Chapter V: Part 5

ARMS.--For Blount. _Barry nebulée of six or and sable_. For Croke, _Gules, a fess between six martlets argent_. The more ancient coat was, _Lozengy or and sable_, which was borne by William le Blount in the reign of Henry III. Sir William le Blount of Warwickshire, (so called because he held under the Earl of Warwick,) bore the present _nebulée_ coat in the reign of Edward II. Sir Thomas le Blount at the same period _the fess between three martlets_, now called the coat of Croke. (Rolls of the dates.)

Present Representative, George Croke, Esq.

ASHURST OF WATERSTOCK.

A Lancashire family of good antiquity, and until the middle of the last century lords of Ashurst in that county, where they appear to have been seated not long after the Conquest. In the reign of James II. the eldest son of a younger brother was created a Baronet, of Waterstock in this county. His daughter and eventual heiress married Sir Richard Allin, Baronet, whose daughter, marrying Mr. Ashurst of Ashurst, great-grandfather of the present representative of the family, brought the estate of Waterstock into the elder line of the Ashursts.

See Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetage, and his Landed Gentry.

ARMS.--_Gules, a cross between four fleurs-de-lis argent_. The Baronet family bore the _cross engrailed or, and but one fleur-de-lis of the same_.

Present Representative, John Henry Ashurst, Esq.

ANNESLEY OF BLETCHINGDON, VISCOUNT VALENTIA IN IRELAND 1621.

Ralph, surnamed Brito de Annesley, living in the second year of Henry II. (1156,) is assumed to have been son of Richard, of Annesley, in the county of Nottingham, mentioned in the Domesday Survey. That estate continued in the Annesleys till the death of John de Annesley, Esq., in 1437, when it went by an heiress to the Chaworths. The family then removed to Rodington in the same county, and afterwards to Newport-Pagnell in Buckinghamshire; but Ireland was the scene of the prosperity of the family, early in the seventeenth century, which may be said to have been re-founded by Sir Francis Annesley, Secretary of State in 1616. Hence the Viscountcy of Valentia, which afterwards merged in the Earldom of Anglesey in England, adjudged by the English House of Lords to be extinct in 1761; but by the same evidence the Viscountcy of Valentia was allowed to the grandson of the last Earl of Anglesey, whom the English House of Lords found to be illegitimate. He was created Earl of Mountnorris in Ireland in 1793, and on the decease of the last Earl in 1844, the Irish Viscountcy and the representation of the family descended to Arthur Annesley of Bletchingdon, Esq., descended from the second marriage of the first Viscount Valentia.

Younger Branches. 1. Annesley of Clifford Chambers, co. Gloucester. 2. The Earl of Annesley in Ireland, 1789.

See Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 502; Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, p. 251; Archdall's Lodge, iv. 99; and the Tyndale Genealogy, privately printed, folio, 1843.

ARMS.--_Paly of six argent and azure, a bend gules_. Monsieur de Annesley bore, _Paly of six argent and gules, a bend vairy argent and sable_, in the reign of Edward III. The present coat was borne by John de Annesley in the reign of Richard II. (Rolls.)

Present Representative, Arthur Annesley, 11th Viscount Valentia.

VILLIERS OF MIDDLETON-STONEY, EARL OF JERSEY 1697.

The family of Villers or Villiers is ancient in Leicestershire, Alexander de Villiers being lord of Brokesby in that county early in the thirteenth century. The present coat of arms is said to have been assumed in the reign of Edward I., as a badge of Sir Richard de Villers' services in the crusades. "Villiers of Brokesby" occurs among the gentlemen of Leicestershire, "that be there most of reputation," in the Itinerary of Leland the antiquary in the reign of Henry VIII. But the great rise of the family was in the reign of James I., when the favourite Sir George Villiers became Duke of Buckingham in 1623, extinct 1687. The Earls of Jersey are sprung from the second but elder brother of the first duke. Their connection with Oxfordshire appears not to have been before the middle of the last century. Brokesby was sold by Sir William Villiers, who died s. p. 1711.

Younger Branch. The Earl of Clarendon (1776), descended from the second son of the second Earl of Jersey.

Extinct branch. The Earl of Grandison in Ireland, 1721; extinct 1766; descended from the elder brother of Sir Edward Villiers, who died 1689, ancestor of the Earl of Jersey.

See Leland's Itinerary, i. fol. 23, and vi. fol. 65; Nichols's Leicestershire, iii. pt. i. p. 197; and Brydges's Collins, iii. 762.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a cross gules five escallops or_. The ancient arms founded on those of the Bellemonts Earls of Leicester were _Sable, three cinquefoils argent_.

Present Representative, Victor Albert George Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey.

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COKER OF BICESTER.

The younger, but I believe now the only remaining, line of a family formerly seated at Coker in the county of Somerset, where it can be traced to the time of Edward I. Mapouder in Dorsetshire, derived from the heiress of Veale in the reign of Henry V., became afterwards the family seat. In 1554, John Coker, who appears to have been second son of Thomas Coker, of Mapouder, purchased the Manor of "Nuns' Place or King's End in Biscester," which has since remained the residence of this ancient family.

See Coker's Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 98; Hutchins's History of Dorsetshire, vol. iii. p. 273; Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, 1st. ed. p. 109; and Burke's Commoners, 2nd ed. vol. iii. p. 347.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a bend gules three leopard's heads or_. The Mapouder line bore the arms within a border engrailed sable; but the elder branch of the family, who are represented by the Seymours Dukes of Somerset, omitted the border.

Present Representative, Lewis Coker, Esq.

PARKER OF SHIRBURN CASTLE, EARL OF MACCLESFIELD 1721, BARON PARKER 1716.

By the decease of the late Thomas Hawe Parker, Esq., of Park Hall, in the county of Stafford, the representation of the family has devolved upon the Earl of Macclesfield, who represents the junior line. The Parkers were established at Park Hall, in the parish of Caverswall, in the seventeenth century, having been previously seated at Parwich, and before that at Norton-Lees, in the county of Derby. The first recorded ancestor, Thomas Parker, was of Bulwell, in Nottinghamshire, in the reign of Richard II. He married the heiress of Gotham, and from hence, says Lysons, the seat of Norton-Lees.

See Lysons's Derbyshire, p. cxxxviii.; Brydges's Collins, iv, 190; and Ward's Stoke-upon-Trent, p. 561.

ARMS.--_Gules, a chevron between three leopard's heads or_.

