Events
Date of Birth: 1638 or shortly after.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Hannah’s parents were married in 1638, and she was married in early 1657.
Date of Death: after 1699.
Place of Death: unknown.
Hannah is named in her father’s will, which was made in 1699.
Relationships
Father: William Kiffin.
Hannah is named in her father William’s will.
Mother: Hannah Pitts.
William’s first wife is named Hannah in her monumental inscription. Beathia Pitts, in her 1679 will, named her sister Hannah and Hannah's husband William Kiffin.
Spouse: Benjamin Hewling. Married 22 January 1656/7.
This relationship is made plain in Benjamin’s will, and appears in the marriage certificate.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
(Probably) a daughter married someone surnamed Pearson. Their granddaughter was Hannah Webb.
Hannah Hewling (born 2 April 1661 - died 1731) married Major Henry Cromwell in 1686. Henry was a grandson of the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
Benjamin Hewling (born 11 June 1663 - executed 30 September 1685 at Taunton for his participation in the Monmouth Rebellion.)
William Hewling (baptized 28 October 1665 in Islington - executed 12 September 1685 at Lyme for his participation in the Monmouth Rebellion).
Rebecca Hewling (died 1752) married Richard Martin 30 June 1691at St Nicholas Cole Abbey.
Elizabeth Hewling (born 27 July 1670) married William Luson of Great Yarmouth in September 1691.
Priscilla Hewling (born 25 April 1672) married John Heron in 5 May 1692 at St Nicholas Cole Abbey.
Henrietta Hewling (1676 - 15 August 1698) married John Catchar 22 January 1697 in All Hallows London Wall.
Evidence
Turner (pp. 110-116) gives a very full account of the last days of Hannah’s sons Benjamin and William, including a large number quotations from the brothers.
Hannah Hewling, after the execution of her brother William, wrote this letter to her mother, the Hannah Kyffin of this page:
ALthough I have nothing to acquaint my Dear Mother withal, but what is most afflictive to Sense, both as to the Determination of God's Will, and as to my present Apprehension concerning my Brother Benjamin, yet remaining; yet there is such abundant Consolation mixt in both, that I only wanted an Opportunity to pay this Duty; God having wrought so Glorious a Work on both their Souls, revealing Christ in them, that Death is become their Friend. My Brother William having already with the greatest Joy declared, to those that were with him to the last, That he would not change Conditions with any that were to remain in this World; and he desired that his Relations would comfort themselves, that he is gone to Christ.
My Brother Benjamin expects not long to continue in this World, and is exceeding willing to leave it when God shall call, being fully satisfied that God will choose that which is best for him and us all; by these things God doth greatly support me; and I hope you also, my dear Mother, which was and is my Brothers great desire; there is still room for Prayer for one; and God having so answered, though not in kind, we have Encouragement still to wait on him.
Honoured Mother, Your Dutiful Daughter, Hannah Hewling.
Benjamin Hewling, shortly before his execution, wrote this letter to his mother:
Taunton, Sept. 30. 1685.
Honoured Mother,
THat News which I know you have a great while feared, and we expected, I must now ac∣quaint you with; That notwithstanding the Hopes you gave in your two last Letters, Warrants are come down for my Execution, and within these few hours I expect it to be performed. Blessed be the Almighty God that gives comfort and support in such a day; how ought we to magnifie his holy Name for all his Mercies, that when we were running on in a course of sin, he should stop us in our full Career, and shew us that Christ whom we had pierced, and out of his Free Grace enable us to look upon him with an Eye of Faith, believing him able to save to the utmost all such as come to him. Oh admirable long-suffering and Patience of God! that when we were dishonouring his Name, he did not take that time to bring honour to himself by our destruction. But he delighteth not in the death of a sinner, but had rather he should turn to him and live: And he has many ways of bringing his own to himself. Blessed be his Holy Name, that through Affliction he has taught my heart in some measure to be conformable to his Will, which worketh Patience, and Patience worketh Experience, and Experience Hope, which maketh not ashamed. I bless God I am not ashamed of the Cause for which I lay down my Life; and as I have engaged in it, and fought for it; so now I am going to Seal it with my Blood. The Lord still carry on the same Cause which hath been long on foot; and tho' we die in it, and for it, I question not but in his own good time he will raise up other Instruments more worthy to carry it on to the Glory of his Name, and the Advancement of his Church and People.
