of the Commonwealth. He was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey, and, as has been shown from the register, marriages were celebrated at his house. He was a major in the Parliamentary army, one of the commissioners for regulating church benefices, and in 1650 had a commission from Cromwell to raise a troop of horse in Surrey for the defence of that and the Commonwealth against enemies foreign or domestic.[1] He took an active part with Sir Michael Livesey and others against the Royalists at Reigate and at Kingston in 1648. Shortly after the Restoration, he sold the estate of West Purley to Harman Atwood.[2]
The Bowyers were of Selsdon. Christopher Bowyer, whom Aubrey describes as "a generous, hospitable person," was living there in 1676, and was buried in the churchyard.
The St. Johns, a branch, I believe, of the Battersea family, appear as residents from 1709 to 1760. There are numerous entries relating to them in the parish register.
In the Appendix which follows will be found references to Fines, Rolls, and other Charters in the Record-office relating to this place, and also extracts from the parish registers which relate to the several families who at one time or other lived in the parish.
