(447) Bates of Gyrn Castle, Manydown Park and Hinderton Hall, baronets

Bates of Gyrn Castle &
Manydown Park, baronets 

The Bates family, who became one of Liverpool's leading commercial dynasties in the late 19th and 20th centuries, trace their origins to a family of middle-class wool merchants in the West Riding of Yorkshire in the mid 18th century. Their rise to great wealth and gentry status began with Joseph Bates (1769-1846), who began trading with India under the auspices of the East India Company. In 1830, he sent his son Joseph junior (b. 1809) out to Calcutta to operate as an agent who found markets for Joseph's cloth and the increasing range of other goods which the firm exported; and also sourced Indian goods and raw materials to flow in the opposite direction, which could be sold at a profit in Britain. As the business grew and became established, Joseph junior took a partner, John Elliott, creating the firm of Bates & Elliott, and in 1835 Joseph returned to England, leaving Elliot in charge in Calcutta, and set up in business as an import-export merchant in Liverpool. Two of Joseph junior's brothers, Edward Bates (1816-96) and Benjamin Hopkinson Bates (1817-54), were sent out to Calcutta to work in the firm (in 1833 and 1836 respectively). Both young men seem to have been a little wild and ungovernable, and they were probably sent abroad to knock off some of their rough edges, as well as to gain business experience. Both men caused their father and John Elliott a good deal of angst, but after Edward married in 1836, he seems gradually to have become calmer and more business focused. Benjamin remained wild and after returning to England and setting up as a cloth merchant on his own account, he was bankrupted in 1850 and emigrated to Australia, where he died in 1854.

Edward returned to England in 1838, but in 1840 he went out to India again, this time to Bombay, where he established the same sort of mercantile house that his brother had founded in Calcutta. He was apparently obliged by his wife's health to return to England in 1843, but unfortunately she died on the voyage. Back in England, he married the daughter of a Hull merchant and shipowner and then went back to Bombay, where he remained until 1848. His return to England then may have been prompted by the death of his father in 1846 followed by the bankruptcy of his brother Joseph in 1847. He settled in Liverpool and began chartering ships to trade with Bombay, buying his first second-hand ship a year or two later. Over time he gradually built up his fleet of vessels and expanded his trading area to include other Indian ports, China and Australia. Within a decade he was more of a shipowner than a merchant, and in 1866 he bought a shipbuilding yard in Hull. By 1870, when he began handing the business over to his sons, he owned a fleet of 51 vessels and had made a great deal of money by importing cotton from India during the shortages caused by the American Civil War, and from Government supply contracts during the Abyssinian war of 1867. After 1870, when his sons Edward Percy Bates (1845-99) and Gilbert Thompson Bates (1847-1917) became the managing partners, Edward's focus turned increasingly to politics, and in 1871, he became the Conservative MP for Plymouth. He was popular with the electors and was repeatedly returned until he retired in 1890, but in 1880, Parliament set aside his election because of an irregularity in his election expenses which seems to have been due to an over-enthusiastic agent. Disraeli compensated him for this disappointment with a baronetcy, and he became Sir Edward Bates, 1st bt.

From 1870 Edward Bates & Sons began adding steamers to their fleet and in 1886 they had a steel-screw steamer built to their own design, which heralded a change of direction to a smaller number of large modern steamships engaged in general tramping. The Bombay office was closed in 1898 and the business there amalgamated with Killick Nixon & Co who continued to act as their agents for more than half a century. When Sir Edward Percy Bates, the 2nd baronet, died unexpectedly in 1899, his son, Sir Edward Bertram Bates (1877-1903), 3rd bt., succeeded to the title and the management of the family business, although he was very reliant on the advice of his uncle, Gilbert Thompson Bates, who had retired shortly before, in 1898. Over the next few years, three more of the 2nd baronet's sons - Percy, Frederic and Denis - joined the business, as they became old enough to do so. In all, the 2nd baronet had seven sons (and no daughters), who seem to have been unusually close, often holidaying together and forming few close friendships outside the kin group.

Sir Edward Bertram Bates went out to India in 1902 to see how the Indian end of the business was run and to have a holiday, but unfortunately he caught enteric fever and died there. He was succeeded as chairman and baronet by his next brother, Sir Percy Elly Bates (1879-1946), 4th bt., who was perhaps more in the mould of his grandfather as an astute and focused businessman. In 1911 the firm bought most of the shares of Brocklebanks, the oldest shipping company in Liverpool, and in 1913 a further merger brought the firm into an association with the Cunard Shipping Co., where Sir Percy had been on the board since 1910. By 1916 Sir Percy was running the Commercial Services branch of the Ministry of Shipping and his two brothers had gone to the war; as there was no one in the office to manage their ships they sold them to Brocklebanks. This was the end of their shipowning activities, but Edward Bates and Sons continued in business as merchants and private bankers. In 1919 Cunard bought a controlling stake in Brocklebanks from the Brocklebank and Bates families, and Sir Percy Bates went on to become deputy chairman of the Cunard Shipping Co in 1922 and chairman from 1930 until his death in 1946. His brothers Frederick (1884-1957) and Denis (1886-1959) succeeded him as chairman of Cunard, which thus remained under the family's control until Denis' death in 1959.

The first Sir Edward Bates (1816-96) had a reputation as a scrupulous but hard-nosed businessman, and when he died he left a fortune of over £800,000 (well over £100m today). In 1856 he bought Gyrn Castle in north Wales as a country retreat, and when he became an MP he also acquired a town house in London and Manydown Park in Hampshire, which lay conveniently between London and his constituency. Despite the close personal relations which are evident in the family over several generations, these properties have rather seldom passed by inheritance since. In 1894 Sir Edward sold Gyrn Castle to his eldest son, Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), whose widow lived there until her death in 1930, although ownership seems to have passed in turn to his sons Sir Edward Bertram Bates (1877-1903), 3rd bt. and Sir Percy Elly Bates (1879-1946), 4th bt., neither of whom lived there. In 1907, at the time of his marriage, Sir Percy bought Hinderton Hall, Neston (Ches.), where he lived until his death, and which his widow retained until 1971. In 1922 Sir Percy sold Gyrn to his younger brother, Frederic Alan Bates (1884-1957), who moved there after his marriage in 1932. 

