Frances Ash-Glover of the British Library asks: Is it known who the children were that Tyndale taught: their ages, gender; if they survived into adulthood, what shape their lives took? How might their lives and attitudes have developed growing up in those times of profound change, especially if they were aware of the nature of WT's work and the stir it was going to cause?
Dr J.H. Bettey of Bristol University replies:
I have looked into the matter of the Walsh children whom Tyndale tutored at Little Sodbury, but regret I have so far had little success. The parish registers for Little Sodbury only survive from 1703, and those from Chipping Sodbury and Old Sodbury only from the mid-C 17. It appears the Walsh family did not remain at Little Sodbury after the earlyC 17th, and the evidence suggests that only the daughter from Sir John Walsh's first marriage (to Anne Poyntz) lived to adulthood. The family descent which emerges from the Heralds' Visitation of Gloucestershire 1623 (Harleian Society; 21, 1885 pp. 264-5) and from Bigland's History, 1792, p. 1120, is, briefly, as follows:
Sir John Walsh, who died in c.1546, married first Anne Poyntz, daughter of Robert Poyntz, by whom he had surviving issue a daughter, Margaret. He married second Anne. daughter of John Dinley of Hampshire, by whom he had issue Maurice or Morrice, Ann, Catherin and Mabell. The estates were inherited by Maurice who died c.1562, leaving a son Nicholas as his heir. Nicholas Walsh was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire and died c.1578, leaving his son Henry Walsh as his heir. Henry Walsh died in 1601 leaving the property to Walter Walsh, who shortly afterwards sold it to Thomas Stephens, a legal official to Henry, Prince of Wales. From the Heralds' Visitation it appears that by the lateCl6th the Walsh family had left Little Sodbury and were living at Olveston some few miles away.
All this takes us a long way from Tyndale, and I fear means that there is no satisfactory answer to your question. If I can find any further information concerning the children of Sir John Walsh's first marriage, I will you know.
We would like questions and observations for this column. Here are one or two you might be able to answer.
- Why is John Purvey not more highly esteemed as a pioneer in Englishing the Bible: is it because he declined the chance of martyrdom?
- In which countries of the world is Bible smuggling still going on? Are the methods more or less the same as in Tyndale's time?
- How could people go to the trouble of embellishing books unnecessarily that it might mean death to handle.' - Ed.)