Saturday 21 April 2018

(328) Baird of Lochwood House, Cambusdoon House, Ury House, Rickarton House, Elie House and Wellwood House, Viscounts Stonehaven

Baird of Elie
Baird of Ury, Viscounts Stonehaven
A 19th century chronicler of the family found it reasonable to believe that the Baird family considered here had been 'settled for centuries in Lanarkshire' and were in all probability a cadet branch of the Barde or Baird family of Cambusnethan, who fell into obscurity in the 15th century. A number of later Baird families across Scotland claimed kinship with the Cambusnethan Bairds, among them the family of Baird of Auchmedden (Aberdeens.), although the link between Andrew Baird, who bought Auchmedden in 1534, and the Cambusnethan stem is as yet obscure. The Bairds of Auchmedden flourished down to the time of the Jacobite rising in 1745, when William Baird (1701-75) found the cost of his support of the Jacobite cause in addition to existing debts too much for the estate to bear, and he was obliged to sell Auchmedden to the Earl of Aberdeen in 1750. Although he had six sons, none of them left issue, and by the end of the 18th century the Bairds of Auchmedden had perhaps died out in the male line, at least in Scotland.

The family noticed here were tenant farmers at Old Monkland in north Lanarkshire throughout the 18th century, and lived in very humble circumstances. Even Alexander Baird (1765-1833), who became a coalmaster as well as a farmer on a large scale, and the confidant of several of his landlords, left a personal estate of less than £1,000 and lived most of his life in a single-storey farmhouse.
High Cross Farm, Old Monkland: the largest of the farms occupied
by Alexander Baird (1765-1833) before he bought Lochwood.
There can be no doubt, however, that both Alexander and his wife Jean Moffat were distinguished by the industry and capacity for hard work that lay behind the successful rise of so many families in the 19th century; nor that they successfully communicated the spirit of self-improvement to their children. When their eldest son, William Baird (1796-1864) decided that the farming life was not for him, his father took on the lease of a small coal mine and put him in as the manager at the tender age of 20. Shortly afterwards their third son, Alexander Baird (1799-1862), moved to Glasgow to take charge of marketing the coal produced by his brother. The business was a success and in 1820 they took on a larger mine adjacent to the farm which Alexander had leased for his fourth son, James Baird (1802-76), who soon joined the coal business, using his technical ingenuity to overcome  problems and improve efficiency. In 1826 they moved again to a larger and more productive colliery at Gartsherrie, and in 1828 also leased the adjacent ironstone mines. By 1830, when Alexander retired and his sons established William Baird & Co., the firm had built its first blast furnaces and was making pig-iron. Business boomed during the 1830s and 1840s, and the firm expanded rapidly, both at Gartsherrie and then by taking over or building plants elsewhere. In the end, seven of the eight brothers were brought into the business, with only John Baird (1798-1870), Alexander's second son, preferring to stick with farming. Janet Baird, the brothers' elder sister, also remained in farming, but two of her sons, Alexander Whitelaw and William Weir, were taken into the firm and were among its leading managers in the later 19th century.


All of the partners in William Baird & Co. made fortunes, and William Baird as the senior partner and James Baird as the technical mastermind became millionaires. Their wealth was on such a scale that the acquisition of landed estates did not require the withdrawal of capital from the business on a significant scale. The fact that several of the brothers bought estates within a year or two makes it look as though they acted in concert, although in most cases it would seem that the purchase of landed property did not imply retirement from the business. Robert Baird seems to have bought the Auchmedden estate (on which there was no house) essentially because it represented a connection with the earlier Baird gentry family, with whom there was believed to be a distant connection. Four of the brothers died without issue and passed their property either to a sibling to to nephews, creating a remarkably complicated pattern of ownership, which may most easily be summarized in a table.

Table 1: acquisition and descent of landed property in Baird family.


Few of these rapidly acquired properties remained the property of the brothers' descendants for more than a couple of generations, as their descendants proved better at spending money than at making it. William's son, William Baird (1848-1918) and grandson William James Baird (1893-1961) were both addicted to foxhunting, and moved to Rutland, where they both served as masters of the Cottesmore hunt. Cambusdoon and Elie House, which they held, were sold in 1926 and 1928 respectively. William's younger son, John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917) inherited the Muirkirk estate and built Wellwood House there, but before his death he had acquired Colstoun (East Lothian) from his wife's family, and his widow lived there and sold the Muirkirk estate in 1926.

John Baird's eldest son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt., spent much of his life in the Middle East, although he did not neglect the Ury and Rickarton estates. His son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and later 1st Viscount Stonehaven, was a diplomat and politician and was also abroad for a good deal of his life. He too maintained Ury and Rickarton, but on his death Ury had to be sold to meet the death duties on the estate. Rickarton remains the property of his descendants. 

John's younger son, John Baird (1852-1900) inherited Lockwood, Easterhouse and Knoydart, but sold Knoydart soon afterwards, and let Lockwood and Easterhouse from the late 19th century onwards. At his death they passed to trustees, who appear to have sold the freehold in 1926. Douglas Baird (1808-54) left two daughters, who inherited Closeburn Hall jointly, but the house appears to have been abandoned before 1900. George Baird left one son, George Alexander Baird (1861-93), who inherited Auchmedden, Stichill and Strichen. He was well-known in his day as a racehorse owner, trainer and amateur jockey (riding as 'Mr. Abington'), but he is said to have made money from the turf rather than otherwise. His extravagances lay in other directions: he was an early promoter of prize-fighting and he was twice named as co-respondent in divorce proceedings, as well as having a long and expensive affair with Lillie Langtry. At his death he left no issue and his estates passed to trustees who sold them in about 1916 and 1925.

Thus only the modest Rickarton estate remained in Baird hands after the Second World War. After Lord Stonehaven died in 1941 it remained the home of his widow. In 1966 she succeeded her brother as Countess of Kintore in her own right, and the Keith Hall estate passed to her son and heir, the 2nd Viscount Stonehaven, who took the name Keith in preference to Baird. When she died, aged 100, in 1974, her son inherited as 12th Earl of Kintore and took possession of Rickarton. Lord Kintore lived, however, at Keith Hall (until the sold the house there to Kit Martin in 1984 for division into apartments) and he sold Rickarton to his son-in-law, John Francis Holman (1924-2015). Holman's son, Richard Ian Holman-Baird (b. 1958), and his family now live at Rickarton.


Lochwood House, Easterhouse, Lanarkshire

Lochwood House, Easterhouse in about 1906. Image: Mitchell Library, Glasgow

The house was built in about 1825 in a fine position above Bishop's Loch for Alexander Baird (1765-1833), and probably consisted at first only of the three-bay two storey block in the centre of the view above, and a service wing behind it. It was later extended at either end with taller wings having low-pitched gables with decorated bargeboards. The wing on the right was built first, as a new main block with reception rooms, the principal bedrooms, and an entrance porch. This was certainly in existence by 1858 and was probably built in the 1840s for John Baird. The wing on the left followed later but was in existence by 1897. The house was let from the late 19th century onwards, and by 1937 was a tenement building. The house was acquired by the National Coal Board in the 1940s and used as a home for pensioned mineworkers until the Easterhouse estate was built and they were rehoused there. The house was derelict by 1962 and was demolished soon afterwards.

Descent: sold 1825 to Alexander Baird (1765-1833); to son, William Baird (1796-1864), who gave it to his brother, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, John Baird (1852-1900) who let it from 1888; to trustees who appear to have sold in 1926... sold 1940s to National Coal Board; dem. c.1963.


Cambusdoon House, Ayrshire


Cambusdoon House: entrance front as first built for James Baird. Image: Glasgow School of Art. Some rights reserved.
The house was built in a Scots Baronial style in 1853 for James Baird (1802-76), whose interests extended into Ayrshire. The house has been plausibly attributed to David Bryce, but is not included on the standard list of his works. The only archival evidence seems to be plans for the addition of a vinery in c.1855, by William Clarke & George Bell. Since they had both previously been in the office of William Burn, they must also be plausible candidates for the main building. 

Cambusdoon House: entrance front in 1885, from Millar's Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire.

The turreted two-storey entrance block in the foreground of the 1885 view above was an addition presumably made for William Baird after he inherited the house. The house became a preparatory school in 1926, and soon after this closed in 1967 the house was burned out in 1970. The ruins were left standing until 1976, when they were deemed to be dangerous and demolished. The landscaped grounds remain a public park. 

Descent: built c.1853-54 for James Baird (1802-76); to nephew, William Baird (1848-1918); to son, William James Baird (1893-1961); who sold 1926 for use as a prep school; sold 1968 to Ayr Council; burnt 1970 and demolished 1976. 


Ury House, Kincardineshire


Ury House: the 17th century house shown in an early 19th century engraving.
The ancient castle of Ury was apparently burnt by Royalist troops in 1645 during one of the Scottish campaigns of the Civil War. The ruins seem to have been patched up sufficiently for Col. Robert Barclay (1610-86), who bought the estate in 1647-48, to live there in the 1650s and 1660s, but in 1670 he built a new three-storey L-plan house. It was subsequently converted to the Z-plan by the addition of round towers at two of the diagonally opposite angles, and is said to have been vaulted throughout. In 1679 the architect James Smith was paid to 'cover with freestone the house of Urie', and the towers may have been added at the same time. A 19th century source records that the houe 'was decorated inside by frescoes in the Italian fashion'.


Ury House: proposal by James Playfair for remodelling, 1788. The elements
in yellow wash indicate the form and extent of the old house. Image: Soane Museum
In 1789 James Playfair made proposals for remodelling the house in either the Gothic or the classical style for Robert Barclay (1731-97), but nothing seems to have been done, and the 17th century house survived until 1855, when it was pulled down to clear the site for a new building designed by John Baird I of Glasgow for Alexander Baird (who appears to have been no relation). 

The new house was in the neo-Jacobean style made popular by William Burn in the 1820s, and was distinctly old-fashioned by the standards of 1855. The house was generally of two and three storeys, but had a tall square off-centre entrance tower with a big porte-cochere. The windows were a characteristically varied mix of mullioned and canted or oriel windows, many of them with hood moulds. An enormous mullioned and transomed window to the  right of the tower probably lit a great hall. The gabled dormer heads reach above eaves, and bays set forward from main wall-planes are also gabled. The double-gabled, return elevation to right is almost villa-like. 





Ury House: the garden front as built in 1855.

Ury House: the entrance front as extended in 1883-84, from an old postcard.

In 1882-84 the house was extended at the left-hand end of the main front by the addition of a huge east wing with a second tower rising to pair of crow-stepped gables designed by Alexander Ross for Sir Alexander Baird, 1st bt. The house seems to have remained in use until the 1940s when it was abandoned, and in 1959 it was deliberately unroofed to avoid property taxes. The solidity of construction was such, however, that the shell of the building survived decades of neglect. 

Ury House: the ruined shell in 2007. Image: Brideshead via Wikipedia

In 1990 Ury Estates Ltd. made an application to demolish the ruin, which was refused; instead a Building Preservation Notice was served on the owners and the house was listed (at Grade B). The house was subsequently sold in 2002 to developers with a view to restoration and conversion to hotel use, but more than a decade of further decay lay ahead before a commercially viable scheme was finally agreed. Since 2015 repair and reconstruction work has been underway to turn the house into the centrepiece of a new golf club and resort complex, which is due to open in 2020. A great deal of 'enabling development' will also place within the estate to make the development a commercial proposition.

Descent: sold 1647 to Col. David Barclay (1610-86); to son, Robert Barclay (1648-90); to son, Robert Barclay (1672-1747); to son, Robert Barclay (1699-1760); to son, Robert Barclay (later Barclay-Allardice) (1731-97); to son, Capt. Robert Barclay-Allardice (1779-1854); sold after his death to Alexander Baird (1799-1862), who rebuilt the house; to brother, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and 1st Viscount Stonehaven; to son, Sir James Ian Baird (later Keith) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore; sold 1944 to Earl of Mansfield; sold 1947 to John Bisset & Sons Ltd. of Aberdeen for the timber, much of which was felled; sold to Ury Estates Ltd.; sold 2002 to FM Developments; sold by administrators 2012 to FM Group.


Rickarton House, Kincardineshire


Rickarton House: entrance front, 2006. Image: Alan Thomson. Some rights reserved.

The house was begun as a small gable-ended villa built in about 1804 for Col. Hepburn, and was given its present wider front entrance range by John Smith of Aberdeen in 1829-32. This has a plain five bay, two-storey front with a minimally advanced centre and floor-length windows on the ground floor. The overhanging roof gives the house a faintly Italianate air and may have been altered later. Smith's porch was removed in 1975 and now stands detached, like a folly, on the lawn south-east of the house. A better image of the house can be found here.

Descent: built for Col. William Rickart Hepburn (d. 1807); to son, Robert Rickart Hepburn (c.1803-37) ... sold c.1854 to Alexander Baird (1765-1833); to son, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and 1st Viscount Stonehaven; to son, James Ian Baird (later Keith) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore; sold to son-in-law, John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015); to son, Richard Ian Holman-Baird (b. 1958).


Elie House, Fife


An account of this house will be found in my previous post on the Carmichael-Anstruther family of Elie House and Carmichael House, baronets.


Wellwood House, Muirkirk, Ayrshire


Wellwood House, Muirkirk. Image: reproduced with permission from Jimmy Taylor's Ayrshire History.

A large but rather plain Victorian mansion built by an unknown architect in 1878 for John Baird of Muirkirk on the site of a much smaller earlier house of the Campbell family, which reputedly bore the date 1600. The new house was L-shaped and built of stone, and was of three storeys, with a projecting four-storey tower at the angle between the two main ranges. The gables of the tower and a subsidiary gable to its left were crow-stepped. A lower service wing projected at the rear. The house was demolished in 1928 or 1936.

Descent: built for John Baird (1854-1917); to widow, Susan Georgiana Baird (1861-1951), who sold 1925; demolished 1928 or 1936.


