"The home of the living" - Little Rollright Oxfordshire

In sacred memory of Cecily wife of Edward Dixon, esquire, daughter of Sir James Whitlocke, gent,.justice of the peace in the reign of King Charles .(.it praises her piety and her devotion to reading the scriptures, her generosity to the poor and her friendship......the spotless wife of a spotless husband to whom she gave 10 children .. She died 20th July 1647 aged 40 . Edward Dixon, armiger, erected this monument, to himself, his wives and children. so that the tomb should bring together those whom life separated".

 

The monument with white alabaster figures of Edward Dixon clad in armour, kneeling between his 2 wives, Cecily Whitlocke & Anne Dickins, was erected c1655 after the death of Cecily & after his 2nd marriage

Above the arch is a panel inscribed Domus viventium " (the home of the living)

The heraldic arms on the shield above the monument are those of Dixon, Blower and \Vhitelocke

 

Cecily was the daughter of Judge Sir James Whitlocke 1632 of Fawley Court, Bucks by Elizabeth daughter of Edward son of Thomas Bulstrode of Hedgeley Bulstrode by Cecily daughter of Speaker John Croke of Chilton flic.kr/p/6mkdJB

Her father records her birth "Cecill my daughter was born in Fleet Street house, 10 March, 1607, in the 5th year of King James . She was christened in St.Dunstan's church, 26 March being Easter even. Her godfather was Sir John Harrington, Knighte of the Bathe, sun and heir to the lord Harrington, and on of the prince's gentlemen ordinarye; her godmothers, my wifes sisters Cecill and Dorothy Bulstrodd, gentlewomen of the queen's bed chamber."

Her brother Bulstrode Whitlocke 1675 Lord Keeper of the Great Seal m2 Frances Willoughby 1649 daughter of Frances Manners d1643 flic.kr/p/HCbaQa daughter of John Manners 4th Earl of Rutland 1588 & Elizabeth Charlton www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/55857n

 

She m 1632 (1st wife) Edward 1601 - 1659 son of Henry Dixon 1644 of Hilden Park Tunbridge Kent (bought by his grandfather Humphrey Dixon) , Wandsworth & Braughing, Herts, by Mary 1646 co- heiress daughter of William Blower 1597 & 2nd wife Mary 1619 heiress of Zachary Bucat / Bewchet / Brancate from Eeklo in Flanders. Mary who brought "a greate porcion in moneyes 'was also to be heiress of her brother William Blower who died unmarried in 1618 , bringing the manor here to the Dixons. More money came after her mother's death in 1619)

Children - 7 sons & 3 daughters

1 Henry Dixon of Hilden 1634-1669 m 1662 …. having 2 heiress daughters Jane & Sarah who inherited half of the manor each - Jane m 1699 Nathaniel Booth of Grays Inninl 1699 but died childless : Sarah m 1689 Percival Hart of Lullingstone Castle 3 x great grandson of Sir Percival Hart 1580, flic.kr/p/sVtjjh having 1 daughter Anne Dyke (d. 1763) flic.kr/p/sToCnN who inherited the whole manor and her son Sir John Dixon Dyke sold the manor in 1767 to Sir John Reade of Shipton Court, Shipton.under Wychwood. flic.kr/p/4Q4SuH bringing to an end the Dixons' I 50 year tenure

2 James b/d 1635

2. John

1. Elizabeth 1668 m Wiliam Barker of Tonbridge

 

(Their fathers had been friends for some years. Her brother Bulstrode Whitlocke signed a bond to Edward for £2,000, conditioned for payment of £1,400, June 1632, Dixon in due course, borrowed from Whitelocke and, in return settled land in Wandsworth and Braughing on Whitelocke's son Willoughby)

 

