(577) Beridge and Sparrow of Algarkirk Hall and Gosfield Place

Beridge of Algarkirk

This post tells the intertwined stories of two families: the Beridges of Algarkirk (Lincs) and the Sparrows of Gosfield Place (Essex), who became connected through the marriage of James Goodeve Sparrow and Dorothy Beridge in 1817. The Beridges were a clerical family for at least three centuries. The genealogy below begins with the Rev. Dr. John Beridge (c.1572-1632), precentor of Lincoln Cathedral and rector of Shelton (Beds) and Kibworth Beauchamp (Leics), but it could be taken at least one generation further back, since his father William was also rector of Shelton and Kibworth Beauchamp. Four of John's sons became clergymen, with the eldest, William (1608-40) succeeding him at Kibworth, Basil (1613-78) acquiring the rich living of Algarkirk, Ferdinando (1609-1702) Great Paxton (Hunts) and John (1624-90) Great Massingham and Pensthorpe (Norfolk). The Rev. Basil Beridge also acquired the advowson of Algarkirk (the right to present future rectors) and bought freehold land in the parish to add to the glebe land which came with the living; and he rebuilt Algarkirk Hall. From then until 1894, the rectory was held almost continuously by members of the Beridge family, in a remarkable record of squarsonical continuity. Since he had no surviving children, Basil bequeathed the hall, the advowson and his lands to his nephew, the Rev. Charles Beridge (1655-93), one of the sons of the Rev. Ferdinando Beridge, who duly presented himself to the living in 1678. When Charles died, his son and intended heir, Basil, was only seven, so the rectory and hall were briefly separated, only to be reunited in 1716 when Basil (c.1686-1737), having been ordained, presented himself to the living. One of Basil's sons, the Rev. Charles Beridge (1711-82), succeeded him and also held a prebend in Lincoln Cathedral. He had no surviving children, so left Algarkirk to his nephew, the Rev. Basil Bury Beridge (1736-1808), who remodelled the hall, adding canted bay windows and redecorating the interior. He settled his property, including the advowson, on his male heirs. He married twice, but his only children were from his second marriage, and they were all still minors when he died in 1808. The hall and rectory were therefore again briefly separated before his eldest son, the Rev. Basil Beridge (1797-1881) was able to present himself in 1822. He added a new block to the house soon afterwards, perhaps around the time of his first marriage in 1823. His wife having died only a few months later, he tried again in 1828, but he was destined to remain childless. He invested heavily in the parish, restoring the church, building schools, creating endowments to support maintenance and services, and making over the hall to the benefice as a rectory house.

Dorothy (1794-1833), the older sister of the Rev. Basil Beridge, connected the Beridge and Sparrow families when in 1817 she became the second wife of James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838). James was the youngest of the three sons of James Sparrow (1725-77), who had bought an estate called Biggs at Gosfield (Essex) in the 1750s, but who also owned farms across nearly a dozen parishes in Essex and Suffolk. His elder brothers inherited their father's lands and James pursued a career in banking, becoming the senior partner in the largest Essex bank. However, both of the elder brothers died young and without issue, so by 1794 most of his father's property had devolved on him. In 1799 he married his first wife, Anne Crowe, and set about remodelling the 'ruinous mansion' of Biggs as a smart new neo-classical villa designed by Richard Elsam, which he renamed Gosfield Place, and laying out the grounds to the designs of Humphry Repton. Anne died in 1813, after giving him six children, and when he married Dorothy in 1817 he started a second family. For reasons which are unclear they did not at first live at Gosfield, but settled in Bristol, where Dorothy evidently had connections to the Weare family: William Weare (1750-1836) stood godfather to their eldest son in 1819 and her younger sister, Frances Beridge, was buried on his estate at Abbots Leigh (Som.) in 1808. By 1828, however, they were living at Gosfield again, and they remained there until their deaths in the 1830s. The Gosfield estate then passed (the only son of James' first marriage having predeceased him) to their eldest son, Henry Weare Sparrow (1819-94), whose behaviour gave increasing cause for concern in the years following his inheritance. When his eccentricities became too manifest to be concealed, he was sent to live at Brighton in the care of his old nurse, but incidents in 1842 caused him to be declared insane and his affairs to be managed by the Lord Chancellor. He never recovered his wits, and his younger brother, Basil Sparrow (1820-80), who had inherited his father's banking interests, took over the Gosfield Place estate and rebuilt the house in the 1860s, almost certainly to the designs of J.T. Knowles senior.

