(625) Bigham of Bignor Park, Viscounts Mersey

Bigham, Viscounts Mersey 

The Bigham family are said to have originated in Ulster, but Samuel Bigham (c.1777-1830), with whom the genealogy below begins, was the son of a Kirkcudbrightshire grazier, who moved south to Lancashire and settled at Wigan around 1800. He was at first a draper, but later moved from retailing cloth to making it, as a cotton and calico manufacturer. By his first wife, who died after only a few years of marriage, he left one surviving son, who succeeded to his business. By his second wife he had two sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom, John Bigham (1814-80) set himself up in business as a soap manufacturer in Liverpool and later moved into a general mercantile business and shipping. A Liberal in politics, he was a member of the City Council from 1849-55, but he appears to have pulled back from civic affairs and business in later life. By the time of his death, his personal estate was valued at £140,000 and he was described as a gentleman rather than a retired merchant. He married the daughter of another Liverpool merchant and had two sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Henry Bigham (1835-73) emigrated to America in the 1850s, and may have been something of a disappointment to his father, as census returns show him as a store clerk. However, his younger son, Sir John Charles Bigham (1840-1929), who was sent to France and Germany to acquire language skills before reading for the bar, became a successful lawyer. He took silk in 1883 and after several unsuccessful efforts to be elected to Parliament, finally took his seat for the Liverpool Exchange constituency in 1895. In 1897 he became a High Court judge, and further legal and quasi-legal appointments followed. He retired from the bench in 1910 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Mersey. In the following years, he acted as a Wreck Commissioner, and in that capacity presided over the inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania, among other vessels. In 1916 he was promoted in the peerage to 1st Viscount Mersey, and he remained uncommonly vigorous and active into the 1920s. Indeed, in 1920, at the age of eighty, he returned to judicial office for a few months to reduce a backlog of cases in the High Court.

Like his father, Lord Mersey married the daughter of another Liverpool merchant, and the couple had three sons, of whom one died in infancy. The eldest son, Lt-Col. Charles Clive Bigham, who eventually succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount, joined the army as a young man and then moved into the diplomatic service. In the 1900s he was secretary to a number of Royal Commissions and Inquiries which his father was chairing, but during the First World War returned to the army and commanded the military mission to the French War Office. In 1919, he attended the Versailles peace conference, but after that he seems to have turned to a career in business and to writing popular historical works. He purchased Bignor Park (Sussex) in 1926, inherited the peerage in 1929, and in the 1940s was Liberal chief whip in the House of Lords. The 1st Viscount's younger son, Sir Frank Bigham (1876-1954) joined the Metropolitan Police, and from 1909-35 held a succession of senior posts, ending up as Deputy Commissioner; he was knighted in 1929, was twice married, and had two daughters.

The 2nd Viscount had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey, served in the Second World War with the Irish Guards, and later on was active in local politics both in London and Sussex. In 1933 he married Lady Katherine Petty-Fitzmaurice, the elder daughter of the 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, who later inherited a Scottish peerage and became Lady Nairne in her own right. They had three sons, the eldest of whom was Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey, who succeeded his father in 1979 and also inherited his mother's peerage in 1995. He married in 1961, and his only surviving son is Edward John Hallam Bigham (b. 1966), the 5th and present Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne. Since inheriting the Bignor estate on his father's death in 2006 he has undertaken a major campaign of restoration and improvements to the house and estate. He also continues a successful career as a composer and producer in the music industry. He has married twice and has two daughters, the elder of whom is heir presumptive to the lordship of Nairne. The heir presumptive to the viscountcy is his cousin, Charles Richard Petty Bigham (b. 1967).

Bignor Park, Sussex

The estate was created in the 13th century by the enclosure of part of the great forest of Arundel to form a park for the fattening of deer for the Earl of Arundel's table. In 1574 a lease of the park mentions that it contained a lodge, and 'a messuage' was also mentioned when the property was sold in 1584. Soon afterwards, it passed into the hands of the Pellatt family, and in 1632 William Pellatt built a new gabled house on the crown of a ridge parallel to the south downs, which offered excellent views to both north and south. Dalloway says this building was 'on a very small scale'; that it 'had nothing to recommend it but its situation'; and that the present house was built 'upon a much larger scale'. This is not, however, the impression given by the earliest views of the building, made by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm in about 1791, which seem to show a larger house than the present building. By the time of Grimm's views, the house had been significantly and recently remodelled, but the two-bay gabled wings visible in his views of both fronts probably represent the cross-wings of the original mansion, and give an impression of its original dimensions. At the time of the 1670 Hearth Tax, the house was evidently leased, but the return for Bignor is damaged and we cannot tell on how many hearths the property was taxed.

Bignor Park: detail of drawing of entrance front by S.H. Grimm, c.1791 [British Library, Add. MS. 5674, f.47]

Bignor Park: drawing of garden front by S.H. Grimm, c.1791 [British Library, Add. MS. 5674, f.48]

Grimm's drawings of c.1791 show that the centre of the Jacobean house had recently been remodelled in the Gothick style, and it is known that this work was done for Michael Dorset (d. 1805), who married Catherine Anne Turner in 1779, the year she acquired possession of Bignor Park from her brother, so the work must have been done in 1780s. The entrance front was given a tall Gothick central gate tower, complete with a fictive portcullis, and also octagonal or possibly hexagonal towers on the outer corners of the 17th century wings. The garden front retained a more domestic aspect, with a projecting central block with a canted front and a roof behind the parapet which rose to a Gothic finial. Some decorative Coade stone pinnacles in the grounds of the present house are said to have been preserved as garden ornaments when the old house was demolished in 1826. The architect of the alterations is not recorded, but the rather charming 'toy fort' effect of the additions has a slightly amateurish feel, so perhaps Dorset was his own architect. Another possibility must be that he used Francis Hiorne (1744-89), a Gothick specialist who is known chiefly for rather more sober Gothic church work, but who built Hiorne's tower in the park at Arundel c.1787 and made proposals for remodelling Arundel Castle which were not carried out because of his death; he is known as an enthusiastic adopter of Coade stone for architectural details. 

Bignor Park: entrance front c.1905, from an old postcard.

After Michael Dorset's death, his widow sold the Bignor Park estate to John Hawkins (1761-1841), the younger son of a Cornish tin-mining family, whose chief seat was Trewithen (Cornw.). He had travelled extensively in Italy and Greece, had antiquarian interests, and was a friend of the archaeologist Samuel Lysons and the architect, Sir Robert Smirke. In 1811, one of his tenant farmers, George Tupper, discovered Roman remains while ploughing, and with the help of Lysons and Tupper he went on to excavate what proved to be one of the largest and most luxurious Roman villas in Britain, with a series of fine mosaic floors; the villa was opened to the public in 1814 and has remained accessible ever since. In the 1820s, Hawkins' attention turned to his own house, which he decided to demolish and replace with a neo-classical villa. He at first tried to get his friend Smirke to provide designs, but Smirke was too busy with bigger and more lucrative public commissions and fobbed him off with the offer of advice, and probably also with the recommendation of Henry Harrison (c.1785-c.1865), who had worked for Smirke as a building contractor at Grange Park (Hants), and who turned to architecture around 1820. When he came to Bignor he had little if any country house design experience, but his understated and Greek-influenced neo-classical designs seem to have been just what Hawkins was looking for. Articles of agreement were drawn up for the new house in 1826 and construction was evidently largely complete by 1828, when two servants were employed as caretakers in the unoccupied building. Harrison allowed the house to dry out thoroughly, and only began moving in during 1830. Payments continued until 1832, finally totalling just over £10,000.

Bignor Park: garden front in 1956. Image: Derek Sherborn/Historic England.