(In his diary, her brother Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke's records "Mr Dixon desired the consumation of his marryage & to see the Judges Will how the portion might be secured, butt Whitelocke told his the Will was not materiall, bicause the Judge had by deed of guift (which he produced) conveyed all his personall estate to his son, & for the portion Whitelocke offered to secure to them £1,300 to make up the £1,200 they had already received, [to] the summe of £2,500 being the portion agreed uppon, with which they then seemed to be satisfyed, & preparations for the wedding went on, the writings for settlement of Mr.Dixons estate & for the jointure were sealed, & old Mr.(Henry) Dixon with his sons and friends, & Whitelocke with his sister & friends were ready to goe into the Chappell att Fawley Court, to see the marryage solemnised betwixt them." The issue here was that the Judge had put his daughter's inheritance into his will at £2,500. The wedding plans were underway and £1,200 had been paid over to Mr.Dixon when the Judge died in June 1632 When the will was read the son refused to pay his sister £2,500 as £1,200 had already been paid. The wedding would not proceed until Bulstrode had secured the remaining £1,300 and his sister and her fiance had signed that was their full inheritance. The couple were married July 2nd 1632 at Fawley in Buckinghamshire.

One of the items held in the archives at Longleat House is the bills for Cecily' wedding. Ruth quotes . "Her 'milliner's' bill before the wedding amounted to £46.18s.3d. which included rolls of taffeta to line, £1.1s.0d.; 'Left unpaid of the last workinge £7.3s.3d.'; binding for petticoats 2s.; making petticoats and waistcoats 3s.6d.; 20½ yards of straw-yellow satins £15.7s.6d.; 3 rolls of taffeta to line, 'at 14d the elle', £1.4s.6d.; 16 yards of material for Lady Muston / Mostyn, Cecilia's elder sister)

 

Ruth Spalding in her Contemporaries of Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke 1605-1675 quotes papers at Longleat House showing Anne Bowers (d.1660) wife of Henry Dixon resented her husband's generosity towards the Whitelocke family, - She and her son Whitelocke were joint executors to her husband's estate;

 

Cecily & Edward spent their first years at Hilden until 1636 when their house building at Little Rollright was finished.

 

After her death her brother Bulstrode described her as " a good woman of a plain & tender heart, loving to her husband. children, & relations. carefull in her household afcayres, kind to her neighbors & very religious". She had great troubles living in the country in the Lime of the war. the soldiers on both sides being most injurious & insolent. A troupe of the Parlements quartered all her housee in her husbands absence, she then lying in, having bin brought to bed about 14 dayes before. Yet the barbarous domineering soldiers, would not admit this for an excuse, nor be content with their quarters, though fit for better men, but compelled her (though in that condition) to rise out of her bed. to make better preparations for them. with which, she tooke cold, fell into a feaver & dyed"

 

Edward and his family remained at Lillie Rollright for several years after Cecilia's death.

 

By 1654 Edward had moved his household back to Hilden

He also had remarried by 1655 to Anne widow of William Dickins esq

 

When Edward died, 'sicke and weake in body' in March 1660, his will betrayed some anxiety about his financial affairs. Much of his real and personal property was earmarked for the payment of his debts, annuities for his widow Anne and his unmarried daughter Elizabeth and £2,000 for Elizabeth's marriage portion. Edward did not make his son Henry his executor, nominating his daughter instead, and the hint of paternal disapproval is strengthened by a bequest of £ I0 to Dr Thomas ' Walker, 'further desireing my sonne Henry Dixon ... to bee advised by him uppon all occasions'. On 15 March 1660 Edward was buried in Tonbridge church near his father, as he had requested, and a stone in the chancel floor commemorates him there:-.

"Near this place lyeth the body of Edward Dixon of Hllden, esq; having been the tender husband of two wives; the former Cecilia the daughter of Sir James Whitlock; the second Anne (widow of William Dickins esq) of the ancient familie of the Bickertons of Leicester; who surviving, hath set up this memoriall. He exchanged this life for a better the 9th of March, anno redemptionis 1659 aged 58

oxoniensia.org/volumes/2005/rosen.pdf

- Church of St. Philip, Little Rollright Oxfordshire

Done