Wootton House, Wootton St. Lawrence

When he died in 1957 the estate passed to his nephew, Sir Geoffrey Voltelin Bates (1921-2005), 5th bt. It is now - once more as the result of a sale - the property of a daughter of Sir Geoffrey's third wife by a previous marriage. Manydown was leased by Sir Edward Bates' executors to his younger son, Sydney Eggers Bates (1851-1924), who eventually bought the freehold in 1902. After this, Manydown did pass by inheritance until it was demolished in 1965-66, when the family moved to smaller houses on the estate, including Wootton House, which was only recently sold. The Manydown Estate Co. was formed in 1960 to manage the estate, and in the 1980s was involved in important conservation work which had a significant impact on European Union farming policy. However, plans for the urban expansion of Basingstoke led to the sale of the estate to the local authorities in 1996.

Gyrn Castle, Llanasa, Flintshire

The present house was built between 1817 and 1824 for John Douglas, a partner in Douglas, Smalley & Co. of Holywell (Flints), cotton manufacturers, and incorporates elements of the previous, reputedly 17th century, house, of which no visual record seems to be known. 

Gyrn Castle: engraving of the entrance front by J.P. Neale, 1824

Gyrn Castle: engraving of the side and rear of the house by J.P. Neale, 1824, showing the view over the Dee estuary.

The engravings published by J.P. Neale in 1824, which were copied from paintings in the possession of the owner by a Mr. Welshman, show the castle immediately after it had been recast in a pasteboard Gothic style in 1817-24. They suggest that the older part of the house lay at the northern end, and that Douglas both recast the existing buildings with angle-turrets and crenellations, and extended it to the south, where he housed an important collection of pictures in a top-lit gallery some sixty by thirty feet, the large glazed skylight of which is visible in both Neale's views. In front of this he built the charming spindly tower with a staircase turret at one corner which remains the principal accent of the house today. 

Gyrn Castle: the house today. Image: The Douglas Archive.

Gyrn Castle: the picture gallery in the mid 20th century.
Image: RCAHMW/Crown Copyright. Some rights reserved.

Later changes to the fabric include the addition of a second tower at the north-west angle of the house, and the replacement of the original roof of the picture gallery by a more muscular coved ceiling. The latter change was perhaps made by Edward Bates at the same time as he built the castellated gateway to the park and the adjoining octagonal lodge to the designs of Culshaw & Sumners of Liverpool in 1866-68. The interior of the house was perhaps more generally refitted in the early 20th century, as the hall has panelling from Beechenhurst, a Bates family house in Liverpool (where the Culshaw practice was also employed) which was sold at this time. The main reception rooms have a plain and unfussy finish which is also suggestive of the early 20th century rather than the Victorian age.

The grounds were ornamented for John Douglas at the same time as the house was remodelled. There is not really a park, but the wooded valley below the house is filled with a chain of lakes made by damming the Afon-y-garth stream. The steep slope below the house was terraced in the 1890s for the second Lady Bates, and descends through four broad and five narrow terraces, each revetted with dry-stone walling, and planted with holly, araucaria and Scots pines. A rock garden was created in the 1920s at the end of the bank to the north of the ponds, and has rustic stone steps and artificial waterfalls. A summerhouse once stood at the south-west angle of the grounds, but has now disappeared.

Gyrn Castle: plan of the house and landscaped grounds in 1871, from 1st edition 6" Ordnance Survey map.

Descent: Roger Mostyn of Cilcain; given c.1749 to daughter, Charlotte, wife of Rev. Samuel Edwards of Pentre Hall (Montgomerys.); sold 1750 to Thomas Hughes of Halkyn; to son, Robert Hughes (d. 1806); to James Ewer of Holywell; sold 1817 to John Douglas (1770-1839), who rebuilt the house; to son, John Hargreave Douglas (1808-41)... sold 1853 to James Spence; sold 1856 to Sir Edward Bates (1816-96), 1st bt.; sold 1894 to son, Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Edward Bertram Bates (1877-1903), 3rd bt.; to brother, Sir Percy Elly Bates (1879-1946), 4th bt.; sold 1922 to brother, Frederic Alan Bates (1884-1957); to nephew, Sir Geoffrey Voltelin Bates (1921-2005), 5th bt... sold 2012 to his third wife's daughter by a previous marriage, Charlotte (b. 1959), wife of David Howard.

Manydown Park, Wootton St. Lawrence, Hampshire

A complex house built around a courtyard known as Cheyney Court, which developed through several phases from the medieval period to the early 20th century. Although the house was unusually well recorded prior to demolition in 1965 (plans, sections and further images can be found here), it is not now possible to reconstruct its development in detail, though the broad outlines can be given with some confidence.

Manydown Park: Prosser's engraving of 1833 seems to be the earliest visual record of the house.

Apart from a brief interlude during the Civil War and Commonwealth, the estate belonged from the early medieval period until 1863 to the monks of Winchester Cathedral Priory and their successors, the Dean and Chapter. The monks were granted a licence to impark the wood of Wootton St. Lawrence in 1332 and received parties of royal huntsmen in 1361 and 1363. In 1377 the parkland was fenced and the trees within the park were felled in the 1390s to provide timber for William Wykeham’s reconstruction of the Cathedral nave. In 1449, the manor and manor house were leased for the first time to William Wither, whose family had been farming the estate since at least the early 15th century and subsequently held it for over four hundred years. It seems likely that the manor house was rebuilt soon after 1449 to create a suitable home for the Wither family, and that the general form of a house arranged around a courtyard dated from that time. A room on the east side of the courtyard continued to be used for meetings of the manorial court until 1863, and was known as the Court Room. At the time of demolition, it was considered that most of the fabric of the house was late 16th and early 17th century, suggesting a period of reconstruction by John Wither (d. 1620) or William Wither (d. 1653), and two bedrooms had surviving panelling of this period. Later generations probably made few major changes, although a third bedroom was given bolection-moulded panelling in the early 18th century. 

