John Maybury, Our Common Ancestor

Our study of English parish records led us to the conclusion that the common ancestor of all the Mayburys -- however the name is spelled -- was John Meberie (sic) , a skilled ironworker who married Margaret Bourder at Brightling, Sussex in December 1565. John Maybury's name was spelled at least nine ways in original records during his own lifetime:

Meberie, Mabery, Mayberie, Meabury, Mabry, Maberye, Maybery, Maybury & Mayberrie

John and Margaret (Bourder) Maybury were the parents of four sons and three daughters when Margaret died in February 1576. Margaret and three of their children are buried at St. Dunstan's Church in Mayfield, Sussex. John Maybury married a second time in June 1576 at Mayfield, Sussex to a widow, Alice Fuller. John and Alice had two more children. In the late 1590s the iron industry, having depleted most of the forests of the Weald, began to move to other parts of England. By 1600 John Maybury and two of his sons were working in Staffordshire and Derbyshire. John's wife, Alice, died at Ellastone, Staffordshire in May 1603. John then married a woman named his third wife, Eleanor, by whom he had at least one more child, William, born in Monmouthshire in 1606. John Maybury also had two illegitimate children, a daughter and a son, who were born about 1570 and 1573 in Sussex. The Maybury name has been passed on through at least three of his sons, Nicholas, Clement and John (1577).

England and Wales, showing localities and counties associated with the Mayburys.

By the middle of the 17th century descendants of John Maybury began emigrating to Ireland and America -- and later to Australia. These conclusions are supported by our study of the DNA of modern Mayburys.

Was John Maybury of Sussex born in England or did he come from France? 

Our tentative conclusion, based on the presence of a few earlier Maybury records in England has been that the hammerman, John Maybury (ca1540-1618) was probably born in England. However, future researchers will also want to consider the following recent reflection by John Tanner, that John Maybury may have come from France:

The evidence of earlier English Mayberys seems to me to be weak: they are few, scattered and with no evidence of being ironworkers. If he was English, I would expect there to be evidence of earlier ironworkers as well as other later ironworkers not descended from John. Then consider the naming pattern of his children. First child Joan named after Margaret's mother. Then Nicholas. I think it likely that Nicholas was named after John's father or another very near relative. What I had not realised before is that Nicholas is much more a French name than an English one.

Further reflections on this question can be found in ‘The Maybury Ironworkers’ in this section of the website.

The Children of John Maybury

We believe that the thirteen children listed below are all of the children of John Maybury. It is through Nicholas, Clement and John (b. 1577) that the Maybury name continued to future generations.

  1. Joan Maybury [by Margaret Border] - probably born in 1566 or 1567, the oldest child of John and Margaret Border. was likely named for her maternal grandmother, Joan Border. Johan Maybery (sic) was married to James Turnys on 4 June 1593 at Burwash, Sussex. On 22 March 1593/94 was buried at Etchingham, Sussex after giving birth to a son, who was baptized the same day.

  2. Nicholas Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was born about 1567 or 1568 at Brightling or Etchingham in Sussex. Nicholas, like his father was a hammerman. He married a woman named Marye (Mary), who died in 1633 in Whittington, Shropshire. We know that in 1633 he was a hammerman atf Fernhill forge near Oswestry in Shropshire. Nicholas was buried on 13 March 1634 also at Whittington, Shropshire.

    New films and/or transcriptions have been examined for the parishes of Mayfield, Etchingham, Brightling and Burwash. As a result, it seems likely that Joan and Nicholas, the eldest children of John and Margaret (nee Bourder) Maybury, were likely baptized, not in one of these parishes, but in another location.

  3. Elizabeth Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was baptized at Etchingham, Sussex on 30 January 1568/69. She died in January 1592/92 at Etchingham and was unmarried.

  4. John Maybury - a "base born child of John Mayberie", was baptized on 13 August 1570 at Etchingham, Sussex. The parish record does not identify the mother.

    It has been our assumption that the John Maybury buried at Bexhill on 5 May 1593 was John, the illegitimate son of John Maybury of Sussex. However, the name of Bartholomew Mayberys (sic) appears on the list of a coroner's jury that heard a drowning case in Bexhill, Sussex on 15 April 1581. [Sussex Inquests, p. 57, #260]. This is the first time we have encountered the given name, Bartholomew, in the Maybury family and it may have important implications for our research.

  5. Richard Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was baptized on 10 September 1570 at Etchingham, Sussex. Richard died in infancy sometime in the year 1572 and was buried at Mayfield, Sussex.

  6. Dorothy Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was baptized on 17 January 1571/72 at Mayfield, Sussex. Dorothy died in infancy and was buried on 5 February 1571/72 at Mayfield, Sussex.

  7. Christopher Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was baptized on 1 March 1572/73 at Mayfield, Sussex. He is probably the same Christopher Maybowrie (sic), whose daughter, Elizabeth, was baptized at St. Botolph's Parish in London on 3 August 1600. Beyond that we have found no other record of Christopher Maybury. He may or may not have had other children.

  8. Awdryan Maybury - "a base born daughter" was baptized to John Maybury sometime in 1573 at Mayfield. She apparently lived only two months and was buried at Mayfield the same year. There is nothing in the record to identify the mother.

  9. Mary Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was baptized on 25 April 1574 at Mayfield, Sussex. No additional record of Mary Maybury has been found.

  10. Clement Maybury [by Margaret Border] - was baptized on 4 December 1575 at Mayfield, Sussex. He was a hammerman and is known to have worked at Wednesbury, Staffordshire, where he had several children baptized, and also at Parkend Forge in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, where he had a child baptized in 1617. Just over two months after Clement Maybury was baptized, his mother, Margaret Maberye (sic) died. Four months later, his father Jonathan Maberye (sic) married his second wife, Alice Fuller at Mayfield. Alice was the widow of William Fuller.

  11. John Maybury [by Alice Fuller] - was baptized on 6 April 1577 at Mayfield, Sussex. He was also a hammerman, was at Makeney in Derbyshire by 1598 and remained there until about 1605 when he moved to Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire. He was buried at Cleobury Mortimer on 20 January 1655.

  12. Agnes Maybury [by Alice Fuller] - was baptized on 30 November 1578 at Mayfield, Sussex. No additional records of Agnes have been found.

  13. William Maybury [by Eleanor _____] - was baptized on 25 July 1606 at Monmouth in Monmouthshire. We have found no further record of this William and it may be that he died as a child.

Photo: M. Smithson

St Dunstan church, Mayfield, East Sussex, England. In this church, John Maybury of Sussex married his second wife Alice, in 1576, and baptised five children, between 1571 and 1578. 

In recent years our progress has been considerable. We know that most of John Maybury's sons and many of his grandsons continued in the iron trade as "hammermen" or "forgemen". We are also discovering where they worked along with other details of their families. The records left by John Maybury and his children spell the family name several different ways including: Meberie, Maberye, Mayberye, Mayberie, Maybery, Maybury, etc. More complete records of these families and their descendants can be found in our book, The Mayburys, published in 2011.

Don Collins

November 2011- April 2016