(619) Bidgood of Rockbeare Court

Bidgood of Rockbeare Court 

The Bidgoods originated as a family of merchants in Exeter and Tiverton (Devon) in the early 17th century. One of them, Humphrey Bidgood (d. 1640) was an apothecary in Exeter who was poisoned by his apprentice, Peter Moore (who was executed for the crime, as although he maintained it was an accident, he admitted that he had intended to murder Bidgood's wife). Humphrey's son, John Bidgood (1624-91), with whom the genealogy below begins, was then a student at Exeter College, Oxford, where he became a Petreian Fellow in 1642. He was a Royalist in sympathies, and in 1648 he was turned out of his fellowship by the Parliamentary visitors, after which he went to Padua University (Italy), where he took a doctorate of medicine in 1650. He then returned to England, and after practising for a few years at Chard (Som.) he moved back to Exeter, where his skills earned him a large and profitable practice. With the proceeds of his work he bought the Rockbeare Court estate a few miles east of the city before 1680 and probably built a house on the property, to which he is said to have retired a few years before his death. 

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.

Inside, the house retains most of its Georgian detail. In the staircase hall is an  open well stair with open string, stick balusters, mahogany handrail, scrolled wreath and curtail steps. The right front room has a high ceiling with a good moulded plaster cornice and a marble chimneypiece with a carved panel in the centre depicting a vase of flowers. The front left room also has a Georgian marble chimneypiece, but is lined with late 17th century bolection-moulded panelling, which appears to be in situ. This suggests that the generally late 18th century appearance of the house is merely a superficial remodelling of an earlier house, perhaps built for Dr John Bidgood in the 1680s. Further evidence for this can be found in the roof space, where the top of the rear wall of the front block over the left room is exposed, and can be seen to be 17th century brickwork and to contain a blocked oak four-light window frame with ovolo-moulded mullions that is apparently in situ. The roof over the main block also appears to be late 17th century, with a series of plain A-frame trusses with pegged and nailed lap-jointed collars. On the first floor of the west wing a cupola marks the site of a former service stair that has been removed.

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);

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1141391?section=official-list-entry;

https://practitioners.exeter.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Devon-medics.pdf

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.

(461) Baumgartner of Island Hall

This family traces its origins to a Swiss émigré, Jacob Julien Baumgartner (1733-1816), the son of a physician, who moved to England in 1760 and entered into business as a merchant. The business, later a partnership called Baumgartner & Hoofstetter, acted as Continental agents for a number of high profile British businessmen, including Josiah Wedgwood and the Boulton & Watt steam engine company, and had offices in London, Birmingham and Nottingham. Jacob himself seems to have lived in or near Nottingham until 1804, when he bought Island Hall at Godmanchester (Hunts), probably at the time of his retirement. He had two sons, John Thomas (1778-1874) and Robert Jacob (1779-1810), who were both sent to Geneva and then to Edinburgh University for their education. At Edinburgh, they qualified as physicians and they evidently practised in and around Godmanchester. Robert became ill in 1810 and after failing to treat himself successfully, sought the advice of Robert Waring Darwin (1766-1848), the son of Erasmus Darwin and father of Charles Darwin. He recommended a preparation of arsenic and sugar, which Robert was doubtful about taking, but perhaps he did, since he was dead within a month.

The Island Hall estate descended in 1816 to Jacob's surviving son, Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874), who remained exceptionally vigorous into old age: he was still taking a dip in the River Ouse at the bottom of the garden until a few weeks before his death, aged 96! In this second generation, the links with Switzerland and Austria remained strong: John Thomas had been educated in Geneva and he and his wife made frequent extended stays on the Continent, where a number of their children were born. Around 1830, they seem to have lived permanently near Salzburg (Austria) for several years, before returning to England. In 1842 their eldest son, John Percy Baumgartner (1812-1903), came into possession of his mother's family seat, Milton Hall (Cambs), a Tudor and 18th century house set in a landscaped park designed by Humphry Repton, and the family lived there until the 1850s. When they eventually moved back to Island Hall it was because John Percy had run into debt and needed to sell the estate at Milton, which he did in 1860-62. 

When he died in 1874, John Thomas divided his property equally between his ten surviving children, which had the effect of severing the house from the small associated estate that had helped to support it. The house itself was left to his second son, General Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95). He purchased the freehold of the island in the River Ouse from which Island Hall takes its name, which had previously only been rented by the family from the descendants of the Jacksons who built the house. He can, however, have used the house comparatively little, since he was in India with the army a good deal, and also seems to have spent some time in Ireland, where his wife's family lived in County Down. When he died he left Island Hall to his second daughter, Violet Julia Beart (1863-1947), who had recently been widowed. She later had a second brief marriage and lived at Island Hall as Mrs. Bevan until it was requisitioned in the Second World War. She never moved back to the house, for after the war, the house was taken over by the local authority for emergency housing and divided into small flats; she died in Cheshire in 1947.

That might well have been the end of the family's association with Island Hall. They retained the freehold for some years, but that too was sold in 1958. The house continued to be used as local authority housing until 1977, when a fire damaged the south wing and the whole property was sold two years later and restored as a single private residence. Once this work was completed, the house was sold to Christopher Vane Percy (b. 1945), an interior designer from London, who had seen the house from the river and coveted it as a teenager. Only after he bought the house did he realise his strong family connection to the place: he stood in a direct male line from Dr John Thomas Baumgartner, who was his great-great-great-grandfather, the difference in surname being accounted for by the decision of many branches of the family to change their name from the Germanic Baumgartner to Percy during the First World War. The name Percy was chosen because the wife of Jacob Julien Baumgartner was heir to the Percy estates in Cambridgeshire.

Island Hall, Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire

The situation of the house on one of the main streets of the little town of Godmanchester, albeit set back behind railings, arguably makes Island Hall a town house rather than a country house, but the rear has a more rural aspect, as the gardens run down to the Great Ouse river and have a Chinoiserie footbridge across to an island in the river, which was also part of the garden. The house is first recorded as 'new built' in 1749 and was built by Original Jackson (d. 1771) as a wedding present for his son John Jackson (1729-88), later Receiver-General for Huntingdonshire, whose new wife brought him 600 acres of land around the town. It is built of red brick and consists of a three-bay centre of two-and-a-half storeys, which breaks slightly forward from lower two-bay wings to either side. The front and rear elevations are identical (slight evidence, perhaps, that no professional architect was involved with the design), and have a central pediment with stone modillions, Tuscan porches, and windows with stone architraves on brackets.

