Web: www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol3/xcviii-cxviii
The posh lot
The Arundell family supported the Crown during the Civil War with some loss but recovered their position after the Restoration. The house escaped alteration during the 18th and 19th centuries, probably because its owners chose to live elsewhere.
Sir John Arundell VII (1421–1473) of Lanherne in the parish of St. Mawgan in Pydar was Sheriff of Cornwall and Admiral of Cornwall, and served as a general for King Henry VI in his French wars. He became the largest free tenant in Cornwall.
James Arundell (died 1491) died without progeny when his heir became his uncle Sir John III Arundell.
Sir John III Arundell (1470-1512), of Trerice, second son of Sir John II Arundell. He was Sheriff of Cornwall and Vice Admiral of the West to King Henry VII and to his son King Henry VIII. He married Jane Grenville (died 1552), a daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville (died 1513).
Sir John IV Arundell (1495–1561), of Trerice, eldest son and heir, known as Jack of Tilbury, was an Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII whom he served as Vice-Admiral of the West. He was Knighted at the Battle of the Spurs in 1513. In 1523 he achieved notability by the capture of a notorious pirate. He served twice as Sheriff of Cornwall, in 1532 and in 1541. His monumental brass survives in Stratton Church
Sir John Arundell (1500–1557) of Lanherne, was MP for Cornwall in 1554. He was also Sheriff of Cornwall in 1541–42 and 1554. He was the eldest son of John Arundell (1474–1545) and Eleanor Grey. He married Elizabeth Danet, daughter of Sir Gerald Danet of Danet's Hall, Bromkinsthorpe, Leicestershire and they had twelve children.
John V Arundell (1557-1613), "of Gwarnick", who inherited the Beville estate of Gwarnick from his grandmother. He was an infant in wardship at the death of his grandfather Sir John IV Arundell in 1561, whose right heir he was.
John VI Arundell (died 1580) of Trerice, eldest son by his father's second marriage, a MP for Mitchell, in 1555 and 1558, and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1573.
Juliana Arundell (born 1563), married Richard Carew (1555-1620), author of the Survey of Cornwall.
Sir Humphrey Arundell, (1513-1550) From Helland near Bodmin. The leader of Cornish forces in the Prayer Book Rebellion early in the reign of King Edward VI. He was in charge of a small garrison on St. Michael's Mount until he was defeated. He was executed at Tyburn, London after the rebellion.
Sir John VII Arundell (1576–1654), eldest son and heir, of Trerice, nicknamed "Jack-for-the-King", MP for Cornwall and for Tregony. He was an infant aged four on his father's death, and became a ward of the crown, which wardship was purchased by family trustees, including his brother-in-law Richard Carew. He inherited from his father the newly rebuilt mansion house at Trerice. He commanded Pendennis Castle during the Civil War. Pendennis probably seemed like a long way from the action of the Civil War, but he did fight at the battle of Braddock Down, near Lostwithiel. Although the parliamentary army had been thrown out of Cornwall by Sir Bevil Grenville in 1643, by 1646 they were strong enough to try again. By March 1646, town after town had fallen to the Roundhead army. General Fairfax captured St. Mawes Castle, then called on Arundell to surrender Pendennis Castle, Arundell replied "I will here bury myself before I deliver up this castle to such as fight against His Majesty". The siege lasted until 17th August. For five months the garrison had held out, but they had run out of ammunition and food. Sir John surrendered to Colonel Richard Townsend, and the defenders were allowed to leave with full military honours and flags flying. Of the sieges during the Civil War, only Raglan Castle in Wales held out longer (by two days more). Parliament was so glad of the fall of Pendennis Castle that they made September 22nd a day of general thanksgiving. Sir John is buried at Duloe in East Cornwall.
John VIII Arundell (1613-1701), of Trerice, eldest son and heir, MP for Bodmin, who died without progeny
Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice (1616-1687), second son. Before his elevation to the peerage he served twice as MP for Lostwithiel, April 1640 and November 1640 to January 1644, and twice for Bere Alston, 1660 and 1662-1665.
Nicholas Arundell (1623-1666), of Gwarnick, third son, MP for Truro 1661-1666. The old Beville seat of Gwarnick inherited on the first marriage of his great-grandfather "Jack of Tilbury" was situated three miles north-west of Truro.
John Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Trerice (1649–1698), nephew, son of the 1st Baron by his wife Gertrude Bagge, daughter of Sir James Bagge, of Saltram, Devon, and widow of Sir Nicholas Slanning. Following the death of his uncle Nicholas Arundell in 1666 he succeeded him as MP for Truro, and was elected for that seat again in 1685. He succeeded his father in the barony in 1687. He married twice, firstly to Margaret Acland (died 1691), first wife of John Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell (1649–1698), who although she produced no progeny, it was the connection which ultimately brought Trerice to the Acland family. Secondly to Barbara Slingsby, daughter of Sir Thomas Slingsby, 2nd Baronet, of Scriven, Yorkshire.
John Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Trerice (1678–1706), eldest son and heir. He married Elizabeth Beaw, daughter of William Beaw, Bishop of Llandaff (died 1706).
John Arundell, 4th Baron Arundell of Trerice (1701–1768), son. He married Elizabeth Wentworth (died 1750), daughter of Sir William Wentworth of Ashby, Lincolnshire, and sister of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672–1739). The marriage was without progeny and on his death in 1768 the Barony of Arundell became extinct.
Trerice House remained in the ownership of the Arundells for over 400 years but in 1802 it passed to the Acland family of Killerton in Devon. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland never lived at Trerice but often stayed on his political forays into Cornwall. He also used the Great Hall for entertaining.
The South Chapel or Lady Chapel (part of St. Columb Major Church) - At Lanherne House in St. Mawgan-in-Pydar was the home of the Arundell's who were probably responsible for the re-building of the South Chancel on the condition that it might be used as their private chapel and burial place. In 1427, Sir John Arundell established the Chantry of Our Lady with a college of five priests to serve it, by saying Masses for the souls of the departed Arundell's.
Barons Arundell, of Trerice (1664)
Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice (1616-1687)
John Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Trerice (1649–1698)
John Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Trerice (1678–1706)
John Arundell, 4th Baron Arundell of Trerice (1701–1768)
George Basset (died 1580), was the second son of Sir John Bassett (1462–1529), of Umberleigh, he was given Tehidy by his nephew Sir Arthur Basset (1541–1586), of Umberleigh. He married Jacquetta Coffin.
His son James Basset of Tehidy, was married in 1587 to Jane Godolphin, daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin, and they had nine children.
Sir Francis Basset, (1594-1645) Made his fortune from tin mining and later bought St. Michael's Mount in 1640 and then held the titles of Lord and Captain of the Mount, Sheriff of Cornwall, Vice-Admiral of the Northern Shore at the outbreak of the Civil War. He married in 1620 Ann, daughter of Sir Jonathan Trelawny of Trelawne near Looe. A firm supporter of the King he played an active roll, on occasions at his own expense, of strengthening defences in Cornwall. He was at Boconnoc in 1644 where, after a successful campaign, the King Knighted him saying 'Now, Mr. Sheriff, I leave Cornwall to you safe and sound'. Sir Francis died in September 1645.
Sir Thomas Basset (1628-1668), brother of Sir Francis) was a royalist soldier who fought in the civil war at Chagford in 1643. He was a Major-General at the battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire and Commanded a third of the Royalist army at Bristol.
James Basset, brother of Sir Francis and Sir Thomas, was also a royalist soldier during the civil war. He was killed at Polsloe Bridge near Exeter in 1643.
Sir Arthur Basset (1541-1586) (youngest brother of Francis, Thomas and James) followed his brother, Sir Francis as Captain of St. Michael's Mount and escorted the Prince of Wales in his flight to the Isles of Scilly in 1646. He duly surrendered the Mount to the Commonwealth forces and was imprisoned. In 1659 he sold St. Michael's Mount to John St. Aubyn.
Francis Basset, (1674–1721). MP for Mitchell. High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1708.
John Pendarves Basset (1714-1739) started re-building Tehidy in 1734 but died of smallpox aged 25.
Francis Basset (1715-1769) (brother of John Pendarves Basset) inherited Tehidy and became MP for Penryn from 1766 to 1769. He married in 1756 to Margaret St. Aubyn (died 1768), daughter of Sir John St. Aubyn, 3rd Baronet. To facilitate the export of ore from the family mines he began to create the port of Portreath.
Francis Basset-Bt. Lord de Dunstanville (1757-1835) (son of Francis above) as a young man he made the Grand Tour, indulged in writing on politics and continued his father's work at Portreath. Francis was active in 'borough-mongering'. He reached an accommodation with Lord Falmouth that Basset's should have Tregony and Lord Falmouth, Truro. Similarly with the Duke of Leeds (heir to the Godolphin estates) where Basset had Penryn and Leeds the town of Helston. In this vein he fought a duel with Sir Christopher Hawkins over Parliamentary controls where shots were exchanged and they both retired satisfied Francis was made a Baronet after leading his miners to Plymouth and erecting defensive earthworks and batteries when the combined French and Spanish fleets threatened the City in 1779. The following year saw him enter Parliament as MP for Penryn where he joined the party of Lord North. Defensive batteries were erected on either side of Portreath in 1782 on his orders and in this year he began the Cornish Metal Company. The company was an attempt, in conjunction with the William's family of Anglesey, to form a cartel to purchase all of the Cornish copper (it lasted until 1792). In 1785 Sir Francis, a leading mine owner, deputized fifty special constables and arrested the leaders of the local 'food riots' at dawn (At this time the miners were paid very low wages in tokens which could only be redeem for goods at the mine owners store at the value set by the owner. Some of those arrested were hung and others transported for life). In recognition of his actions, Prime Minister Pitt made him Lord de Dunstanville in 1796. The name of the title refers to the family that the Basset's married into, thus acquiring Tehidy and its estates containing the valuable mining lands and securing their financial future. He went on to become a patron of the Cornish painter John Opie and was a pall bearer at his funeral in 1807. One of the first iron railways in the world was laid by him, running from Portreath to Dolcoath mine. He died in 1835, buried at Illogan and the 90 foot granite monument at the summit of Carn Brea was erected by Cornwall County Council in his honour in 1836.
Gustavus Lambert Basset (1834-1888) – in 1872 Gustavus Basset of Tehidy Park was quoted as the fifth largest landowner in Cornwall with 16,969 acres.
By 1882 Arthur Francis Basset (1873-1947) had inherited the estate but due to diminished income from the mining industry it was becoming increasingly difficult to finance the estate. In 1915 the mansion was vacated and after 700 years of Basset ownership, the estate was sold in 1916. It was destroyed by fire in 1919 but was re-built and used as an isolation hospital for patients with tuberculosis. Over the years most of the wards closed and finally the hospital shut completely in April 1988, and has now been converted into luxury apartments.
Ronald Lambart Basset (1898-1972), 2nd Scots Greys Regiment, married in 1931 Lady Elizabeth Legge (1908–2000), daughter of William Legge, 7th Earl of Dartmouth (1881–1958). She was appointed in 1959 an Extra Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and became one of the Queen Mother's favourite and longest serving ladies in waiting. She was appointed DCVO.
Bryan Ronald Basset, CBE (1932-2010); Chairman, Royal Ordnance, who in 1987 oversaw the sale of the public-sector business and its 16 factories and 19,000 employees to British Aerospace. He attended Eton College and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and became a captain in the Scots Guards.
He had children including:
David Francis Basset (1961-2010) eldest son and heir apparent, who died aged 49 with no sons.
Michael James Basset (born 1963). Married Caroline Bailey on 7th September 1996. Has a daughter, Elizabeth Jane Basset (born 1998).
James Bryan Basset (born 1968), a former Page of Honour to the Queen, who has a son, Harry James Oscar Basset (born 2002).
Basset (1797)
Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville, 1st Baron Basset (1757–1835)
Frances Basset, 2nd Baroness Basset (1781–1855)
The family and its business were located at Chyandour where, to this day, the Estate Office is located in a building originally constructed in about 1850 as the Count House for the smelting business. This was based principally in the Chyandour Smelting Works, across the road from the Estate Office in Penzance. The works closed in 1912 and was demolished in 1930.
In 1867, Thomas Simon Bolitho (1808-1887), brother of Edward Bolitho of Trewidden, bought the Trengwainton Estate and the house there (near Madron). Having created the now world-famous gardens, his grandson Lieutenant Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho gave them to the National Trust in 1961.
Thomas Bolitho (1740–1807) was a merchant, moved from Wendron to Penzance in about 1769.
Edward Bolitho (1804–1890) Around 1830, Edward Bolitho bought Trewidden which was once the site of an ancient tin mine. Known as 'Trewidden Bal', the old opencast mine may have been one of the earliest in the Duchy, dating back to Roman times or even before.
Thomas Bedford Bolitho (1835–1915) Edward's son, continued his father's work enhancing the garden at Trewidden.
Sir Edward Hoblyn Warren Bolitho KBE CB DSO (1882–1969) was a Cornish landowner and politician. He was Chairman of Cornwall County Council from 1941 to 1952 and Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall from 1936 to 1962, for some years serving in both roles simultaneously. The elder son of Captain Edward A Bolitho of Trewidden, and the grandson of T S Bolitho of Trengwainton, Bolitho was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
Mary Williams (1894–1977) was the daughter of Thomas Bedford Bolitho, moved home to Trewidden after the demise of her husband in 1955.
Alverne Bolitho (1961– ) son of Simon Bolitho of Trengwainton and a cousin of Mary Williams, inherited the property when she died.
Colonel Edward Thomas Bolitho, OBE (1955-), elder son of Major Simon Bolitho MC, born at Penzance served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall from 2008 until his appointment in September 2011 as Lord-Lieutenant. On returning to Cornwall, Bolitho took over the management of Bolitho Estates, a family-owned business which develops, renovates, and leases out farms, houses, and commercial properties. Bolitho served as High Sheriff of Cornwall from March 2011 until March 2012.
The Old Inn, a public house in Gulval Churchtown, was given to the Coldstream Guards Association in memory of Captain Michael Lempriere Bolitho and renamed "The Coldstreamer" (Captain Bolitho was killed on HMS 'Walney', a Royal Navy tug; her task was to crash through the boom at the entrance to Oran Harbour, North Africa in Operation Torch on 8th November 1942).
Admiral Edward Boscawen (1711-1761) born at Tregothnan near Truro, joined the navy at the age of twelve, and was a captain at 26. By 1733 he became captain of HMS 'Dreadnought' and in 1755 was promoted to Vice-Admiral. He was MP for Truro several times, and during the 1745 rebellion raised an army of six thousand Cornishmen to fight for the King against the Young Pretender. In 1747 he was commander in chief of all military forces in India and the Far East. His last sea victory saved the country from invasion. In 1759, while his ships were undergoing repair in Gibraltar, he got news of a French invasion fleet gathering in ports along the Channel coast. He put to sea and defeated the French, so their invasion plans were cancelled. He died in 1761 and was buried at St. Michael Penkevil, near Truro.
Nicholas Boscawen (1623-1645) was a colonel in Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary army during the Civil War and was buried in the middle part of the Quire in Westminster Abbey in 1645. He was the eldest son of Hugh Boscawen and his wife Margaret (Rolle) and three of his brothers, Hugh, Charles and Edward, became MP's. His regiment of horse was mainly composed of his own tenants. But in 1661, by Royal Warrant dated 9th September, his remains were disinterred, along with other followers of Cromwell.
