CONSTABLE, Sir Francis Robert

1592 - 1647  (55 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	CONSTABLE, Francis Robert
  Prefix	Sir
  Birth	14 May 1592	Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England
  Christening	14 May 1592	Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England
  Gender	Male
  Death	1 Aug 1647	Westminster, Middlesex, England
  Burial	2 Aug 1647	Westminster St Margaret, Middlesex, England
  WAC	5 Mar 1940	SLAKE
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I31792	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family ID

  F18095

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	OWEN, Alice ,   c. Jan 1594, Clent, Worcestershire, EnglandClent, Worcestershire, England d. 4 Aug 1647, Westminster St Margaret, Middlesex, England (Age ~ 53 years)
  Marriage	1614	London, England, United Kingdom
  Children	+ 1. CONSTABLE, Anne Owen ,   b. 21 Feb 1621, England Englandd. 6 Oct 1666, Chesapeake, Northampton, Virginia, British Colonial America (Age 45 years)
  Family ID	F18089	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Notes

  Francis Constable died from the plague. His wife, Alice Owen, also died from the plague days later. Francis Constable (1592 – 1 August 1647) was a London bookseller and publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, noted for publishing a number of stage plays of English Renaissance drama. (Francis Constable the publisher is distinct from his contemporary, Francis Constable, esquire, of Burstwick in Yorkshire. Many members of the northern family, earlier and later, shared the name Francis Constable.) Life and work Francis Constable was baptised on 12 May 1592, in Datchet, Buckinghamshire. He was the son of Robert II Constable and Margery Barker, the daughter ofChristopher Barker, printer to Queen Elizabeth I. Francis had an elder brother Robert III Constable baptised at Datchet on 9 September 1590. His brother Robert III was apprenticed on 7 December 1607 at the age of 17 to their maternal uncle Robert Barker, printer to James I of England. It is also believed that Francis may have been apprenticed to his maternal uncle Robert Barker, who, holding the Bible patent that he had inherited from his father, in 1611 printed the first edition of the King James Bible while Robert & Francis were still apprentices. Francis became a "freedman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company on 2 July 1614. His elder brother Robert became a "freedman" on 12 December 1614. Francis established his independent business at a series of locations in London and Westminster: first at the sign of the White Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, from 1616–1624; then under the sign of the Crane, also in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1631; then "under St. Martin's Church" in Ludgate, 1637; then at King Street in Westminster, at the sign of the Goat, 1640, and at Westminster Hall, 1640. It is probable that he rented a stall in Westminster Hall very much earlier than 1640 but that is the first appearance of the Hall in the imprint of any book.[1] In his career, Constable sometimes partnered with Humphrey Moseley, one of the most prominent publishers of drama and literature in Constable's generation; he also partnered with other stationers on specific projects. Richard Constable, believed to be a relation of Francis Constable (possibly the son of his brother Robert Constable), was active as a bookseller in the late 1640s.[2] Francis Constable died 1 August 1647 and was buried the following day at St Margaret, Westminster[3] His wife Alice was buried 2 days later on 4 August 1647, and his only surviving son Robert, at the age of 16 or close to it, was buried on 28 August 1647. It was after Robert's death that the will of Alice Constable was filed for probate on 22 September 1647. It is believed that they died of the plague that was killing many in London that summer. Drama • Constable's first registered publication was a drama, the first edition of Samuel Daniel's "pastoral tragicomedy" Hymen's Triumph (January 1615). He published large numbers of plays,in which he was associated for some years with Humphrey Moseley. Among Constable's other publications in drama were: • the first quarto of Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy, in partnership with stationer Richard Higgenbotham (1619); • the second quarto of the same play (1622); • Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1630); • Pathomachia (1630); • James Shirley's Love Tricks, as The School of Compliment (1631); • a second edition of the same play (1637); • Philip Massinger and Nathan Field's The Fatal Dowry (1632); • William Rowley's A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vexed (1632); • Richard Brome's The Antipodes (1640); • Brome's The Sparagus Garden (1640); • Henry Glapthorne's The Lady's Privilege (1640); • Glapthorne's Wit in a Constable (1640). Constable worked with many London printers on these and other projects, including Richard and Thomas Cotes, Nicholas Okes and his son John Okes, andElizabeth Allde, among others. Other works Inevitably, Constable also published a wide variety of other literature beyond the drama. He published the second edition of William Vaughan's The Spirit of Detraction in 1630. He issued multiple editions of Thomas Scott's satire Philomythie, or Philomythologie, Wherein Outlandish Birds Beasts and Fishes are Taught to Speak True English Plainly, in 1616 and after; and multiple editions of Henry Peacham the younger's The Complete Gentleman, from 1622 on. He published items of the religious literature that was so common in the era, like Alexander Ross's Three Decades of Divine Meditations (1630). And religious poetry: Richard Braithwaite's The Psalms of David (1638). He published Peacham's Thalia's Banquet in 1620, and his elegy Thestylis Astrata in 1634; and Glapthorne's poemWhitehall in 1643. Constable also was responsible for texts in medicine and anatomy.