Monday 24 August 2020

(428) Baskerville of Bayworth

Baskerville of Bayworth 
The Baskervilles of Bayworth were a cadet branch of the Baskervilles of Eardisley (for whom see my next post), who descended from John Baskerville, the second son of Sir James Baskerville (fl. 1499) of Eardisley. John's son, William (b. 1514?), with whom the genealogy below begins, lived in Hereford and had four sons, at least three of whom pursued military careers. The eldest, Sir Thomas Baskerville (d. 1597) was a military commander of some repute, who was almost continuously abroad in the service of Sir John Norris, the Earl of Leicester, Lord Willoughby and the Earl of Essex in the 1580s and 1590s. He was married Mary Throckmorton, apparently in 1595, but was almost immediately sent abroad again with Sir Francis Drake's final expedition to the Caribbean and Central America, of which he assumed command after the Admiral's death. On his return to England he concluded the purchase of Bayworth Manor in Berkshire, but after only a few months at home he set off for France again, accompanied by his pregnant wife. His son, Hannibal Baskerville (1597-1668) was born in April, but in June Sir Thomas died in Picardy, his body being sent home to England for burial in St Paul's Cathedral. 
His widow, Mary (d. 1632) made a disastrously acrimonious second marriage to Sir James Scudamore (1568-1619) of Holme Lacy (Herefs) in 1599, which still produced nine children in eight years before they separated in 1607. Mary then retreated to Bayworth, where she lived with the son of her first marriage.

Hannibal Baskerville, who came of age in 1618, made a vow the following year to devote a third or a quarter of his income to charitable purposes for the rest of his life, and in pursuance of this he built a large barn at the rear of his manor house at Bayworth as a shelter for the 'wandering beggars' so excoriated in Tudor welfare legislation. He married in about 1629 and had a large family, but only his eldest son survived him: his wife died in 1644 and six other sons and two daughters had followed her by 1661. Not surprisingly, when Anthony Wood visited him in his old age he met 'a melancholy retired man' albeit one who was still studious and charitable. Hannibal's studies have been called antiquarian, but his surviving notes suggest his interests focused on his own family. His son, Thomas Baskerville (c.1629-1700), however, made a series of tours through England in the 1670s and 1680s, and kept a journal of the interesting things, both antiquarian and contemporary, which he observed, which he intended for publication. He died, however, before his wish could be fulfilled, and his only son, Matthew Thomas Baskerville (1687-1721) did not see it through either. According to Thomas Hearne, the diarist and antiquary (who had harsh words for Matthew's father), the young man was charming and attractive, but dissipated. By 1720 he had run through his inheritance and sold the Bayworth estate to his neighbour, Sir John  Stonehouse of Radley Hall. He was building a new house at Radley, and allowed the old house at Bayworth to fall down, so that by 1727 it had 'almost gone to ruin'. Matthew received an annuity from Stonehouse of £80 a year, but did not live to enjoy it, being buried at Sunningwell in February 1720/1, the last of his line.

Bayworth Manor, Sunningwell, Berkshire 


Bayworth belonged until the Dissolution of the Monasteries to Abingdon Abbey, and it seems likely the house was first built by the abbey for the use of its officials. It is described by Anthony Wood as 'a private and lone house, in or near to Bagley Wood...an old house situated in a romancey place', so retired that it was ideally suited for a man devoted to learning and devotion. Wood mentions a chapel on the first floor, which was at that time 'well furnish'd with velvet cusheons and carpets' and an excellent organ. The 'painted windows' had been defaced by Commonwealth soldiers in the Civil War.  The house, which in 1720–1 was 'a brave old thing, full of all conveniences' was apparently abandoned after it was acquired by Sir John Stonehouse. In 1723 he enclosed the open fields of Bayworth and Sunningwell and in 1721-27 he built a new country house at nearby Radley. By the time he moved in to Radley, Bayworth  had 'almost gone to ruin'. It is not known when the ruins were finally pulled down, but only minor earthworks are apparent on the site today; aerial photographs suggest these may be consistent with the house having consisted of a central hall range with two cross-wings, standing behind a forecourt. No visual record of the house is known to exist.

Descent: Abingdon Abbey; to Crown, 1538; granted 1545 to Robert Browne, Christopher Edmondes and William Wenlowe; sold 1546 to Sir John Williams, afterwards Lord Williams (d. 1559); to widow, Margery Williams; sold 1583 to her daughter Isabel, wife of Richard Huddleston (d. by 1589); to mortgagee, Richard Martin, who sold c.1596 to Sir Thomas Baskerville (d. 1597); to son, Hannibal Baskerville (1597-1668); to son, Thomas Baskerville (c.1629-1700); to son, Matthew Thomas Baskerville (1687-1721), who sold to Sir John Stonehouse (d. 1733). 


Baskerville family of Bayworth


Baskerville, Henry (b. 1514?). Only recorded son of John Baskerville (second son of Sir James Baskerville of Eardisley (Herefs), for whom seem the next post) and his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of John Bridges of Hereford, said to have been born about 1514. He married Anne, daughter of John Ratford or Rufford of Gloucester, and had issue (perhaps among others):
(1) Sir Thomas Baskerville (c.1540-97) (q.v.);
(2) Capt. Nicholas Baskerville (d. c.1605); pursued a military career in the Netherlands, and succeeded his brother as governor of Rammekens Castle near Flushing; married, 25 July 1599, Constance (1583-1652) (who married 2nd, Sir John Sidney and had issue one son, and 3rd, Thomas Lyte (1568-1638), genealogist, by whom she had one son and two daughters), daughter of George Huntley of Boxwell Court (Glos), and had issue two daughters (the elder, Mary (1601-44), married first, John Morgan, and second, her cousin, Hannibal Baskerville (1597-1668) for whom see below); he died at Flushing between 1603 and 1608;
(3) John Baskerville; died without issue;
(4) Capt. Arnold Baskerville (d. 1596); pursued a military career and was a sergeant-major in Drake's last expedition under his brother's command; he died without issue at Nombre de Dios, Panama, January 1596.
He lived in Hereford.
His date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Baskerville, Sir Thomas (c.1540-97). Eldest son of Henry Baskerville (b. 1514?) of Hereford, and his wife Anne, daughter of John Ratford or Rufford of Gloucester, born about 1540. JP for Herefordshire, 1569-85 and escheator for that county, 1580-81. His military career probably began as a mercenary under Sir John Norris in the Netherlands before 1585. From that year he was commissioned to serve under the Earl of Leicester and later Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, who knighted him after the capture of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1588, and mentioned him in despatches to Lord Burghley. He continued to serve under Lord Willoughby in France in 1589-90, in the service of Henri IV, and was promoted to Serjeant Major General. He was appointed governor of Rammekens Castle, near Flushing, in August 1591, and was commissioned as a sergeant-major of foot under the earl of Essex in the same year, being present at the siege of Rouen in November. Between 1592 and 1594 he was mostly engaged in military duties in Brittany and the Netherlands under Sir John Norris, with whom he had fallen out but had now mended his differences. In 1595, Baskerville was appointed colonel-general in command of the land forces accompanying Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins on their last expedition to the Indies. When Drake died he succeeded to the command of the expedition and brought it home. His final overseas expedition was to Picardy in France in 1597, where he died. He was MP for Carmarthen Boroughs, 1593-97. He married, c.1595, Mary (d. 1632), daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton of Tortworth (Glos), and had issue:
(1) Hannibal Baskerville (1597-1668) (q.v.).
He bought a lease of the semi-timbered Goodrest Manor House on the edge of Wedgnock Park, Warwick (Warks) in or after 1584; his widow sold the remainder of the lease in 1598. He bought Bayworth a few months before his death overseas, but it seems likely he never occupied it.
He died 'of a burning fever' at Picqueny in Picardy (France) 4 June 1597, and was buried in the new choir of St Paul's Cathedral under a monument destroyed in the Great Fire of London, but the inscription of which is preserved in a copy appended to his son's monument at Sunningwell. His widow married 2nd, 11 April 1599 at St James, Clerkenwell (Middx), as his second wife, Sir James Scudamore (1568-1619) of Holme Lacy (Herefs), and is said to have had further issue four sons and five daughters, but it was a tempestuous marriage and she was separated from him temporarily in 1607 and permanently in 1608, when he disowned her; she lived latterly at Bayworth and was buried at Sunningwell, 17 October 1632.

Baskerville, Hannibal (1597-1668). Only child of Sir Thomas Baskerville (c.1540-97), born at St. Valery in Picardy (France), 5 April 1597. Educated by Henry Peacham, author of the Compleat Gentleman, and at Brasenose College, Oxford (matriculated 1612). Supposedly an antiquarian, but his surviving papers 'amounted to little more than dabblings, predominantly relating to his own family'. He went to France in the train of an English ambassador in the reign of James I and made copies of inscriptions in the church at St. Denis. In old age he was described by Anthony Wood as 'a melancholy, retired man' and a 'great cherisher of wandring Beggars', having vowed in 1619 to give a proportion of his income (a third or a quarter) to alleviating the sufferings of those less fortunate than himself. He built for them a large barn, with a bell at his back door to pull if they wanted anything, conduct which saw him several times arraigned before the local magistrates charged with harbouring beggars. He married, 1629? (licence supposedly dated* 4 November), his cousin Mary (1601-44), daughter of Nicholas Baskerville and widow of John Morgan, and had issue**:
(1) Thomas Baskerville (c.1629-1700) (q.v.);
(2) Henry Baskerville (1631-56); buried at Sunningwell, 15 April 1656;
(3) Nicholas Baskerville (1632-56); buried at Sunningwell, 2 May 1656;
(4) William Baskerville (1633-65), baptised at St Cuthbert, Wells, 6 October 1633; buried in London, 1665;
(5) Gertrude Baskerville (1634-56); died unmarried and was buried at Sunningwell, 13 October 1656;
(6) Robert Baskerville (1635-54); died at sea, 1654;
(7) George*** Baskerville (1638-61); buried at Sunningwell, 10 November 1661;
(8) James Baskerville; died young and was buried at Wells (Som.);
(9) Constance Baskerville (b. 1640), baptised at St Cuthbert, Wells, 21 October 1640; died young and is said to have been buried at Somerton (Som.).
He inherited the Bayworth estate from his father and came of age in 1618. His stepfather disputed his right to the property, resulting in a court case in 1619, which he won.
He died 14 or 16 March, and 'nearly the whole value of his moveable goods was spent on his lavish funeral at Sunningwell church on 18 March' 1668, where he, his mother and his family are commemorated by a monument erected by his son in 1680.
* His eldest son recorded his date of birth as August 1629. If the licence is correctly dated November 1629 he may actually not have been born until 1630 as he is unlikely to have been illegitimate.
** Some sources state that he had sixteen sons and two daughters. This is due to a misreading of a correction on his monument in Sunningwell church.
*** There is also a baptism entry for a Hugh Baskerville, son of Hannibal and Mary, at St Cuthbert, Wells, 22 April 1638. Could this be an entry for this child, who became known as George later in life?

Thomas Baskerville (c.1629-1700) 
from an engraving by George Cruikshank, 1819 
[Image: National Portrait Gallery]
Baskerville, Thomas (c.1629-1700). 
Eldest son of Hannibal Baskerville (1597-1668) and his second wife, Mary, daughter of Nicholas Baskerville and widow of John Morgan, said to have been born in August 1629, but perhaps 1630. He referred to himself as 'the King of Jerusalem' after a religious experience on 11 January 1666. A 'whimsical antiquarian' according to Anthony Wood, but his volumes of notes and verse on his travels are concerned more with contemporary life than with antiquities. Thomas Hearne noted that he 'would ramble about all the Country and pick up all strange, odd Things, good and bad' and recorded 'many particulars of history, especially little matters, such as ballads, arches of bridges, &c.' but that he 'wanted both learning and judgment, and was not capable of writing any thing tolerable'. Baskerville contracted to have his writings printed, together with an engraving of himself and some of his verses, but died before this could proceed. He married, 30 May 1698 at Sunningwell, Mary Honey/Hunny (d. 1716), who was apparently his mistress for many years before that, and had issue:
(X1) Thomas Honey alias Baskerville (d. 1685); buried at Sunningwell, 13 April 1685;
(X2) Matthew Thomas Baskerville (1687-1721) (q.v.).
He inherited the Bayworth estate from his father in 1668, and Hearne says that he 'mightily improved' the estate.
He was buried at Sunningwell, 16 November 1700. His widow married 2nd, 10 June 1701 at Sunningwell, Edward West, and had issue at least one son and two daughters; she was buried at Sunningwell, 9 January 1715/6.

