(396) Barne of Sotterley Hall

Barne of Sotterley

The Barne family (often appearing in records as Barnes or Barns in the 16th and 17th centuries) rose to prosperity as merchants in 16th century London, with the key figures being Sir George Barne (c.1500-58), who was Lord Mayor in 1552-53 and 'chief merchant of the Russia Company' at the time of his death, and his son, Sir George Barne (c.1532-93), who was Lord Mayor in 1586-87. For city merchants, the family were surprisingly well-connected, with the elder Sir George's daughter Anne (d. 1564) being the first wife of Queen Elizabeth's secretary and spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham (d. 1590), and with two of the younger Sir George's children marrying into the Aungier family, later Earls of Longford. The elder Sir George seems to have begun the process of investing in land which was so essential at this time if a family was to make the transition to the gentry, and at his death he left property in Southwark and Hertfordshire. In about 1569, the younger Sir George bought a substantial and fairly new house called Tower Place on the banks of the River Thames at Woolwich (Kent), although this came with only about thirty acres of garden and marshland and adjoined the Board of Ordnance's Gun Wharf. Sir George continued to live in the City until his death, but his eldest son, Sir William Barne (1558-1619) settled at Woolwich and was succeeded there by his eldest son, Sir William Barne (b. c.1593), who lived at Woolwich until he sold the property, apparently in 1654 rather than 1638 as stated in the Survey of London.

The elder Sir William's fourth son, the Rev. Miles Barne (1600-70) was educated at Cambridge and became rector of Lyminge and Bishopsbourne in east Kent. His eldest son, the Rev. Dr. Miles Barne (1638-1708), followed in his footsteps as a clergyman and held livings in Cambridgeshire (which he combined with a Fellowship at Peterhouse) and Rutland, before ending his days at Lyminge. His younger sons seem all to have entered the world of commerce in the city of London, with John Barne (c.1640-92) becoming a scrivener. By this date that meant, in effect, that he was a banker, acting as a broker between those who wished to invest and those who needed to borrow. It was a lucrative if risky trade and perhaps provided the capital that enabled his son, Miles Barne (1679-1743), a cloth merchant, to invest in the East India Company, of which he became a Director, and in shipping. Miles left only two children, and the bulk of his estate passed to his only son, Miles Barne (1718-80), who seems not to have continued his father's business (although he did remain a shipowner until at least 1750). He invested most of his inheritance in buying landed estates in Suffolk: Sotterley in 1744, Reydon in 1746, and later Willingham Hall. The purchase of Sotterley seems to have been a particularly astute piece of business, since he is said to have recouped the purchase price by selling part of the timber on the property, which he then landscaped to form a park around a new country house. He married the daughter and heiress of Nathaniel Elwick, a former Governor of Fort St. George (later Madras) in India, and although she died after only two years of marriage, in 1750 he inherited Elwick's estate of May Place, Crayford (Kent) under the terms of their marriage settlement. A further small purchase secured him a position as one of the electors in the notorious 'rotten borough' of Dunwich (Suffk), and he devoted himself to assiduously cultivating the other electors and extending his property interests in the borough so that he and his successors had a guaranteed seat in parliament whenever they wanted it. It was thus Miles Barne (1718-80) who securely established the family as Suffolk landowners and gentry.

Miles' heir was the only son of his first marriage to Elizabeth Elwick, Miles Barne (1746-1825). There is some suggestion that his health may not have been good, and he was certainly not interested in pursuing the sort of public life his father enjoyed. When his father retired from parliament on health grounds in 1777 he declined to put himself forward for election in his place, and the seat went to his younger half-brother, Barne Barne (1754-1828). He wanted only to live quietly in the country, and he even left most of the management of his estates to his half-brothers and to professional agents. He was unmarried, and when he died in 1825 he left Sotterley and Dunwich to Barne, and his Crayford estate to his youngest brother, the Rev. Thomas Barne (1766-1834), who had built himself a new house (Crayford Manor House) close to May Place, which was almost continuously let.

Crayford Manor House. Image: Historic England BL 723

Barne Barne was an enthusiastic if reckless property developer, who is said to have run up debts of £150,000 before his death in 1828. Since neither he nor the Rev. Thomas Barne had any children, when they died their estates came to another brother, Lt-Col. the Rt. Hon. Michael Barne (1759-1837) or his son, Frederick Barne (1801-86). Frederick Barne settled at Dunwich, the political value of which had been extinguished by the disenfranchisement of the borough by the Great Reform Act of 1832, but where he established a racing stud. He developed a cottage into a modest seaside villa called Grey Friars, which he later considerably expanded. Sotterley was at this time occupied by his sister and her husband, and later in his ownership apparently stood empty for a decade or so, and May Place was occupied by a succession of tenants. His son, Frederick St. John Newdegate Barne (1841-98), pursued a career in the army until his socially advantageous marriage to a daughter of the Marquess of Hertford, after which he moved into Sotterley Hall and then became MP for East Suffolk, 1876-85. After his father died he inherited Grey Friars at Dunwich, which he further enlarged in 1890, perhaps intending it as a seaside holiday home. Unfortunately, Frederick succumbed to influenza in 1898, while still in middle age, and his estates descended to his eldest son, Miles Barne (1874-1917), who undertook a remodelling of Sotterley in 1911. Both Miles and his brothers were young enough to serve in the First World War, and he and his brother Seymour (1886-1917)  were both killed. The estate thus descended to Miles' son, Michael Ernest St. John Barne (1905-79), who came of age in 1926. He sold off the Crayford estate, partly in 1926 and the rest in 1938, and he also sold the Dunwich property in 1947. This freed up capital to invest in developing Sotterley as a farming estate, which he increasingly brought under direct management. His son, the present owner, Miles Robin Barne (b. 1940), spent much of his early life undertaking farming in Papua New Guinea and Australia, where he retains large interests, and his experience there has informed his much-admired management of the Sotterley estate since 1979.

Tower Place, Woolwich, Kent

Tower Place, Woolwich: detail from a print by Paul Sandby, 1775, showing the house and the old Royal Military Academy building.
Image: Kleon3. Some rights reserved.

A Tudor mansion built for Martin Bowes, a wealthy goldsmith who was the key member of staff at the Royal Mint, on land which he bought up following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. His new house, Tower Place, is first mentioned in, and was probably built shortly before, 1545, the year in which Bowes served as Lord Mayor. The house stood close to Gun Wharf, which had been the original royal dockyard at Woolwich but which was acquired by the Board of Ordnance in the 1540s and used mainly for gun storage. As its name suggests, the principal feature of Tower House was a octagonal tower with a viewing gallery on the top floor, which was decorated with a wide cornice and an ogee-curved roof. This was reminiscent of the similar tower of Clapham Manor House (Surrey), although the version at Woolwich seems to have been rather plainer and perhaps more elegant. The house attached to the tower consisted of a two-storey range with attics and dormers that was aligned north-south and was entered on the west side.  It had a traditional manorial hall layout, with a screens passage and kitchen at one end and a parlour on the other side of the hall, and there was a second parlour under a great chamber at the north end, off which a rear corner turret offered views down Gallions Reach. The south end of the east elevation had an oriel window at the end of a first-floor gallery and the octagonal prospect tower, set at the south-west corner, rose five storeys to an ogee cap. In the 1660s, the house was taxed on fifteen hearths, making it the largest house in Woolwich. The marshland behind the house was partially enclosed as a private garden and rabbit warren, with orchards, ponds and moats. 

Tower Place, Woolwich: the courtyard of the Royal Arsenal laboratory, built in 1695-96, in about 1750. The surviving tower of the Tudor house can be seen in the background. Image: Royal Museums Greenwich.