Honoured Mother, I know there has been nothing left undone by you, or my Friends, for the saving of my Life, for which I return my hearty Acknowledgments to your self and them all; and it's my dying Request to you and them, to Pardon all undutifulness and unkindness in every Relation. Pray give my Duty to my Grandfather and Grandmother, Service to my Uncles and Aunts, and my dear Love to all my Sisters; to every Relation and Friend a particular Recommendation. Pray tell 'em all how Precious an Interest in Christ is when we come to die, and advise them never to rest in a Christless Estate. For if we are his, 'tis no matter what the World do to us; they can but kill the Body, and blessed be God the Soul is out of their reach, for I question not but their Malice wishes the Damnation of that, as well as the Destruction of the Body; which has too evidently appeared by their deceitful and [...]tering Promises. I commit you all to the Care and Protection of God, who has promised to be a Father to the Fatherless, and a Husband to the Widow, and to supply the want of every Relation. The Lord God of Heaven be your Comfort under these Sorrows, and your Refuge from those Miseries we may easily fore-see coming upon poor England, and the poor dist[ress]ed People of God in it. The Lord carry you through this Vale of Tears with a resigning submis∣sive Spirit, and at last bring you to himself in Glory; where I question not but you will meet your dying Son.
Ben. Hewling.
from the National Archives catalogue:
ACC/0245/005
Lease for 1 year by Randall Nicoll of Dole Street, Hendon, gentleman to Hannah Hewling of London, widow, with intention of transferring uses into possession
1. Pasture or meadow, called Bittersfield - 3 acres, near Page Street, Hendon, adjoining Wild Lane alias Wise Lane; Longfield; Wildfield; Meadshott.
2. Meadow called Meadshott. 7 acres lying in Page Street - between Longmead; Longfield; Bittersfield and Wildfield; Longmead and Ilshott
6 April 1 James II, 1685.
C 7/589/13
Hewling v Rowe.
Plaintiffs: Hannah Hewling, widow.
Defendants: Sir Thomas Rowe kt and another.
Place or subject: money, Middlesex.
Bill and answer.
SFP
1686
C 8/514/67
Hewling v Cromwell.
Plaintiffs: Hannah Hewling.
Defendants: Henry Cromwell, Hannah Cromwell his wife, Rebecca Hewling, Elizabeth Hewling, Priscilla Hewling and Henrietta Hewling.
Subject: property in Coleman Street, London.
Answer and certificate.
SFP
1686
ACC/0276/386
Bargain and sale. 1. Hannah Hewling of London, widow. 2. Daniel Nicholl of Inner Temple, esq.
Premises: close called Bittors (3a.) near Page Street, and Mead Shott, (7a.) also near Page Street, Hendon.
Consideration: £350.
4 December 1691
C 10/513/63
Hewling v Nicholas.
Plaintiffs: Hannah Hewling, widow.
Defendants: Oliver Nicholas and Hannah Nicholas his wife.
Subject: Aldbourn parsonage, Wiltshire.
Bill only.
SFP
1696.
from the Cambridgeshire Archives catalogue (repository Huntingdonshire Archives):
KAcc731/D/39 Bush Collection of Cromwell documents.
Bargain and sale for property in Hendon, Middlesex
Between: 1. Hannah Hewling widow of London; 2. David Nicholl of the Inner Temple, London. Property: copyhold lands in Mill Hill, Hendon, Middlesex; with the consent of Henry Cromwell of Spinney Abbey, Cambs, Hannah his wife, and others.
3 March 1691/1692
References
Turner, William. A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner… (London, Printed for John Dunton, 1697).
In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A63937.0001.001 . University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed November 17, 2024.
Will of Beathia Pitts. Proved 1681 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 4 August 2025.
Will of Benjamin Hewling. Proved 1684 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
Will of William Kiffin. Proved 1716 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.