William Petyt

• General Notes
  • @NI1090@
    On his return to London he obtained a post as one of the Exigenters of  the Common Pleas, whose duty it was to make out all writs of exigent and proclamations in cases of outlawry. His duties cannot have occupied a great deal of his time, as he was able to begin building up his legal practice and to indulge his interests in antiquarian, constitutional, and historical studies. His association with the Inner Temple was made closer after the riot in 1669 over the bearing erect of the sword of the Mayor of  London within the precincts of the Inn, when he prepared the case for the Inner Temple when its members were summoned before the Council on the compla int of the city. The Inner Temple won their case and Petyt was paid a fee of £20 for his services. On 12th February 1671, William Petyt, for his services done in asserting and defending the rights and privileges of  the Temple, was called to the bar of  The Inner Temple. He was called to the Bench in 1689, was chosen  Reader for Trinity Vacation, in 1694, and became Treasurer, 1701-2.
    
    In the meantime Petyt had continued with his historical and legal researches. Almost all his writings dealt with the history of Parliament and were designed to lay the foundations and further the building of the Whig cause, which triumphed in the Great Revolution of 1689, when he got his reward from the government. In that year he was appointed  Keeper of the Records in the Tower Of  London, a post he held until his death in 1707. William published four books during his lifetime and the Trustees of Silvester Petyt's will published a fifth in 1739.
    
    Ancient Rights of the Commons Asserted. 1680
    
    Miscellanea Parliamentaria. 1680
    
    Rights of the Commons Answered. 1681.
    
    Lex Parliamentaria. 1690.
    
    Jus Parliamentaria. 1739.
    
    William had a house at Chelsea and worshiped at Chelsea Old Church. In 17 05 William, with the permission of the Vestry of Chelsea Church, he rebuilt the parish school which then contained a vestry room, a schoolroom and one upper room for lodgings for the schoolmaster. William died at Chelsea in October 1707 and was buried in the Temple Church on 9th October. Later his brother, Silvester had a monument erected, which can still be seen.
    In his will William left his large and valuable collection of historical manuscripts to the Inner Temple, he also left the Inner Temple £150 to build a library to house his manuscripts and £50 to buy books for the library. He also left £50 for the use of the Grammar school at Skipton.
    
    There are three known portraits of William Petyt, one at the Inner Templ e, one at The Public Office at Kew, and one at the Skipton Grammar School.
    
    
    Among noteworthy manuscripts there is an early 12th century Macro bius, and the earliest known Books of Forms in Ecclesiastical Causes, fr om the end of the 13th century. There are works by Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Bodley, and important original letters fr om such personages as William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Sir Edward Coke and  Sir Christopher Wren.
    
    Items of interest include an original letter of Lady Jane Grey, signed by her as Queen', the original draft of Sir Edward Coke's 12th and 13 th Reports, and a Year Book for a term of Edward I, which seems to be contemporary and which is, besides, unique. There are also autograph letters by Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I.
    
    By 1709 the new Library had been built. It included the two former rooms ( one of which was to be known as the back library') as well as a new room spacious and handsome. Samuel Carter, an aged and impecunious barrister' was appointed as Library Keeper to attend in the Library as follows: Lady Day to Michaelmas, 9 a.m. - 12, and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Michaelmas to Lady Day, 10 a.m. to 12, and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. His salary was £20 a yea r. He it was who did the first work on Petyt's books and manuscripts. He produced, besides, a draft catalogue of the books in the Library, dated 171 3, which is still extant, but he died the same year leaving it unfinished. He was succeeded by Joshua Blew, a butler in the Inn, who served for fifty years as Librarian and who, undoubtedly, "was the greatest Librarian of a line of eleven who have served the Society to the present day".
    