Baskerville, Matthew Thomas (1687-1721). An illegitimate son of Thomas Baskerville (c.1629-1700) and his later wife Mary Honey/Hunny, born 26 September and baptised at Clapham (Surrey), 14 October 1687. According to Thomas Hearne he was a young man of great personal attractiveness, who by his profligacy got into serious debt. He was unmarried and had no legitimate issue.
He inherited the Bayworth estate from his father in 1700 and came of age in 1710, but sold the estate to Sir John Stonehouse in return for an annuity of £80 after getting into debt.
He died, according to Hearne, of a broken heart, and was buried at Sunningwell, 11 February 1720/1. He left no will.

Principal sources

Victoria County History of Berkshire, vol. 4, 1924, pp. 423-27; A. Clark (ed.), The life and times of Anthony Wood, antiquary, of Oxford, 1632-95, described by himself, 1900, i, pp. 269-70; ii, pp. 152, 191; iii, pp. 492-93; ODNB entries on Sir Thomas Baskerville, Hannibal Baskerville and Thomas Baskerville.

Location of archives

Baskerville, Hannibal (1597-1668): correspondence, 1612-40 [Bodleian Library, MS. Rawl letters 41]
Baskerville, Sir Thomas (d. 1597): love letters to his wife, 1590s [British Library, Harleian MS. 4762]
Baskerville, Thomas (1629-1700): topographical notes and epitaphs, 17th cent. [British Library, Harleian MS. 4716]; account of his travels in the reign of Charles II [British Library, Add. MS. 70523]

Coat of arms

Argent a chevron gules between three roundels azure.

Can you help?

  • Any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated. 
  • I should be most grateful if anyone can provide portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 24 August 2020 and updated 9 January 2023. I am grateful to Charles Wrench for additional information.





Wednesday 19 August 2020

(427) Barwick of Thimbleby Hall, baronets

Barwick of Thimbleby Hall
John Storey Barwick (1840-1915), with whom the genealogy below begins, was a prominent Victorian industrialist in the north-east of England. He came from relatively humble origins, being the eldest son of a Sunderland butcher, and was sent to a local school before finding employment as a clerk in the Ryhope Coal Co. He quickly rose within that firm (eventually becoming its managing director) and he seems to have spent some time in London as a manager, where he was married in 1872. His bride was the sister of the four Short Brothers whose family firm became one of the leading shipbuilding businesses in the country, and his marriage firmly enmeshed him in the network of leading industrial families in and around Sunderland. By the 1880s he was a principal representative of the Marquess of Londonderry in his mining and other business dealings in the north-east, and had invested his spare capital in the shipping industry. Barwick progressed his career by joining forces with other northern industrial entrepreneurs, notably Sir Christopher Furness, (later 1st Baron Furness) and Sir Walter Scott, 1st bt. Together, these men participated in a series of ventures across a range of industries, Scott and Barwick serving as directors or trustees for debenture holders in several public firms that were associated with Furness, and investing heavily in his enterprises. Barwick was also involved in Furness-led shipping ventures, such as the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company, which pioneered the construction of standardised general cargo vessels. Eventually Barwick would become one of the largest shareholders of Furness Withy & Company, founded in 1891 with eighteen ships operating between New York and Newcastle. In 1899, Furness and Barwick joined forces to form the Easington Coal Co. to develop a previously untapped coalfield on the coast between Hartlepool and Seaham, with mines running out under the sea. Progress with developing the mine was at first slow and difficult, but it eventually became one of the most productive mines in the country, being nationalised in 1947 and only closing in 1993. 

Ashbrooke Grange, Sunderland (Image: Izzy Hutchison) 
Sir John Barwick lived for much of his adult life in a modest villa in the suburbs of Sunderland called Ashbrooke Grange (demolished in about 1960), but in 1898 he bought 
Thimbleby Hall, a shooting estate of nearly 3,000 acres on the North Yorkshire moors. In 1912, he completed his transition to the landed gentry when he was awarded a baronetcy. Barwick was a Liberal in politics, but although he was active in local public affairs he was not one of those Victorian entrepreneurs who aspired to a seat in Parliament or took a major part in local church-building or charitable work. His baronetcy is therefore rather unexpected, and it was perhaps solicited on his behalf by Lord Furness, who of all his close friends wielded the greatest political influence. Sir John died in 1915 and was succeeded by his elder son and namesake, Sir John Storey Barwick (1876-1953), 2nd bt, who inherited Thimbleby and most of his father's business interests.

The second Sir John took a lease on a newly-rebuilt London town house (18 Upper Brook St.) in 1916 and after the end of the First World War hired Maple & Co. - who then offered an interior decoration service - to alter the interior to suit his requirements. Once work had been completed there, he turned his attention to Thimbleby, which seems to have been remodelled in the early 1920s. It is possible that Maples were again involved, although the structural works to the house imply the involvement of an architect as well. Although Sir John followed in his father's footsteps as an assiduous businessman, he had an additional passion in horse-racing, and in the 1920s and 1930s most of the references to him in the press are as the owner of horses running at courses across England. Both Sir John's sons served in the RAF during the Second World War, and both of them survived, but after the war a series of blows fell in quick succession. The nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947 removed Easington and the family's other coal interests from their control. Although compensation was paid, it was not at a level which enabled Sir John to generate the same income as he would have enjoyed from the collieries in the long term. Perhaps because he shared the fears of many in his class about the impact of further state socialism, Sir John began to spend time in South Africa, and perhaps contemplated emigration there. In January 1949 his alcoholic elder son and heir, John Morgan Barwick (1908-49), dropped dead of a heart attack, and just six days later Lady Barwick, who had been an invalid since before the war, also died. Following this double tragedy, Sir John seems to have mothballed Thimbleby and acquired a smaller house, Old Forest Lodge, Crowborough (Sussex), to which he brought his second wife in 1950. He died in 1953, leaving his remaining business interests to his surviving son, Sir Richard Llewellyn Barwick (1916-79), 3rd bt.

Even after the payment of death duties, Sir Richard was a wealthy man when he inherited the estate, but he was bored by his business interests and estate management and pursued an expensive and hedonistic lifestyle which by the end of his life had destroyed his health and dissipated much of his fortune (although, due to inflation, his estate was still valued in seven figures). His first marriage, to Valerie Ward, a young beauty raised in Kenya who was on the fringes of the Happy Valley set, and who had been separated from her first husband after a brief and unsatisfactory marriage, was founded on a caddish ruse to separate her from an existing fiancé and quickly degenerated into a more or less openly abusive relationship and serial infidelity. They were eventually divorced in 1968 when he left her to live with his mistress, whom he later married. (His first wife's third marriage, contracted for cynical financial motives, proved, if anything, more disastrous than the others, as her memoirs reveal). Sir Richard and his first wife never produced a son, and so the baronetcy died with him in 1979. Sir Richard and his second wife lived at Littlethorpe Hall, the house near Ripon which he had bought for her when she was his mistress, and by the time he died, Thimbleby Hall had been neglected for years. It was sold by his executors in 1981. 

Thimbleby Hall, Yorkshire (NR)

Thimbleby Lodge: the footprint as shown on the 1st edition 6" map of c.1854. 
The house (originally Thimbleby Lodge) was at first a quadrangular building arranged around a small light well, which was built for Richard William Peirse (1753-98) in the late 18th century: probably in about 1780 when he sold the family's chief seat at Hutton Bonville. It is now effectively U-shaped, following the demolition of the southern range of the building, which perhaps took place only in the 1980s. The house has a symmetrical north-facing garden front composed of a three-bay centre linked to projecting lower wings with canted bays, which are carried back to form ranges enclosing a courtyard. The centre of the north front was originally of two-and-a-half storeys but the top floor was removed during alterations between the First and Second World Wars. The west range forms the entrance front and has five widely-spaced bays with a one-bay pediment in the centre: this at first had a tripartite entrance feature, incorporating arched windows either side of a doorcase with a clumsy broken pediment, but this was replaced by the present more elegant six-column Doric portico in the 20th century: the stone lions now standing on its balustraded top are a recent addition.

Thimbleby Hall: the house from the north-west in about 1905, from an old postcard. At this time the tripartite entrance and three-storey centre to the north front were still in place.
Thimbleby Hall: a similar view of the house in 2003. 
The rear of the house was been subject to at least two radical changes, involving the demolition of the south range and some associated tidying up, probably in 1981-82, and then a more radical transformation in 2011-14, when after some further demolition the east wing was given a two-storey addition, an orangery was added to the south end of the west wing, and the courtyard was laid out as a formal garden. The unsympathetic red pantiled roof shown in the photograph above has also been replaced. The interior was greatly altered in the 19th century, when it was given a late Victorian staircase, lit by a 19th century Venetian window looking into the courtyard. One room is said to have a good neo-classical marble chimneypiece moved from the family's town house at 18 Upper Brook St., London after the Second World War.

Thimbleby Hall: the late 18th century gate lodges. Image: Andrew Curtis. Some rights reserved.
At the end of the drive are a pair of simple but most attractive late 18th century Gothick lodges (one extended in the 20th century), with quadrant walls to either side, and a screen consisting of four stone gatepiers connected by wrought-iron railings and gates. The choice of the Gothick style for the lodges of a simple classical house is rather unexpected, but cheerfully whimsical.

Descent: Christopher Wandesforde sold 1694 or possibly after 1705 to Richard Peirse; to son or grandson, Richard William Peirse (1753-98); to son, Richard William Christopher Peirse (1781-1844); to son, Richard William Peirse (1804-72); sold 1837-38 to Robert Haynes jun. (1795-1873), a Barbados merchant; to son, William Reece Haynes (1830-89), who let it to a syndicate of sportsmen as a shooting box; to ?brother, Henry Haynes; sold 1898 to Sir John Storey Barwick (1840-1915), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Storey Barwick (1876-1953), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Richard Llewellyn Barwick (1916-79), 3rd bt.; sold in 1981 to Tom Gray; sold 1986 to David Patrick Brown (b. 1955); sold 2005 to Andrea Shelley (b. 1961) and her husband Andrew (b. 1960).

Inholmes, Woodlands St. Mary, Berkshire

An account of this house has been given in an earlier post.

