NOTTE OF IMBERCOURT, SURREY.
I find that Robert Roper, Esq., of Heanor Hall, co. Derby, married ... daughter of William Nott, Esq., of Imbercourt, co. Surrey, and had issue, with other children, Rebecca; married first Sir William Villiers, Bart., of Brooksby, co. Leicester, elder brother of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham; and secondly Capt. Francis Cave of Ingarsby Hall, co. Leicester.
Can any one of your readers supply me with the Christian name of Robert Roper's wife; and with the names of his other issue: also whether the representation of this branch of the Roper family has devolved upon the descendants of Rebecca Cave? I find in my mem. book a reference to Dodsw. MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. 41. fol. 70., which I have no means of consulting at present.
I find that William Notte, with Elizabeth his wife, his father-in-law and mother-in-law, are buried at Thames Ditton, co. Surrey. Manning and Bray's Surrey, vol. i. p. 463., contains the following passage:
"On a stone, or brass plates, are the portraits of a man kneeling at a table, and of a woman: behind the man are three sons; behind the woman, three daughters all kneeling, and underneath:
"'Here under lyeth the bodies of Robert Smythe, Gent., and Katheryn his wife, daughter to Sir Thomas Blount of Kinlett, Knyght, which Robert dyed the 3rd daye of Sept. 1539, and the sayd Katheryn dyed the x day of July, 1549.'
"Below these, on the same stone, are also the portraits of a man with fourteen sons behind him; and a woman with five daughters, all kneeling; and underneath:
"'Here under lyeth the bodies of William Notte, Esquyre, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter to the above-named Robert Smyth, and Katheryn his wyfe; whiche William dyed the 25th day of Nov. 1576, and the sayd Elizabeth dyed the xv day of May, 1587.'
"Above are the arms, Notte, on a bend between 3 leopards heads one and two, 3 martlets; crest, an otter with a fish in his mouth in a tussock of reeds.'"
Can any one of your readers refer me to any notice or pedigree of this family of Notte, who were lords of the manor of Imbercourt in the parish of Thames Ditton?
Can any one tell me to what family this Robert Smythe belonged? Was he one of the Smythes of Ostenhanger in Kent? Was his wife Katheryne too the daughter of Sir Thomas Blount by the daughter of Sir Richard Crofts of Eldersfield? The History of the Croke family does not notice her existence. And, lastly, would some one on the spot kindly inform me, whether the above-mentioned brasses are still extant, and in sufficiently perfect condition to admit of a rubbing being taken of them?
TEWARS.