In 1651, the Board of Ordnance secured permission to prove new guns on the warren adjoining the house which formed part of the Tower Place property, and proving butts were built there the same year. In 1667, after the Dutch attack on the River Medway, a gun battery was constructed in the grounds of the house to defend London from a similar assault up the Thames, and shortly afterwards, in 1671, the Board of Ordnance bought the property outright, deeming it "a convenient place for building a storehouse for powder and other stores of war, and for room for the proof of guns". Tower Place itself provided lodgings for the Master Gunner of England, who was in charge of the site, but the grounds were quickly developed for the storage and manufacture of munitions. Part of the Tudor house had evidently been demolished by 1695, when an ammunition laboratory (i.e. workshop) was constructed, which is now the earliest building on the site, and most of the house had gone by 1720. The tower itself was still standing in 1775 and was finally taken down in 1786, after it was found to be unsafe.

Descent: built c.1545 for Martin Bowes (c.1500-66); sold c.1569 to Sir George Barne (c.1532-93), kt.; to son, Sir William Barne (1558-1619), kt.; to son, Sir William Barne (b. c.1593); sold 1654... sold 1671 to Sir William Pritchard, who sold the same year to the Board of Ordnance.

Sotterley Hall, Suffolk

Very little seems to be known about the house of the Playters family, who owned the estate from the 15th century until 1744, although there are indications that it may have been built or rebuilt in the Jacobean period, and have been of some grandeur. It was taxed in 1674 on twenty hearths, making it one of the three dozen or so largest houses in Suffolk, and two unusually ornate chimneypieces from it survive in the present house. The builder may well have been Sir Thomas Playters (d. 1638), who is commemorated by a fine black and white marble monument in Sotterley church signed by Edward Marshall, so it is evident that the family engaged the best craftsmen that they could.

Sotterley Hall: engraving of the house in 1824, showing the quadrant screen walls that originally flanked the house.

The present house was built for Miles Barne (1718-80) immediately after he bought the estate in 1744. It is H-shaped, with shallow projecting wings either side of the five bay centre on both main fronts, and it is considered probable that it is to some extent a recasing or partial rebuilding of the earlier house, although the building seems never to have been the subject of any serious architectural or archaeological analysis. On the west-facing entrance front, the five bays between the wings, which are a slightly different colour to the rest of the house, were rebuilt in 1911, to the original design but slightly further forward. The middle three bays of the five are stepped forward and carry a pediment containing a carved achievement of the Barne arms; and the first floor windows of these three bays have alternating triangular and segmental pediments. The entrance door is richly carved with Corinthian columns and a pediment, and may be a later addition; certainly the curving stone steps leading up to the front door seem to be an addition of about 1840.  The entrance front was originally flanked by curving blind arcades that are visible on the earliest engraving of the house, dating from 1824: these were probably taken down at the same time as the other alterations to the house in about 1840.

Sotterley Hall: the west and south fronts in 2013. Image: © Eric Johnstone.

Sotterley Hall: the east front, with the service and stable wings of c.1840 on either side. Image: Historic England AA49/5160.

The east-facing garden front is in its original form and similar, but here the pedimented doorcase is of the Ionic order, and there is an oculus in the pediment. The side elevations of the house, facing north and south, are of five bays, with the middle three stepped forward and pedimented. The north side, which faces the church and was therefore the more public elevation, has a Diocletian window in the pediment, a Venetian window on the first floor with Ionic pilasters, supported on heavy console brackets, and a Venetian doorway below that with Roman Doric columns and an unusually heavy pediment. The south front has ground floor windows extending to ground level, which look early 19th century but are probably rather later, and contemporary with the building of a new service block at the south-east corner of the house, which dates from about 1840 and is balanced by a stable block to the north. The central window on the south front has a pediment supported on Ionic pilasters; and three central first floor windows also have alternating segmental and triangular pediments, like the east and west fronts. The stonework of these decorative features does not match that of the window surrounds and they are perhaps additions of 1911. 

Sotterley Hall: the north front in 2013. Image: © Kirkleyjohn on Flickr.

The entrance hall has a richly-carved early 17th century oak overmantel with coupled columns to left and right and an overmantel with caryatids and strapwork, said to come from the previous house on this site. In what is now the dining room behind the hall (but which must originally have been the saloon) is a second very fine fireplace, apparently rather mid 17th century than earlier, of wood-grained plaster, with flanking consoles terminating in outward-facing female busts, and a central tablet with the head of Aurora against a rayed background, no doubt symbolic of the morning light this east-facing room attracts. The library is fully-panelled, with a rich cornice and a marble fireplace with scrolled pediment. The main staircase has twisted and fluted balusters to each tread, carved tread-ends, and a ramped and wreathed handrail. Throughout the house, there are many carved doorcases and doors, notably the Corinthian doorcase at the top of the main stair, and further good chimneypieces, including one with a big head of Bacchus in the middle (perhaps this was the original dining room). Two first floor rooms have fireplaces with Rococo decoration, and there is a little plasterwork, some of it in a restrained Gothick style.

The house and the medieval parish church stand together in the middle of a landscaped park. The park is almost perfectly circular, and thus looks exactly like a medieval hunting park on plan, but although field-names suggest that there was once a deer park to the north of the hall, it had been disparked by the 18th century. In 1744 the old house was surrounded by stables, granaries, walled and kitchen gardens, orchards, courtyards and a dovecote occupying about sixteen acres around the house, and the remainder of the 930 acre estate was a compact block of contiguous neatly hedged fields. There was already 'a broad water with a handsome summer house' and 'many hundreds of timber trees' on the estate. The park was in fact created around 1746, when Miles Barne obtained permission to close several roads running through the estate, and there are references in the estate correspondence to the construction of a ha-ha and work on the terrace - perhaps the platform on which the house stands. A lake was created west of the house, perhaps by the adaptation of the existing water feature, and there are some remains of a small grotto, consisting of a tunnel into a mound entered through a Gothic door. The park, which is unusually densely wooded for Suffolk, is remarkable for the large number of ancient oaks, some of which are former pollards while others are standard trees that once stood in the hedgerows. 

Descent: Thomas Playters (d. 1479); to son, William Playters (d. 1512); to son, Christopher Playters (d. 1547); to son, Thomas Playters (d. 1572); to son, William Playters (d. 1584); to son, Sir Thomas Playters (1566-1638), kt. and 1st bt.; to son, Sir William Playters (1590-1668), 2nd bt.; to half-brother, Rev. Sir Lionel Playters (1605-79), 3rd bt.; to son, Sir John Playters (1636-1721), 4th bt.; to nephew, Sir John Playters (1680-1768), 5th bt., who sold 1744 to Miles Barne (1718-80); to son, Miles Barne (1746-1825); to half-brother, Lt-Col. Michael Barne (1759-1827); to son, Frederick Barne (1801-86); to son, Lt-Col. Frederick St. John Newdegate Barne (1842-98); to son, Miles Barne (1874-1917); to son, Michael Ernest St. John Barne (1905-79); to son, Miles Robin Barne (b. 1940). The house was advertised to let for a term of years in 1841 and again in 1861, but was in fact occupied between those dates by Frederick Barne's sister, Emilia, and her husband, Maj-Gen. Sir Edward Bowater.

Grey Friars, Dunwich, Suffolk

The medieval Franciscan friary of Dunwich, of which there are still substantial remains, was converted into a house after the Dissolution. When Sir George Downing bought the estate in 1710, he re-fronted the east elevation of the house with a crenellated brick façade three storeys high, and the building functioned as a jail and meeting place for the electors of this notoriously 'rotten' borough. 

Grey Friars, Dunwich: the original cottage orné, from an
engraving published in 1848.

