Lawrence Byam was of Brasennose College, Oxford, and entering into holy orders, he was, on 17th June, 1575, by letters patent under privy seal from Queen Elizabeth, presented to the rectory of Luckham. He married Anne, or Agnes, dau. of Henry Yewings, of Capton, in Stogumber, in co. of Somerset, by whom (who survived her husband, and was buried at Bicknoller, 8 Dec. 1623) he had four sons, all great loyalists in their day, and the three eldest, Henry, John, and Edward, all in holy orders, and of Exeter College, Oxford, (which they entered at the respective dates of 1597, 1599, and 1600.)
Henry, the eldest, succeeding his father in the rectory of Luckham, was chaplain in ordinary to Charles II., and the companion of that monarch in his exile, both by sea and land. “He engaged,” says Wood, in his “Athenæ Oxoniensis,” “his five sons in the royal cause, four of whom were captains in the regiment raised by their father in his majesty’s behalf. In 1636, he had become prebendary of Wells, and afterwards canon of Exeter. For his faithful adherence to the royal cause he was severely pointed at by the opposite party. His wife and daughter perished at sea, in their attempts to escape into Wales, in order to avoid the cruelties of the enemy. He attended the king in his exile to Jersey and the Scilly Islands. He was universally esteemed for his great sanctity, his knowledge of literature, his loyalty to his sovereign, and his charity to his fellow-creatures. His sermons were afterwards published by Hamnet Ward, vicar of Sturminster Newton Castle, in Dorsetshire, and who also wrote the epitaph on his tomb, still extant in Luckham church, (for which see ‘Collinson’s Somersetshire;’ and also for further account of him, ‘Echard’s History of England,’ under the year 1669.) He died at the advanced age of 89.”
His brother, John, D.D., rector of Clotworthy, in same county, following his footsteps, shared his fate, in suffering in his own person, and those of all his children, unmerited persecutions, but which to recount would fill a volume. Edward was the son from whom the Antigua Byams came. He was admitted a student of Exeter College, Oxford, 31 Oct. 1600, then aged 16, and instituted to the vicarage of Dulverton, co. of Somerset, 4 Aug. 1612. On 22 July, 1613, he married, at Walton, in same county, Elizabeth, the dau. of Anthony Eaglesfield, rector of that place, and vicar of Chewton Mendip, some time fellow of Queen’s Coll., Oxford, (being of kin with founder;) but in 1625, this Edward Byam transported himself into Ireland, where he became precentor of Cloyne Cathedral, (the next dignity therein to that of dean,) and dying at his seat at Kilwillin, on the river St. Bride’s, in co. of Cork, on 6 June, 1639, he was buried in the chancel of the parish church of Castle Lyons. His funeral certificate, signed by his widow, who survived him, being given in to Ulster’s office, Dublin, and letters of administration taken out for him in prerogative court of same place, his second son,
William Byam, born at the house of his uncle, (the aforesaid Dr. Henry Byam,) at Luckham, 9 March, 1622-3, entered at Trinity Coll., Dublin, as “Scolarium Commensalis,” 24 May, 1639, just before his father’s death, and he it was that was first of the name and family in the West Indies. The civil wars breaking out soon after the above-mentioned period, he entered on a military life, and distinguished himself in the manner already recounted, at Bridgwater and elsewhere. He married Dorothy Knollys, dau. of Frances Knollys, of Standford-in-the-Vale, co. Berks, Esq., son of Richard Knollys, next brother of William, the only lawful Earl of Banbury, K.G. By this marriage the Byams became connected with the first families in England, and even with royalty itself, as shewn by the following table[[79]]—viz.,
Edward 1st, King of England, m. (2nd) Margaret, dau. of Philip III. of France, and had issue,
Thomas Plantagenet, surnamed “of Brotherton,” Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, and grand mareschal of England, m. Alice, dau. of Sir Robert Halys, Knt., and had issue one dau.,
Margaret Plantagenet, Duchess of Norfolk, m. John Segrave, Lord Segrave, and had issue a dau.,
Elizabeth, one of the heirs of Lord Segrave, m. John Mowbray, Lord Mowbray, and had issue,
Thomas Mowbray, created Duke of Norfolk, 1398, earl marshal of England, and Earl of Nottingham. He m. Elizabeth, sister and one of the heirs of Thomas Fitz-Allen, Earl of Arundel; died in 1400, and left issue,
Margaret, eldest dau. and one of the heirs of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, m. Sir Robert Howard, Knt., and had issue,