Ralf Hogge

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Cannon and Hogge rebus incorporated into the Buxted village sign
Cannon and Hogge rebus incorporated into the Buxted village sign

Ralf Hogge (his name has also been rendered "Ralph" and "Huggett") was an English iron-master and gun founder to the king.[1]

Working with French cannon-maker Pierre Baude and for his employer, parson William Levett, Hogge succeeded in casting the first iron cannon in England, in 1543. Eventually Hogge would go into business for himself, producing cannons in the process he had helped perfect.

This event was immortalised in verse as:

Master Huggett and his man John
they did cast the first cannon.

In the village of Buxted, East Sussex, "Hogge is assumed to have built Hogge House in 1583 and recorded his name and the date in the form of a cast iron rebus over the door."[1][2]

Ralf Hogge married Margaret Henslowe, brother of Philip Henslowe, an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Philip Henslowe diaries between 1592 and 1609 survive. As well as providing an insight into Elizabethan theatre of that period, they were written on the reverse of Hogge's ironworks accounts for the period 1576 to 1581.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b [1]Web page titled "Historical Village Walk' at Buxted Village Web site, accessed March 2, 2007
  2. ^ The Hogge House Rebus, Buxted, circa 1929, theweald.org

[edit] External links

  • [2] Web page with information about Hogge