The Mason Family

Sir Richard Mason was born circa 1633. He had a seat at King's Clere in Hampshire. He married in about 1662, Anna Margaretta Long, daughter of Sir James Long. Sir James Long was an English politician and Royalist soldier.

Sir James Long

The historian John Aubrey wrote about Sir James Long: "When there was a Cabal of Witches detected at Malmesbury they were examined by Sir James Long and committed by him to Salisbury Gaole. I think there were seven or eight old women hanged".

In 1669 Sir Richard Mason took possession of Sutton as Lord of the Manor. He then resided principally at Sutton.

Sir Richard Mason

Sir Richard Mason held the following offices:

Knight of the Green Cloth
Second Clerk Controller of Charles II's Household
One of the Commissioners for executing the office of Master of the Horse, 1679,
MP for Yarmouth 1673
MP for Bishop's Castle, Shropshire 1680-1.

The Clerk of the Green Cloth was a position in the British Royal Household. The clerk acted as secretary of the Board of Green Cloth, and therefore was responsible for organising royal journeys and assisting in the administration of the Royal Household.

Sir Richard Mason and Anne Margareta had two daughters:

Dorothy Mason b. May 1664, d. b May 1700
Anne Mason b. c 1665, d. 17532

1685 was a dramatic year for the Mason family and parish of Sutton. At the beginning of February, the Rev George Roberts, Rector of Sutton died and was buried on the 4th.

King Charles died on 6th February 1685. Sir Richard Mason was one of those present at the king's death. His wife, Lady Anna Mason wrote a detailed account of the King's last illness and subsequent death, in a letter to her mother Lady Dorothy Long at Draycot House in Wiltshire. This letter came to light in 1850 when it was found amongst papers at Draycot House, and was published soon afterwards by Charles Dickens in his weekly magazine Household Words.

On 2 March 1685 Charles Gerard wrote a long letter in which he ordered his wife not to return.

Sir Richard Mason himself died 8th March 1685 and the parish register shows that he was buried on 18 Mar 1685 in Sutton. Dorothy and Ann the daughters of Sir Richard Mason were named his co-heirs.

Jeremiah Oakley, (who may have been a local man) had quickly been appointed Rector of Sutton on the 4th March 1685. This must have been an anxious time in Sutton. The new King was a Catholic. The Mason family were grieving the loss of their father and the irrevocable breakdown of Ann's marriage. The people of Sutton had lost their Lord of the Manor, and their old parson.

Burials in Sutton

18 Mar 1684 Sr Rich: Mason.
10 Jul 1717 Lady Anne Mason, Wid.

Burials

08 Mar 1689 A son of Sr William Brownlow.
13 Jul 1694 A child of Sr Will. Brownlows.
21 Feb 1696 Dorothy d. Sr William Brownlowe.
17 Jan 1697 Dorothy d. Sr William Brownlow.
20 Jan 1699 Lady Dorothy Brownlow.
10 Mar 1700 Sr William Brownlow, Bart.


Baptism

10 Mar 1700 Sr William Brownlow, Bart. ??
08 Mar 1689 A son of Sr William Brownlow. ???


Sources

Mason, Anne Margaret, Lady. Account of the death of Charles II 'by a wife of a person
about the Court at Whitehall.' Household Words 9 (1854).

Court Satires of the Restoration By John Harold Wilson
'The stables: Master of the Horse 1660-1837', Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 11 (revised): Court Officers, 1660-1837 (2006), pp. 603-604. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43902. Date accessed: 11 January 2008.

Anne Mason

Anne Gerard (née Mason), Countess of Macclesfield by John Smith, published by Edward Cooper, after William Wissing, 1687

William Stephens

William Stephens, was instituted as Rector of Sutton in Surrey on 26 July 1690. His patron was Lady Ann Mason, either Anna Margaretta, the widow of Sir Richard Mason MP, or their daughter, who was then the wife of Charles Gerard, Lord Brandon, radical whig and future earl of Macclesfield.

He appears to have been a diligent Rector. According to the parish register:

"Memorandum yt this Register of Sutton was carried away into Lincoln-shyre by Mrs Wych, ye Widdow of Mr Henery Wych, Rector of this p'sh ["who was buried 15 Sep 1678 " crossed out.-Ed.], & was restored to this p'sh by Mr William Wych, son to ye sd Henery, at ye Int'mission of Mr William Stephens, now Rector of ye p'sh Church at Sutton.

But in ye meane time William Stewart, an honest man, who was Clark of this p'sh from Mr Wych's time til now, kept an account of ye Baptisms, Marriages, & Burialls, wh I am now goeing to transcribe over ye leafe. "

He distinguished himself as a political writer in opposition to the court. He preached before the Lord Mayor on the 30th of January 1694, and before the House of Commons upon the same occasion in 1700. This was the anniversary of the execution of Charles I. In preaching before the House of Commons he omitted the prayer for the King and Royal Family, and took the liberty of suggesting the impropriety of continuing the observance of the day, which was considered as such an insult to the House, that a vote of censure was passed upon him.

In the year 1707 he published a pamphlet, called "A Letter to the Author of the Memorial of the Church of England," containing many severe reflections upon Secretary Harley and the Duke of Marlborough. He was indicted in the Court of Queen's Bench for writing this pamphlet, and was sentenced to pay a fine of 100 marks, to stand twice in the pillory, once at Charing-cross, and once at the Royal Exchange, and to find sureties for his good behaviour for twelve months.

The ignominious part of his sentence was at length remitted, but not till he had been taken to a public-house at Charing-cross, whence he saw the pillory erected, and the multitudes of people who were assembled to be witnesses of his disgrace.

Mr. Stephens published also "A Sermon without Doors, to the Protestants of Ireland now residing in London; preached at their Anniversary Meeting, Oct. 23, 1712; in commemoration of their Deliverance from the barbarous Massacre committed by the Irish Papists in the year 1641. London, 1713. 4to."

He made his will in April 1712, making his wife, Susanna, who survived him, sole executor; his will referred to three children, and also to another daughter, Sarah Burridge, to whom he left only a shilling.

The following are baptisms recorded in the Sutton Parish register

29 Sep 1690 William s. William Stephens, Rector of Sutton.
17 Nov 1691 Elizab. d. William Stephens, Rector.
06 Jan 1692 Mary d. Will. Stephens, Rector.
31 Jan 1694 Samuell s. Will. Stephens, Rector.
09 Jan 1709 Catherine Daughter of William Stevens
31 Jan 1711 Charls s. William Stephens, Rector.

Burials

28 Oct 1700 Susanna d. Will. Stephens.
26 Feb 1708 William s. William Stephens, Rector.

William Stephens, Rector was buried on the 31 Jan 1717

The Stephens or Stevens family continued in the area until the 19th century. Sarah Burridge the daughter who only got a shilling was buried in Sutton, 30 Jul 1728.

There is an interesting marriage recorded in the register dated 25 Feb 1722 between a James Ramsay & Mary Stephens. James Ramsey was the name of the Rector who followed William Stephens in 1717.

Source:
Sutton Parish Registers
The Environs of London: volume 1, 1792, Pages:492-496
Stuart Handley, ‘Stephens, William (1649/50-1718)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004;