(246) Atty of Ingon Grange

Attye of Ingon Grange

The fortunes of the Atty family were founded by James Atty (1743-1814) of Whitby (Yorks NR), who began as a master mariner and progressed to be a prosperous ship owner, merchant and sailmaker. In the later 18th century he owned a substantial number of vessels and was arguably the wealthiest man in the town. His elder son, James Atty (1768-1815), worked with him from the 1780s, but in about 1803 - perhaps when James senior decided to retire or semi-retire - he moved to Lincolnshire, where he acquired an estate at Pinchbeck and Surfleet near Spalding. He was sufficiently wealthy and well-educated to be accepted by the Lincolnshire gentry community, and became a Major in the militia and married a daughter of Sir Thomas Whichcote, 5th bt. of Aswarby Hall. When she died after only thirty months of marriage, having produced an heir but no spare, he married the daughter and heiress of a Lincolnshire clergyman, through whom he inherited property at Doddington and Westborough in Lincolnshire and in adjoining parts of Nottinghamshire. A second son was born in 1814, but James himself died the following year. His will divided his property between his elder son, James Atty (1810-77), who received the lands around Pinchbeck and his widow, Catherine (d. 1864), who received her father's lands. Her share passed in due course to their son George Atty (1814-84), who was a barrister in chambers in London.

James Atty (1810-77) was educated at Rugby School and on leaving, went into the army for about four years, retiring after he married in 1831.

Penley Hall, Flintshire. Image: Thomas Lloyd

His property at Pinchbeck seems not to have included a gentry house, and by the mid-1830s he was renting Penley Hall in Flintshire (a house of about 1800) from the Dymock family. From 1841 to 1843 he was Master of the Flintshire Hounds, although the expenses of the pack seem to have been largely met by the Williams-Wynn family. In 1845 he gave up the lease of Penley and moved to Rugby, where he lived in a large villa for the rest of his life. The motive for this move is not clear, but it was the time of the railway mania, Rugby was a railway town, and since as soon as he was settled in the town he appears on the committees promoting nearby new lines, it may have been his desire to get involved in the railway rush that made him relocate. James had five sons but two of them predeceased him while a third was bankrupted in 1874 and fled to France. His heir was his third son, Charles Atty (1839-82), but he was unmarried and survived his father by only five years. In 1882, therefore, the family property passed into the hands of James' youngest son, Robert Atty (1849-1911), who was already exhibiting signs of unstable behaviour, and who was confined in a lunatic asylum in Dulwich from 1892 until his death. In 1884 Robert also inherited the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire estates of his half-uncle George Atty (1814-84). All his property was placed in the hands of Trustees, who sold it for the benefit of his heirs in 1918, principally his son, Welby Robert Atty (1872-1949) and surviving daughter, Eleanor Etough Atty (1876-1944).

The younger son of James Atty (1743-1814) of Whitby was Robert Middleton Atty (1770-1833). He is said to have become a merchant in London, and was perhaps the London partner of his father in a coastal shipping business, although this is pure speculation. Sometime between 1808 and 1810 he relocated to Warwickshire, and within a year or two he had bought Ingon Grange at Snitterfield. The house at this time is said to have been a 17th century cottage, but either he or his son and heir, Robert James Attye (1810-62), rebuilt it, creating the rather pretty gentleman's villa illustrated below. In the mid-1850s Robert James Atty and several of his siblings seem to have taken a collective decision to add a final 'e' to the spelling of the family surname; how this came about is unclear, but it may have been intended to imply a spurious antiquity of lineage. When Robert James Atty died relatively young, the representation of the family devolved on his younger brother, Lt-Col. Francis Lionel Octavius Attye (1830-85), a career soldier, but Ingon Grange seems to have been left to his sister, Harriet Caroline Atty (1814-1901) who lived there with her spinster sisters, in trust for Francis' son, Robert Jervoise Attye (1862-1916), who came of age in 1883. He sold off the farming stock in 1887 and presumably rented out the land to neighbouring farmers; and when his mother died in 1892 he let the house. He was himself unmarried and lived at the Cavalry Club in London, until - like his cousin, Robert - he too became mentally ill and was declared insane in 1912. After he died in 1916, Ingon Grange passed to Welby Robert Atty (1872-1949), who lived in Devon and continued the lease agreed by R.J. Atty in 1895. He finally sold it in 1923, and two of his three children emigrated to Kenya.