Present Representative, Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield.

RUTLANDSHIRE.

+Knightly.+

WINGFIELD OF TICKENCOTE.

The Wingfields of Wingfield and Letheringham, both in Suffolk, a distinguished family of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are traced nearly to the Conquest, though they do not appear to have been lords of the manor or castle of Wingfield before the reign of Edward II. The elder branch of this family is represented by the Viscount Powerscourt in Ireland, descended from Lewis the ninth son of Sir John Wingfield of Letheringham. The present family is sprung from Henry, a younger brother of this Sir John, who died in 1481. Tickencote was acquired by marriage in the reign of Elizabeth with the heiress of Gresham.

Younger Branch. Wingfield of Onslow in Shropshire, according to the Visitation of that county, descended from Anthony Wingfield of Glossop, co. Derby, younger son of Sir Robert Wingfield of Letheringham, who died in 1431.

See the elaborate dissertation on the House of Wingfield in the second volume of Anstis's Register of the Order of the Garter; see also Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire, pp. 147, 150; Camden's Visitation of the county of Huntingdon, 1613, (printed by the Camden Society,) p. 125, &c.; and Blore's Rutlandshire, (fo. 1811,) for full pedigrees of the different branches formerly seated at Crowfield and Dunham-Magna, co. Norfolk; Kimbolton Castle, co. Huntingdon; Letheringham and Brantham, co. Suffolk; and Upton, co. Northampton, p. 65-70. For Viscount Powerscourt, see Archdall's Lodge, v. 255.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a bend gules cotised sable three pair of wings conjoined of the field_. In the reign of Richard II. Monsieur William Wyngefeld bore, _Gules, two wings conjoined in lure argent_. (Roll.)

Present Representative, John Muxloe Wingfield, Esq.

SHROPSHIRE.

+Knightly.+

CORBET OF MORETON-CORBET, BARONET 1808.

Pre-eminent among the ancient aristocracy of Shropshire is the House of Corbet, descended from "Roger, son of Corbet," so called in the Domesday Survey. In the twelfth century the Corbets divided into two branches; the elder was seated at Wattlesborough, the younger at Caus-Castle. In the time of Henry III. the former became of Moreton-Corbet, derived from the heiress of the Anglo-Saxon family of Toret; but the Caus-Castle line was by far the most eminent, and became barons of the realm. In the reign of Richard II. several of the most ancient of the Corbet estates were lost by an heiress; and this happened again in 1583, when the lands brought into the family by the heiress of Hopton went by marriage to the Wallops and Careys. Moreton-Corbet remained till 1688, when it also descended to the sister of Sir Vincent Corbet; but the male line was still preserved by the Corbets of Shrewsbury, and the ancient estate of Moreton-Corbet re-purchased about 1743.

Younger Branch. Corbett of Elsham (co. Lincoln) and of Darnhall (co. Chester,) descended from Robert second son of Sir Vincent Corbet, of Moreton-Corbet, who died in 1622.

Extinct Branches. 1. Corbet of Stoke and Adderley in this county, Baronet 1627, sprung from Reginald third son of Sir Robert Corbet of Moreton-Corbet; extinct 1780. 2. Corbet of Hadley in this county, descended from the second marriage of Sir Roger Corbet of Wattlesborough, who died temp. King John. The heiress married John Greville, in the 7th Henry V. 3. Corbet of Longnor in this county, and of Leighton, co. Montgomery, Baronet 1642, descended also from John third son of Peter Corbet, Baron of Caus, and Alice Orreby; extinct 1814. 4. Corbet of Sundorne, formerley of Leigh in this county, descended from John third son of Peter Corbet, Baron of Caus, and of Alice his wife, daughter of Sir Fulke de Orreby; extinct 1859.

See Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire, fol. Shrewsbury, 1831, pp. 37, 63, 65, 230, &c., corrected by the MSS. of the late Mr. Joseph Morris of Shrewsbury;* see also Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. vii. p. 5; and Gent. Mag. for 1809, pp. 599, 903.

ARMS.--_Or, a raven proper_. The present coat, "_Or, un corbyn de sable_," was borne by Sir Peter Corbet in the reign of Edward II.; but Thomas Corbet, in that of Henry III., bore "_Or,_ 2 _corbeaux sable_," which, with the addition of a bordure engrailed sable, is the coat of the Corbets of Sundorne. _Or, three ravens in pale proper_, was borne by Corbet of Hadley, and was so borne by Sir Thomas Corbet in the reign of Edward II. (Rolls.)

Present Representative, Sir Vincent Rowland Corbet, 3rd Baronet.

* In future quoted as "Morris MSS."

LEIGHTON OF LOTON, BARONET 1692-3.

The Leightons are stated to have been seated at Leighton in this county prior to the Conquest: Domesday has "Rainald (vicecom') ten' _Lestone_; Leuui tenuit temp. Reg. Edw." Hence there can be no doubt the name Lestone, _i.e._ Lewi's-town, now Leighton, was derived. Certain it is that the direct ancestors of the family of Leighton were resident there at the very commencement of the twelfth century. From Rainald the sheriff, who was the superior lord of Leighton when Domesday was compiled, that and all his other manors passed in marriage with his daughter to Alan, the ancestor of the Fitz-Alan family; and in the _Liber Niger_, under the year 1167, Richard son of Tiel (Tihel) is stated to hold Leighton under William Fitz-Alan by the service of one knight. This Richard was the undoubted ancestor of this ancient family. Leighton is now severed from the inheritance of the male line of the Leightons, belonging to Robert Gardner, Esq., whose wife was the heiress of the Kinnersleys, descended in the female line from the second marriage of Sir Thomas Leighton, knighted in 1513. Church Stretton, acquired by the heiress of Cambray in the fifteenth century, was for four generations the family seat. Loton (an ancient Corbet estate) was acquired by marriage with a coheiress of Burgh, by John Leighton, Sheriff of Shropshire in 1468.

See Eyton's Shropshire, vii. p. 325; Wotton's Baronetage, iv. 38; Blakeway, pp. 74, 75, 80, 91; Stemmata Botvilliana, 1858; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Quarterly per fess indented or and gules_. In 1315, Sir Richard de Leighton bore the present coat differenced by a bendlet, as appears by his seal attached to a deed still preserved at Loton: the same arms are on his monument, formerly in Buildwas Abbey, and now in Leighton church.