Baird family of Lochwood, Cambusdoon, Ury and Rickarton, Viscounts Stonehaven


Alexander Baird (1765-1833)
Baird, Alexander (1765-1833). Son of William Baird (d. c.1775) of Woodhead, Old Monkland, and his wife Jean Baillie, born 12 May 1765. Educated at Old Monkland parish school. He became a tenant farmer on a steadily increasing scale, leasing land from several different proprietors, and he was also a miller for some years, leasing a corn mill at Mill of Langloan. From 1816 he began to lease coal mines for his sons to operate, taking on Rochsolloch, Airdrie, 1816-20; Merryston, 1820-26 and Gartsherrie from 1826. In 1828 he also leased the iron mines near Gartsherrie in partnership with his sons and a piece of land on which to built blast furnaces, but he retired in 1830. He was one of those who formed the Langloan Company of Volunteers, c.1818. He married, August 1794, 'a woman of extraordinary energy', Jean (d. 1851), daughter of James Moffat of Airdrie, and had issue:
(1) Janet Baird (1794-1880), born at Woodhead, 6 December 1794; as a girl assisted her mother with the family and farm; married 1st, 15 December 1821 at Old Monkland, Alexander Whitelaw (d. 1826), son of Thomas Whitelaw, farmer, and had issue two sons and two daughters; after his death, managed their farm alone until she married 2nd, 2 December 1834, John Weir (d. 1885), and had further issue one son and one daughter (twins); her children played a large part in the later management of William Baird & Co. and the Eglinton Ironworks; died at Dumbeth House, Old Monkland, 9 December 1880; will confirmed 11 January 1881 (estate £12,333);
(2) William Baird (1796-1864) [see below, Baird of Elie House and Wellwood House];
(3) John Baird (1798-1870) (q.v.);
(4) Alexander Baird (1799-1862) (q.v.);
(5) James Baird (1802-76) (q.v.);
(6) Jane Baird (1804-82), born at Kirkwood, 24 August 1804; educated at Old Monkland and in Glasgow; married, 6 December 1831, Thomas Jackson (d. 1863) of Coats (Lanarks) and had issue three sons and six daughters; died 6 October 1882; will confirmed 8 January 1883 (estate £8,419);
(7) Robert Baird (1806-56) of Auchmedden, born at Kirkwood, 16 April 1806; educated at Glasgow University (MA 1828); apprenticed to James Taylor, WS, of Glasgow; set up in practice as a solicitor at Glasgow, but subsequently joined the office staff of William Baird & Co. (partner from 1840); managed Thankerton Colliery; a deputy governor of the Forth & Clyde Canal; a Conservative in politics; Dean of Guild of Glasgow at the time of his death; lived at Cadder House; bought the Auchmedden estate (Aberdeens.) in 1854; died unmarried and without issue at Cadder House, 7 August 1856 and was buried at the Glasgow Necropolis;
(8) Douglas Baird (1808-54), born at Kirkwood, 31 March 1808; educated at Old Monkland school and in Glasgow; a partner in George Baird & Co.; he managed the office at Gartsherrie and the Thankerton colliery; purchased the Closeburn Hall (Dumfriess.) estate, 1848, and retired from direct involvement in the family firm; married, 28 July 1851 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Charlotte (c.1815-68), daughter of Capt. Henry Acton of 12th Lancers, and had issue two daughters; died suddenly, 7 December 1854, and was buried at Closeburn; will confirmed 21 December 1855 (estate £224,864);
(9) George Baird (1810-70), born at High Cross, 28 July 1810; educated at Old Monkland School; suffered an accident in childhood and afterwards was subject to epileptic fits for ten or twelve years; an officer in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt.); from the 1830s, became a partner in William Baird & Co., and managed the colleries at Gartsherrie and from 1846 the Eglinton ironworks in Ayrshire; purchased the Strichen estate (Aberdeens.) in 1855 and succeeded his brother David at Stichill (Roxburghs) in 1860; DL for Berwickshire (form 1866); married, 15 November 1858 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Cecilia (c.1827-95), daughter of Vice-Adm. Villiers Francis Hatton MP of Clonard (Wexford), and had issue one son; died at Strichen, 24 August 1870, and was buried at Stichill; will confirmed 8 October 1870 (estate under £1,000,000);
(10) David Buchanan Baird (1816-60), born at High Cross, 18 November 1816; educated at Old Monkland and Langloan schools and after his father's death at Edinburgh and in Paris (France); entered William Baird & Co. and became a partner in 1840; hunted with the Glasgow Hunt; purchased the Stichill estate (Roxburghs.) in 1853; suffered from mental illness from 1857 and died unmarried and without issue at Highgate Hall (Essex), 18 October 1860; he was buried with his parents at Old Monkland/Coatbridge; will confirmed 29 March 1861 (estate £156,434).
He lived as a tenant farmer at Woodhead, 1785-98, Kirkwood, 1798-1808 and High Cross, 1808-25, until he purchased Lochwood House, Old Monkland (Lanarks) in 1825.
He died at Newmains Farm, 23 December 1833 and was buried at Old Monkland/Coatbridge; his will was confirmed 25 July 1835 (effects £886). His widow died 8 July 1851 and was buried in the same place; her will was confirmed 18 August 1851 (effects £1,272).


James Baird (1802-76)
Baird, James (1802-76). Fourth son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Kirkwood, Old Monkland, 5 December 1802. Educated at Old Monkland parish school, but left at the age of 12 for a career in farming, and afterwards educated himself. From 1820, farmer at Newmains Farm, and from 1822 joined his brothers in managing the adjoining Merryston colliery. From 1826 he became principally involved in the management of the Gartsherrie coal and ironworks, and from his mechanical skill and inventiveness, he became the superintendent of the works, leaving the book-keeping to his brother William and the sales operation in Glasgow to his brother Alexander. Throughout his life he acquired land in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Fife, all primarily for mining purposes. In 1826 his father, two brothers and himself leased coalfields at Gartsherrie and in the vicinity, and in 1828 iron mines near by. After his father retired in 1830, the family's large ironworking interests were reorganised as William Baird & Co, with James in overall control. His improvements in machinery largely increased the output of his blast furnaces, which by 1864 had grown in number to nearly fifty, producing 300,000 tons annually and employing 10,000 hands. He was also a director of the Forth & Clyde Canal and invested heavily in railways, both in the UK and North America. He was Conservative MP for Falkirk Burghs, 1851-57; DL (from 1868) and JP for Ayrshire and DL for Inverness-shire (from 1859). He was for many years a member of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and invested some of his profits in public benefactions, founding schools to educate his workers, the Baird Lectures for the defence of orthodox theology, and the Baird Trust, which he endowed in 1873 with £500,000 to help the Established Church of Scotland to expand its mission. From 1844 he suffered from rheumatism, and in 1846 he travelled on the Continent in search of a cure. He married 1st, 10 February 1852 at Old Monkland, Charlotte (d. 1857), daughter of Robert Lockhart of Castlehill (Lanarks) and 2nd, 8 December 1859, Isabella Agnew (d. 1904), daughter of Adm. James Hay of Belton (East Lothian), but had no issue.
He bought the Greenfield estate (Ayrs.) in about 1853, built a new house there and named it Cambusdoon. In 1857 he bought , Knoydart (Inverness) as a retreat. He also bought Auchendrane (Ayrs.) in 1862, Muirkirk in 1863, and Drumellan in 1864. On the death of his brother Robert in 1856 he succeeded to Auchmedden (Aberdeens.).
He died 20 June 1876; his will was confirmed 31 August 1876 (estate £1,190,868). His first wife died in Nice (France), 29 December 1857. His widow died at Cambusdoon, 7 December 1904; her will was confirmed 18 February 1904 (estate £42,668).


Alexander Baird (1799-1862)
Baird, Alexander (1799-1862). Third son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Kirkwood, 29 December 1799. Educated at Old Monkland and Langloan schools. Soon after his brother William began managing a coalfield at Airdrie, he was established a Glasgow as a coal merchant to build the market for the firm's coal, and he later also undertook the same function in marketing the iron produced by William Baird & Co. He was a man of strongly Conservative opinions, and took a keen interest in politics. He was noted for his shrewdness in business and for his witty and sarcastic sayings. He was unmarried and without issue.
He purchased Ury House in 1854 and built a new house there in 1855. At his death the estate passed to his elder brother, John Baird.
He died in London, 2 March 1862, and was buried at Ury; his will was confirmed 19 March 1862 (estate £694,630).


John Baird (1798-1870)
Baird, John (1798-1870). Second son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Woodhead, 19 February 1798. Educated at Old Monkland, Langloan and New Monkland schools and at Glasgow University, where he did not complete his studies. Farmer at High Cross, Old Monkland, from 1830. A member of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry, 1819-20. He was the only one of the Baird brothers who stuck to farming and did not join the family firm of ironmasters. DL for Kincardineshire; JP for Kincardineshire and Lanarkshire. He was described as 'a man of contented and joyous disposition..., great wit and readiness of repartee... good temper and kindliness'. In the 1860s, his health gave way and he was obliged to spend the winters on the Continent. He married, 5 December 1848, Margaret (1790-1883), daughter of John Findlay of Springhill (Lanarks), and had issue:
(1) Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(2) John Baird (1852-1900) of Lochwood, born 17 February 1852; educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; inherited Lochwood House from his father in 1870 and the Knoydart estate from his uncle James Baird in 1876, which he later sold; Unionist MP for NW Lanarkshire, 1885-86; DL and JP for Inverness-shire; married, 23 April 1878 at Henbury (Glos), Constance Emelia (c.1854-1914), second son of John Harford Battersby Harford of Blaise Castle (Glos) and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 8 July 1900 and was buried at Old Monkland; his will was confirmed 27 October 1900 (estate £63,560);
(3) Janet Findlay Baird (1861-1928), born 12 November 1861; married, 9 January 1884 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Col. George Chalmer (d. 1895) of Tuchdairnie; died 21 April 1928 and was buried at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh; will confirmed in Scotland, 7 June 1928 (estate £21,461) and sealed in London, 15 June and 30 August 1928.
He was gifted Lochwood by his brother in 1839 but did not move there until 1847. He purchased the adjoining Easterhouse estate in 1861. He inherited Ury House and Rickarton from his younger brother in 1862. At his death, Ury House passed to his elder son and Lochwood and Easterhouse to his younger son.
He died in Naples (Italy), 29 January 1870, but was buried at Ury; his will was confirmed 31 March 1870. His widow died 14 July 1883; her will was confirmed 20 October 1883 (estate £11,833).

Baird, Sir Alexander (1849-1920), 1st bt. Elder son of John Baird (1798-1870) and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Findlay of Springhill (Lanarks), born 22 October 1849. Educated at Harrow. As a boy his health was not robust and he first went abroad almost immediately after leaving school, and thereafter usually spent the winters abroad. He spent a large portion of his life in the Middle East, and especially in Egypt, where he later served as president of the Permanent Arbitration Board. He spoke fluent Arabic and was heavily involved in philanthropic projects in that country. Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire, 1889-1918. President of Kincardineshire Territorial Forces Association; DL for Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire; JP for Inverness-shire. He was created a baronet, 8 March 1897 and appointed GBE, 1920, and also held the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile. He married, 16 July 1873, the Hon. Annette Maria (1851-84), daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, 4th bt. and later 1st Baron Haldon, and had issue:
(1) Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. & 1st Viscount Stonehaven (q.v.);
(2) Evelyn Margaret Baird (1875-1944), born 25 April 1875; JP for Wiltshire; married, 5 December 1907 at St George, Hanover Sq., London,, Lt-Col. Albert Edward Stanley Clarke DSO MVO (1879-1926), Scots Guards, only son of Maj-Gen. Sir Stanley Astel de Calvert Clarke GCVO and had issue one son and one daughter; died 12 October 1944; will proved 3 May 1945 (estate £16,648);
(3) Brig-Gen. Alexander Walter Frederick Baird (1876-1931), born 2 October 1876; educated at Eton and New College, Oxford; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (2nd Lt., 1897; Capt., 1902; Lt-Col., 1914; Brig-Gen., 1916), who served in South Africa, 1899-1902 (despatches four times; DSO, 1902) and First World War, 1914-18 (despatches nine times; commanded 100th Infantry Brigade, 1916-19); appointed CB, CMG and a commander of the Legion d'honneur; as well as holding several other foreign orders; head of British military mission in Bulgaria, 1919; military attaché in Madrid, 1920 and at Constantinople and Sofia, 1921-24; secretary of the Carlton Club, London; married, 16 February 1907 (sep. c. 1920), Maud Constance (d. 1952), daughter of Charles William Waylen and formerly wife of Francis Carbutt Bell, and had issue one son; died as the result of a head-on collision between his MG and a bus, in which a passenger was also killed, 20 February 1931, and for which the bus company was later required to pay damages of £9,000 in a civil case; his will was proved 23 July 1931 (estate £6,089);
(4) Janet Norah Baird (1878-1943), born 7 January and baptised at St Saviour, Chelsea, 6 February 1878; married, 1 October 1902 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Lt-Col. Sir Arthur George Ferguson CBE (1862-1935), HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, son of Col. George Arthur Ferguson of Pitfour (Aberdeens) and had issue four sons and one daughter; died in Aberdeen, 15 October 1943; will proved 4 February 1944 (estate £3,811);
(5) Edith Annette Baird (1880-81), born in Cairo, 6 January 1880; died in infancy, 20 October 1881, and was buried at Ury;
(6) Nina Isabel Baird (1882-1919), born 20 March 1882; travelled extensively with her father in the Middle East and worked to improve the conditions of Bedouin women in Egypt; died unmarried of typhoid at Alexandria (Egypt), 10 August 1919; will confirmed 3 December 1919 (estate £14,540);
(7) Muriel Jane Baird (1884-1968), born 4 April 1884; married, 17 July 1909, Byron Vyner Basil Noel (1880-1959) of Brown's Hill, Instead (Norfk), but had no issue; died 31 December 1967; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 2 May 1968. 
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1870, and extended Ury House in 1883-84.
He died at Matarieh, Cairo (Egypt), 20 June 1920; his will was confirmed 1 March 1921 (estate £285,805). His wife died 21 May 1884 and was buried at Ury; administration of her goods was granted, 6 March 1886 (effects £1,285).