Ingon Grange, Snitterfield, Warwickshire

Ingon Grange: the south front of the house in the 1860s. Image: Warwickshire County Record Office PH, 331/13

There is said to have been a 17th century cottage on the site of Ingon Grange when Robert Middleton Atty bought it in about 1810. Either he or his son, Robert James Atty, who inherited in 1833, rebuilt it as a rather pretty Gothic house in the 1820s or 1830s. Photographs of the 1860s show that it had a three bay garden front of two storeys with a projecting gabled centre forming a round-arched porch on the ground floor. To either side were cast iron verandahs and three-light mullioned and transomed windows with arched lights. Flanking this facade were single storey wings with low-pitched roofs, broad eaves, and canted bay windows occupying their whole width. The stone entrance front had five bays, each gabled, and an entrance door under a smaller gable with a little crenellated porte cochere. Inside, the entrance hall had an enviable staircase on a shallow curve with iron balusters alternating plain with lozenges, two to a tread.

Ingon Grange: south front in 2006. Image: David Stowell. Some rights reserved.

After a long planning wrangle, permission to demolish this house was given in 1974 and it was eventually replaced c.1983 by a slightly smaller L-shaped house of red brick. The new house does, however, incorporate a single-storey canted bay window at the right hand end of the south front which echoes the form of the wings of the old house, presumably intentionally.

Descent: Robert Middleton Atty (1770-1833); to son, Robert James Attye (1810-62); to sister, Harriet Catherine Atty (1814-1901) in trust for her nephew, Robert Jervoise Attye (1862-1916) who let from 1895 (to Philip S. Foster); to kinsman, Welby Robert Atty (1872-1949), who sold 1923 to Madeline and Marguerite Chadwick; sold 1951 to Christopher Albert Rookes (fl. 1951-77); sold 1973 to Carbilly Trading Ltd, who demolished it...

Atty family of Ingon Grange

Atty, James (1743-1814). Second son of James Attye (1711-79) of Whitby (Yorks NR) and his wife Isabella, daughter of G. Weatherhill, baptised at Whitby, 9 May 1743. Master mariner, merchant, shipowner and sailmaker at Whitby. He married, 14 February 1768 at Whitby, Hannah (1748-1811), daughter of Robert Middleton, and had issue:
(1) James Atty (1768-1815) (q.v.);
(2) Robert Middleton Atty (1770-1833) (q.v.);
(3) George Atty (1773-97), baptised 18 October 1773; educated at Queens' College, Cambridge (admitted 1796); Capt. of Whitby Corps of Volunteers, 1795; died unmarried, 24 November 1797.
He died 19 August and was buried at Whitby, 26 August 1814; his will was proved in the PCC, 9 September 1814. His wife died 5 July 1811.

