Lord Mayor Robert WYNNE ¹

  General Notes:

PLAGUE: Lord Mayor Robert Wynne and his wife Frances Wattmer both died of the Plague within two days of each other in Sep 1609. Their deaths were in connection with a visitation of the plague to Canterbury, either Bubonic plague, or Typhus. The outbreak was severe. They left five young children orphans, and had it not been for the kindness of their uncle, William Wattmer II, they would have been destitute. He saw to it they were removed from the infected house until it was cleansed, and reclothed, housed, and looked after them during the quarantine. Then he boarded Peter and John with Rowland Dixon, the tailor, to follow an apprenticeship in their father's trade. Thomas was old enough to assume the responsibilities of his parent's house. Uncle William took Elizabeth and Anne to his home, and looked after the financial affairs of the younger children.

(This historical fact is often referenced by others that the orphaned children were taken by Frances Wattmer's father, William Wattmer Sr., which is incorrect. Besides, William Wattmer Sr. died in 1599 before Frances & Robert Wynne died of the Plague.)

NOTES: Robert was a woolendraper and a member of the Woolendrapers Guild. He was also the Mayor of Canterbury in 1599. In an Ecclesiastical Deposition dated 1604 he states that he came to Canterbury in 1579 and was in swaddling clothes in Shrewsbury, Salop (Shropshire) in 1558.

  Research Notes:

Find A Grave, Memorial # 80396799

Robert married Frances WATTMER, daughter of William WATTMER, Sr. and Johanna HATCH, in 1590 in Canterbury, Kent, England. (Frances WATTMER was born in 1565 in Canterbury, Kent, England, died on Sep 8, 1609 in Canterbury, Kent, England and was buried in St. George's Church, Canterbury, Kent, England ².)