Landed families of Britain and Ireland

This site, which was short-listed for the Society of Architectural Historians (GB) Colvin Prize in 2019, presents my research into the landowning families of the British Isles and the country houses which they owned. Comments, especially in the form of corrections, additional information or new illustrations, are very welcome. Please use the Contact Form in the right hand side bar to contact me privately or the comments facility at the bottom of the page to make a public comment.

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

(461) Baumgartner of Island Hall

This family traces its origins to a Swiss émigré, Jacob Julien Baumgartner (1733-1816), the son of a physician, who moved to England in 1760 and entered into business as a merchant. The business, later a partnership called Baumgartner & Hoofstetter, acted as Continental agents for a number of high profile British businessmen, including Josiah Wedgwood and the Boulton & Watt steam engine company, and had offices in London, Birmingham and Nottingham. Jacob himself seems to have lived in or near Nottingham until 1804, when he bought Island Hall at Godmanchester (Hunts), probably at the time of his retirement. He had two sons, John Thomas (1778-1874) and Robert Jacob (1779-1810), who were both sent to Geneva and then to Edinburgh University for their education. At Edinburgh, they qualified as physicians and they evidently practised in and around Godmanchester. Robert became ill in 1810 and after failing to treat himself successfully, sought the advice of Robert Waring Darwin (1766-1848), the son of Erasmus Darwin and father of Charles Darwin. He recommended a preparation of arsenic and sugar, which Robert was doubtful about taking, but perhaps he did, since he was dead within a month.

The Island Hall estate descended in 1816 to Jacob's surviving son, Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874), who remained exceptionally vigorous into old age: he was still taking a dip in the River Ouse at the bottom of the garden until a few weeks before his death, aged 96! In this second generation, the links with Switzerland and Austria remained strong: John Thomas had been educated in Geneva and he and his wife made frequent extended stays on the Continent, where a number of their children were born. Around 1830, they seem to have lived permanently near Salzburg (Austria) for several years, before returning to England. In 1842 their eldest son, John Percy Baumgartner (1812-1903), came into possession of his mother's family seat, Milton Hall (Cambs), a Tudor and 18th century house set in a landscaped park designed by Humphry Repton, and the family lived there until the 1850s. When they eventually moved back to Island Hall it was because John Percy had run into debt and needed to sell the estate at Milton, which he did in 1860-62.

When he died in 1874, John Thomas divided his property equally between his ten surviving children, which had the effect of severing the house from the small associated estate that had helped to support it. The house itself was left to his second son, General Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95). He purchased the freehold of the island in the River Ouse from which Island Hall takes its name, which had previously only been rented by the family from the descendants of the Jacksons who built the house. He can, however, have used the house comparatively little, since he was in India with the army a good deal, and also seems to have spent some time in Ireland, where his wife's family lived in County Down. When he died he left Island Hall to his second daughter, Violet Julia Beart (1863-1947), who had recently been widowed. She later had a second brief marriage and lived at Island Hall as Mrs. Bevan until it was requisitioned in the Second World War. She never moved back to the house, for after the war, the house was taken over by the local authority for emergency housing and divided into small flats; she died in Cheshire in 1947.

That might well have been the end of the family's association with Island Hall. They retained the freehold for some years, but that too was sold in 1958. The house continued to be used as local authority housing until 1977, when a fire damaged the south wing and the whole property was sold two years later and restored as a single private residence. Once this work was completed, the house was sold to Christopher Vane Percy (b. 1945), an interior designer from London, who had seen the house from the river and coveted it as a teenager. Only after he bought the house did he realise his strong family connection to the place: he stood in a direct male line from Dr John Thomas Baumgartner, who was his great-great-great-grandfather, the difference in surname being accounted for by the decision of many branches of the family to change their name from the Germanic Baumgartner to Percy during the First World War. The name Percy was chosen because the wife of Jacob Julien Baumgartner was heir to the Percy estates in Cambridgeshire.

Island Hall, Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire

The situation of the house on one of the main streets of the little town of Godmanchester, albeit set back behind railings, arguably makes Island Hall a town house rather than a country house, but the rear has a more rural aspect, as the gardens run down to the Great Ouse river and have a Chinoiserie footbridge across to an island in the river, which was also part of the garden. The house is first recorded as 'new built' in 1749 and was built by Original Jackson (d. 1771) as a wedding present for his son John Jackson (1729-88), later Receiver-General for Huntingdonshire, whose new wife brought him 600 acres of land around the town. It is built of red brick and consists of a three-bay centre of two-and-a-half storeys, which breaks slightly forward from lower two-bay wings to either side. The front and rear elevations are identical (slight evidence, perhaps, that no professional architect was involved with the design), and have a central pediment with stone modillions, Tuscan porches, and windows with stone architraves on brackets.

Island Hall, Godmanchester: garden front, 2011. Image: sps1955. Some rights reserved.

Inside, there is an unexpectedly large entrance hall, the width of the central block, with a handsome chimneypiece and overmantel with consoles, and doorcases with enriched friezes. It has been conjectured that the hall was so large because it was originally intended that the staircase should rise within it, with the space behind it - now occupied by the staircase - being the saloon, but that this plan was changed during construction so as to create a fashionable first-floor saloon with a more imposing approach. (The other great house of Godmanchester, Farm Hall, finished in 1746, has a suite of reception rooms on its first floor, and there may have been some rivalry!). As built, the hall opens through a fine Doric screen with fluted columns and a full entablature to the staircase hall behind. In the 19th century, the hall became a library and the screen was partly infilled to create a more enclosed space, but the original layout was recreated when the house was restored in 1979.

Island Hall: entrance hall with the partially Gothic infilling of the screen in place. Image: Historic England.

Island Hall: the screen wall and staircase from the screen today.

The staircase itself has elegantly slender twisted balusters and a string carved with acanthus foliage. It rises to emerge through a screen of Ionic columns into a transverse passage, which has arches at each end. Above the hall is the saloon, with a fine Kentian doorcase which was originally on the staircase side of the wall but now faces into the room. Without it, the saloon would have been remarkably plain, and it seems possible that an intended decorative scheme was never carried out. The best chimneypiece is in the small drawing room (originally the dining room), with console brackets and overmantel flanked by volutes inset with a lugged frame and topped by a broken pediment. The adjoining dining room (originally the drawing room) has lovely carved overdoors. To the south of the original house is a later kitchen wing, built in 1768, and beyond this stand the former stables with a pretty Gothick cupola.

During the Second World War the house was requisitioned for use by the WAAF and later the RAF, for whom a series of Nissen huts were constructed in the garden. After the war the property was acquired by the local authority and the house and huts were converted into fifteen tiny flats. The house was seriously damaged by a fire in 1977 which largely gutted the south wing, and the house was at some risk of demolition at this time. Fortunately it was bought by a private owner who engaged Marshall Sisson to restore the house. The post-war partitioning was removed, the fire damage restored and the Nissen huts cleared away before the house was sold in 1983 to Christopher Vane Percy, a collateral descendant of the family which owned the house from 1804-1958. He has carried out further restoration work and redecorated the house beautifully, and the house is now accessible for private group visits as well as being used for weddings and other events (see https://www.islandhall.com/).

When first built the house had gardens both at the rear and on the opposite side of the road, where there is now a school. The Chinese bridge linking the rear garden to the island in the Ouse from which the house takes its name was first recorded in the 18th century, but collapsed in the 1930s. It was reconstructed on the basis of photographic evidence as part of the general restoration of the house after 1983, and has had to be rebuilt again since.