Manydown Park: the house in about 1890, when some of the windows had external shutters.
Image; Historic England.

On the death of the fifth William Wither in 1789 without close heirs, and the estate passed through the female line to his kinsman, the Rev. Lovelace Bigg, who took the additional name Wither. As soon as he gained possession of the property, he refronted it, creating a new seven bay, three-storey south front with a central porch on the ground floor. He also built a large dining room with a new drawing room above it, which projected on the east side of the house, and inserted an elegant new staircase within the existing fabric of the house which provided ready access to the new drawing room. Bigg-Wither's daughters were friends of the novelist, Jane Austen, and his son Harris Bigg-Wither proposed marriage to her at Manydown in 1802. After at first accepting him, she changed her mind overnight, and fled the house the following day. 

Manydown Park: the entrance front in the 20th century

Manydown Park: the late 18th century staircase hall in 1965.
Image: Historic England.

The first visual record of the house seems to be Prosser's engraving of 1833, and it changed little afterwards, apart from the building of a large conservatory at the south-east corner of the house, which was in place by 1890, and the addition of a broad bow of Arts and Crafts character to the billiard room in the west range by Rowland Plumbe in 1903.

By the 1950s, wartime neglect had left the house in poor condition, and the family had little use for such a large house. A sale of the contents was held in 1962 and dismantling began in 1965. On 3 May 1966, sparks from a bonfire set the house alight and although efforts were made to halt the spread of the blaze to other buildings, the fire in the house seems to have been allowed to burn itself out. The stables, coach house and outbuildings were not affected by the fire and were retained and integrated into farming operations. In the early 1970s the estate was broken up and Tangier House and other parts of the estate sold. In 1996 the family agreed to sell much of the estate to the borough and county councils with a view to the future expansion of the Basingstoke new town, while leasing the land back until it was needed. Plans for the development are now (2021) at an advanced stage.

Descent: the leasehold was held from Winchester Cathedral Priory and its successors by Thomas Wither (d. 1506); to son, John Wither (d. 1536); Richard Wither (d. 1577); John Wither (d. 1620); William Wither I (d. 1653); William Wither II (d. 1671); William Wither III (d. 1679); William Wither IV (d. 1733); William Wither V (d. 1789); to kinsman, Rev. Lovelace Bigg-Wither (d. 1813); to son, Harris Bigg-Wither (1781-1833); to son, Rev. Lovelace Francis Bigg-Wither (1805-74), who acquired the freehold in 1863; sold 1871 to Sir Edward Bates (1816-96), 1st bt.; to son, Sydney Eggers Bates (1851-1924); to son, Arthur Sydney Bates (1879-1958); to daughter Anne Mary (1915-2006), wife of Lt-Col. John Oliver-Bellasis (1904-79); transferred 1960 to Manydown Estate Co., which demolished the house in 1965-66.

Hinderton Hall, Neston, Cheshire

Hinderton Hall: entrance front.
Image: Historic England.

One of the earliest significant works of Alfred Waterhouse, built in 1856 for Christopher Bushell, a Liverpool wine merchant. It is a High Victorian Gothic design, built in rock-faced red sandstone with a steeply pitched roof of patterned slate and tall gables. The plan is conventional, with a roughly square main block and lower service range, and a tower at one end of the entrance front. The elevations are irregular, without any lingering tendency to the picturesque but handled without much confidence. The thin tower in particular, with proportions more appropriate to an Italianate villa, seems rather hesitant and uncertain. There are, however, a few hints of the architect's later manner in the gables of the entrance front, the timber canopy over the doorway, and the oriel rising out of a buttress on the end elevation. There were alterations, presumably by Waterhouse, in 1868 and 1875, and further additions for Sir Percy Bates in the 20th century. In the 1970s the house became offices, but it was returned to domestic use in the 1980s, when the so-called 'Chapter House' was built in the grounds, reusing bricks and stonework from a demolished church in Ellesmere Port. More recently the outbuildings have been turned into separate dwellings, while the main house remains a single residence.

Hinderton Hall: garden front in 2017.

Hinderton Hall: drawing room in 2017.

Inside the house, the entrance hall has a stone fireplace with Tudor-style arched opening and a crenellated cresting. The drawing room has a marble mantelpiece on consoles and fern pilasters; plaster panelled walls with niches flanking the window opening, and a ceiling divided into three by moulded plaster beams and patterned ribs. The galleried staircase hall has an open well staircase with carved newels and handrails and a metalwork balustrade. 

Descent: built for Christopher Bushell (d. 1887); to widow, Margaret Smith Bushell (d. 1907); sold 1906 to Sir Alfred L. Jones; sold 1907 to Sir Percy Elly Bates (1879-1946), 4th bt.; to widow, Mary Anne, Lady Bates (1880-1973); sold 1972... sold 1980s to Rees family... sold 2004... sold 2017.

Bates family of Gyrn Castle, Manydown Park and Hinderton Hall, baronets

Sir Edward Bates, 1st bt. 

