(640) Bisshopp of Parham, baronets and Barons Zouche

Bisshopp of Parham, baronets 

This family spelled its name in a bewildering variety of ways (Bishop, Bishopp, Bishoppe, Byshope, Bysshoppe, Bisshoppe etc.). For a time in the 17th and 18th centuries the most common spelling was Bishopp, but the 8th baronet seems to have decided that Bisshopp looked more archaic and therefore more in keeping with the ancient barony of Zouche of Haryngworth which had been brought out of abeyance in his favour, and his descendants and some collaterals thereafter used that form. In the genealogy below, which begins with Thomas Bishopp (d. 1560), I have standardised the spelling in these two forms.

Thomas Bishopp (d. 1560) is a fairly classic example of the Tudor 'new men', who made highly profitable careers in the rapidly expanding legal and administrative infrastructure of the Tudor state. His immediate origins are fairly obscure, but his unnamed father is said to have haled from Yorkshire and he was perhaps brought up in Hertfordshire, as one source describes him as 'of Ayot' and he later owned property at Tring. He is perhaps to be identified with the Thomas Bishop who was awarded a B.A. degree by Cambridge University in 1516/7, and he was in the service of the judge and courtier William Shelley (d. 1549) in the 1520s. He must have had some legal training, for in 1528 he became clerk of the sheriffs' court in London, and in 1530 he became an attorney of common pleas and was admitted to the Inner Temple; his 'special admission' to the Temple was no doubt due to the influence of Shelley. In the mid-1530s he transferred his focus from London to Sussex, becoming attorney to the bishop of Chichester and in 1535, clerk of the peace. He began to accumulate lands in Sussex too, through both leasing land (chiefly from the bishop) and through purchase. His marriage in 1551/2 is said to have brought him additional property around Henfield (Sussex), although since his wife's family lived in Warwickshire and her first husband in Essex, the source of these lands is unclear to me. The couple had only one child, Sir Thomas Bishopp (1553-1626), kt. and 1st bt., who continued his father's rapid ascent of the social scale, obtaining a grant of arms in 1592, a knighthood in 1603 and a baronetcy in 1620. He was educated at the Inner Temple, and became an MP and High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. He lived at Henfield, until in 1601 he purchased the Parham estate, with its grand and fairly recently built house, which he had already been renting for five years. 

Sir Thomas married twice, and by his second wife had six children, of whom his heir was Sir Edward Bishopp (1602-49), 2nd bt., who took a further social step by marrying the daughter of a peer in 1625. In the following year, however, Sir Edward was arrested and convicted of manslaughter following the death of the playwright, Henry Shirley, who had called at his house to press him for payment of an annuity which was in arrears. Through the exercise of influence, Sir Edward contrived to avoid any punishment for this crime, but he was harried by Shirley's family through lawsuits throughout the 1630s. During the Civil War he was a prominent royalist but was unable to prevent the capture of Arundel Castle, after which he was imprisoned for a time and his estates were sequestered. To redeem his estates he had to pay a fine set by the Parliamentary authorities, but he contested the valuation of his lands and the fine due, and payment was still outstanding when he died. His eldest son and heir, Sir Thomas Bishopp (1627-52), 3rd bt., went abroad in 1651 and may have died on the Continent, and the fine on the estate seems only finally to have been settled in 1654. By then, Sir Cecil Bishopp (c.1635-1705), 4th bt., had inherited the property.

Culham Manor

His marriage in 1666 brought him a significant estate based on Culham in Oxfordshire, conditional upon Culham Manor (then called Culham House) becoming his main residence, but the residence condition was not binding on his successors, and his son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1673-1725), 5th bt., moved back to Parham, where he instigated an extensive programme of modernisation to classicise the house. Culham Manor is an interesting vernacular house of the 15th and 17th centuries, which was assessed on ten hearths in 1665. After the death of the 4th baronet it seems to have been occupied by the estate steward until 1749, when it became a farmhouse. It was restored and partially rebuilt for Sir Esmond Ovey between 1933 and 1948.

The 4th baronet had married a Roman Catholic and himself converted in the 1680s. His son, the 5th baronet, seems to have maintained this allegiance, and again married a Catholic heiress, who brought him the Newington estate in Oxfordshire. As a Catholic, he was unable to play any part in public life, but his heir, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1700-78), 6th bt., conformed to the established church as soon as he came of age, much to the disgust of his mother. He sat as an MP and took an active part in opposing the Jacobite uprising of 1745. At least until after the death of his mother in 1751, he found the estate impoverished by the number of jointures and annuities to which it was subject, and to compound the problem he had a large family of thirteen children, most of whom survived to adulthood. In his later life, these financial pressures eased, and he was able to make further improvements to Parham, building new stables and commencing the landscaping of the park. He sold Newington House in 1776 but retained the manor, and his will bequeathed Culham and Newington to his sons Thomas (b. 1737) and Edward (1743-92) jointly, while Parham passed to his eldest son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1728-79), 7th bt. However, the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire says both Culham and Newington passed to the 7th baronet, and it seems likely that the two younger brothers agreed to sell their inheritance to their elder brother to keep the estate intact.

Juniper Hall, Mickleham: a naive and probably early 19th century view. 

The comparatively long life of the 6th baronet led his eldest son to purchase an estate at Mickleham (Surrey) for his own residence in 1762, where he converted an existing inn building into a house which became known as Juniper Hall, which he occupied until he inherited Parham in 1778. His unexpected death just fifteen months later left his property in the hands of his son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (later Bisshopp) (1753-1828), 8th bt., who sold his father's house in Surrey. He undertook further remodelling of the house at Parham and completed the landscaping work begun by his grandfather. He was active in public life, serving as an MP for local constituencies and also in the militia and volunteers, and in 1804 he pursued a claim to the barony of Zouche of Haryngworth - created in 1308 but in abeyance since 1625 - to which his mother had been one of the co-heirs. This claim being eventually successful, he was summoned to Parliament as the 12th Baron Zouche in 1815. Lord Zouche's marriage produced two sons and three daughters, but his sons - who joined the army and the navy respectively - both predeceased him, and one of his daughters died in infancy. At his death, therefore, the barony fell into abeyance between his two surviving daughters, who also inherited his property, while his baronetcy passed to his senior male heir, the Very Rev. Sir George William Bisshopp (1791-1834), 9th bt., who was a senior figure in the Church of Ireland., and then to three of his sons in turn, none of whom produced surviving male issue. The baronetcy therefore became extinct on the death of the 12th baronet in 1870.

Lord Zouche's two surviving daughters were Harriett Anne Bisshopp (1787-1870) and Katharine Annabella Bisshopp (1791-1871). The abeyance of the barony of Zouche was terminated in favour of Harriett, the elder daughter, in 1829, and the two sisters agreed a division of the estates, which in broad terms meant that Parham passed to Harriett and Culham and Newington to Katharine. Harriett married the Hon. Robert Curzon MP (1774-1863), and had two sons. The elder, Robert Curzon (1810-73), who succeeded her as 14th Baron Zouche in 1870, was a diplomat who travelled extensively in the Near East and filled Parham with collections of armour, manuscripts and other trophies of his life abroad. He had a son and a daughter, who succeeded him in turn in the barony and the Parham estate. Neither of them had any children, so on the death of Darea Curzon (1860-1917), 16th Baroness Zouche, both the barony and the Parham estate descended to her first cousin once removed, Mary Cecil Curzon (1875-1965), 17th Baroness Zouche; she sold Parham in 1922, with many of the family pictures, to the Hon. Clive Pearson.

Katharine Annabella Bisshopp (1791-1871), who inherited the Culham and Newington estates, married Vice-Admiral Sir George Richard Brooke-Pechell (1789-1860), 4th bt., of Castle Goring (Sussex), a distinguished naval officer and politician. They sold their Oxfordshire property in 1856; Culham was sold to James Morrell of Headington (Oxon), while the lands at Newington were split into three lots and sold separately.

Parham House, Sussex

The Parham estate was a grange of Westminster Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries, and was sold by the Crown in 1540 to Robert Palmer (d. 1544), a London mercer, for £1,258. The monks had a thatched hall with a kitchen and chamber here in 1357 as well as the grange building, and some part of this or its successor may have provided a first home for the Palmers on the estate. Robert's son, Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1582), kt., is thought to have incorporated it into the east wing of the new south-facing H-plan house, for which the foundation stone was laid by his two-year-old grandson in January 1577/8. The shell of the house was probably completed by the time of Sir Thomas' death in 1582, but internal fitting-out was delayed until after the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Bishopp, kt. and 1st bt., in 1601. Similarities with Loseley House (Surrey) and nearby Wiston Park (Sussex) led Christopher Hussey to suggest that the same mason might have been responsible for all three houses, and that he was the 'Mabbanke' or Maybank recorded at Loseley in the 1560s, but there is no documentary evidence for his involvement at either Sussex house. The next major changes were made for Sir Edward Bishopp (d. 1649), 2nd bt., who, probably in the 1630s, added a three-storey hipped-roof block of lodgings to the north side of the house. In 1670, the house was taxed on 25 hearths, making it one of the larger mansions in the county. At the beginning of the 18th century, Sir Cecil Bishopp (d. 1725), 5th bt., made the facades of the house as classical as he could manage and inserted sash windows in place of the existing mullioned and transomed windows wherever he could. Further classicising changes were made later, including the replacement of the Elizabethan gables around the house with segmental gables. The earliest surviving accurate illustrations of the house date from the late 18th century and show it after these changes.

