Website building, and some bigamous marriages

 I decided to build a website during the last lockdown. It will be hosted on the Guild of One Name Studies website and is still under construction, so not yet live. Fortunately I don't have to know any coding etc. as the Guild does all that, but I have had to do a lot of tidying of my data. 

All the family trees have been loaded into one huge tree, so at the very least it will be an index to all the Gidleys in one place. I have already found this useful myself. Looking at the trees as a whole enabled me to link at least 3 together. And I hasten to add, only deceased Gidleys will be found on the website. Anyone still living has, I hope, been made private, and that has taken a lot of time. So the individual trees of each branch on my own PC at home will still hold more data. 

As time goes on I hope to add more feature articles to the website, but I have to get to grips with that part of the program first!

I have also created a Guethle tree for those members of the Guethle family who anglicised their name to Gidley. I know many people know far more about those families than I do, but I did want to include them in the main tree on the website. It was interesting that the Guethle/Gidleys in the USA are not closely related (not since the 18th century) to the Guethle/Gidleys in Australia, although they did both originate in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

Meanwhile, here are two victims of bigamy and, to redress the balance, a bigamist herself. These events took place many years ago and we can never know the exact circumstances. Bigamy was always called "the poor man's divorce" when divorce for the ordinary couple was almost out of the question. I believe that after seven years' desertion by a spouse many people considered they were free to marry again. There has been a tiny number of more recent bigamists, but I have no intention of recording them.

In Australia in July 1896 a lady named Jane Galloway brought a charge of bigamy against John Purvis, a slater. She claimed he married her, after declaring he was a bachelor, on 29 April 1895 in Redfern, New South Wales. All the time he already had a wife in England, who was still alive. It was ruled that there was insufficient evidence of the previous marriage, but a week later Jane brought a lesser charge of wife desertion against John Purvis and he had to pay 5s a week for the next 12 months with 5s 10d costs. The previous wife, and victim of the bigamy, was born Alice Gidley in Grimsby in 1860, the daughter of successful trawler owner John Gidley and his wife Elizabeth Allen. Alice married John Purvis in 1881 in Grimsby. They emigrated to Australia the following year, but by 1891 Alice had returned to England with her three children, all born in Australia, and they were living in Grimsby with her parents. In 1901 Alice was a cook with a family in the West Riding of Yorkshire, calling herself a widow. At least one of her children remained with their grandparents in England.

Violet Victoria Gidley, daughter of Robert Andrews and Sarah Kate Gidley, was the victim of a bigamist during the First World War. A soldier, Amos Carpenter, of the A.S.C., stationed nearby, married her in Norwood, Middlesex, in 1916. However, a few months later his first wife brought a charge of bigamy against him, producing evidence of their marriage in 1910. Amos claimed he had been told his wife was dead and that he was surprised to find her alive. He received a light sentence in 1917: imprisonment for two days. Violet later made another marriage and emigrated to Canada.

The bigamist herself was Henrietta Hester Daniell who was born in 1843 and married Richard Gidley of Throwleigh, Devon, in Exeter in 1863. Richard was at first a grocer and druggist, then moved into assisting his father, but at his marriage was described as a writer. It's not clear if he suffered from ill health, but he evidently didn't follow one successful occupation throughout his life. In 1871 he and Hetty were living with his father Gustavus, an innkeeper and cooper, at the inn in Wonson, near Throwleigh with two of their children. Richard had no occupation. He and Hetty stayed together till at least 1873 when their youngest child, a daughter who died at the age of 2 years, was born. The same year (1875) his father died, and perhaps those two events were the trigger for the split. By 1881 Hetty had moved to the other side of England with two of the children, claiming to be a widow. She was employed as a schoolmistress in Bedfordshire. In 1891 she was living in Walthamstow in East London, and the following year married again. Her marriage certificate shows she considered herself a widow. She used the name Gidleigh in 1881, 1891 and at her second marriage - possibly to avoid detection.

