Spratt family - Wingham, Ash-next-Sandwich - Woonesborough

[Terrence White]

Please forgive me for being a "Johnny-come-lately" who knows little to nothing about this family, but is there any truth to the oft-stated 'connection' between these Spratts of Wingham and the marriage at St. Andrew's, Canterbury, on 15 December 1634, between a William Spratt and a Mary Harflete?

Any semi-authoritative answer, whether pro or con, will be much appreciated, and may save me considerable research effort.

Thanks,

T.J. White

[Terrence White]

Addendum:

Just discovered this, from "A Directory of Medical Personnel Qualified and Practising
in the Diocese of Canterbury, circa 1560-1730," by Ian Mortimer, BA MA PhD FRHistS RMSA (online):

Unless I am greatly mistaken, it would appear that my ancestor Mary Spratt who married Thomas Ladd (at St. Mary Magdalen, Canterbury, as I now know) was a daughter of Dr. William Spratt, Sr., Surgeon of Wingham, by Mary his wife, and a sister to Dr. William Spratt Jr., Physician and Surgeon of Ash.

Does anyone know anything about these people?

Thanks,

T.J. White

[AJ100]

I have transcripts of a certain amount of parish records, sadly Wingham is not among them, but I have Ash and Sandwich, among others. There were several baptisms to William & Elizabeth at Ash, also his marriage to Elizabeth JULL and a few at Sandwich also to William and Elizabeth and also to Harfleet & Sarah, as well as his marriage to Sarah DEWAY (?).
If this is of interest to anyone I would be happy to provide names and dates.

Kind regards

AJ

[Terrence White]

Thank you, AJ, for your very kind offer. Alas, though, the William and Elizabeth of Ash whom you found do not seem to be in my direct line. The very earliest (recorded) generations of this family were definitely at Wingham, in the Seventeenth Century; and yes, no one seems to have ready access to their original parish records (save FindMyPast.co.uk). I have found a few of the records there. Only later, in the 18th Century, did some of them relocate to Ash (and possibly Sandwich). I posted my comments in the (vain?) hope that someone else may possibly already have researched this family, and could save me much time and trouble.

Kind regards,

T.J. White

[tompion]

I have information about these people and have a list of all Spratt entries in the Wingham parish records.  Will look through what I have tomorrow - my Spratt family is the same one, who were in Wingham until they moved to Ash and then to Woodnesborough.

[tompion]

Terrence, I have a large amount of information about the people you mention and it is difficult to know where to start.  You say that Dr William Spratt Jnr (born 7th April 1665 in Wingham), who worked in Ash and died in 1710 in Sandwich, and was married to Elizabeth Jull, is not on your direct line.

William's father, Dr William Spratt Snr, was born in Wingham perhaps around 1630 (as he was probably about 30 by the time he was licensed to practice as a surgeon in 1662). He may have first married Joane Church as a William Spratt of Wingham chirurgeon married Joane Church  in 1650 in Canterbury and she died shortly after without issue.  He then married Mary - Mary Spratt, wife of William Spratt, chirurgeon, was buried in Wingham on 8 Sept 1691.

Dr William Spratt Snr and Mary had six children born in Wingham (William Jnr, John, Samuel (the other chirurgeon mentioned in the list of Kent medical men), Solomon, Mary and Sarah.  I am descended from this Solomon who was a publican.

If you let me know  where you fit in I will provide information about your ancestors if i know about them.

Best wishes, Tompion

[tompion]

Correction - I don't think william Snr first married Joane Church - this was a pure guess and probably wrong.

[Terrence White]

Dear "Tompion"

You and I would seem to be distant cousins, then, since my ancestor was the Mary Spratt you mentioned as a daughter of William Spratt, Chirurgeon, of Wingham, and his wife Mary. Daughter Mary (my ancestor) was christened in Wingham on 22 Jan. 1672, and married in St. Mary Magdalene, Canterbury, to a Thomas Ladd, on 18 March 1691. The parish register entry for this marriage says, immediately after Mary's name, "b. Wingham," and, indeed, we immediately afterward find record in the Wingham parish registers of the births of Thomas and Mary's eleven (!!) children, some of whom died in infancy. Their child John Ladd, cordwainer, of Wingham (chr. 1695--bur. 1788) was my ancestor. From him to myself, the line runs down (all born or resident in Wingham) as follows: Mary Ladd (daughter of John), christened in Wingham in 1740; married in Wingham on 29 December 1771 to a William Johnson; their son William Johnson Jr. (1774-1837) was also my ancestor. He married Frances Gibbs also in Wingham, on 28 May, 1803. Their youngest child Sarah Johnson was christened in Wingham on 26 January 1817, married a John Knight in Wingham on 12 October 1832. Sarah (Johnson) Knight showed up in Canterbury in the 1851 census with her husband (a "Labourer"), and as a widow in the 1861 census (her husband having apparently having died in Canterbury circa the date of his burial, 16 June, 1859. One of Sarah and John Knight's children was my ancestor, Harriet Knight Myers Jauncey, who was christened in Canterbury on 19 February 1837. She married my ancestor Sgt. Henry Myers (1818-1877) as her first husband, at the church of St. Mary Northgate, Canterbury, on 20 January 1862. Her youngest child by Sgt. Myers (who saw service with the 40th Regiment of Foot at Kandahar and Karachi in 1842, and at Maharajpore, India, in 1843) was my great-grandfather, Albert Edward Myers (1871 Canterury--1942 Edmonton, London). Albert's daughter Beatrice Myers Rumble (1900-1972) was my maternal grandmother, whom I knew personally. Beatrice emigrated to Alberta Canada, Utah and later California in 1919.

Thanks for your kind offer of help. Since I have the later generations basically proven, what I am most interested in are the connections of the earliest generations--the ones hardest to prove. I would also be interested to see how you descend from Solomon (my ancestral uncle).

Kind regards from your cousin in the States,

T.J. White

[tompion]

Dear Terence,

Mary's elder brother Dr William Spratt Jnr provides clues as to the earlier Spratt line.  I have that William married Elisabeth Jull and, if so, he named his eldest son Harflete Spratt.  This is all clear from his will - my notes on the will say:

The will of the William Sprat clarifies matters considerably although it doesn't give any profession just calling him William Sprat Gent. - William died in Sandwich and his will was written on 23rd January 1710 (proved 8th December 1711), leaving his property to his 'four sons, Harflete Sprat, William Sprat, John Sprat and Thomas Sprat' and says they should 'maintain and bring up my two daughters Elizabeth Sprat and Dorcas Sprat' until they reach twenty one or be married.  The children all agree (with what I had from Parish records) and as the elder ones were born in Ash and the younger ones in Sandwich it suggests William and Elizabeth moved from Ash to Sanwich.  The name Dorcas also supports the fact that William's wife was Elizabeth Jull as her mother's name was Dorcas.

The only plausible explanation for the very odd 'Harflete' christian name is that it was in homage to a recent ancestor and this makes it likely that the mother of Dr William Spratt Snr was Mary Harflete:

   Dec 12 1634 William Spratt of Eastwell married Mary Harflete of Ash

The date of the marriage works as Dr William Snr was licensed as a doctor in 1662 and, assuming he was about 25 when this happened, he would have been born in about 1637.  The Harflete's were very high status and the Spratt's would have been proud of this lineage injection (and maybe Mary brought money and property into the family).

I will tell you about my line from Solomon later.

The Harflete line is well known and would take you back quite a few generations.