The rendered brick house that resulted is of five by three bays and two storeys, with wider end bays on both fronts that project slightly forward, and a lower two-storey service wing to the west. The north-facing entrance front has a shallow loggia between the wings that cleverly incorporates a porch, while on the garden side the house is raised on a low stone terrace, and all the ground floor windows are floor-length. The windows on the south front also all have external shutters except for the larger ground-floor windows in the wings, where the neo-classical elegance is tempered by a few neo-Jacobean elements, presaging the direction which Harrison's designs would take later in his career. The external shutters seem to be a later addition, as they are not indicated on a view of the house in 1834 by John Constable. Inside, the house preserves its late Regency layout, which seems little altered, with the library, drawing room and dining room across the south front, while on the north side, the entrance hall and top-lit, cantilevered staircase occupy the middle three bays, and are flanked by a business room and the former school room. 

Bignor Park: a late 19th century watercolour view of the library (Image: Trewithen Collection)

The heart of the house has always been the library, for both John Hawkins and the 2nd Lord Mersey were notable book collectors, and further bookcases are found throughout the house. All the rooms have sparing but elegant neo-classical decoration, enhanced by mahogany doors from Robert Adam's Lansdowne House, London, which were installed here in about 1957 by Lady Mersey, and by Regency Revival furniture and fittings acquired by the 2nd Lord Mersey in 1945 when the contents of Edward Knoblock's Beach House in Worthing (Sussex) were dispersed. One particularly important acquisition from the Worthing house was a set of mural paintings on glass of 1912 by Sir William Nicholson, which were made originally for Knoblock's apartment in the Palais Royale, Paris; these were arranged at first floor level around the staircase hall, but are said now to be in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Bignor Park: watercolour of the house from the south-east by John Constable, 1834. (Image: V&A Museum 217-1888)

Work began on landscaping the grounds in the 1820s, when John Hawkins laid out a new drive while he was looking for an architect. After the house was built he took advice from William Sawrey Gilpin in the 1830s, resulting in the landscape which Constable painted in 1834. More recent additions have included a domed Doric temple designed by Christopher Hobson in 1992.

Descent: John Lumley (c.1533-1609), 1st Baron Lumley sold 1584 to William Tyrwhitt, who sold soon afterwards to Richard Pellatt (d. 1587); to son, Thomas Pellatt (d. 1618); to son, William Pellatt, who built the house c.1632; to son, Thomas Pellatt (b. 1656); to son, William Pellatt, who sold 1712 to Nicholas Turner (d. 1723); to son, Nicholas Turner (d. 1774); to son, Nicholas Turner (b. 1753), who became bankrupt in 1779 and sold it to his sister, Catherine Anne (1752-1834), from 1779 wife of Michael Dorset (1753?-1805), who remodelled the house and sold it 1806 to John Hawkins (1761-1841), who rebuilt the house; to son, Christopher Hawkins (1820-1903); to nephew, John Heywood Johnstone MP (1850-1904); to son, G.H. Johnstone of Trewithen (Cornw.), who sold 1926 to Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey; to son, Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey; to son, Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006); to son, Edward John Hallam Bigham (b. 1966), 5th Viscount Mersey.

Bigham family of Bignor Park, Viscounts Mersey

Bigham, Samuel (c.1777-1830). Son of Andrew Bigham (b. 1742) of Kells (Kirkcudbrights), grazier and his wife Elizabeth Chesnie, born about 1777. Draper, and cotton and calico manufacturer at Wigan (Lancs). He was also in partnership with Thomas Peck as an iron dealer (dissolved 1821). He married 1st, 3 June 1808 at All Saints, Wigan, Elizabeth Holland, and 2nd, 15 June 1813 at All Saints, Wigan (Lancs), Catherine (c.1795-1854?), daughter of John Hughes of Chester, and had issue:

(1.1) Andrew Bigham (b. & d. 1808), born about July 1808; died in infancy and was buried at All Saints, Wigan, 30 September 1808;

(1.2) Thomas Bigham (1809-88), born 12 November and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 17 December 1809; cloth manufacturer at Wigan; married 26 February 1835 at Manchester Collegiate Church (now Cathedral), Elizabeth (1810-83), daughter of George Maxwell, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 15 September 1888;

(2.1) John Bigham (1814-80) (q.v.);

(2.2) Agnes Bigham (b. 1817), born 6 February and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 4 March 1817; married, 20 September 1838 at St George, Liverpool, John Holmes of Liverpool, painter;

(2.3) Mary Helen/Ellen Bigham (1818-70), born 9 December and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 25 December 1818; married, 10 April 1847 at St Philip, Liverpool, Capt. Thomas J. Cannell of Castletown (IoM); died 10 December 1870;

(2.4) Ann Jane Bigham (b. 1821), born 28 February and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 21 March 1821; married, 10 February 1841 at St David, Liverpool, John Parker Hall junior;

(2.5) Samuel Bigham (b. 1825), born 4 September and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 24 November 1825; living in 1841.

He died suddenly, 22 August, and was buried at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 25 August 1830. His first wife died between 1809 and 1813. His widow is said to have died in 1854; her will was proved 25 March 1857.

Bigham, John (1814-80). Elder son of Samuel Bigham (c.1777-1830) and his second wife, Catherine, daughter of John Hughes of Chester, born 5 April and baptised at St Paul's Independent Chapel, Standishgate, Wigan (Lancs), 26 April 1814. Soap manufacturer and later merchant and shipowner in Liverpool. A Liberal in politics, he was a member of Liverpool City Council, 1849-55, and of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. He married, 16 October 1834 at St David, Liverpool, Helen (1814-1904), daughter of John East of Liverpool, and had issue:

(1) Henry Bigham (1835-73), born 29 July and baptised at St Peter, Liverpool, 17 September 1835; emigrated to America and became a store clerk in New York; said to have married, 4 February 1871, Helen (d. 1914), daughter of John Numan, and had issue; died in the lifetime of his father, 4 July 1873;

(2) Catherine Bigham (1837-38), baptised at St Peter, Liverpool, 5 December 1837; died in infancy and was buried at St Michael, Liverpool, 2 October 1838;

(3) Rt. Hon. Sir John Charles Bigham (1840-1929), 1st Baron and 1st Viscount Mersey (q.v.);

(4) Agnes Maria Bigham (1842-1919), born 3 July 1842; married, 10 September 1868 at St Bride, Liverpool, Thomas Brough (d. 1892) of Liverpool, merchant and gunpowder agent, and had issue one son and three daughters; as a widow, lived in London; died at Seaford (Sussex), 7 August 1919; will proved 11 November 1919 (estate £12,187).

He lived in Liverpool.

He died 5 October and was buried at Toxteth Park Cemetery, Liverpool, 8 October 1880; his will was proved 17 December 1880 (effects under £140,000). His widow died 11/12 August 1904; her will was proved 31 August 1904 (estate £16,483).