After the death of his nephew in 1765, the land ownership and political control of the borough quickly became concentrated in the hands of Miles Barne (1718-80) and Sir Joshua Vanneck, who came to an agreement to hold one of the borough's two parliamentary seats each. They later erected a house at Dunwich where both families lived for a few weeks a year, keeping open house for the freemen: it seems uncertain where this stood. In the early 19th century the Barne family demolished most of the post-medieval additions to the original friary, leaving the medieval remains as a romantic ruin, and they transferred the name 'Grey Friars' to a cottage orné south of the town (which was perhaps the shared house previously mentioned), which they used as a shooting box and a base within the borough. 

Grey Friars, Dunwich: an engraving of the garden front published in 1848 in Suckling's History and Antiquities of Suffolk.

After the disenfranchisement of the borough in 1832, they enlarged the property into a substantial house, which had two-storey bows on the garden front surrounded by light verandahs on the ground floor and canopied balconies under steep roofs on the first floor. It would seem that in the mid 19th century the house was further remodelled or rebuilt in a loosely Tudor style, with gables, carved bargeboards and moulded chimneystacks, although I have not found a view of the garden front at this time. 

Grey Friars, Dunwich: the entrance front in the early 20th century. This side of the house was evidently the result of piecemeal development during the 19th century. Image: Historic England BB70/3379

Grey Friars, Dunwich: the garden front after the remodelling by E.F. Bisshopp in 1890, from an old postcard.

Grey Friars: the drawing room, from an engraving published by E.F. Bisshop in The Builder, 1890.

It was again drastically altered and enlarged by E.F. Bisshopp of Ipswich in about 1890 'in a manner more appropriate for a seaside hotel than a private house', with balconies, verandas and a corner turret, and at the same time it was given a richly decorated interior with plasterwork, panelling and enormous chimneypieces and overmantels. After the Barne family sold the estate in 1947 the house was subdivided and partly demolished in 1949.

Descent: Charles Long sold to Miles Barne (1718-80); to son, Miles Barne (d. 1825); to half-brother, Lt-Col. Michael Barne (1759-1827); to son, Frederick Barne (1801-86); to son, Lt-Col. Frederick St. John Newdegate Barne (1842-98); to son, Miles Barne (1876-1917); to son, Michael Ernest St. John Barne (1905-79). who sold 1947.

May Place, Crayford, Kent

A rectangular Jacobean house, usually said to have been built for Sir Roger Appleton (d. 1613), but conceivably for Robert Draper after he purchased the estate in about 1625, as the shaped gables on the entrance front and the severity of the three-storey canted bays on the garden front seem to point to a later rather than an earlier date. 

May Place, Crayford: the south-facing entrance front in the mid 20th century. Image: Historic England A44/4037.

The house was much altered and extended in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and there were clearly several phases of work at different times, only one of which seems to be closely dated or documented. One of the earliest changes may be evidenced by the dining room, which had plain rectangular fielded panels on the walls, giant pilasters framing the chimneybreast and doorcase, and a shallow frieze decorated with cabochon mouldings: features which suggest a late 17th century date.  

May Place, Crayford: the dining room in about 1870. Image: Historic England BB85/3014.

In 1797, Edward Hasted described the house as having "a very venerable and majestic appearance, which has however been much lessened by an injudicious attempt made within these few years to modernize it". This probably refers to the £7,000 which Lady Fermanagh is recorded to have spent on improving the house after she became the tenant in 1791. Which changes she was responsible for is not entirely clear, but they probably included the replacement of many of the original windows by 18th century sashes and tripartite windows, and the addition of a new bow-ended music room (in which she entertained the Prince of Wales) at the north-west end of the house. 

May Place: the Gothick corridor, probably of c.1760
Image: Historic England A44/4044

May Place: the Gothick screen in the library/billiard room of c.1810. Image: Historic England A44/4048

The most memorable alterations to the interior were in a Gothick style, and the work seems to be of two periods: an earlier phase with details derived from Batty Langley's pattern books that resulted in the creation of a 'Gothick corridor'; and a second phase, when the wall between two rooms with earlier panelling was replaced by a more attenuated double Gothick arcade framing a charming little Gothick fireplace. The earlier Gothick work must date from before Lady Fermanagh's time, and could be as early as the 1750s or 1760s; the later Gothick work was perhaps one of her schemes.

May Place, Crayford: the north-facing garden front as shown in an engraving of 1838.

By the time the house was first recorded in 1838 the top floor on the garden front had mullioned windows with round-headed lights and leaded glazing, and on the entrance side there were similar windows set under the original hood-moulds. The framing of these windows suggests, however, that they were not original, and nor do they seem to fit with the style of either phase of Gothick work inside. It seems most likely that they represent yet another phase of work, perhaps in the 1820s or 1830s. 

May Place: the garden front in about 1870. Image: Historic England BB85/3011

Thereafter, the house seems to have been little altered, for photographs of c.1870 and 1943 show it looking much the same as in 1838. After the house became a ladies' golf club in 1907, however, a large part of the stabling and outbuildings that stood south-east of the house was pulled down. The estate was largely sold off for house-building (as the Barnehurst estate) in 1926 and the house was sold to Crayford Urban District Council in 1938. The house was damaged by enemy action during the Second World War, but was partially repaired and continued in use as a golf club until 1959; it was finally demolished in 1961.

Descent: sold c.1565 to Sir Roger Appleton (d. 1613); to daughter, Frances, wife of Sir Francis Goldsmith; sold c.1625 to Robert Draper; to son, William Draper (d. 1650); to son, Cresheld Draper MP (1646-94); sold after his death to Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707), kt.; to widow, Lady Shovell (d. 1732); to daughter Elizabeth, wife of John Carmichael (1701-67), later 3rd Earl of Hyndford, who sold 1735 to Nathaniel Elwick (d. 1750); to son-in-law, Miles Barne (1718-80); to son, Miles Barne (1746-1825); to half-brother, Rev. Thomas Barne (1766-1834); to nephew, Frederick Barne (1801-86); to son, Lt-Col. Frederick St. John Newdegate Barne (1842-98); to son, Miles Barne (1876-1917); to son, Michael Ernest St. John Barne (1905-79). who sold part of the estate in 1926 and the house in 1938 to Crayford Urban District Council. The house was almost continuously leased from 1750 onwards: tenants included Mary Verney (1737-1810), 1st Baroness Fermanagh, from 1791; José Miguel de Carvajal-Vargas y Manrique de Lara Polanco, 2nd Duke of San Carlos (1771-1828), the Spanish ambassador (c. 1821-24); John Fasset Burnett (d. 1851), who was in occupation by 1838; and Edward Horner (d. 1894).  It became a golf club in 1907, and is now the site of Barnehurst Golf Club.

Barne family of Tower Place, Sotterley Hall, May Place and Grey Friars

Sir George Barne (d. 1558), kt.
Lord Mayor of London, 1552

Barne, Sir George (c.1500-58), kt. Son of George Barne, citizen and haberdasher of London, born about 1500. Merchant in London, exporting cloth to, and wine from, Spain. He also became a leading figure in a range of new trading enterprises: promoting voyages to west Africa in 1553 and 1554 and being the 'principal doer' in the first trading voyage to Muscovy of 1553. He had became the 'chief merchant' of the Russia Company by the time of his death. Alderman of London from 1542 (Sheriff, 1545-46; Lord Mayor, 1552-53). He was knighted at Whitehall, 11 April 1553, and was was one of the City fathers signing the letters patent of Edward which made Lady Jane Grey queen, as a consequence of which he was treated with some suspicion during the Marian regime, although there is no evidence that he held strong Protestant convictions (as his son did). He married, c.1530, Alice (c.1504-59), daughter of [forename unknown] Brooke of Shropshire and widow of Richard Relfe (d. 1528), citizen and vintner of London, and had issue:
(1) Sir George Barne (c.1532-93), kt. (q.v.);
(2) John Barne (d. 1615), of Willesden (Middx); married Jane (d. 1609), daughter of Thomas Langton of Yorkshire, and had issue two daughters; died 4 September 1615; will proved 18 September 1615 and inquisition post mortem held 20 October 1615;
(3) Elizabeth Barne (d. 1590?); married, about 1556, Sir John Rivers (d. 1584), kt., citizen and grocer of London who was Lord Mayor of London in 1573/4, and had issue six sons and three daughters; said to have died 6 April 1590;
(4) Anne Barne (d. 1564); married 1st, c.1550, Alexander Carlyell (d. 1561), a Russia merchant in London, and had issue; married 2nd, January 1562, Sir Francis Walsingham (d. 1590), kt. of Barn Elms (Surrey), principal Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth I (who m2, 1566, Ursula, daughter of Henry St. Barbe and widow of Sir Richard Worsley); will proved 22 November 1564.
He lived in London, but also left property in Southwark and Hertfordshire.
He died 18 February 1557/8 and was buried at St. Bartholomew-the-Less, London; his will was proved 21 March 1557/8 and an inquisition post mortem was held, 1 April 1558. His widow was buried at St. Bartholomew-the-Less, 2 June 1559; her will was proved 5 July 1559.

