" WALTER BELCHAMP, Co. ESSEX,

Showing the Church, of which the Rev. William Smythies (A.I.J was Vicar in 1623 ; and Belchamp Hall, the seat of the Raymonds since c. 1627.

The house shown in this view dates from the time of Queen Anne and was built on the site of the older hall. It originally had wings, but these were pulled down and are not shown in this view ; they were, however, rebuilt about the middle of the 19th Century.

From an old Water Colour Drawing in possession of Mr* Raymond, of Belchamp Hall Margarkt Charlotte "

PEDIGREE 3.
The Smythies of Essex and Suffolk.

(A 1) William Smythies of Gosfields and Walter Belehamp, co. Essex.* The Parisli Kegister of Walter Belehamp, co. Essex, begins in the year 1632 with the baptismal entry of "W™ Smitheis son of William ami Ann his wife."
A subsequent entry records that this child died and was buried in 1634. In the year 1635 another son was born and named William. The entry is as follows : " 1635, Smytheis, William, son of William and Anne his wife. Baptized March 3."

The first few entries arc followed by a note : " In this year ye Visitors requiring - all ye names of children baptized to be written in this (parchment) booke out of ye pap (paper) booke there uppon we »oe back to ye yeare 1559," and amongst the entries previous to 1032 is one of the burial of John Smythies, son of William, in 1626.
Another entry, recording the baptism of a child named Marie Mathew on 8 October 1643, concludes with the words: "by me William Smythies whoe was inducted Julv 7"' 1623 and left ye Cure this October 8th , 1643." The period during which William Smythies held the living of Walter Belehamp is thus fixed.

The Register of Students at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, records that on 4 June 1617 William Smythies was admitted to that College. The date when he took his degree is not mentioned, but the Subscription Book for 1627—44, St. Paul's Cathedral, contains the following entry (translation): "I, William Smythies, Master of Arts, Vicar of Walter Belehamp, admitted to preach and teach God's Word in the church (of Walter Belehamp) and other churches in the Diocese."
Signed Gulielmus Smythies, and dated 6 March 1636. "

" In the return made in 1650 of the Ministers and Elders in the various "Classes " of Essex there is this entry : —
•' Gosfield — Rect. Impropriate, £40; Possessor, Lord Dacre ; Vicarage, £40 ; Incumbent, Will. Smythies, by sequestration from John Crosse. He is an able Preaching and Godly Minister. Patron, Lord Dacre." (Lansdowne MS. 459, fo. 128.)
The exact date when William Smythies went to (iosfield is not known, but probably it was between 1647 and lCoO.t He held the living till his death in 1652. His burial at Gosfield is thus recorded in the Parish Registers : " William Smythes, Minister of this Parish, burved September ye 13 th , 165:.'." "

" The will of William Smythies of Gosfields in the County of Essex, Gierke, dated 26 March 1652, contains the following : " First I give to the poore of Walter Belehamp and Gosfields 20s. I giue to Anne my loving wife all that my tenement and lands which I bought of Robert Plum, situate in the said Walter Belehamp and County aforesaid with th'apcrtenances during her naturall life . . . . and the remainder to Isaac Smythies my soue and his heires for ever, provided that if my said wife dep' this life before my sou Willim come to his age of 24

* AUmi 10:27 John Raymond, of the Hertfordshire family of that name, bought the Belehamp Hall estate from Sir J. Wentwortb, and in 1035 was buried at Belchamp (Berry's " Genealogies," Essex). The families of Smythies and Raymond must therefore have been known to each other at this time, a matter of some interest, having regard to the subsequent intimate connection by marriage between the two families. [See Pedigree A (53, 59, 61, and (it;) and Pedigree IS (01), also Notes to Pedigree A (111) and Pedigree B (01).]

