The Coulby Memorials

COULBY MEMORIALS
FROM THE CHURCH OF KIRTON-IN-HOLLAND

1. Near this place lyeth Dixon Colby M.D., he died
21 November 1756 aged 77 and likewise Elizabeth
his wife she died 21 October 1739 aged 59

2. M(emoriale) S(itu) Site of Tomb
Pickering Colby, Gentleman, and Mary his wife
A man who adorned his life not with years or
letters but with piety and blameless character
and fatherly affection

She died 5 October 1682 He died 29 March 1695
Near this place is Anna Dixon, Mother of Mary Colby,
descended from the stock of the Harringtons
She departed this life 22 October 1700

In this place lies Dixon Colby, only son of
Dixon Colby M.D., of Stamford, grandson of
Pickering Colby, who graced his youth in all its
wretchedly short span with modesty and probity,
cut off in Oxford while most eagerly perfecting
his studies of Letters by illness, he quietly and
patiently endured its lamentable course to the
end of life. Alas at last extinguished by
untimely death.
He died 14 December 1733 aged 22

THE COLBY MEMORIALS AT KIRTON-IN-HOLLAND

One of the volumes published by the Lincoln Record Society is entitled “LINCOLNSHIRE CHURCH NOTES”. I believe that I first saw this book in 1979 whilst on my annual visit to the Lincoln Archives Office. The index mentioned two Colby’s, one named ‘Pickering’ and the other named ‘Dixon’, as having memorials within the parish church of Kirton-in-Holland. I turned to the relevant pages and what I read there convinced me that these Colby’s could not, by any stretch of the imagination, have had any links with my ‘Ag. lab.’, and poverty-stricken line. I had only just begun my search for my forbears, and nothing I had seen up till then could suggest a connection with the sort of position and wealth that the Colby’s at Kirton quite obviously possessed. However, following my rule of making a note of all such mentions no matter how improbable, I did so and promptly relegated the whole matter to my ‘low priority’ file! It was to be the discovery of several more ‘Dixon’ Colby’s, all with links to my main line, that convinced me that the Kirton-in-Holland ‘Dixon’ Colby must indeed have been related also. Later, the Tallent’s Deposits catalogue at the Lincoln Archives Office led me to discover a host of legal documents pertaining to the financial affairs of these Colby’s of Kirton, and in particular, to the will of Dr. Dixon Colby, son of Pickering Colby. Having been deemed to rate such a low priority in 1979, they had, in the space of just three years, assumed the highest possible significance.
Readers of this article must, I feel, be given a fuller account of the kinship between my own main line of descent and that of these Colby’s of Kirton. A simple main-line pedigree chart ought to explain my interest in these Colby’s who were laid to rest in Kirton church and why it is that Dr. Dixon Colby (G) in particular can rightly be said to have influenced the lives and fortunes of my own branch of the family right up to the present day!

A. William COLBY
bd. Westborough
Will 1547 = Cicely (?)
bd. Westborough
Will 1573

B. John COLBY
bd. Westborough
Will 1557 = Isabel (?)
bd. Westborough
1557

C. William COLBY
bd. Westborough
Will 1616 = Ellen CODDINGTON
bd. Westborough
1641

D. William COLBY
bt. Westborough
bd. Fulbeck 1655 = Elizabeth BURBUT
bd. Fulbeck
1652

E. William COLBY
bd. Westborough
1647 = Joyce PICKERING
d. c. 1653

F. Pickering COLBY
bd. Kirton-in-
Holland 1695 = Mary DIXON
bd. Kirton-in
Holland 1682 J. William COLBY
bd. Claypole
1703 = Joan ROBINSON
bd. Claypole
1708

G. Dixon COLBY
bd. Kirton-in-
Holland 1756 = Elizabeth (?)
bd. Kirton-in
Holland 1739 K. William COLBY
bd. Claypole
1703 = Mary LEE
bd. Claypole
1739

H. Dixon COLBY
bd. Kirton-in-
Holland 1733 L. Dixyne COLBY
bd .Westborough
1777 = Mary JACKSON
bd .Westborough
1768

(This is my own line which reaches me after another six generations.)

It is my great good fortune that my ancestors, on both main as well as branch lines, have left many wills. These wills by naming spouses, children, other relatives and friends, have enabled us to construct a pedigree which reaches back into the early 1500’s. It is clear that the family lived at the village of Westborough for the best part of three centuries and that they were local landowners there right up to the middle of the eighteenth century. William, COLBY (A), who heads my family tree, says in his will of 15 “...I bequethe to John my sonne all my landes bothe heretage and purchese...”. I can only but conjecture that these inherited lands might well have been in the ownership of the Colby family either from the early 1500’s or possibly much earlier even than that.