Barne, Sir George (c.1532-93), kt. Elder son of Sir George Barne (d. 1558), Lord Mayor of London, and his wife Alice Brooke, born about 1532. Merchant in London; Governor of the Russia Company, 1580, 1583; Master of the Haberdashers Company, 1586-87. Alderman of London from 1574 (Sheriff, 1576; Lord Mayor 1586). During his shrievalty, he was at the centre of a diplomatic incident when he and the recorder of London entered the Portuguese embassy in London in an attempt to prevent a Catholic mass being performed there; for this excessive zeal he was reprimanded by the Queen (who had to apologise to the Portuguese ambassador) and imprisoned for a few days in the Fleet Prison. The incident does not seem to have prevented his becoming Lord Mayor of London, as a result of which he was knighted, 11 June 1587. MP for London, 1589. President of St. Thomas' Hospital, London, 1592. He married, c.1565, Anne (d. 1611), daughter of Sir William Gerrard, kt. of Dorney (Bucks), Lord Mayor of London in 1555, and had issue:
(1) Margaret Barne (b. 1556), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, 14 May 1556; died young before 1568;
(2) Sir William Barne (1558-1619) (q.v.);
(3) George Barne (1559-94), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, 13 September 1559; lived at Woolwich; died unmarried; administration of his goods granted to his elder brother, 12 October 1594;
(4) John Barne (b. & d. 1560), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, London, 16 November 1560; died in infancy and was buried at the same church, 17 November 1560;
(5) Francis Barne (1561-1634), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, 18 January 1561/2; lived at Woolwich; buried at St Edmund, Lombard St., London; died unmarried; will proved 29 May 1634;
(6) Thomas Barne (b. 1562), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, 18 March 1561/2; living in 1568 but perhaps died young;

(7) John Barne (b. 1565), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, London, 18 March 1564/5; possibly the man of this name who married, 4 June 1604 at St James, Garlickhythe, Mary Tremor;
(8) Anne Barne (b. 1566), baptised at St James Garlickhythe, London, 20 November 1566; married 1st, 1584 (licence 17 July), Walter Marley; married 2nd, as his second wife, Sir Francis Aungier (1558-1632), 1st Baron Aungier of Longford, Master of the Rolls in Ireland (who m3, Margaret Cave), and had issue; died before her second husband.
(9) Mark Barne (b.1568), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, London, 15 August 1568; married and had issue at least two sons and one daughter; died between 1620 and 1633;
(10) Peter Barne (1570-1601?), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, London, 8 January 1569/70; living in 1591 and perhaps the vinegar-maker of this name who was buried at St Botolph, Aldgate, London, 7 July 1601;
(11) Richard Barne (c.1573-1620), born about 1573; educated at St John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1588; BA 1591); married Elizabeth (d. 1650) (who m3, John Machell), daughter of Sir Francis Aungier, 1st Baron Aungier, Master of the Rolls in Ireland by his first wife, and widow of Simon Caryll of Tangley (Surrey), but had no issue; died 6 October and was buried at Wonersh (Surrey), 8 October 1620; will proved 4 May 1621.
He lived in Lombard St., London. In about 1569 he purchased Tower Place, Woolwich.
He died at Woolwich, 2 January 1592/3 and was buried at St Edmund, Lombard St., London; his will was proved 20 January 1592/3 (and a further administration was granted at York, 24 June 1648), and an inquisition post mortem was held 28 September 1593. His widow died about 31 December 1611; administration of her estate was granted 8 January 1611/2.

Barne, Sir William (1558-1619), kt. Eldest surviving son of Sir George Barne (c.1532-93), Lord Mayor of London, and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir William Gerrard, kt. of Dorney (Bucks), baptised at St James, Garlickhythe, London, 26 September 1558. Merchant in London and a member of the Virginia Company. JP for Kent from 1596. MP for Grimsby, 1593. He was knighted, 23 July 1603. He married, 1586 (settlement 11 May), Anne (1570-c.1630), daughter of the Most Rev. Dr. Edward Sandys, Archbishop of York, and had issue:
(1) Anne Barne (d. 1633); married 1st, 'on or about 17 May 1611', Sir William Lovelace (1584-1627), kt. of Woolwich and Bethersden (Kent), and had issue five sons and three daughters despite being estranged from her husband for some years after their marriage; married 2nd, 20 January 1630 at Greenwich, Very Rev. Dr. Jonathan Browne (c.1601-43), vicar of Hertingfordbury (Herts) and later Dean of Hereford 1636-39 and a canon of Westminster Abbey, 1639-43, and had further issue one daughter; died 1633; will (as Dame Anne Lovelace) proved 22 May 1633.
(2) Sir William Barne (b. c.1593), kt., knighted at Greenwich, 29 June 1618; inherited Tower Place, Woolwich from his father in 1619, but sold it in 1654; married, 1618 (settlement 10 October), Dorothy, second daughter of Sir Peter Manwood KB and had issue four sons; living in 1654, but date of death untraced;
(3) Robert Barne (d. 1658?); lived at Grimsby (Lincs); godson, adopted son and heir of Sir Robert Remington of Saxby (Lincs), Lord President of Munster; married, c.1626, Elizabeth (1604-37), daughter of Thomas Twysden of Wye (Kent) and had issue two sons and six daughters; living in 1632 and possibly the man of this name buried at Great Coates (Lincs), 24 February 1657/8;
(4) Thomas Barne (d. 1630); lived at Woolwich; died unmarried and without issue; administration of his estate was granted 24 March 1629/30;
(5) Rev. Miles Barne (1600-70) (q.v.);
(6) John Barne; died, probably unmarried and without issue, before 1632;
(7) George Barne; married, 31 January 1626/7 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), Ann Caryell; living in 1632.
He inherited Tower Place, Woolwich from his father in 1593, and owned property at Woolwich, Plumstead and Bexley (all Kent), and at Calthorpe (Lincs). In 1611 he received a grant of lands in the plantation of Ulster, but he sold them immediately. In 1618 he was granted, with Hugh Lydiard, the perpetual right to hold a market in Woolwich. 
He died 7 May 1619; an inquisition post mortem was held 22 October 1619. His widow married 2nd, Edward Pulter (d. 1626) of Bradfield (Herts) esq.; she died in Woolwich in 1630 and administration of her goods was granted 10 February 1629/30.