Bates, Sir Edward (1816-96), 1st bt. Fourth son of Joseph Bates (1769-1846) of Spring Hall, Skircoat (Yorks WR), clothdresser and woollen merchant, and his wife Rebecca, daughter of Joseph Walker of Ardsley (Yorks WR), born 17 March 1816. He went to India in 1833 where his brother Joseph was a partner in Bates & Elliott of Calcutta, a merchant house importing his father's cloth to India and exporting leather and other goods to England, but proved 'violent, headstrong and quarrelsome'. His conduct continued to cause concern at least until his marriage in 1836. After returning to England in 1838, he moved in 1840 to Bombay, where he opened a similar merchant house to Bates & Elliott. Over the next few years he shuttled back and forth between Liverpool and Bombay, until in 1848 he left his Indian business in charge of an agent, returned to England and formed Edward Bates & Co. in Liverpool. With this move he for the first time added shipping to the mercantile business. He began a regular service to Bombay with chartered vessels, and in 1850 he started building up a fleet of sailing ships. Trading was soon extended to include first Calcutta and then the Far East and, when the gold rush began, passenger ships sailed direct to Australia and returned via India or South America. He made a fortune by importing Indian cotton at a time when American supplies were disrupted by the American Civil War (1861-65), and he took on highly lucrative Government supply contracts at the time of the Abyssinian war (1867). He was regarded as a hard businessman and respected but not much liked by other Liverpool shipowners, who referred to him as 'Bully' Bates. After his sons grew up, he increasingly retired from business to concentrate on his political career. In 1870 the firm was renamed Edward Bates and Sons, and the eldest of his four sons, took over the management of the Liverpool office. Sir Edward went to live in Hampshire and was Conservative MP for Plymouth, 1871-80, 1885-92, being created a baronet, 13 May 1880 after being ejected from the Commons for an election expenses offence for which an over-enthusiastic agent was probably responsible. He was also JP and DL for Lancashire and Hampshire. He married 1st, 14 July 1836 at Fort William, Bengal (India), Charlotte Elizabeth (1812-43), eldest daughter of Cornelius Umfraville-Smith; and 2nd, 25 June 1844 at Holy Trinity, Hull (Yorks ER), Ellen (1822-1905), daughter of Thomas Thompson of Hessle (Yorks ER), merchant and shipowner, and had issue:

(1.1) Rebecca Amelia Bates (1837-56), born 16 October and was baptised at Calcutta, 12 November 1837; educated at Cotescue Park, Coverham (Yorks NR); died unmarried, 19 November 1856 and was buried at St John, Knotty Ash, Liverpool;

(1.2) Gertrude Elizabeth Bates (1839-1919), born 4 March and baptised at St Andrew Hubbard, London, 16 April 1839; educated at Cotescue Park, Coverham (Yorks NR); married, 16 May 1860 at West Derby (Lancs), Thomas Priestley Bilbrough (1831-1909) of West Derby, wool broker and later manager of an insurance company, son of James Bilbrough of Gildersome (Yorks), merchant, and had issue two sons and one daughter, but she was separated from her husband at some point between 1871 and 1881; from 1899 she lived at Wonsan (Korea) with her son Charles, who seems to have set up in business as a merchant after they settled there (according to the diary of the Korean provincial governor, Yun Chi-ho, he may have been smuggling arms); she kept aloof from both the small Western community and their Korean, Japanese and Chinese neighbours; about 1918 she moved to Hong Kong, where she died 11 March 1919 and was buried in Happy Valley Cemetery; will proved 24 July 1919 (effects £1,249);

(1.3) Alice Helena Bates (1840-41), born in Bombay, 7 September 1840; died in infancy at Bycullah (India), 1 August 1841;

(2.1) Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), 2nd bt. (q.v.);

(2.2) Gilbert Thompson Bates (1847-1917), born in Bombay, 22 April and baptised at Colalah (India), 10 June 1847; partner in Edward Bates & Sons, 1870-98, but he remained an important source of advice to his nephews after his brother the 2nd baronet died the following year; lived at Maryton Grange, Allerton, Liverpool (Lancs) and later at Whitfield House, Allensmore (Herefs) and Mells Park (Som.), which he rented from 1908-17; he also had a shooting lodge at Muirshiel, Lochwinnoch (Renfrews.); JP for Renfrewshire; married, 13 July 1876 at All Saints, Childwall, Liverpool, Charlotte Thaxter (k/a Lotty) (1854-1936), daughter of George Warren of Woolton, Liverpool, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 30 March 1917 and was buried at Mells (Som.), where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved 14 August 1917 (estate £550,973);

(2.3) Anne Millicent Bates (1849-1946), born 28 March 1849; married, 26 November 1874 at Wootton St. Lawrence, Donald Ninian Nicol (1843-1903) of Ardmarnock (Argylls.), MP for Argyllshire, 1895-1903, and had issue one son and one daughter; as a widow occupied 14 Cavendish Square, London; died aged 96 on 7 March 1946; will proved 15 May 1946 (estate £739);

(2.4) Sydney Eggers Bates (1851-1924) (q.v.);

(2.5) Mabel Stenhouse Bates (1853-1931), born Jan-Mar 1853; married, 20 February 1873 at Wootton St. Lawrence, Frederick Bellairs Thompson (1843-82) of Bellefield, West Derby, Liverpool, and had issue four sons; as a widow, lived at Turvey House (Beds.); died suddenly, 25 April 1931; will proved 9 June 1931 (estate £38,232);

(2.6) Norah Greame Bates (1854-1939), born Oct-Dec 1854; married, 9 December 1880, Stanes Brocket Henry Chamberlayne (1843-1931), barrister-at-law, of Witherley Hall, (Leics), youngest son of Henry Thomas Chamberlayne of Stoney Thorpe (Warks), and had issue one son and three daughters; died 20 December 1939; will proved 6 February 1940 (estate £19,938);

(2.7) Wilfred Imrie Bates (1856-86), born 6 October and baptised at West Derby, 12 November 1856; married, Apr-June 1884, Eleanor Fleming (b. c.1861) (who m2, 25 September 1889 at Llangollen (Denbighs), John Hungerford Davies, solicitor, of Liverpool), but had no issue; died in a riding accident in Manydown Park, 13 May 1886, and was buried at Wootton St. Lawrence; administration of his goods granted 21 June 1886 (estate £39,867);

(2.8) Bertram Rigby Bates (1863-71), born 2 August and baptised at West Derby, 14 September 1863; died young, 25 January 1871.

