Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/492

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NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s.i. JUNK 17. WIG.

The Oracle of March 19) that they would meet on Wednesday, March 25, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, to receive proposals for the purchase of, and carrying away within a time to be limited, the earth, rubbish, and soil composing Whitechapel Mount. The fact that it consisted of something saleable and that it was not necessary to ask for tenders for its removal confirms my sugges- tion that it was a cinder or dust heap of value, and had it survived another thirty years Mr. Boffin's bower might have been .at Whitechapel instead of Maiden Lane.

The slightly higher levels of the pavement between the New Road and the Hospital are the last traces noticeable to-day.

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

THE COMMON HANGMAN. (See 1 S. xi. 13, 95, 252 ; xii. 293 ; 2 S. xi. 151, 256, 314, 445 ; 4 S. ix. 136 ; 5 S. vi. 26 ; 10 S. viii. 244, 335, .353, 376 ; x. 167 ; 11 S. i. 265 ; ii. 477.) The two following paragraphs from The Public .Advertiser concerning Edward Turlis, who, I believe, was public executioner from May, 1752, until April, 1771, show that his office was no sinecure during the tempestuous period of the Wilkes agitation :

" Turlis, the Common Hangman, was much 'hurt and bruised by the mob throwing stones at the Execution of three Malefactors at Kingston." Wednesday, April 20, 1768.

" On Friday a tradesman, convicted of wilful and corrupt perjury, stood in and upon the Pillory rin High St., South wark, and was severely treated by the Populace. They also pelted Turh's, the .executioner, with stones and brickbats, which cut ! him in the head and face in a terrible manner." Monday, March 6, 1769.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

A BEREAVED PARISH. In his recent visitation-charge the Bishop of Ely described the remarkable position which, early in 1914, the parish of Hundon, in West Suffolk, occupied. It was without a church, without .a vicar, and without a bishop ! The church was burned down; the vicar had died; and the parish had passed from its old diocese of 331y into the newly created one of Ipswich, whereto no bishop had yet been consecrated.

CYRIL.

MORTLAKE : J. E. ANDERSON'S SURREY PRINTS. The late J. Eustace Anderson, author of the ' History of Barnes,' and other work of local and historical interest, has be- queathed his Surrey prints to the parish of Mortlake, leaving it to the Vestry to decide what should be done with the gift. The Vestry has formed a small committee, with power to frame and hang as many of these

pictures as possible, and suggested to this committee that the Trustees of the Wigan Institute, Mortlake, should be asked to give space in that building for as many as they can conveniently hang upon the walls of the great hall and other rooms. The gift was very much appreciated by the Vestry, and the gratitude of the parish has been recorded.

J. A.

(gmrus*

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

WHO WAS RABSEY CROMWELL

ALIAS WILLIAMS ? A RELATIVE OF THE PROTECTOR.

I SHALL be grateful for help in establishing the identity of this lady. Her name does not occur in any Cromwell pedigree known to me, all of the references in Marshall's ' Genealogist's Guide,' in ' N. & Q.,' and in the records of the Heralds' College, &c., having been examined.

She married twice. Her first husband was Philip Morgan of Stanwell, Middlesex, gent, (will pr. 1621, P.C.C.). He owned three parsonages in Pembrokeshire, lands in Stanwell, and a farm and grange called Cannon Moore, near the city of Hereford, which he left to his brother Robert Morgan and the latter' s wife Ellinor. Philip left a daughter Elizabeth, and his widow Rabsey proved his will, wherein she is named executrix.

She married secondly, before 1625, William Smithsby, Esq., Keeper of the Privy Lodg- ings, &c., at Hampton Court from 1628 until he was expelled by Oliver Cromwell. In the Smithsby pedigree at the Heralds' College, dated 1634 and signed by Wm. Smithsby, she is described as "Rabsey, da. of.... iromwell als. Williams of Huntingdonshire." Smithsby and his wife connived at the escape of Charles I. from Hampton Court, and after- wards saved what they could of the King's possessions (see my note at 7 S. xi. 263, 322). Rabsey died in 1659, and her husband in 1660, shortly after his reinstatement as Keeper by Charles II. Wm. Smithsbv's will (pr. 1662, P.C.C.) mentions Rabsey's arst husband. Rabsey had ten children by her second marriage ; the youngest, likewise named Rabsey, born at Hampton, died unmarried, aged 80, and left a will (pr. 1720,