Parham House: drawing by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm, c.1770.

By the time Harriet Anne, Baroness Zouche, inherited the house from her father in 1828 it was apparently in poor repair, and she and her husband, the Hon. Robert Curzon, brought in Anthony Salvin to carry out a programme of repairs and alterations in 1828-36 which  continued in a piecemeal fashion for more than 25 years. Salvin created a new main entrance on the north side of the house, re-roofed the building with cast iron beams, and began the process of returning the house to an Elizabethan appearance by taking out the 18th century sashes and replacing them with mullioned and transomed windows. 

Parham House: watercolour of the south front, 1855, after Salvin's restoration of the gables.

Parham House: watercolour of the north front, 1855, after Salvin's creation of a new entrance on this side.

Parham House: the south front, c.1900, showing the bay windows added by Salvin in 1870-73 to light the double-height rooms he created in each wing. (Image: Historic England).

In 1870-73 Salvin returned to make further changes for the 14th Baron Zouche, taking out floors in the south ends of both the east and west wings to create a pair of double-height rooms. Finally, the process of restoration was continued by (Albert) Victor Heal (1887-1975) after the house was sold - with many of the Bishopp family pictures - to the Hon. Clive Pearson in 1922, in an intermittent campaign which continued until the client's widow died in 1974. Heal's remodelling was on the whole sensitive and scholarly, and included the reversal of Salvin's changes to the east and west wings, further replacement of sash windows with more Tudor mullioned and transomed windows, and the replacement and relocation of plasterwork and panelling. Less fortunately, he also reduced the height of the porch on the south front from three storeys to two, in what now seems to have been the mistaken belief that this was the original arrangement. 

Parham House: the south front as restored by Victor Heal, after the reduction of the porch to two storeys. (Image: RIBA).

The Pearsons bought Parham with many of its pictures, but also addeed to the collections by the careful and judicious purchase of portaits and furniture relating to the 17th century. Parham was requisitioned during the Second World War and accommodated the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian infantry divisions, with the officers living in the house and the other ranks in Nissen huts in the park, but the family managed to retain part of the house and their presence on site no doubt deterred the rough treatment so often experienced by requisitioned houses. It was returned to the family in 1946 and opened to the public soon afterwards, at the suggestion of the art historian Rupert Gunnis, who was a friend of the family and recognised the significance of the house and its collections.

Parham House: ground plan, after a plan by Victor Heal. North is at the bottom. (Image: Historic England)

The house was originally entered through a three-storey stone porch in the centre of the E-shaped south front. This led into a screens passage, with the two-storey hall to its left and the state rooms beyond it in the west wing, while to the right of the screens passage were the buttery and family rooms and (in the basement but rising through two storeys), the kitchen. Broadly speaking, these arrangements have been retained through subsequent centuries, although there have been considerable changes to the fabric with successive additions and restorations. 

The south front has work of all the major periods of the house's development. The south porch was altered at the beginning of the 18th century for Sir Cecil Bishopp, 5th bt., who added a new doorcase with an open swan-necked pediment and the arms of his wife's family, the Dunches. The 18th century also saw the original gables on the front removed and the wall carried up an extra storey to provide a parapet; these changes were reversed by Salvin. The big grid of four plain mullioned windows lighting the hall, with no ornament except a delicate frieze, is original 16th century work, although the windows were lowered by more than three feet in the 1830s. All the rest of the mullioned windows were installed either by Salvin or by Heal, replacing 18th century sashes, and the only sashes to survive now are the six to the right of the porch. The canted bays on the ends of the wings, added by Salvin, were reconstructed by Heal as part of unpicking Salvin's alterations to the wings. The four-storey east side of the house was also reconstructed by Heal, who restored the tall projecting bays containing chimneystacks and privy chutes. The west front still has a pediment and some sash windows, installed in 1791 when the rooms behind were remodelled in neo-classical style, but was otherwise restored by Heal with mullioned and transomed windows.

Parham House: the north front in the mid 20th century. (Image: Gary Richardson).

The north front, originally very much the rear elevation, was made the main entrance front in 1829-30, when Salvin excavated the forecourt and created the projecting Tudor Gothic entrance and the screen wall hiding the kitchen court. Behind the screen is Sir Edward Bishopp's 17th century block of lodgings, which was refenestrated in the 18th century and reduced in height and given a flat roof in the 1950s. All that remains of the original 16th century rear elevation are the gables at either end.

Parham House: great hall, as depicted by Joseph Nash in 1840.

From Salvin's north entrance, a flight of steps rises to the level of the 16th century ground floor, after which a slightly awkward dog-leg across the foot of the main staircase leads into the two-storey Great Hall by a doorway in its north-west corner. The hall is flooded with light from the great grid of south-facing windows. The space looks today much as it does in a view of 1840 by Joseph Nash, but by then, of course, any alterations by Salvin had taken place. The room now has an early 18th century black and white stone floor which extends from the screens passage to the west wall in an unbroken expanse, but almost certainly there would originally have been a step marking the division between the dais (west) end of the room, and the body of the hall. The room has a fine plaster ceiling with pendants and an elaborate star pattern of thin ribs, which was renewed by Salvin in 1835 (W. Simmonds, plasterer), when the pattern was made more sinuous and the frieze was probably added. On the west wall is a plaster achievement of the arms of Queen Elizabeth I, which was damaged in 1832 and restored in 1873 when the date was altered from 1583 to 1593. The screen at the east end of the hall is original work, with its pilasters and rich small-scale ornament. Above the screens passage there is, not the usual open gallery, but an enclosed space forming part of the steward's room over the buttery, from which two wooden mullioned windows afforded a view down into the hall. The panelling which surrounds the lower parts of the hall walls on the other three sides was moved here from elsewhere in the house by Heal, stripped, and altered as necessary to fit its new location, and work continued on this as late as 1965.

Parham House: the great hall in 1902, before the installation of the current panelling. The armour comes from the extensive collection
of the 14th Baron Zouche, formed in the mid 19th century. (Image: Country Life) 

The west wing of the house contained the Elizabethan state rooms, but has been completely remodelled internally, so that little can now be said about its original state. The principal survival is the main staircase, which rises in a typical mid-16th century fashion around a solid masonry core. It led up to the Great Chamber, occupying the entire first floor of the wing, and then up another floor to the 158-foot Long Gallery, which runs all along the main range of the building on the top floor, and has recessed bays on both sides. The gallery is simply panelled with Ionic pilasters articulating the panelling, and originally had a plain but irregular plaster vault with canted sides and a flat centre; this was replaced in 1962 by a nearly segmental ceiling of timber-framed canvas panels decorated by Oliver Messel with a charming overall pattern of leaves, suggesting an open-air bower. A few years later, Gordon Davies, called in initially to advise on a problem with flaking paint, added the birds, nests and butterflies to the design.

Parham House: the long gallery in 1902 (Image: Country Life)

Parham House: the long gallery as decorated by Oliver Messel and Gordon Davies.

Also on the top floor of the house is the Ship Room in the west wing, which takes its name from the plasterwork ship over the fireplace by Esmond Burton, 1935. The ground floor of the west wing is now occupied by three rooms: from south to north the Great Parlour, the Saloon, and the West Library. The Great Parlour was recreated by Heal in 1922-23 from the lower part of Salvin's billiard room, and has a plaster frieze and ceiling modelled freehand by Esmond Burton in 1935. The panelling was fitted only in 1973. The saloon and west library were created in 1791 for Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 8th bt., in neo-classical style, and have screens of Roman Doric columns. The first floor was remodelled by Heal to form a bedroom suite for the Pearsons in 1925, and is severely plain, relying on its collection of Bishopp family portraits and furniture for its effect, although the so-called Great Chamber, above the Great Parlour, has a fine plasterwork overmantel incorporating a view of the house, presumably by Esmond Burton.

East of the hall stood the family and service accommodation of the house: first the buttery, then the dining parlour, and in the south end of the east wing, the winter parlour. The dining parlour was made into the South Library in the 1870s, and has a ceiling of that time, perhaps a reproduction of an original 16th century ceiling. The winter parlour was destroyed by Salvin when he created a double-height dining room at the south end of the east wing in the 1870s, but was restored by Heal, who retained it as the dining room of the house. In the first-floor space above, he created bedrooms, cleverly creating bathrooms out of the spaces built as privies in the 16th century.