He lived at Beechenhurst, Wavertree, Liverpool. He purchased Gyrn Castle in 1856 and Manydown Park in 1871. He sold Gyrn Castle to his eldest son in 1894. He also had a London residence at 14 Cavendish Square, which was left to his widow for life.

He died at his house in London, 17 October 1896, and was buried at Wootton St. Lawrence; his will was proved 26 November 1896 (effects £817,059). His first wife died at sea in February 1843 while returning from India to England. His widow died 20 April 1905 and was buried at Wootton St. Lawrence; her will was proved 7 June 1905 (estate £14,278).

Sir Edward Percy Bates, 2nd bt. 

Bates, Sir Edward Percy (1845-99), 2nd bt. Eldest son of Sir Edward Bates (1816-96), 1st bt., and his second wife, Ellen, daughter of Thomas Thompson of Hessle (Yorks ER), born 17 August 1845. He became a partner in the firm of Edward Bates & Sons in 1870 and later succeeded his father as chairman. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 17 October 1896. JP and DL for Flintshire. High Sheriff of Flintshire, 1899. In 1898 he rescued a girl who fell through the ice while skating on a pond near his home, and was awarded the silver medal of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society for his action, but it was said to have contributed to his death a year later. He married, 20 April 1876, Constance Elizabeth (1856-1930), an accomplished amateur artist, second daughter of Samuel Robert Graves, MP for Liverpool, and had issue:

(1) Sir Edward Bertram Bates (1877-1903), 3rd bt. (q.v.);

(2) Sir Percy Elly Bates (1879-1946), 4th bt. (q.v.);

(3) Cecil Robert Bates (1882-1935) (q.v.);

(4) Frederic Alan Bates (1884-1957) (q.v.);

(5) Col. Denis Haughton Bates (1886-1959), born 25 August 1886; educated at Winchester; joined Edward Bates & Sons about 1905 and became a partner from 1908; visited India in 1911-12; an officer in the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1908; Lt., 1912; Capt. 1917; Maj., 1921; Lt-Col. 1930; Br-Col., 1934; retired 1934), who served in First World War, 1914-19 (mentioned in despatches); eventually senior partner of Edward Bates & Sons; Chairman of Cunard Steam Ship Co. and Cunard White Star, 1953-59; bought Chorlton Hall, Malpas (Ches.) in 1924 (sold by his widow in 1972); married, 12 December 1922, Aline Mary MA (1893-1974), second daughter of Edward Tipping Crook of Woodlands Hall, Bridgnorth (Shrops.), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 13 September 1959; will proved 26 October 1959 (estate £131,471);

(6) Lt-Col. Austin Graves Bates (1891-1961), born 19 August 1891; educated at Clifton College and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; an officer in the Royal Artillery (2nd Lt., 1911; Lt., 1914; Capt., 1916; Maj., 1929; Lt-Col.; retired 1930) and was wounded, mentioned in despatches three times and awarded the DSO, 1918, MC, 1916 and bar, 1918; also served in the Second World War, 1939-45; from 1930-39 he assisted his brother Denis in running Brocklebanks, and after the Second World War he was on the board of Cunards; married, 15 December 1920, Jean Christian Margeurite (d. 1982), daughter of Col. James Hunter of Anton's Hill (Berwicks.) and had issue two sons; died 11 September 1961; will proved 4 October 1961 (estate £107,028);

(7) Maurice Halifax Bates (1898-1925), born 9 August 1898; educated at Clifton College and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; an officer in the Royal Artillery (2nd Lt., 1916; Lt., 1918); married, 21 March 1922 at Lucknow (India), Mary Frances (c.1902-69) (who m2, 24 October 1927, Brig. Ralph Emerson Pickering CBE (1898-1962), and had further issue one daughter), eldest daughter of Sir Edward Arthur Henry Blunt, kt., and had issue one daughter, born after his death; died as the result of a hunting accident, 23 September 1925; buried at Great Oxendon; will proved 17 March 1926 (estate £95,760).

He lived at Beechenhurst, Wavertree, Liverpool, and purchased Gyrn Castle from his father in 1894 as a country retreat; his widow occupied it until her death although she was not the owner.

He died 31 December 1899; his will was proved 15 March 1900 (estate £520,030). His widow died 18 April 1930; her will was proved 13 August 1930 (estate £69,565).

Bates, Sir Edward Bertram (1877-1903), 3rd bt. Eldest son of Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), 2nd bt., and his wife Constance Elizabeth, second daughter of Samuel Robert Graves MP,  born 7 March 1877. He became a partner in Edward Bates & Sons after his father's death in 1899. At the end of 1902 he went out to India to visit the firm's Bombay office and see something of India, but he caught enteric fever and died there. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Gyrn Castle from his father in 1899 but lived at Beechenhurst, Wavertree, Liverpool.

He died at Agra (India), 6 March 1903; his will was proved 6 May 1903 (£81,124).

