Elizabeth Parret (1572) & Simon Parret (1584)
This brass in the Church of St Peter-in-the-East (now St Edmund Hall Library) reads:
Here resteth the bodies of Simon Parret Gentilman : master of arte: late fellowe
of Magdalen Colledge and twice procter of the Universitie of Oxford : and Eliza:
beth his wife, daughter of Edward Love of Aenohe in the Countie of North
hampton Esquier : which Simon departed this worlde the 24: day of Septebr
in the yeare of our lorde God MCCCCC 84 and in the yere of his age 71:
and Elizabeth departed in childbed the xxiiii day of December in the yere of
oure lorde God MCCCCC lxxii : and in the yere of her age xlv
Mrs Elizabeth Parret (née Love) of Aynho (c.1527–1572)
Elizabeth Parret, who died in childbed on Christmas Eve 1572 at the age of 45, was buried at St Peter-in-the-East on Christmas Day. It looks as though the child she gave birth to may have survived: Christian Parret was baptised in St Peter-in-the-East on Christmas Day 1572 (the same day that his/her mother was buried), but has no burial entry.
Simon Parret (c. 1513–1584)
Simon Parret, who was 14 years older than his wife, did not waste any time: he married Agnes White on 29 June 1573 in the church where he had buried his wife just six months earlier. The following extract from Alumni Oxonienses outlines his academic career:
Perrott, Simon (Parrett or Perret), B.A. 8 July, 1532, fellow of Magdalen Coll., 1533–50, M.A. 12 May, 1536, B.Med. supd. July 1538, principal of Magdalen Hall, 1541–50, proctor 1545–6 (s. Robert the organist), public notary 1546, registrar of Bucks 1547, bailiff of Magdalen Coll., etc. 1551, died 24 Sept., 1584; buried in St. Peter-in-the-East; father of Robert 1571, of Francis 1577, and of Peter 1595. See Hearne, i.138, & Bloxham, i.12.
Simon Parret survived his first wife Elizabeth by twelve years: he died on 24 September 1584 at the age of 71, and was buried with her two days later. There is no mention of his second wife Agnes on the above inscription.
Children of Simon Parret
Simon & Elizabeth Parret appear to have had the following children:
- Records of the baptism of their earliest children do not survive: but Robert (born c.1553) is known: see Alumni Oxonienses above, and his own entry in that volume. He married Mary Wythington in St Peter-in-the-East on 10 July 1587
- Gualter (baptised 23 June 1560)
- Mary (baptised 29 October 1561)
- Francis (baptised 25 April 1563): see Alumni Oxonienses above, and his own entry in that volume
- Jane (baptised 30 April 1563)
- Martha (baptised 19 July 1567)
- Susan (baptised 5 October 1568)
- John (baptised 27 May 1570)
- Christian (baptised 25 December 1572)
Although Simon was 60 years old when he married his second wife Elizabeth, they appear to have had at least one child, namely Peter Perrot, who would have been born in the mid- to late 1570s, as he obtained his BA on 22 February 1594/5. He died young, and was buried at St Peter-in-the-East church on 16 May 1603.