Sir John Baird (1874-1941),
1st Viscount Stonehaven
Baird, Sir John Lawrence (1874-1941), 2nd bt. & 1st Baron and 1st Viscount Stonehaven. Elder son of Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt. and his wife, the Hon. Annette Maria, daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, 4th bt., 1st Baron Haldon, born 27 April 1874. An officer in the Diplomatic Corps, 1896-1908; MP for Rugby, 1910-22 and for Ayr, 1922-25. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt. Hon. Andrew Bonar Law, 1911-16; Under-Secretary of State for Air, 1916-18 and at the Home Office, 1919-22; First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings and Minister of Transport, 1922-24; Governor-General of Australia, 1925-30 and Chairman of the Conservative Party, 1931-36. He served in the First World War as a Staff Captain in the Intelligence Corps (mentioned in despatches). DL for Kincardineshire; JP for Kincardineshire and Warwickshire. He was awarded the CMG, 1904; DSO 1915; and GCMG, 1925; and the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'honneur (France), the orders of Leopold of Belgium, St Stanislaus of Russia; and of the Crown of Italy. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 20 June 1920, and was appointed to the Privy Council, 1922; he was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Stonehaven, 12 June 1925 and subsequently advanced to a viscountcy, 27 June 1938. He was awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Aberdeen and Sydney (Australia), 1930. Major in the Scottish Horse (TF). and hon. Air Commodore No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, RAF, 1936. He married, 15 February 1905, Lady Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer (1874-1974) (who succeeded her brother as 11th Countess of Kintore in 1966), elder daughter of Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, and had issue:
(1) Hon. Annette Sydney Helen Mary Baird (1905-50), born 19 November 1905; married, 17 August 1925 at Fetteresso (Kincardines.), Lt-Cdr. Michael Henry Mason DL (1900-82), only son of James Mason of Eynsham Hall (Oxon), but had no issue; died 1 February 1950 and was buried at Ury; will proved 1 February 1951 (estate £16,603);
(2) James Ian Baird (later Keith-Falconer) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore (q.v.);
(3) S/Ldr. Hon. Robert Alexander Greville Baird (1910-43), born 15 April 1910; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (Lt.) and later in the Royal Air Force (Pilot Officer, 1939; Fl. Lt., 1941; S/Ldr, 1942); acted as ADC to Governor-General of Australia, 1933; married, 30 March 1939, Dorviegelda Malvina (who m2, 15 November 1947, S/Ldr. Algernon Ivan Toby Sladen DSO (d. 1976), only son of Maj. Algernon Ryder Lambert Sladen of Virginia Water (Surrey) and died 1997), daughter of Alexander Ronald MacGregor of Cardney, Dunkeld (Perths) and had issue two sons and one daughter; killed in action at the Battle of the Ruhr, 14 July 1943 and buried at Les Hayons churchyard, Luxembourg; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 7 October 1943;
(4) Lady Ariel Olivia Winifred Baird CVO (1916-2003), born 16 August 1916; appointed a Lady in Waiting to HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, 1940; appointed CVO, 1980; married, 25 April 1946 at St Mark, North Audley St., London (div., 1958), as his first wife, Lt-Col. Sir Kenneth Alexander Keith (created a life peer as Lord Keith of Castleacre, 1980) (1916-2004), elder son of Edward Charles Keith of Swanton Morley House (Norfk), and had issue one son and one daughter (twins); died 29 April 2003; will proved 24 July 2003;
(5) Lady Hilda Ava Fiona Nancy Baird (1919-2001), born 20 April 1919; married, 12 June 1945 in London, Lt-Col. Ronald Fulton Lucas Chance MC (1911-96) of Hill House, Twyford (Berks), eldest son of Walter Lucas Chance of Millgreen House, Wargrave (Berks), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 18 April 2001; will proved 24 September 2001.
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1920. 
He died of a heart attack, 20 August 1941; his will was confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 12 August 1942. His widow died aged 100, 21 September 1974; her will was proved 19 November 1974 (estate £19,110).


(James) Ian Keith (né Baird)
2nd Viscount Stonehaven &
12th Earl of Kintore
Baird (later Keith), James Ian (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven & 12th Earl of Kintore. Elder son of Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 1st Viscount Stonehaven, and his wife, Lady Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer (who succeeded her brother as 11th Countess of Kintore in 1966), elder daughter of Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, born 25 July 1908. Educated at Eton and Royal School of Mines. An officer in the Royal Mechanical Engineers (Maj.) who served in Second World War; member of the Royal Company of Archers. Associate of the Royal Institution of Structural Engineers. He succeeded his father as a baronet and 2nd Viscount Stonehaven, 20 August 1941. After the Second World War he emigrated to South Africa, where he was a partner in an engineering firm in Johannesburg, returning in 1952. He changed his name to Keith in 1967 after he became heir apparent to the Earldom of Kintore, and succeeded his mother as 12th Earl of Kintore, 21 September 1974. Served as a British delegate to Council of Europe and Western European Union, 1955-58, 1961-65. Member of Kincardineshire County Council, 1954-75 (Vice-Convenor, 1967-73 and Convenor, 1973-75) and of Grampian Council, 1974-78. DL for Kincardineshire from 1959 (Vice-Lieutenant, 1965-76). He married, 5 March 1935, Delia Virginia (1915-2007), daughter of William Lewis Brownlow Loyd of Upper House, Shamley Green, Guildford (Surrey) and had issue:
(1) Lady Diana Elizabeth Virginia Sydney Baird (b. 1937) (q.v.);
(2) Michael Canning William John Baird (later Keith) (1939-2004), 13th Earl of Kintore [of whom an account will be given in a future post on the Keith-Falconer family, Earls of Kintore];
(3) The Hon. Alexander David Baird (later Keith) (b. 1946) of Banchory (Kincardines.), born 21 April 1946; educated at Tabley House School, Knutsford (Cheshire).
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1941, but sold the Ury estate to meet death duties in 1944. On his return to England in 1952 he became the manager of the Ury estate. He inherited Keith Hall (Aberdeens.) from his maternal uncle in 1966, but sold it in 1984 to Kit Martin, who divided it into apartments. He lived subsequently in the former stables. The Rickarton House estate was occupied by his mother until 1974 and then sold to his son-in-law.
He died 1 October 1989. His widow died aged 91 at Inchmarlo House (Aberdeens.), 10 January 2007.

Baird, Lady Diana Elizabeth Virginia Sydney (b. 1937). Only daughter of James Ian Baird (later Keith), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore, and his wife Delia, daughter of William Lewis Brownlow Loyd of Upper House, Shamley Green (Surrey), born 22 June 1937. She married, 20 July 1957, John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015), farmer, eldest son of Alexander McArthur Holman of Springland, Millbrook (Jersey), and had issue:
(1) Richard Ian Holman (later Holman-Baird) (b. 1958) (q.v.);
(2) Edward Alexander Holman (b. 1960), born 15 February 1960; educated at Gordonstoun; entrepreneur; resident at Cuenca (Ecuador); 
(3) Georgina Mary Holman (b. 1962), born 4 October 1962; married, 1989, Jeremy Charles Hayward Stirrup (b. 1961), son of John Stirrup, and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(4) Emma Charlotte Holman (b. 1966), born 11 April 1966; teacher; married, 1990, Benjamin  Charles Cole (b. 1963), son of Anthony Brian Cole, and had issue one son and one daughter.
Her husband bought Rickarton House from her father in 1974.
Now living. Her husband died 3 February 2015.

Holman-Baird, Richard Ian (b. 1958). Elder son of John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015) and his wife Lady Diane, daughter of James Ian Baird (later Keith), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and 12th Earl of Kintore, born 2 September 1958. Educated at Gordonstoun. Took the additional name of Baird.  Farmer and landowner; huntsman for the Kincardineshire Hunt. He married 1st, Apr-Jun 1985, Saragh Evelyn (1959-87), daughter of Maj. Robert Wood of Glassonby (Cumbld), and 2nd, Apr-Jun 1996, Polly Sophia (b. 1958), daughter of Angus Thomson of London, and had issue:
(1.1) Louise Saragh Holman-Baird (b. 1986), born 21 December 1986; educated at Newcastle University; tour operator specialising in safaris in Africa;
(2.1) Angus John Holman-Baird (b. 1997), born 14 January 1997;
(2.2) Amelia Jo Holman-Baird (b. 1998), born 29 December 1998.
He inherited Rickarton House from his father in 2015.
Now living. His first wife died 7 May 1987 and was buried at Banchory (Aberdeens.). His second wife is now living.


Baird family of Elie House and Wellwood House


William Baird (1796-1864)
Baird, William (1796-1864). Eldest son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Woodhead, 23 April 1796 and baptised at Old Monkland/Coatbridge the following day. Educated at Old Monkland parish school, and was then sent to Berwickshire to learn the rudiments of farming, but he did not take to farming as a career. In 1816, therefore, his father rented a coalfield (Rochsolloch) near Airdrie, which he was sent to manage, and the scale of the operation was increased after they took Merryston (1820-26) and Gartsherrie (from 1826), where he rapidly expanded the works. After his father retired in 1830, he and his brothers formed William Baird & Co., with himself as senior partner. In about 1846 the firm's Ayrshire operations were transferred to a separate firm, the Eglinton Ironworks Co., which developed ironworks at Eglinton (from 1844), Muirkirk and Lugar (from 1856), and of which he also became the senior partner. He was a member of the Council of the Forth & Clyde Navigation and Chairman of the Caledonian Railway Co. He was described by his obituarist as 'a shrewd businessman, [with] great insight into character and the faculty of managing men and making them work well'. Conservative MP for Falkirk Burghs, 1841-46. DL for Ayrshire (from 1863). He married, 14 July 1840 at Scotch National Church, St Peter's Sq., Manchester, Janet (d. 1886), daughter of Thomas Johnston of Prestwich (Lancs) and Gartcloss, coal merchant, and had issue:
(1) Jane Baird (1842-1916), born in London, 6 February 1842; inherited Rosemount after the death of her mother; married, 17 June 1862 at St James, Piccadilly, London, Capt. James George Hay (1826-1913) of Belton (E. Lothian), eldest son of Rear-Adm. James Hay of Belton, but had no issue; died 26 June 1916; will confirmed, 28 November 1916 (estate £18,053);
(2) Alexander Baird (1846-50), born 24 February and baptised at New Monkland/Airdrie, 17 March 1846; died young, 17 August 1850 and was buried with his grandparents at Old Monkland/Coatbridge;
(3) William Baird (1848-1918) (q.v.);
(4) Janet Ann Baird (1850-68), born 5 July and baptised at Symington, 5 September 1850; died unmarried at Rosemount, 14 February 1868;
(5) Charlotte Baird (1852-1923), born 24 March and baptised at Symington, 6 May 1852; married, 25 October 1882 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Capt. William George [k/a Bay] Middleton (1846-92), son of George Middleton of Barony (Lanarks), and had issue one daughter; died 30 September 1923; will proved 1923 (estate £85,546);
(6) John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917) (q.v.);
(7) James Douglas Baird (1856-1909), born at Rosemount, Symington (Ayrs.), 13 May 1856; an officer in the militia, 1877-78 and the army (2nd Lt., 1878; Lt., 1879; resigned 1884); died at Cap Martin, Mentone (France), 17 February 1909; died intestate; administration of goods granted to his brother, William, 27 July 1909 (estate £120,571);
(8) Mary Elizabeth Baird (1858-1943), born 26 March 1858; married, 30 June 1880, Col. Frederick Gordon Blair CB CMG (1853-1943) of Blair (Ayrs.), and had issue one daughter; died 23 October 1943;
(9) Cecilia Margaret Baird (1859-1940), born 20 September 1859; married, 6 July 1886, Henry Burn-Callander (1862-1928), of Westertown and Preston Hall, Dalkeith, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 11 May 1940; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 11 January 1941.
(10) Henry Robert Baird (1861-1929) of Durris (Kincardines.), born at Rosemount, Symington (Ayrs.), 8 January 1861; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1880; Capt., 1884); one of the promoters of the Glasgow District Subway network, 1889; DL (from 1892), JP and County Councillor for Kincardineshire; President of the Deeside Agricultural Assoc., 1904; married, 31 August 1893 at Holy Trinity, Ayr, Florence Katherine, daughter of Frederick Villiers of Ayr and Chelsea (Middx), and had issue three sons; died 12 February 1929 and was buried at Symington (Ayrs.); will confirmed in Scotland, 25 February 1929 (estate £125,569) and sealed in London, 11 March and 31 May 1929;
(11) Brig-Gen. Edward William David Baird CBE (1864-1956), born 29 June 1864; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the army, 1885-92, 1896-1901, 1914-18 (Lt., 1885; Capt., 1891; Maj., 1896; Lt-Col., 1901; Col., 1906; Brig-Gen., 1915) who served in the Boer War (mentioned in despatches) and the First World War, when he commanded 179th Brigade; hon. Col. of Suffolk Hussars Imperial Yeomanry; appointed CBE, 1919; having been captain of his regimental polo team, in the intervals of his military career he was a successful racehorse trainer, winning the Grand National in 1888 and the St. Leger in 1907; he was a member of the Jockey Club for sixty-two years (steward, 1904-06); DL for Caithness (from 1920); JP for Caithness and Kincardineshire; he had houses at Kelloe, Edrom (Berwicks), at Forse, (Caithness), and Exning House (Suffk); married 1st, 17 October 1893, Millicent Bessie (d. 1936), second daughter of Maj-Gen. Sir Stanley Clarke GCVO CMG, and had issue four sons and three daughters; married 2nd, 28 April 1939, Helen Cicely (fl. 1967), daughter of Charles William Rudolph Kerr and widow of Maj. Archibald Edward Butter CMG of Faskally (Perths.); died aged 92, 8 August 1956; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 5 March 1957.
He leased Rosemount (Ayrs.) from 1845 and bought the freehold in 1853. In the same year he purchased Elie House (Fife) and with it the Barony of Pittenweem.
He died in Edinburgh, 8/15 March 1864 and was buried at Symington (Ayrs.); his will was confirmed 31 March 1864 and sealed in London, 19 April 1864; he was said to have left a fortune of £2m. His widow died 15 November 1886; her will was confirmed 29 December 1886 (estate £38,722).


