Yateley Polyglot Bible: Mini Biographies

Contributed by Peter Tipton and first written for St Peter's Millennium Exhibition 2000

Sir Richard Ryves

was born in about 1611, son of Richard Ryves of Shaftesbury Dorset and of Dorothy Gold. Sir Richard‘s uncle was Bruno Ryves (1596-1677), chaplain to Charles II and Dean of Winsdor. Charles II knighted Sir Richard on 12 Oct 1663, the year he was made Sheriff of London and was elected to the Committee of the East India Company. As a young man Sir Richard had been apprenticed to Henry Lee, a freeman of the Drapers Company. This does not mean that either was a draper by profession. The Lee family came from Binfield, but Henry Lee was a London merchant. Sir Richard Ryves married Henry Lee‘s daughter Joyce and purchased the largest estate in Yateley, called Hall Place (the little of which remains is now the site of Yateley Manor School), from George Solme. Sir Richard died in Aug 1671, and is buried with his wife in St Peter‘s near this board.

Lady Joyce Ryves

the wife of Sir Richard, was the daughter of Henry Lee a merchant of St Martins Vintry in London. Lady Joyce‘s mother was also a Lee, so perhaps Henry was related to his third wife. Lady Joyce‘s first cousin, Judith Lee of Binfield, married Henry Alexander, 4th Earl of Stirling, in Binfield on 4 Jan 1644. Lady Ryves was born in 1623 and was christened at St Martins Vintry. After Sir Richard‘s death she apparently continued to live at Hall Place until she died. She was buried in St Peter‘s on 23 July 1679.

John Helyer

was born on 19 Oct 1664 at East Coker in Somerset. He is said to be the brother of Christian Ryves, the wife of Sir Richard Ryves‘s brother John, but there is a 30 year difference in their ages. John Helyer‘s second wife was Christian Ryves, supposedly his niece, whom he married in 1701. Sir Richard and Lady Ryves had no children so Sir Richard‘s main bequest was to his brother John‘s only son, another John Ryves. Eventually Hall Place, Sir Richard‘s property, was inherited by John Helyer through his wife Christian. Nothing is currently known about John Helyer‘s occupation. Hall Place eventually passed to Thomas Wyndham, the husband of John Helyer‘s daughter Elizabeth Helyer by his first marriage to Elizabeth Cogan of Chard.

John Ball

owned the second largest estate in Yateley, called Hilfield. He was married in Yateley in Sep 1651 to Sarah Solme, sister of George Solme who sold Hall Place to Sir Richard Ryves. John Ball was a rich man having estates in Hurst in Berkshire, Sterry in Kent, Ewell and Banstead in Surrey, Hartley Wintney and Eversley. The Ball family held the Manor of Barkham over the border in Berkshire. Probably John Ball came from the Barkham family but as yet we have not been able to establish the family tree. There are claims on the internet that Nora Ball, the mother of George Washington was descended from the Ball family of Barkham but our sister Civic Trust, the Wokingham Society, states that too is probably another myth. Stilwell‘s History of Yateley states that John Ball was ordained and was curate of Sandhurst, but we have not be able to substantiate that either. John Ball died in 1670 the year before Sir Richard Ryves.

Sarah Cocks

was married to Nathaniel Cocks by 1675, but her first husband had been John Ball of Hilfield see our display board The Crystal Cup Mystery. Her father and grandfather had owned Hall Place (Yateley Manor) which, in 1675, was owned by Lady Joyce Ryves.

James Swayne

still causes problems to family historians since unfortunately he married, and lost, five wives before the sixth survived him. In 1675 he was the Churchwarden who stated he had received the gift of the bookes on behalf of St Peter‘s from Lady Ryves. The Parish Registers record that he lived at Foxlease. This property may have been Foxleys just south of Minley Manor. His daughter Rebecca married William Cave II of Monteagle House. The Swayne family came from Binfield, where James had been christened on 17 Oct 1613. Lady Joyce Ryves‘ grandmother had been a Swayne from Binfield, also named Joyce. So perhaps there was a family relationship between Lady Ryves and James Swayne which we have not yet worked out.

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