JOHN BRIND 1590-1634

Highworth Parish registers show that John married Katharina Batson in 1615, that she died in 1642 and that they had the following family:

Marie	1616-16
Thomas	1617-49	see next section
Henry	1618-18
John	1619
Ursula	1621-	m Anthony Mifling in 1646
Marie	1623-23
Katharine	1624
William	1627-69	a Glover - married Margarett Waters April 17, 1656
Elizabeth	1628
Richard	1630
Edward	1633-34

In John's will which is attached, it mentions that he is a Yeoman and also his wife Katharine, his son Thomas and six other children. In the Inventory his peers show him as a Husbandman which as a younger son was probabily his correct status. In 1618 in a deposition on the next page he was described as a Cordwinder and keeping a victualling house. The only will left by any of his children is the one by William who became a Glover, it is also attached, he left his copyhold (land held by title written into the Manorial Court Rolls) to a cousin. No information has been found on either John or Richard, perhaps the former fought in the Civil War and was killed or moved away, on the other hand he may have married Mary and had children in 1665, 1667, 1669, 1673 and 1676, but these birth dates are rather late for someone born in 1619, they are not therefore shown at the Annex to this section. It is interesting to note that on the west wall of the south transept of St Michael's Church in Highworth are a helmet and tabard (jacket). They are believed to be part of the funeral regalia presented at the high altar after the interment of Captain Thomas Batson about 1709. The helmet has also been attributed to the Elizabethan period. The south transept once "belonged to" the Batson family, whose coat of arms hangs there. At the time of John's death the population of England was about 5 million and as a result the pressure on available agricultural land had further increased. In North Wiltshire by 1640 three-quarters of the holdings were now under 20 acres in extent, it is therefore possible that John was the last member of the family who worked the land. In the following years the increased demand for food, particularly from the manufacturing areas, led to higher grain prices and to the growth of capitalist farming, a change from simple production for subsistence, which was characteristic of much farming under the common-field system, to production for the 'market'. Considerable extra production was achieved by the introduction of water meadows and later to the enclosures of the common fields.

John also sold ale at his victuailing house: LENTEN RECOGNISANCES, 1620 (WAS Vol XV page 22) EARLY-STUART TRADESMEN Recognisances taken before the JPs at Wootton Basset 14 March 1620. 182. John Brittayne of Highworthe, alehousekeeper. Sureties: Edmund Barchester and John Brynd, both of the same, alehousekeepers. 183. Edmund Barchester of Highworth, alehousekeeper. Sureties: William Sayer, joiner, and John Brinde, alehousekeeper, both of the same.

WILTSHIRE AND SWINDON RECORD OFFICE

ECCLESIASTICAL COURT PAPERS.

BISHOP OF SALISBURY'S COURT.

D1/42/34: Deposition Book July 1618 - March 1618/9 ff. 13bv - 14bv:

[The english reads:]