(626) Bigland of Bigland Hall

Bigland of Bigland

As one of the eponymous families of England, it is no great surprise to find that the Biglands are generally supposed to have held their estate in the Furness district of Lancashire (now part of Cumbria) from very ancient times, but it is only possible to construct a coherent genealogy from the early 16th century onwards, and the family were, in fact, leaseholders under Cartmel Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries. The family produced several cadet branches in the 16th and 17th centuries, including a family based in Cheshire and another in Leicestershire (neither of whom owned country houses or indeed stayed in one place for very long); while Sir Ralph Bigland, Garter King of Arms in the late 18th century, was a 4xgreat-grandson of Henry Bigland (d. 1523), with whom the genealogy below begins. There were also numerous other Bigland families established on farms in the south Lakeland area in the 16th and 17th centuries, who can be difficult to distinguish from the senior line of Bigland Hall in the parish registers of Cartmel (Lancs), at least until the parish clerks hit on the idea of distinguishing them by their respective abodes in the early 17th century. The Bigland Hall estate descended from Henry (d. 1523) to his son Edward (d. 1563), who seems to have acquired the freehold, and then to the latter's son, Henry (d. 1616). Only with the latter's son, George Bigland (1581-1644) does it become possible to know more than a bare genealogical outline. Rather surprisingly, since he was a Protestant in religion, he seems never to have been a justice of the peace, and his children's marriage connections imply that his social circle was still entirely local. He was succeeded by his eldest son, James Bigland (c.1609-46), who died unmarried less than eighteen months later, so the estate passed to the next son, John Bigland (1610-80). John had a large family, but only one of his sons seems to have pursued a career outside the Furness district, becoming a London-based Hamburg merchant; it was perhaps his presence in the capital which drew two of his unmarried sisters to live there too.

John's eldest son, George Bigland (1647-85) inherited on his death, but was relatively short-lived and was unmarried; he is notable chiefly for establishing a school on the estate and for endowing it. At his death, Bigland passed to his younger brother, Thomas Bigland (1649-1702). In the next generation the eldest son, John Bigland (1692-1747), was again without issue; this was becoming a bit of a pattern by this time. When he died he was succeeded by his younger brother, George Bigland (1701-52), who had married the daughter of a Whitehaven merchant and may have founded the Low Wood furnace on the estate. George's eldest son was another George Bigland (1750-1831), who certainly operated the furnace in the late 18th century. Perhaps helped by the profits of this enterprise, George embarked on a substantial rebuilding of Bigland Hall in 1781, the year of his first marriage. When his first wife died two years later, he quickly married again, this time to the sister of Wilson Braddyll of Conishead Priory; this was a socially advantageous match, and subsequent generations played a slightly more prominent role in local affairs, although it is noticeable that none of them was ever high sheriff. A further remodelling of Bigland Hall followed in 1809, and was perhaps a strain on the family finances. By the middle of the 1810s the estate was mired in debt, and in 1817 creditors of the furnace operation made George Bigland bankrupt. Happily for the family, the estate was entailed, so it was only George's life tenancy that could be sold for the creditors' benefit, and not the freehold. George moved to a suburban house in York for the remainder of his life, and it is not clear if he was ever released from bankruptcy; dividends were still being paid to the creditors in the early 1820s and I have not found a record of his being discharged. It would seem that his eldest son (the only child of his first marriage), George Bigland (1782-1840), became the creditors' tenant at Bigland Hall until his father's death saw him inherit the property. 

George junior does not seem to have been socially disadvantaged by his father's bankruptcy, for he became an officer in the Lancashire militia, and eventually a Deputy Lieutenant for the county. In the way of elder sons in this family, however, he was unmarried and without issue, and at his death the Bigland estate passed to his half-brother, Vice-Admiral Wilson Braddyll Bigland (1788-1858). Wilson was the second son of his father's second marriage, and it is not clear why he was preferred to his elder brother. By the time of his inheritance in 1840 he had long since retired from active naval service and was settled at Leamington (Warks), and he did not move north to live at Bigland. The Admiral outlived all his three children, and at his death in 1858 the Bigland estate therefore passed to his brother John Bigland (1786-1862), the man who had been overlooked in 1840. John had made his home at Bramham (Yorks WR), but does seem to have moved to Bigland in 1858, although it was probably his eldest son, John Bigland (1829-93), who took on the management of the estate. The younger John, who as a young man had devoted himself to fox-hunting, now developed an interest in forestry, and planted extensively on the Bigland estate. True to family form, he was unmarried, and when he died in 1893 the estate passed to his younger brother, George Bigland (1830-1902), who had emigrated to Canada and later the USA thirty years earlier. He returned to England to take over the family estate, and at his death a decade later was succeeded by his only child, George Braddyll Bigland (1891-1915), then a child of eleven. G.B. Bigland was precisely of the age and class to furnish the British army with the subalterns it needed to fight the First World War, and he joined the Lancashire regiment at the start of the conflict. He married in January 1915 and was killed the following June, two months before his wife gave birth to a daughter, Audrey Braddyll Bigland (1915-34). At the end of 1917, his widow married for a second time, to Horace Davy Pain (1890-1961), and had a second family. During the 1920s and early 1930s, the Pains lived at Bigland Hall, but the property was actually in Audrey's name, and when she died aged just eighteen in 1934, the operation of the entail transferred ownership to her second cousin, John Bigland Tulk-Hart (1909-44), the son of a Brighton physician, who was the grandson of Thomas Bigland (1832-1904), the younger brother of John (d. 1893) and George (d. 1902). John took the additional surname of Bigland by deed poll in 1934, and moved north with his family to take up residence at Bigland Hall. During the Second World War, he served as a navigator with the Royal Air Force, and in 1944 his plane was shot down by German flak over France, and although he baled out, he did not survive. He left a widow, Miza Pauline (1908-86) - variously described as being of Czech or Austrian ancestry - who had no farming knowledge and three young children to raise, but who gamely set about acquiring a working knowledge of farming and eventually built up a herd of pedigree cattle. In about 1968, she handed over the estate to her elder son, Richard John Braddyll Bigland (1938-94), who ran it until 1991 and developed a number of diversified businesses on the estate. In 1991, however, he decided to sell up, bring to an end at least five hundred years of family ownership, and possibly much longer. He moved to the Isle of Man, and in a tragic coda to the family story, was killed in a helicopter accident three years later.

Bigland Hall, Haverthwaite, Lancashire (now Cumbria)

The house stands in a splendid position in a bowl of parkland, overlooking a tarn, and with a distant prospect of the Eskdale fells. It is an ancient site which formed part of the estates of Cartmel Priory in the medieval period, though the Biglands were recorded as the priory's tenants from 1508. The rear wing of the house incorporates a good deal of the 16th and 17th century house of the Biglands, but the plan is complex and evidently reflects work of several different periods, which there seems never to have been any systematic archaeological investigation to clarify. One room in this part of the house has a fireplace bressumer carved with the initials BMB NG (with the N reversed); the second set of initials was formerly misinterpreted as a date 1161.

Bigland Hall: the house in its landscape setting in 1991.

Bigland Hall: the long rear wing which incorporates work of the 16th and 17th centuries. Image: Karl and Ali. Some rights reserved.

In 1781 the Kendal carpenter and joiner, John Hird, who worked across the Westmorland and Furness district as an architect, built a plain new five bay range containing three rooms onto the east side of the old house. His designs and estimate were formerly in the house, but have been lost, but the interiors themselves largely survive, as does the round-headed staircase window in the south side elevation. 

Bigland Hall: engraving of the house across the tarn, 1822.

Bigland Hall: entrance front of 1809 attributed to Francis Webster. Image: Angus Taylor/Historic England

In 1809 (datestone) another architect - almost certainly Francis Webster - built on a further range in front of Hird's work, which is higher than the older work behind and is reached internally by three steps up, flanked by Roman Doric columns and pilasters.  Webster's work provided a nicely proportioned new entrance front of five widely-spaced bays, with the central one stepped slightly forward and fronted by a limestone porch with four Tuscan columns. The window over the porch is emphasised with a deep lintel supported on brackets which bears a red lion passant regardant (the crest of the Biglands) in low relief. The sense of connection between the interior and exterior space which the early 19th century appreciated is encouraged by the ground-floor windows to either side of the porch having low sills, although they are not floor-length. Inside, the entrance hall of 1809 has two busts set in niches in the walls.