Present Representative, Sir Baldwin Leighton, 7th Baronet, late M.P. for South Salop.

SANDFORD OF SANDFORD.

A family of acknowledged antiquity, whose ancestor Richard de Sanford was certainly seated at Sandford soon after the Conquest, and which has ever since remained their principal seat; it is in the parish of Prees, and is mentioned by Leland in his Itinerary. The Herald of the eighteenth century, and the late excellent Bishop of Edinburgh, were both of this family.

Younger Branch. Sandford of the Isle House near Shrewsbury, parted from the parent stem in the fifteenth century, and who also by marriage represent the ancient Shropshire families of Sprenghose and Winsbury.

See Eyton's Shropshire, ix. p. 221; and Blakeway, pp. 54, 190, 222.

ARMS.--_Quarterly per fess indented azure and ermine_. The Sandfords of the Isle bear, _Party per chevron sable and ermine, in chief two boar's heads couped close or_.

Present Representative, Thomas Hugh Sandford, Esq.

KYNASTON OF HARDWICKE, BARONET 1818.

The Kynastons are lineal descendants of the ancient British Princes of Powys, sprung from Griffith, son of Iorwerth Goch, who took refuge in this county; where, as it is stated in the Testa de Nevill, King Henry II. gave him the manors of Rowton and Ellardine, in the parish of High Ercall, and Sutton and Brocton in the parish of Sutton, to be held in capite by the service of being _latimer_ (_i.e._ interpreter) between the English and Welsh. He married Matilda, younger sister and coheir of Ralph le Strange, and in her right became possessed of the manor of Kinnerley and other estates in Shropshire. Madoc, the eldest son of Griffith, seated himself at Sutton, from him called to this day "Sutton Madoc;" Griffith Vychan, the younger son, had Kinnerley, a portion of his mother's inheritance, and in that manor he resided at Tre-gynvarth, _Anglicè_ Kynvarth's Town, usually written and spoken as _Kynaston_; and hence the name of the family. Griffith or Griffin de Kyneveston, son of Griffith Vychan, was witness to a grant of land to the abbey of Haghmond in 1313. His lineal descendant Roger Kynaston fought at Blore Heathe in 1459, and Lord Audley the Lancastrian General is supposed to have fallen by his hand; hence the second quarter in the arms, and for this and other services he received the honour of knighthood. The Kynastons, from the place so called, went to Hordley, and latterly in the seventeenth century removed to Hardwicke.

The Kynastons of Oteley, extinct early in the eighteenth century, were an elder branch; they acquired Oteley by the marriage of an heiress of that ancient house in the reign of Henry VII., and were descended from John, elder brother of Sir Roger Kynaston before mentioned.

See Blakeway, p. 73; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Quarterly_, 1 _and_ 4, _Argent, a lion rampant sable_; 2 _and_ 3, _Ermine, a chevron gules_. Sir John de Kynastone in the reign of Edward II. bore, _Sable, a lion rampant queve forchée or_. (Roll.)

Present Representative, Sir John Roger Kynaston, 3rd Baronet.

CORNEWALL OF DELBURY.

This is the only remaining branch of the once powerful family of Cornewall, for so many ages Barons of Burford, (though without a summons to parliament,) descended from Richard, natural son of Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, and second son of John King of England: (an illegitimacy however which was denied at the Heralds' Visitation of this county in 1623, by Sir Thomas Cornewall, of Burford, who stated that the said Richard was the legitimate son of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, by Sanchia of Provence, his second wife). The Barony of Burford came into the Cornewall family before he ninth of Edward II. with the coheiress of Mortimer, and continued with the descendants till the death of Francis, Baron of Burford, in 1726. The present family is sprung from a younger line, seated at Berrington in the county of Hereford, in the fifteenth century, and which estate was sold in the eighteenth. Delbury was purchased by and became the seat of Frederick Cornewall, Esq. who died in 1788, and was father of the late Bishop of Worcester.

See Blakeway, pp. 72, 83, 92; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Ermine, a lion rampant gules crowned or within a bordure engrailed sable bezantee_. "Jeffery de Cornewall" and "Symon de Cornewall" bore, _Argent, a lion rampant gules crowned or, with a baston sable, the first charged with three mullets or, the second with three bezants_. (Roll of the reign of Edward III.) The present coat was borne by Monsieur Bryan Cornewall, in the reign of Richard II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, Herbert Cornewall, Esq.

LINGEN (CALLED BURTON) OF LONGNOR.

The first recorded ancestor of this loyal family is Ralph de Wigmore, lord of Lingen, in the county of Hereford, founder of the Priory of Lyngbroke. His son and grandson John took the name of Lingen: the latter is recorded in the Testa de Nevill as holding various estates in Herefordshire, "of the old feoffment," that is, by descent from the time of King Henry I. His lineal descendant, Sir John Lingen, of Lingen and Sutton, in the county of Hereford, having married in the reign of Edward IV. the daughter and coheiress of Sir John Burgh, succeeded to considerable estates in Shropshire, and to the manor of Radbrook, in the county of Gloucester, until recently the inheritance of his descendants. Longnor, the ancient seat of the Burtons, came into the family in 1722, by the marriage of Thomas Lingen, Esq. of Radbrook, with Anne, only daughter of Robert Burton, Esq. and sister and heir of Thomas Burton, of Longnor, Esq. Their son assumed the name of Burton by Act of Parliament in 1748.

From Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Barry of six or and azure, on a bend gules three roses argent_.

Present Representative, Robert Burton, Esq.

HARLEY OF DOWN-ROSSAL.

The origin of this knightly family has been recently explored by Mr. Eyton in his Antiquities of Shropshire, and from that valuable authority it appears that Edward and Hernulf, living in the first half of the twelfth century, were lords of Harley, and the ancestors of the race who were afterwards denominated therefrom. Sixth in descent from William de Harley living in 1231 was Sir Robert de Harley, who having married the coheiress of Brampton Bryan, in the county of Hereford, that place became the residence of his descendants, sprung from Sir Bryan his second son. The Shropshire estates went to the elder son, and passed through heiresses first to the Peshalls, and thence to the Lacons. Fifth in descent from Sir Bryan de Harley was John Harley, Esq. who signalised himself at Flodden Field in 1513. His eldest son was ancestor of the Earls of Oxford (1711,) extinct 1853. The present family, who now represent this ancient lineage, are descended from William third son of the above mentioned John. He died in 1600, having seated himself at Beckjay, in this county. The family afterwards became citizens of Shrewsbury, and acquired Down-Rossal, the present seat, in 1852.

See Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. vi. p. 230; Collins's Noble Families, p. 184; Brydges's Collins, vol. iv. p. 37; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Or, a bend cotised sable_, and which was borne by Sir Richard de Harlee in the reign of Edward II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, John Harley, Esq.

TYRWHITT, OF STANLEY-HALL, BARONET 1808.

This is a younger branch of an ancient Lincolnshire family, according to Wotton, to be traced to Sir Hercules Tyrwhitt, living in the tenth of Henry I., and raised to eminence by Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, Justice of the Common Pleas and King's Bench in the reign of Henry IV. He was seated at Kettleby, in that county, which remained the residence of the elder branch, created Baronets in 1611, until its extinction in 1673. A younger son was of Scotter, in the same county, the ancestor of the present family, of whom John, fifth son of the Rev. Robert Tyrwhitt, married a descendant of the Jones's of Shrewsbury, and by her acquired the Stanley-Hall estate, and took the name of Jones, but the present Baronet has since resumed the ancient name of Tyrwhitt.

See Blakeway, p. 240; Wotton's Baronetage, i. 178; Camden's Remains, p. 151; Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 115 and "Notices and Remains of the Family of Tyrwhitt," &c. "printed not published." 8vo. n.d. [By R. P. Tyrwhitt, Esq. of the Middle Temple, eldest son of Richard Tyrwhitt, late of Nantyr Hall in Denbighshire, Esq. younger brother of the first Baronet.]

ARMS.--_Gules, three tyrwhitts or_.

Present Representative, Sir Henry Thomas Tyrwhitt, third Baronet.

+Gentle.+

GATACRE OF GATACRE.

A family of great antiquity, and which is said to have been established at Gatacre by a grant from Edward the Confessor. The pedigree, however, is not traced beyond the reign of Henry III.

Although very ancient, this family does not appear to have been distinguished except by "The fair maid of Gatacre," (see Blakeway, p. 169,) and by the eminent divine of this house noticed in "Fuller's Worthies," and who was the ancestor of the Gatacres of Mildenhall, in Suffolk.

See Leland's Itinerary, v. p. 31; Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. iii. p. 86; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Quarterly gules and ermine, on the second and third quarters three piles of the first, on a fess azure five bezants_. This coat, a remarkable exception to the simple heraldry of the period, is supposed to have been granted to Humphry Gatacre, Esquire of the Body to King Henry VI. The following coat, ascribed to this family, was about the end of the seventeenth century in the church of Claverley in this county: _Quarterly, first and fourth ermine, a chief indented gules; second and third gules, over all on a fess azure three bezants_. (Eyton's Shropshire, iii. p. 103.)

Present Representative, Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq.

EYTON OF EYTON.

This family can also lay claim to great antiquity, being certainly resident at Eyton on the Wealdmoors as early as the reigns of Henry I. and II. They were in some way connected with the Pantulfs, Barons of Wem, who were Lords of Eyton at the period of the Domesday Survey, and, in consequence of this connection, not only quarter their arms, but were among the very few Shropshire gentry who were not dispossessed after the Rebellion of the third Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, in the time of Henry I.

Robert de Eyton stands at the head of the pedigree.

See Blakeway, pp. 56, 70, 71; Eyton's Shropshire, viii. p. 26; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Quarterly, first and fourth, or, a fret azure; second and third, gules two bars ermine_.

Present Representative, Thomas Campbell Eyton, Esq.

PLOWDEN OF PLOWDEN.

When the ancestors of this family were first seated at Plowden is a matter of doubt, but it was at a very early period. In 1194 Roger de Plowden is said to have been at the siege of Acre with Richard I., and there to have acquired the fleurs-de-lis in the arms. The name occurs upon all the county records from the reign of Henry III. Edmund Plowden the lawyer, in the sixteenth century, was the great luminary of this family.

See Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 470; Blakeway, pp. 132, 222, and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Azure, a fess dancettée, the two upper points terminating in fleurs-de-lis or_.

Present Representative, William Henry Francis Plowden, Esq.

ACTON OF ALDENHAM, BARONET 1643-4.

Engelard de Acton, of Acton-Pigot and Acton-Burnell, was admitted on the Roll of Guild Merchants of Shrewsbury in 1209. His descendant Edward de Acton, of Aldenham, married the coheiress of Le'Strange, living in 1387, and with her acquired an estate in Longnor, in this county. The baronetcy was the reward of loyalty in the beginning of the great rebellion.

General Acton, Prime Minister to the King of Naples for twenty-nine years, commencing in 1778, was a distinguished member of this family.

See Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 398; Blakeway, pp. 54, 174.

ARMS.--_Gules, crusilly or, two lions passant in pale argent_. This coat is evidently founded on that of Le'Strange.

Present Representative, Sir John Emerick Edward Dalberg Acton, 8th Baronet.

WHITMORE OF APLEY.

This is a younger branch of an ancient family formerly seated at Whittimere or Whitmore, in the parish of Claverley, where it is traced to the reign of Henry III. The Apley branch made a large fortune by mercantile transactions in London in the reign of Elizabeth, and purchased that estate in 1572, from Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight. The Whitmores have represented Bridgnorth in Parliament constantly since the reign of Charles II. Blakeway observes that this family does not appear to have had any connection with the Whitmores of Cheshire, though the Heralds have given them similar arms, with a crest allusive to the springing of a young shoot out of an old stock.

Younger Branches. Whitmore of Dudmaston, in this county, and Whitmore-Jones, of Chastleton, in the county of Oxford.

See Blakeway, p. 106, and Notes on the Whitmore Family, in Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. p. 159.

ARMS.--_Vert, fretty or_.

Present Representative, Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq.

WALCOT OF BITTERLEY.

The name is derived from Walcot in the parish of Lydbury, which was held under the Bishop of Hereford by Roger de Walcot in 1255. He was the ancestor of the present family. Sixth in descent from Roger de Walcot was John Walcot, of whom the pedigree relates, "that playing at Chess with King Henry V. he gave him the check-mate with the rooke, whereupon the King changed his coat of arms, which was the cross with fleurs-de-lis, and gave him the rooke for a remembrance." Walcot was sold in the year 1764, and Bitterley, which had belonged to the family in 1660, became the seat of the Walcots, descended from Humphry Walcot, who died in 1616, and who was the eldest son of John Walcot of Walcot. He had livery of the manor of Walcot in 1611, "on the extinction (says Blakeway,) I suppose of the elder line."

