The Alabaster Chronicles
Copies of all past issues are now available for sale
They can be obtained by post from the Hon. Sec. Laraine Hake, price £1.50 each, post paid to UK addresses, and
£2.00 each post paid overseas (sterling).
Laraine Hake, Tollgate Cottage, The Turnpike, Bunwell, NORWICH NR16 1SR
Apparatvs in Revelationem Iesv Christi
William Alabaster Book is now on CD 
Laraine Hake writes:
I am sure you will remember the event
of 2006 when we, The Alabaster
Society, won at auction a first edition of
William Alabaster's book Apparatus in
Revelationem Jesu Christi published in
1607 --------yes, 1607 !!!
This was only possible through the
generosity of our members: thank you
to all who contributed.
Now that we have the book, we want to
be able to share it. Accordingly, Tony
Springall has produced a CD which
contains a facsimile of the book -- that
is every page has been photographed
and can be seen clearly using Acrobat
Reader.
I have today posted a copy of this CD to
every one of you who so kindly
contributed towards the cost of the book
over those exciting couple of days last
January!
Please let me know when they arrive and, most importantly, let me know if it does not arrive.
It is likely that the CD will be of interest to scholars and others outside of the Alabaster family, so we are going to
make it available for sale. However, in the meantime, if there is anybody who would like to buy his or her own copy,
members of Alabaster Society can buy it for £5 + p&p. Having been to the post office today, I can stipulate that that
will be £6 in UK and £7 out of UK (by air mail). We will put this offer in the next Chronicle too, of course, for those
unable to read this.
Alabaster Society members will have priority in receiving copies of the CD. Non-members should enquire of the Hon.
Sec. through the Contact us page, or, of course, they could join!
Books:
Hadleigh and the Alabaster Family:
the Story of a Suffolk Town
during the Tudor and Stuart periods
by Sue Andrews and Tony Springall
During the Tudor and Stuart periods, the town of Hadleigh was at its zenith: at the same time, an extraordinary and
influential family lived there. The extended Alabaster family included: 
- The uncle - Nicholas Shaxton, former Bishop of
Salisbury, curate at Hadleigh (1540-1544), failed
martyr and, eventually, suffragan Bishop of Ely.
- The founding father of the Hadleigh dynasty,
Thomas Alabaster, became wealthy in the
woollen-cloth industry and a 'Chief Inhabitant' of the
town.
- The elder son - Thomas Alabaster, a London
merchant and first accountant of the East India
Company, traded in Spain where he was involved in
spying and smuggling. Following protection by the
Crown for much of the last two decades of his life,
he ended his days as an outlaw.
- The son-in-law, Cambridge academic John Still, was
Rector of Hadleigh (1571-1592), and later Bishop of
Bath and Wells.
- The founder's younger brother - Roger Alabaster.
He married into the Puritan Winthrop family of
Groton, became involved in their exploits in Ireland
and was uncle to one of the founding fathers of the
United States of America.
- The cleric son of Roger, William Alabaster, raided
Cadiz with the Earl of Essex, became a poet, and
then a Catholic for which he was imprisoned, but
escaped to Rome and eventually found favour with
King James I.
- The founder's younger son - John Alabaster took
over his father's business as a clothier, and held
office as Hadleigh's second Mayor, founding the town's first elementary school.
- The later generations - grandsons John and Thomas both served as Mayor, but the early death of a
great-grandson caused much of the family's wealth to be dispersed.
The history of Hadleigh at this time provides an opportunity to explore the structures, problems and aspirations of a
prosperous early modern town. Through the eyes of the Alabaster family we see kinship ties, property ownership,
inheritance and the domination of town government by an elite oligarchy. We meet protagonists at the time of the
Reformation and the beloved rector who was martyred on Aldham Common. In contrast, one hundred years later, an
unpopular rector was dismissed for sexual offences. Making an appearance are the sexton, the master of the
workhouse, miscreants before the Peace Sessions and at the Dean's Court nicknamed 'the bawdy court`. However,
this is not an all-male story as tales of local characters like Susanna Kemp, innkeeper at the King's Arms in Benton
Street, Ellen Hammond, inmate at the almshouses, and benefactress Alice Humphreys, are also told. Aspects of daily
life, both good and bad are featured: misbehaviour in church, punishments on market day and over indulgence in
illegal tippling houses; poor pay in the cloth trade, periods of dearth, visitations of plague and the making of wills.
Original research has been undertaken at:
- The National Archive - Public Record Office
- County Record Offices of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Wiltshire
- Hadleigh Archive
- other specialist archives and libraries
The following surnames are cited on at least 5 pages of the book:-
Alabaster, Appleton
Bankes, Barnes, Barrell, Beaumont, Blewitt, Bourchier, Britten, Brond / Bronde, Brownsmith, Buckenham, Bull
Calton, Cecil, Clerke, Coleman, Cook / Cooke, Cooper, Cottesford, Cranmer, Cromwell,
Davye, Dorrington, Doyley, Dratsab
Edwardes, Eldred
Flood / Fludd, Forth, Fowler, Foxe, Freeman, Fuller
Gaell, Gardiner, Gates, Gilbert, Glanfield, Goad, Goodall, Gosslen
Halman, Hamond, Harrison, Hubbard, Hudson, Humphrey, Hunlock
Jones
Kirke
Latimer, Lawrence, Locke
Mansell, Martin, Moyse
Overall
Parker, Parkins, Parsons, Persons, Pincheon, Pollerne, Pykenham
Raven, Reason, Richardson, Rolfe
Scarlett, Shaxton, Smith, Still, Strutt
Taylor, Turner, Tyther
Upcher
Vesey / Veysey
Warren, Wellam, Whiting, Winthrop, Wright.
This 384 page illustrated hardback book is available at £14.99 (+ £5.00 p&p in UK) from:
The Federation of Family History Societies' sales website: http://www.genfair.co.uk/supplier.php?sid=7
or from: Sue Andrews, 17 Manor Rd, Bildeston, Suffolk, IP7 7BG
Purchasers overseas without a sterling account are likely to find it most convenient to buy through Genfair, and avoid
costly money conversion and transmission charges.
Profits from sales are shared between The Alabaster Society and the Hadleigh Archive. |
