John, William and Richard Sherman

Date of Brass:

1638

Place:

Ottery St Mary

County:

Devon

Country:

Number:

I

Style:

Marshall

Description

Despite the position of the town of Ottery St Mary on the River Otter and within a few miles from the coast, it is likely that the brass plates that make up the memorial of father, son and grandson of the Sherman family were laid locally. Their effigies are in the style of Edward Marshall, the London tomb sculptor and engraver. Above the head of John and William are labels giving the year the their deaths, 1542 and 1583. That above Richard is lost but would have read 1638. The usual black Belgian marble slab used at the time for inlaying brasses has been replaced by one of limestone. Whether the plates were sent from London to Devon by road or by sea is open to question. If the choice were road, it echoes that made around a hundred years earlier by Lady Lisle’s representatives when sending the plates for the Bassett brass to Umberleigh, Devon, by carrier in 1533-4. Umberleigh, however, is rather further inland than Ottery.

The Sherman family was an offshoot of the Sherman family of Yaxley, in Suffolk. Robert Sherman of Yaxley is shown in the heraldic visitation of 1620 to have married the daughter of William Sherman of Ottery St Mary, probably in the mid fifteenth-century, as their heir, John, was born around 1460. William Sherman was a dyer. Robert had probably married a relative. Robert’s heir John had an eldest son of the same name who died without children. The latter’s younger brother William must have been born around 1500. Richard was the son of William’s second wife Joan Malloch and was born in the 1550s. It was his elder half-brother John who inherited Knightstone in Ottery, acquired by William, probably in the 1550s. John died in 1617 and has a memorial on the wall of the south-east chapel of Ottery St Mary, close to the Sherman brass. John was succeeded by his son Gideon, died 1630/1. Gideon was succeeded in turn by his son Gideon, born 1626, died 1679. Richard and his father were both termed gentlemen.

Beneath the figures on the brass is a plate with an Latin inscription in Roman capitals. The transcription and translation are those of WHH Rogers:

Aet Memoriae

Joannis Sherman, generosi, Guilielmi filij eivs,
et Richardi nepotis qui ex ipsorum voto, vna requiescut.
Tres tegit hoc vnum marmor : virtutibus omnes,
Vt tumulo, meritis, sangvine, lavde pares.
Hic pater, hic natusq', neposq', propagine clara
Shermanni, Ottræo nomina chara solo.
Sancta Dei cultu; curaq' celebria egenum,
Qveis pia susidij hic munera in æva dabant.
Quilibet octo annos decies prope vixit, at avla
Vivit iam æterna spiritus orbe decus.
Hic una ex voto, recubant ; vna vnde resurgant,
Ac vna a Christo lavrea parta beet.

The following is offered as a translation :

To perpetuate the memory of John Sherman, gentleman, William his son and Richard (his) grandson, who by their own wish vest together.

This one monument covers the three, all equal as in (their) tomb (so) in virtues, worth, birth, aud praise.

This same father, son and grandson, of the renowned race of Sherman, (are) celebrated names in Ottery from (their) piety, and distinguished care of the destitute for whose assistance for ever they here bestowed pious gifts.

Each lived near eighty years, and now lives in the eternal mansions an ornament of the world of spirits.

Here together according to their wish they lie, hence together may they rise, and together be blessed with the crown promised by Christ (himself).

A rectangular plate between the upper parts of the two lower figures is lost. It perhaps showed the arms of Sherman.

Copyright: Text and Photos: Jon Bayliss