Introduction

The one thing I’ve learned repeatedly in my decade-long quest to solve the mystery of Godfrey’s life is to “pay attention to the details”. For a self-styled “big picture” guy this lesson has been humbling. You may recall how deciphering a garbled “uxor” (Latin for “wife”) at the end of Mary Nymms’ 1651 baptismal record literally opened up the research floodgates. This detail lead to major developments in our understanding of the lives of Henry Nimes and his son Godfrey.

Another potentially crucial detail from parish records is that, towards the end of his life, Henry received parish relief from St. Clement-Danes church. At least two receipt documents list him as “Hendrick” Nymms. This could be a simple switch to a different form of “Henry”. Even Dr. Chater noted this in 2018 going so far as to check the records of the Dutch church in London for Hendrick/Henry because “Hendrick” is a very Dutch name. Additionally, in the 1689 relief receipt document, Henry is listed as "… old Nyms, a gunsmith” which corroborates his trade listed on the St. Michael’s Marriage banns for Henry’s second marriage as outlined in the previous chapter of Finding Godfrey.

In attempting to learn as much about Godfrey as possible, I expanded my research to cover the lives of his family and their connections. Genealogists often refer to this as the FAN method: Family, Associates, and Neighbors.

Because I was unable to find Henry’s baptismal record or marriage record for Henry’s first marriage to Ellen in England, I turned my focus to Henry’s work as a gunsmith.

Bristol, Civil War, and Gunsmithing

The first record we have of Henry and Elinor is a 1644 baptismal record for daughter Elizabeth from is St Stephen’s in Bristol. Here the are listed as “str” for “strangers” - i.e. new to the parish, or “foreigners”. As it so happens, Bristol in 1644 was a target of both sides in the Civil war, it was stormed by Royalist forces under Prince Rupert in July 1643 only to be re-taken by Parliamentary forces in September 1645. It makes sense to me that a gunmaker might have moved to Bristol during this period as his skills would have been in demand.

Interestingly enough, because Henry was in Bristol at least a year before the Parliamentary siege of 1645, I’m led to believe that he was there to support Prince Rupert’s Royalist forces. That being the case, a deeper dive into the Royalist gunmaking industry, and Prince Rupert, nephew to Charles I, in particular, is necessary.

For the past three months Natalie, our research consultant, has been doing just that, trying to piece together Henry’s early gunsmithing career in historical context. Here are some of the standouts:

Prince Rupert and Gunsmithing

Prince Rupert returned to Britain in 1642 from spending a year in the Netherlands. During his stay there he sought out Dutch gunmakers to bring back to England; as many as fifteen. Each of these gunmakers would likely had assistants and apprentices working for them; therefore, the number of gunmaking transplants to Britain could have been sixty to seventy-five persons.

Rupert established Bristol as a centre of English gunsmithing. Bristal was midway between London and Oxford. Oxford was the Crown’s temporary administrative centre during the war. Charles used it as his capital for a time. Prince Rupert was in Bristol from the siege of 1643 through to 1645 when he was pushed out by Parliamentary forces. At least fifteen London gunsmiths are reported to have relocated to Oxford during the Civil War to support the Royalist army.

It might be that Henry NIms was one of the 15 Netherlander gunsmiths that Prince Rupert brough to London and then settled them in Oxford, and then Bristol. The spelling of Henry’s name as “Hendrick” could support this theory.

Henry Nims seems to have a parallel timetable to another Dutch gunmaker, Harman Barne (Hoerman Barnevelt). Barne was in Bristol in 1644 and at the Henry’s parish, St Clement-Danes starting in 1647, exactly as Henry.

We do not know at this time the relationship between Henry Nims and Harman Barnes, if any. The question now is not whether these two knew each other, and if so, how much? We can’t rule out that they were both gunsmiths in their own right or that Henry was one of Barne’s apprentices or workers.

Additionally, Documentation shows Barne was made “pistol-maker” to King Charles II in 1660/1. It is in interesting coincidence that the first two items in the 1705 inventory of Godfrey Nim’s estate were “...One Muskett, One pr pistolls”.

Gunsmithing Research

Natalie and I have concluded that Henry’s documented profession as a gunsmith is providing a promising research avenue to look for Henry and his possible contacts in America.

Accordingly, Natalie and I have had many interactions with Brian Godwin, an English gunsmith historian and author of several definitive pieces on early English gunmaking. Although we have not found Henry in any of Brian’s databases, he acknowledges that there are holes in the research due to missing documents. Brian remains engaged has been exceedingly helpful in pointing us in new directions.

London’s “Worshipful Company of Gunmakers” founded in 1637 is still in existence. The Company has records going back to its founding. Sadly, they have no record of Henry NIms. Which means either he wasn’t registered to work as a gunsmith in London, and/or he didn’t apprentice there. Interestingly, the Company of Gunmaker’s first “Master” was Henry Roland - a Dutchman; which shows the esteem the English held for Dutch gunmakers.

Natalie has also been doing a deep dive on some English gunmakers of Dutch origin, including a complete survey of Barne’s life. As yet, she has found no direct references to our Henry, though She has found transcripts of invoices and receipts from the Royal Ordnance office for guns and weapons from this period. Some of them even name the individuals providing services or materials to the Royalist army. She continues to scour the records for any specific references to Henry.

Part of her research was conducted in person at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Only later did she discover that the very building she was in had been used during the Civil War to house the gunsmith workshops. She might have been working on the very site Henry and his fellow gunsmiths set up a workshop 375 years ago!

As we near the end of reviewing available English gunsmithing records. I’m turning my attention to enlisting the aid of Nertherland and Belgian experts. A preliminary search conducted by a Dutch genealogist hasn’t turned up anything for a “Hendrick Nymms” or variants in Holland and a Belgian gunsmith expert reports the same result for Belgium.

English or Netherlander?

Henry’s listing as Hendrick and the lack of any record of Henry Nims and/or his first wife Ellen, coupled with his trade as a gunsmith led to the theory that he was originally from the Netherlands.

However, we haven’t found any contemporary “Nims” in either the Netherlands or Belgium but have found contemporary “Nims” families in four distinct geographical areas of the UK (Gloucester, London / Westminster, Guildford St Mary’s and Harwich, Essex). Additionally, there are no Nims records in any Dutch churches in England.

Perhaps he was English and he just picked up the nickname “Hendrick” from other Netherlander gunmakers, or he was from the Netherlands married an English “Ellen” or had family in England with whom he connected upon emigrating.

We know a large percentage of surnames derive from their place of origin and the “Nims” name itself is a huge clue. Current Nims Family Association President, David A. Nims, recalled reading an NFA newsletter article from 2010 by Gary Olsen that surmised a possible Dutch or Walloon (Belgian) origin for Godfrey, pointing out that there is a town “Nismes” (Nimes) in Belgium. While we now know Godfrey was born in England, Henry could well have originated from that region, which in the 17th century included lands which are now part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.

We may also need to investigate a possible German origin. Prince Rupert was in the Rhineland-Palatinate for several years before going to The Netherlands. Consequently there is aa River “Nims” running right through that area!

Summary

Having disproven the “Godfroi de Nimes of France” idea, a “Hendrick van Nismes of Belgium or the Netherlands” concept is now very much on the research front. Natalie just reported that both Namur and Liege in Belgium were gunsmithing centres in the 17th century which yielks another possibility that a “Hendrick Nims” was from the continent.

Next Chapter: Chapter 16 - Chapter Coming Soon