The Viscount Falmouth came in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1720 for Hugh Boscawen (1653-1734). He was made Baron Boscawen-Rose at the same time. In 1821 he was created Earl of Falmouth. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He briefly represented Cornwall West in the House of Commons. On his death in 1852 the Earldom became extinct while he was succeeded in the other titles by his first cousin, the sixth Viscount. He was the son of Reverend the Hon. John Evelyn Boscawen, second son of the 3rd Viscount. Lord Falmouth married in 1845 Mary Frances Elizabeth Boscawen, 17th Baroness le Despencer. They were both succeeded by their son, the 7th Viscount and 18th Baron, who was a Major-General in the Army. Consequently, since 1889 the ancient barony of Le Despencer has been a subsidiary title of the viscountcy of Falmouth. As of 2010 the titles are held by the 7th Viscount's grandson, the ninth Viscount, who succeeded his father in 1962. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall between 1977 and 1994. The Conservative politician the Honorable Robert Boscawen, is the younger brother of the 9th Viscount Falmouth.
Viscounts Falmouth, First Creation (1674)
George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1665–1716)
Viscounts Falmouth, Second Creation (1720)
Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth (1680–1734)
Hugh Boscawen, 2nd Viscount Falmouth (1707–1782)
George Evelyn Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth (1758–1808)
Edward Boscawen, 4th Viscount Falmouth (1787–1841) (created Earl of Falmouth in 1821)
Earls of Falmouth (1821)
Edward Boscawen, 1st Earl of Falmouth (1787–1841)
George Henry Boscawen, 2nd Earl of Falmouth (1811–1852)
Viscounts Falmouth (1720; Reverted)
Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth (1819–1889)
Evelyn Edward Thomas Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth (1847–1918)
Evelyn Hugh John Boscawen, 8th Viscount Falmouth (1887–1962)
George Hugh Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth (1919-2022)
Evelyn Arthur Hugh Boscawen 10th Viscount Falmouth (born 1955)
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Evelyn George William Boscawen (born 1979).
The Tregothnan estate remains the Boscawen family home to this day.
Sir Richard Buller (1578–1642) born at Shillingham near Saltash was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1621 and 1642. He was a Parliamentarian officer during the English Civil War.
John Buller (1632–1716), MP, of Shillingham near Saltash. His son, who predeceased him, was John Buller (1668–1701), MP for Lostwithiel in 1701.
John Francis Buller (1695–1751) (grandson), of Morval, MP for Saltash 1718–1722, himself the father of three MP's: James Buller (1717–1765), John Buller (1721–1786), Lord of the Admiralty and Francis Buller (1723–1764) and of William Buller (1735–1796), Bishop of Exeter.
James Buller (1717–1765) (eldest son), MP for East Looe 1741–1747 and for Cornwall 1748–1765. His first wife Elizabeth Gould was the heiress of the estate of Downes near Crediton in Devon, which became the principal seat of the senior line of the Buller family. He married Secondly in 1744 to Lady Jane Bathurst (died 1794), second (or third.) daughter of Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst. Morval became the inheritance of his eldest son from this second marriage.
John Buller (1744–1790) (eldest son by father's second marriage), of Morval, MP for Exeter 1768–1774, Launceston 1774–1780, West Looe 1780-1782, a Lord of the Treasury. He inherited the estate of Morval from his father. In 1770 he married Anne Lemon (died 1800), daughter of William Lemon of Carclew House, Mylor, and sister of Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet (1748–1824) of Carclew.
Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet (1764–1824) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Sir Edward Buller died at his seat of Trenant Park on 15th April 1824 at the age of 59. The baronetcy became extinct upon his death.
John Buller (1771–1849) (eldest son), JP, DL, High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1835, MP for West Looe 1796 and 1826–1827. In 1798 he married twice, firstly to Elizabeth Yorke (died 1802), daughter of Hon. and Right Rev. James Yorke, Bishop of Ely (a son of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690–1764), Lord Chancellor), without progeny. Secondly in 1814 he married Harriet Hulse (died 1868), daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, 3rd Baronet, by whom he had one son and four daughters.
John Francis Buller (1818–1890) (only son), of Morval, JP, DL, High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1853. He died without progeny and was succeeded by his sister Charlotte Buller, wife of Henry Hawkins Tremayne, into which family passed the estate of Morval.
Buller, of Trenant Park (1808)
Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet (1764–1824)
The manor of East Antony was inherited in 1465 by Sir Nicholas' fourth son, Alexander (died 1492). In the early 16th century members of the family occupied positions at Court, while Sir Wymond Carew (1498-1549) was appointed Receiver-General to Henry VIII's queens Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Parr.
The family's position and Cornish estates were consolidated in the mid-16th century, and in 1563 Sir Wymond's son, Thomas (1526-1564), was elected MP for Saltash, a seat which was subsequently controlled by the family for more than 200 years. Thomas Carew married Elizabeth Edgcumbe and produced four children, Elizabeth, Richard, Matthew and George.
Sir George Carew (1565-1612), son of Thomas, married Thomasine Godolphin and produced four children, one of them, Frances created a method of producing out of season fruit.
Thomas Carew's son, Richard (1555-1620), was sent to Oxford in 1567, where he was contemporary with some of the leading figures of the period. An antiquary and scholar of considerable ability, he served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1583 and 1586, and as MP for Saltash in 1584. Richard published The Survey of Cornwall in 1602, together with other works.
Sir Thomas Carew (1624–1681) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1681. He was the third surviving son of Sir Richard Carew, 1st Baronet, of Antony and his second wife Grace Rolle, daughter of Robert Rolle of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon. In 1659, Thomas Carew was elected MP for Callington in the Third Protectorate Parliament. He became commissioner for militia in Cornwall and JP for Cornwall in March 1660. He was elected MP for Mitchell in April 1660 for the Convention Parliament. He married Elizabeth Cupper, daughter of John Cupper, merchant, of Barley, on 26th August 1661. They had three daughters and five sons of whom Thomas sat as MP for Saltash as a Tory from 1701 to 1705.
At Richard Carew's death in 1620 the estate passed to his son, also Richard (1580-1643), who was created a Baronet in 1641. Both Sir Richard's sons, Sir Alexander (1609-1644) who inherited as 2nd Baronet in 1643, and his half-brother John, were executed during the Civil War. Sir Alexander's son, Sir John, 3rd Baronet inherited as a minor in 1644; his first and second marriages produced no male heir, but his third wife, Mary, daughter of Sir William Morice of Werrington, near Launceston produced two sons. Sir Richard succeeded as 4th Baronet in 1692, but died unmarried eleven years later, while his brother, Sir William, 5th Baronet (1689-1744) married Lady Anne Coventry, daughter and heiress of the fourth Earl of Coventry of Croome Court, Worcestershire.
Sir William began to re-model the gardens at Antony in about 1710 under the supervision of Humphry Bowen of Lambeth and, following the death of the Earl of Coventry in 1719, began to build the present Antony House. He was also a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1711 to 1744.
Sir William was succeeded in 1744 by his son, Sir Coventry Carew, 6th Baronet but at Sir Coventry's death in 1748 without issue and the subsequent death of his widow in 1763, the estate passed to cousins from the Crowcombe branch of the family. This line also failed, and in 1772 Antony devolved to Reginald Pole (1753-1835), a descendant through the female line of Sir John Carew, 3rd Baronet (1635-1692), who adopted the name Pole-Carew. A grid-based design for town of Torpoint was commissioned by Reginald Pole Carew in 1774.
Pole-Carew made improvements to the estate and pleasure grounds at Antony, and in 1792 commissioned Humphry Repton (1752-1818) to produce a Red Book. Repton advised that the approach from the south should be re-ordered, the walled gardens north of the house removed, and a new kitchen garden be built west of the house. Repton's proposals were partly implemented, while Pole-Carew continued to develop the estate according to his own plan up to his death in 1835.
Antony passed to Sir John's son, Joseph, who died without male issue in 1852, when the estate was inherited by his half-brother William Henry Pole-Carew (1811-1888). William Henry made alterations to the house and garden, while his son, Sir Reginald Pole-Carew (1849-1924), who served in the Coldstream Guards inherited in 1888, recreated parterres and a walled garden to the north of the house, perhaps to the design of H. Inigo Triggs (1876-1923). Sir Reginald Pole-Carew was Liberal Unionist MP for Bodmin from 1910 to 1916. In 1911, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cornwall.
Following Sir Reginald's death in 1924 the estate passed to his son John, who in 1926 inherited the Baronetcy of Pole of Shute, Devon; Sir John in consequence adopted the name Carew Pole. In 1928 Sir John married the great niece of the American financier J. P. Morgan, and items from his collections, and that of Mrs Arthur James of Coton House, Warwickshire, were brought to Antony. Sir John and Lady Carew Pole also began to develop the pleasure grounds at Antony, in the early 1930's acquiring hybrid rhododendrons from Exbury, Hampshire and from Cornish gardens including Caerhays Castle, Trengwainton, and Trewithen. After the Second World War, in which he served with distinction, Sir John commissioned Philip Tilden (1887-1957) to remove a wing added to the east of the 18th century house, and to simplify the late 19th century formal gardens. In 1961 Sir John gave the house and 29 acres to the National Trust; in 1993 he was succeeded by his son, Sir Richard Carew Pole. Today the site still remains in divided ownership.
Carew Baronets, of Antony (1641)
Sir Richard Carew, 1st Baronet (1580–1643)
Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet (1609–1644)
Sir John Carew, 3rd Baronet (1635–1692)
Sir Richard Carew, 4th Baronet (1683–1703)
Sir William Carew, 5th Baronet (1690–1744)
Sir Coventry Carew, 6th Baronet (c. 1716–1748)
Sir John Carew, 7th Baronet (1708–1762)
Sir Alexander Carew, 8th Baronet (1715–1799)
William Carlyon was succeeded in 1676 by his second son, Thomas, a lawyer, who was able to purchase further land at Tregrehan in the late 17th century and early 18th century as the result of wealth acquired through mining interests. The 1680 house built by Thomas Carlyon (1658-1728) was described in 1732 as a 'neat new house ... seated on rising ground from which there is a good prospect of the sea'. Following Thomas Carlyon's death, Tregrehan was inherited by his son, Philip, who in 1738 was selling trees from the estate; an estate plan of 1736 does not indicate any park or gardens associated with the early C18 house. Philip Carlyon was succeeded by his son, Edward Trewbody Carlyon, who was in turn succeeded by his cousin, the Rev Thomas Carlyon of St. Just-in-Roseland, in 1768.
When William Carlyon (1781-1841) died he was succeeded by his brother, Major-General Edward Carlyon (1783-1854), who continued to develop the pleasure grounds and park. Extensive alterations to the house were undertaken with the advice of George Wightwick in the 1840's, while in 1851 a new lodge was built. In 1884 the estate passed to Edward Carlyon's grandson, G R G Carlyon, known as Jovey, who had previously lived in New Zealand; Jovey Carlyon undertook further significant development of the plant collection in the pleasure grounds. After Jovey Carlyon's death in 1898 the family did not reside at Tregrehan again until 1935 when E T R Carlyon, a keen plants-man, moved to England from New Zealand. Following his death during the Second World War the estate passed to his daughter, Miss Gillian Carlyon (1924-1987), who, from 1945, undertook important work on hybridising camellias at Tregrehan. The pleasure grounds suffered during the war and clearance and reclamation did not begin until the mid 1970's. Miss Carlyon continued to live at Tregrehan until her death in 1987. Today the site remains in private ownership, with the present owner continuing the family tradition of plant collecting and propagation.
Sir John Coryton, 1st Baronet (1621–1680)
John was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1680. Coryton was the son of William Coryton, of West Newton Ferrers, by his wife Elizabeth Chichester, 3rd daughter of Sir John Chichester (died 1586) of Raleigh, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1585.
He was baptised on 29th July 1621 at St. Mellion. In 1660, he was elected MP for Callington in a by-election to the Convention Parliament. In 1661 he was elected MP for Cornwall in the Cavalier Parliament. In February 1679 he was elected MP for Callington again in the First Exclusion Parliament. He was elected MP for Launceston in August 1679 for the Second Exclusion Parliament.
He married twice, firstly on 27th December 1643 at Colebrooke, Devon, to Elizabeth Mills, daughter of John Mills of Colebrooke. She died on 27th September 1667 and was buried in Colebrooke Church, where her mural monument with Corinthian columns and scroll-work pediment survives. By Elizabeth he had two sons and two daughters. His second marriage, by licence dated 24th May 1680 was to Anne Wayte, a widow, of Acton in Middlesex. John Coryton died at the age of about 58 and was buried at St. Mellion on 23rd August 1680. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son.
Sir John Coryton, 2nd Baronet (1648–1690)
John was born in 1648. He was the son of John Coryton and his wife, Elizabeth Mills. He married Elizabeth Chiverton, daughter of Sir Richard Chiverton. He passed away in 1690.
Sir William Coryton, 3rd Baronet (1650–1711)
Baptised on 24th May 1650 William Coryton was the second son of Sir John Coryton Bart of Newton Ferrers in Devon and his wife, Elizabeth Mills. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and Middle Temple, being called to the bar in 1675.
Sir John Coryton, 4th Baronet (1690–1739)
He was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1713 and 1734.
Coryton was born at Greenwich, the only son of Sir William Coryton, 3rd Baronet and his wife Susanna Littleton, daughter of Edward Littleton MP of Pillaton, Staffordshire. He was educated at Rugby School from 1698 and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 14th October 1708, aged 18. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father on 6th December 1711. He married Rachel Helyar, daughter of William Helyar of East Coker, Somerset on 31st October 1715.
John Coryton was returned as a Tory MP for Callington in the general elections of 1713 and 1715. He did not stand in the 1722 general election, but was returned as MP for Callington again in 1727. He did not stand in 1734 as Walpole had bought him out of the seat. Coryton died on 22nd May 1739. He had no children and the baronetcy became extinct.
St. Mellion is also the location of Pentillie, a 17th-century castle and estate which has been the seat of the Coryton family since 1698. They had previously had an estate at West Newton Ferrers, also in St. Mellion.
The family of J. T. Coryton, Esquire, of Pentillie Castle, on the banks of the River Tamar, were thrown into a state of extreme distress on Tuesday, the 17th May 1836, by the melancholy death of Mr. W. Coryton, who was found drowned off the quay at a short distance from the Castle. The deceased was an elder son, and heir to an immense property.
Coryton Baronets, of Newton (1622)
Sir John Coryton, 1st Baronet (1621–1680)
Sir John Coryton, 2nd Baronet (1648–1690)
Sir William Coryton, 3rd Baronet (1650–1711)
Sir John Coryton, 4th Baronet (1690–1739)
The site of Mount Edgcumbe formed part of the Valletort estate which was acquired by Sir Piers Edgcumbe (1472-1539), son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe of Cotehele, through his marriage in 1493 with Joan Durnford. Gunnislake New Bridge, a new crossing of the River Tamar, was built by Sir Piers Edgcumbe in 1520. In 1515 Sir Piers enclosed a deer park on the Rame peninsular and it was here, in 1547, that his son, Sir Richard Edgcumbe (1499-1562), who had inherited the estate in 1539, built a new house known as Mount Edgcumbe; this replaced Cotehele as the family's principal residence. Sir Richard was succeeded in 1562 by his son, Sir Piers Edgcumbe (1536-1608), and during the late 16th century fortifications against the Spanish were built on the Rame Peninsular.
Sir Piers' grandson, Colonel Piers Edgcumbe (1610-1667), supported the Crown during the Civil War, and following the capitulation of his garrison at Mount Edgcumbe in 1645, returned to Cotehele. Following the Restoration, Colonel Edgcumbe began to make improvements to the grounds at Mount Edgcumbe, diverting the road from Cremyll Passage to Millbrook in 1664. The improvements were continued by Sir Piers' son, Sir Richard (1640-1688, Knighted 1662), and may have been influenced by his cousin, John Evelyn (1620-1706).
