(437) Bastard of Blandford Forum and Charlton Marshall

Bastard of Charlton Marshall

This family, who pronounced their name 'Bu'starred', leading to it appearing in a bewildering variety of spellings in contemporary records, can be traced back to a family of yeomen living at Belchalwell in the parish of Okeford Fitzpaine (Dorset). The genealogy below begins with Thomas Bastard (1654-1721), who was born at Belchalwell but moved to Blandford Forum, where he set up in business - no doubt after an apprenticeship - as a joiner and cabinet maker. It seems very probable that high quality architectural joinery rather than furniture-making was the mainstay of his business, and the interiors of the former rectory at Spetisbury (Dorset) and the woodwork in the church at Charlton Marshall are probably identifiable specimens of his work. At this time, successful craftsmen in the building trades (examples being Francis Smith (1672-1738) of Warwick and Anthony Keck (1726-97) of Gloucestershire, the latter of whom was also a joiner by original trade) were beginning to diversify into a more managerial role in which they would contract for the construction of whole buildings, co-ordinating and overseeing the work of sub-contracted artisans who were brought in to deliver the parts of the job that they did not have the specialist expertise to deliver, and perhaps even going on to design buildings as an architect. But there seems to be little or no evidence that Thomas Bastard followed this path except for the partisan statement on the funerary monument erected by his sons that he was 'eminent for his skill in Architecture'; in his will he describes himself simply as a joiner. 

In 1682 Thomas married Bridget, the daughter of Thomas Creech of Blandford, mercer, and sister of the poet and translator, Thomas Creech. They produced a large family, with six sons and four daughters who survived to adulthood. There are likely to have been other children who died young, but whose names were lost when the early Blandford parish registers were destroyed in the Great Fire of Blandford in 1731. The six surviving sons all followed their father into the building trade. The three eldest - Thomas (1686-1731), John (1687-1770) and William (c.1689-1766) - took over his joinery business and will be considered further below. The fourth son, Samuel Bastard (c.1695-1728) turned his woodworking skills to the use of the Royal Navy and became foreman of the model-making department of the Royal Dockyard at Gosport. As we shall see, his eldest son later returned to Blandford to join the family firm. The fifth son, Benjamin Bastard (1698-1772), was apprenticed to William Townesend of Oxford (a mason who made exactly the transition to building contracting and architecture that is described above), and subsequently established himself as a mason-architect at Sherborne (Dorset). Joseph Bastard (c.1699-1783), about whom less is known, probably had a similar apprenticeship, but later lived at Sherborne St. John near Basingstoke in Hampshire, where he was later described as 'builder and surveyor'.

The three eldest sons inherited a thriving business operating from an extensive yard and workshops in the centre of Blandford Forum, but their world was changed for ever on 4 June 1731, when a fire broke out in a tallow-chandler's workshop in the town (on the site of the present Kings Arms). A contemporary account says "it was occasioned by the soap boyler’s apprentice making too great a fire under a furnace of boyling soap and as he endeavoured to rake part of the fewel at the furnace mouth, set fire to other furzes in the same room and in the space of an hour spread into different parts of the town with such fury that several of the poor workers, who were labouring to putt this fire out where it first began, had their own houses consumed before they gott home". It was a hot summer’s day and the fire spread rapidly, fanned by a strong wind. Remarkably, only twelve people are known to have died in the fire, but over 400 families were made homeless. About 90% of the town was destroyed, and flying sparks carried the fire to the nearby villages of Blandford St Mary and Bryanston, which were also badly fire-damaged. One of the casualties of the fire was Thomas Bastard, the head of the family firm, who although he did not die in the blaze was among those who 'either through the Labour and Fatigue, the Shocks and Surprizes of that Day, or by their Losses then sustained... or by the Methods taken since that Time to drown their Sorrows, are gone into another World'; he died about a month later.