1st Viscount Bigham

Bigham, Rt. Hon. Sir John Charles (1840-1929), kt., 1st Baron and 1st Viscount Mersey. Second, but only surviving, son of John Bigham (1814-80) and his wife Helen, daughter of John East of Liverpool, born 3 August 1840 and baptised at St Francis Xavier RC church, Liverpool, 25 January 1867. Educated at Liverpool Institute, in Berlin (Germany) and at the Sorbonne University, Paris (France), and the Middle Temple (admitted 1867; called 1870; Bencher 1886). Barrister-at-law (QC, 1883), practising on the Northern Circuit, of which he eventually became leader. After several unsuccessful attempts, he entered Parliament as MP for Liverpool Exchange, 1895-97, but resigned on becoming a Justice of the High Court, 1897-1909; President of the Railway and Canal Commission, 1904-09; Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, 1904-10; sworn of the Privy Council, 1909; Chairman of Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of High Court, 1909-10; a Wreck Commissioner, 1912-16, in which capacity he presided over the inquiries into the sinkings of the Titanic, Empress of Ireland, Falaba and Lusitania; President of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1913-14. He was knighted in 1897 and raised to the peerage on his retirement from judicial office, as Baron Mersey, 16 March 1910, before being promoted to a viscountcy, 22 January 1916. He married, 17 August 1871 at St Paul, Princes Park, Liverpool, Georgina Sarah (1848-1925), daughter of John Rogers of Grove Park, Liverpool, silk mercer, and had issue:

(1) Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey (q.v.);

(2) John Trevor Buckley Bigham (1873-75), born 27 November 1873; died in infancy, 23 January and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 26 January 1875;

(3) Hon. Sir Frank Trevor Roger Bigham (1876-1954), born 22 May 1876; educated at Eton, Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1895; BA 1899; MA), and the Middle Temple (called 1901); barrister-at-law; an officer in the Territorial Battn, Middlesex Regiment (2nd Lt., 1900); served with Metropolitan Police, 1909-35 (Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation Dept., 1909-14; Assistant Commissioner, 1914-31 and Deputy Commissioner, 1931-35); appointed CB, 1919 and knighted (KBE), 1929; married 1st, 17 December 1901 at Temple church, London, Frances Leonara (1873-1927), second daughter of John Leonard Tomlin of Richmond (Yorks NR), and had issue two daughters; married 2nd, 2 September 1931, Edith Ellen OBE (1898-1985), a civilian official at Scotland Yard, daughter of Lt-Col. David Drysdale; died 23 November 1954.

He lived at 22 Grosvenor Place, London.

He died at the Beach Hotel, Littlehampton (Sussex), 3 September, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 6 September 1929; his will was proved 19 October 1929 (estate £80,603). His wife died 9 January, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery, 12 January 1925; administration of her goods was granted to her eldest son, 3 May 1928 (estate £600).

2nd Viscount Mersey

Bigham, Lt-Col. Charles Clive (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey. Eldest son of Rt. Hon. Sir John Charles Bigham (1840-1929), kt., 1st Viscount Mersey, and his wife Georgina Sarah, daughter of John Rogers of Liverpool, born 18 August and baptised at St Paul, Princes Park, Liverpool, 25 December 1872. Educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the Grenadier Guards (2nd Lt., 1892; Lt., 1901; Capt., 1902; retired 1902 but returned to service as Maj., 1914; Lt-Col., 1919). In diplomatic service, 1896-1900 and military intelligence dept. of War Office, 1901-04; with Board of Trade, 1905-09 and acted as secretary to Royal Commissions, 1905-12. He commanded the military mission to French War Office, 1916-19 (mentioned in dispatches) and attended Versailles peace conference, 1919. In 1916 he was one of the passengers aboard the SS Persia when it was torpedoed and sunk off Crete by a German submarine, but was lucky enough to be rescued. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Mersey, 3 September 1929. Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of Committees, House of Lords; Liberal Chief Whip, 1944-49. He was a director of several companies and of the National Provident Institution, and Chairman of Royal Westminster Opthalmic Hospital, 1935-46 (and later Vice-President). JP and DL for London (Chairman of St George's Petty Sessions, 1935-47) and JP for Sussex. A trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, 1941-49; President of Sussex Archæological Society, 1947–50, and of Society of Genealogists, 1942–56. A freemason from 1901 and a Knight of St John. He was appointed CMG, 1901, was an Officer of the Légion d'honneur and of the Order of the Crown of Italy, and held several foreign war medals. He was the author of a number of historical and autobiographical works including A Ride through Western Asia (1897); A Year in China (1901); The Prime Ministers of Britain (1922); The Chief Ministers of England (1923); The Kings of England (1929); A Picture of Life, 1872–1940 (1941); Alexander of Macedon (1946); Helen of Troy and Cleopatra (1947); The Viceroys and Governors-General of India, 1747–1947 (1949); Journal and Memories (1952). He married, 1 June 1904 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Mary Gertrude JP (1881-1973), second daughter of Sir Horace Alfred Damer Seymour KCB, private secretary to William Gladstone, and had issue (with two further children who died in infancy):

(1) Hon. Elizabeth Mary Bigham (1905-85), born 17 April and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 27 May 1905; married, 5 December 1929 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster, Matthew Henry Hubert Ponsonby (1904-76), 2nd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 21 March 1985; will proved 18 October 1985 (estate £169,287);

(2) Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey (q.v.);

(3) Lt-Col. the Hon. Roger Claude Bigham (1908-58), born 16 September and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 11 November 1908; educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; an officer in the Royal Artillery (2nd Lt., 1928; Lt., 1931; Capt., 1938; Maj., 1945; Lt-Col., 1951; retired 1957), who served in British military mission to Greece, 1949-51; died unmarried, 5 December and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 9 December 1958; will proved 23 February 1959 (estate £52,617);

(4) Hon. Ralph John Bigham (1913-91), born 3 August and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 15 October 1913; educated at Eton; an Officer of the Order of St. John; married, 3 August 1954, Cicely Ruth (1916-96), youngest daughter of Percy Johnson of Douglas (IoM), but had no issue; died 17 September 1991; administration of goods with will annexed granted 2 April 1992 (estate £195,456).

He purchased Bignor Park in 1926 and acquired furniture and fittings from Beach House, Worthing to enhance it in 1945. He had a town house at 22 Eaton Place, London.

He died 20 November and was buried at Bignor, 24 November 1956; his will was proved 30 April 1957 (estate £95,191). His widow died aged 92 on 1 May 1973 and was buried at Bignor; her will was proved  in August 1973 (estate £21,481).

Bigham, Edward Clive (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey. Eldest son of Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey, and his wife Mary Gertrude, second daughter of Sir Horace Alfred Damer Seymour, kt., born 5 June and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 14 July 1906. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1927). An officer in the Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1926; Lt., 1929), who served in the Second World War with the Irish Guards (2nd Lt., 1940; retired 1945). He succeeded his father as 3rd Viscount Mersey, 20 November 1956. A member of London County Council for the Paddington division, 1955-65, and a County Councillor for West Sussex, 1966. DL for West Sussex, 1977-79. He married, 24 July 1933, Lady Katherine Evelyn Constance Petty-Fitzmaurice (1912-95), 12th Lady Nairne in her own right, elder daughter of 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, and had issue:

(1) Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey and 13th Lord Nairne (q.v.);

(2) Hon. David Edward Hugh Bigham  (1938-2024), of Hurston Place (Sussex), born 14 April 1938; educated at Eton; undertook compulsory military service, 1957-59, as an officer in the Royal Horse Guards (2nd Lt., 1957); art dealer and director of Tryon Gallery, London, 1959-2010; married, 2 January 1965 at Little Hadham (Herts), Anthea Rosemary (b. 1941), eldest daughter of Capt. Leo Richard Seymour, and had issue three sons (the eldest of whom is heir presumptive to the viscountcy), and one daughter; died 24 August 2024;

(3) Hon. Andrew Charles Bigham (b. 1941), of Coverham (Yorks NR), born 26 June 1941; educated at Eton, Worcester College, Oxford, and London University (CertEd, 1967); an officer in the Irish Guards (2nd Lt., 1964; retired 1966); schoolmaster at Aysgarth School, Bedale (Yorks NR), 1968-89 and Sunningdale School (Berks), 1989-94.

He inherited Bignor Park from his father in 1956.

He died 2 August 1979 and was buried at Sutton (Sussex); his will was proved 14 November 1979 (estate £168,427). His widow died 20 October 1995; her will was proved 14 May 1996.