The house sits in a Tudor parkland of wood pasture, with big trees and open ground now covered in bracken, facing towards the bare slopes of the chalkland South Downs. The herd of deer in the park are first recorded in 1628, but were probably established in the 16th century; the park was damaged during the Civil War and was restocked by Sir Cecil Bishopp, 4th bt., who may have used Parham chiefly as a hunting seat. A walled garden was created north of the house in the 18th century, which retains its original layout of crossed paths, and Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th bt. and his son, briefly the 7th bt., began the process of new planting in the park, supplementing the ancient oaks with beeches and Scotch firs. The areas nearer the house were lightly landscaped and given a lake (west of the house) in the 1790s and 1800s, when a plain new stable quadrangle (planned in the 1770s but not finished until the 1790s) was built between the house and the walled garden. At the same time, the small village of Parham was demolished and the church was rebuilt on a new site south of the house, so as to improve the views from the house. Although much of the fabric of the old church was reused when it was relocated, the top of the tower, which is in a primitive neo-Norman style reminiscent of work of this period at Arundel Castle, is evidently all of c.1800-12. Inside, the new fittings of that time are all in a charming, spare, Gothick style, quite unspoilt by later alterations. In the 1870s the stable court was given a Tudor gate arch and end blocks, and after 1922 new glasshouses were built, as well as Arts & Crafts style garden offices and stores, and a two-storey Wendy house, designed in 1925 by Heal, which was much used as a venue for picnics. The house and gardens have been open to the public almost continuously since 1948.

Descent: Crown sold 1540 to Robert Palmer (c.1475-1544); to son, Sir Thomas Palmer (c.1520-82), kt.; to son, William Palmer (d. 1586); to son, Sir Thomas Palmer (1574-1605), kt., who rented 1596 and sold 1601 to Sir Thomas Bishopp (1553-1626), kt. and 1st bt.; to son, Sir Edward Bishopp (1602-49), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Thomas Bishopp (1627-52), 3rd bt.; to brother, Sir Cecil Bishopp (c.1635-1705), 4th bt.; to son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1673-1725), 5th bt.; to son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1700-78), 6th bt.; to son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1728-79), 7th bt.; to son, Sir Cecil Bisshopp (1753-1828), 8th bt. and 12th Baron Zouche; to daughter, Harriet Anne (1787-1870), 13th Baroness Zouche, wife of the Hon. Robert Curzon; to son, Robert Curzon (1810-83), 14th Baron Zouche; to son, Robert Nathaniel Cecil George Curzon (1851-1914), 15th Baron Zouche; to sister, Darea Curzon (1860-1917), 16th Baroness Zouche; to first cousin, once removed, Mary (1875-1965), 17th Baroness Zouche, wife of Sir Frederick William Francis George Frankland (d. 1937), 10th bt.; she sold 1922 to Hon. (Bernard) Clive Pearson (1887-1965); to widow, Alicia Mary Dorothea Pearson (1893-1974); to daughter Veronica (1916-93), wife of Patrick Arthur Tritton (1906-84); to great-niece, Lady Emma Lavinia Guinness (b. 1963), later wife of James Barnard.

Newington House, Oxfordshire

The estate belonged to Canterbury Cathedral Priory from the early 11th century until the dissolution of the monasteries, and the monks had a medieval manor house here, which was equipped with a dovecot in 1479. It seems to have been used occasionally by the priors, as three chambers were reserved for their use in 1533. After the dissolution, the old house was occupied by the Oglethorpe family, who either repaired it or rebuilt it c.1578, using stone from Oriel Quarry at Headington (Oxon). A map of 1595 shows it standing south of the church, and as Newington Place it was taxed on 12 hearths in 1665. Some of the fabric of this house may be incorporated in the building which is today called the Manor House, which stands between the church and the present Newington House.

Newington House: entrance front and gateway, c.1960.

The present Newington House was built for Henry Dunch in 1678 or just after, a date confirmed by tree-ring dating, and is almost certainly the house at Newington mentioned in 1680 as having been built by Richard Frogley, carpenter, and Thomas Wood, mason, both of Oxford. It is a big rectangular house of squared limestone rubble, set back behind a forecourt with fine gatepiers with heraldic griffins holding shields (added about 1700), and 18th century gates with a scrollwork cresting. The two main fronts are both flat elevations of seven bays, with ashlar angle quoins; the windows have uniform moulded surrounds. There were formerly segmental pediments over the front and rear doorways, but these have been removed, leaving only a tell-tale scar. The elevations were originally of two storeys, but a third storey was added in 1777, reusing some of the timbers from the hipped and platformed 17th century roof. The simple Corinthian porch and the present interior decoration are no doubt of much the same time. 

Newington House: entrance/staircase hall

The entrance/stair hall is at the front, and has a bold cornice and a timber staircase with plain stick balusters, rising in three flights to the cross corrider on the first floor. At the back of the hall, a Doric doorcase opens to the central saloon behind, where the cornice matches that of the porch. 

Newington House: the saloon.

Newington House: dining room

Several rooms, including the dining room, have fine marble chimneypieces and enriched cornices. The stables and coach house, north-east of the house, date from the 17th century. 

Descent: Crown sold 1544 to two London agents, who sold 1546 to John Oglethorpe (d. 1579); to son, Owen Oglethorpe MP, who sold to Edmund Dunch (d. 1623); to son, Walter Dunch (d. 1645); to nephew, Edmund Dunch (d. 1678); to son, Henry Dunch (d. 1686); to widow Anne (d. 1690) for life and then to daughter Elizabeth (1684-1751), later wife of Sir Cecil Bishopp (1673-1725), 5th bt.; to son, Sir Cecil Bishopp (1700-78), 6th bt., who sold the house 1776 to George White (d. 1789); to widow, Letitia (d. c.1792) and then to son, George White (d. 1813); to son, Thomas Gilbert White (d. 1878); to Sir George Floyd Duckett (1811-1902), 3rd bt., who sold before 1887 to J. Golby; to son?, W.A. Golby, who sold c.1908 to the tenant, the American artist and hostess, Ethel Sands (1873-1962), who sold 1920 to Capt. Alex Wallace Gilmour (d. 1946); sold to Col. Alan Vincent Gandar Dower MP (1898-1980); sold 1980 to Christopher Maltin (b. 1944); sold 1987 to John Barratt; sold 1991 to John Dering Nettleton (b. 1944); to son, John James Dering Nettleton (b. 1982); for sale in 2026.

Bishop (later Bisshopp) family of Parham

Bishopp, Thomas (d. 1560). Parentage unknown, but born before 1506, perhaps at Ayot (Herts); according to his descendants his father originated in Yorkshire. He was perhaps educated at Cambridge (BA 1516/7) and Inner Temple (special admission, 1530; marshal, 1547; steward, 1551, 1554; bencher, 1554). Servant of William Shelley by 1527; clerk of the sheriffs’ court of London, 1528-33; attorney of Common Pleas by 1530 until after 1545; attorney for Robert Sherborne, bishop of Chichester by 1536; clerk of the peace, for Sussex, 1535-55, 1559-60; escheator for Surrey and Sussex, 1554-55; JP for Sussex, 1554-60; MP for Gatton (Surrey), 1542. He married, 1551/2, Elizabeth (d. 1590?), only but illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Belknap, kt. and widow of William Scott (d. 1551) of Stapleford Tawney (Essex), and had issue:

(1) Sir Thomas Bishopp (1553-1626), kt. and 1st bt. (q.v.).

He is said to have inherited a large estate in Sussex in right of his wife, and also accumulated further lands by purchase and leasing from the 1530s onwards.

He died 6 January 1560 and was buried at Henfield, where he is commemorated by a monumental brass which gives his date of death inaccurately as 1552/3; his will was proved 24 October 1560. His widow may be the woman of this name buried at St Peter the Great, Chichester, 3 March 1589/90.

Sir Thomas Bishopp, 1st bt. 