The response to the fire was swift: the local landowners ensured that London soon heard of the Blandford fire, and the London papers described it as a national disaster. The King, Queen and Prince of Wales responded by giving £1300, and charity-in-aid performances were held at the Drury Lane Theatre. A 'brief' was circulated across England, authorising and encouraging parish churches to collect money for the relief of the sufferers, and the sum raised eventually covered nearly 30% of the declared losses. An Act of Parliament in 1732 decreed that Blandford should be re-built in brick and tile, and appointed a body of local gentlemen as commissioners to oversee the process. Property owners were given four years to commence rebuilding or else the commissioners were empowered to allocate the property elsewhere as they saw fit. No townspeople were included in the commission, but John and William Bastard were appointed to draw up a schedule of losses, which totalled £86,882, of which their own claim was £3,709.  Although the fire had destroyed the firm's workshops, they were soon back in business, and there seems little doubt that the fire transformed the firm's prospects given the scale of the opportunity for new building which it opened up. Whether or not they were already operating as general builders before the fire, there seems little doubt they did so later, although it is less clear that they began designing buildings at this time. It is perhaps more likely that they used their contacts through the building trades to solicit designs from major architects for the key buildings in the town (John James for the church; Sir James Thornhill for the town hall) and from more local designers such as Nathaniel Ireson and Francis Cartwright for the larger houses and inns; and that they helped to assemble a workforce which could address the scale of building required within the few years after the fire.

Neither John nor William Bastard ever married, and they lived together in a batchelor household at 75 East Street. Over time, both men accumulated substantial personal wealth, mostly in the form of urban property in Blandford, but also including interests in land around the town. In the 1740s, they took into partnership two of their nephews - Thomas (1720-71), the eldest son of their brother Samuel (d. 1728), and Thomas (1724-91), son of their brother and former partner Thomas (d. 1731), who were known respectively as Thomas the elder and Thomas the younger. Less is known of the firm's work after they took control, although Thomas the younger was responsible for building the shell of the new rooms at Crichel House (Dorset) that were to be decorated by James Wyatt in 1771-73. The two Thomases not only inherited the family business, but also the lion's share of the personal estates of their two uncles, and in his later years Thomas the younger seems to have retired to live on his rents. His mother - who died aged about ninety either in or shortly before 1791 - had inherited an estate at Charlton Marshall which had been in her family for several generations, and by the 1780s he was spending his summers there and his winters in the town. His only son, Thomas Horlock Bastard (1772-1849), was educated as a gentleman at Wadham College, Oxford, became a JP and Deputy Lieutenant, and served as High Sheriff in 1812-13. Perhaps because they felt that it was socially advantageous, Thomas and his son seem to have encouraged the idea that their ancestors over several generations were architects rather than joiners or builders, and a good many architectural historians have been misled into believing that the fact that the Bastards built something also implies that they designed it: there is increasing evidence that very often, they did not.

Thomas Horlock Bastard (1772-1849) was by character, education and property enough of a gentleman to secure his family a place in Burke's Landed Gentry. He married twice, producing one son by each of his marriages. The elder, his namesake Thomas Horlock Bastard (1796-1898), who inherited the Charlton Marshall estate, was an interesting man who, unfashionably for the time, held atheistic views that found expression in his book Scepticism and social justice (1877). He was an active philanthropist in and around Blandford, although his charitable and educational initiatives sometimes brought him into conflict with the clergy. He had no surviving children, but was still active well into his nineties and lived to the great age of 101: had he lived just a couple of years longer he would have joined the rare club of people to have lived in three different centuries. At his death, the Charlton Mackrell estate passed to his half-brother's son, the Rev. John Muston Bastard (1863-1940), who sold the house soon afterwards and broke up the estate in 1901.

Charlton Marshall Manor, Dorset

Charlton Marshall Manor: the house when it was offered for sale in 1959.

An irregular and possibly complex house which unfortunately seems not to have been the subject of architectural investigation. Its external appearance suggests that an 18th century or possibly earlier house was remodelled for Thomas Horlock Bastard in the early 19th century, and perhaps further altered later: the broad eaves of the gable to the left of the porch suggest work in the 1840s or 1850s. It was still standing in 1959, but probably demolished soon afterwards as bungalows had been built on the Manor Estate by 1963.

Descent: Christopher Horlock (1645-86); to son, Henry Horlock (1678-1719); to son, Henry Horlock (d. 1741); to sister, Mary (c.1700-91), wife of Thomas Bastard (1686-1731) and later of John Hayne; to son, Thomas Bastard (1724-91); to son, Thomas Horlock Bastard (1772-1849); to son, Thomas Horlock Bastard (1796-1898); to nephew, Rev. John Muston Bastard (1863-1940); who apparently sold or leased it c.1900 to Rev. Samuel Arthur Walker (1855-1922), rector of Spetisbury-cum-Charlton Marshall; to widow, Edith Mabel Maria Wilhelmina Walker (1865-1956); sold 1959. 

