George hired Tom Stone to carry out the deed. As a group, they planned out the specifics of how to get away with it: George would be away on business, they would wait for the children to be asleep, sneak Tom into the house and set it up as if William had died of the pull. The planned date: the 8th February 1590/91 – one year to the day after Agnes Page was buried. A coincidence or a date chosen out of spite?
At around 10 o’clock, with the children, William and Eulalia in bed, there was a quiet knock on the Page family’s door in Woolster Street. Robert let Tom into the house and together they stole to Eulalia’s chamber without alerting the attention of anyone, Page or servant, to what would happen that night. With the go ahead given, Robert led Tom to William’s chamber, but when Robert opened the door, he was asked who had knocked on the door. William was not asleep, but awake. Robert had no choice but to pounce upon him. William pushed him off and got out of bed, not expecting to be tackled by Tom Stone who had entered the room and knocked him to the floor. They pulled his kerchief down to around his neck and pulled. William couldn’t breathe, so instinctively grabbed at his neck, scratching it in the process. He scratched until he couldn’t – he was dead. However, Robert and Tom had to be sure that he was dead – otherwise they would have been caught – so they dragged him to his bed and broke his neck before laying him back into his bed. They then returned to Eulalia’s chamber, where they announced the deed was done. About an hour later, with Tom released from the house, they enacted the next part of their plan. Robert knocked on Eulalia’s door and said, “Let somebody look into my master’s chamber, me thinks I heard him groan.” With that she called for her maid and pulled on her petticoat. The maid lit a candle and headed to William’s chamber. There, the maid felt William’s head and found his body cold and stiff. She called for a warm, wet cloth to be placed onto his feet, but on feeling his legs, she knew he had died and burst into tears. Eulalia sent her to bed and sent Robert to collect her father and one of William’s sisters, Mary Harris to say that he had the pull.
Mary Harris was an observant and strict woman and noticed upon looking upon her dead brother, the marks on his neck. She knew straight away that this did not add up. She moved his neck to take a closer look and found it broken. She wasted no time in rousing the Mayor, Walter Pepperell, and corporation of Plymouth, including William’s old acquaintance Sir Francis Drake early the next morning. Upon hearing what had happened, they arrested Robert Priddeaux and questioned him. He likely told the truth for they then apprehended Tom Stone after he had just married Isett Saunders and arrested Eulalia and George. This would have been quite a shock for the now orphaned children.
After gaining what information they could from William’s body, he was buried the following day on the 10th February at St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth. The story does not end there, however, as he left 4 orphaned children. The administration record of William’s estate named 4 relatives who would look after the estate and bring up the children, these were:
– Humphry Fownes, twice Mayor of Plymouth. He was from a wealthy family from Worcestershire who moved to Plymouth to benefit from the mercantile opportunities. He is likely to be the one that the Widey Court book describes as marrying around 1575 to a lady called Jone. It is unknown how this family relates to William.
– Oliver Harris, the husband of William’s sister, Mary.
– John Phillips, gentleman, member of the Plymouth Corporation and once Mayor of Plymouth.
– Roger Deane, of Newton St Petrock in North Devon.
Who was Mrs Harris?
One area of Scarlet’s pamphlet version of the murder of William Page that frustrated me was the mention of William’s sister as simply ‘Mrs Harris’. Mrs Harris with no first name despite her being the one who uncovered the murder and prevented what had happened to her brother from being lost to history. A separate history, that of Mrs Harris, does also provide interesting reading.
Mary Page, like her brother William, was likely born sometime around the 1530s or 40s and first married William Blake and had at least one son: Nicholas Blake. William was first a wealthy fletcher (an arrow maker) and used some of this wealth to found with others within the Plymouth Corporation, the old Plymouth Grammar School which opened in 1562. He later became a vintner (wine merchant), but by ‘misfortune’, died around 1579, leaving Mary, his widow a substantial estate valued at £1,271 20d.
