MONOVIAN CELEBRITIES. III
HENRY MAYNARD.
| Henry Maynard belonged to
one of the oldest established families of our English aristocracy. For John
Maignard, of Axminster, fought under the Black Prince in the Hundred Years War,
and in the year 1352 was Constable of Brest. Earlier still we find the name
Mainard on the Roll of Battle Abbey, amongst the names of Normans who came over
in the Conqueror's army. The Maynards' first home was in Kent. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, however, Nicolas Maynard bought a manor in Devonshire. Later in the century John Maynard, his son, settled in St. Albans. The first Maynard to reside in Essex was one Henry Maynard, son of John Maynard of St. Albans. This gentleman was a person of some importance, being Secretary to Lord Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth's favourite. Moreover, he was Member of Parliament for Essex, and was knighted by King James I. This, briefly is the story of the Maynard family up to the time of the Henry Maynard, who, by reason of his benefactions to our School, then in its infancy, deserves the title of "Monovian Celebrity." When the Maynards settled in Essex, they did not at first live in Walthamstow, but at the village of Little Easton, near Dunmow. In 1635, however, Henry Maynard's father purchased the manor of Walthamstow Toni, and it was at the old feudal Manor House of Toni Hall, or Shern Hall, as it was later called, that Henry Maynard was born, in 1646. Thus Henry Maynard was a boy during one of the most turbulent periods of English History, a period of civil strife and religious intolerance. But he did not attain to manhood until the Merry Monarch was firmly established on his throne, when the English people had returned from the excitement and bitterness of civil war to the calm and peace of everyday life. After the death of Charles Maynard, father of Henry Maynard, the Manor House of Walthamstow Toni became the property of one of Henry's elder brothers. Nevertheless, throughout his short life, Henry Maynard displayed an affectionate and practical interest in his native place. His benefactions become all the more worthy of our praise, when we consider the greed and corruption that prevailed during the decadent period of the Restoration. Henry Maynard acquired considerable wealth as a London merchant; instead, however, of squandering his fortune in frivolities, he devoted it to the improvement of the institutions of his birthplace. In an age when religion was synonymous with scepticism, and when education, even amongst the aristocracy, was unknown, Henry Maynard was restoring his Parish Church, and increasing the endowment of the village school, which had been sadly reduced through the dishonesty of trustees. Henry Maynard died on the 27th day of November, 1686, and was buried in the family vault, close to the Maynard Monument in St. Mary's Church. In his will he left over one thousand pounds for the following purposes :- "Item, to be laid out in repairing and beautifying the Church; item, for the better maintenance and support of the Minister; item, for repairing the Free School and making the same more convenient for instructing Youth therein; item, for the poor and real necessitous inhabitants." Henry Maynard was by no means the most illustrious representative of his line. He was practically unknown outside Walthamstow and Little Easton. Nevertheless, though history does not record his existence as a great soldier or politician, he deserves to be remembered as a man, who, uncorrupted by the vices of the age in which he lived, performed the duty, so often neglected by his contemporaries, of improving the lives of his less fortunate neighbours. J. H. PAYLING (VIth). |