Text this colour links to Pages. Text this colour links to Family Trees. Text this colour are links that disabled for Guests.
Place the mouse over images to see a larger image. Click on paintings to see the painter's Biography Page.
Mouse over links for a preview. Move the mouse off the painting or link to close the popup.
Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
In 1630 Mary Gifford was born to [her father] Thomas Gifford.
On 14th November 1644 John Shelley of Mitchelgrove 1st Baronet died. His son [her future husband] Charles succeeded 2nd Baronet Shelley of Mitchelgrove in Sussex.
Before 1662 [her future husband] Charles Shelley 2nd Baronet and Elizabeth Weston were married. She the daughter of Benjamin Weston and Elizabeth Sheldon Countess Anglesey (age 53).
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 19th February 1664. After dinner I to the office, where we should have met upon business extraordinary, but business not coming we broke up, and I thither again and took my wife; and taking a coach, went to visit my Ladys Jemimah and Paulina Montagu, and Mrs. Elizabeth Pickering (age 22), whom we find at their father's new house1 in Lincolne's Inn Fields; but the house all in dirt. They received us well enough; but I did not endeavour to carry myself over familiarly with them; and so after a little stay, there coming in presently after us my Lady Aberguenny (age 34) and other ladies, we back again by coach, and visited, my wife did, my she cozen Scott, who is very ill still, and thence to Jaggard's again, where a very good supper and great store of plate; and above all after supper Mrs. Jaggard did at my entreaty play on the Vyall, but so well as I did not think any woman in England could and but few Maisters, I must confess it did mightily surprise me, though I knew heretofore that she could play, but little thought so well.
Note 1. The Earl of Sandwich had just moved to a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Elizabeth Dickering, who afterwards married John Creed, was niece to Lord Sandwich (age 38).
Before 21st April 1665 George Neville (age 50) and Mary Gifford (age 35) were married.
On 21st April 1665 [her son] George Neville 1st Baron Abergavenny was born to [her husband] George Neville (age 50) and Mary Gifford (age 35). He married before 26th March 1695 Honora Belasyse Baroness Bergavenny, daughter of John Belasyse 1st Baron Belasyse and Anne Paulett Baroness Belasyse.
On 2nd June 1666 [her husband] George Neville (age 51) died.
After 2nd June 1666 Charles Shelley 2nd Baronet and Mary Gifford (age 36) were married. His son John Shelley 3rd Baronet (age 4) subsequently married her daughter Winifred Neville Lady Shelley.
Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke
Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
In 1681 [her husband] Charles Shelley 2nd Baronet died. His son [her future son-in-law] John (age 19) succeeded 3rd Baronet Shelley of Mitchelgrove in Sussex.
Before 15th June 1685 [her son-in-law] John Shelley 3rd Baronet (age 23) and [her daughter] Winifred Neville Lady Shelley were married. She by marriage Lady Shelley of Mitchelgrove in Sussex. His father [her former husband] Charles Shelley 2nd Baronet and her mother Mary Gifford (age 55) were married meaning her step-father became her father-in-law.
Before 24th May 1687 [her daughter] Winifred Neville Lady Shelley died.
Before 26th March 1695 [her son] George Neville 1st Baron Abergavenny (age 29) and [her daughter-in-law] Honora Belasyse Baroness Bergavenny were married. She by marriage Baroness Abergavenny.
On 26th March 1695 [her son] George Neville 1st Baron Abergavenny (age 29) died. Baron Abergavenny extinct..
Before 14th November 1699, the date she was buried, Mary Gifford (age 69) died.
Cansisk's Monumental Inscriptions Volume 1 Old St Pancras Churchyard. Churchyard St Pancras Old Church [Map]. The Right Hon. Mary (deceased), Lady Dowager Abergavenny, buried Nov. 14, 1699.
[her daughter] Winifred Neville Lady Shelley was born to George Neville and Mary Gifford. She married before 15th June 1685 John Shelley 3rd Baronet, son of Charles Shelley 2nd Baronet and Elizabeth Weston, and had issue.