Being a wealthy heiress, Oliver Harris, a gentleman, took her hand in marriage soon after, for in 1580, a weaver called John Horswill contested money that William had owed him and was requesting the money from Mary Harris his widow. Together, Oliver and Mary had a daughter called Margaret in the early 1580s. After uncovering the murder of her brother, Oliver and Mary were one of the parties charged with the bringing up of the orphaned Page children, alongside their daughter Margaret. Nicholas Blake had married the previous November and was starting his own family. As a mother and grandmother, her grandson, the Rev. Martin Blake, described her as “a very grave and serious matron, who educated her son in the severest way that was at the time in use.”
However, in 1595, Oliver’s health declined and he was hoping to see his then roughly-14-year-old daughter marry into a good partnership. To ensure this, he set up a clause in his will that would provide an advancement of Margaret’s inheritance of the Harris’s Tregender estate in Cornwall – providing that she married someone to the liking of Mary, her mother. Less than a year later, Margaret married Richard Maunder – a soldier who died not long after. In November 1597, Margaret married her second husband John Barrett – who also died not too long after. In 1602, she married for a third time – this time to a respected gentleman, Robert Pollard of South Molton. The young couple were expecting the Tregender estate, which was not forthcoming from Mary and her third husband John Blythman – whom she married in 1598. Due to this, a court case between the Pollards and the Blythmans commenced. In this case, Robert gives us another description of his mother-in-law, Mary: ‘of a covetous and greedy intention abusing the tender age of the said Margaret’ due to not receiving the Tregender estate and a property near the West Gate of Plymouth offered before the marriage – as well as telling Margaret that she had inherited nothing from her farther. Robert did acknowledge that the Plymouth estate did have a caveat that it would be inherited by Margaret’s brother Nicholas Blake should she not have children. However, they had received nothing – despite discussions including mediators John Phillips, Thomas Shirwill, Nicholas Blake and Robert’s father, John Pollard.
Mary died in 1614 and John died 3 years later. In his will, that he had written many years prior to his death, he did add an amendment stripping Nicholas Blake of his inheritance and Margaret and Robert Pollard are not mentioned at all – suggesting the fallout of the case caused a rift within the family.
At present, the other sisters of William alluded to by Scarlet’s pamphlet are unknown.
The Barnstaple Pages
Both Gilbert Page, William’s eldest son, and Mary Page, William’s only known daughter, would have been around ten-years-old at the time of his father’s murder in 1590/1. Who he and his siblings lived with afterwards is unknown, but would likely have been one of the four people named as administrators of the estate – especially as they were named relatives. However, the Deane family, based in Newton St Petrock, in North Devon, also owned property in Frithelstock – a village by Barnstaple – so a plausible theory would be that they lived with them. Another theory could be that they were enamoured by the place where their father’s murderers were sentenced to death at the Easter Assizes. Either way, Gilbert and Mary did live their adult lives in the town of Barnstaple.
One family they did both know was the Woodruffe family. James Woodruffe was born around the 1530s and was a merchant who traded through Barnstaple. It is likely that Gilbert completed an apprenticeship under him as in February 1605/6, Gilbert imported 40 tons of white salt and figs from Cádiz aboard the ship John for James Woodruffe. This is Gilbert’s first mention within the Barnstaple port books and he becomes an independent merchant thereafter. Importing 15 tons of Spanish wool, 40 tons of sacke wine and exporting 24 tons of single baize that year. Whereas James’s son, Charles Woodruffe, married Mary Page.
Less is known about Charles and Mary Woodruffe, but we do know they had the following children:
– Robert Woodruffe (baptised 1605)
– James Woodruffe (baptised 1606)
– Mary Woodruffe (baptised 1611 and buried 1622)
– Charles Woodruffe (baptised 1616 and buried in 1621)
– George Woodruffe (baptised 1618)
It is unknown what happened to the surviving children.
Gilbert married Sarah Cade and had the following children:
– William Page (baptised 1606 and buried 1640). He married Eleanor Isaac, the daughter of the Rev. Philip Isaac of Bideford with whom he had four children. He was a merchant like his father by trade, but became sick while young and died aged 34. Despite his young age, he did trade well and left £200 for his eldest son and £400 each to his other two surviving children
– Roger Page (baptised 1608). He married Eunice Jope of Plymouth in 1638/9. They had one daughter.