Descent: built c.1740-49 for Original Jackson (c.1697-1771); to son, John Jackson (1729-88); to son, John Jackson, junior (1750-1807), who sold 1804 to Jacob Julian Baumgartner (1733-1816); to son, Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874); to son, Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95); to daughter, Violet Julia (1863-1947), widow of Frederick W. Beart (d. 1895) and later wife of Cyril Mountain Bevan (1851-1916); requisitioned in 1941 for WAAF and later RAF; transferred to the local authority under the Emergency Housing Act and converted into flats; freehold sold 1958 to Huntingdonshire County Council; sold 1979 to Simon Herrtage; sold 1983 to Christopher Vane Percy (b. 1945).

Baumgartner family of Island Hall

Dr. J.J. Baumgartner
Baumgartner, Jacob Julien (1733-1816). Second son of Jean Baumgartner of Soleure (Switzerland), physician, and his wife Susanne Villemejanne of Geneva (Switzerland), born at Liestal, Basel-Landshaft (Switzerland), 23 January 1733. He emigrated to England in 1760 and became a naturalized British subject in 1774. Merchant, in partnership with a Mr. Hoofstetter (probably John Lewis Hoofstetter, naturalised in 1781) in London, Birmingham and Nottingham. He married, 19 January 1774 at Nottingham, Tryce Mary (1752-1815), daughter of Rev. Thomas Parratt and his wife Tryce (who was only daughter and heiress of the Rev. Joscelyn Percy), and had issue:

(1) Jacob Julien Baumgartner (b. & d. 1775), born 18 March 1775; died in infancy, 13 August 1775;
(2) Tryce Mary Baumgartner (1777-1835), born 14 March 1777; died unmarried, 19 March 1835, and was buried at Godmanchester;
(3) Dr John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874) (q.v.);
(4) Robert Jacob Baumgartner (1779-1810), born 11 October 1779; educated at Geneva and Edinburgh University (admitted 1797; MD 1800); physician; died unmarried, possibly as a result of taking a remedy compounded of arsenic and sugar prescribed by Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, 6 December 1810 and was buried at Godmanchester.

He lived in London and later at Nottingham after coming to England. He purchased Island Hall in 1804.

He died 2 December 1816 and was buried at Godmanchester. His wife died 26 November 1815 and was buried at Godmanchester.

Dr. J.T. Baumgartner (1778-1874): colourized
photograph. Image: C. Vane Percy.
Baumgartner, Dr. John Thomas (1778-1874). Elder son of Jacob Julian Baumgartner (1733-1816) and his wife Tryce Mary, daughter of Rev. Thomas Parratt, born at Wilford (Notts), 20 March 1778. Educated at Geneva and Edinburgh University (admitted, 1796; MD, 1799). Physician in Godmanchester. He was a keen swimmer and used regularly to swim around the island in the Great Ouse in the garden of Island House; he was still taking a dip in the river a few weeks before his death, aged 96! He married, 11 October 1810, Phillipa (1792-1882), third daughter of Samuel Knight of Milton Hall (Cambs), and had issue:

(1) Philippa Julia Baumgartner (1811-85), baptised at Godmanchester, 31 July 1811; married, 6 May 1834 at Godmanchester, Philip Tillard JP DL (1811-87) of Stukeley Hall, Great Stukeley (Hunts), eldest son of Rev. Richard Tillard of Street End House (Kent), and had issue five sons and four daughters; died 16 December 1885;
(2) John Percy Baumgartner (1812-1903), of Gorleston (Norfk), born 27 June and baptised at Godmanchester, 29 June 1812; educated in Geneva and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (admitted 1831); JP for Cambridgeshire; inherited Milton Hall from his grandfather in 1835, subject to the life interest of his step-grandmother, extinguished in 1842; having heavily mortgaged his expectations from the estate, he sold it in 1860-62; later collector of customs at Great Yarmouth (Norfk); he married, 17 February 1849 at St Saviour, Southwark (Surrey), Eliza (1817-92), daughter of John Brunskill of Southwark, and had issue four sons and five daughters; died aged 90 at Gorleston (Suffk), 10 June 1903; will proved 31 July 1903 (estate £7,054);
(3) General Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95) (q.v.);
(4) Edward Jocelyn Baumgartner (1815-99), born 3 April 1815 and baptised at Godmanchester, 16 March 1817; articled clerk to Henry Owen of Worksop (Notts), solicitor, 1832; later retrained at Middle Temple (admitted, 1838; called, 1841); barrister-at-law; JP for Hunts; Master and Registrar of the Supreme Court at Gibraltar, 1867-91; a freemason from 1839; married 1st, 26 August 1851 at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), Catherine (1828-54), daughter of William Taylor of Histon (Cambs), but had no issue; married 2nd, 11 January 1860 at St Mary Abbots, Kensington (Middx), Sarah Woodland (1832-86), and had issue four sons and seven daughters; died 8 February 1899;
(5) George Jasper Baumgartner (1816-17), born 7 April 1816 and baptised at Godmanchester, 16 March 1817; died in infancy, 5 May and was buried at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), 9 May 1817;
(6) Georgiana Baumgartner (1820-1911), born 6 May and baptised at Godmanchester, 25 July 1820; married, 18 September 1839 at Godmanchester, Edward Charrington (1811-88) of Buryscourt, Leigh (Surrey), brewer, and had issue nine sons and four daughters; died aged 90 on 16 February 1911 and was buried at Leigh; will proved 28 March 1911 (estate £10,671);
(7) Rev. Henry Algernon Baumgartner (1821-1909) (q.v.);
(8) George Samuel Baumgartner (1823-66), born 26 January and baptised at Godmanchester, 10 April 1823; worked in Birmingham for Moilliet & Co., gem merchants; had a relationship with Susan Woods of Milton (Cambs) which resulted in an illegitimate daughter, but in 1853 emigrated to Australia with his brother Charles; said to have married, 15 August 1863, Christina Forbes, and had issue three sons and two daughters (some of whom were born before their parents' marriage); died 6 May 1866 and was buried at Camberwell, Victoria (Australia);
(9) Gen. Thomas Mowbray Baumgartner (1824-1915), born 21 July 1824; an officer in the Indian Army Staff Corps (Ensign, 1845; Lt., 1847; Capt., 1856; Maj., 1865; Lt-Col. 1871; Col., 1876; retired from active service, 1883; Maj-Gen., 1886; Lt-Gen., 1890; General, 1894); died unmarried aged 90 in London, 23 January 1915, and was buried at Godmanchester; will proved 23 March 1915 (estate £820);
(10) Charles Astrey Octavius Baumgartner (1825-1910), born in Geneva, 8 October and baptised at the British chaplaincy there, 1 November 1825 and again at Godmanchester, 23 January 1832; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1844; BA 1848); emigrated to Australia with his brother George in 1853 and worked with him for a time in the Australian goldfields, but return to England in 1862 at the request of his godfather, Charles Hoofstetter, with whom he lived in Thurloe Sq. until 1870; lived latterly at Hammersmith (Middx); died unmarried, 1 July 1910; administration of goods granted 25 August 1910 (£17,477);
(11) Emma Frances Baumgartner (b. & d. 1827), born 11 March 1827; baptised at British chaplaincy in Geneva (Switzerland), 11 July 1827; died at Geneva, 26 July 1827;
(12) Emma Frances Amelia Baumgartner (1828-1911), born 30 November 1828 and baptised at Godmanchester, 23 July 1832; established a night school for boys and young men at Godmanchester c.1870; author of A Medley of Birthdays (1911); died unmarried, 28 January 1911, and was buried at Godmanchester, where she is commemorated by a monument; will proved 6 March 1911 (estate £10,008);
(13) Elizabeth Charlotte Olivia Baumgartner (1831-44), born 1 September 1831; died young at Leopoldskron, Salzburg (Austria), 15 July 1844 and was buried at Anif (Austria); she is commemorated on monuments at Godmanchester.