    
    On 18th May 1716-17 a Bench Table Order was issued: "No copy or transcript is to be taken by any person of any manuscript books in the Library, and no books to be delivered or taken out of the Library without leave of  the Table. This order to be hung up in the Library". Thus was formally established the principle that the Library was essentially for reference and n ot for borrowing. But though the books were now housed either in close pre sses or frames with wire guards the manuscripts seem to have been easily a vailable (at least to Masters of the Bench) and were as often consulted o ut of curiosity as out of need; their availability not being restrict ed in the modern sense until late in the nineteenth century. If in the ear ly days the Library's acquisition of books had been haphazard it was regul ated by a Bench Order of 1713 directing the Treasurer to expend £20 a ye ar on books, but it was the Librarian, Joshua Blew, who was responsible f or the actual purchase of books, often their selection too, their bindin g, and on occasion, the publication of the manuscripts. During his yea rs in office he produced four catalogues. These are notable for the caref ul and accurate annotations to entries, for Blew had all the instinc ts of a good bibliographer.
    
    
    In the eighteenth century the great majority of books purchased were law books; of the books presented the majority were also law books. But antiquarian, historical and literary interests were also held by the members of  the Society, and the purchase or presentation of books reflected these interests as is duly recorded in the catalogues subsequently to be issue
    
    This diversity of interests, continued to the present though in modified f orm, explains the presence today of many valuable works, all either origin al or second editions: Howard's State of Prisons (1777), Higden's Polychro nicon (1527), Hall's Chronicle (1548), Strutt's Sports and Pastimes (1810 ), Hakluyt's Voyages (1598-1600), Clarendon's History (1702-4), Saxton's A tlas of England and Wales (1579) and, Seller's Atlas Maritime 1678. The list of incunabula acquired is shorter but includes The Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), volumes of statutes printed by Caxton in 1490, as well as two o ut of the three volumes of statues issued by Machlinia, the first of the E nglish law printers. On the whole however the purchase policy towards leg al and allied materials was highly selective, and books had to prove thems elves before they were bought. The forty eight titles purchased in 1723 range in publication date from 1651 onwards but only four of these were current publications.
    
    Many problems familiar to modern librarians were already being encountere d. By 1729 as a result of gifts the problem of duplication existed and t he Librarian drew up a list of seventy nine titles for disposal by sale. Books were being supplied by mistake and having to be returned, whilst over charging of bookseller's accounts was not uncommon.
    
    The catalogue of 1773, the work of another Librarian, the Rev. William Jef fs, was the last to be in manuscript and was the most scientifically plann ed to date. It was ordered that "The Librarian ... to make a complete Cata logue of all the books in the Library and to range the books relating to t he several subjects they treat upon in distinct presses so as to compo se a separate Library of Law and Equity, Civil Law and Parliamentary proce edings, Classics, General and Biographical History, Theology, Heraldry, Ph ysic, Miscellaneous Books or others relating to any particular scien ce or subject and manuscripts; that in the Catalogue to be made there sha ll be one column to signify the number of the press, another the shelve s, another the name of the book, another the name of the printer and anoth er the date of the year, and that the books may follow in an alphabetic al manner, as much as may be, and that all duplicates may be placed togeth er in two or three presses, and that the same may be completed by the fir st full week in Michaelmas term, and for which this Society do desire h is acceptance of ten guineas."
    
    In 1784 Randall Norris, a clerk in the Treasurer's department (he subseque ntly became Sub Treasurer) was appointed Librarian, and it was during h is tenure of office that the earliest printed catalogue, dated 1806, was i ssued. The surviving evidence suggests that the appointment of Norris w as not a happy one. His intellect was not powerful and he possessed no ne of the qualities that make a true librarian. When he died in 1827 Charl es Lamb wrote a famous letter about him to Crabbe Robinson: "In him I ha ve a loss the world cannot make up. He was my friend, and my father's frie nd, all the life I can remember. I seem to have made foolish friendships e ver since ... To the last he called me Charley. I have none to call me Cha rley now. Letters he knew nothing of, nor did his reading extend beyond t he Gentleman's Magazine. Yet there was a pride of Literature about him fr om being among books (he was Librarian) and from scraps of doubtful Lat in which he had picked up in his office of entering new students, that ga ve him very diverting airs of pedantry. Can I forget the erudite look wi th which, when he had been in vain trying to make out a black letter te xt of Chaucer in the Temple Library, he laid it down and told me that " in these old books, Charley, there is sometimes a deal of indifferent spel ling", and seemed to console himself in the refection".
    