– Rebecca Page (baptism 1611 and buried 1617).
– Agnes Page (baptised 1613). She married Thomas Dennis.
– Sarah Page (baptised 1616 and buried 1621).
– Elizabeth Page (baptised 1618 and buried 1619).
– Rev. John Page (baptised 1620 and probably buried 1657). His aunt (John Paige’s wife Elizabeth) names this John in her will describing him as ‘John Page Clarke’ and bequeathing him a gold ring with three gems. Looking through the university records, he would appear to be the John Page who matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1637. He became ill and died in 1657. In his short will, he gave everything to his wife Jane.
– Gilbert Page (baptised 1621 and buried 1670). He married Mary Tucker of Barnstaple and had nine children of which only two made it to adulthood. Gilbert was also a wealthy merchant operating from Barnstaple. He owned many properties including in Milverton, Somerset – rather than just the Barnstaple area. He died in 1671 leaving a considerable estate in his will.
– Mary Page (buried 1626).
From Gilbert’s will, we know that he that he lived at Rockabeare House and owned many properties. This would tally to him becoming influence he held within the town, including being mayor twice in 1629 and 1641. During his second stint as mayor, the people of Barnstaple had to sign an oath of allegiance to the Protestant religion and the rights of parliament – which Gilbert did sign. At the time of the civil war, Gilbert did contribute to the fortification of the town amongst other wealthy contributors and supported the parliamentary cause. However, his cousin, the Rev. Martin Blake was removed from his role at the church in Barnstaple for supporting the Royalist cause during the commonwealth. Despite this, he still had a positive relationship with his cousin and Gilbert named him in his will before he died in 1647.
The Plymouth Pages
The younger surviving children, John and Matthew Page remained settled in Plymouth; despite this, they faced remarkably different lives. This is made even more remarkable by the fact that the two brothers married two sisters – the daughters of Joseph Gubbes.
John, the elder of the two Plymouth-based Pages, was baptised in 1583 and would have been around 7-years-old at the time of his father’s death. It is unknown who then brought him up – but it would likely have been one of the three relatives named as administrators who lived in Plymouth. The next time we find John in the records is his marriage to Agnes Gubbes on the 17th April 1608. Together, they had 8 children:
– Joseph Page (baptised 1609 and buried 1643). He married Margaret Ricraft of Exeter and they had seven children, including Captain Nicholas Page who settled in America and built his wealth there as a merchant as well as being a captain. Joseph was a merchant and after his early death, Margaret married John Bonville of Clapton (near Crewkerne in Somerset) and her young children moved to Somerset with her and their step-father.
– Agnes Page (baptised 1610 and buried 1648). She married Samuel Bulteel. After Agnes’s early death, this Samuel is likely to be the same one who later lived in Tavistock.
– John Page (baptised 1612 and died 1690). He first married Elizabeth Isaac, the daughter of the Rev. Philip Isaac of Bideford (as well as the sister of Eunice, who had married John’s cousin). Together, they had three children before Elizabeth died in 1645. He then married the widowed Elizabeth Cause (née Spark) later that year This John Page was influential in Plymouth, being a wealthy merchant and member of the corporation – where he was elected mayor in 1654. This John was later removed from the corporation due to being in Barbados and being unable to make the loyalty oath. It appears he remained in Barbados for the rest of his life.
– Mary Page (baptised 1614 and buried 1670). She married Thomas Love in 1636 and had 4 children with him. Thomas was a well-esteemed man and described by Elizabeth Page of Barnstaple in her will as the, ‘worshipful Thomas Love Esquire’.
– William Page (baptised 1616 and buried 1649 or 1650). Elizabeth Page’s will also names William’s wife as Mary – whose surname is presently unknown. It is likely that she had a connection to London as the couple did own property within the Manor of Isleworth from 1646. William and Mary did have a son, William, who was born around the time of his father’s death.
