A Visit to Bromley Hall in Poplar, Tower Hamlets

by Peter Alabaster

A mile to the north of the Isle of Dogs in London lies a vast meadow covered with the yellow-flowering shrub known as broom. Through this meadow flows the River Lea with its crystal-clear waters and abundance of fish. On the desolate marshland along the east bank of the river, a newly-built moated manor-house called Lower Bramberley can be seen. The name is derived from broom (or bramble), and lea, a meadow, and in this house the king's chamberlain Ralph Triket and his wife Lady Ida Triket hold court. The year is 1180 and the king is Richard I, known as 'the lion-hearted'. By 1292, the lordship of the manor had passed to the Prior and Canons of Holy Trinity, Aldgate. In the following 200 years, Lower Bramberly has gone and a new, red-brick house has risen on its foundations. This is Bromley Hall, the manor house of the Lower Manor of Bromley, and tree-ring analysis has established the date at around 1485. The Wars of the Roses has ended and, with King Henry VII on the throne, the Tudor period has begun. An early occupant is John Blount, whose main claim to fame appears to be that his daughter Elizabeth will one day be the mistress of King Henry VIII. In the 1530's the house is seized by the Crown. After remodelling, it becomes the home of Viscount Rochford, brother of Ann Boleyn and therefore brother-in-law to that very same Henry VIII.

Later, in 1603 (and this is where it gets really exciting, or at least fairly exciting), a visitor is admitted to the house. He may even have lodged there for a while, possibly at the king's expense. The king is, of course, James I of England, aka King James VI of Scotland (please try to keep up with the royal name-dropping). The visitor, Thomas Alabaster (c1550-1624), is involved in top-secret espionage. Thomas is the brother of John Alabaster (who, with the assistance of Mary Brond, is our direct ancestor) and the eldest son of Thomas Alabaster (1522-1592), clothier of Hadleigh, and Christian Warren. The clothing trade did not appeal to young Thomas: he craved a more adventurous and stimulating life, and if that meant a spot of illegal trading from Spain during the Armada years under Queen Elizabeth I, financial irregularities and fraud, involvement in privateering in the West Indies etc, then so be it. In his defence, he was, when it suited him, a loyal subject of the Crown. Over the years he gathered important intelligence on foreign affairs and passed it to Sir Robert Cecil, Chief Minister of James I. While at Bromley Hall he wrote several important letters concerning the political upheavals in Europe. These were of great importance to the security of the State. Thomas's activities at Bromley Hall during this turbulent period were the reason for our visit to this, the oldest surviving brick building in London. Soon after Thomas's visit, Bromley Hall was returned to private ownership. In the 1700's, during the reign of one of the King Georges, the house was again remodelled, with many original features such as Tudor fireplaces and windows being ripped out and replaced by more fashionable 18th-century designs. Bromley Hall now looks more like a Georgian house than a Tudor house. In its long lifetime, Bromley Hall has been the residence of wealthy city merchants, a calico printing works, a gunpowder factory during the Civil War (after which King Charles I was beheaded), a Missionary Society HQ, a midwifery training home and a carpet showroom.

By the early 1990's, Bromley Hall had become derelict and in danger of being demolished. Dry rot and damp had taken hold, many 16th-century oak floorboards had been covered with tarmac, and walls had been lined with cement and hardboard. Immediate action had to be taken to save this historical building for local people and the nation.

Fund-raising from many sources, including English Heritage, raised over a million pounds. The work was project-managed by Leaside Regeneration Ltd, and after much hard work the restoration is now complete. Bromley Hall offers 4,000 sq. ft. of office space for small businesses in the Poplar area of Tower Hamlets.

The chief executive of Leaside Regeneration, Paul Brickell, came across references to our Thomas while researching the history of Bromley Hall. He bought copies of Adrian Alabaster's and Tony Springall's books and was pleased to have his information confirmed. He invited Laraine and anyone else in the Alabaster Society to visit the Hall.

And so it came to pass that, at precisely 2:30 pm on the afternoon of Thursday 14 February 2008, a deputation of loyal and stout members of said Society met at Bromley-by-Bow tube station. Laraine, Tony and Pam, Michael William and Peter walked along the busy, noisy and polluted A12, also known as the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach Road, towards Bromley Hall, delightfully situated about two metres from the southbound lane of the A12. On the way, we looked out for any surviving remnants of the original meadow but can report that, in this run-down area of East London, there are no stretches of open, broom-covered land to be seen. Paul was waiting to take us on a guided tour of the Hall. He is a very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and friendly person and was happy to answer all our questions. As we entered the Hall unobserved through the back door, we realised that we were almost certainly the first members of the Alabaster family to visit the house for 405 years.

