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The Blaker Society © investigation by George R. Corner into how extensive the custom of Borough
CUCKFIELD

In Sussex Archæological Collections vol. vi there is the result of an

English was in Sussex, including a list of manors in which customary descent
was to the youngest son. He had addressed an enquiry to the then (1853)
stewards of the various manors: the owners of Cuckfield manor were then the
Earl of Abergavenny and the Reverend W. Sergison. He obtained information
from ‘S. Waller, Esq.; H. R. Homfray, Esq.; F. H. Gell, Esq., Steward’ and also
referred to John Rowe’s book.
The custom of Borough English dictated that land should be inherited not
by the eldest son, as was then normally the case, but by the youngest son. But
there had arisen a variation in this custom in different manors, as to who should
succeed in the absence of a surviving son. In the case of Cuckfield it was stated
that inheritance went to the youngest son; failing sons to the youngest daughter
‘or collateral heir’.
One practical effect of Borough English was that tenancies were of long
duration: the heir was usually very young when he/she inherited, so that
tenancies of 50 or more years were not uncommon.
In the case of Arthur Blaker our best evidence is that he inherited the little
cottage on Broad Street, Cuckfield, when about 21 years old.

Arthur Blaker’s father

As Arthur was his father’s youngest son, born about 1540, his father
could have married anywhere in the period 1510 to 1540, and have been born in
the period 1490 to 1520. Unless the father was a newcomer to Cuckfield, that
really only leaves us with Ralph Blaker of the 1524 lay subsidy as Arthur’s
father or grandfather. Ralph is a very unusual christian name among the Sussex
Blakers of the period, the only other coming to mind is Ralph brother of John
Blaker of Preston Episcopi, who was dead by 1482, and represents an earlier
generation again.