 |
| Bidgood of Rockbeare Court |
Dr. Bidgood was unmarried and left his estate and most of his wealth to a kinsman, Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91), who was a merchant in Tiverton. Humphrey died just a few months after his benefactor, leaving a widow and young family, who were all still minors when his widow died in 1697. His son, John Bidgood (1681-1720), inherited his property, was sent to Exeter College, Oxford, and married in 1702. He was succeeded in turn by his sons John Bidgood (1705-70), Nicholas Bidgood (1709-72), who was an apothecary in London, and the Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97), who was rector of Stoodleigh near Tiverton (Devon) for more than half a century, and who was the only one of the three to marry and have children. After he inherited the estate he seems to have moved here and put a curate into Stoodleigh to perform the services there. In 1797 the estate came to his son, Charles Bidgood (1749-1813), who had been apprenticed to an Exeter grocer and no doubt expected to spend his life as a tradesman and merchant in the city, but who found himself at the head of a gentry family because of the childlessness of his uncles. It was probably he who remodelled Rockbeare Court to create the house that exists today.
In 1801, Charles married Ann Sloane (née Fisher), the widow of a Caribbean planter with estates in Demerera (now Guyana) and perhaps also on the island of Tobago, who had four children by her first marriage. She was only 36 when they married, but she and Charles Bidgood had no children, leaving Charles with no close male relative to inherit his estate. When the time came to make his will, therefore, he left his property to his widow for life, with remainder to the elder son of her first marriage, Henry Fisher Sloane (1788-1851), on condition that he took the name and arms of Bidgood, which he did shortly after his mother's death in 1822. Henry Fisher Bidgood also inherited from his mother the John plantation in Demerera, but he seems to have disposed of this before the Government began paying compensation for the emancipation of slaves in the 1830s. The dual inheritance, and the £30,000 that his wife inherited from her father, meant that Henry Fisher Bidgood was probably wealthier than any of his predecessors at Rockbeare Court, but for reasons which are obscure, this wealth seems not to have been transmitted to the later generations.
When Henry died in 1851, he left two sons and a daughter (two more daughters having died young). His heir was his elder son, Charles Henry Bidgood (1823-84), who seems to have cut no figure in the county and who never married. In 1870 he sold the contents of Rockbeare Court, leased the house, put a manager in to run the estate, and moved to London to live with his widowed sister; the family never returned to live at Rockbeare again. When he died in 1884, C.H. Bidgood's personal estate was valued at less than a thousand pounds. His real estate passed to his younger brother, Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901), who had settled in the Isle of Wight. He continued to let the house at Rockbeare, and in about 1887 his eldest son, Harry Walter Bidgood (1860-1916), emigrated to the United States, where he acquired a farm in Minnesota and married. Harry was still in America when his father died and the Rockbeare property came into his possession, but soon afterwards he returned to England, where he made his home in Lincolnshire - first at Boothby Hall, Welton-le-Marsh, and later at Partney Grange - both of which he apparently rented, while continuing to lease out Rockbeare. During the First World War he joined the Territorial Army, and when his unit was mobilised in 1916 as part of the Lincolnshire Regiment he was given a commission as a temporary Captain. Later that year, however, he suffered an attack of influenza and when he was partially recovered, he made the mistake of going out shooting with his neighbour at Gunby Hall. He suffered a heart attack and died a few days later. His will made provision not only for his own wife and daughter, but also for the family of his brother, Maj. Thomas Edward Wingfield Bidgood (1866-1952), who appears to have suffered brain damage in a polo accident in India in 1908. To meet these demands on the estate the house and lands at Rockbeare were sold at auction in 1917-18.
