Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/394

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL APKIL 27, 1907.

THE PAGE FAMILY AND THEIR MIDDLESEX ESTATES.

THE name of Page is by no means the oldest of Middlesex surnames, but for 500 years it is to be traced in the county records. It was not until the close of the fifteenth century that Pages acquired real estate of any size, and it is in 1499 that we first find a Page holding land in Willesden. At that date the names of John and Richard Page occur in the Feet of Fines as having parted with their holding to William and Mar- garet Page, with a warranty against the Abbot of Westminster. As Willesden chiefly belonged to the Prebendaries of St. Paul's at that date, this indication of the source of the Pages' first introduction to the parish is interesting, for the patronage would be more directlj attributable to Crown influence, the Court being chiefly in the City of Westminster. Indeed, for the first half of the sixteenth century and earlier the kings and the Abbot of Westminster greatly influenced the population of Hendon, Hamp- stead, and some portions of Willesden ; and friends at Court introduced their needy cousins and kindred to the church pro- perties of this neighbourhood as well as others. That the name of Page originated, as many other surnames have done, from the occupation of the original holder there can be little doubt ; but the name is so much more ancient than 1499 that the Pages of that date are unlikely to have been actu- ally pages of the royal family, though one John Page of this family was in the house- hold of Queen Elizabeth.

In 1500 the first will of a Page of Willes- den was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. This testator, William Page, is described as a husbandman of " Our Blessed Lady of Willesdon." He was of sufficient substance to direct that his body should be buried within the parish church, and he mentions for charitable bequests the high altar, St. Katherine's Light, Our Lady of Pity Light, St. Christopher's Light, and the Rood Light, all within the parish church of Willesden. He also bequeathed an altar-cloth to cost 26s. Sd., and left the large sum (for those days) of 101. for the repair of the highway in the parish. He mentions as relatives his wife Margaret, his son John Page, also Henry and Thomas Page, and William Page the younger. In addition to Willesden lands (probably held on lease), he had estate in Surrey and Middlesex, which he left to his wife for life with re- mainder to his son.

Thomas Page of Harrow, in his will proved in 1512 (P.C.C. 8 Fetyplace), mentions his wife Joan and his sons Thomas, Richard, and Henry, and wished his wife to " tary " with liis son Richard in his " house of Sudbury, late Richard Frankyng's house." (This was evidently a member of the well- known Franklin family, long resident in Willesden and the neighbourhood.) Thomas Page also speaks of his house in " Elling " (Baling), formerly " Michell's," which he left to his wife on condition that she tc- cepted this in lieu of dowry. His household goods were distributed equally between his- three sons, and his son Richard Page was the residuary legatee.

Henry Page of Wembley, Middlesex, and of Flitton, Polloxhill, and Flintwick, Beds,, made his will in 1558 (P.C.C. 35 Noodes),, and mentioned John Page as his eldest son' to whom he left his " Manor of Harrow " (otherwise Wembley), also estates at Edg- ware and Hendon, and copyhold called " Mall " in the common fields of Alperton in the parish of Harrow. He left the Bed- fordshire estates to his wife Custance for life, with remainder to his son John Page of Wembley, and made his son William Pa<?e (of Sudbury) an executor of his will, his relatives Richard Webb (of Willesden) and Humphrey Kempe (of Cricklewood, Oxgate, and Hendon) being overseers. He left land at Whitchurch (Stanmore the Less, other- wise Little Stanmore) to William Franklin, and money for the poor of Edgware and for the repair of the highway between London and Harrow. The estate held by this testator is given in more detail in the In- quisition at his death (Inq. Post Mort 3 part 2, 5 & 6 Philip and Mary). The year previous to this the estate held by Richard Page of Hertford is recorded in a similar document ; and perhaps some of this man's property passed down to Pages of Wembley Another Inquisition, recorded in the reign of Henry VIII., gives the Middlesex estates of William Page, who is therein stated to have been an "ideot." In 1544 Richard Page occupied a house and orchard in Willes- den owned by Mychael Roberts of Neasden as appears from the latter's will. The will of this Richard Page was proved the same year (Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's). In Io57 Henry and William Page appear as purchasers of the Manor of Coferers, other- wise Kmgsbury, and premises with site of a watermill, and free fishery in the water of the Brent (otherwise Brayntbridge) in Kingsbury Willesden, and Hendon? from William Whyte the elder and John his son.