(548) Bellville of Tedstone Court, Papillon Hall and Fermyn Woods Hall

According to Burke's Landed Gentry, the first English forebear of this family was John Bellville, a French émigré who came to England at the time of the French Revolution and was the father of John Benjafield Bellville (c.1793-1847), with whom the genealogy below begins. The only certain reference to the first John which I have been able to trace, however, occurs in the apprenticeship indenture of his son in 1807, where the father is described as 'John Bellville of Codford St. Peter' (Wilts). There seems to be no evidence that the first John had any long association with Codford, however, and I have been unable to trace either his burial or his son's baptism (he is said to have been born in Bath). Although the story of John's origin as a French émigré seems perfectly plausible, it bears a slightly suspicious similarity to that of the well-known astronomer, John Henry Bellville (1795-1856), who was baptised at St Pancras (Middx) but was apparently the child of French refugees who settled at Westbury (Wilts) - less than ten miles from Codford - and came under the patronage of Lady Pulteney of Bath. This might be a coincidence, or the two families might be connected, but it also possible that the mercantile Bellvilles quietly copied the background of their namesake when they grew rich and wanted to suggest an obscure but potentially romantic lineage.

John Benjafield Bellville (c.1793-1847) was apprenticed to Matthias Archibald Robinson (1775-1838) as a needlemaker, but in 1823 the two men established the firm of Robinson & Bellville to manufacture patent barley and groats drinks - the ancestor of the modern-day Robinson's Lemon Barley Water. With the death of Robinson in 1838 and J.B. Bellville in 1847, the business was carried on by John's son, William John Bellville (1830-91), who in 1862 merged the business with Thomas Keen & Son, mustard manufacturers. By 1876 he was the sole proprietor of the merged firm of Keen, Robinson & Bellville, and he died an extremely wealthy man, leaving property valued at over £600,000. William left four sons but they had been educated as gentlemen and not for business, and he bequeathed the goodwill of the company to his widow, who sold it to J. & J. Colman of Norwich, a rival mustard manufacturer, in 1903. A connection was maintained with the business as Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937), became a director of Colmans at that time.

The four sons of William John Bellville all acquired country houses. Henry Archibald Bellville (1866-1930) bought Tedstone Court (Herefordshire) in 1908, while the other three all bought seats in the prime foxhunting country of the East Midlands, where they could indulge their shared passion for hunting. William's widow bought Papillon Hall (Leics) for Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937) in 1901, and he then employed Sir Edwin Lutyens to greatly enlarge and remodel it from 1903. William John Bellville (1868-1937) bought Kibworth Hall (Leics) in 1918 and George Ernest Bellville (1879-1967) acquired Fermyn Woods Hall (Northants) in 1922.

Kibworth Hall: the early 19th century house acquired by William John Belville in 1918 and sold by his nephew in about 1942, from an old postcard.

The sale of the family business in 1903 took place just at the moment when changes in social legislation and taxation were beginning to make it impossible to transmit inherited wealth from one generation to the next in an unimpaired fashion. As the 20th century developed, it was increasingly essential for a country house and the lifestyle associated with it to be actively supported by earned income and for inherited wealth to be husbanded with care and good fortune if it was not to be seriously depleted by capital and other taxes. The legacies left by William John Bellville were big enough to support the next generation without too many cares, but some of the successors of Henry, William, Frank and George Bellville were less fortunate. Miles Aubrey Bellville (1909-80), an Olympic sailor and wartime officer in the Royal Marines, inherited Tedstone Court in 1930. He was able to remain there throughout his life, but his son, Richard John Bellville (1945-2000) sold it in 1996. William John Bellville (1868-1937) had no surviving children, and left Kibworth Hall to his nephew, Anthony Seymour Bellville (1902-70), who sold it and moved to a smaller house on the Isle of Wight. Because Anthony received this inheritance, Frank Ashton Bellville left Papillon Hall to his younger son, Rupert Bellville (1904-62), who tried to sell it almost at once and eventually pulled down the house in 1950 before finally finding a buyer for the estate. He also inherited £105,000 from his father, but in less than twenty years had spent it and been declared bankrupt. George Ernest Bellville (1879-1967) lived for thirty years longer than any of his brothers, but had no sons to inherit Fermyn Woods, which he bequeathed to his divorced elder daughter, Dodo Maxwell (1919-2002). She reduced the size of the house soon afterwards and lived in the surviving part until her death, by which time it was in very poor condition. It was sold after her death to a local architect who was able to finance a thorough restoration thanks to being one of the heirs to a construction industry fortune. In less than a hundred years, therefore, the family have acquired and sold four significant country houses.

Tedstone Court, Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire

A large and essentially U-shaped building, given its present form by Richard Wight after he inherited the estate in 1805, with the main fronts looking east and south towards the parish church and the wooded valley of the Sapey Brook.  Between the house and the church stood a long-deserted medieval village, and the present house seems to stand on the site of, and perhaps to incorporate elements of, the earlier manor house, which was the seat of the Wyshams from the 14th to the 17th centuries. 