Island Hall, Godmanchester: garden front, 2011. Image: sps1955. Some rights reserved.

Inside, there is an unexpectedly large entrance hall, the width of the central block, with a handsome chimneypiece and overmantel with consoles, and doorcases with enriched friezes. It has been conjectured that the hall was so large because it was originally intended that the staircase should rise within it, with the space behind it - now occupied by the staircase - being the saloon, but that this plan was changed during construction so as to create a fashionable first-floor saloon with a more imposing approach. (The other great house of Godmanchester, Farm Hall, finished in 1746, has a suite of reception rooms on its first floor, and there may have been some rivalry!). As built, the hall opens through a fine Doric screen with fluted columns and a full entablature to the staircase hall behind. In the 19th century, the hall became a library and the screen was partly infilled to create a more enclosed space, but the original layout was recreated when the house was restored in 1979. 

Island Hall: entrance hall with the partially Gothic infilling of the screen in place. Image: Historic England.

Island Hall: the screen wall and staircase from the screen today.

The staircase itself has elegantly slender twisted balusters and a string carved with acanthus foliage. It rises to emerge through a screen of Ionic columns into a transverse passage, which has arches at each end. Above the hall is the saloon, with a fine Kentian doorcase which was originally on the staircase side of the wall but now faces into the room. Without it, the saloon would have been remarkably plain, and it seems possible that an intended decorative scheme was never carried out. The best chimneypiece is in the small drawing room (originally the dining room), with console brackets and overmantel flanked by volutes inset with a lugged frame and topped by a broken pediment. The adjoining dining room (originally the drawing room) has lovely carved overdoors. To the south of the original house is a later kitchen wing, built in 1768, and beyond this stand the former stables with a pretty Gothick cupola. 

During the Second World War the house was requisitioned for use by the WAAF and later the RAF, for whom a series of Nissen huts were constructed in the garden. After the war the property was acquired by the local authority and the house and huts were converted into fifteen tiny flats. The house was seriously damaged by a fire in 1977 which largely gutted the south wing, and the house was at some risk of demolition at this time. Fortunately it was bought by a private owner who engaged Marshall Sisson to restore the house. The post-war partitioning was removed, the fire damage restored and the Nissen huts cleared away before the house was sold in 1983 to Christopher Vane Percy, a collateral descendant of the family which owned the house from 1804-1958. He has carried out further restoration work and redecorated the house beautifully, and the house is now accessible for private group visits as well as being used for weddings and other events (see https://www.islandhall.com/).

When first built the house had gardens both at the rear and on the opposite side of the road, where there is now a school. The Chinese bridge linking the rear garden to the island in the Ouse from which the house takes its name was first recorded in the 18th century, but collapsed in the 1930s. It was reconstructed on the basis of photographic evidence as part of the general restoration of the house after 1983, and has had to be rebuilt again since.

Descent: built c.1740-49 for Original Jackson (c.1697-1771); to son, John Jackson (1729-88); to son, John Jackson, junior (1750-1807), who sold 1804 to Jacob Julian Baumgartner (1733-1816); to son, Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874); to son, Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95); to daughter, Violet Julia (1863-1947), widow of Frederick W. Beart (d. 1895) and later wife of Cyril Mountain Bevan (1851-1916); requisitioned in 1941 for WAAF and later RAF; transferred to the local authority under the Emergency Housing Act and converted into flats; freehold sold 1958 to Huntingdonshire County Council; sold 1979 to Simon Herrtage; sold 1983 to Christopher Vane Percy (b. 1945).

Baumgartner family of Island Hall

Dr. J.J. Baumgartner 

Baumgartner, Jacob Julien (1733-1816). Second son of Jean Baumgartner of Soleure (Switzerland), physician, and his wife Susanne Villemejanne of Geneva (Switzerland), born at Liestal, Basel-Landshaft (Switzerland), 23 January 1733. He emigrated to England in 1760 and became a naturalized British subject in 1774. Merchant, in partnership with a Mr. Hoofstetter (probably John Lewis Hoofstetter, naturalised in 1781) in London, Birmingham and Nottingham. He married, 19 January 1774 at Nottingham, Tryce Mary (1752-1815), daughter of Rev. Thomas Parratt and his wife Tryce (who was only daughter and heiress of the Rev. Joscelyn Percy), and had issue:

(1) Jacob Julien Baumgartner (b. & d. 1775), born 18 March 1775; died in infancy, 13 August 1775;

(2) Tryce Mary Baumgartner (1777-1835), born 14 March 1777; died unmarried, 19 March 1835, and was buried at Godmanchester;

(3) Dr John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874) (q.v.);

(4) Robert Jacob Baumgartner (1779-1810), born 11 October 1779; educated at Geneva and Edinburgh University (admitted 1797; MD 1800); physician; died unmarried, possibly as a result of taking a remedy compounded of arsenic and sugar prescribed by Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, 6 December 1810 and was buried at Godmanchester.

He lived in London and later at Nottingham after coming to England. He purchased Island Hall in 1804.

He died 2 December 1816 and was buried at Godmanchester. His wife died 26 November 1815 and was buried at Godmanchester.

Dr. J.T. Baumgartner (1778-1874): colourized
photograph. Image: C. Vane Percy. 

Baumgartner, Dr. John Thomas (1778-1874). Elder son of Jacob Julian Baumgartner (1733-1816) and his wife Tryce Mary, daughter of Rev. Thomas Parratt, born at Wilford (Notts), 20 March 1778. Educated at Geneva and Edinburgh University (admitted, 1796; MD, 1799). Physician in Godmanchester. He was a keen swimmer and used regularly to swim around the island in the Great Ouse in the garden of Island House; he was still taking a dip in the river a few weeks before his death, aged 96! He married, 11 October 1810, Phillipa (1792-1882), third daughter of Samuel Knight of Milton Hall (Cambs), and had issue:

(1) Philippa Julia Baumgartner (1811-85), baptised at Godmanchester, 31 July 1811; married, 6 May 1834 at Godmanchester, Philip Tillard JP DL (1811-87) of Stukeley Hall, Great Stukeley (Hunts), eldest son of Rev. Richard Tillard of Street End House (Kent), and had issue five sons and four daughters; died 16 December 1885;

(2) John Percy Baumgartner (1812-1903), of Gorleston (Norfk), born 27 June and baptised at Godmanchester, 29 June 1812; educated in Geneva and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (admitted 1831); JP for Cambridgeshire; inherited Milton Hall from his grandfather in 1835, subject to the life interest of his step-grandmother, extinguished in 1842; having heavily mortgaged his expectations from the estate, he sold it in 1860-62; later collector of customs at Great Yarmouth (Norfk); he married, 17 February 1849 at St Saviour, Southwark (Surrey), Eliza (1817-92), daughter of John Brunskill of Southwark, and had issue four sons and five daughters; died aged 90 at Gorleston (Suffk), 10 June 1903; will proved 31 July 1903 (estate £7,054);

