(606) Betton of Great or Upper Berwick

Betton of Great Berwick 

The Bettons held land at Great Berwick in the parish of St Mary, Shrewsbury by 1399 and perhaps earlier, but the property was fairly modest in scale (probably around 500 acres) and they would have been classified as yeomen rather than gentry in the 15th and 16th centuries. They seem to have become increasingly prosperous in the later 16th century, when younger sons of the family moved into mercantile activities in Shrewsbury and London, and in 1623 the heralds at their visitation of Shropshire were willing to accept their claim to armigerous status. The genealogy below begins with Richard Betton (c.1585-1661), who was the head of the family in 1623. He is said to have been a Royalist in the Civil War, but I am doubtful that he exhibited any pronounced loyalties, as his property does not appear to have been sequestrated after Shrewsbury fell into the hands of Parliament in 1645. Moreover, his eldest son, Richard Betton (1616-71), was a draper and cloth merchant in London throughout the fighting, and was almost certainly sympathetic to the Parliamentary cause.

Richard Betton (d. 1671) was succeeded by his only son, Richard Betton (1650-1726), who rebuilt the house at Great alias Upper Berwick on a much more impressive scale, and it was probably in the following century that the family achieved their greatest social status. Richard had quite a large family, but was much better at siring daughters than sons - something which was true of several generations of the family. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, Richard Betton (1685-1764), who made a good marriage with Dorothy Lloyd, but again produced only one son: Richard Betton (1710-67), who only survived his father by three years. He was succeeded in turn by Richard Betton (1744-90), who was apprenticed to a Shrewsbury attorney and subsequently practised as a lawyer, apparently from his home at Great Berwick rather than from an office in Shrewsbury. This perhaps indicates that lawyering was a subsidiary occupation for him, and it is noteworthy that when his elder son, Richard Betton (1768-1819) was to follow in his footsteps, he was articled clerk to another Shrewsbury solicitor rather than to his father. The young Richard can barely have completed his articles when his father died and he took over the responsibility for the estate. No more was heard of his having a legal career, and instead he threw himself into being a militia officer, eventually retiring as a major. His only surviving son, Richard Betton (1808-99), was educated at Oxford and then in 1831 made a good marriage to a daughter of Col. Richard Salwey of Moor Park near Ludlow. The couple settled at Overton House on the Moor Park estate, and he sold the Great Berwick estate in two tranches to the Hon. Henry Wentworth Powys, owner of the neighbouring and much grander Berwick House estate, and Great Berwick became a farmhouse. Despite being twice married, Richard Betton (d. 1899) had no children, and on his death the family ceased to be landed gentry.

Great Berwick (aka Upper Berwick), Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Nothing seems to be known of the - presumably semi-timbered - house which the Bettons occupied here in the 16th and 17th centuries, except that in 1672 it was taxed on only five hearths. The present house, now known by the long-established alternative name of Upper Berwick to distinguish it from Great Berwick Farm a few hundred yards further west, was built in red brick about 1700 for Richard Betton (1649-1725). As originally built, it had a two-storey front of six bays with a pediment containing an oculus over the two middle bays, and a pedimented dormer window to either side. Stone quoins defined the angles and a stone plat band separated the ground and first floors. A watercolour drawing by John Ingleby of 1794 indicates that the side elevations were originally only of three bays and shows the house with sash windows with thick glazing bars which are likely to have been part of the original design. The composition is rather dominated visually by two tall, symmetrically-placed chimneystacks.

Great or Upper Berwick: watercolour of house in 1794 by John Ingleby. Image: National Library of Wales.

Inside, the house retains its original ramped staircase, rising from ground floor to attic around an open well, with spiral turned balusters and square-capped newels that are composed of four grouped balusters, a feature that can also be seen on the main staircase at Hawkstone Hall (Shrops.) and at Newport House in Shrewsbury, which was built in 1696 as a town house for the 1st Earl of Bradford. Great Berwick has been compared in other respects to Newport House, but the latter is an altogether more sophisticated composition and unlikely to be by the same hand, although the evidence of the staircase suggests that the same joiner may have worked at both places.

The original building at Great Berwick has been considerably altered and extended. If Ingleby is to be relied upon in showing a three-bay return elevation, the sides were later extended by a further bay. A service wing was added at an angle to the rear of the house in the later 18th century and may have been present when Ingleby drew his view as it would not have been visible from his viewpoint. In the 19th century a single-storey porch was added to the entrance front and non-matching single-storey additions were made either side of the entrance front. The interior was changed too, as the principal reception rooms on the ground floor now have later 19th century cornices and other details.

The house was originally approached from the south-east, where a set of 19th century gatepiers mark the lost gateway onto the B5067. After the house was sold to the adjoining Berwick estate in the 19th century, however, it became a farmhouse and this carriage drive was abandoned in favour of a drive linking it to Berwick House.

Descent: Richard Betton (c.1585-1661); to son, Richard Betton (1616-71); to son, Richard Betton (1650-1726); to son, Richard Betton (1685-1764); to son, Richard Betton (1710-67); to son, Richard Betton (1744-90); to son, Richard Betton (1768-1819); to son, Richard Betton (1808-99); sold 1831 to Hon. Henry Wentworth Powys (1798-1875); to nephew, Rudolph William Basil Feilding (1823-92), 8th Earl of Denbigh, who sold the same year to James Watson (1817-95); to daughter, Florence Mary (d. 1936), wife of William Walter Graham Phillips (1863-1945); to daughter, Gwendolyn (d. 1970), wife of Col. Folliott Sandford Neale (b. 1901); to daughter, Mary Jane, wife of Roger E. Angell-James; to son, Henry Angell-James (d. 2017); to son, Will Angell-James (fl. 2025).

Betton family of Great or Upper Berwick

Betton, Richard (c.1585-1661). Son of Richard Betton (d. 1613) and his first wife, Mary Harries, born about 1585. He is said to have been a Royalist in the Civil War, although one of his brothers was an active Parliamentarian and there is no evidence that his property was sequestrated. He married, about 1610, Eleanor (b. 1591), daughter of Edward Purcell of Onslow (Shrops.), and is said to have had issue 13 children including:

(1) Anne Betton (1612-78), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 19 February 1611/2; married John Bishop (d. 1684) of Muckleton and Wem (Shrops.); buried at Wem, 12 April 1678;

(2) Margaret Betton (1613-64?), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 11 November 1613; married William Trumper, mercer in London and later of Hardwick (Herefs); living in 1661 but probably the woman of this name buried at Dillwyn (Herefs), 23 June 1664;

(3) Richard Betton (1616-71) (q.v.);

(4) Edward Betton (1618-69), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 20 October 1618; silkman in London; possibly the man of this name who married, 6 September 1653 at St Giles-in-the-Fields, Holborn (Middx), Ann Man; buried in St Mary, Shrewsbury, 26 September 1669; administration of goods granted in the PCC, 1669;

(5) Martha Betton (b. & d. 1621), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 13 March 1620/1; died in infancy and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury on the same day;

(6) Lucretia Betton (1622-23), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 28 March 1622; died in infancy and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 3 December 1623;

(7) James Betton (1624-75), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 16 November 1624; married, before 1661, Elizabeth [surname unknown]; buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 24 July 1675;

(8) John Betton (1627-87), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 26 July 1627; married and had issue; buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 21 April 1687;

(9) Mary Betton (1630-35), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 25 May 1630; died young and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 19 December 1635;

(10) Thomas Betton (1632-86), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 12 June 1632; married Katherine [surname unknown]; buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 6 April 1686;

(11) Joseph Betton (1637-89), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 19 February 1636/7; of Harlescott, Shrewsbury; married Elizabeth [surname unknown] (d. 1671) and had issue one son and one daughter; died 12 April 1689; will proved at Lichfield, 1689.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father.

He was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 6 September 1661; his will was proved at Lichfield, 1661. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Betton, Richard (1616-71). Eldest son of Richard Betton (d. 1661) and his wife Eleanor Purcell, baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 8 February 1615/6. He was a draper in London in 1642 and a Blackwell Hall cloth trader in 1655. He married 1st, Katherine [surname unknown] (d. 1640), and 2nd, 6 January 1647/8 at St Nicholas, Cole Abbey, London, Elizabeth Carver (d. 1711), and had issue:

(2.1) Elizabeth Betton (b. 1649), baptised at St Olave, Silver St., London, 25 April 1649;

(2.2) Richard Betton (1650-1726) (q.v.);

(2.3) Sarah Betton (b. 1655), born 26 February and baptised at Shoreditch (Middx), 13 March 1654/5.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1661.

He was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 16 October 1671. His first wife was buried at St Dunstan-in-the-West, London, 8 March 1640/1. His widow married 2nd, 6 April 1687 at St Julian, Shrewsbury, Joseph Tipton (d. 1693) of Coleham in Shrewsbury, tanner, and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 5 September 1711.

Betton, Richard (1650-1726). Only son of Richard Betton (1616-71) and his second wife Elizabeth Carver, baptised at St Olave, Silver St., London, 11 April 1650. He married 3 March 1673/4 at St Mary, Shrewsbury, Hannah Billings, and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Betton (b. 1675), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 19 October 1675;

(2) Hannah Betton (b. 1677), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 22 November 1677;

(3) Ellinor Betton (b. 1680), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 6 January 1680/1;

(4) Sarah Betton (b. 1682), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 4 May 1682;

(5) Richard Betton (1685-1764) (q.v.);

(6) Mary Betton (b. 1687), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 28 July 1687;

(7) Anne Betton (b. 1691), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 4 August 1691;

(8) George Betton (1695-97), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 29 November 1695; died in infancy and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 8 April 1697.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1671 and rebuilt the house about 1700.

He was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 16 February 1725/6. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Betton, Richard (1685-1764). Only surviving son of Richard Betton (1650-1726) and his wife Hannah Billings, baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 27 January 1684/5. He married, 20 February 1706/7 at St Mary, Shrewsbury, Dorothy (d. 1760), daughter of Edward Lloyd of Leaton Knolls (Shrops.), and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Betton (1707-53), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 20 November 1707; married, 19 December 1728 at St Mary, Shrewsbury, John Watkins (1693-1765) of Shotton Hall, Myddle (Shrops.), and had issue three sons; buried at Myddle, 23 February 1753;

(2) Richard Betton (1710-67) (q.v.);

(3) Dorothy Betton (1712-26), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 2 November 1712; died young and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 4 November 1726;

(4) Mary Betton (1719-1810), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 22 December 1719; died unmarried, aged 91, and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 6 November 1810; will proved in the PCC, 1 December 1810.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1725.

He was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 5 April 1764. His wife was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 2 August 1760.

Betton, Richard (1710-67). Only recorded son of Richard Betton (1685-1764) and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Edward Lloyd of Leaton, baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 11 April 1710. He married, 6 October 1743 at Meole Brace (Shrops.), Mary (c.1713-63), daughter of Charles Maddox of Whitcott, Norbury (Shrops.) and had issue:

(1) Richard Betton (1744-90) (q.v.);

(2) Charles Betton (1746-1808), of Whitchurch-on-Wye (Herefs), baptised at Norbury, 3 July 1746; an officer in the Royal Horse Guards (Capt.); married, 11 September 1775 at Swansea (Glam.), Mary Young (c.1738-1821), widow (perhaps of Thomas Young (d. 1773) of Swansea), and had issue one son and several daughters; buried at Whitchurch-on-Wye, 7 March 1808; administration of goods granted at Hereford, 23 March 1809;

(3) Anne Betton (1749-c.1795), baptised at Norbury, 30 July 1749; married, 16 December 1776 at St Chad, Shrewsbury, William Bayley of London and Preston Brockhurst (Shrops.) and had surviving issue two sons and two daughters; died about 1795.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1764.

He was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 28 June 1767; his will was proved in the PCC, 16 July 1767. His wife was buried at Norbury, 29 November 1763.