Tedstone Court: the south and east fronts. Image: John Burrows/Historic England IOE01/07479/25

The south and east fronts are rendered and of two-and-a-half storeys, and have sash windows with stone architraves, but the fenestration is irregular, which is strong evidence that Wight remodelled rather than rebuilt the earlier house. The east front has a central Doric porch, mostly tripartite windows, and a two-storey canted bay at the northern end. 

Tedstone Court: west front in 2022.

On the west side the house is partly of brick, and has a three-bay centre under a big pedimental gable. In the 20th century, this part of the house became a separate dwelling (known as Gracefields), but by 2023 the two properties had been reintegrated as one dwelling.

Descent: Robert Mason (d. 1684); to son; to son, Robert Mason (d. 1738)... James Moore (d. 1805) of Shelsley Beauchamp (Worcs); to Richard Wight (c.1780-1821); to widow, Mary Maria (d. 1838), later the wife of Thomas Philip Paine Wight (d. 1834) of Collington (Herefs); to son by her first marriage, James Lane Wight (c.1818-85); to son, Edgar Wight (1845-1918); sold 1908 to Henry Archibald Bellville (1866-1930); to son, Maj. Miles Aubrey Bellville (1909-80); to son, Richard John Bellville (b. 1945); sold 1997 to Stennard Harrison, who divided the property between himself and his daughter, who sold Gracefields in 2013; main house sold 2015 and Gracefields sold 2022 to Andrew and Louise Jones.

Papillon Hall, Lubenham, Leicestershire

The original house on the site of Papillon Hall, which stood on a hillock near the western boundary of Lubenham parish, was built by David Papillon (1581-1659), a French Huguenot architect and military engineer who had prospered as a property speculator in the London area and who later also made designs for Lamport Hall (Northants). He bought the site in 1627 but it was not a manor house and was never associated with a large estate. No doubt under the influence of his military experience, Papillon built an extraordinary octagonal moated two storey house of stone, with a cross-shaped slated roof that had tall gables on the axes. The walls were treated in a remarkable manner, with broad bands in the stonework by which a few courses were alternately raised and recessed to create a primitive and Brobdingnagian rustication. The house was surrounded by a rectangular moated enclosure approached through a single central gatehouse, which is shown on a rather stark drawing that seems to be the only record of its first appearance.

Papillon Hall: a mid 18th century view of the house with its encircling moat and gatehouse.
Image: Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland DE2221/59.

In the years after 1780 the house was altered by George Bosworth, who installed the arched sash windows shown in later records of the building, entirely altered the ground floor layout, and added a service wing at the north-west corner. He probably also altered the surrounding landscaping, for there is no trace in later records of the encircling moat.

Papillon Hall: engraving of 1798 showing the house as altered for George Bosworth in the 1780s.

Papillon Hall: this photograph seems to be the only one showing the house before Lutyens' alterations.

In 1901 Mrs. Emma Bellville of Stoughton Grange bought the house for her son, Capt. Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937), who was heir to the Keen's Mustard fortune (hence the phrase, "as keen as mustard"), but who 'did little else but hunt'. He brought in Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1903 to extend the house. Since visiting Norman Shaw's Chesters (Northbld) a few years earlier, Lutyens had always wanted the chance to design a butterfly-plan house as he thought he could improve on the essays of his Arts & Crafts contemporaries. The fact that the existing house was a flattened octagon and had been built for a Papillon (which means butterfly in French) gave him the perfect opportunity. The plan was based on Chesters, which Lutyens much admired, but for the elevations he abandoned the Baroque of Chesters for a more cottagey style, influenced particularly by E.S. Prior's house, The Barn at Exmouth (1893-97), a choice which sits rather oddly with the very formal and rather mannered planning.

Papillon Hall: ground floor plan as remodelled by Lutyens.

Papillon Hall: the south front with the lily pond in 1912. Image: Country Life.

Lutyens added new radiating wings projecting to the NE, SE and SW to the old house containing a dining room, drawing room and billiard room, while the fourth axis on the NW was occupied by an existing service wing. Between the billiard room and service wing Lutyens created a circular open Basin Court connecting the new main entrance with the vestibule within the original octagon. This plan produced some interesting conjunctions of forms, where the single-storey circular court abutted the gabled polygon of the house behind. And there are deliberately shocking conjunctions of style too: while the main building was in a simple vernacular manner, with roughcast walls and a central half-timbered gable, he responded to the formal geometry of the Basin Court with a ring of Tuscan columns, and he also made the entrance itself a powerful classical composition with chunky rustication and a broad three-bay pediment, but cheekily tucked this into the ground floor of an otherwise vernacular block.

Papillon Hall: the Basin Court between the wings on the west side in 1912. Image: Country Life.

Papillon Hall: the entrance arcade created by Lutyens. Image: Country Life.

Papillon Hall: the drawing room in 1912. Image: Country Life.

