Chapter VI: Part 6

ARMS.--_Or, three piles sable and a quarter ermine_. The more ancient coat, as appears by seals to original deeds of the years 1298 and 1333-37, preserved at Wrottesley, was _fretty_. Sir Hugh de Wrottesleye bore the present arms in 1349 and 1381. But he is also stated, on the authority of the Roll of the reign of Richard II., to have used, _Or, a bend engrailed gules_. Sir William Wrottesley, father of Sir Hugh, K.G., married Joan, daughter of Roger Basset, which will account for the present arms, which belonged to the Bassets of Warwickshire.

Present Representative, John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley.

BROUGHTON OF BROUGHTON, BARONET 1660.

"The Broughtons descend in the male line from one of the most ancient families of the county of Chester, the Vernons of Shipbrook. Richard de Vernon, a younger brother of this house, was father of Adam de Napton, in the county of Warwick, whose issue assumed their local name from Broughton in Staffordshire. The pedigrees vary as to the exact point of connection, and, confused and contradictory as the Shipbrooke pedigree is at this period, there can be little hope of its being positively identified; but the general fact of descent is allowed by all authorities."

See Ormerod's Cheshire, iii. 269; Wotton's Baronetage, iii. 259; and Erdeswick, p. 111.

ARMS.--_Argent, two bars gules, on a canton of the last a cross of the first_. In the reign of Richard II. Monsieur Thomas de Broughton bore, _Azure, a cross engrailed argent_. (Roll.)

Present Representative, Sir Henry Delves Broughton, ninth Baronet.

MAINWARING OF WHITMORE.

The first recorded ancestor of this great and widely-spreading family is Ranulphus, a Norman, Lord of Warmincham, in Cheshire, at the period of the Domesday Survey; where his descendants remained seated for two centuries. In the reign of Henry III. they were of Over-Peover in the same county, and remained there until the principal male line became extinct in the person of Sir Henry Mainwaring of Peover, Baronet, who died unmarried in 1797. Whitmore was inherited by Edward ninth son of Sir John Mainwaring of Peover, on his marriage with the heiress of Humphry de Boghey or Bohun of Whitmore. This was in the year 1519. The senior line of the Mainwarings were on the loyal side during the great Rebellion, and in 1745 opposed to the pretensions of the house of Stuart. But the Whitmore branch favoured the Parliamentary interest.

Younger Branch. Mainwaring of Oteley Park, in the parish of Ellesmere in Shropshire, sprung from Randle, third son of Edward Mainwaring of Whitmore.

Extinct Branches. Maynwaring of Ightfield, co. Salop; extinct 1712. (See Blakeway, Sheriffs of Shropshire, pp. 83, 133.) Mainwaring of Kermincham, co. Chester, extinct 1783. (See Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 46.) And Mainwaring of Bromborough, in the same county, extinct 1827.

See Erdeswick's Staffordshire, p. 78; and Ormerod, vol. i. p. 368; vol. ii. p. 239; vol. iii. p. 447.

ARMS.--_Argent, two bars gules_.

Present Representative, Rowland Mainwaring, Esq.

ARDEN OF LONGCROFT.

No family in England can claim a more noble origin than the house of Arden, descended in the male line from the Saxon Earls of Warwick before the Conquest. The name of Arden was assumed from the Woodlands of Arden, in the North of Warwickshire, by Siward de Arden, in the reign of Henry I.; which Siward was grandson of Alwin the Sheriff in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The elder line of the family was long seated at Park-Hall in Warwickshire, and became extinct in 1643. A younger branch descended from Simon second son of Thomas Arden, of Park-Hall, Esq. settled at Longcroft, in the parish of Yoxall, in the reign of Elizabeth, and now represents this most ancient and noble family.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, 2nd edit. vol. ii. p. 295; Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 102; and Erdeswick, p. 279; also a paper by George Ormerod, Esq. LL.D., the historian of Cheshire, "On the connection of Arden, or Arderne, of Cheshire, with the Ardens of Warwickshire," in "The Topographer and Genealogist," vol. i. 1846.

ARMS.--_Ermine, a fess checky or and azure_, and so borne by Sir----de Arderne in the reign of Edward II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, George Pincard Arden, Esq.

MEYNELL OF HORE-CROSS.

An ancient Derbyshire family, which can be traced to the reign of Henry II. One of their most ancient possessions was Langley-Meynell, in that county, an estate which remained in the family till the end of the fourteenth century. A younger son at this period was seated at Yeaveley, his grandson at Willington, both in Derbyshire. Bradley, in the same county, became in the seventeenh century, by purchase, the residence of a still younger branch, descended from Francis, fourth son of Godfrey Meynell of Willington: from him descends the present family, who were of Hore-Cross the latter part of the last century. Temple-Newsom, in Yorkshire, was inherited from the Ingrams by the present Mr. Meynell on the death of the Marchioness of Hertford in 1835.

Younger Branch. Meynell of Langley-Meynell, Derbyshire, descended from Francis, second son of Francis Meynell, of Willington, who died in 1616.

See Leland's Itinerary, iv. fo. 17; and Topographer and Genealogist, i. 439, and 494.

ARMS.--_Vaire argent and sable_. This was the coat of De-la-Ward, of which house Hugh de Meynell married the heiress in the reign of Edward III. The proper coat of Meynell was, _Paly of six argent and gules, on a bend azure three horseshoes or_.

Present Representative, Hugo Charles Meynell-Ingram, Esq.

+Gentle.+

WOLSELEY OF WOLSELEY, BARONET 1628.

"The most ancient among all the very ancient families in this county," writes Mr. Harwood in his notes to Erdeswick's Staffordshire. Siward, mentioned as Lord of Wlselei in a deed without date, is the first in the pedigree of this venerable house, who are said to have been resident at Wolseley even before the Norman Conquest, and it has ever since remained their seat and residence.

Younger Branch. Wolseley of Mount Wolseley, in the county of Carlow, Baronet of Ireland (1744), descended from the third son of the second Baronet.

See Erdeswick, p. 203; Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 133.

ARMS.--_Argent, a talbot passant gules_.

Present Representative, Sir Charles Michael Wolseley, ninth Baronet.

COTES OF COTES.

Descended from Richard de Cotes, who was probably son of Thomas de Cotes, living in 1157, when the Black Book of the Exchequer was compiled. About the reign of Henry VI. the family removed to Woodcote, in Shropshire, which has since continued the principal seat, though the more ancient manor of Cotes or "Kothes," on the banks of the Sow, has ever remained the property of this ancient house.

See Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire, p. 103; and Erdeswick, p. 122.

ARMS.--_Quarterly ermine and paly of six or and gules_. According to the Visitation of Shropshire in 1623, the ermine was borne in the third and fourth quarter. Erdeswick observes, "It would seem that the Cotes's should derive themselves from the Knightleys, or else they do the Knightleys wrong by usurping their armoury." It may be remarked that Robert, third in descent from the first Robert de Cotes, married a daughter of Richard de Knightley, and from hence perhaps the arms.

Present Representative, John Cotes, Esq.

CONGREVE OF CONGREVE.

The name, like those of most ancient families, is local, derived from Congreve, in this county, where the ancestors of this house were seated soon after the Conquest.

In the reign of Edward II. William Congreve removed to the adjoining village of Stretton, having married the heiress of Campion of that place. Stretton was sold towards the end of the eighteenth century, but Congreve still continues the inheritance of its ancient lords.

Younger Branch. Congreve of Walton, Baronet 1812.

See Erdeswick, p. 167.

ARMS.--_Sable, a chevron between three battleaxes argent_. This is, says Erdeswick, the coat of Campion.

Present Representative, William Walter Congreve, Esq.

SNEYD OF KEEL.

"The noble race of Sneyds, of great worship and account,"* appear to be denominated from Snead, a hamlet in the parish of Tunstall, in this county, where they were seated as early as the reign of Henry III. By marriage with the heiress of Tunstall they had other lands in that parish, and for two descents were called Snead alias Tunstall. Bradwell, the former seat of this family, was purchased in the reign of Henry IV. The fine old house at Keel, lately taken down and now rebuilt, was erected by Ralph Sneyd, Esq. in 1581. During the Usurpation, the Sneyds being on the loyal side, Keel house narrowly escaped destruction, and many of the ancient evidences were plundered and lost at that time.

Younger Branches. Sneyd of Ashcombe, and of Loxley in this county, descended from the second son of William Sneyd, of Keel, who died in 1694: and the Sneyds of Ireland, descended from Wettenhall, Archdeacon of Kilmore, younger brother of the ancestor of the preceding branches.

See Erdeswick, pp. 20, 25; Leland's Itinerary in Coll. Topog. et Genealog. iii. 342; Gent. Mag. vol. lxxi. p. 28; and Ward's History of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent.

ARMS.--_Argent, a scythe, the blade in chief, the sned and handle in bend sinister sable, on the fess point a fleur-de-lis of the second_. This fleur-de-lis is said to have been assumed by Richard de Tunstall, alias Sneyd, after the battle of Poictiers.

Present Representative, Ralph Sneyd, Esq.

* King's Vale Royal, b. ii. p. 77, who would derive them from
Cheshire.

WHITGREAVE OF MOSELEY.

In the reign of Henry III., Robert Whitgreave, the ancestor of this family, was seated at Burton near Stafford. Bridgeford, in the vicinity of Whitgreave, from whence the name is derived, and early in the seventeenth century Moseley, successively became the residence of the Whitgreaves, and at the latter place Thomas Whitgreave, Esq. had the honour to shelter his sovereign Charles II. after the battle of Worcester.

See Erdeswick, pp. 137, 185, 348.

ARMS.--_Azure, on a cross quarterly pierced or four chevrons gules_. This coat, founded on the arms of Stafford, was granted by Humphry Earl of Stafford to Robert Whitgrave in the 20th of Henry VI. See the grant in Camden's Remains, ed. 1657, p. 221. An augmentation has been lately added, _On a chief argent, a rose gules within a wreath of oak proper_.

Present Representative, George Thomas Whitgreave, Esq.

LANE OF KING'S BROMLEY.

The ancient seat of this family was at Bentley in this county, of which Richard Lane was possessed in the sixth of Henry VI. The Lanes can be traced to Adam de Lone de Hampton, grandfather of Richard de le Lone de Hampton, in the ninth of Edward II. (1315). The three last Lanes of Bentley each lessened the estate, mainly from their devotion to the ill-fated house of Stuart; and the fourth, John Lane, sold Bentley in 1748. This family, even more than the Giffords and Whitgreaves, can lay claim to be remembered for its loyalty to Charles II. after his flight from Worcester. The celebrated Jane Lane was the daughter of the then head of the house, and rode behind the King from Bentley to Bristol. King's Bromley was inherited from the Newtons about the end of the last century.

See Erdeswick, pp. 235, 410; Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. ii. p. 97; Gent. Mag. for 1822, vol. i. pp. 194, 415, 482.

ARMS.--_Per fesse or and azure, a chevron gules between three mullets counter-changed, on a canton of the third the Royal lions of England_, being an augmentation granted by Charles II.

Present Representative, John Newton Lane, Esq.

SUFFOLK.

+Knightly.+

BARNARDISTON OF THE RYES.

A very remote but the only remaining branch of what was in former ages the most important family in Suffolk, descended from Geoffry de Barnardiston, of Barnardiston in this county, who was living in the reign of Edward I., and who by his marriage with the daughter and coheir of Newmarch became possessed of the adjoining manor of Kedington or Ketton, which continued the seat and residence of the Barnardistons, created Baronet in 1663, until the death of Sir John the sixth Baronet of Ketton, in 1745. The present family descended from Thomas Barnardiston, a merchant in London, who died in 1681, fifth son of Sir Thomas of Ketton, Knight, and Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Knightley. Besides the elder and principal line of Ketton, other branches were of Brightwell in this county, (created Baronets in 1663, extinct in 1721,) and of Northill, co. Bedford, extinct in 1778.

See Wotton's Baronetage, iii. 396; and Davy's Suffolk Collections in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 19,116, p. 537, for long and interesting accounts of this remarkable family.

ARMS.--_Azure, a fess dancettée ermine between six cross-crosslets argent_.

Present Representative, Nathaniel Clarke Barnardiston. Esq.

JENNEY OF BREDFIELD.

This ancient family is supposed to be of French extraction, and the name to be derived from Guisnes near Calais. The first in the pedigree is Edmund Jenny, of Knoddishall, in this county; grandfather of John Jenney, of the same place, who died in 1460; who was father of Sir William, one of the Judges of the King's Bench in 1477. Edmund, second son of Sir Robert Jenney, of Knoddishall, who died in 1660, married Dorothy, daughter and coheiress of Robert Marryatt, of Bredfield, from whom the present family descend.

See Davy's Suffolk Collections, Add. MSS. 19,137, p. 181.

