JOHN I’ANSON, the founder of the family in England, probably resided at Hauxwell, county York. The parish registers, however, only commence in 1593, and there are no records available for tracing his history. It is not known with whom he married or when he died. As he left no will. According to the records at the College of Arms, he had two sons, Christopher and James. In addition to these names there appear about this time, amongst existing Wills and Parish Registers, records of others of the name, and it is very probable that he had other children, besides Christopher and James, whose names were not recorded at the College of Arms. The only persons interested at the time of the visitations were the descendants of the aforesaid Christopher and James, viz., Brian I’Anson, the son of James, and The Rev. Sir Lancelot I’Anson, Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, and Rector of Langford and Heybridge, county Essex, and his brother William I’Anson, Vintner, of Cornhill, sons of Christopher.

John it probably was who, through his association with the Yorkshire family of Carlyll (of Sewarby), apprenticed his son James to the Vintners’ Company in London, Alexander Carlyll being a prominent member of that Company, and its Master in 1561, the year of his death.

The said James married Agnes, a daughter of William Carlyll, and a relative of Alexander. The early records of the Vintners’ Company were destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666, and are therefore not available for reference; but if existing, they would probably tell us that James was apprenticed to Alexander Carlyll, whose kinswoman he eventually married. One other child of John I’Anson, a daughter, Margaret, is mentioned in the Will of her brother James, as having married one of the Kilburn family.

The history of the I’Anson, or Janson, family in England will, therefore, deal with the descendants of Christopher and James, the two sons whose names were recorded in the early visitations, and, as the descendants of Ralph, the son of Christopher, are numerous, this branch will be sub-divided.

Mention will also be made of other members of the I’Anson family, probably descendants of other children of John I’Anson, whose names appear in existing Wills, Registers, &c., and which may enable others of the name in after years to trace their descent. The Parish Register entries and other records not proved to be records of members of the family whose names appear on the full pedigree bound in this volume, are printed for future reference. Amongst these the Rev. Sir Tristram I’Anson may be mentioned, and it is to be regretted that, owing to the Church at Aysgarth being destryed by fire, the earlier registers do not exist.

JOHN I’ANSON, captain of a man-of-war in the reign of Henry VIII., was the first of the family in England, and he, apparently, after the overthrow of Richard III., settled down in the parish of Hawxwell, Richmondshire, where he married, and where the two sons whose names are recorded at the College of arms were, in all probability, born. The Hawxwell registers only commence in the year 1593, and, as John I’Anson left no Will, all the known facts are that Christopher was the older son, and that James, the younger son, was born in the year 1505, and that the said John, who had been appointed captain of a man-of-war in the reign of King Henry VIII., died in the service of that King.

CHRISTOPHER I’ANSON, the elder son of John, married Isabel Moore, and appears to have lived the simple life of a Yeoman. We have no record of his having been at any time out of Richmondshire, and little information is to be gathered from perusal of his Will, an extract of which appears in a later chapter. His wife, Isabel, survived him, and proved his will on 18^th November, 1577, Christopher having died between 18th September and 18^th November in that year. The half of Barden Close, half of the wayne and plough gear, &c., Christopher left to Ralph, his eldest son, and there are legacies to certain of his other children – William, Lancelot, Anne, Elizabeth, Syth, and Jane.

William, his second son, had, during Christopher’s lifetime, been apprenticed to his uncle James, a Vintner in Cornhill. Lancelot had matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking his B.A. and M.A. degrees there, and was, at the time of Christopher’s death, Vicar of Langford, in Essex.

Christopher appears to have had in all six daughters, all of whom married. His son-in-law, John Hutchinson, is mentioned in the Will. Lancelot, in his Will, refers to his sisters Hamond, Bachelor, Moody, and Church. We know also that anne married Ralph Bayly, of Woodford, county Essex, a member of the Vintners’ Company in London, as she is referred to in the pedigree recorded by the Heralds’ in the Visitation of Essex, and also in the Will of her husband, who was Master of the Vintners’ Company in 1609, and died in 1619.

WILLIAM I’ANSON, second son of Christopher, married twice. The only evidence of the first marriage is the record of the burial of a child at St. James’s, Clerkenwell, on 25^th October, 1585. He was married to Sarah, daughter of Geoffrey Barker, of London, at St. Michael’s, Cornhill on 12^th May, 1594. The busines in Cornhill prospered, and William purchased property in Hertfordshire, where we find the only surviving son of the marriage living unmarried at the time of the Heralds’ Visitation in 1634.

LANCELOT I’ANSON, third son of Christopher, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, Easter Term, 1570, taking his B.A. 1574-5, amd M.A. 1578. He was Chaplain from 1577 to 1581, and was made Rector of Langford, county Essex, and later, also Rector of Heybridge, in the same county, in which parish he resided. On 11^th January, 1586, we find a licence granted him by the Bishop of London for a marriage with Margaret, daughter of William Whiting, Rector of Toppesfield, Essex.

An interesting pamphlet has been preserved, entitled, "A view of the state of the Clergie within the Countie of Essex." This was an attempt to bring about a reform amongst the clergy, which apparently, in many instances, was badly needed. The following is the reference made to the Rev. Lancelot I’Anson:-

No information as to Lancelot’s children, other than that contained in his Will (an abstract of which appears in a later chapter), is forthcoming. As the son Edward is the only one to survive his father, and he appears to have been unmarried in 1624, the branch is probably extinct.

JAMES I’ANSON, younger son of John, married Agnes or anne Carlyll, and became a member of the Vintners’ Company in London. William carlyll, father-in-law of James I’Anson, was one of the Carlylls of Sewarby, and came from the neighbourhood of Bridlington, in Yorkshire.

Alexander Carlyll, William Carlyll’s cousin, was a prominent member of the Nonourable Company of Vintners. He died during his term of office as Master of the Vintners’ Company (1561). Bryan, the son of James I’Anson, was apprenticed to the Drapers’ Company, and James took his nephew William, son of Christopher I’Anson of Hawkswell, into his business, to which business he eventually succeeded. James I’Anson was buried in the churchyard of St. Gregory, in "Powles Churchyard." Nothing further is known of his son Henry or his daughter Margery, referred to in his Will, but, of his son Bryan, who became very successful as a draper in the City, and afterwards purchased considerable estates, much is known, and the history of his branch forms the subject of a later chapter.

next
Contents