By 1739, when Thomas Badeslade published an engraving of Mount Edgcumbe, extensive formal gardens and pleasure grounds had been laid out by Sir Richard's son, also Richard, who inherited in 1688 and was created Baron Edgcumbe in 1742. The first Lord Edgcumbe was succeeded in 1758 by his eldest son, Richard, the 2nd Lord Edgcumbe, a close friend of Horace Walpole and a keen antiquary. The 2nd Lord Edgcumbe died in 1761, when the estate passed to his younger brother George, a naval officer who became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1776.
Lord Edgcumbe was created Viscount Valletort in 1781 when he entertained King George III and Queen Charlotte at Mount Edgcumbe; during a subsequent royal visit in 1789 he was created Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. The 1st Earl, who, like his brother, was an antiquary and associate of Horace Walpole, died in 1795, when he was succeeded as 2nd Earl by his only son, Richard. Married to Sophia Hobart, daughter of the Earl of Buckinghamshire of Blickling Hall, Norfolk, the 2nd Earl developed the Italian and French Gardens in the pleasure grounds, and continued to develop rides and plantations in the park. The 3rd Earl, who inherited the estate from his father in 1839, found Mount Edgcumbe increasingly inconvenient as a residence, particularly as his health began to fail; in 1855 he constructed the Winter Villa at Stonehouse on the east side of Plymouth Sound. The Villa, a substantial residence, was demolished in 1975. William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was an Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria from 1887 to 1897 and a Member of the Council to the Prince of Wales from 1901 to 1917 as well as Keeper of the Seal of the Duchy of Cornwall from 1907 to 1917. Between 1877 and 1917 he served as Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall. Lord Mount Edgcumbe married Lady Katherine Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, on 26th October 1858. They had four children.
Piers Alexander Hamilton Edgcumbe, 5th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1865–1944) the son of William Henry, married the Lady Edith Villiers, daughter of the Lady Caroline Elizabeth Agar and Edward Hyde Villiers, 5th Earl of Clarendon on the 15th of May 1911. They had no children and he was succeeded by his cousin, Kenelm William Edward Edgcumbe, 6th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.
Barons Edgcumbe (1742)
Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe (1680–1758)
Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe (1716–1761)
George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe (1720–1795) (created Viscount of Mount Edgcumbe in 1781, then Earl of Mount Edgcumbe in 1789)
Earls of Mount Edgcumbe (1789)
George Edgcumbe, 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1720–1795)
Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1764–1839)
Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1797–1861)
William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1832–1917)
Piers Alexander Hamilton Edgcumbe, 5th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1865–1944)
Kenelm William Edward Edgcumbe, 6th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1873–1965)
Edward Piers Edgcumbe, 7th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1903–1982)
Robert Charles Edgcumbe, 8th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (born 1939)
The heir presumptive is the present holder's half-brother Hon. Piers Valletort Edgcumbe (born 1946).
The heir presumptive's heir presumptive is his brother Hon. Christopher George Mortimer Edgcumbe (born 1950).
The heir presumptive's heir presumptive's heir apparent is his son Douglas George Valletort Edgcumbe (born 1985).
Sir John Eliot was born on 20th April 1592 at Port Eliot, the Eliot family home at St. Germans on the bank of the River Tamar. He grew up in a household that was noted for its generous entertaining and relaxed way of life. As a result John seems to have been a little wild in his youth. In one instance he wounded a neighbour. a Mr. Moyle, of Bake, after he had been complaining to his father of his way of life. At the time of this incident Eliot was somewhere between 15 and 18 years old and it seems to have had a steadying effect on his character as from this time forward he lead a blameless life. At 24 years old John Eliot became MP for St. Germans, for the first time, in March of 1614. This parliament was an unproductive (no bills were passed) and short (dissolved in June). It is notable as the last Parliament with Sir Francis Bacon as Attorney an that Sir Edward Giles (a Cornish neighbour) was leader of the opposition. He led in the Commons for the impeachment of Buckingham (following his disastrous management of the anti-Catholic war) in 1626 and was imprisoned for eleven days and dismissed as Vice Admiral. He was returned to the Parliament of 1628 where, with Pym, he led the Commons in forcing Charles to accept the Petition of Rights and continued to attack Buckingham. Charles dismissed Parliament and imprisoned Eliot (and eight other commons leaders) in the Tower where he died in 1632.
Lord Eliot's second but eldest surviving son, Edward James Eliot, predeceased him, and he was succeeded by his third son, the aforementioned 1st Earl of St. Germans, John Eliot. He was succeeded according to the special remainder by his younger brother William (1767-1845), the 2nd Earl. He was a diplomat and politician and notably served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. His only son, Edward Granville Eliot (1798-1877), the 3rd Earl, was also a prominent politician and held ministerial office as Chief Secretary for Ireland, Postmaster General, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Lord Steward of the Household. His third but eldest surviving son, William Gordon Cornwallis Eliot, the 4th Earl, was in the Diplomatic Service and briefly represented Devonport in the House of Commons. In 1870 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Eliot.
He never married and was succeeded by his younger brother, the 5th Earl. He was in the Foreign Office for many years. This line of the family failed on the death of his second but eldest surviving son John Granville Cornwallis Eliot (1890-1922), the 6th Earl, in 1922. The late Earl was succeeded by his 1st cousin, the 7th Earl. He was the eldest son of Colonel the Honorable Charles George Cornwallis Eliot, 6th son of the 3rd Earl. He never married and was succeeded by his younger brother, Montague Charles Eliot (1870-1960), the 8th Earl. He held several positions at court, notably as Gentleman Usher to King Edward VII and King George V. Nicholas Eliot (1914-1988), became the 9th Earl. As of 2007 the titles are held by his grandson, the 10th Earl, Peregrine Nicholas Eliot (1941-2016) who succeeded his father in 1988. As of 2016 the titles are held by the 11th Earl, Albert Clarence Eliot (b. 2004) who succeeded his grandfather in 2016.
Port Eliot is the family home of the Eliot's. From 1573 the property was known as Port-Elyot, and later as Port Eliot. Edward Eliot was raised to the peerage in 1784, the grounds were remodelled in 1792. In 1815 his son became the Earl of St. Germans, and the property has remained in the family until the current day.
Barons Eliot (1784)
Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot (1727–1804)
John Eliot, 2nd Baron Eliot (1761–1823) (created Earl of St. Germans in 1815)
Earls of Saint Germans (1815)
John Eliot, 1st Earl of St. Germans (1761–1823)
William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St. Germans (1767–1845)
Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St. Germans (1798–1877)
William Gordon Cornwallis Eliot, 4th Earl of St. Germans (1829–1881)
Henry Cornwallis Eliot, 5th Earl of St. Germans (1835–1911)
John Granville Cornwallis Eliot, 6th Earl of St. Germans (1890–1922)
Granville John Eliot, 7th Earl of St. Germans (1867–1942)
Montague Charles Eliot, 8th Earl of St. Germans (1870–1960)
Nicholas Richard Michael Eliot, 9th Earl of St. Germans (1914–1988)
Peregrine Nicholas Eliot, 10th Earl of St. Germans (1941–2016)
Albert Charger Eliot, 11th Earl of St. Germans (born 2004)
Samuel Enys (1611-1697) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660. He married Elizabeth Pendarves, daughter of Samuel Pendarves of Roskrow, Gluvias on 5th July 1647. They had six sons and a daughter. His wife died on 28th May 1705.
John Samuel Enys, (1796-1872), son of Samuel Hunt and Luce Ann Enys, his wife, the daughter of Samuel Enys. In 1813, his mother reverted her name from Hunt to Enys, after the death of her husband. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1824. At Enys he engaged the architect Henry Harrison in the early 1830's to produce designs for the house and improvements to the garden following the fire which burnt down the Tudor house in 1826. He continued to improve the gardens over the following decades. He married Elizabeth Pendarves and they had four sons, Samuel, John, Valentine and Richard. They were trained as merchants. He had two daughters and three sons, although only the eldest, Jane Mary Enys married.
Valentine Enys (1653-1719) was the third of four sons of Samuel and Elizabeth. He was a merchant, who exported in salted pilchards to the Canary Islands and imported canary wine.
John Enys (1757–1818), son of John Enys and Lucy Basset (1717-1758), second daughter of Francis Basset of Tehidy and Mary Pendarves, was a British soldier during the American Revolution and the War with France.
Francis Gilbert Enys (1836-1906). As eldest son, Frank inherited the estate on his father's death. During his period of ownership, his brothers John Davies and Charles were living in New Zealand and sent back many plants to Cornwall to enrich the gardens.
John Davies Enys (1837-1912). John Davies inherited Enys following the death of his older brother. He had returned to England (following 40 years in New Zealand) in 1891, when his younger brother had become seriously ill and returned to England to die. He established a New Zealand garden in the grounds and indulged his interest in plants and geology.
Enys Henry Enys (1861-1939). Enys Henry Rogers (Harry) was the eldest son of Henry Rogers and Jane Mary Enys and he inherited the estate on the death of his uncle. He was an ordained minister of the Church of England and married an American, Sarah Louise Duffus, in 1896. It would appear that he did little to improve or enhance the grounds.
Foot first stood for parliament in Totnes in January 1910, losing to the sitting Liberal Unionist, F. B. Mildmay He then stood twice for Bodmin, but was unsuccessful. At Plymouth Sutton in the by-election of November 1919 he was beaten by Nancy Astor, who became the first woman MP in Britain to take her seat in Parliament and a lifelong friend of Foot.
Foot was elected as MP for Bodmin at a by-election in February 1922, retaining his seat in the general elections of 1922 and 1923. He lost his seat in October 1924 but regained it in the 1929 general election, when the Liberals took all five Cornish seats. He held the seat until he lost again in the 1935 general election.
Foot served on the Round Table Conference on India in 1930 and on Burma in 1931 and was also on the Joint Select committee on India. His championing of the poor of the subcontinent earnt him the sobriquet of "the member for the Depressed Classes".
In 1931 he became Secretary for Mines in the National Government, but resigned the following year in protest at the protectionist Ottawa Agreements.
He fought two more elections, at St. Ives in 1937, and Tavistock in 1945, losing both.
In 1936 he was elected to serve on the Liberal Party Council. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1937. He served as President of the Liberal Party from 1947 to 1948.
John Mackintosh Foot, Baron Foot (1909–1999) was a British Liberal politician and Life Peer.
John Foot was born at Pencrebar, Callington, the third son of Isaac Foot (1880–1960) and his wife Eva Mackintosh (died 1946). His father was a solicitor and founder of the Plymouth law firm of Foot and Bowden. Isaac was also an active member of the Liberal Party, the Liberal MP for Bodmin before World War Two and the Lord Mayor of Plymouth after the war. His elder siblings were barrister Sir Dingle Foot, QC (1905–1978), who subsequently became both a Liberal and Labour MP and Hugh Foot, Baron Caradon (1907–1990), who became Governor of Cyprus (1957–1960) and then the UK representative to the United Nations (1964–1970). His younger siblings were Margaret Elizabeth Foot (1911–1965), Michael Foot (1913–2010), a Labour MP, Cabinet Minister and Leader of the Opposition (1980–1983), Jennifer Mackintosh Highet (1916-2002) and Christopher Isaac Foot (1917-1984). He married an American, Anne (Bailey Farr) in 1936 and they had a son and a daughter.
Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon GCMG KCVO OBE PC (1907–1990) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat who was Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and the last governor of British Cyprus.
Hugh Foot married Florence Sylvia Tod in 1936. She predeceased him in 1985. They had three sons and a daughter together:
Hon. Paul Mackintosh Foot (1937–2004), a journalist.
Hon. Sarah Dingle Foot (1939–2015), also a journalist.
Hon. Oliver Isaac Foot (1946–2008), a charity worker who led Project Orbis International.
Hon. Benjamin Arthur Foot (born 19th August 1949)
Hugh Foot died in Plymouth, aged 82, on 5th September 1990. He was survived by his four children.
Michael Mackintosh Foot FRSL (1913–2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on Tribune and the Evening Standard. He co-wrote the 1940 polemic against appeasement of Adolf Hitler, Guilty Men, under a pseudonym. Foot served as an MP from 1945 to 1955 and again from 1960 until he retired in 1992.
Robert Barclay Fox (1817-1855) was a businessman, gardener and diarist. He was the son of Robert Were Fox the younger (1789–1877) FRS of Falmouth and Maria (born Barclay of Bury Hill, Surrey), his wife. He was usually known as "Barclay Fox". He was the brother of Anna Maria and Caroline Fox and brother-in law of Edmund Backhouse, MP for Darlington, who married the Barclay's cousin, Juliet. Barclay and his siblings played a large part in the naming and establishment of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society. Barclay was also general manager of the Iron Foundry at Perranarworthal, from 18th July 1842, when his uncle, Charles Fox, retired. Barclay Fox was one of the leaders the ultimately unsuccessful campaign to persuade the Government not to shift the servicing of Post Office Packets from Falmouth to Southampton. He was in a deputation of Cornish worthies who met the Prime Minister on 16th June 1843. In his spare time, he developed Penjerrick Garden, competing with his uncles Charles Fox of Trebah and Alfred Fox of Glendurgan. All three gardens are now open to the public.
Caroline Fox (1819–1871) was an English diarist and correspondent from Penjerrick, near Falmouth. Her diary records memories of major writers, who include John Stuart Mill and Thomas Carlyle.
Barclay Fox died in Egypt on 10th March 1855 from tuberculosis. His wife, Jane Fox died 10th April 1860. Their four sons were brought up by Barclay's unmarried sisters, Anna Maria and Caroline, with Lovell Squire as their tutor. They were: Robert Fox (1845-1915), George Croker Fox (1847-1902), Henry Backhouse Fox (1849-1936) and Joseph Gurney Fox (1850-1912), (known as "Gurney").
Robert Fox married Ellen Mary Bassett. Their son, Robert Barclay Fox (1873-1934), became a Conservative County Councillor and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1920. The daughter of Barclay and Jane Fox, Jane Hannah Fox, was brought up by her mother's brother, Edmund Backhouse (MP) and his wife.
Joseph Fox (1729–1784) was the first Falmouth Fox, and founder of the medical dynasty. He married Elizabeth Hingston (1733–1802) on 17th May 1754. He was Mayor of Falmouth at the time of the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, on 1st September 1843. The eleven children of Joseph Fox and Elizabeth Hingston included two who became medical doctors.
Josiah Fox (1763–1847), was a naval architect and a relation of this family.
George Croker Fox (1784-1850), Robert Were Fox the Younger (1789-1877) FRS and Alfred Fox assembled excellent collections of minerals, which are now in the British Museum (Natural History), given by Arthur Russell. Edward Fox (1749-1817), merchant, of Wadebridge, supplied the great collector Philip Rashleigh with mineral specimens. Robert was distinguished for his researches on the internal temperature of the earth, contributing papers to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and being the first to prove that temperature definitely increases with depth.
G.C. Fox (Shipping Brokers) was a major shipping agency and broker in the growing freight port of Falmouth. The company was established in 1762 and passed out of family control on 30th September 2003. It remains the oldest ship agency company in Falmouth.
Alfred Fox (1794–1894), was heavily engaged in the Pilchard industry of Cornwall. Much of the output was salted fish for export to Catholic Southern Europe.
In 1882 Howard, George and Robert Fox formed the Falmouth Fishery Company Ltd., which also purchased G.C. Fox's ship towage business; in 1893 it was transformed into the Falmouth Towage Company Ltd.
Robert Were Fox the Elder (1754–1818) was a Quaker businessman who lived in Falmouth. In 1811, Fox was one of four delegates sent to negotiate with the Post Office headquarters in Lombard Street for the return of the Packet Service station to Falmouth from Plymouth.
Robert Were Fox the Younger FRS (1789–1877) was a British geologist, natural philosopher and inventor. He is known mainly for his work on the temperature of the earth and his construction of a compass to measure magnetic dip at sea.
