Here is my latest attempt to eliminate the confusion between the two different branches of the Sandys family in Cumberland and Lancashire in the North-West of England on the one hand and in Hampshire and Surrey on the other.
Comments welcomed!
JUST WILLIAM!
William was a very common forename in the Sandes/Sands/Sandys family. This has led to confusion and error, not only in 20th and 21st Century research, but even in 16th and 17th Century pedigrees. Some of the latter totally exclude members of the family known to exist from other sources and, in other cases, they attach people from one branch of the family to the pedigree for a different branch in another part of the country.
This report lists all of the known Williams in the Sandys family between 1350 and 1500 and seeks to establish their relationships to each other.
1.. William del Sandis (born c1351) was the youngest son of Richard del Sandis of Burgh-by-Sands, near Carlisle, and a chaplain in charge of the church at Kirkbride.
His oldest brother was Robert del Sandis who moved from Burgh-by-Sands to Rottington near St Bees. William’s other brother was Sir John Sandys who fought for the Black Prince in France and Spain before returning to England and settling in Hampshire. Sir John’s son was Sir Walter Sandys of East Cholderton.
2.. William del Sandis (born c1371) was the older son of Robert del Sandis who had moved from Burgh-by-Sands to Rottington, north of St Bees on the west coast of Cumbria.
3.. William Sandes (born c1395) was the son of William (No 2) of Rottington and father of Christopher Sandes who served in the household of Margaret Beaufort and was given a pension by her son King Henry VII in 1486. Christopher was involved in disputes with the Priory of St Bees in 1474 and 1496.
4.. William Sandis (born c1405) was the son of John Sandis, the younger son of Robert del Sandis of Rottington. John had moved from Rottington to the Furness Fells area of Lancashire, north of Morecambe Bay, in c1400.
5.. William Sandys (born c1405) was the younger son of Sir Walter Sandys of East Cholderton near Andover in Hampshire. Sir Walter had inherited a number of properties from his mother Joan Fifhide and William appears to have lived at Catherington Fifhide, north of Portsmouth, which, as its name suggests, was one of these Fifhide properties.
William’s older brother was Thomas Sandys of East Cholderton.
6.. William Sandys (born c1431) is believed to be the oldest son of William (No 5) of Catherington. He bought Harleyford Manor, near Great Marlow in Buckinghamshire, some time after 1481. He died in January 1493 and Harleyford was inherited by his son Robert.
William is referred to as the grandfather of a complainant in a Court of Chancery case in 1529 and is not given the title of knight. This, and the names of his children, proves that he was not the same person as Sir William Sandys (No 8) of The Vyne.
The John Sandys knighted after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 is believed to be Williams’s younger brother. John’s cousin was Sir William Sandys (No 8) of The Vyne.
7.. William Sandis (born c1435) was the son of William Sandis (No 4) of Furness Fells. By the time he was born the family had established itself at Esthwaite Hall on the west shore of Esthwaite Water a few miles south of Hawkshead. He is believed to have been one of the King’s Scholars at King’s Hall, later to become St John’s College at Cambridge. He married Margaret Rawson (possibly a corruption of Rawlinson as she was related to others of the latter name in the Furness area). He was the father of George Sandys of Esthwaite and Graythwaite and also of Robert Sandes of Hawkshead Field Head.
8.. Sir William Sandys (born c1439) was the son of Thomas Sandys of East Cholderton, and senior grandson of Sir Walter Sandys. He was knighted after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. In 1488, he reclaimed ownership of The Vyne on the death of its occupant Bernard Brocas. It had been granted by Sir Walter Sandys to Bernard’s grandfather William on his marriage to Sir Walter’s daughter Joanna. In 1494, following the death of his cousin William Sandys (No 6), Sir William reclaimed ownership of Catherington Fifhide. He later granted Catherington and a number of other properties to his son Sir William Sandys (No 11).
9.. William Sandes (born c1455) of Rottington was the son of Christopher. In 1498, shortly after his father’s death, he was involved in another dispute with the Priory of St Bees. The names of his children prove that, although they both had fathers named Christopher, he was not the same person as William Sandes (No 11) of Woodham Ferrers.
10.. William Sandes (born c1457) of Guildford Park is believed to have been the second son of William Sandys (No 6) of Catherington and Harleyford. In 1499, the deputy park keeper of Guildford and Henley Park is named as Sandes, without a forename or a title, in a court statement.
The Herald’s Visitations show a William Sandes as having four daughters marrying into local gentry families around Guildford and as having a son who lived near Leatherhead about twelve miles to the east. It is believed that this was William of Guildford Park. The names of his children show that he cannot be the same person as Sir William Sandys (No 8) of The Vyne and the birth dates of these children in the 1480s are not consistent with their father being Sir William Sandys (No 12) the future Baron Sandys of The Vyne.
Two of the Herald’s Visitations describe William Sandys (No 10) as of Little Pachesham. This is a property near Leatherhead part of which was inherited by Jane Agmondisham, the future wife of William’s grandson Thomas, in 1524. Other parts were acquired by their son Robert later in the 16th Century. There is no evidence that William ever lived at Little Pachesham.
The 1615 Herald’s Visitation of Cumberland shows William Sandes (No 10) as being knighted at the Battle of Martin Swarte. Martin Swarte was the leader of a group of German mercenaries supporting the rebels opposed to King Henry VII at the Battle of East Stoke in 1487. The Herald’s Visitation of Surrey also shows William Sandes (No 10) as a knight. Both Visitations are definitely incorrect as other documents clearly describe Sir William Sandys (No 8) of The Vyne and Sir William (No 12) the future Baron Sandys of The Vyne as father and son and both having been knighted prior to 1494.
11.. William Sandes (born c1465) was the son of the Christopher Sandes who was sent by the Royal Court to Woodham Ferrers in Essex in 1489 to collect the rent from Edwarde’s Manor which had been inherited by the underage Margery Gerrard and who was therefore a Ward of Court. Christopher was a son of either William Sandys (No 5) of Catherington or his older brother Thomas Sandys of East Cholderton.
Christopher arranged for his son William to marry the young heiress but both Christopher and his son were involved in a series of cases in the Court of Chancery over rightful ownership of the Manor. The last of these cases in which Christopher himself appears was in 1499 and therefore he cannot be the same person as Christopher Sandes, the father of William Sandes (No 9) of Rottington. Furthermore, the names of William’s children and grand-children at Woodham Ferrers are all known and prove that William Sandes (No 11) cannot be the same person as William Sandes (No 9) of Rottington.
12.. Sir William Sandys (born c1470), the future first Baron Sandys of The Vyne, was the second son of Sir William Sandys (No 8) of The Vyne. His older brother John died in 1486. William was knighted after the Battle of East Stoke in 1487. He later became Lord Chamberlain in the household of King Henry VIII. He was too young to be the father of the children of William Sandes (No 10) as shown in the Herald’s Visitations.
13.. William Sandys (born c1486) of Esthwaite was the son of George Sandys. He had six sons between 1512 and 1530, including Christopher who took over Graythwaite and Anthony who took over Esthwaite after the second son William (born c1514) died in 1558. Edwyn Sandys, another of the six sons, was Archbishop of York from 1577 until his death in 1588.
14.. William Sandes (born c1488) was the second son of Robert of Hawkshead Field Head. He is only known through a legal agreement between him and his four sons in 1538.