Bastard family of Blandford Forum and Charlton Marshall

Bastard, Thomas (1654-1721). Son of Walter Bastard and his wife Helen, born at Belchalwell in Okeford Fitzpaine (Dorset), and baptised at Okeford Fitzpaine, 10 October 1654. Joiner and cabinet maker, but described - probably with some hyperbole - on the monument erected by his sons in Blandford church as 'a man useful and industrious in his generation... and eminent for his skill in Architecture'. He is not, in fact, known to have designed any buildings, but the fine woodwork commissioned by Dr. Charles Sloper, the rector, for Charlton Marshall church is probably his work, and the interiors of the former rectory at Spetisbury, built in 1716 also for Dr Sloper, are perhaps also his. He may have been responsible for some buildings in Blandford Forum that were destroyed in the fire there in 1731, and Sir Howard Colvin suggested that he may have supervised the rebuilding of the churches at Winterbourne Strickland and Almer (Dorset). He married, 8 September 1682 at Hilton (Dorset), Bridget (c.1660-c.1730), daughter of Thomas Creech of Blandford Forum and sister of the poet Thomas Creech (1659-1700), and had issue:

(1) Thomas Bastard (1686-1731) (q.v.);

(2) John Bastard (1687-1770) (q.v.);

(3) William Bastard (c.1689-1766) (q.v.);

(4) Beata Bastard (1691-1777), said to have been born in 1691; married, 10 April 1732 at Tarrant Monkton (Dorset), William Benjafield of Blandford Forum; buried at Blandford Forum, 17 April 1777; 

(5) Elizabeth Bastard (c.1693-1773), born about 1693; married, 10 October 1722 at Morden (Dorset), Nicholas Crumpler (1682-1746), son of John Crumpler, and had issue one son and four daughters; buried at Morden, 10 October 1773; will proved 1773; 

(6) Samuel Bastard (c.1695-1728), born about 1695; a ship modeller in the Royal Dockyard at Gosport (Hants), appointed Foreman, 1727; married 9 July 1719 at Rowner (Hants), Stoakes (1697-1748) (who m2, 19 February 1730 at Gosport, John Reed), daughter of Joseph Palmer of Stepney (Middx), shipwright, and had issue three sons (of whom the eldest, Thomas (1720-71), known as 'Thomas the elder' became a partner in the family architectural practice) and one daughter; buried at Gosport, 25 September 1728;

(7) Benjamin Bastard (1698-1772); apprenticed to William Townesend of Oxford, mason, 1712; by 1720 he had established himself as a builder and monumental sculptor at Sherborne (Dorset), and buildings which are documented as his work include a house in Newland, Sherborne (later Lord Digby's School); the refronting of the Shire Hall in Dorchester, 1753-54 (later rebuilt) and the stables at Sherborne Castle; he amassed considerable property, including two inns, in the town of Sherborne, and was described as 'gent' by 1756; married, 30 November 1727 at Sherborne, Elizabeth (1690-1732), daughter of Thomas Prankerd and widow of John Hether, and had issue one son; died 5 March, and was buried at Castleton, Sherborne, 11 March 1772, where he and his son (who also died in 1772) were commemorated by a monument (now illegible);

(8) Joseph Bastard (c.1699-1783), born about 1699; builder and surveyor at Sherborne St. John (Hants); married, before 1730, Elizabeth [surname unknown] and had issue two sons and one daughter; buried at Sherborne St. John, 31 December 1783;

(9) Bridget Bastard (d. 1748); married, 22 September 1741 at Morden, Richard Dugdale (b. 1709), (who had been her brother John's apprentice in 1722), son of Philip Dugdale, yeoman, but had no issue; died 23 December and was buried at Blandford Forum, 24 December 1748;

(10) Mary Bastard (fl. 1770); married William Elliott (fl. 1766) and had issue two sons and two daughters; living in 1770.

He lived in Blandford Forum.

He died in 1721; his will was proved in the PCC, 11 July 1721. His widow died in 1730; her will was proved in November 1730.

