17th Century Tokens : Guildford-02 in Surrey

See also other Counties issuing 17th Century Tokens

Click Images to View Coin Details W114: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1664) O  A woolsack ABDIAH MARTIN 1664 R  A castle IN GILFORD 1664 Image not available A freeman of Guildford, having served his father in apprenticeship seven years. He was proprietor of a piece of ground next tht Tun Inn, in Tunsgate, upon which an annual charge to the Grammar School existed, as in the rent roll of the Free Grammar School, December 15, 1671, we read: "Abdiah Martin is charged for his garden and where the mercate house is built, xxd." A piece of this ground was afterwards purchased by the Corporation, and the wheat market-house above referred to built upon it. This market-house, however, let on a lease of 1,000 years to a Mr Steere on June 13, 1737. W115: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  A woolsack ABDIAH MARTIN 1664 R  A castle IN GILFORD 1652 Image not available It is clear, on examination, that the obverse is the usual one, as described above; but the reverse exactly resembles that of the following token of John Martin, and it is supposed that the same coiner struck each of these tokens, but that, in error, he used an old reverse die of John Martin in striking a second issue for Abdiah, instead of the correct die. W116: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1664) O  A woolsack ABDIAH MARTIN MARTIN R  A castle IN GILFORD 1664 Image not available Clearly struck from an incorrect die, probably only a proof. W117: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1664) O  A woolsack ABDIAH MARTIN MARTIN R  A castle IN GILFORD 1664 Image not available Struck on pure copper, not the usual brass, and nearly one-eighth of an inch thick. W118: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1652) O  A woolsack IOHN MARTIN R  A castle IN GILFORD 1652 Image not available This John Martin is another instance of a poor lad rising to considerable position and affluence in his native town. The old parish register informs us that he was apprenticed by the overseers to Mr Cobbett, and served his master "faithfully and well for nine years." Something like an apprenticeship! In 1640 he had become a man of property, and the Roll of the Subsidy, previously quoted as granted by Parliament to Charles I, has his name thus: "Iohn Martyn in goodes iij£ paying vs. iijd. in every pound." In 1643, the town records note that John Martyn was one of the wardens of the Rye Market-house. The Rye Market-house stood in High Street, and occupied a site in the northeast corner of Holy Trinity Church. It was pulled down on January 6, 1758, and its value (£200) invested in bank stock. In 1647 John Martyn was elected as Mayor, but, singular to state, does not appear as an "approved man," or Councillor, until 1651, and would therefore appear to have been selected from the town without first passing through the Council. He was elected an "approved man" six times, i.e. in 1651, 1652, 1653, 1656, 1657, and 1658, and was again Mayor in 1654 and 1655. In 1663 the town incurred an expense of one hundred and fifty-five pounds (£155--in those days an enormous sum), which was all spent in welcoming his Majesty Charles II, in his visit to Guildford soon after his restoration. Like a brave old Royalist, as he most certainly must have been, John Martyn--or Martin, as the name then appears--gave a subscription of five pounds (£5) towards this expense; and, with the exception of John Smallpeece and Joseph Nettles, who gave an equal amount, we do not find that any Guildfordian gave so large a gift. He evidently lived in the parish of St Mary, as the churchwardens' book proves, his signatures being head of the list for several years in the signatures of those who attended the vestry meetings. The fact that it is first written whenever he attended shows he was considered a man of great importance in the parish. He is buried near the north door of St Mary's Church, having died at the age of seventy-five. W119: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1657) O  A woolsack IOHN MARTIN R  A castle IN GILFORD 1657 Image not available W120: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1657) O  I E N IOSEPH NETLES OF I E N R  A thistle or a wheatsheaf GVILDFORD IN SVRRY Image not available Joseph Nettles was an "approved mam" of Guildford five times, viz., in 1657, 1658, 1659, 1660, and 1661. He is described in Russell's "History" as being of St Mary's parish; and he founded an exhibition to the University of Oxford or Cambridge, for the son of a freeman taught in the Grammar School, by leaving to the said school certain lands in Stoke on trust. This man shared the same fate as Nicholas Lintott, previously referred to, being discharged from being called by the name of Bayliffe for refusing to take the oath in 1662. He was a punlican, and tenant of the Grammar School for the Tun Inn. See the Rent Roll of December 15, 1671, in which his rent is mentioned at "xxxs. for the halfe yeare." He also rented of the same charity "a corne chamber over the wheat mercate