17th Century Tokens : Ampthill-Bedford in Bedfordshire

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Click Images to View Coin Details W1: Bedfordshire, Ampthill (Farthing): (1666) O  T M H THOMAS HARVYE T M H R  T M H OF AMPTHILL 1666 T M H Image not available The following entry exists in the parish register: Thomas the sonn of Tho Harvey was baptized the same tyme as the other two wase which is the 27 aprill 1663. W2: Bedfordshire, Ampthill (Farthing): (1663) O  I A I IOHN IMPIEIL DRES I A I R  I A I SER IN AMPTELL 1663 I A I Image not available W4: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1665) O  P E B PAVLL BAMFORTH R  P E B IN BEDFORD 1665 P E B Image not available The Bamforths of Bedford were highly respectable; and on the registers "Mr." is always prefixed to their name. They left several legacies to the poor of the borough, which are still enjoyed; but the family has disappeared since about 1725, one of the last dying rector of Little Barford, in 1720. Paul, the son of Alderman Robert Bamforth, seems to have been an able citizen; since we find that he was chamberlain of the corporation in 1661 and 1666, bailiff in 1663 and 1669, and mayor in 1681, two years after his brother William had served in the same capacity. A Sir Thomas Bamfor was vicar of Cople in 1521. W7: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  Crossed keys IOHN CLARKE R  I S C OF BEDFORD I S C Image not available The Cross Keys inn still exists, though under a doom of demolition. The landlord came into Bedford from the respectable stock at Sandy; he had a son baptized Robert in 1662, whose descendants disappeared from the town about 1733. The Clarkes supplied several common councillors and municipal officers, but none ever attained to the mayoralty. W8: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1664) O  1664 THOMAS COX 1664 R  T I C IN BEDFORD T I C Image not available The Coxes do not seem to have been of much consideration; Thomas did not serve in any corporate capacity, yet he must have been a burgess, otherwise the municipal regulations, which were then strictly enforced, would have presented him from exercising his calling. The heir of Thomas, also Thomas, a bricklayer of repute, married in the very year in which this token was smitten, and was elected a freeman of the borough in the seventeenth year of Charles II. About the commencement of the last century, a bit of an accident happened to the representative of the family honours, who was a mighty destroyer of game. Compelled to take in a reef, he worked "Tom Coxe's traverse," shifted his berth, and sough smooth water in Oxford, where his descendants are still traceable. The name is common in the county, both among the yeomen and peasantry, but those who bear it in the town are of comparatively recent arrival. W9: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1659) O  W A F WILLIAM FALDO W A F R  W A F IN BEDFORD 1659 W A F Image not available Faldo is the name of a numerous and ancient Bedfordshire family. In Maulden Church, where Richard Faldo was interred in 1576, there are two monuments bearing the family arms, three bucks' heads caboshed, crest three arrows passing through a ducal coronet, one in pale, two in saltire. See Fisher's "Bedfordshire Collections," nos. 15 and 16, fol. 1812-36. William, the issuer of the token, was a man of substance. He became chamberlain of the corporation in 1648, bailiff in 1651, and mayor in 1652. He was re-elected to the chair in 1664, but died during his period of office, and was buried in St Mary's Church, where also Ann his widow was carried in less than two months after. In 1687, the son and nephew of William Faldo were both dismissed from the station of aldermen, by the royal mandare of James II; but they were shortly afterwards restored by William III, and Faldo fils was mayor in 1697 and 1711. There are two brasses in Biddenden Church to members of the family, which had evidently very considerable property at Okley, Clapham, Maulden, and Goldington. On October 8, 1657, John Faldo bequeathed land and some £3,000 to William Faldo, son of the issuer of the token, who appears to have belonged to this branch of the family. The pedigrees are fully set out in the visitations of 1634. See "Harleian Society Publications," vol. xix. The family flourished till about 1759, but they dwindled till the last representative became a shaver! This poor but honest body was a burgess of 1746, and heir-at-law to the manor farm at Harrowden, near Bedford, now possessed by Mr. Whitbread. He plied hard in several vocations, dropping to leeward on each tack, till he struck to