Betton, Richard (1744-90). Elder son of Richard Betton (1710-67) and his wife Mary, daughter of Charles Maddox of Whitcott (Shrops.), baptised at Norbury (Shrops.), 10 June 1744. He was apprenticed to Thomas Blakeway of Shrewsbury, attorney, 1760, and subsequently practised as an attorney from Great Berwick. He married, 16 February 1768 at Holy Cross, Shrewsbury (Shrewsbury Abbey), Priscilla (1734-1819), daughter of John Bright of Totterton House, Lydbury North (Shrops.), and had issue:

(1) Richard Betton (1768-1819) (q.v.);

(2) Rev. John Bright Betton (later Bright) (1773-1833), of Totterton House (which he inherited from his maternal uncle in 1790 and remodelled c.1814 to the designs of John Carline), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 7 April 1774; educated at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1792; BA 1796; MA, 1799); ordained deacon, 1797, and priest, 1800; vicar of Lydbury North (Shrops.), 1800-33; JP for Shropshire; took the name Bright in lieu of Betton by royal sign manual, 1807; married, about 26 January* 1806 at Leintwardine (Herefs), Mary (1783-1855), eldest daughter of Thomas Beale (1747-1800) of Heath House, Leintwardine, and had issue one son and five daughters; died 22 December 1833.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1767.

He died 7 February and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 15 February 1790. His widow died 4 December 1819.

* Different sources give dates between 6 January and 27 January.

Betton, Richard (1768-1819). Elder son of Richard Betton (1744-90) and his wife Priscilla. daughter and eventual sole heir of John Bright of Totterton House (Shropshire), born 16 November 1768 and baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 12 January 1769. Articled clerk to Bold Oliver of Shrewsbury, attorney, 1785-90. An officer in the Shropshire militia (Ensign, 1790; Lt., 1793; Maj., 1807). He married, 17 February 1795 at St Mary Magdalene, Taunton (Som.), Mary Anne (c.1769-1840), daughter of Rev. Aaron Foster (d. 1790), vicar of East Pennard and Mudford (Som.), and had issue:

(1) Mary Anne Betton (b. 1796), born 15 February and baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 12 August 1796; married, 8 December 1825 at St Mary, Shrewsbury, her first cousin, Gen. Thomas Foster (1796-1872), of the Royal Engineers, son of Rev. Robert Foster of Wells (Som.), and had issue two daughters; death not traced;

(2) Richard Betton (d. 1799); apparently died in infancy without baptism, and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 8 March 1799;

(3) Harriet Betton (1800-48), born 6 December 1800 and baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, April 1803; married, 18 March 1829 at Moy (Co. Tyrone), Col. Thomas Hosmer Rimington (1801-87) of the Royal Engineers (who m2, 2 May 1850 at Stoke Damerel (Devon), Eliza Jane Edye (1823-98) and had further issue one son and one daughter), only son of Lt.-Gen. Samuel Rimington RA (c.1740-1826), and had issue one son and two daughters; died 15 June and was buried at St Andrew, Plymouth (Devon), 20 June 1848;

(4) Richard Betton (1808-99) (q.v.).

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1790.

He died 15 June 1819 and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury; his will was proved in the PCC, 30 October 1819. His widow was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 3 April 1840.

Betton, Richard (1808-99). Only son of Richard Betton (1768-1819) and his wife Mary Anne, daughter of Rev. Aaron Foster, vicar of East Pennard and Mudford (Som.), born 3 October 1808 and baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 25 February 1810. Educated at Shrewsbury School and Lincoln College, Oxford (matriculated 1826). JP for Herefordshire (from 1854) and Shropshire. A Conservative in politics. He married 1st, 13 October 1831 at Richards Castle (Shrops.), Charlotte Margaretta (1808-60), sixth daughter of Col. Richard Salwey (1783-1825) of Moor Park, Richards Castle, and 2nd, 7 May 1863 at Ludlow, Mary (1833-93), eldest daughter of John Walton of Woodside, Esher (Surrey), but had no issue.

He inherited Great Berwick from his father in 1819 but moved to Overton House on his first wife's estate after their marriage and sold Great Berwick to the Hon. Henry Wentworth Powys (1798-1875) in two tranches: the house and a major part of the estate in 1830-31 and the remainder in 1854. 

He died aged 91 on 14 November, and was buried at Richards Castle, 18 November 1899, where he and his two wives are commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 13 January 1900 (estate £11,902). His first wife died 15 April 1860 and was buried at Richards Castle. His second wife died 21 March 1893 and was buried at Richards Castle; her will was proved 24 January 1900 (estate £6,340).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, p. 143; C.S. Betton, 'Dame Margaret Eyton's will, 1642', Trans. Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 4th series, vol. 7 (1918-19), pp. 189-202; H.E. Forrest, 'Old Shropshire houses and their owners: XXIII Great Berwick, Shrewsbury', Trans. Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 4th series, vol. 8 (1920-21), pp. 87-92; J. Newman & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Shropshire, 2nd edn., 2006, pp. 146-47; A. Ruscoe, Landed estates and the gentry: vol. 8, Ruyton and Knockin to the outskirts of Shrewsbury, 2008, pp. 68-74; G. Williams, The country houses of Shropshire, 2021, pp. 269-71.

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Argent, two pales sable, each charged with three crosslets fitchee or.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide recent photographs of the house at Great or Upper Berwick for this article?
• Can anyone provide photographs or 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 29 June 2025.

(605) Bethune of Blebo House

Bethune of Blebo

This family was a branch of the extensive Bethune (often pronounced, and sometimes spelled, Beaton) clan, who had lands in Fife and Angus from the 12th century onwards. The seat of the main line of the family was at Balfour, four miles east of Glenrothes (Fife), which they acquired by marriage in 1360, and where they had a tower house from 16th century. At that time several members of the family were prominent churchmen, the most famous being Cardinal David Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews, who was murdered at St Andrews Castle in 1546. Not until the 19th century, however, did Balfour House evolve into a country house within the terms of this project, and by then it had passed through the female line to the Drinkwaters (later Bethune-Drinkwaters). It was a large castellated mansion designed by David Bryce, and was blown up in the 1960s. The family had numerous cadet branches, including the Bethunes of Kilconquhar (which had, however, passed by marriage into the Lindesay (later Lindesay-Bethune) family before they built Kilconquhar Castle, and only the Bethunes of Blebo meet the criteria to be treated in this project. The genealogy of the Bethunes of Balfour and several of the other cadet branches will be found in The Red Book of Scotland, to which the reader is referred.

The Blebo branch of the family was founded by Andrew Bethune (c.1602-53), fourth son of David Bethune of Balfour, who was a merchant in Edinburgh and Paris. He seems to have resided in Paris during the Civil War, but returned to Scotland in 1649 and purchased the lands of Blebo and Overmagask (Fife) in that year. When he died his children were all very young, and his widow, Margaret, took as her second husband a controversial Glasgow clergyman, the Rev. Donald Cargill (c.1619-81), who was deprived of his living in 1662 and eventually executed for treason. Margaret, however, died in 1656, and her son Andrew at the tender age of 17 in 1661, when Blebo passed to his younger brother, John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708). John married twice and had at least nine children, with three of his daughters marrying clergymen. His eldest surviving son was James Bethune (1671-1705), who died in the lifetime of his father, and it was therefore the latter's son, John Bethune (1698-1779) who inherited Blebo on the death of his grandfather. In the 18th century, several members of the extended family became surgeons, including John's brother James Bethune (1702-67), who practised at Brentford (Middx), and John's son, George Bethune (d. 1774) of Cupar (Fife), but John's heir was Henry Bethune (d. 1782), who died unmarried. Henry's heir was his sister, Margaret Bethune (c.1729-91), who in many ways is the central figure in the story of this family. In the late 1760s, when she was a spinster of about forty living in the household of her father, she met the romantic figure of Sir William Sharp, 6th baronet, who after being captured, convicted and initially sentenced to death for his part in the 1745 rebellion, escaped and pursued a military career in the French and Portuguese armies. In 1769 he was formally pardoned for his role in the '45 and came back to Scotland to visit his recently widowed mother. Sir William and Margaret Bethune may or may not have married (no record of a marriage has ever been found, but the register for the most likely parish does not survive for most of the 18th century), but they certainly had a child, known later as Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847), who was born after his father had apparently abandoned Margaret and returned to his command in Portugal. There Sir William contracted a further marriage with a Portuguese lady whom he had also made pregnant, and whom he again abandoned before returning to London, where he died in penury in 1780.

Back in Scotland, Margaret Bethune (who had reverted to her maiden name) became aware of Sir William's Portuguese marriage and of his death, and married for a second time, in 1782, to an Edinburgh lawyer, William Chalmers (1744-1807), to whom she made over the Blebo estate for life, with remainder to her son by Sharp. Chalmers subsequently took the name Bethune. The curious thing is that Alexander never claimed or used his father's baronetcy. This could be because he and his mother believed that Sharp's Portuguese marriage predated his Scottish one, and that the latter was therefore bigamous; or it could be because there never was a Scottish marriage, and that Alexander was straightforwardly illegitimate. In 1916, when Alexander's grandson claimed the baronetcy, a committee of the Privy Council took the former view, and allowed the claim on the basis that in Scots law, if either or both parties to a bigamous marriage entered on it in innocence, the children of the marriage would be regarded as legitimate. In the absence of evidence for a Scottish marriage, and in view of the precise wording of Alexander's baptism entry, however, it seems to the present author that the simpler explanation for Alexander's failure to claim the baronetcy is more likely.

Sir William Sharp 'left only debts' at his death, but what Alexander did inherit from him was an aptitude and enthusiasm for the military life. He joined the army in 1789, and rose steadily through the ranks over the next twenty years, retiring on half-pay as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1814. Before that, he had spent several years as a prisoner of war in France, but I have been unable to establish where he was captured or how long he was held. Soon after his retirement, his stepfather died and he came into the Blebo estate, and it seems likely that the building of the present house followed soon afterwards, although stylistically it could have been built earlier, by his stepfather. In 1820, aged nearly fifty, he married the daughter of a neighbouring landowner, and together they produced two sons and two daughters. The heir to Blebo was his elder son, Alexander Bethune (1824-1900), who after a brief military career and some globetrotting, settled down at Blebo to a life of farming, local public affairs, and sport. The Agricultural Depression of the 1880s seems to have had a devastating effect on the economy of the estate, and by the end of his life he had simply run out of money. His net worth when he died was £244, and the Blebo estate was sold by his executors to clear his debts. His only son, later Sir Alexander Sharp Bethune (1860-1917), 9th bt., became a director of companies owning tea and rubber plantations and somewhat retrieved the family finances. He lived in Surrey, where he died a few months after his success in reviving the baronetcy. The title passed to his only son, Sir Alexander Maitland Sharp Bethune (1909-97), 10th bt., but became extinct on his death.

Blebo House, Fife

Almost certainly, the Bethune family had a house on this estate before the the late 18th or early 19th century, but nothing seems to be known about it; not even if it stood on the present site. The existing building started life as a modest neo-classical house, of three widely-spaced bays by two, and of two storeys above a concealed basement. The date of the building is unclear, but it seems likely to have been built for Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847), after he returned from the Napoleonic wars and was confirmed in his estate by the Prince Regent in 1815. The only external feature of note was a full-height semi-circular bow in the centre of the south (garden) front. The house was built of coursed stone rubble but given a smoother appearance by crisp white harling.

Blebo House: view from the south-east after the additions of 1903, from an old postcard.

Blebo House: the entrance tower and service wing added in 1903-04.

Blebo House: plan after alterations of 1903, 
from The Builder.

The estate was sold in 1900 for £38,000 to William Low, owner of a Dundee-based chain of grocery stores, who extensively enlarged and remodelled it to the designs of James Findlay of Dundee in 1903-04. He extended the house to the north, adding a conspicuous circular entrance tower at the north-east corner and a service wing at the north-west angle, and excavated the land around the Georgian house to expose the basement and give the house a greater presence in the landscape. He also reconstructed the roof of the house, no doubt adding the dormer windows and the balustrading around the top of the Georgian bow. 

