In the chancel of St Nicholas Church is a wonderful 17th century memorial to Gabriel Clarke, ‘late of Potterspurie’.
Gabriel died a bachelor in 1624. For most of his life he was an Elizabethan, clearly a wealthy man and wanted the world to know about it when he died. He left £10 a year to the poor of Potterspury forever and another £10 towards the upkeep of the church. The charity became known as Clark’s Gift and continues to this day.
Here lyeth ye body of Gabriel Clarke late of Potterspurie in ye County of Northamptn Gent who dyed a Batchelor Ye Xth Day of April An’o Dn’I 1624 being of Ye age of 72 Years and 3 months, who gave XLi in memory to be put forth yearely for ever and the use thereof to be bestowed upon ye repayre of this Parishe Church, & one annuitie of XLs out of his Mills called Williat Mills in ye said County of Northampton to be paid quarterly reppr this Gravestone to X of the poorest people of Potterspurie for ever, and divers other legacies to pious and charitable uses as Appearth by this Will.
Gabriel’s tomb ensures that he is the Clarke posterity has remembered and we might ask where his money came from.
The Clarkes were a successful local family: we know this from their wills of which four survive, belonging to Gabriel’s grandfather, father and brothers.
The Clarkes were first heard of in Potterspury in the early 16th century when Gabriel’s grandfather William Clarke was (probably) appointed as Henry VIII’s ‘bailiff of the manor of Potterspury’ in 1516. The job of bailiff was one in which a canny and ambitious man could flourish, as they wielded a fair bit of local power. Bailiffs ensured that the wheels of local commerce and legal administration turned smoothly, and the job could be very lucrative: ‘inducements’ or bribes, were a regular feature.
The bailiff ‘to the manor of Potterspury’ lived at what is now 27 Church End – the old rectory behind the church.
William Clarke died in 1563 and his will proudly states that he was ‘Sergeant at Armes to the queen’s majesty’. He left his son Henry considerable property and lands, but he was also a generous benefactor, leaving 13 shillings and 4d to the ‘poore people within the towne of Pottersperie’ ,and his descendants continued this tradition.
They are a classic example of the expanding Tudor middle class and clearly made the most of the opportunities thrown up by their position of power in the village.
Henry left four sons: William, Sylvester, Christopher and Gabriel – but no will survives. He died in 1574 and left the Potterspury property to William.
When William died in 1604, he left a will of positively Shakespearean proportions and this provides the evidence of the Clarke family’s success during the last years of the 16th century. It partly explains how his younger brother Gabriel could afford to leave such a fine monument in St Nicholas Church when he died 20 years later.
In his will, William left half of almost everything to his wife Eleanor – this included livestock, crops, farmland around the village, right down to his woodpile:
Item I gyve more to my said wyff, halff the Crops, of Corne grayne and hey, now growinge in the groundes in the feldes of potterspery Aforesaid now in my occupation, and halff the fyer wode wthin my yard where I now dwell.
While his wife got an interest in the house (and half his woodpile), his brother Sylvester inherited land and property in Buckingham and Stanwick, as well as ‘my sword, and dager, my sute of buff wth sylver Lace’. His godchildren (it is not clear how many) received a sheep each.
But he didn’t leave much to Gabriel – just a horse and an old suit of black velvet. Another brother, Christopher, who was his executor, seemed to have acquired the interest in the Potterspury property, inheriting it after William’s wife Eleanor’s two years of widowhood occupation were up.
From his will, it is also clear that the Clarkes had a large family tomb in the church: William wanted his executors to smarten it up:
Item I will that my executors shall bestow uppon the monument of my Anncestors buryed in the Channcell of the said Church the Somme of vj£ xiijs iiijd , in beawtyfyinge and settinge out of the same wth there armes, and some memoryall of my selff, wthin fyve yeres next After my deceasse
Christopher Clarke seems to have inherited the manor and his will of 1621 leaves everything in Potterspury to his sons who were young boys when he died just a year later. It seems likely that Gabriel looked after his nephews’ affairs, possibly acting as their guardian as there is no mention of a Mrs Clarke in Christopher’s will.
When he died in 1624, Gabriel left much of his estate to his nephews, young Christopher and Robert Clarke. There is no mention of the rectory manor – clearly it was already owned by his nephews. Gabriel’s will makes generous bequests to the poor of Potterspury (as evidenced by the tomb), but also to those in Yardley, Old Stratford, Buckingham and Stony. He also leave small bequests to at least ten godchildren, five of whom were named Gabriel.
Of all the Clarkes, however, he is the one we remember, because unlike his father, grandfather and brothers, all of whom were buried in the church and once had a family tomb (according to the 1604 will of William Clarke), only Gabriel’s survives.