I do not know whether this BBC program or Magazines are available in the USA, but today I obtained the March issue.
In it is an article by Orla Thomas about an ancestor of Gordon Leslie Lewis, born in 1961.
This ancestor is Sir John Ayliffe who was barber-surgeon to Henry VIII, and according to this article born in 1495.
However on the Internet he is recorded as born about 1490. This earlier birth may help clarify somthing. The article ends with : "The will of Sir William Ayloffe from Hornchurch in Essex, dated 23 September 1517, refers to his supposed bastard John and makes provision for an apprenticeship. (snip) I think it's almost certain that William Ayloffe was the natural father of Sir John Ayliffe and, therefore, gave financial support to his illegitimate son, perhaps to keep him quiet - the imagination runs riot trying to work out why."
Personally I doubt this is correct. If born in 1495 John Ayliffe would be 22 in 1517, isn't that a bit old for an apprenticeship? And ever odder if he was born about 1490 and was aged about 27.
On the same Internet entry was mentioned that Sir John Ayliffe's maternal grandfather was Sir John Shaa, Lord Mayor of London in 1501-2. I really feel that Sir John Ayliffe could be a son of Sir William Ayloffe, and a half-brother of the bastard son John, but then he should have been mentioned in the will (was he?) but Gordon Lewis does not refer to that.
On 23 May 1541 Henry VIII granted Sir John Ayliffe the Manor of Grittenham, in the parish of Brinkworth in Wiltshire. In the parish chuch of Brinkworth, Gordon found the coat of arms for a later Ayliffe - John's great grandson Sir George Ayliffe.The article shows a family tree in which this Sir George is shown as born in 1591, but no wife not children. Only a sister is given, Elizabeth Ayliffe, born 1585, and married to Francis White and from them is Gordon Lewis descended.
Now CP Volume III page 265. Here is mentioned Sir George Ayliffe of Gretenham, Wiltshire (otherwise described as Sir Geoffrey Ayloff of Robson, Wiltshire) as father of a daughter Anne who in 1629 married but six months later died of smallpox. Anne had married Edward Hyde, who in 1661 became 1st Earl of Clarendon, and who had married as second wife Frances Aylesbury and by her had many chjldren, including Anne Hyde who married the later James II King of England. By another child Edward Hyde and Frances are also ancestors of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York..
I think this Sir George Ayliffe of Grittenham, Wiltshire, born 1591, and Sir George Ayliffe of Gretenham, Wiltshire is the same person. If he is born in 1591, he can have a daughter old enough to get married in 1629, but only just.
Can anyone add to these details?
With many thanks,
Leo van de Pas
Canberra, Australia
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/soc.genealogy.medieval/qD580Z...