He inherited Island Hall from his father in 1816, but lived chiefly at Milton Hall (Cambs) until the 1850s, when his son sold that estate. He then moved to Island Hall. At his death he divided his property between his ten surviving children, separating the house from its estate.

He died aged 96 on 12 August, and was buried at Godmanchester, 18 August 1874, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 8 October 1874 (effects under £3,000). His widow died aged 90 on 31 March, and was buried at Godmanchester, 5 April 1882; her will was proved 23 June 1882 (effects £592).

Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95)
Baumgartner, General Robert Julian (1814-95). Second son of Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874) and his wife Phillipa, third daughter of Samuel Knight of Milton (Cambs), born 17 March 1814. Educated in Geneva (Switzerland). An officer in the army (Ensign, 1833; Lt., 1837; Capt., 1841; Maj., 1851; Lt-Col., 1854; Col., 1860; Maj-Gen., 1868; Lt-Gen., 1877; Gen., 1881), who served in the Crimean War, when he made serious proposals for the raising of 10,000 troops in Switzerland for British service; wounded, and appointed CB and awarded the Turkish Order of Medjidie (4th class), 1855; Colonel of Royal Sussex Regiment, 1888-95. He was a Conservative in politics, and a freeman of Godmanchester, but took no part in local public affairs. He married, 6 July 1859 at Newry (Co. Down), Helen (1835-1911), daughter of Ross Thompson of Greenwood Park (Co. Down), and had issue:

(1) Philippa Helen Surman Baumgartner (1861-1909), born 24 September and baptised at Gwalior, Bengal (India), 19 October 1861; married, 13 September 1885, Rev. Harry Darwin Burton (1859-1943), vicar of St Saviour, St. Albans (Herts), and had issue six daughters; died 20 May 1909;
(2) Violet Julia Baumgartner (1863-1947) (q.v.);
(3) Henry Percy Julian Baumgartner (later Percy) (1865-1944), born 4 September and baptised at Calcutta (India), 7 October 1865; educated at Cheltenham College; engineer, working chiefly in India; married, Jul-Sept. 1903, Elvira Helen (c.1872-1935), daughter of Arthur Keegan of Dublin, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 1 September 1944;
(4) Charles Thomas Jocelyn Baumgartner (1868-1964), baptised at Godmanchester, 11 December 1868; emigrated to Canada, 1900; patient at Essondale Provincial Mental Hospital by 1922; died unmarried, aged 95, at Colquitlam, British Columbia (Canada), 23 September 1964; administration of goods granted 12 March 1965 (effects in England, £5,946);
(5) Ethel Nixon Baumgartner (1871-1948), born at Drumesk, Rostrevor (Co. Down), 8 February 1871, and baptised at Newry (Co. Down); married, 2 September 1896 at Godmanchester, Rev. Charles Leonard Thornton-Duesbery (1867-1928), rector of Holy Trinity, St. Marylebone (Middx) and had issue one son and one daughter; died at Ramsey (Isle of Man), 4 February 1948; will proved 27 May 1948 (estate in England, £5,824);
(6) Grace Eva Baumgartner (1873-1954), born 24 December 1873; died unmarried in Hastings (Sussex), 4 May 1954; will proved 3 July 1954 (estate £6,939).

He inherited Island Hall from his father in 1874, and purchased the freehold of the island in the River Ouse (which had only been leased by the family since 1804) in 1882.

He died 24 September and was buried at Godmanchester, 27 September 1895; his will was proved 15 November 1895 (effects £276). His widow died 6 July 1911 and was buried at Godmanchester, where she is commemorated by a monument; her will was proved 27 October 1911 (estate £227).

Baumgartner, Violet Julia (1863-1947). Second daughter of Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95) and his wife Helen, daughter of Ross Thompson of Greenwood Park (Co. Down), baptised at Gonda, Bengal (India), 12 June 1863. She married 1st, 8 April 1891 at Godmanchester, Maj. Frederick Robert Beart (1850-95) of The Chestnuts, Godmanchester and 2nd, 4 January 1915 at St Giles, Cambridge, as his second wife, Cyril Mountain Bevan (1851-1916) of Lilliput (Dorset), and had issue:

(1.1) Robert (otherwise Robin) Baumgartner Beart (1892-1972), born 10 April 1892; educated at Winchester; travelled to USA and South America in 1913-14 but came back for war service as an officer in the 18th Hussars (Lt., retired 1921) before returning to South America; farmer at Estancia El Espanillo, San Luis (Argentina); married, 1 July 1926 at Chester Cathedral, Agnes Pamela (1905-75), daughter of John Montagu Tharp of Denston Hall (Suffk), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 22 February 1972; administration of goods granted 17 March 1978 (estate in England, £2,898);
(1.2) Helen Tryce Beart (1893-1980), born 16 May 1893; served in First World War as Lady Superintendent with Voluntary Aid Detachment and Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps; married, 15 April 1922 at Trinity church, St Marylebone (Middx), Arthur Percival Vernon Pigot (1890-1966), of Grappenhall (Ches.), solicitor, son of Rev. Harry Vernon Pigot, vicar of Grappenhall, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died at Willington Hall (Ches), 18 February 1980; will proved 16 January 1981 (estate £65,100);
(1.3) Brig. Charles William Beart (1894-1982), born 10 May 1894; educated at Winchester College and RMC Sandhurst; an officer in the Durham Light Infantry (2nd Lt., 1914; Lt., 1914; Capt., 1920; Maj. 1933; Lt-Col., 1941; temp. Col., 1942; retired as Brig., 1947); served in First and Second World Wars and was awarded MC, 1917 and OBE, 1946; married, 1955, Ann Bowman, and had issue one daughter; died in Shrewsbury (Shrops.), 22 May 1982; will proved 23 August 1982 (estate £35,256).

She inherited Island Hall from her father in 1895 and lived there until it was requisitioned for military use in 1942. She lived latterly at Ruloe, Cuddington (Cheshire).

She died 16 November 1947; her will was proved 20 February 1948 (estate £13,228). Her first husband died 4 March 1895. Her second husband died 15 July 1916; his will was proved 30 September 1916 (estate £19,971).