Bastard, Thomas (1686-1731). Eldest son of Thomas Bastard (1654-1721) and his wife Bridget Creech, born 1686. Senior partner in the family joinery firm of Bastard & Co. from his father's death in 1721 until his death. He married, 1 May 1720 at Charlton Marshall, Mary (c.1700-c.1791), daughter of Henry Horlock (1678-1718) of Charlton Marshall and heir of her brother Henry Horlock (d. 1741), and had issue:

(1) John Bastard (1722-78), born 1722; apprenticed to his uncle, Benjamin Bastard of Sherborne (Dorset), 1738; and was subsequently a mason in London; he is recorded as working at Stoneleigh Abbey (Warks), the Dashwood mausoleum, West Wycombe (Bucks) and the Middlesex and Greenwich Hospitals near London, and lived at St Marylebone (Middx); he died unmarried, 14 August and was buried at Tarrant Keyneston, 25 August 1778, where he is described on his monument as 'mason and architect', although no works designed by him are known;

(2) Sarah Bastard (b. 1723); probably died in infancy and more certainly before 1731*;

(3) Thomas Bastard (1724-91) (q.v.); 

(4) William Bastard (1726-31); died young and was buried at Tarrant Keyneston, 28 May 1731;

(5) Mary Bastard (1728-1804); married, 5 April 1752 at Corfe Mullen (Dorset), John Barfoot (d. 1777) of Wimborne Minster (Dorset), and had issue one son and two daughters; died 30 December 1804 and was buried at Blandford Forum, 4 January 1805.

He lived in Blandford Forum, where the family joinery workshops and several other properties, including the Greyhound Inn, were destroyed by fire on 4 June 1731; he and his brothers estimated the loss to 'Bastard & Co.' as £3,709, in addition to smaller sums recorded for them individually. His widow inherited the Charlton Marshall estate from her brother in 1741.

He died 11 July, and was buried at Tarrant Keyneston (Dorset), 13 July 1731, where he and his wife are commemorated by a chest tomb; he died intestate. His widow married 2nd, Robert Hayne (d. 1770) of Blandford Forum (Dorset), cordwainer, and died about 1791; her will was proved 2 July 1791.

* She is often stated to have died unmarried and been buried at Blandford Forum, 18 August 1742, but this entry refers to another Sarah Bastard, whose mother is named in a grant of administration as Thomazin, then wife of Richard Lacy, victualler.

John Bastard (1687-1770) 

Bastard, John (1687-1770). Second son of Thomas Bastard (1654-1721) and his wife Bridget Creech, born 20 April 1687. Carver and joiner in partnership with his father (to 1720), brothers and later his nephews, Thomas the elder and younger. The firm expanded into general building after the fire which destroyed much of Blandford Forum in 1731, and is known to have worked widely across Dorset, but while he is known to have designed a few buildings, his firm was more commonly executing the designs of others. A spire which his firm designed for the new church in Blandford remained unbuilt and he did not design the wooden cupola which was built instead. He and his brother erected the two houses forming a single architectural composition at 75 East Street and 26 Market Place in Blandford and occupied the former. He accumulated an extensive portfolio of property in and around Blandford Forum and by 1756 he was described as 'gent'. In 1760, he erected (presumably to his own design) a public well and pump near the church in Blandford Forum as a memorial to the 1731 fire and in his will he left money for its maintenance. He was unmarried and without issue.

He died 28 January, and was buried at Blandford, 5 February 1770, where he and his brother are commemorated by a monument that records their 'Skill in Architecture and Liberal Benefactions to the Town'; his will was proved in the PCC, 22 May 1770, and included a charitable bequest for the apprenticing of poor children from Blandford.

William Bastard (c.1689-1766) 

Bastard, William (c.1689-1766). Third son of Thomas Bastard (1654-1721) and his wife Bridget Creech, born about 1689. Carver and joiner in partnership with his father (to 1720), brothers and later his nephews, Thomas the elder and younger. The firm expanded into general building after the fire which destroyed much of Blandford Forum in 1731, and is known to have worked widely across Dorset, but while he is often regarded as an architect, there is very little evidence that he designed any of the buildings he erected. He and his brother built the two houses forming a single architectural composition at 75 East Street and 26 Market Place in Blandford and  occupied the former. He was unmarried and without issue.

He died unmarried, 14 December, and was buried in Blandford Forum, 23 December 1766; his will was proved in the PCC, 2 March 1767.

Bastard, Thomas (1724-91) 'the younger'. Second son of Thomas Bastard (1686-1731) and his wife Mary Horlock, born 1724. He was described as 'master builder' in 1758 and continued the joinery and architectural practice of his father and uncles in partnership with his cousin, Thomas Bastard (son of Samuel Bastard) (1720-71), who by reason of his slight seniority was known as Thomas Bastard the elder, but who always styled himself 'joiner'. Thomas the younger seems to have been responsible for the limited design output of the practice at this time, and was paid in 1771-73 for building the shell of Crichel House prior to its decoration by James Wyatt. He married, 27 June 1771 at Blandford Forum, Jane (1734-98), daughter of Thomas Morgan, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Horlock Bastard (1772-1849) (q.v.).