But Richard was still alive, though moving around his native county of Devon. In 1881 he was an agent, supposedly unmarried, lodging in a pub in Broadhembury. By 1891 he had moved to Honiton where his brother Gustavus was based, and made his living as a toll keeper, a "single" man, but that was another short-lived occupation.  By 1901 he was again unemployed and living, again "unmarried", with his younger brother Gustavus. He died in 1905 aged 72.

 I have included a photo (from Geograph, licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons licence) of the Northmore Arms in Wonson, Throwleigh, which I suspect must be the pub where Richard began life, where his father Gustavus was an innkeeper and cooper, and where he and his family were living in 1871. It was known as the New Inn when they lived there.

I haven't found any direct evidence that it was the same building, though Wonson seems too small to support more than one inn.

More news on the website will follow when it's all tidied up, fit to be seen and gone live.

A new Gidley family discovered

 It's very rare now to discover a complete new family of Gidleys, but it was nice surprise to discover this particular family, who were well concealed in the United States under the name Yeldig. It took a little while for the penny to drop (Gidley spelled backwards of course) and their existence was no surprise to Ancestry who had linked them to their Gidley originator, nor to the transcriber who had entered the details on the Find My Grave website and also found the original name. I had assumed Yeldig was just a mis-transcription of Gidley from a particularly poorly hand written entry, but no, it was clearly Yeldig, So I investigated. As the descendants of the man who originally changed his name still use the name Yeldig, I shan't go into great detail of the more recent family members..

William Albert Gidley born in Masschusetts in 1889 was the son of Charles Gidley, a house painter, and Sarah Simmons. They parted, and both married again. By 1910 their son William was living in Providence, Rhode Island, with his widowed mother. He was a jewellery polisher, having apparently been fascinated by jewellery from a young age. He married that year Charlotte Tew, a few years older than himself, and it seems the marriage was not happy. According to his obituary he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana (approximately 900 miles away from Providence) in 1918, although he is found in the 1920 census still in Providence, Rhode Island, still called William Gidley and still with Charlotte (she died in New York in 1931). But a daughter was born that same year of 1920 in Indianapolis to William, who was now using the name Yeldig, and Annie Elizabeth Todd, who came from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Two sons followed. 

William and Annie also seemed to have problems, as by the following census in 1930 Annie has moved 50 miles away from Indianapolis to keep house for a man she later married. William Yeldig is a divorced roomer (we would probably call him a lodger in the UK), still living in Indianapolis. There is no sign of the children. By 1940 there is a happier outcome: William has married Lillian Whitehurst and has the children living with him. Their mother Annie had died in 1935.

William kept his occupation of jewellery polisher and plater until his retirement. His obituary in an Indianapolis newspaper in 1954 records he worked for Reis & Co. Inc. for 30 years. His descendants in the male line still use the name Yeldig.

Obituary for William Albert Yeldig in the Indianapolis News 26 Jan 1954.

John Gidley, 1632 - 1712, surgeon of London

 John Gidley is as well-known as his brother Bartholomew, partly because of the medals struck in their honour. John Gidley had two different medals struck to commemorate his 50th birthday in 1682, and these occasionally come up for sale in auction rooms. The Wellcome Library in London also has the medal commemorating his service as a surgeon.

John was born, according to his medal, on 21st May 1632, and christened in Winkleigh, Devon on 3rd June 1632. His parents were Bartholomew Gidley and Thomasine Richards, who were married in Exeter in 1609. They had a large and apparently healthy family of eleven children, of whom at least eight survived to adulthood. John was the youngest of four sons. His oldest brother Bartholomew was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, and I have seen a reference to John gaining an M.A. there in 1660. This seems likely for a future doctor; however John does not appear in the printed index to Oxford University Alumni. John must have shown an aptitude for a specialised education, as his other two older brothers, George and Samuel, became country gentlemen and moved away to Dunsford and Spreyton in Devon, respectively. Their offspring were passed over by Bartholomew Gidley when, childless himself, he sought an heir to his Winkleigh estates and to the right to bear the coat of arms granted to him in respect of his service in the Royalist Army.