See Blakeway, p. 112; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron between three chess-rooks ermine_. The former coat, _Argent, on a cross patonce azure five fleurs-de-lis or_, was ascribed to John de Walcote in the Roll of the reign of Richard II.

Present Representative, the Rev. Charles Walcot.

BALDWIN (CALLED CHILDE) OF KINLET.

This ancient family, which has been supposed to be of Norman origin, was early seated at Diddlebury, (or Delbury,) in Corvedale, which appears to have come from the heiress of Wigley. Roger Baldwin of Diddlebury died anno 1398, and was the ancestor of the family. Diddlebury was sold to the Cornewalls of Berrington in the last century, when the Baldwins removed to Aqualate in Staffordshire. Kinlet was the inheritance of the Childes, whose coheiress married Charles Baldwin, Esq. The Childes derived it from the Lacons, and the Lacons by inheritance from the Blounts of Kinlet.

See Blakeway, p. 212.

ARMS.--_Argent, a saltire sable_.

Present Representative, Walter Lacon Childe, Esq.

DOD OF CLOVERLY.

A branch of the Dods of Edge in Cheshire, now extinct in the male line, and one of the oldest families in England, which can be traced in a direct line, undoubtedly of _Saxon_, if not of _British_ descent, which, says Blakeway, "is in the highest degree probable." The following is Ormerod's account of the origin of this family. "About the time of Henry II., Hova, son of Cadwgan Dot, married the daughter and heiress of the Lord of Edge, with whom he had the fourth of that manor. It is probable that the Lord of Edge was son of Edwin, who before the Conquest was sole proprietor of eight manors; we may call him a Saxon thane. It appears by Domesday that Dot was the Saxon lord of sixteen manors, from all of which he was ejected; we may presume he was identical with Cadwgan Dot." "A descent in the male line (adds Ormerod) from a Saxon noticed in Domesday would be unique in this county" (Cheshire). The Dods of Cloverley descend from Hugo, living in the fourteenth of Henry IV., who married the coheiress of Roger de Cloverley. He was the son of John Dod of Farndon, who was son of Roger Dod of Edge, living in the reign of Edward III., which John Dod had also acquired property in Shropshire, by marriage with the coheiress of Warden of Ightfield.

See Ormerod's Cheshire, ii. 374; and Blakeway, p. 206.

ARMS.--_Argent, a fess gules between two cotises wavy sable_. The Dods of Edge bore three crescents or, on the fess, by which one would imagine they were the younger rather than the elder line of the family, and the present owner of Cloverly possesses deeds which appear to prove that this was the fact.

Present Representative, John Whitehall Dod, Esq. late M.P. for North Shropshire.

OAKELEY OF OAKELEY.

An ancient family, descended from Philip, who in the reign of Henry III. was lord of Oakeley in the parish of Bishop's Castle, from whence he assumed his name, and which has ever since been the inheritance of his descendants.

Younger Branch. Sir Charles Oakeley, Baronet 1790.

See Blakeway, pp. 132, 173; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a fess between three crescents gules as many fleurs-de-lis or_. These arms are, with those of the Plowdens and other families of the vicinity, allusive to the services of ancestors who fought under the banners of the great suzeraines of their district, the Fitz-Alans, in the Crusades and the battlefields of France.

Present Representative, the Rev. Arthur Oakeley.

HILL OF HAWKSTONE, VISCOUNT HILL 1842, BARONET 1726-7.

The first in the pedigree is Hugh de la Hulle, who held the estate of Hulle, that is, Court of Hill, in the parish of Burford, in this county, as the eleventh part of a knight's fee, of the Barony of Stuteville, in the reigns of Richard I. and John, as appears by the Testa de Neville. The family afterwards removed into the north of the county, by marriages with the coheiresses of Wlenkeslow, Buntingsdale, Styche, and Warren. The castle still borne in the coat of Hill is found on the seal of William Hill in the reign of Richard II. Court of Hill, the original seat of the Hills, was bequeathed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the second son of the eldest branch of the family, in whose line it continued till carried by an heiress to the family of the present proprietor. Hawkstone, the present seat, was settled upon Humphry Hill in 1560. The great ornament of this family, and indeed he may be called the founder of its modern consequence, was Richard Hill, Envoy Extraordinary to the Italian States in the very beginning of the eighteenth century.

See Blakeway, pp. 142, 179; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Ermine, on a fess sable a castle argent_.

Present Representative, Rowland Hill, second Viscount Hill.

FORESTER OF WILLEY, BARON FORESTER 1821.

This family is clearly descended from "Robert de Wolint," (Wellington,) alias Forester, who is named in the Testa de Neville as holding his estate by the serjeantry of keeping the royal hay of Wellington in the forest of the Wrekin; and there is every probability that he was the descendant of Ulger the Forester, chief forester of all the king's forests in Shropshire in the time of Stephen.

See Blakeway, p. 126; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Quarterly per fess dancettée argent and sable, on the first and fourth quarters a bugle horn of the last, garnished or_.

Present Representative, John George Weld Forester, 2nd Baron Forester.

EDWARDES, OF HARNAGE GRANGE AND SHREWSBURY, BARONET 1645.

Iddon, son of Rys Sais, a powerful British chieftain in the Shropshire Marches at the period of the Norman Conquest, is the ancestor of the family of Edwardes. His descendants were seated at Kilhendre, in the parish of Ellesmere, in the reign of Henry I., an estate which continued in the family in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The eminent services of Sir Thomas Edwardes of Shrewsbury to King Charles I. were rewarded by the grant of a Baronetcy in 1645. The patent, however, was not taken out till the year 1678, with a right of precedency before all baronets created after 1644. The distinguished Major Herbert Edwardes, C.B., one of Her Majesty's Commissioners for settling the affairs of the Punjaub, is of this family.

See Blakeway, pp. 107, 121; Blakeway and Owen's Shrewsbury, ii. 259; and Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 415; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Gules, a chevron engrailed between three heraldic tiger's heads erased argent_.

Present Representative, Sir Henry Hope Edwardes, 10th Baronet.

BETTON (CALLED BRIGHT) OF TOTTERTON HALL.

