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This information is from the book Wiltshire Collections by John Aubrey and
John Jackson, published by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society* in 1862.
Transcription of the Oliver Ivie Memorial in Hullavington church, by John Aubrey.
"OLIVER IVYE, sonne and heir of George Ivye Esq. of Hullavington, co. Wilts, who married Anne Finett in the year of
our Lord 1649, one of the Daughters of Sir John Finett Kt. (see note 1) Master of the Ceremonies to King Charles the
1st. and of the Lady Finett his wife sister to the Earl of Cleveland. This said Oliver Ivie deceased in Nov.
1650, leaving his said wife with child who was on the 14th of April 1651 delivered of a Daughter which was named Jane,
which said Jane Ivie deceased 2 Oct. 1654: and with her said Father lyeth under this place. Anne Ivie
his widdo: in memory of her dear husb: and child, hath erected this monument in the yeare of our Lord
God, 1663." (see note 2)
Notes to the transcription by John Jackson.
(1) Sir John Finett Knight, of West Keele, co. Lincoln, Master of the Ceremonies in the Courts of King James
I. and Charles I., married Jane only sister of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Cleveland, one of King Charles's chief
supporters. [Burke's Ext. Peer. p. 568.] He wrote a book now rare, called 'Finetti Philoxenis,'
published after his death by his friend James Howell, and consisting of Observations on the Precedence and Reception
of Ambassadors: 1656. There is a notice of him in the 'Antiquarian Repertory,' IV.521, and a Portrait
at Upton Manor House, co. Northampton.
(2) The name Ivy occurs in documents relating to the adjoining Parish of Alderton so far back as A.D. 1296.
Between the years 1560 and 1670 the family was settled at West Kington, at Hullavington (as leaseholders under
Eton College), and at the Abbey House, Malmesbury. There are no entries of the name in the Hullavington
Registers, which are preserved only from 1694. But there are some gravestone inscriptions, besides the one
which Aubrey copied. Thomas Ivy of West Kington (1569) by his wife Eliza Mallett of co. Somerset, was the
Father of Sir George, who married a Hyde of West Hatch. Their son Thomas was the father of twenty children; the
eldest of whom, George (named in Aubrey's Natural History of Wilts, p.16) married a daughter of Oliver St. John, was a
County Magistrate for fifty years and died aet. 80. They had among other children Oliver, whose wife was Anne
Finett, and Colonel Thomas Ivy. The eldest son of the latter, was St. John Ivy, J.P. living 1694. The
third son was Sir Thomas Ivy who married one of the family of Stumpe of Malmesbury, and lived at the Abbey House, where,
in what is called the Banqueting Room, his coat of arms is still to be seen over the chimney-piece. He made a
voyage to Guiana about A.D. 1633: and was buried at Hullavington about 1671-5. In Sir John Bramston's
Autobiography is an unfavourable account of a Thomas Ivy, (husband of Sir John's niece Theodosia Stepkin) who 'was
knighted after the King's return, but merited whipping rather;' and who was the author of a scarce pamphlet called
'Alimony arraigned.' He was certainly of this family, but whether he was the Sir Thomas who was buried at
Hullavington about 1671-5, is not clear.
The Manor House is near the Church. After the Ivy family, the proprietors were the Jacobs of whom some are buried
in the Church."
* This book is no longer covered by copyright regulations. The Society is happy for information from the
book to be copied, although ask that an acknowledgement to the Society is placed with the reproduction. (The
copyright of any images from the book
is owned by Mandy Ball so they are
covered by copyright
regulations - see our copyright conditions of use.)
The Society can be contacted at: The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire.
Telephone: +44 (0)1380 727369.
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