When the Rev. Basil Beridge died in 1881, the operation of his father's settlement ensured that the Algarkirk Hall estate and the advowson of Algarkirk passed to Henry Weare Sparrow, and as a consequence of his lunacy the patronage of the living was exercised by the Lord Chancellor, who appointed the third son of James Goodeve Sparrow, the Rev. John Beridge Sparrow (1828-97), who was then rector of Great Cornard (Suffk), one of the parishes where the Sparrows held land. On the death of Henry Weare Sparrow in 1894 the advowson and lands descended to the eldest son of Basil Sparrow, the Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow (1853-1929), on condition that he took the name Beridge, which he duly did. He then sought to present himself to the living of Algarkirk, but the bishop of Lincoln declined to induct him, as he thought him insufficiently experienced. He had been a clergyman since 1878, but had never progressed from early career curacies to having a parish of his own. Shocked and disappointed to be turned down, he decided to sell the advowson, and doubtless with the object of enhancing its value presented the oldest available clergyman he could find, so as to sell the advowson with a short life in possession. Changed conditions in the late 19th century and the prospect of taking on a large rectory in poor condition in an undesirable part of the country meant that no clergyman could be found to buy the advowson, even of a rich living, with a view to presenting himself, and in the end a benefactor was found who purchased the advowson, apportioned part of the glebe to the support of a newly-constituted parish in Lincoln, and then vested the patronage in the bishop of Lincoln.

On the death of Henry Weare Sparrow in 1894 the Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow Beridge had also inherited Gosfield Place. His mother, who had been living in the house, moved out, and Basil and his wife and son moved in. Within a few years, however, he had separated from his wife and disowned his son, and from 1907 Gosfield was let. Basil moved to Clacton-on-Sea, where he again briefly held a curacy. In 1920 he tried to sell the estate, but although the farms were bought, the house and park found no takers. He remained estranged from his son, but it may be no coincidence that it was after his son's death in 1923 that he again tried to find a buyer for the house. In the end, he sold in 1924 to a demolition contractor, who pulled the house down in 1924-25 and sold the materials. His wife died in 1925 and Basil himself in 1929, bring to an end one of the longest squarson traditions in England.

Algarkirk Hall, Lincolnshire

From 1637 until 1897 the rectory of Algarkirk was held almost continually by members of the Beridge family, and successive rectors built up a significant land holding in the parish in addition to the 130 acres of glebe land which came with the rectory. As a result, the family house, Algarkirk Hall, came to be regarded as the rectory long before it was formally made over to the benefice in the mid 19th century. Sadly, the house was demolished in 1954-55, and much of what is known and conjectured about its appearance and development is derived from photographs and observations made just prior to, and during, the demolition process. No documentation relating to the building works of different generations is known to survive.

Algarkirk Hall: conjectural phased plan by the late Hilary Healey, based on observations made during demolition in the 1950s

The earliest house, described as 'a faire mansion howse' in 1633, was evidently timber-framed, but it seems to have been replaced in the mid- or later-17th century by an east-facing hall house with two cross-wings, set in a small park lying west of the house. The hall was probably entered centrally from the start, for a massive chimneystack serving the hall and what was no doubt the adjoining kitchen stood at the north end of the hall, where a screens passage would have stood in a more traditional layout. The hall was separated by a lobby and staircase from a pair of parlours in the south wing, which also shared a large chimneystack. A further large room behind the hall, perhaps a great chamber or dining room, appears to have been contemporary with the 17th century rebuilding.