In 1937 the house passed to Rupert Bellville (1904-67), who put the house up for sale the following year, but a buyer was not found before the house was requisitioned during the Second World War, when it housed American airmen. After it was returned to the family, Rupert Bellville again tried to sell it, but in post-war conditions he failed to find a buyer and it was therefore demolished in 1951. Some of the outbuildings were converted into a farm and a small fragment of the old house was rescued and installed in the gardens of Blagdon Hall in Northumberland.

Finally, an uncanny tale for those who like ghost stories. When Frank Belville moved into Papillon Hall in 1901 he found a tiny cupboard with a padlocked metal grille in the lintel of an internal window over the hall fireplace, containing an early 18th century pair of green brocade women's shoes. The title deeds stated that 'on no account to permit them to be removed from the house, or ill-fortune would assuredly befall the owner'. Despite this warning, the shoes were taken to Belville's solicitors for safe keeping during the remodelling of the house. Work on the contract went slowly, accidents happened on site and a workman was killed, the first contractor abandoned the contract, and the skeleton of a woman was found walled up in the attics of the old house (this was said to be the Spanish mistress of an early 18th century Papillon who had mysteriously disappeared in 1715). In 1905 Bellville himself was in a motor accident and fractured his skull. He recovered, but in 1908 his chauffeur was killed in another accident. During the Second World War, there were two occasions on which American airmen who had removed the shoes from their resting place did not return from missions over enemy territory. The 'cursed shoes' are now in Market Harborough Museum.

Descent: David Papillon (1581-1659); to son?, George Papillon (d. 1684); David Papillon (fl. 1717); to son, who sold 1764 to William Stevens...Charles Bosworth (fl. 1798) of Brampton (Northants); to George Bosworth (d. 1830); to widow, Mary (fl. 1863), later wife of John Breedon; sold 1866 to Lord Hopeton; sold 1872 to Thomas Halford; sold to C.W. Walker (fl. 1892) of Burwash (Sussex); sold to A.C. Isham (d. 1897);... sold 1901 to Mrs Emma Bellville for use of her son, Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937), kt.; to son, Rupert Bellville (1904-67), who demolished it in 1951. 

Fermyn Woods (aka Farming Woods) Hall, Brigstock, Northamptonshire

The house began as a hunting lodge in Rockingham Forest, built or remodelled between 1651 and 1656 for Sir John Robinson, 1st bt., who was Lord Mayor of London in 1662. The main front faced south and had a sequence of five gables, perhaps representing a hall range and two cross-wings of the traditional form, but only the porch and a portion of the facade to the right of it are now of the 17th century, due to successive later alterations, additions and contractions.

Fermyn Woods Hall: engraving of the house by J.P. Neale, 1826., showing it before the mid 19th century additions.

In the late 18th century the house was a hunting lodge belonging to the 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, whose principal seat was at Ampthill in Bedfordshire. He added a dining room and library, and a long, rather plain wing at the west end in two phases of work, in 1777 and 1788. The end elevation of his new range is visible on the left in Neale's engraving above.

There were further alterations in the 1830s for Lady Anne and Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, and after the house passed to their illegitimate half-sister Emma, the wife of Robert Vernon Smith, 1st Baron Lyveden, Edward Browning of Stamford undertook a radical remodelling and enlargement of the house, giving it most of its later neo-Elizabethan character. His efforts were concentrated especially on remodelling the Georgian west wing, which emerged with two-storey canted bays on the west and south sides, an attic storey with gables and tall chimneystacks, and mullioned and transomed windows.

Fermyn Woods Hall: the west wing as remodelled by Edward Browning, from an old postcard.

Fermyn Woods Hall: the house from the north-west in the early 20th century, from an old postcard.

Inside, the entrance hall has an elaborate tiled centrepiece with the arms of Lord Lyveden, and his shield also appears on the newels of the staircase, which is said to be a copy of that formerly at Lyveden Old Bield. A 17th century gateway from Lyveden Old Bield, built for Sir Lewis Tresham but part of the Fermyn Woods estate until 1908, was moved in the 19th century to form a grand entrance to the stable court, which was built in 1740 but altered later.

Fermyn Woods Hall: the stable court from the south-east, showing the gate from Lyveden Old Bield.

The descendants of the Earls of Upper Ossory finally sold Fermyn Woods in 1897, and over the next twenty-five years it changed hands frequently, and was shorn of most of its 4,000 acre estate by the notorious asset-stripper, T.F. Hooley, who claimed to have made a profit of £70,000 from buying the estate, breaking it up and selling the farms separately, and felling much of the estate timber. In 1919-20, Blackwell & Riddey of Kettering (Northants) remodelled some of the interiors for Maj. Aubrey Wallis-Wright, creating new panelling with Ionic pilasters in the dining room (now the drawing room). More permanent new owners arrived in 1922 with the sale to Capt. George Bellville (1879-1967), who lived here until his death and left the house to his daughter 'Dodo'. They found the house dauntingly large, however, and pulled down the west wing in 1968. The remainder was in poor condition by the time of Dodo's death in 2002, but was lovingly restored as his home by the architect David Laing (b. 1945), later Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, over the next few years.

Fermyn Woods Hall: the reduced house in 2009. Image: Michael Trolove. Some rights reserved.