Internally, the house was extensively remodelled, although the drawing room retains Adam-style plasterwork, and the sitting room behind the curved bow retains a fine wood and gesso fireplace (which should be painted) and a simple contemporary cornice. Typical of the new interiors, finished in fumed oak and pitch pine, is the dining room, with a beamed and panelled ceiling and dado panelling that steps up to encompass the doorcase and Arts & Crafts mantlepiece. The billiard room below the drawing room is in a similar style.

Blebo House: dining room created in 1903-04.

The grounds were evidently landscaped in the early 19th century, when a short approach drive was laid out from the west, with a Gothick lodge at the gate, and a much longer and more picturesque drive was created, leading north through Kemback Den to the village of Kemback.

Descent: sold to Andrew Bethune (c.1602-53); to son, Andrew Bethune (1644-61); to brother, John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708); to grandson, John Bethune (1698-1779); to son, Henry Bethune (d. 1782); to sister, Margaret (c.1728-91), wife of Sir William Sharp (d. 1807), 6th bt. and later of William Chalmers (later Bethune) (1744-1807) to whom she left it for life, with remainder to her son, Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847); to son, Alexander Bethune (1824-1900), whose executors sold 1900 to William Low (c.1858-1936); to widow, Isabel Sands Low (d. 1950) and daughter, Miss Janet I. Low (d. 1962), who sold 1951 to Margrave Estates Ltd. of Leeds; sold 1952 to Andrew Erskine Orr, veterinary surgeon; sold 1984...Mr & Mrs Ian Myers (fl. 1993)... James Gordon Reid QC (b. 1952); sold 2020.

Bethune family of Blebo House

Bethune, Andrew (c.1602-53). Fourth son of David Bethune of Balfour (Fife) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Andrew Wardlaw of Torrie, born about 1602. He was apprenticed to William Dick of Edinburgh, merchant, 10 July 1616, and after completing his apprenticeship became a successful merchant in Edinburgh and Paris (France). He married, c.1640, Margaret (d. 1656), daughter of Nichol Brown of Edinburgh, merchant, and had issue:

(1) David Bethune (b. 1641), baptised at Edinburgh, 1 October 1641; probably died young and is unlikely to be the man of this name apprenticed to Charles Charteris of Edinburgh, merchant, 21 July 1669;

(2) Margaret Bethune (b. 1643), baptised at Edinburgh, 11 January 1643; married, 4 December 1663 at Kemback, James Lundie of Clatto, and had issue;

(3) Andrew Bethune (1644-61), baptised at Edinburgh, 10 April 1644; was served heir to his father in the lands and barony of Blebo, 9 June 1657; died unmarried at Bandon, 16 May, and was buried at Kemback, 28 May 1661;

(4) John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708) (q.v.);

(5) Mary Bethune; married, c.1664, William Bethune of Craigfoodie, Dairsie (Fife), advocate, second son of Robert Bethune of Bandon, and had issue five sons and four daughters;

(6) Elizabeth Bethune (fl. 1656); died unmarried;

(7) Catherine Bethune (b. 1647), baptised at Edinburgh, 17 October 1647; died young.

On his return to England from France, he purchased the lands of Blebo and Overmagask from Peter Hay of Blebo in 1649.

He died 3 June, and was buried at Kemback (Fife), 6 June 1653.  His widow married 2nd, about 11 August 1655, Rev. Donald Cargill (c.1619-81), minister at Glasgow (deprived 1662), who was later one of the founders of the Cameronians or Reformed Presbyterians and was executed for treason; she died 12 August 1656.

Bethune, John (c.1645-c.1708). Third son of Andrew Bethune (c.1602-53) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Nichol Brown of Edinburgh, merchant, born about 1645. He married 1st, 1668 (contract 11 February) at Edinburgh, Katherine, daughter of George Home (d. 1650) and sister of George Home of Wedderburn, and 2nd, 1676, with 6,000 marks, Alison (b. 1657), youngest daughter of James Cheap of Ormiston and Rossie, and had issue:

(1.1) Andrew Bethune (b. 1669), baptised at Kemback, 6 January 1669; died young;

(1.2) George Bethune (b. 1670), baptised at Kemback, 28 January 1670; died young;

(1.3) James Bethune (1671-1705) (q.v.);

(1.4) Katherine Bethune (b. 1672), baptised at Kemback, 1 March 1672; probably died young;

(1.5) John Bethune (1673-1714), baptised at Kemback, 10 June 1673; collector of customs at Kirkcaldy; married, 15 November 1696 at Edinburgh, Jean, daughter of Sir James Smollett, kt., of Bonhill (Dunbartons.), and had issue one son and two daughters; died November 1714; will confirmed at St Andrews, 30 March 1715;

(2.1) Mary Bethune (fl. 1705); married, 13 August 1705 at St Andrews and St Leonards (Fife), as his second wife, Rev. William Pitcairn (c.1673-1722), minister of Collessie (Fife), and had issue two sons and five daughters;

(2.2) Henry Bethune (fl. 1711); 'heir of provision' to his father;

(2.3) Elizabeth Bethune (d. 1763); married, 19 March 1707, Rev. William Knox (c.1678-1746), minister of Dairsie, son of Rev. Simon Knox, and had issue seven sons and five daughters; died 22 December 1763;

(2.4) Katherine Bethune (d. 1770); married, 2 December 1707, Rev. John Stark (d. 1748) of Ballindean, minister of Logie, and had issue six sons and one daughter; died 29 January 1770.

He inherited the Blebo House estate from his elder brother in 1661, and was infest in the lands, 3 July 1662.

He died about 1708. His first wife died in or before 1676. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bethune, James (1671-1705). Third, but eldest surviving son of John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708) and his first wife, Katherine, sister of George Home of Wedderburn, baptised at Kemback, 2 February 1671. He married, 23 December 1696 at Abbotshall (Fife), Margaret (d. by 1711), eldest daughter of Sir James Wemyss, 1st bt., of Bogie, and had issue:

(1) John Bethune (1698-1771) (q.v.);

(2) Henry Bethune (d. 1769) of Clatto; married, 11 May 1723 at St Andrews (Fife), Margaret, daughter of John Craigie of Dunbairnie, and had issue three sons and three daughters; died at St. Andrews (Fife), 2 December 1769;

(3) James Bethune (1702-67), baptised at Abbotshall (Fife), 2 November 1702; apprenticed to Robert Hope of Edinburgh, surgeon, 9 January 1719, and became a surgeon in Brentford (Middx); acquired the lands of Nydie, which he entailed on his brothers and their children, 1747; married Sarah [surname unknown] and had issue one daughter; died September 1767 and was buried at Brentford, 9 October 1767; will proved in the PCC, 2 October 1767;

(4) Alison Bethune (fl. 1767); married, 5 June 1731, John Drew (d. by 1767); living as a widow in St. Andrews (Fife), 1767;

(5) Margaret Bethune (d. 1754); married, as his second wife, John Corstophine of Nydie, and had issue; died 14 March 1754.

He died in the lifetime of his father, July 1705. His widow married 2nd, 15 July 1706, as his second wife, Philip Hamilton (b. c.1669) of Kilbrackmont (who m3, 1711 (contract 22 December), Helen, daughter of Thomas Fotheringham of Ballindean and widow of Andrew Coupar of Lochblair), and died in or before 1711.

Bethune, John (1698-1779). Eldest son of James Bethune (c.1670-1705) and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of James Wemyss of Bogie, baptised at Abbotshall (Fife), 19 January 1699. He married, 1 November 1724 in Edinburgh, Janet (d. 1778), daughter of Henry Scrimgeour WS of Edinburgh, and had issue:

(1) Henry Bethune (d. 1782) (q.v.);

(2) George Bethune (d. 1774), of Kingusk (Fife), which he sold to Sir Robert Anstruther of Balcaskie (Fife); probably the man of this name apprenticed to Peter Adie of Edinburgh, surgeon, 5 July 1758 and later a physician at Cupar (Fife); died 1774;

(3) Margaret Bethune (c.1729-91) (q.v.);

(4) Agnes Bethune (fl. 1747);

(5) Elizabeth Bethune (fl. 1747);

(6) Janet Bethune (fl. 1747).

He inherited the Blebo estate from his grandfather in about 1708 and came of age about 1719.

He died at Blebo, 16 December, and was buried at Kemback, 20 December 1779. His wife died at Blebo, 7 March 1778.

Bethune, Henry (d. 1782). Elder son of John Bethune (c.1698-1771) and his wife Janet, daughter of Henry Scrimgeour WS of Edinburgh. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited the Blebo estate from his father in 1779.

He died at Blebo, 3 February, and was buried at Kemback, 8 February 1782.

Bethune, Margaret (c.1729-91). Eldest daughter of John Bethune (1698-1779) and his wife Janet, daughter of Henry Scrimgeour WS, born about 1729. She is said to have married 1st, about 1770, Sir William Sharp* (1729-80), 6th bt., of Scotscraig, and 2nd, 25 August 1782 at Blebo, William Chalmers WS (1744-1807) of Raddernie, Principal Clerk of Session, who took the name and arms of Bethune of Blebo. She had issue:

(1.1) Alexander Sharp (later Bethune) (1771-1847) (q.v.). 

She inherited the Blebo estate from her brother in 1782 and in 1783 settled it on her husband for life and their issue, with remainder to the son of her first marriage. 

She died in Edinburgh, 26 January 1791. Her first husband is said to have 'died alone, in a lodging house' in London, 'leaving nothing but debts', 13 February 1780, and was buried at St. Marylebone. Her second husband  married 2nd, 29 March 1792 at Bellfield, Isobel (1760-1830), daughter of James Morrison of Naughton (Fife), and had issue one daughter; he died 28 February and was buried at Kemback, 4 March 1807.

* No record of this marriage has ever been found, and it may never have taken place, although as no register of marriages for the estate church at Kemback survives between 1703 and 1787, this cannot be proved. Sir William was among the Jacobite rebels sentenced to death for their part in the 1745 rebellion; after representations by his professors at St Andrews University, he was repreived on account of his tender years and interned. In 1747 he escaped and joined the French army, in which he rose to be a captain. In 1761 he resigned his commission and returned to Britain, where he contrived to join a group of experienced officers being assembled to assist the Portuguese army (Maj., 1762; Col., 1763; Brig., 1765; Maj-Gen., 1775). In 1769 he obtained an official pardon for his part in the '45 and returned to Scotland to see his widowed mother. There he met Margaret Bethune and is said to have married her prior to the birth of their son. In 1916 it was held that he had previously contracted a marriage with a Portuguese lady who survived him, and had issue a daughter, and that his marriage to Margaret was therefore biagmous, but that under Scots Law where a marriage turned out to be null because of such a pre-existing impediment, the children would nevertheless be legitimate if either or both of the parents was in honest ignorance of the existence of the impediment. However it is now known that Sir William's marriage to Ana Francisca da Gama Lobo, daughter of Lt-Col. Francisco Xavier da Silva Lobo did not take place until 1777. It therefore seems likely that his son Alexander failed to claim the baronetcy not because he believed he was illegitimate as the child of a bigamous union but more simply because his parents had never been married, and that the decision of the baronetcy committee of the privy council in 1916 was founded on inaccurate information.

