Lady Amy Skipwith

• Amy Kempe1,2,3,4,5,6
• F, #52492, b. 6 August 1591
• Father Sir Thomas Kempe2,7,3,4,5,6 b. 7 Nov 1551, d. b 10 Dec 1607
• Mother Dorothy Thompson2,7,3,4,5,6 b. c 1555
• Amy Kempe was christened on 6 August 1591 at Wye, Kent, England.8 She married Sir Henry Skipwith, 1st Baronet Skipwith, son of Sir William Skipwith, Sheriff of Leicestershire and Margaret Cave, circa 1616 at of Wye, Kent, England; They had 4 sons (William, Sir Henry, 2nd Baronet; Thomas;, & Sir Grey, 3rd Baronet) and 3 daughters (Elizabeth; Diana, wife of Major Edward Dale, Gent; & Anne).2,7,3,4,5,6 Amy Kempe was buried on 7 September 1631.1,4,6
• Family Sir Henry Skipwith, 1st Baronet Skipwith b. 21 Mar 1590
• Citations
• 1.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 659.
• 2.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 556.
• 3.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 277.
• 4.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 36.
• 5.[S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, p. 280.
• 6.[S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, p. 640.
• 7.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 659-660.
• 8.[S61] Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, Family History Archives, SLC.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1747.htm#... ______________________
• Anne Kempe1
• F, #578423, d. 1631
• Last Edited=10 Nov 2012
• Anne Kempe married Sir Henry Skipwith, 1st Bt., son of Sir William Skipwith and Margaret Cave.1 She died in 1631.1
• She lived Olantigh and Chilham Castle.1 Kent.1 Her married name became Skipwith. Daughter and coheir of Sir Thomas Kempe.1
• Children of Anne Kempe and Sir Henry Skipwith, 1st Bt.
  • 1.Sir Henry Skipwith, 2nd Bt.2
  • 2.Sir Grey Skipwith, 3rd Bt.+2
• Citations
• 1.[S37] Volume 3, page 3641. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
• 2.[S37] See. [S37]
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p57843.htm#i578423 _________________________

References

• Will of Dorothie Kempe, widow, dated 14 November 1626; probate May 1629. link

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-https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kempe-25

GEDCOM Note

SIR THOMAS KEMPE (the son of the previous one of his name, by Amy Moyle) inherited Olantigh in or about 1591- He was knignted at Charterhouse in 1603- He took some part in county affairs and also provided suitable husbands for his daughters. He has, however, left no record of any great service to the community, and seems to have lived a rather uneventful life. He married, as his second wife, Dorothy, daughter of John Thompson or Tomson, Esq., of London. The surname of his first wife is unknown ; she was the mother of his daughters Mary and Anne.

It was, doubtless, a great sorrow that there was no son to continue the knightly line of these Kempes. By the second marriage there were only two daughters, whose names were Dorothy and Amy Kempe. Of these we will give a few particulars, but before doing so we append the inscription which was placed on the tomb of this last Sir Thomas Kempe, of Ollantigh, in Wye Church. The original has now been lost, and the following is taken from " Archseologia Cantiana" -- "Sir Thomas Kempe of Olantigh Knt. Heir male of the Kempes of Olamigh, by Dame Emelj-n Daughter and Coheyr of Sr. Valentine Chich, by the Heir of Sr. Robt. Chichley, left his Heyre Sir William Kempe, that by dame Eleanor widdow of Sir Thomas Fogge, being ye Heir of Browne, by an heir of Sr. Thomas Arundel left his heyie Sr. Thomas Kempe Knt., that by Dame Amie Daur. and cohejT of Sir Thomas Moyle, left his Heyr this last Sir Thomas Kempe."

He died in 1607 and was buried in the family chapel with his ancestors. His Inquisition Post iVIortem is registered in the 7th year of James I.

The Subsidy Roll of 1593-4 for the Hundred of Wye gives an idea of the then comparative values of his own and other local Kempes' estates.

The Hundred of Wye, with Hundreds of Folkestone, Oxney and Stowting. At the head of the lists of landholders at Wye is - Thomas Kempe, Esquire, in land, 40, for which he pays £'i. s, ^4, for which he pa3's lis. ^d.

Mary, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe, was baptized at Wye, 14th March, 1590, and married Sir Dudley Digges, who was the son of Thomas Digges, of Digges Court, Barham, Kent, by Ann, daughter of Sir Warren St. Ledger. Both his father and grandfather, Leonard Digges, had been great mathematicians and he had a decided bent in that direction. He was born in 1583 and matriculated at Oxford in 1601. In his early life he travelled a good deal.