ARMS.--_Ermine, a bend gules cotised or_.

Present Representative, William Jenney, Esq.

BROOKE OF UFFORD.

Sir Thomas Brooke, Knight, Lord Cobham in right of his wife, Joan, daughter and heir of Sir Reginald Braybrooke, Knight, was sixth in descent from William de la Brooke, owner of the manor of Brooke, in the county of Somerset, who died in the fifteenth of Henry III. (1231). Sir Thomas Brooke died in the seventeenth of Henry VI. From his eldest son descended the Barons Cobham; from Reginald the second son sprung the present family. He was seated at Aspel, in Suffolk, and here his descendants continued for nine generations. Ufford came from the heiress of Thomson in 1761.

See Davy's Suffolk Collections, Add. MSS. 19,120, vol. xliv.; and Gent. Mag. for March 1841, p. 306, for an account of the restoration of the Brooke monuments at Cobham.

ARMS.--_Gules, on a chervon argent a lion rampant sable_.

Present Representative, Francis Capper Brooke, Esq.

HERVEY OF ICKWORTH, MARQUESS OF BRISTOL 1826; EARL 1714; BARON 1703.

Descended from Thomas Hervey, who died before 1470, having married Jane, daughter and sole heir of Henry Drury, of Ickworth. There is some uncertainty as to who this Thomas Hervey was; the peerages indeed assume that he was younger brother of Sir George Hervey, of Thurleigh, in Bedfordshire; Mr. Gages however has proved that this could not have been the case, but the Rev. Lord Arthur Hervey in his interesting Memoir on Ickworth and the Hervey family, has adduced several reasons by which it would seem that Thomas Hervey was a younger son of John Hervey, senior, of Thurleigh, and the coheiress of Niernuyt, and uncle of Sir George, the last of the legitimate elder line of that knightly family.

Younger Branch. Bathurst Hervey, of Clarendon, Wiltshire, Baronet 1818, descended from the eighth son of the first Earl of Bristol.

See Gage's Thingoe, p. 286; Brydges's Collins, iv. p. 139; Davy's Suffolk Collections, Add. MSS. 19,135, vol. lix. p. 160; the Rev. Lord Arthur Hervey's papers on Ickworth and the Family of Hervey, 4to. Lowestoft, 1858; and Proceedings of the Suffolk Archaeological Society, vol. ii. No. 7.

ARMS.--_Gules, on a bend argent three trefoils slipped vert_, and so borne by John Hervey, Esq., as appears by "The Proceedings in the Grey and Hastings Controversy" in the Court of Chivalry in the year 1407. See the Proceedings, privately printed by Lord Hastings in 1841, p. 27. The arms of Hervey appear to have been founded on the coat of Foliot, _Gules, a bend argent_.

Present Representative, Frederick William John Hervey, 3rd Marquess of Bristol.

+Gentle.+

ROUS OF DENNINGTON AND HENHAM, EARL OF STRADBROKE 1821; BARON 1796; BARONET 1660.

"All the Roucis that be in Southfolk cum oute of the house of Rouse of Dennington," writes Leland in his Itinerary, vol. vi. fol. 13. That estate appears to have come into the family by the marriage of Peter Rouse with an heiress of Hobart in the reign of Edward III., and to have been increased afterwards by matches with the heiress of le-Watre and Phillips, the last representing one of the co-heiresses of Erpingham. Henham, the present residence, was purchased in 1545 by Sir Anthony Rous, son of Sir William Rous of Dennington.

See Wotton's Baronetage, iii. p. 159; Brydges's Collins, viii. p. 476; Suckling's History and Antiquities of Suffolk, vol. ii. p. 365; and Davy's Suffolk Collections, Add. MSS. 19,147, vol. lxxi. p. 192.

ARMS.--_Sable, a fess dancettée or between three crescents argent_.

Present Representative, John Edward Cornwallis Rous, 2nd Earl of Stradbroke.

HEIGHAM OF HUNSTON.

A younger branch of an old Suffolk family, who derived their name from a hamlet in the parish of Gaseley in this county. The pedigree is traced to Richard Heigham, who died in 1340; his grandson Thomas was of Heigham, and died in 1409. The elder line ended in co-heiresses in 1558. A younger branch was seated at Barrow, and continued there till 1714, founded by Clement, fourth son of Thomas Heigham, of Heigham, Esq., who died in 1492. From Sir Clement, third in descent from the first Clement, the present family is descended. Hunston was inherited from the heiress of Lurkin in 1701.

See Gage's History of the Hundred of Thingoe, p. 8; and Davy's Suffolk Collections, Add. MSS. 19,135, vol. lix. p. 50.

ARMS.--_Sable, a fess cheeky, or and azure, between three horse's heads erased argent_.

Present Representative, John Henry Heigham, Esq.

BLOIS OF COCKFIELD HALL, BARONET 1686.

This family is supposed to derive its name from Blois in France, and is thought to be of great antiquity in this county; it is not regularly deduced, however, beyond Thomas Blois, who was living at Norton in Suffolk in 1470. Third in descent was Richard Blois of Grundisburgh, which he purchased, and which became for many years the principal seat of the family. He died in 1557.

See Wotton's Baronetage, iv. p. 9; and Davy's Suffolk Collections, Add. MSS. 91,118, vol. xlii. p. 386.

ARMS.--_Gules, a bend vair between two fleurs-de-lis argent_. Gwillim makes the field _sable_, and the fleurs-de-lis _or_.

Present Representative, Sir John Ralph Blois, 8th Baronet.

SURREY.

+Knightly.+

BRAY OF SHERE.

The first in the pedigree is Sir Robert Bray, of Northamptonshire, father of Sir James, who lived about the period of Richard I. His great-grandson, Thomas, was lord of Thurnby, in the same county, in the ninth of Edward II. (1316); from him descended Sir Edward Bray, who died in 1558. Harleston, also in the county of Northampton, was an ancient seat of the Bray family, which rose into opulence with the success of Henry VII. after the Battle of Bosworth, where Sir Reginald Bray, the devoted adherent of the King, was said to have discovered the crown in a thorn-bush, in memory of which he afterwards bore for his badge, "a thorn with a crown in the middle of it." Shere was granted, with many other manors, to Sir Reginald as a reward for his services. The present family spring from Reginald, eldest son by the first wife of Sir Edward Bray, son of John, and nephew of the celebrated Sir Reginald. Edmund Lord Bray was elder brother of Sir Edward; he had an only son, John Lord Bray, who died s. p. in 1557.