Bishopp, Sir Thomas (1553-1626), kt. and 1st bt. Only child of Thomas Bishopp (d. 1560) and his wife Elizabeth, illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Belknap, kt. and widow of William Scott, born 30 April 1553. A minor at his father's death, he became a ward of Sir Richard Sackville (c.1507-66), kt. of Ashburnham (Sussex), and later the latter's son, Thomas Sackville (1536-1608), 1st Earl of Dorset. Educated at Inner Temple (admitted 1572). MP for Gatton (Surrey), 1584-85 and Steyning, 1586, 1602-04; High Sheriff of Surrey & Sussex, 1584-85, 1601-02; JP for Sussex (from 1578) and DL for Sussex (from 1618). A Commissioner for Recusants in the 1580s. He obtained a grant of arms from Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of Arms, in 1592; was knighted at Theobalds, 7 May 1603; and was raised to a baronetcy, 23 July 1620, on payment of £1,600. He married 1st, 29 September 1577, Ann, daughter of William Cromer of Tunstall (Kent), and 2nd, before 1589, Jane (d. 1637), daughter of Sir Henry Weston (d. 1592), kt., of Sutton Place (Surrey), and had issue:

(2.1) Elizabeth Bishopp (1590-1664); married, 14 December 1612 at Parham, Sir John Gresham (d. 1643), kt. of Titsey (Surrey), son and heir of Sir Thomas Gresham, kt., of Titsey; died 5 June, and was buried at Titsey, 10 June 1664;

(2.2) Frances Bishopp (1596-1659); married John Aldford of Offington (Sussex); died 23 October and was buried at Broadwater (Sussex), 27 October 1659;

(2.3) Thomas Bishopp (1597-1610), born 16 July and baptised at Henfield, 31 July 1597; died young and was buried 1 December 1610;

(2.4) Sir Edward Bishopp (1602-49), 2nd bt. (q.v.);

(2.5) Henry Bishopp (1605-92), baptised at Parham, 8 September 1605; inherited his father's property at Henfield; a Royalist in the Civil War, who determined to make his peace with the Parliamentary authorities, but receiving no answer emigrated in 1644 to Virginia, where he remained until 1646; the Grand Assembly of Virginia told Parliament in that year that he had taken the National Covenant and requested that the sequestration of his estates might be lifted; died unmarried, 19 March, and was buried at Henfield (Sussex), 23 March 1691/2, where he is commemorated by a simple but elegant monument;

(2.6) Jane Bishopp (b. 1609), born 29 October 1609 and was baptised 29 January 1609/10, her baptism being delayed because of an outbreak of plague in her father's house at Henfield; probably died young but burial not traced.

He inherited his father's lands in Surrey and Sussex, and had a seat at Henfield. From 1596 he rented Parham House and in 1601 he bought the freehold of the estate.

He died 26 November, and was buried at Parham, 28 November 1626; his will was proved 14 February 1626/7. His first wife died before 1589. His widow was buried at Henfield, 24 January 1636/7.

Sir Edward Bishopp (1602-49), 2nd bt. 

Bishopp, Sir Edward (1602-49), 2nd bt. Elder surviving son of Sir Thomas Bishopp (1553-1626), 1st bt., and his wife, born 6 September and baptised at Henfield, 20 September 1602. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1619) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1620). He was knighted at Hampton Court, 18 December 1625 and succeeded his father as 2nd baronet 26 November 1626. MP for Steyning (Sussex), 1626. In 1627, he was tried for the manslaughter of Henry Shirley, playwright, who had called on him to demand payment of an annuity; he was convicted and sentenced to be burned on the hand, but was pardoned on condition that he paid the annuity to Shirley's elder brother (which he never did); he was still being pursued for debts owed by Shirley as late as 1637. Despite this criminal record, he was chosen as High Sheriff of Sussex, 1636-37 (when he notably collected the entire £5,000 of ship money due from the county) and MP for Bramber, 1640, though his election was set aside for bribery and he was disabled from sitting for any constituency in that Parliament. In 1638 he had licence to travel abroad for three years, but he was back in England by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 and probably by 1640. He was an ardent Royalist during the Civil War and served as governor of Arundel Castle, 1643-44, being taken prisoner at the  surrender of the castle in January 1644 and then held in the Tower of London for some time. His estates were sequestered and he compounded for them in October 1644; his fine was originally set at £12,300 but he managed to whittle this down to £4,790 and eventually in 1647 to £800, but it still remained unpaid at his death. He married, 12 September 1625 at Hothfield (Kent), Lady Mary Tufton (1607-63), fourth daughter of Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet, and had issue:

(1) Frances Bishopp (1626-94), baptised at Parham, 3 August 1626; married, 2 May 1642 in London (but entered in the register of Washington (Sussex)), Sir Henry Goring (1622-1702), 2nd bt., of Highden, Washington (Sussex), MP for Sussex, 1660-61 and Steyning, 1661-79, son of Henry Goring (d. 1655), and had issue four sons and three daughters; died 14 December and was buried at Billingshurst (Sussex), 17 December 1694;

(2) Sir Thomas Bishopp (1627-52), 3rd bt. (q.v.);

(3) Edward Bishopp (1629-33), baptised at Parham, 26 January 1628/9; died young, 15 May 1633;

(4) Diana Bishopp (1630-94), baptised at Parham, 20 May 1630; married, 1655, as his second wife, Sir George Warburton (1623?-76), 1st bt., of Arley (Ches.), and had issue five sons and eight daughters; after her husband died she wrote an elegant epitaph for his monument at Great Budworth (Ches.) and lived 'in an unmarried state with true mourning, fasting and prayers' until she died 15 March 1693/4 and was buried at St John the Baptist, Chester, where she is commemorated by a fine standing monument designed by Edward Pierce;

(5) Mary Bishopp (b. 1633), baptised at Parham, 19 December 1633; probably died young but burial not traced;

(6) Sir Cecil Bishopp (c.1635-1705), 4th bt. (q.v.);

(7) Christian Bishopp (1639-97), baptised at Rainham (Kent), 9 February 1639/40; married 1666 (licence 29 October), as his second wife, Sir Thomas Cobb (1627?-99), 1st bt., of Adderbury (Oxon), and had issue at least five sons; died 26 March 1696/7 and was buried at Adderbury;

(8) Charles Bishopp (1648-72), baptised at Parham, 8 July 1648; died unmarried and was buried at Parham, 6 August 1672.

He inherited the Parham House estate from his father in 1626.

He died 2 April 1649; his will was proved 8 April 1649. His widow was buried at Parham, 24 December 1663.

Bishopp, Sir Thomas (1627-52), 3rd bt. Eldest son of Sir Edward Bishopp (1602-49), 2nd bt., and his wife Lady Mary, fourth daughter of Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet, born 3 December and baptised at Parham, 10 December 1627. His later education must have been thoroughly disrupted by the Civil War and his father's subsequent travails. He succeeded his father as 3rd baronet, 2 April 1649. In 1651 he had leave from the Commonwealth authorities to travel to Livorno (Italy). He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited the Parham House estate from his father in 1649.

He may have died abroad, but was buried at Parham, 24 July 1652.

Bishopp, Sir Cecil (c.1635-1705), 4th bt. Third son of Sir Edward Bishopp (1602-49), 2nd bt., and his wife Lady Mary, fourth daughter of Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet, born about 1635. He succeeded his elder brother as 4th baronet, July 1652. MP for Bramber, 1662-79. At first an ardent supporter of the established church, and indeed appointed one of the Commissioners for Recusants in 1675, he seems to have joined the Roman Catholic church during the reign of King James II, to whom he had a deep personal loyalty. The exiled king intended to recognise his attachment by creating him Baron Pevensey, but although he is said to have signed a patent to this effect, the title is not recognised as one of the Jacobite Peerages. He married, 17 June 1666 at Culham (Oxon), Sarah (1650-80), daughter and heiress of George Bury of Culham, and had issue:

(1) Sarah Bishopp (1667-95), born 24 April 1667; married, 7 July 1694, as his first wife, and with a portion of £5,000, Sir Richard Newdigate (1668-1727), 3rd bt., of Harefield (Middx) and Arbury Hall (Warks) (who m2, 17 June 1704, Elizabeth (1681-1765), daughter of Sir Roger Twysden MP, 2nd bt.), but had no issue; died in childbirth, 5 October 1695, and was buried at Harefield, where she is commemorated by a monument;

(2) Edward Bishopp (1669-92), born 19 May and baptised at St Giles-in-the-Fields, Holborn (Middx), 1 June 1669; died unmarried in the lifetime of his father and was buried at Parham, 18 May 1692;

(3) Christian Bishopp (1670-1765), born 23 August and baptised at Parham, 2 September 1670; married, 13 August 1696 at Parham, Sir Robert Fagge (1673-1736), 3rd bt., of Wiston House (Sussex), MP for Steyning, 1708-10, and had issue four sons and three daughters; died aged 95 on 30 August, and was buried at Wiston, 4 September 1765; will proved in the PCC, 10 September 1765;

(4) Mary Bishopp (1672-1755), baptised at Parham, 11 October 1672; married, 1701, Thomas Mannock (d. 1722?), fourth son of Sir Francis Mannock (d. 1687), 2nd bt., of Great Bromley Hall (Essex), but had no issue; buried at Great Bromley, 7 December 1755;

(5) Sir Cecil Bishopp (1673-1725), 5th bt. (q.v.).

He inherited the Parham House estate from his elder brother in 1652 and came of age about 1654. Under his marriage settlement he also inherited the Culham House estate, with the manor of Water Eaton (Oxon) and lands in Sutton Courtenay, Newnham and Clifton nearby; the grant was conditional on Culham remaining his main residence, a condition with which he complied.

He died 3 June and was buried at Parham, 6 June 1705; his will was proved at Chichester, 11 June 1705. His wife was buried at Culham, 12 March 1679/80.

