Notes: See History of Parliament website for bibliography and other information about Sir Charles. See also attached file from Harold Biggs summarizing the wills of Sir Charles, and those of his father William Harvord and his son William Harbord.

Harbord’s great-grandfather is believed to have come out of Wales with Henry VII. His father leased a farm of some 200 acres in Somerset from the duchy of Cornwall. Sir Charles Harbord described himself to his eldest son as a self-made man. He was said to have begun life as ‘a poor solicitor of Staple Inn’; but he entered the service of Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery, subsequently 4th Earl of Pembroke.

Sir Charles was Surveyor General for King Charles I from 1631-42 and to King Charles II from June 1660 until his death.

Note: In Oct 2020, Gay Brennan from New Zealand kindly provided the following anecdote about Sir Charles Harbord:

"Sir Charles Harbord (1596-1679), left Gunton manor to her brother, John Harbord (-1710). John died without issue and left his property to his nephew, Harbord Cropley (c1675-1742), the son of his sister, Catherine Harbord (c1643-1684) and her second husband who was Col. William Cropley (1635-1717) of Haughley. Harbord Cropley changed his surname to Harbord. This led to him having the distinctly unusual name of ‘Harbord Harbord’.

Harbord (Cropley) Harbord died in 1742 without a son so he also left his estates to a nephew, William Morden (c1697-1770), the son of his sister, Judith Cropley (1671- ) and her husband, John Morden of (c1667-1726) Suffield. William Morden became a baronet and also changed his surname and that of his son, Harbord Morden (1734-1810), to Harbord. So, this Harbord Morden also became Harbord Harbord. He inherited the baronetcy from his father, Sir William (Morden) Harbord, and was later created the first Baron Suffield in 1786. That title then passed down the family to the twentieth century. There are several sources for this of which the best ones are G. E. Cokayne’s Complete Baronetage, Vol 5, page 90, and his Complete Peerage, Vol 12a, p425.”

Anne Tyen

Harold Biggs believed that Anne Tyen, daughter of Jasper Tyen and first wife of Sir Charles Harbord, was mother Anne Harbord who marred Richard Newman (d.1695). He also believed that Charles and Anne were the parents of second born William Harbord based on the 1605 will of Jasper Tyen "Jeweller of St Andrew Undershalf, City of London". Harold also mentioned that Sir Walter Raleigh was a near neighbors of Jasper Tyen. However in Oct 2020 Gay Brennan refuted these deductions based on the History of Parliament's web page for Sir Charles, which states that he “m. (1) Anne (d. by 1623), da. and h. of Jasper Tyen, jeweller, of Fenchurch Street, London, s.p.” (sine prole meaning without offspring)". Gay also reported that "Jasper Tyen’s 1623 will (not 1605) left legacies to his sister, Gertrude, to a fellow goldsmith John Wood, to John Wood’s son and daughter, and to the son and two daughters of his brother, Peter Senthill (presumably brother-in-law), some friends, a servant, and named his wife, Anne Tyen, as executor, but made no mention of a daughter, Anne, or any grandchildren, which confirms that Anne Tyen had already died without issue before 1623". Furthermore, Gay reported that she had "found Anne Harbord’s baptism on 5 August 1627 at St Andrew Undershaft, City of London. Charles Harbord married Maria van Aelst the year before on 26 October 1626 at All Hallows London Wall, so that confirms that Maria van Aelst was Anne’s mother. Anne would have been their first child"

Mary (or Maria) Jan van Aelst

The same 1684 indenture describes Mary as "Mary Harbord deceased late wife of the said Wm Harbord and one of the Coheirs of the said Mary deceased who was daughter and coheir of Arthur Duffe(?) late of Wells in the County of Somerset Dr of Laws "