William Baird (1848-1918)
Baird, William (1848-1918). Eldest surviving son of William Baird (1796-1864) of Elie House and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Johnstone, born 2 September 1848. Educated at Harrow School. His ruling passion was hunting to foxhounds, and he was Master of the Cottesmore Hunt, 1880-1900. JP for Ayrshire, Fife and Rutland and DL for Fife; High Sheriff of Rutland, 1894. An officer of Fife Artillery, 1889-96 (Lt-Col. and hon. Col.). In 1903 his wife founded Oakham Cottage Hospital with the primary aim of treating those injured while hunting, although it was open to the general population as well. He married, 19 July 1883 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Caroline Muriel (1861-1932), only daughter of John Alexander Burn-Callandar of Preston Hall (Midlothian), and had issue:
(1) Ethel Mary Baird (1884-1969), born 31 December 1884; lived latterly at Windrush Manor (Glos); married, 27 February 1908, Lt-Col. James Huntley Dutton (1873-1949), 6th Baron Sherborne, of Sherborne Park (Glos) and later Lodge Park, Aldsworth (Glos), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 30 September 1969; will proved 20 August 1970 (estate £6,285);
(2) Janet Muriel Baird (1891-1960), born Jan-Mar 1891; married, 7 August 1926, Capt. Henry Cecil Noel (1868-1931) of Catmose, Oakham (Rutland), second son of Rt. Hon. Gerald James Noel, but had no issue;  lived latterly at Croft House, Fairford (Glos); died 15 July and was buried at Fairford, 18 July 1960; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 12 October 1960;
(3) William James Baird (1893-1961) (q.v.).
He inherited Elie House and the Barony of Pittenweem from his father in 1864 and Cambusdoon (Ayrs.) from his uncle James Baird in 1876. However, he seems to have lived chiefly at Dean's Croft, Oakham (Rutland).
He died 29 June 1918; will confirmed 17 January 1919 (estate £654,461). His widow died at Forbes House, Ham (Surrey), 17 December 1932; her will was confirmed 22 February 1933 (estate £7,217).

Baird, William James (1893-1961). Only son of William Baird (1848-1918) of Elie House and Cambusdoon, and his wife Caroline Muriel, only daughter of John Alexander Burn-Callandar of Preston Hall (Midlothian), born 8 November 1893. Educated at Harrow and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the 12th Lancers (2nd Lt., by 1914; Lt, 1915; retired 1920), who served in the First World War as an Aide de Camp. High Sheriff of Rutland, 1925. Member of Rutland County Council, 1931-45. Master of the Cottesmore Hunt, 1921-31 (jt, 1928-30). He married 1st, 28 May 1918 (div. 1936), Audrey Josephine Helen (1887-1952), younger daughter of John Porter Porter of Belle Isle (Fermanagh) and 2nd, 26 January 1937, Hon. Barbara Vernon OBE (1905-61), youngest daughter of Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt and formerly wife of Capt. Robert Charles Horace Jenkinson, and had issue:
(1.1) Lavinia Enid Muriel Baird (1923-2004), born 26 March 1923; County Superintendent of St John's Ambulance Brigade, 1955-57; Staff Officer to Superintendent-in-Chief, 1959-60; appointed OStJ, 1956; succeeded her father in the barony of Pittenweem, 1961, but sold it to William Ronald Crawford Miller WS in 1978; died unmarried, 26 October 2004, and was buried at Great Durnford (Wilts).
He inherited Elie House and the Barony of Pittenweem from his father in 1918 but sold the House in 1928. He also owned Ranksborough Hall, Oakham (Rutland) and Langston House, Chadlington (Oxon).
He died 2 February 1961; his will was proved in Scotland and sealed in London, 15 May 1961. His first wife died 22 February 1952; her will was proved 24 June 1952 (estate £3,825). His widow committed suicide, 19 May 1961; her will was proved 9 October 1961 (estate £204,454).


John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917)
by Frederick Sargent. Image: NGS.
Baird, John George Alexander (1854-1917). Second surviving son of William Baird (1796-1864) of Elie House and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Johnstone, born 31 May 1854. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1873). An officer in the Army, 1877-82 (Lt.) and the Ayrshire Imperial Yeomanry (Lt-Col.). Unionist MP for Glasgow Central, 1886-1906. DL for Ayrshire and JP for Ayrshire and City of Glasgow. Editor of The private letters of the Marquess of Dalhousie, 1910. He married, 10 November 1880 at Mahableshewar, Bombay (India), Susan Georgiana JP (1860-1951), daughter of Sir James Fergusson, 6th bt., of Kilkerran (Ayrs.) and his wife, Edith Christian, younger daughter of James Andrew Ramsay of Colstoun (East Lothian), and  had issue:
(1) Edith Christian Broun Baird (1893-1981), born 13 June 1893; inherited freehold of Colstoun (East Lothian) in 1898 and was given the remaining life-rent by her mother in 1930; appointed OBE, 1965; married, 26 July 1921 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Maj. Sir Humphrey George Maurice Lindsay (later Broun-Lindsay) DSO MP (1888-1964), son of Alfred Lindsay, and had issue one son; died 4 April 1981;
(2) Mary Janet Baird (1895-1930), born 18 May 1895; married, 24 January 1925, Maj. Richard Alexis Downing Fullerton (1893-1965) of Hambleton Place (Oxon), younger son of George Frederick Downing Fullerton of Ballintoy (Antrim), Alveston (Glos) and Purley Park (Berks), and had issue one son; died 16 February 1930 and was buried at Purley (Berks); will confirmed in Scotland, 20 June 1930 (estate £3,816) and proved in England, 28 August 1930 (estate £6,080).
He inherited the Muirkirk estate from his uncle James Baird of Auchmedden in 1876 and built Wellwood House there. He purchased the life-rent of Colstoun from his wife's aunt's second husband. His widow sold Wellwood in 1925 and it was demolished in 1928 or 1936. She lived subsequently at Colstoun until 1930 when she made over the remainder of the life-rent to her elder daughter.
He died 6 April 1917; his will was confirmed in Scotland, 9 April 1918 (estate £157,668) and sealed in London, 17 April 1918. His widow died from injuries received in a fall, 13 July 1951; her will was confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 30 October 1951.


Sources


Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 1967, pp. 2377-78; Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 2003, pp. 2194-97; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, i, p. 56; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 1527;  Burke's Landed Gentry, 1965, p. 33; "A. M." [Andrew McGeorge], The Bairds of Gartsherrie, 1875; J.M. Bullock, The Bairds of Auchmedden and Strichen, 1934; M.C. Davis, The castles and manors of Ayrshire, 1991, pp. 195, 399-400; J. Sharples, D.W. Walker & M. Woodworth, The buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire - South and Aberdeen, 2015, pp. 708, 760.


Location of archives


Baird family of Elie House: muniments, 1172-20th cent. [National Records of Scotland, GD147]
Baird family of Knoydart: estate papers, 1890-20th cent. [Highland Archives, Lochaber: L/D235]
Baird family of Ury and Rickarton, Viscounts Stonehaven: estate and legal papers and personal and business correspondence, 1824-20th century [Private collection: for access contact National Register of Archives, Scotland]
William Baird & Co. Ltd., iron and coal masters: company records, 1824-1971 [Glasgow University Archives UGD 164/1; Strathclyde University Archives T-BA and acc. 1485; North Lanarkshire Archives U8]


Coat of arms


Baird of Elie: Per pale, gules and or, a boar passant counterchanged.
Baird of Ury: Per pale engrailed, gules and or, a boar passant counterchanged.


Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 21 April 2018 and was updated 19 August 2018, 1 April 2019 and 30 May 2022.

Tuesday 10 April 2018

(327) Bainbrigge of Lockington Hall and Woodseat Hall

Bainbrigge of Lockington
& Woodseat
This family are said to have been of great antiquity in the north of England, but first came to the manor of Lockington in north Leicestershire in the 1540s. They were probably yeoman tenants at that time, but William Bainbrigge (c.1535-1614), who was married at Lockington in 1562, purchased the manor in 1576 and in 1583 obtained the grant of a crest in addition to his ancient arms. The family name was spelled in an uncommon variety of ways: the most usual was 'Bainbrigge' and this has been used consistently in this account, but other forms, including Bainbridge, Baynbrigg, Banbridge, Benbrigg and even Bembridge have been found in the records.

William Bainbrigge's large family was recorded on the tomb he built for himself and his wife in Lockington church in 1614. His eldest son, John Bainbrigge (1573-1643) inherited the estate in 1617, having apparently lived elsewhere in his father's lifetime, perhaps on one of the other properties - at Kegworth and Long Clawson (Leics), and Sutton Bonington and Little Leake (Notts) - which the family acquired during the 16th and 17th centuries. He apparently had only one son and one daughter who survived to maturity. The son was William Bainbrigge (1605-69), who served as High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1648-49 and whose third wife was the sister of General Henry Ireton. On these grounds, it may be presumed that he was sympathetic to the Parliamentarian regime, but neither he nor his father can be discerned as taking any active part in the Civil War. William produced a total of nine children by his second and third wives; but his eldest son, John Bainbrigge (1628-59), died in his father's lifetime, and it was therefore John's only surviving son, John Bainbrigge (1658-1717), who inherited the Lockington estate in 1669. All of William's sons who survived to maturity were apparently provided with landed property, and several of them either married into or bought additional land. In this way William Bainbrigge (c.1644-79) laid the foundations for the cadet branch of the family which became established at Woodseat in Rocester (Staffs) in the 18th century.

John Bainbrigge (1658-1717) inherited Lockington as a child of eleven, and his long minority may have allowed some capital to be accumulated by his trustees. He came of age in 1679, in 1683 married an heiress who brought him the Harley estate at Osgathorpe, and in about 1688 embarked on the building of a new house at Lockington, which forms the core of the present building. An 18th century engraving shows that as first built, the house was an elegant example of the typical late 17th century house, with a hipped roof and tall cupola, like a miniature Belton Hall. John was succeeded by his elder son, William Bainbrigge (1686-1736), who like his father married well. His wife was Mary, the only surviving daughter of Philip Lacock (or Laycock) of Woodborough Hall (Notts). When Philip died in 1721, he left his estate to Mary and to the children of her deceased sister. William and Mary seem to have bought out the interest of her nieces and, when William died fairly young, Mary returned to Woodborough and lived out the rest of her long life there. William was succeeded at Lockington by his eldest son, John Bainbrigge (1718-36), but he died only a few weeks after his father, and the estate passed to his next brother, Philip Harley Bainbrigge (1719-69), who is said to have devoted himself to rural pursuits and cut no figure in the world. He married, in 1746, but had no children, so on his death the estate passed to his spinster sisters Mary (1714-79) and Elizabeth (1716-97), who lived at Woodborough with their mother. Elizabeth in particular was noted for her charitable works on and around her estates, and was given fulsome tributes in published works which strongly convey the reverence felt for her generosity. She was, however, the last of the Lockington Bainbrigges, and bequeathed her estates to a maternal cousin, the Rev. Philip Story (c.1747-1819), who leased Lockington Hall and whose descendants sold the estates in the 19th century. It is notable that she chose to benefit her maternal kin in this way rather than leaving the estate to her heir-at-law, Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818) of Woodseat: she perhaps disapproved of his morals and way of life (see below).

William Bainbrigge (c.1644-79), the third son of William Bainbrigge (1605-69) of Lockington, was left his father's manor of Over Hall, Lockington, and estates at Kegworth and Long Clawson (Notts), and Sutton Bonington and Little Leake (Notts). His marriage in 1665 to Barbara Wilmot of Osmaston (Derbys) may have turned his attention further west, for in 1674 he bought an estate at Rocester (Staffs), which he left to his youngest son, Thomas Bainbrigge (1678-1746). His Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire property passed to his eldest son, William Bainbrigge (1667-1706), whose son and heir, Edward Brett Bainbrigge (1704-41) died unmarried. He bequeathed the estate back to the main line of his family, in the person of  his kinsman, Philip Harley Bainbrigge (1719-69) of Lockington.

Thomas Bainbrigge (1678-1746) inherited his father's Rocester property, but there was no house on the estate and so when he came of age he lived in Derby, where there was a substantial community of polite families at this period. It was his son, also Thomas Bainbrigge (1717-98), who served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1760, who finally built a house on the Rocester property, which he named Woodseat Hall. It was a handsome and compact five bay three storey house, completed in 1776, similar to many of the villas built by pottery owners in the area around Stoke-on-Trent. In 1778 he expanded his property there by buying the manor of Rocester.  Thomas had four sons, the eldest of whom, Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818) was one of the more remarkable characters to feature in this blog. His father's unwillingness to agree the terms of his marriage settlement cause him to become depressed and retreat from the world. He eventually so far departed from the established canons of polite behaviour, manners and dress that he was unable to retain the services of servants for long, and that people followed him in the streets, pointing out 'mad Bainbrigge'. A quarter of a century after he died, his eccentricities were vivid in the mind of witnesses in a series of legal cases about his will, which were reported verbatim in the press. He was unmarried, but in 1790 produced an illegitimate daughter, Betsy, who was the apple of his eye until she disgraced herself with his coachman and produced an illegitimate daughter herself. A few years later, she married William Arnold, the son of his least favourite tenant farmer and was forbidden the house, but by this time, Thomas had taken a shine to her illegitimate daughter, Mary Anne (1809-38), whom he brought up in his increasingly chaotic and dissolute household, reportedly delighting in her precocious ability to swear at the servants.

Thomas Bainbrigge died in 1818, and by his will left his property to Mary Anne, with remainder to her legitimate issue, and after them to the sons of his illegitimate daughter Betsy. This will was signed only two days before his death, and superseded a will of 1815 which made similar provision for Mary Anne and her children, but after them left the estate in remainder to his legitimate nephews, the sons of his brothers. Mary Anne married in 1825 and died in 1838, leaving a son and a daughter, but they died while still minors in 1843 and 1845. The extinction of Mary Anne's heirs signalled the start of a legal battle royal between William Arnold (later Bainbrigge) (1813-79), Betsy's eldest son, and Thomas Parker Bainbrigge (1791-1870), the eldest legitimate nephew. The point at issue was whether the Arnolds had colluded with Thomas Bainbrigge's solicitor to secure Thomas' signature on the will of 1818 either by fraud or by undue influence, and if so, whether the last valid will was that of 1815, under which Thomas Parker Bainbrigge would inherit. A jury decided in 1846 (possibly against the evidence and certainly against the tenor of the judge's summing up) that they had, and found for Thomas Parker Bainbrigge. Civil cases followed, and eventually in 1851 a compromise was reached by which Thomas Parker Bainbrigge secured the estate in return for a payment of £25,000 to the Arnold heirs, about a third of the value of the property. There was, however, a further decade of legal wrangling before T.P. Bainbrigge had a sufficiently secure title to sell the estate and pay off his legal debts. Indeed, only the lawyers seem ultimately to have benefited: Thomas Parker Bainbrigge left an estate worth less than £3,000 and his adversary William Arnold Bainbrigge left a paltry £113 when he was run over by a cart in Shoreditch in 1879.

The story of the family as landed gentry ends with Thomas Parker Bainbrigge's sale of the estate in 1862, but the genealogy below also gives an account of the career of Lt-Col. Philip Bainbrigge (1756-99), the youngest of the four sons of Thomas Bainbrigge (1717-98), and his descendants down to the mid 20th century. Over four generations they are a notable example of a solid upper middle class family with a strong tradition of service in the military, the church, and colonial administration.