Many original features were discovered during the building work. These were conserved and can now be viewed. We saw a recently uncovered 15th-century carved oak door frame with a hunting scene (a hound chasing a deer), the remains of a stone-encased spiral staircase, wood wall beams and brickwork, wall paintings, and more.

We ended the tour in what was the Main Hall and now serves as the boardroom for Leaside Regeneration. It is called the Blount Room. Set into the floorboards is a glass panel through which can be seen a brick-arched cellar from the original 12th-century house. Also in this room are the remains of a 15th-century wall painting. It appears to be the back view of a man holding a bow and wearing a Tudor hat. Sadly, his right hip and leg have been amputated by the insertion of a Georgian fireplace. Above this, a Tudor window has been bricked up, and supporting the ceiling there is an impressive array of heavy oak beams. Looking out of the window we could see a constant stream of speeding, polluting traffic only two or three metres away. Thomas would have had a landscape of broom-covered meadow with marshy bits here and there, a little-used track leading into London, and fresh air. I think he had the better deal.

But could this be the room where Thomas wrote his letters to Cecil? At the end of the tour, Paul left us alone in the Blount Room with refreshments kindly supplied by Vicki, his PA (who also organised our visit). This was our opportunity to search for any ink stains, bits of parchment, quill pens or any other evidence that may have survived the centuries, but we found nothing.

And so we left Bromley Hall. Later, I sent a thank-you card to Paul on behalf of the 'Bromley Five'. I had one request - that he please arrange for Bromley Hall to be moved away from the A12. As we drove to the Alabaster Gathering in April from our home in south London, Chris and I passed Bromley Hall and I was disappointed to see it still in its original position. We are now working on Plan B - moving the A12 away from Bromley Hall. 

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 Thomas Alabaster at Bromley Hall in 1603

by Tony Springall

In the late Summer of 1603, Thomas Alabaster, the elder son of Thomas of Hadleigh, sat in the main ground floor room of Bromley Hall gazing at the large painted hunting scene which adorned the west wall. The timber framed brick infilled manor house had been built more than a hundred years earlier on the foundations of an earlier medieval building. Thomas would have also appreciated its many other fine adornments - fine timbering and brickwork, elaborately carved doorframes, octagonal turrets and stair encasements. To get to the isolated hall Thomas would have travelled over the flat desolate marshlands of the River Lee valley. Perhaps he came down the River Lee and, as befits a spy, entered the building via the water tunnel into the basement.

Over the following centuries the hall, and its environs, changed beyond recognition. Although the hall was listed, it became unloved and, because of layers of erstwhile fashionable shrouds, thought to be later than its true date. The area around the hall became the grimy industrial heart of East London and the hall sat next to the approach road to the Blackwell tunnel.

As you have just read, nearly four hundred and five years after Thomas, five members of The Alabaster Society gazed at the newly discovered remains of the hunting scene and admired the hall's other rediscovered treasures. They had been invited to the hall by Paul Brickell, Chairman of Leaside Regeneration Ltd, the agency which, during renovation, had discovered the secret heart of the dilapidated edifice

During August and September 1603, Thomas wrote three letters from Bromley Hall to Sir Robert Cecil. All three were concerned with intelligence from the Continent. These are the only records which directly associate Thomas with Bromley Hall and they raise two tantalizing questions. Why was Thomas staying at the hall and what was his relationship with it?

In 1603, due to its isolation, the hall was an ideal place to find refuge. It is unlikely that Thomas would have needed to hide from creditors as his financial troubles did not materialise until the following year. Perhaps he was hiding from something more fearsome. Paul Brickell suggested that he was staying at Bromley Hall to escape the plague. The plague was endemic in London during the 16th and 17th centuries but it became epidemic every few decades - in 1563, 1593, 1603, 1625 and 1665. At first sight, this seems a possible explanation. A closer examination only strengthens the likelihood that this explanation is correct (1).

For all the above plague years (with the possible exception of 1665) London parish burial records show that the large, congested and poor parish of St Botolph without Bishopsgate was the first parish to be affected and that it was some time before the last parish was affected. This 'slow fuse' gave affluent inhabitants of other parishes sufficient warning to escape the city. In 1603, St Botolph without Bishopsgate showed increased burials in the first week of June. In this year the last parish to peak in its burials, St Mary Somerset, did so in the week of 17th September. The epidemic petered out by the middle of November and it is estimated that from the middle of July until the middle of November 17% of the population of London was buried (2). If Thomas was fleeing from the plague, it is likely that he, his wife and step-family were resident in Bromley Hall for the entire Summer and Autumn of 1603. This matches the dates of the letters well.