Bishopp, Sir Cecil (1673-1725), 5th bt. Younger but only surviving son of Sir Cecil Bishopp (c.1635-1705), 4th bt., and his wife  Sarah, daughter and heiress of George Bury of Culham (Oxon), baptised at Parham, 25 April 1673. He undertook a Grand Tour on the Continent with the Rev. William Brown and his older brother Edward (d. 1692) in 1687-90. In 1695 he was involved with two friends in an affray in the Haymarket, Westminster, in which a man called Hildebrand Horden was killed; he was charged with manslaughter, but later given bail and the matter seems never to have been brought to trial. In 1710 he was offered the opportunity to purchase a peerage for £7,000, but turned it down. He married, 13 August 1698 at Battersea (Surrey), Elizabeth (1684-1751), daughter and sole heiress of Henry Dunch of Newington (Oxon), and had issue including:

(1) Anne Bishopp (1699-1700), baptised 3 August 1699; died in infancy and was buried at Parham, 30 July 1700;

(2) Sir Cecil Bishopp (1700-78), 6th bt. (q.v.);

(3) Mary Bishopp (1703-39), baptised at Newington (Oxon), 4 January 1703/4; married, 1723, John Dormer (1691-1785), 7th Baron Dormer, of Grove Park (Warks) and Peterley (Bucks), and had issue five sons and two daughters; died 29 October and was buried at Great Missenden (Bucks), 1 November 1739;

(4) Henry Bishopp (b. & d. 1706), baptised at Parham, 24 September 1706; died in infancy and was buried at Parham, 7 October 1706;

(5) Charles Bishopp (1708-39), born 3 December and baptised at St Anne, Soho, Westminster (Middx), 20 December 1708; died unmarried of a fever at Prague (Czechia), 1739;

(6) James Bishopp (b. 1712), born 28 September and baptised at St Anne, Soho, Westminster, 6 October 1712; a Jacobite during the uprising in 1745; he attempted to cross the channel to join French forces for an invasion of the Sussex coast and was detained, but apparently never charged with an offence; living in 1750, when he was mentioned in his mother's will;

(7) John Bishopp (b. 1714), baptised at St Paul, Covent Garden, Westminster, 17 March 1713/4; living in 1750, when he was mentioned in his mother's will.

He inherited the Parham House and Culham House estates from his father in 1705 and began to classicise the house at Parham, inserting sash windows in placed of mullioned and transomed ones. He also inherited the Newington estate in Oxfordshire in right of his wife.

He was buried at Parham, 23 October 1725; his will was proved in the PCC, 10 November 1725. His widow died in 1751; her will was proved in the PCC, 18 March 1750/1.

Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th bt. 

Bishopp, Sir Cecil (1700-78), 6th bt. Eldest son of Sir Cecil Bishopp (1673-1725), 5th bt., and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Henry Dunch of Newington (Oxon), born 30 October 1700 and baptised at Newington, 10 November 1700. He was raised by his mother as a Roman Catholic, but conformed to the established church on reaching his majority. MP for Penryn (Cornw.), 1727-34 and Boroughbridge, 1755-61, 1761-68. During the Jacobite uprising of 1745 he was given a commission as a Colonel to raise a company of Foot in the Yorkshire area, but found it difficult to find junior officers. Superintendent of Foundries (then chiefly in the Sussex weald) to the Ordnance, 1751-78. For more than 25 years after he inherited the estate, he was short of money due to the number of jointures and annuities payable from it. In these circumstances his large family excited some comment, although it was noted that his bevy of daughters were all beauties. His financial needs made him more exigent that he would otherwise have been in seeking offices and perquisites from the Government. He married, 1726, Hon. Anne (1704-47), second daughter of Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth, and had issue:

(1) Sir Cecil Bishopp (1728-79), 7th bt. (q.v.);

(2) Anne Bishopp (1729-1803), born 27 May and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 11 June 1729; a woman of the bedchamber to HM Queen Charlotte; married, 27 January 1759 at Parham, Col. the Hon. Robert Brudenell (1726-68), third son of George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 1 October 1803 and was buried with her husband in St George's Chapel, Windsor (Berks); will proved 7 October 1803;

(3) Charlotte Bishopp (1731-62), born 2 or 12 December 1731 and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 1 January 1731/2; married, 13 August 1751 at Westminster Abbey, Sir William Maynard (1721-72), 4th bt., MP for Essex, 1759-72, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died in London, 16 May, and was buried at Little Easton (Essex), 21 May 1762;

(4) Mary Bishopp (1732-57), born 19 January and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 4 March 1732; 'a young lady of singular accomplishments'; died unmarried at her father's house in London, 31 March, and was buried at Parham, 4 April 1757;

(5) Edward Bishopp (1733-36), baptised at Parham, 14 February 1732/3; died young and was buried at Parham, 20 February 1735/6; 

(6) Thomas Bishopp (b. 1737), born 22 June and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 7 July 1737; a Page of Honour to HRH the Prince of Wales, 1751; an officer in the Yeomen of the Guard (Lt., 1763-73); died unmarried after 1773, but burial not traced;

(7) Lucy Bishopp (1739-56), born 27 March and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 20 May 1739; died unmarried and was buried at Parham, 11 November 1756;

(8) Elizabeth Bishopp (1740-58), born 7 June and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 2 July 1740; died unmarried and was buried at Parham, 3 December 1758;

(9) Frances Bishopp (1741-1804), born 11 May and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 24 May 1741; maid of honour to Queen Charlotte, 1761; married, 4 February 1764, as his second wife, Sir George Warren (1735-1801), kt., of Poynton Lodge (Ches.), MP for Lancaster, 1753-80, 1786-96, and for Beaumaris, 1780-84; died 16 February, and was buried at Parham, 24 February 1804;

(10) Harriet Bishopp (1742-1825), born 28 August and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 18 September 1742; married 1st, 5 June 1766 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Thomas Dummer MP (1739-81) of Cranbury Park (Hants), who left her 'his immense wealth' and also the estate at Cranbury for life; she married 2nd*, 17 July 1783 at St Marylebone (Middx), Sir Nathaniel Dance (later Dance-Holland) (1735-1811), 1st bt., the painter, MP for East Grinstead; died without issue, 12 June and was buried at South Stoneham (Hants), 22 June 1825; will proved in the PCC, 28 June 1825;

(11) Edward Bishopp (1743-92) [for whom see below];

(12) Catherine Bishopp (1744-1827), born 16 November and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 13 December 1744; married 1st, 5 June 1767 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Sir Charles Cope (1742-81), 2nd bt., of Orton Longueville (Hunts) and Bruern Abbey (Oxon), and had issue one son and two daughters; married 2nd, 22 June 1782 at her house in Hertford St. in the parish of St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Charles Jenkinson (1729-1808), 1st Baron Hawkesbury and later 1st Earl of Liverpool, of Addiscombe Place (Surrey) and Hawkesbury (Glos), and had further issue one son and four daughters; died 1 October 1827 and was buried at Buxted (Sussex), where she is commemorated by a monument; her will was proved in the PCC, 16 October 1827;

(13) Henry (k/a Harry) Bishopp (1746-1821), born 30 March and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 23 April 1746; an officer in the 17th Dragoons (Capt., 1762; Maj., 1773) and later the Cheshire Fencibles (Col.); Inspecting Field Officer of Yeomanry and Volunteer Corps, 1807; married**, 23 February 1775 at St Audoen, Dublin, Mary Wicker (1751-1827), and had issue two sons and nine daughters, of whom five were apparently born prior to his marriage; he lived at Storrington (Sussex), where the parish register was altered to suggest that all but two of the children were legitimate; died 26 September and was buried at Parham, 5 October 1821.

He inherited the Parham House estate and Culham-Newington estate from his father in 1725 and began landscaping the grounds at Parham c.1770. On his mother's death in 1751 he inherited a further £2,000 a year. He sold Newington House in 1776 but retained the manor, and at his death Parham passed to his eldest son and the Culham & Newington property to his sons Thomas and Edward, who apparently sold it to their elder brother, as he was in possession later.

He died 15 June and was buried at Parham, 22 June 1778; his will was proved 20 June 1778. His wife was buried at Parham, 11 May 1747.

* Some accounts say she married Dance in 1790 and record an intervening marriage to Thomas Chamberlayne, the reversionary heir to Cranbury, but the marriage to Dance took place in 1783 and her name was given there as Dummer, so this seems to be an error.

** In 1775, when he applied for a fortnight's leave to settle his wife and six children in Sussex before embarking with his regiment for North America, his commanding officer described him as 'unfortunately married'; his wife was the illegitimate daughter of a single woman, baptised at Amberley (Sussex) in 1751.

