1545 - Richard

DISCUSSION OF PARENTAGE

The only records we have of Richard Tilden are from Boxley. We do not know if he was born there, in face the most promising candidate for his father is a draper/politican from the neighbouring town of Maidstone, named William Tilden. I suspect this because:

1. There were at least two Tilden families in Maidstone when Richard's father would have lived.
2. Assuming that Richard probably passed his father's name on to one of his sons, we are looking for a John, Richard or William.
3. One of these families was headed by a Richard Tilden (D4 on linked page), whose son Richard (chrs 1 December 1565) was living in Hyth during the 1590s (I.E. This is not our Richard)
4. As William Tylden is mentioned in a real estate transaction from 1536, I am estimating he could have been born about 1510. This is the right age for our Richard's father.
5. Both William and our Richard appear to have been land owners. William's conducted several real estate transactions; Richards' son William Tilden and grandson Richard Tilden were both yeoman.

BOXLEY

Richard Tylden would have been a boy when most of the inhabitants of Boxley followed Sir Thomas Wyatt off to London in 1554. The Wyatts had owned the old vicarge of Boxley since 1540. After the rebellion, an evaluation of the Wyatt's estates show that 10% of the 53 farms were occupied by widows. The widowed Lady Wyatt was allowed to keep Boxley manor and a portion of its' lands, but most of Boxley parish was given to Queen Mary's supporters. Sir Jacob Astley was given "almost half the farms in Boxley." George Clark of Wrotham was given Park House, the Nether Grange estate and Sandling estate. (Hook & Ambrose's BOXLEY, THE STORY OF AN ENGLISH PARISH, pp. 13-15).

According to J. CAVE-BROWNE's History of Boxley (1892), "The names which occur the most frequently in the earlier pages (of the Boxley parish register) and probably represent the yeomen, farmers and labouring classes, are: Scheefe, Dunkyn, Lorkyn, Grylfyke, Hawsnode, Collens (or Colly ns), Treves, Goldsmythe, Cressyke, Bassocke, Tylden, Burbage, &c."

Many of these families would have had some connection to the rebellion, even if only be through their association with someone who participated.

They also knew people in Maidstone, which was home to 80 of Wyatt's 533 known followers. Some of the town's 13 jurats were implicated. "Some early jurats, among them Peter Maplesden and William Tilden, had property confiscated or were heavily fined after Wyatt's rebellion in 1554." Tilden was one of the four who were restored to office after the Succession of Queen Elizabeth.

William Tilden's family is known to have resided in Maidstone since 1474, (For the Good of This Town: The Jurats of Maidstone, 1549 -1660, pp 30, 31).

WRITTEN RECORDS

Richard Tylden/Tilden married Alice Stockwell in Boxley on June 5, 1569.

He died 5 Aug, 1606.

Alice Tylden was buried in Boxley on Jan 13, 1622. She is described as “vidua honesta, obstitrix” which translates as "honest widow, midwife."

CHILDREN

1. Joisa Tylden Our Ancestor ( before b. Bef 1571- bur. 17 Aug 1638, Stockbury) married Walter Straine in Boxley 15 February 1590.
2. John Tylden ( c. 19 Jul 1573, Boxley)
3. Richard Tylden (c. 12 Jul 1575 - bur. 18 Jul 1575, Boxley,)
4. William Tylden Our Ancestor ( c. Feb 4, 1584, Boxley- d. Aft 1638)