In the copious notes, made from mainly printed sources, collected by the antiquarian James Savage (1767-1845) of Taunton are copies of two letters from Sir Benjamin Hammet (1736-1800) to the Rev. Joshua Toulmin (1740-1815). Unusually for Savage, there is no indication of the source or provenance of the letters,1 which is an aspect of his work that he meticulously recorded over a period of several decades. Therefore if any reader knows the whereabouts of the originals it will be of interest. It is worth pointing out that the latter section of the first paragraph of the first letter was referred to in a publication in 1845 by Mrs Matthew Hall.2 It is known that Savage collected a large amount of material for his revision of Toulmin’s History of Taunton, which was published at Taunton in 1822, in which he did not include information from Hammet’s two letters.
The recent biography of Hammet by Mark McDermott includes several mentions of Toulmin but not the two letters.3 The subject matter contained in the letters sheds some light on Hammet’s role in Toulmin’s History of Taunton, published in 1791. Not only did Hammet offer to procure source material from the Vatican archive for Toulmin, but he obtained over 150 subscribers through his many and varied contacts, provided documents and even contributed his own anecdotes. Hammet may have discussed this publication with ‘Mr Pitt’, although this is unlikely as he did not subscribe to the book; perhaps Hammet gave him one of the 12 copies he personally subscribed to. However, the reference to ‘Mr Pitt’ is in the context of an ‘Address’, which may not have been associated with the book itself.
Hammet’s interests in the Civil Wars and Taunton Castle expressed in the first letter are worth examining in more detail. His interest in the period was sparked when he was a boy, presumably in the 1740s, by people who talked of the ‘different sieges that this Castle has stood’, but whether the anecdotes he heard were handed down from family members or others he did not state.4 It is possible that information was passed down through a family connection but it is known that no member of the Hammet family signed the Protestation return of 1641 for Taunton, neither do they appear in the subsidy rolls for 1642.5 A petition to the bishops in 1641 also does not show any Hammets in Taunton.6 However, the Taunton St Mary Magdalene parish register includes numerous entries for the surname during the 17th and 18th centuries. But was Benjamin from a Taunton family who witnessed the events of the 1640s and 1650s, something which was not considered in the recent biography?
In a late 19th-century family history it is stated that the Hammet family ‘migrated from Cornwall to Clist St. George, near Exeter, Devon, in the seventeenth century’. There are few facts in this published history prior to the birth of Sir Benjamin that can be verified.7 It is documented that John Hammatt was instituted as rector of Clyst St George on 2 March 1694/58 but died on 13 January 1696/7 aged 39.9 On 18 September 1697 a Benjamin Hammitt was appointed as preacher.10 Theophilus Eedes replaced John Hammatt and baptised Theophilus Hamet son of John and Ann on 27 February 1696/7. The 19th-century family history confirms some of the above but then states immediately afterwards that ‘A son of the Rev. Francis Hammet settled in Taunton about a century and a half ago’. It then lists details of three sons (allegedly of the son of ‘Francis’) namely Francis, John and Sir Benjamin. The question is, who was the Revd Francis Hammet?
The 19th-century family history must be incorrect, as the Church of England database does not include an entry for a Francis Hammet. It is possible however that the late 19th-century family history was not totally incorrect. It is known that Sir Benjamin’s father was Joseph. At the time of his marriage to Ann Trott of Taunton St James, Joseph was described as a resident of Wilton on 22 February 1716/7, suggesting a possible date in the 1680s or 1690s for his birth. Therefore was Joseph a brother of Theophilus who was baptised at Clyst St George on 27 February 1696/7 and was buried at Taunton St James on 8 April 1774?
