Sir Martin Frobisher - Navigator and Privateer
"1559
Maie Itm xxxt day of Maie Martin Frobisher & Isabell Ricard of Snathe [Sept.?]"
A note in the Preface to The Parish Registers of Snaith, Co. York, Part 1, Transcribed and Indexed by William Brigg, B.A., Privately Printed for the Yorkshire Parish Register Society, 1917, states:
"Amongst the marriages for 1559 is recorded that of Martin Frobisher, the famous navigator."
So ... who was Martin Frobisher? And what were his links with Snaith?
Maie Itm xxxt day of Maie Martin Frobisher & Isabell Ricard of Snathe [Sept.?]"
A note in the Preface to The Parish Registers of Snaith, Co. York, Part 1, Transcribed and Indexed by William Brigg, B.A., Privately Printed for the Yorkshire Parish Register Society, 1917, states:
"Amongst the marriages for 1559 is recorded that of Martin Frobisher, the famous navigator."
So ... who was Martin Frobisher? And what were his links with Snaith?
Martin Frobisher was born around 1535, the sixteenth child of Bernard Frobisher of Altofts. He first went to sea as a cabin boy in 1544, being captured ten years later by the Portuguese. Having spent some time in captivity, he became a merchant in Morocco, eventually moving to Southern Ireland, from where he sailed in pirate voyages as a Privateer. In 1585, alongside Sir Francis Drake, he made a successful pirate raid on the Spanish fleet, being knighted in 1588 for his part in defeating the Spanish Armada.
He is most famously known, however, for his voyages in search of a North-west passage to India and China in the late 1570's. A fascinating contemporaneous record of his voyages is available online at openlibrary.org.
Martin Frobisher was Isabell Ricard's second husband, her first husband, Thomas Rickard, having died in Snaith in 1558. It has been suggested that Isabell was born in Snaith in 1536 but, unfortunately, there does not appear to be any record of her family name.
It would seem that the Frobisher marriage was not a happy one - to the extent that, around 1573, Isabell sent a petition to Queen Elizabeth, claiming that her husband had been part of a conspiracy to raise an army against Ireland (http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/StatePapers12/SP_12-95-92_ff_202-3.pdf). Frobisher seems to have abandoned his wife and children by the mid-1570's - maybe around the time of the petition? - and, apparently, Isabell's death in a poorhouse in 1588 brought no recorded reaction from him. He married Dorothy Withypool (nee Wentworth), widow of Paul Withypool of Ipswich, in 1590.
Martin Frobisher died in Plymouth on 15th November 1594, as a result of a gunshot wound received during the Siege of Fort Crozon, a Spanish-held fortress.
But ... did this adventurous gentleman really marry Isabell Ricard in St Lawrence Priory in Snaith? It would certainly appear so from the Marriage Register. However Isabell, herself, suggested otherwise. The following passage is quoted from the Modern spelling transcript of THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES SP 12/95/92, ff. 202-3, by Nina Green:
He is most famously known, however, for his voyages in search of a North-west passage to India and China in the late 1570's. A fascinating contemporaneous record of his voyages is available online at openlibrary.org.
Martin Frobisher was Isabell Ricard's second husband, her first husband, Thomas Rickard, having died in Snaith in 1558. It has been suggested that Isabell was born in Snaith in 1536 but, unfortunately, there does not appear to be any record of her family name.
It would seem that the Frobisher marriage was not a happy one - to the extent that, around 1573, Isabell sent a petition to Queen Elizabeth, claiming that her husband had been part of a conspiracy to raise an army against Ireland (http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/StatePapers12/SP_12-95-92_ff_202-3.pdf). Frobisher seems to have abandoned his wife and children by the mid-1570's - maybe around the time of the petition? - and, apparently, Isabell's death in a poorhouse in 1588 brought no recorded reaction from him. He married Dorothy Withypool (nee Wentworth), widow of Paul Withypool of Ipswich, in 1590.
Martin Frobisher died in Plymouth on 15th November 1594, as a result of a gunshot wound received during the Siege of Fort Crozon, a Spanish-held fortress.
But ... did this adventurous gentleman really marry Isabell Ricard in St Lawrence Priory in Snaith? It would certainly appear so from the Marriage Register. However Isabell, herself, suggested otherwise. The following passage is quoted from the Modern spelling transcript of THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES SP 12/95/92, ff. 202-3, by Nina Green:
"... and Jerome Brett caused my husband to go to my Lord Treasurer, to whom I had
complained, & for their credit’ sake denied me to be his wife, never married to him, but
such a one as he had kept, which is most manifest to be known that I was lawfully married to him
five years past [=1569?] in the parish of Walbrook in London, and have lived in the
Blackfriars maid(?), wife and widow 20 years, no way in discredit, I am to be judged by any friend or kin
that my husband hath for my behaviour or dealing towards him, Sir Warham and his company set apart,
who hath not only sought to take my good name from me, but also most shamefully with false witnesses,
brought in to their shame, have sought to hang me."
(http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/StatePapers12/SP_12-95-92_ff_202-3.pdf)
complained, & for their credit’ sake denied me to be his wife, never married to him, but
such a one as he had kept, which is most manifest to be known that I was lawfully married to him
five years past [=1569?] in the parish of Walbrook in London, and have lived in the
Blackfriars maid(?), wife and widow 20 years, no way in discredit, I am to be judged by any friend or kin
that my husband hath for my behaviour or dealing towards him, Sir Warham and his company set apart,
who hath not only sought to take my good name from me, but also most shamefully with false witnesses,
brought in to their shame, have sought to hang me."
(http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/StatePapers12/SP_12-95-92_ff_202-3.pdf)
So, was Isabell correct? Did she, in fact, marry Martin Frobisher in the parish of Walbrook around 1569 and not in Snaith in 1559? In which case, why is the marriage recorded in the Snaith Marriage Register? One fact that doesn't seem to be in question is that she married her first husband in Snaith ... although a search of the Marriage Register transcription doesn't actually confirm this! Nor is there any record of the birth of her children, as the baptism record for Snaith doesn't commence until 1559. However, if she did marry here, this would suggest that Snaith was Isabell's home town ... so, what was her ancestry in the town? Was she a member of one of the leading families? If so, which one???
As always, there are more questions than answers!
As always, there are more questions than answers!