Bigham, Richard Maurice Clive (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey and 13th Lord Nairne. Eldest son of Edward Clive Bigham (1906-79), 3rd Viscount Mersey and his wife Lady Katherine Evelyn Constance, 12th Lady Nairne, daughter of 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, born 8 July 1934. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. Undertook compulsory military service as an officer in the Irish Guards (Lt.), 1952-54. He succeeded his father as 4th Viscount Mersey, 2 August 1979, and his mother as 13th Lord Nairne, 20 October 1995. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer, 1980-99, when he was one of the hereditary peers ejected from the House. He achieved some acclaim as a documentary film maker, and some notoriety after he was involved in an unsavoury sex trial in 1977, where he received a two-year suspended prison sentence. President of the Society of Industrial Emergency Services Officers, 1987-91 and of Combined Heat and Power Association, 1989-92. Fellow of Royal Geographical Society and Hon. Fellow of Royal Academy of Music, 1996. He was author of The Hills of Cork and Kerry (1987) and Pole Power (2001). He married, 6 May 1961 at Christ Church, Hampstead (Middx), Joanna Dorothy Corsica Grey (b. 1940), elder daughter of John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray CBE of Hampstead and Mayfair, and had issue:

(1) A son (b. & d. 1964), born 30 June 1964, but died the same day;

(2) Edward John Hallam Bigham (b. 1966), 5th Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne (q.v.).

He inherited Bignor Park from his father in 1979.

He died 5 August 2006, and was buried at Bignor; his will was proved 22 February 2007 (estate £25,241,615). His widow is now living.

Bigham, Edward John Hallam (k/a Ned) (b. 1966), 5th Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne. Only surviving son of Richard Maurice Clive Bigham (1934-2006), 4th Viscount Mersey and 13th Lord Nairne, and his wife Joanna Dorothy Corsica Grey, elder daughter of John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray CBE of Hampstead and Mayfair, born 23 May 1966. Educated at Eton, Balliol College, Oxford, Trinity College of Music, London and Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich (Germany). Music producer, composer and drummer. Director of Bignor Park Ltd, 2009-date; Edward James Foundation Ltd, 2013-15, and Millpepper Ltd, 2016-date. He succeeded his father as 5th Viscount Mersey and 14th Lord Nairne, 5 August 2006. He married 1st, 26 May 1994 (div. 1997), Clare Louise, daughter of David Haigh of Woking (Surrey), and 2nd, 8 December 2001 at St Cuthbert, Dalmeny (West Lothian), Caroline Clare (b. 1965), daughter of Robert Grant Schaw Miller (1925-97) of Dalmeny, and had issue:

(2.1) Hon. Flora Diana Joan Bigham (b. 2003), Mistress of Nairne, born 17 May 2003; educated at Oxford University (matriculated 2021; BA 2024) and City St. George's, University of London; journalist; heir presumptive to the Lordship of Nairne;

(2.2) Hon. Polly Joanna Jean Bigham (b. 2006), born 3 July 2006; educated at Westbourne House School and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.

He inherited Bignor Park from his father in 2006.

Now living. His first wife is now living. His second wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 2668-69; J. Dalloway & E. Cartwright, The parochial topography of the rape of Arundel, 1832, vol 2, pt. 1, pp. 249; W.H. Godfrey & L.F. Salzman, Sussex views, 1951, pl. 19; G. Nares, 'Bignor Park, Sussex', Country Life, 26 April-3 May 1956; J. Farrant, Sussex depicted, 2001, p. 161; Sir H.M. Colvin, A biographical dictionary of British architects, 4th edn., 2008, pp. 485-87, 519-20; E. Williamson, T. Hudson, J. Musson and I. Nairn, The buildings of England: Sussex - West, 2019, pp. 132-33, 735; P. Holden, 'Antiquaries, archaeologists and architects: the building of Bignor Park in Sussex', Georgian Group Journal, 2020, pp. 177-88.

Location of archives

No significant accumulation has been deposited in a public archive, so it is likely that the family retain their papers.

Coat of arms

Bigham family, Viscounts Mersey: Per bend dancettée azure and or, a bend invected between three crosses patée in chief and as many horseshoes in base, all counterchanged.

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?
• 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 30 January 2026.

(624) Biggs (later Yeatman-Biggs) of Stockton House

Biggs of Stockton

The Biggs family were yeomen farmers in south Wiltshire who leased gradually increasing areas of farmland in the 17th and early 18th centuries, chiefly from the Earls of Pembroke. From 1681, Tristram Biggs (d. 1721) was tenant of one of the manors of Little Langford (Wilts) and from 1753 his son, Tristram Biggs (1675-1757), held both the manors in that parish. His property at Little Langford passed to his elder son, Thomas Biggs (d. 1767), but on the latter's death without issue, passed to Tristram's younger son, Henry Biggs (1722-1800), with whom the genealogy below begins. Henry, who also inherited lands at Maddington (Wilts) from his grandmother's family, purchased the Stockton House estate in 1772. He died in 1800, when his extensive freehold and leasehold property passed to his only son, Harry Biggs (1766-1856). Although he does not seem to have attended a university or one of the inns of court, Harry was firmly established as a member of the landed gentry, serving as a JP and Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire, and as High Sheriff in 1811-12, and being noted as a sportsman in a wide range of traditional field sports. He further expanded the Stockton estate and remodelled the manor house, almost certainly to the designs of Jeffry Wyatt (later Sir Jeffry Wyatville), around 1802. When he died, aged nearly ninety, he had two surviving children. Stockton passed to his son, Henry Godolphin Biggs (1803-77), who was twice married but had no children, and so on his death it passed to his sister's second son, Maj-Gen. Arthur Godolphin Yeatman (1843-98), who took the additional name Biggs on succeeding to the estate. 

As his rank suggests, Maj-Gen. Yeatman-Biggs was a career soldier, who was in England relatively little and who was unmarried. He rented out Stockton House, and when he died on active service in India, his property passed to his younger brother, the Rt. Rev. Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs) (1845-1922), who was then Suffragan Bishop of Southwark but who was soon promoted the see of Worcester and was later first Bishop of Coventry. The bishop had already purchased the Stock Gaylard estate in Dorset from Yeatman cousins who were struggling financially, and with the addition of the Stockton estate he is said to have become the richest member of the bench of bishops. From 1904 he lived at Hartlebury Castle (Worcs), and he continued to let Stockton House until he sold it in 1920, while retaining much of the associated estate. When he died, he divided his property between his surviving sons, with the elder, William Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs (1878-1952) receiving the residue of the Stockton estate, now centered on a farmhouse called Longhall, and the younger, Lewys Legge Yeatman (1879-1962), inheriting Stock Gaylard. William's only son, Arthur Hushe Yeatman-Biggs (1908-44) was killed in the Second World War, so at his death in 1952 the Stockton estate descended to his grandson, Huyshe Nicholas Yeatman-Biggs (1936-2023), and the surviving part of the estate still remains in the hands of the family.

Stockton House, Wiltshire 

This is a well-documented house which has also been unusually thoroughly recorded and explored by artists and architectural historians from the early 19th century onwards. The wealth of evidence enables its story to be told in considerable detail, and makes clear just how much change and reworking may lie behind an apparently little-altered building.

Stockton House: watercolour of the house from the south-west by John Buckler, 1810. Image: Yale Center for British Art (B1991.40.75)

The house was built in two phases that together produced a fine gabled house of strikingly banded stone and flint, measuring four bays by three, and having two storeys and attics, closely similar to Keevil Manor and Boyton Manor (Wilts). John Topp (d. 1596) acquired the freehold of the manor in 1585, and bequeathed it to his nephew, John Topp (d. 1632). Both phases of the house are usually said to have been carried out for John (d. 1632) – the first between his inheritance in 1596 and about 1603, and the second a few years later, but before his wife’s death in 1617 – though it is possible that the first phase of the work could have been undertaken for John (d. 1596), with some later alterations at the time of the second phase.