Rockbeare Court, Devon
The house stands in its own grounds immediately north of the church, and has a seven-bay stuccoed brick front of about 1790, with sash windows, a broad Doric porch, and a panelled parapet. On the east end there is a shallow curved full-height bow with tripartite windows on both floors. The house has a loosely U-shaped plan, and from each end of the front block short wings project to the rear, each containing two rooms; that on the west containing the original kitchen. The front block contains two large rooms separated by an entrance hall that leads through a large round-headed archway to the staircase hall between the rear wings. The house is generally of two storeys with attics, but the older kitchen wing has only two storeys.
 |
| Rockbeare Court: entrance front |
 |
| Rockbeare Court: east side elevation in 1977. |
Descent: sold c.1678 to Dr John Bidgood (1624-91), who probably built the house; to kinsman, Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91); to son, John Bidgood (1681-1720); to son, John Bidgood (1705-70); to brother, Nicholas Bidgood (1708-72); to brother, Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97); to son, Charles Bidgood (1749-1813); to step-son, Henry Fisher Sloane (later Bidgood) (1788-1851); to son, Charles Henry Bidgood (1823-84); to brother, Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901); to son, Harry Walter Bidgood (1860-1916); sold 1917-18 to Maj-Gen. Sir Edward Sinclair May (1856-1936), kt.; to widow, Lady May (d. 1956); sold 1953; sold 1977; sold 2002 to Colin Slater (d. 2019) and Elaine Slater, who converted the house into a retirement home.
Bidgood family of Rockbeare Court
Bidgood, Dr. John (1624-91). Son of Humphrey Bidgood of Exeter, apothecary, and his wife, born 13 March 1623/4. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford (matriculated c.1640; MA 1644/5; MB 1647; admitted to practice medicine, 1647/8) and was a Fellow there, c.1642-48, when he was removed by the parliamentary visitors for refusing to submit and drinking healths to the confusion of the reformers. He then went to Italy and completed his education at the University of Padua (MD 1650). After taking his doctorate he returned to England and set up in practice at Chard (Som.) before removing a view years later to Exeter. At the Restoration he resumed his Fellowship at Oxford (finally resigning in 1662) and was incorporated MD there. In 1664 he was admitted an Honorary Fellow of the College of Physicians. In Exeter, his skills earned him a large practice and enabled him to accumulate a fortune estimated at £25-30,000. He was a JP for Devon by 1662, and in the summer of 1685, following the duke of Monmouth’s invasion, he played a prominent role in marshalling the loyalist troops in Exeter and supplied the Devon militia with £1,000 ‘by which meanes they were soone ready’ to face the rebels. As a young man he seems to have had atheistic leanings, and in 1657 he was prosecuted by the godly magistrates of Exeter for swearing in public, but he is said to have become a regular churchgoer later. Despite his professional success, his good qualities were marred by a haughty and morose disposition, a satirical vein of humour and repulsive manners, so it is perhaps not surprising that he remained unmarried.
He had a house in the Cathedral close at Exeter, and purchased the Rockbeare Court estate, probably in the late 1670s, as in 1680 the bishop of Exeter confirmed his exclusive right to the north aisle of Rockbeare church as a burying place for him and his descendants. He may have rebuilt the house at Rockbeare Court, the earlier parts of which seem to date from the late 17th century, and is said to have retired there a few years before his death. At his death his estates passed to his kinsman (probably nephew), Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91).
He died at his house in Exeter, 13 January 1690/1, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral, where he is commemorated by a monument erected by his heir. His will was proved in the PCC, 27 March 1691, and left several charitable bequests, as well as making provision for Anne Somers, widow, who is thought to have been the mother of at least one disinherited illegitimate son.