Algarkirk Hall: view of the house in 1791 by J.C. Nattes (Image: Lincolnshire Archives)

The next alterations of which anything is known would seem to date from the time of the Rev. Basil Bury Beridge, who inherited in 1782 and died in 1808. These included a redecoration of the interior, and the addition of canted bay windows to the ends of the cross-wings on the east front, and also to the side and rear elevations. The bay windows had been constructed by 1791, when J.C. Nattes drew a view of the house now in Lincolnshire Archives. At the same time, the grounds would seem to have been landscaped, for Nattes shows young trees and a glasshouse, and it is known that there was an ice house and a pond ('the ice pond') from which it was stocked, near to the church. The drive which led east across the park from Sutterton to the house was probably laid out as part of these works, and the pair of circular lodges which stood either side of the drive at the edge of Sutterton village were perhaps built at the same time, or just a little later. Both lodges were extended later in the 19th century, but one of them was needlessly demolished by Boston Rural District Council in the 1950s. The other was damaged by fire in the early 1950s but restored, and survives as a cottage known as The Roundhouse.

Algarkirk Hall: lodges either side of the drive from Sutterton village, from a 1930s postcard

Algarkirk Hall: west front in c.1951.

On the Rev. B.B. Beridge's death in 1808, the family's property descended to his son, the Rev. Basil Beridge (c.1797-1881), who was only about eleven years old. As a result, the rectory and its lands passed out of the family until 1822, when Basil was ordained and able to present himself to the living. Soon afterwards, he seems to have made further improvements to the house, adding a three-bay, two-storey south-west block to the house, with floor-length windows on the ground floor, which contained a large drawing room. 

Algarkirk Hall: east front in c.1951. 

After the death of the Rev. Basil Beridge, his nephew, the Rev. John Beridge Sparrow (1828-97) was appointed to the living. His nephew, the Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow Beridge (1853-1929) inherited the advowson, but sold it in 1903, and he probably disposed of his freehold lands in the parish at much the same time. The hall continued to the used as a rectory until the 1950s, and at some point in the early 20th century a large conservatory was built between the wings on the east front. 20th century rectors did not have the means to maintain the house, however, and after wartime neglect it was in very poor condition. A new rectory was therefore built in the grounds, and the old house was pulled down in 1954-55.

Descent: Rev. Basil Beridge (1613-78); to nephew, Rev. Basil Beridge (d. 1686); to brother, Rev. Charles Beridge (c.1655-93); to son, Rev. Basil Beridge (c.1686-1739); to son, Rev. Charles Beridge (d. 1782); to nephew, Rev. Basil Bury Beridge (1737-1808); to son, Rev. Basil Beridge (c.1797-1881); to Henry Weare Sparrow (1819-94), a lunatic; to nephew, Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow Beridge (1853-1929), who sold the advowson c.1898.

Gosfield Place, Essex

The house, previously known as 'Biggs' after the family which owned it in the middle ages, stood three-quarters of a mile south-east of the village, and was described as ‘a ruinous mansion’ by Richard Elsam, who was appointed by James Goodeve Sparrow after his marriage in 1799 to remodel and update it. His designs were published in 1803 in An essay on rural architecture, but he admits in the associated text that they were not closely followed when the house was remodelled. 

Gosfield Place: design for the front of the villa by Richard Elsam, published in 1803.

Gosfield Place: plan of the house as published by Richard Elsam, 1803

Gosfield Place: landscaping proposal by Humphry Repton, 1811, showing the house had a block plan similar to that suggested by Robert Elsam.

Humphry Repton provided designs for landscaping the park c.1811, which were apparently partly followed, and his scheme gives a block plan of the house which is broadly consistent withe Elsam's proposal. He created a small piece of water immediately west of the house and a drawing by him was engraved in 1818 for Cromwell's Excursions in Essex shows a typically Reptonian covered walkway leading to a large summerhouse or conservatory with trellised walls, although it is not certain that this was ever built. He also proposed a lake to the north which was not created until the 1830s.