If our theory is correct then the Revd John Hammatt of Clyst St George was incorrectly referred to as Francis in the 19th-century family history. The Revd John Hammatt was the son of John of Taunton, and was educated at St Edmund Hall and matriculated 25 June 1674 aged 16, B.A. 1678, M.A. from Christ College, Cambridge in 1681, vicar of Stantonbury, Buckinghamshire, 1679-1685, rector of Emmington, Oxfordshire, 1685-1691, and of Clyst St George, Devon,11 1694-1696. He earned Anthony Wood’s scorn, being described as a ‘sniveling non-conforming, conforming vicar,’ and the writer of a ‘pitiful, canting and silly discourse’ for a sermon published in 1685 with the title A burning and shining light, sermon preached at the funeral of the late reverend Mr James Wrexham minister of Haversham in Bucks; on Joh.5.35.12 Therefore the baptism of John (son of John Hammet) at Taunton St Mary on 19 October 1657 was that of Sir Benjamin’s grandfather. Thus proving part of the family story to be correct that Sir Benjamin was descended from a clergyman whose son settled in Taunton, possibly around 1710. The clergyman’s father, also a John, is the one mentioned in the notes on page 100 of Sir Benjamin Hammet 1736-1800 a biography, who was buried on 22 June 1704 at Taunton St James, described as a chandler;13 his wife may have been the Mrs Hamat buried on 1 June 1685 at Taunton St Mary Magdalene. If Joseph (Sir Benjamin’s father) was baptised at Emmington then the entry is lost, as although the registers start in 1539 there is a gap between about 1640 and 1715.14 Similarly the register of baptisms for Stantonbury are missing before 1772.
One item of note is the use by members of the family who stayed in Taunton of the surname Hammet otherwise Mable, or Hammet alias Mable. It appears as the former on 4 January 1689/90 in relation to a surrender within the Hundred of Holway, and continued to be used until 20 September 1710.15 A variant use can also be found in the Taunton St Mary Magdalene parish register for the marriage of Joel Mabel alias Hammet in 1698 to Joan Poel. Also at Cheddon Fitzpaine when Sammuel Hammatt alias Mable, chandler, married Joan Reed in 1702. Both men were brothers of the Revd John Hammet. This variant surname can also be found in the parish registers of Woodbury, Devon in the first half of the 17th century.
Sir Benjamin’s great-grandfather’s will, dated 6 August 1703, describes him as a chandler of Taunton St Mary Magdalene. He mentioned his sons Joel, Samuel, Richard and Benjamin but understandably there is no reference to John who pre-deceased him. Four married daughters mentioned, i.e. Anne Gardner, Rose Musgrave, Mary Caslicke and Joan Tucker.16 Of these children the marriage of Rose into the Musgrave family must have been a significant turning point in the Hammet family fortune. This united the Hammets with a family of significant local standing which Camden stated had come over with William the Conqueror. They settled at Charlton Musgrove and branches can be found at North Petherton, West Monkton, Stogumber and Old Cleeve.17
Hammet’s letters to Toulmin confirm his self-confidence and assertiveness, as well as his concern about the state of his health during the later part of his life. He almost seems to be taking charge of the preparation of Toulmin’s proposed book at times, but his references to the dedication of the book and to various sources may have been in response to questions in a previous letter to him from Toulmin which presumably has not survived. His advice about enlivening the book with anecdotes seems to have been his own idea.
Hammet’s reference to altering an arch in the castle into a room is tantalising. The ‘Arch that I have lately altered into a Room, was built above 1200 years since by Ina King of the West Saxons for his Mistress’ which, despite its romanticism, does provide written evidence for the change. The reference to a tower is even more problematical. It would appear at first sight to be a reference to a tower in the castle, but the mention of five Somerset towers in the ‘Florid Gothic’ style, of which that in Taunton was thought to be the finest, suggests that this may be a reference to the tower of St Mary’s church, which was built during Henry VII’s reign (if not by him). Also, why should monastic writings be relevant to the building of the tower if it were a tower in the castle? In the case of St Mary’s, however, the vicar was subordinate to the prior of Taunton Priory, which may have some relevance.