Descent: Henry Bigland (d. 1523); to son, Edward Bigland (d. 1563); to son, Henry Bigland; to son, George Bigland; to son, John Bigland (b. 1610); to son, George Bigland (1647-85); to brother, Thomas Bigland (b. 1649); to son, John Bigland (1690-1747); to brother, George Bigland (1701-52); to son, George Bigland (1750-1831); to son, George Bigland (b. 1782); to half-brother, Vice-Adm. Wilson Braddyll Bigland (c.1788-1858); to brother, John Bigland (d. 1862); to son, John Bigland (1829-93); to brother, George Bigland (1830-1902); to son, George Bradyll Bigland (1891-1915); to widow, Audrey, later wife of Horace Davy Pain for life... to John Bigland Tulk-Hart (later Bigland) (d. 1945?); to widow, Mrs Miza Pauline Bigland (d. c.1968); to son, Richard John Bigland (c.1938-94), who sold 1991 to Geoffrey Holmes; sold 2000. 

Bigland family of Bigland

Bigland, Henry (d. 1523). Elder son of Edward Bigland of Bigland and his wife. He married Jenett (fl. 1560), daughter of George Preston, and had issue:

(1) Edward Bigland (d. 1563) (q.v.);

(2) George Bigland; married and had issue at least one son;

(3) James Bigland of Bigland.

He inherited a lease of Bigland Hall from his father.

He died in 1523. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bigland, Edward (d. 1563). Eldest son of Henry Bigland (d. 1523) and his wife Jenett, daughter of George Preston. He married [forename unknown], daughter of [forename unknown] Sandys (fl. 1564) of Furness Fell, and had issue:

(1) Henry Bigland (d. 1616) (q.v.);

(2) George Bigland, of Cartmel; married Agnes, daughter of George Denton, and had issue one son (from whom descended Sir Ralph Bigland, Garter King of Arms);

(3) James Bigland (fl. 1563);

(4) Janet Bigland (fl. 1563);

(5) Margaret Bigland (fl. 1563); married, 20 May 1559, at Cartmel, Richard Barrow.

He inherited a lease of Bigland Hall from his father in 1523 and probably purchased the freehold after the dissolution of Cartmel Priory.

He was buried at Cartmel Priory, 14 February 1563; his will was proved 7 July 1564. His widow was living in 1564 but her date of death is unknown.

Bigland, Henry (d. 1616). Eldest son of Edward Bigland (d. 1563) and his wife [forename unknown], daughter of [forename unknown] Sandys of Furness Fell. He married Isobel Bellingham (d. 1622) of Westmorland, and had issue including:

(1) George Bigland (1581-1644) (q.v.);

(2) Henry Bigland, of Cartmel.

(3) James Bigland (d. 1623), of Grange in Cartmel (Lancs); married, 2 June 1599, Jennett, daughter of [forename unknown] Harrison of Cartmel, and had issue one son and five daughters; buried 27 November 1623.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1563.

He was buried at Cartmel, 17 April 1616. His wife was buried 19 January 1622.

Bigland, George (1581-1644). Eldest son of Henry Bigland (d. 1616) and his wife Isobel Bellingham, baptised at Cartmel, 28 December 1581. He married, 15 October 1608 at Cartmel Priory, Isabel (d. 1645), daughter of John Myers of Cartmel (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) James Bigland (c.1609-46), eldest son, born about 1609; inherited the Bigland Hall estate from his father in 1644 but died unmarried, 21 March 1645/6;

(2) John Bigland (1610-80) (q.v.);

(3) Edward Bigland, third son; died unmarried; not named in the will of his father and therefore probably predeceased him, but possibly to be identified with the man of this name buried at Cartmel Priory, 24 January 1647/8;

(4) Anne Bigland (1614-95), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 10 March 1613/4; married, 14 April 1635 at Cartmel Priory, Edward Robinson (c.1600-70) of Newby Bridge (Lancs), and had issue three sons; buried at Cartmel Priory, 24 July 1695;

(5) Sarah Bigland (b. 1616), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 26 February 1615/6; married [forename unknown] Atkinson of Westmorland;

(6) Isabel Bigland (1619-1700), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 15 February 1618/9; married, c.1645, Edward Lightbourne of Biggins, Kirkby Lonsdale (Westmld.) (d. 1689), and had issue; buried at Kirkby Lonsdale, 9 June 1700;

(7) Henry Bigland (1621-46), baptised at Cartmel, 29 October 1621; died unmarried and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 9 August 1646; will proved 22 August 1646;

(8) Thomas Bigland (d. 1646); died unmarried and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 20 September 1646;

(9) Bridget Bigland (b. 1627), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 5 August 1627; married William Kilner, and had issue;

(10) George Bigland (1630-85), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 2 September 1630; died unmarried, 1 August 1685.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father.

He wsa buried at Cartmel Priory, 29 October 1644. His widow was buried 20 April 1645; her will was proved 17 May 1645.

Bigland, John (1610-80). Second son of George Bigland (b. c.1580) and his wife Isabel, daughter of John Myers of Cartmel (Lancs), baptised at Cartmel, 17 June 1610. He married, c.1645, Jane (1626-1713), daughter of Thomas Fletcher of St Andrew Moor, Windermere, and had issue:

(1) George Bigland (1647-85) (q.v.);

(2) Thomas Bigland (1649-1702) (q.v.);

(3) Henry Bigland (1650-89); Hamburg merchant in city of London; died unmarried and without issue; will proved in the PCC, 25 February 1689/90;

(4) Mary Bigland (d. 1661); buried at Cartmel Priory, 19 August 1661;

(5) John Bigland (1657-81), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 27 February 1656/7; died unmarried and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 1 August 1681;

(6) Isabel Bigland (c.1658-92), born about 1658; called eldest surviving daughter in her father's will in 1670; lived latterly in parish of Christchurch, London; died 1692; will proved in the PCC, 19 October 1992;

(7) Anne Bigland (c.1662-92), born between 1659 and 1666; married, 1 January 1683/4 at Cartmel Priory, Edward Kellet (d. 1692) of Mireside, and had issue four children; buried at Cartmel Priory, 25 February 1691/2;

(8) James Bigland (1664-c.1666), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 29 February 1664; died in or before 1666;

(9) James Bigland (1666-1740), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 5 June 1666; married, 1708 (bond 25 July), at Colton (Lancs), Ruth (c.1670-1742), daughter of [forename unknown] Rigg and widow of James Greenwood (d. 1704), and had issue two sons and three daughters; buried at Torver (Lancs), 22 January 1739/40;

(10) Sarah Bigland (c.1667-93), born about 1667; lived latterly in parish of Christchurch, London; died unmarried; will proved 18 August 1693;

(11) Edward Bigland (1669-1727), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 15 December 1669; married, 4 November 1723, Agnes (1692-1732?), daughter of John Gibson of Dalton in Furness (Lancs) and widow of William Muckalt (1689-1722), and had issue two daughters; buried at Cartmel Priory, 7 September 1727; will proved 20 October 1727;

(12) William Bigland (b. & d. 1671), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 28 December 1671; died in infancy and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 29 December 1671.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his elder brother in 1646.

He was buried at Cartmel Priory, 1 June 1680; his will was proved 4 September 1680. His widow was buried at Cartmel Priory, 26 January 1712/3.

Bigland, George (1647-85). Eldest son of John Bigland (1610-80) and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Fletcher of Windermere, baptised at Cartmel (Lancs), 3 October 1647. He erected and endowed the Free School at Browedge near Bigland. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1680.

He was buried at Cartmel Priory, 1 August 1685.

