Designing a Memorial for a Historic Figure (and his Wife)

This quest really began when I wondered what it would be like to visit the grave of the author of the ancient book I’d recently purchased at a Denver antique book store. At first, I doubted there would be any discoverable record of him at all.  And initially, there wasn’t. My searches returned a sea of flotsam references to this or that person named “Richard Lane” over the centuries, or someone simply named “Richard”  who lived on a “lane” somewhere!  But when I began combining his name with words from the title of his 1657 book, I finally encountered articles that introduced me to the man. What I could read of him was intriguing, though.  I found myself repeatedly choosing to look into  “one more thing”  before setting it aside and going on with my life…

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Heading Back to the UK! – April 2018

One year ago, it seemed high time to get serious about this quest. And I did.

Publishing my research seemed the best way to provide the accountability to ensure I got the history right. And, since some things can only be done (or understood) in person, I decided I had to make a trip to London and Jersey a priority.  That trip (last May) was not only fascinating and rewarding, it threw gasoline on the fire of this project. And in the year since?  Somehow it seems in the nature of research that answering one question raises several new ones, so a year later my list of “in person” tasks is now even longer and more pressing than last year’s.

My bucket list of other travel destinations will have to wait for some other year.  The UK is calling, and I must go!

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Breaking News! I Have Proven the True Identity of King Charles II’s Groom Named “Richard Lane”!

In the first article on the career of Richard Lane’s son, we led up to King Charles II’s invasion of England to restore his throne, and how his new Groom, Richard Lane (the younger), likely joined him in Scotland around the time of his coronation there in January 1651.  Of course, the throne the young king really had his eye on was that of England.  And the Scottish army now under his command was his means to that end…

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Passing of the Torch: The Service of Richard Lane the Younger to the King

My research into Richard Lane’s son has been far more successful than I dared hope.  What was to have been one article has become four, revealing a fascinating story of survival, drama and ultimate vindication of his exiled father, Sir Richard Lane. Continue reading “Passing of the Torch: The Service of Richard Lane the Younger to the King”

Meet Richard Lane’s Ancestor – and Part of the Reason for his Family’s “Good Name”

Welcome to the latest twist in a story more likely to sprout new heads than a hydra!  My research has often led me through accounts of Richard Lane which are sprinkled with comments that he came from a family of little wealth, but a good name.  Little wealth I understand, but what was meant by a good name?  Until now, I’ve spent most of my genealogy efforts directed toward his descendants, and little into his parentage. I should have known I would find something surprising when I did!  Although the Lane family is itself an old and distinguished family in its own right, the truly impressive link didn’t come about through his father, but through Richard Lane’s mother, Elizabeth (Vincent) Lane…

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The Dramatic Life of Sir Richard Lane’s Eldest (and Only Surviving) Son

Sir Richard Lane had a large family – 12 children.  But as I am discovering, many children did not survive to adulthood in the early 1600’s.  Although he had 4 sons in total (Richard, Parvulus, Bryan and one unnamed) only one  – Richard – lived beyond his first year.  What I have found out about Richard Lane the younger tells a dramatic story, but one that may explain some of the historical obscurity of his father, Sir Richard Lane.  I recently discovered the will of Richard Lane the younger, and it appears he was the last in his line to carry his father’s name…

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Kudos to the Magic of the Interlibrary Loan Program!

I really wanted to understand more about the 1600s Jersey diarist, Jean Chevalier.  His journal (a legacy gift to his own familial descendants) has become an unmatched window into his times.  It is also the crown jewel of the Société Jersiaise, and the only credible historical document to tell of Sir Richard Lane’s fate while in exile with King Charles II during the English Civil War.  But who was Jean Chevalier? How credible were his observations?  I finally found a book that promised to tell me…

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Update on the Trial of Strafford Painting

“Proving” is an ambitious word.  How do you “prove” that a mid-1800s painter depicting an important historical scene was aware of and attempting to portray specific actors and their inter-relationships in a drama that was already more than 200 years old at the moment he first stood before his empty canvas? Clearly, Thomas Woolnoth went to pains to realistically portray the principals of the scene in “The Trial of Strafford”, but was he aware of Richard Lane and his  role? How much research did he do? How can we assert that he would have been aware of historical research that was being done in his own time?  Without  corroborating evidence, such assertions must be considered a hypothesis – one based on raw speculation…but, I think we can do better! Continue reading “Update on the Trial of Strafford Painting”

Jean Chevalier’s Diary – An Amazing (and largely unknown) Historical Document!

Have you ever spent a moment thinking about the word “journalist”? Because of modern media, we think of a journalist as someone who reports on news for the public media.  But in mid 1600s, a local Jersey man named Jean Chevalier was a journalist in the most basic sense of the word – he began a diary, capturing events in Jersey during the Period of the English revolution – starting in 1643 and continuing until parliamentary forces finally captured the island in 1651.  What is so remarkable about this journal is the level of penetrating detail it captured about people and events on the island – providing singular and often quite personal insights into day-to-day and historically significant events alike.  I’ve never seen anything like it…

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