Charles Worthy in his book on Devonshire Wills (London: Bemrose, 1896), has the following to say:

"... John Gidley had married Rebecca Dunning of Winkleigh, in which parish he had inherited an estate called Beuford ; he was a Court surgeon, and resided chiefly in London, but his will is dated at Winkleigh, 21st September, 1712. He left his eldest grandson the Beuford property, and his silver plate, hangings, and other furniture in his house in London to his second but eldest surviving son, John, and to his daughter, Rebecca, after their mother's death."

Beuford is presumably better known now as the hamlet of Beaford, near Winkleigh. By his will John's wife Rebecca inherited all the goods left at John's house in London, and he lists them: silver plate, tapestry and other hangings, bedding, beds and table "linnen", pewter, and brass. On her death these are to pass to his surviving son John Gidley and his daughter Rebecca Graham. His wife does not inherit goods kept elsewhere. These go to his grandson Bartholomew Gidley, together with the income from the Beuford estate, on condition that he pays one shilling on the first Sunday of every month to the poor of Winkleigh. Unfortunately this Bartholomew Gidley, a spendthrift, would not even maintain his grandmother Rebecca, and had to be ordered in 1717 to support her. There is an intriguing reference in John's will of 1712 that his daughter-in-law Elizabeth Gidley should deliver to the executors all the goods now in the Solomon Grandy, presumably a ship in which he had an interest.

We know little about John's career as a Court Surgeon to William III, who became godfather to Bartholomew Gidley, John's grandson. He may have owned a house in Broad Street in St Peter le Poer parish in the City, where a John Gidley paid rent in 1692 and 1704 (London Land Tax Records), but there was at least one other John Gidley in London at a similar time. He certainly claimed immunity in 1692 from inquest service after being summoned by the Mayor and Corporation of London, by virtue of being a Freeman of the Barber-Surgeons' Company (reference from the Wellcome Librarycatalogue).

John Gidley was buried in Winkleigh on 28th September, 1712.

Gidley's Meeting Chapel

From The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870:

"The United Free Methodist chapel, in Musgrave-alley, belonged formerly to the Wesleyans, is very old, and has a massive Norman entrance. "

 

According to the Churches of Devon gallery at hhtps://www.historyfiles.co.uk "Musgrave's Alley Chapel stood on what is now Musgrave Row, on the eastern side of the short north-south section at its centre - this was formerly part of Musgrave's Alley which reached the High Street. The present stone-surrounded doorway to the BT Centre is noted by SW Heritage as 'doorway to chapel', seemingly the chapel's only surviving remnant. Presbyterians began worshipping here in what had been Holy Trinity (above) at a point in the 1700s."

The founding father of the Chapel, known as Gidley's Meeting, was Gustavus Gidley (1736 - 1810). He was an Officer of Excise, and a former sailor, the son of John Gidley, a clerk, and his wife Margaret nee Ellicombe. Gustavus was their youngest child, born in Crediton in 1736. His great great uncle was Bartholomew Gidley of Civil War fame, and his nephew was Philip Gidley King, governor of New South Wales. He was also distantly related to John Gidley, an exceptionally modest early non-conformist minister of exceptional abilities, but who could hardly be persuaded to say Grace at table, and who died in Marlow, Buckinghamshire in 1711. In 1764 Gustavus married Joan Coombe of Hatherleigh (Philip Gidley King also married a Coombe), and he was transferred from Port Isaac in Cornwall to Exeter, where the correspondence with John Wesley began. 

The extracts below are taken from The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, 3rd edition, published in London in 1830. All are addressed to Mr Gidley, Officer of Excise.

London, 18th January 1776

My dear brother,

I am glad to hear that you are ordered to Exeter... We have a small society there, which is but lately formed, and stands in need of every help; so that, I doubt not, your settling among them will be an advantage to them.

Dublin, 4th July 1778

My dear brother,

I am glad to hear that the work of God begins to increase even in poor Exeter... As to the house, it would, undoubtedly, be a means of much good, if it can be procured. All the difficulty is, to procure the money.

