Sir Walter Waller, of Groombridge

Family and Education b. 1544, o.s. of William Waller of Groomsbridge by Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Sir Walter Hendley† of Cranbrook. educ. G. Inn 1561. m. (1) by 1564, Anne, da. of Philip Choute of Bethersden, 2s. 1da.; (2) Mary, da. of Richard Hardres, s.p. suc. gd.-fa. 1556. Kntd. 1572.

Offices Held

J.p. Suss. from c.1573, Kent from 1577.

Biography

Waller succeeded his grandfather to the family estates while still a minor. In 1572 he was one of the signatories of a certificate giving details of the able men, armour and weapons in the rape of Pevensey in Sussex. He was knighted in the same year, but the reason has not been ascertained. Perhaps he had already entered upon a military career. In 1585, when he was a captain in the regiment of Thomas Morgan I, he conducted 150 men from Essex to the Netherlands. His company was at Rheinberg in the following year, and by the beginning of 1588 it was part of the Ostend garrison. Waller was at Ostend in August of the same year when the garrison revolted, he being the only officer who was not imprisoned by the men. In July 1589 his former lieutenant wrote to Walsingham, complaining that Waller had acted ‘not like a knight’, having sold his company and left his men in want. He was, in fact, in continual financial difficulties, mainly through acting as surety for insolvent friends, but also through his military service. In November 1588 he was reported to owe a total of £83 8s. to two burghers of Flushing and Brill, borrowed two years previously.

Waller was returned to Parliament for Steyning, probably through the influence of Sir Thomas Shirley I, who had himself served with the Earl of Leicester in the Netherlands. No record has been found of any activity by Waller in the House of Commons. He died intestate 7 July 1599, and was buried in Speldhurst church. In 1602 his widow and his second son Sir Thomas, who succeeded to Groomsbridge, were sued in Chancery for the payment of half the purchase money — which the plaintiff claimed he had never received—for lands in Brenchley, Kent, bought by Waller in 1572.

C142/106/1, 265/70; Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. xlii), 130; CPR, 1563-6, p. 143; Hasted, Kent, iii. 290-1; CSP Dom.1547-80, p. 451; 1581-90, p. 109; CSP For. 1584-5, p. 691; 1585-6, p. 25; 1586-7, p. 110; Jan. to June 1588, p. 3; July to Dec. 1588, pp. 131, 203, 354-5; 1589, p. 382; APC, xiii. 141-2; xxi. 337; xxx. 178; Lansd. 72, f. 170; C2 Eliz./S26/47.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: A. M. Mimardière Notes

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/wa...

https://www-personal.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/pn/p22328.htm Notes for Walter Waller Walter Waller and his first wife Anne were buried in Speldhurst Church. In their history of Speldhurst church, the Mackinnons provide the following description [1]:

"Private correspondence describes the tracery of the windows as being exceedingly beautiful, and the tower and spire as being "neat," but most stress is laid upon the monuments, and here we get some help from Thorpe's 'Registrum Roffense' as well.

"On the south wall of the chancel was an ancient and beautiful monument of alabaster, with great variety of work and ornaments, surmounted by these arms in two coats quarterly: (i.) Sa., three walnut leaves, or, between two cotizes, arg.; (ii.) az., a chevron, or, fretty sa. between three crosses molines, arg.; (iii.) as (ii); (iv.) as (i), impaling gu. three swords barways, arg., pommelled and hilted, or, between eight mullets of the last. In a canton parted per fesse, arg. and or, a lion pass. gardant, gu. Crests over baron, a walnut tree; over femme, a hand holding a sword, the blade broken off by the hilt.

"Underneath were two arches—in one a man kneeling in complete armour, with quarterings hanging on pommel of sword, and three sons; in the other an effigy of his wife with her arms, and two daughters kneeling; in two tables of black alabaster, the following lines :—

'I'de prayse thy Valour, but Mars 'gins to frown; He fears when Sol's aloft, that Mars must downe, I'de prayse thy fourme, but Venus cries amayne, Sir Walter Waller will my Adam stayne, I'de prayse thy learning but Minerva cries Then Athens' fame must creep when Waller flies. Assist us, England, in our doubtful song. When such limbs fade, thy flourish lasts not long; Earth has his earth which doth his corpse inroule, Angells sing requiems to his blessed soule.'

This monument bore no date, but it appears by the parish Register that Sir Walter Waller, Knt., was buried A.D. 1599.

The second epitaph was an anagram to Lady Anna Waller, his wife, and runs thus:—

'A ll worthy eyes read this that hither come N ever decaying virtue fills this tomb N ever enough to be lamented here A s long as women-kind are worth a tear W ithin this weeping stone lyes Lady Waller A ll that will know her more a sainte will call her L ife so directed her whilst living here L evelled so straight to God in love and feare E ven so good, that turn his name and see R eddy to crowne that life—a LAWREL tree.'

"The last of the family who died possessed of Groombridge was Sir Walter Waller (ob. July 1599). His second son, Sir Thomas Waller, who succeeded at Groombridge and became Lieutenant at Dover Castle, sold the manor in 1604 to Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset."

"Sir Walter's widow appears to have remained in the neighborhood, and dying in September, 1624, was buried beside her husband in the chancel of Speldhurst."