no trace, but John was baptised in 1625, and this John was, in all probability, John Shovel!, of Cockthorpe, the father of Sir Cloudesley Shovel! by his wife Ann, daughter of Henry Jenkinson, by his wife Lucy, daughter of Thomas Cloudesley, of Cley-next-the-Sea. This last-mentioned marriage accounts for the introduction of the name of Cloudesley into the family. The baptism of Cloudesley Shovell, November 25th, 1650, was found in the Cockthorpe register. In Sir Cloudesley ShovelPs Will his lands at Morston are bequeathed to his "mother, Mrs. Ann Flaxman." In an account book or ledger, kept with considerable neatness by Sir Cloudesley himself, now in the possession of his descendant and representative, the Earl of Romney, there are several entries, under date, July 29th, 1703, "To Joseph Jacobs, for a Calash (a small chariot) for my mother Flaxman, fourteen pounds," and after his decease entries by his widow, Lady Shovell, in which, on March 1, 1708/9 she entered, to To severall Legacys pd in Norfolke, to Mother Flaxman, etc., making together as per little booke 640l."
[This legacy is probably that referred to in some Hastings Guide Books Author.] Mrs. Flaxman died and was buried at Morston, June 17th, 1709. Her will was proved at Norwich. All our authentic knowledge of Sir Cloudesley's boyhood is derived from Gilbert Crokatt, whose authority ought to be good, for he was rector, from 1691 to 1711 of Crayford, where Sir Cloudesley's Kentish residence was situated. Sir Cloudesley married the widow of his old chief, Sir John Narborough, and had two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne. Elizabeth married Sir Robert Marsham, fifth baronet, who was created Baron of Romney."
It is to be noted that throughout these investigations of the family history no mention is made of Sir Cloudesley or his Mother ever having any connection with Hastings. Moss's History of Hastings, 1824, p. 149, gives considerable space to the Biography of Sir Cloudesley Shovell, from which the following is an extract : "It has been stated in several publications of a local nature, on the authority of ancient traditions, that this gallant seaman was a native of Hastings; and a small tenement in All Saints' Street is still pointed out as the precise spot of his birth. With a view therefore, to ascertain the fact, the registers of both parishes have been diligently examined, but the name of Shovell was not discovered in either of them. The register of the Parish of All Saints', is indeed imperfect, about the supposed period of his birth, there being but one entry from 1648 to 1653 ; but in those times of anarchy and confusion, such irregularity prevailed, that nothing can be determined with any degree of certainty."
(This search must have been carried out before 1824, the date of Moss's work, and Brett was diligently engaged for many weeks in more recent times with a similar result, besides a search in the old rate books.)