    
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    Dora took the name Pettyt from a book. It was a book of biography entitl ed "Great Men of Great Britain, a second thousandth printing, publish ed by Charles Griffin and Company Stationer's Hall Court, London.
    
    "I chose the name Pettyt because the man in question seemed to have su ch an interesting job. He was the Keeper of the Tower Records, and auth or of writings on the Ancient Constitution of Parliament. He was born in 1 636 and died in 1707. Originally he was to have been my central characte r, but then I found that he had been 'bewiytched' by a peasant girl, Ann a, whom he purchased for a bride on her thirteenth birthday. When I read M uggleton's description of the dress, and the time in which he lived, the d ress just seemed perfect for Anna. After all, William Pettyt, the Keep er of Tower Records, was an insanely jealous man. It all just came togethe r. Anna the fiction became more real by having an historical character cou rt, and marry her. William Pettyt had that most magnificent gown 'in the k nown worlde' made specifically to conceal the beauty of his possession…a nd of course his 'possession' more completely possessed him than he posses sed her…"
    
    
    The Last Will and Testament of William Petyt
    (dated 12th July 1705)
    the name of God Amen. I WILLIAM PETYT late Treasurer of the Inner Temple, London Esq., and Keeper of Her Majesty's records in the Tower of London do make this my last will and testament in manner and form following.
    First I bequeath my Soul into the hands of Almighty God my Heavenly Father trusting through the merits of Jesus Christ my Blessed Lord and Saviour to obtain full pardon and remission of all my sins and everlasting life in the world to come.
    And as to the estate which it hath pleased God of his great mercy to give me I dispose of it as follows.
    First I will that all such debts which I shall owe at the time of my death be firstly and truly paid.
    ITEM, I give to Sir William Craven, William Denn, my cousins Thomas and William Petyt of Colkins, Joseph Offley, Richard Webb, Humphry Heatherington, John Anstis, John Chamberlayne, James Tyrell, William Attwood, Edward Cooke Esq., and to Mr. John Farkman, Mr. Francis Mills, Mr. John Butts, Mr. Robert Dale and Mr. William Baxter every of them a ring of the value of twenty shillings desiring my said friends that they would wear them for my sake with this inscription, Wl. Petyt.
    Now I give two hundred pounds to be disposed of and laid out by my dear brother Mr. Sylvester Petyt with the advice of the Master and Fellows of Christ College in Cambridge in such manner as shall be thought best for the augmentation of the maintenance of such poor scholars as shall be entered of that college. And I will that any such poor scholars of the Free Grammar School of Skipton in Craven in the County of York shall from time to time have the benefit of this gift or charity and this to be done in remembrance of me in that College of which I was admitted.
    ITEM, I give to the honourable Society of the Inner Temple fifty pounds to be laid out for buying books towards a library there to be erected.
    ITEM, I give fifty pounds to be laid out for the benefit of the Free Grammar School of Skipton aforesaid according to the direction and order of my brother as a testimony of my kindness to the said town.
    ITEM, I give fifty pounds which I will by my executor to be paid towards the education or preferrment of Christoper Petyt son of my deceased cousin Christopher Petyt of Orton in Westmoreland, Gent. as my brother shall from time to time think fit.
    ITEM, I give to Madame Venables seven pounds to buy mourning and also a ring of the value of one and twenty shillings and sixpence.
    ITEM, I give to my niece Mrs. Betty Wright the sum of two hundred pounds and a ring.
    ITEM, I give to Mr. George Holmes my clerk and deputy at the Tower he having lived with me above fourteen years two hundred pounds.
    ITEM, I give to Mrs. Flora Butts, widow, for the great care she has had of me two hundred pounds.