In order to prove and justify an assertion that I shall set forth at the end of this first part of my article, it will be necessary to quote from the wills of each successive inheritor of these Colby lands in Westborough.

John COLBY (B) says in his will of 1556/7, “..I will and gyve to Robert my yonger sone all my lands and tenements that I have in Dodington....etc.,”. Although he only mentions William COLBY (C), his elder son as a legatee to receive “all my goods unbequeathed”, to be shared with Isabel his mother and Robert his brother, yet this William COLBY (C) in his will of 1616 says, “...I give unto William my sonne all my land in Westborow to him and his heirs male for ever...” It would seem therefore that William COLBY (C) got the lands in Westborough, whilst his younger brother received the lands in Doddington.

How this came about isn’t clear, but the possession of lands would give their owner a certain social standing and this is something that William COLBY (C) certainly had. His second son Christopher was married to Anne Thorold, sister to the future Sir William Thorold, Bart., a family who provided many occupiers of the office of High Sheriff of Lincoinshire. William COLBY (C) was Churchwarden of Westborough in the year 1577 and was chief Constable of the Wapentake of Loveden in 1616, the year of his death.

William COLBY (D) despite his owning lands in Westborough, moved to Fulbeck after his marriage, all his children were born there and both he and his wife are buried there. When his sons William (E) Edward and Lyon were old enough, they all left home and, supported at least to start with finance from their father, became wealthy men each on his own endeavours. Edward went to Holme, in the parish of North Muskham, Notts., where he settled. In his will of 1653, he devised to his wife and son, lands in Flolme, Fulbeck and Westborough. Lyon COLBY, probably the most successful of these brothers, went to London to set up as a vintner. We find him described in Boyd’s “Citizens of London” as a “Citizen and Vintner”. That he became very wealthy is manifest in his will of 1650. For the purposes of this assertion I’ve made regarding the continuity of inheritance by the COLBY family of the Westborough lands, I shall omit other details of Lyon’s will and quote only that part relevant to the development of my thesis; viz., “I doe hereby make my welbeloved and only brother Edward COLBY of Holme in the County of Nottingham Gentleman my sole and only Executor of this my last will and testament to whom I give all my houses Lands Leases Rents Charges Anuities tenements goods Cattells Chattells and debts bonds bills and all other things whatsoever of what nature or kinde soever hereby not formerly given .....etc.”. This was how Edward received those lands in Fulbeck and Westborough and then willed them to his son Edward. William COLBY (E), had died in 1647 leaving very young children Pickering COLBY (F) who was just 5 years old and William COLBY (J), who was born after the death of his father. Pickering COLBY’s mother, Joyce, died when the boy was just 11 years old and it would seem likely that he was then brought up by his mother’s brother Lawrence Pickering who lived at Swineshead or by his father’s cousin William COLBY who lived near Kirton-in-Holland. However, Pickering is described in a legal document drawn up just prior to his marriage, as being “of Westborough”. The marriage took place in 1677. In 1682, in another document, he is “of Kirton-in-Holland", and finally “of Frampton” in a Court Leet and Court Baron meeting’s minutes in September 1867. His only child, Dixon COLBY (G) must have been born and been baptised in Kirton. We haven’t been able to find Dixon’s baptism anywhere, but from the “Alumni Oxoniensis” (1500 to 1714) we find the following details:

COLBY, Dixon; a. Pickering of Kirton, co., Lincoln, Gent.;
MERTON COLL., matric. 15 Oct. 1696 aged 16; B.A., 1700;
M.A. 1703; B. & M.D., 17 Mar. 1709/10. (as COLEBY)

This makes his year of birth 1680 or thereabouts. The theory that the birth or the baptism took place in Kirton is strengthened when one looks for an explanation as to why Dixon had a vault made for the family burials in the floor of the chancel of Kirton Church; that he had the two memorials placed there (one over the vault and one on the south wall of the chancel); and that he left a legacy of Thirty Pounds to the Vicar and Churchwardens of the church - fifteen pounds “..to be distributed by them amongst the Poor of the said Parish.. ....... in such manner as the Vicar and Churchwardens or the major part of them shall direct to be distributed on the ffeast of Saint Thomas next after the said Legacy shall be paid unto their hands and the other fifteen Pounds to be paid out by them in the purchase of Plate for the Communion Service...” All this in spite of the fact that Dr. Dixon COLBY, nor any of his family lived in Kirton from the time he left Oxford in 1610 to become a Doctor in Saint Martin’s Stamford Baron. Dixon COLBY (H) Dr. Dixon’s only child also went to Oxford:

COLEBY, Dixon, s. Dixon of St. Martin’s, Stamford, Co., Lincoln, doctor;
LINCOLN COLL.; matric., 19 Mar., 1729/ 30, aged 17.