Barwick family of Thimbleby Hall, baronets


Sir J.S. Barwick, 1st bt. 
Barwick, Sir John Storey (1840-1915), 1st bt.
Only surviving son of William Barwick (1816-1900), butcher, and his wife Mary (1818-88), daughter of Robert Storey, born 23 February 1840. Educated at Sunderland. He began his working life as a clerk in the Ryhope Coal Co. (where he eventually became managing director) and invested as much as he could afford in the shipping industry. By the end of his career he was one of the leading shipowners and coal factors in Sunderland and well on the way to being a millionaire. He was 
for many years associated with Sir Christopher Furness (later Lord Furness) in a number of enterprises in the coal, mining and railway industries, and he was Chairman of the Broomhill Collieries, the Easington Coal Co. Ltd. (which he founded with Furness), and the Weardale Steel Coal & Coke Company; Vice-Chairman of the Cargo Fleet Iron Company and the Seaham Harbour Dock Company; a director of the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company, Lloyd's British Testing Company, the North East Banking Co. and the European Petroleum Co. He was chairman of the Sunderland Liberal Association and was active in public life as a member of the River Wear Commission, the Wear Pilotage Board, the River Wear Watch Committee, the Sunderland Local Marine Board and the Sunderland Chamber of Commerce. JP for Co. Durham, Sunderland, and North Riding of Yorkshire. He was created a baronet, 1 February 1912. He married, 17 September 1872 at St Clement Danes, London, Margaret (1853-1908), daughter of George Short of Pallion, Sunderland, shipbuilder, and had issue:
(1) Margaret Ethel Barwick (1873-1950), born 20 June 1873; married, 19 December 1905 at St Stephen, Kensington (Middx), as his second wife, Maj. Reginald Edward Traherne Bray (1860-1931), son of Maj-Gen. George Frederick Campbell Bray, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 7 June 1950; will proved 2 February 1951 (estate £43,023);
(2) Edith Mary Barwick (1874-1954), born 7 December 1874; married, 24 April 1901 at St. George, Hanover Sq., London, George Gilbey (1874-1933) of Overthorpe Hall, Middleton Cheney (Northants), son of Alfred Gilbey of Wooburn House (Bucks), and had issue one daughter; died 7 June 1954; will proved 21 August 1954 (estate £75,511);
(3) Sir John Storey Barwick (1876-1953), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(4) Kathleen Maud Barwick (1878-1955), born 28 June 1878; lived in Lowndes Sq., London; died unmarried, 11 December 1955 and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium (Middx); will proved 9 February 1956 (estate £49,709);
(5) George Short Barwick (1879-1937) (q.v.);
(6) Ella Martha Barwick (1881-1920); married, 29 April 1914 at St Mark, North Audley St., Westminster (Middx), George Herbert Croft (1877-1946) of Pasture House, Northallerton (Yorks NR), Inspector for Board of Agriculture, son of Henry Herbert Stephen Croft, barrister, but had no issue; died 28 November 1920; will proved 19 November 1921 (estate £18,441);
(7) Meggie Barwick (b. & d. 1884), born November 1884; died in infancy, 26 December 1884 and was buried in Sunderland Cemetery.

He lived at Ashbrooke Grange, Sunderland (Co. Durham), which was a suburban villa, until he purchased Thimbleby Hall in December 1898.
He died 12 August 1915 and was buried at Sunderland Cemetery; his will was proved 23 September 1915 (estate £625,403). His wife died 17 October 1908; administration of her goods was granted 12 January 1909 (effects £1,576).

Sir John Storey Barwick, 2nd bt.
(Image: Izzy Hutchison) 

Barwick, Sir John Storey (1876-1953), 2nd bt.
Elder son of Sir John Storey Barwick (1840-1915), 1st bt., and his wife Margaret, daughter of George Short of Pallion, Sunderland (Co. Durham), shipbuilder, born 4 August 1876. Educated at Uppingham School. 
He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 12 August 1915. Colliery owner and Chairman of Easington Coal Co. Ltd until nationalisation in 1947; a director of Seaham Harbour Dock Co. and of Martins Bank. High Sheriff of Co. Durham, 1922. He was a keen racehorse owner. He married 1st, 12 August 1907, Gwladys Jessie (1876-1949), third daughter of George William Griffith Thomas of Ystradmynach (Glam.) and formerly wife of Auberon Joseph Stourton (1867-1923), and 2nd, 28 July 1950 at Caxton Hall Register Office, London, Evelyn Maude (1905-67), youngest daughter of Charles Turner of Bournemouth (Hants), and had issue:
(1.1) John Morgan Barwick (1908-49), born 22 November 1908; educated at Harrow; director of Easington Coal Co. Ltd.; served in Second World War with Royal Air Force (Pilot Officer); Master of the Bedale Hunt; President of the York and Leeming Flying Club and a competitor in the King's Cup air races before the Second World War; became an alcoholic after the war; married, 1 June 1933, Rhona (1913-83) (who m2, 29 July 1954, Basil George Everard Webster (d. 1963) of Coverham Abbey (Yorks NR), eldest son of Cyril Gray Webster), eldest daughter of Maj. William Wharton Burdon of Constable Burton Hall (Yorks NR), but had no issue; died suddenly of a heart attack in the lifetime of his father, 2 January 1949; will proved 22 March 1949 (estate £31,785);
(1.2) Rosamond Gwladys Barwick (1909-73), born 13 October 1909; married, 20 July 1931, Roland Anthony Cookson OBE (1908-91) (who m2, 1974, Elizabeth Anne Milburn Aitchison (née Reed) of Howden Dene, Corbridge (Northbld), son of Bryan Cookson, and had issue one daughter; died 13 August 1973; will proved 22 October 1973 (estate £155,745);
(1.3) Margaret Syssylt Barwick (1914-71), born 2 January 1914; married, 7 February 1944, Lt-Col. (Montagu Charles Warcop) Peter Consett (1909-2001) of Brawith Hall, Thirsk (Yorks NR), eldest son of Rear-Adm. Montagu William Warcop Peter Consett CMG, and had issue three sons; died 23 August 1971; will proved 28 January 1972 (estate £88,005);
(1.4) Sir Richard Llewellyn Barwick (1916-79), 3rd bt. (q.v.).
He inherited Thimbleby Hall from his father in 1915, and remodelled it in the 1920s or 1930s, but in his later years he spent a good deal of time in South Africa and after his second marriage he lived at Old Forest Lodge, Crowborough (Sussex).
He died 20 March 1953 and was cremated at Charing (Kent); administration of his goods was granted to his widow and younger son, 13 August 1953 (estate £37,592). His first wife died just a few days after her elder son, 10 January 1949; her will was proved 29 December 1949 (estate £72,377). His widow died in Jersey, 8 August 1967; her will was proved 9 February 1968 (estate in England, £125,890).

Sir R.L. Barwick, 3rd bt. 
Barwick, Sir Richard Llewellyn (1916-79), 3rd bt.
Younger but only surviving son of Sir John Storey Barwick (1876-1953), 2nd bt. and his first wife, Gwladys Jessie, third daughter of George William Griffith Thomas of Ystradmynach (Glam.) and formerly wife of Auberon Joseph Stourton, born 4 November 1916. Educated at Harrow and Christ's College, Cambridge. He served in the Second World War with the RAF, 1940-46 and succeeded his father as 3rd baronet, 20 March 1953. A larger-than-life character with a loud voice and a bullying manner, he proved to be a poor steward of his business interests and his estate, where he was only interested in its shooting. He married 1st, 26 July 1948 (div. 1968), Valerie Maud (1920-89), (briefly a film actress, as Valerie Ward), only daughter of Robert Jeremiah Skelton of Nairobi (Kenya), and formerly wife* of Lt-Col. the Hon. Roderick John Ward (1902-52), second son of William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley. He married 2nd, 26 September 1968, his former mistress, Denise (1913-85), daughter of Alexander Reginald Pole and widow of Hugh Christian Radcliffe (d. 1959). He had issue:
(1.1) Rozanne Valerie Barwick (b. 1950), born 17 March 1950; edited her mother's memoirs as Hard Bargains** (2019); married, Apr-Jun 1970, Alan Michael Bulmer (b. 1944) and had issue two daughters;
(1.2) Sandra-Anne Barwick (b. 1952), born 24 November 1952; doctor of medicine and later hotelier at New Inn, Coln St. Aldwyns (Glos), and minister of One Spirit Interfaith Foundation; married, Apr-June 1971 (div. 1986), Timothy George Wheaton Heycock, and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, August 1989, Brian Antony Evans CBE FRCS (b. 1936);
(1.3) Victoria Lorraine Barwick (b. 1961), born 13 November 1961; married, 1994 (div.), as his second wife, Andrew Kenneth Wallis (d. 2009), land agent and later property developer, and had issue one son and one daughter.
He inherited Thimbleby Hall from his father in 1953. His executors sold it in 1981.
He died in Jersey, 16 June 1979, when the baronetcy became extinct, and was buried at Sunderland Cemetery; his will was proved 11 September 1979 (estate £1,456,312). His first wife married 3rd, Jul-Sept 1972, Col. Walter Lancaster Hey CBE (d. 1981) of Thorpe Underwood Hall, Little Ouseburn (Yorks), and after his death she sold that house and purchased Sharow Cross House, near Ripon; she died 9 May 1989 and was buried in Sheffield; her will was proved 14 December 1989 (estate £693,035). His widow married 3rd, 1981, George William Odey MP (1900-85) of Keldgate Manor, Beverley (Yorks ER), and died 4 February 1985; her will was proved 27 February 1985 (estate £882,784).
* She had one son by this marriage, Robert John Christopher Ward (1942-2017), who later took the name Barwick-Ward by deed poll, but who was never adopted by his stepfather and was not, of course, in succession to the baronetcy. 
** A revealing narrative that reveals how turbulent her three marriages were.

Barwick, George Short (1879-1937). Younger son of Sir John Storey Barwick (1840-1915), 1st bt., and his wife Margaret, daughter of George Short of Pallion, Sunderland (Co. Durham), shipbuilder, born 7 July 1879. Educated at Uppingham. Company director, primarily of colliery and shipping companies, but also of Straits Settlements Rubber Co and Daimler Motor Co. He was an active participant in motor racing in the early days of the sport before the First World War. JP for Berkshire, 1936-37. He married, 31 July 1913, Marianne (1882-1975), daughter of William Marshall of Weaverham (Ches.), and had issue:
(1) Angela Ruth Barwick (1916-86), born 26 June 1916; married, 21 January 1947, John Gilbert Gilbey (1917-82) of Newbies, Banghurst (Hants), only son of Gilbert Gilbey of Overthorpe Hall, Banbury (Oxon), and had issue one son and one daughter; lived latterly at Inholmes; died 24 March 1986; will proved 21 October 1986 (estate £598,591);
(2) Diana Marianne Barwick (1917-2008), born 2 October 1917; married 1st, 27 July 1945 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx) (div. 1955), Lt. John Louis Arnott Bowles RN (1919-98), only son of Capt. Guy Bowles DSO RN, and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, 25 November 1959, as his second wife, Gerald Leopold Wiener OBE (1913-2008) of London W8, chartered accountant; died 7 February 2008; will proved 5 December 2008;
(3) Valerie Margaret Barwick (1924-70), born 6 February 1924; married, 19 April 1950, Sir Frederick Bernard (k/a Tim) Bolton, kt., MC (1921-2005) of Barton House, Blakesley (Northants), chairman of companies in shipping industry and President of the International Shipping Federation, 1973-82 (who m2, 1971, Vanessa Mary Anne (b. 1939), daughter of Anthony Vere Cyprian Robarts, and had further issue two sons and two daughters), only son of Louis Hamilton Bolton of Hinton House, Woodford Halse (Northants), and had issue two sons; died 5 July 1970; will proved 9 November 1970 (estate £285,966).
He purchased Inholmes, Woodlands St. Mary (Berks) in 1919. His wife and eldest daughter continued to occupy it until 1986.
He died from a heart attack on a cross-Channel ferry while returning from holiday in France, 25 February 1937 and was buried at Lambourn (Berks), where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 11 May 1937 (estate £64,623). His widow died 11 September 1975; her will was proved 26 January 1976 (estate £405,630).


Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 1967, p. 184; V. Barwick, Hard Bargains, 2019;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Storey_Barwick

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Azure, a galley or, in chief two bears' heads couped argent muzzled gules

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.
  • Any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated. I am always particularly pleased to hear from members of the family who can supply recent personal information for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 19 August 2020 and updated 27 August 2020. I am most grateful to Izzy Hutchison for additional information and images.