Rev. H.A. Baumgartner (1821-1909)
Baumgartner, Rev. Henry Algernon (1821-1909). Fourth son of Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874) and his wife Phillipa, third daughter of Samuel Knight of Milton (Cambs), born 25 October 1821 and baptised at Godmanchester, 24 April 1822. Educated at Rugby and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (matriculated 1840; BA 1844; MA 1847). Ordained deacon, 1845 and priest, 1846. Vicar of Coniscliffe (Co. Durham), 1849-57; perpetual curate of Emmanuel Church, Camberwell (Surrey), 1858-63; vicar of St Paul, Worcester, 1863-67, Mevagissey (Cornw.), 1867-81 and Nettlebed (Oxon), 1881-1908. He married, 30 April 1849 at Witton-le-Wear (Co. Durham), Frances Octavia (1826-1907), fourth daughter of George Hutton Wilkinson of Harperley Park (Co. Durham), Recorder of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and had issue:

(1) George Algernon Baumgartner (later Percy) (1850-1944), born 2 March 1850; an official in the Ceylon Civil Service; married, 16 November 1878 at Trincomalee (Ceylon), Florence Harper, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died aged 94 at Germoe (Cornw.) on 21 March 1944; will proved 30 June 1944 (estate £2,625);
(2) Kate Harriet Baumgartner (1851-1940), born 1 June 1851; married, 8 February 1881 at Dodbrooke (Devon), Philip Furse Marshall (1857-1942), farmer and later shopkeeper, son of John Marshall, yeoman, and had issue; died in Sussex, Oct-Dec 1940;
(3) Alice Mary Annie Baumgartner (1852-1918), born 3 June 1852; married, 6 July 1886 at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington (Middx), Lt-Col. John James Davy (1844-1925) and had issue one son and one daughter; died 14 March 1918;
(4) Harry Percy Baumgartner (1853-98) (q.v.);
(5) Amy Millicent Baumgartner (1854-1931), born 6 November 1854; amateur woodcarver, a skill which she taught in boys' clubs around Henley-on-Thames; lived with her sister Juliet in Henley; died unmarried, 24 November 1931; will proved 1 January 1932 (estate £459);
(6) Violet Sibella Baumgartner (1856-1946), born 3 January 1856; lived in Reading (Berks); died unmarried, aged 90, on 17 February 1946 and was cremated at Henley Road Crematorium, Caversham (Berks);
(7) Juliet Frances Baumgartner (1857-1937), born Jan-March 1857; lived with her sister Amy in Henley-on-Thames; died unmarried, 24 April 1937; will proved 25 May 1937 (estate £1,396);
(8) Wilfred Octavius Baumgartner (1858-1915), born 14 September and baptised at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, 4 November 1858; mining engineer in a colliery in Co. Durham; married, Jan-Mar 1893 Charlotte Annie Reynolds (1871-1959), and had issue five children (of whom three died young); died Jul-Sept 1915;
(9) Ethel Leonora Baumgartner (1859-1943), born 14 September and baptised at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, 16 October 1859; lived latterly at Henley-on-Thames; died unmarried, 8 December 1943; will proved 21 January 1944 (estate £2,374).

He died 18 May 1909 and was buried at Nettlebed, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 6 August 1909 (estate £1,736). His wife died 10 January 1907.

Baumgartner, Harry Percy (1853-98). Second son of Rev. Henry Algernon Baumgartner (1821-1909) and his wife Frances Octavia, daughter of George Hutton Wilkinson, born 11 November 1853. Collector of customs in the Ceylon Civil Service. He married, 1881 in Ceylon, Ethel May Vane (1860-1949), and had issue:

(1) Bertram Wilfred Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1882-1959) (q.v.);
(2) Harold Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1883-1938), born 17 November and baptised at Nettlebed, 2 December 1883; emigrated to South Africa before 1908 but returned to England in 1912, although he apparently played in one cricket test match for South Africa in December 1913; took the name Percy in lieu of Baumgartner in 1915; later a civil servant in the Gold Coast (now Ghana); married, c.1926, Dr. Nora Aileen MB BS MRCS LRCP (1892-1956), physician and surgeon, daughter of James Theodore Robinson of Mooradabad (India), but had no issue; died in Accra (Ghana), 8 April 1938;
(3) Eric Joselyn Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1887-1962), born in Ceylon, 20 April 1887; bank manager; married, 5 June 1915 at All Saints, Notting Hill (Middx), Kathleen (1888-1975), daughter of George Frederick Neil McKenna, wine merchant; died 6 January 1962; will proved 21 February 1962 (estate £4,706);
(4) Julian Mowbray Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1891-1961), born 22 July and baptised at Nettlebed (Oxon), 17 August 1891; commercial traveller and later company director; served in First World War with Suffolk Regiment (L/Cpl; commissioned as 2nd Lt., 1915); possibly also the man of this name who served in King's Royal Rifle Corps (Lt. 1940); married 1st, 1925, (div. 1927), Pearl Verner Fisher; married 2nd, Apr-Jun 1928, Erna Joyce alias Jaeger (1892-1931); married 3rd, 1941, Irene Lynn (1891-1983), daughter of Harry Martin Dennes of Sydney (Australia) and widow of George Arthur Williams (1892-1934); died in London, 29 April 1961; will proved 21 July 1961 (estate £22,640);
(5) Una Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1892-1985), born 12 November 1892; actress; married 1st, 1917, Malcolm Gibson Cherry (1878-1925), actor; married 2nd, Oct-Dec 1929, Gordon Brooke Willoughby Hamilton Gay (1895-1973); died 9 March 1985; will proved 24 June 1985 (estate £96,257).

He spent most of his working life in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), but retired to Bedford. His widow lived latterly in Wimbledon (Surrey).

He died in Bedford, 31 December 1898; administration of his goods was granted 28 March 1899 (effects £1,426). His widow died 12 January 1949; her will was proved 26 February 1949 (estate £1,732).

Baumgartner (later Percy), Bertram Wilfred Vane (1882-1959). Eldest son of Harry Percy Baumgartner (1853-98) and his wife Ethel May Vane, born at Colombo (Sri Lanka), 9 October 1882. Bank agent with Bank of Bengal; a freemason from 1910. He joined other members of his family in changing his surname to Percy in 1915. He married, 23 January 1915 at St Thomas' Cathedral, Bombay (India), Dorothy Marian (1885-1973), daughter of Thomas George Treadgold, and had issue:

(1) Kenneth Vane Percy (1917-98) (q.v.);
(2) David John Vane Percy (1920-2001), born 4 July 1920; an officer in the Hon. Artillery Company, 1939-40 and Royal Artillery, 1941; chartered accountant and liquidator; lived in south-east London and later in Hampshire; married, 21 December 1943, Celia Blanche (1910-88), daughter of Dr. W. Carrick Allen MD; died August 2001;
(3) Pauline Margaret Vane Percy (1922-2000), born in Bombay (India), 26 October 1922; married, 25 January 1943 at Westcliff-on-Sea (Essex), Derek Plummer (1923-2010), second son of Capt. R.M. Plummer, and had issue one son; died 3 March 2000; will proved 13 June 2000.

He lived in India for much of his working life, but retired to Bedford.

He died 14 January 1959; will proved 23 April 1959 (estate £24,419). His widow died 1 November 1973; her will was proved 8 February 1974 (estate £12,570).

