Joseph Ayloffe
Encyclopedia
Sir Joseph Ayloffe, 6th Baronet FRS
F.S.A. (1708 - 19 April 1781, London
) was an English antiquary.
, through his third wife (Alice, daughter of James Stokes of Stoke near Coventry), their first son was Joseph Ayloffe, of Gray's inn. His has a son, Joseph Ayloffe, barrister-at-law of Gray's Inn and sometime recorder of Kingston-upon-Thames, who died in 1726 and was this man's father.
Joseph was born in Sussex
, and became 6th Baronet Ayloffe, of Braxted Magna; on his death, his baronetcy became extinct. Ayloffe was educated at Westminster School
, was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn
in 1724, and spent some time at St. John's College, Oxford, before 1728. In December 1730 he succeeded, as sixth in succession, to the family baronetcy
on the death of his unmarried cousin, the Rev. Sir John Ayloffe
, a descendant of the first family of the original holder of the title.
Sir Joseph seems very early in life to have manifested an interest in antiquities
, which received at once the recognition of the learned, although for many years he was merely collecting information and published nothing. On 10 February 1731-2 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
, and on 27 May of the same year a fellow of the Royal Society
. Seven years later he became a member of the well-known literary club—'the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding.' But he did not confine himself altogether to antiquarian research. In 1736-7 he was appointed secretary to the commission superintending the erection of Westminster Bridge
; in 1750 he was auditor-general of the hospitals of Bethlehem
and Bridewelll; and in 1763, on the removal of the state archives from Whitehall and the establishment of a State Paper Office at the Treasury, he was nominated one of its three keepers. In 1751 Ayloffe took a prominent part in procuring a charter of incorporation for the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was for many years a vice-president, and at its meetings he very frequently read papers.
He died at Kensington on 19 April 1781, and with him the baronetcy became extinct. He married, about 1734, Margaret, daughter of Charles Railton of Carlisle, by whom he had one son, who died of small-pox at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1766. Both father and son were buried in Hendon
churchyard. Sir Joseph was the intimate friend of his colleague at the State Paper Office, Thomas Astle
, and of Richard Gough
; the latter described Ayloffe as the English Montfaucon
.
's and D'Alembert
's Encyclopédie
, with additional or expanded articles on subjects of English interest. But the first number, which was published on 11 June 1752, obtained such scanty support, and was so severely handled in the Gentleman's Magazine (xxii. 46), that the project was immediately abandoned.
Some years previously Ayloffe had induced Joshua Kirby, a well-known draughtsman of Ipswich, to prepare a number of engravings of the chief buildings and monuments in Suffolk
, and twelve of them were published with descriptive letterpress by Ayloffe in 1748. It was Ayloffe's intention to introduce Kirby's drawings into an elaborate history of the county upon which he was apparently engaged for the succeeding fifteen years. In 1764 he had made so much progress in collecting and arranging his materials that he published a lengthy prospectus for the publication of an exhaustive Topographical and Historical Description of Suffolk, but unfortunately he here again received too little encouragement to warrant him in pursuing his elaborate plan.
Subsequently he contributed several memoirs to Archæologia, the journal of the Society of Antiquaries, which were highly valued at the time. On 25 February 1763 he 'communicated' an interesting Copy of a Proclamation (1563) relating to Persons making Portraits of Queen Elizabeth (ii. 169-170). In 1773 and 1774 there appeared in Archæologia (iii. 185-229,2.39-272, 376-413) three papers by Ayloffe, describing,
Another paper prepared for the Society of Antiquaries, On Five Monuments in Westminster Abbey, was published separately, with engravings, in 1780. An account of the chapel on London Bridge, by Ayloffe, was published with a drawing by George Vertue
in 1777.
In 1772 Ayloffe published the work by which he is still known to historical students. It is entitled 'Calendars of the Ancient Charters, and of the Welsh and Scottish Rolls, Now Remaining in the Tower of London . . . to Which are Added Memoranda Concerning the Affairs of Ireland [and an] Account of the State of The Public Records [etc.]. London, 1774. This work, with an introduction (attributed principally to Thomas Astle
) traces at length the history and neglect of the Public Records. In a lengthy introduction the author impresses on historians the necessity of scholarly research among the state papers. The book was begun by the Rev. Philip Morant
, who was at one time employed at the State Paper Office, and was published at first anonymously. But in 1774 a new issue gave Sir Joseph Ayloffe's name on the title-page.