house and a shed thereto belonging for xxvjs. for the halfe yeare." As mentioned before, he was one of the three men who subscribed £5 each towards the expense of £155 incurred in welcoming Charles II to Guildford in 1664. W121: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1667) O  A castle IOHN REMNANT R  A woolsack OF GILLFORD 1667 Image not available John Remnant was a resident in St Mary's parish, and was appointed collector for the poor for that parish in 1669. He was also appointed surveyor of highways for the same parish on December 29, 1671, and overseer of highways for the same, December 29, 1674. Boyne gives the spelling of Gillford incorrectly as Gilford. The issuer, with two others, had a distress served upon him in 1670, in which goods value £17 16s were taken from the three of them for an attendance at a meeting held in the street, when kept out of their meeting-house at Guildford.--"Sufferings of the Quakers," vol. i., p. 699. In 1670 we read the following quaint and interesting entry of him: "Jane Remnant, of Guildford, had taken from her soe much cheese as was worth about fower pounds for three pounds imposed on her son John for being at a silent meeting amongst Friends, where shee was not nor did usually frequent. The wch cheese was keept by ye magistrates whilst it was spoyled, for none would buy it, but it was cast forth and bureyd." W122: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1667) O  A castle (no inner circle) DANIELL SARLLE R  A woolsack with inner circle IN GILFORD 1667 Image not available One of the specimens in the Editor's possession was found between some boards in the Town Hall by Apark, the beadle, in 1847, and is the only token we ever heard of being found in the hall. The issuer is supposed to have been a lawyer; his signature appears on receipts in the receipt-book of Nettles' Charity, and also as a ratepayer of the parish of Holy Trinity, in the churchwardens' book at Easter vestries of 1697, 1699, 1702, and 1713. In the roll of voluntary contributors toward the alteration of the gallery in the church, in 1699, his name appears, with that of John Smallpeece, as a donor of 2s. 6d. He took up his freedom of the town, as eldest son, from his father; and he was appointed Tythingman in 1658, and overseer of the poor for the parish of St Mary, 1676. W123: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  A castle with a woolsack before it IOHN SMALLPEECE R  A barge with four men rowing IN GVILFORD Image not available The representative of one of the very oldest Guildford families, resident in the town now for over 400 years. This John Smallpeece was a grocer, and his father was also of that trade; and in the constitution-book of the town, amongst the apprenticeships registered, is this name: "Apprenticed to his Father and Mother, Grocers." An unusual entry, and one which would appear to prove that the mother was an active and working partner in the business, so much so as to be mentioned in the indenture of apprenticeship. On Tuesday, August 26, 1662 (14 Car. II), twelve royal commissioners, amongst whom was Sir Richard Onslow, held sittings at Guildford, to inquire into the proceedings of the Mayor and certain magistrates of the town, who had refused to take the oath of supremacy and non-resistance upon the restoration of Charles II: "and Henry Parson, Maior; R. Budd, sen., John How, John Aldertaon, Wm Hill(?), T. Smith, T. Horsnaile, magistrated, were discharged and acquitted from the office of maioraltie and magistracey of the said towne for refusing to take the Oathes and make subscription as by the said act of parliament is enjoyned. And for the future they be not called or beare the name of magistrated and approved men of the towne aforesaid; and John Smalepeice, grocer, was chosen Maior in his stead." He was, from this extract, evidently a man of some note in the town for loyalty to Church and King, or he would not have been specially selected for this honour by the royal commissioners. He lived to the age of seventy-nine, and died July 29, 1701, and is buried in the centre aisle of Holy Trinity Church. He was elected constable, a kind of special overseer, for his native parish of St Mary on December 24, 1668, and in the churchwardens' book for St Mary's occurs the following entry: "Sept. ye 1, 1672. "Collected for John Smallpeece of Guildford for losses by Fire xxiijs. viijd." It would appear from this entry that he was a person of so much consequence in the parish, that a special offertory was made at the parish church to assist him in meeting some heavy loss incurred by fire. In 1695 he was churchwarden of the parish of Holy Trinity, and his signature as a ratepayer occurs in the churchwardens'-book of that parish at the Easter vestries of 1697, 1699, and 1701. Among the list of voluntary contributions towards the altering of the gallery of Holy Trinity Church, 1699, his name appears as a donor of 2s. 6d. In this roll the total amount collected was only £7 14s, and only five donations were of 10s., most of the amounts being 2s. 6d. and 1s. There is an oft-recurring item in the churchwardens' account, reading "For breaking the ground in the Church, paid Iohn Smallpeece 6s. 8d." An ancestor of this issuer was Mayor of the town in 1502, and the name appears on the Mayor's Roll in 1552, 1560, 1568, 1574, 1582, 1591, 1596, 1602, 11662 (as? above), 1707, 1714, 1831, and 1836; but, although members of the family have been on the Council since, they have not provided another Mayor of the borough. A descendant of the issuer is at present Town Clerk of Guildford; and the character borne by old John Smallpeece in 1662 may be said with much certainty to belong still to the honoured descendants of the same family. W124: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  A woolsack IAMES SNELLING R  A castle IN GVILFORDE Image not available As far as can be ascertained, the specimen of this token in the cabinet of the Editor of this work is unique. It was presented to the late John Nealds, Esq., a well-known Guildford antiquary, by the Rev. Charles Kerry, M.A., when curate of Puttenham, who is a most zealous and painstaking antiquary himself, and who found it near Guildford when searching for some flint implements on March 4, 1873. There is no specimen of it in the British Museum, nor in any public or private collection within the personal knowledge of the author, and it is very singular that one only of this issue should be known as surviving from those originally struck. The issuer was a freeman of the town, taking up his freedom from his father as eldest son. He was evidently a well-known and respected man, as he served his town as "an approved man" no less than ten times, i.e., in 1665, 1666, 1667, 1668, 1669, 1670, 1671, 1673, 1674, and was elected Serjeant-at-mace September 1, 1662, in room of William Tisberry, discharged for refusing to take the oath. In January, 1660, James Snelling, Quaker, was taken from his house at Guildsford, and committed to the White Lion Prison, Southwark, and there placed among the felons, with seventy other Quakers from different parts of Surrey, thirty-two of whom were tried on October 30, 1662, for obstinate refusal to repair unto a church or chapel, and being present at an unlawful assembly or conventicle, and were sentenced to be imprisoned for three months, and after that time to abjure the realm or be proceeded against as felons.--"Sufferings of the Quakers," vol. i., p. 690. W125: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1657) O  A castle THOMAS TOMPSON R  A woolsack OF GILFORD 1657 Image not available Thomas Tompson was apprenticed to Mathew Birchell, and served him for seven full years, taking up his freedom therefrom. He was elected "approved man" three times, viz., 1665, 1666, 1667, and Bailiff of the town, 1664. In 1608 (6 Jac. I) the entry occurs in the Guildford constitution-book relative to this issuer, probably of his father: "Thomas Tompson, the elder one, of the Corporation of Guildford, disfranchised, and dismissed from the fellowship of the Mayor and approved men during such tyme as he shall keep a comon alehouse or tiplingehouse." W126: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (1657) O  A castle THOMAS TOMPSON R  A woolsack OF GILLFORD 1657 Image not available The only difference between this issue and the last occurs in the spelling of the word "Gilford" or "Gillford," one being with only one "L," the other having two. In January, 1660, Thomas Thompson, Quaker, was taken from his bed at Guildford and committed to the White Lion Prison, Southwark, and there placed among the felons, with seventy other Quakers from different parts of Surrey, thirty-two of whom were tried on October 30, 1662, for obstinate refusal to repair unto a church or chapel, and being present at an unlawful assembly or conventicle, and were sentenced to be imprisoned for three months, and after that time to abjure the realm or be proceeded against as felons.--"Sufferings of the Quakers," vol. i., p. 690. W127: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  T A W, the W being plain and solid THOMAS WILMOT T A W R  A postman with a staff and bag, and wearing a high-crowned hat NEERE GVILDFORD Image not available W128: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  T A W, the W having the center strokes overlapping each other at their junctions THOMAS WILMOT T A W R  A postman with a staff and bag, and wearing a high-crowned hat NEERE GVILDFORD Image not available The W mark (as on the obverse) is deeply cut in the stonework of Compton Church in several places. Might not this refer to this issuer, as he is expressly mentioned as residing "neere" Guildford? W129: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  T A W THOMAS WILMOT T A W R  A post man with a staff and bag, wearing a low-crowned hat and bag-wig NEERE GVILDFORD Image not available W130: Surrey, Guildford (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  T A W, the W being plain and solid THOMAS WILMOT T A W R  A post man with a staff and bag, wearing a low-crowned hat and bag-wig NEERE GVILDFORD Image not available Of this issuer nothing is known. It is termed the Postman's Token.

To BritishFarthings Home Page

Custom Search