Fritz.
Westminster Parishes.—What are the names of the respective parishes in the city of Westminster in 1630; how far back do their records extend; and what charge would be made for a search in them? I wish to trace a family whose ancestor was born in that city, but in what parish I am ignorant. Were any churches in Westminster, as distinguished from London, destroyed in the Great Fire?
Y. S. M
Dublin.
Harley Family.—Can any reader of your invaluable miscellany give an account of Thomas Harley, citizen of London, who died in the year 1670, ætat. fifty-six? The Thomas Harley referred to possessed good estate in the county of Leicester,
particularly at Osgathorpe, Walton-on-Wolds, Snibston, and Heather. He founded a hospital at Osgathorpe, and endowed the same at 60l. for the maintenance and support of six clergymen's widows. Moreover he also erected a free-school, which he endowed with 60l. a year. He married Mary, widow of William Kemp, citizen of London. His daughter, and sole heiress, married into the family of Bainbrigge of Lockington Hall, county of Leicester; which alliance carried with it the estate of Thomas Harley into that family.
The arms of Thomas Harley are: Crest, a lion's head rampant; shield, Or, bend cotized sable.
Is the foregoing family a branch of that of Herefordshire, now ennobled; or does it come down from one of the name anterior to the time when such earldom was made patent, viz. from Sir Richard Harley, 28 Edward I.: whose armorial bearings, according to one annalist, is mentioned as Or, bend cotized sable?
Brian de Harley, son of Sir Robert Harley, in the reign of Henry IV., changed his crest; which was a buck's head proper, to a lion rampant, gules, issuing out of a tower, triple towered proper.
Aldrorandus.