Under what basis was Thomas staying at the hall? Was it owned by a friend? Was he renting it? Did he own it?

Bromley Hall, with its manor, was seized by Henry VIII from the Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, in 1531-2 at the first phase of the dissolution of the monastaries and, until 1606, the Crown leased it out to a succession of affluent individuals. The primary lessees frequently sub-let the property. Although the names of many of these lessees are known from before about 1590, the lessee and his tenants from then until 1606 are not. Until this gap in knowledge is filled, it is impossible to establish under what basis Thomas was staying at the Hall.

What is clear is that Thomas was familar with the Bromley Hall area as early as 1598. In that year he was a party to a land transaction involving property called Guyse close to Bromley Hall on the other side of the River Lea. The exact nature of Thomas' involvement is unknown as the original document appears lost (3). Thomas's stepson, Richard Edwards, whom Thomas brought up from about the age of 10, was also familar with the area, owning, via trustees, one quarter part of Bromley manor on his death in 1636 (4).

Of course this familiarity with the area may well just be coincidental, as is certainly the fact that Bromley hall was owned in the 1550s by William Cecil, the father of the man to whom Thomas was writing the letters on 1603. Is it also a coincidence that the hall reverted to the Crown in 1606, the very year in which Thomas gained protection from his creditors 'to endure untill his Ma[jes]ty Shallbe satisfied of such debte as are owing to him by the said Alabaster' (5)?

Regretably, we have inadequate information to decide the nature of Thomas' tenure in 1603 but it is gratifying that an important Tudor building, especially to those of Alabaster descent, will survive into future centuries.

Notes:
1Plague in London: spatial and temporal aspects of mortality, Graham Twigg. http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/epitwig.html
2 '1603', Christopher Lee, 2003. published by Review.
3 Essex Record Office D/DQt/218
4 Will of Richard Edwards, Draper of London, 1636. TNA: PRO: PROB 11/172
5 TNA: PRO: SO 3/3??

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Funeral of Mr James Alabaster, 1892

Forwarded by Shlrley Rowe, who is the great granddaughter of James the Printer, brother of Edward

From the Richmond and Twickenham Times for Saturday November 26 1892

FUNERAL OF MR JAMES ALABASTER
The remains of Mr Alabaster were interred at Richmond Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon last, in the presence of a large concourse of sympathising spectators, assembled to pay the last token of respect to a gentleman who was so much esteemed in this neighbourhood. The first part of the burial service was performed in St Matthias` Church, by Canon Procter and the Rev. T.G. Tylee. Long before the time of the service people dressed in mourning could be seen approaching the church, and the regular tolling of the bell increased the solemnity of the occasion. The time of waiting in the church was spent in mournful silence, only broken now and then by the sound of a passing footfall and the recurring clang of the bell in the steeple above. In the church was a large concourse of mourners, including about one hundred employees of the firm Alabaster and Passmore. Amongst others were Sir Charles Rugge-Price, Councillors Duncan, Simpson and Rickerton, and Messrs Senior, Barkas, Boon, Penn-Lewis, and Hoare. Shortly before three the large doors were opened and the procession entered. Amongst those who followed the choir up the aisle to the foot of the chancel were His Worship the mayor, Aldermen Gascoyne and Piggott, Councillors Billett, Heasler, Chancellor, and Hildritch, and Messrs Trevor and Fowler, besides the family mourners. The coffin, which was of polished oak, handsomely mounted with brass, bore a plate with the inscription:-

