Pett dynasty

The so-called Pett Dynasty was a family of shipwrights who prospered in England between the 15th and 17th centuries. It was once said of the family that they were "so knit together that the Devil himself could not discover them".[1] This saying refers to the era during which Samuel Pepys was much involved in getting royal aid for Ann Pett, widow of Christopher Pett.[2]

The four Peter Petts

Peter Pett, Master Shipwright of Deptford, was granted a Coat of Arms in 1563. His son, Joseph Pett of Limehouse, succeeded his father as Master Shipwright before Peter's death in 1605. Joseph surveyed the timber for the construction of a ship named Sovereign of the Seas, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Hoborn, another shipwright and churchwarden at Chatham. Joseph died in 1652, aged about 60. Joseph's son, the second Peter Pett, carried on the private family business of shipbuilding at Wapping. Joseph's other son, also named Joseph, became the master carpenter employed at Chatham in 1643 by the then Earl of Warwick.

Another son of the first Peter Pett was Richard Pett, who raised his son (Peter of Deptford (1593–1652) and the third Peter Pett) to be a shipwright. The sons of this Peter Pett were Phineas (a captain in the Royal Navy) and another Peter (the fourth).

This fourth Peter was baptised in St Nicholas' Church in 1630, and was later educated in St Paul's School and Sidney Sussex College of Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1645. He then graduated to Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1648 was elected to a fellowship at All Soul's College. He was bachelor of civil law to Gray's Inn from 1657 to 1658, and was knighted in 1661, after which he sat as a member of parliament for Askaeton in the Irish Parliament. He was called to the bar in 1664, as a barrister in law of the Middle Temple, and one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society in 1663, from which he was later expelled in 1675 for "not performing his obligations to the society". He also became Advocate-General in Ireland, before his death in 1699. Peter was a learned author and many of his manuscripts have survived him.

Phineas Pett, designer of the Sovereign of the Seas

Phineas Pett succeeded shipwright John Holding in the post of keeper of the plank yard, but his income was meagre by the standards set by his family. In his diary, he recorded that it became his duty, for which he considered himself unfit, to take charge of the affairs of his "poor sisters and brother." Phineas thought that his kinsman Joseph should have paid more attention to their plight, but he "cared not what became of them".

The Autobiography of Phineas Pett indicates his pride in the coat of arms of his father Peter. Phineas' son Peter, commissioner of Chatham, was disgraced because of the Battle of Medway and the loss of capital ships almost 100 years later. These arms display three black balls rather than the three R's of the Leicestershire Pates. The significance of the balls is made clear in some versions of this arms, which show below them a scuttled frigate. The lion passant shown on some versions indicates the Pett (Paetus (founders of Padua), Pettus) origins in Venice (colony of Padua), seafarer home of St. Mark, who is identified with a lion.[3]

Peter Pett, in his application for arms, explicitly indicates his descent from Thomas Pett of Skipton.

Joseph Pett of Limehouse, Master Shipwright

As noted above, Joseph Pett of Limehouse became Master Shipwright in 1589, before his father Peter's death. He was the father of Joseph Pett of Chatham and had another son, William, and a daughter, Lydia, who took up the trade of her father and is a rare example of a female master tradesman of the era. He was married twice, first to Margaret Curtis (who died in 1594), and later to Margaret Humphrey (who died in 1612). Joseph died in 1605.

Petts were represented as Pates in America, where they were found in New Kent County and Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The estuarian ferry at Yorktown was run by a Thomas Pate, who continued the Pett shipbuilding tradition in America. There are many Pett tracks in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.[4] The Virginia General Assembly in 1663 rewarded "John Pitt", of Isle of Wight County, for building a vessel of twenty-three tons.

Pates built wooden ships in Old Bertie County in colonial North Carolina. Their shipyard was on Cashie river, near the present town of Hertford, North Carolina. Later Throughgood Pate descendants were boat builders at Hobucken, North Carolina. Samuel Pate was the name of the founder of the Hobucken Pate boatyard. Samuel Pett was the name of a famous Pett shipbuilder of Deptford.

Political, religious and professional conflicts made America a better place for Pates than was England under Cromwell. Thoroughgood Pate was a casualty of Queen Anne's War, which was fought to preserve the English slave trade. Descendants of Thoroughgood Pate related to family historian Julia Claire Pate claim the coat of arms of Peter and Phineas Pett their own.

The influence of the Pett family in integrating the peoples of the world is apparent.[5] Joseph was a given name of the Pates of Patetown, in North Carolina, through which flows Stoney Creek, the original of which runs through New Kent County, in Virginia.

Details of Pett families

Family 1

Family 2

Family 3

Extension of Family 2

References

  1. ↑ Quote from The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815,ISBN 0-393-06050-0, pp. 45–46, by N. A. M. Rodger.The quotation is from Chapter Three, "A Looking-Glass of Calamity, Administration 1649–1660".
  2. ↑ The surname is spelled Pate in some records of the so-called "Stepney Folk", from whom came many famous English seafarers.Stepney names
  3. ↑ Deptford, St Nicholas | British History Online
  4. ↑ History, Isle of Wight County (Virginia)
  5. ↑ Blackheath Slavery

External links