Atty, Robert Middleton (1770-1833). Second son of James Attye (1743-1814) and his wife Hannah, daughter of Robert Middleton, baptised at Whitby, 18 July 1770. Merchant in London. JP (from 1812) and DL (from 1831) for Warwickshire; High Sheriff of Warwickshire, 1824. He married, 4 February 1808 at Christian Malford (Wilts), Margaret Lucy (1786-1855), youngest daughter of Ven. William Willes, archdeacon of Wells, and had issue:
(1) Hannah Lucy Atty (1808-72), born 3 November 1808 and baptised at Whitby, 24 September 1809; died unmarried at Ingon Grange, 29 June and was buried at Snitterfield, 5 July 1872; will proved 11 September 1872 (effects under £25,000);
(2) Robert James Atty (1810-62) (q.v.);
(3) Henry Gould Atty (c.1811-32); died unmarried, aged 21, 'at his lodgings in the Bristol Road', Birmingham, 4 November and was buried at St Thomas, Birmingham, 13 November 1832;
(4) Harriet Caroline Atty (1814-1901), born 5 July and baptised at Snitterfield, 11 July 1814; inherited Ingon Grange in trust for her nephew on the death of her brother in 1862; died unmarried at Leamington Spa (Warks), 12 December and was buried at Snitterfield, 18 December 1901; administration of goods granted 29 July 1902 (estate £107,956);
(5) Margaretta Ellen Atty (1815-91), born 12 December and baptised at Snitterfield, 28 December 1815; died unmarried, 6 April and was buried at Snitterfield, 10 April 1891; will proved 24 May 1891 (effects £40,242);
(6) Augusta Jeanes Atty (1817-91), baptised at Snitterfield, 6 August 1817; died unmarried at Leamington Spa and was buried at Snitterfield, 10 April 1891; will proved 24 May 1892 (effects £29,166);
(7) William Frederick Willes Attye (1820-46), baptised at Snitterfield, 30 January 1820; an officer in the 31st regiment (Ensign, 1839; Lt., 1842) who saw extensive service in India and Afghanistan, being wounded in the action at Aliwal; died unmarried of fever in India, 8 May 1846; commemorated by a memorial window in Snitterfield church;
(8) Francis Edward Atty (b. & d. 1824), born March 1824; died in infancy, 25 November and was buried at Snitterfield, 29 November 1824;
(9) Col. Francis Lionel Octavius Atty (1830-85) (q.v.).
He purchased the Ingon Grange estate at Snitterfield and probably rebuilt the house there.
He died 1 May 1833 and was buried at Snitterfield, where he is commemorated by a monument. His widow died 25 November 1855 and is commemorated by a memorial window in Snitterfield church.

Attye, Robert James (1810-62). Eldest son of Robert Middleton Atty (1770-1833) and his wife Margaretta Lucy, youngest daughter of Ven. William Willes, archdeacon of Wells, baptised at Leamington Priors (Warks), 4 July 1810. Educated at Shrewsbury and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1831; BA 1835). JP (from 1838) and DL (from 1852) for Warwickshire. An officer in the Warwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Cornet, 1845; Lt., 1848). A promoter of the Birmingham & Oxford Junction Railway, 1845. From about 1855 he began to routinely spell his name with a final 'e'. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited the Ingon Grange estate from his father in 1833. At his death it passed to his sister Harriet, apparently in trust for his nephew, although the latter was unborn at the time of his death.
He died 26 April 1862 and was buried at Snitterfield, where he is commemorated by a memorial window; administration of his goods was granted to his sister Harriet, 21 June 1862 (effects under £5,000).

Attye, Lt-Col. Francis Lionel Octavius (1830-85). Fifth and youngest son of Robert Middleton Atty (1770-1833) and his wife Margaretta Lucy, youngest daughter of Ven. William Willes, archdeacon of Wells, born 20 July and baptised at Snitterfield, 24 October 1830. An officer in the 2nd (Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot (Ensign, 1847; Lt., 1849; Capt., 1853; Major, 1861; Lt-Col., 1864; retired, 1865). JP for Warwickshire. Freemason, 1854-85. From about 1855 he began to routinely spell his name with a final 'e'. He married, 17 September 1861 at Carshalton (Surrey), Margaret Maria (1832-92), eldest daughter of David Lloyd of Carshalton, merchant, and had issue:
(1) Robert Jervoise Atty (1862-1916) (q.v.).
He died 22 August 1885 and was buried at Snitterfield, where he is commemorated by a memorial window; his will was proved 23 October 1885 (effects £3,772). His widow died 13 April 1892; administration of her goods was granted to her son, 11 June 1892 (effects £15,371) and 11 July 1896 to Contessa Guidoboni Visconti.