Sir Percy Elly Bates, 4th bt.
Image: National Portrait Gallery 

Bates, Sir Percy Elly (1879-1946) GBE, 4th bt.  Second son of Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), 2nd bt., and his wife Constance Elizabeth, second daughter of Samuel Robert Graves MP,  born 12 May 1879. Educated at Winchester, and then after a year in Germany, was apprenticed to William Johnston & Co. of Liverpool, shipowners. He joined the family firm of Edward Bates & Sons after his father's death in 1899 and took over as Chairman when he succeeded his elder brother as 4th baronet, 6 March 1903. In 1911 the firm bought most of the shares of Brocklebanks, the oldest shipping company in Liverpool, although it retained a separate corporate identity for another 70 years; in 1913 there was a further merger between Brocklebanks and the Anchor Line, which consolidated both companies trade with Calcutta, and brought the firm into an association with Cunard Steam Ship Co., of which he had been a director since 1910. During the First World War he joined the Transport Dept. of the Admiralty, and was later Director of Commercial Services at the Ministry of Shipping, service for which he was appointed GBE, 1920; in the Second World War he served on the Advisory and Liner Committees of the Ministry of War Transport. In 1922 he became Deputy Chairman of Cunard, and he was Chairman, 1930-46. He achieved a merger with the White Star Line in 1931, and he secured Government financial support to build two large transatlantic liners, the iconic Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, which entered service in 1936 and 1946 respectively (although both were used as troop ships during the Second World War). Between the wars he was also a director of The Morning Post from 1924 (Chairman, 1930-37), the Midland Bank Ltd. and the Great Western Railway. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London, 1935; made an honorary Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve, 1935, and an officer of the Legion of Honour of the Crown of Italy.  He was a member of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board , 1908-10; chairman of the Liverpool Steamship Owners' Association, 1911, 1945; president of the Institute of Marine Engineers, 1939, and chairman of the General Council of British Shipping, 1945. He was a JP for Cheshire and High Sheriff of Cheshire, 1920-21. He was a friend of Rudyard Kipling (a fellow director of the Morning Post), and also an occasional participant in meetings of 'The Inklings', an informal literary discussion group around J.R.R. Tolkein, which met in Oxford from the early 1930s until 1949. He was terse and forthright in speech, open to the views of others but decisive in judgement; scrupulous in the exercise of power, and considerate and sensitive in personal relationships. He took pleasure in golf and shooting and was enthusiastic about curling and fishing, and took annual fishing holidays in Ireland, Scotland or Scandinavia with his brothers. He married, 20 June 1907, Mary Ann (k/a Pussie) (1880-1973), younger daughter of Very Rev. Dr. William Lefroy, Dean of Norwich, whose wife was a daughter of Charles MacIver, founder of the Cunard Line, and they had issue:

(1) Edward Percy Bates (1913-45), born 15 October 1913; educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge; served in Second World War as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force and was killed in action, 1 January 1945, in the lifetime of his father.

He inherited Gyrn Castle after the death of his elder brother in 1903, but it was occupied by his mother. He sold it in about 1922 to his younger brother Frederick. He lived from 1907 at Hinderton Hall, Neston (Cheshire), which was occupied by his widow until she moved into residential care; it was sold in 1972.

He had a heart attack in his office, on the eve of the maiden voyage of the Queen Elizabeth, 14 October 1946, and died at Hinderton Hall two days later, when his baronetcy passed to his nephew, Sir Geoffrey Voltelin Bates (1921-2005), 5th bt.; he was buried at Childwall, Liverpool, and his will was proved 4 February 1947 (estate £486,085). His widow died aged 93 on 30 July 1973; her will was proved 24 September 1973 (estate £36,760).

Frederic Alan Bates (1884-1957) 

Bates, Frederic Alan (1884-1957). Fourth son of Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), 2nd bt., and his wife Constance Elizabeth, second daughter of Samuel Robert Graves MP,  born 16 August and baptised at St Andrew, Toxteth Park, Liverpool, 25 September 1884. Educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined Edward Bates & Sons in about 1905 and went to India in 1907-08. In 1910-12 he was much involved in the negotiations with the Brocklebank family for the acquisition of a stake in their firm, but he was away on war service as an officer in the Denbighshire Yeomanry (Capt.) and the Royal Air Force (Maj.) during the First World War (and was mentioned in despatches four times and awarded the Military Cross, 1918 and Air Force Cross, 1919). On his return to the firm in 1919 he assisted Sir Percy Bates with the merger of Brocklebanks into Cunard, of which he became a director from 1921 (and Chairman, 1946-53). He was also a director of Martin's Bank (Chairman, 1938-46),  the Royal Insurance Co. (Deputy Chairman) and the Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Co. DL for Flintshire and High Sheriff of Denbighshire, 1935. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts from 1951. Author of Graves Memoirs of the Civil War (1927) and Dingle Stalk (posthumous, 1960). He married, 5 July 1932 at St. Asaph Cathedral (Flints), Elizabeth Barberie (1903-69), daughter of Thomas Fair of Clifton Hall, Preston (Lancs), land agent, but had no issue.

He bought Gyrn Castle from his brother Percy in about 1922, although his mother continued to live there until her death. He moved to Gyrn after his marriage.

He died in London, 24 June 1957; his will was proved 2 September 1957 (estate £63,330). His widow died 30 June 1969; her will was proved 6 August 1969 (estate £408,637).

Cecil Robert Bates (1882-1935) 

Bates, Cecil Robert (1882-1935). Third son of Sir Edward Percy Bates (1845-99), 2nd bt., and his wife Constance Elizabeth, second daughter of Samuel Robert Graves MP,  born 3 February 1882. Educated at Winchester and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. An officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1900; Lt., 1901; Capt., 1908; retired 1913 but returned to the colours, 1914; Maj. 1915; retired 1919), and was wounded, thrice mentioned in despatches and awarded the DSO, 1918 and the MC, 1916. He married, 27 June 1918 at St. Saviour, Upper Chelsea (Middx), Hylda Madeleine (1882-1960), daughter of Sir James Heath, 1st bt. and widow of Capt. George Millais James, and had issue:

(1) Audrey Cecil Bates (1919-94), born 15 July 1919; married, 28 March 1942 (div. 1956), Maj. the Hon. Thomas Heron Hazelrigg (1914-98) (who m2, 31 January 1957 (div. 1974), Doussa, daughter of Fahmy Bey Wissa, Minister of Civil Defence in Egypt, and formerly wife of Maj. Harold Stanley Cayzer (1910-99); and m3, 1979, Anne Frances Roden (1920-2007), daughter of Capt. Roden Henry Victor Buxton of Smallburgh Hall (Norfk) and formerly wife of Dr. Hans Henry Winterstein Gillespie (1910-94)), second son of Arthur Grey Hazelrigg, 1st Baron Hazlerigg, and had issue two sons; lived latterly at Langham (Rutland); killed in a car crash, 7 January 1994; will proved 16 March 1994 (estate £251,121);

(2) Sir Geoffrey Voltelin Bates (1921-2005), 5th bt. (q.v.).