Descent: Crown sold 1641 to John Mordaunt (1599-1644), 5th Baron Mordaunt and 1st Earl of Peterborough; to son, Henry Mordaunt (1621-97), 2nd Earl of Peterborough; leased 1651 and later sold to Sir John Robinson (1615-80), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Robinson (1660-93), 2nd bt.; to daughter Anne (d. 1744), wife of Richard Fitzpatrick (c.1662-1727), 1st Baron Gowran; to son, John Fitzpatrick (1719-58), 2nd Baron Gowran and 1st Earl of Upper Ossory; to son, John Fitzpatrick (1745-1818), 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory; to daughters, Lady Anne and Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick (d. 1841); to half-sister, Emma Mary Wilson (d. 1882), wife of Robert Vernon Smith (later Vernon) (1800-73), 1st Baron Lyveden; to son, Fitzpatrick Henry Vernon (1824-1900), 2nd Baron Lyveden, who sold 1897 to John Gardiner Muir (d. 1913); sold 1908 to T.F. Hooley; let and later sold 1912 to Maj. Aubrey Wallis (later Wallis-Wright then Wallis) (d. 1926); sold 1922 to Capt. George Ernest Bellville (1879-1967); to daughter, Dorothy Vivien Bellville (d. 2002), formerly wife of Maj. Eustace Maxwell (1913-71); sold 2003 to David Laing (b. 1945); sold 2012 to James Michael Ruston Broadbent (b. 1965). 

Bellville family of Tedstone Court

Bellville, John Benjafield (c.1793-1847). Son of John Bellville (who in 1807 was of Codford St Peter (Wilts) but who reputedly fled from France at the time of the French Revolution), said to have been born at Bath, 1793*. Apprenticed to Matthias Archibald Robinson of London, needle maker, 1807, and was made free of the Needlemakers Company, 1817. He and his former master established the firm of Robinson & Bellville, manufacturers of a patent barley drink, in 1823. He married 1st, 22 April 1827 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Mary (1804-42), probably daughter of William Bird of Westwell House, Wellington (Som.), farmer, and 2nd, 15 February 1843 at Milton-by-Gravesend (Kent), Ann (1815-80), daughter of William Clark, an official of the East India Company, and had issue:

(1.1) William John Bellville (1830-91) (q.v.);

(1.2) Archibald George Belville (1831-32), baptised at St Mark the Evangelist, Clerkenwell (Middx), 21 October 1831; died in infancy and was buried at the same church, 23 March 1832;

(1.3) Emma Bellville (1834-1906), baptised at St George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury (Middx), 18 February 1834; married, 2 June 1863 at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, Paddington (Middx), Henry Farrance (1824-65) (who had been one of her father's apprentices), son of Thomas Farrance, confectioner, but had no issue; as a widow, lived latterly at Dorking (Surrey); died 13 August 1906; will proved 29 October 1906 (estate £13,060);

(1.4) Frederick Bellville (1836-1922), born 6 September and baptised at St George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury, 26 October 1836; died unmarried, 14 August and was buried at Dorking, 17 August 1922; administration of goods granted 22 November 1922 (estate £7,589);

(2.1) Alfred Bellville (1843-85), born 18 March and baptised at St Alfege, Greenwich (Kent), 5 May 1843; an officer in the merchant marine (indentured apprentice, 1859; second mate, 1863; first mate, 1867, 1870), who settled in Africa around 1870 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; he joined Lt. Faulkner's ivory hunting expedition to Central Africa, 1868, and a combined Universities' Expedition to Magila and Zanzibar, 1875, after which he published two papers in the RGS transactions; in 1877 he moved to Natal and was ordained deacon in 1880, serving in various Natal parishes; he married, 25 April 1877 at Durban (South Africa) Emma Mary, daughter of T. Crowder, and had issue two sons and three daughters; he died at Sand Hill, Belair, Durban (South Africa), 19 March 1885;

(2.2) Frances Mary Bellville (1844-1917), born 11 November 1844 and baptised at St George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury, 9 January 1845; married, 22 September 1875 at St Luke, West Holloway (Middx), John Pears Walton (1838-1915) of Alston (Cumbld.) and Acomb High House (Northbld.), mine owner, son of Jacob Walton, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 7 July 1917; will proved 2 November 1917 (estate £4,931);

(2.3) Rosa Hamilton Bellville (1845-1909), born 14 December 1845 and baptised at St George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury, 18 February 1846; died unmarried at Southend-on-Sea (Essex), 27 November 1909; will proved 26 May 1910 (estate £739);

(2.4) Ada Elizabeth Bellville (1847-1926), born 10 April 1847 and baptised at St George-the-Martyr, Bloomsbury (Middx), 2 May 1848; married, 2 November 1869 at St Luke, West Holloway (sep. 1890), Rowland John Atcherley (b. c.1848), analytical chemist, son of Rowland Atcherley MD, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 12 October 1926; will proved 24 November 1926 (estate £976).