(3) General Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95) (q.v.);

(4) Edward Jocelyn Baumgartner (1815-99), born 3 April 1815 and baptised at Godmanchester, 16 March 1817; articled clerk to Henry Owen of Worksop (Notts), solicitor, 1832; later retrained at Middle Temple (admitted, 1838; called, 1841); barrister-at-law; JP for Hunts; Master and Registrar of the Supreme Court at Gibraltar, 1867-91; a freemason from 1839; married 1st, 26 August 1851 at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), Catherine (1828-54), daughter of William Taylor of Histon (Cambs), but had no issue; married 2nd, 11 January 1860 at St Mary Abbots, Kensington (Middx), Sarah Woodland (1832-86), and had issue four sons and seven daughters; died 8 February 1899;

(5) George Jasper Baumgartner (1816-17), born 7 April 1816 and baptised at Godmanchester, 16 March 1817; died in infancy, 5 May and was buried at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), 9 May 1817;

(6) Georgiana Baumgartner (1820-1911), born 6 May and baptised at Godmanchester, 25 July 1820; married, 18 September 1839 at Godmanchester, Edward Charrington (1811-88) of Buryscourt, Leigh (Surrey), brewer, and had issue nine sons and four daughters; died aged 90 on 16 February 1911 and was buried at Leigh; will proved 28 March 1911 (estate £10,671);

(7) Rev. Henry Algernon Baumgartner (1821-1909) (q.v.);

(8) George Samuel Baumgartner (1823-66), born 26 January and baptised at Godmanchester, 10 April 1823; worked in Birmingham for Moilliet & Co., gem merchants; had a relationship with Susan Woods of Milton (Cambs) which resulted in an illegitimate daughter, but in 1853 emigrated to Australia with his brother Charles; said to have married, 15 August 1863, Christina Forbes, and had issue three sons and two daughters (some of whom were born before their parents' marriage); died 6 May 1866 and was buried at Camberwell, Victoria (Australia);

(9) Gen. Thomas Mowbray Baumgartner (1824-1915), born 21 July 1824; an officer in the Indian Army Staff Corps (Ensign, 1845; Lt., 1847; Capt., 1856; Maj., 1865; Lt-Col. 1871; Col., 1876; retired from active service, 1883; Maj-Gen., 1886; Lt-Gen., 1890; General, 1894); died unmarried aged 90 in London, 23 January 1915, and was buried at Godmanchester; will proved 23 March 1915 (estate £820);

(10) Charles Astrey Octavius Baumgartner (1825-1910), born in Geneva, 8 October and baptised at the British chaplaincy there, 1 November 1825 and again at Godmanchester, 23 January 1832; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1844; BA 1848); emigrated to Australia with his brother George in 1853 and worked with him for a time in the Australian goldfields, but return to England in 1862 at the request of his godfather, Charles Hoofstetter, with whom he lived in Thurloe Sq. until 1870; lived latterly at Hammersmith (Middx); died unmarried, 1 July 1910; administration of goods granted 25 August 1910 (£17,477);

(11) Emma Frances Baumgartner (b. & d. 1827), born 11 March 1827; baptised at British chaplaincy in Geneva (Switzerland), 11 July 1827; died at Geneva, 26 July 1827;

(12) Emma Frances Amelia Baumgartner (1828-1911), born 30 November 1828 and baptised at Godmanchester, 23 July 1832; established a night school for boys and young men at Godmanchester c.1870; author of A Medley of Birthdays (1911); died unmarried, 28 January 1911, and was buried at Godmanchester, where she is commemorated by a monument; will proved 6 March 1911 (estate £10,008);

(13) Elizabeth Charlotte Olivia Baumgartner (1831-44), born 1 September 1831; died young at Leopoldskron, Salzburg (Austria), 15 July 1844 and was buried at Anif (Austria); she is commemorated on monuments at Godmanchester.

He inherited Island Hall from his father in 1816, but lived chiefly at Milton Hall (Cambs) until the 1850s, when his son sold that estate. He then moved to Island Hall. At his death he divided his property between his ten surviving children, separating the house from its estate.

He died aged 96 on 12 August, and was buried at Godmanchester, 18 August 1874, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 8 October 1874 (effects under £3,000). His widow died aged 90 on 31 March, and was buried at Godmanchester, 5 April 1882; her will was proved 23 June 1882 (effects £592).

Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95) 

Baumgartner, General Robert Julian (1814-95). Second son of Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874) and his wife Phillipa, third daughter of Samuel Knight of Milton (Cambs), born 17 March 1814. Educated in Geneva (Switzerland). An officer in the army (Ensign, 1833; Lt., 1837; Capt., 1841; Maj., 1851; Lt-Col., 1854; Col., 1860; Maj-Gen., 1868; Lt-Gen., 1877; Gen., 1881), who served in the Crimean War, when he made serious proposals for the raising of 10,000 troops in Switzerland for British service; wounded, and appointed CB and awarded the Turkish Order of Medjidie (4th class), 1855; Colonel of Royal Sussex Regiment, 1888-95. He was a Conservative in politics, and a freeman of Godmanchester, but took no part in local public affairs. He married, 6 July 1859 at Newry (Co. Down), Helen (1835-1911), daughter of Ross Thompson of Greenwood Park (Co. Down), and had issue:

(1) Philippa Helen Surman Baumgartner (1861-1909), born 24 September and baptised at Gwalior, Bengal (India), 19 October 1861; married, 13 September 1885, Rev. Harry Darwin Burton (1859-1943), vicar of St Saviour, St. Albans (Herts), and had issue six daughters; died 20 May 1909;

(2) Violet Julia Baumgartner (1863-1947) (q.v.);

(3) Henry Percy Julian Baumgartner (later Percy) (1865-1944), born 4 September and baptised at Calcutta (India), 7 October 1865; educated at Cheltenham College; engineer, working chiefly in India; married, Jul-Sept. 1903, Elvira Helen (c.1872-1935), daughter of Arthur Keegan of Dublin, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 1 September 1944;

(4) Charles Thomas Jocelyn Baumgartner (1868-1964), baptised at Godmanchester, 11 December 1868; emigrated to Canada, 1900; patient at Essondale Provincial Mental Hospital by 1922; died unmarried, aged 95, at Colquitlam, British Columbia (Canada), 23 September 1964; administration of goods granted 12 March 1965 (effects in England, £5,946);

(5) Ethel Nixon Baumgartner (1871-1948), born at Drumesk, Rostrevor (Co. Down), 8 February 1871, and baptised at Newry (Co. Down); married, 2 September 1896 at Godmanchester, Rev. Charles Leonard Thornton-Duesbery (1867-1928), rector of Holy Trinity, St. Marylebone (Middx) and had issue one son and one daughter; died at Ramsey (Isle of Man), 4 February 1948; will proved 27 May 1948 (estate in England, £5,824);

(6) Grace Eva Baumgartner (1873-1954), born 24 December 1873; died unmarried in Hastings (Sussex), 4 May 1954; will proved 3 July 1954 (estate £6,939).