He lived at Oxenden Hall, Great Oxenden (Northants).

He died of heart failure while salmon fishing in the River Dee, 5 March 1935; his will was proved 1 May 1935 (estate £133,245). His widow died 29 December 1960; will proved 31 January 1961 (estate £10,803).

Sir Geoffrey Bates
(1921-2005), 5th bt. 

Bates, Sir Geoffrey Voltelin (1921-2005), 5th bt. Only son of Cecil Robert Bates (1882-1935) and his wife Hylda Madeleine, daughter of Sir James Heath, 1st bt. and widow of Capt. George Millais James, born 2 October 1921. Educated at Radley College. He served in the Second World War as an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1941; Lt., 1942), and was awarded the MC, 1942; from 1944-46 he was ADC to Lt-Gen. Sir Neil Ritchie. After the war he joined the Cheshire Yeomanry (Lt., 1950; Capt., 1953; Maj., 1956). He succeeded his uncle as 5th bt., 16 October 1946. A partner in the family firm of Edward Bates & Sons, 1945-66, and also a director of other companies, including the Globe Insurance Co. He was also a Lloyds name, and suffered a financial disaster with the crash of Lloyds syndicates in 1988-92. After the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine cured him of malaria, which he contracted on a business trip to Nigeria, he became chairman of its board, and for fun he bought the Tudor Cafe in Rhyl. He was High Sheriff of Flintshire, 1969-70. A keen hunting man, he served as treasurer and secretary to the Flintshire and Denbighshire Hunt, 1969-92, and was also President of the Denbighshire and Flintshire Agricultural Society. He married 1st, 12 July 1945, Kitty (d. 1956), daughter of Ernest Kemball-Lane of Saskatchewan (Canada); 2nd, 31 July 1957 at Bardwell (Suffk), the Hon. Olivia Gwyneth Zoe Fitzroy (1921-69), children's author, daughter of Robert Oliver Fitzroy, 2nd Viscount Daventry; and 3rd, Jan-Mar 1971, (Juliet Eleanor) Hugolyn Whitelocke-Winter (1929-2003), daughter of Cdr. G. Whitelocke RN of Corrigllingdion Hall, Denbigh, and widow of Edward Colin Winter (1934-65), and had issue:

(1.1) Sir Edward Robert Bates (1946-2007), 6th bt. (q.v.);

(1.2) Richard Geoffrey Bates  (1948-2002), born 13 March 1948; lived on Bowen Island, British Columbia (Canada); married, 1971, Diana Margaret Rankin (1945-90) and had issue one son (now Sir James Geoffrey Bates (b. 1985), 7th bt.) and two daughters; died in Canada, 3 August 2002;

(2.1) Celine Zoe Bates (b. 1958), born 7 October 1958; married, Apr-Jun 1992, Timothy M. Radcliffe, only son of R.J. Radcliffe of Bodedern (Anglesey), and had issue one daughter;

(2.2) Sarah Rose Bates (1960-77), born 4 January 1960; died as a result of a road accident, 6 March 1977.

He lived at Flint Hill Park, Winwick (Northants) in the 1940s and then at Mollington (Ches.) before he inherited Gyrn Castle from his uncle Frederick Alan Bates in 1957.

He died 13 February 2005; his will was proved 28 November 2005. His first wife died suddenly after a minor operation, 2 June 1956. His second wife died of cancer, 24 December 1969. His third wife died 21 April 2003.

Bates, Sir Edward Robert (1946-2007), 6th bt. Elder son of Sir Geoffrey Voltelin Bates (1921-2005), 5th bt., and his first wife, Kitty, daughter of Ernest Kemball-Lane of Saskatchewan (Canada), born 4 July 1946. Educated at Gordonstoun and Grenoble University (France). Director of North-West Names Ltd, insurance brokers. He succeeded his father as 6th baronet, 13 February 2005. He was unmarried and without issue.

He lived at Gwynllys (Denbighs.)

He died 25 March, and was buried at Llanasa, 30 March 2007; his will was proved 29 July 2008.

Sydney Eggers Bates (1851-1924) 

Bates, Sydney Eggers (1851-1924). Third son of Sir Edward Bates (1816-96), 1st bt., and his second wife, Ellen, daughter of Thomas Thompson of Hessle (Yorks ER), born 28 April 1851. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (matriculated 1870; BA 1874; MA 1877). He was a partner and shareholder in Edward Bates & Sons, shipowners, 1877-1919, but was not actively engaged in the running of the firm; he had mercantile interests in London, where he was a director of the London & St Katherine's Dock Co. Ltd (deputy chairman, 1899). He was admitted a freeman of the City of London, 1899, and was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors in London (Warden, 1910, 1912, 1921 and Master, 1916) and the Carpenters Company. He was a member of the Thames Conservancy Board, 1894-97, 1907-08; and JP for London and Hampshire (from 1904). He built a new chapel at East Oakley (Hants) on the Manydown estate, consecrated in 1914. He married, 9 July 1878 at St John, Paddington (Middx), Elizabeth Jessie (1855-1940), third daughter of Col. George Grenville Malet, and had issue:

(1) Arthur Sydney Bates (1879-1958) (q.v.).

