The Kendall family of Austrey, Warwickshire 1550-1700

The Kendalls were in possession of the manor in Austrey from as early as 1433 when John Kendall, the second son of Bartholomew Kendall of Smithsby, married Margaret Aldestrey, one of Henry Aldestrey's three co-heiresses. The sequence of events that led eventually to the division of the family into separate gentry and labouring branches started around 1560 after the death of Richard Kendall who was at that time the lord of the manor. Richard was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, two younger sons, George and Francis, and his daughter Joan who eldest son Henry, grew and prospered. When he died in 1592 Henry's household goods and chattels were valued at Ł108.16.8. His estate was worth much more than this however, because as well as owning lands in Austrey he owned lands and cottages in the nearby parishes of Swithland, Swepstone and Twycross, in Leicestershire. We were not able to trace all of his twelve children by his second wife, Margaret, but the first born, Nathaniel, probably died in infancy. In 1616 Henry, the eldest surviving son and heir to the lordship, received a legacy of Ł106.13.4 from lands purchased from Edward Kinnersley which seem to have been set aside specifically for this purpose. Henry's second or third eldest son, George, was given the impropriated rectory tithes.

The cadet branch of the family fathered by Richard Kendall's youngest son, George, presents a dramatic example of downward social mobility. In the early 1600s both of George’s two sons “married beneath their station”. Henry, the eldest, married Joan Martine, described in the register as a “servante to Thomas Taylor”, while William married Alice Arnold, the daughter of an Austrey weaver. These moves brought about marked changes in their occupations and social standing - both of George’s younger sons being subsequently described merely as ‘labourers’ in the Austrey register.

The extent of their impoverishment can be seen in William’s inventory, drawn up at his death in 1636, which lists household goods and livestock amounting to Ł19.16.8. William was not totally destitute - he had the lease of a small cottage and some implements for making butter and cheese - however his worldly goods were modest in the extreme compared with the lands and fine furnishings of his gentry cousins. Unfortunately, no other wills or inventories survive for this branch of the family. But there is little doubt that their descendants remained among the poorer, labouring population. Henry's eldest son, Thomas, for example, was granted exemption from payment of the hearth tax in 1664.

The downward mobility of this branch of the Kendalls seems to have been caused by uniquely personal and hereditary traits, rather than demographic or cultural factors. We were surprised to find that there was an unusually high rate of illegitimate births for this branch of the Kendalls. George Kendall’s sister Joan and his two daughters, Isabell and Alice, produced between them at least four illegitimate children in the period from 1570 to 1590. Joan baptised a base child in 1576. Isabell, who married a local craftsman, gave birth to two bastards in her widowhood and her sister, Elizabeth, bore an illegitimate child of George Duke of Snarestone. Two generations later Sarah Kendall, widow of George's great grandson, Henry, gave birth to an illegitimate child given the name ‘Charity’ in 1700. Sarah appears to have been abandoned by her in-laws and in 1740 on her burial is described as a ‘pauper’.

The Kendalls in the main line are distinguished from their labouring cousins by a strong nonconformist tradition which probably increased their isolation within the parish.They also seem to have had strong political views as revealed by George Kendall’s appointment as Governor of the Parliamentary garrison of Maxstoke Castle in the Civil War period. Their religious isolation was particularly apparent during the religious persecutions of the early Restoration period. In the ‘returns of conventicles’ of 1669 and 1672 Henry Kendall and his son Jonathon are successively cited for permitting their house to be used as a Presbyterian meeting place. In 1669 Henry would have been 61 years old while his son Jonathon, the heir to the lordship, would have been only nineteen.

Their religious activities did not prevent the heirs to the lordship sharing in the new wealth created by farming improvements and trade over the course of the seventeenth century. Henry Kendall's grandson had by 1673 accumulated household goods and chattels worth Ł418, including such conspicuous trappings of new wealth as an imported Spanish table brought up from London, Turkeywork cushions and cloth covered chairs. He died in possession of two houses in Austrey, one of which was assessed at six hearths. Two marriages left him with seven surviving children to provide for. The customary way of dealing with this problem was to consolidate the family holdings into the hands of the eldest son. Fortunately, Jonathon had already reached his majority so he was able to inherit the Austrey manor and act as his father's executor. Henry's widow was given custody of the family furniture and his prized Geneva Bible. Jonathon was also obliged to provide his mother with lodgings in the house occupied by William Astrey, her kinsman (until she died or he married) and to provide her with a quarterly payment of Ł30 as well as four cash payments of Ł100 each to his four older sisters. Three of the sisters who had not yet attained their majority were to be placed in service in London ‘at greate charge’ and to be given suitable accomodation if they came out of service. Sarah, Henry's youngest and only daughter by his second wife, was only eleven in 1673 so arrangements did not yet have to be made for her future employment. She was nevertheless promised precious family heirlooms and a legacy of Ł100 on her marriage or on her twenty first birthday. The absence of any reference to Henry’s firstborn son, Nathaniel suggests that Nathaniel was probably dead by the time the will was drawn up.

Henry was fortunate in having to provide for only one son. Even so, the payment of portions to his four daughters from two marriages was a heavy responsibility. Perhaps it was for this reason that Henry appointed as overseers two of his closest and most reliable friends from outside the parish, Thomas Charnells, a lawyer from Snarestone, and Thomas Hill, the minister of Orton. Henry was determined to spare no expense in educating his daughters and providing them with suitable dowries, but he completely neglected his poor kinsmen in Austrey. He makes only one or two paltry bequests to the extended family, friends and neighbours; a donation of 20s to the parish poor chest and legacies of Ł5 apiece to a nephew and niece bearing the Astrey surname. These bequests to the Astrey descendants could perhaps be regarded as token or obligatory payments arising from the family’s hereditary associations with the Astrey clan rather than as strong gestures of neighbourliness or kinship support.

Sources and Notes

For an account of the family history see H.J.B. Kendall, The Kendalls of Austrey, Twycross and Smithsby (Hatfield, 1909). Nichols I, 850; W.R.O. Indenture, CR 1044/8.

In 1673 George Kendall is said to have been ‘in quiet possession of the tithes in Austrey for 60 years past’: Calendar of Treasury Books, V, 239-40.

For 1669 Episcopal Return of Conventicles: see G.L. Turner (trans)

Original Records of Early Nonconformity under Persecution and Indulgence, 3 vols. London 1911-14, I, pg. 58; II, pg. 788. Thomas Hill and Thomas Dowley were the two ‘heads and teachers’ in Henry Kendall’s house. The Austrey register, describes Henry as a labourer in 1611. William is described as a labourer at the baptism of his first son in November, 1616. For Kendall probate records: Lichfield Joint Record Office: inventories, Henry Kendall, 1592; William Kendall, 1635; wills. Henry Kendall, 1673.

Kendall paid for 6 hearths in 1662, however be paid only 3 hearths in 1666, 2 being ‘stopt up’, Henry being occupant ‘in an empty house’: WCR Hearth Tax Returns I, pg. 3.

Nathaniel was baptised in 1574, which made him the first born, natural heir to the lordship. The fact that Henry inherited the lordship is sufficient to suggest that Nathaniell died before 1673.