John Austen, 17th Century Yeoman
In the early 1600s John Austen of ‘Cottenton’ Court, Northbourne, was thought to be one of the largest yeoman farmers in the area; in 1610 John’s corn and cattle were said to be worth £2000. At this time the exact definition of a yeoman is unclear, but in terms of farm size, it would have been someone farming in excess of fifty acres. The typical annual income of a yeoman farmer would have been £40 or £50, although £100 to £200 was not uncommon.
In August 1614 William Hylde of Northbourne was valued at £33, he had three acres of cereals, a cow, a weaner and a calf, plus a sow and three pigs, his lease included a house and just eight acres of land.
The larger Kent yeomen were considered to be some of the wealthier in the country and the exceptional could boast incomes of £1,000 to £1500.
John Austen was farming part or all of the lands of Cottenton Court (also known as Cotmanton Court, now Cottington Court Farm) and part of the Northbourne Court estate, as well as marshlands near Sandwich. Cottenton Court is situated on the eastern edge of the parish; the house itself is divided by the Northbourne and Sholden parish boundary, and in the early 17th century it was owned by the Richardson family. The gentry often had limited involvement in the day-to-day running of their estates; renting out their farms to enterprising large-scale yeoman farmers. This was a period of rising cereal and livestock prices, which continued until prices stabilized in 1620.
In contrast to the yeoman, the husbandman was a small-scale farmer, probably a tenant or small freeholder; today we would call him a smallholder. He usually farmed five to ten acres, although some had larger farms of forty acres. The husbandman depended on family labour, and so produced little surplus to sell; any holding below five acres would not have been self-supporting, and to supplement his income he would have occasionally worked for the neighbouring yeoman farmer.
John Austen and Thomas Crayford
John Austen is mentioned regularly in the early seventeenth century Quarter Sessions records, either involved in confrontational situations, or putting up sureties. The session records list indictments for offences, and also recognizances, which binds someone to owe a sum of money -usually £10 or £20 - in the event that he does not perform a stipulated act, i.e. be of good behaviour or appear in court. The session records do not give a detailed account of the cases, so the sequence of dates and events is not always clear, but the incidents appeared to have happened as follows:
On 20 November 1601 John Austen of Cottenton, Richard Cox and James Wickes, the latter two husbandmen and all from Northbourne, were said to have assaulted Thomas Crayford, a gentleman from Great Mongeham, and Gabriel Bargeman, a yeoman. The affray at Sholden arose out of a wildfowl shooting incident by Thomas Crayford, who is said to have discharged a hand gun, ‘chardged with powder and haylshott,’ at ‘ducke and mallard’ on a river. John Austen and the two husbandmen took Thomas Crayford’s musket worth 40s and Gabriel’s ‘loapestaffe’ worth 3s. At a later session it was decided that the penalty for taking the musket was a 6s 8d fine for John Austen and 2s 6d each for the others. The stated value of stolen property does not necessarily reflect their true value; the musket was valued at 40s, since a higher value would have made the crime a capital offence.
John Austen gave a confession, and Thomas Crayford gave evidence against John Austen and the two husbandmen. A separate indictment, although related to the same incident, states that Thomas Crayford and Gabriel Bargeman entered the close of John Austen at Sholden and broke his hedge, however there was not sufficient evidence to support the charge -Ignoramus - 'we do not know'.
Hasted mentions the Crayford family of Great Mongeham, who had a 'considerable estate' and resided at Stonehall, a mansion situated just west of the church. There is a wall memorial in Great Mongeham church to Edward Crayford, who died in 1615 (In 2007 the memorial was in a fragile state, the metal fixings had become corroded and it was starting to come apart and in danger of falling off the wall). At the time of Hasted (1800) the house had long gone and only the ruins remained, it seems to have been pulled down c.1700, after the death of William Crayford, the last of the family to live in Mongeham.