Sharp (later Bethune), Lt-Gen. Alexander (1771-1847). Only son of Sir William Sharp (1729-80), 6th bt., of Scotscraig, and his wife or partner Margaret Bethune, baptised at Blebo, 20 August 1771. He believed he was not entitled to succeed his father as 7th baronet of Scotscraig, and never claimed or used the title. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1789; Lt., 1792; Capt. 1793; Maj., 1802; Lt-Col., 1809; retired on half-pay, 1814; Col., 1819; Maj-Gen., 1830; Lt-Gen., 1841), he was wounded in 1801 and held as a prisoner of war for several years during the Napoleonic wars. In 1815 he had royal licence to take the name and arms of Bethune in lieu of Sharp. He married, 20 April 1820 at Clatto (Fife), Maria (d. 1886), daughter of Robert Low of Clatto, and had issue:

(1) Susan Bethune (1821-1908), born 18 June and baptised at Kemback, 29 June 1821; married, 3 May 1840 at Kemback, David Gillespie (1814-99) of Kirkton and Mountquhanie (Fife), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 6 December 1908;

(2) Margaret Bethune (1823-99), baptised at Kemback, 31 January 1823; married 1st, 26 March 1857 at Edinburgh, George Patton (1803-69)* of the Cairnies (Perths.), MP for Bridgwater, 1866 and then Lord Justice Clerk as Lord Glenalmond, third son of James Patton of the Cairnies, sheriff-clerk of Perthshire, but had no issue; married 2nd, 2 January 1871 at Edinburgh, Maj. Robert Malcolm of Royal Engineers; died 7 November 1899 and was buried at Monzie (Perths.);

(3) Alexander Bethune (1824-1900) (q.v.);

(4) Robert Bethune (1827-1904), born 29 July and baptised at Kemback, 30 August 1827; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1845; Lt., 1846; Capt. retired as Maj., 1859), who served in the Crimean War and in India (twice mentioned in despatches), and later in the Fife Militia; after retirement, lived at Nydie (Fife); married, 24 January 1865 at Tunbridge Wells (Kent), Mary Louisa (1840-1920), daughter of Capt. William Amherst Hale (1809-44), and had issue three sons and five daughters; died in Earl's Court, London, 27 July 1904; will proved 22 September 1904 (estate £4,645).

He inherited the Blebo estate on the death of his stepfather in 1807 and was confirmed in his estate by the Prince Regent in 1815. He was probably responsible for building the present house at Blebo around 1815.

He died at Blebo, 28 December 1847. His wife died at Edinburgh, 24 January 1886.

* He committed suicide on 20 September 1869 being badly upset by the death of his brother, Thomas Patton WS of Glenalmond; the press had mistakenly announced his death instead of that of his brother.

Bethune, Alexander (1824-1900). Elder son of Lt-Gen. Alexander Sharp (later Bethune) (1771-1847) and his wife Maria, daughter of Robert Low of Clatto, baptised at Kemback, 11 August 1824. An officer in the army (Lt., 1842; retired 1848), and later in the Cupar Rifle Corps. He believed he was not entitled to succeed to the baronetcy of Scotscraig, and never claimed or used the title. An ardent Liberal in politics, he took an active part in local government and was a Commissioner of Supply and JP for Fife, and from 1854, also a DL for Fife. In the 1880s, he was also chairman of the committee to elect H.H. Asquith for the Fife East constituency. He was an all-round sportsman, being a capital shot, enthusiastic curler and billiards player. In his younger years he was keen on hunting, but after leaving the army he took up golf seriously. He was a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews from 1842, and played regularly, as well as arranging some famous professional matches. As a young man, he travelled to America and Canada and is said to have been one of the first Englishmen to extensively explore the Rocky Mountains. His obituarist described him as 'a gentleman of striking personality... independence of speech... and originality'. He married, 18 September 1849, at Dundee, Margaret (1826-90), fourth daughter of John Maxwell MD, and had issue:

(1) Mary Elizabeth Bethune (1851-1932), born 12 February 1851; lived at 39 High St., Elie (Fife); died unmarried, 28 May 1932 and was buried at Kemback, where she is commemorated on the family gravestone; will confirmed 29 July 1932 (estate £3,422);

(2) (Katherine) Maria Bethune (1855-1938), born 13 September 1855; said to have spent several years in Germany before her marriage and to have travelled 'quite extensively' with her husband later on; she married, 22 July 1880 at Cupar Episcopal Church, her cousin, David Gillespie (1841-1911) of Montquhannie (which he sold 1906), sheriff substitute; as a widow she lived at Aberfoyle (Perths.) and later at St. Andrews, where she built a new house for herself; died without issue at St Andrews, 9 July 1938;

(3) Sir Alexander Sharp Bethune (1860-1917), 9th bt., born 21 March 1860; chairman of Associated Tea Estates, Ceylon, and a director of Hidden Streams Rubber Syndicate Ltd and Karak Rubber Co. Ltd; built Russet House, Tadworth (Surrey); chairman of the Imperial Defence Council; successfully petitioned to be recognised as legitimate heir to the Sharp of Scotscraig baronetcy, December 1916, although consideration of this case was probably founded upon incorrect information about his great-grandfather's marriages; he married, 8 November 1889 at St John, Kensington (Middx), Elizabeth Carnegie (1864-1935), third daughter of Frederick Lewis Maitland-Heriot of Ramornie, and had issue one son and three daughters; died at Tadworth (Surrey), 31 March, and was buried at Kingswood (Surrey), 4 April 1917; will confirmed 17 July 1917 (estate £32,900).

He inherited the Blebo estate from his father in 1847, but after the death of his wife he retired to Elie (Fife). His executors sold the estate in 1900.

He died at Castlandhill, Inverkeithing, 10 May, and was buried at Kemback, 14 May 1900; his will was confirmed 17 September 1900 (estate £244). His wife died at Bideford (Devon), 10 May 1890.

Principal sources

G. MacGregor, The Red Book of Scotland, 2018, vol. 1, pp. 523-31; The Builder, 24 March 1906; J. Nicoll, Domestic architecture in Scotland: illustrations of Scottish domestic work of recent years, 1908, pl. 20; J. Gifford, The buildings of Scotland: Fife, 1988, p. 101;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Sharp,_6th_Baronet; 

Location of archives

Bethune of Blebo: deeds, estate and family papers, 1457-1900 [National Records of Scotland, GD7]; account book of John Bethune, 1720-40 [University of St Andrews Libraries & Museums ms38095]

Coat of arms

Azure a fess chequy Or and Gules between three lozenges of the second.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide additional information about the ownership of Blebo House after 1951?
• Does anyone know where Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847) was captured by the French and how long he was a prisoner of war?
• Can anyone provide photographs or 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 18 June 2025 and was updated 22 June 2025.

(604) Bethell of Rise and Watton Abbey

Bethell of Rise

This family are first found as minor gentry in Herefordshire in the 16th century. The name is spelled in a bewildering variety of forms (including Battle, Bedell, Bettell and Bythell), which makes tracing them with certainty very difficult; the form 'Bethell' was the most commonly used and has been adopted as standard in this account. Thomas Bethell (b. c.1530) of Mansell Lacy (Herefs), with whom the genealogy below begins, had five sons, of whom the two eldest inherited his property in Herefordshire and the three younger moved to Yorkshire, where they may already have had connections. The eldest of the three, Sir Henry Bethell (d. 1612), kt.,  acquired property at Ellerton and Otteringham in the East Riding and Alne in the North Riding. Roger Bethell (c.1560-1626) lived at Bainton in the East Riding but around 1600 he bought an under-lease of a Crown estate at Rise, making the family's first connection with the place that was to become their principal seat. The youngest son, Andrew Bethell (b. c.1562), seems to have inherited Rudding Grange, Naburn (Yorks NR) from an uncle. Roger Bethell's son and heir, Hugh Bethell (1589-1659), inherited his father's property at Rise and added to it lands in the neighbouring parish of Skirlaugh (Yorks ER). His three sons who survived to maturity (Sir Hugh Bethell (1615-79), kt., Christopher Bethell (1618-45) and John Bethell (1620-c.1652)) were all officers in the Parliamentarian forces during the Civil War. Sir Hugh commanded a regiment from 1644 onwards, was Governor of Scarborough Castle, 1649-51, and became an MP during the Commonwealth and after the Restoration; Christopher was killed at the siege of Bristol in 1645. Sir Hugh purchased the manor of Rise in 1646 and bought out a long Crown lease of the property a few years later. After he inherited his father's property at Rise in 1659 he owned almost the entire parish, and he also acquired the manor of Tansterne in Aldborough (Yorks WR) in right of his wife. Sir Hugh and his wife had several children, but he outlived his son and grandson, and died in 1679 without a direct male heir. His brother, John Bethell, who was given his father's lands at Skirlaugh, had died young, and it was therefore John's eldest surviving son, Hugh Bethell (c.1647-1717) who inherited both the Rise and Skirlaugh estates.

Hugh Bethell (d. 1717), who was MP for Hedon for five years at the end of the 17th century, married twice. By his first wife his only surviving child was a daughter, Mary Bethell (1684-1731), who married the poet, William Somerville (1675-1742), but had no issue. Hugh's second marriage, to Susan Dickenson (1653-1730), brought him the Watton Abbey estate, and also a son and heir. This was Hugh Bethell (1691-1752), who married a daughter of Sir John Cope of Bramshill (Hants) and Hanwell (Oxon), and had two sons, who inherited the Rise estate in succession and both remodelled the house there. The elder, Hugh Bethell (1721-72) was MP for Beverley for five years, but died unmarried. The younger, William Bethell (1729-99), was married but had no issue, and so on his death the estate passed to a fifth cousin once removed, who descended from Andrew Bethell (b. c.1562). This was Richard Bethell (1772-1864), the eldest son of the vicar of St Peter, Wallingford (Berks), whom William had evidently named as his heir, for he became a deputy lieutenant for the East Riding and an officer in the East Yorkshire militia during his benefactor's lifetime. Richard belonged to the generation which, alarmed by the French Revolution, saw the need contribute more to society to justify their existence. In Richard's case, this took the form of being a long-serving chairman of the East Riding Quarter Sessions and the Skirlaugh Board of Guardians, as well as serving as an MP between 1830 and 1841. At home, he rebuilt the house at Rise in a plain but fashionable neo-classical style, and was an active improver of his estates. He lived an exceptionally long life for the period, and was still active as a magistrate and poor law guardian until shortly before his death at the age of 92. The one thing he did not manage, however, was to raise a family, so at his death his estates passed to his nephew, William Froggatt Bethell (1809-79), whose father had been a schoolmaster at Eton and later vicar of Worplesdon (Surrey). By marked contrast, William married into the prominent Denison family and produced no less than six sons and six daughters, many of whom had interesting and successful careers. One of his younger sons was Christopher Bethell (1856-84), the rebel in the family ranks, who after disappointing his father in several ways was sent to southern Africa, where he married a native woman and was eventually killed by the Boers. A legal dispute followed about the rights of his wife and child to a share in a family inheritance, during which the courts held that as the marriage tradition within which he had been married permitted polygamy (even though his had been a monogamous relationship), it was not a marriage recognised by English law. His widow and child therefore lost their claim, and the interpretation of law established by the case became a legal precedent underpinning marriage law for more than a century afterwards.

When W.F. Bethell died in 1879, his heir was his eldest son, William Bethell (1847-1926), who married a daughter of the 8th Baron Middleton in the following year. They occupied Grimston House, North Grimston near her parents' seat at Birdsall House in preference to either Rise Hall or Watton Abbey. William was succeeded in 1926 by his son, Capt. William Adran Vincent Bethell (1890-1941), who was always known as Adrian. He announced in 1931 that he would shut up most of Rise Hall and retain only one suite of rooms for his family, at least until agricultural conditions improved his income from the estate. After he died in 1941 the estate passed to his son, Richard Anthony Bethell (1922-96), who took the more radical step of selling a long lease on Rise Hall to a convent school and buying the former Rise rectory, which became a new and more modest centre for the estate, being renamed Rise Park. R.A. Bethell handed over the estate to his elder son, Hugh Adrian Bethell (b. 1952) in the 1980s, and after the convent school closed and Rise Hall had stood empty for some years, Mr Bethell sold the freehold of the mansion to the TV property developer, Sarah Beeny, and her husband. They decided to turn the house in a wedding venue, and it was subsequently sold to the present owners. The Bethell family continue to live at Rise Park, and still own the Rise and Watton Abbey estates.

Rise Hall, Yorkshire (ER)

A manor house was first mentioned in the early 14th century, but this apparently stood west of the later house in a field still marked by extensive earthworks and known as Blackhall Close. By the early 16th century the medieval house had been replaced, and other buildings then stood on its site. The new house seems to have stood on the present site, and in 1672 it had 13 hearths and was occupied by Sir Hugh Bethell (1615-79), kt.

