Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/84

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tio s. XL JAN. 23, im.

Fellow on 3 July, 1716. He bequeathec to John Whistler and Elizabeth his wif certain buildings, orchards, and the capita messuage wherein he was then dwelling at Whitchurch. A mural tablet, in Latin to Walker, his wife, and her son Anthonj Whistler, is on the inner south wall of th chancel of that church.

John Whistler was baptized at Whitchurcl- on 10 Oct., 1719 ; married early in 175J Mrs. H s ; and was buried there on 7 Nov. 1780. His widow Elizabeth was also buriec there on 1 June, 1789, her age being 73.

With the courteous assistance of Canon Trotter, the present Rector, I made a per sonal examination of the church registers and I am indebted to Mr. W. Aldis Wright of Trinity College, Cambridge, for the in- formation in its books on the academica career of Walker. My printed authoritie are Foster, ' Alumni Oxon.' ; Gardiner, 'Wadham College,' i. 314, 349-50; Mac- leane, ' Pembroke College,' 1897, pp. 375-6 ; and Slatter, ' Account of Whitchurch,' pp. 33-5, 119-20. W. P. COURTNEY.

TOOKE AND HALLEY FAMILIES. (See 10 S. viii. 221, 373 ; ix. 386.)

A RESUME of the known facts of Halley family history was published in The Genea- logist, New Series (London), for July, 1908 (vol. xxv. pp. 5-14), and reprinted in pamphlet form with the addition of an abstract of the will of one James Pyke of the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, dated 18 July, 1750, witnessed by John Parry and Thos. Upton (Register Busby, fo. 186).

Some new facts, however, have come to light that seem worth recording in your columns. Mr. R. J. Beevor reports this interesting discovery :

"In the marriage register of the parish of St. Vedast, Foster Lane (published by the Harleian Society), I find Christopher Tooke and Margaret Binder married 10 June, 1652. ' Dinder ' is, no doubt, a transcriber's error for ' Kinder.' "

This item undoubtedly refers to the parents of Mary Tooke who became the wife (1682) of the astronomer Dr. E. Halley. No further information has been found, as yet, touching the office of Auditor of the Ex- chequer said to have been held by Christopher Tooke ( 10 S. ix. 386).

Christopher Tooke is said to be mentioned on p. 28 of N. Salmon's ' History of Hert- fordshire,' 1728.

An English correspondent writes :

" I do not like to think of Humphrey Halley as a tax-gatherer My view is that he was merely the

channel by which this sum was transmitted by the Mayor of Huntingdon to the proper revenue authority in London."

See 10 S. vi. 69 ; ix. 166.

In a ' Memoir of the Life of Peter the Great,' John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1832, p. 93, it is stated that Dr. Halley spoke German fluently when in the company of the Czar (see 9 S. xii. 127), and that he accompanied the Czar on a visit to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park. The little book above mentioned contains a list of authorities. It might, therefore, be possible to discover the original source of the above statements, which have not else- where been found.

The Philosophical Magazine for 1853 con- tains some extracts from the unpublished diary of Reuben Burrow (see 3 S. v. 107), including a copy of the inscription on Halley' s tomb at Lee (' Biog. Brit.,' iv. 2517), with the addition of the death of Mrs. C. Price.

Examination by Mr. Beevor of a bundle of surgeons' certificates, under the initial H, in the Admiralty archives at the Public Record Office, showed that of Surgeon Halley to be missing, for what precise reason cannot easily be determined. His service was between 1732 and 1740 (see 10 S. ii. 88, 224).

A letter from the parish of Portsea indi- cates that there is no official record at Portsmouth of the burial of Surgeon Halley. He may have died at sea, but this appears doubtful.

During May, 1907, Mr. Beevor examined at Mr. Tregaskis's shop in High Holborn a water-colour sketch by Shepherd (fl. c, 1824-42) representing a gateway of brick and stone. On the mount is a pencil state- ment (which " may be very probably is
 * ontemporary with the sketch") to the

effect that the picture represents the former esidence of Dr. Halley at Haggerston, aerhaps the house in which he was born. The Librarian of the Shoreditch Public Liibrary informed Mr. Beevor that the house ' must have been not far from where the
 * anal now runs, as that was the only part

of Haggerston in which there were houses at the period" (1656). See 'Biog. Brit.,' v. 2494.

A series of ' Extracts from British Ar- 'ike, &c.," appeared in The Magazine of History (New York) during 1906 and 1907.
 * hives, on the Families of Haley, Halley,

" Jeremie sonn of Edmond Haylye aptised," 1656, May 18. See ' Registers >f Hartshead Parish Church,' Yorkshire arish Register Society, vol. xvii.