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| Beckwith of Thurcroft etc. |
The Beckwiths were an extensive clan of gentry families in Yorkshire, with many different branches over several centuries. This account only attempts to tell the story of those branches which became the owners of country houses. The stem of the family can be traced back with some confidence to William Beckwith, who in 1364 was seized of the manor of Beckwith with Beckwithside, south-west of Harrogate (Yorks WR), but family tradition urges a descent from the Malbisse or Malbie family, who were lords of Cawton in the 13th century. William's son, Thomas Beckwith (fl. 1381) was the first to establish himself at Clint (Yorks WR), four miles north-west of Harrogate, as well as holding Beckwith and two manors in the North Riding. Clint became the family's principal seat and descended through successive generations to Marmaduke Beckwith (fl. 1597), with whom the genealogy below begins. He sold his lands at Clint and purchased property at Ackton (alias Aikton or Acton) and Featherstone, near Pontefract (Yorks WR). The family's house at Clint was presumably Clint Hall, of which only a tiny and unspeaking fragment remains today.
Marmaduke Beckwith's eldest son, Thomas Beckwith (fl. 1612) inherited Ackton and it descended through several generations of his descendants before the line became extinct. His second son, William Beckwith (d. 1634) inherited property at Dacre (Yorks WR), further up Nidderdale from Clint, and was the ancestor of another stem of the clan, who later settled in Kirby Malzeard and Masham. Marmaduke's third son was Roger Beckwith (c.1560?-1635), who purchased the Aldburgh Hall estate at Burton-on-Ure near Masham in 1597, and may have built the two-storey house there which was recorded by Samuel Buck in 1719.
Roger Beckwith married twice. By his first wife he had one son and two daughters, the son being Thomas Beckwith (d. c.1652) of Beverley, who seems to have been a man with a hasty temper. Although most of his family were Puritans and supported the Parliamentary faction in the Civil War, Thomas was a Royalist and a Roman Catholic, and during the siege of Hull he attempted unsuccessfully to bribe an officer in the Parliamentary garrison to betray the city and admit the King's army. As a result his property was seized and eventually sold by order of Parliament. Roger Beckwith's second marriage produced five sons and three daughters. The eldest surviving son was Arthur Beckwith (c.1615-42), who inherited his father's Aldburgh Hall estate. He was a Protestant and a captain in the Parliamentarian army and was killed in action in 1642. His wife Mary, however, was a Catholic, and after her husband's death she seems to have tried to give her children a Catholic upbringing. Arthur's relatives objected, and petitioned Parliament, with the result that his sister Susanna, her husband, John Anlaby, and her brother-in-law, John Odingsells, were appointed guardians of Arthur's children in 1647. By 1650, however, Mary seems to have recovered custody of her children, and was accused of planning to take them abroad, with the result that the Council of State ordered their return to their legal guardians. Mary died the following year, but at least the younger son, later Sir Roger Beckwith (c.1640-1700), 1st bt., adhered to the Catholic faith. He came of age in about 1661, and was a JP and deputy lieutenant for Yorkshire under James II, when the Catholic gentry had a brief return to positions of authority in the shires. He acquired a house in Ripon (Yorks WR), where he shot himself, for reasons that are unclear, in December 1700. His eldest son, Arthur Beckwith (1673-1700?) had gone abroad and died shortly before his father, so Aldburgh descended to his second son, Sir Roger Beckwith (1682-1743), 2nd bt., who stood for parliament in the Ripon constituency in 1708, but was unable to defeat the interest of John Aislabie (1670-1742) of Studley Royal, one of the sitting MPs. In 1743, Sir Roger Beckwith committed suicide, as his father had done. He left no surviving issue, his wife and all of his children having predeceased him, and Aldburgh passed to his young granddaughter, Mary Thompson, whose trustees sold it soon afterwards. His baronetcy passed to a younger brother, Sir Marmaduke Beckwith (1688-1780?), 3rd bt., who had emigrated to Richmond, Virginia (USA).
Arthur Beckwith (d. 1642) had two younger brothers, who must also concern us. Matthew Beckwith (1616-79), like his elder brother, was a captain in the Parliamentary army, and had lands at West Tanfield and Sleningford, either side of the boundary between the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, although it is not clear where he actually lived. His lands passed at his death to his eldest son, John Beckwith (1653-88), and then when John died without surviving issue, to his second son, William Beckwith (1664-1713). Matthew's younger brother, William Beckwith (1624-78), married Margaret Mirfield (née Ellis), who had inherited Thurcroft Hall at Laughton-en-le-Morthern from her first husband, who was the last of his line and died without issue. William and Margaret also had no children, so on William's death Thurcroft passed to his nephew, William Beckwith (1664-1713), who built the present house in 1699. William had an exceptionally large family of sixteen children, although only nine of them survived to adulthood, but his property was all passed to his eldest son, William Beckwith (1686-1760), while the younger sons all had to pursue careers. The younger William also married an heiress, Elizabeth Woodifield, who brought him the Trimdon House estate in County Durham. He was succeeded in both properties by his eldest surviving son, Woodifield Beckwith (1719-79), who was a bachelor for most of his life and married only in 1771. His son, born the following year, was William Beckwith (1772-1847), who came of age in 1793 after a long minority. In 1795 he purchased Herrington Hall near Sunderland, and rebuilt it, but in later years he seem to have been short of money, and his Thurcroft and Trimdon properties were both eventually let, while Herrington Hall was sold in the 1830s; at the time of his death he was renting Yetholm Hall in the Scottish borders.
William's heir was his eldest surviving son, General William Beckwith (1795-1871), whose active military career - most notable for his role in suppressing the Bristol Riots in 1831 - occupied him until his retirement in the 1830s. In 1831 he married Priscilla Maria Hopper, a Roman Catholic convert, who brought him Silksworth House (Co. Durham), which the couple made their home. In 1847 he succeeded his father in the Thurcroft and Trimdon properties, but he sold Thurcroft in 1863, severing the family's historic links with Yorkshire. Trimdon House continued to be let, and the associated land was no doubt managed as part of the Silksworth estate, which was not far away. The development of mining interests made the estate a valuable asset in the later 19th century. The General and his wife had no children, and bequeathed their property to the General's brother, John Beckwith (1803-91), a sportsman who spent his early life in India, returning to England only after the firm he was working for collapsed with massive debts. He was unmarried, so when he died the Silksworth and Trimdon estate passed to his nephew, Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927). Henry had been brought up in Shropshire, where his father was rector of Eaton Constantine for fifty-six years, and he had no particular ties to the north-east of England. The profits of his northern estates enabled him to buy Millichope Park (Shropshire) in 1896, an estate which had been on the market for some ten years, and was perhaps obtained at a keen price as a result.
In the early 20th century, Henry fell out with his only son, William Malbisse Beckwith (1877-1952) over the latter's debts. He seems, in effect, to have blackmailed his son into agreeing to break the entail on the estate, which enabled him to bequeath it to his daughter rather than his son. His daughter Kathleen (1878-1932) married a water engineer called Lindsay Edward Bury (1882-1952), who spent much of his career in the Middle East, but on Henry's death they took up residence at Millichope. Their son, Francis James Lindsay Bury (1910-44), was a promising musician and composer, but was killed in the Second World War while serving as a commando. He sold the Silksworth and Trimdon estates in County Durham, and left Millichope to his son and daughter. The house was tenanted during and after the Second World War, latterly as a County Council residential school, but soon after Lindsay Claude Neils Bury (b. 1939) came of age in 1960 the Council gave up the tenancy. Lindsay Bury, who started as a merchant banker but became a successful businessman and entrepreneur, determined to live in the house if at all possible, and over the next ten years he succeeded in buying out his sister's interest in the property, and undertaking a radical remodelling which saw the abandonment of the basement level of the house and the restoration of the remainder. In 2014 he handed Millichope over to his son, Frank Bury (b. 1970) and his wife Antonia, who have undertaken further very successful work to update the house and provide a new entrance hall.