[4] And Constable also issued works of social criticism and contemporary controversies, like Machiavel's Ghost, as He Lately Appeared to His Dear Sons, the Modern Projectors (1641; attributed to John Taylor the Water Poet). He issued one notable volume in the utopian literature, Samuel Hartlib's A Description of the Famous Kingdom of Macaria (1641) – plus a supply of political and legal materials involving the start of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth era. Family Francis Constable and his wife Alice had fifteen children: 1. Alice, baptised 24 September 1615, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. 2. Sarah, baptised 16 March 1616/7, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. (Married Anthony Savage aft. 6 October 1646 at London.[7]) She and her husband were among those who presented the will of her mother for probate. 3. Joan, baptised 11 September 1618, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. 4. Mary, baptised 21 October 1619, St. Andrew, Enfield, Middlesex. She was among those who presented her mother's will for probate. 5. Elizabeth, baptised 24 October 1620, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. 6. Anne, baptised 21 February 1621/2, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. 7. Margaret, baptised 26 June 1623, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. (Married Robert Hunny 1 July 1642 at St. Margaret, Westminster.) 8. Rachel, baptised 24 September 1624, St. Gregory by St. Paul, London. 9. Simon, baptised 14 August 1625, Datchet, Buckinghamshire; buried 29 November 1627, St. Andrew Undershaft, London. 10. Robert (twin), baptised 24 August 1626, St. Andrew Undershaft, London; buried 10 September 1626. 11. Roger (twin), baptised 24 August 1626, St. Andrew Undershaft, London; buried 10 September 1626. 12. Alice, baptised 16 March 1627/8, St. Andrew Undershaft, London. 13. Frances, baptised 5 July 1629, St. Andrew Undershaft, London. She was among those who presented her mother's will for probate. 14. Rachel, baptised 18 July 1630, St. Andrew Undershaft, London. She was among those who presented her mother's will for probate. 15. Robert, baptised 2 October 1631, St. Andrew Undershaft, London; buried 28 August 1647, St. Margaret, Westminster. An interesting claim is made in many genealogies that one of Francis's daughters, Anne Constable, married Richard I Lee, an important figure in the colony ofVirginia, who was the ancestor of Confederate General, Robert E. Lee. Francis Constable's father When Francis's elder brother Robert III was apprenticed in 1607 to their maternal uncle Robert Barker, their father was described as "Robert Constable, late ofNorth Pickenham in co. Norfolk, gentleman, deceased".[6] The Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, 1349–1897[10] provides some more information. Francis's father Robert II Constable was admitted to the College at Cambridge University at the age of 18 in March 1574. His father's younger brother Thomas[11]was admitted at the age of 15 in February 1577. Francis Constable's grandfather was Robert I Constable, and he was a yeoman, a minor land owner and small prosperous farmer. This is further substantiated by records held in The National Archives that show that in 1575 Robert I Constable sold a messuage called Frostes in North Pickenham to George Constable[12] (assumed to be a relative), and that he paid for both of his son's tuition and board at Cambridge. Both Robert II Constable and his younger brother Thomas went to school for 4 years before going to University: Robert II at Saxthorpe, Norfolkshire, and Thomas at both Norwich and Saxthorpe. Robert II Constable spent a year at Pembroke College at Cambridge before joining Gonville and Caius College. His tutor at Gonville and Caius College was his 23-year-old cousin, Simon II Canham, the son of Simon I Canham (−1584) of Ashill, Norfolkshire (1½ miles from North Pickenham) and his wife Alice (−1603),[13] who had been admitted to Gonville and Caius College a year before Robert II Constable after first spending four years at St John's College, Cambridge.[14] Francis's father Robert II Constable received his Bachelor of Arts in 1577. The Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, 1349–1897 further tells us that Francis's father Robert II Constable was a lawyer and a barrister as he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in February 1582. It further tells us that the family would have suffered persecution as they were a "popish recusant family in 1588", refusing to attend services or take communion in the Church of England. There was a statute passed in 1593 that determined penalties against "Popish Recusants" including fines, property confiscation, and imprisonment. Further the Popish Recusants Act of 1605 forbade Roman Catholics from practising the professions of law and medicine. This would explain why Francis and his brother Robert III Constable went into the printing trade of their maternal uncle rather than follow their father into law. There is a record at the Norfolk Record Office for the will of a Thomas Constable of Ashill from the period 1536–1545.