In 1605 Edward Ford was born to William Ford of Harting [aged 35] at Up Park.
Before 22nd May 1634 Edward Ford [aged 29] and Sarah Ireton [aged 29] were married.
On 22nd May 1634 [his daughter] Catherine Anna Ford was born to Edward Ford [aged 29] and [his wife] Sarah Ireton [aged 29] She married (1) 2nd March 1648 Alexander Culpepper, son of John Culpepper 1st Baron Culpeper and Philippa Snelling (2) 1649 Ralph Grey 2nd Baron Grey Werke, son of William Grey 1st Baron Grey Werke and Cecilia Wentworth Lady Grey, and had issue.
Before 18th November 1642 Edward Ford [aged 37] was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex.
On 18th November 1642 Parliament ordered the arrest of Edward Ford [aged 37].
After 18th November 1642 Edward Ford [aged 37] surrendered Arundel Castle [Map] after a seventeen day siege.
On 4th October 1643 Edward Ford [aged 38] was knighted by King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland [aged 42] at Oxford, Oxfordshire [Map].
On 2nd March 1648 [his son-in-law] Alexander Culpepper [aged 19] and [his daughter] Catherine Anna Ford [aged 13] were married.
Around 1649 [his son-in-law] Ralph Grey 2nd Baron Grey Werke [aged 19] and [his daughter] Catherine Anna Ford [aged 14] were married.
On 21st March 1649 parliament ordered that Edward Ford [aged 44] should pay for his delinquency one full third of the value of his estate.
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On 9th July 1649 parliament made an order for remitting the remainder of his Edward Ford's [aged 44] fine and discharging his sequestration.
In 1653 [his father] William Ford of Harting [aged 83] died.
In 1656 Edward Ford [aged 51] was employed, with Oliver Cromwell's encouragement, and at the request of the citizens of London, in devising an engine for raising the River Thames water into all the higher streets of the city, a height of ninety-three feet. This he accomplished in a year's time, and at his own expense; and the same "rare engine" was later employed for draining mines and lands.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 22nd September 1663. I up, well refreshed after my journey, and to my office and there set some things in order, and then Sir W. Pen [aged 42] and I met and held an office, and at noon to dinner, and so by water with my wife to Westminster, she to see her father and mother, and we met again at my Lord's lodgings, and thence by water home again, where at the door we met Sir W. Pen and his daughter coming to visit us, and after their visit I to my office, and after some discourse to my great satisfaction with Sir W. Warren about our bargain of masts, I wrote my letters by the post, and so home to supper and to bed. This day my wife showed me bills printed, wherein her father, with Sir John Collidon and Edward Ford [aged 58], have got a patent for curing of smoky chimneys1. I wish they may do good thereof, but fear it will prove but a poor project.
Note 1. The Patent numbered 138 is printed in the appendix to Wheatley's "Samuel Pepys and the World he lived in" (p. 241). It is drawn in favour of John Colladon, Doctor in Physicke, and of Alexander Marchant, of St. Michall, and describes "a way to prevent and cure the smoakeing of Chimneys, either by stopping the tunnell towards the top, and altering the former course of the smoake, or by setting tunnells with checke within the chimneyes". Edward Ford's name does not appear in the patent.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 6th November 1663. After dinner came in Captain Grove, and he and I alone to talk of many things, and among many others of the Fishery, in which he gives the such hopes that being at this time full of projects how to get a little honestly, of which some of them I trust in God will take, I resolved this afternoon to go and consult my Lord Sandwich [aged 38] about it, and so, being to carry home Mrs. Hunt, I took her and my wife by coach and set them at Axe Yard [Map], and I to my Lord's and thither sent for Creed and discoursed with him about it, and he and I to White Hall, where Sir G. Carteret [aged 53] and my Lord met me very fortunately, and wondered first to see me in my perruque, and I am glad it is over, and then, Sir G. Carteret being gone, I took my Lord aside, who do give me the best advice he can, and telling me how there are some projectors, by name Edward Ford [aged 58], who would have the making of farthings1, and out of that give so much to the King [aged 33] for the maintenance of the Fishery; but my Lord do not like that, but would have it go as they offered the last year, and so upon my desire he promises me when it is seasonable to bring me into the commission with others, if any of them take, and I perceive he and Mr. Coventry [aged 35] are resolved to follow it hard.
Note 1. Edward Ford, son of Sir William Ford of Harting, born at Up Park in 1605. "After the Restoration he invented a mode of coining farthings. Each piece was to differ minutely from another to prevent forgery. He failed in procuring a patent for these in England, but obtained one for Ireland. He died in Ireland before he could carry his design into execution, on September 3rd, 1670" ("Dictionary of National Biography ").
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 3rd December 1664. Up, and at the office all the morning, and at noon to Mr. Cutler's, and there dined with Sir W. Rider and him, and thence Sir W. Rider and I by coach to White Hall to a Committee of the Fishery; there only to hear Edward Ford's [aged 59] proposal about farthings, wherein, O God! to see almost every body interested for him; only my Lord Annesly [aged 43], who is a grave, serious man. My Lord Barkeley [aged 62] was there, but is the most hot, fiery man in discourse, without any cause, that ever I saw, even to breach of civility to my Lord Anglesey [aged 50], in his discourse opposing to my Lord's. At last, though without much satisfaction to me, it was voted that it should be requested of the King [aged 34], and that Edward Ford's proposal is the best yet made.
On 3rd September 1670 Edward Ford [aged 65] died at Ireland. His body was brought to England, and interred in the family burial-place at Harting.