Bigland, Thomas (1649-1702). Second son of John Bigland (1610-80) and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Fletcher of Windermere, baptised at Cartmel (Lancs), 22 April 1649. He married, June 1687, Elizabeth (b. 1666), daughter and heir of Rev. William Wilson, rector of Windermere, and had issue including:

(1) Jane Bigland (1688-1712), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 12 December 1688; died unmarried and was buried 27 October 1712 at Kendal (Westmld), where she was commemorated by a monument;

(2) Ann Bigland (1691-1712?), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 5 July 1691; possibly died unmarried and was the woman of this name buried at Cartmel Priory, 17 April 1712;

(3) John Bigland (1692-1747) (q.v.);

(4) Henry Bigland (b. 1693), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 19 April 1693;

(5) Sarah Bigland (1694-1757), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 1 November 1694; died unmarried and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 16 November 1757; will proved 23 November 1757;

(6) Elizabeth Bigland (b. 1696), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 5 May 1696; married, 1714 (licence 4 November, William Stedman of Kendal (Westmld) or Richmond-on-Swale (Yorks NR), pharmacist; death not traced;

(7) Isabel Bigland (b. & d. 1697), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 12 August 1697; died in infancy and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 8 November 1697;

(8) Thomas Bigland (b. 1698), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 6 July 1698;

(9) Dorothy Bigland (1700-68), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 4 November 1700; married, 5 October 1747 at Kirkby Lonsdale (Westmld.), Robert Thornton (1689-1764) of Lancaster, merchant; died without issue and was buried at Kirkby Lonsdale, 25 January 1768, where she was commemorated by a monument;

(10) George Bigland (1701-52) (q.v.).

He inherited Bigland Hall from his elder brother in 1685.

He was buried at Cartmel Priory, 27 April 1702. His wife's death has not been traced, but perhaps occurred before 1711, as she is not named in the will of her husband's aunt.

Bigland, John (1692-1747). Eldest son of Thomas Bigland (1649-1702) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Rev. William Wilson, rector of Windermere, said to have been baptised at Cartmel Priory, 10 March 1691/2. He married, 1714 (bond 13 September), Dorothy (1686-1730), daughter and heir of Rev. William Wells, but had no issue.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father.

He was buried at Cartmel Priory, 25 June 1747. His wife was buried at Cartmel Priory, 12 December 1730.

Bigland, George (1701-52). Fourth and youngest son of Thomas Bigland (1649-1702) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Rev. William Wilson, rector of Windermere, baptised at Cartmel Priory, 30 November 1701. He married, 7 April 1749 at Distington (Cumbld.), Mary* (1726-1811), daughter of John Fox of Whitehaven (Cumbld.), and had issue:

(1) Jane Bigland (d. 1754?); possibly the person of this name buried at Cartmel Priory, 10 November 1754;

(2) George Bigland (1750-1831);

(3) Thomas Bigland (1751-1829), baptised at Cartmel Priory, 28 October 1751; farmer on Bigland estate; died at Cartmel, 26 November 1829.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1747.

He died suddenly at Whitehaven 1751/2; his will was proved  in the Archdeaconry of Richmond Probate Court, 7 May 1753. His widow married 2nd, 30 June 1753 at Beetham (Westmld), as his second wife, Thomas Sunderland (c.1723-72) of Low Wood (Lancs), and had further issue three sons and two daughters; she was buried at Cartmel Priory, 1 May 1811.

* Her portrait was painted by Christopher Steele in 1756. 

Bigland, George (1750-1831). Elder son of George Bigland (1701-52) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Fox of Whitehaven (Cumbld.), born 5 May and baptised at Cartmel Priory, 7 May 1750. Ironmaster at Low Wood Furnace (bankrupt, 1817). He married 1st, 9 June 1781 at Whitehaven, Anne (d. 1783), second daughter and co-heir of Robert Watters of Whitehaven; and 2nd, 23 November 1784 at Ulverston (Lancs), Sarah (c.1759-1830), daughter of John Gale of Whitehaven and sister of Wilson Braddyll of Conishead Priory, and had issue:

(1.1) George Bigland (1782-1840) (q.v.);

(2.1) John Bigland (1786-1862) (q.v.);

(2.2) Sarah Bigland (1787-1816), born 19 June and baptised at Cartmel Priory, 22 June 1787; married, 19 September 1808 at Cartmel Priory, Pudsey Dawson jun. (1778-1859) of Liverpool, and had issue at least one son; died 26 December and was buried at St James, Toxteth, Liverpool, 28 December 1816;

(2.3) Vice-Adm. Wilson Braddyll Bigland (1788-1858) (q.v.);

(2.4) Georgiana Bigland (1789-1820), born 12 August and baptised at Cartmel Priory, 15 August 1789; died unmarried and was buried at St Michael-le-Belfry, York, 17 March 1820;

(2.5) Mary Bigland (1790-1812), born 19 June and baptised at Cartmel Priory, 22 June 1790; died unmarried, 26 February and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 29 February 1812;

(2.6) Dorothy Bigland (1794-1813), born 7 June and baptised at Cartmel Priory, 9 June 1794; died unmarried, 13 February, and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 17 February 1813.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1752 and came of age in 1771. He was presumably obliged to hand over his life interest in the estate to his creditors on becoming bankrupt in 1817 and moved to a house at Bootham (sometimes described as Clifton), York, the contents of which were sold after his death.

He died at York, 21 January 1831; his will was proved in the PCY, February 1831 (effects £450). His first wife died 31 January 1783. His second wife died at their house in York, 7 April 1830.

Bigland, George (1782-1840). Only child of George Bigland (1750-1831) and his first wife, Anne, second daughter and co-heir of Robert Watters of Whitehaven (Cumbld.), baptised at Whitehaven, 6 April 1782. An officer in the 2nd Royal Lancashire Militia (Capt. by 1809; Maj., 1812); Mayor of Ulverston (Lancs), 1810; a DL for Lancashire.  He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1831, but seems to have been resident there in the 1820s, presumably as the tenant of his father's creditors.

He died 'after a long and severe indisposition', 3 December, and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 9 December 1840; his will was proved in the Archdeaconry of Richmond probate court, 20 May 1841.

Bigland, Vice-Adm. Wilson Braddyll (1788-1858). Second son of George Bigland (1750-1831) and his second wife, Sarah, daughter of John Gale of Whitehaven and sister of Wilson Braddyll of Conishead Priory, born 20 July and baptised at Cartmel Priory, 22 July 1788. He joined the Royal Navy in 1801 (Midshipman, 1803; Lt., 1808; Cdr., 1814; Capt., 1821; retired 1831; Rear-Adm., 1852; Vice-Adm., 1857); appointed KH, 1836. He was a DL for Lancashire. He married, 8 January 1822 at Havant (Hants), Emily (d. 1873), second daughter of Samuel Leeke of Havant and sister of Capt. Sir Henry Leeke RN, and had issue:

(1) George Selsey Bigland (1822-42), baptised at Havant, 21 October 1822; an officer in the 46th Foot (Ensign, 1839); died unmarried when he was accidentally killed by falling down a hatchway on a troop ship carrying him to Barbados, 23 January 1842;

(2) Wilson Henry John Bigland (1824-55), born 7 January and baptised at Havant, 26 March 1824; died unmarried at his father's house in Leamington, 27 September 1855;

(3) Sophia Georgina Bigland (1826-46), born at Bigland Hall, 20 February 1826 but baptism not traced; married, 10 May 1845 at Cartmel Priory (Lancs), Frank Cartwright Dickson (1815-1907) of Chapel House, Staveley (Westmorld) and Abbots Reading (Lancs), but had no issue; her portrait was painted by Cornelius Bevis Durham; died 26 March and was buried at Fareham, 2 April 1846.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his half-brother in 1840, but lived in retirement at Leamington Spa (Warks). Having outlived all his children, his property passed on his death to his brother, John Bigland (1786-1862). His widow continued to live at Leamington Spa.

He died 18 November and was buried at Leamington Spa, 25 November 1858; his will was proved 4 February 1859 (effects under £3,000). His widow died 23 February and was buried at Leamington Spa, 1 March 1873; her will was proved 24 April 1873 (effects under £3,000).