Walter De Betton had a freehold estate at Betton-Strange, near Shrewsbury, in the reign of Edward I. William Betton, fourth in descent from Walter, was seated at Great Berwick prior to the reign of Henry IV., and at his house the renowned Hotspur lay during the night preceding the Battle of Shrewsbury.

The estate and mansion of Great Berwick continued with their lineal descendants until sold in 1831, by Richard Betton, Esq. whose uncle having succeeded to the estates of John Bright, Esq. assumed that name, and was father of the present proprietor of Totterton Hall.

From the Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Argent, two pales sable, each charged with three cross-crosslets fitchée or_.

Present Representative, the Rev. John Bright.

CLIVE (CALLED HERBERT) OF STYCHE, EARL OF POWIS 1804; BARON CLIVE IN THE PEERAGE OF IRELAND 1762.

Although this family owe their elevation to the military genius of the great Lord Clive, to whom the English nation is so much indebted for its glory and power in the East, yet the Clives have undoubted claims to antiquity both in Shropshire and Cheshire, in which latter county, in the hundred of Northwich, is Clive, from whence their ancestor Warin assumed his name in the time of Henry III. About the reign of Edward II. the family removed to Huxley, also in Cheshire, Henry de Clive having married the coheiress; and again in the reign of Henry VI. on the marriage of James Clive with the heiress of Styche, of Styche, they settled in Shropshire at that place, which is in the parish of Moreton-Say, and has remained uninterruptedly in the Clive family. The Earldom of Powis is the result of the match with the heiress of Herbert, of Powis Castle, in 1784.

See Ormerod's Cheshire, ii. 435, iii. 115; Blakeway, p. 140; Brydges's Collins, v. 543; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a fess sable three mullets or_. In the fourth year of Edward VI., three wolf's heads erased sable were added to the field of the original coat. See Archdall's Lodge, vii. 80.

Present Representative, Edward James Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis.

LAWLEY OF SPOONBILL, BARON WENLOCK 1839; BARONET 1641.

This family is descended from Thomas Lawley, cousin and next heir to John Lord Wenlock, K.G. in the reign of Edward IV., who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The Lawleys were described as "of Wenlock" in the reign of' Henry VI., and until that of Henry VIII., when Richard Lawley, Esq. ancestor of Lord Wenlock, was written "of Spoonhill."

See Blakeway, p. 92; Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 261; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Argent, a cross formée, checky or and sable_.

Present Representative, Beilby Richard Lawley-Thompson, 2nd Baron Wenlock.

PIGOTT OF EDGMOND.

The Pigotts were formerly seated at Chetwynd in this county, which they inherited from the coheiress of Peshall in the fourteenth century.

The family came originally from Cheshire; William Pigott of Butley in the parish of Prestbury in that county, who died in 1376, was grandfather of Richard Pigott of Butley who married the heiress of Peshall. Chetwynd was sold about 1776, and the rectory of Edgmond purchased by Thomas Pigott, Esq., in the reign of James I.

See Blakeway, p. 84; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Ermine, three fusils in fess sable_. The coat formerly borne by this family, founded on the arms of Chetwynd, was, _Azure, a chevron between three mullets or, on a chief ermine three fusils sable_.

Present Representative, the Rev. John Dryden Pigott.

THORNES OF LLWYNTIDMAN HALL.

The name is local, from Thornes in the parish of Shenstone, in the county of Stafford, where Robert, son of Roger de la Thornes, was resident early in the fourteenth century. He was elected burgess for Shrewsbury in 1357, a position subsequently filled by several of his descendants. The family also became seated at Shelvock in this county at an early period. Thomas Thornes of that place erected a mansion on the old family estate at Thornes in the reign of Edward IV., which estate was sold by his descendant Roger Thornes in 1507. Shelvock continued in the family until the extinction of the eldest branch of it in 1678. The present family descend from Nicholas Thornes of Melverley, great-uncle of Richard Thornes who was sheriff of this county in 1610.

See Sanders's History of Shenstone, p. 215; Blakeway, p. 101; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Sable, a lion rampant guardant argent_.

Present Representative, Thomas William Thornes, Esq.

HARRIES OF CRUCKTON.

The ancestor of this family was of Cruckton in the parish of Pontesbury in 1463. It has been supposed that the Harries's are of the old race of "Fitz-Henry," mentioned in ancient deeds of this county, and who were seated at Little Sutton prior to the reign of Edward III.

See Blakeway, p. 178; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Ermine, three bars azure, over all three annulets or_.

Present Representative, Francis Harries, Esq.

SALWEY OF MOOR PARK.

About the reign of Henry III. William Salwey was Lord of Leacroft, a hamlet in the parish of Cannock in Staffordshire; hence the family removed to Stanford in Worcestershire; of' which John Salwey was owner in the third of Henry IV. But this estate was carried by an heiress to Sir Francis Winnington in the reign of Charles II. Richard Salwey, younger brother of Edward Salwey of Stanford, was seated at Richard's Castle in the county of Hereford at the time of the Protectorate. His grandson Richard was of the Moor Park, where he died in 1759, and was succeeded by his great-nephew, whose grandson is the present representative of this ancient family. See Erdeswick's Staffordshire, ed. 1844, p. 200; Nash's Worcestershire, ii. 369; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Sable, a saltier engrailed or_.

Present Representative, John Salwey, Esq.

BOROUGH OF CHETWYND.

Lineally descended from Robert "Borowe," noticed by Leland in his Itinerary, which Robert died in 1418, and was father of Robert surnamed de Stokeden, Lord of Erdborough in the county of Leicester.

Chetwynd was purchased by Thomas Borough, Esq., in 1803, the family having been previously for many years resident at Derby.

See Glover's History of the County of Derby, 8vo. 1833, vol. ii. p. 558, who refers to the genealogy of the family in the College of Arms, 4 Norfolk, p. 189; Nichols's Leicestershire, ii. 528; and Morris MSS.

ARMS.--_Gules, the stem and trunk of a tree eradicated, as also couped, sprouting out two branches argent_. In 1702 a frightful modern coat founded on the preceding, with the shield of Pallas dependent from an oak-tree or, was granted by the College of Arms.

Present Representative, John Charles Burton Borough, Esq.

SOMERSETSHIRE.

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POULETT OF HINTON ST. GEORGE, EARL POULETT 1706; BARON 1627.