Young Dixon, sadly for his father, died before reaching his 23rd birthday, Dr. Dixon’s wife Elizabeth dying some six years later at the age of 59 years. It was in 1756 that Dr. Dixon COLBY died, aged 77. His very long will with codicil marks the end of the era of COLBY land-owning in Westborough, for without heirs of his own, he makes a Mary Dobbs, possibly a relative on Dr. Dixon’s mother’s side, the principal legatee. Very generous gifts are made to a host of people unconnected with the COLBY family, and to raise the money for these, Dr. Dixon orders that all the Westborough lands, except an oxgang (an eighth part of a ploughed area) from a part of a field be given to his second cousin Dixyne COLBY (L), and a tenement given to his other second cousin William. I believe, that with the advice of his lawyers - Tallents of Newark - Dr. Dixon was able to legally break the entail (settlement of succession of landed estate whereby it cannot be bequeathed or sold, but passes from father to son on the principle of primogeniture. In the event of there being no heirs the lands would revert to the grantor or his heirs. This would have meant that in this case, the brothers Dixyne and William, the second cousins of Dr. Dixon COLBY, should have inherited the Westborough lands; the estates at West Ashby which Pickering COLBY had received as a marriage settlement did not fall into this category.

No entail would have been established since there were no heirs, and his branch line died out with the passing of Dr. Dixon.

The Westborough Parish map showing the Enclosure award for 1771, just 16 years after Dr. Dixon’s death, reveals that except for two tiny plots held by William Colby, brother of Dixyne, there are no other COLBY possessions in Westborough. However, Thomas Heron, who bought up the COLBY lands is shown as being the largest landowner by far on that map. I cannot help feeling that as Mr. Heron was acting in the capacity of adviser or in fact as a solicitor perhaps for Dr. Dixon, he should not have been party to the sale of these lands in the first place. However that may be, I think you can understand the importance that Dr. Dixon COLBY has in this story, and why it is I wanted to restore those memorials

The first instalment dealt mainly with the family history aspect of my undertaking:

In this passage I shall try to set out the details of the practical measures that were a feature, and necessary adjunct, of this rather unusual genealogical venture.

It all began, as I have said earlier, with my discovery at the Lincoln Archives Office, of COLBY names in the LINCOLN RECORD S0CIEfl Volume No. 31, entitled “Lincolnshire Church Notes.” I believe that all those of you with Lincolnshire ‘roots’ should be apprised of the genealogical usefulness of this work. The ‘Notes’ had been collected by William John Monson - subsequently Sixth Lord Monson of Burton — a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries by the age of twenty two, his father being the famous antiquarian Edmund Larken, and his brother-in-law being Arthur Staunton Larken, Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms and later Richmond Herald. In the exercise of his hobby, interpreting and evaluating his ‘Notes’, W.J. Monson was greatly helped by the practical skills as well as the actual physical assistance of his two distinguished in-laws. What a pedigree for L.R.S., Vol. 311 The ‘Notes’ were made during the years 1828 to 1840. In them Monson has described each church - in all, two hundred and twenty seven parishes were visited — and all the memorials within them. He has given the full text of the inscriptions on each memorial that he saw. As if to go one better, our county has an even earlier set of “Lincolnshire Church Notes”, made by Gervase Holles during the years 1634 to 1642. Holles’ notes, edited by the late Canon R.E.G. Cole in 1911 forms the first volume of the L.R.S. series, the contents of which I have yet to see. W.J. Monson’s notes were edited by his grandson, John, Ninth Lord Monson, F.S.A., and printed for the L.R.S. in 1936. The great value of both Holles’ and Monson’s ‘Notes’ is that they constitute the only records of memorials and monuments which have since, for one reason or another, completely disappeared (or have become illegible from within our Lincolnshire churches.

There is so much of interest for everybody, whether or not they find their family name included in the Index to Vol. 31, that I would refer you to the splendid Introduction written by John, Ninth Lord Monson. It is a most engaging genealogical treatise as it stands, and the author has found much to amuse and delight us from his study of the inscriptions that his grandfather so carefully recorded.