Wednesday 12 August 2020

(426) Barttelot of Stopham House, baronets

Barttelot of Stopham
The Barttelots (the name has been spelled in many different ways, including Bartlett, but Barttelot has been the standard form since the 18th century and is used here) are one of the oldest-established families in Sussex. The genealogy below traces their line from John Barttelot (d. 1428), who is the first of his family to leave a memorial in Stopham church, but it clear that his ancestors were settled at Stopham much earlier, and perhaps from soon after the Norman Conquest. Adam Barttelot of Stopham is mentioned in the Sussex subsidy roll of 1295 and his son Thomas Barttelot de Stopham in a the roll for 1326-27. The family were probably already retainers of the Earls of Arundel, but they were not the lords of Stopham manor until the late 14th century, when the marriage of two successive generations of the family into the de Stopham family brought the manor into their possession. Since that time the estate has descended in the male line, down to the present owner, Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot, 5th bt., and the family have been remarkably stable in both fortune and social status, neither rising further into the peerage and greater landownership, nor relinquishing their estate through dissipation or want of heirs. It is an exceptional record of continuity.

John Barttelot (d. 1428) and his son John (d. 1453) were senior officials in the household of successive Earls of Arundel. The younger John fought at Agincourt in 1415 and was later a counsellor to the five successive Earls who held Arundel Castle in his lifetime. He made a good marriage to Joan Lewknor, which brought him the Denne estate at Warnham (Sussex), which he bequeathed to his second son, Thomas Barttelot (d. 1489), who also acquired the manor of Okehurst in Billingshurst through his marriage. The Stopham estate passed, however, to his eldest son, Richard Barttelot (d. 1462) and then to Richard's son, John Barttelot (d. 1493), who later also inherited his uncle's estate at Denne, after which the two properties descended together for several generations. It was probably John who built the first surviving manor house at Stopham in the late 15th century.

Stopham Manor Farmhouse: built in the late 15th century as the manor house but superseded in the 16th or 17th century and subsequently used as a farmhouse. Image: Historic England / T. Bakendale.

John Barttelot (d. 1493) had two sons: John (d. 1528) and Richard (d. 1514). It seems likely that Richard was a career soldier, for he died at Tournai while that city was under military occupation by the English. John inherited Stopham and Denne, but his only son predeceased him, so when he died in 1528 the estates devolved upon Richard's eldest son, William Barttelot (c.1504-1601). William is said to have begun his career as a servant of Thomas Cromwell, the upstart lawyer who replaced Cardinal Wolsey as King Henry VIII's chief adviser before himself falling from favour and being executed in 1540, although this may be a confusion with John Barttelot of Piddleton (Dorset), who is a documented associate of Cromwell. Whether or not William was associated with Cromwell, he seems to have favoured the Reformation and was regarded as a reliable magistrate by the Elizabethan state. His memorial brass in Stopham church records that he survived to the remarkable age of 97, and he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard Barttelot (1564-1614), who seems to have been another soldier, although nothing is known of his service. He married twice, and his widow, who inherited a life interest in the Denne estate, was presented for recusancy in the 1620s, with the result that her property was confiscated by the Crown and leased back to her late husband's heir, Walter Barttelot (1585-1641), who only recovered the freehold on her death in 1635.

Walter Barttelot (1585-1641) is the first of the family to be sufficiently well-documented to leave the historian with much sense of his character and interests. He belonged to the generation of gentlemen which first began to record with pride its lineage and status in the county community. As far as we know, Walter was not moved to any wider antiquarian or chorographical endeavours, but he certainly wished to celebrate his family's already long-standing association with Stopham. In 1616, soon after succeeding to the estate, he paid the College of Arms for a confirmation of his arms, which involved drawing up a lengthy pedigree of his family, and later, about 1630, he commissioned a memorial brass for his father from the sculptor Edward Marshall, and at the same time paid Marshall to repair the other brasses at Stopham commemorating his ancestors. The choice of a brass for his father is itself significant, since this was a very old-fashioned form of memorial by the 1630s, when most men would have preferred an elaborately carved wall monument or table tomb with three-dimensional carved effigies of the departed. It suggests Walter wanted to perpetuate his family's tradition of brass memorials, and indeed he himself was given one at his death, although it was only a short inscription, perhaps constrained by shortage of materials or craftsmanship during the Civil War. Walter is also said to have moved to the church some commemorative stained glass from the old Stopham manor house, perhaps at the same time as the old house was refurbished. It seems possible that the trigger for this was the building of a new house (on the site of the present Stopham House) to supersede the old hall, although family traditions says this happened earlier, in Elizabethan times. Since Stopham House was almost completely rebuilt in 1787, however, we cannot judge which is more likely.

Walter and his wife produced seven daughters, but no son to inherit the Stopham estate. As a result, the entail on the property required it to pass to Walter's much younger cousin, Henry Barttelot (1618-48) at his death. With this in view, in 1637 Walter arranged for his second daughter, Mary, to marry Henry, ensuring continuity of lineage as well as property. The couple duly inherited the Stopham estate, although they seem to have lived at Lancing, where they leased the Rectory manor. The manor of Denne was not entailed, and passed to Walter's fourth daughter, Jane, and her husband, Christopher Coles (d. 1675); she sold it in 1690. 

Henry Barttelot (1618-48) inherited Stopham in 1641, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, and died in 1648, before the execution of King Charles I. There is no positive evidence of his Civil War allegiance, but the absence of any reference to the family in the sequestration records probably implies that he was a Parliamentarian. His eldest son, Walter Barttelot (1638-1702), did not come of age until the eve of the Restoration, and it possible that he had a naval career since he was buried as 'Capt. Walter Barttelot' and there is no record of his being in the army, and also because his youngest son went to sea at a young age and joined the Royal Navy in 1690. Walter was succeeded by his eldest son, Walter Barttelot (1665-1744), who married a clergyman's daughter, and it may have been her influence which turned the next generation towards the church: their son, Walter Barttelot (1688-1743), who predeceased his father, went to Oxford University, took holy orders, and became a prebendary of Chichester Cathedral as well as holding a series of Sussex benefices. His wife and daughter both died of smallpox in the winter of 1741-42, leaving as his only surviving child, and the heir to Stopham, Walter Barttelot (1723-64). This Walter was the first of the family to attend Eton, followed by stints at Oxford and the Middle Temple, although like many elder sons he did not trouble to take a degree and was not called to the bar. In 1754 he became, somewhat surprisingly, the first of his family to serve as High Sheriff of Sussex. He and his wife had three sons, of whom the youngest, Hooker Barttelot (1754-1838) inherited his maternal family's estate at Great Chart (Kent) and also property at Horsham. Hooker's first wife committed adultery in 1790 and he successfully prosecuted her lover for 'criminal conversation', after which they were separated. 

Walter's eldest son, Walter Barttelot (1751-1837) inherited the Binderton estate from his great-aunt in 1757 and was obliged by the terms of her will to take the additional name Smyth when he came of age in 1772. By then he had also inherited the Stopham estate from his father, and in 1774 he obtained a private Act of Parliament allowing him to exchange Binderton with Sir James Peachey for other lands in Sussex. In 1787 he rebuilt the family house at Stopham as a fashionable five-by-three bay villa which forms the nucleus of the present house. He and his wife had a large family of ten children, but seven of them predeceased him, so on his death the estate passed to his only surviving son, George Barttelot-Smyth (1788-1872), who resumed the name of Barttelot only in the year he inherited. Like his brothers, he pursued an army career and fought in the Peninsula campaign, where he was severely wounded at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812, forcing his retirement from the army. He then turned his attention to local public service, and was a JP for Sussex for nearly sixty years, chairman of Petworth magistrates court, and a deputy lieutenant.

George Barttelot was succeeded in 1872 by his son Walter (1820-93), the only enthusiastic Parliamentarian the family has produced, who was MP for West Sussex and later for Horsham for more than 30 years. Despite being an arch-conservative, he was admired across the House, both for his integrity and manners, and as a parliamentary performer. In 1875 his contribution was rewarded by Disraeli, who made him a baronet, and in the 1890s he became a Privy Councillor. His first wife, by whom he had seven children, died in 1863, and five years later he married again, but produced no further offspring. In 1888 his youngest son, an army officer with a rather brutal reputation, was murdered by native bearers in the Congo, and it is said that he never recovered from the blow. In January 1893 his second wife died and he himself died on the day of her funeral. His eldest surviving daughter, Edith Harriet (1856-1927), who married Gen. Sir Henry Crichton Sclater, continued his tradition of public service through her charitable work in support of servicemen and their families during the First World War, for which she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1918.

Sir Walter was succeeded in the baronetcy and the Stopham estate by his son, Sir Walter George Barttelot (1855-1900) 2nd bt., who like many former soldiers volunteered for service in South Africa during the Boer War, where he was killed in action in July 1900. His sons, Sir Walter Balfour Barttelot (1880-1918), 3rd bt., and Nigel Kenneth Walter Barttelot (1883-1914) were both killed in the First World War. Happily for the family lineage, the 3rd bt. had already produced two sons, the elder of whom, Sir Walter de Stopham Barttelot (1904-44), 4th bt. became a career soldier and was killed in Normandy a few weeks after the D-day landings. His widow, Patricia, Lady Barttelot (1914-98) found Stopham House too large to operate without servants in the post-war world, and in the 1950s built a new, smaller house (Stopham Park) in the grounds, to which she moved her two young sons before converting Stopham House into flats, which are leased from the estate. Her elder son, Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot (b. 1941), is the present owner. He has continued the long tradition of military service in his family, and after retiring in 1992 has served as High Sheriff of West Sussex and as a Vice L0rd-Lieutenant of the county. He and his wife have four daughters; the heir presumptive to the baronetcy is his younger brother.

Stopham House, Sussex

It is traditionally stated that the house now known as Manor Farm just north of the parish church represents the original manor house, and that this was superseded by a house on the present site in Elizabethan times, although since Walter Barttelot (1585-1641) is known to have made alterations to the old house in the 1630s, it could have been he who made the move to this site. Nothing is, however, known for certain about the first house on this site (known at one time as Ford House), since it was almost entirely rebuilt in 1787 for Walter Barttelot as a more or less square villa which had three storeys on the entrance side but only two at the rear.

Stopham House in the late 19th century: the five bays to the left of the central tree represent the house of 1787.
Image: Historic England / T. Bakendale.

The villa forms the core of the present house and is recognisable on the entrance front as the slightly projecting central five bays with a three-bay pediment, and on the garden front as the section with two canted bay windows set either side of a central doorcase with an open pediment (which was itself moved from the entrance side when a large neo-Jacobean porch was added in 1898). 

Stopham House: garden front in 1950. Image: Historic England.
This simple villa had from the start a lower service wing attached to its north side, which was probably originally of two storeys. In the 19th century successive owners made substantial additions to either end of the original villa, for which construction dates of 1842, 1865 and 1898 are recorded. The addition to the south was constructed in two phases: firstly a single additional bay, perhaps of 1842, and then a two-bay neo-Baroque addition of 1898 containing a ballroom. 

Stopham House: the south front of 1898.
This is built in a darker coloured stone and has a symmetrical south front, framed by shallow raised quoins, with a single-bay open pediment supported on giant pilasters, within which is set an achievement of the Barttelot arms. Despite the generally classical appearance of the addition, however, the windows are mullioned or mullioned and transomed casements. At the north end of the house, the service wing was raised to three storeys, creating a severely plain flat facade from the east, while behind it a less regular jumble of service accommodation developed during the 19th century. After the Second World War the family found the house too large and impossible to keep staffed, but whereas many families would have reduced the existing building to a more manageable size by removing the 19th century additions, the Barttelots chose to build a new house on a site closer to the road, and Stopham House was converted into apartments.