Paulet, in the hundred of North Petherton in this county, gave name to this historical family, the first on record being Sir William de Paulet, who died in 1242. He was of Leigh in Devonshire, which, with Rode in Somersetshire, successively became the family seat. Hinton St. George, which came from the heiress of Denebaud in the reign of Henry VI., is noticed by Leland as "a right goodly manor place of fre stone, with two goodly high tourres embattled in the ynner court," and has ever since remained the seat of this the elder branch of the family. The Marquesses of Winchester (1551) and the extinct Dukes of Bolton descend from William second son of Sir John Paulet of Paulet, who died in 1378. They were of Basing in Hampshire, derived through the heiress of Poynings from the great house of St.John, in the reign of Henry VI.

See Leland's Itinerary, ii. fol. 55, vi. fol. 11; Brydges's Collins, ii. 367, iv. 1; Collinson's History of Somersetshire, ii. p. 165. For an account of Hinton St. George, the Topographer, vol. i. p. 171, vol. ii. p.354. For Basing, Gent. Mag. 1787, p. 680.

ARMS.--_Sable, three swords in pile, their points towards the base, argent, the pomels and hilts or. Gules, a pair of wings conjoined in lure argent_, being the coat of his mother the heiress of Reyney, was borne by Sir John Paulet in the 15th of Richard II.

Present Representative, William Poulett, 6th Earl Poulett.

SPEKE OF JORDANS.

This is a younger branch of an ancient family descended from Richard le Espek, who lived in the reign of Henry II. Wemworthy and Brampton, in the county of Devon, were the original seats; but in the time of Henry VI. Sir John Speke, having married an heiress of Beauchamp, became possessed of the manor of Whitelackington in this county, which for eleven generations continued the inheritance of his descendants in the male line, when an heiress carried it to the Norths, Earls of Guildford. Jordans, a hamlet in the manor of Ashill, also inherited from the Beauchamps, appears to be the only remnant of the former possessions of this venerable house.

See Leland's Itinerary, ii. ff. 51, 55; Topographer, i. 507; and Collinson's History of Somersetshire, i. pp. 12, 66.

ARMS.--_Barry of eight argent and azure, an eagle with two heads displayed gules_.

Present Representative, William Speke, Esq.

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TREVELYAN OF NETTLECOMB, BARONET 1661-2.

The name sufficiently implies that this is a Cornish family, traced to Nicholas de Trevelyan living in the reign of Edward I., whose ancestors were of Trevelyan, in the parish of St. Vehap, near Fowey, at a still earlier period. Nettlecomb was inherited from the heiress of Whalesborough towards the end of the fifteenth century. The Trevelyans suffered for their loyalty during the Usurpation, and were rewarded by the baronetcy on the Restoration. The estate of Wallington, in the county of Northumberland, came from the heiress of Calverley of Calverley in the last century.

Younger Branch, Trevelyan of Nether-Witton in the county of Northumberland.

See Westcote's Devonshire Pedigrees, p. 558; Collinson's Somersetshire, iii. p. 539; Gilbert's Cornwall, i. 564; Hodgson's History of Northumberland, vol. i. pt. 2. p. 262; and Wotton's Baronetage, iii. p. 353.

ARMS.--_Gules, a land-horse argent, armed or, coming out of the sea party per fess wavy azure and of the second_. This coat is traditionally derived from one of the family swimming on horseback from the rocks called Seven Stones to the Land's End, at the time of an inundation. The more ancient arms are said to have been _a lion rampant holding a baton_.

Present Representative, Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, 6th Baronet.

UPTON (CALLED SMYTH) OF ASHTON-COURT, BARONET 1859.

An ancient Cornish family, said to have been originally of Upton, in that county, or, according to Prince in his Worthies of Devon, named from Upton in the parish of Collumpton in Devonshire, and fixed at Portlinch in the parish of Newton Ferrers, by a match with the heiress of Mohun, about the end of the fifteenth century. Here the elder branch was long seated, and became extinct in 1709. The present family descend from a younger brother, who settled at Lupton in Devonshire: his descendant was of Ingmire Hall in Westmerland, derived from the heiress of Otway about the beginning of the eighteenth century. The present representative, succeeding to the estates of the Smyths of Ashton, assumed that name, and was created a Baronet in 1859.

Younger Branches. Upton of Glyde-Court in the county of Louth, descended from the third son of John Upton of Lupton, living in 1620; and Upton, Baron Templetown, descended from Henry second son of Arthur Upton of Lupton. This Henry came into Ireland in 1598, a captain in the army under the Earl of Essex, and established himself in the county of Antrim.

See Prince's Worthies of Devon, ed. 1701, p. 572; Westcote's Devonshire, p. 519; and Archdall's Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, vii. p. 152.

ARMS.--_Sable, a cross moline argent_.

Present Representative, Sir John Henry Greville Upton Smythe, Baronet.

SOUTHAMPTONSHIRE.

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TICHBORNE OF TICHBORNE, BARONET 1620.

Of the great antiquity of this family there is no doubt, they having been seated at their manor of Tichborne from the reign of Henry II., at which period Sir Roger de Tichborne, their first recorded ancestor, was lord of that manor. The immediate ancestors of the present family were of Aldershot, in this county, being descended from the second son of the first Baronet. Henry Tichborne, grandson of the celebrated Sir Henry Tichborne, so distinguished during the Great Rebellion in Ireland, and who was fourth son of the first Baronet, was raised to the peerage in Ireland as Baron Ferrard in 1715; he died, and the peerage became extinct, in 1728.

See Wotton's Baronetage, i. 425; Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vii. p. 213; and for a notice of Chidiock Tichborne, engaged in the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, see Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature, 1st series, vol. iii. p. 95.

ARMS.--_Vair, a chief or_, borne by Sir John Tichborne in the sixth of Henry IV.

Present Representative, Sir Alfred Joseph, Doughty Tichborne, 11th Baronet.

OGLANDER OF NUNWELL, BARONET 1665.

Richard de Okelandre, the patriarch of his family, is supposed to have been of Norman origin, and was Lord of Nunwell, in the Isle of Wight, the present seat, from the time of King John. Seventeenth in direct male descent from Richard, was Sir John Oglander, Knt., a great sufferer, both in person and fortune, for his zealous attachment to his sovereign King Charles I. He died before the Restoration, but his loyalty was recognised by the baronetcy conferred upon his son, a worthy successor to his father, by Charles II. in 1665.

See Hutchins's History of Dorset, i, p. 450, for an account of the family under "Parnham," which came from the heiress of Strode; see also Wotton's Baronetage, iii. 492.