JAMES ALABASTER
Entered into rest
November 19th 1892
Aged 66

It was covered with beautful flowers. The service was impressively conducted, and at its close the procession formed again, this time including the employees, and to the strams of the -Dead March- in Saul: left the church. The coffin was placed in the handsome hearse, which was drawn by four horses There were six mouming coaches, into which the mourners entered as follows:-= First coach:- Mr JH Alabaster, Mrs WS Wotton, Mrs TS Clark, and Mr W Alabaster. Second coach:- Mr WS Wootton, Mr TS Clark, Mrs JH Alabaster. Third coach:- Mr Robert Alabaster, Mr Alfred Alabaster, Mr Henry Alabaster, and Mr John Harris. Fourth coach:-. Rev: George Harris, Mr George Moore, Mr Joseph Passmore, and Mr Joseph Passmore, Junior. Fifth coach. - Mr JE Passmore, Rev Mr Charlesworth, and Rev. Mr Hurrall. Sixth coach:- Mr Wootton and Mr CockelL. Proceeding in this order, with the contingent of employees and a number of private carriages behind, the procession moved slowly to the cemetery, where many spectators were waiting. The remainder of the Burial Service was performed at the graveside Some very beautiful wreaths, among them being tributes from the Churchwardens of St Matthias', "From his Nephews", Mr and Mrs Joseph Passmore, "Kate and Walter", Mr and Mrs W Brown, the Employees, the Apprentices, Mr and Mrs Cockell, Mr and Mrs Wootton, Mr Alfred E Passmore, Mrs Harris, "All at Westbourne", "The Servants", "Marian, Julia, Harry and Ellen", "Hls grandchildren", and "His Son and Daughter", who sent a magnificent cross of arum lilies.

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James Alabaster, Pugilist, born 1883

This is James Alabaster, born 1883, grandfather of our Michael William Alabaster

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Wedding of Patricia Anne Payne to Brigadier Martyn William Clark

This wedding took place on September 17th, 2005 at Arborfield, Berkshire,
home of the Corps of R.E.M.E.

Brigadier Clark, a widower, is a descendant of Emma Alabaster. 

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Memorabilia displayed at the Alabaster Gathering, 2008

Some book plates shown by Robbin Churchill

Never let it be said that Alabasters conform
to a stereotype. However, these (left) are the stereotype
plates intended for foil-blocking the cover and spine
of the book of The Alabaster Family 2001
produced by Ron West.
Only the larger plate was used. 

Click to enlarge the certificate
 

Marriage certificate (above) of Alfred Alabaster
and Mary Onions (IIIB), dated
March 6th, 1887,
pictured in later life, right, and their grave in Manor Park Cemetery, below

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Committee Meeting, July 2008

The next important mini gathering was the July visit of the Committee to the garden and house of Angela Alabaster. On these occasions, the Committee sits hard at work in a darkened room, planning out business strategies and enquiring into accounts and incisively evaluating projects. And then they eat.

This year a piece of research by Committee Member Peter Alabaster and his wife suggested a hitherto undocumented use by Alabasters of the famous motto: "NOLI ME TANGERE"

which, as every skoolboy knows, means: "DON`T TRIFLE WITH ME".

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Report of the General Meeting of the Alabaster Society
held at the Eighth Alabaster Gathering, 26th April 2008,
in the Guildroom, Hadleigh

Presented by Laraine Hake, Hon. Secretary

Ron Alabaster West opened the meeting explaining that although we do not have a Chairman of the Alabaster Society, he had, once again, been nominated as the Chairman of the General Meeting. He welcomed those members who were present and asked for any apologies.

Apologies were recorded from Ian Alabaster (WofW) who was unable to attend at the last minute because of illness, Evelyn and Les Oram, Rene Alabaster Healey, Oriole Veldhuis and Beryl Neumann. These members all sent their best wishes for the day. The report of the last General Meeting had been circulated immediately after that event, three years ago in 2005, and as such was taken as read and correct.

Matters Arising from the 2005 General Meeting:
The General Meeting had then unanimously accepted that the committee should have a mandate to raise the level of the subscription at some point in the future if it was considered necessary.

No rise was considered necessary by the committee in 2006, but in 2007 it was found that the outgoings had exceeded our income in the previous financial year so it was decided to increase the subscription to £8 per person from 1st September 2007. A note to this effect was added to the Spring Chronicle 2007.

A decision was made to start a fund towards paying for research at the College of Arms because we were aware that there was the possibility of early Alabaster information regarding the award of arms. We raised sufficient money to have this research carried out by the College of Arms and a report was printed in Chronicle 24. Unfortunately, no new evidence was found but it was very satisfying to know it had been checked!

Editor of the Journal: Sheelagh and Michael Alabaster agreed to step into the breach (breech?) and we have been very grateful for the excellent job that has been done. So far five editions of The Chronicle, the flagship of the Society, have been produced by them.

Website: Once again, an excellent job has been done by Ray. Most of the contacts that have been made to the Society recently have been as a direct result of the work that Ray has done, including several new members, some of whom were at the Gathering. Lastly, it was suggested that the table of memorabilia at the Gathering should be more of a feature in the future, and that it would be of real interest if each contributor was willing to give a two minute description and explanation of what he or she has brought.