Ayloffe also revised for the press new editions of John Leland's Collectanea (1771) and of the Liber Niger Scaccarii (1771), and added valuable appendices of original illustrative documents. He saw through the press John Thorpe
's Registrum Roffense, which was published in 1769 by the compiler's son. Ayloffe's Collections relative to Saxon and English Laws and Antiquities remain in manuscript at the British Museum (Addit. MS. 9051). We have been unable to trace the whereabouts of his other manuscript collections, which were clearly very numerous, and are stated by contemporaries to have been invaluable so far as they related to the abbey
and city of Westminster
. His library was sold by Leigh and Sotheby soon after his death.
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
F.S.A. (1708 - 19 April 1781, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) was an English antiquary.
Life
He was the great-grandson of Sir William Ayloffe, 1st BaronetSir William Ayloffe, 1st Baronet
Sir William Ayloffe of Braxtead Magna, in Essex, was knighted by James I in 1603, created a baronet in 1612 and sat as a member of parliament for Stockbridge from 1621 to 1622.-Biography:...
, through his third wife (Alice, daughter of James Stokes of Stoke near Coventry), their first son was Joseph Ayloffe, of Gray's inn. His has a son, Joseph Ayloffe, barrister-at-law of Gray's Inn and sometime recorder of Kingston-upon-Thames, who died in 1726 and was this man's father.
Joseph was born in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, and became 6th Baronet Ayloffe, of Braxted Magna; on his death, his baronetcy became extinct. Ayloffe was educated at Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
, was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
in 1724, and spent some time at St. John's College, Oxford, before 1728. In December 1730 he succeeded, as sixth in succession, to the family baronetcy
Ayloffe Baronets
Ayloffe Baronet was created in the Baronetage of England by James I on 25 November 1611. It became extinct on 19 April 1781.#Sir William Ayloffe, 1st Baronet , knighted by James I in 1603, created a baronet in 1612 and sat as a member of parliament for Stockbridge from 1621 to 1622.#Sir Benjamin...
on the death of his unmarried cousin, the Rev. Sir John Ayloffe
Sir John Ayloffe, 5th Baronet
Sir John Ayloffe, 5th Baronet Rector of Stanford Rivers in Essex from 1707 until 1730.-Biography:John was the son of Henry Ayloffe Henry Ayloffe, of Pandets, , and Dorothy...
, a descendant of the first family of the original holder of the title.
Sir Joseph seems very early in life to have manifested an interest in antiquities
Antiquities
Antiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
, which received at once the recognition of the learned, although for many years he was merely collecting information and published nothing. On 10 February 1731-2 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, and on 27 May of the same year a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. Seven years later he became a member of the well-known literary club—'the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding.' But he did not confine himself altogether to antiquarian research. In 1736-7 he was appointed secretary to the commission superintending the erection of Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
; in 1750 he was auditor-general of the hospitals of Bethlehem
Bethlem Royal Hospital
The Bethlem Royal Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in London, United Kingdom and part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Although no longer based at its original location, it is recognised as the world's first and oldest institution to specialise in mental illnesses....
and Bridewelll; and in 1763, on the removal of the state archives from Whitehall and the establishment of a State Paper Office at the Treasury, he was nominated one of its three keepers. In 1751 Ayloffe took a prominent part in procuring a charter of incorporation for the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was for many years a vice-president, and at its meetings he very frequently read papers.
He died at Kensington on 19 April 1781, and with him the baronetcy became extinct. He married, about 1734, Margaret, daughter of Charles Railton of Carlisle, by whom he had one son, who died of small-pox at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1766. Both father and son were buried in Hendon
Hendon
Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...
churchyard. Sir Joseph was the intimate friend of his colleague at the State Paper Office, Thomas Astle
Thomas Astle
Thomas Astle was an English antiquary and palaeographer.-Life:Astle was born on 22 December 1735 at Yoxall on the borders of Needwood Forest in Staffordshire, the son of Daniel Astle, keeper of the forest...
, and of Richard Gough
Richard Gough
Charles Richard Gough is a former Scottish football central defender who enjoyed great success as captain of Rangers. He also played for Scotland 61 times and had a brief spell as manager of Livingston...
; the latter described Ayloffe as the English Montfaucon
Bernard de Montfaucon
Bernard de Montfaucon was a French Benedictine monk, a scholar who founded a new discipline, palaeography; an editor of works of the Fathers of the Church; he is also regarded to be one of the founders of modern archaeology.-Early life:Montfaucon was born January 13, 1655 in the castle of...
.