Percy, Kenneth Vane (1917-98). Elder son of Bertram Wilfred Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) and his wife Dorothy Marian, daughter of Thomas George Treadgold, born in Hyderabad (India), 10 March and baptised at Secunderabat, 14 April 1917. He served in the Royal Artillery in the Second World War (2nd Lt., 1940; Lt.; retired on account of disability as Capt. 1946). Captain of the Bedfordshire County Cricket team, 1947, and later of Bedfordshire Golf Club. He married 1st, 10 March 1940 at Stow-on-the-Wold (Glos), (div.) Jean (1919-2012), daughter of Lt-Col. C.W. Farquharson OBE, and 2nd, Jul-Sept 1957, Dorothy Edith Joyce Tetley (1914-2002), and had issue:

(1.1) Alison Jane Vane Percy (1941-2012), born 5 December 1941; artist; married, Apr-Jun 1965, Shaun Martindale (b. 1944), engineer; died 17 December 2012; will proved 24 July 2013;
(1.2) Christopher David Vane Percy (b. 1945) (q.v.).

He lived at Biddenham (Beds).

He died 22 December 1998; his will was proved 19 February 1999. His first wife died at Island Hall aged 92 on 18 January 2012. His second wife died 16 November 2002; her will was proved 10 February 2003.

Percy, Christopher David Vane (b. 1945). Only son of Kenneth Vane Percy (1917-98) and his first wife, Jean Farquharson, born 15 March 1945. Interior designer who established his own business (CVP Designs) in 1971 and has secured many high profile commissions including the Connaught Hotel, London and Hagley Hall (Worcs); sometime President of the British Interior Design Association and of the International Interior Design Association; Mayor of Godmanchester, 2013; Trustee of Moggerhanger House Preservation Trust, 2013-20. He obtained a grant of arms. He married, 17 May 1973, Lady* Linda Denise Grosvenor (1948-2019), daughter of Robert Egerton Grosvenor, 5th Baron Ebury by his second wife, and had issue:

(1) Maximilian Egerton Vane Percy (b. 1979), born November 1979; educated at Oakham School; surveyor; partner in Montagu Evans with responsibility for managing the Berkeley Square Estate in London; married, 2009, Lisette Sara (b. 1978), daughter of Andrew Cooper of Rowlands Castle (Hants) and has issue three sons;
(2) Grace Dorothy Denise Vane Percy (b. 1981), born August 1981; educated at Oakham School and Central St Martins; photographer specialising in the female nude since 2008; author of Venus (2014); general manager of Island Hall since 2011; married, 2011, Panagiotis (Takis), theatre designer, younger son of Nikolaos Chatoupis, of Sikion (Greece), and has issue one daughter;
(3) Tryce Mary Susanne (b. 1991), born July 1991; educated at Oakham School; works in the fashion industry.

He repurchased Island Hall in 1983 and restored it. He handed the house over to his elder daughter in about 2020.

Now living. His wife died 19 May 2019.

* Her half-brother, Francis Egerton Grosvenor (b. 1934), 6th Baron Ebury, succeeded to the Earldom of Wilton in 1999, and she and her siblings were raised to the rank of an Earl's sons and daughters in 2001.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, pp. 102-03; VCH Cambridgeshire, vol. 9, 1989, pp. 179-82; Debrett's Illustrated Peerage, 2014, p. P1303; https://www.islandhall.com/.

Location of archives

Baumgartner of Godmanchester: deeds, estate and manorial papers, family correspondence, notebooks, commonplace books and photographs, 1599-1956 [Cambridgeshire Archives, 17, L.3; L.35; R.55.31, 38; Huntingdonshire Archives 5614]

Coat of arms

No coat of arms is recorded for the Baumgartner family.

Vane Percy of Island Hall

Christopher Vane Percy has, however, received a new grant of the following arms: Azure on a bend Erminois between two lions rampant each holding a branch of Swiss Stone Pine Or a spur between two pierced mullets of the field.

Can you help?

If anyone knows more about the Baumgartner & Hoofstetter company and its activities, I would be pleased to learn more.
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.
If anyone can offer further information or corrections I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from descendants of the family who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 30 June 2021 and updated 26 February and 15 March 2022 and 31 March-6 April 2024. I am grateful to Christopher Vane Percy and Elma Dostine for additional information and images.

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

(460) Battley of Willbrook and Belvidere Hall

The Battley (otherwise Batteley, Battely, or Batley) family originated in west Suffolk, but emigrated to Ireland in the early 17th century, when William Battley obtained lands in County Clare. His elder son, Nicholas Battley (c.1621-83) was sent to Trinity College, Dublin but his education must have been disrupted by the turbulent state of Ireland in the 1640s and in 1645 he entered the Middle Temple in London. Soon afterwards, he settled in Bury St Edmunds, the home of his ancestors, where he established a successful business as an apothecary and became one of the leading citizens in the town. He and his wife had eight sons (of whom two died in infancy and another in early adulthood) and two daughters. The surviving sons all went to the King Edward VI Grammar School in Bury St Edmunds, and three of them went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. The two eldest, John (1646-1708) and Nicholas (1648-1704), both became clergymen and noted antiquarians: John ending his days as Archdeacon of Canterbury and Nicholas as rector of Bekesbourne (Kent). The third son, Samuel (c.1652-1714), succeeded to his father's business as an apothecary and was like his father a prominent figure in Bury St Edmunds. He was on friendly terms with the Hervey family at Ickworth, who controlled the parliamentary franchise of the town, and in 1712 he was elected as MP for the town on their interest, at a time when the Herveys had no suitable candidate within the family. Thomas (1655-1718), the fourth son, was also a Cambridge graduate, but did not follow his eldest brothers into the church. He did, however, move to Canterbury, where he occupied a house in the close and may have held a lay appointment in the Cathedral administration. Charles (1667-1722), the youngest son, was a barrister, but acted as receiver and steward for Westminster Abbey and also held a post in the Exchequer. These brief career details strongly suggest that the whole family was able and energetic, and that a leaning to the church and the law was already an established characteristic.

The story continues with the descendants of Thomas Battley (1655-1718). He is said to have had two sons, of whom the elder, John (1695-1729) had a well-documented career similar to that of his uncle Charles, who he succeeded in his post at Westminster Abbey. He was married, but had no issue. His reputed younger brother, William Battley (c.1702-36) is by contrast such a shadowy figure that I am not wholly convinced that he was related to the Battleys of Bury St Edmunds at all. Whereas all his reputed siblings were baptised in Canterbury Cathedral, he was not; he does not feature in the wills of any of his near relatives; and he did not attend an English university or inn of court, though he evidently had some legal training - perhaps as articled clerk to a solicitor. After moving to Ireland he was made an honorary member of Kings Inns, Dublin, and he may well have practised as a solicitor in Dublin as his descendants through several generations did. It seems possible that his connection to the relatively august Battleys of Bury St Edmunds was invented by his descendants, and that his true parentage lay in Ireland, but more evidence will be required to demonstrate this, either way.

Despite his shadowy origins, William was really the founder of this family's prosperity, for as a result of his marriage to Samuella Cade, his eldest son, John Battley (c.1730-1808), who was a solicitor in Dublin and Deputy Clerk of the Pipe in the Irish Exchequer, came into possession of the Willbrook estate in County Dublin, which had belonged to the Cades. His eldest son, Thomas Cade Battley (1770-1851), who was a barrister, apparently rebuilt the house at Willbrook in the early 19th century, but sold it in 1843 . His eldest son, D'Oyly William Battley (1808-87) broke from the family tradition of careers in the law and became an officer in the army. He retired in 1851, and in 1856 he purchased the Templecarrig estate in Co. Wicklow, where he built a new house which he called Belvidere Hall. This descended in turn to his only surviving son, Lt-Col. D'Oyly Cade Battley (1841-1924) and then to the latter's eldest daughter, Louisa Cecilia (1868-1945). She married Maj. Charles Gavin Pilkington Wilson (1874-1931), a Dublin solicitor, who took the name Charles Wilson Battley, probably at the time of her inheritance. Their son, John Charles D'Oyly Wilson (1904-62) also took the name Battley, but sold the family seat in 1949.