He lived in Blandford Forum but in his mother's later years he probably managed her estate at Charlton Marshall, where he lived in summer. He inherited it shortly before his death.

He died 10 November, and was buried at Charlton Marshall, 21 November 1791, where he and his wife are commemorated by a monument designed by R. Cooke; his will was proved in 1793. His widow died 9 June and was buried at Charlton Marshall, 14 June 1798.

Bastard, Thomas Horlock (1772-1849). Only child of Thomas Bastard 'the younger' (1724-91) and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Morgan, baptised at Blandford Forum, 30 December 1772. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford (matriculated 1790). JP and DL for Dorset; High Sheriff of Dorset, 1812-13; Recorder of Blandford Forum, 1830. He married 1st, 4 August 1793 at Blandford Forum, Elizabeth (1773-1810), daughter of Robert Biggs of Blandford Forum, and 2nd, 7 May 1811 at Blandford Forum, Eliza (1780-1868), daughter of Robert Muston of Blandford, and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Horlock Bastard (1794-1872), baptised at Charlton Marshall, 26 July 1794; married, 11 October 1819 at St Andrew, Holborn (Middx), Cmdr. John Brine RN (1787-1856) of Blandford, fourth son of Adm. James Brine, and had issue two sons; died 1 August and was buried at Blandford St Mary, 7 August 1872;

(1.2) Thomas Horlock Bastard (1796-1898) (q.v.);

(2.1) Rev. Henry Horlock Bastard (1812-93) (q.v.).

He inherited the Charlton Marshall Manor estate from his father in 1791.

He died 12 March 1849 and was buried at Charlton Marshall; his will was proved in the PCC, 5 April 1849. His first wife was buried at Charlton Marshall, 6 September 1810. His widow died at Bishops Hull (Som.), 26 December 1868 and was buried at St John, Taunton, 1 January 1869; her will was proved 14 January 1869 (effects under £450).

Bastard, Thomas Horlock (1796-1898). Only son of Thomas Horlock Bastard (1772-1849) and his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Biggs of Blandford Forum, born 27 April and baptised privately, 1 May 1796. He was an atheist, and was the author of Scepticism and social justice (1877). He was also a prominent educationalist and scientist, who travelled abroad to study the educational systems of foreign countries. He founded and endowed Charlton Marshall Literary & Scientific Institution in 1855 and Milldown School (later Blandford County Secondary School) at Blandford Forum for the secular secondary instruction of boys and girls in 1862. A trustee of the Blandford & Poole Turnpike Trust. In 1858 he repaired the pump house and monument erected by his grandfather adjoining the church in Blandford Forum, and he also erected new pumps at Milldown School and in Charlton Marshall. He married 1st, 13 May 1844 at Trinity Church, St. Marylebone (Middx), Margaret (1809-45), daughter of Thomas Duncan and widow of Capt. James Keith Forbes of HEICS and 2nd, 28 October 1858 at Rowde (Wilts), Sarah (1821-96), eldest daughter of Rev. Edward Vincent, vicar of Rowde, and had issue:

(1.1) Margaret Bastard (b. & d. 1845), baptised at Charlton Marshall, 5 March 1845; died young at Pittodrie House (Aberdeens.), 19 June 1845, and was buried at Kildrummy (Aberdeens.);

(2.1) Eleanor Bastard (b. & d. 1859), born 20 October 1859; died in infancy, 4 December 1859.

He inherited the Charlton Marshall Manor estate from his father in 1849 and doubled the size of his holding in the parish in about 1877.

He died aged 101 on 11 February 1898; his will was proved 2 May 1898 (estate £86,890). His first wife died following childbirth and was buried at Charlton Marshall, 18 March 1845. His second wife died 9 November 1896; her will was proved 20 January 1897 (effects £4,631).