Works
Ayloffe's published writings belong to his later life, and were never very successful with the general public. In 1751 he circulated proposals for printing by subscription the debates in parliament prior to the Restoration, in eight octavo volumes. But little favour was apparently extended to the scheme; although in 1773 it was advertised that the first volumes would soon be sent to press, none appear to have been published (cf. Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian, s. v. 'Ayloffe'). It was also in 1751 that Sir Joseph issued a prospectus inviting subscribers for a translation of DiderotDenis Diderot
Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....
's and D'Alembert
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...
's Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
, with additional or expanded articles on subjects of English interest. But the first number, which was published on 11 June 1752, obtained such scanty support, and was so severely handled in the Gentleman's Magazine (xxii. 46), that the project was immediately abandoned.
Some years previously Ayloffe had induced Joshua Kirby, a well-known draughtsman of Ipswich, to prepare a number of engravings of the chief buildings and monuments in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, and twelve of them were published with descriptive letterpress by Ayloffe in 1748. It was Ayloffe's intention to introduce Kirby's drawings into an elaborate history of the county upon which he was apparently engaged for the succeeding fifteen years. In 1764 he had made so much progress in collecting and arranging his materials that he published a lengthy prospectus for the publication of an exhaustive Topographical and Historical Description of Suffolk, but unfortunately he here again received too little encouragement to warrant him in pursuing his elaborate plan.
Subsequently he contributed several memoirs to Archæologia, the journal of the Society of Antiquaries, which were highly valued at the time. On 25 February 1763 he 'communicated' an interesting Copy of a Proclamation (1563) relating to Persons making Portraits of Queen Elizabeth (ii. 169-170). In 1773 and 1774 there appeared in Archæologia (iii. 185-229,2.39-272, 376-413) three papers by Ayloffe, describing,
- a picture at Windsor of the famous interview in 1520 between Henry VIII and Francis I;
- four pictures at Cowdray near Midhurst, the property of Lord Montague, illustrating Henry VIII's wars in France in the latter part of his reign; and
- the opening of the tomb of Edward I at Westminster in 1774, an exhumation that Ayloffe with Daines Barrington superintended.
Another paper prepared for the Society of Antiquaries, On Five Monuments in Westminster Abbey, was published separately, with engravings, in 1780. An account of the chapel on London Bridge, by Ayloffe, was published with a drawing by George Vertue
George Vertue
George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.-Life:...
in 1777.
In 1772 Ayloffe published the work by which he is still known to historical students. It is entitled 'Calendars of the Ancient Charters, and of the Welsh and Scottish Rolls, Now Remaining in the Tower of London . . . to Which are Added Memoranda Concerning the Affairs of Ireland [and an] Account of the State of The Public Records [etc.]. London, 1774. This work, with an introduction (attributed principally to Thomas Astle
Thomas Astle
Thomas Astle was an English antiquary and palaeographer.-Life:Astle was born on 22 December 1735 at Yoxall on the borders of Needwood Forest in Staffordshire, the son of Daniel Astle, keeper of the forest...
) traces at length the history and neglect of the Public Records. In a lengthy introduction the author impresses on historians the necessity of scholarly research among the state papers. The book was begun by the Rev. Philip Morant
Philip Morant
Philip Morant was an English clergyman, author and historian.He was educated at Abingdon School and Pembroke College, Oxford, eventually taking his Masters Degree at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1729.Ordained in 1722, he began his association with the county of Essex with a curacy at Great...
, who was at one time employed at the State Paper Office, and was published at first anonymously. But in 1774 a new issue gave Sir Joseph Ayloffe's name on the title-page.
Ayloffe also revised for the press new editions of John Leland's Collectanea (1771) and of the Liber Niger Scaccarii (1771), and added valuable appendices of original illustrative documents. He saw through the press John Thorpe
John Thorpe
John Thorpe or Thorp was an English architect. Little is known of his life, and his work is dubiously inferred, rather than accurately known, from a folio of drawings in the Sir John Soane's Museum, to which Horace Walpole called attention, in 1780, in his Anecdotes of Painting; but how far these...
's Registrum Roffense, which was published in 1769 by the compiler's son. Ayloffe's Collections relative to Saxon and English Laws and Antiquities remain in manuscript at the British Museum (Addit. MS. 9051). We have been unable to trace the whereabouts of his other manuscript collections, which were clearly very numerous, and are stated by contemporaries to have been invaluable so far as they related to the abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and city of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
. His library was sold by Leigh and Sotheby soon after his death.