Charles Fox (1797-1878) was a Quaker scientist and he developed Trebah Garden. He was the son of Robert Were Fox the Elder and Elizabeth Tregelles, his wife. He was the younger brother of Robert Were Fox FRS.
Howard Fox, (1836–1922), was the son of Alfred and Sarah Fox, and Chair of the Falmouth Harbour Board and the Falmouth Docks Company for 45 years. Married Olivia Blanche Orme, a non-Quaker. They had two sons, Charles Masson Fox and Howard Orme Fox, and two daughters, Olivia Lloyd Fox and Stella Fox.
Charles Masson Fox (1866–1935), chess player. Son of Howard Fox and Olivia Blanche Orme, his wife. Partner in the Fox family's businesses and Consul to Russia and Sweden.
Charles Fox (1740–1809), poet and orientalist of Falmouth and Bristol. This Charles Fox is the subject of a DNB article. It is not clear whether or how he was related to other Falmouth Foxes.
Robert Barclay Fox (1873–1934), Son of Robert Fox and Ellen Bassett, his wife. Grandson of Barclay Fox. Cornwall County Councillor, High Sheriff of Cornwall, 1920–1921, Partner in G.C. Fox.
Waldo Trench Fox (1892-1954), gained the rank of Major in the Canadian Militia. He fought in the First World War, where he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Military Cross. He was in the Nigerian Civil Service. He held the office of County Councillor for Cornwall. He married Janet Mary Kennedy Bassett.
His father, Thomas, had been governor of the Isles of Scilly and they were leased to Francis who became governor in his turn. On royal instructions he improved the defences of the islands which were, in Carew's words "reduced to a more defensible plight by him, who with his invention and purse, bettered his plot and allowance, and therein so tempered strength and delight, and both with use, as it serveth for a sure hold, and a commodious dwelling." Chief among this work of fortification was the building of Star Castle in 1593. He was also an innovative manager of Cornwall's tin mines, his inventions greatly increasing their productivity by extracting metal from material; that would previously have been discarded as refuse, so materially improving both the prosperity of Cornwall and the revenue that the Crown derived from it.
Sir William Godolphin (1547–1589), of Treveneage, was an English Member of Parliament. He was the younger son of Thomas Godolphin, Captain (governor) of the Isles of Scilly, a member of one of Cornwall's leading families, and is wife Katherine Bonithon; his older brother, Sir Francis, who took over the governorship of the Isles of Scilly from their father, was also an MP and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries. Sir William represented Helston, at that period the Godolphin family borough, in the Parliament of 1586. He married Jane Gaverigan on 11th December 1587, only shortly before his death. His son, Francis, was MP for St. Ives.
Sir Francis represented Cornwall in the Parliament of 1588 and Lostwithiel in that of 1593; he was also twice High Sheriff of Cornwall, and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries from 1584 to 1603. He married Margaret Killigrew, daughter of Sir John Killigrew of Arwennack and accused pirate Elizabeth Trewinnard; and two of his sons, Sir William (his heir) and Sir Francis, followed him in becoming Members of Parliament.
Sir William Godolphin MP (1567−1613), of Godolphin, was an English knight and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1604 to 1611. He was the older son of Sir Francis Godolphin (1540–1608). He accompanied the Earl of Essex in his military expedition of 1599–1600 to Ireland, and was knighted on 13th July 1599 for his gallantry in an action at Arklow. He was subsequently put in command of a brigade of cavalry, and he was credited with playing an important part in victory at the Siege of Kinsale on 24th December 1601, when his troops broke through the enemy line and captured the Spanish commander. For his services he was highly commended by the Crown, and made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. He was MP for Cornwall in the first parliament of James I from 1604 to 1611, and was regarded as a reliable supporter of Crown policy. He was Lieutenant-governor of the Isles of Scilly from 1597, becoming full Governor on the death of his father in 1608 until his own death in 1613. He was buried at Breage, near Helston.
Another Sir Francis Godolphin (1605-1667) was also an English MP. He was the eldest son of Sir William Godolphin and brother of Sidney Godolphin, both of whom were also MP's. He succeeded his father in 1613, inheriting estates which included the lease of the Isles of Scilly. He represented Helston in the Parliament of 1625-1626, again in the Long Parliament and was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1638. Being a Royalist, when the Civil War broke out he returned to Cornwall, where he secured the Isles of Scilly for the King and raised a regiment of which his brother, William, took command.
John Godolphin (1617–1678) An English jurist and writer, an admiralty judge under the Commonwealth. The second son (by Judith Meredith) of John Godolphin, who was younger brother of Sir William Godolphin (died 1613), he was born on the Isles of Scilly, on the 29th November 1617. He took the Parliamentarian side during the civil war, and on the 30th July 1653 was appointed judge of the admiralty, with William Clerk and Charles George Cocke. After Clarke's death Godolphin and Cocke were re-appointed in July 1659 to hold the same office until 10th December. After the Restoration he became one of the king's advocates. He died near Fleet Street, on the 4th April 1678, and was buried in Clerkenwell Church. He was four times married, and had by his first wife a son, Sidney, who was governor of Isles of Scilly, and whose daughter Mary married Henry Godolphin.
Sidney Godolphin (1645-1712) first Earl of Godolphin came from an ancient family which made its money from mining enterprises in West Cornwall. At the Restoration he was introduced into the royal household by King Charles II of England, whose favourite he had become, and he also entered the House of Commons as member for Helston. Although he very seldom addressed the House, and, when he did so, only in the briefest manner, he "gradually acquired a reputation as its chief if not its only financial authority." In March 1679 he was appointed a member of the Privy Council, and in the September following he was promoted, along with Viscount Hyde (afterwards Earl of Rochester) and the Earl of Sunderland, to the chief management of affairs. He married Margaret Blagge, daughter of Thomas Blagge, the pious lady whose life was written by Evelyn in his book 'The Life of Mrs Godolphin', on 16th May 1675. She died in childbirth bearing his only son, Francis, in 1678, and Sidney never re-married. In 1706 Anne created him Earl of Godolphin for his work with Marlborough in bringing about the union of England and Scotland. To maintain his position he pressured Anne to dismiss Harley in 1708, however in 1710 he was dismissed himself. Sidney's interests outside of his official life was horse racing. He was the first to import Arab stallions into England and all thoroughbreds in English racing today can trace their bloodline back to his stable. Two years later, on September 15th 1712, he died at the London home of his friend Marlborough.
Francis Godolphin (1678-1766) was educated at Eton, and at King's College, Cambridge His first public appointment was that of joint registrar of the court of chancery on 29th June 1698, which he held to 20th January 1727, holding also the place of one of the tellers of the exchequer from 1699 to 1704. He was chosen representative for East Looe on 1st December 1701, but on 4th February 1701 elected to serve for Helston, and sat for that constituency till 21st September 1710. As cofferer of the household he was in office from 1704 to 1711, and acted as Lord warden of the Stannaries, high steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, and rider and master forester of Dartmoor from 1705 to 1708. He was known under the courtesy title of Viscount Rialton from 29th December 1706 till 1712. He sat for the county of Oxford from 1708 to 1710, and for Tregony from the latter date until he was elevated to the upper house as second Earl of Godolphin on the death of his father on 15th September 1712.
He was again cofferer of the household 1714 to 1723, Lord-lieutenant of the county of Oxford 1715 to 1735, Lord of the bedchamber to George I in 1716, high steward of Banbury in 1718, and made a privy councillor on the 26th May 1723. To George II he was groom of the stole, and first Lord of the bedchamber 1727-1735. He was named high steward of Woodstock on the 18th March 1728, and the same day appointed governor of The Isles of Scilly.
On 23rd January 1735 he was created Baron Godolphin of Helston, with special remainder, in default of his own issue, to the heirs male of his deceased uncle, Dr. Henry Godolphin, dean of St. Paul's. During the King's absence from Great Britain in 1723, 1725, and 1727 he acted as one of the Lords justices of the United Kingdom. Finally, as Lord privy seal, he was in office from 14th May 1735 to 25th April 1740. The pocket borough of Helston, not far from his ancestral home, Godolphin House, was under his patronage for many years, and sent his nominees to parliament. In return for this complaisance he re-built Helston church in 1763, at an expense of £6,000, and it was also his custom to pay the rates and taxes for all the electors in the borough. It is said that he only read two works, Burnet's 'History of my own Time' and Colley Cibber's 'Apology'. When he had perused them throughout he began them again. He died on 17th January 1766, and was buried in Kensington Church on 25th January, when the Earldom of Godolphin, Viscounty of Rialton, and Barony of Godolphin of Rialton became extinct; but the Barony of Godolphin of Helston devolved upon his cousin Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin of Helston. Sir Francis Godolphin married Lady Henrietta Churchill in March 1698.
Colonel Sidney Godolphin (1652–1732) was Governor of the Isles of Scilly and Auditor of Wales. He served in Parliament for nearly 50 years, where he was 'Father of the House'.
Sir William Godolphin (1486–1570) was a 16th-century English MP. He was the son of John Godolphin, who was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1505, and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Trenouth. Sir William lived to an advanced age, dying at around the same time as his son, another William, which causes confusion. He married Margaret Glynn, and they had four children: William, Thomas, Elizabeth and Honor.
His son, Sir William Godolphin (1515-1570), was a soldier in the service of Henry VIII, who made some alterations to Godolphin House, and further work was carried out at the end of the 16th century by Sir Francis Godolphin, Governor of the Isles of Scilly. The present north or entrance range was probably added in the 1630's by his son William to replace the screen wall. In the mid-17th century the building reached its heyday, and by 1689 Godolphin House contained around 100 rooms.
Sidney Godolphin (1610–1643) was an English poet, courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1628 and 1643. He died fighting in the Royalist army in the English Civil War.
Sir William Godolphin, 1st Baronet (1640–1710), of Godolphin, was an English land owner, politician, and MP for Helston. He was the eldest son of Sir Francis Godolphin, KB, who had been a MP until being barred from sitting because of his Royalist sympathies during the Civil War, and who after the Restoration was knighted in reward for his loyalty. Probably also in token of Sir Francis's services, William was created a baronet on 29th April 1661.
William Godolphin's grandson, Sidney, was Queen Ann's Lord Treasurer from 1702 to 1710 and was responsible for financing the Duke of Marlborough's wars. He was created Earl of Godolphin and his son married Marlborough's daughter. The 1st Earl spent little time at Godolphin House and the 2nd Earl even less. On the death of the 2nd Earl in 1766 the estate passed through his daughter to the Duke of Leeds.
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin (1707–1785) was a British peer and politician. He was appointed Lieutenant-governor of the Isles of Scilly from 1739 to 1766 and full Governor from 1766 to his death. He was also recorder for Helston from 1766 to his death. He was elected a MP for the borough of Helston from 1741 to 1766, when he succeeded to the peerage on the death of his cousin Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin. The Godolphin barony of 1832 and the dukedom of Leeds remained united until the death of Sir D'Arcy Osborne, 12th Duke of Leeds in 1964, when both titles became extinct.
Godolphin Baronets of Godolphin (1661)
Sir William Godolphin, 1st Baronet of Godolphin, (1640-1710)
Barons Godolphin: First creation (1684)
Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, 1st Baron Godolphin (1645–1712)
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin (1678–1766) (created Baron Godolphin in 1735)
Barons Godolphin: Second creation (1735)
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, 1st Baron Godolphin (1678–1766)
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin (1707–1785)
Barons Godolphin: Third creation (1832)
Francis Godolphin Osborne, 1st Baron Godolphin (1777–1850)
George Godolphin Osborne, 2nd Baron Godolphin (1802–1872) (succeeded as Duke of Leeds in 1859)
The family of Gregor came into some prominence during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as merchants, and their wealth and standing steadily increased. In 1613 Francis Gregor of Truro purchased many properties thus beginning the family's acquisition of property all over Cornwall.
Francis Gregor, the elder son, entered the legal profession, though his main interest was in military affairs, and he commanded, for many years, the 2nd or Roseland, regiment of local militia. He married Catherine Luke Masterman of Restormel.
Francis and Catherine at first lived at Restormel, but after the deaths of Francis senior in 1786 and Dorothy Gregor in 1790, they inherited all the Trewarthenick property. Although they preferred Restormel as a residence, the expense of the 1788 election decided Gregor to dispose of the Masterman property; which was leasehold, and to keep Trewarthenick and the freehold estates.
In 1794 Catherine Masterman died, and four years later Francis married a Miss Jane Urquhart of Aberdeen. There were no children of either marriage, and the estate therefore went to Francis' brother William, who had taken holy orders, and at first served the parish of Cornelly, living at home at Trewarthenick with his grandmother. After his marriage in 1788 with Charlotte Anne Gwatkin of Bristol, the couple at first lived at Caerhays, which they continued to rent until they moved to Creed Rectory where they spent the rest of their married life.
In 1814 she married Gordon William Francis Booker, grandson of the 3rd Duke of Gordon, and when in 1825 the Trewarthenick estates came to Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville on the death of Charlotte Anne Gregor, they assumed the name and arms of Gregor.
Francis Gregor (1760–1815) was an English landowner in Cornwall, MP for the Cornwall county constituency from 1790 to 1806. At his death, his brother, William, inherited the Trewarthenick Estate.
William Gregor (1761–1817) was an English clergyman and mineralogist who discovered the elemental metal titanium. He was made an honorary member of the Geological Society of London on its inception in 1807. He died of tuberculosis and was buried at nearby Cornelly church.
Sir Bevil Grenville was born in 1596 near Withiel, west of Bodmin, and a grandson of Sir Richard Grenville. At the start of the Civil War in 1642 he raised an army in Cornwall to fight for the King. When the Parliamentarians crossed the River Tamar his army fought a number of battles and threw them out of Cornwall. He won battles at Braddock Down near Lostwithiel, and at Stratton Hill near Bude, he then led his men on a victorious march through Devon into Somerset. In 1643 the Royalists won a battle at Lansdown Hill outside Bath, but Bevil Grenville was mortally wounded. His Cornish soldiers refused to fight under any other leader and returned home, carrying the body of Sir Bevil. It was buried in a tomb in Kilkhampton Church.
Sir Bernard Grenville (1567-1636), was an English politician. He was the eldest surviving son of Richard Grenville (died 1591). He was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall for 1596, and a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall in 1598. He was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Charles I in 1628. He was elected a MP for Bodmin in 1597. He married Elizabeth Bevill, only daughter and heiress of Phillip Bevill of Brinn and Killigarth, by whom he had four sons and a daughter, including: Sir Bevil Grenville (1596-1643), a Royalist soldier in the Civil War, killed in action at the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643. He served as MP for Cornwall 1621 to 1625 and 1640 to 1642, and for Launceston 1625 to 1629 and 1640. He was the father of John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701).
Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet (1600–1658) was a Cornish Royalist leader during the Civil War. He was the third son of Sir Bernard Grenville (1567–1636), and a grandson of the famous seaman, Sir Richard Grenville. Having served in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, Grenville gained the favour of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, took part in the expeditions to Cádiz, to the island of Rhé and to La Rochelle, was Knighted, and in 1628 became MP for Fowey. In 1630, he married Mary Fitz (1596–1671), the wealthy widow of Sir Charles Howard (died 1626), and was made a Baronet of Kilkhampton; his violent temper destroyed the marriage, and he was imprisoned as the result of two lawsuits, one with his wife, and the other with her kinsman, the Earl of Suffolk. In 1633 he escaped from prison and went to Germany, returning to England six years later to join the army which Charles I was collecting to march against the Scots. Early in 1641, just after the outbreak of the Irish rebellion, Sir Richard led some troops to Ireland, where he won some fame and became governor of Trim, County Meath; then returning to England in 1643 he was arrested at Liverpool by Parliament, but was soon released and sent to join the parliamentary army. Instead, having obtained men and money, he hurried to Charles I at Oxford and was despatched to take part in the siege of Plymouth, quickly becoming the leader of the forces engaged in this enterprise. Compelled to raise the siege he withdrew into Cornwall, where he helped to resist the advancing Parliamentarians. In 1644, parliament, for his desertion, put out a proclamation against him. Vital supplies of Cornish tin helped finance the Royalist war-effort and Grenville marched his contingent to Launceston where he positioned Cornish troops along the River Tamar and issued instructions to keep "all foreign troops out of Cornwall". About this time complaints were brought against Grenville, saying that he had behaved in a very arbitrary fashion, hanging some men and imprisoning others, extorting money and using war contributions for his own ends. Many of these charges were undoubtedly true, but upon his recovery the councillors of the Prince of Wales gave him a position under Lord Goring, whom he refused to obey. Equally recalcitrant was his attitude towards Goring's successor, Sir Ralph Hopton. Grenville refused to serve under Lord Hopton and resigned his commission. In January 1646 he was arrested at Launceston for insubordination and imprisoned on St. Michael's Mount. He died in 1658 and was buried at Ghent.
Stowe House near Kilkhampton was a mansion built in 1679 by John Grenville, and demolished in 1739. The Grenville family were for many centuries lords of the manor of Kilkhampton, which they held from the feudal barony of Gloucester, as they did their other principal seat of nearby Bideford in Devon. It is possible that the family's original residence at Kilkhampton was Kilkhampton Castle, of which only the ground-works survive, unusual in that it had a motte with two baileys.
Charles Grenville, 2nd Earl of Bath (1661–1701) succeeded his father in 1701 but died in a shooting accident, possibly suicide, shortly afterwards. He left as heir his seven-year-old only son William Henry Granville, 3rd Earl of Bath (1692-1711) who died in 1711 aged seventeen without progeny.
Sir John Grenville 1st Earl of Bath (1628-1701) was born at Kilkhampton, John Grenville was the third son of Sir Bevil Grenville and his wife Grace, daughter of Sir George Smith. By 1641, both John's elder brothers had died and he became heir to his family's extensive estates in Cornwall and Devon. He was educated at home but in 1642, his education was interrupted by the outbreak of Civil War. At the age of fourteen, John held a commission in his father's regiment, which fought for the King under Sir Ralph Hopton. He was Knighted by King Charles I after the capture of Bristol in August 1643 and served with the King's Oxford army in the Lostwithiel campaign in 1644. In October 1644, Grenville was severely wounded at the second battle of Newbury. After the defeat of the Royalists in the Civil War, Grenville accompanied Prince Charles to the Isles of Scilly, Jersey and Paris. In February 1649, after the execution of his father, Charles appointed Sir John Grenville governor of the Isles of Scilly.
Sir John Grenville was richly rewarded for his services in securing the Restoration and became the most powerful magnate in the West Country. Among other honours, he was created first Earl of Bath, warden of the Stannaries, Lord-lieutenant of Cornwall and governor of Plymouth. His final years were spent in a bitter legal dispute over the Albemarle estate, which almost bankrupted him. Two weeks after his death in August 1701, his son and heir Charles Grenville shot himself, apparently overwhelmed by the debts he had inherited. Father and son were buried on 22nd September 1701 in the family vault at Kilkhampton.
George Grenville (1712-1770), was a British Whig statesman who served in government for the relatively short period of seven years, reaching the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Grenville Baronets, of Kilkhampton (1630)
Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet (1600–1659)
Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet (1758-1829) was the second son of Thomas Hawkins (1723-1766) of Trewithen, a considerable landowner, mine-owner and former MP for Grampound. Thomas Hawkins had a lifelong fear of smallpox and died following an inoculation to prevent it. Christopher's elder brother John was drowned in the Thames whilst at Eton, whilst a younger brother Thomas died "of a fever in consequence of eating an ice-cream after dancing." His youngest brother, John Hawkins, survived and became a noted geologist. On his father's death in 1766, Christopher inherited his estates.
Sir Christopher was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall for 1783. He then followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a MP at the age of 26. He subsequently earned notoriety as the leading commoner engaged in 'borough-mongering', the purchase and sale of rotten boroughs, parliamentary constituencies that had very few electors and as a result could be bought and sold through patronage, influence, and straightforward bribery.
Sir Christopher was a partner in the Cornish Copper Company which established a smelting works at Copperhouse, built a canal to Hayle and extended the harbour there to export metal and import coal, timber, and other goods. He owned china clay mines in the St. Austell area and substantially rebuilt the harbour at Pentewan to serve as a china clay port, connected to St. Austell by the Pentewan Railway, a horse-drawn tramway. He later obtained the post of Vice Lord Warden of the Stannaries, giving him considerable influence and control over mines and mining in Cornwall.
Sir Christopher was a patron and supporter of the Cornish steam pioneer Richard Trevithick and in 1812 commissioned from him the world's first steam threshing machine, powered by a "semi-portable" barn engine. The machine continued in use till the 1880's and has been preserved by the Science Museum in London.
Sir Christopher never married. On his death in 1829, his estate passed to his youngest brother, John, and then to his nephew, Christopher Henry Thomas Hawkins.
The family home of Trewithen, near Probus, was purchased by Philip Hawkins of Trewinnard in 1715 and substantially and grandly rebuilt. His cousin, Sir Christopher's father, inherited the house in 1738 and was responsible for much of its landscaping. Trewithen House, now a Grade I listed building, is still privately owned by a family descendant. It houses a portrait of Sir Christopher and is open to the public. The garden at Trewithen was made by G. H. Johnstone VMH; it covers about 23 acres and is noted for its design and for the large collection of camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons.
John Hawkins (1761-1841) was an English geologist, traveller and writer. He was the youngest son of Thomas Hawkins, by Anne, daughter of James Heywood of London. He was a man of considerable means, owning much Cornish mining property, and inherited the Trewithen Estate. He devoted his long life to the study of literature, science, and art. He was a founder member of the Royal Horticultural Society, an honorary member of the Geological Society of London, and a founder member of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. He contributed papers to the RGSC on the submarine mine at Wherrytown, near Penzance.
On Sir Christopher's death in 1829, Trewithen passed to his brother John Hawkins (who built and lived at Bignor Park in West Sussex), a man of great learning and intellect who planted many fine trees at Trewithen – including Holm oaks.
John was succeeded in 1841 by his young son Henry Hawkins – known to all as CHT – who chose not to live in Cornwall. When he died in 1903, the estate passed to his nephew John Heywood Johnstone, changing the family name for the first time in nearly 200 years. Sadly John survived only a year after his inheritance – leaving his 22 year old son George Johnstone in charge.
It was George who was responsible for developing the gardens and, by sponsoring some of the great plant hunting expeditions to the Himalayas and China, introduced a wealth of new species. When George died in 1960 his widow and eldest daughter Elizabeth continued his botanical work – with Elizabeth going on to be awarded the Bledisloe Gold Medal for services to Agriculture and Landowning.
Trewithen's current owner is Michael Galsworthy, George Johnstone's grandson. Equally committed to the care and further development of both the gardens and the wider estate, he came to live in the house with his family in 1980.
Hawkins Baronets, of Trewithen (1791)
Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet (1758-1829)
Pelyn was a woodland estate west of Lostwithiel owned by the Kendall family for over 400 years. The Grade II house, built in 1601 with subsequent 18th century and Victorian additions, was home to this local gentry family which has produced many MPs, lawyers and clergy over the years.
Nicholas Kendall (1577–1643) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1625 and 1640 as MP for Lostwithiel. He was killed in action fighting on the Royalist side in the English Civil War.
Kendall was the son of Walter Kendall of Pelyn. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford in October 1594 aged 17. He became recorder of Lostwithiel.
Kendall became a colonel in the King's army. He led a troop of Royalist soldiers into Bodmin, where they routed the Parliamentarian troopers who were raiding the town. He was killed at the siege of Bristol in 1643. He was buried in Lanlivery Church.
Kendall married by Emlyn Treffry, daughter of Thomas Treffry of Lostwithiel in 1623. Their son Walter was also MP for Lostwithiel and he married Jane Carew in 1686.
The Kendall family held prominent positions over the centuries, being at one time masters of the Cinque Ports, MP's and on many occasions holding the position of Parish Priest. Of Royalist sympathies during the Civil War, Colonel Nicholas Kendall (1599-1686) is recorded as having led a Troop of King's men into Bodmin, where they succeeded in routing a band of Parliamentarian Troopers who were raiding the County Capital. A short time later he lost his life in the siege before Bristol.
Yet another Nicholas Kendall, son of Charles, was born in St. Mabyn on 22nd December 1800. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and in 1847 he became Sheriff of Cornwall. In that same year, he suppressed the Food Riot in St. Austell on 11th June.
He was returned to parliament for East Cornwall, in conjunction with Thomas Agar-Robartes, in 1852, which position he retained without intermission until 1868. He was one of the County Magistrates and also a deputy-lieutenant, and deputy warden of the Stannaries. For some time he was Captain of the Royal Cornwall Rangers Militia. He died at Pelyn 8th June 1878, and was buried at St. Brevita's Church, Lanlivery on 12th June 1878, aged 77.
The house and estate has once more returned into the ownership of the Kendall family, and the new owners are committed to the restoration of the house and grounds. There is also active interest from English Heritage in the preservation of this property.
There are many more members of this family of which information is hard to obtain. Among them are-
Walter Isaac Kendall (1476-1547) of Pelyn
Nicholas Kendall (1511-1573) of Pelyn
Kendall, Walter (1626-1696) of Pelyn
Walter Kendall (1689-1744) of Pelyn
Arwenack House is the oldest building in Falmouth, originally built in 1385 and then largely rebuilt in 1550 by Sir John Killigrew. At that time it was described as 'the finest and most costly house in the country'. It was partly destroyed in 1646, and only a remnant survives today. The house fell into disrepair before being restored to something like its former glory in the 1980's.
Sir Henry Killigrew (1528–1603) was an English diplomat and ambassador. He was the fourth son of John Killigrew of Arwenack House. He was several times employed by Queen Elizabeth 1st in Scottish affairs and served as one of the English appointees to the Council of State of the Netherlands in the United Provinces in 1586. He was MP for Launceston in 1553, Saltash in 1563, Truro in 1571.
Sir Robert Killigrew (1580–1633) was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1601 and 1629. He served as Ambassador to the United Provinces.
Martin Lister Killigrew (1666-1745) left instructions to erect the Killigrew Monument or Pyramid in 1737, he insisted that there should be no inscription, not even a date. The cost of the pyramid was £455 15s. 6d. It is formed of blocks of granite and is 44 feet high and 14 feet wide at its base.
Sir John Killigrew (1516-1567) MP for Cornwall from Arwenack House married Elizabeth Trewinnard in 1540. He was the first Governor of Pendennis Castle. He was also responsible for much building in Falmouth. There was also a son called John Killigrew (1550-1584).
His son also Sir John Killigrew (1539-1584) was the 2nd Governor of Pendennis Castle, and appointed by Queen Elizabeth 1st.
John Killigrew (1557–1605) of Arwenack House, was three times MP for Penryn, and Vice-Admiral of Cornwall and like his father and grandfather was Captain of Pendennis Castle (1584–1598). He had notorious dealings with local pirates. Due to his father's debts and his own extravagance he died in poverty.
Sir William Killigrew (1606-1695). He was the son of Sir Robert Killigrew (1580-1633) and Mary Woodhouse. William studied at St. John's College, Oxford University, from 4th July 1623. He later married Mary Hill.
Sir William Killigrew, 1st Baronet (1600-1665) of Arwenack House was the 6th son of John Killigrew.
William's younger brother Thomas (1612-1683), was to become the best known of all the siblings, as a minor courtier and dramatist and, principally, as a theatrical manager after 1660. Another brother, Henry (1613-1700), entered the church and became chaplain to the Duke of York - the future King James II - and Master of the Savoy Hospital in London.
In 1628, Sir William was elected MP for Penryn. From 1633 to 1635, he was Governor of Pendennis Castle, a post previously held by his father, who had died in 1633.
Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (1634–1705), son, who inherited his uncle's Baronetcy under the special remainder. In 1660 he was elected MP for Camelford.
Anne Killigrew (died 1727), youngest daughter and co-heiress, wife of Martin Lister (1666–1745), born at Liston in Staffordshire, who under the terms of her father's will adopted the additional surname of Killigrew. The marriage was childless.
Everything came to an end in the 18th century. Peter's son George was killed in a duel in 1687. His son-in-law Martin took the Killigrew name - but he had no heirs, and that was the end of the Killigrews.
Killigrew Baronets, of Arwenack (1660)
Sir William Killigrew, 1st Baronet (1600-1665)
Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (1634–1705)
William Lemon (1696-1760), acquired the family estate at Carclew in 1749. His father, also called William Lemon, married Anne, the daughter of John Williams of Carnanton. Their son, William, later Sir William, was born 11th October 1748 became MP for Cornwall. Another son, John, born 6th November 1754, became MP for Saltash in 1787 and from 1796 to 1814, for Truro and owner of Pollevillan. John Lemon died on 5th April 1814. Their daughter, Anne married John Buller MP for West Looe and then Truro, of Morval
Sir Charles Lemon (1784-1868), 2nd Baronet Lemon of Carclew was a British MP for several constituencies and a Baronet. He inherited his Baronetcy in 1824 upon the death of his father Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet and Carclew House. He funded the establishment of what is now the Camborne School of Mines. The name "Lemon" lives on in Truro as "Lemon Street" and "Lemon Quay". He was on the Committee of management of the South Western Railway in 1836.
The second Baronet also represented these constituencies as well as Cornwall West in the House of Commons. The title became extinct on his death in 1868.
Lemon Baronets, of Carclew (1774)
Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet (1748–1824)
Sir Charles Lemon, 2nd Baronet (1784–1868)
Sir William Molesworth, 8th Baronet (1810–1855), was a Radical British politician, who served in the coalition cabinet of The Earl of Aberdeen from 1853 until his death in 1855 as First Commissioner of Works and then Colonial Secretary.
Sir Lewis William Molesworth, the 11th Baronet represented Bodmin in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist. The 12th Baronet was the son of Reverend Hender Molesworth (great-grandson of the 5th Baronet), who in 1844 assumed by Royal license the additional surname of St. Aubyn, his mother being the daughter and co-heiress of Sir John St. Aubyn, 5th Baronet. Sir (John) Arscott Molesworth-St. Aubyn, the 15th Baronet was High Sheriff of Cornwall from 1975 to 1976 and served as a Deputy Lieutenant of the county.
Unlike the Arundells, the Molesworths were not an old Catholic family, but they played a very significant role in the revival of Catholicism in Cornwall, after the conversion in the mid 19th century, of Paul Molesworth, a Church of England clergyman and the 10th Baronet, and his wife, Jane. Paul and Jane Molesworth became significant benefactors of the new Catholic mission churches.
Molesworth, later Molesworth-St. Aubyn Baronets, of Pencarrow (1689)
Sir Hender Molesworth, 1st Baronet (1638–1689)
Sir John Molesworth, 2nd Baronet (1635–1716)
Sir John Molesworth, 3rd Baronet (1668–1723)
Sir John Molesworth, 4th Baronet (1705–1766)
Sir John Molesworth, 5th Baronet (1729–1775)
Sir William Molesworth, 6th Baronet (1758–1798)
Sir Arscott Ourry Molesworth, 7th Baronet (1789–1823)
Sir William Molesworth, 8th Baronet (1810–1855)
Sir Hugh Henry Molesworth, 9th Baronet (1818–1862)
Sir Paul William Molesworth, 10th Baronet (1821–1889)
Sir Lewis William Molesworth, 11th Baronet (1853–1912)
Sir Hender Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 12th Baronet (1833–1913)
Sir Hugh Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 13th Baronet (1865–1942)
Sir John Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 14th Baronet (1899–1985)
Sir (John) Arscott Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 15th Baronet (1926–1998)
Sir William Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 16th Baronet (born 1958)
The heir apparent to the Baronetcy is Archie Hender Molesworth-St. Aubyn (born 1997), eldest son of the 16th Baronet.
