My Ancestor Philip Henry
As a writer with a particular interest in the 17th century, most especially the English Civil War, I was fascinated when my niece sent me a family tree some time ago that links me with Philip Henry, a 17th century Nonconformist clergyman and diarist, who, if my maths are correct, is my great grandfather seven times removed.
Although generally considered English, Philip’s lineage is strongly Welsh, with his grandfather, Henry Williams, a native of Brittons Ferry, Glamorganshire, and his grandmother, Eleanor Dymock, a member of the Flintshire Dymock clan, many of whom married into the aristocracy. Philip was the eldest son of John Henry, also born in Brittons Ferry, on July 10th 1590. By the time of Philip’s birth in 1631, John Henry — having been in service to James, Duke of York, later James II — was now in permanent residence in London, where, on reaching maturity he became the Keeper of the King’s Orchards in Whitehall. Soon after he married Magdalen Rochdale (the daughter of Henry Rochdale, a descendent of a noted Lancashire family) who was a “…virtuous, pious gentlewoman, and one that feared God above many.”
Philip’s father was held in such high esteem that his former employer, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, became Philip’s godfather — he also suggested he be called Philip — which brought the boy into contact with Charles I’s children — the princes Charles (later…