In setting down the extract from L.R.S., Vol. 31, I wish to serve two purposes — the first is to acquaint readers with the style and content of the contents of the volume, and the second is to show you the ‘notes’ referring to the Kirton-in-Holland parish church in which the COLBY entries are recorded:

KIRTON-IN-HOLLAND
Notes taken in the church of Kirton, 4 August 1834 - This is a very beautiful church. It consists of a nave divided from its aisles by six lofty pointed arches and pillars, a chancel, and a tower at the west end, with a south porch. It has once been larger, having two transepts and the tower at the intersection; but in 1820 they were pulled down, and the tower rebuilt at the west end.

The font is octagon, handsome, pannelled with shields in niches, having this inscription on the basement stone in the old character

“Orate pro anima Alani Burton qui hanc fontem lien
fecit A.D. MCCCCV.”

The altar piece is a painting of the Adoration of’ the Magi, but is by no means excellent. On a pew in the nave on the south side are these arms - ……, a bend of three mascles……….; A demy swan (?Browne).
(After describing one or two other monuments and giving the text of their inscriptions Monson gives the particulars of the two COLBY memorials)

The two COLBY memorials are described as follows:—

1. A white marble tablet against the south wall of the chancel with these arms below — Azure, a chevron between three escallops, within a bordure all or (Colby):

2. A large stone more to the west (of “a blue flat stone in the floor of the chancel partly hidden by a pew”) with this inscription in italics:

(N.B. ** Here ‘ille’ and ‘illa’ have been interchanged. It was ‘she’, Mary, died on the 5th day of October 1682; and it was ‘he’, Pickering Colby, died 29th day of March 1695. This is correctly stated on the inscription, but has been incorrectly taken down by the recorder. Monson himself was a very careful note-taker. However, he sometimes had to rely on other people for this task, and this apparently applied especially to churches in Holland - where Kirton is!

I have taken the liberty to correct this mistake in the translation which follows.

The vertical lines drawn between groups of words were inserted by Monson to indicate the ends of each line of the inscription as seen on the memorial itself.)
TRANSLATION:

As 1. Above needs very little in the way of translation, I shall just say that ‘aetat. suae’ can be ‘his age’ or ‘her age’. I should merely put the word ‘aged’ in their place and for ‘obt ‘ it would be ‘he died’ or ‘she died’ as the case may be.

2.(”M.S.”= Memoriale Situ)
“Site of Tomb. Pickering Colby, gentleman, and Mary, his wife. A man who adorned his life, not with years or letters, but with piety, blameless character and fatherly affection.
She died the 5th day He died the 29th day of October 1682 of March 1695.
Near this place is Anna Dixon, mother of Mary Colby, descended from the stock of the Harrington family. She departed this life on the 22nd day of October 1700.

In this place lies Dixon Colby, only son of Dixon Colby M.D., of Stamford, grandson of Pickering Colby, who graced his youth in all its wretchedly short span, with modesty and probity, cut off by illness whilst most earnestly perfecting his studies of Letters in Oxford. He quietly and patiently endured the malady’s course to the end. Alas, a life extinguished by untimely death.
He died the 14th day of December, A.D. 1733, aged 22.”

The Shield: Blue with a chevron between three gold shellfish

Once it had been established that Pickering and Dixon COLBY were indeed ‘family’- the former is my 8x great-uncle and the latter my first cousin 7x removed - there was no question but that I should visit Kirton at the earliest opportunity to see these two memorials. It was just as well that Monson had recorded the position of each memorial within the church, for without this information I might have come away from Kirton thinking that the COLBY memorials had, in the course of time, been removed front the church. A hundred and fifty years had elapsed since Monson had found little difficulty in copying the inscriptions on these memorials - already some eighty or so years old at the time! The effects of air pollution together with the growth of natural mould had resulted in the effacement of the inscription on the marble wall-tablet, whilst the wear on the ledger-slab caused by the passage of thousands of feet must have been the prime cause of the severe loss of definition of the letters of the inscription.

In the state that they were in, these monuments, with their barely legible inscriptions, were neither memorials to my ancestors nor yet a joy to behold. I found that I was emotionally stirred to see them in such a sorry state and immediately resolved to try to see whether it would be possible to reinstate them in such a way as to make sense of their being in that beautiful church. I am certain that nobody today in the parish of Kirton would have had the remotest knowledge of the people to whom these memorials referred and this would have been the case even if the full text of the inscriptions on the memorials had been legible. The COLBY’s had lived there only briefly. The neighbouring village of Frampton was where they had lived for several years. So the family’s attachment to Kirton was evidently a strong one, for all of them - Pickering, his wife Mary, and his wife’s mother Anne Dixon; Dixon COLBY senior, his wife Elizabeth and their son Dixon COLBY, -are buried in Kirton parish church. Dr. Dixon COLBY was living at Stamford when he died, and his son Dixon was either in Oxford or in Stamford when he died. Yet their bodies were carried back to Kirton for burial. I suppose that I shall never be able to discover why this was so.

