Linda Stratmann - Kent Murders

LINDA STRATMANN

To Liz, my Canadian soul mate

First published 2009

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2012

All rights reserved

Linda Stratmann, 2009, 2012

The right of Linda Stratmann, to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 8387 0

MOBI ISBN 978 0 7524 8386 3

Original typesetting by The History Press

I would like to extend my grateful thanks to the staff of the British Library, Colindale Newspaper Library and the National Archives who have as always been unfailingly helpful. My thanks must also go to the churchwardens of St Nicholas, Chislehurst, and St Michael and All Angels, Throwley, for taking the time to show me the lovely interiors and monuments of those beautiful churches; to John Endicott, curator of the Kent Police Museum, for supplying some wonderful photographs and allowing me to photograph John Mears staff; and to Mrs Shahida Afzal of Penenden Heath Lodge for her hospitality.

I would like to say thank you also to all the members of the Forest Writers group who have listened to my readings and made many helpful comments on my work. Lastly, but by no means least, I must thank my husband Gary, whose assistance as driver, photographer, companion, and maker of wonderful coffee, I could not have done without.

When Sir Ralph Freeman, Lord Mayor of London, died in 1634 he left a will which made a carefully planned disposal of his lands. Only one of his children, his daughter Jane, had survived infancy, and in 1620, aged eighteen, she had married twenty-one-year-old George Sondes. Sir Ralph approved of the match. George was a steady serious young man, with good family connections and land of his own. In 1626 he was knighted at the coronation of King Charles I. Sir Ralph must have hoped that Jane and George would have a large family, but many of their children died in infancy. By the time of Sir Ralphs death the couple had only two living children, both sons; Freeman Sondes, named after his grandfather, was born in 1629, and George in 1633. Sir Ralphs will ensured that his son-in-law would inherit substantial properties, but he also made provision for his two grandsons, who would not have to wait for the death of their vigorous young father to set up households of their own. To Freeman, his favourite, he left several parcels of land, and to baby George a rather smaller inheritance, an interest in some property in Devon. It was provided that if Freeman should predecease George junior then Freemans share would go to his younger brother.

Six months after Sir Ralphs death, four-year-old Freeman died; all his inheritance rights passing to his brother. In 1636 Jane Sondes bore another son. He, too, was called Freeman. It was customary in Kent for estates to be divided equally between male heirs, but more than a hundred years earlier, the Sondes family, in common with many others, had sought a special Act of Parliament to avoid splitting its lands. Under the provisions of Sir Ralphs will, therefore, the second Freeman Sondes had no inheritance.

The Sondes family owned 6,500 acres of land, on which stood many properties including two fine manor houses in Kent; Town Place at Throwley, where the head of the family usually resided; and Lees Court near Sheldwich, occupied by the heir. Although Sir George inherited Town Place on the death of his father in 1632, and lived there for a time, he always regarded Lees Court as his true home.

Sir George was devoted to three things in his life: religion, the management of his estate, and his family. He later claimed that during the years of his marriage he had remained faithful to his wife. I never had illegitimate issue, not ever had carnal knowledge of any woman, save of my own wife; not of her, but as was fitting for procreation Sir George was a dutiful, rather than affectionate husband, always doing what he thought was for the best and never swerving from his strict religious principles. He believed in fairness, justice and order. When Jane died in 1637 Sir George continued to exercise this extraordinary restraint, choosing not to remarry. A second family would not only cost money, which he felt would be better employed enhancing his estates, but might well lead to problems of inheritance.

Besides the care of his estates, Sir George had political and administrative duties both national and local, with which to busy himself. He entered parliament in 1628, and there were terms as sheriff and deputy lieutenant of the county. It was during the 1630s that he commenced a programme of reconstruction at Lees Court, rebuilding in a style reminiscent of that of Inigo Jones. With the outbreak of Civil War in 1642, Sir George, nominally a Royalist, did his best not to become involved. So carefully did he sit on the fence, that for a time neither side claimed him as its own, then in 1643 he was arrested, for no offence of which he was aware, and had his estate sequestrated by Parliament, the income used to finance the war. Sir George was confined to the Tower of London, where he was to remain until his release in 1650. He later estimated that the fines and depredations had cost him 40,000, yet he was still able to continue the building works at Lees Court, which were completed in 1652.

Lees Court, c. 1905. (Authors collection)

With his two sons approaching manhood, Sir George might have considered how best to adjust the inequality of their fortunes. Splitting the estate was not an option he could condone, but even after the damage done by years of sequestration, it was not impossible for him to find some funds to set aside for Freeman. For reasons which he never adequately explained, however, he chose not to do so. Sir George never swerved from the opinion that when his sons were young, he had spoiled them; they were tender and weak, and when I had buried many other and had only them two, I confess I was more fond and indulgent, and gave more way to them than otherwise I should have done. During his years in the Tower, however, he had rarely seen his sons, and when he was released they were both studying at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge. It was not until 1651 that he was able to make up for lost time, and he plunged eagerly into doing all the things that had been denied to him by his imprisonment. He and the boys spent some months in London, where he devoted himself to completing their education, bringing masters to teach them singing, dancing, fencing, mathematics and riding. On Sundays he took them to hear sermons, and made sure to discuss what was said afterwards to ensure that the lesson had been understood.