London, 25th January 1779

My dear brother

ANY house is ipso facto licensed, if the demand is made either at the Bishop's Court, the Assizes, or the Quarter Sessions. The Act of Parliament licenses, not the Justices. They can neither grant nor refuse. If you have witnesses, your house is licensed: you need trouble the Justices no farther.

Bolton, 11th April 1779

There is no doubt but our brethren at the Conference will readily consent to your asking the assistance  of your neighbours for your preaching-house. And the time appears to be now approaching, when poor Exeter will lift up its head. There is no danger at all of your being a loser, by any bond or security that you have given. If I live to the latter end of summer, I hope to call upon you in my way to Cornwall. 

Bristol, 22nd September 1780

If  I should live till the next autumn, I shall endeavour to see you at Plymouth.

So it seems that Gustavus was transferred to Plymouth, roughly during the years 1780 - 1789. There he was also involved in administering financial support for the Methodist Society's missions for the "Instruction and Conversions of the Negroes in the West-Indies". 

So successful must he have been that by 1793 he had become the Secretary of the Methodist Society in London, which he combined with being the Inspector General of Permits, as listed in Holden's Directories 1805 - 1807. There seem to have been some serious Society matters to settle in the law courts in which he was involved.

Gustavus died in 1810. It is not known where he, nor his wife Joan, were buried. He lived, or possibly his Inspector General's office was based,  in Old Broad Street in London, was the proprietor of properties in Shoreditch, and died in St Luke's parish in North London. He was probably looked after in his final illness by his younger daughter, Margaret Howden, as evidenced by the affidavit she gave when his will was proved in April 1810. Gustavus was not interested in his final resting place "no matter when or where", but made detailed provision for the disposal of his valuables, such as gold sleeve buttons from a late Captain in the Navy, knives and forks brought from the Savannah in 1762, and all his Methodist magazines.

He left three surviving children: sons John and Bartholomew Gidley, and daughter Margaret Ellicombe Howden. Two daughters had pre-deceased him, the older, Ann, having married Thomas Dakin. She had been educated at the Moravian School in Derbyshire in its very earliest days. His elder son, John, followed him into the Excise and as a tax collector, and founded a family in Chipping Ongar in Essex. His younger son, Bartholomew, founded the firm of Sparks and Gidley in South Street in Crewkerne, Somerset, in 1789 to produce linen and woollen girth webbing. It continued to produce webbing until the 1990s under the name Arthur Hart Webbing. 

The photo below of the webbing mill was taken by David Lovell.

An unscrupulous insurance adventurer

It's not often there's sharp practice by a Gidley to report on, but the heading for this post "An unscrupulous insurance adventurer" isn't mine, but contained in a newspaper report from a New York State newspaper.

"An unscrupulous insurance adventurer in London, general manager of "The Empire" was a Mr G W Gidley Lake, a "swell" of the first water, who managed in the short space of two years to be general manager of three successive companies, for life, his salary to increase to $10,000 when the income of the company reached a certain level. "