Barne, Rev. Miles (1600-70). Fourth son of Sir William Barne (1558-1619), kt., of Woolwich (Kent), and his wife Anne, daughter of the Most Rev. Dr. Edward Sandys, Archbishop of York, baptised at St Mary Aldermanbury, London, 21 January 1600. Educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1618; BA 1622/3; MA 1626). Ordained deacon, 1628 and priest, 1628. Vicar (and, from 1637, Rector) of Lyminge (Kent), 1632-70; rector of Brook (Kent), 1640; rector of Bishopsbourne-cum-Barham (Kent). He married, 31 May 1632 at St Mary-at-Hill, London, Jane Trevis (c.1605-89), and had issue:
(1) Anne Barne (1634-1709), baptised at Lyminge, 13 November 1634; married, 23 June 1662 at Bishopsbourne (Kent), Bernard Gibbard (1633-66) of London, haberdasher, and had issue one daughter (who married the Rev. William Dowdeswell, rector of Kingham (Oxon)); buried at Kingham, 17 May 1709; will proved 16 November 1709;
(2) Hester Barne (1636-1714), baptised at Lyminge, 20 December 1636; married, 1666 (licence 6 October), John Singleton (1639-1706) of London, haberdasher, and had issue (who all predeceased her); buried at St Giles, Cripplegate, London, 23 or 24 May 1714; will proved 20 May 1714;
(3) Rev. Dr. Miles Barne (1638-1708), baptised at Lyminge, 16 October 1638; educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge (matriculated 1657; BA 1659/60; MA 1663; DD 1682); Fellow of Peterhouse, 1662-89; junior Proctor of Cambridge University, 1667; ordained deacon, 1663 and priest, 1664; vicar of Madingley (Cambs), 1664-82; chaplain to King Charles II; vicar of Glaston (Rutland), 1681-1701; vicar of Lyminge (Kent), 1701-08; married, 23 December 1687 at St James, Duke's Place, London, Susanna Hammond (d. 1706?), widow, but died without issue; buried at Kingham (Oxon), 9 October 1708; will proved 3 December 1708;
(4) John Barne (c.1640-92) (q.v.);
(5) William Barne (c.1642-1706); lived at Bekesbourne (Kent); died unmarried and without issue, 16 June, and was buried at Barham, 18 June 1706, where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved 26 June 1706; 
(6) Henry Barne (c.1645-89), born about 1645; citizen and 'India gownman' of the New Exchange, London and Bladben, Eltham (Kent); married, 21 May 1673 at Temple Church, London, Elizabeth (d. 1731), daughter of J. Mainwaring of London, and had issue three daughters; will proved 19 October 1689;
(7) Robert Barne (b. c.1648), born about 1648; citizen of London; married, 28 November 1671 at St Paul, Covent Garden, London, Mary, daughter of Thomas Wivell, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died before 1689;
(8) Anthony Barne (c.1650-1714), born about 1650; married, 1673 (licence 15 September) at St Mary-le-Strand, London, Rebecca Smith (d. 1714); buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 19 January 1713/4.
He lived at Lyminge (Kent) in the 1630s but was probably later at Bishopsbourne or Barham.
He was buried at Barham, 1 November 1670. His widow was buried at Barham (Kent), 26 May 1689.

Barne, John (c.1640-92). Second son of Rev. Miles Barne (1600-70) and his wife Jane Trevis of Chipping Norton (Oxon), born about 1640. Scrivener in London. He married, 1670 (licence 21 January 1669/70) in Grays Inn chapel, Alice (1649-1727), daughter of Edward Billers of Leicester, and had issue:
(1) George Barne (1671-96), born about 1671; educated at Leicester and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1688; BA 1691/2 MA 1695); Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, 1694-96; died unmarried and without issue; buried in St John's College chapel, Cambridge, 18 January 1695/6;
(2) John Barne (1672-1732), baptised 23 October 1672; East India merchant; married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Drake, of Kensington (Middx) and had issue four sons (who all died childless) and two daughters; died 7 March and was buried at Bath Abbey (Somerset), 10 March 1731/2; will proved 15 March 1731/2;
(3) Anne Barne (1674-83), baptised at Westminster, 26 July 1674; died young, 1683;
(4) William Barne (1677-1710), baptised at St Clement Danes, London, 8 April 1677; East India merchant; died unmarried and without issue at Bombay (India), 1710; will proved 7 September 1711;
(5) Miles Barne (1679-1743) (q.v.);
(6) Henry Barne (1683-1726), born 11 March and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx), 12 March 1682/3; citizen and leatherseller in London; married his cousin, Anne (1691-1727), daughter of Rev. William Dowdeswell, rector of Kingham (Oxon), and had issue two sons (who died without issue); buried at St Martin Pomeroy, Ironmonger Lane, London, 10 October 1726; will proved 5 October 1726;
(7) Alice Barne (c.1685-1753), born about 1685; married, 14 May 1713 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, William Selwyn (c.1686-1768), citizen and skinner of London, of Down Hall, Hatfield Broadoak (Essex), and had issue; buried at Hatfield Peverel (Essex), 8 September 1753.
He lived in London.
He died 25 March 1692 and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx); his will was proved 6 June 1692. His widow was buried at St Faith-under-St. Paul, London, 29 October 1727; her will was proved 8 November 1727.

Barne, Miles (1679-1743). Fourth son of John Barne (c.1640-92) of London, scrivener, and his wife Alice, daughter of Edward Billers of Leicester, baptised at St Clement Danes, London, on or about 1 February 1678/9. Apprenticed to Alan Horde, citizen and fishmonger of London, 1694. A cloth merchant in London who also had shipping interests and was a director of the East India Company, 1733, 1736-39. According to some accounts he became 'insane' before his death, but his will, written in 1741, was entirely rational and any period of mental illness must have been quite brief. He married, 1709 (licence 28 July), Elizabeth, daughter of Solomon Snowden of York, and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Barne (1712-69), baptised 5 February 1712; married, 27 January 1731/2 in the chapel at Whitehall Palace, Sir Stephen Anderson (1708-73), 3rd bt., of  Eyeworth (Beds) (who m2, 2 April 1771 at Haddington (East Lothian), Mary (d. 1808), daughter of William Elsegood of Norwich), and had issue one son (who died young); buried at Eyeworth, 21 April 1769;
(2) Anne Barne (1716-24), baptised 5 November 1716; said to have died young, 1724;
(3) Miles Barne (1718-80) (q.v.).
He lived in Great Ormond St., London.
He died 22 March and was buried at St Margaret Pattens, London, 31 March 1743; his will was proved 22 March 1742/3, i.e. on the very day he died! His wife probably predeceased him as she is not mentioned in his will, but her date of death is unknown.

Miles Barne (1718-80)