– Gilbert Page (baptised 1619). He is not named in Elizabeth Page’s will amongst his siblings and neither is a wife or children of him which suggests he may have died young.
– Sarah Page (baptised 1622 and buried 1622).
– Sarah Page (baptised 1625). She first married Richard Goodyeare and had two children before he died in 1649. She then married Henry Stone in 1653.
Matthew Page, the youngest of all the Page siblings, would have been around 6-years-old at his father’s death. He also married a daughter of Joseph Gubbes – his youngest – Christian Gubbes. Together, they had nine children – many of them appear lost to the records:
– Christian Page (baptised 1616 and died around 1645). She married Philip Michell in 1642 and had one child.
– Matthew Page (baptised 1617).
– Ann Page (baptised 1619).
– Amy Page (baptised 1620 and buried 1622).
– Margaret Page (baptised 1621 and buried 1622).
– Gilbert Page (baptised 1623).
– Elizabeth Page (baptised 1625). She married Richard Chapman.
– John Page (baptised 1627).
– Mary Page (baptised 1628).
Unlike his brother Gilbert, John was not a merchant, but a brewer. By paying more tax than many others within Plymouth, it shows a reflection of his father’s success. It also reflected his role within the Plymouth corporation where he collected taxes. Matthew’s occupation is unknown, but he was not a high tax payer like his brother. What is clear is that Matthew did appear to stay in touch with his Barnstaple family members; as he and Charles Woodruffe were involved in a court case against John Delbridge MP.
The Plymouth tax records also tell us that both John and Matthew were living in Venners Ward. This ward was where the plague was most active between the years 1626 and 1629. It was also between these years that Matthew died – specifically in 1628 – leaving a widow and several children. Christian married a second time to John Johnson not long after.
This high profile meant that he had connections to other prosperous people. In 1629, the year after his brother’s death, Matthew Sutcliffe – the Dean of Exeter Cathedral – died and left John Page forty shillings to buy a ring ‘in remembrance of his love’ towards him as well as making him overseer of his will and to help his wife after his decease in 1629. It should also be noted that Richard Deane was a witness (Richard was the son of Roger Deane – an administrator of William’s estate). Matthew Sutcliffe’s widow Anne named John Paige, alongside Richard Deane executors of her will. She bequeathed John Paige five pounds and Richard twenty pounds as well as the residue of her estate to be shared between them. Also mentioned in her will is John’s wife Agnes who was bequeathed five pounds alongside a fine board cloth 5 or 6 yards in length, and Jane Blake (the second wife of Nicholas Blake) who was also bequeathed 5 pounds. Unfortunately, the result of being executor lead to numerous court cases between John and Richard against Phillip Mayo who had married the grandaughter of Matthew and Anne.
This connection to Exeter, however, continued with Joseph’s, his eldest son’s, marriage to Margaret Ricraft in 1634. She was the daughter of merchant Nicholas Ricraft and his wife Mary Paul. To advance this marriage, John promised to pay the couple, or Margaret if Joseph were to predecease her, forty pounds annually paid for by his property of a bakehouse, brewhouse and malthouse. This also led to a dispute between his descendants.
The court records of this dispute state that this property was on Conduit Street (now Batter Street) which also appears to be bordering Woolster Street (now the west-to east part of Vauxhall Street) which is where some later sources state his father, William, lived. These roads were by the Sutton Harbour Marina where John may have traded his wares and William definitely would have done.
Life took a turn for John in 1640, when his wife, Agnes, passed away with their youngest child being only 14. This left a widowed John in need of support. It appears that John stayed in touch with his Barnstaple family too as in May 1642, he married the widowed Elizabeth Harris (née Horwood) there. They were married for less than 4 years, as in December 1646, John died in Plymouth. Although John’s will no longer survives, from court cases about his estate, it is known that he strategically made his 3-year-old grandson, John Page executor to stop any threat of his second wife seizing control of the estate. Although it did stop Elizabeth, it also resulted in chancery court cases against the grandson when he had grown up by his cousins of a similar age.
