Theodore abt 1610 KIRTON

• General Notes
  • THEODORE KIRTON  -  (b.c. 1609; d. before 1684) As mentioned above we now have two bits of data about Theodore, that he was a brother of Posthumous, (ref: "All the King's Armies". Stuart Reid, p. 81, fn. 19: "Firth Memoirs", p.25 op. cit. p.214: Colonel Posthumous Kirton.........Evidently a professional soldier, both he and his brother Theodore..............."), and that he was the uncle of Seymour(2) Kirton, who was also his next of kin, and thus a brother of Seymour(1)(Smith MSS, ibid, Vol. 23, p.120), who we have thus now positively established was indeed a son of James and Elizabeth (nee Rodney) Kirton, of London and Wells and West Camel, co. Somerset. So we first see Theodore in detail as a professional soldier, serving as a Captain of Foot in the army of 1640, just having returned from European service (Reid, ibid). Before 1644 he had become a Lt. Colonel of Foot serving in the Regiment of the Duke of York (Reid, ibid, p.205, fn 23): Sir Bernard Astley's tertio: Duke of  York's Regiment: Lt. Col. Theodore Kirton, and was one of the many signers of the letter sent on 9 August, 1644 to the Earl of Essex, entitled "Letter from the Principal Officers of the King's Armies", sent with King Charles's permission, which he signed:  "Theo Kirton"  (ref.:- BHO, House of Lords Journal, Vol. 6, 14 Aug.,1644). He fought at the Battle of Naseby on 14 June,1645, and was made prisoner there (ibid. Reid), because his name does appear on the lists of the prisoners taken. However he had evidently soon been released, or had perhaps been able to escape, because he was soon thereafter involved with Prince Rupert in the surrender of Bristol in September, 1645. (ref.: "Dictionary of Royalist Officers" by P. R. Newman (1981), p. 218, item 837). He had evidently survived both the War and the subsequent Commonwealth, because his name appears on the "List of Indigent Officers.", of 1663, which was prepared for King Charles II after the Restoration (PRO) in order to distribute the grant of £60,000 amongst the surviving loyal and indigent Royalist officers. Subsequently, after 1663, he was evidently resident at Beere's Court, in co. Gloucestershire, but had evidently left England at some point before his death prior to 1684, when he must have been aged close to 75, "On the tenth day [of May, 1684] a commission was granted by which the administration of his estate was granted to his nephew (by his brother), and next of kin, Seymour(2) Kirton", wherein he was identified as a gentleman, and  was stated to "have died in parts beyond the seas".(ref.:-  Grants of Administration PROB 6/59, f. 50b (old folio no. 73b))
    