Aldburgh Hall, Burton-on-Ure, Yorkshire (NR)
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| Aldburgh Hall: sketch of the south front by Samuel Buck, 1719. Image: British Library. |
The estate was a property of Fountains Abbey (Yorks WR) until the dissolution of the monasteries, and was acquired by Roger Beckwith in 1597. He may have built the house depicted in 1719 by Samuel Buck, who shows a two-storey building with a five bay centre and projecting two-bay wings, and a further service wing to the west.
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| Aldburgh Hall: engraving of the Georgian house in the mid 19th century, before the remodelling of 1864. |
The present house would seem to have been built after the Beckwiths sold it in 1743, and a mid 19th century engraving shows an irregular classical house, with a three bay main block, a gabled wing to one side, and a service range to the rear. This is quite hard to reconcile with the present house, which was again remodelled after 1864, which has an ashlar front of five bays between two bay projecting wings, and looks much more like a reworking of the house depicted by Buck!
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| Aldburgh Hall: the house in the early 20th century. Image: Charles Hind Postcard Collection. |
The relatively low proportions of the present house, and the fact that the side and rear walls are of rendered rubble stone, make it likely that the Beckwiths' house, or part of it, still lies at the core of the present building. The central six-panel door with a fanlight over is set in a Doric stone doorcase. The outer bays have tripartite sashes on the ground floor. Inside, there is an early 18th century staircase with bulb and umbrella balusters.
Descent: Crown granted 1540 to Sir Richard Gresham; to grandson, William Gresham (fl. 1585), who sold 1597 to Roger Beckwith (c.1560-1635); to son, Arthur Beckwith (c.1615-42); to son, Sir Roger Beckwith (c.1640-1700), 1st bt.; to son, Sir Roger Beckwith (1682-1743), 2nd bt.; to granddaughter, Mary Thompson (1734-56), whose trustees sold it to John Hutton of Marske Hall (1691-1768); to son, James Hutton (1739-98); to son, James Henry d'Arcy Hutton (1796-1864); to cousin, John Timothy D'Arcy Hutton (1822-74); to son, John Timothy d'Arcy Hutton (1847-1931); to nephew who sold it to Col. Charles Israel Clapham Rishworth (1874-1957); sold 1958... John Gibson (b. 1935)
Thurcroft Hall, Laughton-en-le-Morthern, Yorkshire (WR)
The house was built in 1699 for William Beckwith as a seven by three bay house of two storeys with dormers, but was remodelled in the later 18th century with an extra half-storey replacing the dormers and new fenestration. Externally at least, it has been little changed since, apart from the loss of glazing bars in the 19th century, happily since replaced.
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Thurcroft Hall: sketch of the house by Samuel Buck, 1719, showing that it was originally of two storeys with dormers in a high hipped roof.
Image: British Library. |
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| Thurcroft Hall: the house in the early 20th century, from an old postcard. This view shows the house with plate glass windows. |
The entrance front is now a plain stuccoed elevation with raised quoins and a first-floor plat band. In the centre is a bolection moulded doorway with a segmental pediment which rises into the architrave of the window above. The sill of the first-floor window has a carved motto and the date is carved on the pilasters of the doorcase. The house has a rear wing on the right side. Inside there is a cantilevered stone staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade and the rear room on the left has rich plasterwork depicting scenes from Aesop's fables. The front room on the right also has rich Rococo plasterwork and a domed niche in one wall. In the grounds there is a charming 18th century garden house with a pedimented ashlar front and an arched doorway flanked by semi-domed niches.
Descent: Robert Mirfield; to widow and step-sister Margaret (d. 1676), who later married William Beckwith (c.1620-78); to nephew, William Beckwith (1664-1713), who rebuilt the house in 1699; to son, William Beckwith (1686-1760); to son, Woodfield Beckwith (1719-79), who probably remodelled the house; to son, William Beckwith (1772-1847); to son, Gen. William Beckwith (1795-1871), who sold it in 1863 to Thomas Marrian (1805-83), a Sheffield brewer; to son, Thomas Marrian (1848-1921), who let it c.1913 to United Steel Companies Ltd; sold 1936... sold 1951... sold by 1985 to Massarella Catering Group
Trimdon House, Fishburn, Co. Durham
A two storey, five bay late Georgian house with a low hipped roof and a service wing at the rear. It was intact in 1910, although apparently in poor condition, but since then the service wing has been demolished and the house appears to have been reduced in height to a single storey. The house seems to have been let from 1835 onwards, and was for some years used as a school and later as an annexe to the County Lunatic Asylum at Sedgefield.
Descent: John Woodifield to daughter Elizabeth (d. 1767), wife of William Beckwith (1686-1760); to son, Woodifield Beckwith (1719-79); to son, William Beckwith (1772-1847); to son, Gen. William Beckwith (1795-1871); to brother, John Beckwith (1803-91); to nephew, Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927); to daughter, Kathleen Frances Malbisse (1878-1932), wife of Lindsay Edward Bury (1882-1952); to son, Francis James Lindsay Bury (1910-44), who sold...
Herrington Hall, Sunderland, Co. Durham
The house stood on the south side of the village street at Middle Herrington, and replaced an earlier building, the cellars of which survived the rebuilding and are said to have been dated 1570. The new house is thought to have been built for William Beckwith (1772-1847) in about 1795, soon after he purchased the property from the Robinson family.
It was a two-storey building with a low pitched roof, originally of four bays by two, with entrances on the street side and the end elevation. A three bay service wing projected to the west. At some point in the 19th century, two rather square two-storey canted bays were added to the south (garden) front; these were originally single-storey but were later raised to light both floors. After the estate was sold to the Earls of Durham it was consistently let, and the last private occupant was Harry Bell, a local builder. In 1947 the house was bought by the Miners Welfare Commission for use as a rehabilitation centre, but this never opened, and in 1957 the house was demolished by the National Coal Board.
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| Herrington Hall: the derelict house prior to or during demolition in 1957. |
Descent: Ralph Robinson; sold 1795 to William Beckwith (1772-1847); sold to John George Lambton (1792-1840), 1st Baron and later 1st Earl of Durham; to George Frederick d'Arcy Lambton (1828-79), 2nd Earl of Durham; to son, John George Lambton (1855-1928), 3rd Earl of Durham; to brother, Frederick William Lambton (1855-1929), 4th Earl of Durham; to son, John Frederick Lambton (1884-1970), 5th Earl of Durham, who sold 1947 to Miners Welfare Commission; transferred 1952 to National Coal Board, which demolished it in 1957.
Silksworth House, Co. Durham
A large house in a restrainedly classical style, that faced south-west across a serpentine lake and parkland (now largely built over). It was built about 1775-80, for William Johnson (d. 1792), who bequeathed it to a friend, Hendry Hopper (d. 1813). Hopper in turn left it to his nephew, Thomas (d. c.1830), whose daughter carried it to General William Beckwith on their marriage in 1831. Beckwith made his home at Silksworth and sold Herrington Hall.