Of this family was William Bray, Esq., Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries, and joint Historian of Surrey.

See Leland's Itinerary, viii. 113, a; and Manning and Bray's Surrey, vol. i. p. 514-523.

ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron between three eagle's legs sable erased a la cuisse, their talons gules_. Another coat usually quartered with the above is, _Vair, three bends gules_.

Present Representative, Edward Bray, Esq.

PERCEVAL OF NORK HOUSE, EARL OF EGMONT IN IRELAND 1733; BARON LOVELL AND HOLLAND 1762; BARON ARDEN 1802.

"The House of Yvery," a work privately printed by the second Earl of Egmont in 1742, professes to give the history of this family, but the earlier descents cannot with certainty be relied on, and even the extraction of Richard Perceval, the modern founder of the present family in the time of James I., from the Somersetshire Percevals, is according to Brydges, in his Biographical Peerage, not without some doubts. It appears, however, certain that he was the son of George Perceval, of Tykenham, in the county of Somerset, by Elizabeth Bampfylde, and fifth in descent from Richard Perceval, of Weston-Gordein, in the same county, who died between 1433 and 1439, the representative of a family who had been seated there from the reign of Richard I., and who claim to be descended from the House of Yvery in Normandy. The elder branch of the Percevals continued at their manor of Weston until the extinction of the male line in the person of Thomas Perceval, Esq. in 1691. The younger branch, the ancestors of the present family, were seated in the county of Cork in Ireland, and in the eighteenth century at Enmore in Somersetshire, sold after the death of the fifth Earl of Egmont. Nork House was the seat of Lord Arden, father of the present Earl, and brother of the third Earl of Egmont.

See "A Genealogical History of the House of Yvery, &c." 8vo. 1742; and Collinson's History of Somersetshire, vol. iii. p. 171.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a chief indented gules three crosses patée of the first_. This coat appears to have been borne by Sir Roger Perceval in the reign of Edward I. See his seal engraved in "The House of Yvery," vol. i. p. 41.

Present Representative, George James Perceval, sixth Earl of Egmont.

+Gentle.+

WESTON OF WEST-HORSLEY.

Adam de Weston, living in 1205, was the ancestor of this family, which has been from a very early period connected with Surrey. In the reign of Edward II., the Westons were of West-Clandon, and also of Weston in Albury, and of Send and Ockham, in this county. The last was sold in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and West-Horsley inherited by the will of William Nicholas, Esq. in 1749.

See Manning and Bray's Surrey, vol. iii. p. 41; and Gent. Mag. for 1789, p. 223; for a notice of this family, as well as of the extinct family of the same name, of Sutton, in this county, see also Gent. Mag. for 1800, p. 606.

ARMS.--_Sable, a chevron or between three leopard's heads erased argent, crowned or_.

Present Representative, Henry Weston, Esq.

ONSLOW OF WEST-CLANDON, EARL OF ONSLOW 1801; BARON 1716; BARONET 1660.

Although the foundation of the consequence of this family was laid by Richard Onslow, a celebrated lawyer of the reign of Elizabeth, yet he was sprung from an old gentle family seated at Onslow in Shropshire, as far back as the time of Richard I., and probably much earlier. The first recorded ancestor is John de Ondeslowe, whose grandson, Warin, was father of "Roger de Ondeslow juxta Shrewsbury," whose son Thomas was living in the twelfth of Edward II. 1318. Richard Onslow became Speaker of the House of Commons, and died in 1571. He was the first of his family connected with Surrey, by his marriage with Catherine, daughter and heir of Richard Harding, of Knoll, in this county, in the year 1554. West-Clandon was purchased in 1641 by Sir Richard Onslow, created a Baronet in 1660; the ancient family estate of Onslow having been sold by Edward Onslow in 1617.

Younger Branches. Onslow of Altham in the county of Lancaster, Baronet 1797, descended from the next brother of the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1726 to 1761. Onslow of Staughton, in the county of Huntingdon, descended from the second son of Sir Richard Onslow, the first Baronet.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. v. p. 461; Manning and Bray's Surrey, vol. ii. p. 723; and Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire, p. 90, corrected by the MSS. of Mr. Joseph Morris.

ARMS.--_Argent, a fess gules between six Cornish choughs proper_.

Present Representative, Arthur George Onslow, third Earl of Onslow.

SUSSEX.

+Knightly.+

ASHBURNHAM OF ASHBURNHAM, EARL OF ASHBURNHAM 1730; BARON 1689.

"A family of stupendous antiquity," writes Fuller. "The most ancient family in these tracts," according to Camden. "Genealogists have given them a Saxon origin," says Brydges; "but that is a fact very difficult to be proved, though very commonly asserted. They do not, I believe, appear in Domesday Book." There can be no doubt, however, that the Ashburnhams have been seated at Ashburnham from the reign of Henry II., and probably from a much earlier period, and are descended from Bertram, Constable of Dover in the reign of William the Conqueror. By the improvidence of Sir John Ashburnham, who died in 1620, this ancient patrimony was lost for a time, but recovered by Frances Holland, the wife of his eldest son John (the groom of the bed-chamber to Charles I.), who sold her whole estate, and laid out the money in redeeming Ashburnham.

Younger Branch. Ashburnham of Bromham in this county, Baronet 1661, descended from Richard, second son of Thomas Ashburnham, living in the reign of Henry VI.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. iv. p. 249; and Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 283.

ARMS.--_Gules, a fess between six mullets argent_. The earliest seal remaining of any of the ancestors of this family is, I believe, that of "Stephen de Esburne," great-grandson of Bertram, the Constable of Dover: the device is a slip or branch of Ash. His grandson, "Richard de Hasburnan," bore the Maltravers fret, his mother being daughter of Sir John Maltravers: the present coat was borne by Sir John de Aschebornham, in the reign of Edward II. (Seals and Roll of the reign of Edward II.)

Present Representative, Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham.

GORING OF HIGHDEN, BARONET 1627.

The name is derived from Goring, in the rape of Arundel, where the family can be traced to John de Goring, living in the reign of Edward II. Burton, in this county, was the seat of the principal and elder line of the family, created Baronets in 1662, extinct in 1723. Of a younger branch was the celebrated George Lord Goring 1628, Earl of Norwich 1644, (which titles were extinct on the death of his third son, but heir, the second Lord, in 1670,) sprung from the second son of Sir William Gorynge, of Burton, who died in 1553.