Bigland, John (1786-1862). Eldest son of George Bigland (1750-1831) and his second wife, Sarah, daughter of John Gale of Whitehaven and sister of Wilson Braddyll of Conishead Priory, said to have been born 3 July 1786. An officer in the 3rd Lancashire militia (Capt.). He married, 25 May 1828 at Aberford (Yorks WR), Mary (1796-1874), daughter of John Marshall of Towton (Yorks), and had issue:

(1) Mary Bigland (c.1828-1906?), born about 1828 in York but baptism not traced; living unmarried with her parents and siblings at Bramham in 1841 and 1851; married, 24 August 1854 at Clifford (Yorks), Christopher Dobson of Hagg Farm, Stearsby (Yorks NR), farmer, and had issue at least five daughters; buried at Barnby-on-the-Moor (Yorks), 14 September 1906;

(2) John Bigland (1829-93) (q.v.);

(3) George Bigland (1830-1902) (q.v.);

(4) Thomas Bigland (1832-1904) (q.v.);

(5) William Henry Gale Bigland (1835-1915), born 27 October and baptised at Bramham, 25 November 1835; probably the father of an illegitimate son by Catherine Crispin who was baptised at Lytham (Lancs), 18 May 1865; lived with Mary Wilson, widow, at Poulton-le-Sands (Lancs) for more than thirty years; died unmarried, Jan-Mar 1915;

(6) Georgiana Bigland (1837-1922), born 7 September and baptised at Bramham, 6 October 1837; acted as housekeeper to her brothers at Bigland Hall and later lived at Barrowbanks, Newby Bridge; died unmarried, 1 March 1922; will proved 7 July 1922 (estate £2,477).

He lived at a house called 'New York' in Bramham (Yorks WR) until he inherited Bigland Hall from his brother in 1858. As the elder brother, it is not clear why he did not inherit the estate from their half-brother in 1840.

He died 7 December and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 12 December 1862; his will was proved 12 June 1863 (effects under £4,000). His widow died 6 October 1874; administration of her goods was granted 20 October 1874 (effects under £200).

Bigland, John (1829-93). Eldest son of John Bigland (1786-1862) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Marshall of Towton (Yorks), born 10 April and baptised at Bramham (Yorks WR), 10 May 1829. As a young man he was devoted to fox-hunting; after taking possession of the Bigland estate in 1858 he developed an interest in forestry and planted many trees and shrubs in his park and wider estate. He was a Conservative in politics. He was unmarried and without issue. 

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1862.

He died 22/23 October, and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 26 October 1893; his will was proved 1 January 1894 (effects £356).

Bigland, George (1830-1902). Second son of John Bigland (1786-1862) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Marshall of Towton (Yorks), born 18 December 1830 and baptised at Bramham (Yorks WR), 19 February 1831. He emigrated to Canada, where he at first became a fish merchant; he then moved to St Louis, Missouri (USA), where his occupation is rather enigmatically recorded as 'drummer'; but he returned to England on the death of his brother in 1893. He married 1st, 1 February 1860 at Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario (Canada), Alice Maud Mary Proud (c.1836-83), youngest daughter of John Dowker of Terrington (Yorks); and 2nd, 28 August 1886, Edith Blanche Hinde (1852-1926), daughter of Peter Fox Andre of London, and had issue:

(2.1) George Bradyll Bigland (1891-1915) (q.v.).

He inherited Bigland Hall from his elder brother in 1893.

He died 7 February and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 11 February 1902; his will was proved 18 April 1902 (estate £2,802). His first wife died 19 January 1883 and was buried at Cambridge Cemetery, Waterloo, Ontario. His widow died 8 July 1926; her will was proved 26 November 1926 (estate £1,314).

George Braddyll Bigland (1891-1915)  

Bigland, George Braddyll (1891-1915). Only child of George Bigland (1830-1902) and his second wife, Edith Blanche Hinde, daughter of Peter Fox Andre of London, born at St Louis, Missouri (USA), 4 November 1891. Educated at Charney Hall School, Grange (Lancs). An officer in the Kings Own Royal Lancashire Regiment (2nd Lt., 1914). He married, 2 January 1915 at Aspley Guise (Beds), Audrey (1893-1980), third and youngest daughter of Sir Robert Alfred Hampson, kt. of Brown Howe, Ulverston (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Audrey Braddyll Bigland (1915-34), born posthumously, 16 August 1915; died 28 January, and was buried at Haverthwaite, 30 January 1934; administration of goods granted to her mother, 29 March 1934 (estate £1,502).

He inherited Bigland Hall from his father in 1902 and came of age in 1912. On his death it passed to his daughter, and on her death to her second cousin, John Bigland Tulk-Hart (later Bigland) (1909-44). His widow lived at Bigland Hall with her second husband until the death of her daughter, and later at Thwaite Bridge Cottage, Rusland (Lancs).

He was killed in action, 16 June 1915; his will was proved 29 March 1916 (estate £25,054). His widow married 2nd, 27 December 1917 at St Michael, Toxteth Park, Liverpool (Lancs), Horace Davy Pain (1890-1961), and had further issue two sons and one daughter; she died 20 April 1980 and was buried at Rusland; her will was proved 27 May 1980 (estate £47,553).

Bigland, Thomas (1832-1904). Third son of John Bigland (1786-1862) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Marshall of Towton (Yorks), born 18 February and baptised at Bramham (Yorks WR), 15 September 1832. Trained as a surgeon under William D. Husband of York (MRCS 1857; Lic. Soc. Apothecaries, 1858). Medical superintendent of Kensington House Asylum (Middx) by 1861 and later of The Priory, Roehampton (Surrey), but retired and lived with his brother at Bigland Hall before 1891. He married, 5 September 1867 at St Philip, Kensington (Middx), Helen (1839-1919), daughter of Augustus Leycester Barwell of Stansted Park (Sussex), and had issue:

(1) Wilson John Braddyll Bigland (1868-1920), born 31 March 1868; educated at Heversham Grammar School; may have gone abroad as he does not feature in 1901 or 1911 census; died unmarried, Jan-Mar 1920;

(2) George Selsey Bigland (1869-1923), born 17 May and baptised at St Philip, Kensington, 30 July 1869; educated at Heversham Grammar School; occupation given in 1911 as 'plaster agent'; lived in Bromley (Kent); died unmarried, 9 December 1923; will proved 19 March 1924 (estate £3,347);

(3) Charles Augustus Leycester Bigland (1870-1904), born 3 July and baptised at St Philip, Kensington, 29 July 1870; educated at Heversham Grammar School (Westmld) and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1889); prevented by a gun accident in 1890, in which he lost part of his foot, from pursuing a military career, he emigrated to New Zealand where he became a freemason in 1896; volunteered to serve in the Matabeleland Mounted Police, 1901-02; he later returned to England and pursued a business career until his health broke down; died unmarried and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 26 February 1904;

(4) Blanche Madeline Bigland (1873-1961) (q.v.).

He lived on site at the asylums to which he was attached until he retired to Bigland Hall c.1890.

He died 8 May, and was buried at Cartmel Priory, 13 May 1904. His widow died at Bromley, Jan-Mar 1919.

Bigland, Blanche Madeline (1873-1961). Only daughter of Thomas Bigland (1832-1904) and his wife Helen, daughter of Augustus Leycester Barwell of Stansted Park, born 4 September and baptised at St Philip, Kensington (Middx), 17 October 1873. A registered nurse (registered 1898). She married, 29 April 1901 at Staveley (Westmld), Dr. Thomas John Augustus Tulk-Hart (1872-1930), physician, son of Dr Eugene John Hart MRCS (1846-1920), and had issue:

(1) Joan Madeline Tulk-Hart (1904-94), born 23 April and baptised at Chapel Royal, Brighton, 3 June 1904; married 1st, 27 December 1924 at St Peter, Brighton (div.), as the first of his three wives, Cdr. William Richard Campbell Steele (1895-1987), and 2nd, Jan-Mar 1947 at Totnes (Devon), as his second wife, Charles Henry Philip Jackson (c.1897-1978), mining engineer, son of Cyril Frank Jackson; died 3 March 1994; will proved 6 July 1994 (estate £167,349);

(2) Una Eugenie Tulk-Hart (1906-66), born 9 February and baptised at Chapel Royal, Brighton, 2 March 1906; married, Oct-Dec 1932 (sep. by 1939; div. by 1942), Wing Cdr. Hugh de Lainé Standley (1899-1967); died 10 December 1966; will proved 2 March 1967 (estate £12,683);

(3) John Bigland Tulk-Hart (later Bigland) (1909-44) (q.v.);

(4) Richard Braddyll Tulk-Hart (1913-96), born 19 October and baptised at Chapel Royal, Brighton, 7 December 1913; physician and surgeon (MRCS, 1940; LRCP, 1940); served in Second World War as a medical officer with the Royal Air Force (Flying Offr, 1943); married, 11 March 1944 at St Mark, North Audley St., Westminster (Middx), Pamela May Johnsen (1918-2010), a ferry pilot with Air Transport Auxiliary Service, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 7 April 1996; will proved 21 June 1996.