Attye, Robert Jervoise (1862-1916). Only son of Col. Francis Lionel Octavius Attye (1829-85) and his wife Margaret Maria, eldest daughter of David Lloyd of Carshalton (Surrey), born 9 July and baptised at Farnham (Surrey), 8 August 1862. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1882). JP for Warwickshire. An officer in the Warwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Lt., 1884). In 1900 he gave his address as the Cavalry Club in London, but he later became insane and was confined in the Chiswick House Asylum; an order in lunacy was granted in 1912. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited the Ingon Grange estate from his father in 1885 but sold the farming stock in 1887 and let the house from 1895. At his death the estate passed to his distant kinsman, Welby Robert Atty (1872-1949) (q.v.).
He died, following an operation, at Hafod-y-Bryn, Llanbedr (Merioneths), 28 July 1916; will proved 3 April 1917 (estate £188,902).

Atty, James (1768-1815). Eldest son of James Attye (1743-1814) and his wife Hannah, daughter of Robert Middleton, baptised at Whitby (Yorks), 17 November 1768. Sailmaker and shipowner at Whitby until about 1803. An officer in the Whitby Corps of Volunteers, (Capt-Lt., 1795), Royal North Lincolnshire Militia (Capt. 1803) and Grantham Regiment of Local Militia (Major, 1808). He married 1st, 28 November 1807 at Aswarby House, Henrietta (1788-1810), daughter of Sir Thomas Whichcote, 5th bt., of Aswarby Park (Lincs), and 2nd, 9 November 1813 at St Mary Magdalene, Lincoln, Catherine (1782-1864), daughter of Rev. Thomas Hall, rector of Westborough and vicar of Doddington (Lincs), and had issue:
(1.1) James Atty (1810-77) (q.v.);
(2.1) George Atty (1814-84), baptised at Scarborough (Yorks NR), 14 September 1814; educated at Brasenose and Lincoln Colleges, Oxford (matriculated 1833; BA 1837; MA) and Middle Temple (admitted, 1840; called to bar, 1849); barrister-at-law; freemason, 1845-64; died unmarried, 14 March 1884; administration of goods granted 16 September 1884 and 3 January 1885 (effects £57,122).
He lived at Ruswarpe in Whitby (Yorks) but about 1805 he appears to have sold his shipping interests at Whitby and bought an estate at Pinchbeck (Lincs). Through his second marriage he acquired further property at Doddington and Westborough and in Nottinghamshire.
He died 17 October and was buried at Whitby, 24 October 1815; his will was proved in the PCC, 7 May 1816. His first wife died 30 May 1810. His widow died at Southwell (Notts), 6 September 1864.