[15] It is possible that this Thomas Constable is Francis's great or greatx2-grandfather, and the father or grandfather of Robert I Constable of Nort Francis Constable Born: About 1590 and before 1621. (The first event for which there is a recorded date.) Baptized: 14 May 1592, Dotchet, Buckshire, England. Death: 1 Aug 1647 of the plague (see paragraph below.) Francis Constable died 1 Aug 1647 of the plague and was buried the following day from St. Margaret, Westminster, while his widow was buried 4 August 1647. These registers are published and it should be noted that "Mr." is misread "Mrs." in his burial entry. Their only remaining son Robert was carried off by the plague the same month, (buried 28 Aug 1647), and it was after his death that the will of Alice Constable was filed for probate. Father: Robert Constable, (son of Christopher Baker.) Mother Margery Barker. Francis Constable was on the maternal side of Christopher Barker, printer to Queen Elizabeth I. His career as a bookseller and printer is summarized in "A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who were at work in England from 1641 to 1667", by Henry R. Plomer:- "Francis Constable, bookseller in London and Westminster firstly at the (sign of) the White Lion, Paul's Churchyard, 1616-24; then in St Paul's Church Yard at the sign of the Crane, 1631; then under St. Martin's Church in Ludgate, 1637; then at King Street, Westminster at the sign of the Goat, 1640; then at Westminster Hall,1640. He took up his freedom July 2nd 1614. His first registered publication was "Hymens Triumphes, entered on January 13th.1614/15. He published large numbers of plays, in which he was associated for some years with Humphrey Moseley. It is probable that he rented a stall in Westminster Hall very much earlier than 1640 but that is the first appearance of the Hall in the imprint of any book." Occupation: Bookselleer. Marriage: Francis and Alice Constable were the parents of fifteen Children, four sons and eleven daughters: 1. Alice, bapt. St. Gregory by St. Paul, London 24 Sep 1615. 2. Sarah, bapt. St. Gregory by St. Paul, 16 Mar 1616/7 ~ Bishop of London license, 6 Oct 1646, to marry Anthony Savage - note misstatement of her age in the allegations. Francis Constable apparently signed the instrument himself. She probably died before going to Virginia but her husband went and bought 50 acres of land from (Col.) Richard Lee [Va. Patents 2:153]). She and her husband were among those who presented the will of her mother for probate 22nd. Sep 1647. 3. Joan, bapt. St. Gregory by St. Paul 11 Sep 1618. 4. Mary, bapt. St. Andrew, Enfield, Co. Middlesex 21 Oct 1619. Still unmarried, she was among those who presented her mother's will for probate. 5. Elizabeth, bapt. St. Gregory by St. Paul 24 Oct 1620, no further record. 6. Anne bapt .St. Gregory by St. Paul 21 Feb 1621 7. Margaret, bapt. St. Gregory by St. Paul 26 Jun 1623, married St. Margaret, Westminster, Robert Hunny. 8. Rachel, bapt. St. Gregory by St. Paul 24 Sep 1621], no further record. 9. Simon, bapt. Datchet, co. Bucks 14 Aug 1625, bur. St. Andrew Undershaft, London 29 Nov 1627. 10. Robert, bapt. St. Andrew Undershaft 24 Aug 1626, twin, bur. 10 Sep 1626. 11. Roger, bapt. St. Andrew Undershaft 24 Aug 1626, twin, bur. 10 September 1626. 12. Alice, bapt. St. Andrew Undershaft 16 Mar 1627/8, no further record. 13. Frances, bapt. St. Andrew Undershaft 5th Jul 1629, she was among those who presented her mother's will for probate. 14. Rachel, bapt. St. Andrew Undershaft 18 Jul 1630, married York County, Va. after 3 Apr 1651 [York co. Records 1:132] John Chew, Gent.; Richard Lee was one of her trustees in the pre-nuptial agreement. She was among those who presented her mother's will for probate. 15. Robert, bapt. St. Andrew Undershaft 2 Oct 1631, bur. St. Margaret, Westminster 28 Aug 1647. Robert Constable whose will was proved in 1635 mentions a late wife Jane and present wife Susan and his son Robert. His late wife Jane's will was proved in 1631. She describes herself as wife of Robert Constable, citizen and stationer and mentions her daughter Joan and two sons not yet baptised. _______________________________________________________________ Sources: Alan.J.Nicholl s@BTInternet.com. Website & Data copyright © 1999. Francis and Alice Owen Constable had 15 children, 4 sons, and 11 daughters. 3 daughters were sent to the colony of Virginia, Anne first, as the ward of the Royal Governor, Francis Wyatt. The other 2 girls came later. The remaining 9 children died of the plague as did their parents. Birth: May 14, 1592 Buckinghamshire, England Death: Aug. 1, 1647, England Died at Westminster - London of the plague Parents: Robert Constable II and Margery (Barker) Constable Married Alice Agnes Owen Children: Robert died of plague at same time as parents Sarah married Capt. Anthony Savage Francis Elizabeth Alice Robert and Roger (twins) Rachel married John Chew Ann married Richard Lee Margaret married Robert Hunny Simon Francis Robert Joan Mary Family links: Spouse: Alice Agnes Owen Constable (1595 - 1647)* Children: Anne Constable Lee* Simon Constable (1625 - 1627)* Robert Constable (1626 - 1626)* Roger Constable (1626 - 1626)* Robert Constable (1631 - 1647)* *Calculated relationship Burial: St Margaret Churchyard Westminster City of Westminster Greater London, England