Rise Hall c.1718, depicted in Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook

By 1716, when an estate plan was made, the manor house had an E-plan north front, approached by a central path, and formal gardens to the south and west. The earliest visual record of the house is a tiny sketch of about the same date in Samuel Buck's Yorkshire sketchbook. This shows an L-shaped vernacular Tudor or Jacobean house with three gables to the front and what seems to have been a walled forecourt. 

By 1762 most of the house had been rebuilt as a long U plan, open to the east, and in 1773 William Bethell gave the house a new front, apparently almost 180 ft. long, and then or soon after he remodelled the interior. Some fabric of the Tudor house was incorporated into the east end of its successor, as 16th or 17th century walling is evident inside on the first floor. 

Rise Hall: the west-facing entrance front

Rise Hall: south front in 1948. Image: Historic England.

Between 1815 and 1820 Richard Bethell extensively remodelled the house in an austere neo-classical style, almost certainly to the designs of Watson & Pritchett of York. The new house, which has been known successively as Rise Hall, Rise Park, and now Rise Hall once again, is of two storeys and faced with fine ashlar. It takes the form of a large rectangle, but the plan is irregular, no doubt to accommodate pre-existing fabric. The principal facade, of nine bays, faces west, and has a tetrastyle portico of four giant unfluted Ionic columns supporting a pediment. The plain but grand eleven-bay south range has a nine-bayed centre, with the middle three bays broken forward under a pediment, and wide, shallowly-projecting ends, one being the south end of the west range. The north range is plainer still, of seven bays between deep, end projections of one wide bay. On the east side the house incorporates a 18th century brick service block which was greatly extended in 1815-20.

Rise Hall: the principal staircase.

The interior is almost as plain as the exterior, with few of the rooms having more decoration than an elegant cornice. The centre of the house is occupied by a spine of mostly top-lit circulation spaces. The portico leads into an entrance hall with an Ionic screen of two columns. Behind that is the very generous top-lit staircase hall, lit by a rectangular roof light, with a cantilevered open-well staircase that has a delicate wrought iron balustrade, continued as a balcony on the first floor. Beyond the staircase hall is an elegant galleried inner hall, with a large decorative domed roof-light and the same pattern of balustrading as the staircase. Finally, at the end of the sequence is a top-lit service stair. 

Rise Hall: the library.

The principal, south-facing rooms open off that spine: the library fills the south end of the west range, followed by three, linked rooms in the centre of the south front, and a sitting room in the eastern projection. The dining room (once used as a chapel by the convent) has a fine stuccoed ceiling with Adam-style decoration and a handsome multi-coloured marble chimneypiece with Ionic columns and a frieze with a classical scene. This looks like genuine work of the 1770s that survived the rebuilding of 1815-20, but it may be convincing work of around 1900. In the north range, smaller rooms linked by their own corridor were probably used as upper servants' and business rooms: the lay-out may reflect a previous arrangement, as rooms in the north-east wing fit awkwardly behind the early 19th-century stone skin. The 18th-century brick, service block was remodelled to integrate it with the new house and extended east to form an additional court. 

Rise Hall: the dining room. Is the ceiling a survival of the 18th century interiors, or a skillful Edwardian addition?

The Bethells shut up most of the house for financial reasons in 1931, and moved out altogether in about 1946, when they bought the former rectory of 1809, now known as Rise Park, as a smaller and more manageable centre for the estate. The mansion was then let to a community of Augustinian Canonesses, who ran a Roman Catholic boarding and day school for girls there until 1989 and converted the former dining room into a chapel. They retained the building after the school closed and in 1995 were using the house as an occasional educational centre. By 1998 the house was standing empty, and after the lease was eventually given up, the property was sold in 2001 to the television personality and property developer, Sarah Beeny, and her husband. After using it as a weekend retreat for some years they decided it was too large and converted it into a wedding venue. They sold the house in 2019, and a further programme of repairs and alterations was carried out by the present owners, who operate it as a wedding and events venue.

Rise Hall: extract from 1st edn 25" plan of 1889, showing the 18th-19th century hall, the rectory (now Rise Park)
and the site of the medieval house at Black Hall to the west.

Sir Peter de Fauconberg had a park at Rise in the earlier 13th century and his son Walter was granted free warren there in 1292, but the medieval park was probably extinguished by the making of enclosures, as it was not mentioned in a 1624 estate survey, and in 1716, deer were kept in the demesne woods rather than a park. It was probably in the 1770s, that a new, larger park was made that required the diversion of one of the village streets. In 1716 the woods had included a lake, and another was added and both Old and New Ponds given small islands as part of the landscaping. The 'improvements' may have been designed by 'Capability' Brown, who made a general plan for Rise Park in 1775, though this does not survive. 

Rise Park: lodges of 1818. Image: J. Thomas. Some rights reserved. 

Watson & Pritchett made designs for gate lodges in 1818, and they were no doubt responsible for the present delightful neo-classical lodges with curving screen walls, ornamental iron gatepiers, and elegant wrought iron gates and railings, although these differ from the surviving designs. The New Pond was drained, or silted up, between 1852 and 1889, and the herd of fallow deer was killed at the start of the Second World War, when the park was ploughed; it has since been returned to grass. An ice-house near the lakes remained in 1995.

Descent: Crown lessees sub-let to Roger Bethell (c.1560-1626) and the latter's son, Hugh Bethell (1589-1659); to son, Sir Hugh Bethell (1615-79), kt., who purchased the freehold of the manor in 1646; to nephew, Hugh Bethell (c.1647-1717); to son, Hugh Bethell (1691-1752); to son, Hugh Bethell (1727-72); to brother, William Bethell (1729-99); to distant kinsman, Richard Bethell (1772-1864); to nephew, William Froggatt Bethell (1809-79); to son, William Bethell (1847-1926); to son, (William) Adrian Vincent Bethell (1890-1941); to son, Richard Anthony Bethell (1922-96); to son, Hugh Adrian Bethell (b. 1952), who sold 2001 to Sarah Beeny and Graham Swift; sold 2019 to Dan and Helen Gill. The house was leased as an Augustinian convent school, 1946-89, and later as an education centre.

Watton Abbey, Yorkshire (ER)

The Venerable Bede mentions a nunnery at Watton as existing in the 8th century, but nothing more is known of it, and the monastic house which existed in the later medieval period was founded in about 1150 by Eustace Fitzjohn for the new Gilbertine order, created at Sempringham (Lincs) about ten years earlier. Gilbertine houses were nunneries served by resident canons, and so consisted of two separate monastic establishments for the nuns and canons, with a shared church in which the two communities were segregated by a wall down the middle. 

Watton Priory: site plan as recovered by excavation, 1893-98.

Watton Priory was the largest house of the order, and its plan was recovered by excavation in 1893-98, which showed that the complex was about 600 feet long, from west to east. The priory survived until it was dissolved in 1539, when the nuns and canons were pensioned off, and the prior - who was a protégé of Thomas Cromwell and also bishop of Llandaff - was given a lease of the priory site. In 1545 he became Archbishop of York and may then have made some use of the site, which could explain why the prior's lodging was preserved when the remaining buildings were largely demolished, although the ease with which such lodgings could be adapted as private houses meant that they were always the part of a monastery most likely to be preserved.

Watton Abbey: view of the house c.1718 from Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook.

Watton Abbey: wash drawing of c.1780 by Christopher Machell, showing the demolished kitchen wing on the right.
Image: Victoria & Albert Museum E.383-1951

The three-storey west-facing prior's lodging at Watton consisted of three elements: a recessed ashlar range of the later 14th century on the left, with angle-buttresses; an imposing brick range of the mid to late 15th century with three octagonal corner turrets and a splendid two-storey bay window; and a large three-storey kitchen wing, probably of the same date, which was pulled down between 1780 and 1850. An earlier view by Samuel Buck, of c.1718, suggest that there were detached outbuildings west of the kitchen wing.

Watton Abbey: the house in 2013. Image: Les Waby/Historic England

The house was adapted into a private house in the mid to late 16th century, but does not seem to have undergone any significant external alterations until the demolition of the kitchen wing at some time after 1780. Inside, the original medieval spaces have been altered and subdivided, and the main staircase is now an open-well stair of c.1700, with onion-on-ball balusters and ball finials on the newel posts. After the construction of the present house at Rise Hall in 1815-20, Watton Abbey was normally let, and it was a school for some ten years between 1830 and 1840. A new porch was built where the kitchen wing formerly abutted the main house in about 1890, and further internal alterations were made in the 19th and 20th centuries, so that there is now little early work to be seen inside.

Descent: Crown leased 1540 to Most Rev. Robert Holgate (c.1482-1555), last prior of Watton and later Archbishop of York; reverted to Crown and granted to John Dudley (c.1505-53), Duke of Northumberland; on his attainder it reverted to the Crown and was granted by 1576 to John Farnham...by 1605 to Sir Thomas Earlkyn, kt.... sold before 1637 to Sir Thomas Finch (1578-1639), 3rd bt. and 2nd Earl of Winchilsea; to son, Heneage Finch (c.1627-89), 3rd Earl of Winchilsea; sold 1672 to William Dickenson (d. 1702); to daughter, Sarah (d. 1730), wife of Hugh Bethell (c.1647-1717); to son, Hugh Bethell (1691-1752); to son, Hugh Bethell (1727-72); to brother, William Bethell (1729-99); to widow, Charlotte Bethell (d. 1814); to kinsman, Richard Bethell (1772-1864); to nephew, William Froggatt Bethell (1809-79); to son, William Bethell (1847-1926); to son, William Adrian Vincent Bethell (1890-1941); to son, Richard Anthony Bethell (1922-96); to son, Hugh Adrian Bethell (b. 1952). 

The house was generally let after 1820. Tenants included Digby Legard (fl. 1829), the Rev. John Earle (fl. 1830-40), rector of Watton, who ran it as a school; Rev. Henry Jennings, rector of Watton (fl. 1840-c.1860); Richard Beckitt (d. 1898) and John Arthur Coulson (fl. c.1900-14).

Bethell family of Rise Hall and Watton Abbey

Bethell, Thomas (b. c.1530). Son of Thomas or Richard Bethell of Mansell Lacy (Herefs). He married Elizabeth, daughter of George Rogers, and had issue (possibly among others):

(1) John Bethell; died without issue;

(2) Nicholas Bethell, of Maidenhead, Orleton? (Herefs); married and had issue four sons;

(3) Sir Hugh Bethell (d. 1612), kt., of Ellerton and Otteringham (Yorks); proprietor of the peculiar court of Alne; high sheriff of Yorkshire, 1608-09; married 1st, Joan, daughter of [forename unknown] Stevens of Devon, but had no issue; married 2nd, Anne, daughter of Sir William Mallory, kt., of Studley Royal (Yorks WR), and had issue one daughter (Grisilla, who married Sir John Wray (1586-1655), 2nd bt., and had issue four sons and eight daughters); married 3rd, Jane (who m2, Sir George Butler, kt., but had no issue), daughter of Most Rev. Thomas Young, Archbishop of York; buried at Ellerton; will proved 7 February 1611/2;

(4) Roger Bethell (c.1560-1626) (q.v.);

(5) Andrew Bethell (b. c.1562) [for whom see below].

He lived at Mansell Lacy (Herefs).

His date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bethell, Roger (c.1560-1626). Fourth son of Thomas Bethell (b. c.1530) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of George Rogers, born about 1560. He married Susanna (d. 1630), daughter of [forename unknown] Thornton and widow of Thomas Lindley, and had issue:

(1) Hugh Bethell (1589-1659) (q.v.);

(2) Robert Bethell (b. 1591; fl. 1665), baptised at Bainton, 1 February 1590/1; lived at Everthorpe in North Cave (Yorks ER); married Elizabeth, daughter of James Constable (d. 1622) of Cliffe, and had issue three sons; living in 1665;

(3) Margaret Bethell (b. 1592), baptised at Bainton, 12 June 1592;

(4) William Bethell (b. 1594), baptised at Bainton, 12 June 1594;

(5) Elizabeth Bethell (b. 1595), baptised at Bainton, 7 August 1595; married, 29 December 1617 at Rise, Anthony Morehouse;

(6) Thomas Bethell (b. & d. 1596), baptised at Bainton, 14 November 1596; died in infancy and was buried at Bainton, 19 November 1596;

(7) Joan Bethell (b. 1597), baptised at Bainton, 20 December 1597;

(8) Christian Bethell (d. 1638), possibly of this generation; buried at Rise, 29 April 1638.

