(29) Sarah Copinger

There is preserved in the Exchequer a deposition by commission taken 8 William III., c 25, May I. D., 13th June, 1698, at Stowmarket; 17th June, 1796, at Bury St. Edmunds.  The Plaintiffs were Sir Edward Ward, Knt., Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer, Samuel Rawstorne, merchant, John Walker, and the Defendants George Gooday, Sarah Copinger, widow and relict of Henry Copinger, and Sarah Copinger (an infant under the age of 21 years, and daughter and heir of the said Henry Copinger), by Henry Ball, her guardian.  The subject matter was:- "Towns, fields, and parishes of Buxhall, Rattlesden, Great Finborrow, Little Finborrow, Hitcham, and Brettenham, in the County of Suffolk; and a capital messuage called 'Faseborne Hall,' and a tenement called 'Cogmans,' situate in Buxhall, 'or any other of the said parishes,' &c. Also touching a messuage &c. called 'Cogsett Gardens', &c. &c. Metes and bounds.  Mortgages, &c., &c."

The names, &c., of Henry Copinger, and his mother and father, Mary and Henry Copinger, of Buxhall, William Copinger, grandfather of the said Henry, Thomas Eversam, and Robert Wade are mentioned.

Another deposition by commission is also preserved in the same suit, 7th November, at Bury St. Edmunds; and 10th November, 1696, at Stowmarket.  The subject matter as appearing in the 41st Report of the Deputy Keeper of the P.R. is "Capital messuage called Fareborne Hall, alias Fareborne's Hall, in Buxhall (Suffolk), and the lands belonging, and a farm in Buxhall aforesaid called 'Cogsett Garden,' &c., formerly belonging to Thomas Everson and Edward Everson, and since to Henry Copinger and William Wade and John Lettit, &c., &c., also touching lands in Hadley and Kersey (Suffolk), mortgages, &c."

As the only daughter of Henry Copinger she inherited the Buxhall Estates. Under the Will of her Aunt Mary Copinger, of Buxhall, dated 20th June, 1719, she also took an estate for life in Buxhall Hall Farm; and her eldest son, Thomas Hill, under the same Will, inherited the "Woods in Buxhall called Five Acre Wood and Pyhatch Wood, and also the Manor of Buxhall, with all quitt rents, ffines, herriots, Rolls, writings, and all appurtenances thereunto belonging."

How she became possessed of the manor does not appear.  She also by the same Will gave to Susannah, only daughter of Sarah Copinger, a piece of land in Buxhall, commonly called Mill Field, with a gift over to Sarah Copinger, should Susannah die without heirs of her body and before 21.

Sarah Copinger married Thomas Hill, clerk.  He was born in 1678, and received his academical education at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of A.B. in 1700, to that of A.M. in 1704, and to that of S.T.P. in 1719. In 1709 he was presented by his mother-in-law, Mrs Sarah Copinger, widow, to the Rectory of Buxhall, and dying on the 4th September, 1743, was interred in the chancel of that Church, where, on a marble tablet, is this inscription to his memory : -

In memory
of Thomas Hill, Doctor of Divinity, many years
Rector of this Parish, and in commission of the
peace for this County.
He married Sarah, daughter and sole heiress
of Henry Copinger, Esq., Lord of this Manor,
by whom he had several children.
He died Sept. 4th, 1743, in the sixty‑fifth year of his age,
and rests in hopes of a blessed immortality.
Disce quid es,
quid eris, memor esto quod morieris.
Near him lyes his eldest son, Thomas Hill, Esq., Lord of
this Manor, and Patron of this Church; he died Sept.
5, 1746, aged 35 years.
By the side of his grave are deposited the remains of
his wife, who departed her life May 4th 1748, aged 23.
And near this marble lye two sons and a daughter
of the Rev. Mr. Henry Hill.
Thomas died Feb. 11, 1747, aged 2 years and 9 months.
Susan died April 22, 1755, aged 8 months.
and Thomas died June 15, 1756, aged 5 weeks and 4 days.
Lydia, daughter of Thomas Hill, Esq., died May 8th, 1759,
aged 13 years.
Martin, son of H. Hill, D.D., died Feb. 26, 1761, aged 12 years.
Sarah Hill, relict of Thos. Hill, D.D., died Jan. 17, 1762, aged
75 years.
Copinger, son of H. Hill, D.D., died Sep. 3, 1765, aged 6 years.

Arms below :

Hill, gu two bars, erm. in chief a lion passant, or., on an escutcheon of pretence, Copinger - Bendy of eight gu., and or., on a fesse az., three plates.

Crest, on a chapeau gu. turned up, erm., a demi lion passant, or., between two dragons' wings expanded on the first, each charged with two bars, erm.

Against the same south wall westward on a small square tablet of white marble : - 

Henry Hill, D.D.
obiit 8th Nov. 1775.
Anno Ætatis 60.

On a similar tablet a little to the west : -

Susan Hill
Relict of Henry Hill, D.D.
obiit Sept. 8th, 1794,
aged 77.

  Opposite to this on the north side on a similar tablet : -

Henry Hill, A.M.
obiit 31st July, 1826,
Anno Ætatis 74.