ARMS.--_Azure, a stork between three cross-crosslets fitchée or_.

Present Representative, Sir Henry Oglander, 7th Baronet.

WALLOP OF WALLOP, EARL OF PORTSMOUTH 1743.

The true and original name of this family is Barton, Peter de Barton, lord of West Barton, in this county, having married Alice, only daughter and heiress of Sir Robert de Wallop, who died in the eleventh year of Edward I. His great-grandson Richard assumed the name of Wallop, and was returned as one of the knights of the shire for the county of Southampton in the second of Edward III. Over and Nether Wallop, so called, says Camden, "from Well-hop, that is, a pretty well in the side of a hill," continued till the reign of Henry V. the principal seat, when Margaret de Valoynes brought into the family the manor of Farley, afterwards called Farley-Wallop, which has since been the usual residence of the Wallops; of whom Sir John was greatly distinguished in the reign of Henry VII., and Sir Henry in Ireland in that of Elizabeth. Robert Wallop, grandson of Sir Henry, unfortunately taking part against his sovereign Charles I., and sitting as one of his judges, though he did not sign the fatal warrant, fell into universal contempt after the Restoration, and died in the Tower of London in 1667. He was great-grandfaher of the first peer.

See Brydges's Collins, iv. p. 291.

ARMS.--_Argent, a bend wavy sable_. This coat was borne by Monsieur John de Barton in the reign of Richard II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, Isaac Newton Wallop, 5th Earl of Portsmouth.

COPE OF BRAMSHILL, BARONET 1611.

The Copes appear in the character of civil servants of the crown in the reign of Richard II. and Henry IV., and were rewarded with large grants of land in the counties of Northampton and Buckingham. Hardwick and Hanwell, both in the neighbourhood of Banbury, were subsequently the family seats, and are noticed by Leland, who calls the latter "a very pleasant and gallant house." Towards the end of the seventeenth century the family appear to have been established at Bramshill, traditionally said to have been built for Henry Prince of Wales, eldest son of King James I.

See Wotton's Baronetage i. p. 112; and Beesley's History of Banbury, p. 190.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a chevron azure between three roses gules, slipped and leaved vert, as many fleurs-de-lis or_. The original coat was, _Argent, a boar passant sable_, which William Cope, Cofferer to Henry VII., abandoned for _Argent, three coffers sable_, allusive to his office; but he afterwards had assigned to him the present arms alluding to the royal badges of the crown.

Present Representative, the Rev. Sir William Henry Cope, 12th Baronet.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

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OKEOVER OF OKEOVER.

Ormus, at the period of the Norman Conquest was Lord of Okeover by grant of Nigel, Abbot of Burton. He is the direct ancestor of this venerable house, which has been ever since in possession of the ancient seat which gives name to the family, and which lies on the very edge of the county, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire.

See Wood's MSS. 8594, vol. 6, for a very curious and valuable cartulary of the Okeovers, and Dodsworth's MSS. 5037, vol. 96, fol. 17 (both in the Bodleian Library); see also Erdeswick's Staffordshire, Harwood's ed. 1844, p. 487; Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 26; and the Topographer, ii. p. 313.

ARMS.--_Ermine, on a chief gules three bezants_. This coat was borne by Monsieur Philip de Oker, in the reign of Richard II. (Roll).

Present Representative, Haughton Charles Okeover, Esq.

BAGOT OF BAGOT'S BROMLEY; BARON BAGOT 1780; BARONET 1627.

A most ancient family, also coeval with the Conquest, descended from Bagod, who at the time of the compilation of Domesday Book held Bromley of Robert de Stadford or Stafford. In the reign of Richard I. the male line of the Staffords failing, Milicent Stafford married Henry Bagot of this family, and their issue, assuming their mother's name, were progenitors of the illustrious house of Stafford, Dukes of Buckingham. Blythfield in this county, which came from an heiress of that name, has been the seat of the Bagots from the thirteenth century.

Younger Branches. Chester of Chicheley Hall, co. Bucks, and Bagot of Pype Hayes, co. Warwick, descended from the second and third sons of Sir Walter W. Bagot, father of the first Lord Bagot.

See Bagot Memorials, privately printed, 4to. 1824; Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 47; and Erdeswick, p. 262.

ARMS.--_Ermine, two chevrons azure_. A former coat was, _Argent, a chevron gules between three martlets sable_, which was used from the reign of Edward III. to that of Henry VIII. (Rolls.) The present coat is of still greater antiquity.

Present Representative, William Bagot, 3rd Baron Bagot.

GIFFORD OF CHILLINGTON.

A noble Norman family, which is traced to the Conquest, and of which there were in Leland's time four "notable houses" remaining in England, in the counties of Devon, Southampton, Stafford, and Buckingham. All with the exception of the third have been long extinct. The Giffords have been seated in Staffordshire since the reign of Henry II., when Peter Gifford, by the gift of Peter Corbesone, became Lord of the Manor of Chillington, ever since their principal residence. He is called in the Deed of Gift, "_Nepos uxoris meae_." This family had the honour to be concerned in the preservation of King Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester.

See Erdeswick, p. 158, corrected from Huntbach's MSS. penes Lord Wrottesley.

ARMS.--_Azure, three stirrups with leathers or_. The more ancient coat, which was used by the elder line of the Giffords, who were Earls of Buckingham, was, _Gules, three lions passant argent_.

Present Representative, Thomas William Gifford, Esq.

WROTTESLEY OF WROTTESLEY: BARON WROTTESLEY 1838; BARONET 1542.

"Sumetime," writes Leland, "the Wrotesleys were men of more land than they bee now, and greate with the Earles of Warwick; yet he hath 200 markes of londe; at Wrotesley is a fayre house and a parker" and here, it may be added, the family are supposed to have been seated from the period of the Conquest. The pedigree however is not proved beyond William de Wrottesley, lord of that manor before the reign of Henry III., father of Sir Hugh, who, joining the insurgent Barons in the reign of Henry III., forfeited his estate, redeemed under the dictum de Kenelworth for 60 marcs. His great-grandson Sir Hugh Wrottesley, one of the "Founders" of the Order of the Garter, who died in 1380-1, is the direct ancestor of the present lord.

See Leland's Itinerary in Coll. Topog. et Genealogica, iii. 340; Erdeswick, p. 359; Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 345; and Shaw's Staffordshire, ii. 205, kindly corrected by the Hon. Charles Wrottesley.