Still trying to find out who the unknown woman is in the portrait in Astley Hall (see blog posts below) I went to visit St Laurence Church in Chorley, where the Brooke family were baptised and buried (its presumed so far that the portrait of the women is Peter Brooke’s wife). It’s a beautiful church, but the burial ground is no longer accessible, so I was only able to look inside the church itself. Here I found only one reference to a Brooke (image above). It is for a Peter Brooke, but not the one i’m looking for. All the text is in Latin and when put into Google translate comes out with “Here, lies Peter Brooke Knight, of wisdom and uprightness. Sixth oldest son of Thomas Brooks from Norton in the county of Cheshire. The life and activities, for which he earned an epitaph. To the gods, the thirtieth of November in the Year of 1685.
Mabella wife in a lifelong faith. This memory monument by her expense willingly and happily.” I appreciate it’s not quite right, but you get the gist (Google translate did struggle a bit: a ‘silent kettle’ and ‘ham’ were both mentioned in the translation, but i’m presuming that’s not quite right?!!)
After my visit I sent an email to the church historian to ask if he had any more information about Peter Brooke 1673 - 1721. This is his reply:
“After delving into the church records of the time I am sorry to say that I haven’t come up with much info. What I have got is that Peter was born as you say in 1673. He was baptised at St Lawrence on 2nd July 1673.
There is no record of a marriage so I assume he was a single man.
The church records have an entry for his death but with huge spelling mistakes. Hence the delay. It is spelt as Petter Brouckes, son of Richard.
He was interred in the family vault 29th of March 1721.
I cannot give an accurate number of family members in the vault either, I am very sorry to say.
Hope that this little extra history of him helps you a little in your quest .
Kind Regards, David.”
So, he thinks that Peter Brooke was single. And if Peter Brooke was never married, who is the woman in the portrait?
Could it be his sister? Peter had six sisters but only one survived past the age of 4:
Alice was baptised 13 October 1668 and buried 20 March 1672
Eleanor was baptised on 3 July 1678 and buried 8 November 1680
Frances was baptised 3 August 1680 and buried 8 December 1680
Mabel was baptised 21 January 1690 and buried 23 July 1690
Mary was baptised in 1690 (no specific date given) and buried 4 October 1693
It was his sister Margaret who survived the longest of all the girls. She was baptised on 26 October 1671. She married John Bradshaw of Pennington Bridge in 1699 and married a second time to Ralph Baynes of Maywithhead in 1706 . I’ve found this information on a copy of the family tree of Charnock of Charnock and Astley and also online with the County Parish Clerks which has records of baptisms, marriages and burials in Lancashire. Margaret and Ralph had a son on 28 October 1706, but records show he was buried the next day. I cannot find a record of Margaret’s death yet.
