Publications
Boots Boots Boots, by Mike Gainsford, published September 2012 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 3, article, pp.112-113) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508852] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.
Preview:I have been researching my family tree for some ten years now, but as far as the GAINSFORD line is concerned more than nine of these years have been spent hammering at a brick wall.
This is a great shame because up to late Tudor times the family were prominent in Surrey, Kent, and East Sussex. There are tombs in Carshalton, one of the family assisted Henry VIII in his liaison with Ann Boleyn, and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. One was a maid of honour to Ann Boleyn and Jane Seymour. Another went hunting with Edward IV and yet another probably fought against Richard III at Bosworth Field. It would be nice to be descended from this august company.
But, like Tess Durbeyfield's d'Urberville ancestors in the Hardy novel, the family lost its influence and property and many descendants ended up as farmers or ag labs in the village of Cowden in Kent, very near the East Sussex border.
This is a great shame because up to late Tudor times the family were prominent in Surrey, Kent, and East Sussex. There are tombs in Carshalton, one of the family assisted Henry VIII in his liaison with Ann Boleyn, and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. One was a maid of honour to Ann Boleyn and Jane Seymour. Another went hunting with Edward IV and yet another probably fought against Richard III at Bosworth Field. It would be nice to be descended from this august company.
But, like Tess Durbeyfield's d'Urberville ancestors in the Hardy novel, the family lost its influence and property and many descendants ended up as farmers or ag labs in the village of Cowden in Kent, very near the East Sussex border.