Anglo-Saxon Romsey
The Evidence in the Landscape
Jane Harris/Pescod/St John & her Family
Jane Harris, Baptism - 14 Jan 1706 in Winchester Cathedral, Father Roger Harris, Mother Elizh (or Jane) Harris .
The record of baptisms includes Jane’s siblings: Richard 13 August 1704, John 23 January 1705, and Sophia 29 June 1708.
Richard died on 19 January 1704/5, four days before the birth of his brother John. Another brother named John had died on 6 January 1697. The two are buried in Winchester Cathedral. The burial of another brother Edward is recorded in the cathedral register on May 22nd 1704.
The Harris family name is represented by hedgehogs - hérisson in French.
Harris family graves in the north transept of Winchester Cathedral: top - Richard Harris, father of Roger Harris. Left - Richard son of Richard Harris.
Centre - two infant sons of Roger Harris. Right - Ann and Cecilia Harris, daughters of Richard Harris.
Henry son of Roger Harris was baptised in Winchester at St Peter’s Chesil on the 1st of January 1695.
St Peter’s Church is on Chesil Street on the east side of the Itchen. It is now a theatre.
In his will written in 1714, Jane’s father left bequests to his surviving daughters and sons - apart from his son Henry:
'I Roger Harris of the Close of Winton in the County of Southton (Southampton) do make this my Last Will and Testament & give to my Daughters Mary, Ann, Jane, & Sophia Harris, and to my Sons John and James Harris, to each of them Eight hundred pounds a peice, and my Will is that the respective Legacies given to my said Daughters and Sons shall be paid to them severally and respectively within one Month after they shall severally and respectively attain to the age of Twenty one years or be Married or within one Month after the Death or Marriage of my Executrix herein after mentioned (his wife, Jane) which shall first happen, and my Will is that if either or any of my said Sons or Daughters shall dye before he she or they are Married or he she or have attained to the age of Twenty one years his her or their severall or respective Legacies shall be divided equally between all my surviving Children (Except my Son Henry).'
Roger Harris died three years later in 1717. Jane would have been 10 years old. She was still living in the Close at the time of her marriage to William Pescod in February 1727/8, a month after her 20th birthday.
Jane’s brother Henry Harris left bequests to her and her husband in his will written in 1753, two years before his death:
‘I Henry Harris of Silkstead in the parish of Compton… give and devise to my Brothers in Law Sir John Oglander Baronet (brother of Henry’s wife Frances Oglander), Villiers Chernocke (the husband of his sister Anne) and William Pescod Esquires all that my Capital messuage or Mansion House Lands and Estate called Silkstead in the said parish of Compton being a leasehold Estate held of the Church of Winchester…’.
Henry had taken out a 21-year lease, in 1739, on the manor in Silkstead known as the Farm House. In his will, he requested his executors to renew the lease for the benefit of his wife and sisters. In 1775, Sir Villiers Chernocke, one the executors, leased ‘the new manor house at Silkstead’ for 21 years from the Dean and Chapter of Winchester.
The 1735 map of the Compton manor estate, owned by Sir William Heathcote, includes a small drawing of ‘the Seat of Henry Harris Esq.’ in Silkstead. Near the house is a smaller building, the kennel. A country gentleman required a pack of hounds for the hunt.
The Harris family connection to Silkstead dated back several generations.
This monument to Villiers Chernocke, Baronet and his wife Anne, Jane’s sister, is in the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral. The coat of arms represents the two families, Anne’s half with the Harris hedgehogs.
The inscription reads:
Sacred to the Memory of Sir Villiers Chernocke, Baronet, of Holcot in the county of Bedford, who, for the simplicity of his character, the uprightness of his life, his devotion towards God, and his kindness towards his friends, was most deeply lamented.
He died on 3 June 1779, aged 74 years.
Sacred also to the Memory
of Anne, widow of the above-mentioned Sir Villiers Chernocke, Baronet,
and daughter of the late Roger Harris, Esquire, formerly of Silkstead.
She died on 16 August 1789.