John Raymond was a member of the County Committee for the selection of "Ministers," and it was probably through him that William Smythies was appointed to (Gosfield) after his resignation of the living of Belchamp Walter in 1643. "

John Crosse was sequestered in 1611 and his sequestration confirmed before August 1640. The charges against him are set forth in Coles M.S., xxviii.. pp. 28, 29, Brit. Museum. But between John Crosse and William Smythies there was for a short time an incumbent named John Norton, about whom very little is known. From the following entry in the Gosfield Register it is, however, clear that he was incumbent of Gosfield in 10-10: 'Mary Norton, the daughter of M r John Norton, ye Vicor, nnd Maryc, his wife, was baptized ye '.»'" day of Jully, 1640.'' (From " Notes on Gosfield," by Rev. H. L. Elliot, Vicar. Tar. Mag., lSS'J.)

years that the rents of the said tenement and lands shall be equally divided between my said sons till Williams said age of foure and twenty yeares. Item I give to my said wife the rents and profitts of the Tenement and lands which I bought of John Ward and William Allston situated in Water Belchamp aforesaid during her naturall life .... Item I give unto my said son Isaac two acres of arrable land in the comon fields called Mary Liall comon to him and to his son William and to their heires for ever. Item the said Tenement and lands with orchards (?), garden with aperten'ces I doe give to my Sonne Willim and to his heires for ever all excepting the said two acres.
Signed : William Smythies, Richard Pepys,* and John Scott. Proved at Westminster 26 Sept. 1653 by Anne Smythies, the widow (32, Brent).

(A 2) Isaac Smythies of Dagenham was left property in Walter Belchamp by his father William Smythies (A 1 ). The Register at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, records the entry of Isaac Smythies 18 May 1831). The date when he took his A.B. degree is not given, but he is noted as A.M. 1G46.
Newcourt's " Repertorium " gives (p. 203) : Dagenham, Vicarii — Isaac Smithies, A.M. 2 Oct. 1663 per mort. Tilney. Isaac Harrison, S.T.P. 13 Oct. 1C74 per mort. Smithies. Patroni, Tho. Darcy, Bar.
Ibid. (p. 1)9). Biomley-parva, Rectory— Isaac Smithies, CI. 1 Maii 1663 per cess Caudler. Job. Neblet, CI. 4 Aug. 1664 per cess Smithies. Patroni, Maria, dom Yere, vid. Baroness de Tilbury. "

" (A 3) John Smythies. The Walter Belchamp Registers record the burial of John Smythies, son of William, in 1626. (See A 1 above.) (A 4) William Smythies. The Walter Belchamp Registers record the baptism in 1632 of " Smytheis, William, son of William and Ann his wife," and the burial in 1634 of William Smythies, son of William. In the following year, another son having been born, he was also named William in accordance with a common custom of the time. (See A 1 above.) "

" (A 53) Ann Smythies, daughter of Palmer Smythies (A 31), married the Rev. Brook Nathaniel Bridges, a member of the Kent family of that name (Brook Bridges, Esq., of Goodneston was created a Barouet 1718). The subsequent marriage of her daughter Margaretta to the Rev. Samuel Raymond of Belchamp Hall, Walter Belchamp, formed the first link between the Smythies and Raymond families.
A head-and-shoulders portrait in oils on canvas of Rev. Samuel Raymond* and a half- length portrait of Margaretta his wife (30 in. by 25 in.) by John Simpson are now in possession of Major Raymond Smythies (A 70), also a miniature on ivory of Margaretta Raymond. "

(A 54 to A 58). See pedigree.

This is a replica of the portrait in the Belchamp Hall collection, which includes also a portrait of the Rev. Samuel Raymond, when a younger man, by Gainsborough, and a remarkable series of portraits of iiis ancestors from John Raymond (by Cornells Jainsen)- who bought the estate from Sir John Wentworth about 1611, onwards.

Warkham, Anne, m. St. Clere, Raymond, 70.

About 1627 John Raymond, of the Hertfordshire family of that name, bought the Belehamp Hall estate from Sir J. Wentworth, and in 1035 was buried at Belchamp (Berry's " Genealogies," Essex). The families of Smythies and Raymond must therefore have been known to each other at this time, a matter of some interest, having regard to the subsequent intimate connection by marriage between the two families. [See Pedigree A (53, 59, 61, and (it;) and Pedigree IS (01), also Notes to Pedigree A (111) and Pedigree B (01).]

John Raymond was a member of the County Committee for the selection of " Ministers," and it was probably through him that William Smythies was appointed to Gosfield after his resignation of the living of Belchamp Walter in 1643.