Family founder
The originator couple of the family which is the centre of this website have usually been seen as John Chitty alias Bocher (1500-1549) and Joan Peyton(1490-1553).
Jeanette Birt provided the following interesting analysis in 2002:
CHITTY ALIAS BOCHER
The leading CHITTY family in Godalming during the 16th and 17th centuries was undoubtedly that distinguished as CHITTY alias BOCHER, an identification which has been found from 1531 to 1629.
As some of the Godalming CHITTYs were described as butchers from 1441 to 1505 it is likely that the alias in this case refers to their occupation – though in 1484 there is a reference to John BOCHER senior and junior, so that there is a possibility that there was another family of that name and that these CHITTYs either acquired their land or intermarried with them.
It is also at present impossible to be certain of the ancestry of that John CHITTY alias BOCHER who died in 1546. But a reconstruction that fits the known facts would be that Robert the butcher named in 1505 (possibly also in 1484, though that might be the previous generation) was the same as Robert of Farncombe (named 1503) and was brother of John of Farncombe whose will was proved 1487. This John named sons John and Thomas and appointed a Robert CHITTY as an executor. If this Robert was an eldest son, and so brother of John and Thomas, then he could be the Robert alias BOCHER who joined with John CHITTY and others in a 1531 suit against Arnold MELLERSHE regarding over 300 acres of land in and around Godalming; and his brother John could be the John CHITTY alias BOCHER whose will was proved 1546 and who is the ancestor of many later CHITTYs.
Whatever his ancestry, this John was a man of considerable property. By his will – proved in the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, rather for additional authority or from motives of snobbery than because his property was partly outside the jurisdiction of the Surrey Commissary and Archdeaconry Courts – he bequeathed property including ‘Gaylandes now Cheties’ – apparently the former holding of Thomas GRAYLAND who died 1485, for which John paid quitrent in 1542, later known as The Square – Townend property held by exchange with Mr Westricke – probably Tanhouse on the north side of High Street, later described as held of Westbrook Manor – the lease from Mr Erneley, and land at Oldlands, Hile End, Smallhache, Watershaw and a Clift by the Heath.
There is also in the Surrey Record Society publications a reference to Surrey Feet of Fines in 1530/1 in which John Westbroke and John Chitty sued George and Anne Adderson regarding seventy acres of land in Godalming, which may be connected with the acquiring of ‘The Square’.
John left two daughters, one married to John Daborne of Guildford, clothier, and three sons, Henry, mercer, Robert, clothier, and John.
‘Clothiers’ were cloth manufacturers, and the Victoria County History of Surrey notes that in 1562/3 six members of the Hooke and Chitty families were accused of having carried on the industry of kersey weaving at Thursley, Pitfold and Frensham and over the Hants border at Aldershot, Linchmere, Bramshott and Headley – contrary to the act that cloth should only be made in the market town where the trade was established, that is to say, Godalming. In 1565 members of the same families together with representatives of those of Mellersh, Wood and Chaundler and John Bradford (or Bradfold?) of Brodgate and John Allen of Farnham were charged with using various devices to stretch their cloth. Elliot, Daborne, Bridger, Bowler, Peyto and Toft were other Godalming clothiers, and most of these families were also connected by marriage with the Chittys.
The youngest son, John Chitty alias Bocher junior, moved as far as Arundel, where he died intestate in 1559. A suit between him and his wife Elizabeth and his brother Robert in 1549 was probably a friendly case to establish title rather than a serious family quarrel; in any case, Robert was appointed administrator and guardian of John’s unnamed children. We can only speculate as to whether these children were brought back to Godalming or were the origin of an Arundel family which we shall consider later.
John junior had been left, with other property, a close at Fishden, but by some family adjustment this evidently came to Robert, who mentions it in his will in 1567. Robert had also been left ‘Gaylandes now Cheties’, believed to be ‘The Square’, so it is possible that the maltster Chittys of The Square many years later were his descendants. Unfortunately Robert, though his will provided for his children, did not name them. He appointed several notable local men as trustees, and it is almost certain that his sons included Matthew, founder of the most successful and only armigerous line, but as this has not been fully proved, we shall treat of that family separately.
The head of the family from 1546 until his death in 1558 was the eldest son Henry Chitty alias Bocher, mercer, variously described as ‘of Broadgate’ and ‘de la Tanhouse’. He married Margaret, a member of the landed family of Elliot of Green Place, and by this connection held (as early as 1551) part of the Manor of Ashurst, formerly owned by Edward Brooker who died in 1486, which had been acquired by John Eliot in 1548. By 1553 he also held ‘Tanhouse’ of Westbrook Manor – possibly this also connects with the 1530 suit in which his father and John Westbroke were engaged, though old John had left the house at Townend ‘held by exchange with Mr Westricke’ to Robert. Henry was also tenant of the reputed small manor of Chesberyes, near Wheeler Street.
Precursors
John was certainly the best documented but it is possible to go back two generations to Robert Chitty of Farncombe (1440-1485) and his wife Matilda (1440-1485). They were the 13th great grand parents of the NZ Clendon brothers. Through the maternal line of Margaret Scott they trace back to Sir John Scott (1423-1485) and his wife Ann Beaufirs(1427-1487), being 14th great grandparents of the aforesaid. They resided in Scot’s Hall>
Robert’s will
The Chitty family continued to grow in and around Godalming but over time there was a drift of a few to Deal and London creating significant families.