Jane’s sister Sophia Harris never married. The record of her burial in Compton parish church identifies her as the daughter of Roger Harris of Silkstead. He is also buried there in the churchyard - there is no church in Silkstead.
Phoebe Harris of Silkstead in the parish of Compton wrote her will in 1658. She was Roger Harris’ great aunt, the unmarried sister of his grandfather John. She didn’t leave any property, but left money to a number of her relatives. Roger’s father Richard was left a bequest of £100, a very large sum at the time. Two of the sons of Phoebe’s brother Nathaniel, her beloved Godsons and nephews, also received bequests - another Richard and John Harris Esq. of Silkstead, named as the executor of her will.
Jane’s grandfather, Richard Harris
The register of St Swithun upon Kingsgate recorded the birth of Richard Harris son of John Harris on 30 December 1638 and his baptism the following January.
The church of St Swithun upon Kingsgate.
H.S.E.
Here lies Richard Harris, Knight, son of the Reverend John Harris, S.T.P. (Warden of Winchester College).
He cherished his wife with devoted love,
whom he hoped shortly to follow,
happy in a numerous family, and still happier as a father.
Yet he cared no less for the poor than for his own sisters;
by day and by night he found leisure amid his business for those who sought his help.
He always placed others before himself.
Equally a most faithful servant of his King and of his country, he was loaded with honours.
He sought no ambition; he deserved greater things.
He was eminent in piety towards God,
as may even be inferred from this,
that in the last few hours before his death he was present at the public prayers,
commending his soul to God in the very church in which he was about to be buried.
He died on the 12th of August 1698,
in the 60th year of his age.
Jane’s first husband William Pescod
Jane Harris was married to William Pescod in Winchester Cathedral on 8 February, 1727/28
Jane and William Pescod’s son George was baptised on 13 May 1736 in St Maurice's Church.
The burial of William Pescod in Winchester Cathedral, 21 February 1760. In his will he stated:
‘I William Pescod of the City of Winchester in the County of Southampton Esquire Do by this my Will Desire that my Body may be Buried in the Cathedral Church of Winchester with as little Expence and in as private a manner as may be…’.
Here lies
William Pescod, Esquire,
a man distinguished by the gentleness of his character,
and by the nobility of his mind and conduct.
He was Recorder of the city of Winchester,
Steward of this Cathedral Church,
and also of the College near Winchester (Winchester College).
While keeping constant watch over the welfare of them all, he lived usefully for his family, his friends, and the community.
Mourned by everyone, he died
on the 18th day of February 1760,
aged 59 years.
Jane’s second husband Paulet St John
Marriage of Jane Pescod, widow, to Paulet St John in St Maurice’s Church, Winchester in 1761, a year after the death of her first husband.
The next marriage record in St Maurice 's Church was that of William and Jane Pescod’s daughter Jane (1737-1799) to Carew Mildmay (1717-1768) on 12 February 1761. Her mother signed as a witness under her new name of Jane St John.
Only the bell tower at the west end of St Maurice’s Church survives. The rest of the 12th century church was demolished in 1840.
Jane and Carew Mildmay’s daughter Jane was baptised in Twyford parish church on 11 December 1764.
On 27 June 1786 Jane Mildmay, the granddaughter of Jane Pescod/St John, and Henry Paulet St John, the grandson of Paulet St John and step-grandson of Jane Pescod/St John. were married in Twyford parish church. Henry added Mildmay to his surname, becoming Henry Paulet St John-Mildmay.
Lady Jane St John-Mildmay (1764-1857). Lithograph by Richard James Lane after a sketch drawn in 1822 by George Henry Harlow.
This notice of the death of Jane St John appeared in the Hampshire Chronicle on 31 January 1791. She was buried with Paulet St John in the church at Farley Chamberlayne.
In his will, Paulet St John returned the ownership of Abbey House, and all the other properties that his Dear Wife Jane had inherited from her husband William Pescod and her uncle Henry Harris, to Jane and her heirs. Abbey House remained in the Pescod family until 1798. It was sold after Jane and William’s son and heir George Pescod was declared a lunatic.