Friday, July 18, 2008

Question from Jill - Martha Tyrwhitt

During my research I found a Martha Tyrwhitt daughter of William married to Edmond Colles of Leigh, Worcestershire, I think Edmond would have been born about 1580/90 so which William is Martha's father?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The question is a bit unclear, since you name only one William Tyrwhitt and do not give his dates of birth and death. Shall we assume that you found multiple William Tyrwhitts? (I'm sure there were many in the 16th century!)

I find an Edmund Colles of Leigh Court who represented Worcestershire in the Parliament of 1597. That Edmond Colles entered what we would today call law school at the Inner Temple in 1553, so he was born long before 1580 ... probably about 1535. And he was never married to a daughter of the Tyrwhitt line. He did have a grandson also named Edmund who, given the grandfather's age, could conceivably have been born sometime between 1580 and 1590, but I do not find any other details about this younger Edmund.

A thorough search of TudorPlace.com.ar, which is usually (but not always) fairly accurate, reveals only one Martha Tyrwhitt, but she is recorded to have married a William Elwes. There are several William Tyrwhitts listed on that site, but unfortunately those living in the mid-16th century do not have wives or children listed. No Edmund Colles is listed on TudorPlace, whether in connection with the Tyrwhitts or individually.

There is no Martha Tyrwhitt, William Tyrwhitt, or Edmund Colles listed in the online version of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, so that source was not helpful in answering your question.

I am left at a loss in the absence of further information from you.

Lara said...

I'm afraid my copy of "Wives and Daughters" didn't help any either. It's usually helpful for getting a clue for another path to research, but no luck this time.