He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery (Middx), 13 September 1847; his will was proved in the PCC, 15 December 1847. His first wife died Apr-Jun 1842 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. His widow died in Holloway (Middx), 28 April 1880; her will was proved 28 May 1880 (effects under £200).

* However, his baptism has not been traced.

Bellville, William John (1830-91). Elder son of John Benjafield Bellville (1793-1847) and his first wife Mary Bird, born February and baptised at St Mark the Evangelist, Clerkenwell (Middx), 23 April 1830. Educated at the University of Bonn (Germany). Freeman of the City of London, 1866. Partner in Robinson & Bellville of Holborn (Middx), manufacturers of a patent barley drink (and ancestor of Robinson's Barley Water), which merged in 1862 with Thomas Keen & Son, an old-established mustard manufacturer; he was sole proprietor of the merged firm by 1876. At his death, the goodwill of the company passed to his widow, who sold it in 1903 to J. & J. Colman of Norwich, another mustard manufacturer. He married, 4 July 1865 at Howe with Little Poringland (Norfk.), Emma (1846-1925), daughter of John Magor of Newton Abbot (Devon), hotel keeper, and had issue:

(1) Henry Archibald Bellville (1866-1930) (q.v.);

(2) William John Bellville (1868-1937), born 4 August 1868; educated at Harrow and Jesus College, Cambridge (matriculated 1887; BA 1891); served with the Duke of Cambridge's Special Corps in the Boer War, 1900; purchased Kibworth Hall (Leics), 1918, which he bequeathed to his nephew Anthony (1902-70); with his brothers Frank and George he was a famous horseman and rider to hounds, a pursuit to which he devoted much of, and ultimately sacrificed, his life; he married, 14 November 1907 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Jessie Bousfield (1871-1921), daughter of James Steains of Westminster, gent., and formerly wife of Sidney Arthur Wolton (c.1870-1940), hop merchant, and had issue one daughter who died in infancy; died from injuries received in a hunting accident, 25 February 1937; will proved 17 June 1937 (estate £393,709);

(3) Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937) [for whom see below, Bellville family of Papillon Hall]

(4) Emma Maud Elizabeth Bellville (1875-1952), born 18 May and baptised  at All Saints, Clapton Park, Hackney (Middx), 4 July 1875; married, 13 April 1901 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Lt-Col. Cyril Godfrey Martyr DSO (1860-1936) of Ablington Manor, Bibury (Glos), son of Godfrey Martyr of Melbourne (Australia), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 10 August 1952; will proved 20 November 1952 (estate £26,608);

(5) George Ernest Bellville (1879-1967) [for whom see below, Bellville family of Fermyn Woods Hall];

(6) Dorothy Mary Bellville (1883-1914), born 4 March and baptised at All Saints, Clapton Park, Hackney, 12 June 1883; married, 3 July 1906 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Maj. Philip Alexander Francis Spence (1876-1960) of Oatleys Hall, Brackley (Northants) (who m2, 23 June 1923 at St Mark, North Audley Street, Westminster, Sybil May (1896-1968), daughter of Sir John Latta (1867-1946), 1st bt.), son of Col. John Spence, and had issue one daughter; died 29 November 1914 and was buried at Turweston (Bucks); administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 3 March 1915 (estate £6,748).

He lived at Porchester Terrace, Hyde Park, London and Stoughton Grange (Leics), which he leased from the Powys-Keck family; his widow gave up the lease in about 1913.

He died at Eastbourne (Sussex), 7 August 1891; his will proved 14 September 1891 (effects £631,583). His widow died 8 August 1925; her will was proved 29 December 1925 (estate £177,063).

Bellville, Henry Archibald (1866-1930). Eldest son of William John Bellville (1830-91) and his wife Emma, daughter of John Magor of Newton Abbot (Devon), born 2 November 1866 and baptised at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, Westminster (Middx), 1 January 1867. Educated at Harrow. An officer in the 3rd battalion, East Surrey Regiment (Lt., 1886; Capt., 1896; retired 1898). He married 1st, 24 September 1896 at Whittingham (Northbld.)  (div. 1903 on the grounds of her adultery with Capt. Walter Neilson), Phyllis Mary (1878-1967), third daughter of Alexander Henry Browne of Callaly Castle (Northbld.) and 2nd, 27 October 1906 at St Peter, Harrogate (Yorks WR), his first cousin, Ethel Mary (1878-1950), eldest daughter of John Pears Walton of Acomb High House (Northbld.), and had issue:

(1.1) Lucy Monica Bellville (1898-1991), born 18 March 1898; married, 9 December 1922 at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), Oswald Stuart Thompson MRCS LRCP (1892-1971) of London, anaesthetist, son of Sidney Thompson of Farnaby, Sevenoaks (Kent), solicitor, and had issue one son; died 26 July and was buried 2 August 1991; will proved 24 September 1991 (estate under £125,000);

(1.2) Colin Guy Archibald Bellville (1901-58), born 27 December 1901; educated at Harrow; steam plough engineer; Fellow of the Geological Society; married, 27 July 1928, Kathleen (1903-93), daughter of Norman John Beastall of Church Gresley (Derbys), but had no issue; died 14 July 1958; will proved 7 November 1958 (estate £36,461);