He inherited Island Hall from his father in 1874, and purchased the freehold of the island in the River Ouse (which had only been leased by the family since 1804) in 1882.

He died 24 September and was buried at Godmanchester, 27 September 1895; his will was proved 15 November 1895 (effects £276). His widow died 6 July 1911 and was buried at Godmanchester, where she is commemorated by a monument; her will was proved 27 October 1911 (estate £227).

Baumgartner, Violet Julia (1863-1947). Second daughter of Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner (1814-95) and his wife Helen, daughter of Ross Thompson of Greenwood Park (Co. Down), baptised at Gonda, Bengal (India), 12 June 1863. She married 1st, 8 April 1891 at Godmanchester, Maj. Frederick Robert Beart (1850-95) of The Chestnuts, Godmanchester and 2nd, 4 January 1915 at St Giles, Cambridge, as his second wife, Cyril Mountain Bevan (1851-1916) of Lilliput (Dorset), and had issue:

(1.1) Robert (otherwise Robin) Baumgartner Beart (1892-1972), born 10 April 1892; educated at Winchester; travelled to USA and South America in 1913-14 but came back for war service as an officer in the 18th Hussars (Lt., retired 1921) before returning to South America; farmer at Estancia El Espanillo, San Luis (Argentina); married, 1 July 1926 at Chester Cathedral, Agnes Pamela (1905-75), daughter of John Montagu Tharp of Denston Hall (Suffk), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 22 February 1972; administration of goods granted 17 March 1978 (estate in England, £2,898);

(1.2) Helen Tryce Beart (1893-1980), born 16 May 1893; served in First World War as Lady Superintendent with Voluntary Aid Detachment and Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps; married, 15 April 1922 at Trinity church, St Marylebone (Middx), Arthur Percival Vernon Pigot (1890-1966), of Grappenhall (Ches.), solicitor, son of Rev. Harry Vernon Pigot, vicar of Grappenhall, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died at Willington Hall (Ches), 18 February 1980; will proved 16 January 1981 (estate £65,100);

(1.3) Brig. Charles William Beart (1894-1982), born 10 May 1894; educated at Winchester College and RMC Sandhurst; an officer in the Durham Light Infantry (2nd Lt., 1914; Lt., 1914; Capt., 1920; Maj. 1933; Lt-Col., 1941; temp. Col., 1942; retired as Brig., 1947); served in First and Second World Wars and was awarded MC, 1917 and OBE, 1946; married, 1955, Ann Bowman, and had issue one daughter; died in Shrewsbury (Shrops.), 22 May 1982; will proved 23 August 1982 (estate £35,256).

She inherited Island Hall from her father in 1895 and lived there until it was requisitioned for military use in 1942. She lived latterly at Ruloe, Cuddington (Cheshire).

She died 16 November 1947; her will was proved 20 February 1948 (estate £13,228). Her first husband died 4 March 1895. Her second husband died 15 July 1916; his will was proved 30 September 1916 (estate £19,971).

Rev. H.A. Baumgartner (1821-1909) 

Baumgartner, Rev. Henry Algernon (1821-1909). Fourth son of Dr. John Thomas Baumgartner (1778-1874) and his wife Phillipa, third daughter of Samuel Knight of Milton (Cambs), born 25 October 1821 and baptised at Godmanchester, 24 April 1822. Educated at Rugby and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (matriculated 1840; BA 1844; MA 1847). Ordained deacon, 1845 and priest, 1846. Vicar of Coniscliffe (Co. Durham), 1849-57; perpetual curate of Emmanuel Church, Camberwell (Surrey), 1858-63; vicar of St Paul, Worcester, 1863-67, Mevagissey (Cornw.), 1867-81 and Nettlebed (Oxon), 1881-1908. He married, 30 April 1849 at Witton-le-Wear (Co. Durham), Frances Octavia (1826-1907), fourth daughter of George Hutton Wilkinson of Harperley Park (Co. Durham), Recorder of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and had issue:

(1) George Algernon Baumgartner (later Percy) (1850-1944), born 2 March 1850; an official in the Ceylon Civil Service; married, 16 November 1878 at Trincomalee (Ceylon), Florence Harper, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died aged 94 at Germoe (Cornw.) on 21 March 1944; will proved 30 June 1944 (estate £2,625);

(2) Kate Harriet Baumgartner (1851-1940), born 1 June 1851; married, 8 February 1881 at Dodbrooke (Devon), Philip Furse Marshall (1857-1942), farmer and later shopkeeper, son of John Marshall, yeoman, and had issue; died in Sussex, Oct-Dec 1940;

(3) Alice Mary Annie Baumgartner (1852-1918), born 3 June 1852; married, 6 July 1886 at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington (Middx), Lt-Col. John James Davy (1844-1925) and had issue one son and one daughter; died 14 March 1918;

(4) Harry Percy Baumgartner (1853-98) (q.v.);

(5) Amy Millicent Baumgartner (1854-1931), born 6 November 1854; amateur woodcarver, a skill which she taught in boys' clubs around Henley-on-Thames; lived with her sister Juliet in Henley; died unmarried, 24 November 1931; will proved 1 January 1932 (estate £459);

(6) Violet Sibella Baumgartner (1856-1946), born 3 January 1856; lived in Reading (Berks); died unmarried, aged 90, on 17 February 1946 and was cremated at Henley Road Crematorium, Caversham (Berks);

(7) Juliet Frances Baumgartner (1857-1937), born Jan-March 1857; lived with her sister Amy in Henley-on-Thames; died unmarried, 24 April 1937; will proved 25 May 1937 (estate £1,396);

(8) Wilfred Octavius Baumgartner (1858-1915), born 14 September and baptised at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, 4 November 1858; mining engineer in a colliery in Co. Durham; married, Jan-Mar 1893 Charlotte Annie Reynolds (1871-1959), and had issue five children (of whom three died young); died Jul-Sept 1915;

(9) Ethel Leonora Baumgartner (1859-1943), born 14 September and baptised at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, 16 October 1859; lived latterly at Henley-on-Thames; died unmarried, 8 December 1943; will proved 21 January 1944 (estate £2,374).