Stockton House: photograph of the house from the south-east in 1905. Image: Country Life. A straight joint in the masonry
to the right of the two downpipes in the centre of the east front marks the division between the first (left) and second (right) phases of the house.

The house was apparently built on a former common pasture called the West Marsh, and much of the land around it was later imparked, causing the closure of the direct road from Codford Bridge to the village. This led to a legal dispute which was resolved in 1602 by the inclosure of the West Marsh and its division between the major landowners. The house was at first L-shaped, and only in the second phase of c.1610 was the north-east corner constructed and the three-storey ashlar porch tower added. It is thought that a service stair tower may have stood in the re-entrant angle before the addition was made to the north-east corner. The new work at the north-east corner of the house can be identified by a vertical joint in the masonry, though it continues the stripy effect of the main block. The new porch on the west front is of plain ashlar and provides a background to richly carved architectural sculpture. Internally, the addition provided a second kitchen and a buttery and pantry, and additional bedrooms, but at the same time the principal rooms were greatly enriched with plasterwork and panelling, further described below. The architect of these changes is likely to have been William Arnold, the architect of Montacute House (Som.) and Wadham College, Oxford, to whom the porches added to Keevil and Boyton are also attributed. 

Stockton House: west front c.1870. The mid 17th century chapel and minister's house form the wing on the left;
but the water tower and other additions by the Ferreys have yet to be added.

The porch entrance at Stockton has Doric columns, a triglyph frieze, and a cornice with vases. Above this, the first floor is glazed on three sides with mullioned and transomed windows, creating a charming little porch room with an elaborate plaster ceiling which is open on its fourth side to the great chamber. The top floor of the porch tower has a mullioned window and supports a strapwork cresting with a pierced ring at its centre: a motif perhaps copied from Longleat, where Arnold may also have worked. To either side of the porch are mullioned and transomed windows of three lights and then of four lights in the outer bays, while the gables have three-light mullioned windows. All this was perfectly symmetrical until the sills of the ground and first floor windows to the right of the porch were lowered in the early 19th century. The south and east fronts are equally regular, with the main windows all of four lights.

The first addition to the site after the building of the porch was the construction of a large chapel of chequered flint and stone (as at West Amesbury House, not far away), which stands north-west of the house and is connected to it by the former minister's dwelling, which has a big semicircular gable. The chapel is thought to date from the third quarter of the 17th century, and perhaps to the Commonwealth years. It has two-light windows with arched lights and an oval west light. In the more secular 1770s, it was converted into a stable block for the tenant of the house, but later – perhaps in the 1820s – this was abandoned in favour of a new gabled stable block, also in chequered flint and stone, designed by John Benett of Pythouse for Harry Biggs, which appears to incorporate some earlier work. Perhaps for that reason, it was designed in a vernacular style, and the damaged datestone for 16—mentioned above was built into the left side of the left gable. Soon afterwards, in 1828, the coach house and related buildings adjoining the stable block were rebuilt.

Stockton House: skylight on first-floor landing,
attributed to Jeffry Wyatville.  (Image: Moulding & Co.)

Harry Biggs had earlier made alterations to the house c.1802, perhaps in anticipation of his marriage. According to family tradition, his alterations were made to the designs of Jeffry Wyatt (later Sir Jeffry Wyatville), and although there is no documentary evidence to support this claim, it is plausible both stylistically and in terms of Biggs’ connections with other clients. In particular, the toplit landing which he created on the first floor has a star-vault rib pattern supporting the lantern which is a miniature version of the similar feature Wyatville created above the staircase at Longleat House (Wilts) at much the same time. Wyatville presumably also built the single-storey porch in the centre of the south front of the house, which provides access directly into the remodelled staircase hall; this was probably used as the main entrance to the house in the early 19th century, when a new approach drive was laid out to the south front rather than to the Jacobean porch on the west front. Another change made at the same time was to lower the window sills of the Great Chamber and the porch room opening off it by about a foot to make the room lighter. This damaged the external symmetry of the west front, and is thought to have displaced the datestone.

In 1877-82 there were further alterations and additions by Benjamin Ferrey (1810-80) and his son, Benjamin Edward Ferrey (1845-1900), which included a re-roofing, internal redecoration, the construction of a substantial two-storey service wing and a kitchen wing which doubled the footprint of the house, and the building of a tower containing a water tank. The rainwater heads around the house are dated 1879. A new lodge was built at the end of the drive and illustrated in The Builder in 1882.

Stockton House: design for gate lodge by B.E. Ferrey, from The Builder, 1882.

It was probably intended as part of these works to reinstate the former chapel, and with this in mind Maj-Gen. Yeatman-Biggs acquired much of the Georgian chapel woodwork from Winchester College, which had been removed during Butterfield’s refitting of the chapel in 1874 and placed in store. However, the restoration of the chapel was abandoned. The General’s brother explored the possibility of using it at Farnham Castle (Surrey) but his architect, Sir Arthur Blomfield, found it would not fit, and it was eventually reused at New Hall, Winchester, in 1960.

In 1906 and 1920 there were significant sales of Jacobean and Georgian furniture from the house, some of which may have been made for it but most of which was apparently collected in the 19th century. The second sale was occasioned by the Biggs family’s sale of the house, which then passed through several owners in the 20th century. Successive owners made significant alterations to the fabric. The economist Oswald Falk, who owned the house from 1924-34, removed much of the interior decoration installed by the Ferreys, including the elaborate fittings of the hall and the arched screen between this and the staircase.

During the Second World War, the house was requisitioned for military use, but the only lasting change to the building or grounds was the construction of a swimming pool next to the walled garden. In 1951, after the house was sold to Lady Lacey, the Victorian kitchen wing was mostly demolished, leaving only the water tower and the service wing of the Ferreys work still standing. The original kitchen of the house, in the north-east corner, which had been remodelled as a Victorian dining room, was returned to its original function. After 1998, the joinery company Stuart Interiors Ltd. was brought into refit the original hall in the south-west corner of the house as a neo-Jacobean library, and they also did work in three other rooms. Finally, the house has been given a thorough restoration and sensitive remodelling by Donald Insall Associates in 2014-17 for the present owner. Their work has combined the installation of modern services and facilities throughout the house, with the careful restoration of the historic fabric. The swimming pool created in the Second World War, which had been altered into a natural pond, was replaced by a new pool overlooked by a Modernist pool house.

Stockton House: the hall in 1905, showing the decoration applied by the Ferreys in 1877-82 and removed in 1927. Image: Country Life.

Stockton House: view from the hall into the staircase in 1905;
the screen was removed in 1927. 

The porch near the centre of the west front leads into what has been the hall since 1877 but was probably originally a winter parlour or back kitchen. The original hall seems to have been the south-west room, entered from a screens passage behind the porch. In the 19th century the larger new hall in the north-west corner of the house was given rich neo-Jacobean decoration, which was almost entirely stripped out in 1927, when the present plain 16th century fireplace and doors were brought in from elsewhere. The Victorian hall opened through a screen of three arches into the long narrow staircase hall created by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, which has a toplit upper landing at the northern end. The staircase itself is of timber with iron balustrades, and has an unusual form with two flights rising at opposite ends of the east wall to meet at a bridge across the room before dividing again against the west wall to climb to the first floor. The south-east corner of the ground floor is occupied by the Great Parlour or White Drawing Room, with a fireplace of stone and plaster with plenty of fretwork or arabesque motifs; the big scrolls on top, flanking the coat of arms, may have been added in the 1670s. There is a plaster frieze above the panelling with strapwork and moustachioed masks, and a cruder strapwork frieze above the cornice, with shields and initials that imply a date before 1617. The south-west corner room became a library with fitted bookcases in the late 20th century.