Bidgood, Humphrey (1654-91). Son of Humphrey Bidgood of Fulford (Devon), baptised at St Peter, Tiverton, 3 September 1654. Merchant in Tiverton in partnership with his father-in-law, George Davey (d. 1690), and later his brother-in-law, Thomas Davey. He married, 21 June 1680 at Calverleigh (Devon), Elizabeth (d. 1697), daughter of George Davey of Tiverton, and had issue:
(1) John Bidgood (1681-1720) (q.v.);(2) Mary Davey Bidgood (1683-1730), baptised at Tiverton, 16 August 1683; married, 7 January 1695/6* at Exeter Cathedral, Francis Drewe (c.1674-1734) of The Grange, Broadhembury (Devon), barrister-at-law and MP for Exeter, 1713-22, 1727-34, son of Canon Edward Drewe of Exeter, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 1729 and was buried at Broadhembury, 22 February 1729/30;(3) Elizabeth Bidgood (1687-1737), born 26 September and baptised at Tiverton, 13 October 1687; married, 4 August 1707 at Exeter Cathedral, the Rev. Dr. Peter Foulkes (1676-1747), canon and precentor of Exeter Cathedral and sub-dean of Christ Church, Oxford (who m2, 26 December 1738, Anne (d. 1783), daughter of Rt. Rev. Offspring Blackall (1655-1716), bishop of Exeter, and widow of William Holwell), and had issue at least two sons; died 1737 and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his kinsman (probably uncle), Dr John Bidgood, in January 1690/1, but died later the same year.
He died in the lifetime of his father and was buried at Rockbeare, 19 May 1691; his will was proved in the PCC, 1 December 1691. His widow was buried at Tiverton, 24 April 1697.
* When she was evidently only twelve or thirteen.
Bidgood, John (1681-1720). Only son of Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of George Davey of Tiverton (Devon), baptised at Tiverton, 29 June 1681. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford (matriculated 1699). He married, 1 October 1702 at Exeter Cathedral, Anne Hall of Exeter, and had issue:
(1) John Bidgood (1705-70), baptised at Rockbeare, 21 April 1705; educated at Balliol College, Oxford (admitted 1724); died unmarried and without issue and was buried at Rockbeare, 7 June 1770; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 July 1770;(2) Anne Bidgood (1706-07); baptised at Rockbeare, 25 December 1706; died in infancy and was buried at Rockbeare, 12 January 1706/7;(3) Nicholas Bidgood (1709-72), baptised at Rockbeare, 16 March 1708/9; apothecary in London; probably died unmarried and was buried at Rockbeare, 28 December 1772;(4) Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97) (q.v.);(5) William Bidgood (1713-33?), baptised at Rockbeare, 17 September 1713; probably the man of this name buried at Rockbeare, 26 September 1733.
He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1691 and came of age in about 1702.
He was buried at Rockbeare, 19 April 1720. His wife's date of death is unknown.
Bidgood, Rev. Charles (1710-97). Third son of John Bidgood (1681-1720) and his wife Anne Hall, baptised at Rockbeare, 1 October 1710. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1729; BA 1732; MA 1735). Ordained deacon, 1734 and priest, 1736. Rector of Stoodleigh (Devon), 1744-97. Chaplain to Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk & Berkshire, 1757. He married, 1 October 1745 at Alphington (Devon), Dorothy (1721-81), daughter of John Pitman of Alphington, and had issue:
(1) Dorothy Bidgood (1747-1834), born at Stoodleigh, 25 April 1747; married, 24 January 1774 at Rockbeare, John Rose Drewe (1747-1830) of The Grange, Broadhembury (Devon), and had issue one son (who died young) and one daughter; died aged 88 and was buried at Broadhembury, 18 December 1834, where she and her husband are commemorated by a monument;(2) Charles Bidgood (1749-1813) (q.v.).
He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his elder brother in 1772.
He was buried at Rockbeare, 1 April 1797; his will was proved in the PCC, 26 April 1797. His wife was buried at Rockbeare, 8 March 1781.
Bidgood, Charles (1749-1813). Only son of Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97) and his wife Dorothy, daughter of John Pitman of Alphington (Devon), born at Stoodleigh, 1 July 1749. Apprenticed to Henry Hitson of Exeter, grocer, 1766. An officer in the Devonshire militia (Capt., 1790) and the Bicton Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt., 1800). DL for Devon, 1791. He married, 3 February 1801 at Rockbeare, Ann Falkingham Burke (1765-1822), daughter of Henry Fisher and widow of William Sloane (d. 1797)*, but had no issue.