Willbrook (later Fonthill Abbey), Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin

The house stood at the northern end of the Willbrook townland and was in existence by the mid 18th century. (It needs to be carefully distinguished from the present Willbrook House, which was built about 1845 at the southern end of the townland). Thomas Cade Battley (1771-1851) was probably responsible for rebuilding the original Willbrook, perhaps in about 1836 (when the lease was renewed), although it looks a little earlier than that in later photographs. It was a five bay building with a curved bow on the garden front. After the house was sold in 1843, William Walker changed the name of the house to 'Fonthill Abbey', after the iconic Gothick Revival house in Wiltshire, despite Willbrook being about as un-Gothick as it was possible for a house to be!

Fonthill Abbey (formerly Willbrook), Rathfarnham: the house in 2009, shortly before demolition.
Image: Patrick Healy/South Dublin Libraries. Some rights reserved.

In 1854 the house was sold to Edward P. Gribbon, who trained as an architect in England under T.L. Donaldson but gave up architectural practice in about 1860 after being appointed quantity surveyor to the War Department in Ireland. In 1863 it was reported that the house was to be remodelled for the Hon. F.H. Needham in the Scots Baronial style by John McCurdy, but Needham fell into debt and these works did not proceed. In 1874, when the house was for sale, it was reported that it had been 'much improved at considerable outlay by the former Proprietor (Mr Gribbon, the celebrated Architect)', so he was no doubt responsible for the large square block with some Italianate detailing at one end of the building, which could well date from about 1860. In the later 20th century the house gradually became surrounded by the swelling suburbs of Dublin and was abandoned and fell into disrepair. It was intact and probably rescuable in 2009, but was pulled down soon afterwards to make way for new suburban housing.

Descent: Thomas Cade; to son, Thomas Cade (d. 1783); to nephew, John Battley (c.1730-1808); to son, Thomas Cade Battley (1771-1851); sold 1843 to William Walker; sold before 1853 to Mr Hewitt, a Dublin solicitor; sold 1854 to Edward P. Gribbon (1821-c.1898); sold c.1862 to Hon. Francis H. Needham; sold 1863 to J. Pratt (d. by 1866); sold 1868 to William Vincent (d. by 1874); sold 1884 to Richard Crampton Walker; to widow, Elizabeth Walker (d. 1916); to son, Samuel Walker; to widow (fl. 1950)...

Belvidere Hall, Bray, Co. Wicklow

In 1856, Major William D'Oyly Battley paid £4,440 for a long lease of the lands of Templecarrig (Co. Wicklow) from Edward Massey, who was himself the tenant of the Earl of Meath. Ignoring the existing Templecarrig House, Battley built a new house on the property a little further north, which he called Belvidere Hall in recognition of its fine views to the south and east over the coastal plain.

Belvidere Hall: the entrance front. Image: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

The new house was an Italianate villa that faced south and had a five bay, two-storey entrance front set above a high but windowless basement. The central bay projected forwards under an open pediment supported, like the roof to either side, on paired brackets, with a roundel of the Battley crest and motto set in the pediment. An unusually long flight of twelve granite steps flanked by curved cast iron balustrades led up to the front door, which was recessed in a porch formed within the projecting bay. The elevations are all rendered, with the basement rusticated, and rusticated quoins at the angles and the sides of the porch bay. The ground floor windows on the entrance front have individual hood moulds supported on console brackets. The entrance front is essentially two bays deep, but a staircase with a round-headed window occupies a central projection in the rear wall and a short wing at the north-west angle projects further still, creating a three-bay west front. At the sides of the house, the basement has windows, and here the original six-over-six sash windows are preserved, but elsewhere plate glass sashes were inserted later, which have now been replaced by unlovely uPVC. Inside, the central entrance hall gives access to a staircase hall at the rear, containing an Imperial staircase, and the principal rooms preserve contemporary joinery, chimneypieces, and simple decorative plasterwork. A large conservatory was attached to the east side of the house in the 20th century and more recently new school buildings have been erected to the north. The house was set in landscaped grounds and the drive preserves its grand entrance pillars linked by cast iron railings and gates. A lodge was built just inside these gates at a cost of £1,500 in 1865, but has disappeared without trace.

Descent: Edward Massey (1796-1861) sold 1856 to Maj. William D'Oyly Battley (1808-87); to son, Lt-Col. D'Oyly Cade Battley (1841-1924); to daughter, Louisa Cecilia (1868-1945), wife of Charles Gavin Pilkington Wilson (later Charles Wilson Battley) (1874-1934); to son, John D'Oyly William Battley (1904-62); sold 1949 to Henry J. O'Kelly; sold 1958 to William Roche; sold 1960 to Ernest O. Knepp; to widow, Gweneyth E. Knepp; sold after 1972... sold 1983 for conversion to school.

Battley family of Willbrook and Belvidere Hall

Battley, Nicholas (c.1621-83). Elder son of William Battley of County Clare, born about 1621. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1638) and Middle Temple (admitted 1645). Apothecary at Bury St. Edmunds. Alderman of Bury St. Edmunds, 1668, 1680. He married, about 1645, Anne Woolman (d. 1695), and had issue (with two other sons who died in infancy):

(1) Ven. Dr. John Battley (1646-1708), born at Bury St Edmunds, 18 November 1646; educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1665; DD 1684); Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; rector of Adisham (Kent), 1684; Archdeacon of Suffolk, 1687-88 and of Canterbury, 1688-1708; antiquarian and author of histories of Richborough (Kent) and Bury St. Edmunds (Suffk) which were published posthumously; married 1st, 1675, Catherine Rawlins (d. 1685) of Knightsbridge, and 2nd, 1696/7 (licence 30 December 1696), Mary (c.1656-1741), daughter of Sir Henry Oxenden, 1st bt. of Dene, but had no issue; died 10 October 1708 and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral; will proved 4 November 1708;
(2) Rev. Nicholas Battley (1648-1704), baptised at St James, Bury St Edmunds, 14 June 1648; educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1667; BA 1669) and Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge (MA 1672), 1670-1704; ordained priest, 1675; rector of Nowton (Suffk), 1680-85, vicar of Creeting St Olave, 1681; rector of Ivychurch (Kent) and vicar of Bekesbourne (Kent), 1685-1704; married Anne [surname unknown, possibly Knipe] (d. 1716) and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 19 May and was buried at Bekesbourne, 22 May 1704, where he is commemorated by a monument;
(3) Samuel Battley (c.1652-1714), born about 1652; educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School; apothecary in Bury St. Edmunds in succession to his father; alderman of the borough, 1696 and 1708; MP for Bury St Edmunds, 1712; obtained grants of land in Co. Cavan and Co. Fermanagh and also owned lands in Co. Waterford and Co. Wexford, all of which he later sold in order to purchase an estate at Horringer (Suffk), where he moved c.1700; married 1st, 21 November 1682 at Nowton (Suffk), Mary (1661-97), daughter of Thomas Bright of Bury St Edmunds, and had issue two sons and three daughters who all died young; married 2nd, by 1699, Anne (fl. 1741), widow of [forename unknown] Sydey, and had issue at least two sons who also died young; died at Horringer, 15 July 1714 and was buried at Bury St. Edmunds, having left in his will, proved 6 August 1714, a sum for the perpetual repair of the tomb of his ancestors in the churchyard there;
(4) Thomas Battley (1655-1718) (q.v.);
(5) William Battley (1659-85), born June 1659; educated at Bury St. Edmunds Grammar School; died unmarried, April 1685 and was buried at St Mary, Bury St Edmunds;
(6) Charles Battley (1667-1722), born February 1667; educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School and the Middle Temple (admitted 1686; called 1700); barrister-at-law; receiver and collector of rents of Westminster Abbey; secretary to the Exchequer Remembrancer by 1694; married, 1692 (licence 23 August), Elizabeth (fl. 1741), daughter of John Needham and had issue three sons (who all died young) and several daughters; died May 1722 and was buried at Great Whelnetham (Suffk); will proved in the PCC, 3 October 1722;
(7) Anne Battley (d. c.1715); lived with her brother John until his death; died unmarried; will proved in the PCC 4 May 1715;
(8) Beata Battley; married [forename unknown] Morden.