Stockton House: the White Drawing Room or Parlour in the south-east corner of the house in 1905. Image: Country Life.

Stockton House: the Great Chamber in 1905. Image: Country Life.

Stockton House: view from the Great Chamber into the porch room in 1905. Image: Country Life.

The majority of the surviving Jacobean interiors are on the first floor. By far the finest room is the Great Chamber in the south-west corner, which opens into the room above the porch. It has a fine ceiling of broad curvilinear bands framing panels decorated with flowers and animals in high relief, including an elephant. The splendid chimneypiece has coupled columns in two tiers, the upper ones framing an overmantel containing a strapwork cartouche and, in the centre, two detached heads said to represent Adam and Eve. This is so similar to chimneypieces at Montacute and Wayford Manor (Som.), Wolfeton Manor (Dorset) and The Hall, Bradford-on-Avon (Wilts) that it may be attributed with confidence to the workshop of William Arnold, but the details of the strapwork cartouche derive ultimately from designs published by Cornelis Bos in the 1540s. The panelling with fluted pilasters was added later, as it covers the ceiling edge, and although of similar date to the plasterwork it may have been imported much later. In the corner is a wooden lobby or internal porch with rich carving of figures and ornament.

Stockton House: chimneypiece of the 'Shadrach Room' engraved by C.J. Richardson, 1838.

On the east side of the house is the Shadrach Room, which takes its name from the overmantel relief depicting the Biblical 'Burning Fiery Furnace', with a text from Daniel 3;25, taken from the authorised version of the Bible published in 1611. The scene is surrounded by deeply moulded strapwork and flanked by a pair of male figures in an exotic costume of hats, tunics and boots. The fireplace below is flanked by female terms and has further elaborate strapwork below the cornice. The Shadrach Room also has a rich ceiling, with thin ribs forming love-hearts and lozenges, crowded with flowers, and a small central pendant. The Iris Room next door has a Tudor-arched fireplace in a chimneypiece of rusticated pilasters and a fretwork frieze. In the northern part of the first floor are two further bedrooms, the Elizabethan Room and the Georgian Room. The Elizabethan Room has the arms of Elizabeth I and her ER monogram amongst the thin ribs of the ceiling, but the arms of James I in a large strapwork cartouche flanked by terms, which suggests that it was in progress around 1603, when the change of dynasty took place. The ceiling is now thought to be a 19th century recreation of the original ceiling, large chunks of which were found under the floorboards during the recent restoration. The adjoining Georgian room was refitted in the mid 18th century; it retains a mildly Rococo chimneypiece which was said in 1924 to have a lapis lazuli surround, of which nothing remains.

Stockton House: a naive view of the house in its parkland setting, n.d. {c.1840]. Image: Wiltshire History Centre 401/1.

The area around the house was laid out as a park when the house was built, but ambitious formal gardens are said to have been created for Edward Topp during the reign of James II. Miles in 1847 records that these included an entrance court with gatepiers topped by lions holding armorial shields, a bowling green to the south of the house and private gardens to the east. A raised terrace on the south and west sides of the house had a parapet with twelve busts of Roman emperors and handsome vases. The formal gardens are said to have been cleared away at the time of Wyatville’s alterations to the house, and replaced by a Brownian landscape of greensward with a curving carriage drive leading up to the house. At the end of the 19th century the Ashley Dodds constructed a new two-acre kitchen garden, a separate walled garden, and a range of greenhouses, some heated, for vines, peaches, and exotic plants including orchids, and in 1937, the Hon. Michael Scott asked the leading landscape architects, Thomas H. Mawson & Son of Lancaster, to prepare a scheme for remodelling the gardens, but this appears to have been abandoned after Scott’s death the following year.

Descent: Crown sold 1547 to Sir William Herbert, later 1st Earl of Pembroke; to son, Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, who sold 1585 to the tenant, John Topp (d. 1596); to nephew, John Topp (d. 1632); to son, John Topp (d. 1640); to brother, John Topp (d. 1660); to brother, Edward Topp (d. 1665); to son, John Topp (d. 1675); to son, Edward Topp (d. 1740); to son, John Topp (d. 1745); to sister, Christiana, wife of Richard Lansdown, and niece, Susanna, wife of Robert Everard Balch (1724-79), of whom Balch was the survivor and sold 1772 to Henry Biggs (1722-1800); to son, Harry Biggs (1766-1856); to son, Henry Godolphin Biggs (1803-77); to nephew, Maj-Gen. Arthur Godolphin Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs) (1843-98); to brother, Rt. Rev. Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs) (1845-1922); sold 1920 to Lt-Col. Skeffington-Smyth, who sold 1927 to Oswald Toynbee Falk; sold 1934 to Hon. Michael Simon Scott (d. 1938); to widow, who sold c.1950 to J.M. Stratton; sold 1951 to Lady Lacey; sold 1970 to Capt. & Mrs. Derek O'Reilly; sold 1998 to Graham Wild; sold 2014 to Nicholas David Jenkins (b. 1967). 

The estate was leased by the Earls of Pembroke to Richard Ockeden of Boydon, who sublet it in 1565 to John Topp (d. 1596), who bought the freehold in 1585. It was leased in 1772/3 to Winchcombe Henry Hartley of Bucklebury (Berks) and in the later 19th and early 20th centuries, when the tenants included George Ashley Dodd of Godinton (Kent), c.1888-97; Edward Priaulx Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner, c.1897-1906; and George Knowles from 1906. The house was requisitioned for military use in the Second World War.

Biggs (later Yeatman-Biggs) family of Stockton House

Biggs, Henry (1722-1800). Younger son of Tristram Biggs (1675-1757) of Little Langford (Wilts) and his second wife, Jane, daughter of Henry Miles of Maddington, born 24 January and baptised at Little Langford, 28 January 1721/2. He married, 3 June 1765 at Fisherton Delamere (Wilts), Diana (c.1729-1818), daughter of John Davis of Bapton (Wilts) and widow of John Potticary of Stockton, and had issue:

(1) Harry Biggs (1766-1856) (q.v.);

(2) Jane Biggs (1768-1854), born 1 April 1768; married, 28 April 1794, Rev. William Bond (1757-1852), rector of Tyneham (Dorset) and canon residentiary of Bristol Cathedral, fourth son of John Bond MP (b. 1717) of Creech Grange (Dorset), and had issue four sons and two daughters; buried at Tyneham, 17 March 1854.

He inherited his father's property at Little Langford and purchased the Stockton House estate in 1772. He also inherited lands at Bourton in Maddington (Wilts) from his grandmother's family.

He died 31 March and was buried at Stockton, 7 April 1800; his will was proved 20 June 1800. His widow died aged 89 on 30 June, and was buried at Stockton, 6 July 1818.

Harry Biggs (1766-1856) 

Biggs, Harry (1766-1856). Only son of Henry Biggs (1722-1800) and his wife Diana, daughter of John Davis of Bapton (Wilts) and widow of John Potticary of Stockton, born 4 December 1766. JP and DL (from 1825) for Wiltshire; High Sheriff of Wiltshire, 1811-12. He was a noted sportsman, being 'for considerably more than half a century a patron of the turf and the leash, as well as of most other British sports', and owned a number of notably successful racehorses during his career, as well as regularly serving as steward of local race meetings in Wiltshire. He married, 16 September 1802 at Christchurch (Hants), Margaretta Anna (1783-1861), only child and heir of William Godolphin Burslem (c.1754-1809) of Alton Grange and Ravenstone Hall (Leics), and had issue:

(1) Henry Godolphin Biggs (1803-77) (q.v.);

(2) Arthur William Biggs (1804-40), born 9 August 1804 and baptised at Stockton, 8 September 1805; an officer in the 7th Hussars (Cornet, 1824; Lt., 1826; Capt., 1829; Major, 1837); died unmarried and without issue at Doncaster (Yorks WR), 2/3 November, and was buried at Stockton, 10 November 1840;

(3) Margaretta Anne Biggs (1805-19), born 11 October 1805 and baptised at Christchurch, 28 April 1807; died young, 11 October 1819;

(4) Emma Biggs (1810-73) (q.v.).

