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The Sunday Express Magazine of 23 May 1982 carried an article on the great Catholic families of England. The article gave special attention to a family that traces its descent from Saint Thomas More : the Eystons of East Hendred, Berkshire. They are descended from Bridget More (d. 1797), less familiar to readers of Moreana than her brother Thomas More, S.J., who was provincial of the English Jesuits and the last descendant in the direct male line. Bridget's granddaughter, Maria Theresa Throckmorton, married Charles Eyston and brought to that family and its 700-year-old Hendred House many relics of the saint.
Some twelve years ago, my husband Frank Sullivan and I had the privilege of lunching there at the invitation of Mr Thomas More Eyston, of holding the drinking cup that had belonged to St Thomas More and the cap that he had worn, and of viewing a copy (inferior, it is true, and fire damaged) of the Holbein family portrait, proudly displayed on the stairway landing. The final treat was to be conducted through the secret panel in the library into the ancient chapel which, by ruse and wile (and the protection of the saint ?), had escaped the depredations of Elizabethan times. It was a memorable day and full of spiritual joy for which we shall forever be grateful to the Eystons.
But long before we had even heard of these...