He inherited lands at Bury St. Edmunds (Suffolk) and in County Clare from his father.

He died in February 1682/3 and was buried at St Mary, Bury St Edmunds. His widow was buried at Bekesbourne (Kent), 7 February 1694/5.

Battley, Thomas (1655-1718). Fourth son of Nicholas Battley (b. 1622) and his wife Anne [surname unknown], baptised at St James, Bury St Edmunds, 15 December 1655. Educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1674; BA 1678). He may have held a lay post in the administration of Canterbury Cathedral. He married, 7 August 1694 at Bekesbourne (Kent), Ann Pierce (d. 1715), and had issue:

(1) John Battley (1695-1729), born 26 April and baptised at Canterbury Cathedral, 2 May 1695; educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (admitted 1711; BA 1715; MA 1718) and Inner Temple (admitted 1722); Receiver, Solicitor and Steward of the Courts of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey, 1723-29; JP for Westminster; Clerk to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty; Secretary to the Augmentation Office; married, 9 February 1726/7 at Chapel Royal, Whitehall, Elizabeth (c.1706-65) (who m2, 6 May 1735 at All Hallows, Barking (Middx), Thomas Baskett), daughter of Mark Frecker, but died without issue; died 10 June and was buried in the south aisle of Westminster Abbey, 14 June 1729; will proved in the PCC, 19 August 1729;
(2) Ann Battley (b. 1697), born 10 March and baptised at Canterbury Cathedral, 11 March 1696/7; living, unmarried, in 1741;
(3) Hester Battley (b. 1698), baptised at Canterbury Cathedral, 11 November 1698; probably died young;
(4) Mary Battley (1700-01), baptised at Canterbury Cathedral, 9 December 1700; died in infancy and was buried at Bekesbourne, 1 August 1701;
(5) William Battley (c.1702-36) (q.v.);
(6) Mary Battley (b. 1705), baptised at Canterbury Cathedral, 8 November 1705; married, 21 January 1730/1 at Grays Inn Chapel, John Stacy (d. 1754), apothecary, and had issue one son and two daughters; living in 1757.

He appears to have lived in the Cathedral precinct at Canterbury.

He was buried 'in the body of the church' at Canterbury Cathedral, 13 January 1717/8. His wife was buried at Bekesbourne, 14 March 1714/5.

Battley, William (c.1702-36). Said to have been the second son of Thomas Battley (1655-1718) and his wife, Ann Pearce, probably born about 1698, but no baptism can be found and he is not mentioned in the surviving wills of any of his near relatives, so the connection must be regarded as unproven. He was admitted as an honorary member of Kings Inns, Dublin, probably c.1730. He married Samuella (d. 1775), daughter of Thomas Cade of Willbrook, Rathfarnham (Co. Dublin), hosier, and had issue:

(1) John Battley (c.1730-1808) (q.v.);
(2) William Battley (d. 1772); married and had issue; died 1772; will proved in Dublin, 2 January 1773;
(3) Edmund Battley.

He presumably lived in Dublin.

He died in January 1736. His widow died in December 1775.

Battley, John (c.1730-1808). Eldest son of William Battley (c.1702-36) and his wife Samuella, daughter of Thomas Cade of Willbrook, Rathfarnham (Co. Dublin), born about 1730. Educated at Kings Inns, Dublin (admitted 1758). Solicitor in Dublin; Deputy Clerk of the Pipe in the Irish Exchequer. He married*, July 1767, Hannah (d. 1773), daughter of Oliver Watson of Edenderry, a Quaker who was disowned by her congregation following her marriage, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Cade Battley (1770-1851) (q.v.);
(2) Lt-Col. William Battley (c.1771-1817); an officer in the 60th Foot (Ensign, 1789; Lt. 1793; Capt., 1803 (Br. Maj. 1808); Maj., 1814 (Br. Lt-Col, 1814); retired 1817); married, 24 December 1799 at Portsea (Hants), Hannah Mitchell, and had issue three sons and three daughters (one of the sons being born before his marriage); he is said to have been accidentally killed at Gibraltar on his way home from the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa); his will, made at the Cape of Good Hope in July 1817 was proved in London, 3 December 1817;
(3) Elizabeth Battley (c.1773-86); died young at Willbrook, May 1786.

He succeeded his maternal uncle at Willbrook in 1783.

He died in 1808. His wife died, possibly following childbirth, in July 1773.

* This marriage is attested by multiple sources. However, Burke's Landed Gentry states that he married 'Frances, sister of John Butler' who was the mother of his children. It is possible that Hannah died soon after his recorded marriage in 1767 and that he married again, but I have found no evidence for a second marriage. The newspaper report of his wife's death in 1773 does not give her name.

Battley, Thomas Cade (1770-1851). Elder son of John Battley (c.1730-1808) and his wife Hannah, daughter of Oliver Watson, born June 1770. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1788; BA 1794), Middle Temple (admitted 1792) and Kings Inns (called 1794). Barrister-at-law. He married, Feb/Mar 1798, Belinda Arabella (d. 1863), daughter of Rev. Richard Chapell Grange of Sallymount (Co. Wicklow), and had issue:

(1) Richard Battley (b. c.1799); given as the eldest son in Burke's Landed Gentry and said to be an officer in 22nd Regiment, but does not appear in the Army Lists; said to have died unmarried;
(2) John Cade Battley (c.1800-25); educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1817); an officer in 30th Regiment (Ensign, 1821); died unmarried at Kamptee, Madras (India), 15 January 1825;
(3) A son (b. 1802), born 20 July 1802; probably died in infancy;
(4) Elizabeth Georgina Battley (1807?-37?), probably the daughter whose birth was reported in the press, February 1807; married, 13 January 1834 at Muttra (India), Maj. George Larkins, Royal Horse Artillery; said to have died in India, c.1837;
(5) D'Oyly William Battley (1808-87) (q.v.);
(6) Thomas Battley (c.1812-62), born about 1812; an officer of the Chancery Registrar for Ireland from 1831; one of the Registrars of the Court of Bankruptcy, 1847; married, 1841, Marcella (c.1812-97), daughter of John Connolly of Newhaggard (Co. Meath), but had no issue; died 28 October 1862; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 29 November 1862 (effects under £1,000);
(7) Rev. Charles Bush Battley (c.1813-81), born about 1813; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1827; BA 1832); ordained deacon, 1838, and priest, 1839; chaplain to Lord Avonmore in 1850; married, 19 March 1834 at St Peter, Dublin, Susannah Nugee (d. 1883); died in Dublin, 3 January 1881;
(8) Rochfort Battley (1817-66), of Ashgrove Cottage, Kingstown (Co. Dublin), born 15 June and baptised at St Peter, Dublin, 25 September 1817; married, 6 October 1863, Rosellen (c.1836-71), daughter of William Jones Field MD and had issue one son; died 26 October 1866; administration of his goods granted to his widow, 25 February 1867 (effects under £1,500);
(9) Harriet Battley (c.1820-82), born about 1820; married, 28 August 1844 at St Peter, Dublin, William Charles Brown (fl. 1869) of Manchester and later of Rochfort Lodge, Richmond (Surrey), financier; buried 8 April 1882;
(10) Diana Maria Battley (c.1822-1910), born about 1822; married, 16 July 1853 at St Peter, Dublin, Alexander Clotworthy Downing Leckie Edie (c.1810-75) of Thornhill, Strabane (Co. Tyrone), and had issue two daughters; died aged 88 on 4 October 1910.

He inherited Willbrook from his father in 1808 and probably rebuilt the house, perhaps about 1836 - when the lease was renewed - or a little earlier. He sold the estate in about 1843.

He died 20 September 1851. His widow died on 9 November and was buried at Clontarf (Co. Dublin), 13 November 1863.

Battley, Maj. D'Oyly William (1808-87). Third, but eldest surviving, son of Thomas Cade Battley (1770-1851) and his wife Belinda Arabella, daughter of Rev. Richard Chapell Grange of Sallymount (Co. Wicklow), born January 1808. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1829; Lt., 1834; Capt., 1840; Maj.; retired 1851). He married, about 20 October 1839, Margaret Downing (d. 1871), daughter of William Edie of Thornhill (Co. Tyrone) and widow of James Magill (c.1800-37) of Fairview (Co. Donegal), and had issue:

(1) D'Oyly Cade Battley (1841-1924) (q.v.);
(2) Rochfort Clotworthy Loftus Battley (1844-85), baptised at St Michael, Coventry (Warks), 18 October 1844; married, 29 April 1871 at Monkstown (Co. Dublin), Anna Mary, daughter of Maj. John Graham Sadler of Hymenstown (Co. Tipperary), and had issue one son and two daughters; died of pneumonia, 19 April 1885.

To replace Willbrook, he purchased a long lease of the Templecarrig estate, Bray (Co. Wicklow) from Edward Massey (1796-1861), and built a new house which he named Belvidere Hall.

He died 2 November 1887 and was buried at Delgany (Co. Wicklow); his will was proved 24 February 1888 (effects £1,188). His wife died 13 January 1871 and was buried at Dean's Grange Cemetery, Blackrock (Co. Dublin); administration of her goods was granted 6 April 1871 (effects under £450).

Battley, Lt-Col. D'Oyly Cade (1841-1924). Elder son of Maj. D'Oyly William Battley (1808-87) and his wife Margaret, daughter of William Edie of Thornhill (Co. Tyrone), born 1841. An officer in the Royal Elthorne or 5th Middlesex Light Infantry Militia* (later the 3rd Battalion, Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) (Lt., 1860; Capt., 1865; Hon. Maj., 1877; Maj., 1884; Hon. Lt-Col., 1884; retired c.1890). JP for Cos. Cork, Wicklow and Dublin and DL for Co. Wicklow; High Sheriff of Co. Wicklow, 1889 and Co. Dublin, 1911. He married, 25 February 1868 at St George, Dublin, Annie Cecilia (1848-1918), daughter of William Henry Jackson, solicitor, of Dublin, Killarney House, Bray (Co. Wicklow) and Inane (Co. Tipperary), and had issue:

(1) Louisa Cecilia Battley (1868-1945) (q.v.);
(2) Lt-Col. William D'Oyly Battley (1870-1916), born 10 December 1870; an officer in the Dublin City Artillery (2nd Lt., 1891; Lt., 1892; Capt., 1900; Maj., 1903; Hon. Lt-Col.; retired c.1909), who served in the Boer War, 1899-1902; died unmarried, 11 September 1916 and was buried at Delgany;
(3) Rochfort Cade Battley (1873-1925), born 23 March 1873; apparently emigrated first to Canada and later to Australia; died, probably unmarried, 2 July 1925 and was buried at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, New South Wales (Australia);
(4) Mabel Margaretta Annie Battley (1876-85), born 1 April 1876; died young, 28 October 1885 and was buried at Delgany (Co. Wicklow);
(5) Evelyn Charlotte Maud Battley (1887-1944), born 27 July 1887; died unmarried, 15 June 1944 and was buried at Delgany.

He inherited Belvidere Hall from his father in 1887.

He died 26 September 1924 and was buried at Delgany, where he and his family are commemorated by a monument in the churchyard. His wife died 27 February 1918 and was buried at Delgany.

* For reasons which are obscure, he appears in the earlier militia lists as D'Oyley William Battley.

Battley, Louisa Cecilia (1868-1945). Eldest daughter of Lt-Col. D'Oyly Cade Battley (1841-1924) and his wife Annie Cecilia, daughter of William Henry Jackson of Inane (Co. Tipperary), born 19 November 1868. She married, 13 August 1903 at St Patrick, Greystones (Co. Wicklow), Maj. Charles Gavin Pilkington Wilson (1874-1934), solicitor and freemason (who took the name Charles Wilson Battley between 1912 and 1926), eldest son of John Wilson of Rooske, Dunboyne (Co. Meath), and had issue:

(1) John Charles D'Oyly Wilson (later Battley) (1904-62) (q.v.);
(2) Muriel Haidee Westropp Wilson (later Battley) (1907-74), born 19 June 1907; married, October 1937, as his second wife, George O'Callaghan (later O'Callaghan-Westropp) (1864-1944), The O'Callaghan, son of Col. John O'Callaghan, but had no issue; died 10 April 1974.

She inherited Belvidere Hall from her father in 1924.

She died 5 January 1945; her will was proved 14 June 1945 (estate in England & Wales £17,229). Her husband died 26 October 1934; his will was proved 17 January 1935 (estate £4,424).

Wilson (later Battley), John Charles D'Oyly (1904-62). Son of Maj. Charles Gavin Pilkington Wilson and his wife Louisa Cecilia, eldest daughter of Lt-Col. D'Oyly Cade Battley, born 12 October 1904. Took the name Battley in lieu of Wilson between 1912 and 1926. Educated at a Dublin university (BA; LLD) and Kings Inns (called 1926). Barrister-at-law and solicitor (admitted 1932); senior partner of Moore, Kiely and Lloyd of Dublin (retired 1959). He married, 27 March 1940 at Donnybrook (Co. Dublin), Bertha Charlotte Helena (1906-61), daughter of Dr. Hugh Gerald Westropp MD, but had no issue.

He inherited Belvidere Hall from his mother in 1945, but sold the lease in 1949.

He died 25 January 1962; his will was proved 6 June 1962 (estate £13,374). His wife died 10 June 1961; her will was proved 26 October 1961 (estate £1,186).