Family and Education

b. c.1530, 1st s. of Richard White of Hutton by Margaret, da. of (?Sir) Nicholas Strelley of Strelley, Notts. educ. ?Eton c.1541; ?King’s, Camb. adm. Aug. 1545, BA 1549/50, fellow 1548-50; I. Temple adm. Feb. 1552. m. by 1560, Catherine, da. of William Strode of Newnham in Plympton St. Mary, Devon, 4s. 1da.1

Offices Held

?Gent. waiter in 1558; escheator, Essex and Herts. 1563-4.2

Biography

The Whites of Hutton were a cadet branch of the family of that name of South Warnborough, Hampshire. George White probably owed his seat in Lancashire to Sir Edward Waldegrave, who although not yet officially chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster had probably been in control of most of its administration since the death in November 1557 of his uncle Sir Robert Rochester. White’s aunt, Susan Tonge, was first lady of the bedchamber to Queen Mary and in touch with Waldegrave and other prominent figures, including (Sir) William Petre, to whom the Whites were related by marriage. The grant of the petty customs of Poole for life on 23 Apr. 1555, in consideration of service, to George White, styled ‘esquire’ and ‘the King and Queen’s servant’, could relate to a member of the White family of Poole, which however does not seem to have included a George at this time; but it was almost certainly George White of Hutton who had received an annuity of £20 for his service at Framlingham at the beginning of the reign and who attended the Queen’s funeral as a gentleman waiter.3

Susan Tonge (who was commonly known as ‘Mrs. Clarentius’ or even simply ‘Clarentius’, her husband having been Clarenceux king of arms) had licence at about the time her nephew was sitting for Liverpool to enfeoff Sir Francis Englefield, a kinsman of the Whites of South Warnborough, Sir Edward Waldegrave and others with four manors in Essex, to her use during her lifetime and with remainder to her nephews, of whom George was to receive Rivenhall and Runwell, John was to have Chingford Paul and Humphrey Chingford Comitis. Although she did not die until about 1566, the brothers seem to have acquired the disposition of the properties before then: on 26 Apr. 1560 George White was licensed to alienate Runwell to two trustees and in 1562 John White conveyed Chingford Paul to his brother George, who three years later passed it to his other brother Humphrey, then described as citizen and merchant taylor of London. George White also acquired the manor of Thundersley in Essex which his aunt had been given by Edward VI in 1553.4

The George White who is mentioned as a merchant of the staple between 1558 and 1560 was probably not the Member. There were also a namesake in Essex who died only six months before George White of Hutton and had also held land in Thundersley, one who sold property in Suffolk in 1561 and another who acquired some in Buckinghamshire in 1570.5

Although his wife, a sister of Richard Strode II, came from a seemingly Protestant family and although he did not suffer with Waldegrave and other Essex gentlemen in Elizabeth’s reign, White was probably a Catholic. His aunt went overseas for a short while soon after Elizabeth’s accession; his brother Humphrey was later described as ‘a conveyor of letters and messages to and from her majesty’s evil disposed subjects ... beyond the seas’; and ten years after his death his eldest son Richard and his third son George were questioned about religion. Richard White married Mary, daughter of Edmund Plowden, and their second son was the famous secular priest Thomas White alias Blacklow.6

White made his will shortly before his death on 13 June 1584. He left Hutton to his wife for 40 years on condition that she remained unmarried, and £200 to each of his sons, the eldest of whom was aged 24. Sir Edmund Huddleston and Thomas Tyrrell, both of Catholic families, were each to receive a gold ring. Thomas Tyrrell was perhaps the grandson and heir of Edmund Tyrrell, of whose will White had been an overseer. White was buried in Hutton church where a memorial brass survives.7

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from probable education. Vis. Essex (Harl. Soc. xiii), 321-2, 521; H. Curtis, Whyte or White Peds. 20-22; N. and Q. clxxi. 167-8, 182; Vis. Devon ed. Colby, 196.
• 2. LC2/4/2.
• 3. Essex Rev. 1. 94-98; M. Noble, Coll. of Arms, 115-17; F. G. Emmison, Tudor Sec. 118, 124, 127, 180, 219; CPR, 1554-5, p. 298; Lansd. 156, f. 93.
• 4. CPR, 1553, p. 28; 1557-8, p. 50; 1558-60, p. 365; 1560-3, p. 380; 1563-6, p. 305.
• 5. CPR, 1557-8, p. 301; 1558-60, pp. 25, 412; 1560-3, p. 200; 1569-72, p. 144; PCC 21 Watson; C142/203/77. Yet another George White, curate of Bradwell, Essex and perhaps the Etonian, had died between 26 Mar. 1559 and 2 May 1561, PCC 15 Loftes.
• 6. Cath. Rec. Soc. i. 45; xxii. 123; SP12/248/111; 15/11/45; APC, ix. 269; Al. Cant. iv. 386.
• 7. Essex Recusant, x. 100-1; C142/204/132; PCC 33 Carew; Mill Stephenson, Mon. Brasses, 123.