Barne, Miles (1718-80). Only son of Miles Barne (1679-1743) of London and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Solomon Snowden of York, born October and baptised at St Peter, Cornhill, London, 5 November 1718. Although he seems not to have continued his father's business as a merchant, he was one of the proprietors of the East Indiaman 'Suffolk' in the 1740s, along with his father-in-law and brother-in-law, Sir Stephen Anderson. In 1749, perhaps to alleviate his grief at the death of his first wife, he took himself to Italy; Horace Mann described him as having 'no time to see anybody. He set out from England six weeks ago, has been all over France and great part of Italy, and designs to make the tour of the rest and all Germany, and be in England in six weeks more. The next summer he intends to spend three months more in seeing the rest of Europe', although it is not known if he made a further tour in 1750. MP for Dunwich, 1747-54, 1764-77, when he retired on health grounds and was succeeded by his son, Barne Barne. A Harbour Commissioner for Southwold (Suffk); Bailiff of Dunwich from 1765. He married 1st, 11 May 1745 at Foots Cray (Kent), Elizabeth (d. 1747), daughter and co-heir of Nathaniel Elwick of May Place, Crayford (Kent), formerly Governor of Fort St. George (India) and 2nd, 23 September 1752, Mary (c.1734-1802), eldest daughter of George Thornhill of Diddington (Hunts), and had issue:
(1.1) Miles Barne (1746-1825) (q.v.);
(1.2) Elizabeth Barne (1747-59), born about September 1747; died young, 24 June 1759;
(2.1) Mary Barne (1753-1835), born between July and November 1753; married, 21 November 1777 at St Paul, Covent Garden, Westminster (Middx), William Sawbridge (d. 1836) of East Haddon (Northants), son of Henry Sawbridge, and had issue one son; buried at East Haddon, 23 October 1835;
(2.2) Barne Barne (1754-1828) (q.v.); 
(2.3) Sarah Barne (c.1755-1818), born between May 1755 and January 1756; married, 24 May 1788 at St. Marylebone (Middx), John Harding (1758-1819) of Nelmes, Hornchurch (Essex) and later of Clynderwyn (Carmarthens.), and had issue one son; he also adopted a daughter; died 7 January 1818;
(2.4) Snowden Barne (1756-1825), born 26 December 1756; educated at Westminster, Trinity Hall (matriculated 1776; LLB 1781), Middle Temple (admitted 1773; called 1781) and Inner Temple (admitted 1782; bencher 1816); barrister-at-law, practising on the western circuit; Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1786-1825; MP for Dunwich, 1796-1812; Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer of Exchequer, 1806-25; a Lord of the Treasury, 1809-12; Commissioner for Customs, 1812-23 (Deputy Chairman, 1819-23); ‘without possessing any very splendid talents or very extensive learning’, he was regarded as ‘an extremely sensible and right-minded man’; died unmarried, 3 July and was buried at Sotterley, 11 July 1825; his will was proved 26 July 1825;
(2.5) George Barne (b. c.1758), born about 1758 but died in infancy;
(2.6) Lt-Col. Michael Barne (1759-1837) (q.v.);
(2.7) Elizabeth Barne (c.1761-1834), born about 1761; died unmarried and was buried at Sotterley, 24 June 1834; will proved 28 June 1834;
(2.8) Anne Barne (c.1763-1827), born about 1763; married, 8 June 1790 at St. Marylebone (Middx), Charles Drake (later Drake Garrard) (c.1755-1817) of Lamer Park (Herts), fourth son of William Drake of Shardeloes (Bucks), and had issue one son and five daughters; died at Brighton, 10 January 1827; will proved 3 February 1827;
(2.9) Kesia Barne (c.1764-81), born about 1764; died unmarried, 10 June 1781;
(2.10) Rev. Thomas Barne (1766-1834), born 16 July 1766; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1783; BA 1786; MA 1789); ordained deacon, 1789 and priest, 1790; rector of South Elmham St James, 1790-95 and Sotterley, 1790-1805; chaplain in ordinary to George III, George IV and William IV; a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; after giving up his incumbency he lived at Crayford, where he rebuilt the Manor House in 1816; married 1st, 30 August 1790 at Egham (Surrey), Elizabeth (d. 1812), daughter of Richard Wyatt of Milton Place (Surrey) and 2nd, 14 March 1815, Sarah (1770-1847), daughter of Very Rev. Andrew St. John DD, Dean of Worcester 1783-95, but had no issue; died 21 July and was buried at Sotterley, 29 July 1834, where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved 12 August 1834.
He invested his share of his father's estate in the purchase of the Sotterley estate from Sir John Playters, 5th bt., in 1744. It is said that 'the estate was then so covered with timber as to render it an unattractive purchase, so little was the value of forest trees at that time understood... Mr. Barne felled sufficient timber to pay the purchase-money, and left Sotterley one of the best wooded estates in Suffolk'. He rebuilt the house and laid out the park over the next few years, and seems to have lived near his sister at Roxton (Beds) and then at 35 Grosvenor Sq., London, while these works were in progress. In 1746 he also bought Playters' estate at Reydon near Southwold, and he made further smaller purchases including the Willingham Hall estate (from Robert Sparrow), the Temple Manor estate at Dunwich from Charles Long, and incremental additions to his Reydon, Dunwich and Willingham properties. In 1750 he inherited the May Place estate at Crayford under the terms of his marriage settlement with his first wife.
He died 27 December 1780. His first wife died, probably in childbirth, 20 September 1747, and was buried at Crayford. His widow died 27 July 1802.

Barne, Miles (1746-1825). Only son of Miles Barne (1718-80) and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Nathaniel Elwick of May Place, Crayford (Kent), born 22 May or 3 June and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., London, 15 June 1746. Educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge (matriculated 1763) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1764). Undertook the Grand Tour, 1769-71, travelling with S. Chase, and is known to have visited Venice, Padua and Florence. High Sheriff of Suffolk, 1790-91. MP for Dunwich, 1791-96; Harbour Commissioner for Southwold from 1781, but was not active in the role. He was of a retiring and pious disposition, and 'resided almost constantly at Sotterley... seeing very few persons except near connexions and relatives'. Not surprisingly, therefore, he played little part in public life. He made strenuous but ultimately unsuccessful efforts to avoid being chosen as High Sheriff, and he declined to succeed his father as member for Dunwich in 1777. He left the management of the family political interest at Dunwich largely to his half-brother, Barne Barne (1754-1828), and only served when his brother was obliged to resign on his appointment as a commissioner of taxes; he retired on health grounds at the next election and relinquished the post to his younger half-brother, Snowden Barne. He was frugal in his personal habits, but is said to have been a generous landlord, although he left much of the management of his estates to his brothers and to local agents. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited the Sotterley, Dunwich and May Place estates from his father in 1780. At his death, the Suffolk property passed to his eldest half-brother, Barne Barne, and the Crayford estate to his youngest half-brother, the Rev. Thomas Barne.
He died 8 September and was buried at Sotterley, 15 September 1825; his will was proved 16 November 1825.

Barne, Barne (1754-1828). Eldest son of Miles Barne (1718-80) and his second wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of George Thornhill of Diddington (Hunts), born 25 August 1754. Educated at Westminster, Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1772; LLB 1780) and Inner Temple (admitted 1770; called 1779; bencher 1811; reader 1820; treasurer, 1820-21). Barrister-at-law; Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1781-1814; MP for Dunwich, 1777-91; a Commissioner of Taxes, 1791-1820; a Harbour Commissioner for Southwold from 1810. As a lawyer he acted as business manager for the family and his aggressive cultivation of their interest at Dunwich led to difficulties with the freemen in 1810; his brothers did not get on easily with him either, but did not doubt his devotion to the family interest. He was more zealous than judicious in the development of his property at Reydon, Dunwich and Crayford, and accumulated debts of £150,000.
He inherited the Sotterley, Dunwich and May Place estates from his half-brother in 1825, but had played a key role in managing the estates for many years before that. He lived on the Crayford estate until his debts became oppressive in 1820.
He died unmarried, 19 June 1828.

Barne, Lt-Col. Michael (1759-1837). Fourth son of Miles Barne (1718-80) and his second wife, Mary, eldest daughter of George Thornhill of Diddington (Hunts), born 3 June 1759. Educated at Westminster and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1777). An officer in the 7th Hussars (Cornet, 1778; Lt. 1780; Capt. 1783; Maj. 1794; Lt-Col., 1799; retired 1804) and in Suffolk Yeomanry (Lt-Col., 1805). Tory MP for Dunwich, 1812-30; Privy Councillor, 1830. He was an active freemason and also interested in horses. He divided his time between Dunwich, where he underwrote much of the cost of a new parish church, and the palace at Hampton Court, where he had a ‘grace and favour’ apartment. He married, 2 October 1798, Mary (c.1764-1858), daughter of Ayscoghe Boucherett of Willingham and Stallingborough (Lincs), and had issue:
(1) Emilia Mary Barne (1799-1892), baptised at North Willingham (Lincs), 26 October 1799; occupied Sotterley Hall in the 1840s and 1850s, and altered it; married, 22 May 1839 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Maj-Gen. Sir Edward Bowater (1787-1861), equerry to King William IV and later to HRH Prince Albert, son of Adm. Edward Bowater, and had issue one daughter (Louisa (1842-1913), who as Lady Knightley became a leading figure in the women's rights movement); died aged 92 at Thatched House Lodge, Richmond Park (Surrey) on 25 March, and was buried at Sotterley, 30 March 1892.
(2) Frederick Barne (1801-86) (q.v.);
He inherited the Sotterley and May Place estates from his brother in 1828.
He died at Hampton Court, 23 June 1837, and was buried at Dunwich, 8 July 1837, where he is commemorated by a monument by W. Behnes; his will was proved 5 August 1837 (effects under £16,000). His widow died aged 94 on 11 December 1858 and was buried at Sotterley, 20 December 1858.