He died 18 May 1909 and was buried at Nettlebed, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 6 August 1909 (estate £1,736). His wife died 10 January 1907.

Baumgartner, Harry Percy (1853-98). Second son of Rev. Henry Algernon Baumgartner (1821-1909) and his wife Frances Octavia, daughter of George Hutton Wilkinson, born 11 November 1853. Collector of customs in the Ceylon Civil Service. He married, 1881 in Ceylon, Ethel May Vane (1860-1949), and had issue:

(1) Bertram Wilfred Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1882-1959) (q.v.);

(2) Harold Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1883-1938), born 17 November and baptised at Nettlebed, 2 December 1883; emigrated to South Africa before 1908 but returned to England in 1912, although he apparently played in one cricket test match for South Africa in December 1913; took the name Percy in lieu of Baumgartner in 1915; later a civil servant in the Gold Coast (now Ghana); married, c.1926, Dr. Nora Aileen MB BS MRCS LRCP (1892-1956), physician and surgeon, daughter of James Theodore Robinson of Mooradabad (India), but had no issue; died in Accra (Ghana), 8 April 1938;

(3) Eric Joselyn Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1887-1962), born in Ceylon, 20 April 1887; bank manager; married, 5 June 1915 at All Saints, Notting Hill (Middx), Kathleen (1888-1975), daughter of George Frederick Neil McKenna, wine merchant; died 6 January 1962; will proved 21 February 1962 (estate £4,706);

(4) Julian Mowbray Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1891-1961), born 22 July and baptised at Nettlebed (Oxon), 17 August 1891; commercial traveller and later company director; served in First World War with Suffolk Regiment (L/Cpl; commissioned as 2nd Lt., 1915); possibly also the man of this name who served in King's Royal Rifle Corps (Lt. 1940); married 1st, 1925, (div. 1927), Pearl Verner Fisher; married 2nd, Apr-Jun 1928, Erna Joyce alias Jaeger (1892-1931); married 3rd, 1941, Irene Lynn (1891-1983), daughter of Harry Martin Dennes of Sydney (Australia) and widow of George Arthur Williams (1892-1934); died in London, 29 April 1961; will proved 21 July 1961 (estate £22,640);

(5) Una Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) (1892-1985), born 12 November 1892; actress; married 1st, 1917, Malcolm Gibson Cherry (1878-1925), actor; married 2nd, Oct-Dec 1929, Gordon Brooke Willoughby Hamilton Gay (1895-1973); died 9 March 1985; will proved 24 June 1985 (estate £96,257).

He spent most of his working life in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), but retired to Bedford. His widow lived latterly in Wimbledon (Surrey).

He died in Bedford, 31 December 1898; administration of his goods was granted 28 March 1899 (effects £1,426). His widow died 12 January 1949; her will was proved 26 February 1949 (estate £1,732).

Baumgartner (later Percy), Bertram Wilfred Vane (1882-1959). Eldest son of Harry Percy Baumgartner (1853-98) and his wife Ethel May Vane, born at Colombo (Sri Lanka), 9 October 1882. Bank agent with Bank of Bengal; a freemason from 1910. He joined other members of his family in changing his surname to Percy in 1915. He married, 23 January 1915 at St Thomas' Cathedral, Bombay (India), Dorothy Marian (1885-1973), daughter of Thomas George Treadgold, and had issue:

(1) Kenneth Vane Percy (1917-98) (q.v.);

(2) David John Vane Percy (1920-2001), born 4 July 1920; an officer in the Hon. Artillery Company, 1939-40 and Royal Artillery, 1941; chartered accountant and liquidator; lived in south-east London and later in Hampshire; married, 21 December 1943, Celia Blanche (1910-88), daughter of Dr. W. Carrick Allen MD; died August 2001;

(3) Pauline Margaret Vane Percy (1922-2000), born in Bombay (India), 26 October 1922; married, 25 January 1943 at Westcliff-on-Sea (Essex), Derek Plummer (1923-2010), second son of Capt. R.M. Plummer, and had issue one son; died 3 March 2000; will proved 13 June 2000.

He lived in India for much of his working life, but retired to Bedford.

He died 14 January 1959; will proved 23 April 1959 (estate £24,419). His widow died 1 November 1973; her will was proved 8 February 1974 (estate £12,570).

Percy, Kenneth Vane (1917-98). Elder son of Bertram Wilfred Vane Baumgartner (later Percy) and his wife Dorothy Marian, daughter of Thomas George Treadgold, born in Hyderabad (India), 10 March and baptised at Secunderabat, 14 April 1917. He served in the Royal Artillery in the Second World War (2nd Lt., 1940; Lt.; retired on account of disability as Capt. 1946). Captain of the Bedfordshire County Cricket team, 1947, and later of Bedfordshire Golf Club. He married 1st, 10 March 1940 at Stow-on-the-Wold (Glos), (div.) Jean (1919-2012), daughter of Lt-Col. C.W. Farquharson OBE, and 2nd, Jul-Sept 1957, Dorothy Edith Joyce Tetley (1914-2002), and had issue:

(1.1) Alison Jane Vane Percy (1941-2012), born 5 December 1941; artist; married, Apr-Jun 1965, Shaun Martindale (b. 1944), engineer; died 17 December 2012; will proved 24 July 2013;

(1.2) Christopher David Vane Percy (b. 1945) (q.v.).

He lived at Biddenham (Beds).

He died 22 December 1998; his will was proved 19 February 1999. His first wife died at Island Hall aged 92 on 18 January 2012. His second wife died 16 November 2002; her will was proved 10 February 2003.

