This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam is in Ilam, Staffordshire [Map], Churches in Staffordshire.
Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Font with images representing Life of St Bertand.
Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Monument to George Newell.
Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Monument to St Betram.
Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Exterior.
After 1653. Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Monument to Elizabeth Meverell Countess Ardglass. Elizabethan Period.
After 1653. Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Monument to Robert Meverell and Elizabeth Fleming. Elizabethan Period.
Robert Meverell: On 5th February 1628 he died. Before 5th August 1628 he and Elizabeth Fleming were married.
Elizabeth Fleming: she was born to Thomas Fleming. On 5th August 1628 she died.
On 15th June 1814 Mary Pauline D'Ewes [aged 69] died. She was buried at the Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map].
After 29th July 1816. Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map]. Monument to David Pike Watts [deceased]. Sculpted by Francis Leggatt Chantrey [aged 35].
David Pike Watts: On 29th January 1754 he was born. In 1809 David Pike Watts purchased Ilam Hall, Staffordshire from the Port family. On 29th July 1816 he died. His daughter Mary Watts and her husband Jesse Watts-Russell inherited Ilam Hall, Staffordshire.
Memorials of Francis Chantrey RA in Hallamshire and Elsewhere Part V London Life and Works. To this period belongs the execution of the celebrated monument-one of the largest of its class in England - of David Pike Watts [Map], Esq., now in a chapel erected for its reception in the church [Map] adjoining Ilam Hall, near Dovedale. In this fine work of art, the venerable man is represented "on his bed of death, from which he has raised himself by a final effort of expiring nature, to perform the last solemn act of a long and virtuous life: his only daughter- [ Mrs. Watts Russell [aged 27] ] -and her children, all that were dearest to him in life, surround his couch, and bend at his side, as they receive from his lips the benedictions of a dying parent, when the last half-uttered farewell falters upon them."
How did that sculptured group command Our wonder, which hath ravish'd thousand eyes: The kneeling mother, and the soft surprise Of the three little ones that near her stand: ' Than this - thy genius, Chantrey [aged 37]! scarce could rise Higher, with trophies fresh from Nature won; Art, how transcendent, when such power is given, To fix expression in the Parian stone, Which turns rapt thought towards holiness and heaven! "
On 1st March 1837 John Port of Ilam Hall, Staffordshire died. He was buried at the Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map].
Henrici Quinti, Angliæ Regis, Gesta, is a first-hand account of the Agincourt Campaign, and subsequent events to his death in 1422. The author of the first part was a Chaplain in King Henry's retinue who was present from King Henry's departure at Southampton in 1415, at the siege of Harfleur, the battle of Agincourt, and the celebrations on King Henry's return to London. The second part, by another writer, relates the events that took place including the negotiations at Troye, Henry's marriage and his death in 1422.
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1898. John Benjamin Stone [aged 59]. Photograph of the font at Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam [Map].