Frederick Barne (1801-86) by 'Spy'
Image: National Portrait Gallery
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Barne, Frederick (1801-86). Only son of Lt-Col. Michael Barne (1759-1837) of Sotterley Hall and May Place, and his wife Mary, daughter of Ayscoghe Boucherett of Willingham and Stallingborough (Lincs), born 8 November and baptised at North Willingham (Lincs), 26 November 1801. Educated at Westminster School, 1814-17, by Christopher Bird at High Hoyland, Yorks. 1817-19, at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1819) and by G.H. de Seigneux at Lausanne, 1820-22. An officer in the army (Cornet, 1823; Lt. 1825; Capt., 1829; retired 1832); Tory MP for Dunwich, 1830-32; JP and DL for Suffolk; High Sheriff of Suffolk, 1851-52. After the family seat of Dunwich was disenfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832, he did not seek another parliamentary seat, but devoted himself to the pleasures of the turf, becoming a member of the Jockey Club in 1835. After his father's death in 1837 he settled at Dunwich, where he established a racing stud. He married, 4 February 1834 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Mary Anne Elizabeth (1809-90), eldest daughter of Sir John Courtenay Honywood, 5th bt. of Evington (Kent), and had issue:
(1) Alice Mary Honywood Barne (1834-49), born 23 November and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., London, 31 December 1834; died young, 21 March 1849, and was buried at Dunwich, 29 March 1849;
(2) Frederick St. John Newdegate Barne (1842-98) (q.v.);
(3) Philip Julius Honywood Ayscoghe Barne (1843-1917), baptised at Dunwich, 6 August 1843; an officer in the 60th Rifles (Ensign 1861; Lt. 1863; Capt., 1873; retired 1878); married, 30 October 1878 at Beltrasna (Co. Meath), Edith Sophia Marion (1847-1931), daughter of Anthony O'Reilly of Beltrasna, but had no issue; died 15 March 1917; will proved 12 May 1917 (estate £3,224);
(4) Edith Barne (1844-64), baptised at Dunwich, 8 September 1844; died unmarried and was buried at Dunwich, 18 January 1864.
He inherited the Sotterley and Dunwich estates from his father in 1837 and May Place from his uncle in 1834, but he settled at Dunwich, where he developed an existing cottage orné into a house which he called Grey Friars, although it did not stand on the site of the former Franciscan friary at Dunwich. He let Sotterley to his sister and her husband and they altered it c.1840. Sotterley may have stood unoccupied from c.1861 until his son and heir moved in on his marriage in 1871.
He died 9 March and was buried at Dunwich, 15 March 1886; his will was proved 4 June 1886 (effects £60,743). His widow died 18 June and was buried at Dunwich, 21 June 1890; her will was proved 4 August 1890 (effects £4,655).

Barne, Lt-Col. Frederick St. John Newdegate (1841-98). Elder son of Frederick Barne (1801-86) of Sotterley Hall and May Place, and his wife Mary Anne Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir John Courtenay Honywood, 5th bt, born 5 September and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., London, 8 October 1841. Educated at Eton. An officer in the Scots Guards (Ensign & Lt., 1859; Lt & Capt. 1864; Capt & Lt-Col., 1871; retired 1872), but saw no active service. Conservative MP for East Suffolk, 1876-85; JP for Suffolk; High Sheriff of Suffolk, 1892. He married, 2 November 1871 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Lady Constance Adelaide (1852-1915), fifth daughter of Francis George Hugh Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford, and had issue:
(1) Mary Emily Barne (1873-1959), born 23 February and baptised at Sotterley, 23 March 1873; lived at Little Buckland House, Broadway (Worcs); died unmarried, 21 June 1959; will proved 17 September 1959 (estate £14,673);
(2) Maj. Miles Barne (1874-1917) (q.v.);
(3) Capt. Michael Barne RN (1877-1961), born 15 October and baptised at Sotterley, 18 November 1877; an officer in the Royal Navy, 1893-1919 and 1939-40 (2nd Lt., 1898; Lt. 1900; retired 1908; resumed service as Lt-Cdr 1914; Cdr 1917; retired as Capt., 1918; resumed service 1940; invalided 1940), who served on the Discovery Antarctic expedition, 1901-04 (Polar Medal) and in the First World War, 1914-18 (DSM) and Second World War, 1939-40; lived at The Mill, Birch (Essex); married, 12 April 1910 at St Stephen, Gloucester Road, South Kensington (Middx), Margaret Gwendoline Marjorie (1889-1967), elder daughter of Mowbray Gray of Surbiton (Surrey) and had issue two sons; died 31 May 1961; will proved 5 November 1961 (estate £17,433);
(4) Capt. Seymour Barne (1886-1917), born 26 October and baptised at Dunwich, 21 November 1886; educated at Eton, 1899-1903; an officer in the 20th Hussars (Lt., 1909; Capt. 1916), seconded to Royal Flying Corps; killed in action in France, 23 April 1917 and was buried at Aubigny-en-Artois (France); will proved 25 August 1917 (estate £12,388);
(5) Winifred Edith Barne (1881-1967), born 23 April and baptised at Sotterley, 22 May 1881; married, 23 April 1908 at St Stephen, Gloucester Rd., South Kensington, Rt. Rev. Algernon Augustus Markham (1869-1949), rector of Stoke Grantham (Lincs) and suffragan bishop of Grantham, fourth son of Rev. Charles Warren Markham of Aughton (Lancs) and had issue one son and four daughters; died 30 October 1967; will proved 6 May 1968 (estate £11,265).
He inherited the Sotterley, Gray Friars and May Place estates from his father in 1886, but had been living at Sotterley since his marriage. He remodelled and enlarged Grey Friars in 1890.
He died suddenly of influenza, 25 January and was buried at Sotterley, 29 January 1898; will proved 29 March 1898 (estate £101,599). His widow died 30 November 1915; will proved 7 January 1916 (estate £2,708).