He evidently lived at Bainton, at least until he acquired a sub-lease under a Crown lessee of an estate at Rise in the late 16th century.

He was buried at Rise, 22 March 1625/6; his will was proved in October 1627. His wife was buried at Rise, 30 April 1630.

Bethell, Hugh (1589-1659). Eldest son of Roger Bethell (c.1560-1626) and his wife Susanna, daughter of [forename unknown] Thornton and widow of Thomas Lindley, baptised at Bainton, 10 July 1589. He married, 15 October 1611 at Cherry Burton, Ellen (d. 1648), daughter of Thomas Johnson of Bishopburton, and had issue:

(1) Helen/Ellen Bethell (b. 1613), baptised at Cherry Burton, 29 July 1613; married, 1633 (licence), Christopher Bacon (1598-1679?) of North Ferriby and Selby (Yorks NR) (who m2, Beatrix [surname unknown] (d. 1724));

(2) Sir Hugh Bethell (1615-79), kt. (q.v.);

(3) Christopher Bethell (1618-45), baptised at Rise, March 1618; an officer in the Parliamentarian army (Capt., 1644; Maj., 1645); died unmarried when he was killed at the siege of Bristol, September 1645;

(4) John Bethell (1620-c.1652) (q.v.);

(5) Thomas Bethell (1622-23), baptised at Rise, 12 May 1622; died in infancy and was buried at Rise, 25 May 1623;

(6) Robert Bethell (b. 1624), baptised at Rise, 23 March 1623/4; died unmarried and without issue.

He inherited his father's estate at Rise in 1626.

He was buried at Rise, 15 March 1658/9. His wife was buried at Rise, 26 September 1648, where she is commemorated by a monument.

Bethell, Sir Hugh (1615-79). Eldest son of Hugh Bethell (1589-1659) and his wife Ellen, daughter of Thomas Johnson of Bishopburton, baptised at Rise, 2 October 1615. An officer in the army during the First Bishops War, 1639. In 1639 he brought a case in the Court of Chivalry against Sir William Allenson, kt., accusing him of calling Bethell a 'base lying knave' and provoking a duel; the outcome of the case is not known. In the Civil War he took the parliamentary side and was an officer in the northern army (Capt., 1643; Col., 1644-49), who fought at the battle of Marston Moor (wounded; lost an eye). Governor of Scarborough Castle (Yorks), 1649-51; High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1652. He took part in the Yorkshire rising for a free Parliament led by Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron Fairfax, in January 1660, and General Monck commissioned him to take over the regiment of horse formerly commanded by John Lambert. MP for the East Riding of Yorkshire, 1654, 1656, and for Hedon (Yorks), 1660-79; JP for the East Riding of Yorkshire, 1649-76 and for Beverley, 1657; DL for the East Riding c.1670-76. He was knighted by Cromwell, 29 November 1658, and since he continued to use the title after the Restoration, may have been dubbed again by Charles II in or after 1660. He married, 14 January 1640/1 at Aldburgh (Yorks ER), Mary (d. 1687), daughter of Thomas Mitchelbourne of Carlton, and co-heiress of her brother, and had issue (possibly among others):

(1) Hugh Bethell (b. 1643), baptised at Bubwith (Yorks), 10 July 1643; presumably died young;

(2) Hugh Bethell (c.1652-77); born about 1652; educated at Brandesburton (Yorks) and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1669); married, 20 September 1671 at Snaith (Yorks), Margaret (1651-84), daughter of Sir John Dawnay, kt., later 1st Viscount Downe, of Cowick Hall (Yorks ER), and had issue at least one son and one daughter (who both died young); died in the lifetime of his father, 7 September, and was buried at Rise, 9 September 1677, where he is commemorated by a monument;

(3) Anne Bethell; married [forename unknown] Hunter, and had issue one son.

He purchased the manor of Rise in 1646 and a long leasehold interest in it c.1650. He inherited the manor of Tansterne in Aldborough (Yorks WR) in right of his wife in 1655 and his father's estate at Rise in 1659.

He died 3 October, and was buried at Rise, 6 October 1679, where he is commemorated by a monument. His widow married 2nd, 30 May 1680 at Rise, Christopher Hildyard, and was buried in Beverley Minster (Yorks ER), 3 June 1687.

Bethell, John (1620-c.1652). Third son of Hugh Bethell (1589-1659) and his wife Ellen, daughter of Thomas Johnson of Bishopburton, baptised at Rise, 28 May 1620. An officer in the Parliamentarian army during the Civil War (probably serving in Hull as a Lieutenant, autumn 1642; Maj. in his brother's regiment, 1644). He married 1st, Mary, daughter of Richard Hildyard (1570-1627) of Ottringham, and 2nd, Anna [surname unknown], and had issue:

(1.1) John Bethell (fl. 1651), eldest son;

(1.2) Hugh Bethell (c.1647-1717) (q.v.);

(1.2) Johnson Bethell (b. & d. 1648), baptised at Bishop Burton, 1 May 1648; died in infancy and was buried at Bishop Burton (Yorks ER), 21 May 1648;

(2.1) Richard Bethell (c.1651-85), of Beverley (Yorks ER), born after September 1651; married and had issue at least one son; buried at Beverley Minster, 15 April 1685.

He was given an estate in North Skirlaugh (Yorks ER) by his father.

He died in late 1651 or early 1652; his will was proved in the PCC, 29 May 1652 and 3 November 1655. His first wife died before 1650. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Bethell, Hugh (c.1647-1717). Second, but eldest surviving son of John Bethell (1620-c.1652) and his first wife, Mary, daughter of Richard Hildyard of Ottringham, born about 1647. Mayor of Hedon, 1683-84; MP for Hedon, 1695-1700; DL for the East Riding, 1699. He married 1st, 22 September 1681 at Thornton Curtis (Lincs), Mary (1657-84), daughter of Edward Skinner of Thornton Curtis, and 2nd, 19 December 1690 at Watton (Yorks ER), Sarah (1653-1730), daughter and co-heiress of William Dickenson of Watton Abbey, and had issue:

(1.1) Arabella Bethell (b. & d. 1682), baptised at Rise, 13 May 1682; died in infancy and was buried at Rise, 22 May 1682;

(1.2) Anne Bethell (1683-92), baptised at Rise, 17 June 1683; died young and was buried at Rise, 21 December 1692*;

(1.3) Mary Bethell (1684-1731), baptised at Rise, 30 May 1684; married, 1 February 1708/9 at Cherry Burton (Yorks ER), William Somerville (1675-1742) of Edstone (Warks), poet, but had no issue; died 5 September 1731 and was buried at Wootton Wawen (Warks), where she is commemorated by a monument;

(2.1) Hugh Bethell (1691-1752) (q.v.);

(2.2) Sarah Bethell (1692-1766?), baptised at St Helen, York, 3 November 1692; said to have died unmarried in London and was perhaps the spinster of this name buried at St Paul, Covent Garden, Westminster (Middx), 28 October 1766;

(2.3) Isabella Bethell (1694-95), baptised at Rise, 27 April 1694; died in infancy and was buried at Rise, 10 January 1694/5;

(2.4) Elizabeth Bethell (1695-1727), baptised at Rise, 19 March 1694/5; died unmarried and was buried at Watton, 13 February 1726/7;

(2.2) William Bethell (1696-97), baptised at Rise, 7 June 1696; died in infancy and was buried at Watton, 26 May 1697.

He inherited the Rise Hall estate from his uncle in 1679, and the Watton Abbey estate in right of his second wife.

He died 2 February 1716/7 and was buried at Rise, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved at York, 16 August 1717. His first wife died in childbirth and was buried at Rise, 17 May 1684. His widow was buried at Watton, 9 December 1730; her will was proved at York, 13 February 1730/1.

* Not entered in the parish register for Rise but is recorded in the register of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York.

Bethell, Hugh (1691-1752). Elder and only surviving son of Hugh Bethell (c.1647-1717) and his second wife, Sarah, daughter and co-heiress of William Dickenson of Watton Abbey (Yorks ER), baptised at St Helen, York, 2 November 1691. High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1733-34. He married, 21 January 1726/7 at Eversley (Hants), Anne (1699-1729), only daughter of Sir John Cope (1673-1749), 6th bt., of Bramshill (Hants) and Hanwell (Oxon), and had issue:

(1) Hugh Bethell (1727-72), born 17 November and baptised at St Giles-in-the-Fields (Middx), 22 November 1727; educated at Beverley and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (matriculated 1746); inherited the Rise Hall estate from his father in 1752; High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1762-63; MP for Beverley, 1768-72; died unmarried at Bell Inn, Edmonton (Middx), 8 May, and was buried at Rise, 23 May 1772, where is commemorated by a monument; will proved at York, February 1773;

(2) William Bethell (1729-99), baptised 16 February 1728/9; educated at Beverley and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (matriculated 1747); inherited the Rise Hall estate from his brother in 1772; High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1780-81; married, 15 October 1754 at St Mary, Beverley (Yorks ER), Charlotte (1735-1814), daughter of Ralph Pennyman, a Cornet in General Wade's Horse, but had no issue; buried at Rise, 25 July 1799, where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved at York, September 1799.

He inherited the Rise Hall and Watton Abbey estates from his father in 1717. After his death they passed to his two sons in turn, and then to a William's fifth cousin, once removed (see below).

He died 25 March and was buried at Rise, 5 April 1752, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCY, May 1752. His wife died 28 February, and was buried at Rise, 5 March 1728/9, where she is commemorated by a monument.

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Bethell, Andrew (b. c.1562). Fifth son of Thomas Bethell and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of George Rogers, born about 1562. He married and had issue:

(1) John Bethell;

(2) Richard Bethell (b. c.1585) (q.v.).

He probably lived at Rudding Grange, Naburn (Yorks NR) which he is believed to have inherited from his uncle, William Bethell.

His date of death is unknown.

Bethell, Richard (b. c.1585). Second son of Andrew Bethell (b. c.1562) and his wife, born about 1585. He married and had issue including:

(1) Richard Bethell (1628-63??) (q.v.).

He inherited the Herefordshire property of his uncle, John Bethell.

His date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bethell, Richard (1628-63). Only recorded son of Richard Bethell (b. c.1585) and his wife, said to have been born in 1628. He married, 11 February 1658/9 at Burghill, Joan Brossene (d. 1707), and had issue:

(1) John Bethell (b. 1659) (q.v.).

He lived at Burghill (Herefs).

He was buried at Burghill (Herefs), 6 September 1663. His widow married 2nd, 7 November 1670 at Burghill, George Baynham, and was buried at Burghill, 27 October 1707.

Bethell, John (b. 1659). Only son of Richard Bethell (1628-63) and his wife Joan Brossene, baptised at Burghill, 4 November 1659. He married, 7 May 1683 at Burghill, Katherine Jay (d. 1695) of Derndale (Herefs), and had issue:

(1) Margaret Bethell (b. 1685), baptised at Burghill, 6 October 1685;

(2) Richard Bethell (1687-1762) (q.v.);

(3) Anne Bethell (b. 1690), baptised at Burghill, 22 April 1690.

He lived at Burghill (Herefs).

His date of death is unknown. His wife is said to have died 20 February 1694/5.

Bethell, Richard (1687-1762). Only recorded son of John Bethell (b. 1659) and his wife Catherine Jay of Derndale (Herefs), born 1687. He married, perhaps 11 June 1715 at Stretton Sugwas (Herefs), Frances (d. 1763?), daughter of [forename unknown] Broad or Bond of Hereford, and had issue:

(1) Rev. Richard Bethell (c.1734-1806) (q.v.).

He lived in All Saints parish, Hereford.