John’s second wife, now Elizabeth Page, returned to Barnstaple and lived for a further 10 years, dying in 1657. Elizabeth’s will made many bequests, including money to build alms houses in Barnstaple which still exist today. She also made many bequests to her Horwood family and some smaller ones to her stepchildren who she named as sons and daughters in law. The surviving children were all given three pounds to be used to buy a silver beer bowl (a historic drinking vessel). Whereas Margaret (Joseph’s wife) and Mary (William’s wife) were given forty shillings to but a silver beer bowl. Select grandchildren of John were also given twenty shillings. Gilbert’s three surviving children and widow were each given a gold ring with gems. This may suggest that Elizabeth did not receive much from John’s estate and that his intention to protect his family rather than his second wife succeeded.
The Barnstaple Pages
Both Gilbert Page, William’s eldest son, and Mary Page, William’s only known daughter, would have been around ten-years-old at the time of his father’s murder in 1590/1. Who he and his siblings lived with afterwards is unknown, but would likely have been one of the four people named as administrators of the estate – especially as they were named relatives. However, the Deane family, based in Newton St Petrock, in North Devon, also owned property in Frithelstock – a village by Barnstaple – so a plausible theory would be that they lived with them. Another theory could be that they were enamoured by the place where their father’s murderers were sentenced to death at the Easter Assizes. Either way, Gilbert and Mary did live their adult lives in the town of Barnstaple.
One family they did both know was the Woodruffe family. James Woodruffe was born around the 1530s and was a merchant who traded through Barnstaple. It is likely that Gilbert completed an apprenticeship under him as in February 1605/6, Gilbert imported 40 tons of white salt and figs from Cádiz aboard the ship John for James Woodruffe. This is Gilbert’s first mention within the Barnstaple port books and he becomes an independent merchant thereafter. Importing 15 tons of Spanish wool, 40 tons of sacke wine and exporting 24 tons of single baize that year. Whereas James’s son, Charles Woodruffe, married Mary Page.
Less is known about Charles and Mary Woodruffe, but we do know they had the following children:
– Robert Woodruffe (baptised 1605)
– James Woodruffe (baptised 1606)
– Mary Woodruffe (baptised 1611 and buried 1622)
– Charles Woodruffe (baptised 1616 and buried in 1621)
– George Woodruffe (baptised 1618)
It is unknown what happened to the surviving children.
Gilbert married Sarah Cade and had the following children:
– William Page (baptised 1606 and buried 1640). He married Eleanor Isaac, the daughter of the Rev. Philip Isaac of Bideford with whom he had four children. He was a merchant like his father by trade, but became sick while young and died aged 34. Despite his young age, he did trade well and left £200 for his eldest son and £400 each to his other two surviving children
– Roger Page (baptised 1608). He married Eunice Jope of Plymouth in 1638/9. They had one daughter.
– Rebecca Page (baptism 1611 and buried 1617).
– Agnes Page (baptised 1613). She married Thomas Dennis.
– Sarah Page (baptised 1616 and buried 1621).
– Elizabeth Page (baptised 1618 and buried 1619).
– Rev. John Page (baptised 1620 and probably buried 1657). His aunt (John Paige’s wife Elizabeth) names this John in her will describing him as ‘John Page Clarke’ and bequeathing him a gold ring with three gems. Looking through the university records, he would appear to be the John Page who matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1637. He became ill and died in 1657. In his short will, he gave everything to his wife Jane.
– Gilbert Page (baptised 1621 and buried 1670). He married Mary Tucker of Barnstaple and had nine children of which only two made it to adulthood. Gilbert was also a wealthy merchant operating from Barnstaple. He owned many properties including in Milverton, Somerset – rather than just the Barnstaple area. He died in 1671 leaving a considerable estate in his will.
– Mary Page (buried 1626).