Barne, Maj. Miles (1874-1917). Eldest son of Lt-Col. Frederick St. John Newdegate Barne (1841-98) and his wife Lady Constance Adelaide Seymour, fifth daughter of 5th Marquess of Hertford, born 15 March 1874 and baptised at Sotterley. Educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the Scots Guards (2nd Lt. 1893; Lt. ; Capt. 1901; retired 1904) and Suffolk Imperial Yeomanry (Maj., 1908; seconded to Scots Guards, 1915), who served in Boer War and First World War (DSO 1917); his diary of the First World War, edited by Randall Nicol, was published in 2018 as Miles Barne's Diary. He was a member of East Suffolk County Council and a JP for Suffolk. He married, 11 July 1904 at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London, Violet Ella (1881-1969), elder daughter of Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing, 3rd bt. of Ballikinrain Castle (Stirlings.), and had issue:
(1) Lt-Col. Michael Ernest St. John Barne (1905-79) (q.v.);
(2) Lt-Col. Anthony Miles Barne OBE (1906-96), born 20 November 1906; educated at Marlborough and Sandhurst; an officer in the Royal Dragoons (2nd Lt., 1927; Lt., 1930; Capt. 1938; Maj., 1944; retired as Lt-Col. 1953) who served in the Second World War in North Africa and Italy (mentioned in despatches); married, 10 June 1937, Cara (1915-97), younger daughter of Philip Holmes-Hunt of Toorak, Melbourne (Australia) and had issue one son; died October 1996;
(3) Nigel Hugh Barne MC (1909-2002), born 29 June and baptised at Dunwich, 22 August 1909; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; an officer in the Scots Guards (2nd Lt. 1940; Lt. ; Capt.) who served in the Second World War (wounded); awarded MC, 1942; lived at Iden (Sussex); married, 17 June 1949, Elizabeth Marjorie (1914-2008), eldest daughter of Rev. Henry Lefroy Russell, and had issue three sons; died aged 92 on 19 June 2002 and was buried at Sotterley; will proved 27 September 2002;
(4) Elizabeth Mabel Barne (1911-2000), born 18 October 1911; married, 12 June 1944, Col. Lionel James Gaselee Showers DSO (1904-77), only son of Lt-Col. H.L. Showers of Newburn, Kippen (Stirlings.), and had issue one son and three daughters; died 13 June 2000; will proved 3 April 2001.
He inherited all his grandfather's unentailed and personal property in 1890 on the death of the latter's widow, and the entailed Sotterley, Dunwich and May Place estates from his father in 1898.
He died of wounds received when a bomb jettisoned by a British aeroplane in difficulties exploded while he was inspecting troops behind the lines, 17 September 1917, and was buried at Mendinghem Military Cemetery (Belgium); his will was proved 26 January 1918 (estate £445,331). His widow died at Bath (Somerset), 11 April 1969; her will was proved 18 July 1969 (estate £41,085).

Barne, Lt-Col. Michael Ernest St. John (1905-79). Eldest son of Maj. Miles Barne (1874-1917) and his wife Violet Ella, elder daughter of Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing, 3rd bt., born 13 July 1905. Educated at Eton and RMC Sandhurst. An officer in the Scots Guards, 1925-35 and 1939-55 (2nd Lt., 1925; Lt., 1927; Capt. 1933; Maj. 1949; retired as Lt-Col., 1955). JP for Suffolk (from 1937). He married 1st, 17 June 1929 (div. 1952), Margaret Louisa Rosalind (1903-94), daughter of Rev. Lancelot Jefferson Perceval KCVO MA, Precentor of HM Chapels Royal, and 2nd, 11 February 1953, Lucy Margaret (1905-2001), daughter of Owen Fleming of Toys Hill (Kent) and widow of Percy C. Briscoe, and had issue:
(1.1) Catherine Margaret Barne (1930-2002), born 16 April 1930; married, 10 December 1954 (div.), Alexander Vesey Bethune Norman (1930-98), historian and museum curator (who m2, 1988, Anne Buddle), only son of Lt-Col. Vesey Bethune Norman, and had issue one son; died 23 April 2002; will proved 4 November 2002;
(1.2) Patricia Constance Mary Barne (b. 1932), born 8 June 1932; married, 9 September 1952 at Starston (Norfk), Richard Gordon Lombe Taylor (b. 1927) of Conifer Hill, Starston, only son of Arthur Lombe Taylor of Starston Place, and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(1.3) Diana Marion Barne (b. 1934), born 1 November 1934; married, 21 June 1958, Richard Christopher Lloyd (1932-2013) of Beccles (Suffk), only son of Lancelot Walter Lloyd and had issue one son and one daughter;
(1.4) Miles Robin Barne (b. 1940), born 2 November 1940; educated at Eton; landowner and farmer in Suffolk and Australia; he left England in 1959 to drive across Europe and Asia to Singapore and then visited Australia and Papua New Guinea, where his step-brother was a coffee, cocoa and copra grower in New Guinea; after his step-brother was accidentally drowned he bought the latter's plantation there, but later sold it and moved to Australia, where he acquired a 650,000 hectare cattle station in the Northern Territory, and developed a passionate interest in early Australian history; in 1990 he financed and launched the 'Story of Sydney' museum, but this proved unsuccessful as a tourist attraction and closed in 1992, leaving him with spectacular losses; he subsequently sold his important collection of books and pictures on the subject at auction; director of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust (retired 2015) and founder of the European Squirrel Initiative; married 1st, in Papua New Guinea, Norma [surname unknown], and had issue two sons (George and Thomas Michael Barne (b. 1979), of whom the latter acts as estate manager at Sotterley); married 2nd, Jan-Mar 1998, Teresa Susan Yates; now living;
(1.5) Maj. Nicholas Michael Lancelot Barne (1943-2017), born 25 November 1943; educated at Eton and Sandhurst; an officer in the Scots Guards, 1965-79 (2nd Lt. 1967; Lt. 1968; Capt. by 1972; retired as Maj.); fruit farmer, 1979-84; Private Secretary, Comptroller and Equerry to HRH the Duke of Gloucester, 1989–2004 (Equerry, 1971-72), and Extra Equerry to HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, 2004; President of the Broads Society, 2012-17; appointed LVO, 1996 and CVO, 2003; lived at Woodrising (Norfk); married, 1974, Hon. Janet Elizabeth (b. 1944), daughter of Sir Charles Hector Fitzroy Maclean KT (d. 1990), 11th bt. and Baron Maclean (life peerage), and had issue two sons; died 21 October 2017; will proved 17 July 2018.
He inherited the Sotterley and Dunwich estates from his father in 1917 and came of age in 1926. He sold part of the May Place estate in 1926 and the house itself and the remainder of the land in 1938; he also sold the Dunwich estate in 1947 and Grey Friars was subdivided and partly demolished soon afterwards. At his death, the Sotterley estate passed to his elder son, the current owner.
He died 30 March 1979; his will was proved 28 May 1980 (estate £1,178,369). His first wife married 2nd, 1952, Anthony James Oliphant Maxtone Graham (1900-71) of Cultoquhey, Crieff (Perths.) and died 21 November 1994. His widow died aged 95 on 28 January 2001; her will was proved 12 March 2001.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1969, pp. 30-31; Rev. A. Suckling, The history and antiquities of Suffolk, 1848, vol. 2, pp. 262-63; R. Lawrence, Southwold River: Georgian life in the Blyth valley, 1990, pp. 58-64; S.M. Sommers, 'Dunwich: the acquisition and maintenance of a borough', Proceedings of Suffolk Institute for Archaeology & History, 1995, pp. 317-30; Sydney Morning Herald, 17 November 1990, p. 79; J. Ingamells, A dictionary of British travellers in Italy, 1701-1800, 1997, pp. 52-53; T. Williamson, Suffolk's gardens and parks, 2000, pp. 80-81; S.A. Clarke, 'Richard Lovelace: Royalist poetry in context', PhD thesis, Australian National University, 2010, pp. 30-36; P. Guillery (ed.), Survey of London, vol. 48: Woolwich, 2012, ch.3; J. Bettley & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Suffolk - East, 2015, pp. 197, 506-07; 
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101183257-sotterley-hall-sotterley#.Xb6xNZr7Tcs; biographies of Miles Barne (1718-80), Miles Barne (1746-1825), Barne Barne (1754-1828), Frederick Barne (1759-1837) and Frederick Barne (1801-86) in the History of Parliament.

Location of archives

Barne family of Sotterley: deeds, estate and family papers, 14th-20th cents. [Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich, HA53]; May Place, Crayford estate papers [Bexley Local Studies & Archive Centre, BU/COB]

Coat of arms

Quarterly, 1st and 4th, azure, three leopards' heads argent; 2nd and 3rd argent, a chevron azure between three Cornish choughs proper.

Can you help?

• I should be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.
• As always, any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated. In particular, can anyone provide information about the date of death of Sir William Barne (b. c.1593)?

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 14 November 2019 and was amended 15 November 2019 and 25 March 2023. I am grateful to Jane Morris for additional information.