The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

ArPENDIX.] T ASHIN GTON FAMILY. 543
in the Benchers' Vault of the Inner Temple. He was of the Adwick
family, son of Robert Washington, a wealthy merchant, who lived
and died at Anstrope Hall, near Leeds.
Anthony Wood says, in his " History of the University of Oxford,"
that it was allowed by the venerable association, that several
persons " might have liberty when they pleased to be created doctors of divinity; but they refused then and the next year to accept
that favor." Among the persons, who declined this honor, was
Richard Washington of University College.@ And Mr. Hunter
cites Wood, as giving an account of a remarkable collection of
arms and pictures in the apartments of Philip Washington, of the
same college, who died in 1635. t
In the history of the civil wars, another of the family, named
Henry Waslhington, is renowned for the resolute and spirited manner, in which he defended the city of Worcester against the forces
of the Parliament in 1646.
" Lord Astley, who had succeeded Colonel Sandys as Governor
of Worcester, being taken prisoner and confined at Warwick, Sir
Henry Washington was made Governor and Colonel in his absence.
In the Herald's College it appears, that the last entry of this gentleman's family was made there in the year 1618, at which time
the name of Henry Washington, son and heir of William Washington of Packington, in the county of Leicester, occurs; who,
on the following grounds, is conjectured to have been afterwards
the Governor of Worcester. First, the name of Henry does not
occur at all in any other pedigree of Washington. Secondly, his
mother was half-sister to -the famous George Villiers, Duke of
Buckingham, which accounts for his great attachment to the King.
An uncle of this Henry Washington, mentioned in the entry of
the College of Arms above cited, is supposed to have been the
ancestor of the renowned General George Washington." *
In the Appendix to the second volume of Nash's History
of TVorcestersiire, there is a highly interesting narrative of the
siege of Worcester, drawn from the diary of a gentleman, who
was in the city during the whole siege. The conduct of the
Governor appears throughout to the greatest advantage. His spirit
and firmness will be evident from his first letter to General Fairfax,
who demanded a surrender on the 16th of May, eleven days after
the King had escaped in disguise from Oxford.
* Fasti Oxonienses, p. 57.
t HUNTER'S History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster, Vol. I.
p. 353.
t GREENE'S History of WTorcestershire, Vol. II. Append. p. 154.