From Gilbert’s will, we know that he that he lived at Rockabeare House and owned many properties. This would tally to him becoming influence he held within the town, including being mayor twice in 1629 and 1641. During his second stint as mayor, the people of Barnstaple had to sign an oath of allegiance to the Protestant religion and the rights of parliament – which Gilbert did sign. At the time of the civil war, Gilbert did contribute to the fortification of the town amongst other wealthy contributors and supported the parliamentary cause. However, his cousin, the Rev. Martin Blake was removed from his role at the church in Barnstaple for supporting the Royalist cause during the commonwealth. Despite this, he still had a positive relationship with his cousin and Gilbert named him in his will before he died in 1647.
The Plymouth Pages
The younger surviving children, John and Matthew Page remained settled in Plymouth; despite this, they faced remarkably different lives. This is made even more remarkable by the fact that the two brothers married two sisters – the daughters of Joseph Gubbes.
John, the elder of the two Plymouth-based Pages, was baptised in 1583 and would have been around 7-years-old at the time of his father’s death. It is unknown who then brought him up – but it would likely have been one of the three relatives named as administrators who lived in Plymouth. The next time we find John in the records is his marriage to Agnes Gubbes on the 17th April 1608. Together, they had 8 children:
– Joseph Page (baptised 1609 and buried 1643). He married Margaret Ricraft of Exeter and they had seven children, including Captain Nicholas Page who settled in America and built his wealth there as a merchant as well as being a captain. Joseph was a merchant and after his early death, Margaret married John Bonville of Clapton (near Crewkerne in Somerset) and her young children moved to Somerset with her and their step-father.
– Agnes Page (baptised 1610 and buried 1648). She married Samuel Bulteel. After Agnes’s early death, this Samuel is likely to be the same one who later lived in Tavistock.
– John Page (baptised 1612 and died 1690). He first married Elizabeth Isaac, the daughter of the Rev. Philip Isaac of Bideford (as well as the sister of Eunice, who had married John’s cousin). Together, they had three children before Elizabeth died in 1645. He then married the widowed Elizabeth Cause (née Spark) later that year This John Page was influential in Plymouth, being a wealthy merchant and member of the corporation – where he was elected mayor in 1654. This John was later removed from the corporation due to being in Barbados and being unable to make the loyalty oath. It appears he remained in Barbados for the rest of his life.
– Mary Page (baptised 1614 and buried 1670). She married Thomas Love in 1636 and had 4 children with him. Thomas was a well-esteemed man and described by Elizabeth Page of Barnstaple in her will as the, ‘worshipful Thomas Love Esquire’.
– William Page (baptised 1616 and buried 1649 or 1650). Elizabeth Page’s will also names William’s wife as Mary – whose surname is presently unknown. It is likely that she had a connection to London as the couple did own property within the Manor of Isleworth from 1646. William and Mary did have a son, William, who was born around the time of his father’s death.
– Gilbert Page (baptised 1619). He is not named in Elizabeth Page’s will amongst his siblings and neither is a wife or children of him which suggests he may have died young.
– Sarah Page (baptised 1622 and buried 1622).
– Sarah Page (baptised 1625). She first married Richard Goodyeare and had two children before he died in 1649. She then married Henry Stone in 1653.
Matthew Page, the youngest of all the Page siblings, would have been around 6-years-old at his father’s death. He also married a daughter of Joseph Gubbes – his youngest – Christian Gubbes. Together, they had nine children – many of them appear lost to the records:
– Christian Page (baptised 1616 and died around 1645). She married Philip Michell in 1642 and had one child.
– Matthew Page (baptised 1617).
– Ann Page (baptised 1619).
– Amy Page (baptised 1620 and buried 1622).
– Margaret Page (baptised 1621 and buried 1622).
– Gilbert Page (baptised 1623).
– Elizabeth Page (baptised 1625). She married Richard Chapman.
– John Page (baptised 1627).
– Mary Page (baptised 1628).
Unlike his brother Gilbert, John was not a merchant, but a brewer. By paying more tax than many others within Plymouth, it shows a reflection of his father’s success. It also reflected his role within the Plymouth corporation where he collected taxes. Matthew’s occupation is unknown, but he was not a high tax payer like his brother. What is clear is that Matthew did appear to stay in touch with his Barnstaple family members; as he and Charles Woodruffe were involved in a court case against John Delbridge MP.