Lockington Hall, Leicestershire


Lockington Hall: the house as first built in c.1688, recorded in an engraving of 1797.

Nothing seems to be known of the manor house acquired or built by William Bainbrigge when he bought the manor in 1576, which was occupied by his descendants for a hundred years. John Bainbrigge (1658-1717), who inherited as a minor and came of age in 1679 was responsible for building a new manor house, which still stands, albeit much altered by later generations. The new house was a seven by five bay two-storey stone block, built in about 1688, with a hipped roof, dormers, and a central cupola. The ends of the seven bay front were brought forward and emphasised with stone quoins, and there was a pedimented entrance bay. It was thus a classic late 17th century house, resembling a smaller edition of Belton House (Lincs). The architect is unrecorded. The only fragment of the original interior decoration to survive is the upper part of the original staircase, above first floor level in the centre of the south side, which is a dog-leg stair with balusters of complicated outline and knob finials.

Lockington Hall: the house as remodelled between 1797 and 1804, with the later service wings in the background.  Image: Historic England.
William Bainbrigge (1686-1736), was succeeded at Lockington in turn by his sons John (1718-36) and Philip Harley Bainbrigge (1719-69). When the latter died without issue, the property passed to his unmarried sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, who lived at Woodborough Hall. When Elizabeth died, her estates were left to a maternal cousin, the Rev. Philip Story (c.1747-1819), who had been rector of Lockington since 1777 and perhaps occupying the hall. He promptly undertoook a major remodelling of the house.  His changes, which had been completed by 1804, involved adding the attic storey, stuccoing the house, and giving it sashes with moulded surrounds and a Tuscan colonnade between the wings. A second pedimented doorway was also added to the north side, and the interiors were almost completely redecorated. The main rooms are those on the ground and first floors in the centre of the east front; the upper one has an Adam-style plaster ceiling and lower one a good Classical chimneypiece. Once again, the architect is unknown.

When the Rev. Philip Story died in 1819, Lockington passed to his son, John Bainbrigge Story (1779-1827), who was killed by the fall of a ship's mast while travelling between Geneva and Lucerne. He was succeeded by his son and namesake (1813-72), but after he died the property was sold to Nathaniel Charles Curzon (1829-97). He made further alterations, including the addition of two square bay windows on the south side and the porte-cochere on the north front, and most importantly added two large brick service wings at the rear, which doubled the size of the house. Inside, the west half of the centre of the house was made into a large staircase hall, with a weak 18th-century style staircase. The house continued to be occupied by the family until the death of John Curzon in 1972, after which it was leased to the Architects Design Partnership, who converted it to offices. Subsequently, the former Coach House was converted into offices and new office buildings have been erected within the former kitchen garden. 


Descent: William Bainbrigge (c.1535-1617); to son, John Bainbrigge (1573-1643); to son, William Bainbrigge (1605-69); to grandson, John Bainbrigge (1658-1717); to son, William Bainbrigge (1686-1736); to son, John Bainbrigge (1718-36); to brother, Philip Harley Bainbrigge (1719-69); to sisters Mary Bainbrigge (1714-79) and Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1716-97); to cousin, Rev. Philip Story (c.1747-1819); to son, John Bainbrigge Story (1779-1827); to son, Maj. John Bainbrigge Story (1813-72), who sold 1872 to Nathaniel Charles Curzon (1829-97); to brother, William Curzon (1836-1916); to nephew, Francis Curzon Newton (later Curzon) (1861-1918); to son, John Curzon (1913-72); to nephew, Charles Coaker (b. 1951), who converted it for use as offices, 1973. The house was leased in the early 19th century to John Balguy (d. 1833) and his son of the same name (d. 1858).


Woodborough Hall, Nottinghamshire


The house began as a two-storey brick house built for Philip Lacock, a Nottingham solicitor who was Clerk of the Peace for the county, in about 1660. The original external appearance is not known, but quite a lot survives inside, including a very fine dog-leg staircase with carved scroll balusters, square newel posts with carved swags, vases and pendant drops, and a matching dado rail has similar balusters, newels and vases. In the entrance hall there is a contemporary fireplace with a surround incorporating fluted Doric pilasters, and several other rooms have fireplaces which may be of the same period.


Woodborough Hall: the 17th century staircase.

The house was extensively remodelled and given an extra storey by T.C. Hine of Nottingham for Mansfield Parkyns in the 1850s. He was responsible for the present mullioned and transomed casement windows with Gothic lights, and for the addition of a single-storey service wing at the rear, as well as for much of the interior detail. The house remained in private occupation until 1937 when it was bought by the Crown as a house to be used by the regional commanding officer of the RAF. It was transferred to the Army to perform a similar function in 1959, and a number of changes were made to the house before 1966, including moving the main entrance from the end elevation to the centre of the garden front.


Woodborough Hall: the main front as remodelled in the 1850s, with a new doorway from the 1960s and the 1980s east wing.

The house ceased to be used by army commanding officers in 1980 and stood empty for four years, in which time its condition deteriorated. After 1984, a new private owner made the top floor into flats and demolished a 19th century east wing, but in 1988 it was restored and converted into a nursing home, for which a long single-storey replacement east wing was built. The house has since become a hotel and wedding venue, which was for sale at the time of writing.

Descent: sold to George Laycock; to son, Philip Lacock (d. 1668); to son, Charles Lacock (d. 1683); to son, Philip Lacock (d. 1721); to daughter, Mary (1693-1785), wife of William Bainbrigge (1686-1736); to daughter, Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1716-97); to cousin, Rev. Philip Story (c.1747-1819); to son, John Bainbridge Story (1779-1827); to son, Maj. John Bainbridge Story (1813-72) who sold 1842 to John Ingall Werg; sold 1852 to Mansfield Parkyns (d. 1894); sold by his executors in 1895 to Charles Hose Hill, who sold 1923 to Hubert Dowson; sold 1937 to Crown for use of local commanding officers of the Royal Air Force and (from 1959) of the Army; sold 1984 to Mr Oxby; sold 1988 to Dennis Wright and Gerald Poxton, who restored the house as a nursing home; adapted after 2004 for use as a hotel and wedding venue.


Woodseat Hall, Rocester, Staffordshire


A five bay, two-and-a-half storey house, said to have been built in 1767 for Thomas Bainbrigge (1714-98) to the designs of an unknown architect. The house was perhaps originally very plain, with the only decoration a pedimented three-bay breakfront, a double plat band between the ground and first floors, and a central pedimental doorcase. The house was the subject of legal wrangling between the heirs of Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818) for some thirty years in the mid 19th century, and much of the value of the estate was consumed by the legal fees accrued by the contending parties. 


Woodseat Hall: the house after the additions of 1862-63. 

The house may have become rather neglected by 1860, when the legal case was finally settled and the house could be sold. The new owner, Colin Minton Campbell, certainly embarked at once on a radical remodelling of the house after taking possession. He engaged T.C. Hine of Nottingham to add the tall two-storey wings either side of the 18th century block, with their elaborate tripartite windows on the ground and first floors, and to have enhanced the decoration of the centre, with triangular pediments over the windows of the ground and first floors and the addition of urns to the pediment. It is not known whether the interior of the old house was also remodelled, although it seems likely as the addition of the new wings, with their large high-ceilinged rooms, must inevitably have changed the functions of the rooms in the older part of the house.


Woodseat Hall: the ruins before the start of work to construct a new golf club house. Image: Dave Whieldon (Flickr)

The Campbell family sold Woodseat in 1941, and the house seems to have been unoccupied thereafter. It was in ruins by the 1970s, when the land around it was used as a market garden, and by the 1980s the whole of the 18th century centre had collapsed, leaving only the two 19th century wings. The site was acquired in 1986 by the highly successful manufacturers of earth-moving machinery, JCB plc, whose international headquarters was built in the 1980s a little to the north. In 2014 they obtained planning permission to lay out the grounds as a golf course, and to incorporate the surviving ruins of the old house in the club house. Unfortunately, rather than reconstructing the original elevation of the house (a solution for which there was ample photographic evidence) they chose to pursue a Modernist scheme that inserts a glass box between the two wings. It is not clear how far construction of the new building has proceeded at the time of writing.

Descent: Thomas Bainbrigge (1714-98); to son, Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818); to his natural granddaughter, Mary Anne Bainbrigge (1809-38); to trustees for her children (d. 1843 and 1845); to Thomas Parker Bainbrigge (1791-1870); sold by order of Chancery in 1861 to Colin Minton Campbell MP (1827-85); to son, John Fitzherbert Campbell (1861-1918); to son, Colin Herbert Campbell (1887-1955); sold 1941...sold c.1974 to Mr A. Nash; sold 1986 to JCB plc.


Bainbrigge family of Lockington Hall



Bainbrigge, William (c.1535-1617). Son and heir of Robert Bainbrigge (d. 1572) of Lockington and his wife Isabella, daughter of William Milgate of Manchester, born about 1535. He married 1st, 24 November 1562 at Lockington, Modwyn Wolfhide and 2nd, 17 April 1571 at Lockington, Elizabeth (d. 1624), daughter of Edward Charde esq. of London, and had issue including:
(2.1) Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1572-82), baptised at Lockington, 28 September 1572; died young and was buried at Lockington, 3 September 1582;
(2.2) John Bainbrigge (1573-1643) (q.v.);
(2.3) Mary Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1575), baptised at Lockington, 30 October 1575; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington, 3 November 1575;
(2.4) Barnaby Bainbrigge (1576-1613), baptised at Lockington, 30 October 1576; merchant venturer; died unmarried and was buried at King's Lynn (Norfk), 20 August 1613;
(2.5) Mary Bainbrigge (b. 1577), baptised at Lockington, 12 January 1577/8; married, 7 February 1597/8 at Lockington, John Lawe (d. 1636) of Wigston Magna and had issue;
(2.6) Sarah Bainbrigge (b. 1579), baptised at Lockington, 20 July 1579; married 1st, 15 August 1602, Rev. Henry Duckett BD (d. c.1605) of Colerne (Wilts); and 2nd, 4 February 1605/6 at Lockington, Rev. Dr. William Robinson DD (1567-1637), rector of Long Whatton (Leics) and Archdeacon of Nottingham, and had issue two sons;
(2.7) Hester Bainbrigge (b. 1580), baptised at Lockington, 14 June 1580; married, 5 April 1614 at Lockington, Philip Bainbrigge, and had issue;
(2.8) Anne Bainbrigge (b. 1581), baptised at Lockington, 13 August 1581; probably died young;
(2.9) Thomas Bainbrigge (1582-1658), baptised at Lockington, 4 September 1582; married, by 1610, Agnes, daughter of George Jackson, gent., and had issue two sons and five daughters; buried at Lockington, 5 November 1658;
(2.10) Susanna Bainbrigge (1583-1634), baptised at Lockington, 15 December 1583; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, December 1634; administration of goods granted to Robert Tyringham, March 1635;
(2.11) William Bainbrigge (b. 1586), baptised at Lockington, 27 March 1586; living in 1599; possibly the 'William Bainbrigge of Leicester' buried at Lockington, 16 August 1654;
(2.12) Elizabeth Bainbrigge (b. 1587), baptised at Lockington, 25 June 1587; married 1st, John Stanford and 2nd, before 1616, Robert Tyringham (fl. 1635) of Barkby (Leics) and Weston Favell (Northants), and had issue;
(2.13) Anne Bainbrigge (1588-1675?), baptised at Lockington, 14 July 1588; died unmarried; possibly the person of this name buried at Lockington, 11 December 1675.
He purchased the manor of Lockington on 1 July 1576.
He died 22 April and was buried at Lockington, 24 April 1617, where he is commemorated by a monument he erected in 1614; an inquisition post mortem was held at Leicester, 2 September 1617; his will was proved in the PCC, 4 October 1619. His first wife died before 1571. His widow was buried at Lockington, 15 April 1624.

Bainbrigge, John (1573-1643). Eldest son and heir of William Bainbrigge (c.1535-1617) and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Charde esq. of London, baptised at Lockington, 13 December 1573. High Sheriff of Leicestershire, 1630. He married, 27 February 1597/8 at Wigston Magna (Leics), Anne (d. 1651), daughter of William Lawe of Wigston Magna, and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Bainbrigge (b. 1599; fl. 1669), baptised at Wigston Magna, 19 November 1599; married 1st, 29 May 1621 at Lockington, John St. Andrew (d. 1625) of Gotham (Notts), by whom she had one son (who died in infancy) and three daughters; married 2nd, 6 October 1631, as his second wife, Sir John Bale (d. c.1653), kt. and 1st bt., of Carlton Curlieu, but had no further issue; living in 1669;
(2) William Bainbrigge (1605-69) (q.v.);
(3) Mary Bainbrigge (b. 1612), born 1612; died in the lifetime of her father;
(4) John Bainbrigge (b. 1616), born 1616; died in infancy.
He inherited the Lockington Hall estate from his father in 1617.
He was buried at Lockington, 19 March 1642/3; his will was proved in the PCC, 6 June 1648. His widow was buried at Lockington, 3 July 1651.

