Giles Hooper and family

Giles Hooper, lawyer, was buried in the north cloister of Westminster Abbey on 5th August 1699, with his first wife Mary. His second wife Anne and only son Edmund-Giles Hooper were also buried with them. The gravestone inscription was recorded in any early Abbey guidebook but has now worn away. It read:

Here lieth the body of Mary, the wife of Giles Hooper of Clement's Inn, gent. and daughter of Simon Britiff of the county of Norfolk Esquire, who departed this life April 3rd AD 1683 in the 23rd year of her age. Here also lieth the body of the said Giles Hooper who was born Aug. 4th 1649 and died Aug. 4th 1699. Also Anne the second wife of the said Giles Hooper who was buried here Octob. the 14th 1707

Giles was a son of George Hooper of Grimley in Worcestershire and Joan his wife. His brother was Dr George Hooper, Bishop of Bath and Wells (buried in Wells Cathedral) and his sister Rebecca married the Reverend John Clark. Giles was a member of Clement's Inn in London and also lived at Grays in Essex. Mary, his first wife, was the daughter of Simon Brittiffe of Cley in Norfolk and his wife Hester (Harbord). They married in early 1681. Their only son Edmund-Giles was buried on 18th June 1727. He had been in the offices of the solicitor of H.M. Duties on Hides, Skins etc. and Clerk of the Securities. He died aged about 45 and his wife was Susanna (Walker). Giles' second wife was Ann daughter of Alexander Weld (died 1704) and his wife Anne of Ware in Hertfordshire. Her first husband was Francis Plevey, a London grocer, and they had a daughter Anne.