The Plymouth tax records also tell us that both John and Matthew were living in Venners Ward. This ward was where the plague was most active between the years 1626 and 1629. It was also between these years that Matthew died – specifically in 1628 – leaving a widow and several children. Christian married a second time to John Johnson not long after.
This high profile meant that he had connections to other prosperous people. In 1629, the year after his brother’s death, Matthew Sutcliffe – the Dean of Exeter Cathedral – died and left John Page forty shillings to buy a ring ‘in remembrance of his love’ towards him as well as making him overseer of his will and to help his wife after his decease in 1629. It should also be noted that Richard Deane was a witness (Richard was the son of Roger Deane – an administrator of William’s estate). Matthew Sutcliffe’s widow Anne named John Paige, alongside Richard Deane executors of her will. She bequeathed John Paige five pounds and Richard twenty pounds as well as the residue of her estate to be shared between them. Also mentioned in her will is John’s wife Agnes who was bequeathed five pounds alongside a fine board cloth 5 or 6 yards in length, and Jane Blake (the second wife of Nicholas Blake) who was also bequeathed 5 pounds. Unfortunately, the result of being executor lead to numerous court cases between John and Richard against Phillip Mayo who had married the grandaughter of Matthew and Anne.
This connection to Exeter, however, continued with Joseph’s, his eldest son’s, marriage to Margaret Ricraft in 1634. She was the daughter of merchant Nicholas Ricraft and his wife Mary Paul. To advance this marriage, John promised to pay the couple, or Margaret if Joseph were to predecease her, forty pounds annually paid for by his property of a bakehouse, brewhouse and malthouse. This also led to a dispute between his descendants.
The court records of this dispute state that this property was on Conduit Street (now Batter Street) which also appears to be bordering Woolster Street (now the west-to east part of Vauxhall Street) which is where some later sources state his father, William, lived. These roads were by the Sutton Harbour Marina where John may have traded his wares and William definitely would have done.
Life took a turn for John in 1640, when his wife, Agnes, passed away with their youngest child being only 14. This left a widowed John in need of support. It appears that John stayed in touch with his Barnstaple family too as in May 1642, he married the widowed Elizabeth Harris (née Horwood) there. They were married for less than 4 years, as in December 1646, John died in Plymouth. Although John’s will no longer survives, from court cases about his estate, it is known that he strategically made his 3-year-old grandson, John Page executor to stop any threat of his second wife seizing control of the estate. Although it did stop Elizabeth, it also resulted in chancery court cases against the grandson when he had grown up by his cousins of a similar age.
John’s second wife, now Elizabeth Page, returned to Barnstaple and lived for a further 10 years, dying in 1657. Elizabeth’s will made many bequests, including money to build alms houses in Barnstaple which still exist today. She also made many bequests to her Horwood family and some smaller ones to her stepchildren who she named as sons and daughters in law. The surviving children were all given three pounds to be used to buy a silver beer bowl (a historic drinking vessel). Whereas Margaret (Joseph’s wife) and Mary (William’s wife) were given forty shillings to but a silver beer bowl. Select grandchildren of John were also given twenty shillings. Gilbert’s three surviving children and widow were each given a gold ring with gems. This may suggest that Elizabeth did not receive much from John’s estate and that his intention to protect his family rather than his second wife succeeded.
The Page Family
William Page’s murder may have been sensational enough for Thomas Scarlet’s pamphlet, but the true legacy of the Page family lies in what followed. Four orphaned children, a vigilant sister, and a network of relatives ensured that the Pages did not disappear into the margins of early modern Plymouth. Through merchants, mayors, brewers, clergy and traders stretching from Devon to Barbados and even America, the family rebuilt itself after tragedy and embedded its name into the civic and commercial life of both Plymouth and Barnstaple.
By piecing together parish records, wills, tax rolls and port books, the Pages emerge not as footnotes to a crime, but as a resilient and influential dynasty. Their story shows how one violent night on Woolster Street became only a single chapter in a much larger history – a history of survival, ambition and continuity that deserves to be remembered.