He inherited the Stockton House estate from his father in 1800, and remodelled the house to the designs of Jeffry Wyatt (later Wyatville). In 1818 he bought the adjoining manor of Codford St Mary (Wilts) and added it to the estate; he also acquired further land in Codford St Peter.

He died aged 89 on 30 May and was buried at Stockton, 6 June 1856; his will was proved in the PCC, 26 September 1856. His widow died in Weymouth (Dorset) and was buried at Stockton, 16 October 1861.

Biggs, Henry Godolphin (1803-77). Elder son of Harry Biggs (1766-1856) and his wife Margaretta Anna, only child and heir of William Godolphin Burslem of Alton Grange (Leics), born 4 July 1803 and baptised at Stockton, 6 January 1804. Educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1825). An officer in the Hindon troop of Yeomanry Cavalry (Lt., 1829); JP and DL for Wiltshire. A servant who left his service with the promise of an annuity of £40 a year for life 'having looked after me like a mother' had to sue in 1861 for continued payment of the annuity, and stated that she had left because of his increasing ill-temper. He married 1st, 20 June 1837 at Dinton (Wilts), Marianne (1798-1838), daughter of William Wyndham MP of Dinton House (Wilts), and 2nd, Jul-Sept. 1859, Jane (1833-78), daughter of Jared Smith of Bath (Som.), grocer, but had no issue.

He inherited the Stockton House estate from his father in 1856, but also his father's considerable debts.

He died 19 February and was buried at Lansdown Cemetery, Bath, 26 February 1877; his will was proved 29 March 1877 (effects under £10,000). His first wife died at Dinton House, 12 February and was buried at Stockton, 16 February 1838. His widow died 5 March, and was buried at Lansdown Cemetery, Bath, 19 March 1878.

Biggs, Emma (1810-73). Second, but only surviving, daughter of Harry Biggs (1766-1856) and his wife Margaretta Anna, only child and heir of William Godolphin Burslem of Alton Grange and Ravenstone Hall (Leics), baptised at Stockton, 8 October 1810*. In the late 1840s she and her husband fled to Belgium and France to avoid his creditors. She married, 6 July 1837 at Stockton, Harry Farr Yeatman (1811-52) of Manston House (Dorset), eldest son of Rev. Harry Farr Yeatman (c.1786-1861) of Stock Gaylard (Dorset), and had issue:

(1) Emma Louise Yeatman (1838-42), born 25 May and baptised at Stock Gaylard, 6 August 1838; died young, 1 September, and was buried at Stock Gaylard, 5 September 1842, where she is commemorated by a monument;

(2) Harry Farr Yeatman (1839-84), born 19 September, and baptised at Stock Gaylard, 10 November 1839; an officer in the Royal Navy (Cadet, 1853; Midshipman, 1855; Mate, 1860; Lt., 1861; Cdr., 1871; retired 1873); a freemason by 1876; married, 6 February 1876 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Charlotte (1841-1908), daughter of William Temple esq., and had issue one son and two daughters; died at Sydenham (Kent), 7 July, and was buried at Stock Gaylard, 11 July 1884; will proved 23 January 1885 (effects £7,202);

(3) Rhoda Marwood Yeatman (1842-66), baptised at Manston, 24 April 1842; married, 3 October 1865 at Preston (Dorset), Percy Sandford Nevile (1840-1914) (who m2, 1873, Etheline, daughter of Charles H. Radcliffe of Salisbury, and had further issue two sons), son of John Pate Nevile of Skelbrooke (Yorks WR), and had issue one son; died, probably following childbirth, and was buried at Skelbrooke, 6 October 1866;

(4) Maj-Gen. Arthur Godolphin Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs) (1843-98) (q.v.);

(5) Rt. Rev. Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs) (1845-1922) (q.v.);

(6) Emily Frances Emma Yeatman (1851-1917), born in Brussels (Belgium), 22 November 1851; estate agent; died unmarried, 15 June 1917.

She and her husband lived at Manston House (Dorset) until they fled abroad. Her husband's father bequeathed Stock Court at Stock Gaylard to his second son, Marwood Yeatman, rather than to her children. As a widow, she lived latterly at Chalbury Lodge, Preston (Dorset).

She died at Chalbury Lodge, 9 February and was buried at Stock Gaylard, 15 February 1873; her will was proved 5 April 1873 (effects under £9,000). Her husband died at Boulogne, France, 22 May 1852, and was buried there, but his body was exhumed 2 September 1885, and reburied at Stock Gaylard (Dorset), 5 September 1885.

* The family monument in Stockton church says she was born 23 January 1811, but this seems to be an error.

Maj-Gen A.G. Yeatman-Biggs 

Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs), Maj-Gen. Arthur Godolphin (1843-98). Second son of Harry Farr Yeatman (1811-52) of Manston House (Dorset) and his wife Emma, second but only surviving daughter of Harry Biggs (1766-1856), born 22 March 1843 and baptised at Manston (Dorset), 22 July 1844. Officer in Royal Artillery (Lt., 1860; Capt., 1874; Maj., 1880; Lt-Col., 1882; Col., 1886; Maj-Gen, 1897; mentioned in despatches, 1882; retired on half pay 1 January 1894 but was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General in India later that month); he served in China, 1861-62, South Africa, 1879, Egypt, 1882 and on the Indian Frontier, 1897-98; JP for Wiltshire (from 1878). Awarded CB, 1891. He took the name and arms of Biggs in addition to Yeatman by royal licence on inheriting the Stockton estate, 1878. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited the Stockton House estate from his uncle in 1877.

He died of dysentery while on active service at Peshawar (India), 4 January, and was buried there, 5 January 1898; his will was proved 3 June 1898 (estate £11,216).

Rt. Rev. Dr. Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs 

Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs), Rt. Rev. Dr. Huyshe Wolcott (1845-1922). Third son of Harry Farr Yeatman (1811-52) of Manston House (Dorset) and his wife Emma, second but only surviving daughter of Harry Biggs (1766-1856), born 2 February and baptised at Manston (Dorset), 7 July 1845. Educated at Winchester and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (matriculated 1864; BA 1867; MA 1871; DD 1891; Hon. Fellow, 1905-22). Ordained deacon, 1869 and priest, 1870. Curate of St Edmund, Salisbury (Wilts), 1869-77; chaplain to Bishop of Salisbury, 1875-85; vicar of Netherbury (Dorset), 1877-79; vicar of Sydenham (Kent), 1879-91; hon. canon of Rochester, 1884-91; Warden of Bishop's College, Blackheath (Kent), 1894; proctor of diocese of Rochester in Convocation and examining chaplain to Bishop of Winchester, 1891; Suffragan Bishop of Southwark, 1891-1904; Bishop of Worcester, 1904-18; first Bishop of Coventry, 1918-22; Provincial Chaplain to Archbishop of Canterbury. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Author of The efficiency and inefficiency of a diocese; Life in an English diocese; Lay Work and other works. He took the name and arms of Biggs in addition to Yeatman by royal licence on inheriting the Stockton estate, 1898. He married, 24 November 1875, Lady Barbara Caroline (1841-1909), sixth daughter of William Legge (1784-1853), 4th Earl of Dartmouth, and had issue:

(1) Barbara Margaret Yeatman-Biggs (1876-1962), born 18 October 1876; lived in Salisbury; died unmarried, 14 March, and was buried at Stock Gaylard, 17 March 1962; will proved 11 May 1962 (estate £13,302);

(2) William Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs (1878-1952) (q.v.);

(3) Lewys Legge Yeatman (1879-1962), born 17 August 1879; educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1898; BA 1902); solicitor with Charles Russell & Co.; barrister-at-law, 1906; an officer in the Dorset Yeomanry (Lt., 1905; retired; returned to regiment as 2nd Lt., 1915); succeeded his father in the Stock Gaylard estate; High Sheriff of Dorset, 1940-41; married, 6 October 1910 at Tyneham (Dorset), Edith Cecily Garneys (1884-1979), daughter of William Henry Bond of Tyneham, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 8 April 1962; will proved 4 July 1962 (estate £87,276);

(4) Mary Godolphin Yeatman (b, & d. 1881), born 5 January 1881; died in infancy and was buried at Stockton, 25 January 1881;

(5) Arthur John Barrington Yeatman (1882-93), born 11 October 1882; died young at Shroton (Dorset), 9 September, and was buried at Stockton, 14 September 1893.