After 1902 a full-length conservatory was added to the north-east side of the house, with a large tripartite stone porch in front of it in a much wilder Italian Mannerist style. The porch had round-arched openings, block rustication on the Tuscan half-columns, and a lavishly carved tympanum, recalling the York Water Gate in London. Inside the conservatory was a Pulhamite grotto with cavities and cusped bowls interspersed with stalagmites and stalactites, alas now badly damaged by arson. The house and grounds were given to Sunderland Borough Council in 1964, and after the death of the donor in 1968 it was renamed Doxford House. The surviving part of the park and the former walled garden of c.1780 were adopted as a public park, while the house became student accommodation for Sunderland Polytechnic (later University). After the university vacated the house it became a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts, but when this closed in about 2006, it slipped into dereliction and suffered from at least two arson attacks. Schemes to convert the house in an hotel or apartments came to nothing, but from 2013 the main building was restored as a private house and the later structures to its north were demolished.
Descent: built c.1775-80 for William Johnson (d. 1792); to friend, Hendry Hopper (1758-1813); to nephew, Thomas Hopper (d. 1830??); to daughter, Priscilla Maria Hopper (1806-77), wife of Gen. William Beckwith (1795-1871); to nephew, Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927); to daughter, Kathleen Francis Malbisse Beckwith (1878-1932), wife of Lindsay Edward Bury (1882-1952), who sold 1935 to Aline Doxford (d. 1968), whose father had been the tenant since 1902; given 1964 to Sunderland Borough Council; sold c.2012.
Millichope Park, Shropshire
The Millichope estate was acquired in 1544 by Robert More and held by his descendants until the early 19th century. He was probably responsible for building the semi-timbered house depicted in two early 19th century views soon afterwards. They show a close-studded, three-storey gabled building, with an entrance under the middle gable, and two great stacks of chimneys rising behind the main ridge of the roof.
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Millichope Park: an early 19th century watercolour of the Elizabethan house by R.H. Cheney. Image: Guy Peppiatt Fine Art.
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Millichope Park: the semi-timbered Elizabethan house, drawn by Mrs Stackhouse Acton in the 1840s.
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The estate descended to Thomas More (d. 1767), who began remodelling the landscape around the old timbered mansion in the mid 18th century. He lost three of his sons (in 1744, 1762 and 1766) during his lifetime and his garden works bore a memorial character. One of the sons, Maj. John More, left his father a legacy of £500 for 'improving and enlarging the Rock Garden opposite to the Park of Millichope Hall' and a further £500 to erect a monument to himself in the Rock Garden and 'to complete the Chinese (and water) works'.
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Millichope Park: the landscape garden commenced by Thomas More in the mid 18th century, with the Ionic rotunda of 1770, containing a memorial
to the sons who predeceased him. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved. |
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Millichope Park: the domed Ionic rotunda containing a monument to John and Leighton More, which can be glimpsed in the interior.
Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved. |
Major More and his brother Leighton More RN are commemorated by a statue of a winged putto with a globe, now set in the cella of a domed Ionic rotunda built in 1770 to the designs of George Steuart for Thomas More's two surviving daughters and co-heiresses. One of the daughters, Catherine, was married to Robert More of Linley Hall (Shrops.), a friend of the 3rd Duke of Atholl, who was George Steuart's chief patron, and it was probably this connection which caused his employment at Millichope (the first of several commissions in Shropshire).
Robert and Catherine More had no children, so on her death in 1792 the estate was left to a cousin, Robert Pemberton (d. 1794) of Wrockwardine, a solicitor and land agent. In 1832 it was inherited by his grandson, the Rev. Robert Norgrave Pemberton (d. 1848), a man inspired by architecture and landscape. Pemberton was rector of nearby Church Stretton from 1818, where he had a handsome rectory altered for his predecessor by Edward Haycock. It is therefore no surprise that when Pemberton inherited Millichope and decided to rebuild the house, it was Haycock whom he chose as his architect. The gardens of the earlier house were in part retained to provide the setting for the new house, with a deep rocky cutting being blasted out to the rock to form a new 'sublime' approach. The house itself was designed to be an element in the Picturesque landscape, and the south-west facing front, with its giant Ionic portico, provides an architectural backdrop to ever-changing views from the circuit of the gardens.
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Millichope Park: the entrance front as built in the 1830s. Image: Shropshire Star.
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| Millichope Park: the central atrium hall as first built, showing the steps rising from the entrance in the basement to the piano nobile. |
The main entrance to the house was originally below the portico, where the terrace wall was broken by a deep recess framed by two stumpy unfluted Greek Doric columns, recalling Ledoux's Hotel Thellusson in Paris. This entrance led into low-ceilinged entrance hall from which a staircase rose dramatically to a lofty top-lit central hall on the piano nobile. Here an imperial staircase, set on axis with the entrance stairs, led up to a first floor gallery which was both screened by and supported on wooden Ionic columns. Haycock may have got the idea for this really dramatic sequence of spaces from Thomas Hopper, with whom he was working at Margam Castle (Glamorganshire) at the time: Hopper had contrived a similar sequence at Long Melford Hall (Suffolk) in 1813. The central hall provided access to the main rooms of the house: the library, music room, drawing room and dining room.
When the Rev. R.N. Pemberton died childless in 1848, he left the estate to a distant kinsman, Charles Orlando Childe (1812-83), the second son of W.L. Childe of Kinlet Hall (Shropshire), who took the name Pemberton. His son, Charles Baldwyn Childe, reverted to his original surname on inheriting Kinlet in 1881. Childe preferred Kinlet to Millichope, and was trying to sell the latter by 1886, although he did not find a buyer until 1896, when it was sold with 3,000 acres to Capt. Henry John Beckwith from County Durham. He added another 1,000 acres to the estate and made some alterations to the service wing, but did not alter the main house. The Burys lived at Millichope until the Second World War, when it was taken over by a convent school from Westgate-on-Sea. After they left in 1945 it was occupied briefly by Benedictine monks from Prinknash (Glos) before becoming a Shropshire County Council boarding school, which occupied the house until 1962.
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Millichope Park: the entrance front as altered in 1968-70. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.
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Millichope Park: the central atrium hall as it is today. Image: Curt di Camillo.
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The school's departure coincided closely with the coming of age of Lindsay Bury, the grandson of the pre-war owners. He decided to occupy the house, which had then stood empty for several years. He appointed Nicholas Johnston as his architect and various schemes (including complete demolition and replacement) were considered. In the end a radical scheme of refurbishment was devised and executed in 1968-70. This resulted in the closure of Millichope's original basement entrance and the banking up of earth to conceal the basement. Internally, the lower stairs were blocked off, and a new smaller dining room was created with an adjoining kitchen. A new entrance was made in the side elevation of the house, and the service wing was partly demolished. Sadly Haycock's stable block was also demolished at the same time. The interior of the house was redecorated by David Mlinaric, and a huge glass chandelier was made for the central hall by Hew Kennedy of Acton Round. In 2014 Lindsay Bury and his wife Sarah handed the house over to their son and daughter-in-law, Frank and Antonia Bury, who began a further scheme of works. This has resulted in the removal of a row of 1970s garages on the site of the demolished service wing and their replacement by a handsome Tuscan Doric colonnade. The earth against the walls of the basement having proved to make the house damp, much of it was removed, and part of the basement has been brought back into use, and a new secondary cantilevered stone staircase was created in the north-west corner of the house to provide a new connection between the basement and the piano nobile. The subdivision of the dining room has also been reversed, and the room has now become a family kitchen. These changes have very successfully given the house a new vitality, whilst in the gardens the walled garden is once again in use as a nursery and its 19th century glasshouses have been restored.
