Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-01
His Family EscutcheOn Suggested the Stars
and Stripes.
MARY, TIE ROSE OF EPPING FOREST

MS VVuuGIy' 1ne DOuy OF 1aWEeuc
Washington, the father of Sif John, lie
buried in the quaint, quiet church at Bring
ton, near the town of Northampton, and ol
the old-fashioned tomb-slab are the arm
from which the design Of the seal Of Georg
Washington was taken, which, it is said
suggested the stars and stripes o
the American ensign" The dis
cOvery that the Washington family had re
sided at the little village of Brington wa
not known until some 25 or 80 years ago
when the Rev. John Nassau Simpkinson
rector of the village, delivered lectur
upon the subject, and afterward wrote {
novel entitled: "The Washingtons; Tai,
of Country Parish in the Seventeenth
Century" The Rev. Mr.. Simpkinson wa
at that time great favorite with the Amer
lean colony in London, and every Fourth o.
July be went to the metropolis and spokt
on his favorite subject. As a novel, tn,
Rev. Mr.. Simpkinson's book on "Tht
Washingtons" must be considered failure
The heroine is Amy Washington, but thu
only interest she inspires in the reader
mind is when she visits Lord Spencer
halls and banquets, and thus gives the
learned rector an excuse for describing
rural life in bvgone age. Still, the book
contains go or 70 pages of valuable "notes'
on the Washingtons of Sulgrave and Bring.
ton, and the work is prefaced with excellent
views of the little church of Brington and
the small house in Brington supposed tC
have been occupied by the Washingtons.
A SINGULAR COINCIDENCE.
BY a singular coincidence from the ad.
joining parish of Warden sprung the
family of Lord North, the great antagonist
of Washington, and Prime Minister during
the American war. And more interesting
still, the cradle of the franklin family is moi
ten miles away from the once home of Wash
was blacksmith and small proprietor al
Ecton-a little village about two miles out
side of the town of Northampton-where
his family had lived on a freehold of about
80 acres for full 800 years, beyond which the
records did not extend.
The Northampton Washingtons came
originally from Warton in Lancashire.
The father of the first Lawrence Washing
ton (of Sulgrave) was John Washington OF
that place. His uncle was Sir Thomas Ket-
son, one of the great London merchants,
who, in the time of Henry VII. and Henry
VIII, developed the wool trade fthe coun-
try. Lawrence Washington was by pro-
fession a barrister, and was probably in
duced to settle in Northamptonshire that he
might superintend his uncle's transactions
with the sheep proprietors in that county.
Lawrence became a man of influence; in
1882 he was elected Mayor of Northampton.
AT the time of the desolation of the monas-
teries, occupying an important position and
identified with the principles of the refol-
nation, he obtained grant of the manor
and lands of Sulgrave, together with other
estates, which till then had belonged to the
of st. Andrews at Northamp' on.
Sulgrave remained in the family until 1920,
and was commonly designated Washing
ton Manor"
Though written many years ago, the de-
scr1ptiOn of Sulgrave by Washington Irv-
ing, when on his pilgrimage to the ancestral
homes of the Washingtons, is said to fairly
describe the Sulgrave of to-day. "It was a
quiet, rural neighborhood. said he, where
the farm houses were quaintand antiquated.
A part Of the manor-house remained, and
was inhabited by farmer,
THE WASHINGTON CREST.
1.-THE Washington crest, in colored glass,
was to be seen in the window of what was
now the battery. The window on which
the old family arms were blazoned had been
removed to the residence of the actual pro-
Prietor OF the manor. In the pavement of
the parish church of Sulgrave is stone
slab, bearing the efigies on brasses of Law
renee Washington, gentleman, and Annie,
his wife, and their sons and II daughters.
The inscription, in black letter, is dated
1864. These are the only memorials, extant
at Sulgrave, the parish register having been
destroyed. The Washingtons held Sulgrave
for three generations, ranking among the
nobility and gentry of the county. When
their fortunes appear to have failed, and
Lawrence Washington, the then proprietor,
had to sell the estate, Lawrence, with his
brother Robert. then retired to the parish of
Brington, courting, it would seem, the pro-
lection of the Spencer family. The rela-
tionship between the two families accounts
for Lord Spencer offering an asylum to the
reduced family.
The Washingtons did not stay at Little
Brington many years. The depression OF
heir fortune was temporary They recov-
cred position and wealth by a singular mar
Rage. The eldest son of the family had
married half sister of George Villiers, af-
terward Duke of Buckingham, an alliance
which at that time was not beyond the pre-
ensions of the Washingtons. They appear
IN consequence soon to have risen again to
lf1uence and prosperity, and removed to
Brington in 1906. Lawrence Washington,
IN the fatal termination of the sale of the
Sulgrave estate in 1910, removed
With his numerous family to London, and
he house at Brington was then occu-
bed by his brother Robert. Robert and
lis wife spent the remainder of their days
here, both dying in 1922, justifying the
words found on their epitaph, "After they
ived lovingly together many years in this
parish" Where Lawrence died is not
lear, but he died 1915 and was buried at
3rington.
ToMBs OF THE wAsHINGToNs.
There are two tombstones, one in the
hancel covering the grave of Lawrence
" Washington, and the other in the nave
marking the last resting place of Elizabeth
nd Martha Washington.
The inscription on one grave reads as
ollows:
Here lies inferred We bodies of Eliza B.
Washington, widdowe who changed this life for
mmortallitie We 18th of March 1922 As also
e body of Robert Washington, gent, her late
husband, second some of Robert Washington
f Sulgrave, in ye county of North. esqr. who
epted this life We 10th of March 1872 after they
ovingly lived together.
Above the inscription is chiseled in stone
he arms Of the Washington and Butler
antilles.
On the other is inscribed the following:
Here lieth the bodi of Lawrence Washington.
onDe and heir of Robert Washington of Sol
rave in the countie of Northampton, Esquier.
rho married Margaret, the eldest daughter OF
William Butler in the countie of SUSSEX.
Isquier who had by her sons o daughters
Thich Lawrence deceased the 38 December
|. Dni 1916
Those that by chance or choyce
OF this hast sight
Know life to death resigned
As daye tonight
But as the sums returned
Revives the day
So Christ shall us
Though turnde TO dust a clay.
Below the inscription there is q brass
held let into the stone which has still