    And as for and concerning my manuscripts and printed books of Law, History, Antiquity and Parliamentary Proceedings which cost me many years pain and study and stood me in much charge in collecting I give and devise them to Joseph Offley Esq., Richard Webb Esq., Humphrey Heatherington Esq., John Chamberlaine Esq., and my brother Mr. Sylvester Petyt my trustees in trust and to the intent and purpose that they would use their utmost endeavours for preserving and keeping them safe and entire for public use in such place or places as they or the major part of them or the survivor or survivors of them from time to time shall appoint and not suffer them to be lent, embezzled or sold for which purpose I do give one hundred and fifty pounds to buy or build a place and making it convenient for preserving and keeping them which is to be settled upon my Trustees or the survivor or survivors of them or the heirs of the survivor of them in fee simple in trust for the purpose aforesaid and for my said Trustees pains and care which they may have I give to each of them five pounds and five shillings and to the intent that the said John Chamberlaine may have a most particular care of my said collections I do give him a further legacy of one hundred pounds. And I do hereby earnestly desire my said Trustees that such special care may be taken by them of my manuscript collections and tracts as that they or the major part of them or the survivors or survivor of them would in convenient time after my decease ( in justice to Truth and my memory ) procure such of my manuscripts as I shall appoint under my hand as they shall think fit to be printed to remain for public use to Posterity and for that end and purpose do hereby give, devise and consign out of my estate unto my Trustees four hundred pounds to be laid out by my dear brother and executor in and about the perusing, printing and publishing of them. If less will not do, though I hope they will pay for printing themselves, desiring him to take care of securing the said sum in case of his own death and the benefit of such printing and publishing to go to himself.
    Furthermore, it is my will and desire that when it shall please God to call me out of this troublesome world my body may be buried in the grounds of the Temple church and that a monument may be made and put up for me in a convenient place by my brother. To defray the charge of which I do hereby give and assign one hundred pounds.
    ITEM, As touching the disposition of all the rest and residue of my estate as well as all personal which I may have by way of mortgages or otherwise I will and devise it to my said dear brother, his heirs, executors and assigns subject nevertheless and charged with the Trusts and payments of all such sum and sums of money as I shall hereafter declare or appoint by any writing under my hand from time to time to be made.
    Lastly I do hereby make and ordain my said dear brother Sylvester Petyt the whole and sole executor of this my last will and testament revoking and renouncing all former wills and testaments by me in any wise heretofore made and declared. In witness whereof I the said William Petyt have to this my last will and testament ( contained in these sheets of paper ) set my hand and seal the twelfe day of July in the fourth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Anne by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland. Queen, Defender of the Faith, Anno Domini one thousand, seven hundred and five.
    William Petyt.
    Signed and sealed by the above named William Petyt and by him published and declared to be his last will and testament in the presence of us who being witness of the same have at his request and in his presence subscribed our names.
    Edward Weaver.
    Rob. Dale.
    Wm. Gent.
    John Penn.
    A private memorial or codicil for my brother Mr. Sylvester Petyt as he is my sole executor to pay the following legacies over and above those I have mentioned in my Will made this twelth day of July 1705.
    I give to Mrs. Conningsby, Mrs. Fabiana Rycroft and Mr. Philips, son and daughters of Fabian Philips Esq. ten pounds apiece.
    To the children of Mr. Fabian Philips their brother ten pounds to be equally divided amongst them to their mother for their use.
    To the poor of Skipton and Bolton to each five pounds.
    I give to Mr. Jenkinson, my old clerk, £10.
    To Joyce my laundress, £20.
    To Mr. William Pritchard, my clerk, £5.
    I give to Mrs. Eleanor Smith, £10.
    To Mr. Sylvester Clarke of the Temple, £1-1-6d.
    I give to Mrs. Flora Butt, widow, for to buy her mourning, twenty pounds.
    I give to Mary Petyt, daughter of my cousin Mr. Christopher Petyt, late of Orton Hall in Westmoreland, deceased, five pounds.
    Wl. Petyt.
    Rob. Dale, witness.