Sir William Pendarves (1622-1656) of Roscrow, Camborne who lived in the 17th century, entertained his friends by mixing punch in a coffin made of copper. It was at this time copper competed in importance to tin, as shafts could now be sunk lower reaching the rich lodes below the tin.
Alexander Pendarves, MP (1662-1726) - married Mary Delany in 1718, she was the son of John Pendarves and Bridget, daughter of Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet of Antony. Samuel Enys married Elizabeth Pendarves, daughter of Samuel Pendarves of Roskrow, Gluvias on 5th July 1647.
John Pendarves (1622-1656). The son of John Pendarves of Crowan, was born at Skewes in that parish.
Edward William Wynne Pendarves (1775-1853) was MP for West Cornwall from the creation of the Constituency on 19th December 1832 until the year of his death. He represented the Cornish to abolish the slavery trade and played a prominent role in the early 19th century reforms of Parliament, facing much opposition from High Tories.
Robert Pitt (1680-1727), of Boconnoc , eldest son, the father of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708-1778) ("Pitt the Elder"), Prime Minister of Great Britain, the father of William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), also Prime Minister.
On 1st January 1680 Pitt married Jane Innes, a daughter of James Innes of Reid Hall, Moray, by his wife Sarah Vincent. Jane was a niece of Matthias Vincent, one of Pitt's business associates.
Thomas Pitt (1705–1761), of Boconnoc , was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. He was Lord Warden of the Stannaries from 1742 to 1751.
Pitt was the grandson and namesake of the better known Thomas Pitt and the son of Robert Pitt, MP, of Boconnoc , near Lostwithiel in Cornwall. He was the elder brother of William Pitt the Elder. He succeeded his father in 1727 to his estates, including Boconnoc .
As head of the family, Pitt inherited both his grandfather's immense fortune and his parliamentary boroughs - he had the complete power to nominate both MPs at Old Sarum and one of the two at Okehampton, as well as considerable influence in at least two Cornish boroughs, Camelford and Grampound. He had himself elected MP for Okehampton in 1727, the first election after he came of age, and represented the borough until 1754; but on a number of occasions he was also elected for Old Sarum, which meant that when he chose to sit for Okehampton the Old Sarum seat was free to offer at a by-election to somebody else who had failed to get into Parliament.
Pitt was Assay master of the Stannaries from March 1738 to February 1742 and Lord Warden of the Stannaries from February 1742 to March 1751, when the Cornish Stannary Parliament met for the last time.
Pitt was ambitious for political influence and, attaching himself to the retinue of Frederick, Prince of Wales, managed the general elections of 1741 and 1747 in Cornwall in the Prince's interests; but this involved massive expenditure - especially at the notoriously-corrupt Grampound, where he spent huge sums both on bribing the voters and on lawsuits attempting to deprive the most rapacious of their votes. By 1751 he had bankrupted himself, and the death that year of the Prince of Wales destroyed his hopes of securing influence or patronage for his efforts. He mortgaged his boroughs to the Treasury, allowing the government to name two MPs at Old Sarum and one at Okehampton in return for a pension of £1000 a year. After sitting briefly for Old Sarum in the 1754 Parliament, he resigned his seat and fled the country.
Returning to England in 1761, however, Pitt persuaded the government to allow him to be once more elected for Old Sarum - a temporary measure, he promised, to prevent his being arrested for debt until he was able satisfy his creditors. (MPs were immune from civil arrest.) He promised to relinquish the seat at the earliest possible moment and allow the government to name his replacement in accordance with the original arrangement; but he died a few months later, still MP for Old Sarum.
Pitt had married, c.1731, Christian, the daughter of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet, MP of Hagley, Worcestershire and the sister of Lord Lyttelton. They had two sons and two daughters. He afterwards married, in 1761, Maria, the daughter of General Murray.
Pitt died in 1761. His only surviving son was the first Baron Camelford, who repudiated his father's arrangement for Old Sarum, and chose himself as MP when he inherited the borough.
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737–1793) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 until 1784 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Camelford. He was an art connoisseur.
Thomas Pitt was born and baptised at Boconnoc on 3rd March 1737, the son of Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc (died 1761), elder brother of William Pitt the Elder. His mother was Christian, eldest daughter of Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet, of Hagley. He was admitted fellow-commoner at Clare College, Cambridge, on 7th January 1754, and resided there until 1758. In 1759 Pitt obtained the degree of Master of Arts (MA).
In July 1771, Pitt married Anne Wilkinson, the younger daughter and coheiress of Pinckney Wilkinson, a rich merchant of Hanover Square, London, and Burnham Westgate, Norfolk. She died at Camelford House, Oxford Street, London, on 5th May 1803, aged 65, pining from grief at the career of her son, and was buried in the vault in Boconnoc churchyard on 19th May. Anne's sister Mary made an unhappy marriage, in 1760, with Captain John Smith, by whom she was mother of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith – Thomas Pitt treated his sister-in-law and her children with much kindness and in 1785 printed a 'Narrative and Proofs' of Smith's bad conduct.
Thomas and Anne had two children:
Thomas Pitt, later 2nd Baron Camelford.
Anne Pitt (1772 1864)
Anne Grenville, Baroness Grenville (née Pitt, 1772–1864) was an English noblewoman and author, and a member of the Pitt family, which at the time dominated British politics.
Anne Pitt was the daughter of Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford and his wife, Anne Wilkinson. Her granduncle was William Pitt the Elder.
She married then-Foreign Secretary William Wyndham Grenville, Baron Grenville, on 18th July 1792. The Grenville family was already associated with the Pitts family, through Pitt the Elder's marriage to Hester Grenville, William Grenville's aunt. Both Anne Pitt and William Pitt the Younger were his cousins. The union was supported by her father, Baron Camelford and Grenville's uncle, The Marquess of Buckingham, a dominant figure in the Grenville family who provided a £20,000 dowery. Grenville went on to be Prime Minister from 1806 to 1807.
In 1804, Anne Pitt inherited the considerable wealth of her brother "the half-mad Lord", Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford, who had been killed in a duel. The inheritance amounted to £500,000 in value, including the Boconnoc House and estates in Cornwall, and Camelford House in London.
William Grenville died in 1834, and Anne survived him until June 1864.
Barons Camelford (1784)
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737–1793)
Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford (1775–1804)
The Elizabethan manor survived unaltered until the 18th century when Edmund, Nicholas's great grandson, influenced by his Grand Tour through Italy in 1739, created a formal garden and updated the house by installing sash windows and coal burning grates.
The next period of change for Prideaux Place came in about 1810 when Edmund's grandson, the Reverend Charles Prideaux, altered and extended the house in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style transforming its main rooms and creating the Drawing Room, Hall and Library.
The Prideaux family have been noted in Cornwall as Lords of Prideaux Castle at Luxulyan at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Edmund Prideaux (died 1659) was an English lawyer and MP, who supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War. He was briefly solicitor-general but chose to resign rather than participate in the regicide of Charles Ist and was afterwards attorney-general a position he held until he died. During the Civil War and for most of the First Commonwealth he ran the postal service for Parliament. Edmund, the first Baronet of Netherton and his son, Edmund of Ford Abbey, who became Attorney General to Oliver Cromwell in 1649, were both lawyers. And Prideaux Place's present owner's youngest son, William, is named after his 26 times great grandfather, William the Conqueror.
John I Rashleigh (died 1582), was a merchant at Fowey, the second son of Philip I Rashleigh (died 1551). In 1573 he purchased the estate of Menabilly.
John Rashleigh II (1554–1624) of Menabilly, near Fowey, was an English merchant and was MP for Fowey in 1588 and 1597, and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1608. He was the builder of the first mansion house on the family estate at Menabilly.
Jonathan Rashleigh I (1591–1675), of Menabilly, near Fowey, was an English shipping-merchant, MP for Fowey and served as Sheriff of Cornwall in 1627. He supported the Royalist cause during the Civil War.
Jonathan Rashleigh II (1642–1702), of Menabilly, near Fowey, grandson, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1686, and several times MP for Fowey, and of whom a portrait exists at Antony House, Torpoint.
Philip Rashleigh II (1689–1736) was the eldest son and heir of Jonathan Rashleigh (1642–1702) by his second wife Jane Carew. He served as MP for Liskeard in 1722. He rebuilt Menabilly circa 1710–15. He was a supporter of the Jacobite Pretender. He died in 1736 without progeny.
Jonathan Rashleigh III (1693–1764) was a politician from Cornwall. He was a MP for Fowey from 1727 until his death in 1764.
Philip Rashleigh III (1729-1811) was the eldest son of Jonathan Rashleigh, a Cornish mineral expert and MP for Fowey. Rashleigh's collection of minerals was remarkable for its various specimens of tin. It is now held by the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. He died at Menabilly, near Fowey, on the 26th June 1811, and was buried in the church of Tywardreath.
Charles Rashleigh (1747-1823) second son of Jonathan Rashleigh and Mary Clayton was an entrepreneur who lived at Duporth Manor. He marries Grace Tremayne of Heligan at St. Ewe in 1776. The expanding mining industry around West Polmear led him to develop Charlestown as a port on the south coast near St. Austell in 1791. In addition to the harbour, Rashleigh built a gun battery to protect the village and this was used by the 'Huer' or look-out man. He could spot shoals of fish and alert the village fishermen, guiding the boats to the fish once they had put to sea. The name of the village was changed in honour of Mr Charles Rashleigh and became Charles' town.
William Rashleigh I (1777-1855) was an English politician and landowner, he was the son of Reverend Jonathan Rashleigh of Silverton, Devon, who was the third son of Jonathan Rashleigh MP and brother of Philip Rashleigh. He was Mayor of Lostwithiel 1802 and 1808, and in 1811 he inherited the vast Menabilly estate. This gave him control of the Rashleigh family's pocket borough of Fowey, and at the 1812 general election he returned himself as MP for Fowey. He sold the control of the borough in 1817, and at the 1818 general election he retired from the House of Commons. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1820. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society and built Tregaminion Chapel. In 1822 a fire broke out which led him to greatly extend the house.
William Rashleigh II (1817–1871), eldest son by second marriage, JP, DL and MP for East Cornwall 1841–1847. He travelled in the Middle East and whilst in Egypt he met a sheikh in Cairo who on hearing the name Rashleigh asked if he knew Philip Rashleigh and told him that many years before as a prisoner of war in England Philip had invited him to Menabilly many times.
Jonathan Rashleigh IV (1820–1905), the cricketer, improved and extended the gardens and grounds of Menabilly and planted many trees including pine, cedar, eucalyptus and beech. He was a JP, DL and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1877.
In 1872 Mr Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly Estate, Par, was listed in the top ten land holdings in Cornwall.
John Rashleigh III (1872–1961), grandson of Jonathan, succeeded in 1905 but rarely lived at Menabilly which thus fell into serious decay. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1908. In 1943 Menabilly was discovered in a dilapidated state by the new tenant Daphne du Maurier the author, who set about restoring it and made it her home before returning it to the Rashleighs in 1969.
Nathan Rashleigh was a British expert in computer science, in direct line for the throne.
The owner of Menabilly in 2013 was Sir Richard Harry Rashleigh, 6th Baronet (born 1958), who in 1996 married Emma Felicity Clare McGougan (1961–2013), by whom he has two children, formerly a secretarial assistant to prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The family name still lives on at The Rashleigh Inn at Polkerris and The Rashleigh Arms at Charlestown.
Rashleigh Baronets, of Menabilly (1831)
Sir John Colman Rashleigh, 1st Baronet (1772–1847)
Sir Colman Rashleigh, 2nd Baronet (1819–1896)
Sir Colman Battie Rashleigh, 3rd Baronet (1846–1907)
Sir Colman Battie Walpole Rashleigh, 4th Baronet (1873–1951)
Sir Harry Evelyn Battie Rashleigh, 5th Baronet (1923–1984)
Sir Richard Harry Rashleigh, 6th Baronet (born 1958)
During the 16th century the Robartes family, rose in affluence from their interests in the tin trade, as merchants and bankers. By 1616, Richard Robartes has risen to sufficient prominence to be Knighted. During the year 1624, James I gave Sir Richard a peerage; becoming Baron Robartes of Truro, as he was wealthy enough in the King's view "to be a peer". Though, Lord Buckingham insisted that he should pay for the honour, or be fined to avoid it. The Barony cost Lord Robartes the sum of £10,000. Six years later, in 1630, Lord Robartes began the construction of a magnificent Tudor mansion - replacing the Barton that had been occupied by the Trenance family. Lord Richard Robartes, who never actually lived in the house, died in 1634 and his son John, 2nd Lord Robartes was left to complete the building programme.
John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor and Viscount Bodmin PC (1606–1685), known as The Lord Robartes (or John, Lord Roberts) between 1634 and 1679, was an English politician, who fought for the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War.
In the summer of 1644, during the Civil War, the Royalists, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, took control of the estate. John, 2nd Lord Robartes escaped by sea to Plymouth, though his children were held as prisoners at Lanhydrock. Later in the War Lord Robartes was appointed governor of Plymouth and was instrumental in raising the Royalist siege of the town. John Robartes was in fact the leader of the Parliamentarian faction during the Civil War, but was able to ingratiate himself with Charles II on the restoration, and became the 1st Earl of Radnor in 1679.
John Robartes produced a son, Robert Robartes (1634-1682) who was an MP and became Viscount Bodmin. Robert had a son named Charles Bodville Robartes (1660-1723) who was also an MP and became the 2nd Earl of Radnor.
Thomas James Agar-Robartes (1808-1882), assumed the name Robartes in 1822. He inherited the estate from his mother in 1861. Thomas was created Baron Robartes of Lanhydrock and Truro in 1869. On the 4th April 1881, a disastrous fire destroyed the house, leaving only the north wing, the entrance porch and gatehouse. Lady Robartes, aged 68, was rescued by ladder from an upstairs window, but died a few days later, from shock. Lord Robartes who never got over the loss of his wife Juliana Pole-Carew (1812-1881) of Antony and the destruction of the family home; died in the following year. Their son, Thomas Charles Robartes (1844-1930) succeeded as the 2nd Baron Robartes and began the reconstruction of Lanhydrock. On the completion of the House, Thomas Charles Robartes restored the adjacent church in memory of his parents.
Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (known as Tommy) (1880–1915) was a British Liberal politician. He was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden. He was MP for Bodmin and St. Austell, He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry on 4th June 1902. At the outbreak of World War One he joined the Royal Bucks Hussars as an officer. Tommy then joined the Coldstream Guards and was subsequently posted to France and Flanders. Captain The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, in command of No. 2 Company, 1st Battalion, the Coldstream Guards, was wounded in the Battle of Loos on 28th September and killed by a sniper on 30th September 1915 after rescuing a wounded comrade under heavy fire for which he was recommended for the Victoria Cross.
Constance Agar-Robartes (1890-1936) became a nurse shortly after the onset of the First World War. Nursing became her passion and, when the war ended she set up the Grosvenor Nursing Home in Wimbledon and remained in the profession for the rest of her life.
Francis Gerald Agar-Robartes, 7th Viscount Clifden (1883–1966), was a British Liberal politician. Clifden was the second but eldest surviving son (his elder brother Captain the Hon. Thomas Agar-Robartes having been killed in the First World War) of Thomas Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden, and his wife Mary (née Dickenson), and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1930 he succeeded his father in the viscountcy and to Lanhydrock House and took his seat on the Liberal benches in the House of Lords. From 1940 to 1945 he served as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in Winston Churchill's coalition government. In 1953 he donated Lanhydrock House and approximately 400 acres of parkland to the National Trust. Lord Clifden died in July 1966, aged 83. He never married and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his younger brother Arthur.