 According to the newspaper report this condition of his employment apparently led him to bribe other company managers and caused the collapse of "The Empire", which couldn't then pay its unfortunate clerks. The report then goes on with accusations of low chicanery or, at the very least  incompetency, and is incredulous that Gidley Lake has risen again, "wholly incorrigible", with the creation of  the Life Assurance Union, fronted by a J C Bromfield.
Four years later the Insurance Times reported during April and May 1872 that "Mr G Gidley Lake had floated and wound up several insurance companies, and got cheques of "The Empire" drawn for himself for thousands of £s in a false name. He also operated in Ireland where he was not so well known but that company was now wound up and Mr W [sic] Gidley Lake is the only man who knows where its funds are gone to. Mr W Gidley Lake sports a beautiful pair of horses and a handsome carriage and does Rotten Row in fine style. The law of England and Ireland is now that any company started to do life assurance must lodge £20,000 with the government. We hope that this ends Gidley Lake's career in the insurance world." 
So, where did the Gidley Lakes fit into the Gidley family tree? The Gidley Lake tree begins with Joan Gidley who gave birth to an illegitimate child, William Lake Gidley in 1779, who was christened in Gidleigh. I can find no Joan Gidley of the correct age on the Winkleigh tree (which was associated with Gidleigh), but there is a Jane Gidley from nearby Drewsteignton of approximately the right age, who may just possibly be the mother. William Lake Gidley also used the names William Gidley Lake or William Gidley during his lifetime. He was variously described as both a farmer and labourer, late of Throwleigh, when he was declared insolvent and possibly imprisoned for debt in 1836, but he was discharged the same year. By 1841 he had moved to Torquay and was an agricultural labourer in Coombe Pafford. He had a large family of ten children of whom several moved to London, including the next to youngest, George Walter Gidley Lake who was born in 1832. George was a carpenter's apprentice in Torquay in the 1851 census but by 1859  was living in Islington in London and had started on his insurance career. In 1861 he was the Secretary of the Confident Assurance Company. Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper commented on 19 February 1865 on the English Life Assurance Company that one of the directors was G W Gidley Lake, carpenter, and that the "bitterness of the struggle between Mr Gidley Lake and his fellow working men led to some of the parties being banned from their own premises and assaulted in an attempt to enter."
The Penny Illustrated Paper reported on 5 October 1878 that "another of the "enterprising" young joint stock banks is no more. The "Merchants" Joint-Stock Bank, having ... splendidly appointed offices at 92 and 93 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, has come to grief. The manager was a Mr James [sic] Walter Gidley Lake, a name somewhat well-known in connection with former joint-stock companies. Curiously enough, the death of the manager occurred just about the the same time as the demise of the bank, the operations of which seem to have included a good deal of bill-discounting "on the Continong". "

George Walter Gidley Lake died in 1878 at 92-3 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, so either at his office, or perhaps he lived "over the shop". Hel left three surviving sons and a daughter. Two sons and the daughter emigrated in the 1880s to the United States, possibly to avoid all the bad press, and possibly taking their mother with them, as I haven't traced her death in the UK. There seem to be no descendants. The youngest son Ernest remained as a commercial traveller in "French fancy goods" in North London, but he too  eventually left the country after 1911 and his death has also not yet been traced. It was possibly in South Africa where his daughter travelled in 1927, although she later returned to the UK.

Gidley's Gift

The report of the Commissioners concerning Charities; containing that part which relates to the county of Devon. Vol. III., 1830, Exeter, 286.

15 December 1681
Winkleigh
Hundred of Winkleigh.

Photograph by jackiefreemanphotography.com of Gidley's Almshouses from the Winkleigh Village History website which also gives more details of Bartholomew Gidley and Winkleigh in the Civil War

Parish of Winkleigh
Gidley's Gift

By indenture, bearing date 15th Dec. 1681, between Bartholomew Gidley, esquire, of the one part, and Richard Dunning and two others, of the other part, reciting, that the said Barthlw. Gidley was seised of certain buildings, with a garden or parcel of land, containing about half an acre, near Norman's land, in Winkleigh, and lately purchased by him; and reciting, that the said Bartholomew Gidley, of his own and his wife's charitable disposition, had intended the same for the sustentation and relief of the said parish, and so to continue for ever; the said Bartholomew Gidley granted and enfeoffed the said premises to the said Richard Dunning and others, and their heirs, to the use of two, three or four poor women of the said parish of Winkleigh, such as the said Bartholomew Gidley and his wife, or either of them, should place in the same, at any time during their lives, and after the decease of the said Bartholomew Gidley and his wife, upon trust, that the said trustees, together with the owner of the farm of Bittbear, for the time being, and the vicar of Winkleigh, for the time being, as the greater part of them, upon the death or removal of any such person or persons as should therein be placed by the said Bartholomew Gidley or his wife, should place therein any other poor woman of the said parish, in the room of her so dying or removed, with power to lease the said parcel of land for one life, or 21 years, at a yearly rent, to be, from time to time, bestowed in the repair of the said houses and garden, and if any surplus should happen, the same to be distributed amongst the said poor women, inhabiting in the said houses, yearly on Christmas-day.