Bainbrigge, William (1605-69). Son and heir of John Bainbrigge (1573-1643) and his wife Anne, daughter of William Lawe of Wigston Magna, baptised at Wigston Magna, 1 September 1605.  High Sheriff of Leicestershire, 1648-49. He married 1st, 30 November 1623 at Gotham (Notts), Barbara (c.1606-24), daughter of William St. Andrew of Gotham; 2nd, 1626 (licence 22 June), Elizabeth (d. 1635), daughter of Gervase Pigott of Thrumpton (Notts); and 3rd, 16 November 1638 at Attenborough (Notts), Mary (d. 1649), daughter of German Ireton of Attenborough and sister of Gen. Henry Ireton, the Parliamentary commander, and had issue:
(2.1) John Bainbrigge (1628-59) (q.v.);
(2.2) Anne Bainbrigge (1632-55), baptised at Lockington, 30 January 1632/3; married, 28 July 1649 at Lockington, as his first wife, William Herrick (1624-93) of Beaumanor (Leics) and had issue three sons and one daughter; buried at Woodhouse (Leics), 6 June 1655;
(2.3) Gervase Bainbrigge (1635-73?), baptised at Lockington, 9 March 1634/5; lived at Alvaston (Derbys); married, c.1658, Catherine (1633-71), daughter of John Fulwood of Hemmington, and had issue four children, who all died in his lifetime; said to have died in 1673 and certainly dead by 1679;
(3.1) William Bainbrigge (1639-41), baptised at Lockington, 17 September 1639; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington, 11 February 1640/1;
(3.2) Thomas Bainbrigge (1640-59), baptised at Lockington, 20 August 1640; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, 19 November 1659;
(3.3) Jane Bainbrigge (fl. 1658-92); married, 1 June 1658 at St James, Clerkenwell (Middx), Simon Dyott (1622-82) of St Giles-in-the-Fields, London, and had issue;
(3.4) William Bainbrigge (c.1644-79) [see below, Bainbrigge family of Woodseat Hall]
(3.5) Catherine Bainbrigge (1648-1705), baptised at Lockington, 11 April 1648; married 1st, 1670 (settlement 1 October), William Leake (d. 1687) of Wymeswold, serjeant-at-law, and 2nd, 1690 (licence 15 April), Sir William Yorke MP (c.1646-c.1702); will proved 5 September 1705;
(3.6) Henry Bainbrigge (1649-1700) of Hugglescote Grange (Leics), baptised at Lockington, 9 June 1649; married 1st, Hannah, daughter of William Welby of Denton (Lincs) and 2nd, 7 July 1681 in London, Elizabeth (fl. 1705), daughter of James Nelthorpe of London, merchant, and had issue; buried at Wymeswold, 19 December 1700.
He inherited the Lockington Hall estate from his father in 1642/3, but lived chiefly in St Giles-in-the-Fields, London.
He was buried at Lockington, 26 November 1669, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 12 February 1669/70. His first wife was buried at Lockington, 5 April 1624. His second wife was buried at Lockington, 20 March 1634/5. His third wife was buried at Lockington, 9 July 1649.

Bainbrigge, John (1628-59). Elder son of William Bainbrigge (d. 1669) and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Gervase Pigott of Thrumpton (Notts), baptised at Lockington, 22 January 1628/9. He married, 14 July 1649 at Breedon-on-the-Hill (Leics), Dorothy Gray of Langley, and had issue:
(1) William Bainbrigge (1650-53), baptised at Lockington, 17 September 1650; died young and was buried at Lockington, 4 May 1653;
(2) Dorothy Bainbrigge (b. 1652), baptised at Lockington, 27 June 1652; living in 1669;
(3) Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1655-90), born 21 January and baptised at Lockington, 29 January 1654/5; married, 1672 (licence 8 July) at Belton (Leics), John Hawford (c.1644-1700), of Clement's Inn, London; buried at Kegworth (Leics), 27 February 1689/90;
(4) Anne Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1656), born 31 March and baptised at Lockington, 6 April 1656; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington, 13 October 1656;
(5) John Bainbrigge (1658-1717) (q.v.).
He was buried 27 January 1658/9. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bainbrigge, John (1658-1717). Only surviving son of John Bainbrigge (1628-59) and his wife Dorothy Gray of Langley, born 13 March 1657/8 and baptised at Lockington 21 or 22 March 1658. High Sheriff of Leicestershire, 1699-1700. He married, 8 November 1683 at Osgathorpe (Leics), Mary (1668-1724), daughter and heiress of Thomas Harley of Osgathorpe, and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Bainbrigge (b. 1684), baptised at Lockington, 25 November 1684; married, 13 August 1712 at South Wingfield (Derbys), Edward Lowe (fl. 1736) of Haslewood (Derbys), gent.;
(2) William Bainbrigge (1686-1736) (q.v.);
(3) Mary Bainbrigge (1688-1769), baptised at Lockington, 5 September 1688; married William Osborne of Derby, gent.; died 26 June 1749 and was buried at Lockington;
(4) Rev. John Bainbrigge (c.1690-1758), born about 1690; educated at Hart Hall, Oxford (matriculated 1707; BA 1711; MA 1713/4; ordained deacon and priest, 1729; rector of Walton-on-the-Wolds (Leics), 1729-58; married, 1740 (licence 14 April), Hannah Buck (b. c.1710), but had no issue; died 29 May 1758.
He inherited the Lockington Hall estate from his grandfather in 1669 and came of age in 1679. He rebuilt the Hall in about 1688.
He died 1 October and was buried at Lockington, 3 October 1717; his will was proved at Leicester, 27 March 1718. His widow died at Nottingham, 4 June 1724, and was buried at Osgathorpe, where she is commemorated by a monument.

Bainbrigge, William (1686-1736). Elder son of John Bainbrigge (1658-1717) and his wife Mary, daughter and heiress of Thomas Harley of Osgathorpe (Leics), baptised at Lockington, 23 May 1686. Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1703). High Sheriff of Leicestershire, 1732-33. He married, 23 September 1712 at Woodborough (Notts), Mary (1693-1785), daughter of Philip Lacock, and had issue:
(1) Mary Bainbrigge (1714-79), baptised at Woodborough, 23 February 1714; inherited Lockington Hall jointly with her sister on the death of her brother in 1769; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, 26 April 1779, where she is commemorated by a monument by Streeton of Nottingham;
(2) Philip Bainbrigge (1715-17), baptised at Woodborough, 20 September 1715; died young and was buried at Woodborough, 9 March 1716/7;
(3) Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1716-97)born 8 April and baptised at Woodborough, 28 November 1716; inherited Lockington Hall jointly with her sister on the death of her brother in 1769 and Woodborough Hall from her mother in 1785; noted for her charitable works; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, 20 October 1797; will proved at York, 30 December 1797;
(4) John Bainbrigge (1718-36), baptised at Woodborough, 8 May 1718; died unmarried and without issue, and was buried at Lockington, 5 December 1736;
(5) Philip Harley Bainbrigge (1719-69) (q.v.);
(6) William Bainbrigge (1722-37), baptised at Woodborough, 22 May 1722; died young, and was buried at Woodborough, 5 July 1737;
(7) Ann Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1723), baptised at Woodborough, 17 July 1723; died in infancy and was buried at Woodborough, 18 July 1723;
(8) Dorothy Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1724), baptised at Woodborough, 7 October 1724; died in infancy and was buried at Woodborough, 24 December 1724;
(9) Charles Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1725), baptised at Woodborough, 26 October 1725; died in infancy and was buried at Woodborough, 2 November 1725;
(10) Edward Bainbrigge (1727-41), baptised at Woodborough, 18 July 1727; died young and was buried at Lockington, 5 December 1741;
(11) Margaret Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1728), baptised at Woodborough, 27 August 1728; died in infancy and was buried at Woodborough, 19 September 1728;
(12) Charles Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1731), baptised at Woodborough, 25 September 1731; died in infancy and was buried at Woodborough, 16 October 1731.
He inherited Lockington Hall from his father in 1717. His wife inherited a half share in the Woodborough Hall estate from her father in 1721 and she and her husband appear to have bought out her co-heirs. After her husband's death the Lockington estate passed to his eldest surviving sons in turn and then to his two surviving daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Woodborough passed to his widow for life and then to his last surviving daughter, Elizabeth.
He was buried at Lockington, 13 October 1736; his will was proved in the PCC, 13 September 1737. His widow died aged 92 and was buried 14 April 1785 at Lockington, where she is commemorated by a monument.

Bainbrigge, Philip Harley (1719-69). Second surviving son of William Bainbrigge (1686-1736) and his wife Mary, daughter of Philip Lacock of Woodborough Hall (Notts), baptised at Woodborough, 30 December 1719. He and his wife were painted by Thomas Wright of Derby. High Sheriff of Leicestershire, 1749. According to his monument, 'he spent his time chiefly in the agreeable amusement the country afforded; not chusing to be much conversant with the busy world'. He married, 3 June 1746 at Colston Bassett (Notts), Catherine Allcock (d. 1775?), but had no issue.
He inherited the Lockington Hall estate from his elder brother in 1736 and Over Hall, Lockington from his cousin, Edward Brett Bainbrigge, in 1741. At his death, his property passed to his two surviving sisters, the younger of whom bequeathed it in 1797 to her maternal cousin, the Rev. Philip Story.
He died aged 49 on 27 July and was buried at Lockington, 1 August 1769, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 7 September 1769. His widow may be the person of that name buried at St George, Bloomsbury (Middx), 30 May 1775.



Bainbrigge family of Woodseat Hall



Bainbrigge, William (c.1644-79) of Over Hall. Third son of William Bainbrigge (d. 1669) and his third wife, Mary, daughter of German Ireton of Atteborough, born about 1644. He married, 21 June 1665 at Osmaston (Derbys), Barbara (d. 1715), second daughter of Sir Nicholas Wilmot of Osmaston, and had issue:
(1) William Bainbrigge (1667-1706) (q.v.);
(2) Dorothy Bainbrigge (1669-1707), born 16 July and baptised at Lockington, 21 July 1669; married, 2 January 1700/1 at St Alkmund, Derby, Dr. John Hope MD (d. 1710) of Derby, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 21 July and was buried at St Alkmund, Derby, 24 July 1707, where she is commemorated on her husband's monument;
(3) Barbara Bainbrigge (b. 1672), born 24 March 1671/2 and baptised at Lockington, 4 April 1672; married, 1694 (licence 4 May), Samuel Davison of Brand (Shropshire), and had issue; living in 1712;
(4) Wilmot Bainbrigge (1673-1712), born 25 June and baptised at Lockington, 4 July 1673; died unmarried and was buried at All Saints, Derby, 13 February 1712; will proved in the PCC, 7 May 1713;
(5) Nicholas Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1674), born 20 November and baptised at Lockington, 2 December 1674; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington, 12 December 1676;
(6) Mary Bainbridgge (1676-96), baptised at Lockington, 29 March 1676; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, 2 May 1696;
(7) John Bainbrigge (1677-1717), born 2 July and baptised at Lockington, 10 July 1677; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, 3 October 1717;
(8) Thomas Bainbrigge (1678-1746) (q.v.).
He inherited Over Hall, Lockington and the manors of Kegworth and Long Clawson in Leicestershire and Sutton Bonnington and Little Leake in Nottinghamshire from his father, and purchased an estate at Rocester (Staffs) in 1674 from the heirs of Bryan, Viscount Cullen. At his death he left Over Hall to his elder son and the Rocester property to his younger son.
He died 27 December and was buried at Lockington, 30 December 1679; his will was proved in the PCC, 28 June 1680. His wife died in Derby and was buried at Lockington, 4 July 1715.

Bainbrigge, William (1667-1706), of Over Hall. Elder son of William Bainbrigge (c.1644-79) and his wife Barbara, second daughter of Sir Nicholas Wilmot of Osmaston (Derbys), born 5 September and baptised at Osmaston, 10 September 1667. Educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford (matriculated 1685). He married Martha (d. 1717), daughter and heiress of Edward Brett of Dymsdale Hall (Staffs), and had issue:
(1) William Bainbrigge (1688-1707), baptised at Lockington, 19 April 1688; died unmarried, 10 September and was buried at Lockington, 12 September 1707;
(2) Jane Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1689), baptised at Lockington, 10 September 1689; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington 11 September 1689;
(3) Martha Bainbrigge (b. 1691), baptised at Lockington, 7 April 1691;
(4) Barbara Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1692), baptised at Lockington, 13 February 1692; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington, 21 February 1692;
(5) Dorothy Bainbrigge (1695-1727), baptised at Lockington, 6 June 1695; married, 13 October 1721 at Wolstanton (Staffs), John Gilbert (later Cooper) (d. 1773?) of Locko Park (Derbys) and Thurgarton Priory (Notts), and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 22 October 1727;
(6) Mary Bainbrigge (d. 1696); died young and was buried at Lockington, 2 May 1696;
(7) Honora Bainbrigge (b. & d. 1697), born 15 August and baptised at Lockington, 17 August 1697; died in infancy and was buried at Lockington, 25 September 1697;
(8) Jane Bainbrigge (b. 1701), baptised at Lockington, 15 December 1701;
(9) Barbara Bainbrigge (b. 1703), baptised at Lockington, 23 May 1703; married, 7 April 1720 at St Anne & St Agnes, Aldersgate, London, as his second wife, Maj. Richard Basset (b. 1690) of Beaupré Castle (Glam.);
(10) Edward Brett Bainbrigge (1704-41) (q.v.).
He inherited Over Hall, Lockington, from his father in 1679.
He died 14 August and was buried 17 August 1706; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 5 September 1706. His widow died at Derby and was buried at Lockington, 16 October 1717.

Bainbrigge, Edward Brett (1704-41), of Over Hall. Younger son of William Bainbrigge (1667-1706) and his wife Martha, daughter and heiress of Edward Brett of Dymsdale Hall (Staffs), baptised at Lockington, 1 September 1704. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited Over Hall, Lockington from his father in 1706 and came of age in 1725. At his death the estate passed to his cousin, Philip Harley Bainbrigge of Lockington Hall.
He died in the Isle of Wight and was buried at Lockington, 5 December 1741.

Bainbrigge, Thomas (1678-1746). Younger son of William Bainbrigge (c.1644-79) and his wife Barbara, second daughter of Sir Nicholas Wilmot of Osmaston (Derbys), born 29 January and baptised at Lockington, 1 March 1678. He married, c.1710, Katherine (1690-c.1752), daughter of Benjamin Parker esq. (and first cousin to the Earl of Macclesfield), and had issue:
(1) Thomas Bainbrigge (1714-15?), baptised at All Saints, Derby, 5 July 1714; possibly the person of his name buried at Elvaston, 19 February 1714/5;
(2) Barbara Bainbrigge (1715-87), baptised at All Saints, Derby, 6 August 1715; married, 23 May 1743, John Borrow (1710-80) of Castlefields (Derbys), but had no issue; died 9 August 1787.
(3) William Bainbrigge (1716-36), baptised at All Saints, Derby, 22 August 1716; died unmarried and was buried at Lockington, 17 October 1736;
(4) Thomas Bainbrigge (1718-98) (q.v.);
(4) Katherine Bainbrigge (1724-72), baptised at All Saints, Derby, 3 December 1724; married, 15 August 1749 at Duffield (Derbys), Henry Basset (b. 1730?) of Beaupré, son of Maj. Richard Basset of Beaupré, and had issue six sons and one daughter; died 30 October 1772.
He inherited an estate at Rocester from his father in 1706, but lived in Derby.
He died 29 August 1746 and was buried at All Saints, Derby; his will was proved at Lichfield, 14 October 1746. His widow died on 12 or 13 April 1752; her will was proved at Lichfield, 14 April 1752.