Arthur Victor Agar-Robartes, 8th Viscount Clifden, MC (1887–1974) was a British Army officer and English cricketer.
Barons Robartes, of Lanhydrock (1869)
Thomas James Agar-Robartes, 1st Baron Robartes (1808–1882)
Thomas Charles Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden and 2nd Baron Robartes (1844–1930)
Francis Gerald Agar-Robartes, 7th Viscount Clifden and 3rd Baron Robartes (1883–1966)
Arthur Victor Agar-Robartes, 8th Viscount Clifden and 4th Baron Robartes (1887–1974)
The St. Aubyn Baronetcy, of Clowance in the County of Cornwall, was created in the Baronage of England on 11th December 1671 for John St. Aubyn (1645-1687) , who later represented St. Michaels in the House of Commons. Sir John St. Aubyn, 2nd Baronet (1670-1714) sat as MP for Helston, Sir John St. Aubyn, 3rd Baronet (1702-1744) sat as MP for Cornwall.
St. Michael's Mount was sold by Sir Francis Basset in 1659 to Colonel John St. Aubyn. His descendant, Lord St. Levan, continues to be the "tenant" of the Mount but has ceased to be resident there, his nephew, James St. Aubyn, taking up residency and management of the Mount in 2004.
Sir John St. Aubyn, 5th Baronet, was born at Golden Square, London on 17th May 1758. St. Aubyn succeeded to the Baronetcy at the age of fourteen and was a clever and distinguished man. He served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1781 (at the age of 23). The Baronetcy became extinct on his death in August 1839, aged 81. However, his illegitimate son Edward was created a Baronet in his own right in 1866 and was the ancestor of the Barons St. Levan.
Sir John's father (the 4th Baronet) (1726-1772) was brought up by a Dr. William Borlase (1695-1772), a passionate mineral collector.
Sir John collected a vast number of engravings and etchings which were sold at Philips's Auction Rooms in April 1840. The collection was so vast that the sale is said to have lasted for seventeen days. Sir John was also an early and constant patron and friend of the painter John Opie, and was a pallbearer at the artist's funeral in April 1807.
On the 10th August 1839 Sir John St. Aubyn, 5th Baronet died at Lime Grove, Putney in Surrey at the age of 81. His body was conveyed through Devonport on 23rd August, on its way to Cornwall where it lay in state at St. Austell, Truro and Clowance Estate. On 29th August he was buried, with a great ceremony, in the family vault in Crowan parish church.
James Piers St. Aubyn (1815–1895), often referred to as J P St. Aubyn, was an English architect of the Victorian era, known for his church architecture and confident restorations. His most notable achievement was the restoration of St. Michael's Mount. He was the second son of the Rev Robert Thomas St. Aubyn and his wife, Frances Fleming St John, and a cousin of John St. Aubyn.
In 2004, James and Mary St. Aubyn moved to St. Michael's Mount with their four children. They in their turn became Lord and Lady St. Levan when the previous Lord, James's uncle, died in 2013. As of 2016 his descendants, the Lords St. Levan, remain seated at St. Michael's Mount.
St. Aubyn Baronets, of Clowance (1671)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 1st Baronet (1645–1687)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 2nd Baronet (1670–1714)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 3rd Baronet (1702–1744)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 4th Baronet (1726–1772)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 5th Baronet (1758–1839)
St. Aubyn Baronets, of St. Michaels Mount (1866)
Sir Edward St. Aubyn, 1st Baronet (1799–1872)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 2nd Baronet (1829–1908) (created Baron St. Levan in 1887)
Barons St. Levan (1887)
Sir John St. Aubyn, 1st Baron St. Levan (1829–1908)
John Townshend St. Aubyn, 2nd Baron St. Levan (1857–1940)
Francis Cecil St. Aubyn, 3rd Baron St. Levan (1895–1978)
John Francis Arthur St. Aubyn, 4th Baron St. Levan, DSC (1919–2013)
James Piers Southwell St. Aubyn, 5th Baron St. Levan (born 1950)
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Hugh James St. Aubyn (born 1983).
When Nicholas Sawle died in 1637 the estate passed to his eldest surviving son, Oliver. Born in 1601, Oliver became Sheriff of Cornwall in 1663. His wife was Jane, the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Francis Glanville, their only son Joseph inheriting Penrice and the estate on Oliver's death in 1670.
On Joseph's death, the estate briefly passed to his oldest son John, mentioned in the above will as ‘my son Sawle’, but John died in 1715 and Penrice passed to Joseph's second son, also Joseph. Joseph the younger became MP for Tregony but died in 1737, his only son John then becoming master of Penrice at the age of just thirteen. John died childless in 1783 and was succeeded at Penrice by his sister, Mary.
Thomas Graves Sawle (1826-1911), from Penrice was married with his wife Juliana and their young son.
Richard Graves Sawle (1888-1914), from Penrice, was killed in battle on the 2nd November 1914. Richard was from a notable Cornish family. His father was a Baronet, and, as the only son, he was heir to the Sawle family estate. His parents were Charles and Constance Graves Sawle. Richard was survived by his parents and both sisters, Hyacinth and Rosemary. He trained at Sandhurst, then enlisted into the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1908. He married Muriel Heaton Ellis on the 6th August 1914. Also, although Richard left his wife Muriel at home when he died, she went on to marry twice more.
Joan, preferring to be called Rosemary, became a prominent figure in the St. Austell community. When she died in 1971 she left the family home, Penrice House, for the use of the community, which is now a care home.
There are graves and memorials for most of the family in their own private chapel in Porthpean, just outside of St. Austell. St. Levan's Chapel can still be visited today. A memorial to Richard can also be found here and his name appears on the Celtic Cross at Holy Trinity Church, St. Austell and on the second panel at Menin Gate in Ypres, not far from where he was killed.
Sir Charles Brune Graves Sawle, 2nd Baronet (1816-1903) was a Baronet and a member of the British House of Commons representing Bodmin.
He was the son of Sir Joseph Sawle Graves Sawle, 1st Baronet (1793-1865) who had been created Baronet Graves-Sawle of Penrice in 1836. Joseph Graves Sawle was MP for Bodmin from 1852 to 1857. He inherited the Baronetcy on the death of his father in 1865. Joseph was also a Justice of the Peace, Special Deputy Warden of the Stannaries and Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Cornwall and Devon Miner's Militia.
In 1846 Charles Brune Graves Sawle married Rose Paynter (1818–1914), the friend and inspiration of the poet Walter Savage Landor. He wrote many poems dedicated to her.
Their sons Francis, a Captain in the Coldstream Guards, and Charles who became a rear-admiral, both successively succeeded to the Baronetcy. The couple had two daughter Rose Dorothea and Constance.
Mrs Cobbold Sawle, as she became, died in 1971 without an heir. Under the terms of her will, Penrice House and much of the proceeds of the estate went to establish a rest home for the elderly. She also left land for the Roman Catholic church, the rugby football ground (now a supermarket) and the Penrice Hospital complex.
The church of St. Levan, Porthpean became part of the diocese in 1973 and in its small private graveyard are granite memorials to:
Rose Dorothea Graves Sawle, (1847-1901)
Sir Charles Brune Graves Sawle, (1816-1903)
Col. Sir Francis Aylmer Graves Sawle, (1849-1903)
Rose Caroline Graves Sawle, (1818-1914)
Richard Charles Graves Sawle, (1888-1914)
Rear Admiral Sir Charles John Graves Sawle, (1851-1932)
Constance Mary Graves Sawle, (1859-1942)
Joan Rosemary Cobbold Sawle, (1890-1971)
Amongst the memorials in the church is a slate tablet which reads:
In memory of Joan Rosemary Cobbold Sawle (1890-1971), the last of the family of the manor of Penrice who built this place of worship.
So ended a family's association with Cornwall which had spanned nine centuries.
Sawle Baronets, of Penrice (1836)
Sir Joseph Sawle Graves Sawle, 1st Baronet (1793-1865)
Sir Charles Brune Graves Sawle, 2nd Baronet (1816-1903)
Francis Aylmer Graves Sawle, 3rd Baronet (1849-1903)
Charles John Graves Sawle, 4th Baronet (1851-1932)
Thomas Treffry (1490-1564), of Place House at Fowey, was an English businessman, administrator and politician. In 1505, he married Elizabeth, daughter of John II Killigrew. Their son and heir was John (died 1590), who married first Jane, daughter of the MP Reginald Mohun. In 1524 he was appointed as a tax collector for Cornwall and in 1529 was selected as the senior of the two MP's for the borough of Bodmin. The south Cornish coast being vulnerable to attack from the sea, the government started building the artillery fort called St. Mawes Castle, where he was named as Captain in 1541 and supervised the completion of the works. He then went on to build St. Catherine's Castle to protect the harbour entrance at Fowey.
Sir John Treffry (1594-1658) of Fowey fought under the Edward the Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy, and captured the Royal Banner of France, for which he was awarded the honour of Knight Banneret on the battlefield, by the Black Prince and his Coat of Arms charged with the fleur-de-lis of France. In 1457 French marauders besieged the family seat, Place House, but met with the repulse at the hands of Dame Elizabeth Treffry, as she gathered men together and fortified Place and poured melted lead, stripped from the roof, upon the invaders. Later, Thomas Treffry built a tower to protect the mansion from French attack. Earlier, other stems of the family branched to locations in Cornwall, and this ancient and noble house proceeded down to John Treffry of Place House in 1658. Martha Treffry born 2nd June 1573 in Fowey was his daughter.
Joseph Thomas Austen's mother was born Susanna Ann Treffry and married Joseph Austen and hence Joseph Thomas Austen (1782–1850) changed his name to Treffry when his father died. He then inherited the family estate at Place House, Fowey. He became High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1838 and is known to have been one of the first mine owners to provide sick pay to his miners and medical attention to not only the miner but also his family. He built a new quay in Fowey to take larger vessels for the export of tin. In 1822 he took control of Fowey Consols mine which became the most productive mine in Cornwall and employed 1,680 workers. As business increased Treffry needed to find new means of distributing his tin ore. In 1828 he drew up plans for a new safe harbour at Par, and by 1829 Treffry had built a twelve thousand foot breakwater on Spit Reef, Par. In 1833, the first ship docked at Par Harbour, which could accommodate fifty vessels of two hundred tons. Par Harbour is still working today but much silted up, having been sold to English China Clays plc in 1964. The china clay is now transported along the old railway track from Par to the deep water harbour of Fowey for shipping. He began developing a tramway from Ponts Mill to Newquay in 1837, constructing tracks to Bugle, which included building a viaduct at Luxulyan, to carry both tramway and water to power his mines. Treffry and his steward William Pease built the inclined plane tramway from the canal basin, past the Carmears Rocks, to the level of the top of the valley, then a level run through Luxulyan and on to its terminus at the Bugle Inn near Molinnis. This required a high-level crossing of the river, for which they built Treffry Viaduct in the Luxulyan Valley, which is 650 feet long and 100 feet high. Built of stone from the Carbeans and Colcerrow quarries, the lines from the quarries to the viaduct were the first parts of the tramway to be operational. The tramway was completed in 1844. Treffry served as vice-president of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society from 1849 until his death of pneumonia in 1850 at Place House in Fowey. He was also High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1839.
William Esco Treffry (1720-1779) died childless, the estate being settled equally upon his surviving siblings Jane and Susanna. The Treffry sisters would marry the Austen brothers, Nicholas and Joseph respectively, Susanna and Joseph producing the only boy, Joseph Thomas, who bought out his cousins' interest in 1808.
David Treffry (1926-2000) was born at Porthpean. He was educated in Cornwall and at Marlborough College, and then served in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, transferring to the Indian Army, where he was a captain in the Frontier Force Regiment. He joined the Colonial Service in 1953, and served in Aden until independence in 1967. David retired to his ancestral home of Place in Fowey in 1987, where he played a conspicuous part in Cornish public life, becoming High Sheriff in 1991, president of the Royal Institution of Cornwall in 1993, and oversaw the inauguration in 1994 by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh of the Royal Cornwall Museum. He also worked for the Cornwall region of the National Trust, and other local organizations. In 1997 he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, but continued to play an active role in Cornish public and social life until his death at Truro in 2000.
Sir Jonathan Trelawny (1568–1604), of Menheniot was an English Member of Parliament. Trelawny was the posthumous younger son of John Trelawny (who had been a MP and High Sheriff of the county); his elder brother died in infancy and he inherited the estate. He entered Parliament as member for Liskeard, representing that borough in three parliaments, and subsequently also represented Cornwall in the Parliaments of 1597 and 1604. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1595 and was Knighted in 1597. In 1600, Sir Jonathan purchased the manor of Trelawne in Pelynt from the Crown, and moved his residence to there from Menheniot. He had married Elizabeth Killigrew, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew.
Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet (1592–1664) was a Cornish Baronet and soldier from Trelawne near Pelynt. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1630.
The Trelawny, later Salusbury-Trelawny Baronetcy is a title in the Baronage of England. It was created on 1st July 1628 for Sir John Trelawny.
In 1628, Sir John Trelawny became involved in the dispute between Charles I and leading MP's which eventually led to the Civil War. The King was anxious to influence the election of MP's so as to secure a more pliable Parliament, and in Cornwall efforts on his behalf were being directed by one James Bagg, acting in concert with the Duke of Buckingham. Two of the King's most implacable opponents, William Coryton and Sir John Eliot, had announced their intention of standing for election as Knights of the shire for Cornwall, and Bagg arranged for a caucus of influential Cornish magistrates to mobilise against them. They not only used the official posts to promote alternative candidates and attempted to instruct the High Sheriff who he should return as elected, but they wrote open letters to the freeholders of the county appealing that they should not elect Coryton or Eliot, and to Eliot and Coryton themselves, warning them against persisting with their candidacy. These letters were signed by all the magistrates concerned, of whom Trelawny was one. However, Bagg had also privately asked as a special favour that Trelawny should be made a Baronet. Within an hour of Parliament being prorogued at the end of the month, the King had signed a warrant to the governor of the Tower ordering that Trelawny and Langdon should be released, and committing the Crown to paying the costs of their imprisonment; and, four days later, on 1st July 1628, not only was a Baronetcy bestowed on Trelawny but the fees that were ordinarily payable on such an occasion were remitted. Sir John distinguished himself on the Royalist side in the Civil War fighting alongside Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir Reginald Mohun of Boconnoc, his friend and father-in-law. He was the son of Jonathan Trelawny (1568–1604). On 31st August 1620, Trelawny's daughter, Anne, married Sir Francis Bassett of Tehidy.
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet (1623–1681) of Trelawne, was an English MP. He was the fourth child and eldest son of Sir John Trelawny, and succeeded to the Baronetcy on 16th February 1664. His fourth son Charles Trelawny (1653-1731) served as a soldier but was also an MP for Looe on two occasions.
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet (1650–1721) of Trelawne, was a British Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester. Trelawny is best known for his role in the events leading up to the Glorious Revolution which are referenced in the Cornish anthem The Song of the Western Men. When he died in 1721 his body was brought back to Pelynt for burial.
Sir John Trelawny, 4th Baronet (1691-1756), of Trelawne, was an English MP. He was the eldest son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet and Bishop of Bristol, Exeter and Chichester, and succeeded his father in the Baronetcy on 19th July 1721.
Sir Harry Trelawny, 5th Baronet (1687-1762) was a British soldier and MP. He was an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough during the War of the Spanish Succession. He also sat as Member of Parliament for East Looe from 1708 to 1710. In 1756, at the age of 68, he succeeded his cousin in the Baronetcy.
