The LARDNER family had been in Weald since the middle of the seventeenth century, when Walter LARDNER arrived from, probably, Ramsden. Two further Walters lived in Weald until the the last one died in 1725 without surviving children. All three Walters were tallow chandlers. Their wills are in the OFHS wills library as is that of Elizabeth, the widow of the middle Walter.

The family married into a number of other Weald families including LISSETT and SADLER and a further marriage brought the ETTY family to Weald.