In Hammet’s second letter there is a cryptic reference to ‘the present pursuit for the E.I. Direction’. The ‘E.I. Direction’ evidently refers collectively to the Directors of the East India Company.18 The Company’s affairs, which could be controversial, concerned not only its Directors and Proprietors, but the Board of Control which Pitt had set up in 1784, and interested members of Parliament and the City. Hammet himself is not, however, mentioned in Philips’s detailed history of the Company, although it includes lists of MPs with significant Company connections. His role in relation to the Company in 1789 is therefore uncertain (was he possibly seeking election as a Director?) although he is recorded as part-owner of the East Indiaman Taunton Castle in 1790.19It is likely that the ‘frank’ mentioned at the end of the letter is a reference to Hammet’s privilege of franking letters as an MP.20
London, Feby. 14, 1789.
Dear Sir, - I assure you it was not wanting of respect to Mrs. Toulmin that I did not answer her letter – I have not yet been able to reconcile myself for the expence I have been at for the purchasing of your house, &c. &c. I have recd. your proposals for the History of Taunton. I am so pleased with it that I shall feel myself very much gratified by your prefixing my name to the Work, if you think my Affection to my native Town and the Improvements I have made and am making deserve such a compliment. You will write to me on this subject, but I will give your Book effectual protections. I have been very busy ever since the rect. of your first letter and procured 100 subscriptions which I will be answerable for, & send you a list of the names – I do not think I have half done. – Have you got Dugdale’s Monasticon, Doomsday or Year Books – the Three Acts of Parliament, for the Market House, Paving, and Hammet Street I will send you, if you have not got them and procure you any other Books that may assist you in the Work. – Take care that you enliven the performance with as many anecdotes as you can collect. – The Arch that I have lately altered into a Room, was built above 1200 years since by Ina King of the West Saxons for his Mistress – whose Queen after his death destroyed that part of the Castle to be revenged on that Lady – How soon afterwards it was rebuilt and fortified so as to be called the Western Key of the kingdom I know not.
Many Anecdotes I have remembered to have heard, when I was a boy of the different sieges that this Castle has stood, most recent are those of Oliver Cromwell and Charles the First – Enrich the work with as many Antiquities as you can procure – I will send to Rome for an Account of the Building of the Tower, for in the troublesome times of Henry the Eight the Writings of allmost all the monasteries were sent to the Sovereign Pontiff for Security – I think it was built by Henry the 7th at the close of the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, as a reward to the Town for their attachment to his Family in preference to that of York; he built four others in the County all of the Florid Gothic, but the Tower of Taunton is supposed to be the finest he ever built.
I think there is a fine shield for an Antiquarian to work upon in your present History – There must be some Acct. of the Foundation of the different Priories – I will also procure you a copy of the different Charters – which you will translate from the Old Latin & introduce in your Work – I have never been well since I left Taunton and am now just setting off for Maidstone, or I could fill another sheet of paper.
Your letter about the Address gave me great pleasure and I took an opportunity to mention it to Mr. Pitt.
I am with great regard and esteem, Dear Sir, your very obedient & humble Servant,
Benj. Hammett.
Sir Benjamin Hammett to Dr. Toulmin.
Lombard Street, Mar. 23.89.
Dear Sir, - I had the Favour of your Letter this morning; my time is so much taken up in the present pursuit for the E.I. Direction that I must defer sending you an account of the Subscribers that I have procured until the hurry is over. I can safely say, you may put down one hundred and fifty copies for myself and Friends, & you may depend that I shall not remain inactive and when my list is completed you shall have the particulars – I directed with much pleasure the frank you requested and remain Dear Sir,
Yours Obliged Servant,
B. Hammett.
The connection between Hammet and Toulmin is obviously Taunton. However, another connection between Toulmin and Hammet was through a special meeting convened by the Court of Common Council held at the Guildhall, London, in February 1790. In a debate over the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, which ‘deprive the Protestant Dissenters of those civil rights to which they are equally entitled with the rest of his majesty’s subjects’,21 Toulmin had presumably been invited or permitted to give evidence. He was in a modern sense an expert witness who spoke in favour of repeal. The debate involving Dissenters that lasted over four and a half hours, centred around the question of the ‘civil rights of the nation, and the establishment of the Constitution’. Both Hammet and Toulmin, with others, contested the question by supporting repeal but to no avail.22
An outline pedigree of Hammet of Taunton, Somerset, Stantonbury, Oxfordshire, Emmington, Buckinghamshire and Clyst St George, Devon
John Hammet alias Mable m. ?