He may be the man of this name buried at Burghill (Herefs), 12 April 1762; his will was proved at Hereford, 2 June 1762. His widow is probably the woman of this name buried at All Saints, Hereford, 14 March 1763.

Bethell, Rev. Richard (c.1734-1806). Only recorded son of Richard Bethell (1687-1762) and his wife Frances Broad or Bond of Hereford, born about 1734. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford (matriculated 1751; BA 1755; MA 1759). Ordained deacon, 1756 and priest, 1759. Curate of Holme Lacy (Herefs), 1756; vicar of St Lythans (Glam), c.1760-88; curate of St Peter, Wallingford, by 1775; vicar of Stanstead Abbots (Essex), 1781-96; rector of St Peter, Wallingford (Berks), 1788-1806. He married, 8 August 1771 at Isleworth (Middx), Anne (d. 1805), daughter of James Clitherow (1694-1752) of Boston House (Middx), and had issue:

(1) Richard Bethell (1772-1864) (q.v.);

(2) Rt. Rev. Christopher Bethell (1773-1859), born at Isleworth (Middx), 21 April 1773; educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1792; BA 1796; MA 1799; DD 1817); Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, 1794-1808; rector of Kirby Wiske (Yorks NR), 1808-30; rector of Shobrooke (Devon); Dean of Chichester Cathedral, 1814-24; Bishop of Gloucester, 1824-30, Exeter, 1830 (Apr-Oct) and Bangor, 1830-59; treasurer and prebendary of Exeter Cathedral, 1830-31; a High Church clergyman who was the author of several theological works and volumes of sermons, but whose value as a bishop was limited by his appointment to a largely Welsh-speaking diocese when he himself could not speak the language; died unmarried, 19 April, and was buried at Llandegai (Caernarvons.), 27 April 1859;

(3) James Bethell (1775-1851), baptised at St Peter, Wallingford, 15 October 1775; apprenticed to Charles Knight of London, stationer, 1791; lived latterly at Brighton (Sussex); died unmarried and was buried at Rise, 13 November 1851;

(4) Anne Bethell (b. 1777), baptised at St Peter, Wallingford, 2 July 1777; said to have died unmarried but death not traced;

(5) Rev. George Bethell (1779-1857) (q.v.);

(6) Philippa Bethell (1781-1848), baptised at St Peter, Wallingford, 5 August 1781; lived with her brother Christopher; died unmarried, 17 November, and was buried at Bangor (Caernarvons.), 29 November 1848; her will was proved in the PCC, 7 February 1849;

(7) Frances Bethell (1785-1824), baptised at St Peter, Wallingford, 19 June 1785; died unmarried and was buried at Burnham (Bucks), 7 July 1824.

He was evidently living at Wallingford (Berks) by 1775.

He died 12 January and was buried at St Peter, Wallingford, 21 January 1806; his will was proved in the PCC, 15 February 1806. His wife was buried at Wallingford, 2 December 1805.

Richard Bethell (1772-1864) 

Bethell, Richard (1772-1864). Eldest son of Rev. Richard Bethell (c.1734-1806) and his wife Anne, daughter of James Clitherow of Boston House (Middx), born at Isleworth (Middx), 10 May, and baptised there, 24 June 1772. Educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1791; BA 1795). Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, 1794-99. An officer in the East Yorkshire militia (Capt.; retired 1799) and the Beverley Local Militia (Col., 1810); DL (from 1795; Vice-Lieutenant, 1857-59) and JP (from 1801) for East Riding of Yorkshire, Chairman of East Riding Quarter Sessions, 1819-50, and High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1822-23; Chairman of the Skirlaugh Board of Guardians, 1834-60. He was a Tory in politics, but a moderate, who supported Catholic emancipation and was prepared to support modest measures for parliamentary reform. He initially stood for parliament in Yorkshire in 1825 but withdrew before the poll. However, his 'acute legal knowledge, business-like habits and courteous demeanour... secured for him universal respect and admiration', and he was subsequently elected MP for Yorkshire, 1830-31 and for the East Riding, 1832-41. He was also active in managing his estates, promoting enclosure and drainage schemes from his earliest days as a landowner. He married, 26 April 1800, at St Peter-le-Poer, London, Mary (1780-1839), second daughter of William Welbank (1741-91) of London and Ravensworth Cowton (Yorks), merchant, but had no issue.

He inherited the Rise Hall and Watton Abbey estates (together some 13,000 acres) from his distant kinsman, William Bethell, in 1799, but only gained full possession on the death of the latter's widow in 1814.

He died aged 92 on 25 December 1864 and was buried at Rise, 2 January 1865; his will was proved 17 February 1865 (effects under £30,000). His wife died 4 October, and was buried at Rise, 15 October 1839, where she is commemorated by a monument.

Bethell, Rev. George (1779-1857). Fourth son of Rev. Richard Bethell (c.1734-1806) and his wife Anne, daughter of James Clitherow of Boston House (Middx), baptised at St Peter, Wallingford (Berks), 1 August 1779. Educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1798; BA 1802; MA 1805); Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, 1801-07; ordained deacon, 1803, and priest, 1805; Assistant Master at Eton College, 1802-17; Fellow of Eton College, 1818-57 (Vice-Provost, 1851-57); domestic chaplain to Richard Colley Wellesley (1760-1842), 1st Marquess Wellesley, 1813; vicar of Burnham (Bucks), 1822-33; rector of Worplesdon (Surrey), 1833-57. He married, 23 December 1807 at Fulmer (Bucks), Anne (1780-1852), daughter of Thomas Lightfoot of Crowle (Lincs), apothecary, and had issue:

(1) Anne Sarah Bethell (1808-87), baptised at Eton (Bucks), 23 December 1808; married, 11 April 1844 at Eton, Rev. William Warren (1803-77), rector of Wroot (Lincs), 1832-77, but had no issue; died 15 March and was buried at Hurstpierpoint (Sussex), 19 March 1887; will proved 30 July 1887 (estate £15,203);

(2) William Froggatt Bethell (1809-79) (q.v.);

(3) Mary Bethell (1811-60), baptised at Eton, 11 April 1811; married, 4 October 1859 at Wroot, as his second wife, Maj-Gen. Sir Charles Warren KCB (1798-1866), but had no issue; died on Malta, 22 December 1860; administration of goods granted 30 January 1867 (effects under £100);

(4) Catherine Bethell (1812-95), baptised at Eton, 31 July 1812; married, 11 August 1841 at Worplesdon, Rev. George Henry Woods (1802-79) of Shopwyke House, Oving (Sussex), but had no issue; died 12 October and was buried at Hurstpierpoint, 17 October 1895; will proved 2 January 1896 (effects £14,979);

(5) Georgiana Bethell (1813-1901), baptised at Eton, 23 December 1813; married, 4 November 1857 at Holy Trinity, Guildford (Surrey), as his second wife, Rev. Thomas Norris Williams (1809-81), of Treffos, Menai Bridge, rector of Aber (Caernarvons.), son of John Williams, banker, but had no issue; died in Brighton (Sussex), 6 May 1901; will proved 21 June 1901 (estate £19,833);

(6) Fanny Margaretha Bethell (1814-1914), born 15 December 1814 and baptised at Eton, 4 August 1815; married, 8 May 1838 at Worplesdon, Samuel Haydon (1814-69) of Bramley and Guildford (Surrey), banker and mayor of Guildford, 1850, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died aged 99 on 5 May 1914; administration of goods granted 7 July 1914 (estate £12,281);

(7) twin, Richard Bethell (b. & d. 1816), baptised at Eton, 1 August 1816; died in infancy and was buried at Eton, 24 December 1816;

(8) twin, George James Bethell (1816-17), baptised at Eton, 1 August 1816; died in infancy and was buried at Eton, 7 May 1817;

(9) George Bethell (1818-19), baptised at Eton, 12 March 1818; died in infancy and was buried at Eton, 14 April 1819;

(10) Susan Philippa Bethell (1819-83), baptised at Eton, 13 August 1819; died unmarried and was buried at Hurstpierpoint, 12 December 1883; will proved 27 February 1884 (estate £13.006); 

(11) Richard Bethell (1821-85), baptised at Eton, 24 November 1821; educated at Eton, Exeter College, Oxford (matriculated 1839; BA 1843) and the Middle Temple (admitted 1844; called 1847); barrister-at-law, but did not practise; emigrated to New Zealand about 1875; married, 25 November 1873 at Christ Church, Down St., Mayfair, Westminster (Middx), Isabel Anne (1843-1927), daughter of Rev. Dr. John Lillie, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 30 April 1885 at Rangiora, Canterbury (New Zealand); administration of goods granted 9 August 1890 (effects in England & Wales, £299).

He lived at Eton and Worplesdon.

He died 16 March and was buried at Worplesdon, 21 March 1857; his will was proved in the PCC, 7 May 1857. His wife died 9 January and was buried at Worplesdon, 16 January 1852.

William Froggatt Bethell (1809-79)
Image: National Portrait Gallery 

Bethell, William Froggatt (1809-79). Eldest son of Rev. George Bethell (1779-1857) and his wife Ann, daughter of Thomas Lightfoot of Crowle (Lincs), apothecary, born 2 December 1809 and baptised at Eton (Bucks), 17 March 1810. Educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (matriculated 1827; BA 1831). JP and DL for East Riding of Yorkshire; High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1875-76. He married, 25 March 1841 at St George, Doncaster (Yorks WR), Elizabeth Beckett (1820-70), daughter of Sir Edmund Denison (later Beckett-Denison) (1787-1874), 4th bt., of Grimthorpe (Yorks ER), and had issue:

(1) Maria Bethell (1842-1937), baptised at Rise, 20 February 1842; lived at Newton Kyme Hall and later at Boston Hall, Boston Spa (Yorks WR); died unmarried aged 95 on 1 April, and was buried at Newton Kyme (Yorks WR), 4 April 1937; will proved 31 May 1937 (estate £73,094);

(2) Lucy Bethell (1844-1917), baptised at Doncaster, 4 July 1844; lived with her elder sister at Newton Kyme; died unmarried, 21 January, and was buried at Rise, 24 January 1917; will proved 13 April 1917 (estate £51,471);

(3) Charlotte Bethell (1846-1927), baptised at Rise, 22 January 1846; married, 23 November 1882 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Lt-Col. Lambert Henry Bouwens (1843-1902), son of Rev. Theodore Bouwens (1799-1869), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 19 January 1927 and was buried at Littleton (Surrey); will proved 22 March 1927 (estate £18,998);

(4) William Bethell (1847-1926) (q.v.);

(5) George Richard Bethell (1849-1919), of Sigglesthorne Hall (Yorks ER), which he purchased in 1893, born 23 March and baptised at Rise, 27 June 1849; educated at HMS Britannia and Royal Naval College, Greenwich; joined Royal Navy in 1862 (Midshipman, 1864; Lt., 1872; Cdr., 1884; retired from active list, 1889; Capt., 1899) and served in First World War with East Yorkshire Volunteer Regiment (Maj., 1916); JP and DL (from 1919) for the East Riding of Yorkshire; MP for Holderness, 1885-1900; died unmarried, 3 December 1919; will proved 28 February 1920 (estate £64,609);

(6) Elizabeth Bethell (1851-1915), baptised at Rise, 24 June 1851; married, 11 August 1874 at Rise, Capt. Edwyn Walker (1837-1919), fourth son of Sir James Walker, 1st bt. of Sand Hutton (Yorks), and had issue four sons and one daughter; died in London, 25 October 1915; will proved 27 May 1915 (estate £51,043);

(7) Anna Bethell (1852-66), baptised at Rise, 27 March 1852; died young and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 17 July 1866;

(8) Col. Edward Hugh Bethell (1854-1940), born 27 January and baptised at Rise, 5 March 1854; educated at Rugby and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; an officer in the Royal Engineers (Lt., 1873; Capt., 1885; Maj., 1892; Lt-Col., 1899; Col., 1902; retired 1906 but re-employed 1915-17), awarded DSO, 1900 and appointed CMG, 1917; married 1st, 15 December 1881 at Aurangabad (India), Gertrude (1861-88), daughter of Col. Eustace Hill, and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 6 February 1890 at Lichfield Cathedral (Staffs), Annie (1856-1946), daughter of Rev. John Gylby Lonsdale (1818-1907), canon of Lichfield, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 27 January 1940; will proved 25 April 1940 (estate £47,202);

