Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/515

 128. 1. JUNE 24, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

509

HALES : STEVENS : KENRICK. Can any reader throw further light on the identities of the several persons mentioned in the following notes ?

S. Burn, in his history of Henley-on- Thames, 1861, mentions a Subsidy Roll circa 1550 (162/288 ?) which includes the following :

Anne Hales m ready money in the bonds

of John Stevyns ... ... xxli.

John Stevyns in goqdes ... ... x yj^

Rychard Kenrycke in goodes ... v\]li.

It is thought that Anne Hales might be the wife of Sir James Hales.

From Betham's ' Baronetage,' &c., have the following descent :

Sir James Hales,=r= ?dau. and heiress of

ob. 1555. Thomas Hales

of Henley, Oxon, Esq.

William Hales, succeeded=pElizabeth, dau. of to Tenterden, Kent. Paul Johnson


 * of Fordwich, Kent.

we

Elizabeth Hales Kobert Ken wrick of King's Sutton, Northants.

The John Stevyns above may be the John Stevyns, jun., of Henley in the Subsidy Roll 161/195 of 1524, and son to the John Stevyns mentioned in the same paying subsidy on xli., the last being he who is recorded in the Henley Corporation books as a capital burgess and constable in 1535. He seems to have appeared suddenly at Henley, and nothing more is known of him. The other, the younger John Stevyns, alias Stevens, in his turn calling himself the elder, died in 1568, and in his will mentions a daughter Margaret Kendrecke.

His widow Joane, maiden name unknown, died in 1581, and among her six children given in her will also mentions this daughter Margaret, and John, Grace, Anne, and Elizabeth Kendrecke, probably children of Margaret, though not described as such.

Nothing is known of their subsequent history. From the rarity of the name at that time in the South of England, and the proximity of Henley to Reading, there is the possibility of a connexion between the families of the two towns and those named in the above notes a connexion extending to the Ken wricks of King's Sutton, Northants.

The John Stevyns who died 1568 had a great-grandson Richard Stevens, who lived for a time at Cottisford, Oxon. He was amongst those disclaimed in the Oxfordshire Visitation, 1634 Harleian MS. 1557, in the Society's publication of the Visitations,

vol. v. ; but there it is noted of him : " Cons., Entred at Thame, and to perfect at London." The Heralds' College have no record of this incident.

In the long roll of arms, the new series of The Genealogist, vol. xxvii., quotes the fol- lowing from Harleian MS. 5869 :

"To Mr. Richard Stephens at the Saracen's Head by the Mercers' Chapel, 1634: Per chev. az. and arg., in chief two falcons rising or. Crest : a demi-eagle displayed or, wings sa."

These are a little different from the arms granted in 1694 to Richard Stevens of Cottis- ford's great - nephew, Serjeant Stevens of Culham Court, Berks : Party per chev. vert and arg., in chief two falcons or, jessed and belled of the second. Crest : on a wreath a demi-falcon displayed or. Cf. those of Stevens of Minsterly, Salop, and of Tregony, Cornwall. See Transactions Salop Arch. Soc., vol. vi.

There was a Thomas Stevens, arm., M.P. for Ludlow, 1477.

The arms of the Salopian Stevenses are almost identical with those of the Gloucester- shire Stevenses. C. Ellis Stevens published privately a pedigree of these at New York in 1904, but I have seen no critique of its pretensions by an able genealogist.

Has any family claimed the Richard Stephens of The Genealogist's roll of arms, or is there a possibility of his being the same as the Richard Stevens of Cottisford ?

Lastly, is there any possibility of the John Stevyns, constable of Henley 1535, being connected with the Salopian Stevens family ?

HENRY J. H. STEVENS, Lieut. R.E.

The White House, Eynsham, Oxon.

FACT OB FANCY? 1. That an English- man's house is his castle. How much legal justification is there for this saying especially since the additions to the statutes during the last decade ?

2. Gravel v. clay. It is very generally said that a gravel soil is more healthy to live on than a clay one. Are there any sub- stantial reasons for this especially bearing in mind modern building regulations ?

3. Church bells and rheumatism. Is it still believed (and if so, where) that grease ( ? applied externally) from a church bell is a cure for rheumatism ?

4. Horse's eyes. I have heard the state- ment that a horse's eyes magnify the objects seen ; that thereby a man appears as a giant to a horse, whence it comes to pass that a man can dominate a horse. The theory