Descent: sold 1544 to Robert More... Charles More (d. 1646); to son, Thomas More (d. 1689); to son, Henry More (also d. 1689); to son, Thomas More (d. 1767); to daughters Catherine (d. 1792), wife of Robert More of Linley Hall (Shrops.) and Margaret, wife of Col. Dudley Ackland, who agreed a division of the estates in 1777 which secured Millichope to Catherine; to cousin, Robert Pemberton (d. 1794); to son, Thomas Pemberton (d. 1832); to nephew, Rev. Robert Norgrave Pemberton (d. 1848); to kinsman, Charles Orlando Childe (later Pemberton) (1812-83); to son, Charles Baldwyn Pemberton (later Childe), who sold 1896 to Capt. Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927); to daughter, Kathleen Frances Malbisse (1878-1932), wife of Lindsay Edward Bury (1882-1952); to son, Francis James Lindsay Bury (1910-44); to daughter, Sara Frances Bury (b. 1941) and son, Lindsay Claude Neils Bury (b. 1939), who bought out his sister and handed the estate over in 2014 to his son, Frank Simon Bury (b. 1970).
Beckwith family of Aldburgh Hall
Beckwith, Marmaduke (fl. 1597). Second son of Robert Beckwith of Dacre near Ripley (Yorks WR) and his wife. He married 1st, Anne, daughter of Robert Dynely of Bramhope near Otley (Yorks WR) and 2nd, Ellen, widow of William Style of Hadockson (Yorks), and had issue:
(1.1) Thomas Beckwith (fl. 1612); inherited Ackton from his father; married Frances (d. 1602), daughter and heir of William Frost of Ackton, and had issue, from whom descended the Beckwiths of Ackton;
(1.2) William Beckwith (d. 1634); inherited Dacre Pasture from his father; married and had issue one son, ancestor of the Beckwiths of Kirby Malzeard, Bueerley, Lamb Hall, High Burton and Masham (all Yorks WR);
(1.3) Roger Beckwith (c.1560-1634) (q.v.);
(1.4) Simon Beckwith, of Pontefract; married, 30 December 1584 at Featherstone (Yorks WR), Catherine Austwick of Pontefract;
(1.5) Jane Beckwith; very doubtful and more probably a daughter of Thomas above; married, 6 August 1635, Capt. John Thorp of Danthorpe (Yorks), a cavalry officer;
(1.6) Barbara Beckwith; married Matthew Lockwood of Sowerby (Yorks NR);
(1.7) Dorothy Beckwith; probably died unmarried;
(1.8) Grace Beckwith; married John Nesfield of Flasby-in-Craven (Yorks WR);
(1.9) Catharine Beckwith; married Henry Pudsey of Barford (Yorks)
(1.10) Anne Beckwith; probably died unmarried;
(1.11) Alice Beckwith; married 1st, 27 November 1581 at Featherstone, Robert Banister, and perhaps 2nd, James Smith of Ripon.
He inherited his father's lands in Clint (Yorks WR) which had been in the family since at least the 14th century, and sold them in 1597, purchasing instead Ackton and the manor of Featherstone near Pontefract (Yorks WR).
His date of death is unknown. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife's date of death is unknown.
Beckwith, Roger (c.1560?-1635). Third son of Marmaduke Beckwith (fl. 1597) and his first wife, Anne, daughter of Robert Dynely of Bramhope near Otley (Yorks WR), perhaps born about 1560. He married 1st, 22 June 1578 at Featherstone (Yorks WR), Dorothy Currier of Leeds (Yorks WR) and 2nd, probably about 1612, Susanna (c.1588-1670), daughter of Richard Brackenbury of Sellaby and Dinton (Co. Durham), and had issue:
(1.1) Thomas Beckwith (d. c.1652), of Beverley (Yorks ER), a Roman Catholic and a Royalist in the Civil War, who attempted to bribe an officer in the parliamentary garrison of Hull to betray the city and admit the king's army; his estate was sequestered by Parliament and in 1651 part of it was ordered to be sold to the tenant, John Nelthorpe; married and had issue eight children, including one son and four daughters; died September 1652;
(1.2) Catherine Beckwith; married Thomas Norton of Elveston and Langthorne (Yorks NR), and had issue at least one daughter;
(1.3) Anne Beckwith (fl. 1666); married, 1595 at Scruton (Yorks), John Robinson (d. 1654) of Bolton-upon-Swale (Yorks), and had issue one daughter;
(2.1) Marmaduke Beckwith (1613-20), baptised 9 May 1613; died young and was buried at Masham, 30 January 1619/20;
(2.2) Susanna Beckwith (1614-61), baptised 16 May 1614; married Lt-Col. John Anlaby MP (1592-1661), of Anlaby and Etton (both Yorks ER), son of Thomas Anlaby, and had issue at least one son; died 10 September 1661 and was buried at Etton;
(2.3) Arthur Beckwith (c.1615-42) (q.v.);
(2.4) Matthew Beckwith (1616-79) [for whom see below, under Beckwith family of Thurcroft Hall etc.];
(2.5) Judith Beckwith (b. 1619), baptised 7 May 1619; married, 18 December 1635 at St Helen, York, Dr. William Parker MD (fl. 1660), of London and St Peter in Thanet (Kent), and had issue; death not traced;
(2.6) Hester Beckwith (b. 1620), baptised 20 September 1620; married John Odingsells (b. c.1616; fl. 1647), son of John Odingsells of Epperstone (Notts);
(2.7) Marmaduke Beckwith (b. 1622), baptised at Masham, 11 August 1622; probably died young;
(2.8) William Beckwith (1624-78) [for whom see below, under Beckwith family of Thurcroft Hall etc.].
He purchased the Aldburgh Hall estate near Masham (Yorks NR) in 1597.
He was buried at Masham, 19 January 1634/5, where he is commemorated by a monument; an inquisition post mortem was held in 1636/7. His first wife died before 1612. His widow died 28 October 1670 and was buried at Skelborough (Yorks WR).
Beckwith, Arthur (1615-42). Eldest son of Roger Beckwith (c.1560-1635) and his second wife, Susanna, daughter of Richard Brackenbury of Sellaby and Dinton (Co. Durham), baptised at Masham, 16 August 1615. A Protestant and a Captain in the Parliamentarian army, who was killed in action, 1642. In 1647 Parliament appointed his sister Susanna, her husband John Anlaby MP, and brother-in-law, John Odingsells, to be guardians of his children (as their mother was a papist and was bringing them up in that religion), but their mother evidently regained possession of them, for in 1650 the Council of State was informed that she intended to take them abroad, and ordered that they be returned to the custody of the legal guardians, and that Mary Beckwith should be brought before Parliament to answer charges of contempt; no further proceedings have been found and the matter was presumably terminated by her death in August 1651. He married, c.1634, Mary (d. 1651), a Roman Catholic, eldest daughter of Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, 2nd bt., of Constable Burton (Yorks NR), and had issue:
(1) Mary Beckwith (b. 1636), baptised at Masham, 27 December 1636; said to have died unmarried but death not traced;
(2) Marmaduke Beckwith (b. 1637), baptised at Masham, 21 January 1637/8; living in 1652, but death not traced
(3) Isabel Beckwith (b. 1639), baptised at Masham, 26 August 1639; said to have died unmarried but death not traced;
(4) Sir Roger Beckwith (c.1640-1700), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(5) Susan Beckwith (b. c.1642?), perhaps born about 1642; said to have died unmarried, but death not traced.
He inherited the Aldburgh Hall estate from his father in 1634. His widow's jointure (lands at Walburn and Northcoate) was sequestered as she was a Catholic.