(9) Christopher Bethell (1856-84), baptised at Rise, 3 April 1856; educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1873) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1876); a freemason from 1875; emigrated to southern Africa, 1878, where he was on the staff of Sir Charles Warren and also operated as a hunter and farmer; his enthusiasm for British intervention in Bechauanaland was frequently embarrassing to the authorities; he married, in Bechuanaland, Tepo Baobile, and had issue one daughter (born posthumously); wounded and subsequently executed by Boer forces in Stelland raid in South Africa, 30 July 1884; administration of goods granted 16 June 1885 (estate £602); 

(10) Edmund Beckett Bethell (1857-58), born Oct-Dec 1857 and baptised at Rise, 1 January 1858; died in infancy and was buried at Rise, 26 March 1858;

(11) Catherine Bethell (1859-1933), baptised at Rise, 8 March 1859; married, 10 January 1883 at Bramham (Yorks WR), Hon. Sir Charles Algernon Parsons OM, KCB, FRS (1854-1931), mechanical engineer and inventor of the steam turbine generator, sixth son of 3rd Earl of Rosse, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 16 October 1933 and was buried at Kirkwhelpington (Northbld); will proved 3 January 1934 (estate £108,160);

(12) Alfred James Bethell (1862-1920), born 2 October and baptised at Rise, 16 November 1862; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; army officer (Lt., 1882); served on staff of Sir Charles Warren in Bechuanaland Border Police; returned to England and became a banker with Beckett & Co. of Leeds; lived at The Lodge, Doncaster (Yorks WR); JP for West Riding of Yorkshire; married 1st, 30 August 1887 at Norton Malton (Yorks N&ER), Maud Amelia (1861-1917), daughter of Robert Hartley Bower (d. 1886) of Welham (Yorks NR), banker, and had issue three daughters; married 2nd, Oct-Dec 1917, Hon. Elinor Frances (1869-1943), daughter of Henry Edmund Butler (1844-1912), 14th Viscount Mountgarret, and widow of Andrew Sherlock Lawson FSA (1855-1914) of Aldborough Manor, Boroughbridge (Yorks WR); died 23 October and was buried at Tong (Yorks WR), 28 October 1920; will proved 4 January 1921 (estate £50,905).

He inherited the Rise Hall and Watton Abbey estates from his uncle in 1864.

He died 7 March 1879 and was buried at Rise; his will was proved 19 May 1879 (effects under £100,000). His wife died 26 July and was buried at St Peter, Bournemouth (Hants), 30 July 1870.

Bethell, William (1847-1926). Eldest son of William Froggatt Bethell (1809-79) and his wife Elizabeth Beckett, daughter of Sir Edmund Denison (later Beckett), 4th bt., of Grimthorpe, born 11 August 1847. An officer in the Hornsea Artillery Volunteers (Capt.); JP for East and West Ridings of Yorkshire and DL for the East Riding; County Alderman of the East Riding County Council and Chairman of its Education Committee. In 1871-72 he travelled to and around Australia, and the journal of his tour is available online. He married, 1 January 1880 at Birdsall (Yorks ER), Hon. Maria Myrtle (1859-1900), fifth daughter of Digby Willoughby (1817-77), 8th Baron Middleton, and had issue:

(1) Phyllis Mary Hermione Bethell (1889-1962), born 26 April 1889; Acting Master of Quorn Hunt, 1948-51; married, 7 February 1923 at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), Maj. William Philip Cantrell-Hubbersty OBE (1877-1947) of Ragdale Hall (Leics); died 8 September 1962; will proved 5 November 1962 (estate £189,542);

(2) William Adrian Vincent Bethell (1890-1941) (q.v.).

He inherited the Rise Hall and Watton Abbey estates from his father in 1879, but lived at Grimston House, North Grimston, which he rented.

He died 13 August 1926 and was buried at Rise; his will was proved 7 December 1926 and 7 April 1927 (estate £244,771). His wife died 13 November 1900; administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 28 February 1901 (estate £3,767).

Adrian Bethell (1890-1941) 

Bethell, (William) Adrian Vincent (1890-1941). Only son of William Bethell (1847-1926) and his wife Hon. Maria Myrtle, fifth daughter of Digby Willoughby (1817-77), 8th Baron Middleton, born 11 September and baptised at Birdsall (Yorks ER), 26 October 1890. Educated at Eton. An officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1911; Lt., 1913; Capt., 1915; retired 1923), who served throughout the First World War (wounded). He returned to service as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Home Guard, 1939. Joint MFH of East Holderness Hunt, 1927-41. JP and DL for East Riding of Yorkshire (Chairman of North Holderness Petty Sessions); County Alderman of East Riding County Council; Governor of Beverley Grammar School and Beverley High School; President of the Hull and East Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. He married 1st, 18 August 1915 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx) (div. 1917) Hon. Clarissa Madeleine Georgiana Felicité (1896-1960), only daughter of Edward Priaulx Tennant (1859-1920), 1st Baron Glenconner, and 2nd, 29 January 1921 at the Chapel Royal of the Savoy, London, Cicely Violet (1898-1974), second daughter of Sir John Richard Geers Cotterell (1866-1937), 4th bt., of Garnons (Herefs), and had issue:

(1.1) Diana Hermione Bethell (1916-67), born 5 June and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster, 30 June 1916; married 1st, 24 April 1939 at St Paul's Cathedral, London (div. 1956), Richard Purcell Blow (1915-63), elder son of Detmar Jellings Blow of Hilles House, Painswick (Glos), architect, and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 10 March 1961 (div. 1963), Marco Blow (fl. 1969); died 25 July 1967 and was buried at Wilsford (Wilts), where she is commemorated by a monument by Roderick Gradidge in the new churchyard; will proved 29 February 1968 (estate £73,735);

(2.1) Richard Anthony Bethell (1922-96) (q.v.);

(2.2) Christopher Adrian Bethell (1925-92), born 4 January 1925; educated privately; married, 30 January 1960 at St Nicholas Hurst (Berks), Jocelyn Waiata (1928-2021), daughter of Dr John Vassie Buchanan MB ChB of Creed Lodge, Grampound (Cornw.), but had no issue; died 11 October 1992 and was buried at Rise; will proved 12 January 1993 (estate £539,493);

(2.3) Hugh William John Bethell (1928-50), born 8 July 1928; obtained a private pilot's licence, 1948; joined the RAF (Cadet Pilot Officer); died in a flying accident near Peebles (Scotland) in his own plane, 1 October 1950; buried at Rise; administration of goods granted to his mother, 25 January 1951 (estate £9,696).

He inherited the Rise Hall and Watton Abbey estates from his father in 1926.

He died 16 July 1941; will proved 20 January, 16 February and 10 Ovtober 1942 (estate £199,906). His first wife married 2nd, 27 March 1918 (div. 1928), Maj. Lionel Hallam Tennyson (1889-1951), 3rd Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and had further issue three sons; she married 3rd, 24 July 1928 (sep. 1936 & div. 1939), an American, James Montgomery Beck jr. (1892-1972), son of James Montgomery Beck (1861-1936), Solicitor General of the United States, and had further issue a twin son and daughter; she died 3 September 1960. His widow married 2nd, 28 November 1946, Roden Powlett Graves Orde (1910-85) (who m2, Jan-Mar 1976, Antonia A. Radcliffe (b. 1947)) of Bridstow (Herefs), eldest son of Roden Horace Powlett Orde (1867-1941), and died 30 November 1974.

Richard Anthony Bethell (1922-96) 

Bethell, Richard Anthony (1922-96). Eldest son of (William) Adrian Vincent Bethell (1890-1941) and his second wife, Cicely Violet, second daughter of Sir John Cotterell, 4th bt., born 22 March 1922. Educated at Eton. An officer in the Life Guards (2nd Lt., 1941; retired as Lt., 1947), who served in Second World War. JP for East Riding of Yorkshire (from 1950); Lord-Lieutenant of Humberside, 1983-96 (Vice Lord Lieutenant, 1980-83). He married, 27 September 1945 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx), Lady Jane Pleydell-Bouverie (1923-2006), a junior commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, eldest daughter of 7th Earl of Radnor KG KCVO, and had issue:

(1) Camilla Bethell (1946-2006), born 27 June 1946; married, 17 December 1966, Peter Charles Freeman Gregory-Hood (b. 1943) of Loxley Hall (Warks), only son of Col. Alexander Marshall Horace Gregory-Hood OBE MC of Loxley Hall, and had issue three daughters; died 10 August 2006; will proved 14 March 2007;

(2) Sarah Bethell (b. 1948), born 13 August 1948; married, 31 May 1969 at Rise, David Charles Ratcliffe-Brotherton (b. 1941) of Whitwell-on-the-Hill (Yorks NR), son of Charles Frederick Ratcliffe-Brotherton, and had issue one son and one daughter;

(3) Hugh Adrian Bethell (b. 1952) (q.v.);

(4) William Anthony Bethell (b. 1957), of Arnold Manor, Long Riston (Yorks ER), born 18 May 1957; farmer; a director of York and Pontefract racecourses; married, Jan-Mar 1983, Elizabeth Anne, daughter of Lt-Col. Charles Samuel Madden (1915-93), and had issue one son and one daughter.

He inherited the Rise Hall and Watton Abbey estates from his father in 1941. Rise Hall was let to a convent school from 1946, and he purchased the former rectory as a new seat, which he renamed Rise Park.

He died 20 July 1996; his will was proved 22 August 1996. His wife died 21 July 2006; her will was proved 24 January 2007.

Bethell, Hugh Adrian (b. 1952). Elder son of Richard Anthony Bethell (1922-96) and his wife, Lady Jane Pleydell-Bouverie, eldest daughter of 7th Earl of Radnor KG KCVO, born 23 April 1952. Educated at Eton. High Sheriff of the East Riding of Yorkshire, 2003-04. A director of Beverley racecourse and a trustee of the Wasing Park (Berks) estate. He married, 2 July 1983, Sarah Elizabeth (b. 1955), daughter of Maj. Thomas Edward St. Aubyn CVO (1923-2012), and had issue:

(1) Oliver Anthony Bethell (b. 1985), born 5 May 1985; married, 2018, Quita Frances, daughter of Anthony Collard of Lincoln;

(2) Edward Alexander Bethell (b. 1987), born 9 March 1987;

(3) Nicholas Andrew Bethell (b. 1990), born 8 May 1990; married c.2021, Alice Victoria Rose (b. 1991), daughter of Andrew Robin Mills of Farthinghoe (Northants), and has issue two sons.

His father handed over the family estates to him. He sold Rise Hall in 2001, but retained Rise Park and most of the estate.

Now living. His wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1914, pp. 147-48; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1969, pp. 46-47; G. Poulson, The history and antiquities of the seigniory of Holderness, vol 1, 1840, pp. 408-09; A. Oswald, 'Watton Abbey', Country Life, 2 November 1935, pp. 458-63; Sir N. Pevsner & D. Neave, The buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, 2nd edn., 1995, pp. 658-59, 733-37; VCH Yorkshire East Riding, vol. 7, 2002, pp. 330-40;

https://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1021-545X2019000100001;

Location of archives

Bethell family of Rise Hall and Watton Abbey: deeds and estate papers, 1191-1926 [East Riding of Yorkshire Archives, DDRI]

Coat of arms

Argent, on a chevron, between three boars' heads couped sable, an estoile or.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown? I would also welcome a recent photograph of the former vicarage, now Rise Park, to add to the introduction.
• I have found it particularly difficult to trace the genealogical information for the earlier generations of this family, due partly to the variable spelling of the Bethell name and partly to the loss of parish registers for some of the parishes with which the family was associated (although those for Rise itself survive). If anyone can add to or correct the information I provide, therefore, I should be particularly grateful.
• 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 7 June 2025.