The present family is descended from the second son of Sir Henry Goring, of Burton, Knight, who died in 1594. Highden was purchased in 1647.

Younger Branch. Goring of Wiston, Sussex, descended from the second marriage of Sir Charles Matthew Goring, of Highden, the fourth Baronet, and the co-heiress of Fagg.

See Dallaway's Rape of Arundel, p. 281, who refers to Evidences relating to the family of Goring, MSS. Coll. Arm. Philpot, F. 119; Leland's Itin., vol. vi. fol. 17; Cartwright's Rape of Bramber, p. 132; and Wotton's Baronetage, vol. ii. p. 71.

ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron between three annulets gules_.

Present Representative, Sir Charles Goring, 8th Baronet.

PELHAM OF LAUGHTON, EARL OF CHICHESTER 1801; BARON 1672; BARONET 1611.

The name is local, from Pelham, in Hertfordshire, the seat of the ancestors of this family in the time of Edward I., and probably even before the Conquest. In the 28th of Edward I., Walter de Pelham had a confirmation grant of lands in Heilsham, Horsey, &c. in this county. From the reign of Edward III. the Pelhams have been a most important Sussex family; it was in that reign that Sir John Pelham assumed the Buckle as his badge, in token of his claim to the honour of taking John King of France prisoner at the battle of Poictiers. Laughton belonged to the Pelhams before 1403, but has been long deserted as the residence of the family.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. v. p. 488; Horsfield's Lewes; and Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol. iii. p. 211, for a curious paper on the arms and badges of the Pelhams.

ARMS.--_Quarterly,_ 1 _and_ 4_, Azure, three pelicans argent, vulning themselves proper;_ 2 _and_ 3_, Gules, two belts in pale argent with buckles and studs or_.

Present Representative, Henry Thomas Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester.

SHELLEY OF MARESFIELD, BARONET 1611.

Although there is no doubt of the antiquity of the house of Shelley, the accounts of the earlier descents of the family are very scanty. Originally of the county of Huntingdon, the Shelleys are said to have removed into this county at a very early period. But the earliest mention we have in history of any of this family is of John and Thomas Shelley, who, following the fortunes of Richard II., were attainted and beheaded in the first year of Henry IV. The remaining brother, Sir William Shelley, not being connected with the followers of Richard II., retained his possessions, and was the ancestor of this family, who in the reign of Henry VI., by a match with the heiress of Michelgrove, of Michelgrove, in Clapham, was seated at that place, which continued the residence of the Shelleys until the year 1800, when it was sold, and Maresfield became the family seat.

Younger Branches. Shelley or Castle-Goring, Baronet 1806, descended from the fourth son of Sir John Shelley, of Michelgrove, who died in 1526. Shelley of Avington, in the county of Southampton, and Shelley (called Sidney Foulis) Lord de L'Isle and Dudley 1835, descended from the second marriage of Sir Bysshe Shelley, of Castle-Goring, Baronet, and the heiress of Perry, of Penshurst.,

See Wotton's Baronetage, vol. i. p. 39; Cartwright's Topography of the Rape of Bramber, p. 76; and Dallaway's Rape of Arundel, p. 40.

ARMS.--_Sable, a fess engrailed between three whelk-shells or_.

Present Representative, Sir John Villiers Shelley, 7th Baronet.

WEST OF BUCKHURST, EARL DE LA WARR 1761; BARON 1427.

The Wests are remarkable, not so much for the antiquity of the family as for the early period at which they attained the honour of the peerage. Sir Thomas West is the first recorded ancestor; he died in the seventeenth of Edward II., having married the heiress of Cantilupe, and thus became possessed of lands in Devonshire, and at Snitterfield in Warwickshire. His grandson, Thomas, married the heiress of De la Warr, and thus became connected with Sussex. But the principal property of the Wests in this county was granted to Thomas West, afterwards Lord la Warr, in the first year of Henry VII. Few families indeed had broader lands; among which may be mentioned, Offington, in the parish of Broadwater, derived from the heiress of Peverel at the end of the fourteenth century; and Halnaker, in the parish of Boxgrove, both in Sussex; and Wherwell, in Hampshire; all now alienated. Buckhurst came to the present Lord by his marriage with the coheiress of Sackville.

Younger Branch. West of Ruthyn Castle, Denbighshire, descended from the younger son of John, second Earl De la Warr.

The Wests of Alscot, in the county of Gloucester, claim to be descended from Leonard, the younger son of Sir Thomas West, Lord De la Warr, K.G., who died in the year 1525, although there is nothing but "family tradition," as is evident by the memorial to the Earl Marshal of Mr. James West, of Alscot, dated December 12, 1768, to justify this assumption; a distinct coat, viz. _Argent, a fess dancette pean_, was granted to Mr. West on this occasion.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. v. p. i.; Blore's Rutlandshire, p. 100; Cartwright's Rape of Bramber, p. 38; and Dallaway's Rape of Chichester, pp. 129, 133.

ARMS.--_Argent, a fess dancette sable_. The badge of the De-la-Warrs was a crampet or shape of a sword; assumed by Roger la-Warr, Lord la-Warr, for having assisted Sir John Pelham in making John King of France prisoner at the Battle of Poictiers. See Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol. iii. p. 211.

Present Representative, George John Sackville West, 5th Earl De la Warr.

GAGE OF FIRLE; BARON GAGE 1790; VISCOUNT GAGE IN IRELAND 1720; BARONET 1622.

John, son of John Gage, living in the ninth of Henry IV., had issue by Joan, heiress of John Sudgrove, of Sudgrove, in Gloucestershire, Sir John Gage; an adherent of the house of York, knighted by Edward IV., and who died in 1475. He married Elianor, second daughter and coheiress of Thomas St.Clere, of Heighton St. Clere, in Sussex, and acquired by this marriage several manors in this county, as well as in Surrey, Kent, Buckinghamshire, and Northamptonshire. The present family, seated at Firle from this period, descend from his eldest son. From his second son sprung the Gages of Raunds, in Northamptonshire, sold in 1675.

Younger Branch. Gage of Hengrave, in Suffolk, Baronet 1622, descended from Edward, third son of Sir John Gage, of Firle, who died in 1633.

See Gage's Hengrave, p. 225; Gage's Hundred of Thingoe, p. 204; Bridges's History of Northamptonshire, vol. ii. p. 188; Wotton's Baronetage, vol. i. p. 503, vol. iii. p. 366; Brydges's Collins, vol. viii. p. 249; and Leland's Itinerary, vol. iv. p. 12.