Bishopp, Sir Cecil (1728-79), 7th bt. Eldest son of Sir Cecil Bishopp (1700-78), 6th bt., and his wife Hon. Anne, second daughter of Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth, baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 1 May 1728. His main interest was in breeding and racing horses, which although he had some success in winning prizes, was an expensive hobby. He succeeded his father as 7th baronet, 15 June 1778. He married, 8 January 1750/1 at Bath Abbey (Som.), Susan (1725-91), eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Charles Hedges (c.1694-1737) of Finchley (Middx), and had issue:

(1) Sir Cecil Bishopp (later Bisshopp) (1753-1828), 8th bt. and 12th Baron Zouche (q.v.);

(2) Hugh Bishopp (1755-1824), baptised at Wimbledon (Surrey), 28 February 1755; married, 31 January 1784 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Elizabeth Rebecca (d. 1826), only daughter of John Swayne of Storrington (Sussex) and had issue one son (who died in the lifetime of his father); also had an illegitimate son (Hugh Bishopp, a customs officer at Portsmouth); lived at Dorking (Surrey); buried at Parham, 18 August 1824; will proved in the PCC, 25 August 1824;

(3) Edward Bishopp (1756-60), baptised at Mickleham (Surrey), 23 September 1756; died young and was buried at Parham, 9 November 1760;

(3) Susanna Sophia Bishopp (1759-1800), baptised at Mickleham, 12 March 1759; married, 18 September 1781 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Frederick Choppin (1758-1815), and had issue three daughters; buried at St Mary, Paddington (Middx), 26 February 1800; will proved in the PCC, 14 July 1800.

He purchased the Fridley estate at Mickleham (Surrey) in 1762, but was already living in the area, at Juniper Hill, by the 1750s; "he had purposed to erect a mansion; but relinquishing that design, he enlarged and fitted up an ale-house on the road-side ... the Royal Oak, belonging to the estate, for his own residence", which became known as Juniper Hall. The estate was sold after his death. He inherited the Parham House estate from his father in 1778. In his brief tenure of Parham, he is said to have pulled down what remained of the village and the old stables, and begun building the present stable court, and to have pulled down the ditch and railings enclosing the forecourt south of the house. He or his son presumably purchased the Culham and Newington estates from his brothers.

He died in Bath (Som.), and was buried at Parham, 12 September 1779; his will was proved 3 November 1779. His widow died in December 1791 and was buried at Parham, 1 January 1792.

Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 8th bt. 
& 12th Baron Zouche 

Bisshopp, Sir Cecil (1753-1828), 8th bt. and 12th Baron Zouche. Eldest son of Sir Cecil Bishopp (1728-79), 7th bt., and his wife Susan, eldest daughter of John Hedges of Finchley (Middx), born 29 December 1753. He was an officer in the Sussex Militia (Capt., 1778) and in the Parham Troop of Sussex Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt., 1795-98). MP for New Shoreham, 1780-90, 1796-1806. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1791, and was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University (DCL, 1810). He adopted the spelling Bisshopp in lieu of Bishopp for the family surname, succeeded his father as 8th baronet in September 1779, and in 1804 successfully claimed the barony of Zouche of Haryngworth, in abeyance since 1625, as a co-heir through his mother's family. The abeyance having been terminated in his favour, he was summoned to Parliament as 12th Baron Zouche, 27 August 1815. He married, 27 June 1782 at her father's house in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx), Harriet Anne (1759-1839), only daughter and heiress of William Southwell of Frampton Cotterell (Glos), and had issue:

(1) Lt-Col. Cecil Bisshopp (1783-1813), born 25 June and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 19 July 1783; educated at Eton; an officer in the Sussex Yeomanry (Cornet, 1797-99) and the 1st Foot Guards (Ensign, 1799; Lt. & Capt., 1800; Maj., 1812; Lt-Col., 1812); MP for Newport (IoW), 1811-12; married, 6 April 1805 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Lady Charlotte Barbara Ferrars (1781-1807), eldest daughter of George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend, but had no issue; died in the lifetime of his father of wounds received in action at Black Rock, Upper Canada, 16 July 1813, and was buried at Stamford near Niagara Falls; he is also commemorated by a monument at Parham;

(2) Charles Cecil Bisshopp (1784-1808), baptised at Parham, 4 October 1784; joined the Royal Navy in 1798 (Lt., 1803); died unmarried in the lifetime of his father, of yellow fever, 10 May 1808, and was buried at Kingston (Jamaica), but is commemorated by a monument at Parham;

(3) Harriet Anne Bisshopp (1787-1870), 13th Baroness Zouche (q.v.);

(4) Katherine Annabella Bisshopp (1791-1871), born 1 December 1791 and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 3 March 1792; married, 1 August 1826 at Parham, Vice-Adm. Sir George Richard Pechell (later Brooke-Pechell) (1789-1860), 4th bt., of Castle Goring (Sussex), and had issue one son and two daughters; lived latterly in a 'grace and favour' apartment at Hampton Court Palace (Middx); died 29 July, and was buried at Angmering (Sussex), 4 August 1871; will proved 23 August 1871 (effects under £25,000);

(5) Caroline Bisshopp (b. & d. 1798), born 9 September 1798, but died in infancy, 20 September 1798.

He inherited the Parham House estate from his father in 1779 and further remodelled the house and grounds, securing parliamentary approval to divert a highway round the park in 1812. Either he or his father probably also purchased the Culham and Newington estates from his uncles, to whom they had been left by the 6th baronet. His sons having both predeceased him, his estates were divided between his surviving daughters at his death; a deed of partition in 1832 assigned the Sussex estates to Harriet and the Culham and Newington estates to Katherine.

He died 11 November, and was buried at Parham, 18 November 1828, where he and his wife are commemorated by a monument; his will (leaving all his personal estate to his widow) was proved in the PCC, 18 December 1828. On his death, his peerage fell into abeyance between his two daughters, but his baronetcy passed to his heir male, the Very Rev. Sir George William Bisshopp (1791-1834), 9th bt. [for whom see below]. His widow died at her house in London, 10 December 1839, and was buried at Parham; her will was proved in the PCC, 4 January 1840.

13th Baroness Zouche 

Bisshopp, Harriet Anne (1787-1870), 13th Baroness Zouche. Eldest daughter of Sir Cecil Bisshopp (1753-1828), 8th bt. and 12th Baron Zouche, and his wife Harriet Anne, only daughter and heiress of William Southwell of Frampton Cotterell (Glos), born at Geneva (Switzerland), 7 September, and baptised at Parham, 6 October 1787. On the death of her father she became the elder co-heiress to the barony of Zouche of Haryngworth, and the abeyance was terminated in her favour, 9 February 1829. She married, 14 October 1808, at Parham, Hon. Robert Curzon (1774-1863), MP for Clitheroe (Lancs), 1796-1831, younger son of Assheton Curzon, 1st Viscount Curzon of Penn, and had issue:

(1) Robert Curzon (1810-73), 14th Baron Zouche (q.v.);

(2) Hon. Edward Cecil Curzon (1812-85) (q.v.).

She inherited the Parham House estate from her father in 1828. Her husband inherited the Ravenhill House estate at Brereton (Staffs) from his father.

She died 15 May 1870 and was buried at Parham; her will was proved 3 September 1870 (effects under £4,000). Her husband died aged 89 on 14 May 1863, and was buried at Parham; his will was proved 13 August 1863 (effects under £9,000).

Robert Curzon (1810-73),
14th Baron Zouche  (Image: NPG) 

Curzon, Robert (1810-73), 14th Baron Zouche. Elder son of Hon. Robert Curzon (1774-1863) and his wife Harriet Anne, 13th Baroness Zouche, daughter of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 8th bt. and 12th Baron Zouche, born 16 March and baptised at St Marylebone, 12 May 1810. Educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1828). MP for Clitheroe (Lancs), 1831-32, after which he abandoned political life and travelled extensively in the Middle East, amassing a large collection of manuscripts*, armour and other artefacts which he displayed at Parham. He entered the diplomatic service and became an Attaché at the British Embassy in Constantinople and private secretary to the Ambassador, 1841, and was a Commissioner to settle the boundary between Turkey and Persia, 1843-44, for which he received the Persian Order of the Lion & Sun, and the Turkish Order of Nishan. DL for Staffordshire and Sussex. He was the author of Visits to Monasteries in the Levant (1849), Lay of the Purple Falcon (1847), Armenia (1854) and A short account of some of most celebrated libraries of Italy (1854). A notice of his life published by the Philobiblon Society says "The foundation of his character was sincerity, which, but for his natural good breeding and desire to avoid inflicting pain, might have sometimes given offence... [His] natural talent, varied experience, original conversation, and lively wit will live long in the memory of those who [knew] him. He succeeded his mother as 14th Baron Zouche, 15 May 1870. He married, 27 August 1850, at Croxall (Staffs), Emily Julia (1821-66), third daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Robert John Wilmot (later Wilmot-Horton), 3rd bt., and had issue:

(1) Robert Nathaniel Cecil George Curzon (1851-1914), 15th Baron Zouche (q.v.);

(2) Darea Curzon (1860-1917), 16th Baroness Zouche (q.v.).

He inherited the Parham House estate from his mother in 1870 and the Ravenhill House (Staffs) estate from his father; the latter was usually let but he occupied it c.1864-70.