In 16 18 he was sent by James I. as Ambassador to Russia, and in 1620, with Sir Maurice Abbott, was commissioned to go to Holland to obtain restitution of certain goods seized by the Dutch from some Englishmen in the East Indies ; he was at this time a director of the Virginia Company, of London, and was associated in the East India Company with Sir Nicholas Kempe, who had ^2,500 invested in East India Stock. Sir Dudley was a member of the third Parliament of Charles I, and was made Master of the Rolls in April, 1636.

On the distribution of the Kempe property in 16 10, his wife secured, by arrangement with her sisters, the castle and lands at Chilham, which her grandfather, Sir Thomas Kempe, had bought from his first wife's relative - Henry, Lord Chaney - and to the church of which the Kempes had presented clergy.

Mary Kempe found the Castle in decay and set about, at considerable expense, to rebuild it. This she took some years to accomplish, and she thought it desirable to record the fact by inserting a prominent memorial stone on which her name appears, and the text, "The Lord is my house of defence and my castle.

The castle is still standing in very much the same state as then built, and the above inscription may be seen. The entrance to the castle forms one side of the picturesque village square, the church standing to the rear of the old houses which face the castle grounds. On either side the square are httle primitive shops and a typical Kentish inn. The church, which is very full of Chilham Castle, Kent, rebuilt by Mary Kempe - Lady Digges - about 1610.

It contains a lofty and handsome tomb to the memory of "Mary Kempe - Lady Digges." A well-known antiquary remarks that this entirely spoils the appearance of the south aisle, others

rtiay be of his opinion, but the inscription, with its quaint pomposity, will be none the less

interesting :

" Mary Kempe, Lady Digges Daughyer and Coheire of Sr Thomas Kempe of Olentigh Knight by Sir Thomas Moyle's Daughter and Coheire, Son of Sir Thomas Kempe Knight, b}' an heir of Brown and Arundel, Son of Sir William' Kempe Knight, who by Emelyn daughter and coheir of Sir \alentine Chichley and Phillipa daughter and heire of Sir Robert Chiche, Ma3'or of London, and brother to Henry the Archbishop, was son of Sir Thomas Kempe Knight, nephew to Thomas Kempe, Bishop of London, the nephew of John Kempe Archbishop of York, then of Canterbury, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor, L)'es here buried to-gether with Francis her 4th and Richard her eighth son."

Several coats of arms with various impalements and quarters are displayed on the tomb. The three sheaves within a bordure engrailed, duly occur in the usual manner, and for Digges, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles displayed, sable. 'Sir Dudley became one of the administrators of the estates of the last Sir Thomas Kempe and his widow Dorothy, on the death of the latter in 1629- He died 8th March, 1639, and on his monument the following eulogy is given :

" e was a pious son, a careful father, a loving husband, a, fatherly (j/c) brother, a courteous -neighbour, a merciful landlord, a liberal master, a noble friend."

By his will (said to have been proved in 1638) he left a sum for the winners of a competition to be contested for on the 19th of May yearly. Two young men and two maidens between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four ran a tye on " Old Wives Lees," the winners receiving £10 each. This sum has been appropriated to the National Schools. The will, which has been recently required in connexion with the charity, appears to be missing, and we understand that a search in the P.C C. and Canterbury Courts has failed to trace the probate of this important will.

Amy Kempe, the fourth co-heiress of Sir Thomas Kempe, had for her husband Sir Henry Skipworth, Baronet. Their children, William and Elizabeth Skipworth, as well as Lady and Sir Henry, were mentioned by Lady Kempe in her will as living in 1626.

Sir Thomas Kempe had also a son by his second wife, whose baptism is entered in Wye Register as Isaac, son of Thomas Kempe and Anne, ist October, 158b. We know that this son did not live to succeed his father, but the date of his burial or death is unknown. The surname of this wife is not given in the usually recognized pedigrees, although it generally appears that Dorothy Thompson was his second wife.

Anne Kempe was baptized at Wye, 19th June, 1589, and, as we have said, married Sir John Cutts, an Alderman of London, who served the ofHce of Lord Mayor. Tliere is an amusing story told concerning some Spanish Grandees who were invited to meet him ; it is said that they were deeply aggrieved 'at being asked to a banquet by a man with so short a name, for they reasoned that a man with so brief a title could not be a man of importance, when however they saw the sumptuous provision made for them, they changed their opinion.

