Merchants and Mayors: the Chappell Family in Tudor Exeter

Description

About the Book

Discover life in sixteenth-century Exeter, in this true story of a merchant family who, through courage and adversity became leading citizens, members of the Company of Merchant Adventurers and the early cloth Guilds, and mayors of the city of Exeter.
Follow the lives of the Chappell brothers, William and Thomas, and their cousin John Chappell, to discover intimate details of their family lives, their homes, their endeavours and enterprises and the legacy they left their children as they rose to become one of the most powerful families in Tudor Exeter.
The family are just as courageous and brave in the next generation, as they develop the family business in the ‘New World’. Henry Bagwell, grandson of Thomas, was christened in St Petrock’s Church and, having left England in 1609, survived a shipwreck in Bermuda before becoming a successful plantation owner in Virginia.
His story was published in 2021. See here, sponsored link The Henry Bagwell Story

Reviews

‘A great deal of careful research, using a wide variety of sources, has enabled the author to set this detailed story of an important Exeter family against the backdrop of the turbulent times of the English Reformation.’
Janet Few PhD, historian, genealogist, and author of Tracing Your Marginalised Ancestors, Ten Steps to a One-Place Study, Sins as Red as Scarlet.

“The reader is given a very graphic and detailed account of life in 16th century Exeter, illuminating the social and economic success of the city, built by the Merchants around the cloth trade that made Exeter the third most prosperous city outside London.
A truly remarkable story, carefully researched and well written.”
Ian Gardner, Past Master, Incorporation of Weavers Fullers and Shearmen, Exeter.
“As a direct descendent, the author provides a unique insight into the history of the Chappell family of Exeter. This detailed work draws on a wide variety of printed and archival sources to present the reader with an unrivalled history of one of Exeter’s most prominent Tudor dynasties.
The author leaves no stone unturned in her research into the family’s important civic and commercial roles in Elizabethan Exeter.
A must-have book for anyone interested in this period in the city’s history.”
Peter Maunder, author of Tiverton Cloth: The Story of the Town’s Woollen Trade, 1475 – 1815

About the Author

Margaret A. “Maggie” Rice has enjoyed a long and successful career as a teacher and school administrator. Born in Wellington, Somerset, to a grocer father and a teacher mother, she worked for two years in London before moving to the United States in 1968 with her husband, Ray, to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where Ray gained a PhD in food technology.
Maggie taught in thee different early-years settings within the university and gained a masters degree in Early Childhood Education.
On returning to the UK, Maggie served as the head teacher of a nursery school in Hull; Devon County Advisory teacher for under fives; an Under Eights Inspector with Devon Social Services; and a college lecturer and childcare centre manager.
Today, she and Ray enjoy family gatherings with their daughter Nicola; their son, Andrew and his wife Maria; and three grandsons, Sebastian, Adam, and Harry.
She values friendships, gardening, and music, and is a member of the Devon Historical Society and the Devon and Cornwall Record Society.
Maggie is the author of The Henry Bagwell Story: English Adventurer, Virginia Planter (1589-1663) Secant Publishing, LLC 2021 (affiliate link).