12 S. VI. JAN., 1920.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
BLACKSTONE : THE REGICIDE (12 S. v. 291)
This was John Blakiston (1603-49), once
member of Parliament for Newcastle-on-
Tyne (1641-49), and mayor of that city in
1645. He was one of fifty-nine persons who
signed the warrant for the execution of
Charles I., and one of two connected with
the Northern City, the other being George
Lilburn, governor of the town in 1647.
As your correspondent assumed, he was a
member of the Durham family of that name,
his father being Marmaduke Blakiston (son
of John Blakiston of Blakiston in the
County Palatine of Durham), who was
archdeacon and prebend of York. John
was the second of eleven children, three of
his brothers were brought up in the Church,
and one of his sisters married Dr. Cosin,
Bishop of Durham. The Register of Sedge-
field contains his baptismal record on
Aug. 21, 1603, and as his father held the
living of this parish it may be inferred that
John was born and his boyhood spent there.
He later went to Newcastle and married
Susan Chambers, a widow, on Nov. 9, 1626,
as the register of All Saints' reveals ; his
wife is buried there, her monumental in-
scription reading : " Susannah, late wife of
John Blaxton, one of his late Majesties
Judges " a careless way of signifying that
Blaxton was one of those who sat in judg-
ment upon his majesty. Blakiston became
a Puritan, and was the candidate of the
Puritan party for Parliament ; he had two
opponents, and was defeated, but on petition,
which was unheard owing to the death of
one of the successful candidates, Blakiston
was declared to be duly elected.
Blakiston' s name occurs frequently in the Journals of the House, the Calendars of State Papers, &c., and a variant of his name is there as Blackston, which probably accounts for your correspondent not finding him in various books of reference. He was a member of the Committee for Compound- ing, enjoyed the confidence of both Houses of Parliament, and was honoured by his fellow burgesses.
He was twelfth in the list of persons who signed the king's death warrant ; the signature is bold " John Blakiston," beside the arms of his family: " Arg.,two bars, and in chief three dunghill cocks gu." He did not live long to share the further triumphs of his party, as three months after the death of the king he was taken ill, and died a day or two after the making of his will, which is dated June 1, 1649. The actual date of death is not known, but a record from the Journals of the House of a payment to his
widow and children of 3,OOOZ. is dated
June 6 of the same year, the record stating :
" John Blakiston, deceased."
The issue of John and Susan Blakiston was seven children, of whom three only survived their father.
The foregoing particuars are taken from various sources : the Surtees Society's publications, the State Calendars. 'The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend,' &c. A brief memoir will also be found under Blakiston in ' D.N.B.,' which gives further points not touched on here.
ARCHIBALD SPARKE.
""See his Life by Prof. C. H. Firth, in the - ' D.N.B.' where the name is given as John Blakiston (1603-1649). He was M.P. for Newcastle, where he was a mercer. The date of his death shows that the question of his fate at the Restoration does not arise. That he left descendants is proved by the grant voted for his wife and children. Prof. Firth. , warns us that Noble's account in his ' Lives . of the Regicides ' is full of errors.
EDWARD BENSLY.
Oudle Cottage, Much Hadham, Herts. [MB. A. R. BAYLEY also thanked for reply.]
EPIGRAM : "A LITTLE GARDEN LITTLE JOWETT MADE " (12 S. v. 288). In " Oxford : Garlands Epigrams, selected by R. M. Leonard," at p. 18 the editor ascribes the epigram tentatively to R. Person, and gives- it in this form :
A. little garden little Jowett made, And fenced it with a little palisade ; A little taste hath little Dr. Jowett, This little garden doth a little show it. Because this garden made a little talk He changed it to a little gravel walk.
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
HAVERING (12 S. v. 229). I am afraid Mc.'s statement that "Havering is plaiply derived from two Saxon words, and means ' Goats' Pasture,' " would not pass in the North of England, where the place-name occurs for one or two fields. Haver is Danish for oats, " havermeal " is oatmeal^ " haverbread " is oaten -bread, and " haver- cake " is oatcake ; ing or inge is Anglo* Saxon, akin to the Danish ing, an enclosure^ a meadow, a pasture, literally a field, and the " havering," or the " haverings," up north- here were the oat-fields. I never knew that haver was Anglo-Saxon for " goat." Me. must have made some mistake here. The only Saxon word for " goat " that I know of. is goet. J. W. FAWCETT,
Con sett, co. Durham.