Thomas Bainbrigge (1718-98) 
Bainbrigge, Thomas (1718-98).
Only surviving son of Thomas Bainbrigge (1678-1746) and his wife Katherine, daughter of Benjamin Parker esq., baptised at St Werburgh, Derby, 22 March 1718. High Sheriff of Derbyshire, 1760-61. JP for Derbyshire. He married, 26 December 1749 at St Werburgh, Derby, Anne (1716-92), daughter of Isaac Borrow esq. of Castlefields (Derbys), and had issue:

(1) Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818) (q.v.);
(2) Joseph Bainbrigge (1752-1842) (q.v.);
(3) John Bainbrigge (1753-1824), of Hales Green (Derbys), baptised at St Alkmund, Derby, 18 April 1754; an officer in the Derbyshire militia (Capt.); granted the freedom of the City of London, 1778; died, aged 71, in 1824;
(4) Anne Bainbrigge (1755-1845), born 23 May and baptised at St Alkmund, Derby. 20 June 1755; married, 6 November 1781 at Rocester, Rev. Samuel James (c.1755-1813), vicar of Radstock (Somerset), and had issue four sons and two daughters; died in Islington (Middx), 6 April 1845 and was buried at Kensal Green (Middx), 12 April 1845;
(5) Lt-Col. Philip Bainbrigge (1756-99) (q.v.);
(6) Mary Bainbrigge (1761-64), baptised at Derby, 12 September 1761; died young and was buried at St Alkmund, Derby, 29 January 1764.
He inherited an estate at Rocester from his father in 1746. In 1776 he built the house known as Woodseat Hall and in 1778 he bought the manor of Rocester.
He was buried at Rocester, 10 November 1798. His wife was buried at Rocester, 6 December 1792.

Bainbrigge, Thomas (1751-1818). Eldest son of Thomas Bainbrigge (1718-98) and his wife Anne, daughter of Isaac Borrow of Castlefields (Derbys), born 8 August and baptised at All Saints, Derby, 7 September 1751. Educated at Derby; admitted to St John's College, Cambridge, 1769, but did not matriculate. As a young man he is said to have proposed marriage to an Earl's daughter and been accepted, but his father refused to agree to the terms proposed for the marriage settlement and broke off the engagement. The lady dying shortly afterwards, his grief and bitterness was so intense that he angrily withdrew from society altogether, and took a mistress, Elizabeth Parker, who acted as his housekeeper (she was later dismissed after conceiving another man's illegitimate child). In private, his person became unclean and unkempt, his dress that of a vagrant, his speech and manners crude, and his temper violent and erratic. It was noted that alcohol did not make him drunk, but increased the violence of his temper. On formal social occasions, however, he could still adopt the dress and manners usual for those of his rank, and he served his turn as High Sheriff of Staffordshire, 1801. His eccentricities became more marked over time, and especially after he was thrown from his horse and landed on his head at Derby Races in 1815. He was unmarried but had an illegitimate daughter by Elizabeth Parker:
(X1) Betsy Bainbrigge (b. 1790) (q.v.). 
He inherited the Woodseat Hall estate from his father in 1798. In 1815 he moved to Derby, and by the time he returned to Woodseat in 1818 the house had broken windows and was overrun with rats. At his death he bequeathed it to his illegitimate granddaughter, Mary Anne, for life, with remainder to her children. His final will left his daughter's legitimate children as the next heirs, but an earlier will had preferred his brothers' children. After Mary Anne died in 1838, his nephew, Thomas Parker Bainbrigge mounted a legal challenge to the final will, seeking to have it set aside on grounds of lunacy or fraud, thereby stimulating a legal battle which lasted for years. In 1851 a compromise was reached by which T.P. Bainbrigge secured the estate in return for a payment of £25,000 to the eldest son of Mrs. Arnold; but attempts to have this set aside on the grounds of new evidence continued until 1860.
He died 20 June 1818 and was said in later legal proceedings to have been buried in Leicester; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 March 1819.

Bainbrigge, Betsy (b. 1790). Illegitimate daughter of Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818) and his housekeeper, Elizabeth Palmer, born September 1790. Educated and acknowledged by her father until she married without his consent, and was then banished from his house and excluded from his will. She married, in 1812, William Arnold, farmer, and had issue:
(1) William Arnold (later Bainbrigge) (1813-79), baptised at Rocester, 1 January 1814; solicitor; took the additional name Bainbrigge on succeeding to his grandfather's estate in 1845; educated at Grays Inn (admitted 1847; called to bar, 1850); later of Draycott Lodge, Hanbury (Staffs) and St. Omer (France); married, 26 April 1855 at St George, Hanover Square, London, Sarah (b. c.1828), daughter of Uriah Prince, farmer, of Rocester, and had issue; accidentally killed in a traffic accident in Shoreditch (Middx), 3 February 1879; administration of goods granted 23 December 1879 (effects £113);
(2) Henry John Arnold (fl. 1857); cheese factor, hop and seed merchant at Uttoxeter (Staffs); bankrupted, with his uncle and partner Henry Arnold, in 1857;
(3) Thomas Arnold (b. 1815; fl. 1850), baptised at Rocester, 18 June 1815; bankrupted in 1845;
(4) Mary Arnold (1817-73?), baptised at Rocester, 12 October 1817; married, 28 December 1847 at St Pancras (Middx), William David Williams (1806-78), animal portrait artist, son of Thomas Williams, auctioneer, and had issue three sons and seven daughters; perhaps died in Stourbridge (Worcs), Oct-Dec 1873;
(5) Harriet Arnold (c.1820-86); married, 7 June 1847 at St Peter, Pimlico, Westminster (Middx), George Remington (b. 1821), civil engineer, and had issue one son and two daughters; died Jan-Mar 1886;
(6) John Arnold (b. 1822), baptised at Rocester, 30 July 1822; perhaps died young.
She also had, as a result of a liaison with her father's coachman before her marriage:
(X1) Mary Anne Bainbrigge (1809-38) (q.v.).
Her date of death is unknown. Her husband's date of death is unknown.

Bainbrigge, Mary Anne (1809-38). Illegitimate daughter of Betsy Bainbrigge (b. 1790) and her father's coachman, born 3 February 1809. She was brought up by her grandfather, and had no contact with her mother after the latter's marriage in 1812. When her grandfather declined into eccentricity in his final years, she was taught in some measure to share his way of life. After his death she was in the care of trustees including the wife of her grandfather's solicitor. She eloped and married, 17 June 1825 at Gretna Green (sep. January 1838), George Alsop (d. 1848), the son of an apothecary from Uttoxeter, who took the name Alsop Bainbrigge in accordance with her grandfather's will, and had issue:
(1) Thomas Alsop Bainbrigge (1830-43), born May 1830; educated at Dilhorne Free Grammar School (Staffs) and Repton School; died young, 30 September 1843;
(2) A daughter (d. 1845); died 14 July 1845. 
She was the principal beneficiary of the trust established by her grandfather's final will and also by his former will of 1815. After her death, however, her father's legitimate nephews challenged his final will, which left the property, in default of Marianne's heirs, to Betsy's legitimate children, and sought to have it set aside in favour of an earlier will of 1815 that left the property to Thomas Parker Bainbrigge. They obtained a judgement at the Assizes in their favour in 1850, but legal disputes continued until 1860. Most of the value of the estate apparently went to paying the lawyers' bills on both sides!
She died of measles, 27 January 1838. Her husband died Jan-Mar 1848.

Bainbrigge, Joseph (1752-1842). Second son of Thomas Bainbrigge (1718-98) and his wife Anne, daughter of Isaac Borrow of Castlefields (Derbys), born 7 February and baptised at St Alkmund, Derby, 27 October 1752. He was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge in 1771 but did not matriculate or go into residence. An officer in the King's Own Staffordshire Militia (Capt.). He married 1st, 22 May 1777 at Wirksworth (Derbys), his cousin, Honor (1753-78), daughter of Philip Gell MD of Wirksworth (Derbys) and 2nd, 24 September 1789 at Ashbourne (Derbys), Hannah (1770-1841), daughter of Joseph Harrison of Yieldersley (Derbys), and had issue:
(2.1) Thomas Parker Bainbrigge (1791-1870) (q.v.); 
(2.2) Joseph Hankey Bainbrigge (1793-1825), born at Oak Hill, Checkley (Staffs), 26 October 1793 and baptised at Ashbourne, 16 February 1795; surgeon at Derby Royal Infirmary, c.1820-25; died unmarried and was buried at St Alkmund, Derby, 26 October 1825; will proved 28 July 1830;
(2.3) Honor Gell Bainbrigge (c.1798-1821), born about 1798; died unmarried, 1 June and was buried at St Alkmund, Derby, 6 June 1821;
(2.4) Anne Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1800-83), baptised at Ashbourne, 25 October 1800; died unmarried, 7 April, and was buried at Ulceby (Lincs), 11 April 1883;
(2.5) Mary Reynolds Bainbrigge (1802-03); baptised at Ashbourne, 29 December 1802; died in infancy and was buried at Rocester, 23 February 1803;
(2.6) William Henry Bainbrigge (1805-84), born 6 December 1805 and baptised at Ashbourne, 15 January 1806; surgeon (MRCS) in Liverpool and later proprietor of the Saline Baths, Droitwich (Worcs); married 1st, 26 April 1838 at Walton-on-the-Hill (Lancs), Martha Maria (1809-44), daughter of William Thomson of Liverpool, merchant, and had issue three sons and one daughter; married 2nd, 5 June 1851 at Walton-on-the-Hill, Emma Frances (1821-1913), second daughter of Joseph Yates of Liverpool, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 6 May 1884; adminstration of goods granted 1 July 1915 (effects £6,750);
(2.7) Jane Maria Bainbrigge (1807-76), baptised at Ashbourne, 23 December 1807; married, 31 December 1835 at St Alkmund, Derby, Rev. William Fletcher (1810-90), headmaster successively of Derby, Southwell and Wimborne Grammar Schools and vicar of Ulceby (Lincs), 1875-90, and had issue three sons and four daughters; died 11 April and was buried at Ulceby, 15 April 1876;
(2.8) Mary Barbara Bainbrigge (1809-92), baptised at Ashbourne, 17 November 1809; married, 20 December 1838, William Dixon esq., JP, of Liverpool and of Acton House, Wrexham (Flints); died at Rhyl (Flints), 21 March 1892;
(2.9) Catherine Amelia Bainbrigge (1812-32), born about December 1812 and baptised at Norbury (Derbys), 17 January 1813; died unmarried, 1 August, and was buried at St Alkmund, Derby, 6 August 1832.
He rented St. Alkmund's Vicarage in Derby for some years. He was the heir-at-law of his brother, Thomas Bainbrigge, and thus the person most disadvantaged by Thomas' bequest of his estates to his illegitimate descendants. In 1820 he purchased Copes Hill House, Derby from the trustees of his brother's estate, and was prevailed upon to give a confirmation of his brother's will.
He died 28 January 1842 and was buried at Rocester. His first wife was buried at Rocester, 3 July 1778. His second wife died 21 April and was buried at St Alkmund, Derby, 25 April 1841.

Bainbrigge, Thomas Parker (1791-1870). Eldest son of Joseph Bainbrigge (1752-1842) and his second wife, Hannah, daughter of Joseph Harrison of Yieldersley (Derbys), baptised at Checkley (Staffs), 6 March 1791. Educated at Repton School. An officer in the Infantry (Ensign, 1807; Lt., 1810; retired on half-pay, 1823), who served in India in the third Mahratta and Nepal wars. Subsequently Postmaster of Derby, c.1829-55. JP for Derbyshire. He married 1st, 3 June 1820 at Cawnpore (India), Eliza (c.1801-24), youngest daughter of Lt-Gen. Sir Dyson Marshall, kt., and 2nd, 11 May 1830 at Beccles (Suffk), Lorina Anne (1802-79), daughter of Charles Dashwood, surgeon, of Beccles (Suffk), but had no issue.
He lived at Mill Hill House, Derby, and later at Copes Hill, Derby. After the death of Mary Anne Alsop Bainbrigge (q.v.) in 1838, he began disputing the will of his uncle, Thomas Bainbrigge (1751-1818), and in 1851 secured possession of the Woodseat estate by a compromise under which he paid £25,000 to Betsy Arnold's son, William Arnold Bainbrigge. There were further legal actions until 1860 and after the last of these was settled he sold the estate in 1862 to Colin Minton Campbell.
He died 23 May and was buried at St. Alkmund, Derby, 30 May 1870; his will was proved 27 June 1870 (effects under £3,000). His first wife died 3 May and was buried at St. Alkmund, Derby, 10 May 1824, where she is commemorated by a monument. His widow died in Lowestoft (Suffk), 21 June 1879; her will was proved 14 July 1879 (effects under £5,000).