Atty, James (1810-77). Only son of James Attye (1768-1815) and his first wife, Henrietta, daughter of Sir Thomas Whichcote, 5th bt., of Aswarby Park (Lincs), born 21 April 1810. Educated at Rugby School (admitted 1823). An officer in 52nd Light Infantry (Ensign, 1828; Lt.; Capt.; retired c.1832), North Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Cornet, 1843), Warwickshire Militia (Major, 1853) and Warwickshire Rifle Volunteers (Capt., 1859; Major, 1860). JP (from 1847) for Warwickshire and DL (from 1855) for Lincolnshire. Master of Flintshire Hounds, 1841-43. After moving to Rugby in 1845 he became an active promoter of railway projects, including the Manchester & Rugby Railway and the Rugby, Leamington & Warwick Railway. Chairman of the Rugby Board of Health, 1851-77. A Vice-President of the Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebrations Committee, 1864. He married, 31 May 1831, Catherine Adeline (d. 1889), daughter of Adlard Welby of South Rauceby (Lincs), and had issue:
(1) James Atty (1833-54), baptised at North Muskham (Notts), 24 April 1833; an officer in the 43rd regiment (Ensign, 1851; Lt.); died unmarried at Ventnor (Isle of Wight), 9 November and was buried at Rugby, 15 November 1854;
(2) Adeline Atty (1834-1915), baptised at North Muskham (Notts), 10 August 1834; married 1st, 1 February 1860 at St George's, Hanover Square, London, as his second wife, James Malcolm (1804-78) of Olrig, Victoria (Australia) and Kew (Surrey), and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 19 November 1885, John Ramsay L'Amy (1813-92) of Dunkenny (Angus) and Cavendish Hall (Suffk); died 28 February 1915; will proved 19 June 1915 (estate £10,749);
(3) Harriet Atty (1835-1919), born 6 October and baptised at Scarborough (Yorks), 2 November 1835; married, 4 January 1860 at Rugby, Capt. William Alexander Kerr VC (1831-1919) of Indian army; died 21 November 1919; will proved 5 March 1920 (estate £7,406);
(4) Mary Anne Atty (1837-66), born 23 June and baptised at Penley, 23 July 1837; died unmarried at Rugby, 14 February 1866;
(5) George Robert Atty (1838-48), born about December 1838 and baptised at Penley, 22 May 1839; died young of scarlet fever, 13 June 1848;
(6) Charles Atty (1839-82), born 15 December 1839 and baptised at Penley, 16 July 1840; educated at Rugby School (admitted 1850); an officer in Warwickshire militia (Ensign, 1857; Lt., 1858) and 47th regiment (Ensign, 1859; Lt., 1862; retired, 1869); died unmarried, 8 June and was buried at Rugby, 13 June 1882; administration of goods granted to his mother, 31 August 1882 (effects £210);
(7) Charlotte Atty (1841-64), born 19 October and baptised at Penley, 14 November 1841; married, 17 September 1863 at Rugby, Henry Darley (1839-1904) of Aldby Park (Yorks NR); died in London, 6 December 1864;
(8) Georgiana Atty (1843-1921), born 15 January and baptised at Penley, 31 May 1843; after the death of her mother she lived at Scarborough (Yorks NR); died unmarried, 21 October 1921; will proved 25 November 1921 (estate £6,670);
(9) Margaret Ellen Atty (1845-48), born 16 November and baptised at Rugby, 23 December 1846; died young of scarlet fever, 5 June 1848;
(10) Edward Arthur Atty (1847-80), born 16 March and baptised at Rugby, 21 April 1847; educated at Rugby School (admitted 1861); civil engineer; bankrupted 1874; married, 6 June 1869 at St Mark, Notting Hill (Middx), Florence Laura (1848-after 1911), daughter of James Walters Kelson, gent., and had issue one son and five daughters; died at Dinard St. Enogat (France), 12 October and was buried at Rugby, 18 October 1882;
(11) Robert Atty (1849-1911) (q.v.).
He inherited his father's property in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in 1815, and came of age at 25 in 1835. He lived at Penley Hall (Flints.), which he leased from the Dymock family, until 1845, and then moved to Rugby (Warks), where he lived latterly at 'Rosemont'. His widow lived at Rugby until her death.
He died at Rugby, 14 July 1877; his will was proved 6 September 1877 (effects under £2,000). His widow died 22 October 1889; her will was proved 18 January 1890 (effects £2,278).