Descent: perhaps built for William Barttelot (c.1504-1601); to grandson, Richard Barttelot (1564-1614); to son, Walter Barttelot (1585-1641); to cousin, Henry Barttelot (1618-48); to son, Walter Barttelot (1638-1702); to son, Walter Barttelot (1665-1744); to grandson, Walter Barttelot (1723-64); to son, Walter Barttelot (later Barttelot-Smyth) (1751-1837); to son, George Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1788-1872); to son, Rt. Hon. Sir Walter Barttelot (1820-93), 1st bt.; to son, Sir Walter George Barttelot (1855-1900), 2nd bt.; to son, Maj. Sir Walter Balfour Barttelot (1880-1918), 3rd bt.; to son, Brig. Sir Walter de Stopham Barttelot (1904-44), 4th bt.; to son, Col. Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot (b. 1941).

Stopham Park, Sussex

The replacement for Stopham House was built on the site of an existing cottage on a more elevated site to the north-west of the earlier building to the design of John Kemp for the widow of Sir Walter Barttelot, 4th bt.,  in 1958-59. The architect is said to have been 'chosen for his pliability to his employer's will', which in this case was to create a house of modest size that would nonetheless provide a setting suitable in scale and style for the display of the accumulated family portraits, furniture and collections removed from the old house. 

Stopham Park: entrance front.

The result is a well-proportioned two-storey building of five bays by three, of a generally early Georgian appearance. There are some, perhaps not coincidental, similarities to the form of the five-bay villa of 1787 on the previous site: it has a five-bay entrance front with a projecting centre under a three-bay pediment, and two canted stone bays on the garden front, although here the garden front is at right-angles to the entrance side and much narrower. The new house is constructed of coursed rubble stone recovered from derelict barns on the estate, with red brick dressings, a modillion cornice and an unusually high hipped roof. Inside, the unexpected surprise is that the front door opens into an off-centre two-storey hall running through the house from front to back, which contains a cantilevered staircase with an ironwork balustrade. The design of the balustrade is continued as a gallery around the hall. The other reception rooms: drawing room, dining room and library are more simply decorated with moulded plaster cornices, and rely largely on their contents for their air of high late Georgian style; the wall between the dining and drawing rooms can be lowered into the floor to create a larger entertaining space. The real date of the house is subtly conveyed by a few touches: the spareness and simplicity of the staircase and gallery balustrade; the design of the plasterwork roundel on the hall ceiling, which eschews overtly classical forms; and the low ceiling heights which reflect contemporary anxiety about heating costs.

Descent: built for Patricia, Lady Barttelot (d. 1998); to son, Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot (b. 1941), 5th bt.

Barttelot family of Stopham, baronets


Barttelot, John (d. 1428). Son of Adam Barttelot (d. c.1371) of Preston and Stopham, and his wife Assoline, daughter of John de Stopham. He fought in the Hundred Years War, and captured the castle of Fontenay for Edward, the Black Prince,who granted him a castle as an heraldic crest. He was household treasurer to the Earl of Arundel, whom he appears to have accompanied on his expedition to France in 1411. He married, c.1395, Joanna (d. 1399), eldest daughter and co-heir of William de Stopham, and had issue including:
(1) John Barttelot (d. 1453) (q.v.);
(2) Joan Barttelot; married John Threele (d. 1465), marshal of the household to the Earl of Arundel; buried at Arundel;
(3) Thomas Barttelot (d. 1465), of Warnham (Sussex); married Joan (d. 1448), daughter and heiress of John de Warncamp of Warnham, and had issue one son and five daughters.
He acquired the manor of Stopham in right of his wife.
He died 6 February 1428 and was buried at Stopham, where he and his wife are commemorated by a memorial brass. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barttelot, John (d. 1453). Son of John Barttelot (d. 1428) and his wife Joan, elder daughter and co-heir of William de Stopham. He fought at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415 and was described on his monument as 'wise counsellor' to the (5th-9th) Earls of Arundel. MP for Sussex, 1435. He married Joan, daughter and heir of John Lewknor and granddaughter of Sir Thomas Lewknor, and had issue including:
(1) Richard Barttelot (d. 1462) (q.v.);
(2) Thomas Barttelot (d. 1489), of Oakhurst, Billingshurst; MP for Midhurst, 1448; probably inherited the manor of Denne from his father; married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William de Oakhurst and had issue two sons; died 1489; perhaps the man whose will was proved in 1490 and who desired to be buried 'before the Trinity altar or St. Thomas's altar' in Lambeth parish church (Surrey);
(3) James Barttelot (d. 1474); inherited the reputed manor of Argenthins at North Mundham from his sister, which he bequeathed to his cousin Edward Barttelot; married Alice [surname unknown]; buried at St Martin Vintry, London, 1474, where he founded a chantry for the benefit of his wife and himself;
(4) John Barttelot of North Stoke; died without issue;
(5) Catherine Barttelot; married William Luntley of North Mundham (Sussex) but had no issue; inherited her husband's estates and left them to her brother James; died before 1474.
He inherited the manor of Stopham from his father in 1428. He acquired the manor of Denne in Warnham in right of his wife.
He died 1 June 1453 and was buried at Stopham where he and his wife are commemorated by a memorial brass installed c.1470. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barttelot, Richard (d. 1462). Eldest son of John Barttelot (d. 1453) and his wife Joan, daughter and heir of John Lewknor. JP for Sussex. He married Petronella Walton (d. 1482) and had issue:
(1) John Barttelot (d. 1493) (q.v.).
He inherited the manors of Stopham from his father in 1453.
He died in 1462 and was buried at Stopham where he and his wife are commemorated by a memorial brass. His widow died in 1482.

Barttelot, John (d. 1493). Only recorded son of Richard Barttelot (d. 1482) and his wife Petronella Walton. He married Olive (d. c.1510), daughter of John Arthur [Artour] of London, and had issue including:
(1) John Barttelot (d. 1528) (q.v.);
(2) Richard Barttelot (d. 1514) (q.v.). 
He inherited the manor of Stopham from his father in 1462 and the manor of Denne in Warnham from Thomas Barttelot in 1489.
He died 20 November 1493. His widow died about 1510.

Barttelot, John (d. 1528). Elder son of John Barttelot (d. 1493) and his wife Olive, daughter of John Artour of London. He married Katherine, sister of Sir John Dawtrey of Moor House, Petworth (Sussex), and had issue:
(1) John Barttelot (d. 1525); died in the lifetime of his father, 1 April 1525 and was buried at Stopham, where he is commemorated by a monumental brass.
He inherited the manors of Stopham and Denne from his father in 1493.
He died 30 November 1528, and was buried at Stopham, where he is commemorated by a monumental brass. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barttelot, Richard (d. 1514). Younger son of John Barttelot (d. 1493) and his wife Olive, daughter of John Artour of London. His death at Tournai suggests that he was a soldier in the king's army, as Tournai was under English military occupation 1513-19. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Gates, and had issue, possibly among others:
(1) William Barttelot (c.1504-1601) (q.v.);
(2) Thomas Barttelot;
(3) A son;
(4) Edmund Barttelot (d. 1591), of Ernley (Sussex), youngest son; married Elizabeth Gore and had issue
(5) Anne Barttelot; married John Banister.
He died at Tournai (Belgium) in 1514. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barttelot, William (c.1504-1601). Eldest son of Richard Barttelot (d. 1514) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Gates, born about 1504. He is said to have begun his career as a servant of Thomas Cromwell, but this may be a confusion with John Bartolet of Piddleton (Dorset), who was one of Cromwell's agents for the dissolution of the monasteries. JP for Sussex, being described in 1587 as one of the ‘good justices’ and ‘ever a great favourer of religion’. He was water bailiff with jurisdiction over the Arun from Arundel bridge to Stopham bridge by 1576-77. He married Anne, daughter of William Covert of Hascombe (Surrey) and had issue:
(1) Robert Barttelot (c.1530-73) (q.v.);
He inherited the manors of Stopham and Denne from his uncle in 1528, and perhaps built the first house on the site of Stopham House.
He is said to have died aged 97 on 12 June, and was buried at Stopham, 13 June 1601, where he and his wife are commemorated by a memorial brass; an inquisition post mortem was held in 1601. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barttelot, Robert (c.1530-73). Only son of William Barttelot (c.1504-1601) and his wife Anne, daughter of William Covert of Hascombe (Surrey), born about 1530. He married 1st, c.1550, Barbara (d. 1561?), daughter of Thomas Onley of Pulborough (Sussex), and 2nd, c.1563, Mary (d. 1577), daughter of John Apsley of Thakeham (Sussex), and had issue:
(1.1) Dorothy Barttelot; married 1st, 18 February 1576 at Stopham, Owen Onley (d. 1590) of Pulborough and had issue one son and one daughter; possibly married 2nd, Richard Stokes;
(1.2) Elizabeth Barttelot; 
(1.3) William Barttelot (d. 1561); buried at Stopham, 15 July 1561;
(2.1) Richard Barttelot (1564-1614) (q.v.);
(2.2) Anne Barttelot (1565-1604), baptised at Stopham, 8 March 1564/5; died unmarried and was buried at Stopham, 11 September 1604;
(2.3) John Barttelot (b. 1567), baptised at Stopham, 20 May 1567; died without issue;
(2.4) Henry Barttelot (c.1571-1638) (q.v.).
He probably lived at Hascombe.
He died in 1573 and was buried at Hascombe (Surrey). His first wife is said to have died in 1561. His widow was buried at Stopham, 18 January 1576/7.

Barttelot, Richard (1564-1614). Eldest son of Robert Barttelot (c.1530-73) and his second wife Mary, daughter of John Apsley of Thakeham (Sussex), baptised at Stopham, 8 March 1563/4. He may have been a soldier, as his funerary brass shows him in armour. He married 1st, reputedly on 27 September 1583 at Slaugham (Sussex), Mary, daughter of Richard Covert of Slaugham, and 2nd, Rose (1573-1635), daughter of Richard Hatton of Thames Ditton (Surrey), and had issue:
(1.1) Walter Barttelot (1585-1641) (q.v.);
(1.2) Anne Barttelot (1586-1603), baptised at Stopham, 2 June 1586; probably died unmarried and was buried at Warnham (Sussex), March 1602/3;
(1.3) Edward Barttelot; died young;
(1.4) William Barttelot (1589-1666) of Wisborough Green, probably the child of this name baptised at Pulborough (Sussex), 6 July 1589; married Anne, daughter of William Stradwick of Kersford; died 1 February 1666 and was buried at Stopham; his will was proved at Chichester in 1667;
(1.5) John Barttelot (b. 1592), probably the child of this name baptised at Pulborough, 2 April 1592; died young;
(2.1) Mary Barttelot (b. 1603?), possibly baptised at Warnham, 1603;
(2.2) Frances Barttelot (b. 1605?), possibly baptised at Warnham, 1605; died young;
(2.3) Richard Barttelot (b. 1608), baptised at Stopham, 28 March 1608; possibly the man of this name who is said to have emigrated to America in 1635;
(2.4) Robert Barttelot (1612-41?), baptised at Stopham, 12 May 1612; perhaps the man of this name buried at Stopham, 4 January 1640/1.
He inherited the Stopham and Denne estates from his grandfather in 1601.
He died 6 June 1614 and was buried at Stopham, where he and his two wives and their children are commemorated by a memorial brass made about 1630 and attributed to Edward Marshall. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His widow lived at Denne, where she was presented for recusancy in the 1620s; her estates were seized by the Crown and leased back to her elder stepson, Walter; she was buried at St Dunstan-in-the-West, London, 6 June 1635.