Bastard, Rev. Henry Horlock (1812-93). Only son of Thomas Horlock Bastard (1772-1849) and his second wife, Eliza (1780-1868), daughter of Robert Muston of Blandford, born 3 September 1812 and baptised at Charlton Marshall, 14 November 1815. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford (matriculated 1830; BA 1834; MA 1839). Ordained deacon, 1836, and priest, 1837. Curate at Dowlish Wake and Compton Pauncefoote (Som.) but never held a benefice. He married, 20 July 1854, Anna Catharine (1833-1916), daughter of Edward Sanders of Maidstone (Kent), and had issue:

(1) Eliza Horlock Bastard (1856-1942), born 25 December 1856 and was baptised at Dowlish Wake (Som.), 21 January 1857; a Sister of Mercy (as Sister Eliza Faith) at Clewer (Berks); died 24 January and was buried at Clewer, 27 January 1942; will proved 28 March 1942 (estate £1,902);

(2) Henry Horlock Bastard (1858-95), born 15 March and baptised at Bishops Hull (Som.), 15 April 1858; educated at Sherborne School; after being apprenticed in the merchant navy, he became a planter at Keenagaha Ella, Ballangode (Sri Lanka); died 24 September 1895 and was buried at Littleham (Devon);

(3) Anna Catherine Bastard (1859-60), baptised at Wilton, Taunton (Som.), 1 January 1860; died in infancy and was buried at Wilton, 1 January 1861;

(4) Edward William Bastard (1862-1901), born 28 February 1862; educated at Wadham College, Oxford (matriculated 1881; BA 1885); played first class cricket for Somerset CCC; died 2 August, and was buried at Wilton (Som.), 6 April 1901;

(5) Rev. John Muston Bastard (1863-1940) (q.v.);

(6) James Mayo Bastard (1867-1907), baptised at Taunton, 17 February 1867; educated at Sherborne School and St John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1885; BA 1889; MA 1893); schoolmaster at Banstead (Surrey); died unmarried and was buried at Wilton, 5 January 1907;

(7) Catherine Mary Bastard (1870-1944), born 21 August 1870; married, 4 August 1896, William Ernest Whitaker; died 12 March 1944; will proved 1 June 1944 (estate £26,773).

He lived at Mountswood, Haines Hill, Taunton (Som.)

He died at Charlton Marshall, 22 September, and was buried at Trull (Som.), 27 September 1893; will proved 16 October 1893 (effects £65,580). His widow died 16 January 1916; her will was proved in June 1916 (estate £32,426).

Rev. John Muston Bastard (1863-1940) 

Bastard, Rev. John Muston (1863-1940). Son of Rev. Henry Horlock Bastard (1812-93) and his wife Anna Catharine, daughter of Edward Sanders of Maidstone (Kent), born 23 August and baptised at Holy Trinity, Taunton, 20 September 1863. Educated at St John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1881; BA 1885). Ordained deacon, 1886 and priest, 1887. Curate in Bristol, Birmingham and Gloucester, 1886-99; vicar of Northleach (Glos), 1899-1901 and of Wilton, Taunton (Som.), 1901-15. He worked in London during the First World War and returned to Taunton in 1921 in a non-stipendiary capacity. He married, 22 April 1896 at Trull (Som.), Hilda Elizabeth (1873-1961), daughter of Hamilton Norman Sleigh of Wilton, Taunton (Som.), and had issue:

(1) Hilda Mary Sibyl Bastard (1898-1995), born 22 May and was baptised at Trull, 29 June 1898; married, 1924, John Sykes Gorst (1884-1969), motor engineer, and had issue four sons; died aged 96 on 28 April 1995; will proved 6 July 1995 (estate under £125,000).

He lived at Mountswood, Haines Hill, Taunton (Som.). He inherited the Charlton Marshall estate from his uncle in 1898, but dispersed a large part of it at auction in 1901 and the rest later.

He died 20 June 1940; his will was proved in August 1940 (estate £24,913). His widow died 16 October 1961; her will was proved 14 December 1961 (estate £11,651).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, vol. 1, p. 81; H.M. Colvin, 'The Bastards of Blandford', Archaeological Journal, 1947, pp. 178-95; Sir H.M. Colvin, A biographical dictionary of British architects, 4th edn., 2008, pp. 106-108; M. Le Bas, 'When Blandford Burnt', Dorset Life, March 2009; M.J. Hill, East Dorset Country Houses, 2013, pp. 32-40; M. Hill, J. Newman & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Dorset, 2nd edn., 2018, pp. 125-34.

Location of archives

Bastard of Blandford Forum and Charlton Marshall: no significant archive is known to survive but some deeds and other papers are preserved in a Blandford solicitor's archive [Dorset History Centre, D/TCW].

Coat of arms

Or, a chevron azure.

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.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 28 November 2020. I am most grateful to Mike Hill for his help with this article.