Atty, Robert (1849-1911). Fifth and youngest son of James Atty (1810-77) and his wife Catherine Adeline, daughter of Adlard Welby of North Rauceby (Lincs), born 19 March and baptised at Rugby, 13 April 1849. Educated at Rugby School (admitted 1861). In 1876 he was fined for assaulting a clergyman at Rugby while drunk; by 1881 he seems to have been living apart from his wife; and on 7 December 1892 he was admitted to The Flower House Private Lunatic Asylum, Catford (Kent), where he spent the rest of his life. He married, 21 April 1870 at Shippon (Berks), Gertrude Hall (1844-87), daughter of Rev. Daniel Oliver Etough, and had issue:
(1) Gertrude Hall Attye (1871-1909), baptised 15 March 1871; married, 22 May 1902, Archibald Vaughan Campbell-Lambert of Foxearth Hall and had issue one son; died 6 April 1909; her will was proved 6 July 1909 (estate £1,093);
(2) Welby Robert Attye (1872-1949) (q.v.);
(3) Eleanor Etough Atty (1876-1944), baptised at Crick (Northants), 2 April 1876; died unmarried at Thornton-le-Dale (Yorks), 28 April 1944; will proved 4 July 1944 (estate £17,221).
He lived at Crick (Northants) and later at Rugby (Warks) until he was confined; his wife lived at Leamington (Warks). His property in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire was transferred to trustees, who retained the estate until 1918, when it was sold.
He died 26 February 1911; administration of his goods (with will annexed) was granted to his son, 6 May 1911 (estate £4,474). His wife died suddenly at Hampden House, Sutton (Surrey), 18 November and was buried at Epsom (Surrey), 23 November 1887; her will was proved 23 January 1888 (effects £590).

Atty, Welby Robert (1872-1949). Only son of Robert Attye (1849-1911) and his wife Gertrude, daughter of Rev. Daniel Oliver Etough, born at Aldborough (Yorks), 1 April and baptised at Rugby (Warks), 19 May 1872. An officer in the 5th battn, Devonshire Regiment (2nd Lt, 1900; Lt., 1901; Capt., 1903; resigned 1904); served in First World War as a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Engineers (Lance-Sergeant; 2nd Lt. from 1917). A keen amateur golfer who had some success in championships in the 1890s. He married, 16 August 1902 at All Saints, Battersea (London), Freda Letitia (1876-1962), daughter of William White Brown, merchant, of Fox Burrow, Caterham (Surrey), and had issue:
(1) Daphne Freda Atty (1904-88), born 7 February 1904; emigrated permanently to Kenya, 1930; married, 5 January 1928 at Nakuru (Kenya), Percy Gunson (1900-83), son of William Gunson of Oaklands, Watton (Norfk), and had issue one son; buried at All Saints church, Limuru (Kenya), 1988;
(2) William James Welby Atty (1905-70), born March 1905; served in Second World War with RAF (Pilot Officer, 1940; Flying Officer, 1941); died in Kenya, 13 May 1970 and was buried at Kitale Cemetery;
(3) Eleanor Rosalind Atty (1920-91), born 4 March 1920; married, Apr-Jun 1941, Nigel Oglethorpe McLaughlan (1913-99) and had issue one daughter; died 29 May 1991; will proved 2 July 1991 (estate £261, 040). 
He lived at Seaforth Lodge, Seaton (Devon). When he inherited the Ingon Grange estate from his kinsman, Robert Jervoise Attye, in 1916 he continued to let it until it was sold it to the Misses Madeline and Marguerite Chadwick in 1923.
He died 15 December 1949; his will was proved 24 April 1950 (estate £149,873). His widow died 6 May 1962; her will was proved 31 August 1962 (estate £4,772).

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, pp. 37-38; idem, 1925, p. 50; Stephanie K. Jones, 'A maritime history of the port of Whitby, 1700-1914', PhD thesis, University of London, 1982; Peter Bolton, The Lost Architectural Landscapes of Warwickshire: The South, 2003, pp. 79-80.

Location of archives

Atty of Ingon Grange: deeds and papers, 1681-1930 [Warwickshire Record Office, CR 2812]; estate papers, 19th-20th cents [Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, DR27/11, DR42]

Coat of arms

Azure, a bend between two lions rampant, or.

Can you help?

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

• Can anyone provide additional photographs of the early 19th century house at Ingon Grange, especially any interior views?
• If you or your near relations appear above, please get in touch if you are able to provide fuller or more up-to-date information about recent generations of the family.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 8 January and updated 15 January 2017. I am most grateful to Chris Pickford and Thomas Lloyd for their help with this account.