(2) Norah Ellen Bates (1881-1922), baptised at St James, Paddington, 31 May 1881; died unmarried, 28 November 1922;

(3) Edith Mary Bates (1885-1978), born 11 August and baptised at St James, Paddington, 7 September 1885; married, 27 September 1923, William Lamb (c.1874-1936) of Lincomb Hall, Stourport-on-Severn (Worcs), son of Rev. William Lamb of Ednam (Scotland), but had no issue; died aged 93 on 13 November 1978 and was buried at Hartlebury (Worcs); will proved 7 March 1979 (estate £43,121);

(4) A son (b. & d. 1888), born 30 April 1888; died in infancy;

(5) Evelyn Jessie Bates (b. & d. 1889), born 28 December 1889 and baptised at St James, Paddington on the same day; died in infancy;

(6) Dorothy Eileen Bates (1892-1982), of The Grey House, Chadlington (Oxon), born 19 May and baptised at St James, Paddington, 18 June 1892; married, 18 May 1948, as his second wife, Thomas More MBE (1885-1948), civil servant, son of Francis More of Edinburgh, chartered accountant; died aged 90 on 18 June 1982; will proved 3 September 1982 (estate £404,651).

He rented Manydown Park from his father's estate until he purchased the estate for £100,000 in 1902. He also had a London house at 29 Hyde Park Square and divided his time between the two. His widow lived latterly at The Grey House, Chadlington (Oxon).

He died 3 March 1924; his will was proved 27 May and 17 October 1924 (estate £814,798). His widow died 13 October 1940; her will was proved 15 January 1941 (estate £14,262).

Arthur Sydney Bates (1879-1958) 

Bates, Arthur Sydney (1879-1958). Only son of Sydney Eggers Bates (1851-1924) and his wife Elizabeth Jessie, third daughter of Col. George Grenville Malet, born 18 June and baptised at St James, Paddington, 17 July 1879.  Shipowner; partner in P. Wigham-Richardson & Co. from 1905. He was an officer in the 1st London Rifle Brigade (2nd Lt., 1900; Lt., 1901; Capt. 1905; Maj. 1915; Lt-Col., 1917; retired 1919) who served in the First World War and was mentioned in despatches four times and awarded the DSO, 1915, and the Croix de Guerre, 1918. He was an expert shot, who took part in international shooting competitions before the war and captained the British Empire Shooting Team in 1919. JP for Hampshire and a Liveryman of the Merchant Taylors Company. He was a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, and in the 1930s and 1940s he was a prolific amateur film-maker, whose home movies are now in the Wessex Film & Sound Archive. He married, 26 April 1905 at Pirbright (Surrey), Mary da Costa OStJ (1877-1962), eldest daughter of Lt-Col. Charles Robert Crosse CMG MVO, and had issue:

(1) Anne Mary Bates (1915-2006) (q.v.).

He inherited Manydown Park from his father in 1924. 

He died 7 May 1958; his will was proved 7 July 1958 (estate £97,801). His widow died 18 January 1962; her will was proved 5 March 1962 (estate £18,415).

Bates, Anne Mary (1915-2006). Only child of Arthur Sydney Bates (1879-1958) and his wife Mary da Costa, eldest daughter of Lt-Col. Charles Robert Crosse CMG MVO, born 24 March 1915. She married, 29 July 1939, Lt-Col. John Oliver-Bellasis DSO (1904-79), younger son of Capt. Richard John Erskine Oliver-Bellasis of Shilton House, Coventry (Warks) and had issue:

(1) Charles Arthur John Oliver-Bellasis (b. 1940) of The Old Rectory, Boxford (Berks), born 1 October 1940; educated at Winchester and Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester; chartered surveyor (FRICS, 1975) and land agent; married, Apr-Jun 1972, Julia Elizabeth (b. 1945), daughter of Lt-Cdr. John Errol Manners DSC, RN, of Laurel House, Great Cheverell (Wilts) and had issue two sons and one daughter; now living;

(2) Maj. Hugh Richard Oliver-Bellasis (b. 1945) of Wootton House, Wootton St. Lawrence (Hants), born 11 April 1945; educated at Winchester and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1964; Lt., 1966; Capt., 1970; retired as Maj., 1977); a freeman of the city of London, 1967 and liveryman of the Merchant Taylors and Gunmakers Companies; Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society; Vice-Chairman of Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust; married, 7 August 1971, Daphne Phoebe (b. 1951), younger daughter of Arthur Christopher Parsons of Hatchwood House, Odiham (Hants), and had issue two daughters; now living.

After the demolition of Manydown Park she lived at Beech House, Wootton St. Lawrence (Hants). In 1960 she established the Manydown Co. Ltd with her sons to manage the estate, which it continues to do, although no members of the family are now on the board.

She died aged 91 on 23 May 2006; her will was proved 10 November 2006. Her husband died 6 October 1979; his will was proved 15 January 1980 (estate £131,168).

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 286-87; G.F. Prosser, Select illustrations of Hampshire..., 1833, unpag.; E. Hubbard, The buildings of Wales: Clwyd, 1986, pp. 383-84; P.E. Bates, Bates of Bellefield, Gyrn Castle and Manydown, 1994; ODNB entry on Sir Percy Elly Bates, 4th bt.;  https://gyrncastle.com/; http://research.hgt.org.uk/item/manydown-park/;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manydown; https://mapsmithblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/many-makes-me-down/; https://collections.rmg.co.uk/archive/objects/491988.html;

Location of archives

Bates of Gyrn Castle: deeds and estate papers, 1717-1939 [North East Wales Archives: Flintshire Record Office D/GY, D/KK] 

Bates of Manydown Park: deeds, family and estate records, 16th-20th cents. [Hampshire Archives 21M58]

Edward Bates & Sons Ltd: business records, 19th-20th cents. [Liverpool University, Special Collections & Archives D641/5]; daily letters, 1878-1902; records of ships; business records [National Maritime Museum, Manuscripts Section, BAT]

Coat of arms

Argent, on a fess azure a quatrefoil between two fleurs-de-lys of the field, in chief two quatrefoils and in base a fleur-de-lys, both azure.

Can you help?

• Does anyone know of a view of Manydown Park earlier than Prosser's engraving of 1833, and more particularly a view of it before the refronting of c.1790?
• 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 text above will be gratefully received and incorporated. I am always particularly pleased to hear from descendants of the family who can supply information from their own research for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 20 February 2021 and updated 28 March and 8 April 2021 and 4 August 2022.