Sarah Coysh

Sarah Coysh Rolls
Arms of Coysh: Gules, an eagle displayed barry of six erminois and azure
Born	c. 1742
Died	7 September 1801 Bermondsey, Southwark, London, Surrey, England
Known for	Heiress
Predecessor	Uncle, Henry Allen Brother, Richard Coysh
Successor	Son, John Rolls of The Hendre
Spouse(s)	John Rolls

Sarah Coysh (c. 1742 – 1801) was the heiress to the estates of the Coysh, Allen, and James families. Her marriage to John Rolls (1735–1801) illustrates one of the methods by which the renowned Rolls family of Monmouthshire, Wales, and London, England, accumulated and improved their properties and advanced their social rank during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By 1830, her son John Rolls of The Hendre in , Monmouthshire, near Monmouth, had made the estate his country seat and undertaken the first of several expansions of the mansion. By 1892, two expansions later, his grandson had been elevated to the peerage and had become of The Hendre. At the turn of the twentieth century, following the mansion's fourth enlargement, the family was honoured with a visit from the future King George V and Queen Mary, then the Duke and Duchess of York. The royal visit included a ride in the automobile (pictured) of Lord Llangattock's son Charles Stewart Rolls, future aviation pioneer and co-founder of Rolls-Royce. This article explores the genealogy of Sarah Coysh's branch of the family tree, starting with James James (died 1677), one of the earliest identified Rolls ancestors with substantial property in Monmouthshire and London.

James James, a native of Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern, Monmouthshire, acquired property in Southwark, London, and resided in London. Between 1639 and 1648, he also bought several Monmouthshire properties, in Llangattock-Vibon-Avel and Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern. James was buried on 26 May 1677 in the churchyard of St Olave's Church, Southwark, London. In his will of that year, he left his estate to his daughter Sarah; his successor was his sole surviving child.

Prior to her father's death, Sarah James had married Elisha Coysh (1631–1685), a prominent physician from London. Elisha Coysh, the only son of Richard and Mary Coysh, was born on 30 January 1631. He was baptized on 5 February 1631 at St Mary Aldermary (pictured at left and link below) in the City of London. He began his studies at the Merchant Taylors' School in London in 1647, and at Pembroke College, Oxford on 27 November 1650. Coysh became a Doctor of Medicine on 30 June 1657 and a Fellow of the College of Physicians on 3 December 1673. By 1657, his homes included one at Swain's or Swine's Lane, Highgate then in Middlesex now a London suburb. In 1665–66, during the Great Plague of London, he and his family resided at the Swain's Lane address. According to the Court Rolls of the Manor of Cantelows, Coysh "was very famed for his medical practice and advice in cases of that dreadful malady, and was much resorted to at this his copyhold residence." Dr. Elisha Coysh died on 11 January 1685, and was interred at St Mary Aldermary on 19 January 1685. His father Richard Coysh had been buried at the same church on 20 January 1651. His mother Mary Coysh died on 27 January 1672, and was buried on the 31st of the month, also at the parish church. His wife Sarah James Coysh was buried on 25 March 1703 at St Mary Aldermary.