Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/397

 ,2 s. ix. OCT. 22, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 323 various sorts of Freemasons in the London Port of the eighteenth century), says in his ' Naval History ' that " if the sole command at Cartagena had been in the hands of Admiral Vernon the whole of the Spanish possessions in the West Indies must have been conquered by the British forces." None deny now that Entick's opinion was that of the Port of London, or that most probably the opinion was that of the nation at large. Nor does it appear that Vernon' s popularity suffered any real diminution through the reverses of fortune he ex- perienced whilst acting in "cooperation" with General Wentworth. Admiral Edward Vernon, Admiral of the White, continued in command of the North Sea fleet till Jan. 1, 1746. Then, in Conse- quence of certain disputes with the Board of Admiralty, he was ordered by the Lords Commissioners to strike his flag. This he accordingly did and he was never afterwards employed in His Majesty's service. Sub- mitting to his compulsory retirement with the greatest impatience, he published some arrogant and unaccommodating pamphlets in vindicating his character ; and in one of these he gave offence to King George, and by His Majesty's special command he was actually struck off the list of Admirals on April 11, 1746, and never restored. He died suddenly at his seat at Nacton, in Suffolk, on Oct. 30, 1757, in the seventy- third year of his age, and his memory remained undimmed in the Port of London until obscured by the greater glory of Trafalgar and of another naval hero not guiltless of indiscretions ; and within living recollection taverns and pleasure- gardens, and even Scottish townships, were still named in his honoiir or in testimony of his naval successes and mischances. Me. GLASS -PAINTERS OF YORK. (12 S. viii. 127, 323, 364, 406, 442, 485 ; ix. 21, 61, 103, 163, 204, 245, 268.) WILLIAM PECKITT. WILLIAM PECKITT, born 1731, son of William Peckitt (1691-1776), a glove-maker. FH the churchyard in Davy gate, belonging to St. Helen's Church, Stonegate, is a tomb- stone to the memory of William Peckitt and his wife Anna, parents of the glass- painter. The inscription reads as follows : "Hie jacet Guli Peckitt Obit Aug. 21 1776 Ae. 85. Anna quoque uxor ejus ob. Nov: 22 1787 Ae. 97." Hargrove, in his ' History of York,' 1818, vol. ii., p. 70, states that Peckitt " was born in April, 1731, at Husthwaite," and Davies. ' Walks Through York,' 1880, p. 176, adds the additional information, which he imputes to Hargrove, 1 that he " was the son of a respectable j husbandman " and " was brought up to be a carver and gilder." The name of the glass -painter, however, does not occur in the j registers of the parish of Husthwaite, though ! the old and respected. Yorkshire family i of Peckitt long resident there claim him j as a relation. The mistake has evidently I occurred through confusing the two William i Peckitts, father and son, and through mis- i reading an entry, probably itself defec- i tive, in the registers of St. Helen's Church, painter's daughter Charlotte. The entry is I as follows : Nov. 19, 1770. Charlotte 3rd daughter and i 3rd child of William Peckitt, glass-stainer [? por- ! tion missing from entry or omitted in copying, ! " son of William Peckitt, glove-maker "] late of Husthwaite, near Easingwold, and Ann Hunt his wife who abode in Cumberland Row alias ! New Street. Mother's name, Mary, eldest I daughter of Charles Mitley, carver and gilder of St. Cuthbert's parish by Mary Whitely his I wife. Although when we first hear of him, in 1752, Peckitt was living with his father " next door to the Sandhill in Colliergate," he was closely connected all his life with the parish of St. Martin-cum-Gregory, Mickle- gate. Two of his daughters were buried in the church in 1765 and 1790 respectively, as 5 also later were he himself, his wife and grand- I daughter. In 1752, when he was twenty - one years of age, the Corporation made Peckitt a freeman without payment, he evidently not being entitled to the freedom by patrimony or apprenticeship. The entry in the Freemen's Roll (Surtees Soc.) reads : 1752. William Peckitt, glass-painter and stainer by order gratis, this being the earliest example the writer has come across of a glass-painter describing himself with the additional title of " stainer." Peckitt is also thus described in the entry in the St. Helen's Church registers referred to above, in his will, in the inscription on the window to his memory, and on the tablet recording the death of his wife. The Corporation waived the right of the usual fine demanded in the case of one taking up his freedom by purchase, in con- sequence of the artist having painted and
 * Stonegate, recording the birth of the glass-