(2.1) George Dennis Arthur Bellville (1907-25), born in New Zealand, 1907; educated at Harrow; died unmarried in a motor accident, 8 October 1925;

(2.2) Miles Aubrey Bellville (1909-80) (q.v.);

(2.3) Florence Audrey Emma Bellville (1914-2003), born 26 January and baptised at Tedstone Delamere, 15 March 1914; married, Oct-Dec. 1946, Col. Douglas Robert Beaumont Kaye DSO (1909-96) of Brinkley Hall (Suffk.), son of Robert Walter Kaye of Warren's Gorse, Daglingworth (Glos), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 1 March 2003.

He purchased Tedstone Court in 1908.

He died 30 September 1930; his will was proved 22 January 1931 (estate £181,006).  His first wife married 2nd, Apr-June 1904, Maj. Walter Neilson (1866-1941) of Charlton Hall (Northbld), the co-respondent in her divorce, and had further issue two sons and one daughter; she died in Scotland, 8 June 1967 and her will was proved 14 November 1967. His widow died 13 October 1950; administration of her goods was granted 24 January 1951 (estate £13,758).

Maj. Miles Aubrey Bellville (1909-80) 

Bellville, Miles Aubrey (1909-80). Younger son of Henry Archibald Bellville (1866-1930) and his second wife, Ethel Mary, eldest daughter of John Pears Walton of Acomb High House (Northbld.), born 28 April 1909. Educated at Malvern College and Jesus College, Cambridge (BA), where his prowess as an oarsman led to his being elected to the Leander Club. He was a keen sailor who was a member of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club, and competed in the Americas Cup in 1934 and at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, where he was a crew member of the boat Lalage which won gold in the six metre class. He served in the Second World War as an officer in the Royal Marines (2nd Lt, 1940; Lt., 1940; Capt., 1945; T/Maj., 1945) and was awarded the MC, 1942 and MBE, 1943. High Sheriff of Herefordshire, 1969-70; a DL for Herefordshire. He married, April-June 1945, Nancy Catherine MBE JP (1912-96), who served as a First Officer in the Women's Royal Naval Service in the Second World War, second daughter of John Deans of Christchurch (New Zealand), and had issue:

(1) Richard John Bellville (1945-2000) (q.v.);

(2) Lalage Jane Bellville (b. 1947), born 17 March 1947; married, Apr-Jun 1975, Thomas Joseph Hawksley (b. 1945), schoolmaster, and had issue two daughters;

(3) Susan Catherine Bellville (b. 1948), born 18 August 1948; schoolteacher; member of Oxfordshire County Council, 2005-09; married, 1973 (div. 1977), Professor John Charles Robert Haffenden FBA FRSL (b. 1945), but had no issue.

He inherited Tedstone Court from his father in 1930.

He died 27 October 1980; his will was proved 30 January 1981 (estate £205,636). His widow died 3 February 1996; her will was proved 29 April 1996.

Bellville, Richard John (1945-2000). Only son of Miles Aubrey Bellville (1909-80) and his wife Nancy Catherine, second daughter of John Deans of Christchurch (New Zealand), born 21 August 1945. Educated at Malvern College. He married, May 1989, Gail H. (b. 1942), daughter of Godfrey Temple Butler (1907-78) and formerly wife of Dudley Michael Kibble-White (1939-2016), but had no issue.

He inherited Tedstone Court from his father in 1980 but sold it in 1996.

He died 3 October 2000; his will was proved 22 February 2001. His widow is now living.

Bellville family of Papillon Hall

Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937) 

Bellville, Frank Ashton (1870-1937). Third son of William John Bellville (1830-91) and his wife Emma, daughter of John Magor of Newton Abbot (Devon), born 25 November 1870 and baptised at St Matthew, Bayswater (Middx), 18 January 1871. Educated at Harrow. An officer in the Leicestershire Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1898; Lt., 1900; retired 1902; returned to colours, 1914; Capt. 1916; retired 1921), who served in the Boer War and First World War. In 1903 he joined the board of J. & J. Coleman of Norwich, mustard manufacturers, which had bought his family firm. He became a freemason in 1910. He was such a keen foxhunting man that it was said 'he did little else but hunt', but he was also the owner and breeder of racehorses. He married 1st, 19 October 1901 at St Mary's RC Church, Cadogan St., Chelsea (Middx) (div. 1910), Gladys Hermione (1883-1962), daughter of Dr. Arthur Cornewall Chester-Master (1854-1900); 2nd, 2 August 1915 (div. 1926 on grounds of her adultery with Nicolano Rhodes), Joan Isobel Margaret (1888-1954)*, third daughter of the Hon. Ernest Bowes-Lyon and widow of Capt. Alfred Ernest Parker (1880-1914); and 3rd, 15 August 1929, Barbara Bertha Mary (1900-80), second daughter of Maj. Herbert Marmaduke Joseph Stourton OBE and formerly wife of Capt. Eric Charlton Tunnicliffe OBE MC (c.1898-1953), and had issue**:

(1.1) Anthony Seymour Bellville (1902-70), born 10 August 1902; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; an officer in the Grenadier Guards (Lt.); inherited Kibworth Hall from his uncle, William John Bellville, in 1937, but sold it a few years later and moved to The White House, Bembridge (IoW); married 1st, 9 April 1929 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx) (div. 1947), Audrey Dorothy Campbell (1906-97) (who m2, Oct-Dec 1947, Peter Pleydell-Bouverie of Landford Lodge (Wilts)), daughter of Capt. Archibald Glen Kidston, and had issue one son and two daughters; married 2nd, 30 September 1947 at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., Marylebone, Diana Mary Cameron (1915-2010) (who m2, Jan-Mar 1973, Lt.-Col. Arthur Christopher Grey (1911-82) and m3, 9 October 1984, Rt. Rev. Edward James Keymer Roberts (1908-2001), formerly Bishop of Ely), elder daughter of Ewen Cameron Bruce DSO MC, and had further issue one son and one daughter; died 2 August 1970; will proved 9 October 1970 (estate £71,727);

(1.2) Rupert Bellville (1904-67) (q.v.);

(3.1) Patricia Barbara Bellville (1931-2015), born 15 April 1931; married, 31 December 1965, (Alfred) Charles Gladitz (1923-2014), and had issue one son; died 26 July 2015.

His mother bought Papillon Hall for him in 1901 and he employed Sir Edwin Lutyens to enlarge and remodel it from 1903. He also kept a summer residence at Tyne Hall, Bembridge (IoW).

He died at Tyne Hall, 22 July 1937; his will was proved 26 August 1937 (estate £394,397). His first wife volunteered as a Red Cross nurse throughout the First World War and was painted in her uniform by de Laszlo; after the war she opened a shop near Portman Sq. called Sydalg, which sold antiques and Paris fashions; she married 2nd, Oct-Dec 1923, Henry Gordon Leith (1879-1941), banker, but had no further issue, and died 6 January 1962. His second wife married 3rd, N. Grogan, and died at St Helier (Jersey), 6 July 1954; administration of her goods was granted 28 October 1954 (effects in England, £1,485). His widow married 3rd, 20 September 1946, as his third wife, Capt. Henry Stewart Macnaghten Harrison-Wallace DSO RN (1883-1963), and died 2 May 1980; her will was proved 11 July 1980 (estate £31,025).

* She was a cousin of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002), who in 1923 married the future King George VI.

** Burke's Landed Gentry also mentions three daughters (Effie, Joan and Tina) by his second wife, but I can find no evidence to support their existence and family sources say this marriage was childless.

Rupert Bellville (1904-62) 

Bellville, Rupert (1904-62). Second son of Frank Ashton Bellville (1870-1937) and his first wife, Gladys Hermione, daughter of Arthur Chester-Master, born 28 December 1904. Educated at Eton. He first joined Schroder's as a clerk, but soon quit the company for a more exciting life as a pilot. He was engaged as secretary and pilot to Rupert Byass, and in 1934 took Venetia Montagu (1887-1948) on a journey across Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Persia (where they crashed, but escaped unhurt). A profile in The Bystander in 1937 described him as "a bizarre young man. He has absolutely no fear, not much imagination, and... practically never laughs... He gambles on most things, has a real wanderlust, always looks for trouble and usually finds it". He first went to Spain as a young man to learn the language and fell in love with the country, becoming an amateur bullfighter and participating in the Spanish Civil War on behalf of General Franco's Nationalists: he arranged for all the gates on the Papillon Hall estate to be painted in Franco's colours. He was captured at Santander by the Republican Government's forces and briefly imprisoned before being released after an intervention by the Foreign Office and returned to England at considerable expense in a Royal Navy destroyer. He wrote an account of his experiences for the Leicester Evening Mail. He was an officer in the Royal Air Force Reserve from 1926 (Flying Officer, 1933) and during the Second World War became a test pilot. He was a considerable linguist, speaking French, German and Italian as well as fluent Spanish. He was unusually tall for the period, at 6ft 4in, and his talents included being one of the best backgammon players in Europe. A good swimmer, he is said once to have swum the River Seine in a dinner jacket, but generally took better care of his clothes, being noted as a dapper dresser when in England, although more informally attired abroad. He was twice challenged to a duel, but never fought. Despite inheriting £105,000 from his father in 1937, he was declared bankrupt in 1955. He married, 1 October 1938 in Paris (France) (div.), Jeanette (1907-95), daughter of General Stephen O. Fuqua, US military attaché in Spain, and had issue:

(1) (Rupert) Hercules Fuqua Bellville (1939-2009), born 18 June 1939 in San Diego, California (USA); educated at Ampleforth and Christ Church, Oxford; a leading film producer, working as assistant to Roman Polanski in the 1960s and 1970s and then with Michaelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) before finishing his career with Jeremy Thomas London's Recorded Picture Co.; he lived in London and Los Angeles, California (USA) at different times, and his obituarists all remarked on his talent for personal friendships; he married, 19 February 2009 (two days before his death), his long-term partner, Ilana Shulman; died of cancer, 21 February 2009, and was buried at Highgate Cemetery (Middx), where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved 21 October 2009.