We have not found any subsequent appointments of trustees of these premises.
They consist of:
1. Five dwellings under one roof, each containing one apartment occupied by poor widows of the parish, who are placed therein by the parish officers.
2. A house, garden, and a plot of ground, containing about a quarter of an acre, let to John Pope, as yearly tenant, at the annual rent of £21 10s subject to disbursements for repairs. The tenement has been for many years in the occupation of the present tenant and his father, at the same rent. We are told, that the premises held by him are worth about £31 10s per annum; but as the tenant has a large family, and receives relief from the parish, it has not been thought advisable to raise his rent. The rent is applied towards the repairs of the house inhabited by the widows, and of that in the occupation of John Pope, but is not sufficient for that purpose, and the houses are stated to be much in want of repair.
It would be more correct, that the last-mentioned house and garden should be let for its full value, as the widows inhabiting the fist-mentioned house are the only persons entitled to any benefit from the charity.

Some early references to the Gidley name up to the end of the 17th century

These references all come from the more unusual sources sent to me over the years by the Original Record Company, and which I thought might interest people. The sources include the Pipe Roll Society, the Egerton Collection, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, and the Register of Bishop Edmund Lacy of Exeter. If anyone would like to know the exact source and date of a reference, get in touch.
Of course, as the references are so early, some before surnames were commonplace, several refer to Gidleigh, the place. And I certainly don't claim these are the only early references which exist.
I have used, and sometimes abbreviated, the English translation, rather than the original Latin, in all cases. Most dates are also abbreviated to the year or grouping of years.