Summary of Committee Meetings: I, as Secretary, presented a summary of the Committee Meetings that have taken place since 2005:

In April 2006 Sheelagh Alabaster joined us at the Committee Meeting, as editor of the Alabaster Chronicle. It was decided to treat her as a member of the Committee and put it to the next General Meeting that the editor of the Chronicle should be treated as a Committee member in future.

We discussed the acquisition of William's book - more on this later..........and we decided to hold the 8th Alabaster Gathering in Hadleigh, preferably the Guildhall!

May 2007: The Committee decided to increase the subs, as you have already heard, but in future to have the same level of subs wherever a member lives in the world. The Society received a cheque for £300 for the Alabaster Research Fund from Tony and Sue. This had come from profit that had been made on their book, Hadleigh and the Alabaster Family, which they have generously split between Hadleigh Archives and Alabaster Society. Long term deposit of William's book was discussed - more on this later (again!) The rest of the Committee meeting was used to discuss plans and arrangements for the 8th Alabaster Gathering - by now already under way! It was decided that the next committee meeting would not take place at the Gathering, because members did not want to miss out on the events of the day. We will organize a meeting later this year instead!

Those present at the General Meeting were asked to ratify the Committee's decision to include the editor of the Chronicle on the Committee in future. This was unanimous. We were reminded that Beryl Neumann is our Australian representative and it was suggested that we should also have a representative in North America. Robbin Churchill was asked to become our North American representative and she agreed, despite not knowing what might be involved...............watch this space!

We moved on to the Secretary's Report:  Thank you from me to Sheelagh as Editor of the Chronicle which has been our main point of contact with members and so very important.

Thank you to Ray as webmaster - hard to believe it is only three years since he took on this role, the website is now very much a focal point for those outside of the society to find us - a quick show of hands among those present confirmed that included amongst our number were those who had discovered the Alabaster Society through the website.

Thank you was said to other members of the committee; to Mick (Michael William) for the excellent display panels he has produced for this Gathering, to Tony for his support, research and organization; to Joan (not on the committee) for auditing the accounts, to Peter who organized the committee's visit to Bromley Hall (where Thomas Alabaster wrote letters to William Cecil in the early 17th century), to Shirley for being theTtreasurer, to Angela for producing the badges for this Gathering and for hosting committee meetings.

We are now up to member 205, that is families throughout the world, in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, United States and Canada.

I digressed at this point because it was suggested that not everybody present would know the significance of holding this Gathering in the Guildroom of the Hadleigh Guildhall.

Sue Andrews, a member of the Alabaster Society and one of the Hadleigh Archivists, was called upon to tell us more.
Sue explained that Thomas Alabaster (c1522-1592), n times gt grandfather of all the Alabaster descendants present (11 x gt in my particular case), was responsible with three other members of the Chief Inhabitants of Hadleigh for purchasing the Guildhall, for the town, back from the Crown in 1573. This was specifically the actual part of the Guildhall that we were in today, and the Old Town Hall on the floor above, where we would be eating this evening. The Chief Inhabitants were later compensated by being given the income from the sale of some cut timber from a local area that was charity. The Guildhall was immediately turned into the Workhouse which it remained until 1834.

Treasurer's Report  Shirley Alabaster presented the accounts to us and apologized that they had not been in the previous Chronicle, despite having been emailed to Sheelagh...............they had been lost in cyberspace as does happen on occasion. There were no questions and the accounts were accepted. Shirley did ask that when people paid online they should make especially sure that they included their membership number as there were many people with the same surname!

Shirley was able to tell us the exciting news that an anonymous donation to the Society for £2000 had been received for which we are very, very grateful. A small part of this generous figure, £85, had been spent on the marvelous family tree on the wall behind us - stretching for more than 40 feet in width!

Election of Officers and Committee  The officers of the Society, that is myself as secretary and Shirley Alabaster as treasurer, were re-elected unopposed as were the rest of the existing members of the committee. The meeting also agreed that the committee should have the power to co-opt other members, as seen fit in future.

Any Other Business  Ron reminded everybody that Sue and Andrew's book, Hadleigh and the Alabaster Family, was for sale; John Stammers Alabaster had wonderful lead shields of the Alabaster crest for sale; raffle tickets; jewelry from Alabaster & Wilson could be ordered from Stephen Alabaster; (Stephen said that he had brought along some examples of the jewellery and that a choice of one piece was being offered as a raffle prize..............and later, I WON IT, and chose a lovely Alabaster pendant. Thank you, I wear it often). Ron also referred to the memorabilia table and the wonderful array of items that would be being shown later.

