THE ATTERBURY’S INVESTMENT AT UPEND, NORTH CRAWLEY
In the Manorial Court Roll NC58 relating to The Manor of Great Crawley heretofore Broughtons Court Roll of 29th October 1765 there is an entry:
“Frances Atterbury from the death of Osborne Atterbury Clerk to his father”
“Also it is presented by the Jury & Homage aforesaid that Frances Atterbury holds of the Lord of this Manor by fealty Suit of Court and the yearly rent of two pence halfpenny One Close which descended to him on the death of Osborne Atterbury Clerk, his late father deceased heretofore Francis late Bishop of Rochester his late grandfather deceased which said Francis Atterbury by William Taylor tenant and occupier of the said premises paid herein Court all arrears of rent for the same but his fealty is respited Because etc..”
So who were these people who owned property at Upend ?
Starting with the Bishop, Staines in his 1842 “History of Newport Pagnell” says:
“Francis Atterbury was born at Milton Keynes on the 6th March 1663 and was educated at Westminster School under Dr. Busby and in 1681 was elected to Christ Church, Oxford. He soon became eminently distinguished for his politeness, wit and learning”, and following his wary father’s advice of marrying into a family of interest “A Bishops, Archbishops or Courtiers” he married Miss Osborne a distant relation of the Duke of Leeds. Oxford offering too confined a sphere for his ambitious designs, after ten years residence there he removed to “another scene, and another sort of conversation,” and made his home in London, where his pulpit eloquence quickly brought him into notice; he was successively appointed Preacher, at the Bridewell Chapel, Lecturer at St. Bride’s, and chaplain to William and Mary, and eventually became the most popular and celebrated preacher of his day; but some of the doctrines he taught involved him in controversy with several of his contemporaries. Patronized by the sovereign, the Queen of the Augustan age of English literature, Doctor Francis Atterbury, was on the flood tide of fortune; higher honours awaited him, he became the Bishop of Rochester, and was in expectation of being translated to an Archbishoprick; but the death of his Royal mistress in 1714, put an end to his preferment and was indeed the first bitter ingredient of his overflowing cup.
George I. had a personal dislike to the Doctor, nor was this dislike in anywise lessened by the Bishop’s mistaken policy in the way he sought to conciliate his Sovereign’s aversion. Thus frustrated the divine became merged in the politician, and from this moment he became a violent partizan. At first he covertly sided with the Jacobites, but he soon passed the rubicon, and refused to sign the “declaration of the Bishops”.
In 1722 being suspected of being engaged in a plot to bring in the Pretender, the Bishop was arrested and committed to the Tower; but such were his commanding talents, that when examined before the Council, he was treated with civility and respect; the populace, however, treated him with less ceremony, they hooted and pelted him through the Streets of London, as he passed in his carriage from the Tower to take his trial in the Lords. The Bishop was accused of attempting to place a Popish Pretender on the Throne of the Realm of England, the trial was of great length, Atterbury’s mind rose with his circumstances, his defence was a masterly display of oratory, and has always spoken of as one of his most brilliant productions; but notwithstanding this, and the efforts of those in the house who espoused the cause of the Pretender, the Bishop was found guilty, sentenced to perpetual exile, and for ever banished the realm. While in the Tower, he was visited by several of his acquaintance; to Pope, one of his most intimate friends, he presented as a parting memorial an elegant bound bible; and on the 18th June, 1723 Bishop Atterbury quitted our shores. During his exile, no one was allowed to communicate with him, without special leave obtained under the sign manual, and after nine years banishment, he died at Paris, on the 15th February 1732; his body was brought over to England, and buried in a very private manner in a Vault, which he in his life time caused to be erected in Westminster Abbey, when, in the days of prosperity, he was Dean of that Cathedral.
It has been frequently thought that the proceedings against the Bishop were at any rate arbitrary, if not altogether illegal; but be this as it may, all admit him to have been a man of transcendent learning and talents. Blair speaks of his sermons “as a model of correct and beautiful style, besides having the merit of a warmer and more eloquent strain of writing, that is commonly met with.”
Doctor Francis Atterbury left behind him two or three children; one of them Osborne Atterbury, was advanced to some dignity in the Irish Church, and was the only descendant of the Bishop who left any surviving issue; he does not appear ever to have interfered in the management of the Girl’s School in Newport, although empowered so to do.”
The Girl’s School at Newport that is referred to was set up by his brother Dr. Lewis Atterbury around 1716 and for many years before his death he himself paid the School Mistress£10 p a and provided a house for her to live in. The School House is situated in Paggs Court; it is an old fashioned brick building originally designed for a workhouse; over the doorway is a stone, bearing the following inscription:
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that, if any would not work,
neither should he eat” 2Thess.III. 10”
There are twenty girls on the endowment, who are taught to write, read and sew plain work. We do not know what induced Dr Lewis Atterbury to found a School in this Parish: the fact seems to corroboate the statement that he was born here. This celebrated divine was educated under Dr Busby, at Westminster School, from whence he removed to Christ Church, Oxford; and in a few years after he had taken holy orders, he was advanced by a rapid succession of preferments.
He was appointed one of the six preaching Chaplains to the Princess Anne of Denmark, at Whitehall and Saint James’s, which appointment was continued after the Princess has ascended the throne, as well as during the early part of the reign of her successor George I.; it is said he was greatly annoyed, that his brother the Bishop of Rochester, would not make him Dean of that place, and an interesting correspondence took place upon the subject.
Doctor Lewis Atterbury, died at Bath, on the 20th October, 1731; in his Will he gave some few books to the Libraries at Bedford and Newport Pagnell; he charged his estate for ever, with the payment of £10 annually, for the support of the Girls School, he remembered some of his friends and left a respectful legacy to his “dear brother in token of his true esteem and affection”, probably as a proof of his entire forgiveness, and made the Bishop’s son, Osborne Atterbury, heir to all his fortune, after the death of his grand daughter, who did not long survive him. But Doctor Lewis Atterbury’s career, however prosperous, was not so brilliant as that of his brother Francis, who was perhaps one of the most remarkable men who were natives of Newport Pagnell and its vicinity.