Gosfield Place: engraving from a drawing by Humphry Repton, published in Cromwell's Excursions into Essex, 1819.

However, an early 19th century view exists which is said to be of Gosfield Place, showing a battlemented Gothic house. Does this represent an unexecuted project for rebuilding or has it simply have been mislabelled? (Mislabelling seems possible because yet another view purporting to show Gosfield Place, which came from a family source, actually shows Kingston Lisle House in Berkshire!). Between 1832 and 1843, the lake proposed by Repton was created to the north of the house by the damming of Bourne Brook, although probably not to his design. This was later spanned by a cantilevered bridge with stays suspended from four cast-iron towers, probably built c.1865. The bridge survives but is now in very poor condition and has lost most of its decorative cast-iron balustrades.

Gosfield Place: the house as rebuilt on a new site for Basil Beridge in 1863-65

Gosfield Place: the side elevation of the house built in 1862-63.

In the mid 19th century the estate was administered under a Commission in Lunacy, and it would seem that for a time the house was not occupied and fell into disrepair. In the late 1850s Basil Sparrow, the banker brother of the owner, wished to put the house into repair and live there, but successive reports by Mr Stock, the Chancery surveyor, and Sparrow's architect Mr. Abrahams (presumably H.R. Abrahams) drastically underestimated the scale and cost of the repairs required. By 1860 parts of the house had been pulled down, perhaps in an attempt to excise the dry rot which had been found earlier, and in the end the decision was taken to completely rebuild the house on a site a little further east and uphill from its predecessor. The work was undertaken in 1863-65 for Basil Sparrow (1820-80), reputedly at the stupendous cost of £62,000. No documentary evidence survives to prove the identity of the architect, but the centre was so similar to the centre of J.T. Knowles senior's Hedsor House (Bucks) that it can be attributed to him with some confidence. The house was an H-shaped building consisting of a two-storey central block and taller wings, all liberally decorated with two-storey canted bay windows. The wings were more sober than those of Hedsor House, lacking the corner towers with pavilion roofs. The house was even larger than its predecessor - there were 23 principal bedrooms in 1907 - and far beyond the needs of the Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow Beridge (1853-1929), who inherited it in 1894, and whose family consisted only of his wife and one son. Inside, the house is said to have had a circular hall, but little else is known of the internal arrangements or decoration.

In the early 20th century, Sparrow Beridge separated from his wife, and was estranged from his son, whose debts led eventually to bankruptcy, and in 1907 the house was let. Sparrow Beridge moved to Clacton-on-Sea, and in 1920 he began selling the estate. His first efforts to sell the house and park failed but after the death of his son in 1923 he tried again and eventually in 1924 he sold the house to a local builder, A.D. Letch, for demolition, which had been completed by the spring of 1925. It is said that Letch more than recovered the cost of purchasing the estate from the sale of the materials.

Descent: sold to James Sparrow (1725-77); to son, James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838), who remodelled the house; to son, Henry Weare Sparrow (later Beridge) (1819-94), a lunatic, whose brother, Basil Sparrow (1820-88) and his wife Julia (c.1826-97) occupied and rebuilt the house; to son, Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow (later Sparrow Beridge) (1853-1929), who sold it 1924 to A.D. Letch, who demolished it.

Beridge family of Algarkirk

Beridge alias Beveridge, Rev. Dr. John (c.1572-1632). Son of the Rev. William Beridge, rector of Shelton (Beds) from 1564 and Kibworth Beauchamp (Leics) from 1565, born at Shelton (Beds), c.1572. Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (matriculated 1586; BA 1590?; MA 1593; DD 1617). Ordained deacon, 1597 and priest, 1601. Rector of Shelton (Beds) and Kibworth Beauchamp (Leics) 1601-32; vicar of Barrow-upon-Soar (Leics) 1617-20; prebendary and precentor of Lincoln Cathedral, 1621-32. He purchased the manor and advowson of Kibworth Beauchamp in 1619 and the advowson of Barrow-upon-Soar in 1622. He married Dorothea (d. 1652?), daughter of Ferdinand Feilding, and had issue:

