MARRIAGE: 21 JAN 1721/22, St. Dionis Backchurch, London, ENG
Will dated 21 oct 1758, proved 18 apr 1763. Marriage of 1721/22 calls him "of St. Martin in the Fields, Bachelor". Naturalized by act of parliament 13 Anne No. 57 (1714), parents noted as Jean Scalé and Marie, born at "St. Frique". The reference is presumably to St. Affrique-lčs-Montagnes, Tarn, just south of Castres.
The naturalization for Peter Scalé, approved 09 jul 1714, is part of a list of disbanded officers that served from Gibralter and Port Mahon. It specifies "Peter Scale son of John Scale by Mary his wife born at Saint Frique in France." He received a pension for his military service at least until 1741.
His will contains the following provisions:
10 pounds to Francis Deze of Kensington
10 pounds to Samuel Simpson of New Street without Bishopsgate and the same to Mrs. Sarah Simpson his wife
beloved wife Mary Anne
servant Samuel Andrews
loving heir Ann Scalé
executrices wife Mary Anne and heir Ann Scalé.
Ann Scalé is believed to be his niece Henrietta Ann, daughter of his brother Bernard Scalé.
Peter Bernard Scalé is named as the residual heir in the will of Bernard, 1743. It is likely that he is indeed the same Bernard Scalé who was the engraver and cartographer, active about 1758-1787. If so, he may have learned his trade in part from his
brother-in-law Louis Stanislas DelaRochette. The first known notice of Scalé's trade appears in Sleater's Public Gazetteer, 1758, Dublin, telling a somewhat different story: "P. Bernard Scallé" who would survey "Counties, Cities, gentlemen's
estates etc., after the manner of Mr. John Roque, his brother-in-law by whom he was instructed."
Now, John Roque had married Mary Ann Bew, presumed from the above statement to be the same Mary Ann Scalé, sister of Peter Bernard, who had married Edward Bew, apothecary, in xxxx. Whether this interpretation is correct has not been discovered. No
death record for Edward Bew has been found. It is possible, for example, that the relationship was less direct, and that Mary Ann Bew was instead the sister of Edward Bew. Edward may have been the son of a George Bew, also an apothecary, of
Gracechurch Street, London, who is mentioned at various times between 1713 and 1734.
We have assumed that Pierre Bernard was born after the family left Eynesford, Kent, thus about 1734 or later. We have not yet figured out where the family was between 1732 and 1743, or indeed how they fared after 1743. The discovery of Pierre
Bernard's wife in records of Earls Colne, Essex, suggests that some of the missing years must have been in that area. Since he died in 1826, it is extremely unlikely that Pierre Bernard was born in 1728 (a gap in the family baptisms at that date), or
that he was a son of Bernard Scalé by a prior wife. But it is possible that Esther had died and he had remarried about 1738.
There are a number of intriguing citations, not all yet verified.
The executor Robert Crucifix is evidently the man baptized 1698 at Artillery Fields-Spitalfields, son of another Robert Crucifix, presumably the clockmaker whose dealings with the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers is documented in the early 1700's. On
the other side of the Channel, at least one pocketwatch circa 1750 is know signed "Bernard Scale, Amsterdam". Thus, the clockmaker's trade is part of the family's social position.
Since the only Scalé heir we can document in England is Peter Bernard (b. about 1734?), it would appear that the Bernard Scalé known as an engraver, surveyor, and mapmaker 1760-1787 is the same person. The record of his marriage to Henrietta Morley has
not been found. His will is presently at the Essex Record Office, D/ABR 32/639. Among records of rentals at the manor of Earls Colne, Essex, adjacent to the parish of Halstead, recently published on the internet, is a document (ERO D/DPr118, doc.
no. 80000260) from 1854 that details the rental tenure of a 10 acre plot, beginning in 1749 to Henrietta Letch as daughter and divisee of John Morley, 1752 to Henrietta Letch afterwards wife of Peter Bernard Scale on death of her mother (not named),
1798 Jacob Pattison surrender of Peter B. and Henrietta Scale. A similar document from the same year (doc. no. 80000645) notes tenure in 1798 of Henrietta Scale wife of Peter Bernard Scale, and 1824 Rev. Bernard Scale upon the death of his mother
Henrietta. While this is sufficient to prove that the family had interests at Earls Colne, they do not appear in the parish registers there.
A number of additional citations are recounted by A. Stuart-Mason and John Bensusan-Butt (1988) in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland (vol. 24, pp. 508-518). Among others, it is noted that he purchased the
estate of Mangroves in the parish of Great Warley, Essex, by August, 1774. The steward of the manor of Great Warley 1765-1780 was Joseph Letch, presumably a relative of Henrietta's first husband. In April 1785, Henrietta's uncle Edward Morley died
and left her a modest sum. The next year, Edward's son Edward Jr. died at age 44, leaving Henrietta the estates in Tollesbury, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Layer Breton, Birch, Virley, Walton, and White Colne, and a great deal of money. Shortly after, Scalé
sold Mangroves and moved to Boreham, then in 1788 to Noakes Place in Great Badow. They sold this property and moved to Colchester in 1803. At this house, their daughter Margaret Sophia was married to an army captain, Joseph Warde of Woodbridge,
Suffolk. (Records at Great Warley, Boreham, and Great Badow need to be checked. They should contain mention of Margaret Sophia.)
[3617]
In certain title records at Earls Colne, land from Peter and Henrietta Scalé is transferred to a new owner in 1798. However, apparently the same Bernard Scalé died 26 jan 1826 at Colchester, age 86.
[14669]
Married by license, both living at Dedham for "four weeks last past". The bride is described as "upwards of twenty-one years old, Spinster".
Civil registration index record for death was June quarter, 1856, gives full name, registration district Windsor, 2 c 253. Notice in Gentleman's Magazine gives his age as 51 and identifies him as the "eldest surviving son" of the late Rev. B. Scalé.
[14671]
Witness for the marriage was Thomas James Scalé.
By 1723, he had married Catherine de Court, widow of Jacob Roket of Harlingen. The chronology is not clear, it is not known if Catherine de Court was the mother of Samuel's son Bernard.
Index record for the death is June quarter 1866, 2a, 123. He inherited his father's books, in addition to other property, and his father's will calls Thomas' wife Maria, even though his widow is evidently Harriet. He was a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge. He established a successful school at Twickenham.