He died after a long and painful illness, 2 August, and was buried at Parham, 8 August 1873; his will was proved 9 October 1873 (effects under £40,000). His wife died in London, 11 March, and was buried at Parham, 17 March 1866, where she is commemorated by a monument; administration of her goods was granted 20 December 1873 and May 1876 (effects under £1,500).

* The manuscripts were subsequently presented to the British Library by his daughter.

Robert Curzon (1851-1914), 
15th Baron Zouche (Image: NPG) 

Curzon, Robert Nathaniel Cecil George (1851-1914), 15th Baron Zouche. Only son of Robert Curzon (1810-73), 14th Baron Zouche, and his wife Emily Julia, third daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Robert John Wilmot (later Wilmot-Horton), 3rd bt, born at Catton Hall (Derbys), 12 July, and baptised at Croxall (Staffs/Derbys), 20 August 1851. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1869; BA 1873). He was an officer in the militia battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment (Capt. and Hon. Maj.; retired 1913) and served in the Boer War as an officer in the Imperial Yeomanry (Lt.), 1900-01. DL for Sussex from 1877. He married, 15 July 1875, at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Hon. Annie Mary Eleanor (b. 1857), third daughter of Alexander Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun of Abernethy, but had no issue as his wife abandoned him and eloped with Dermot Robert Wyndham Bourke (1851-1927), 7th Earl of Mayo, three months after the marriage; they were divorced, 8 December 1876. 

He inherited the Parham House and Ravenhill House estates from his father in 1873, but the latter was usually let.

He died 31 July 1914, and was buried at Parham, 5 August 1914; his will was proved February 1915 (estate £95,938), when his peerage devolved upon his sister Darea. His ex-wife's date of death is unknown.

Curzon, Darea (1860-1917), 16th Baroness Zouche. Only daughter of Robert Curzon (1810-73), 14th Baron Zouche, and his wife Emily Julia, third daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Robert John Wilmot (later Wilmot-Horton), 3rd bt, born 13 November 1860. She succeeded her elder brother as 16th Baroness Zouche, 31 July 1914. She was unmarried and without issue.

She inherited the Parham House and Ravenhill House estates from her elder brother in 1914.

She died in London, 7 April, and was buried at Parham, 11 April 1917, whereupon her peerage devolved on her first cousin once removed, Mary Cecil Curzon (1875-1965); her will was proved 7 August 1917 (estate £142,760).

Hon. Edward Cecil Curzon (1812-85)  

Curzon, Hon. Edward Cecil (1812-85). Second son of Hon. Robert Curzon (1774-1863) and his wife Harriet Anne, 13th Baroness Zouche, daughter of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 8th bt. and 12th Baron Zouche, born 8 November and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 17 December 1812. Educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1830; BA 1834; MA 1840) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1836; called 1840). Barrister-at-law; Chief Clerk and Deputy Registrar of Design Copyright Office, 1842-55, and Registrar of Companies, 1855-76. JP and DL (from 1854) for Middlesex and JP for the City of Westminster. He married, 5 May 1834 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Emily (alias Amelia) Sophia Charlotte (1808-92), sixth daughter of James Daniell of Beddington House (Surrey), and had issue:

(1) Cecilia (alias Cecil) Curzon (1835-1913), born 28 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 29 March 1835; died unmarried, 10 December 1913;

(2) George Augustus Curzon (1836-1912) (q.v.);

(3) William Southwell Curzon (1838-1919), born 23 May and baptised at St Mary, Paddington (Middx), 11 July 1838; an officer in the army (Lt., 1856; Capt., 1866; Maj., 1875; Lt-Col., 1882; Col., 1886); JP for City of London; married, 9 September 1873 at Brentwood R.C. Church (Essex), Walburga Maria (1845-1920), daughter of Joseph Samuel Lescher of Boyles Court (Essex), but had no issue; died 29 April 1919; will proved 31 December 1919 (estate £3,769);

(4) Harriette Anne Curzon (1840-1924), born 25 April and baptised at St Mary, Paddington, 10 June 1840; married, 8 May 1864 at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington, Maj. James Johnes Bourchier (1826-86) of Felthorpe Hall (Norfk), second son of Lt-Gen. James Claud Bourchier, and had issue one son; died 13 September 1924 and was buried at Felthorpe, where she is commemorated by a monument; will proved 22 November 1924 (estate £7,361);

(5) Emily Anne Curzon (1842-1917), born 22 February 1842; married, 19 September 1861 at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington, Augustus Frederick Wentworth Gore (1835-1919), and had issue at least two sons (including the Wimbledon tennis champion, Arthur Wentworth Gore (1868-1928)) and one daughter; buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, November 1917;

(6) Blanche Catherine Curzon (1843-1930), born 23 October 1843; married, 6 December 1892 at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington, Rev. Charles Marriott (1838-1912) of Highdale, Clevedon (Som.), but had no issue; died 14 November 1930; will proved 13 December 1930 (estate £10,009).

He died at Scarsdale House, Kensington (Middx), 12 February 1885 and was buried at Parham; his will was proved 14 May 1885 (effects £1,008). His widow died 29 March, and was buried at Parham, 2 April 1892; her will was proved 29 April 1892 (effects £537).

Curzon, George Augustus (1836-1912). Elder son of Hon. Edward Cecil Curzon (1812-85), and his wife Amelia Daniels, born 12 July and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 9 August 1836. Educated at Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1854) but did not pursue his studies and became an officer in the Rifle Brigade (Ensign, 1855; Lt., 1858; retired 1860), who served with distinction in the Crimean War. Within days of retiring he obtained a new commission in 2nd Life Guards (Cornet, 1860; Lt., 1861; Capt., 1863; Maj., 1877; Lt-Col., 1883; Col., 1887; retired 1888), of which he was commanding officer, 1885-88. He married 1st, 7 May 1867 at St Thomas, Marylebone (Middx), Mary Florence (1841-68), daughter of Morgan Thomas (later Treherne) MP (1803-67); 2nd, 19 March 1873 at Cannes (France), Mary Louisa Anne Frances Josephine Martha (1852-89), second daughter of William Michael Ince Anderton (1825-84) of Euxton Hall (Lancs), and 3rd, 2 August 1905 at Sunninghill (Berks), Mabel Isobel (1875-1952), daughter of Col. Cornwallis Henry Chichester (d. 1910) of Oaklands, Ascot (Berks), and had issue:

(2.1) Mary Cecil Curzon (1875-1965), 17th Baroness Zouche (q.v.).

He died at Windlesham (Surrey), 27 November 1912, where he was commemorated by a monument, but was buried at Parham. His first wife was buried at Parham, 25 July 1868. His second wife was buried at Parham, 7 November 1889. His widow married 2nd, 29 August 1917, as his second wife, Lt-Col. Francis John Paul Butler (1855-1936) of Wyck Hill House, Wyck Rissington (Glos) and died in London, 3 July 1952; her will was proved 12 September 1952 (estate £10,030).

17th Baroness Zouche (Image: NPG) 

Curzon, Mary Cecil (k/a Thistle), 17th Baroness Zouche (1875-1965). Only child and heiress of Col. George Augustus Curzon (1836-1912), and his second wife Mary Louisa Anne Frances Josephine Martha Anderton, born 15 May 1875. She succeeded her first cousin once removed as 17th Baroness Zouche, 7 April 1917. She married, 12 November 1901 at Holy Trinity, Chelsea (Middx), as his second wife, Sir Frederick William Francis George Frankland (1868-1937), 10th bt., son of Col. Sir William Adulphus Frankland (1837-83), 9th bt., and had issue:

(1) Hon. Sir Thomas William Assheton Frankland (1902-44), 11th bt., born 18 August 1902; educated at Royal Naval Colleges, Osborne and Dartmouth; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1921; Lt., c.1924; Capt., 1936; Maj., 1941); ADC to Lord Lloyd, High Commissioner for Egypt., 1925-26, and to General Officer Commanding, Southern Command, 1930-33; married 1st, 9 July 1931 at Eastham (Ches.) (div. 1941), Edna Maud (1909-87) (who married 2nd, Maj. Francis Roger Ingram (1914-2006) and had issue one son and one daughter), daughter of Frederick Hynde Fox of Inglewood, Ledsham (Ches.); he married 2nd, 25 June 1942, Pamela Catherine Mabell (1915-72) (who married 3rd, 29 June 1946 (div. 1968), Maj. (Henry) Michael Barclay (1913-2002) and had one son (who died in infancy), and 4th, 1970, Robert Hugh Pardoe (1914-75)) only daughter of Capt. Hon. Edward Kay-Shuttleworth, and formerly wife of Lt. Hon. William Keith Rous RN, later 5th Earl of Stradbroke, and had issue one son (who succeeded his grandmother as 18th Baron Zouche in 1965); he died in a motoring accident while on active service, 5 August 1944;