He inherited Papillon Hall from his father in 1937, twice tried unsuccessfully to sell it (before and after the Second World War) and pulled it down in 1951. The estate was subsequently sold.

He died 23 July 1962; his will was proved 14 September 1962 (estate £7,449). His widow died in London, 23 August 1995; her will was proved 22 August 1996.

Bellville family of Fermyn Woods Hall

George Ernest Bellville (1879-1967) 

Bellville, George Ernest (1879-1967). Fourth son of William John Bellville (1830-91) and his wife Emma, daughter of John Magor of Newton Abbot (Devon), born 10 December 1879 and baptised at All Saints, Clapton Park, Hackney (Middx), 18 February 1880. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1897). An officer in the 16th Lancers (2nd Lt., 1900; Lt. 1900; Capt., 1904), who served in the Boer War (wounded) and First World War; adjutant of 2nd County of London Imperial Yeomanry, 1907. JP for Northamptonshire, 1927; High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, 1941-42; DL for Northamptonshire, 1946 (Vice-Lord Lieutenant, 1951). As a young man he was an accomplished polo and rugby player and like his brothers he became a prominent foxhunting man; Master of the Woodland Pytchley Foxhounds, 1920-32. He married, Oct-Dec. 1922, Madeline Henriette Ghislaine MBE (1884-1967), daughter of Count Rodolph de Kerchove de Denterghem of Belgium, and formerly wife of Baron Edouard de Crombrugghe de Looringhe (1874-1961), and had issue:

(1) Dorothy Vivian Bellville (1919-2002) (q.v.);

(2) Evelyn Hazel Rosemary Bellville (1924-2009), born Oct-Dec 1924; married, 13 December 1947, Sir John Hatherley David Page-Wood (1921-55), 7th bt., and had issue one son and one daughter; living in 1965.

He purchased Fermyn Woods Hall in 1922.

He died 28 June and was buried 3 July 1967; his will was proved 15 December 1967 (estate £85,680). His widow died 24 August 1967; her will was proved 6 February 1968 (estate £57,731). 

Dodo Maxwell (1919-2002) 

Bellville, Dorothy Vivian (k/a Dodo) (1919-2002). Illegitimate daughter of George Ernest Bellville (1879-1967) and his future wife Madeline, daughter of Count Rodolph de Kerchove of Belgium, born before the marriage of her parents, 4 February 1919. She married, May 1940 (div. 1949), Maj. Eustace Maxwell (1913-71), second son of Lt-Col. Aymer Edward Maxwell of Monreith (Wigtowns.), and had issue:

(1) Diana Mary Maxwell (b. 1942), born 10 January 1942; partner of Patrick Helmore, by whom she had issue twin daughters;

(2) Sir Michael Eustace George Maxwell (1943-2021), 9th bt, of Monreith House (Wigtowns.), born 28 August 1943; educated at Eton and London University; Assoc. of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors; succeeded uncle as 9th baronet, 8 July 1987; died unmarried, 28 December 2021, when he was succeeded in the baronetcy by a distant cousin.

She inherited Fermyn Woods Hall from her father in 1967 and demolished part of the house in 1968. It was sold after her death.

She died 20 July 2002; her will was proved 17 January 2003. Her ex-husband died in Edinburgh, 11 April 1971; his will was proved in London, 28 June 1971 (estate £15,835).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1945, pp. 55-56; C.J. Robinson, A history of the mansions and manors of Herefordshire, 1872, reprinted 2009, pp. 301-02; Country Life Architectural Supplement, 4 May 1912; J.A. Gotch, Squires' homes and other old buildings of Northamptonshire, 1939, pp. 7-8; D. Whitehead, A survey of historic parks and gardens in Herefordshire, 2011, pp. 353-54; A. Brooks & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Herefordshire, 2nd edn., 2012, p. 622; B. Bailey, Sir N. Pevsner & B. Cherry, The buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 3rd edn., 2013, pp. 272-73; M. Airs, 'David Papillon: Architect, military engineer, developer, author and jeweller', The Georgian Group Journal, 2017, pp. 1-14; N. Lyon, Useless anachronisms?: a study of the country houses and landed estates of Northamptonshire since 1880, 2018, passim;

http://letslookagain.com/2016/02/keen-as-mustard-keen-robinson/

Location of archives

Bellville of Tedstone Court: deeds and papers, 18th-20th centuries [Herefordshire Archive & Records Centre, AJ49]

Coat of arms

None recorded.

Can you help?

• If anyone can throw light on the accuracy or otherwise  of the story that John Benjafield Bellville's father John was a French émigré, I should be very pleased to learn more.
• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs 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 25 June 2023 and was updated 24 October and 27 December 2023. I am most grateful to Patrick Bellville for his additions and corrections to my post, and to Andrew Jones for a correction.