Percy, Christopher David Vane (b. 1945). Only son of Kenneth Vane Percy (1917-98) and his first wife, Jean Farquharson, born 15 March 1945. Interior designer who established his own business (CVP Designs) in 1971 and has secured many high profile commissions including the Connaught Hotel, London and Hagley Hall (Worcs); sometime President of the British Interior Design Association and of the International Interior Design Association; Mayor of Godmanchester, 2013; Trustee of Moggerhanger House Preservation Trust, 2013-20. He obtained a grant of arms. He married, 17 May 1973, Lady* Linda Denise Grosvenor (1948-2019), daughter of Robert Egerton Grosvenor, 5th Baron Ebury by his second wife, and had issue:

(1) Maximilian Egerton Vane Percy (b. 1979), born November 1979; educated at Oakham School; surveyor; partner in Montagu Evans with responsibility for managing the Berkeley Square Estate in London; married, 2009, Lisette Sara (b. 1978), daughter of Andrew Cooper of Rowlands Castle (Hants) and has issue three sons;

(2) Grace Dorothy Denise Vane Percy (b. 1981), born August 1981; educated at Oakham School and Central St Martins; photographer specialising in the female nude since 2008; author of Venus (2014); general manager of Island Hall since 2011; married, 2011, Panagiotis (Takis), theatre designer, younger son of Nikolaos Chatoupis, of Sikion (Greece), and has issue one daughter;

(3) Tryce Mary Susanne (b. 1991), born July 1991; educated at Oakham School; works in the fashion industry.

He repurchased Island Hall in 1983 and restored it. He handed the house over to his elder daughter in about 2020.

Now living. His wife died 19 May 2019.

* Her half-brother, Francis Egerton Grosvenor (b. 1934), 6th Baron Ebury, succeeded to the Earldom of Wilton in 1999, and she and her siblings were raised to the rank of an Earl's sons and daughters in 2001.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, pp. 102-03; VCH Cambridgeshire, vol. 9, 1989, pp. 179-82;  Debrett's Illustrated Peerage, 2014, p. P1303; https://www.islandhall.com/.

Location of archives

Baumgartner of Godmanchester: deeds, estate and manorial papers, family correspondence, notebooks, commonplace books and photographs, 1599-1956 [Cambridgeshire Archives, 17, L.3; L.35; R.55.31, 38; Huntingdonshire Archives 5614]

Coat of arms

No coat of arms is recorded for the Baumgartner family.

Vane Percy of Island Hall

Christopher Vane Percy has, however, received a new grant of the following arms: Azure on a bend Erminois between two lions rampant each holding a branch of Swiss Stone Pine Or a spur between two pierced mullets of the field.

Can you help?

• If anyone knows more about the Baumgartner & Hoofstetter company and its activities, I would be pleased to learn more.
• I should be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from descendants of the family who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 30 June 2021 and updated 26 February and 15 March 2022 and 31 March-6 April 2024. I am grateful to Christopher Vane Percy and Elma Dostine for additional information and images.

(322) Baillie of Duntisbourne House

Dr. Matthew Baillie (1761-1823) came from an academic and professional background in Scotland. His father, the Rev. James Baillie (1722-78), was a presbyterian minister whose rapid promotion under the patronage of the Duke of Hamilton led him ultimately to the chair of divinity at Glasgow University. His mother, Dorothea, was the sister of the famous anatomists, Dr. William Hunter (1718-83) and Dr. John Hunter (1728-93), who had made their way to fame and fortune in London.

Long Calderwood, East Kilbride (Ayrshire): the Hunter family house.

When James Baillie died in 1778, his widow moved her young family to the Hunter family house at Long Calderwood in Ayrshire, but they were probably supported for a time by her brothers, who certainly encouraged Matthew to pursue a career in medicine. He was entered at Balliol College, Oxford, where he eventually took both arts and medical degrees, and divided his time between his studies at Oxford and attending the lectures given by his uncles in London. When William Hunter died in 1783, Matthew was left not only a handsome cash legacy of £5,000, but also his house in Great Windmill St., Soho, and the adjacent medical school and museum, and his mother and sisters came to London to keep house for him. After taking his medical degree in 1786, he was appointed physician to St. George's Hospital, London, but he gave up this appointment in 1789 to establish a private medical practice, which quickly became extremely successful. Like his uncle William, he was a workaholic, and he is said to have frequently worked sixteen hours a day, a punishing schedule that probably took its toll on his health as it is recorded to have done on his temper. In 1810 he was appointed one of the physicians in ordinary to King George III, and he continued to attend the king through his period of mental incapacity until his death in 1820. The profits of his practice among wealthy Londoners soon allowed Matthew to acquire property. He bought the Duntisbourne estate in Gloucestershire in 1806, and was probably responsible for extending the house by the addition of Gothick wings soon afterwards. He probably also bought Bolton House in Hampstead, where his two spinster sisters lived by 1820, and where they established a lively literary salon. He retired to Duntisbourne after the king's death, but did not have long to enjoy the estate, as he died in 1823, aged just sixty-two. His sisters were exceptionally long-lived: Joanna dying at 89 in 1851 and Agnes ten years later, aged 100.

In 1791, Matthew Baillie married the daughter of another of his preceptors, Dr. Thomas Denman, and they produced a small family. His daughter married the owner of Cotswold Park, an estate close to Duntisbourne. His elder son died in infancy, but his younger son, William Hunter Baillie (1797-1894), who pursued no occupation beyond the duties incidental to his ownership of an estate, also lived to the exceptional age of 97. He shared the literary interests of his aunts, to whom he became close after his father's death. He was also interested in antiquarian matters, and particularly in the history of his own family. It was probably he who established that they were a cadet branch of the Baillies of Lamington, although the precise connection does not seem to be recorded. William and his wife had four sons and four daughters, but the only son to survive their long-lived father, another William Hunter Baillie (1838-95), outlived his father by only a few months. Duntisbourne then passed to his elder sister, Helen Mary Henrietta Hunter Baillie (1843-1929). Both the younger William and Helen had rejected the narrow evangelical views of their parents, and had been drawn into the Anglo-Catholic community around All Saints, Margaret St, London. Helen indeed, had spent much of her life living with a community of the Sisters of the Church, although she never became a member of the order. She let Duntisbourne House and in 1906 sold the freehold. The house, which was then little changed since Matthew Baillie acquired it a century earlier, was to see almost bewildering changes over the following century.

Duntisbourne House, Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire

When Sir Mark Pleydell bought the Duntisbourne Abbots estate in 1753 there was no manor house, and to remedy this deficiency he built in 1760 a small villa overlooking the steep‑sided Frome valley, which was at first known as Sir Mark's Folly, perhaps because its exposed situation was the subject of local ridicule. No architect is recorded for this project, but the mason's name, recorded in Sir Mark's account book, was Boyce. As first built, the house may have consisted only of the central block of the later building, which had a three-bay entrance front with a central pedimented breakfront, and a two-bay rear elevation. There is no evidence that Sir Mark ever lived in the house, which was perhaps used as an occasional summer retreat.

Duntisbourne House: the garden front as extended in the early 19th century, from and engraving by J. & H.S. Storer, 1827.