(2) Hon. Barbara Mary Frankland (1906-2000), born 13 May and baptised at Christ Church, Paddington (Middx), 26 June 1906; married 1st, 6 July 1926 at Holy Trinity, Sloane St., Chelsea (Middx) (div. 1937 on the grounds of her adultery with her future second husband), Brig. Sir Otho Leslie Prior-Palmer (1897-1986), MP for Worthing, 1945-64; married 2nd, 5 July 1937 (div. 1943), Edward John Sidney Christian Welbore Ellis Agar (1910-67), 5th Earl of Normanton; and married 3rd, 4 February 1944 (div. 1959), Peter Herbert Lucas (1911-90), but had no issue; died 12 September 2000 and was buried at Parham;

(3) Hon. Roger Nathaniel Frankland (1909-89), born 11 April 1909; an officer in the Royal Air Force (Pilot Offr, 1931; Fly. Offr, 1933; Fl. Lt., 1940; Sq. Ldr., 1943; retired as W/Cdr., 1954); married 1st, 8 May 1931 at Christ Church, Down St., Mayfair, Westminster (Middx) (div.), Elisabeth Cecil (1909-68), daughter of Nathan Cecil Sanday, broker, and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 16 April 1947 at Kensington (Middx), Olivia (1905-87), daughter of Rev. the Hon. Nigel Campbell (1873-1951), formerly wife of Arthur Edmund Leveson (1908-81), son of Adm. Sir Arthur Cavenagh Leveson, and widow of Maj. Samuel John Rennie Bucknill (1902-43), son of Samuel Pratt Berens Bucknill; he died 2 January 1989; will proved 4 April 1989 (estate £253,911).

She inherited the Parham House and Ravenhill House estates from her first cousin once removed in 1917, but sold the latter in 1920 and the former (to the Hon. Clive Pearson (d. 1965)) in 1922. She and her husband lived at Windsor (Berks).

She died 25 September 1965 and was buried at Parham; her will was proved 31 January 1966 (estate £24,188). Her husband died 19 December 1937 and was buried at Parham; administration of his goods was granted to his sons, 28 January 1938 (estate £3,322).

---

Bisshopp, Edward (1743-92).  Fourth, but third surviving, son of Sir Cecil Bishopp (1700-78), 6th bt., and his wife Hon. Anne, second daughter of Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth, born 24 December 1743 and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 13 January 1743/4. An eminent Army agent in partnership with William Brummell, father of the famous dandy, 'Beau' Brummell, as Bisshopp & Brummell of Piccadilly; a senior clerk in the Treasury and a Commissioner of the Salt Tax. He married*, 9 September 1790 at Chiswick (Middx), Jane Elizabeth (1764-1834), daughter of William Atkinson of Pall Mall, and had issue:

(1) Very Rev. Sir George William Bisshopp (1791-1834), 9th bt. (q.v.).

His will also made provision for a former partner, Mrs Mary Smith (fl. 1799), then resident at Bath but later at Richmond (Surrey), by whom he had issue:

(X1) Edward Smith alias Bisshopp (c.1778-99), born about 1778; educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge (matriculated 1796); was residuary legatee of his father but died unmarried at his house in London, 9 February 1799; will proved in the PCC, 12 February 1799;

(X2) Mary Smith alias Bisshopp (b. c.1781), born about 1781; living, unmarried, at Richmond (Surrey), 1841.

He lived at Turnham Green, Chiswick (Middx).

He was buried at Chiswick, 7 January 1792; his will was proved in the PCC, 14 February 1792. His widow married 2nd, 22 June 1795 at St Leonard, Shoreditch (Middx), Rev. Lucius Coghlan DD (c.1750-1833); she died in London, 10 April, and was buried at St Marylebone, 17 April 1834.

* Some online genealogies give him a previous marriage in 1751 to Sarah Hammond, but he would then have been eight years old and this must be a different man of the same name.

Bisshopp, Very Rev. Sir George William (1791-1834), 9th bt.  Only legitimate child of Edward Bishopp (1743-92) of Chiswick (Middx), and his wife Jane, daughter of William Atkinson on Pall Mall, born 5 July 1791. Raised by his mother and her second husband, who no doubt influenced his decision to be ordained. Educated at Pembroke and Queen's Colleges, Oxford (matriculated 1809; BA 1813; MA 1817). Ordained deacon and priest, 1815. Moved to Ireland in 1815 as domestic chaplain to Earl Whitworth, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1813-17; Archdeacon of Aghadoe, 1816-34; Dean of Lismore Cathedral, 1831-34; and sub-dean of Dublin Castle Chapel. He succeeded his cousin as 9th baronet, 11 November 1828. He married, 17 May 1820 at St Peter, Dublin, Catherine Elizabeth (1792-1832), third daughter of Capt. Andrew Sproule RN, commander of the Royal Yacht at Dublin, and had issue:

(1) twin, Ven. Sir Cecil Augustus Bisshopp (1821-49), 10th bt., born 6 July 1821; educated at Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1839; BA 1843; MA 1845); ordained deacon, 1844 and priest, 1845; vicar of King Charles the Martyr Church, Plymouth, 1845; archdeacon of Malta and chaplain to the Bishop of Gibraltar; succeeded his father as 10th baronet, 22 March 1834; married, 12 January 1843 at Plymouth (Devon), Mary Bickerton (d. 1891) (who m2, 15 April 1857, Walter Long MP (d. 1867) of Rood Ashton (Wilts)), eldest daughter of Rear-Adm. Sir James Hillyar, kt. of Tor House (Devon), and had issue one son (who died in the lifetime of his father) and one daughter; died 22 January 1849; will proved in the PCC, 6 June 1849;

(2) twin, Harriet Arabella Bisshopp (1821-41), born 6 July 1821; died unmarried and was buried at Torquay (Devon), 6 March 1841;

(3) Sir George Curzon Bisshopp (1823-65), 11th bt., born 10 April 1823; educated at Eton; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1840; Lt., 1842; Capt., 1848; retired 1853); succeeded his brother as 11th baronet, 22 January 1849; died unmarried at Hastings (Sussex), 15 December 1865; administration of goods granted to his surviving brother, 8 June 1866 (effects under £200) and March 1878;

(4) Jane Annabella Bisshopp (c.1825-33), born about 1825; died young and was buried at St Swithin, Bathford (Som.), 19 March 1833, where she is commemorated by a mural tablet;

(5) Sir Edward Cecil Bisshopp (1826-70), 12th bt., born 23 February 1826; an officer in the Royal Navy, who served in the Syrian War of 1840; succeeded his brother as 12th baronet, 15 December 1865; a director of several companies, 1868-70; married, 13 April 1847 at Antony (Cornw.), Mary Amalia Alvarez (fl. 1899) (who m2, 1880, Count Quarto of Colle Félice, Maddaloni, Naples, Italy), only daughter of Rear-Adm. Taylor, of the Brazilian Navy, but had no issue; died of tuberculosis, 27 January 1870, when his baronetcy became extinct;

(6) Catherine Mary Bisshopp (1830-92), born 17 December 1830; married, 22 February 1853 at Kensington (Middx), Col. Frederick Francis Maude CB VC (1821-97), fourth son of Hon. & Rev. John Charles Maude, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 23 January 1892 and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx);

(7) Henry Bisshopp (b. & d. 1832), born 6 February 1832 and baptised at St Swithin, Walcot, Bath (Som.), 10 April 1832; died in infancy, 29 June 1832.

He seems to have been a largely absentee cleric, and to have lived chiefly in Bath (Som.) and later Cheltenham (Glos).

He died at Cheltenham, 22 March and was buried at Holy Trinity, Cheltenham, 29 March 1834; his will was proved at Waterford (Co. Waterford), 1834. His wife died in Dublin, 16 December 1832, and is commemorated by a wall tablet at St Swithin, Walcot, Bath (Som.).

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 1863, pp. 93-94; W. Betham, The baronetage of England, 1801, pp. 195-96; G.E. Cokayne, The Complete Baronetage, vol. 1, 1900, pp. 156-59; Country Life, 19 April 1902, pp. 496-504; J.W. Fitzwilliam, Parham in Sussex, 1947; C. Hussey, 'Parham Park, Sussex', Country Life, 1-15 June 1951; G.E. Cokayne et al., The Complete Peerage, vol. 12 pt 2, 1959, pp. 930-57; J. Cornforth, 'Parham Park Revisited', Country Life, 6-13 June 1985; E. Williamson, T. Hudson, J. Musson & I. Nairn, The buildings of England: Sussex - West, 2019, pp. 532-35; S. Bradley, Sir N. Pevsner & J. Sherwood, The buildings of England: Oxfordshire - Oxford and the south-east, 2023, pp. 617-18, 698-99.

Location of archives

Bisshopp of Parham, baronets, and Barons Zouche: deeds, manorial records, estate papers, family papers and transcripts, 14th cent-1985 [West Sussex Record Office, Parham]

Coat of arms

Argent, on a bend cottised gules, three plates.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs 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 26 July 2026.