Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/41

 io*s.ii.J.Y9,i9o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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which belonged to Sir T. Phillipps, went? They were dispersed mostly in the eighteenth century and early part of the nineteenth, and gave much chatty information in regard to the families of Barlow of Slebech and of the Summonses. A daughter of the last- named (the famous Emma) married Sir W. Hamilton, and with her husband was buried, it is said, at Slebech.

Also, can the date and place of the marriage of Beatrice Barlow (daughter of Sir John Barlow, of Slebech), to Sir Antony Rudd, Bart., of Aberglasney, Carmarthenshire, be given ? CYMRO.

[The ' D.N.B.' says that Sir William Hamilton was buried at Milford Haven, and Emma at Calais.]

EARLY DRAMA IN CHESTER. I cull the following curious paragraph from Dickson's Dublin Intelligence for 22 September, 1731 :

"We hear by Travellers from Chester, that the Young Comedians who went hence last Season have fallen on the Displeasure of the Gentry there, especially the Ladies whom they affronted by par- ticularizing their favours to the Irish Men in their public bills."

Are there any Chester records extant show- ing who these audacious young comedians were? W. J. LAWRENCE.

Dublin.

WATERTON : WATTON : WATSON. Will some reader versed in heraldry offer some explanation or suggestion regarding the arms of these three families ?

(a) The Watertons of Deeping Waterton (Lines) bear for arms, Barry of six erm. and gu., over all three crescents sa. (Burke's
 * Landed Gentry,' 1898).

(b) A family named Watton ('Visitation of Essex, 1612,' Harleian Society) bore, Barry of six arg. and gu., three crescents ermine.

(c) The family of Watson, spelt Wattson in the pedigree ('Visitation of Kent, 1619,' Harl. Soc.), bore, Barry of six, three crescents erm., two and one ; on a chief gu. two broken tilting-spears in saltire or.

Does the similarity of arms prove that these three families were related to one another ? Has the name Waterton, through Watton, been transformed into Watson ? The lineage of the family of Waterton is given fully by Burke, and it is mentioned that Sir Robert Waterton, at the battle of Ascalon, 1191, took three paynim standards, and that Richard I. granted to him to bear three crescents sable as a fresh charge over his arms, barry of six.

With regard to the Wattons, in the pedi- gree Thomas Watton (described as "servant to Queen Elizabeth, wife of Hen. VII.") has

a son Thomas Watton, alias Watson, of Lon- don, whose son is William Watton, of London and Essex, his son being John Watton. There is much information in the records of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Eliza- beth concerning William Watson, who was Keeper of the Store of Ordnance in the Tower of London. His arms are given by Guillim (edition 1660) as being the same as those of the Kent Watsons (c). He had a son John Watson, who died at Rivenhall, in Essex, 30 Dec., 1583.

It is possible that William and John Watson are the same persons as William and John Watton of family (b).

Are similar arms assigned to families from likeness of name only, and not on account of relationship?

Take the case of the families of Chapman (Per chevron arg. and gu., a crescent counterchanged). Variants of these arms are borne by no fewer than twenty-four families of Chapman mentioned in Burke's ' Armory.'

Can it be that all these families are con- nected by blood with each other ? Perhaps it may not be a pi~opos t but it is interesting to note that Baldwin Wac or Wake bore Barry of six arg. and gu., three hurts in chief (Matt. Paris, 'Chron. Majora'). Of course barry of six is one of the most common of parted coats ; still it is strange when the combination barry of six with three cres- cents appears in three families whose names are so much alike.

CHRISTOPHER WATSON.

Cranfield, Worple Road, Wimbledon.

BENBOW. Can any reader of ' N. & Q. 1 kindly give me any particulars about the descendants of Admiral John Benbpw, born 1650, died 1702, especially those tracing back to Richard, the third son of the admiral ? I have the pedigree, but particulars as to dates, &c., are in some cases wanting.

H. STEWART BENBOW.

481, Green Lane, Birmingham.

LASSA : TRAVELLERS' ACCOUNT. Has Hue and Gabet's narrative of their residence in Lassa, circa 1845, been discredited ? R. S.

LARGEST PRIVATE HOUSE IN ENGLAND. From time to time the newspapers name some mansion as the largest, the third largest, <fec., in England. In the Daily Chronicle of 29 March last Wentwortli Woodhouse, Lord Fitzwilliam's place in Yorkshire, is said to be " the biggest private house in England." Is this actually so ? JAMES HOOPER.

Norwich.