She lived in Brighton (Sussex).

She died 16 December 1961; her will was proved 2 April 1962 (estate £16,281). Her husband died 17 March 1930; his will was proved 8 July 1930 (estate £26,540).

Tulk-Hart (later Bigland), John Bigland (1909-44). Elder son of Thomas John Augustus Tulk-Hart and his wife Blanche Madeline, only daughter of Thomas Bigland, born 20 August 1909 and baptised at the Chapel Royal, Brighton (Sussex), 10 November 1909. Solicitor. He took the surname of Bigland by deed poll on inheriting Bigland Hall, 13 April 1934. He served in the Second World War as a navigator in the Royal Air Force (Flying Officer). He married, 27 July 1935 at Fletching (Sussex), Miza Pauline (1908-86), daughter of Richard Jaschke of Fletching, gent., and had issue:

(1) Sarah Anne Guinevere Bigland (1936-2021), born 15 May and baptised at Haverthwaite, 28 June 1936; married, April 1960, William Victor Gubbins (1937-2022) of Eden Lacy, Great Salkeld, High Sheriff of Cumbria, 1987-88, son of Maj. Bill Gubbins, and had issue three sons; died 11 September 2021; will proved 21 June 2022;

(2) Richard John Braddyll Bigland (1938-94) (q.v.);

(3) Anthony John Bigland (1942-2000), born 31 October 1942; married, 14 August 1965, Kathryn Anne (b. 1943), daughter of Charles Joseph Basil Radcliffe (1900-83), and had issue one son and two daughters; died 20 December and was buried at Haverthwaite, 28 December 2000; administration of goods granted 20 December 2000.

He inherited Bigland Hall from his second cousin in 1934. After his death it passed to his widow, who handed it over to her eldest son in about 1968.

He was shot down by flak over Condé, Normandy (France) during a night reconnaissance, and baled out but died, 8 August 1944; he was buried at Breel (France). His widow died 7 October 1986; her will was proved 31 December 1986 (estate £75,785).

Bigland, Richard John Braddyll (1938-94). Elder son of John Bigland Tulk-Hart (later Bigland) (1909-44) and his wife Miza Pauline, daughter of Richard Jaschke of Fletching (Sussex), born 18 December 1938 and baptised at Haverthwaite, 1 July 1939. He married 1st, 30 November 1968 (div.) at Melling (Lancs), Carol Morley, daughter of Tim Saunders of Wennington Hall (Lancs) and Melbourne (Australia), and 2nd, Apr-Jun 1982, Catherine (k/a Kate) M. (b. 1946), artist, daughter of [forename unknown] Waller and formerly wife of Peter Rosson, and had issue:

(1) Daniel James Braddyll Tulk-Hart Bigland (b. 1982), born September 1982; guitarist, bandleader, and founder of the Musicians Community;

(2) Matthew Sebastian Braddyll Bigland (b. 1985), born July 1985; musician and songwriter.

He took over Bigland Hall on the retirement of his mother in 1968, but sold it in 1991. He lived subsequently on the Isle of Man.

He was killed in a plane crash at Walsall (Staffs) while returning to the Isle of Man, 20 January 1994; buried at Braddan (IoM), 4 February 1994 but reburied at Haverthwaite, 3 October 1997. His first wife married 2nd, 1977, Frederick L. Barnes. His widow is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, pp. 136-37; J. Foster, Pedigrees of the county families of England: vol 1, Lancashire, 1873, unpaginated pedigree of Bigland family; J. Stockdale, Annals of Cartmel, 1874, pp. 498-504; J.M. Robinson, A guide to the country houses of the north-west, 1991, p. 159; A. Taylor, The Websters of Kendal, 2004, p. 134; Sir H.M. Colvin, A biographical dictionary of British architects, 4th edn., 2008, pp. 523-24; M. Hyde & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Cumbria, 2010, pp. 395-96.

Location of archives

Bigland of Bigland: deeds, estate and family papers, 1554-1964 [Cumbria Archive Service, Kendal WD BGLD]

Coat of arms

Azure, two ears of big wheat in pale couped and bladed or.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 8 February 2026.

(625) Bigham of Bignor Park, Viscounts Mersey

Bigham, Viscounts Mersey 

The Bigham family are said to have originated in Ulster, but Samuel Bigham (c.1777-1830), with whom the genealogy below begins, was the son of a Kirkcudbrightshire grazier, who moved south to Lancashire and settled at Wigan around 1800. He was at first a draper, but later moved from retailing cloth to making it, as a cotton and calico manufacturer. By his first wife, who died after only a few years of marriage, he left one surviving son, who succeeded to his business. By his second wife he had two sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom, John Bigham (1814-80) set himself up in business as a soap manufacturer in Liverpool and later moved into a general mercantile business and shipping. A Liberal in politics, he was a member of the City Council from 1849-55, but he appears to have pulled back from civic affairs and business in later life. By the time of his death, his personal estate was valued at £140,000 and he was described as a gentleman rather than a retired merchant. He married the daughter of another Liverpool merchant and had two sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Henry Bigham (1835-73) emigrated to America in the 1850s, and may have been something of a disappointment to his father, as census returns show him as a store clerk. However, his younger son, Sir John Charles Bigham (1840-1929), who was sent to France and Germany to acquire language skills before reading for the bar, became a successful lawyer. He took silk in 1883 and after several unsuccessful efforts to be elected to Parliament, finally took his seat for the Liverpool Exchange constituency in 1895. In 1897 he became a High Court judge, and further legal and quasi-legal appointments followed. He retired from the bench in 1910 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Mersey. In the following years, he acted as a Wreck Commissioner, and in that capacity presided over the inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania, among other vessels. In 1916 he was promoted in the peerage to 1st Viscount Mersey, and he remained uncommonly vigorous and active into the 1920s. Indeed, in 1920, at the age of eighty, he returned to judicial office for a few months to reduce a backlog of cases in the High Court.

Like his father, Lord Mersey married the daughter of another Liverpool merchant, and the couple had three sons, of whom one died in infancy. The eldest son, Lt-Col. Charles Clive Bigham, who eventually succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount, joined the army as a young man and then moved into the diplomatic service. In the 1900s he was secretary to a number of Royal Commissions and Inquiries which his father was chairing, but during the First World War returned to the army and commanded the military mission to the French War Office. In 1919, he attended the Versailles peace conference, but after that he seems to have turned to a career in business and to writing popular historical works. He purchased Bignor Park (Sussex) in 1926, inherited the peerage in 1929, and in the 1940s was Liberal chief whip in the House of Lords. The 1st Viscount's younger son, Sir Frank Bigham (1876-1954) joined the Metropolitan Police, and from 1909-35 held a succession of senior posts, ending up as Deputy Commissioner; he was knighted in 1929, was twice married, and had two daughters.