fl. 1653 at TSMM bur. 1 June 1685 TSM
bur. 22 June 1704, TSMM,
chandler
John 1652-1655 John m. Ann Henry 1664-? Richard ?-1722
Joel ?-1655 1657-1696 fl.1696 Rose c.1669-1719 Joan fl.1703
Anne 1656-? Rector of William ?-1678 Mary fl.1703
Joel 1659-? Stantonbury, George 1679-? Benjamin fl.1703
Joel 1660-<1711 Emmington and Samuel fl.1722
Clyst St George
Theophilus Hammet Joseph Hammet m. Ann Trott of TSJ
bap. 27 Feb. 1696/7 of Wilton and TSJ 22 Feb. 1716/17
at Clyst St George, Devon fl.1716-c.1766 bur. 12 Oct. 1769 TJ
bur. 8 Apr. 1774 at TSJ serge manufacturer
John Anne Mary Joseph Francis Benjamin
1721 1723 1725 1727 1728 1735
All the children of Joseph and Ann were baptised at TSJ. The dates are old style.
Key: TSJ = Taunton St James, TSMM = Taunton St Mary Magdalene
[1]. S.H.C., DD/S/HF 1 notes and newspaper cuttings of materials for the history of the county of Somerset collected by James Savage. Reproduced with permission of the South West Heritage Trust. The letters were only discovered in May 2018 by the Somerset editor.
2. M. Hall, The Queens before the Conquest, vol. II (1854), 65-6.
3. M. McDermott, Sir Benjamin Hammet 1736-1800 a biography (2017).
4. S.H.C., DD/S/HF 1 notes and newspaper cuttings of materials for the history of the county of Somerset collected by James Savage.
5. A.J. Howard and T.L. Stoate ed., Somerset Protestation returns and lay subsidy rolls 1641/2 (1975).
6. A.J. Howard ed., A Somerset petition of 1641 (1968), section C3.
7. S.H.C., DD/S/HT/1 Typeset genealogy of ‘Beadon, of Gotten and Creechbarrow, West Monkton, co. Somerset’, n.d. This is based on J. Burke and J.B. Burke, A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, vol. 3 (1850).
8. CCED under Clyst St George, accessed 3 June 2018.
9. H.T. Ellacombe, The history and antiquities of the parish of Clyst St. George (1875), 34, 36-7.
10. CCED under Clyst St George, accessed 3 June 2018.
11. J. Foster, Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), 626-51.
12. M.D. Lobel, ‘Emmington’ in A history of the county of Oxford: volume 8, Lewknor and Pyrton Hundreds (1964), 91-8.
13. S.H.C., D/P/tau.ja 2/1/9.
14. Lobel, ‘Emmington’, 91-8.
15. S.H.C., DD/DP 98/1 index to surrenders for the Hundred of Holway, 1660-1822. John Hamet appears in the 1660 subsidy for Holway and Extra Portum (T.N.A., E 179/172/418).
16. M. Siraut, Somerset wills, S.R.S. 89 (2003), 115.
17. S.H.C., DD/S/HT/1 Typeset genealogy.
18. C.H. Philips, The East India Company 1784-1834 (1940), passim.
19. McDermott, Hammet, 51-4.
20. McDermott, Hammet, 61-4.
21. www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol14/vii-xxvi.
22. St. James’s Chronicle or the British Evening Post, 25-27 February 1790.
Comments