ARMS.--_Party per saltier argent and azure, a saltier gules_.

Present Representative, Henry Hall Gage, 4th Viscount Gage.

+Gentle.+

BARTTELOT OF STOPHAM.

The head of this family, according to Dallaway, may be considered one of the most ancient proprietors of land residing upon his estate in this county. The first in the pedigree is Adam de Bartelott, said to be of Norman origin, father of John, who married Joan Stopham, coheiress of lands in the manor from whence the name is derived. He died in 1428, and Stopham has ever since remained the inheritance of their descendants.

See the Topographer, vol. iv. p. 346; and Cartwright's edition of Dallaway's Rape of Arundel, p. 347.

ARMS.--_Sable, three falconer's sinister gloves pendent argent, tasseled or_.

Present Representative, George Barttelot, Esq.

COURTHOPE OF WYLEIGH.

From the reign of King Edward I., this family has been settled at Wadhurst, Lamberhurst, Ticehurst, and the adjoining parishes on the borders of Sussex and Kent: at Goudhurst, in the latter county, they held the manors of Bockingfield and the Pillery from the year 1413 to 1498, and in 1513 Wyleigh, in the parish of Ticehurst, was acquired by John Courthope in marriage with his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Saunders of Wyleigh. From this marriage sprung three sons, John, George, and Thomas; the issue male of the eldest has been long extinct; from the second, who had Wyleigh, is descended the present Representative of the family; and from the third and youngest, who succeeded to the estate of "Courthope" in Goudhurst, is descended William Courthope, Esq. Somerset Herald.

See Collectanea Topog. et Genealog., vol. ii. pp. 279, 363; and The Visitation of Sussex, C. 27, in Coll. Arm.

ARMS.--_Argent, a fess azure between three estoiles sable_.

Present Representative, George Campion Courthope, Esq.

WARWICKSHIRE.

+Knightly.+

SHIRLEY OF EATINGTON (ELDER BRANCH OF STAUNTON-HAROLD, IN THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER, EARL FERRERS 1711, BARON FERRERS OF CHARTLEY 1677, BARONET 1611.)

Sasuualo, or Sewallis, whose name, says Dugdale, "argues him to be of the old English stock," mentioned in Domesday as mesne Lord of Eatington, under Henry de Ferrers, is the first recorded ancestor of this, the oldest knightly family in the county of Warwick. Until the reign of Edward III., Eatington appears to have continued the principal seat of the Shirleys, whose name was assumed in the twelfth century from the manor of Shirley, in Derbyshire, and which, with Ratcliffe-on-Sore, in the county of Nottingham, and Rakedale and Staunton-Harold, in Leicestershire, derived from the heiresses of Basset and Staunton, succeeded, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as the usual residence of the chiefs of the house. In the sixteenth century, Astwell, in Northamptonshire, was brought into the family by the heiress of Lovett; and in 1615, by the marriage of Sir Henry Shirley with the coheiress of Devereux, a moiety of the possessions of the Earls of Essex, after the extinction of that title in 1646, centred in Sir Robert Shirley, father of the first Earl Ferrers; on whose death, in 1717, the family estates were divided, the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire estates descending with the earldom to the issue of his first marriage, and the Warwickshire property, the original seat of the Shirleys, eventually to the great-grandfather of the present possessor, the eldest surviving son of the second marriage of the first Earl Ferrers.

Elder Branches.* Shirley of Staunton-Harold, in the county of Leicester, represented by Sewallis Edward, tenth Earl Ferrers 1711; and Shirley of Shirley, in the county of Derby, represented by the Rev. Walter Waddington Shirley, Canon of Christ Church, D.D. only son of the late Bishop of Sodor and Man, and great-grandson of Walter, younger brother of the fourth, fifth, and sixth Earls Ferrers.

Younger Branches (extinct). Shirley, of Wiston, Preston, West-Grinstead, and Ote-Hall, all in Sussex, and all descended from the second marriage of Ralph Shirley, Esq., and Elizabeth Blount; which Ralph died in 1466. All these families are presumed to be extinct on the death of Sir William Warden Shirley, Baronet, in 1815.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, ed. 2, vol. i. p. 621; Nichols's History of Leicestershire, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 704-727; Stemmata Shirleiana, pr. pr. 4to. 1841; and Brydges's Collins, vol. iv. p. 85.

ARMS.--_Paly of six, or and azure, a quarter ermine_. The more ancient coat was, _Paly of six, or and sable_, as appears by the seal of "Sir Sewallis de Ethindon, Knight," with the legend, "Sum scutum de auro et nigro senis ductibus palatum," engraved in Dugdale's Warwickshire, and in Upton de Studio Militari. Indeed Sir Ralph Shirley bore it as late as the reign of Edward II; see Nicolas's Roll of that date, p. 73. Sir Hugh de Shirley bore the present coat (Roll of Richard II.): so did his father Sir Thomas, and his great-grandfather Sir James, as appears by their several seals engraved in Upton, &c.

Present Representative, Evelyn Philip Shirley, Esq., late M. P. for South Warwickshire.

* The Iretons of Little Ireton, in the county of Derby, extinct in
1711, were in fact the elder line of the family, sprung from
Henry, eldest son of Fulcher, and elder brother of Sewallis de
Shirley.

BRACEBRIDGE OF ATHERSTONE.

In the time of King John, the venerable family of Bracebridge, originally of Bracebridge in Lincolnshire, acquired by marriage in the person of Peter de Bracebridge with Amicia, daughter of Osbert de Arden and Maud, and granddaughter of Turchill de Warwick, the manor of Kingsbury in this county, an ancient seat of the Mercian Kings, and inherited by Turchill, called the last Saxon Earl of Warwick, with his second wife Leverunia. The descendants of which Peter and Amicia had their principal seat at Kingsbury till about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, when it was sold, and the Atherstone estate purchased. "Kinisbyri is a fair manor place," writes Leland, in his Itinerary, "and lordship of 140 li.; one Bracebridge is lord of it; it is in Warwikshir." At Bracebridge, on the river Witham, near Lincoln, the original seat of the family, so called it is supposed from the two bridges which still exist there, a grant of free warren was obtained in the 29th of Edward I., which was still retained by Thomas Bracebridge, Esq. who died in 1567.

The Bracebridges represent the Holtes of Aston, near Birmingham, and, through that ancient family, the Breretons of Cheshire.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 1057-1061; Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. iii. part ii. p. 1145; for Holte, see Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 871, and Davidson's History of the Holtes of Aston, fol. 1854; for Brereton, see Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. iii. pt. 31.