The house seems to have been extended around 1800 by the addition of flanking Gothick wings. The change was probably made either for Thomas Raikes, or more probably for his successor, Dr. Matthew Baillie. An engraving of 1827 shows the garden front with the original three‑storey, two‑bay centre clamped between two‑storey wings of the same height, which will have contained taller rooms. 

Duntisbourne House: an undated drawing of the entrance front, perhaps c.1900.

The entrance front is recorded in an undated drawing, which shows the original three‑bay pedimented centre and the added two‑bay wings, as well as a further service wing to the right and a single-storey Gothick porch and an adjoining room. The single-storey addition may be later again. The drawing also shows that the windows in the end elevation of the house were pointed Gothick windows, and this is confirmed by two photographs of c.1900 which show the side elevation and also demonstrate that the garden front was little changed since the 1827 engraving.

Duntisbourne House: side elevation and garden front in c.1900.

Duntisbourne House suffered a small fire in 1907, although press reports suggest this did very little damage. There is said to have been another fire in 1922 (although if so it went unreported in the local press), as a result of which Cmdr. Radcliffe James embarked on an extensive remodelling at that time. He found the house 'too big and old-fashioned', although his changes did little to reduce its size. He pulled down the single-storey addition on the entrance front and part of the wing behind it, and removed the Gothick windows all round the house, installing tripartite ones on the garden front, which retained its Georgian character, but giving the entrance front an Arts & Crafts air, with mullioned windows. The interior was completely remodelled, although he retained the original stone staircase. He put on a red-tiled roof, which stuck out like a sore thumb in this land of Cotswold stone slates, and which was replaced by Frank Perkins MP (d. 1946) soon after he bought the estate in 1937. 

Duntisbourne House: entrance front in about 1983. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Duntisbourne House: garden front in about 1983. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The house was further remodelled after 1971 for Lord Richardson, who wanted to restore the Georgian feel of the interior, though not its Gothick details. In the 1980s it had a fashionable English country house style interior, with dragged paint finishes and chintz fabrics. After all these changes, it is perhaps no surprise that when Lord Richardson sold the house in 2007, it was not listed. Unfortunately, this made it possible for the next owners to undertake a remarkably insensitive scheme of alterations in 2009-12. In the interests of open-plan living the house was literally disembowelled, with as many ground floor internal walls as possible removed to create a series of spaces that flow into one another. A massive basement-level extension was also excavated, with a glass wall which is viciously at odds with the otherwise essentially unchanged Cotswold character of the exterior. A new pool house of similar character has been built in the grounds, but is far enough from the main building not to be of concern. The property was again sold at the end of 2017, but the dignity of this house has probably gone forever.

Descent: William Prinn of Charlton Kings sold 1753 to Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell (c.1693-1768), 1st bt., who built the house; to grandson, Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie (1750-1828), 2nd Earl of Radnor; sold 1796 to Thomas Raikes; sold 1804 to Dr. Matthew Baillie (1761-1823); to son, William Hunter Baillie (1797-1894); to son, William Hunter Baillie (1838-95); to sister, Helen Mary Henrietta Hunter Baillie (1843-1929), sold 1906 to Sir Henry Lennox Hopkinson (d. 1936); sold c.1918 to Cmdr. Henry Radcliffe James; sold 1937 to Walter Frank Perkins MP (d. 1946); to son Walter R.D. Perkins (d. 1970); sold 1971 to Gordon Richardson (1915-2010), Baron Richardson of Duntisbourne; sold 2008 to Mr & Mrs Daniel Tierney; sold 2017.

Baillie of Duntisbourne House

Baillie, Rev. Dr. James (1722-78). Son of Matthew Baillie, schoolmaster, and his wife Ann Kirkwood, born at Crichton (Midlothian), 5 August 1722. Educated at Musselburgh Grammar School and Edinburgh University. Presbyterian minister; licensed to preach by the presbytery of Dalkeith, 1749 and ordained, 1754; appointed Minister of Shotts in Glasgow, 1754-62, Bothwell, 1762-75 and Hamilton (Lanarks), 1766-75. Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow, 1775-78 (Hon DD, 1772). He married, 7 December 1757, Dorothea (1720-1806), daughter of John Hunter (d. 1741) of Long Calderwood (Lanarks), and sister of the celebrated anatomists, Dr John Hunter (1728-93) and Dr William Hunter (1718-83), and had issue:
(1) William Baillie; died in infancy;
(2) Agnes Baillie (1760-1861), born 24 September 1760; died unmarried at Hampstead, aged 100, 27 April, and was buried at Hampstead (Middx), 4 May 1861; administration of goods granted 15 May 1861 (effects under £8,000);
(3) Dr. Matthew Baillie (1761-1823) (q.v.);
(4) twin, Joanna Baillie (1762-1851), born 11 September 1762; poet and dramatist, author of Plays on the Passions (1798-1812) and Fugitive Verses (1840); lived at Bolton House, Hampstead (Middx); died unmarried there, 23 February 1851; will proved 27 March 1851; she is commemorated by a statue at Bothwell (Lanarks);
(5) twin, Unnamed daughter (b. & d. 1762), born 11 September 1762 and died shortly afterwards.
He died 28 April 1778. His widow was buried at Hampstead (Middx), 7 October 1806.

Dr. Matthew Baillie

Baillie, Dr. Matthew (1761-1823). Only son of Rev. Dr. James Baillie (1722-78) and his wife Dorothea, daughter of John Hunter, born at Shotts Manse (Lanarks), 27 October 1761. Educated at Hamilton Old Grammar School, Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1783; MA 1786; MB 1786; MD, 1789); he was a pupil of his uncle, Dr. John Hunter, the anatomist, and his father-in-law, Dr. Thomas Denman, a famous obstetrician. Physician and anatomist. In 1783 his uncle Dr William Hunter bequeathed him £5,000, his house in London, and the adjacent medical school (where he taught anatomy until 1803) and medical museum. Appointed Physician to St. George's Hospital, 1787, but gave up the appointment in 1789 to establish a private practice in Grosvenor Square, London. He became one of the most celebrated physicians of his time and was one of the physicians in ordinary to King George III, 1810-20. He was elected FRCP 1790; FRS 1790 (Croonian lecturer, 1791); FRSE; FRCPE, 1809. He published The Morbid Anatomy of some of the most important parts of the human body, 1793, which was the first work in English on pathology as a discrete subject. Several portraits of him are known, including views by Barber, Hoppner and Lawrence. He married, 5 May 1791, Sophie (1766-1845), daughter of Dr. Thomas Denman MD of Mount St., Grosvenor Sq., London, and sister of Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman, and had issue:
(1) James Baillie (1792-93), born 26 September and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 1 December 1792; died in infancy, 11 January 1793;
(2) Elizabeth Margaret Baillie (1794-1876), born 12 February and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, 24 March 1794; married, 11 July 1816, Robert Milligan (1787-1875) of Cotswold Park (Glos) and Eastridge, Ryde (IoW), and had issue one daughter; died 25 June 1876;
(3) William Hunter Baillie (1797-1894) (q.v.).
He purchased the Duntisbourne House estate in 1806.
He died of tuberculosis, 23 September 1823, and was buried at Duntisbourne Abbots, 30 September 1823; his will was proved 21 October 1823. His widow died in Hampstead (Middx), 5 August, and was buried at Duntisbourne Abbots, 13 August 1845; her will was proved 22 August 1845.