Barttelot, Walter (1585-1641). Eldest son of Richard Barttelot (1564-1614) and his first wife, Mary, daughter of Richard Covert of Slaugham (Sussex), baptised at Stopham, 1 April 1585. He had a confirmatory grant of arms in 1616, after which the family officially bore their original coat quartered with that of the de Stophams. He was a Sewer Commissioner for Sussex, 1617-37 or later; JP for Sussex, 1619-36 or later; MP for Bramber, 1625-26, probably on the interest of his father-in-law, who controlled the Shelley family estates at the time; commissioner for the Forced Loan, 1626-27. In 1630 he compounded for knighthood at £10, but nine years later he failed to contribute to the Scots war. He is said to have repaired Stopham church and to have installed the east window, which was moved from the old manor house; he also commissioned his father's memorial brass from Edward Marshall and paid him for the repair of the older family memorials. He married, 31 December 1605 at Hastings (Sussex), Mary (1588?-1626), daughter of John Middleton of Hills Place, Horsham (Sussex), and had issue:
(1) Frances Barttelot (b. 1606), baptised at Horsham, 18 December 1606; said to have married Rev. John Lawrence (fl. 1641), vicar of Stopham, and had issue; 
(2) Mary Barttelot (1608-60?), baptised at Horsham, 3 January 1608/9; married, 4 September 1637 at Stopham, her cousin Henry Barttelot (1618-48) (q.v.) and had issue six sons (of whom three died young); said to have died in 1660;
(3) Anne Barttelot (b. 1612; fl. 1643), baptised at Horsham, 30 July 1612; married, 8 August 1643 at Stopham, Theodore Walker, and had issue one daughter;
(4) Jane Barttelot (b. 1616; fl. c.1690), baptised at Horsham, 11 December 1616; inherited the manor of Denne in Warnham (Sussex) which she sold c.1690; married, 11 August 1642, Christopher Coles (d. 1675) of Pulborough (Sussex), and had issue one son and two daughters;
(5) Elizabeth Barttelot (1619-44), baptised at Stopham, 4 March 1618/9; married Richard Mille of Greatham (Sussex); died 16 October 1644 and was buried at Stopham, where she is commemorated by an inscription;
(6) Barbara Barttelot (1621-87?), born 1 September and baptised at Stopham, 18 September 1621; possibly married William Mose and was buried at Warnham (Sussex), 21 August 1687.
He inherited the Stopham and Denne estates from his father in 1614 and may have been responsible for building a new house on the site of the present Stopham House. At his death Stopham passed to his first cousin once removed, Henry Barttelot (b. 1618) (who married Walter's second daughter), and Denne to Walter's fourth daughter and her husband.
He died intestate, 1 January, and was buried at Stopham, 4 January 1640/1; administration of his goods was granted 25 February 1640/1. His wife died 20 October 1626 and was buried at Stopham, where she is commemorated by a monument.

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Barttelot, Henry (c.1571-1638). Third son of Robert Barttelot (c.1530-73) and his second wife Mary, daughter of John Apsley of Thakeham (Sussex), born at Pulborough (Sussex) in about 1570. The king's feodary in Sussex. He married, 22 July 1612 at Stopham, Ann (d. 1626), daughter of John Marlott of Muntham and Itchingfield (Sussex), and had issue:
(1) Henry Barttelot (b. 1612), baptised at Stopham, 9 October 1612; died young;
(2) Ann Barttelot (b. 1614), baptised at Stopham, 1 June 1614; married, 26 June 1636, Rev. William Chaundler (b. c.1606), rector of Stopham, and had issue at least two sons;
(3) Mary Barttelot (1615-52), baptised at Stopham, 22 August 1615; married, 6 July 1636, Francis Wattker; buried at Stopham, 16 October 1652;
(4) Henry Barttelot (1618-48) (q.v.);
(5) William Barttelot (1621-67), baptised at Stopham, 24 April 1621; married Anne [surname unknown] (d. 1667) and had issue two sons and four daughters; buried at Stopham, 4 February 1666/7; his will was proved at Chichester in 1666/7.
He lived at Stopham.
He was living in 1626/7, when he stated in an inquisition that he was about 55 years old; he was buried at Stopham, 5 January 1638/9. His wife was buried at Stopham, 23 February 1625/6.

Barttelot, Henry (1618-48). Second, but eldest surviving, son of Henry Barttelot (b. c.1570) and his wife Ann, daughter of John Marlott of Muntham and Itchingfield (Sussex), baptised at Stopham, 3 July 1618. He married, 4 September 1637 at Stopham, his cousin, Mary (1609-60?), daughter of Walter Barttelot (1585-1641) of Stopham and Denne, and had issue including:
(1) Walter Barttelot (1638-1702) (q.v.);
(2) Henry Barttelot (b. & d. 1640), baptised at Stopham, 13 August 1640; died in infancy and was buried at Stopham, 31 August 1640;
(3) Henry Barttelot (b. 1641), baptised at Stopham, 22 October 1641; died young;
(4) Richard Barttelot (b. 1643), baptised at Stopham, 9 July 1643; died in infancy and was buried at Stopham, 17 January 1643/4;
(5) Richard Barttelot (1646-1719), baptised at Stopham, 22 April 1646; married, February 1662 at Up Waltham (Sussex), Mary Lawrence (d. 1700) and had issue three sons and three daughters; buried at Stopham, 25 March 1719;
(6) Henry Barttelot (1646-1710), of Fittleworth (Sussex), baptised at Stopham, 22 October 1646; apprenticed to John Abbott of London, grocer, 1656; citizen and grocer of London and High Sheriff of Surrey, 1694-95; died 31 March, and was buried at Stopham, 5 April 1710, where he is commemorated by a monument.
He inherited the manor of Stopham from his first cousin once removed in 1641, but apparently lived at Lancing (Sussex), where he leased the Rectory Manor.
He was buried at Stopham, 14 November 1648, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved at Chichester, 1648. His widow is said to have died in 1660.

Barttelot, Walter (1638-1702). Eldest son of Henry Barttelot (1618-48) and his wife Mary, daughter of Walter Barttelot of Stopham and Denne, baptised 2 December 1638. He was buried as 'Capt. Walter Barttelot' but does not appear in the army lists or commission registers, so this was perhaps a navy or militia rank. He married, 7 June 1664 at Bepton (Sussex), Anne (1634-90), daughter of Thomas Bettesworth of Halnaker (Sussex) and had issue including:
(1) Walter Barttelot (1665-1744) (q.v.);
(2) Mary Barttelot (1666-1730), born 14 May and baptised at Stopham, 21 May 1666; married, 23 April 1689 at Stopham, Rev. Henry Strudwick (1658-1711), rector of Barlavington (Sussex) and later vicar of Wisborough Green (Sussex) and Alfold (Surrey/Sussex), and had issue six sons and four daughters; buried at Alfold (Surrey), 9 November 1730;
(3) Anne Barttelot (1668-72), born 8 October and baptised at Stopham, 13 October 1668; died young and was buried at Stopham, 14 December 1672;
(4) Thomas Barttelot (1669-1717?), born 10 February and baptised at Stopham, 15 February 1669; said to have been educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and to have died there in 1686, but he does not appear in the Alumni Oxon. and no corresponding burial has been found; he was probably the man of this name buried at Stopham, 24 June 1717;
(5) Capt. Charles Barttelot (1671-1737), of Lower Oakhurst, Alfold (Sussex), born 12 November and baptised at Stopham, 18 November 1671; said to have joined the merchant navy as a ship's boy at the age of seven in 1678 and to have transferred to the Royal Navy in 1690 (Lt., 1693; Capt.); suffered from gout; married Elizabeth (d. 1703), daughter of Samuel Clarke; died 26 March, and was buried at Stopham, 30 March 1737; will proved in the PCC, 28 April 1737.
He inherited the manor of Stopham from his father in 1648 and came of age in 1659.
He died 8 April 1702 and was buried at Stopham, where he is commemorated by a remarkably late brass inscription. His wife died 9 October and was buried at Stopham 16 October 1690, where she is also commemorated by a brass inscription.

Barttelot, Walter (1665-1744). Eldest son of Walter Barttelot (1638-1702) and his wife Anne, daughter of Thomas Bettesworth of Halnaker (Sussex), born 11 April and baptised at Stopham, 18 April 1665. He married 1st, c.1685, Isabel (d. 1707), daughter of Rev. Edmund Barker, rector of Buriton (Hants) and 2nd, 28 December 1710 at Stopham, Mary (d. 1721), daughter and co-heir of Richard Penfold, and widow of John White of Steyning (Sussex), and had issue including:
(1.1) Anne Barttelot (c.1686-1761), born about 1686; married, 18 April 1709, Rev. John Pinnell (c.1680-1745), vicar of Fittleworth, rector of Rodmell and prebendary of Chichester Cathedral, 1706-45, and had issue two sons; buried at Fittleworth, 27 February 1761;
(1.2) Rev. Walter Barttelot (1688-1743) (q.v.);
(1.3) Isabel Barttelot (d. 1691); died in infancy and was buried at Stopham, 28 March 1691;
(1.4) Mary Barttelot (1690-1770), born 15 September and baptised at Stopham, 22 September 1690; married, 18 April 1715 at Stopham, James Lloyd (d. 1754) of Lancing, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 18 March and was buried at Lancing, 20 March 1770;
(1.5) Isabel Barttelot (b. & d. 1692), baptised at Stopham, 4 June 1692; died in infancy, 29 June 1692; 
(1.6) Katherine Barttelot (1694-1750), born 5 February 1693/4; died unmarried and was buried at Stopham, 21 April 1750;
(1.7) Charles Barttelot (1696-1729), baptised at Stopham, 2 April 1696; died unmarried and was buried at Stopham, 28 November 1729;
(1.8) Isabel Barttelot (1697-1779), baptised at Stopham, 17 September 1697; died unmarried, 30 July, and was buried at Stopham, 3 August 1779;
(1.9) John Barttelot (b. 1699), baptised at Stopham, 23 February 1698/9; died young; 
(1.10) Elizabeth Barttelot (b. & d. 1706), baptised at Stopham, 22 February 1706/7; 
(1.11) Elizabeth Barttelot (1707-84), baptised at Stopham, 22 February 1706/7; married, 7 January 1730/1 at Fittleworth, Joseph Whitcher (d. c.1752) of Petworth, apothecary, and had issue at least one son; possibly the woman of this name buried at Stoughton (Sussex), 22 December 1784.
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1702.
He died in January 1744; his will was proved in the PCC, 27 January 1743/4. His first wife was buried at Stopham, 29 March 1707 and his second wife was buried at Stopham, 29 June 1721; they are both commemorated on a memorial tablet in the church.

Barttelot, Rev. Walter (1688-1743). Eldest son of Walter Barttelot (1665-1744) and his first wife Isabel, daughter of Rev. Edward Barker, rector of Buriton (Hants), born and baptised at Stopham, 8 December 1688. Educated at Oriel and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford (matriculated 1705/6; BA 1709; MA 1712/3). Ordained deacon and priest, 1714. Vicar of Alfriston (Sussex), 1716-32 and Selmeston (Sussex), 1716-43; prebendary of Chichester Cathedral, 1721-43; rector of Rottingdean (Sussex), 1732-43. He married, 27 February 1720 at West Dean (Sussex), Barbara (d. 1742), daughter of George Smyth of Binderton (Sussex), and had issue:
(1) Barbara Barttelot (1722-41), baptised at West Dean, 30 October 1722; died unmarried of smallpox, and was buried at Stopham, 24 November 1741;
(2) Walter Barttelot (1723-64) (q.v.).
He died in the lifetime of his father, 22 October, and was buried at Stopham, 25 October 1743, where he and his wife are commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC 6 February 1743/4. His wife died of smallpox at Rottingdean, 30 December 1741, and was buried at Stopham, 4 February 1741/2.