ARMS.--_Vair, argent and sable, a fess gules_. This coat was borne by Sir John de Brasbruge, de co. Lincoln, in the reign of Edward II. and again by Monsire de Brasbridge in those of Edward III. and Richard III. (Rolls).

Present Representative, Charles Holte Bracebridge, Esq.

COMPTON OF COMPTON WYNIATE, MARQUESS OF NORTHAMPTON 1812; EARL 1618; BARON 1572.

Although the early part of the pedigree of the Comptons is not entirely without doubt, we may conclude that the family was seated at Compton, called "in le Windgate," soon after the Conquest. Arnulphus de Compton and Osbertus de Compton were living in the 16th of Henry II., but Philip de Compton is the first of the name who certainly held the manor of Compton, in the fifth of John. Here the family continued resident for many ages; but its importance arose in a great degree from Sir William Compton having been brought up with Henry Duke of York, afterwards Henry VIII., and from the marriage of his great-grandson, the first Earl of Northampton, with the City Heiress of Spencer.

The Comptons were pre-eminently distinguished for loyalty during the Civil Wars of the seventeenth century.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 549; and Brydges's Collins, vol. iii. p. 223.

ARMS.--_Sable, a lion of England or between three esquire's helmets argent_. A former coat, borne by Thomas de Comptone, apparently about the reign of Edward III., was a chevron charged with three fleurs-de-lis. This is proved by a silver seal dug up at Compton in the year 1845; and the same arms are still to be traced on an ancient mutilated monument of a knight with collar of S.S., supposed to represent Sir Thomas de Compton, in the church of Compton Wyniate. The three helmets were afterwards adopted, and appear to have been the arms of a distinct family, the Comptons of Fenny Compton in this county; to which Henry VIII. gave the lion as an augmentation; at the same time, according to the custom of the period, was added a quartering to the family arms, viz.: _Argent, a chevron azure, within a border vert bezantee_.

Present Representative, Charles Douglas Compton, 3rd Marquess of Northampton.

CHETWYND OF GRENDON, BARONET 1795.

The younger, but, in England, the only remaining branch of a very ancient family, denominated from Chetwynd, in Shropshire, and of Baxterly, in this county, in the 37th of Henry III. Sir William Chetwind was the first of the name seated at Grendon, in the 39th of Edward III., his mother being daughter and coheir of Sir Ralph de Grendon; but Ingestre, in Staffordshire, which came from the heiress of Mutton, was the principal seat of the Chetwinds, which was eventually carried by an heiress into the Talbot family (now Earl of Shrewsbury).

Elder Branch. The Viscounts Chetwynd of Ireland (1717).

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 1101; Erdeswick's Staffordshire, ed. 1844, p. 61; Eyton's Shropshire, viii. p. 81; and Archdall's Lodge, vol. v. p. 148.

ARMS.--_Azure, a chevron between three mullets or_. In the reign of Edward II. Sir John Chetwind bore, _Azure, a chevron or_, without the mullets; the present coat was borne by others of the family in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. (Rolls.)

Present Representative, Sir George Chetwynd, third Baronet.

FEILDING OF NEWNHAM PADDOX, EARL OF DENBIGH 1622.

The princely extraction of this noble family from the counts of Hapsburg in Germany is well known; its ancestor, Galfridus, or Geffrey, came into England in the twelfth year of the reign of Henry III., and received large possessions from that monarch. The name is derived from Rin_felden_, in Germany, where, and at Lauffenburg, were the patrimonial possessions of the house of Hapsburg. Newnham was in possession of John Fildying in the twelfth of Henry VI., inherited from his mother Joan, daughter and heir of William Prudhome.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 86; Brydges's Collins' vol. iii. p. 265; and Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. iv. pt. i. p. 273, for the history of this illustrious family, compiled by Nathaniel Wanley about the year 1670.

ARMS.--_Argent, on a fess azure three fusils or_. The present coat was borne in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., as appears by Seals of those dates.

Present Representative, Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh.

STAUNTON OF LONGBRIDGE.

This family is stated by Thomas, in his additions to Dugdale's Warwickshire, to be a branch of the Stauntons of Staunton, in the county of Nottingham, an ancient house which is traced to the Conquest, and was lately represented by Sir George Staunton, Baronet of Ireland 1785, extinct 1859. The first of the line seated in Warwickshire was Thomas Staunton, in the 39th of Henry VI., 1461. The parent house, existing in the male line, until the year 1688, at Staunton, in Nottinghamshire, held their lands by tenure of _Castle-Guard_, by keeping and defending a tower in the Castle of Belvoir, to this day called Staunton Tower. There is an ancient custom also that the chief of the house of Staunton should present the key of this tower to any of the Royal Family who may honour Belvoir with their presence.

Younger Branch. Staunton of Wolverton, in this county, settled there in the eighteenth of Elizabeth; extinct in the last century.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 665; Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, p. 157; and for the poetical pedigree of this house, Ib. p. 159; the monuments at p. 164; see also "Memoirs of the Life and Family of the late Sir G. L. Staunton, Bart." pr. pr. 8vo. 1833.

ARMS.--_Argent, two chevrons within a border engrailed sable_. Founded on the coat of Albany Lord of Belvoir, who bore, _Or, two chevrons and a border gules_. The elder line of Staunton sometimes omitted the border; see the tombs in the church of Staunton.

Present Representative, John Staunton, Esq.

FERRERS OF BADDESLEY-CLINTON.

The sole remains of what was perhaps during the middle ages the most powerful Norman family in England. Illustrious both for the antiquity of race, the former political consequence, and the splendour of connection of the various branches, of which the forfeited Earls of Derby, and De Ferrariis, or Ferrers, were the chiefs. Descended from Henry de Feriers at the time of the Conquest, who held in chief 210 lordships in fourteen counties of England, besides the castle and borough of Tutbury, in Staffordshire, the principal seat of the earldom.

The Baddesley-Clinton line was founded by Sir Edward Ferrers, (son of Sir Henry, who was second son of Thomas Ferrers, of Tamworth Castle, in this county,) by his marriage with Constantia, daughter and heiress of Nicholas Brome, of Baddesley. He died in 1535.