Other items for sale included Alabaster badges and Alabaster binders.

Sheelagh asked that people be careful to use her correct email address and promised that she would always reply quickly to say an email had been received. She asked, specifically for items on today's Gathering to be sent to her for the next edition of the Chronicle.

I reported that I had been contacted by the trustees of the Alabaster Charity for our opinion on the suggestion that the Alabaster Charity should be merged with the Ann Beaumont Charity. We had replied that we understood that this was a sensible idea but stressed that we would like Alabaster to remain in the title.

I also reported that the trustees of the Hadleigh Feoffment Charity had contacted us and offered us a 20% reduction in the cost of hiring the Guildhall today and in the future because it was Thomas Alabaster who had involved in buying it back from the Crown as we heard earlier today. We all agreed that this was a lovely gesture for which we are very grateful.  

Recent developments on our Family Tree

Before we concluded the meeting, I was able to give some feedback on the shape of the tree itself! Firstly, I was able to refer to where, in my opinion, the William of Woodford branch should fit. Having given it some considerable time and thought in the past few months my belief is that it is likely that William Alabaster who called himself "of the parish of Woodford, Essex" at his marriage to Mary Plummer in 1806, was the son of William and Eleanor (nee Scopes) who married in Messing in 1780. William and Eleanor were certainly living in Leyton, Essex in 1788, not far from Woodford. This William, the father, is very likely to have been the son of William born 1754, son of William and Martha Cockrell (Branch I) .................something I hypothesized way back at the very first Gathering in 1990. As William was the eldest son of William and Martha, this puts William of Woodford firmly as the senior member of Branch I,

BUT - and this is where there has been an enormous alteration - it appears that Branch I itself is no longer the senior branch of the Alabaster family tree - this is a fact to which Ron alluded several times during the day, and therein lies a story.  

The Elevation of Branch IV Almost all Alabaster descendants alive today count amongst their ancestors, not only Thomas of Hadleigh (c1522 -1592) but also his son John (1560-1637) who started the Alabaster Charity, his grandson Thomas (married 1623) and his gt grandson John (born1624). It is with the offspring of John that we get the first division of branches, in particular, their two sons, William and John.

John Alabaster = Elizabeth (1624-1700)

William Alabaster = Ann Clarke   John Alabaster = Mary   Branch I, Branch IIA, IIB, Branch IIIA, IIIB Branch IV

William and John were both born in the mid 17th century, probably during the Commonwealth when parish records were not kept and so we have no baptismal dates for either of them. However, in earlier days of Alabaster research, about the time of the first Gathering in 1990, we took William to be the elder and labelled various lines that descended from him as Branches One, Two and Three; the line that descended from John was labeled Branch Four.

It was only when the giant tree was being produced that I had occasion to query this assumption. The printers had "mistakenly" put John as the elder which meant that Branch IV was on the extreme left of the tree. However, this did cause me to look at the evidence a little more closely............

William was married to Ann Clarke in 1682 in Claydon, Suffolk.

We do not have a marriage date for John but, on closer inspection, I realised that his eldest child, John, was baptised in Campsea Ash in 1678...........which rather indicated an earlier marriage.

Then came the deciding realization.................John Alabaster, born 1624, is very, very likely to have followed the normal procedure of the time and named his first son after himself, JOHN.

Thus it was that I realised that the elder of Branch IV was senior to those of Branches I, II and III. William of Woodford's elevation to the senior branch was very short lived. I think it has to be accepted that Branch IV has taken its rightful place on the more senior, left-hand side of the tree!

With this information, the General Meeting of the Alabaster Society, 2008, was brought to a satisfactory (for some!) conclusion!

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More from the Gathering

The Mayor of Hadleigh was gracious enough to visit our triennial family meeting in her official
regalia for the presentation to the Hadleigh Archive of William Alabaster`s book for safe-keeping 

"...thought it was a brilliant day," Julie Summers.

There have been many expressions of appreciation concerning the weekend events, with grateful thanks in particular to our Secretary Laraine Hake for the splendid organisation of the whole weekend.

Worried looks are exchanged as Betty Alabaster West announces her talk on Victorian underwear

Accompanied by her father Matt Alabaster, Sophie spots a spelling mistake in the educational display material

Laraine indicates a correction to the Alabaster family tree

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Return to the first part and Contents list of Alabaster Chronicle No 29
Return to the second part of Alabaster Chronicle No 29