Edward Bagley of Sedgeley

Edward Bagley

• BIRTH bp St Edmond, 14 Oct 1602, England
• DEATH buried 29 November 1645 (aged 39–40)
• BURIAL St Edmund King and Martyr Churchyard Dudley, Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England
• Son of John Bagley (1571 - 1625) and Agnes Tomlinson (1577 - bef 1629)
• Husband of Olive (unknown) (1612 - 1684).
• Father of Ann Bagley (1635 - 1699), who married William Brinton (1630 - 1700).

In 1699 following the death of his wife Ann, William Brinton wrote an account of his wife Ann and her family. Regarding her parents, William Brinton wrote: [5]

"Her ffather's name was Edward Bagley, a man of good account as to worldly Rank. He dyed some fifty years ago. Her mother became a Friend and so continued until her death. She remayned a Widow all her Dayes, which was some thirty years after her husband's decease."

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Family

Named in the 1648 Will of John Bageley

gson Sutton (chr 22 April 1637, St. Thomas, Dudley), the son of Edward and Ollive Bagley. His father Edward had died 29 Nov 1645. Other children being left fatherless in this household were: Ann (chr 27 Apr 1634, St. Edmunds), Edward (chr 6 Jun 1641, St. Thomas), and John (chr 14 Apr 1644, St. Edmunds)

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Disputed Origins

Named in the 1629 Will of his aunt Elizabeth Tomlinson, “concubine” to Edward, Lord Dudley (d 1643).

Disproved Royal Ancestry

A royal ancestry can frequently be found on the internet where Edward Bagley is said to be the grandson of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley. This was disputed in an article in The American Genealogist and is almost certainly incorrect. [6]

Edward's father, John Bagley, received a grant from Lord Dudley along with Robert Dudley and George Guest. Robert Dudley was a known illegitimate son Lord Dudley, and George Guest was the husband of an illegitimate daughter. Elizabeth Tomlinson, the mistress of Lord Dudley by whom he had 11 illegitimate children, left a bequest of £30 to this Edward Bagley and then made him an executor of her will. The reasonable assumption then was that John Bagley had married one of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Dudley by Elizabeth Tomlinson.

However, Charles Hansen in his TAG article points out that in the will of Elizabeth Tomlinson, Edward Bagley is called nepoti ex matre which he translates as "nephew through his mother." Therefore, John Bagley did not marry the daughter of Elizabeth Tomlinson, but had married the sister of Elizabeth Tomlinson. This breaks the supposed royal descent which would have run through Lord Dudley.

Edward Bagley as nepoti ex matre. It appears that Thomas Dudley, the executor of Elizabeth’s will must have renounced administration (he was buried 9 Jan 1674/75), for on 19 Jun 1635, the court appoints a new adminstrator on her estate. The act book (in Latin) first records Edward as “filius” (son), which word has, however, been crossed through. Above this is written clearly: “nepoti ex matre.” There is no ambiguity in the phrase ex matre which means “through (his) mother.” The word nepoti (the etymon for “nephew”) in Latin denotes a male relative in the second degree of consanguinity. In other words, the English translation would be either nephew or grandson. This is the term used by the Popes for their closest legitimate heirs, which would normally be nephews, but might in some cases be grandsons. For Elizabeth, who had no legitimate offspring in the first degree of consanguinity, the only heirs to qualify at law would be in the second degree. In renouncing execution of the will, it appears that proof of a direct relation to Edward might easily have been provided by Thomas Dudley considering: such a fact might well have been the import of Elizabeth’s writings the contents of which were to be kept from Dud Dudley for fear he might do something drastic. On the other hand, if the court meant “nephew” there would still be no explanation of John Bagley’s enduring preference by the baron Lord Dudley.

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https://mixedgenes.eu/bagley-of-dudley/

The Bagley – Sutton Connection

Dudley Castle 1685

The assumption was that John Bagley, Deer Keeper and close associate of Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley, was married to one of his daughters by his well-known mistress, Elizabeth Tomlinson. John and his children were gifted with quite a bit of property from both Sutton and Elizabeth, and John is mentioned in several documents together with – and in the same context as – a number of Sutton’s sons and sons-in-law. Then, in 1996 a Latin phrase describing Ann’s father and John Bagley’s son, Edward, in his role as executor of the will of Elizabeth Tomlinson was discovered by Charles Hansen.

Research questions

probate

The phrase was “nepoti() ex matre”, which Hansen translated as nephew. In Classical Latin, this was grandson, but in Medieval Latin, it was used to refer to nephews as well as grandsons. There are at least two experts arguing on both sides of this question. More interesting is that the clerk originally wrote “son” followed by some words I have not been able to decipher, and then crossed this out.

Tipton parish register

The question is complicated by the fact that there is no marriage record for John in the parish registers. This may be due to a large gap in the records around the time the marriage took place. There is also no mother’s name mentioned in the records just following 1600, the time most of the Bagley children were born. In addition, the records for the children of William Tomlinson and Agnes Orres (not Dues!), who were the parents of Elizabeth, are also most likely incomplete.

I have been to both the National Archives in Kew and the Dudley Archives and examined as many original documents as possible. I’ve also visited the ruins of of the castle, which perch rather ignominiously on the peak above the current Dudley zoo. One must trudge along the penguin cages to reach the gate. I couldn’t help wondering if there were not some poetic justice to be found in the current location, but that is another story.

Ruins of Dudley Castle

• https://bdespain.org/gencol/famhis/bio11132/index.htm
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144052788/edward-bagley
• The Brinton genealogy : a history of William Brinton who came from England to Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1684. Page 97. < AncestryImage >
• Source: http://atropesend.blogspot.com/2010/05/anges-henry-viii-anne-boleyn...
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Aug 23 2016, 22:18:10 UTC
• The American Genealogist vol. 71, no. 1 (January 1996): 36-48. The Ancestry of William and Ann (Bagley) Brinton: Quaker Immigrants to Pennsylvania, by Charles M. Hansen. < AmericanAncestors >