"I AM DESCENDED FROM OLIVER CROMWELL"

Copyright Valerie Martin 2001

William Frankland of Muntham Court in Findon was deeply interested in his genealogy and he could lay claim to the fact that Oliver Cromwell was indeed his rightful ancestor.

William was descended from Frances, Cromwell's daughter. Of this, William was most proud. There is even a whispered tradition that years before the Great Protector himself passed some time at the original house at Muntham, but this belief stands, I suspect, on some extremely shaky foundations.

William thought it most appropriate to have his own likeness recorded and at sometime (probably in the late 1780s), he engaged the American painter, Mather Brown, (1761-1831), to carry out the artwork. Brown, originally an itinerant wine merchant from New York State and Massachusetts, had arrived in England in 1781 and was noted for capturing with oils the striking resemblances of his sitters with the strong use of shadows.

As William so prided himself on his descending from the Protector, he was most determined to make a lasting point of this derivation for posterity and he went on to commission not one, but a whole series of family portraits for housing at Muntham Court.

At the head of this dynasty line-up was of course the celebrated Protector himself, a fine figure of a man in armour. The next likeness was of the Protector's daughter, Frances.

Following Frances in the sequence, came Elizabeth her daughter, wife of Sir Thomas Frankland of Thirkleby in Yorkshire, postmaster to King William III. Here the connection with the Frankland name begins.

Then in Indian garb, came William's father, Henry Frankland, Governor of Bengal.

Last but by no means least in the marshalling order there was William himself. William took great thought in composing the sitting for himself.  He decided to be painted with a chart in front of him as he traced his journey all those years before from Tadmere in the desert to the Holy Sepulchre. The final finishing touch to this portrait was that of a bust of Oliver Cromwell peering over William's shoulder.  Perhaps William thought him to be his guardian angel.

The resulting array of portraits on display at the mansion was the subject of lively interest to their commissioner. He directed in his will that the paintings should be carefully preserved by his successors as family heirlooms for all to marvel at.   I cannot help but wonder what happened to them all over the ensuing decades.

William often lamented the loss of a much earlier celebrated miniature of Cromwell by Cooper that had been in the possession of the family. He often related wistfully that Cooper was caught in the act of copying the miniature when Oliver Cromwell had stormed into the room and caught him. The great man was much displeased to say the least and is said to have snatched up the original and marched off.   Never to be seen again I guess.

In March 1804, William sat down to draw up a long and complicated will, such as might befit such a scholarly and wealthy gentleman of that era.

At this time preparations were under way for constructing the new Ashington to Worthing turnpike road routed through Findon.  Instead of there being a single coach and horses every other day and a weekly wagon to the capital passing through the village, there was soon to become a regular daily service all the year round.  Some of the  Findon aristocracy lent money to the road trustees at an agreed rate of interest for the enterprise.  The money was secured by the tolls and duties which would arise  from the use of these proposed roads.  William Frankland lent such money.  It is known that in his will, he bequeathed all the money he had subscribed to the Steyning and Worthing turnpike road (amounting to £500) to a local yeoman, William Wallace.

The following year, 1805, Napoleon's fleet was poised to attack the southern coast of England and Findon was on red alert. A huge bonfire capped Chanctonbury Hill, overlooking the Muntham Estate in readiness to be fired as a warning beacon if an invasion was attempted. William celebrated the Christmas season and then amidst the confusion of a feared Napoleonic invasion, he died at the age of eighty-five at his mansion on Saturday 28th December 1805. He had never married. He was buried at St. John the Baptist Church on Monday 6th January 1806.

The extraordinary collection of most wonderful mechanical devices was disposed of by public sale. Much of the inventor's equipment fetched extremely high prices for the early nineteenth century.  One of his most ingenious turning-lathes alone being sold for a considerable three thousand guineas.

The Manor of Washington, which was also part of William's estate, was bought by Charles Goring of Wiston. There were many bequests to relations and also to loyal servants who were not forgotten. As William decreed, Muntham Court stayed in the Frankland family, but only for the next twenty-nine years. 

Continue to read The In Between Years at Muntham Court

This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.