The following is a copy of an inscription to Anne Cutts, which is to be seen in Swavesey Church, Cambridge, for which we are indebted to Captain William Kemp, of Arundel :

"Anne Kemp. - Lady Cutt, "eldest daughter and co-heir of Thomas Kempe of Ollantigh Knt. by Sir Thomas Moyles daughter and co-heir, sonne of Sir Thos. Kempe Knt. by Ann heire or Browne and Arundell sonne of Sir William Kempe Knt. who by Emline daughter and coheire of Sir Valentine Chich and PhiKp(a) daughter and heire of Sir Robert Chichley, Mayor of London and brother to Henry the Archbishop, was sonne of Sir Thomas Kempe Knt. Nephew to Thomas Kempe Bishop of London, the nephew of John Kempe, Archbishop of York, then of Canterbury, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor, lies buried here, she lived 48 years and dyed the 13th March 1631."

Dorothy Kempe, the mother of this Anne Cutts, mentions several treasures which she had at Swavesey, perhaps these had been left there when visiting this daughter.

Lady Dorothy Kempe {nee Tomson or Thompson) had a grant of administration of Sir Thomas Kempe's estates on loth December, 1607, and this was re-granted 23rd June, 1609.

She lived till 1629, and by her will, dated 14th November, 1626 (P.C.C. 49 Ridley, 1629), she desired to be buried " decently but not sumptuously," in the parish church of Wye, " by the ashes of my dear husband Sir Thomas Kempe." Being in London at the time the will was made, she provided for the conveyance of her body to Wye, an amount which seems extremely large for mere conveyance. Doubtless this would include something of a state funeral by easy stages. Dr. Jackson, who we take to be the then Vicar of Wye, is bequeathed £ for a gown, and a considerable sum is distributed among her relations and others for blacks " (i.e. mourning.) Sums of money are left to her four daughters, the three living sons-in-law, and several grandchildren, as well as to the poor at Shelford, Childerley, Lolworth and Swavesey in Cambridgeshire. The list of chests, jewels and clothes would afford interesting reading, but space is limited, and we will only mention that " the Great Standard," doubtless the family banner borne by the successive Kempes when Sheriffs of Kent and at other functions, was left to Sir Dudley Digges, who was the most distinguished of the four sons-in-law.

Her personal effects were evidently scattered at the various residences she frequented. Olenty," of course, contained the bulk of her personal treasures, but some were at Shelford House and others at Childerly. There is a mention of " russet curtains at Shelford with Sir Thomas Kempe his colours," and his armour, these also going to the Digges.

Others whose names appear in the Avill are briefly as foNows : Marie Charnworth, Lady Bowles, Mr. Jacob Bridgeman and Mr. Thomas Adye, Mr. John Marchinoff, Thomas Osbourne and John Collier.

Nothing is said of real estate, only " residue to be divided " between the four daughters. Reginald Kempe, the next younger brother of the last Sir Thomas Kempe, of Ollantigh, was, as we have said, born in 1553, and baptized at Eastwell, his mother's native place a few miles from Wye. We have also shown that when only some seven years of age he had a legacy from his grandfather. Sir Thomas Moyle, in the form of a share in his town house in Newgate Street, London. Under this will his elder brother inherited lands at Dartford, Sutton-at-Hone and Chetham, which property seems to have also come to him. He married Mary, the daughter of Richard Argyl or Argall, of East Sutton (by licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1590.

The licence is dated nth December; he is described as a "gent, of Wye," and she as "of Sutton, virgin." The one Sutton is quite distinct from the other, the former being by Dartford, in the north-west of the county, and the latter - with Sutton Valance and Chart Sutton - near Maidstone and within some twelve miles of Wye.

The pedigree of Argal is given in the "Visitation oi Essex of 1612. By his wife he had the following children : Thomas, who was to inherit Olantigh. John, baptized at Wye, 26th March, 1594, to have the reversion of Ollantigh under certain limitations. Ann, baptized at Wye, 20th January, 1595, married Josias Clarke, to whom she conveyed the Manor of Stowting, Kent, in 1622- She died at Wethersfield, Essex, her husband having letters of administration for her estate 12th May, 1623. Amy, baptized at Wye, 1st October, 1598, married Maurice Tuke, Esq., of Layer Marney, Essex, whose family had held that manor. She left a daughter (who inherited her portion of the Kempe property) named Dorothy. The latter married Sir Robert Filmer, Baronet,* of East Sutton. He died 22nd March, 1675-6, and Dorothy died 10th June, 1671.