    
    James and Elizabeth (nee Rodney) had their first child, John Kirton, son of James, who is recorded as being baptized at Rodney Stoke, co. Somerset, on 12 Dec.,1602 (ref.: Baptismal Register), which was by now the location of John Rodney's main residence. In 1604 James was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Wells, and at about the same time Elizabeth bore a second son, James (ref.:- Smith MSS, ibid. p. 100) and a year or so later had a third child, a daughter named Frances.  At about this time, in 1606 James resigned his positions, both as a Member of Parliament and as the Recorder for Wells, but, evidently considering that his membership had been of some worth, he submitted an accounting, for which he was granted ₤5 'by way of gratitude' for his services as burgess, which had been 'to his great charge as it is now alleged.' (Hassler, ibid)  By now James and Elizabeth had also acquired a residence in the country, at West Camell, co. Somerset, (modern West Camel, then, as now, a parish in the Hundred of Somerton, in the diocese of Bath and Wells) although James still maintained his chambers in the Middle Temple, so was evidently still living at least most of the time in London.
    In the year 1607 two events took place which effect our story; on 18 May,1607 a certain young man, Henry Norwood, a young attorney of the Middle Temple, was admitted to the chambers of Messrs. Thomas Warre & James Kirton (the elder), Masters of the Utter Bar, upon the surrender of Thomas Warre (fine, 40/- (shillings)) (Martin, ibid, p. 478). Also, sometime in that same year Elizabeth bore another son, Seymour Kirton (sometimes "Seymer Kyrton"), named undoubtedly after the family which had done so much to advance the Kirtons of West Wiltshire and Somerset. (ref.: "Alumni Oxonienses", Foster, vol.1. p. 859)  He was to matriculate in 1628, aged 21, and therefore had been born in 1607. Almost exactly a year later another significant event occurred when Elizabeth's younger brother, "Mr. Edward Rodney, son and heir of Sir John Rodney of Pilton, Somerset, Knt., SPECIALLY; fine ₤4," was bound with his brother-in-law, James Kirton (the elder), and Henry Norwood (who would later become Mr. Edward's brother-in-law after James's death) in their Middle Temple chambers. (Martin, ibid, p.492) Also, in that same year, Elizabeth had borne yet another son, named Maurice Kirton, who was baptized at Pilton, co. Somerset, no doubt from Elizabeth's father's home there, on 11 Sept., 1608. (ref.:- Pilton Parish Register), who was no doubt named after Elizabeth's late 2nd. cousin, Maurice Rodney. It appears that Maurice Kirton did not survive beyond childhood. Sometime during the next two years James and Elizabeth had yet another son, Theodore Kirton, who almost for certain had as his godfather, Sir Theodore Newton, Kt., of co. Gloucestershire, his mother's brother-in-law. Theodore appears here, as a child of James and Elizabeth Kirton, in part on the strength of later records which state that Theodore Kirton and Posthumous Kirton were brothers, but also on the positive proof that Seymour Kirton and Theodore were also brothers, details of which will follow, in Part 2.
    Then, evidently very unexpectedly, James Kirton (the elder) died, before 10 Feb.,1611, on which day the Middle Temple Records (Martin, ibid, p.535) show that he was being replaced in chambers, having already died. He evidently did not even find time to write a will, surely very unusual for an attorney, so that his estate went to administration: (British Record Society, Vol. 83 (1968) and PCC Administrations, Vol. 5, 1610-1619, p.76): "Kirton, Jas, esq. W. Camel, Som., to Eliz. K., rel., amd (i.e. relict, a married daughter) of Sir Jn. Rodney, Kt. Pilton, Som. 1611 p.10", the exact date being from PROB 6/8 f. 10b: "On the second day (of the month of March, 1610/11) a commission was granted to Elizabeth Kirton the relict of James Kirton late of [Pilton aforesaid - deleted] West Camell in the County of Somerset, esquire deceased having & c., and also of Sir John Rodney."
    Elizabeth was already expecting their seventh child, who, when he was born, was baptized as Posthumous Kirton. (Most unfortunately it seems that all the records of both the parish church at West Camel, co. Somerset, as well as of which ever church the members of the family may have attended when they were in London, for the period between 1538 and about 1700, have all been lost, so that there currently seems to be no other surviving record of  the baptisms of most of these children.) (We will discuss those that survived to adulthood in detail in Part 2.)
    
    
    THEODORE KIRTON - As mentioned above we have no information about Theodore'a origins other than the stated fact that he was a brother of Posthumous, (ref: "All the King's Armies". Stuart Reid, p. 81, fn. 19: "Firth Memoirs", p.25 op cit p.214: Colonel Posthumous Kirton............... Evidently a professional soldier, both he and his brother Theodore....") who we have also now positively established was indeed a son of James and Elizabeth (nee Rodney) Kirton, of Wells, London and West Camel. So we first see Theodore in detail as an adult, and as a professional soldier. Indeed we find him first as a Captain of Foot in the army of 1640, just having returned from European service (Reid, ibid). Before 1644 he had become a Lt. Colonel of Foot serving in the Regiment of the Duke of York (Reid, ibid, p.205, fn 23): Sir Bernard Astley's tertio: Duke of York's Regiment: Lt. Col. Theodore Kirton, and was one of the many signers of the letter sent on 9 August, 1644 to the Earl of Essex, entitled "Letter from the Principal Officers of the King's Armies", sent with the King's permission, which he signed: "Theo Kirton" (ref.: BHO, House of Lords Journal, Vol. 6, 14 Aug., 1644). He fought at the Battle of Naseby on 14 June, 1645, and was made prisoner there (ibid. Reid), because his name appears on the lists of the prisoners taken. However he had evidently soon been released, or had perhaps escaped, because he was involved with Prince Rupert in the surrender of Bristol in September, 1645. (reference: "Dictionary of Royalist Officers" by P.R.Newman (1981), p. 218, item 837). He evidently survived both the War and the later Commonwealth, because his name appears on the "List of Indigent Officers.", of 1663, which was prepared for King Charles II after the Restoration, and which has now been published by Partizan Press in the UK, however the writer has found no further, subsequent record of him.