He purchased the Stock Gaylard estate from his Yeatman cousins in about 1880 and inherited the Stockton House estate from his elder brother in 1898, but sold the latter in 1920.

He died 14 April 1922 and was buried at Stockton, but is commemorated by a monumental effigy in Coventry Cathedral, which survived the bombing of 1940; his will was proved 4 August 1922 (estate £59,634). His wife died 5 January and was buried at Stockton, 9 January 1909.

Yeatman-Biggs, William Huyshe (1878-1952). Eldest son of Rt. Rev. Dr. Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman (later Yeatman-Biggs) (1845-1922) and his wife Lady Barbara Caroline, sixth daughter of William Legge, 4th Earl of Dartmouth, born 15 February 1878. Educated at Winchester, Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1898) and Yorkshire Agricultural College (admitted 1902). Land agent to his father, 1903. An officer in the Royal Wiltshire Imperial Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1902; retired 1905), the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (Lt., 1915; Lt-Cdr., 1917; mentioned in despatches, 1918), and the Royal Flying Corps (Maj.; mentioned in despatches, 1918; retired 1919). JP for Wiltshire (from 1927); Income Tax Commissioner. He married, 15 August 1905 at Stockton, Muriel Barbara (1882-1973), daughter of J.F. Schwann (later Swann) of Oakfield, Wimbledon (Surrey), and had issue:

(1) twin, Barbara Godolphin Yeatman-Biggs (1906-94), born 6 August 1906; married, 7 May 1930, Arthur Frank Seton Sykes (1903-80) of Tytherington Manor, Heytesbury (Wilts), eldest son of Brig-Gen. Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes, kt., and had issue one son; died 6 August 1994; will proved 21 March 1995 (estate £172,102);

(2) twin, Margaret Elizabeth Yeatman-Biggs (1906-78), born 6 August 1906 and baptised at St Mary, Wimbledon, 8 June 1907; married, 11 June 1932 at Salisbury Cathedral, Maurice Brenton Syndercombe Bower (1906-75), elder son of Maurice Syndercombe Bower of Bagber, Sturminster Newton (Dorset), and had issue two sons; died 26 January 1978; will proved 31 March 1978 (estate £63,051);

(3) Arthur Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs (1908-44) (q.v.).

He inherited Longhall, Stockton (Wilts) and the remaining part of the Stockton estate from his father in 1922.

He died 5 November 1952 and was buried at Stockton; his will was proved 28 April 1953 (estate £5,316). His widow died 29 July 1973; her will was proved 16 November 1973 (estate £106,028).

Yeatman-Biggs, Arthur Huyshe (1908-44). Only son of William Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs (1878-1952) and his wife Muriel Barbara, daughter of J.F. Swann of Oakfield, Wimbledon (Surrey), born 20 February 1908. Educated at Malvern, Royal Military College, Sandhurst and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1932; BA 1934). An officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1928; Lt., 1931; Capt., 1938; Temp. Maj., 1941, 1943-44), who served in Palestine, Shanghai (China) and with the 'Chindits' in Burma. He married, 14 November 1934, Kathleen Edith Clare (1909-61), only daughter of Eric Drayton Swanwick (1871-1955) of Old Whittington, Chesterfield (Derbys), and had issue:

(1) Huyshe Nicholas Yeatman-Biggs (1936-2023) (q.v.);

(2) Eric Jonathan William Yeatman-Biggs (b. 1941); company director; now living.

He was killed on active service in Burma, 13 May 1944, and was buried at Taukkyan Military Cemetery; his will was proved 15 February and 18 May 1945 (estate £19,225). His widow married 2nd, 26 February 1949, Lt-Col. Thomas Wolryche Guy Stansfield (1906-87) of Topps, Stockton, and died 24 October 1961; her will was proved 23 March 1962 (estate £34,515).

Yeatman-Biggs, Huyshe Nicholas (1936-2023). Elder son of Arthur Huyshe Yeatman Biggs (1908-44) and his wife Kathleen Edith Clare, only daughter of Eric Drayton Swanwick of Old Whittington, Chesterfield (Derbys), born 20 March 1936. He married, 1962, Susannah Louise (b. 1941), daughter of Michael Benjamin Norris Bomford (1916-2002) of Old Dunnington Farm, Alcester (Warks) and had issue :

(1) Harry William Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs (b. 1963), born September 1963; educated at Winchester, Goldsmiths College, London (BA 1986), and Heatherley School of Art; professional artist, working in France, 1998-2010 and subsequently in Wiltshire; married, c.2009, Evelyn Dylewski;

(2) Annabelle L. Yeatman-Biggs (b. 1965), born Jan-Mar 1965; married August 1989, Adrian Barclay Leng (b. 1962), son of Gen. Sir Peter John Hall Leng (1925-2009), kt., and had issue one son and two daughters;

(3) Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs (b. 1968), born Jul-Sept 1968.

He later had an illegitimate daughter by Alexandra Mary Clare Wyndham Douglas, Marchioness of Queensberry:

(X1) Beatrice Alexandra Elizabeth Douglas (b. 1986).

He inherited Longhall, Stockton (Wilts) from his grandfather in 1952 and came of age in 1957.

He died 31 December 2023 and was buried at Stockton, 30 January 2024. His wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 176; Country Life, 21 October 1905, pp. 558-66; VCH Wiltshire, vol. 11, 1980, pp. 212-23; M. Binney, 'Stockton House, Wiltshire', Country Life, 9-23 February 1984; J. Chandler, Codford: wool and war in Wiltshire, 2007, pp. 66-69; A. Gomme & A. Maguire, Design and plan in the country house, 2008, pp. 249-50; A. Foyle, Stockton House Heritage Statement, 2014; C. Aslet, 'Stockton House, Wiltshire', Country Life, 28 January 2018; J. Orbach, Sir N. Pevsner & B. Cherry, The buildings of England: Wiltshire, 3rd edn., 2021, pp. 663-65; MS history of the house and village at Stockton by Rev. Thomas Miles, 1847, continued by W.H. Yeatman-Biggs, 1930-52.

Location of archives

Biggs of Stockton House: deeds, manorial records, estate and family papers, 1293-20th cent. [Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, 93, 108, 115, 153, 166, 185, 202, 384, 401, 906)

Coat of arms

Biggs: Per pale argent and azure, a lion passant within an orle engrailed, charged with ten fleurs-de-lis all counterchanged

Yeatman-Biggs: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, per pale argent and azure, a lion passant within an orle engrailed, charged with ten fleurs-de-lis all counterchanged (for Biggs); 2nd and 3rd, per pale argent and sable, on a fesse dovetailed, counter dovetailed or, between two gates in chief and a goat's head erased in base counterchanged, three boars heads gules (for Yeatman).

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?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 23 January 2026. I am grateful to Andy Foyle for suggestions and corrections about the development of the house.