He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1797, and was probably responsible for the extensive remodelling of the house. At his death he left his property to his widow for life and then to her eldest son by her first marriage, on condition that he took the name and arms of Bidgood.
He was buried at Rockbeare, 15 January 1813; his will was proved in the PCC, 24 November 1813. His widow died in 1822; her will was proved in the PCC, 23 October 1822.
* William Sloan and Ann Fisher were married, 30 July 1785 in St Michael's (Barbados), and had issue two sons and two daughters.
Sloane (later Bidgood), Henry Fisher (1788-1851). Elder son of William Sloane (d. 1797) and his wife Ann Falkingham Burke, daughter of Henry Fisher, born in Tobago, 1788. He took the name and arms of Bidgood under the terms of his stepfather's will on inheriting the Rockbeare Court estate from his mother in 1822. He married, 6 October 1821 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Sarah (1793-1890), eldest daughter of Thomas Porter of Rockbeare House, and had issue:
(1) Charles Henry Bidgood (1823-84), born 22 January and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 22 April 1823; inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1851, but sold the contents in 1870 and let the house, moving to live with his sister in London; died unmarried and without issue, at his sister's house in London, 14 July, and was buried at Rockbeare, 18 July 1884; his will was proved 16 October 1884 (effects £997);(2) Sarah Ann Bidgood (1824-93), baptised at Rockbeare, 4 September 1824; married, 10 December 1844 at Rockbeare, Lt-Col. Francis Dermott Daly (c.1797-1857) of Gatcombe House (IoW), son of Francis Daly, and had issue one daughter; lived latterly at Queen's Gate, Kensington (Middx) and Winscott, Beer (Devon), where she died, 19 December, and was buried at Rockbeare, 22 December 1893; will proved 24 January 1894 (effects £1,974);(3) Harriette Eliza Bidgood (1826-40), baptised at Rockbeare, 29 April 1826; died young, 12 April, and was buried at Rockbeare, 18 April 1840, where she is commemorated on her father's monument;(4) Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901) (q.v.);(5) Christina Bidgood (1829-30), baptised at Rockbeare, 3 November 1829; died in infancy and was buried at Rockbeare, 28 January 1830.
He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate and the John plantation in Demerara (Guyana) from his mother in 1822, but he evidently sold the latter in his lifetime. His wife inherited £30,000 from her father in 1815.
He died at Teignmouth (Devon), 3 July, and was buried at Rockbeare, 10 July 1851, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 August 1851. His widow died aged 97 and was buried at All Hallows on the Walls, Exeter, 19 March 1890.
Bidgood, Thomas Edward (1827-1901). Younger son of Henry Fisher Sloane (later Bidgood) (1788-1851), and his wife Sarah, eldest daughter of Thomas Porter of Rockbeare House (Devon), baptised at Rockbeare, 12 August 1827. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1844; Lt., 1847). He married, 4 August 1859 at Nether Wallop (Hants), Emily Anna Maria (1833-1915), daughter of Rev. Walter Blunt (d. 1868) of Wallop House, and had issue:
(1) Harry Walter Bidgood (1860-1916) (q.v.);(2) Isabel Sarah Bidgood (1862-1946), born 21 July and baptised at Nether Wallop, 31 August 1862; died unmarried, 19 July 1946; will proved 10 October 1946 (estate £10,740);(3) Marion Christina Bidgood (1864-1934), born 17 February and baptised at Nether Wallop, 3 April 1864; died unmarried, 14 December 1934; will proved 2 March 1935 (estate £12,026);(4) Thomas Edward Wingfield Bidgood (1866-1952), born 5 March and baptised at Nether Wallop, 29 April 1866; educated at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; army officer (Lt., 1884; Capt., 1894; Maj., 1903; retired 1909 and did not return to service in First World War*); married 1st, about 1892, Jessie Eliot (c.1861-1919), daughter of William Ferguson of Forres (Morays), and had issue one son and four daughters; married 2nd, Jul-Sept. 1921, Glory Barrington Nash (1892-1949); died 28 February 1952; will proved 10 November 1952 (estate £176).