Walter Barttelot (1723-64) 
Barttelot, Walter (1723-64).
Only son of Rev. Walter Barttelot (1688-1743) and his wife Barbara, daughter of George Smyth of Binderton (Sussex), born 9 October and baptised at West Dean (Sussex), 24 October 1723. His father left his aunt, Katherine Barttelot, and uncle, the Rev. John Pinnell, as his guardians until he reached the age of 21. Educated at Eton, University College, Oxford (matriculated 1743/4) and Middle Temple (admitted 1743/4). High Sheriff of Sussex, 1754. His portrait was painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1762. He married, 26 June 1750 at Stopham, Elizabeth (1725-67), daughter of Thomas Hooker of Great Chart (Kent) and had issue:
(1) Walter Barttelot (later Smyth) (1751-1837) (q.v.);
(2) George Smyth Barttelot (1752-78), born 4 June and baptised at Stopham, 17 June 1752; educated at Eton and Clare College, Cambridge (matriculated 1769; BA 1775; MA 1778) and Middle Temple (admitted 1773); Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, 1774-78; died 11 October and was buried at Stopham, 15 October 1778, where he is commemorated by a monument;
(3) Hooker Barttelot (1754-1838), of Great Chart (Kent) and Horsham (Sussex) and later of Bishops Hull (Som.), baptised at Stopham, 5 February 1754; apprenticed to Thomas Edsall of Dartford (Kent), gunpowder maker, 1769; an officer in the South Hampshire militia (Maj., 1802; retired 1808); a founder member of the Sussex Club, 1797; married 1st, 18 January 1783 at St Thomas, Portsmouth, Amelia Sophia (1760-99), daughter of Dr. Thomas Orton, and had issue one daughter; in 1790 he was awarded £700 damages for his wife's adultery with Samuel Hawker; he was subsequently separated from his wife and brought divorce proceedings against her in the House of Lords in 1798, but she apparently died before these were completed; he married 2nd, 10 December 1811 at Wonastow (Monmouths.), Theresa Maria (d. 1835), daughter of Capt. MacDonough, but had no further issue; died 29 September and was buried at Bishops Hull (Som.), 5 October 1838; his will was proved in the PCC, 20 October 1838.
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his grandfather in 1744.
He died 10 June and was buried at Stopham, 15 June 1764, where he and his wife are commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 31 July 1764. His widow died 9 August and was buried at Stopham, 16 August 1767; her will was proved 8 September 1767.

Barttelot (later Barttelot-Smyth), Walter (1751-1837). Eldest son of Walter Barttelot (1723-64) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hooker of Great Chart (Kent), born 19 March and baptised at Great Chart, 2 April 1751. An officer in the Sussex Militia (Capt.). He took the additional name Smyth by 1772 to comply with the will of his great-aunt, Mary Hamilton (d. 1757), daughter of George Smyth of Binderton (Sussex) and sister of his grandmother, Barbara Barttelot. He married, 9 June 1772, Philadelphia (1748-1809), daughter of Rev. John Wickens DD, rector of Petworth and Tillington (Sussex), and had issue:
(1) Philadelphia Barttelot-Smyth (1773-1839), born June and baptised at Stopham, 12 July 1773; lived at Stopham House; died unmarried, 5 May 1839; will proved 22 October 1839;
(2) Georgiana Barttelot-Smyth (1774-1865), born August and baptised at Stopham, 25 September 1774; lived at Stopham House; died unmarried aged 91 on 10 October 1865; will proved 24 November 1865 (effects under £14,000);
(3) Anna Maria Barttelot-Smyth (1777-1825), baptised at Stopham, 13 June 1777; married, 11 June 1799 at Stopham, John Aldridge (1766-1803) of St. Leonard's House (Sussex), and had issue two sons (of whom the elder died in infancy); died 23 June and was buried in Paris, 28 June 1825;
(4) Lucy Dorothea Barttelot-Smyth (1779-1803), baptised at Stopham, 8 July 1779; lived at Stopham House; died unmarried, December 1803 and was buried at Stopham, 1 January 1804;
(5) Walter Barttelot-Smyth (1781-1814), baptised at Stopham, 17 July 1781; educated at Eton and University College, Oxford (matriculated 1799); an officer in the army (Ensign, 1800; Lt., 1802; Capt., 1805); married Eliza (d. 1854), daughter of Col. James Skerrett of Drumgriffin (Co. Galway), and had issue one son who died young; buried at Malew (Isle of Man), 20 June 1814;
(6) Elizabeth Barttelot-Smyth (1782-1805), baptised at Stopham, 1 November 1782; died unmarried in Brighton (Sussex), 28 May 1805;
(7) John Wickens Barttelot-Smyth (1785?-1812), baptised at Stopham, 18 February 1786; an officer in the Madras Army (Lt., 1801); died unmarried in the East Indies, 18 April 1812;
(8) Sophia Jane Barttelot-Smyth (1786-1805), baptised at Stopham, 18 August 1786; died unmarried and was buried at Stopham, 27 January 1805;
(9) George Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1788-1872) (q.v.);
(10) Edmund Barttelot-Smyth (1790-1809), baptised at Stopham, 6 August 1790; died unmarried and was buried at Stopham, 9 November 1809.
He inherited the Binderton estate from his great-aunt in 1757, but exchanged it (by private Act of Parliament) with Sir James Peachey (later 1st Baron Selsey) in 1774 for other lands in Sussex. He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1764 and came of age in 1772. He largely rebuilt the house at Stopham in 1787.
He died 2 February 1837 and was buried at Stopham, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 19 April 1837. His wife died 22 May and was buried at Stopham, 31 May 1809.

Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot), George (1788-1872). Third son of Walter Barttelot (later Barttelot-Smyth) (1751-1837) and his wife Philadelphia, daughter of Rev. Dr. John Wickens, rector of Petworth and Tillington (Sussex), born 20 August and baptised at Stopham, 23 September 1788. An officer in the Royal Horse Artillery (2nd Lt., 1805; Lt., 1806; retired 1814), who served in the Peninsula War and was severely wounded at the Battle of Salamanca, 1812, eventually forcing his retirement from the army; he later served in the Sussex Yeomanry. JP for Sussex, 1815-72 and Chairman of Petworth Petty Sessions; DL for Sussex. He changed his name from Smyth back to Barttelot on inheriting his family estates in 1837. He married, 22 November 1819 at Richmond (Surrey), Emma (1798-1877), youngest daughter of James Woodbridge of Richmond, and had issue:
(1) Sir Walter Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1820-93), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(2) David Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1821-52), born 24 October 1821 and baptised at Richmond, 5 January 1822; educated at Rugby and Charterhouse Schools, Jesus College, Cambridge (matriculated 1839) and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (matriculated 1840; BA 1844; MA 1847); President of Petworth Cricket Club, 1846; emigrated to Australia for health reasons and died unmarried at Sydney, New South Wales (Australia), 1 July 1852; buried in the Camperdown Cemetery there;
(3) Emma Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1823-43), born 2 February and baptised at Richmond, 4 February 1823; died unmarried at St Leonards (Sussex), 24 December 1843;
(4) Georgiana Harriet Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1824-52), born 3 January and baptised at Richmond, 4 February 1824; died unmarried at Southampton (Hants), 1 June 1852;
(5) Caroline Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1825-43), born 22 September 1825 and baptised at Stopham, 11 October 1827; died unmarried, 15 May 1843;
(6) Anna Maria Lloyd Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1827-43), born 15 May and baptised at Stopham, 11 October 1827; died young, 20 April 1843;
(7) George James Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1829-49), born 8 November 1829 and baptised at Stopham, 22 April 1830; educated at Rugby School; an officer in the Royal Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1848); died unmarried at Greenlaw (Berwicks), of cholera, 14 October 1849;
(8) Brian Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1833-1922), of Bramblehurst House, Horsham (Sussex) and later Ditton, Torquay (Devon), born 1 December 1833 and baptised at Stopham, 20 May 1834; educated at Rugby and Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1854); JP for Sussex; an officer in 8th Sussex Rifle Volunteers (Lt., 1860; Capt., 1861; retired 1869); married, 1 June 1864 at Farnham (Surrey), Mary Dorothy (d. 1899), daughter of John Frederick LaTrobe Bateman of Moor Park, Farnham, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 1 October 1922; will proved 21 November 1922 (estate £18,227);
(9) Philadelphia Jane Barttelot-Smyth (later Barttelot) (1835-1918), born 12 May and baptised at Stopham, 14 July 1835; married, 5 January 1861 at Stopham, Lt-Col. Richard England (1831-1917), eldest son of Gen. Sir Richard England GCB KH, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 28 October 1918; administration of her goods was granted 28 December 1918 (estate £1,433).
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1837 and remodelled it in 1842.
He died 28 November and was buried at Stopham, 5 December 1872; his will was proved 30 January 1873 (effects under £1,500). His widow died 11 April 1877; administration of her goods was granted 5 May 1877 (effects under £1,500).

Smyth (later Barttelot), Rt. Hon. Sir Walter Barttelot (1820-93), 1st bt. Eldest son of George Smyth (later Barttelot) (1788-1872) and his wife Emma, youngest daughter of James Woodbridge of Richmond (Surrey), born 10 October and baptised at Stopham, 12 October 1820. Educated at Rugby School. He changed his name from Smyth back to Barttelot at the same time as his father in 1837. An officer in the Royal Dragoons (Cornet, 1839; Lt. 1841; Capt., 1845; retired 1853) and later in Sussex Royal Volunteers (Capt., 1860; Maj., 1860; Lt-Col., 1861; Col. of 2nd Regt.). After standing unsuccessfully for Biggleswade (Beds) in 1855, he became one of the Conservative MPs for West Sussex, 1860-85 and when the constituency was divided, the member for Horsham, 1885-93. He was an active member and a good parliamentary performer (an opponent said "he is, perhaps, one of the most impressive speakers in the House of Commons, and it is a pity he has so little to say that is worth hearing"), who gradually came to be seen as the chief spokesman for the agricultural interest in Parliament, as well as involving himself in church and military matters. In 1862 he was appointed a member of the Commission of Inquiry into the State of the Voluntary Forces in Great Britain. He was the sort of old-fashioned Conservative who disapproved of change on principle and whose views on any subject were predictable, but his manners, ability and integrity earned the respect of all sides of the house: a Liberal obituarist declared "there was not a more rigid conservative in the United Kingdom or a more generous opponent". JP and DL (from 1858) for Sussex; County Councillor for Pulborough division, 1889-93. He was created a baronet, 14 June 1875; appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), 1880; and sworn of the Privy Council, 1892. He married 1st, 28 April 1852 at Hove (Sussex), Harriet (1832-63), fourth daughter and co-heir of Rev. Sir Christopher Musgrave, 9th bt. of Edenhall (Cumbld), and 2nd, 30 April 1868 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Margaret (1822-93), only child and heir of Henry Boldero of South Lodge, St. Leonard's Forest (Sussex), and had issue:
(1.1) Amy Barttelot (b. & d. 1853), baptised at Petworth, 10 December 1853; died in infancy and was buried at Stopham, 19 December 1853;
(1.2) Sir Walter George Barttelot (1855-1900), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(1.3) Dame Edith Harriet Barttelot (1856-1927), born 24 March and baptised at Stopham, 1 or 7 May 1856; during the First World War organised a range of activities in support of active servicemen and their families, for which she was appointed DBE, 1918; married, 12 June 1884 at Stopham, Gen. Sir Henry Crichton Sclater GCB GBE (1855-1923), third son of James Henry Sclater of Newick Park (Sussex), but had no issue; died in London, 29 March 1927; will proved 3 May 1927 (estate £8,726);
(1.4) Evelyn Fanny Barttelot (1857-1947), baptised at Stopham, 14 April 1857; married, 29 March 1883 at Stopham, Charles Munro Sandham (1856-92) of Rodmell (Sussex), and had issue one son and two daughters; died aged 90 on 27 April 1947; will proved 20 June 1947 (estate £48,819);
(1.5) Blanche Barttelot (1858-76), baptised at Stopham, 25 April 1858; died unmarried, 28 March 1876;
(1.6) Maj. Edmund Musgrave Barttelot (1859-88), born 28 March and baptised at Stopham, 15 May 1859; educated at Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; an officer in the Royal Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1879; Lt., 1881; Capt., 1886; Br. Maj., 1886), who served in the Afghan campaign and Egypt, and afterwards in the Congo with Henry Morton Stanley's Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, where he commanded the rear column and became notorious for his allegedly brutal and deranged behaviour, as a result of which he was murdered by one of his native bearers near Stanley Falls, 19 July 1888; administration of goods granted to his father, 26 November 1888 (estate £363);
(1.7) Ada Mary Barttelot (1862-1954), born 30 August and baptised at Stopham, 1 October 1862; married, 17 October 1882 at Stopham, Maj-Gen. William Frederick Cavaye (1845-1926) of Birchenbridge House, Horsham (Sussex), son of William Cavaye, but had no issue; died aged 91 on 23 June 1954; will proved 7 September 1954 (estate £2,022).
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1872 and further remodelled it in 1876.
He died on the day of his second wife's funeral, 2 February, and was himself buried 8 February 1893; his will was proved 29 March 1893 (effects £105,227). His first wife died 29 July and was buried at Stopham, 5 August 1863. His second wife died 28 January and was buried 2 February 1893; her will was also proved 29 March 1893 (effects £54,455).