He was killed in the Civil War 'in the service of his country' in 1642*, and was buried at Masham (Yorks WR), where he was commemorated by a monument. His widow died in autumn 1651 and was buried at St Clement Danes, London, 24 August 1651**.
* Thus on his monument at Masham, but some accounts say he was killed at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644.
** The monument to the family in Masham church says that she died in 1646, but entries in the Calendar of State Papers Domestic make it clear this was not the case.
Beckwith, Sir Roger (c.1640-1700), 1st bt. Second, but only surviving, son of Arthur Beckwith (c.1615-42) and his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, 2nd bt., of Constable Burton (Yorks NR), born about 1640. Brought up as a Roman Catholic, and was perhaps educated abroad. He was created a baronet by King Charles II, 15 April 1681. JP for Yorkshire and DL for North Riding of Yorkshire, 1685-88; charged with contempt of Parliament, 1679, but released without penalty. He married 1st, Elizabeth (d. 1673), daughter of Sir Christopher Clapham, kt., of Beamsley near Skipton (Yorks WR) and Uffington (Lincs), and 2nd, 7 April 1681 at Ripon, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edmund Jennings, kt., of Ripon (Yorks WR), and had issue:
(1.1) Arthur Beckwith (1673-1700?), baptised at Masham, 18 November 1673; said to have died overseas in 1700, shortly before his father;
(2.1) Sir Roger Beckwith (1682-1743), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(2.2) Sir Marmaduke Beckwith (1688-1780?), 3rd bt., born January 1687/8; a merchant in Virginia (USA), who is said to have imported race horses from Britain in partnership with George Washington (1732-99), though this may be a confusion with his son of the same name; Clerk of the Peace of Richmond County, Virginia, 1708-48; succeeded his elder brother as 3rd baronet, May 1743; married, by 1719, Elizabeth Brokenbrough, and had issue three sons and three daughters; said to have died in 1780, but this too may be a confusion with his younger son of the same name.
He inherited the Aldburgh Hall estate from his father in 1642, and came of age about 1661.
He committed suicide, 6 December 1700, and was buried at Ripon (Yorks WR); his will was proved 28 February 1700/1. His first wife died following childbirth and was buried at Masham, 1 December 1673, where she is commemorated by a monument. His widow died about 1711 and was also buried at Ripon; her will was proved in 1711.
Beckwith, Sir Roger (1682-1743), 2nd bt. Elder son of Sir Roger Beckwith (c.1640-1700), 1st bt., and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edmund Jenings, kt., of Ripon (Yorks WR), born 13 June and baptised at Masham (Yorks WR), 26 June 1682. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 6 December 1700. High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1706-07. He stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Ripon in the Parliamentary election of 1708. He married, 10 October 1705 at Chapel Allerton, Leeds (Yorks WR), Jane (1686-1713), daughter and heir of Benjamin Waddington of Allerton Gledhow (Yorks WR), and had issue:
(1) Roger Beckwith (d. 1707); died in infancy and was buried at Masham, 23 January 1706/7;
(2) Edward Beckwith (d. 1710); died in infancy and was buried at Masham, 26 January 1709/10;
(3) Jane Beckwith (1707-39) (q.v.);
(4) Mary Beckwith (1708-10), baptised at Masham, 10 November 1708; died in infancy and was buried at Masham, 17 March 1709/10.
He purchased St Agnes Lodge, Ripon in 1698 but sold it to John Aislabie of Studley Royal in 1709. He inherited the Aldburgh Hall estate from his father in 1700.
He committed suicide by shooting himself, and was buried at Masham, 18 May 1743. As he died without surviving male issue his baronetcy passed to his brother, Sir Marmaduke Beckwith (1687-1780), 3rd bt.. His wife died in December 1713 and was buried at Masham.
Beckwith, Jane (1707-39). Only surviving child of Sir Roger Beckwith (1682-1743), 2nd bt., and his wife Jane, daughter and heir of Benjamin Waddington of Allerton Gledhow, baptised at Ripon Minster, 24 August 1707. She married Beilby Thompson (c.1686-1750) of Micklethwaite Grange (Yorks) and Escrick Park (Yorks ER), and had issue: (1) Aletheia Thompson (1732-35), baptised at Escrick (Yorks ER), 1 December 1732; died young and was buried at Escrick, 19 February 1735/6;
(2) Mary Thompson (1734-56), baptised at Escrick, 19 August 1734; inherited Aldburgh Hall from her maternal grandfather in 1743, but it was sold by her trustees; married, 6 June 1751 at Brafferton (Yorks NR), Peregrine Wentworth (c.1722-1809) of York, later Registrar of Deeds for the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1765-1809; she died in childbirth, 1 April, and was buried at Escrick, 3 April 1756;
(3) Charlotte Lucy Thompson (1737-40), baptised at Escrick, 10 September 1737; died young and was buried at Escrick, 14 September 1740.
She was buried at Escrick, 18 April 1739. Her husband married 2nd, 7 March 1741/2 at Wheldrake (Yorks ER), Sarah (1709-73), daughter of Richard Roundell of Hutton Wansley and widow of Sir D'Arcy Dawes (d. 1732), 4th bt., of Lyons, Bocking (Essex), and had further issue two sons (from whom descended the Thompson (later Lawley) family of Escrick) and one daughter; he died 27 July and was buried 30 July 1750 at Escrick, where he and his second wife are commemorated by a monument.
Beckwith family of Thurcroft Hall, Trimdon Hall, Herrington Hall and Silksworth House
Beckwith, William (1624-78). Third son of Roger Beckwith (c.1560-1635) and his second wife, Susanna, daughter of Richard Brackenbury of Sellaby and Dinton (Co. Durham), baptised at Masham, 10 February 1623/4. JP for West Riding of Yorkshire. He married, 12 September 1647 at St Cuthbert's, York, Margaret (d. 1676), daughter of Bernard Ellis, recorder of York, and widow (and step-sister) of Robert Mirfield of Thurcroft, but had no issue.
He acquired Thurcroft Hall in right of his wife, who had inherited it from her first husband. At his death it passed to his nephew, William Beckwith (1664-1713) (q.v.).
He was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 27 March 1678. His wife was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 5 October 1676.
Beckwith, Matthew (1616-79). Second son of Roger Beckwith (c.1560-1635) and his second wife, Susanna, daughter of Richard Brackenbury of Sellaby and Dinton (Co. Durham), baptised at Masham (Yorks WR), 24 August 1616. An officer in the Parliamentarian army (Capt., probably of dragoons, by December 1642), who served in Fairfax's northern army and was on the North Riding Committee of the Northern Association, 1645; he was also a Lt-Col. of militia, and was named as a militia commissioner for Yorkshire, 1659; JP for the North Riding of Yorkshire. He married, 3 May 1652 at Filey (Yorks), Elizabeth (d. 1674), daughter of Sir John Buck, kt., of Filey, and had issue*:
(1) John Beckwith (1653-88) (q.v.);
(2) Susanna Beckwith (1654-1723), baptised at St. Olave, York, 28 September 1654; married, 1681 at Sprotborough (Yorks WR), Nonus Parker (d. 1726) of Park Hill, and had issue three daughters; buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 24 September 1723;
(3) Matthew Beckwith (1656-57), baptised at West Tanfield, 18 October 1656; died in infancy and was buried at West Tanfield, 30 May 1657;
(4) Elizabeth Beckwith (1658-59), born 14 November 1658; died in infancy and was buried at West Tanfield, 22 November 1659;
(5) Mary Beckwith (1662-1722), baptised at Tanfield, 24 April 1662; married John Carvile of Bella Hall, Grimston (Yorks); died 1 September, and was buried at Kirby Wharfe (Yorks WR), 3 September 1722;
(6) William Beckwith (1664-1713) (q.v.).