Necessity, and bore up for a barber's shop, wherein the lineal descendant of all the Faldos took chapmen by the nose till 1800, when the race and himself became defunct. But even in these reduced circumstances, he had to endure further buffets from fortune; for, waxing old, he was barber-ously supplanted by one Symes, which gave rise to the distich: O how we are changed in these modern times, We leave poor old Faldo to lather with Symes! The name has been vernacularized to Faulder, and still exists in Bedford, though not of this kin. W11: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1654) O  R M F ROBERT FITTZHBGH R M F R  1654 IN BEDFORD 1654 Image not available The Fitzhughs were formerly in high consideration, both in the town and its vicity: they bore for arms, ermine on a chief gules, three martlets or. Robert Fitzhugh was a man evidently of high esteem; he was chamberlain in 1647, bailiff in 1653, and mayor in 1656. William Fitzhugh, of Bushmead Priory, in the county, was in receipt of a pension of 40s. in the second and third of Philip and Mary. W12: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1655) O  1655 HENRY FITTZHVGH 1665 R  1655 IN BEDFORD 1655 Image not available Henry was a brother of Robert Fitzhugh, and was elected mayor in 1649. The family entirely disappeared about the commencement of the eighteenth century; the name has recently been revived by a party from Northamptonshire, who claim no affinity with the Bedford branch. That the Fitzhughs were considered most respectable, is evident from the distinctive "Mr." being prefixed to them in the registers and records. W13: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1655) O  1655 HENRY FITTZHVGH 1665 R  1655 IN BEDFOD 1655 Image not available W15: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1666) O  1666 WILLIAM ISAAC 1666 R  W M I OF BEDFORD W M I Image not available This family has long disappeared. William Isaac was early enrolled among the councillors of the corporation, and served the office of chamberlain in 1673 and 1675, and bailiff in 1674, 1676, and 1681. The mandate by which King James dismissed the two Falsos, as before mentioned, directed that his Majesty's trusty and well-beloved William Isaac be elected mayor of Bedford. He, however, waited on William of Orange with the warm congratulations of the corporation on his arrival. This act of homage was duly appreciated, insomuch that a mandatory letter arrived from the new king for again electing him. The family toddled alon in business, but with a leewardly course; the only corporate honour attained by the descendants of William was the bailiff's mace, in 1718. One person only remained master of the name in 1729, and he, being master of nothing else, bag-piped his mizzen, put his helm a-weather, and went right before it, leaving "not a wreck behind." W16: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1659) O  The Grocers' Arms PHILLIP NICHOLLES R  P S N IN BEDFORD 1659 P S N Image not available W17: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1656) O  Three cloves THOMAS PARE R  T E P OF BEDFORD 1656 T E P Image not available This family originally came from Hitchin; Thomas was many years one of the common council, and served as chamberlain in 1653. After the squalls which agitated the magnates of Bedford, at the Revolution of 1688, there were rulers who knew not Pare; so Thomas, junior, Abigail, his sister, and some smaller Pares, repaired to the habitat of their kindrid in Hertfordshire. There has not been a freeman or resident of the name in Bedford for upwards of a century. W18: Bedfordshire, Bedford (Farthing): (1654) O  The Grocers' Arms IOHN PAVLIN R  I D P IN BEDFORD 1654 I D P Image not available The Paulins were residents in Bedford for a considerable period; their name frequently occurs during the reigns of the second Charles and James. There are none now either in the town or county, and they seem to have hauled their wind to other berths, or died off, about 1710. John was of great respectability, as is evident from the registry of his family, though we find little more than the marriage of his sister Rebecka with Walter Faldo, the baptism of his son and three daughters, and the death of Elizabeth, one of the daughters, and his wife "Douglasse." He was bailiff in the years 1669, 1673, 1677, and 1686; and was mayor in 1693. A bailiff of Bedford was not the "bound" shoulder-tapper of Doe and Roe notoriety, but a municipal officer of trust and consideration. Two were elected annually, who were jointly considered as sheriff of the borough.

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