Rose Fairclough

• Birth: before Apr 27 1589 - Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England
• Christening: Apr 27 1589 - Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England
• Death: on or about 17 Dec 1656 - London, England
• Burial Dec 18 1656: St Christopher le Stocks, London, England
• Parents: John Fairclough and Anne Spencer
• Spouse: Edmund Underwood (Sr.), of Weston and London, married on 18 Feb 1601/02, in Weston

Children include

1. Rose Atkinson (born Underwood)
2. Edmund Underwood Jr.
3. Millicent Bushey (born Underwood)
4. John Underwood
5. Robert Underwood
6. Thomas Underwood
7. Jacob Underwood
8. Anne Nevett (born Underwood)
9. Elizabeth Underwood
10. Lawrence Underwood
11. Abigail Underwoode
12. Benjamin Underwood
13. Abraham Underwood

    ---

Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175467090/rose-underwood

Rose FAIRCLOUGH was born around Sep 1581 in Fairclough Hall, in Weston, Herts., and was christened on 17 Sep 1581 at Goldington, Beds., just across the Hertford-Bedford county line (which place was a traditional parish connection for the FAIRCLOUGH family for several generations).

She was the 6th child of John FAIRCLOUGH (1544-1630) and Anne SPENCER (1543-1634), who had 2 sons and 9 daughters.

Rose married Edmund UNDERWOOD (Sr.), of Weston and London, on 18 Feb 1601/02, in Weston. They moved to London, where Edmund was apparently already apprenticed as a Grocer and apothecary, and was just beginning to be established in the Grocer's Company in his own right.

Rose bore Edmund 15 known children, most of whom lived to adulthood. [*SEE Edmund UNDERWOOD's memorial page biography for the list of their known children and grandchildren.*]

Rose's younger sister Dorothy FAIRCLOUGH married Edmund's younger brother Robert UNDERWOOD, and these brothers became full business partners in the grocery business in Bucklersbury in the heart of the old City of London. Dorothy also bore Robert 15 known children.

These two families, with a combined 30 children (though not all at once, with a few infant deaths and timely marriages), shared two large adjoining houses in Bucklersbury. Each family lived in their own house, but the ground floor (street level) was used as the combined business space for their grocery, which was called "The Woolsack". These houses and some nearby warehouses were purchased by the UNDERWOOD brothers in 1616, and the name "Woolsack" (sometimes called "Wool Pack") came with the property, which was probably about 200 years old when the UNDERWOODs bought it. They purchased it from Mary (BODNAM) VESEY, widow of Thomas VESEY, Grocer of London, and sister of John BODNAM (or BODENHAM), whose family acquired the various buildings around 1536.

Dorothy died about 7 Jun 1632. And after Rose's husband Edmund died about 11 Jun 1631, Rose decided (probably with the "advice and consent" of her brother-in-law Robert UNDERWOOD and perhaps her oldest children) to sell all or most of her business interest in Bucklersbury to her nephew William UNDERWOOD, son of her brother-in-law Hugh UNDERWOOD, Esq., and his wife Susan [nee WHETSTONE]. This William (c.1610 - c.9 Feb 1657/58) would eventually become the Colonel commanding the London Blue Regiment of Militia ("The London Trained Bands", circa 1645-1648), a London Alderman, and the Sheriff of London (1652-53), during the English Civil Wars and the Cromwellian period.

It may be that while Col. William of London bought out the majority (or all) of his Uncle Edmund and Aunt Rose's half, that another Cousin, Edward UNDERWOOD, bought out a majority (or all) of Uncle Robert's half of the old Edmund & Robert UNDERWOOD partnership. Edward was the son of Edmund and Robert's oldest brother George UNDERWOOD, Jr. (1565-1617) and his wife Grace (nee SPURLING, later m: Rev. John HOPKINS). Edward died in 1644 in London, and was buried at St. Stephen Walbrook parish church.

Rose was not finished with all business interests, however, after she moved from Bucklersbury to the London parish of St. Martin Orgar, a few blocks S/E of her previous home. Rose became a valued senior dame of this family, and engaged in land speculation in Ireland and other properties, and was a business woman in her own right. She actually partnered with her two entrepreneurial nephews---the aforementioned Col. William and his cousin Edward---as well as other kinsmen, all acquiring "rebell lands in Ireland" in the Barony of Eliogarty in County Tipperary.

Rose died on or about 17 Dec 1656, and was buried 18 Dec 1656, near her husband Edmund in the church of St. Christopher-Le-Stocks, about 2 blocks N/E of their old house in Bucklersbury.

The Great Fire of London in Sep 1666, destroyed all these buildings and parish churches, many of them collapsing into their own cellars or crypts. Bodies buried under and around these church structures stayed where they were as new buildings were raised up around them. St. Christopher's was rebuilt in 1671 by Christopher Wren.

According to Find-A-Grave's data on St. Christopher-Le-Stocks parish church and the status of its burials:

"The Bank of England began buying up the property in the parish in the 1700's and in 1781 bought the church itself from the Bishop of London. The church was then torn down the following year and the parish joined to St Margaret Lothbury. Parish inhabitants dropped from 92 houses in 1732 to 19 houses in 1800. The churchyard was requisitioned itself in 1798 and lies under the Bank's Garden Court.

The human remains from the churchyard were dug up in 1867 and moved to Nunhead Cemetery. More remains were dug up in 1933 to Nunhead during further renovations.

St Christopher le Stocks current parish clerk is Stephen Plumb, appointed by the rector and parochial council of St Margaret Lothbury."

References

1. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175467090/rose-underwood
2. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:K85T-P7J