The 2nd Viscount had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey, served in the Second World War with the Irish Guards, and later on was active in local politics both in London and Sussex. In 1933 he married Lady Katherine Petty-Fitzmaurice, the elder daughter of the 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, who later inherited a Scottish peerage and became Lady Nairne in her own right; she also inherited the Derreen estate in County Kerry (an account of which will be given in a future post on the Petty-Fitzmaurice family). They had three sons, the eldest of whom was Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey, who succeeded his father in 1979 and also inherited his mother's peerage in 1995. He married in 1961, and his only surviving son is Edward John Hallam Bigham (b. 1966), the 5th and present Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne. Since inheriting the Bignor and Derreen estates on his father's death in 2006 he has undertaken a major campaign of restoration and improvements to the house and estate at Bignor, while the gardens at Derreen are open to the public. He also continues a successful career as a composer and producer in the music industry. He has married twice and has two daughters, the elder of whom is heir presumptive to the lordship of Nairne. The heir presumptive to the viscountcy is his cousin, Charles Richard Petty Bigham (b. 1967).

Bignor Park, Sussex

The estate was created in the 13th century by the enclosure of part of the great forest of Arundel to form a park for the fattening of deer for the Earl of Arundel's table. In 1574 a lease of the park mentions that it contained a lodge, and 'a messuage' was also mentioned when the property was sold in 1584. Soon afterwards, it passed into the hands of the Pellatt family, and in 1632 William Pellatt built a new gabled house on the crown of a ridge parallel to the south downs, which offered excellent views to both north and south. Dalloway says this building was 'on a very small scale'; that it 'had nothing to recommend it but its situation'; and that the present house was built 'upon a much larger scale'. This is not, however, the impression given by the earliest views of the building, made by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm in about 1791, which seem to show a larger house than the present building. By the time of Grimm's views, the house had been significantly and recently remodelled, but the two-bay gabled wings visible in his views of both fronts probably represent the cross-wings of the original mansion, and give an impression of its original dimensions. At the time of the 1670 Hearth Tax, the house was evidently leased, but the return for Bignor is damaged and we cannot tell on how many hearths the property was taxed.

Bignor Park: detail of drawing of entrance front by S.H. Grimm, c.1791 [British Library, Add. MS. 5674, f.47]

Bignor Park: drawing of garden front by S.H. Grimm, c.1791 [British Library, Add. MS. 5674, f.48]

Grimm's drawings of c.1791 show that the centre of the Jacobean house had recently been remodelled in the Gothick style, and it is known that this work was done for Michael Dorset (d. 1805), who married Catherine Anne Turner in 1779, the year she acquired possession of Bignor Park from her brother, so the work must have been done in 1780s. The entrance front was given a tall Gothick central gate tower, complete with a fictive portcullis, and also octagonal or possibly hexagonal towers on the outer corners of the 17th century wings. The garden front retained a more domestic aspect, with a projecting central block with a canted front and a roof behind the parapet which rose to a Gothic finial. Some decorative Coade stone pinnacles in the grounds of the present house are said to have been preserved as garden ornaments when the old house was demolished in 1826. The architect of the alterations is not recorded, but the rather charming 'toy fort' effect of the additions has a slightly amateurish feel, so perhaps Dorset was his own architect. Another possibility must be that he used Francis Hiorne (1744-89), a Gothick specialist who is known chiefly for rather more sober Gothic church work, but who built Hiorne's tower in the park at Arundel c.1787 and made proposals for remodelling Arundel Castle which were not carried out because of his death; he is known as an enthusiastic adopter of Coade stone for architectural details. 

Bignor Park: entrance front c.1905, from an old postcard.

After Michael Dorset's death, his widow sold the Bignor Park estate to John Hawkins (1761-1841), the younger son of a Cornish tin-mining family, whose chief seat was Trewithen (Cornw.). He had travelled extensively in Italy and Greece, had antiquarian interests, and was a friend of the archaeologist Samuel Lysons and the architect, Sir Robert Smirke. In 1811, one of his tenant farmers, George Tupper, discovered Roman remains while ploughing, and with the help of Lysons and Tupper he went on to excavate what proved to be one of the largest and most luxurious Roman villas in Britain, with a series of fine mosaic floors; the villa was opened to the public in 1814 and has remained accessible ever since. In the 1820s, Hawkins' attention turned to his own house, which he decided to demolish and replace with a neo-classical villa. He at first tried to get his friend Smirke to provide designs, but Smirke was too busy with bigger and more lucrative public commissions and fobbed him off with the offer of advice, and probably also with the recommendation of Henry Harrison (c.1785-c.1865), who had worked for Smirke as a building contractor at Grange Park (Hants), and who turned to architecture around 1820. When he came to Bignor he had little if any country house design experience, but his understated and Greek-influenced neo-classical designs seem to have been just what Hawkins was looking for. Articles of agreement were drawn up for the new house in 1826 and construction was evidently largely complete by 1828, when two servants were employed as caretakers in the unoccupied building. Harrison allowed the house to dry out thoroughly, and only began moving in during 1830. Payments continued until 1832, finally totalling just over £10,000.

Bignor Park: garden front in 1956. Image: Derek Sherborn/Historic England.

The rendered brick house that resulted is of five by three bays and two storeys, with wider end bays on both fronts that project slightly forward, and a lower two-storey service wing to the west. The north-facing entrance front has a shallow loggia between the wings that cleverly incorporates a porch, while on the garden side the house is raised on a low stone terrace, and all the ground floor windows are floor-length. The windows on the south front also all have external shutters except for the larger ground-floor windows in the wings, where the neo-classical elegance is tempered by a few neo-Jacobean elements, presaging the direction which Harrison's designs would take later in his career. The external shutters seem to be a later addition, as they are not indicated on a view of the house in 1834 by John Constable. Inside, the house preserves its late Regency layout, which seems little altered, with the library, drawing room and dining room across the south front, while on the north side, the entrance hall and top-lit, cantilevered staircase occupy the middle three bays, and are flanked by a business room and the former school room. 

Bignor Park: a late 19th century watercolour view of the library (Image: Trewithen Collection)

The heart of the house has always been the library, for both John Hawkins and the 2nd Lord Mersey were notable book collectors, and further bookcases are found throughout the house. All the rooms have sparing but elegant neo-classical decoration, enhanced by mahogany doors from Robert Adam's Lansdowne House, London, which were installed here in about 1957 by Lady Mersey, and by Regency Revival furniture and fittings acquired by the 2nd Lord Mersey in 1945 when the contents of Edward Knoblock's Beach House in Worthing (Sussex) were dispersed. One particularly important acquisition from the Worthing house was a set of mural paintings on glass of 1912 by Sir William Nicholson, which were made originally for Knoblock's apartment in the Palais Royale, Paris; these were arranged at first floor level around the staircase hall, but are said now to be in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Bignor Park: watercolour of the house from the south-east by John Constable, 1834. (Image: V&A Museum 217-1888)

Work began on landscaping the grounds in the 1820s, when John Hawkins laid out a new drive while he was looking for an architect. After the house was built he took advice from William Sawrey Gilpin in the 1830s, resulting in the landscape which Constable painted in 1834. More recent additions have included a domed Doric temple designed by Christopher Hobson in 1992.

Descent: John Lumley (c.1533-1609), 1st Baron Lumley sold 1584 to William Tyrwhitt, who sold soon afterwards to Richard Pellatt (d. 1587); to son, Thomas Pellatt (d. 1618); to son, William Pellatt, who built the house c.1632; to son, Thomas Pellatt (b. 1656); to son, William Pellatt, who sold 1712 to Nicholas Turner (d. 1723); to son, Nicholas Turner (d. 1774); to son, Nicholas Turner (b. 1753), who became bankrupt in 1779 and sold it to his sister, Catherine Anne (1752-1834), from 1779 wife of Michael Dorset (1753?-1805), who remodelled the house and sold it 1806 to John Hawkins (1761-1841), who rebuilt the house; to son, Christopher Hawkins (1820-1903); to nephew, John Heywood Johnstone MP (1850-1904); to son, G.H. Johnstone of Trewithen (Cornw.), who sold 1926 to Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey; to son, Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey; to son, Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006); to son, Edward John Hallam Bigham (b. 1966), 5th Viscount Mersey.