Lt-Col. Philip Bainbrigge (1756-99) 
Bainbrigge, Lt-Col. Philip (1756-99).
Youngest 
son of Thomas Bainbrigge (1718-98) and his wife Anne, daughter of Isaac Borrow of Castlefields (Derbys), baptised at St Alkmund, Derby, 16 August 1756. An officer in the Infantry (Ensign, 1776; Lt., 1778; Capt. by 1790; Maj., 1795; Br. Lt-Col., 1799); his final posting being command of the 20th Foot. He married, 19 March 1781, Rachel (1764-1842), daughter of Peter Dobrée of Beauregard (Guernsey) and had issue:
(1) Ann Bainbrigge (b. 1782), born 1782; died young before 1797;
(2) Harriet Bainbrigge (1783-1836); married, 23 December 1811 at Walthamstow (Essex), Maj. Robert Dale of 93rd Regt.; died in Derby, 5 April and was buried at All Saints, Derby, 12 April 1836;
(3) Honor Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1784-1838), baptised at St John, Hackney (Middx), 12 April 1784; died unmarried and was buried at All Saints, Derby, 16 April 1838;
(4) General Sir Philip Bainbrigge (1786-1862) (q.v.);
(5) Rachel Dobrée Bainbrigge (1789-1849), born 19 October and baptised at Rocester, 25 October 1789; died unmarried, 7 September 1849;
(6) Gen. John Hankey Bainbrigge CB (1791-1881) of The Rohais (Guernsey), born 5 July and baptised at Rocester, 17 July 1791; an officer in the Infantry (Ensign, 1808; Capt., 1814; Maj., 1839; Lt-Col., 1846; Col., 1854; retired as Maj-Gen., 1861; Lt-Gen., 1870; Gen., 1877), who served in the Peninsula War and lost an arm there, and later as Fort Major on Guernsey; married, 4 May 1819, his cousin Sophia (d. 1874), fifth daughter of Peter Bonamy Dobrée of Beauregard (Guernsey) and had issue four sons and one daughter; died 15 March 1881; will proved 27 April 1881 (effects under £40,000);
(7) Peter Bainbrigge (later Bainbridge-Le Hunt) (1793-1866), of Ashbourne (Derbys), baptised at Rocester, 5 May 1793; articled clerk to William Chislett of Frome (Somerset), attorney, 1810; solicitor; JP for Staffs and Derbys and DL for Derbyshire; assumed the additional name of Le Hunt by royal sign manual, 1832, on inheriting an estate at Burgh (Lincs) from that family; had antiquarian interests; died unmarried, 26 October, and was buried at Ashbourne, 2 November 1866; will proved 20 November 1866 (effects under £25,000);
(8) Thomas Bainbrigge (1795-1844), baptised at Rocester, 5 July 1795; an officer in the 57th Regt. (Ensign, 1815; Lt., 1823; Capt., 1835); married, 9 October 1826 at St James, Sydney (Australia), Sarah (1809-81), daughter of Samuel Bate of Hobart, Tasmania (Australia), and had issue one son and five daughters; died at sea off the coast of India, May 1844; will proved 18 October 1844;
(9) Ann Bainbrigge (1797-1815), baptised at Ashbourne, 8 December 1797; married, 31 October 1815 at Ashbourne, Samuel Dobrée (1793-1862) (who m2, 11 August 1824, Jane Mary Priaulx), son of Samuel Dobrée; died a few weeks later at Walthamstow, 26 December 1815.
He lived at Ashbourne (Derbys).
He was killed commanding 20th Foot at battle of Egmont-op-Zee (Holland), 6 October 1799; his will was proved 4 February 1800. His widow died 4 May 1842.


Sir Philip Bainbrigge. Image: NPG
Bainbrigge, Gen. Sir Philip (1786-1862), kt. Eldest son of Lt-Col. Philip Bainbrigge (1756-99) and his wife Rachel, daughter of Peter Dobrée of Beauregard (Guernsey), born 4 February and baptised at St Andrew, Holborn (Middx), 3 March 1786. Educated at Lichfield, Ashburn School, Gray's Military School, Deptford and the military college, High Wycombe. He entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1799, but on the death of his father, the Duke of York gave him a commission in the Army (Ensign, 1800; Lt., 1803; Capt., 1805; Maj., 1812; Lt-Col., 1827; Col., 1837; Maj-Gen., 1846; Lt-Gen, 1854) and he served in West Indies, 1805-08; studied at the Royal Military Academy, 1808 and qualified for the staff; joined the Quartermaster General's Dept., serving with distinction in the Peninsular War and later in Ireland and Ceylon; Deputy Quartermaster General, 1841. He was appointed CB, 1837 and KCB, 1860, and was made Hon. Col. of 26th Foot, 1854. JP for Co. Donegal, 1834. He married, 5 April 1816 at St Anne, Liverpool (Lancs), Sarah Mary (1796-1870), daughter of Joseph Fletcher of Liverpool and had issue:
(1) Maj-Gen. Philip John Bainbrigge (1817-81) (q.v.);
(2) Arthur Bainbrigge (1818-25), born 11 April and baptised at St Mary, Lichfield, 6 May 1818; died young, 4 June, and was buried at St George, Liverpool, 6 June 1825;
(3) Ann Dobrée Bainbrigge (1819-87), born 26 October 1819 and baptised at Pontefract (Yorks WR), 14 July 1820; married, 7 June 1853 at Kandy (Sri Lanka), Col. Franklin Lushington CB (1811-90), fifth son of Sir Henry Lushington, 2nd bt., and had issue one daughter (who married, 1877, Henry Elliott Chevallier Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener of Khartoum); died 17 December and was buried at Torquay Cemetery (Devon), 21 December 1887;
(4) Honora Bainbrigge (1821-36), born 25 May and baptised at Pontefract, 16 November 1821; died young, 29 March 1836 and was buried at Cork (Co. Cork);
(5) Rev. Joseph Henry Bainbrigge (1823-96), born 20 July and baptised at St Ann, Belfast, 31 December 1823; educated at Wadham College, Oxford (matriculated 1841; BA 1845); ordained deacon, 1851 and priest, 1852; curate of Stanton in Ellaston (Staffs), 1851-54, Yoxall (Staffs), 1854-63, Overseal (Derbys), 1864-65 and Upton Warren (Worcs), 1866-70; vicar of Finstall (Worcs), 1869-96; married, 4 November 1863 at Felton (Herefs), Eliza Emily (1822-1902), third daughter and co-heir of Col. Thomas Henry Bund of Wick House (Worcs), but had no issue; buried at St Matthias, Malvern (Worcs), 14 December 1896; administration of goods granted 17 March 1897 (effects £26,420);
(6) Harriet Emma Bainbrigge (1825-1915), born 22 September 1825 and baptised at Stonehouse (Devon), 7 January 1826; married 11 January 1849 at St Anne, Belfast (Co. Antrim), Lt. Henry Dawson (1820-54) of 6th Dragoon Guards, son of Rev. Henry Dawson, rector of Hopton (Norfk), and had issue two sons; died at Dymoke House, Easton (Hants), 8 February 1915; will proved 18 May 1915 (estate £9,196);
(7) Rachel Elizabeth Bainbrigge (1828-1912), born 1 February and baptised at Stonehouse, 26 June 1828; married, 27 August 1856 at Titchfield (Hants), Maj. Francis Powell Hopkins (1828-1913) of Westward Ho! (Devon) and had issue six children; died 6 June 1912; will proved 18 June 1912 (effects £74);
(8) Edward Bainbrigge (1829-55), born 20 December 1829 and baptised at Stonehouse, 6 March 1830; an officer in the Royal Engineers (2nd Lt., 1847; Lt., 1849); killed at the Battle of Sebastopol in the Crimea, 4 April 1855; commemorated by a monument at Ashbourne (Derbys);
(9) Col. Arthur Bainbrigge (1832-1923), born 7 July and baptised at Armagh Cathedral, 25 July 1832; an officer in the 13th Light Infantry (Ensign, 1850; Lt., 1853; Capt., 1855; Maj., 1867; Lt-Col., 1875; retired as Col., 1878); married, 4 October 1866 at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., London, Lucy Jane, daughter of Ellis Reeve of Montagu Sq., London, but had no issue; died Jul-Sep 1923;
(10) Sarah Mary Bainbrigge (1835-1917), born 10 June and baptised at Shandon (Co. Cork), 23 July 1835; married, 24 January 1855 at Colombo (Ceylon), George Christian (1825-1903) of Bighton Wood, Alresford (Hants), second son of Samuel Christian of Palazzo Cottoner (Malta) and had issue ten children; died 20 April 1917; will proved 17 May 1917 (estate £20,145);
(11) Eleanor Catherine Bainbrigge (1837-44), born 20 July and baptised at Cork, 25 August 1837; died young, 30 November 1844, and was buried at Ring's End Church, Dublin, 4 December 1844.
He died 20 December and was buried at Titchfield (Hants), 27 December 1862; his will proved 8 January 1863 (effects under £6,000). His widow died 26 June 1870; administration of her goods was granted 12 October 1870 (effects under £2,000).

Maj-Gen. P.J. Bainbridge (1817-81) 
Bainbrigge, Maj-Gen. Philip John (1817-81).
Eldest son of Gen. Sir Philip Bainbrigge (1786-1862), kt. and his wife Sarah Mary, daughter of Joseph Fletcher of Liverpool, born 16 January and baptised at St Mary, Lichfield (Staffs), 8 April 1817. Educated at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (Cadet, 1830). An officer in the Royal Engineers (Lt., 1833; Capt., 1846; Lt-Col., 1856; Col., 1861; retired as Maj-Gen., 1862); he served in Canada, 1835-42; Professor of Fortification at Royal Military Academy, 1854-62; Assistant Boundary Commissioner, 1867. In retirement he devoted himself to charitable works among the poor of the Greenwich district, and to the establishment of a workshop for the employment of the blind in Kent. He married, 18 August 1846 at Woolwich (Kent), Margaret Jane (1822-99), daughter of Maj-Gen. Thomas Paterson RA, and had issue:

(1) Rev. Philip Thomas Bainbrigge (1848-1919) (q.v.);
(2) Marion Sophia Bainbrigge (1849-1928), born 17 December 1849 and baptised at Woolwich, 6 February 1850; died unmarried, 11 December 1928; will proved 23 January 1929 (estate £3,949);
(3) Edith Mary Bainbrigge (1852-1932), born 29 April and baptised at Woolwich, 30 June 1852; died unmarried, 19 June 1932; will proved 16 August 1932 (estate £4,229);
(4) Alice Greta Bainbrigge (1854-1933), born 4 January and baptised at Woolwich, 18 February 1854; married, 7 June 1882 at Christ Church, Greenwich (Kent), James Edward Anderson (1849-1922) of Liverpool, son of Thomas Anderson, East India merchant, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 30 June 1933; will proved 10 October 1933 (estate £2,559);
(5) Lorina Grace (1856-1938), born 2 December 1856 and baptised at Woolwich, 15 April 1857; died unmarried, 9 October 1938; will proved 22 November 1938 (estate £8,080).
He lived at 10 Vanbrugh Park Road, Greenwich (Kent).
He died 23 October, and was buried in Charlton Cemetery (Kent), 28 October 1881; his will was proved 30 November 1881 (effects £9,743). His widow died 26 November 1899; administration of her goods was granted to her son, 22 December 1899 (estate £148).

Rev. P.T. Bainbrigge (1848-1919) 
Bainbrigge, Rev. Philip Thomas (1848-1919).
Only son of Maj-Gen. Philip Bainbrigge (1817-81) and his wife Margaret Jane, daughter of Maj-Gen. Thomas Paterson, born 23 March and baptised at Woolwich (Kent), 31 May 1848. E
ducated at Pembroke College, Oxford (matriculated 1872; BA 1875; MA 1878). Ordained deacon, 1875 and priest, 1876. Curate of Oakham (Rutland), 1875-78, St Peter, Leicester, 1878-80 and St Thomas, Regent St., London, 1880-81; Vicar of St Philip, Regent St., London, 1881-83 and St Thomas, Regent St., 1883-1919; prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, London. He married 1st, 8 July 1884 at St Paul, Edinburgh, his first cousin, Helen Jane (d. 1904), daughter of Alexander Gillespie of Biggar Park (Lanarks), and 2nd, 27 July 1905, Beatrice Eleonora (d. 1951), third daughter of Francis Borthwick, and had issue:
(1.1) Philip Gillespie Bainbrigge (1890-1918), born in Edinburgh, 19 September 1890; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (MA); schoolmaster at Shrewsbury School under Rev. C.A. Alington, 1914-17; an officer in 5th Battn, Lancashire Fusiliers (2nd Lt.), 1917-18; he was a friend of the poet, Wilfred Owen and life partner of the celebrated translator, Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff (1889-1930); killed in action, 18 September 1918;
(1.2) Modwyn Bainbrigge (1893-1960), born Apr-Jun 1893; died unmarried, 3 September 1960;
(2.1) Roger Bainbrigge (1909-43) (q.v.).
After his death his widow retired to Edinburgh.
He died 1 November 1919; his will was proved 7 February 1920 (estate £5,255). His first wife died 17 May 1904. His widow died 10 July 1951.

Bainbrigge, Roger (1909-43). Only son of Rev. Philip Thomas Bainbrigge (1848-1919) and his second wife, Beatrice Eleanora, third daughter of Francis Borthwick, born 23 August 1909. Educated at St. Edward's School, Oxford and Worcester College, Oxford (BA). Stockbroker on the London Stock Exchange. He served as an officer in the Royal Artillery and Pioneer Corps (Capt.) in the Second World War. He married 1st, 3 April 1934 at St Luke, West Holloway (Middx), Elizabeth Grace (1911-35), daughter of Rev. Charles Henry Robert Baldwin MBE, vicar of St Luke's and later rector of Chiddingfold (Surrey), and 2nd, 5 February 1937, Kathleen Mary (1914-44), daughter of Arthur Norris Risley, schoolmaster of Kensington (Middx), and had issue:
(1.1) Michael Bainbrigge (1935-97), born 6 August 1935; educated at Shrewsbury School and King's School, Chester; lived at Instow (Devon); died unmarried, 11 June 1997; will proved 31 December 1997;
(2.1) Angus Bainbrigge (1938-2018), born 28 April 1938; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA); accountant; demonstrated that a Velazquez portrait, given to him by Eva Borthwick-Norton, the widow of his guardian, was an authentic work and sold it to the National Gallery, 1967; married, 1963, Cynthia Aletha Robinson (1928-2014) and had issue; died 2018.
He died in tragic circumstances while serving in the Middle East, 24 February 1943, and was buried at Heliopolis War Cemetery, Cairo (Egypt); administration of his goods was granted 30 August 1943 (estate £1,298). His first wife died in childbirth, 7 August 1935. His second wife died 3 August 1944; her will was proved 22 January 1945.


Sources


Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, i, p.46; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1969, p. 26; Staffordshire Advertiser, 3 August 1850, pp. 6-7; Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Staffordshire, 1974, p. 226; Sir N. Pevsner & E. Williamson, The buildings of England: Leicestershire & Rutland, 2nd edn., 1984, p. 277; M. Craven, The Derby town house, 1987, pp. 89, 113; L. Cantor, The historic country houses of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1998, p. 50.


Location of archives


Bainbrigge family of Lockington: deeds and papers, 1437-1826 [Derbyshire Record Office, D5193]
Bainbrigge family of Woodseat: Derby estate and family papers, 1812-30 [Derbyshire Record Office, D5369/17]


Coat of arms


Argent, a fess embattled between three battleaxes sable.


Can you help?


Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

  • Can anyone provide additional information about the ownership of Woodseat Hall between 1941 and 1974, or the circumstances under which it fell into ruin?
  • If anyone can provide portraits or photographs of the people named in bold above, or any additional genealogical information about the members of this family, I should be very pleased to hear from them.



Revision and acknowledgements


This post was first published 10 April 2018 and was updated 19 April and 9 December 2018, 7 May 2019, 1 September 2021, 14 November 2022 and 19 January 2023. I am most grateful to Philippa Seale, Chris Singleton and Ewan John Walford for additional information and corrections, and to Philippa Seale and Ewan John Walford for additional images.