So why was it that I had made such an instantaneous resolve to restore these memorials? Primarily, I must acknowledge, it was largely due to an inbuilt obsession with orderliness — and these memorials were in a mess! Almost as important was the consideration that here was tangible and lasting genealogical testimony to ancestors whose actions had had such a profound bearing on the sub sequent history of the family.

The decision having been made, the question was how was I to go about the business of restoration? The logical first step was to contact the incumbent to ask whether such a course was permissible and if so, how was one to proceed to the next step of getting the work put in hand.

It was my great good fortune that the Vicar, Rev. Peter Hodgson, the Church Wardens Messrs. Alex Darwood and Derek Beaumont, and the Parochial Church Council all proved to be consistently helpful and showed me the greatest of kindness throughout the two years that it took to complete the project started in late 1982. ’Why so long?’, you might well be asking. Well, it wasn’t just a simple matter of finding a person who could carry out the job and then letting him get on with it after first obtaining the permission of the Vicar and the parochial Church Council. There were others whose permission had to be sought and yet others whose advice regarding the methods of cleaning and lettering had to be adhered to. For me to enter into details of all the transactions and the ups and downs connected with this enterprise would be superfluous to the purely genealogical purpose of this article. I shall therefore merely outline each component and add a brief description of the constituent elements and their separate functions.

A. From whom Consent to my proposal, Agreement with Architects’ plans of work and ultimate Approval of the outcome were needed:
The Vicar - The Rev. P.R. Hodgson, B.A., incumbent of the nine hundred year old Church of Saints Peter and Paul, the Parish Church of Kirton-in- Holland, Lincolnshire.
The Parochial Church Council.
B. Through which committee all such proposals, agreements as to working methods, plans, and final approvals had to pass for the starting, duration and final inspection of the completed work:
The Archdeacon of Lincoln.
The Diocesan Advisory Committee.
C. The Architectural Consultants and Overseers of the work, giving their advice as to methods and materials used in the cleaning, preparation of the surfaces ( and stone), lettering and finishing required:
Mr. Robert Read, of ‘Bond & Read, Architects’, Grantham, responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all the churches of the circuit in which Kirton lies.
Mr. John Smith, Architectural Adviser to the Diocesan Advisory Committee.
D. For Approval of all the preceding items:
The Mercers’ Company - Lay Rectors, and Patrons of the church at Kirton since the year 1616.
E. The Sculptor: Mr. Beauford D. Linley, of Boothby Pagnell, commissioned by me to carry out the work of restoring the memorials on the recommendation of Mr. Robert Read, and working to the instructions of the two Architects.
F. Correspondents and practical Assistants with the work at the church:
Mr. Alex Darwood Churchwarden
Mr. Derek Beaumont Churchwarden
Mr. Donald Flatters - Verger
G. Genealogical Adviser:
Mrs. Eirlys Spawton of Newark.
H. Photographer:
Mr. Peter Spawton of Newark.

From the summary above, the reader will recognise that quite apart from the actual work to restore the memorials, there was an abundance of correspondence generated as a result of my ‘modest’ proposal! A great number of people became involved, and even more - the parishioners of Kirton accorded the project an interest which developed into an awareness of the condition of other memorials within the church. One parishioner indeed, commissioned the restoration of a memorial on the chancel wall opposite that on which the COLBY tablet is, the parochial council commissioned restoration work on another and is looking at its funds to see whether other monuments inside the church could receive similar attention. One of the churchwardens, Mr. Darwood, who is himself a local historian, conducted parties of parishioners around the church, telling them of the families of those commemorated on the tablets and ledger-stones in the church.

It was all very worthwhile. Mr. Beauford Linley, the sculptor had done such a wonderful job, that he had succeeded in giving much pleasure to the Vicar, the Parochial Council and a great many parishioners. As a result he received more commissions, and the church, already beautiful, was further embellished, much to the pleasure of the Vicar in particular.
For myself, I have been touched by the great kindness and consideration of all the people and agencies named above. If you consider that apart from three visits to Kirton in those two years - and that only to view completed work! - all this business has been conducted by letter and telephone from Surrey. That has meant a total reliance on the good will of very many people who have looked after my interests without ever having met me. It has been an extraordinary exercise in showing the basic goodness and thoughtfulness of the people of Lincolnshire. One final thought is for William John Monson, without whose ‘Notes’ none of this would have been possible.