Bigham family of Bignor Park, Viscounts Mersey

Bigham, Samuel (c.1777-1830). Son of Andrew Bigham (b. 1742) of Kells (Kirkcudbrights), grazier and his wife Elizabeth Chesnie, born about 1777. Draper, and cotton and calico manufacturer at Wigan (Lancs). He was also in partnership with Thomas Peck as an iron dealer (dissolved 1821). He married 1st, 3 June 1808 at All Saints, Wigan, Elizabeth Holland, and 2nd, 15 June 1813 at All Saints, Wigan (Lancs), Catherine (c.1795-1854?), daughter of John Hughes of Chester, and had issue:

(1.1) Andrew Bigham (b. & d. 1808), born about July 1808; died in infancy and was buried at All Saints, Wigan, 30 September 1808;

(1.2) Thomas Bigham (1809-88), born 12 November and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 17 December 1809; cloth manufacturer at Wigan; married 26 February 1835 at Manchester Collegiate Church (now Cathedral), Elizabeth (1810-83), daughter of George Maxwell, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 15 September 1888;

(2.1) John Bigham (1814-80) (q.v.);

(2.2) Agnes Bigham (b. 1817), born 6 February and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 4 March 1817; married, 20 September 1838 at St George, Liverpool, John Holmes of Liverpool, painter;

(2.3) Mary Helen/Ellen Bigham (1818-70), born 9 December and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 25 December 1818; married, 10 April 1847 at St Philip, Liverpool, Capt. Thomas J. Cannell of Castletown (IoM); died 10 December 1870;

(2.4) Ann Jane Bigham (b. 1821), born 28 February and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 21 March 1821; married, 10 February 1841 at St David, Liverpool, John Parker Hall junior;

(2.5) Samuel Bigham (b. 1825), born 4 September and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 24 November 1825; living in 1841.

He died suddenly, 22 August, and was buried at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 25 August 1830. His first wife died between 1809 and 1813. His widow is said to have died in 1854; her will was proved 25 March 1857.

Bigham, John (1814-80). Elder son of Samuel Bigham (c.1777-1830) and his second wife, Catherine, daughter of John Hughes of Chester, born 5 April and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 26 April 1814. Soap manufacturer and later merchant and shipowner in Liverpool. A Liberal in politics, he was a member of Liverpool City Council, 1849-55, and of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. He married, 16 October 1834 at St David, Liverpool, Helen (1814-1904), daughter of John East of Liverpool, and had issue:

(1) Henry Bigham (1835-73), born 29 July and baptised at St Peter, Liverpool, 17 September 1835; emigrated to America and became a store clerk in New York; said to have married, 4 February 1871, Helen (d. 1914), daughter of John Numan, and had issue; died in the lifetime of his father, 4 July 1873;

(2) Catherine Bigham (1837-38), baptised at St Peter, Liverpool, 5 December 1837; died in infancy and was buried at St Michael, Liverpool, 2 October 1838;

(3) Rt. Hon. Sir John Charles Bigham (1840-1929), 1st Baron and 1st Viscount Mersey (q.v.);

(4) Agnes Maria Bigham (1842-1919), born 3 July 1842; married, 10 September 1868 at St Bride, Liverpool, Thomas Brough (d. 1892) of Liverpool, merchant and gunpowder agent, and had issue one son and three daughters; as a widow, lived in London; died at Seaford (Sussex), 7 August 1919; will proved 11 November 1919 (estate £12,187).

He lived in Liverpool.

He died 5 October and was buried at Toxteth Park Cemetery, Liverpool, 8 October 1880; his will was proved 17 December 1880 (effects under £140,000). His widow died 11/12 August 1904; her will was proved 31 August 1904 (estate £16,483).

1st Viscount Bigham

Bigham, Rt. Hon. Sir John Charles (1840-1929), kt., 1st Baron and 1st Viscount Mersey. Second, but only surviving, son of John Bigham (1814-80) and his wife Helen, daughter of John East of Liverpool, born 3 August 1840 and baptised at St Francis Xavier RC church, Liverpool, 25 January 1867. Educated at Liverpool Institute, in Berlin (Germany) and at the Sorbonne University, Paris (France), and the Middle Temple (admitted 1867; called 1870; Bencher 1886). Barrister-at-law (QC, 1883), practising on the Northern Circuit, of which he eventually became leader. After several unsuccessful attempts, he entered Parliament as MP for Liverpool Exchange, 1895-97, but resigned on becoming a Justice of the High Court, 1897-1909; President of the Railway and Canal Commission, 1904-09; Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, 1904-10; sworn of the Privy Council, 1909; Chairman of Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of High Court, 1909-10; a Wreck Commissioner, 1912-16, in which capacity he presided over the inquiries into the sinkings of the Titanic, Empress of Ireland, Falaba and Lusitania; President of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1913-14. He was knighted in 1897 and raised to the peerage on his retirement from judicial office, as Baron Mersey, 16 March 1910, before being promoted to a viscountcy, 22 January 1916. He married, 17 August 1871 at St Paul, Princes Park, Liverpool, Georgina Sarah (1848-1925), daughter of John Rogers of Grove Park, Liverpool, silk mercer, and had issue:

(1) Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey (q.v.);

(2) John Trevor Buckley Bigham (1873-75), born 27 November 1873; died in infancy, 23 January and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 26 January 1875;

(3) Hon. Sir Frank Trevor Roger Bigham (1876-1954), born 22 May 1876; educated at Eton, Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1895; BA 1899; MA), and the Middle Temple (called 1901); barrister-at-law; an officer in the Territorial Battn, Middlesex Regiment (2nd Lt., 1900); served with Metropolitan Police, 1909-35 (Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation Dept., 1909-14; Assistant Commissioner, 1914-31 and Deputy Commissioner, 1931-35); appointed CB, 1919 and knighted (KBE), 1929; married 1st, 17 December 1901 at Temple church, London, Frances Leonara (1873-1927), second daughter of John Leonard Tomlin of Richmond (Yorks NR), and had issue two daughters; married 2nd, 2 September 1931, Edith Ellen OBE (1898-1985), a civilian official at Scotland Yard, daughter of Lt-Col. David Drysdale; died 23 November 1954.

He lived at 22 Grosvenor Place, London.

He died at the Beach Hotel, Littlehampton (Sussex), 3 September, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 6 September 1929; his will was proved 19 October 1929 (estate £80,603). His wife died 9 January, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery, 12 January 1925; administration of her goods was granted to her eldest son, 3 May 1928 (estate £600).

2nd Viscount Mersey

Bigham, Lt-Col. Charles Clive (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey. Eldest son of Rt. Hon. Sir John Charles Bigham (1840-1929), kt., 1st Viscount Mersey, and his wife Georgina Sarah, daughter of John Rogers of Liverpool, born 18 August and baptised at St Paul, Princes Park, Liverpool, 25 December 1872. Educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the Grenadier Guards (2nd Lt., 1892; Lt., 1901; Capt., 1902; retired 1902 but returned to service as Maj., 1914; Lt-Col., 1919). In diplomatic service, 1896-1900 and military intelligence dept. of War Office, 1901-04; with Board of Trade, 1905-09 and acted as secretary to Royal Commissions, 1905-12. He commanded the military mission to French War Office, 1916-19 (mentioned in dispatches) and attended Versailles peace conference, 1919. In 1916 he was one of the passengers aboard the SS Persia when it was torpedoed and sunk off Crete by a German submarine, but was lucky enough to be rescued. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Mersey, 3 September 1929. Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of Committees, House of Lords; Liberal Chief Whip, 1944-49. He was a director of several companies and of the National Provident Institution, and Chairman of Royal Westminster Opthalmic Hospital, 1935-46 (and later Vice-President). JP and DL for London (Chairman of St George's Petty Sessions, 1935-47) and JP for Sussex. A trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, 1941-49; President of Sussex Archæological Society, 1947–50, and of Society of Genealogists, 1942–56. A freemason from 1901 and a Knight of St John. He was appointed CMG, 1901, was an Officer of the Légion d'honneur and of the Order of the Crown of Italy, and held several foreign war medals. He was the author of a number of historical and autobiographical works including A Ride through Western Asia (1897); A Year in China (1901); The Prime Ministers of Britain (1922); The Chief Ministers of England (1923); The Kings of England (1929); A Picture of Life, 1872–1940 (1941); Alexander of Macedon (1946); Helen of Troy and Cleopatra (1947); The Viceroys and Governors-General of India, 1747–1947 (1949); Journal and Memories (1952). He married, 1 June 1904 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Mary Gertrude JP (1881-1973), second daughter of Sir Horace Alfred Damer Seymour KCB, private secretary to William Gladstone, and had issue (with two further children who died in infancy):