He lived at Tanfield and Sleningford (Yorks WR).
He was buried at West Tanfield, 28/29 December 1679; his will was proved 2 December 1680. His wife was buried at West Tanfield, 1 September 1674.
*Foster's Yorkshire Pedigrees reports another daughter, Martha, who died in infancy, but I have found no record of her.
Beckwith, John (1653-88). Eldest son of Matthew Beckwith (1616-79) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Buck, kt., of Filey (Yorks ER), born 25 February and baptised at Filey, 14 March 1652/3. He married, 28 September 1675 at Wadworth (Yorks WR), Castiliana (d. 1700), daughter of Lionel Copley (d. 1673) of Wadworth, and had issue:
(1) Castiliana Beckwith (b. 1676), baptised at Wadworth, 21 October 1676; said to have died young;
(2) Roger Beckwith (b. 1678), baptised at West Tanfield, 7 January 1678/9; died in infancy;
(3) Elizabeth Beckwith (1683-89), baptised at West Tanfield, 8 September 1683; died young and was buried at Wadworth, 15 May 1689.
He inherited his father's lands at West Tanfield and Sleningford (Yorks WR). At his death they passed to his younger brother.
He was buried at West Tanfield, 15 August 1688. His widow married 2nd, 31 March 1692 at York Minster, Rev. Thomas Mauleverer (1646-1701), rector of Sprotborough (Yorks WR); she died 13 May, and was buried at Wadworth, 15 May 1700, where she was commemorated by a monument.
Beckwith, William (1664-1713). Third son of Matthew Beckwith (1616-79) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Buck, kt., of Filey (Yorks), born 22 November 1664 and baptised at West Tanfield (Yorks WR). He married, 25 November 1685 at Guisborough (Yorks NR), Mary (1658-1702), daughter of Sir Edward Chaloner, kt., of Guisborough (Yorks), and had issue (with six others who died in infancy and were apparently not baptised):
(1) William Beckwith (1686-1760) (q.v.);
(2) Edward Beckwith (c.1688-1763), born about 1688; Collector of Customs at Faversham (Kent), 1723-63; married 1st Mary [surname unknown] (c.1700-41) and 2nd Hannah [surname unknown], and had issue one son and one daughter; died 31 October 1763 and was buried at St Mary of Charity, Faversham, where he and his first wife are commemorated by monuments;
(3) Mary Beckwith (b. & d. 1689), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 22 August 1689; died young and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 26 September 1689;
(4) Elizabeth Beckwith (b. 1690), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 16 November 1690; married 1st, [forename unknown] Booth of Lincolnshire; married 2nd, William Smith, also of Lincolnshire;
(5) Mary Beckwith (1691-1752), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 18 November 1691; married, 10 June 1714 at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, Thomas Mirfin of Slade Hooton Hall, Laughton-en-le-Morthern (Yorks WR); buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 27 February 1751/2;
(6) Matthew Beckwith (1693-1728), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 9 February 1692/3; in the merchant navy; died unmarried and was buried at St Paul, Covent Garden, Westminster (Middx), 14 September 1728;
(7) Susanna Beckwith (c.1695-1729), born about 1695; married, 29 March 1722 at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, Thomas Harrison of Dilhorne (Staffs) and had issue two daughters; died 1 June and was buried at Dilhorne, 3 June 1729;
(8) Margaret Beckwith (b. 1697), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 20 May 1697; married, 21 July 1738 at Norton (Derbys), John Power (d. 1744?) of Uttoxeter (Staffs); death not traced;
(9) John Beckwith (b. 1698), born and baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 20 September 1698; lived at Dalton Hall near Huddersfield (Yorks WR), merchant; married Mrs. Wyke, widow;
(10) Dorothy Beckwith (1701-34), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 25 May 1701; married 1st, 23 September 1732 at West Retford (Notts), George Saunders (d. 1733) of Blyth (Notts), and 2nd, 30 May 1733 at Carlton-by-Snaith (Yorks WR), William Wintringham (d. 1738) of Snaith (Yorks WR), but had no issue; buried at Snaith, 9 October 1734.
He inherited his uncle's estate of Thurcroft Hall (Yorks WR) in 1678, and built a new house there in 1699. He inherited his elder brother's lands at Sleningford in 1688.
He died 1 October and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 3 October 1713. His wife died in childbirth (with her sixteenth child), 4 December and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 5 December 1702, where she is commemorated by a monument.
Beckwith, William (1686-1760). Eldest son of William Beckwith (1664-1713) and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Chaloner of Guisborough (Yorks WR), born 1686. He married, 28 April 1715, Elizabeth (c.1697-1767), only daughter and heir of John Woodifield of Fishburn and Trimdon (Co. Durham), and had issue:
(1) Jane Beckwith (1716-96), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 31 March 1716; married, 30 October 1746 at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, Thomas Westby (1699-1758) of Howarth Hall, Whiston (Yorks WR), but had no issue; died 29 April 1796 and is said to have been buried at Rotherham (Yorks WR);
(2) John Beckwith (b. & d. 1717), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 4 February 1716/7; died in infancy and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 14 February 1716/7;
(3) William Beckwith (b. & d. 1718), born and baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 30 May 1718; died in infancy and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 1 August 1718;
(4) Woodifield Beckwith (1719-79) (q.v.);
(5) Elizabeth Beckwith (1720-93), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 21 November 1720; married, 27 August 1747 at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, William Horsfall (d. 1780) of Storthes Hall, Kirkburton (Yorks WR), and had issue one son (who died young) and four daughters; died 21 April and was buried at Kirkburton, 29 April 1793;
(6) Mary Beckwith (1722-29), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 2 April 1722; died young and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 28 January 1728/9;
(7) William Beckwith (b. 1724), baptised 30 October 1724; educated at Middle Temple (admitted 1747; called 1751); barrister-at-law; lived in London; was probably the man of this name who married, 4 February 1748/9 at the Mayfair Chapel, Westminster (Middx), Mary Hutchings, and had issue one son and two daughters; living in 1759 but death not traced;
(8) Lt-Col. John Beckwith (1726-87), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 5 May 1726; an officer in Abercrombie's regiment (Ensign, 1746; Capt. by 1754; Maj., 1755; Lt-Col., 1758); died 2 December and was buried at Bishop Middleham (Co. Durham), 5 December 1787;
(9) Arthur Beckwith (b. & d. 1727), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 31 July 1727; died in infancy and buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 9 August 1727;
(10) Margaret Beckwith (1730-31), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 19 December 1730; died in infancy and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 16 March 1730/1.
He inherited his father's estate at Thurcroft Hall in 1713, and inherited the Trimdon House estate in right of his wife.
He died 10 April and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 17 April 1760; his will was proved 26 April 1760. His widow died 25 February and was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 3 March 1767; her will was proved 1767.
Beckwith, Woodifield (1719-79). Third, but eldest surviving son of William Beckwith (1686-1760) and his wife Elizabeth, only daughter and heir of John Woodifield of Fishburn and Trimdon (Co. Durham), baptised at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 12 September 1719. Educated at Middle Temple (admitted 1740). He married, 1 June 1771, Dorothy (d. 1785), daughter of Christopher Robinson of Easington (Co. Durham), and had issue:
(1) William Beckwith (1772-1847) (q.v.).
He inherited the Thurcroft Hall and Trimdon House estates from his father in 1760.
