Stephen BACHILER

                   The Reverend Stephen Bachiler founded the town of Hampton in 1638-9 atthe age of about 77 years. He died in London in 1656 and not in Hackneyin 1660 as is so often reported.  The first minister of Hampton, NewHampshire and one of its founders has rightly or wrongly been accused by some of his contemporaries, as well as by later writers, of certain lapses in moral behavior over and above the religious dissensions common to the first part of the seventeenth century in New England.  His chief defender was a nineteenth century descendant, Victor C. Sanborn.
Specifically, the charges against Stephen Bachiler involve the disruption of churches, an alleged proposal to commit adultery with the wife of a neighbor in Hampton and marrying a fourth wife while still legally married to his third.  In all of these charges we have only what has survived of contemporary journals, histories and records on which to base a decision and it should be noted that seemingly more of these have been lost than have been preserved.
The origin of the Bachiler (or Batchelder or Bachellor) family in England is a matter of speculation.  The date of the birth of Stephen Bachiler was probably 1560 or 1561 but the first definite record we have of him concerns his matriculation "in the University of Oxford from St. John's College about 1581."  His B. A. degree was granted in 1586 following which he may have served briefly as chaplain to Lord de la Warr (Delaware) before becoming vicar of Wherwell in Hampshire, "onpresentation of" his lordship, in 1587.  All six of his children, by hisfirst wife, were born during the eighteen years he was at Wherwell, threesons and three daughters.
The death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 was followed by the accession to the English throne of James VI of Scotland who, as James I of England,called the famous Hampton Court Conference in 1604 at which the newmonarch expressed his displeasure with the Puritans.  In 1605 many Puritan inclined ministers were removed from their offices among whom was the Reverend Stephen Bachiler, the date of his removal being August of that year.
That Mr. Bachiler returned to England in old age, after the collapse of his fourth marriage, has long been known.  Reports that he died in Hackney, Middlesex, in 1660, aged 100 years, appeared in print, but were long ago disproved.  These were based partly on tradition that he lived to a great age and died in England, and partly on a hasty conclusion made in error by someone reading material published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vol. VIII. - Fourth Series. (Boston,Mass.: The Society, 1868), 583-584.  This error showing him dying inHackney aged 100 years was caught many years ago and corrected in the"Additions and Corrections" to the Genealogical Dictionary (supra, 781).People still, however, persist in carrying on this incorrect information that actually pertains to a Rev. John Bachiler who died in Hackney in1674.
Some years ago, Philip B. Simonds of Little Compton, R.I. engaged the services of Brooks & Simpson, Ltd., of London, a highly reputable genealogical research firm, to discover more about Mr. Bachiler's origins and his death.  The results were published by Rosemary E. Bachelor inMachias, Maine, in The Batchelor Family News-Journal, 4 April 1974, 1:5,and show that a very comprehensive search was made to verify previously known or surmised facts respecting the aged minister.  Nothing promising was found until they searched Boyd's index to London burials and found several Stephen Bachilers.  One of these appeared to be the correct one, and they wrote: "However, a 1656 entry at All Hallows Staining, London,states 'Steven Batchiller, minister, that died at Robert Barbers, was buried in the new church yard Oct. 31, 1656.' John Goode was parish rector 1654-1662, so this entry does not relate to a rector of the parish and would appear to be our client's ancestor."
Since 1984, The Sanborn Family Association, has directed the English research carried out by Michael J. Wood, Esq. of London, and Mrs. Mary Rumsey of Alton, Hampshire.  Mr. Wood looked up the Court of Requests record and transcribed it in its entirety.  He also verified the Brooks & Simpson report.  At the Guildhall Library in London, Mr. Wood read the earliest surviving parish register of All Hallows Staining (MS 17824), covering baptisms 1642-1710, marriages 1653-1710, and burials 1653-1710,for the burials only, between the years 1653 and 1670. Since it is known from records here that Rev. Stephen Bachiler was still in New England in1654, the date of commencement of the burial register of All Hallows Staining was not a problem. Mr. Wood found the following:
"Steeven Batchiller Minester that dyed att Robert Barbers
was buryed in the new church yard October 31th 1656"
Because the alumni directories of both Oxford and Cambridge universities reveal only two people named Stephen Bachiler (our Rev. Stephen Bachilerand his son), it is concluded that in all probability the above record refers to the aged founder of Hampton, New Hampshire.
The Churchwardens' Accounts for All Hallows Staining survive from a very early date, and reveal another bit of information (MS 4956/3, GuildhallLibrary, London). Receipts include payment for burials, and the payment stook the form of donations, poor relief, and the like, as well as routine expenses. On page 193, for the year 1656, Mr. Wood found:
Receipts by Richard Pockley, churchwarden:
                  £  s.  d.
   "Received for Stephen Bachilers knell            000 - 01 - 06"

The receipt of Is. 6d. for Stephen Bachiler's knell is in the midst of receipts described as for burials, and there is no mention of payment for his burial also.  It would thus seem (were this not contradicted by the parish register itself) that he was buried elsewhere, and only the tolling of the bell was performed for him at this church. Very few other entries are for knells.
Evidently, then, Rev. Stephen Bachiler was buried in the new churchyard of All Hallows Staining on 31 October 1656, presumably aged above 90 years, as he had matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, on 17 November 1581, and would later give his age as 71 years upon his arrival in the Massachusetts Bay Colony aboard the William and Francis on 5 June1632.
The church of All Hallows Staining was rebuilt in 1674, three years after it had collapsed while the sexton was digging a grave.  It is believed that centuries of burials inside the church and near the foundation on the outside had actually undermined the otherwise sturdy edifice.  The tower, and that part of the west end of the old church immediately attached to it, did not fall.   The church of All Hallows Staining stood on the west side of Mark Lane near its northern end, just south of Fenchurch Street.  The church was taken down in 1870 when the parish was united with the parish of St Olave Hart Street.  In 1873, when the churchyard, situated in Star Alley, Mark Lane, was laid out as a garden, the old grave stones, with three exceptions, were covered with earth, but an accurate plan had been made of the churchyard, indicating the grave stones in their several positions, and a copy of all the legible inscriptions was annexed to the plan. A copy of the plan, with the inscriptions, was preserved among the parish records of All Hallows Staining.  Evidently, none could be found for Mr. Bachiler.
It is ironic that Mr. Bachiler was apparently buried just seventeen days after his fourth wife petitioned for a divorce in New England, alleging that he had gone to England many years since and married again