Baillie, William Hunter (1797-1894). Only surviving son of Dr. Matthew Baillie (1761-1823) and his wife Sophie, daughter of Dr Thomas Denman MD, born 15 September and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 4 October 1797. Educated at Westminster School, Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1814) and Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1815; BA 1819; MA 1823). Landowner and man of letters. He and his wife shared Evangelical views in matters of faith, and he moved in literary circles in London, becoming close to his aunt, Joanna Baillie, and to Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849). He was interested in the family history of the Hunter Baillies, and spent a considerable amount of time and expense gathering together the family's papers, from correspondence to ancient title deeds and other legal instruments, in order to establish the pedigree of the family.  He married, 23 June 1835 at Cheltenham (Glos), Henrietta (c.1809-57), second daughter of Rev. Dr. John Duff, of St. Andrews (Fife) and had issue:
(1) Sophia Joanna Baillie (1836-82), born 18 April and baptised at Cheltenham, 18 May 1836; died unmarried, 2 March and was buried at Duntisbourne Abbots, 8 March 1882;
(2) Matthew John Baillie (1837-66), baptised at Cheltenham, 7 August 1837; educated at Eton and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (matriculated 1855); an officer in the 72nd Highlanders (Ensign, 1855; retired 1860) he served in India during the Indian Mutiny; transferred to Royal North Gloucestershire Regt of Militia (Lt., 1861); died unmarried, 17 June 1866, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery;
(3) William Hunter Baillie (1838-95), baptised at Cheltenham, 11 December 1838; an officer in the 97th (later 8th) Foot (Ensign 1857; Lt. 1859; Capt. & Adj., 1866; retired 1868); as a young man he rejected the Evangelical views of his parents and became an Anglo-Catholic; died without issue, 17 March 1895; will proved 3 May 1895 (effects £56,719);
(4) James Baron Baillie (1841-68), born 21 February and baptised at Richmond (Surrey), 24 March 1841; an officer in 78th Foot (Ensign, 1858; Lt., 1862; retired 1863) and 2nd Royal Surrey Militia (Lt., 1865; Capt. by 1868); died unmarried, 6 December, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 10 December 1868;
(5) Helen Mary Henrietta Hunter Baillie (1843-1929) (q.v.);
(6) Agnes Elizabeth Baillie (1846-1925), born 23 April and baptised at All Souls, Paddington (Middx), 31 May 1846; married, 7 April 1875 at All Saints, Paddington (Middx), Rev. Robert Bennett Oliver (1835-1912) of Whitwell (IoW), son of Capt. Sir Robert Oliver, kt., RN, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 22 February 1925; will proved 16 April 1925;
(7) Robert Denman Baillie (1850-70), born 27 February and baptised at Trinity Church, St. Marylebone (Middx), 3 April 1850; died unmarried, 30 December 1870 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 7 January 1871;
(8) Henrietta Clara Marion Baillie (1853-78), baptised at Ryde (IoW), 15 September 1853; married, 30 June 1874 at All Saints, Paddington (Middx), as his second wife, Rev. James Maconechy, vicar of that church, and had issue three daughters; died 1 December 1878.
He inherited the Duntisbourne House estate from his father in 1823, and also had rooms in the Albany, a house in London, and another in Tunbridge Wells (and later in Cheltenham). He inherited Bolton House, Hampstead from his aunt in 1861. At his death his property passed to his surviving son, and then his elder surviving daughter.
He died 24 December 1894, aged 97; his will was proved 16 February 1895 (effects £85,880). His wife was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 10 February 1857.

Baillie, Helen Mary Henrietta Hunter (1843-1929). Second, but eldest surviving, daughter of William Hunter Baillie (1797-1894) and his wife Henrietta, daughter of Rev. Dr. Duff of St. Andrews (Fife), born 26 May and baptised at Richmond (Surrey), 12 July 1843. As a young woman she became interested in the Anglo-Catholic revival and attended All Saints, Margaret St., London. She became friends with Emily Ayckbowm, the foundress of the Sisters of the Church, and spent much of her life living with this sisterhood. She travelled widely in Europe and visited the Rt Rev. George Blyth, Bishop of Jerusalem, in the Holy Land. She was also interested in many charities and good causes in London and at Duntisbourne, and worked for women's suffrage. After her married younger sister died in 1882, her daughters spent most of their time with Miss Baillie. She was unmarried and without issue.
She inherited the Duntisbourne House estate and Bolton House, Hampstead from her elder brother in 1895. She let Duntisbourne House and moved to Well Hill House in the parish; in 1906 she sold the freehold to the sitting tenant.
She died 11 February 1929; her will was proved 28 March 1929 (estate £48,218).

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, i, p. 55; J. Brewer, Delineations of Gloucestershire, 1825-27, p. 155; A. Carver, The story of Duntisbourne Abbots, 1972; N.W. Kingsley, The country houses of Gloucestershire, vol. 2, 1660-1830, 1992, p. 282; D. Verey & A. Brooks, The buildings of England: Gloucestershire - The Cotswolds, 3rd edn., 1999, p. 330; J.B. Slagle, Joanna Baillie: a literary life, 2002.

Location of archives

Baillie, Matthew (1761-1823): medical papers [Royal College of Physicians of London, MSS.100-103]; travel journal and lecture notes, 1788-99 [Royal College of Surgeons of England, MS 0014]; family papers and historical notes [Wellcome Library, MSS 5613-24]; papers re treatment of King George III [Lambeth Palace Library MSS 2107-08]

Coat of arms

None recorded.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 15 February 2018 and updated 3 March and 11 September 2018. I am most grateful for the assistance of the late Lord Richardson with this account, and to Ian McKellar for an additional note.