310
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. APKIL 20, 1912.
With the greatest diffidence, may I suggest
that " porch," found in old church records,
is, like many other' words, shortened, and
should read ." porchas " ? If this is correct,
then " burial porch " probably means a
personal, or private, burying-place.
This supposed definition was suggested to me by a note in 7 S. iv. 126 ; and, be it a " reckless " suggestion or not, I should be pleased to have the opinion (or proof) on the point of contributors to ' N. & Q.'
ALFRED CHAS. JONAS.
EDMUND SPENSER, 1592. Any reference to his location at this date will oblige. I note that about six portraits are in existence. Have they been compared, and are the artists' names known ? Was his hair dark chestnut ?
There was an Edmond Spencer in the Cordwainers' Company, London, in 1538, Was he the poet's grandfather ?
A. C. H.
WHITE PLANCHE. Information is sought as to White Planch, " a friend of Garrick's," married to Mary Damant, who by her second marriage was the mother of Sir William Belham, Ulster King at Arms. Is anything known as to his country and career ?
Y. T.
NICHOLAS WRIGHT OF OYSTER BAY, L.I., c. 1610-82. Nicholas Wright, with his brothers Peter and Anthony, emigrated to America before 1637, and it is desired to trace the connexion, if any, which is believed to have existed between them and Nicholas Wright, son of John Wright, who died seised of the manors of Tindalls and Rouses, in East Laxham, Norfolk, in 1541. This Nicholas married Anne Beaupre, daughter and coheiress of Edmund Beaupre of Beaupre Hall, in Norfolk, and left five children (names unknown to me), from one of whom, there is reason to believe, were de- scended the emigrant brothers above named. Edmund Wright, eldest son and heir of John Wright, married first, Catherine, a sister of Anne Beaupre, and secondly Jane Russell, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Russell, brother of John, Earl of Bedford. From the latter marriage descended the family of Wright, represented during the middli of last century by John Wright, Esq., of Kilver- stone Hall, near Thetford, in Norfolk.
Nicholas Wright of Oyster Bay had among other children John and Edmund. The name Edmund, an excessively rare one in the early families of Long Island, gives
additional weight to the supposition that
Nicholas Wright of Oyster Bay was
probably a grandson or great-grandson of
Nicholas Wright and Anne Beaupre.
I should be greatly obliged for any clue or information, and for the names of the five children of the above Nicholas Wright by his wife Anne Beaupre.
E. HAVILAND HILLMAN, F.S.G.
13, Somers Place, Hyde Park, W.
JOHN MANN. Wanted any tracts, leaflets, or poems by John Mann, an anti- quary, poet, and bookseller of Commercial Road East, London. He was deacon of a Baptist chapel, formerly in some turning out of, but afterwards removed to, Commercial Road. The Rev. Dan Taylor was pastor. John Mann probably died in the early thirties. I particularly want a hymn commencing
When through this world of care and strife. E. F. STONE SCOTT.
Heplhs.
THE JENNINGS CASE. . (11 S. v. 49, 175.)
IT is not very easy to know how to approach the strange assertions made in regard to Birmingham in the reply at the second reference. I have spent a long life in Birmingham, and never even heard of the suggestion of any confusion between 'the well-known name of the city and Jerning- ham. In Domesday Book the entry is perfectly clear :
" Richard holds of William [Fitz Anseulf] four hides in Bermingham. . . .Ulwine held it freely in the time of King Edward. It was and is worth twenty shillings."
There is actually no variation from the modern spelling, except the substitution of e for i in the first syllable. Fitz himself having died without male issue, the estates came into the hands of the Paganell family, and when it became necessary for feudal purposes to subdivide them, Gervase de Paganell made Peter, his dapifer or steward, Lord of the Manor of Birmingham. Peter, who had, of course, no surname, thereby became Peter de Bermingham. A younger member of the family followed Strongbow to Ireland and made the name far more illustrious there than it ever became in England. The De Berminghams became in Ireland Barons of Athenry and Earls of