He lived at Gatcombe and later Shanklin (IoW). He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his elder brother in 1884, but continued to let it.
He died 12 January and was buried at Rockbeare, 18 January 1901; his will was proved 8 March 1901 (estate £8,855). His widow died in Richmond (Surrey), 21 January 1915; her will was proved 1 April 1915 (estate £1,439).
* Official records give the reason for his retirement as 'insane', but his retirement appears to have been occasioned by a polo accident in 1908 in which he suffered severe concussion, and perhaps some brain damage; he was placed on sick leave for twelve months and subsequently retired. He may have separated from his first wife before her death as in 1919 she was living in Dover (Kent) and he was farming in Co. Sligo. His second wife was confined in the Kent County Mental Hospital at Chartham (Kent) by 1939, and the later references to him show him living in rented accommodation or as a boarder with agricultural labourers; a sad life.
Bidgood, Harry Walter (1860-1916). Elder son of Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901) and his wife Emily Anna Maria, daughter of Rev. Walter Blunt of Wallop House (Hants), born 6 December 1860 and baptised at Nether Wallop, 27 January 1861. An officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1881; retired 1882). He emigrated to America in about 1887, where he became bookkeeper for a land fraudster called N.C. Fredericksen, with whom he was charged for conspiracy to defraud, although in the absence of Fredericksen (who disappeared) the matter seems never to have come to trial; he later settled as a farmer at Springfield, Minnesota. In about 1904 he returned to England. He volunteered for a territorial regiment at the outbreak of the First World War and was given a commission (Capt., 1916). 'A man of great energy and industry', he was a keen cricketer and tennis player. He married, 14 October 1891 at Windom, Minnesota (USA), Zoe (c.1862-1938), daughter of Richard Harrison of Scarthorpe (Yorks) and Hackthorpe (Cumbld.), and had issue:
(1) Beatrice T. Bidgood (b. 1893), born in Minnesota, 11 May 1893*; probably died young;(2) Marjorie Emily Theodora Bidgood (1893-1982), born in Minnesota, 5 November 1893*; emigrated to Zimbabwe; married, 21 August 1919 at Partney (Lincs), Capt. Frank Frederick Shipster (1895-1964), only son of Harry Reginald Shipster, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died at Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), 8 August 1982.
He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1901, but continued to let the house. He lived about from about 1887 until about 1904, when he settled in Lincolnshire, first at Boothby Hall and later at Partney Grange (Lincs). The Rockbeare Court estate was broken up and sold after his death, in 1917-18.
He died of heart failure after an attack of influenza at Partney Grange (Lincs), 26 December 1916, and was buried at Gunby (Lincs), 2 January 1917; his will was proved 27 February 1917 (estate £33,011). His widow died in 1938.
* The dates of birth cannot both be correct. I can find only Beatrice in the Minnesota birth records and only Marjorie in subsequent ones, so I wonder if it is possible that there was only one child, and the parents informally changed her name, perhaps on their return to England? At the time of her marriage, Marjorie was the 'only daughter' of her parents.
Principal sources
ODNB article on Dr. John Bidgood (1624-91);
Location of archives
No significant accumulation is known to survive.
Coat of arms
Argent, on a chief engrailed azure, a tortoise proper.
Can you help?
- Can anyone provide further information about the ownership of Rockbeare Court in the late 20th century?
- 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 5 December 2025.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment if you have any additional information or corrections to offer, or if you are able to help with additional images of the people or buildings in this post.