Barttelot, Sir Walter George (1855-1900), 2nd bt. Elder son of Sir Walter Barttelot (1820-93), 1st bt., and his first wife, Harriet, fourth daughter and co-heir of Rev. Sir Christopher Musgrave, 9th bt., of Edenhall (Cumbld), born 11 April 1855. Educated at Eton. An officer in the 5th Dragoon Guards (Sub-Lt., 1874; Lt., 1876; Capt., 1878; retired 1879) and later in the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt., 1880; retired 1885) and Royal Sussex Regiment volunteer battalion (Capt. and hon. Maj., 1886). He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), 1892. He married, 3 June 1879 at St Mary Abbots, Kensington (Middx), Georgiana Mary (1860-1946), only daughter of George Edmond Balfour of The Manor, Sidmouth, and had issue:
(1) Sir Walter Balfour Barttelot (1880-1918), 3rd bt. (q.v.);
(2) Irene Margaret Mary Barttelot (1881-1932), born 1881; married, 5 January 1910, Maj. Francis Alexander Atchison (1885-1952) of Old Manor, Ashley (Hants), son of Col. Charles Henry Atchison RA, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died in Lisbon (Portugal), 5 January 1932;
(3) Nigel Kenneth Walter Barttelot (1883-1914), born 9 April 1883; educated at HMS Britannia, Dartmouth; an officer in the Royal Navy (Cadet, 1899; Sub-Lt, 1902; Lt., 1904; Lt-Cdr., 1912) who served in First World War (mentioned in despatches); married, 10 January 1906, Dorothy Maud (1883-1961) (who m2, 14 July 1923, Vice-Adm. Sir Frank Forrester Rose KCB DSO (d. 1955)), eldest daughter of Frederick Aldcroft Kay and had issue one son; killed in action while commanding HMS Liberty in the battle of Heligoland Bight, 28 August 1914; administration of his goods was granted 14 January 1915 (estate £3,130).
He lived at Coates Castle, Fittleworth (Sussex) until he inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1893; he further remodelled Stopham House in 1898.
He was killed in action at Retief's Nek, Orange Free State (South Africa), 23 July 1900; his will was proved 18 December 1900 (estate £16,856). His widow married 2nd, 22 October 1902, Beville Molesworth-St. Aubyn (1871-1946) of Manor Farm, Swanwick (Hants), younger son of Rev. Sir St. Aubyn Hender Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 12th bt., of Pencarrow (Cornw.), and died 6 February 1946; her will was proved 19 August 1946 (estate £32,432).

Maj. Sir Walter Balfour Barttelot
(1880-1918) 

Barttelot, Sir Walter Balfour (1880-1918), 3rd bt.
Elder son of Sir Walter George Barttelot (1855-1900), 2nd bt., and his wife Georgiana Mary, only daughter of George Edmond Balfour of The Manor, Sidmouth, born 22 March 1880. Educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. An officer in the Coldstream Guards (2nd Lt., 1899; Lt., 1903; Capt., 1910; Maj., 1915; Br. Lt-Col., 1918) who served in the Boer War (mentioned in despatches) and First World War (mentioned in despatches four times; wounded 1914; awarded Croix de Guerre, 1916). He stood unsuccessfully for parliament as the Unionist candidate for the Saffron Walden division in 1906, and was ADC and later 
Military Secretary to Lord Denman as Governor-General of Australia, 1911-14. He married, 17 November 1903 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Gladys St. Aubyn (1882-1976), daughter of William Collier Angrove of Onslow Gardens, London SW, and had issue:
(1) Sir Walter de Stopham Barttelot (1904-44), 4th bt. (q.v.);
(2) William Frederick Geoffrey Nelson Barttelot (1905-96), born 21 October 1905; educated at Wellington College; civil and electrical engineer with Taylor Woodrow Ltd.; an officer in the Royal Engineers (2nd Lt., 1940; Lt., 1943; Maj., 1948; Lt.-Col. by 1955; retired 1958) who served in the Second World War; married, 20 December 1930, Jane Elizabeth (1910-90), only daughter of Duncan Stirling of Santiago (Chile) and had issue one son and one daughter; died aged 91 on 26 October, and was buried at Stopham, 8 November 1996; will proved 16 January 1997.
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1900 and came of age the following year.
He was killed in action in Tehran (Iran), 23 October 1918 and buried in the Tehran War Cemetery; his will was proved 13 February 1919 (estate £62,059). His widow married 2nd, 30 April 1920 at Christ Church, Mayfair, London, Capt. Neston William Diggle CMG RN (1880-1963) of Tellisford House (Som.), son of Wadham Neston Diggle of Bratton House (Wilts); she died aged 93 on 12 January 1976 and her will was proved 6 April 1976 (estate £145,521).

Barttelot, Sir Walter de Stopham (1904-44), 4th bt. Elder son of Sir Walter Balfour Barttelot (1880-1918), 3rd bt., and his wife Gladys St. Aubyn, daughter of William Collier Angrove of Onslow Gardens, London SW, born 27 October 1904. He succeeded his father as 4th baronet, 23 October 1918. Educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. An officer in the Coldstream Guards (2nd Lt., 1924; Lt., 1926; Capt., 1934; Maj., 1941; T/Lt-Col; Acting Brig.) who served in the Second World War (mentioned in despatches; awarded DSO, 1944). He married, 7 May 1938, (Sara) Patricia OStJ (1914-98), daughter of Lt-Col. Herbert Valentine Ravenscroft of The Abbey, Storrington (Sussex), and had issue:
(1) Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot (b. 1941), 5th bt. (q.v.);
(2) Robin Ravenscroft Barttelot (b. 1943) of Targrove, Fittleworth (Sussex), born 15 December 1943; educated at Seaford College and University of Perth, Western Australia; stockbroker; heir presumptive to the baronetcy; married, May 1987, Teresa (b. 1947), elder daughter of Kenneth Greenlees, and had issue one son and one daughter.
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1918 and came of age in 1925. His widow built a new house (Stopham Park) on the estate and converted the old house into apartments.
He was killed in action at Anfernel, near Caen, Normandy (France) while commanding the 6th Guards Tank Brigade, 16 August 1944, and was buried at St. Charles de Percy War Cemetery; he is also commemorated by a memorial in Stopham church. His will was proved 27 February and 12 April 1945 (estate £116,645). His widow married 2nd, 28 May 1965, her first husband's first cousin, Cdr. James Nigel Walter Barttelot RN (1911-2002), only son of Nigel Kenneth Walter Barttelot (1883-1914) (q.v.), and died 14 January 1998; her will was proved 27 May 1998.

Barttelot, Col. Sir Brian Walter de Stopham (b. 1941), 5th bt. Elder son of Sir Walter de Stopham Barttelot (1904-44), 4th bt., and his wife (Sara) Patricia, daughter of Lt-Col. Herbert Valentine Ravenscroft of The Abbey, Storrington (Sussex), born 17 July 1941. He succeeded his father as 5th baronet, 16 August 1944. Educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. An officer in the Coldstream Guards (2nd Lt., 1961; Lt., 1963; Capt., 1967; Maj., 1973; Lt-Col., 1981; Col., 1988; retired 1992), who served as Equerry to HM The Queen, 1970-72, Military Secretary to the Maj-Gen. commanding the London district and the Household Division, 1978-80; Colonel of the Foot Guards, 1989-92. After his retirement he was appointed to the Hon. Corps of Gentlemen at Arms 1993-2011 (Harbinger, 2010-11) and as Hon. Col. of Sussex Army Cadet Force, 1996-2007. High Sheriff of West Sussex, 1997-98; DL for West Sussex since 1988 (Vice-Lord Lieutenant, 1994-2009). Chairman of Executive Committee of Standing Council of Baronetage, 1996-2001; President of West Sussex Scout Council since 1993; President of South of England Agricultural Society, 2001-02; President of Sussex branch of CLA since 2008. He was made a liveryman of the Worshipful Co. of Gunmakers in 1980, and appointed OBE, 1983 and Commander of the Order of St. John, 2020. He married, 20 November 1969, the Hon. (Mary Angela) Fiona DGStJ MBE DL, daughter of Cecil George Wilfrid Weld-Forester, 7th Baron Forester, and had issue:
(1) Isabel Emily Barttelot (b. 1971), born 5 March 1971; married, 19 July 1997, Luke Terence Macdonald Sanders (b. 1968) of Hindley Hill, Allendale (Northbld), son of Christopher Andrew Beaumont Sanders of Hempstead (Essex) and had issue three sons;
(2) Sophia Rosalind Barttelot (b. 1973), born 17 April 1973; married, 4 August 2001, Nigel Weller of Harare (Zimbabwe), son of Maj. James Weller of Harare, and had issue one son and one daughter;
(3) Ursulina May (k/a Nina) Barttelot (b. 1978), born 1 May 1978; educated at Benenden and Edinburgh Univ. (BA); designer, artist, illustrator, and owner of a children's sleepware company; married, 2008, Rupert Edward Leader Pittman (b. 1971) of Middle Barn Farm, Pulborough (Sussex), son of John Pittman, and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(4) Emma Amelia Barttelot (b. 1981); professional garden designer; married, 2009, Frederick Nicholas Gruffudd Jones (b. 1980) of Gorad, Beaumaris (Anglesey), son of Dafydd Gruffudd Jones, and had issue three sons.
He inherited the Stopham House estate from his father in 1944 and came of age in 1962.
Now living. His wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 1924, pp. 215-17 and 2003, pp. 282-284; The Topographer for the year 1791, vol. 4, pp. 346-53; C.J. Robinson, A history of the castles, mansions and manors of Western Sussex, 1876, pp. 218-22; R.G. Bartolet, Our family name, 1944; D. Hall, 'A look inside Stopham Park', Sussex Life, 22 August 2016; E. Williamson, T. Hudson, J. Musson and I. Nairn, The buildings of England: Sussex - West, 2019, p. 642; ODNB entry for Sir Walter Barttelot (1820-93), 1st bt.; History of Parliament entry for Walter Barttelot (1585-1641).

Location of archives

No significant accumulation exists in a public collection, but papers probably remain with the family.

Coat of arms

Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, three sinister gloves pendent argent, tasselled or (for Barttelot); 2nd and 3rd, per fess indented argent and gules, four crescents counterchanged (for de Stopham).

Can you help?

  • If anyone knows more about the first house on the site of Stopham House I should be most interested to hear from them. In current circumstances I have not been able to access a copy of Sussex Hearth Tax Assessments 1670: Arundel Rape, and if any reader has a copy to hand I should be grateful for information about how Walter Barttelot's houses at Stopham were rated.
  • 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.
  • Any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated. I am always particularly pleased to hear from members of the family who can supply recent personal information for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 12 August 2020 and was updated 31 December 2022-2 January 2023, 7 April 2024. I am most grateful to David Barttelot for sharing genealogical information about the family with me, and to Emmanuel Hamel for a correction.