He was buried at Laughton-en-le-Morthern, 8 December 1779. His widow married 2nd, 25 June 1780, Maj. Patrick Campbell, and was buried at Easington, 21 December 1785.
Beckwith, William (1772-1847). Only child of Woodifield Beckwith (1719-79) and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Christopher Robinson of Easington (Co. Durham), born and baptised at Easington (Co. Durham), 21 October 1772. An officer in the Co. Durham militia (Capt.). He was one of the Stewards for Durham Races, 1816. DL for County Durham. He married, 16 June 1794 at Houghton-le-Spring (Co. Durham), Caroline (d. 1832), seventh daughter of John Nesham of Houghton-le-Spring, and had issue:
(1) Gen. William Beckwith (1795-1871) (q.v.);
(2) Caroline Beckwith (1796-1866), born 3 July and baptised at Houghton-le-Spring, 5 November 1796; married, 19 October 1836 at Kirknewton (Northbld), Samuel Kentish (1802-77), superintendent of police in Carmarthen (Carms.), son of Samuel Kentish, barrister, but had no issue; died 25 November 1866;
(3) John Beckwith (b. & d. 1798), born 25 February 1798, but died in infancy 20 October 1798;
(4) George Beckwith (1799-1809), born 5 October 1799; died young, 31 March 1809;
(5) Frances Beckwith (1800-15), baptised at Houghton-le-Spring, 3 January 1801; died young and was buried at Easington, 13 October 1815;
(6) Mary Beckwith (1801-65), born 18 November 1801; principal beneficiary and executrix of her father's will; died unmarried at Bath (Som.), 21 May 1865;
(7) John Beckwith (1803-91) (q.v.);
(8) Julia Beckwith (1804-05); died young, 1 December, and was buried at Easington, 2 December 1805;
(9) Rev. Henry Beckwith (1806-88) (q.v.);
(10) Elizabeth Beckwith (b. & d. 1808), born about February 1808; died in infancy, 5 July, and was buried at Easington, 6 July 1808;
(11) Julia Beckwith (1813-28), baptised at Houghton-le-Spring, 22 September 1813; died young and was buried at Trimdon, 6 February 1828.
He inherited the Thurcroft Hall and Trimdon House estates from his father in 1779, and came of age in 1793. He purchased Herrington Hall in 1795 and this became his main residence until he sold it in the 1830s. Thurcroft was let throughout his life. The furniture of Trimdon House was sold in 1829 and the house seems to have been let from 1835. At the time of his death he was renting Yetholm Hall (Roxburghs.).
He died at Yetholm Hall, 31 December 1847; his will was confirmed 8 March 1848. His wife died at St. Omer (France), 10 April 1832.
 |
General William Beckwith
(1795-1871) |
Beckwith, Gen. William (1795-1871). Eldest son of William Beckwith (1772-1847) and his wife Caroline, seventh daughter of John Nesham of Houghton-le-Spring (Co. Durham), born 23 August 1795. An officer in the army (Cornet, 1813; Lt., 1815; Capt., 1822; Maj., 1828; retired as Lt-Col., 1833; Col., 1846; Maj-Gen., 1854; Lt-Gen. 1861; Gen., 1869), who distinguished himself in the suppression of the Bristol riots, 1831, and was appointed a knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic order (KH) on that account, 1832. Hon. Col. of 14th Kings Hussars, 1860-71. DL for Co. Durham; High Sheriff of Co. Durham, 1857-58. He married, 5 April 1831, Priscilla Maria (d. 1877), a Roman Catholic convert, daughter and heiress of Thomas Hopper of Silksworth House (Co. Durham), but had no issue.He inherited the Thurcroft Hall and Trimdon House estates from his father in 1847 and sold Thurcroft in 1863. He inherited Silksworth House in right of his wife and this became his principal seat. At his death, his property passed to his brother John and then to his nephew, Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927) [for whom see below, under Beckwith (later Bury) family of Millichope Park. His widow built a Roman Catholic church at Silksworth.
He died 23 February 1871 and was buried at Houghton-le-Spring (Co. Durham); his will was proved 30 March 1871 (estate under £35,000). His wife died 3 June 1877 and was also buried at Houghton-le-Spring; her will was proved 26 June 1877 (estate under £70,000).
Beckwith, John (1803-91). Fourth, but second surviving, son of William Beckwith (1772-1847) and his wife Caroline, seventh daughter of John Nesham of Houghton-le-Spring (Co. Durham), born 15 September 1803 and baptised at Houghton-le-Spring, 14 May 1804. JP for County Durham. He was 6ft 5in tall, and possessed remarkable strength. As a young man he was a merchant with Cockerell & Co. (which failed with spectacular debts in 1847) in India, where he had a reputation as a sportsman and was President of the Calcutta Tent Club (for pigsticking). He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited Silksworth House and Trimdon House from his elder brother in 1871.
He died 23 April and was buried at Houghton-le-Spring Cemetery, 27 April 1891; his will was proved 20 June 1891 (estate £106,218).
Beckwith, Rev. Henry (1806-88). Fifth, but third surviving, son of William Beckwith (1772-1847) and his wife Caroline, seventh daughter of John Nesham of Houghton-le-Spring (Co. Durham), born 29 November 1806 and baptised at Houghton-le-Spring, 26 January 1807. Educated at Richmond (Yorks) and Jesus College, Cambridge (matriculated 1826; BA 1830). Ordained deacon, 1830 and priest, 1831. Rector of Eaton Constantine (Shrops.), 1832-88. He married, 7 September 1836 at St Chad, Shrewsbury (Shrops.), Ann Rose (1811-91), daughter of Rev. John Eyton, rector of Eyton and vicar of Wellington (Shrops.), and had issue:
(1) Rose Caroline Beckwith (1837-1905), baptised at Eaton Constantine, 17 July 1837; educated at Mrs Prosser's Boarding School, Belmont, Shrewsbury; died unmarried, 15 January 1905; will proved 14 March 1905 (estate £14,656);
(2) Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927) [for whom see below, under Beckwith (later Bury) family of Millichope Park];
(3) William Edmund Beckwith (1844-92), born 17 December 1844; ornithologist and local historian; died unmarried, 1 July 1892; administration of goods granted 30 July 1892 (estate £12,318).
He lived at the rectory in Eaton Constantine. After his death his widow moved to Radbrook House, Edgmond, Meole Brace (Shrops.).
He died 26 October 1888; his will was proved 26 April 1889 (estate £4,111). His widow died 22 July 1891; administration of her goods was granted 27 August 1891 (estate £4,785).