1176.  Reginald de Giddelega renders account for the same. In the treasury 1 mark. And he owes 1 mark.
Undated.  Gydlegh (Giles de). Charter of Martin, duke and earl of Cornwall, granting him the manor of Gydlegh, parcel of the manor of Leghatforde.
1194.  [from a charter of John, Earl of Mortain, and Lord of Lydford]. Manor of Gidleigh granted to his nephew Egidius [Giles] de Gydlegh.
1332. [from Devonshire Lay Subsidy]. Hundred of Wonford. Polslo. William de Giddeleghe 12d.
1370. In the parish church of Tuvertone, by the bishop of Exeter, tonsured: John Gederleghe.
[Note: the first tonsure was the rite of inducting someone into the clergy].
1381. Ordained by the bishop to first tonsure, at Mahynyet [place not known], Luke Gydleghe.
1400. Ordinations by the bishop in the chapel of his manor of Chuddelegh: Acolytes: William Gydelegh.
[Note: an acolyte was a member of the minor orders: a priest's assistant who carried out the lesser tasks such as carrying candles, attending the altar, etc.
1403.  Ordinations by the bishop in the chapel of the manor of Clyst: Subdeacons: William Gyddelegh, by title of Launceston priory.
1403. Letters dimissory to William Gyddelegh, subdeacon, to be ordained to further order by any Catholic bishop within the realm of England.
[Note: letters dimissory were granted by a bishop to someone called to another parish, enabling him to be ordained by another bishop].
1403. Sir William Gidle deacon is a wirness in a dispute at Launceston priory.
1403. Ordinations by the bishop in Crediton collegiate church: Priests: William Guddelegh, by title of Launceston priory.
1404.  John Giddelegh took an oath as a juror at an inquisition at Launceston.
1405.  Indults to the following to have a portable altar: William Gyddelegh, priest, of the diocese of Exeter.
[Note: an indult allowed a specific deviation from the church's common law].
1413. Exeter. Letters dimissory to Richard Gydelegh, acolyte, to be ordained to further order by any Catholic bishop within the realm of England.
1432. Exeter. Licence to sir John Giddelegh, rector of Jacobistowe, for absence from his church for one year.
1434. Chuddelegh. Commission to the Archdeacon of Exeter to enquire in full chapter into the vacancy &c. [sic] of the parish church of Teyngton Drew, to which sir William Gyddelegh chaplain has been presented by sir John Herle knight, John Jaibien and Walter Burell.
1449. Chuddelegh. Petition to enquire into dilapidations in the houses, walls, fence, &c. pertaining to the church, left by sir William Gydlegh deceased, the last rector.
1449. Clyst. To the Archdeacon of Cornwall: To enquire into the alleged pollution of the parish church of Talland by bloodshed between Thomas Gyddelegh and Thomas servant of Wlliam Collan, and to certify by Whitsun.
1449. Clyst. Declaration that the parish church of Tallan and its churchyard, alleged to have been polluted by bloodshed through the violence of Thomas Gyddelegh and Thomas servant of Wlliam Collan, have been found by inquisition not to have been so polluted, and that divine service and burial of the dead may be resumed.
1533.  South Tawton. Henry Gidley was a "constable of the parish".
1567.  Oare. Patron: Will. Gidly by right of Katharine his wife, daughter and heir of Nicholas Gove deceased.
1609.  Oare. Patron: Will. Giddy [sic] and Katharine his wife.
1596-1616.  Chancery Proceedings. Devon. Plaintiff; Wychehalse, Bennett. Defendant: Gydley, John. Subject: Money matters.
1620.  Disclaimers at the Heralds' Visitations:
  Gidley, George, St Thomas.
  Gidley, Hanibal, North Lew.
1625-1649. Chancery Proceedings. Bills and Answers.               
  Plaintiff: Fillcock. Defendant: Gidley. [no more details].
  Plaintiff: Rosse. Defendant: Gidley,etc.
  Plaintiff: Stafford. Defendant: Gidley
1633.  Probate of the will of Margaret Byrdall of St Thomas the Apostle, Devon, widow, deceased, by George Gidleigh, esquire.
1634.  Middle Temple. Mr Bartholomew Gidley, to the chamber of Philip Morgan, esq. and James Clotworthy, gent., on surrender by the latter; fine £2 10s.
1636. Probate of the will of George Gidley the elder of St Thomas the Apostle, Devon, gentleman, deceased, by Francis Wilding, with power reserved to Mary Jones.
1640-1659.  Catalogue of the Lords, Knights and Gentlemen that have compounded for their estates:
  Gidley Barthol of Gidley, Devon, gent. £126 16s. 0d.
1647.  Bartholomew Gidley of Gidley, Devon, begs to compound on Exeter Articles for delinquency in assisting the king against parliament. He has conformed in all things since the surrender of that city.
1647.  Bartholomew Gidley fined at one-tenth, £126 16s 8d on Oxford Articles.
1651.  Committee for Advance of Money. Devonshire delinquents: Bartholomew Gidley, Gidley, assessed at £60, ordered to pay [blank].
1652.  Order that all the Devonshire delinquents (excepting Gidley, whose case is respited a fortnight), pay in half their assessments, which are made on calculation of their estates, and then be heard as to their debts, and to what they have paid in the country.
1652.  Probate of the will of William Gidleigh of North Lew, Devon, gentleman, deceased, by Martha his relict.
1656.  Chancery proceedings. Bridges' Division. South Tawton, Devon. Plaintiff: Gidley, George, Defendant: Ford, John.
1674.  Hearth Tax Returns. Lavenham, Suffolk. Walter Gidley, 3.
1678.  Extract from the will of John Ham of Uplowman, Devon. Witness: Jo: Gidley.
1681.  Report of the Commissioners concerning Charities. Winkleigh, Devon. Gidley's Gift.
[This is so detailed that I'll type it separately in another post.]
1693-1694. Middlesex Aid Assessment. Shoreditch, St Leonard. Outlyers.
     Henry Gidley: rent £4, tax 16s.
                            stock: nil, tax nil.
1693-1694. City of London Aid Assessment. St Peter le Poore. Broad Street War.
      John Gidley: rent £36, tax £7 4s.
                          stock £100, tax £1 4s.
1693-1694. City of Westminster Aid Assessment. St Martin in the Fields. Strand Upper Ward.
       John Gidley: rent £12, tax £2 8s.
                            stock: nil, tax nil.
[Note: the Aid Assessments were raised not to assist the poor, but to finance King William III's wars.]