(1) Hon. Elizabeth Mary Bigham (1905-85), born 17 April and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 27 May 1905; married, 5 December 1929 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster, Matthew Henry Hubert Ponsonby (1904-76), 2nd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 21 March 1985; will proved 18 October 1985 (estate £169,287);

(2) Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey (q.v.);

(3) Lt-Col. the Hon. Roger Claude Bigham (1908-58), born 16 September and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 11 November 1908; educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; an officer in the Royal Artillery (2nd Lt., 1928; Lt., 1931; Capt., 1938; Maj., 1945; Lt-Col., 1951; retired 1957), who served in British military mission to Greece, 1949-51; died unmarried, 5 December and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 9 December 1958; will proved 23 February 1959 (estate £52,617);

(4) Hon. Ralph John Bigham (1913-91), born 3 August and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 15 October 1913; educated at Eton; an Officer of the Order of St. John; married, 3 August 1954, Cicely Ruth (1916-96), youngest daughter of Percy Johnson of Douglas (IoM), but had no issue; died 17 September 1991; administration of goods with will annexed granted 2 April 1992 (estate £195,456).

He purchased Bignor Park in 1926 and acquired furniture and fittings from Beach House, Worthing to enhance it in 1945. He had a town house at 22 Eaton Place, London.

He died 20 November and was buried at Bignor, 24 November 1956; his will was proved 30 April 1957 (estate £95,191). His widow died aged 92 on 1 May 1973 and was buried at Bignor; her will was proved  in August 1973 (estate £21,481).

Bigham, Edward Clive (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey. Eldest son of Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey, and his wife Mary Gertrude, second daughter of Sir Horace Alfred Damer Seymour, kt., born 5 June and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 14 July 1906. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1927). An officer in the Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1926; Lt., 1929), who served in the Second World War with the Irish Guards (2nd Lt., 1940; retired 1945). He succeeded his father as 3rd Viscount Mersey, 20 November 1956. A member of London County Council for the Paddington division, 1955-65, and a County Councillor for West Sussex, 1966. DL for West Sussex, 1977-79. He married, 24 July 1933, Lady Katherine Evelyn Constance Petty-Fitzmaurice (1912-95), 12th Lady Nairne in her own right, elder daughter of 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, and had issue:

(1) Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey and 13th Lord Nairne (q.v.);

(2) Hon. David Edward Hugh Bigham  (1938-2024), of Hurston Place (Sussex), born 14 April 1938; educated at Eton; undertook compulsory military service, 1957-59, as an officer in the Royal Horse Guards (2nd Lt., 1957); art dealer and director of Tryon Gallery, London, 1959-2010; married, 2 January 1965 at Little Hadham (Herts), Anthea Rosemary (b. 1941), eldest daughter of Capt. Leo Richard Seymour, and had issue three sons (the eldest of whom is heir presumptive to the viscountcy), and one daughter; died 24 August 2024;

(3) Hon. Andrew Charles Bigham (b. 1941), of Coverham (Yorks NR), born 26 June 1941; educated at Eton, Worcester College, Oxford, and London University (CertEd, 1967); an officer in the Irish Guards (2nd Lt., 1964; retired 1966); schoolmaster at Aysgarth School, Bedale (Yorks NR), 1968-89 and Sunningdale School (Berks), 1989-94.

He inherited Bignor Park from his father in 1956. His wife inherited the Derreen estate in Co. Kerry on the death of her brother in action in 1944.

He died 2 August 1979 and was buried at Sutton (Sussex); his will was proved 14 November 1979 (estate £168,427). His widow died 20 October 1995; her will was proved 14 May 1996.

Bigham, Richard Maurice Clive (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey and 13th Lord Nairne. Eldest son of Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey and his wife Lady Katherine Evelyn Constance, 12th Lady Nairne, daughter of 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, born 8 July 1934. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. Undertook compulsory military service as an officer in the Irish Guards (Lt.), 1952-54. He succeeded his father as 4th Viscount Mersey, 2 August 1979, and his mother as 13th Lord Nairne, 20 October 1995. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer, 1980-99, when he was one of the hereditary peers ejected from the House. He achieved some acclaim as a documentary film maker, and some notoriety after he was involved in an unsavoury sex trial in 1977, where he received a two-year suspended prison sentence. President of the Society of Industrial Emergency Services Officers, 1987-91 and of Combined Heat and Power Association, 1989-92. Fellow of Royal Geographical Society and Hon. Fellow of Royal Academy of Music, 1996. He was author of The Hills of Cork and Kerry (1987) and Pole Power (2001). He married, 6 May 1961 at Christ Church, Hampstead (Middx), Joanna Dorothy Corsica Grey (b. 1940), elder daughter of John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray CBE of Hampstead and Mayfair, and had issue:

(1) A son (b. & d. 1964), born 30 June 1964, but died the same day;

(2) Edward John Hallam Bigham (b. 1966), 5th Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne (q.v.).

He inherited Bignor Park from his father in 1979 and Derreen from his mother in 1995.

He died 5 August 2006, and was buried at Bignor; his will was proved 22 February 2007 (estate £25,241,615). His widow is now living.

Bigham, Edward John Hallam (k/a Ned) (b. 1966), 5th Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne. Only surviving son of Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey and 13th Lord Nairne, and his wife Joanna Dorothy Corsica Grey, elder daughter of John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray CBE of Hampstead and Mayfair, born 23 May 1966. Educated at Eton, Balliol College, Oxford, Trinity College of Music, London and Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich (Germany). Music producer, composer and drummer. Director of Bignor Park Ltd, 2009-date; Edward James Foundation Ltd, 2013-15, and Millpepper Ltd, 2016-date. He succeeded his father as 5th Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne, 5 August 2006. He married 1st, 26 May 1994 (div. 1997), Clare Louise, daughter of David Haigh of Woking (Surrey), and 2nd, 8 December 2001 at St Cuthbert, Dalmeny (West Lothian), Caroline Clare (b. 1965), daughter of Robert Grant Schaw Miller (1925-97) of Dalmeny, and had issue:

(2.1) Hon. Flora Diana Joan Bigham (b. 2003), Mistress of Nairne, born 17 May 2003; educated at Oxford University (matriculated 2021; BA 2024) and City St. George's, University of London; journalist; heir presumptive to the Lordship of Nairne;

(2.2) Hon. Polly Joanna Jean Bigham (b. 2006), born 3 July 2006; educated at Westbourne House School and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.

He inherited Bignor Park and Derreen from his father in 2006.

Now living. His first wife is now living. His second wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 2668-69; J. Dalloway & E. Cartwright, The parochial topography of the rape of Arundel, 1832, vol 2, pt. 1, pp. 249; W.H. Godfrey & L.F. Salzman, Sussex views, 1951, pl. 19; G. Nares, 'Bignor Park, Sussex', Country Life, 26 April-3 May 1956; J. Farrant, Sussex depicted, 2001, p. 161; Sir H.M. Colvin, A biographical dictionary of British architects, 4th edn., 2008, pp. 485-87, 519-20; E. Williamson, T. Hudson, J. Musson and I. Nairn, The buildings of England: Sussex - West, 2019, pp. 132-33, 735; P. Holden, 'Antiquaries, archaeologists and architects: the building of Bignor Park in Sussex', Georgian Group Journal, 2020, pp. 177-88.

Location of archives

No significant accumulation has been deposited in a public archive, so it is likely that the family retain their papers.

Coat of arms

Bigham family, Viscounts Mersey: Per bend dancettée azure and or, a bend invected between three crosses patée in chief and as many horseshoes in base, all counterchanged.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 30 January 2026 and updated 2 February 2026.