Beckwith (later Bury) family of Millichope Park
Beckwith, Henry John (1840-1927). Elder son of Rev. Henry Beckwith (1806-88), rector of Eaton Constantine (Shrops.), and his wife Ann Rose, daughter of Rev. John Eyton, rector of Eyton and vicar of Wellington (Shrops.), born 24 August and baptised at Eaton Constantine, 20 October 1840. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1858; Lt., 1861; Capt., 1865; retired, 1877). JP for Sunderland from 1878. He married, 12 October 1876 at Evercreech (Som.), Catherine alias Katherine Elizabeth (c.1849-1930), second daughter of Robert Craven Wade of Clonebraney (Co. Meath), and had issue:
(1) William Malbisse Beckwith (1877-1952), born 30 August 1877; educated at Eton and New College, Oxford; an officer in the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and later the Coldstream Guards (2nd Lt., 1897; Lt. 1900; Capt., 1907?; retired as Maj., 1918), who served in the Boer War (severely wounded) and First World War (awarded DSO, 1916); in the early 20th century he got into debt, and although his father paid his debts once in 1902 they subsequently disagreed over money matters; he was persuaded by his father to agree to the breaking of the entail on the family estates, in return for which he was given an estate at Sunderland, which he mortgaged to the hilt; he and his father were estranged from 1915, and he subsequently became a tea planter in Ceylon; he married 1st, 30 April 1904 (div. 1933), Lady Muriel Beatrice (1884-1969) (who m2, 2 August 1933, Cdr. Lewis Derek Jones RN (d. 1968), of Newton House (Hants), eldest son of Maj-Gen. Lewis Jones CB CMG, of Stoke Lodge, Stoke Poges (Bucks)), third daughter of Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox (1845-1928), 7th Duke of Richmond and Gordon, and had issue one son and four daughters; married 2nd, 12 October 1933, Eileen, daughter of H.J. Carver; died 24 December 1952; administration of goods granted 11 September 1953 (estate £23,894);
(2) Kathleen Frances Malbisse Beckwith (1878-1932) (q.v.).
He inherited the Silksworth House and Trimdon House estates from his uncle John in 1891, and purchased Millichope Park in 1896. He broke the entail on the estate and at his death bequeathed most of it to his widow for life, and then to his daughter rather than his son.
He died 4 December 1927; his will was proved 14 March 1928 (estate £332,661). His widow died 9 January 1930; her will was proved 10 July 1930 (estate £12,383).
Beckwith, Kathleen Frances Malbisse (1878-1932). Only daughter of Henry John Beckwith (1840-1927) and his wife Kathleen Elizabeth, second daughter of Robert Craven Wade of Clonebraney (Co. Meath), born 3 November 1878. She married, 24 November 1909 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), Lindsay Edward Bury CBE (1882-1952) of Kensington (Middx), an irrigation engineer in the service of the Egyptian and Iraqi governments, son of Francis George Bury, barrister-at-law, and had issue:
(1) Francis James Lindsay Bury (1910-44) (q.v.);
(2) Nancy Catherine Bury (1916-94), born 18 January 1916; married 1st, 29 April 1936 at Munslow (Shrops.), David Haig-Thomas (1908-44) of Horsey Island, Kirby-le-Soken (Essex), farmer, ornithologist, explorer and sportsman, son of Peter Haig-Thomas of The Grange, Goring (Oxon), and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 29 July 1946, Maj. Wilfrid Jaspar Backhouse (1913-80), and had further issue one son and two daughters; died 11 July 1994; will proved 4 November 1994 (estate £18,617).
She inherited her father's estates at Millichope Park, Silksworth House and Trimdon House in 1927.
She died 25 May 1932; administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 4 October and 10 October 1932 (estate £104,041). Her husband married 2nd, 1936, Frances Gertrude Somers OBE (1884-1952), eldest daughter of Francis Egerton Harding and widow of Richard Joseph Worsley-Worswick (1874-1927) of Frankton House (Warks), and died 30 January 1952.
Bury, Francis James Lindsay (1910-44). Only son of Lindsay Edward Bury (d. 1952) and his wife Kathleen Frances Malbisse, daughter of Henry John Beckwith of Millichope Park (Shrops.), born 1 September 1910. Educated at Eton, Cambridge and Royal College of Music. Composer, who studied under the conductor, Bruno Walter, and founded the Ludlow Choral Society. An officer in the territorial army (2nd Lt., 1939; Lt., 1941), who served with a Commando unit in the Second World War, but was killed in action soon after the D-Day landings. He married, 17 November 1937 at St Clement Danes, Strand, Westminster (Middx), Diana Mary (1914-47), daughter of Cyril Moinet, and had issue:
(1) Lindsay Claude Neils Bury (b. 1939) (q.v.);
(2) Sara Frances Bury (b. 1941), born May 1941; historian; lives at Bollington (Ches.); married, Oct-Dec 1966, Kenneth C. Moore, and had issue one son and two daughters.
He inherited his mother's estates at Millichope Park, Silksworth House and Trimdon House in 1932. Silksworth House was sold to the sitting tenant in 1935, and Trimdon was probably also sold.
He was killed in action in the lifetime of his father, 11 July 1944 and was buried at Ranville War Cemetery (France); his will was proved 15 June 1945 and 15 November 1946 (estate £133,671). His widow married 2nd, 1946, as his first wife, Lt-Col. St Hilary Wilfrid Tamar Lewis (1911-94), but died in childbirth, 14 October 1947.
Bury, Lindsay Claude Neils (b. 1939). Only recorded son of Francis James Lindsay Bury (1910-44) and his wife, born 13 February 1939. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA). Employed in merchant banking with J. Henry Schroder Wagg, 1960–66; Singer & Friedlander, 1966–73; Dunbar & Co., 1973–83. A co-founder and director of Applied Computer Techniques (ACT), manufacturers of Apricot Computers, 1968-95 (Chairman, 1972-89). Director of Portals Holdings, 1973–95, Christie Group, 1989–94, Roxboro Group, 1993–2001 and Sage Group, 1995–2006. Chairman of Unicorn International, 1995-97, South Staffordshire Water Company, 1992-2004, Bango plc, 2000–11, Service Power Technologies plc, 2007–17, and Electric & General Investment Trust, 2001-12. High Sheriff of Shropshire, 1998. He stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate in Stoke-on-Trent North in 1966. An active philanthropist with a particular interest in environmental charities, and founder of the Millichope Foundation, 1981; Trustee, City of Birmingham Touring Opera, 1989–92. Author of an autobiography, A shaky start and a lot of luck (2019). He married, 1968, Sarah Ann DL (b. 1946), daughter of Peter Ingall of Corsock House (Kirkcudbrights.), and had issue:
(1) Frank Simon Bury (b. 1970), born April 1970; educated at Eton, University of Manchester (BA, 1992) and IESE Business School, Barcelona (MBA, 2004); company director and co-founder of Bury Fitzwilliam-Lay & Partners LLP; trustee of Millichope Foundation; married, January 1999, Antonia Kate Fitzwilliam-Lay (b. 1972), and had issue one son and two daughters;
(2) Harriet Mary Bury (b. 1972); educated at Queen Mary University of London (MA 1999) and School of Oriental & African Studies (PhD, 2007); charity consultant; trustee of Millichope Foundation; married, September 2002, Marshal Luther Horne (b. 1973), carpenter and joiner, and had issue one son and one daughter.
He inherited a half-share in the Millichope Park estate in 1944 or 1952 and came of age in 1960. He subsequently bought out his sister's half-share in the estate. The house was let until 1962, and reduced and restored in 1968-70. He handed the estate over to his son in 2014 and the house has since been the subject of further restoration and redecoration.
Now living.
Principal sources
Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 2nd edn., 1841, pp. 50-52; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, p.78 and 1972, pp. 53-54; P. Meadows & E. Waterson, Lost houses of County Durham, 1993, p. 41; R. Harman & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Yorkshire West Riding - Sheffield and the south, 2017, p. 667; M. Roberts, Sir N. Pevsner & E. Williamson, The buildings of England: County Durham, 2021, p.739; G. Williams, The country houses of Shropshire, 2021, pp. 438-43;
https://www.facebook.com/DoxfordHouse
Location of archives
Beckwith family of Thurcroft Hall: deeds of Thurcroft estate, 1464-1862 [Rotherham Archives, Mar D]
Coat of arms
Argent, a chevron between three hinds' heads erased gules.
Can you help?
- Can anyone provide portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
- If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.
Revision and acknowledgements
This post was first published 23 October 2023.