The antagonism between the two men appears to have been deep-seated and continued the following year. Another indictment states that, at Sholden on 12 July 1602, Thomas Crayford and Stephen Abbott, a husbandman, both of Great Mongeham, assaulted John Austen. Thomas Crayford beat him on the head and arms with a staff, 12 feet long and two inches thick, worth 12d, so that blood flowed.
The Quarter Sessions records do not mention the outcome of these cases as they were sent to the Queen's Bench. This was sometimes used as a devise to get a case dropped, since taking it to the higher court usually meant considerable expense.
John Austen and Thomas Willard
Indictment on 1 May 1602
An Indictment against John Austen for assaulting Thomas Willard of Northbourne, husbandman, at Sholden (Ignoramus). QM/SI/1602/38
John Austen and William Knight
Indictment on 10 February 1604/5
Three years later an indictment, accuses William Knight of Northbourne, husbandman, of stealing ten ‘sacks’ [? wool] worth 10s. belonging to John Austen. Another indictment on 12 February 1604/5 states William Knight, at Michaelmas 1604, at Northbourne, was lawfully engaged to serve John Austen as a husbandman for one year following and afterwards on 12 February 1604/5, without leave departed from the said John and left his service. Neither case was proven.QM/SI/1605/9/4
John Austen, Simon Lott and the Sholden riot
Indictment on 23 August 1605
At Sholden, John Austen, yeoman, John Farbrace, Arthur Payne, John Obourde, labourers, all of Northbourne and William Brown of Elham, labourer, riotously broke into and entered a close of Simon Lott of Sholden, called Hull Close. They were accused of assaulting Simon Lott and his wife, Katherine and carrying away a cartload of Barley worth 20s. belonging to Simon Lott. QM/SI/1605/22/17
Indictment 23 August 1605
Simon Lott of Sholden, husbandman, Katherine his wife, George Campion
of London, blacksmith and many other unknown persons to the number of seven,
in a close called Hulle Close in Sholden in the possession of John Austen
…. illegally made entry and forcibly expelled John Austen for the space
of one hour (Ignoramus at the Special Sessions).
QM/SI/1605/22/10
The cause of the riot is not made clear, although the taking of a cartload of barley by John Austen suggests it may be related to the practice of ‘sowing to halves’. This was in effect a type of tenancy in which the rent was partly in the form of labour and partly in kind. The landlord provided the ground free and half the seed, and he and the tenant shared the crop after harvest. In Michaelmas 1604 John Austen agreed with Simon Lott, of Sholden, that Lott should sow to halves some land which Austen leased from Sir Thomas Peyton. Lott was to plough the land, while Austen was to allow him a bushel an acre of seed; when Lott had harvested the corn they were to share it between them. It is possible there was some disagreement about the share of barley.
John Austen and Francis Saunders
Session Papers 26 June 1606
Warrant to apprehend Francis Sanders of Northbourne, gentleman, and Edward Carle to answer for assault. QM/SB/668
Session Papers Oct 1606
Report of the constable of Cornilo hundred as to his failure to arrest Francis Saunder[s] of Northbourne, gentleman, he being on horseback and the constable on foot. QM/SB/709
Indictment on 12 ?June 1607
Francis Saunders of Northbourne, gentleman, at Northbourne about 9 p.m. assaulted John Austen of Northbourne, yeoman, hitting him with a staff worth 2d. QM/SI/1606/9/7
John Austen and Roger Pope
Recognizance 13 May 1610
Roger Pope of Northbourne, husbandman, in £10, to appear, answer and to be of good behaviour towards John Austen of the same, sureties, Henry Smith and John Denn, both of Mongeham, yeomen. QM/SRc/1610/52
Chalklin, C. W., 1965, Seventeenth Century Kent. A Social and Economic History
Hasted, E., 1800, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Vol IX
Kent County Council, Calendar of Quarter Sessions Records 1574 - 1622. Part 1, 2 and 3
Kent County Council , Calendar of early rolls among the Quarter Sessions Records, 1596-1605
Melling, E., 1969, Kent Sources VI Crime and Punishment
Zell, M., 2000, (Ed) ‘Early Modern Kent 1540-1640’