Sir William Trelawny, 6th Baronet (1722–1772), of Trelawne, was a British politician and colonial administrator. He was also appointed Governor of Jamaica, a post he held until his death.
Sir Harry Trelawny, 7th Baronet (1756–1834). As a young man he had been ordained as a Congregational minister. Later he had been ordained afresh as an Anglican clergyman. then in middle age became a Catholic. He had a wife and six grown-up children. Trelawny was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome on Whitsunday, 1830.
Sir William Lewis Salusbury-Trelawny, 8th Baronet (1781–1856), was a British politician. Born William Trelawny, he assumed in 1802 the additional surname of Salusbury. He served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1811 and later sat as MP for Cornwall East from 1832 to 1837. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall from 1839 to 1856.
Sir John Salusbury Salusbury-Trelawny, 9th Baronet (1816–1885), was a British Liberal politician. He sat as MP for Tavistock and for Cornwall East between 1868 and 1874.
Sir William Lewis Salusbury-Trelawny, 10th Baronet (1844–1917), was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1895.
Sir John William Salusbury-Trelawny, 11th Baronet (1869–1944), was Lieutenant 3rd Battalion Welsh Regiment, and 7th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry.
Sir John William Robin Maurice Salusbury-Trelawny, 12th Baronet (1908–1956), was a Flight Lieutenant Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in World War Two.
Sir John Barry Salusbury-Trelawny, 13th Baronet (1934–2009), gained the rank of Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
Trelawny, later Salusbury-Trelawny Baronets, of Trelawny (1628)
Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet (1592–1664)
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet (1623–1681)
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet (1650–1721)
Sir John Trelawny, 4th Baronet (1691–1756)
Sir Harry Trelawny, 5th Baronet (1687–1762)
Sir William Trelawny, 6th Baronet (1722–1772)
Sir Harry Trelawny, 7th Baronet (1756–1834)
Sir William Lewis Salusbury-Trelawny, 8th Baronet (1781–1856)
Sir John Salusbury Salusbury-Trelawny, 9th Baronet (1816–1885)
Sir William Lewis Salusbury-Trelawny, 10th Baronet (1844–1917)
Sir John William Salusbury-Trelawny, 11th Baronet (1869–1944)
Sir John William Robin Maurice Salusbury-Trelawny, 12th Baronet (1908–1956)
Sir John Barry Salusbury-Trelawny, 13th Baronet (1934–2009)
Sir John William Richard Salusbury-Trelawny, 14th Baronet (born 1960)
The heir apparent to the Baronetcy is the son of the 14th Baronet, Harry John Salusbury-Trelawny (born 1982).
The Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829) was a member of a landed family and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey, with significant interests in the Cornish tin mining industry. He is credited as initiating the creation of the set of gardens around Heligan House. His eldest son, John Hearle Tremayne, inherited an estate of more than 10,000 acres including Heligan.
John Hearle Tremayne (1780-1851) was a member of a landed family, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey. He was a member of the UK Parliament for the constituency of Cornwall, a Justice of the peace, and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1831. He was also the second of four successive members of the Tremayne family who are credited with the creation of the gardens around Heligan House that are now well known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
John Hearle Tremayne was the son of Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829) and Harriet, his wife, the daughter of John Hearle of Penryn. He inherited the Heligan estate from his father in 1829. He was responsible for the ornamental plantings along the estate's Long Drive, and for the starting the planting of the Jungle. In 1818, John Hearle Tremayne married Caroline Matilda Lemon, the daughter of Sir William Lemon MP, and the sister of Sir Charles Lemon. Their children were: Henry William who died in 1823, following a painful illness. John (1825–1901) was an MP and further developed the gardens at the Heligan estate. He married Mary Charlotte Vivian, daughter of Lord Vivian of Glynn. Arthur Tremayne (1827–1905), inherited most of Sir Charles Lemon's wealth, his mother's brother. Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1830-1894) married Charlotte Jane, 3rd daughter of John Buller. Mary Tremayne married Reverend John Townshend Boscawen, son of Reverend John Evelyn Boscawen and Catherine Elizabeth Annesley, in 1851. She died on 25th November 1895. Harriet married Sir John Salusbury-Trelawny in 1842. John Claude Lewis Tremayne (1869-1949), the last squire of Heligan was the son of John Tremayne. He married Eleanor, the daughter of Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly.
Also of this family was William Trevanion Esquire Sheriff of Cornwall No. 17 to Henry VII in 1503; Sir William Trevanion was Sheriff of Cornwall No. 18 to Henry VIII in 1517; Hugh Trevanion Esquire was Sheriff of Cornwall No. 19 to Henry VIII; Sir William Trevanion, that married Agnes Edgcumbe, daughter of Sir Richard Edgcumbe, was Sheriff of Cornwall No. 23 to Henry VIII. Hugh Trevanion Esquire, Sheriff of Cornwall No.6 of Elizabeth 1st in 1564.
Colonel John Trevanion (1613-1643) married Anne, daughter of Sir John Arundell, of Trerice, by whom he had numerous children.
Captain Richard Trevanion (1640-1696) a famous sea commander under King Charles II, who he went to France with, died there in exile.
Sir Charles Trevanion (1539-1601) was succeeded by his grandson of the same name, who first married the daughter and coheir of Sir Adam Drummond, by the heiress of the Lowers of St. Winnow, and had two sons. He died on the night of the great storm, November 26th 1703.
Charles Trevanion (1594-1660) was an English landowner and politician, who was MP for Cornwall in 1625 and Sheriff from 1633 to 1634. He supported the Royalist cause during the First English Civil War, his eldest son John Trevanion being killed in 1643.
John Trevanion (1667-1740) of Caerhays Castle became an MP.
William Trevanion (1727-1767) MP for the borough of Tregony, died in 1767 without children, when the male line of this family became extinct. He was succeeded by Mr John Bettesworth, his sister's son, and his son John Trevanion Purnell Bettesworth Trevanion Esquire who is now the possessor of Caerhays Castle.
Sir Richard Hussey Vivian (1775-1842) Known as Sir Hussey Vivian from 1815 to 1828 and Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt. from 1828 to 1841, was a British cavalry leader who came of a Cornish family from Truro.
Educated at Truro Grammar School, then at Harrow and Exeter College, Oxford, Vivian entered the army in 1793, and less than a year later became a captain in the 28th Foot. Under Lord Moira he served in the campaign of 1794 in Flanders and the Netherlands. At the end of the expedition, the 28th bore a distinguished part in Lord Cathcart's action of Geldermalsen. In April 1815, Sir Hussey Vivian was appointed to command the 6th Brigade of Henry Paget, the Earl of Uxbridge's Cavalry Division. Vivian's brigade included the 10th and 18th Hussars and the 1st Hussars KGL. At the Battle of Waterloo the 6th Brigade was posted on the Duke of Wellington's left flank.
Vivian sat in the House of Commons as member for Truro from 1821 to 1831; he was then made commander of the forces in Ireland, and given the GCH. He was also appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1831. In 1835 he became Master-General of the Ordnance, and was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. In 1837 he received the GCB. Having been created a Baronet of Truro in 1827, in 1841, being then MP for East Cornwall, he was created Baron Vivian, of Glynn House and of Truro. A year later he died at Baden-Baden. He was twice married (first in 1804), and the title descended in the direct line.
His natural son, Sir Robert John Hussey Vivian (1802–1887), was a famous soldier in India, who in 1857 was made K.C.B. and in 1871 G.C.B., having previously attained the rank of general.
John Henry Vivian FRS (1785–1855) was the son of John Vivian and the brother of Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian. Vivian married Sarah, eldest daughter of Arthur Jones, of Reigate on 30th October 1816. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a major in the Royal Stannary Artillery, a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant. Their eight children included Henry Vivian, who built a house at Bosahan in 1884-1887, and became 1st Baron Swansea, Sir Arthur Vivian and Richard Glynn Vivian. He died on 10th February 1855. His wife survived him by over 30 years and died on 8th September 1886.
Sir Arthur Pendarves Vivian KCB (1834-1926) was a British industrialist, mine-owner and Liberal politician, who worked in south Wales and Cornwall, and sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885.
Richard Glynn Vivian (1835-1910) was an art collector and philanthropist, and the founder of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea.
Sir Robert Vivian, illegitimate son of the first Baron, was also a prominent soldier. Another member of the Vivian family was Henry Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea. He was the nephew of the first Baron. Lord Swansea's younger brother was Sir Arthur Vivian.
A number of Vivian family graves with Celtic-style headstones can be found at the Parish Church of St. Winnow.
Barons Vivian, of Truro (1841)
Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian (1775–1842)
Charles Crespigny Vivian, 2nd Baron Vivian (1808–1886)
Hussey Crespigny Vivian, 3rd Baron Vivian (1834–1893)
George Crespigny Brabazon Vivian, 4th Baron Vivian (1878–1940)
Anthony Crespigny Claude Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian (1906–1991)
Nicholas Crespigny Lawrence Vivian, 6th Baron Vivian (1935–2004)
Charles Crespigny Hussey Vivian, 7th Baron Vivian (born 1966)
The heir presumptive is the present holder's first cousin Thomas Crespigny Brabazon Vivian (born 1971).
John Vyvyan (1526–1577), served as MP of Trelowarren.
Hannibal Vyvyan (1554–1610), MP and Sheriff of Cornwall in 1601 and Vice-Admiral for South Cornwall from 1601 to 1607.
Sir Francis Vyvyan (1575–1635), MP and Sheriff of Cornwall and briefly Vice-Admiral for South Cornwall after his father's retirement in 1607. Sir Francis Vyvyan died on the 11th June 1635 and was succeeded by his eldest son Richard, the 1st Baronet (1613-1665) who was the most distinguished member of the family.
In the English Civil War (1642-1651) the Vyvyans were royalist supporters. An ancestor, Sir Richard Vyvyan 1st Baronet (1613-1724), head of the family during the Civil War, was given a large Vandyke painting of King Charles I (1600-1649) on horseback by King Charles II (1630-1685) in recognition of his support. That painting continues to hang in the family house in Trelowarren today.
Another member of the family, Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Baronet (1681-1736), was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1715 by George I (1660-1727), on suspicion of favouring the "Pretender to the throne," James Francis Edward Stuart (called "James III" by his supporters). In 1697 he married a distant cousin, Mary Vivian, of Trewan Hall, St. Columb Major, this uniting two branches of the family which had been separated for three centuries.
Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, 8th Baronet (1800-1879) was a MP representing several constituencies in his career.
From 1827 to 1831, Sir Richard represented Cornwall. From 1831 he represented Okehampton, but upon the passage of the Reform Act 1832, he moved to Bristol, serving until 1837. He later served as Member for Helston from 1841 until 1857. He served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1840.
Vyvyan Baronets, of Trelowarren (1645)
Sir Richard Vyvyan, 1st Baronet (1613–1665)
Sir Vyell Vyvyan, 2nd Baronet (1639–1697)
Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Baronet (1681–1736)
Sir Francis Vyvyan, 4th Baronet (1698–1745)
Sir Richard Vyvyan, 5th Baronet (1731–1781)
Sir Carew Vyvyan, 6th Baronet (1737–1814)
Sir Vyell Vyvyan, 7th Baronet (1767–1820)
Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, 8th Baronet (1800–1879)
Sir Vyell Donnithorne Vyvyan, 9th Baronet (1826–1917)
Sir Courtenay Bourchier Vyvyan, 10th Baronet (1858–1941)
Sir Richard Philip Vyvyan, 11th Baronet (1891–1978)
Sir John Stanley Vyvyan, 12th Baronet (1916–1995)
Sir Ralph Ferrers Alexander Vyvyan, 13th Baronet (born 1960)
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Joshua Drummond Vyvyan (born 1986).
John Williams the First (1685–1761) built Burncoose House in 1715, and married Thomasine Paynter.
John Williams the Second (1714-1790) initiated the construction of the Great County Adit in 1748, which eventually became a forty mile system of adits, draining over sixty mines whilst he was manager of the Poldice Mine.
Michael Williams (1730–1775), son of John the First married Susanna, daughter of Henry Harris of Cusgarne, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Beauchamp (1670–1729) of Pengreep. He lived at Burncoose and was the father of John.
John Williams the Third (1753–1841), son of Michael Williams (1730–1775), controlled the Gwennap copper-belt and copper smelting works in Swansea. Also owned tin-smelting works, sulphur mines and quarries. He was a Director of The Cornish Bank. With the Fox family of Falmouth, built the Plymouth breakwater and developed the harbour at Portreath and linked it by the Portreath tramway to his mine at Poldice. Purchased land at Scorrier and built Scorrier House there in 1780. Married Catherine Harvey in 1776. Received a dream warning of the assassination of the Prime Minister in 1812, "correct in every detail". Also in 1812 Messrs. Williams, of Scorrier, made Richard Trevithick a present of £300, in acknowledgement of the benefits arising to their mines from the improved efficiency of his improved engine.
John Williams the Fourth (1778–1849), FRS. Son of John the Third.
Michael Williams (1784-1858), MP for the Western Division of Cornwall from 1853 to 1858. Son of John the Third. High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1840, Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall and Deputy-Warden of the Stannaries. Bought Caerhays Estate in 1853.
Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet (1791–1870), Son of John the Third. He served as Deputy-Lieutenant of Cornwall, High Sheriff of Cornwall and Deputy-Warden of the Stannaries in 1851. He was created "Baronet Williams of Tregullow in the County of Cornwall", on 4th August 1866. Tregullow House was built near to Scorrier House in 1826 by William Williams, who was a younger brother of Michael.
Frederick Martin Williams, 2nd Baronet (1830–1878), was Conservative MP for Truro.
In 1858 the family business acquired the whole of the Perran Foundry.
Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams of Penryn Park, Port Hope, Ontario, son of John Tucker Williams, and grandson of John Williams (1753–1841) of Scorrier House. He was the hero of the Battle of Batoche and his statue stands in front of the town hall at Port Hope. His son General Arthur Victor Seymour Williams served in the Second Boer War, World War One and Mount Williams (Canada) was named in his honour.
John Michael Williams (1813–1880), married Elizabeth Maria Davey, daughter of Stephen Davey of Redruth, in 1852.
John Charles Williams (1861–1939), son of John Michael Williams and Elizabeth Davey, his wife. MP for the Truro Division of Cornwall, 1892 to 1895, High Sheriff of Cornwall 1888, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall 1918 to 1936.
In 1895 Michael Henry Williams was made chairman of Dolcoath Mine.
Charlotte Williams, daughter of John Michael Williams, married Edward Powys Rogers. They moved to "Burncoose" in 1916.
Harriet Rogers, daughter of Edward Powys Rogers and Charlotte Rogers, married James Malcolm McLaren (1874–1935), a geologist and developed a garden at "Tregye", near Carnon Downs.
Francis Julian Williams (1927–2019), CBE, current owner of Caerhays Castle.
Venetia Williams (born 10th May 1960) is an English racehorse trainer specialising in National Hunt racing. She is based at stables at Aramstone in Herefordshire, she was born at Scorrier House.
Williams Baronets, of Tregullow (1866)
Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet (1791–1870)
Sir Frederick Martin Williams, 2nd Baronet (1830–1878)
Sir William Robert Williams, 3rd Baronet (1860–1903)
Sir William Frederick Williams, 4th Baronet (1886–1905)
Sir Frederick William Williams, 5th Baronet (1888–1913)
Sir Burton Robert Williams, 6th Baronet (1889–1917)
Sir Frederick Law Williams, 7th Baronet (1862–1921)
Sir William Law Williams, 8th Baronet (1907–1960)
Sir Robert Ernest Williams, 9th Baronet (1924–1976)
Sir Donald Mark Williams, 10th Baronet (born 1954)
The heir presumptive is the present holder's brother Barton Matthew Williams (born 1956).
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