After the forfeiture of the Earldom of Derby, in the reign of Henry III., and the vast possessions attached to it, the Castle of Chartley, in Staffordshire, inherited from Agnes, daughter and coheir of Ranulph, Earl of Chester, became the seat of the principal male line, extinct on the death of William Lord Ferrers of Chartley in the 28th of Henry VI. The representation of the family thereupon devolved on the Ferrers's of Tamworth, sprung from the house of Groby, who were founded by William, younger brother of the last Earl of Derby: and on the decease of John Ferrers, of Tamworth, Esq. in 1680, the present family of Baddesley-Clinton succeeded as chief of this illustrious house.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 971, for Baddesley-Clinton, where however will be found no engravings of the monuments of the Ferrers's, "because," says Dugdale, "so frugall a person is the present heir of the family, now (1656) residing here, as that he refusing to contribute anything towards the charge thereof, they are omitted." For Ferrers of Chartley, and the Earls of Derby, see Sir O. Mosley's History of Tutbury, 8vo. 1832; and Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii. p. 1089; and for Ferrers of Tamworth, the same, p. 1135.

ARMS.--_Gules, seven mascles or, a canton ermine_. This was the coat of Quinci, Earl of Winchester, from whom the Ferrers of Groby were descended, the canton being added for difference. The original coat assigned to the first Earls of Derby, was, _Argent, six horseshoes sable_; afterwards, _Vair or and gules, within a bordure of horseshoes_, was used. The Chartley line bore only, _Vair, or and gules_, which was latterly also borne by Ferrers of Tamworth. The Quinci coat was used by William de Ferrers at Carlaverock in 1300. (See the Roll.)

Present Representative, Marmion Edward Ferrers, Esq.

MORDAUNT OF WALTON, BARONET 1611.

Turvey in Bedfordshire was the principal seat in England of this noble Norman family, descended from Osbert le Mordaunt, who came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror, and received a grant of the lordship of Radwell in that county. In 1529, John Mordaunt, the representative of the family, was summoned to Parliament by writ as Baron Mordaunt of Turvey. His great-great-grandson was created Earl of Peterborough in 1628; which title, together with the elder line of the family, became extinct on the decease of Charles-Henry Mordaunt, fifth Earl, in 1814.

The present family descend from Robert, son of William Mordaunt of Hemsted, in Essex, who was second son of William Mordaunt of Turvey, living in the 11th of Henry IV., which Robert married Barbara, daughter of John le Strange, of Massingham-Parva in Norfolk, and of Walton-D'Eivile, in this county, which since the 32nd year of Henry VIII., 1549-50, has remained the inheritance of their descendants.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 577: Parkins's continuation of Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. iv. p. 643; and that very rare volume compiled by order of the second Earl of Peterborough, called "Halstead's Genealogies," fo. 1685, privately printed.

ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron between three estoiles sable_.

Present Representative, Sir Charles Mordaunt, 10th. Baronet, M. P. for South Warwickshire.

BIDDULPH OF BIRDINGBURY, BARONET 1654.

This ancient family, originally of Biddulph, in the northern parts of Staffordshire, is traced to Ormus, mentioned in the Domesday Survey. He was, it is said, of Norman descent, and is supposed to have married the Saxon heiress of Biddulph, from whence the name was afterwards assumed. The elder line terminated on the death of' John Biddulph, Esq. of Biddulph and of Burton in Sussex, in the year 1835. The Birdingbury branch, now representing this venerable house, was founded by Symon, second son of Richard Biddulph, of Biddulph, in the time of Henry VIII., whose descendant, another Symon, purchased Birdingbury in 1687. The family were eminently loyal during the Civil Wars, when the ancient seat of Biddulph was destroyed by the Cromwellians about 1643-4.

Younger Branch. Biddulph of Ledbury, in the county of Hereford, descended from Anthony, younger brother of the first Baronet.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 324; Shaw's History of Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 352; Erdeswick's Staffordshire, ed. 1844, p. 8; Ward's History of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, p. 277; and Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 442.

ARMS.--_Vert, an eagle displayed argent, armed and langued gules_. Argent, three soldering-irons sable, is also said to have been borne by the Biddulphs.

Present Representative, Sir Theophilus William Biddulph, 7th Baronet.

SKIPWITH OF HARBOROUGH, BARONET 1622 (FORMERLY OF NEWBOLD HALL).

The name is derived from Skipwith, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and was first borne by Patrick, living in the reign of Henry I., who was second son of Robert de Estotevile, Baron of Cottingham in the reign of William the Conqueror. In the reign of Henry III. the Skipwiths removed into Lincolnshire, and were seated at Beckeby and Ormesby, in that county; a younger son of Sir William Skipwith, of Ormesby, who died in 1587, was of Prestwould, in Leicestershire. He was the ancestor of the Skipwiths of Newbold Hall, created Baronet in 1670, extinct in 1790, and of the present family, who for five generations were of Virginia, in America, where the grandfather of the present Baronet was born.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 84; Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 368; and Wotton's Baronetage, vol. i. p. 536,

ARMS.--_Argent, three bars pules, in chief a greyhound courant sable_.

Present Representative, Sir Peyton Estoteville Skipwith, 10th Baronet.

+Gentle.+

SHUCKBURGH OF SHUCKBURGH, BARONET 1660.

The antiquity of this family need not be doubted, although the lineal descent, as Dugdale avouches, is not very plain. William de Suckeberge is presumed to be the first who assumed the name, from Shuckborough Superior, in this county; he was living in the third of John. The pedigree is deduced by Baker, in his History of Northamptonshire, from John de Shuckburgh, living in the first of Edward III. In the seventh of Henry V. his great-grandson William is ranked amongst those knights and esquires of this county who bore ancient arms from their ancestors. It was to Richard Shuckburgh, head of the family in 1642, that the remarkable incident happened which is related by Dugdale. Charles I. having met him hunting with his hounds a day or two before the battle of Edgehill, "Who is that," said the King, "hunting so merrily, while I am about to fight for my crown and dignity?" He was knighted the next day, and proved his loyalty at the battle of Edge-hill. He died in 1656, and his son was rewarded with the Baronetcy on the Restoration.

Younger Branch. Shuckburgh of Downton, Wiltshire, descended from Charles, fourth son of the first Baronet.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 309; Baker's Northamptonshire, vol. i. p. 371; Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 76; and Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, vol. iv. p. 34.

ARMS.--_Sable, a chevron between three mullets pierced argent_. This coat is evidently founded on the arms of Danvers, the Norman family under whom the Shuckburghs held: it has been fondly assumed that the mullets are allusive to the astroites found in the ploughed fields at Shuckburgh.

Present Representative, Sir Francis Shuckburgh, 8th Baronet.

THROCKMORTON OF COUGHTON, BARONET 1642.