(1) Mary Beridge (b. c.1605?), born about 1605; god-daughter of her great-aunt, Mary Aglionby (widow of Edward Aglionby (c.1520-91)); died before 1620; 

(2) Gooditha Beridge (b. 1606), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 30 March 1606; living in 1620 but died in the lifetime of her father;

(3) Basil Beridge (b. & d. 1607), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 5 April 1607; died in infancy and was buried at Kibworth Beauchamp, 3 May 1607;

(4) Rev. William Beridge (1608-40), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 24 April 1608; educated at Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1627; BA 1627; MA 1629); succeeded his father as rector and patron of Kibworth Beauchamp, 1632-40; married, 1632/3 Dorothy, daughter of Rev. Ambrose Sacheverell (d. 1647), vicar of Tadmarton (Oxon), and had issue two sons and three daughters; buried at Kibworth Beauchamp, 31 January 1639/40; 

(5) Rev. Ferdinand Beridge (1609-1702) (q.v.);

(6) George Beridge (b. 1611), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 25 August 1611; living in 1620;

(7) Rev. Basil Beridge (1613-78) (q.v.);

(8) Michael Beridge (b. 1614), baptised 24 June 1614; living in 1620 but died in the lifetime of his father;

(9) James Beridge (b. 1615), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 25 July 1615; died in the lifetime of his father;

(10) Jonathan Beridge (b. 1617), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 6 April 1617;

(11) Samuel Beridge (b. 1620), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 6 May 1620;

(12) Rev. John Beridge (1624-90), baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 28 April 1624; educated at Kibworth, Jesus College, Cambridge and Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1642; BA 1647; MA 1651); ordained deacon, 1647 and priest, 1648; rector of Great Massingham (Norfk), 1661-90 and of Pensthorpe (Norfk), 1679-90; married 1st, Dorothy Hewett; married 2nd, Ann Miller (d. 1727), by whom he had issue one daughter; died 9 November and was buried at Great Massingham, 11 November 1690, where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved in the PCC, 6 July 1691;

(13) Festina Beridge; died in the lifetime of her father.

He lived at Kibworth Beauchamp and later at Barrow-upon-Soar (Leics).

He died in London, 12 May 1632 and was buried at Kibworth, 14 May 1632, where he is commemorated by a monument; administration of his goods was granted to his son William, 1634. His wife was living in 1624 and was probably the 'Dorothy Berrig' buried at Wigston Magna (Leics), 27 December 1652, who was then described as 'above the age of three-score and ten'.

Beridge, Rev. Basil (1613-78). Fifth son of Rev. John Beridge alias Beveridge (c.1572-1632), rector of Kibworth Beauchamp (Leics), and his wife Dorothea, daughter of Ferdinand Feilding, baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 25 April 1613. Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1630; BA 1634; MA 1637). Ordained deacon, 1636 and priest, 1637. Rector and patron of Algarkirk (Lincs) from 1637. He married, 13 January 1652/3 at Wartnaby (Leics), Judith alias Gooditha (d. 1681), daughter of Sir Thomas Brooks of Gaddesby (Leics), and had no surviving issue, although he is said to have had two sons who died young.

He lived at Algarkirk Hall.

He died 2 November 1678 and was buried at Algarkirk. His wife died 25 November 1681 and was buried at Algarkirk. 

Beridge, Rev. Ferdinand alias Ferdinando (1609-1702*)  Third son of Rev. John Beridge alias Beveridge (c.1572-1632), rector of Kibworth Beauchamp (Leics), and his wife Dorothea, daughter of Ferdinand Feilding, baptised at Kibworth Beauchamp, 29 September 1609. Ordained deacon, 1644 and priest, 1660. Vicar of Great Paxton (Hunts), 1661-1702. In 1654 he published an almanac. He married, c.1650, Anne [surname unknown] (d. 1707) and had issue:

(1) Lucy Beridge (1652-86), baptised at Wartnaby, 4 March 1651/2; married, 10 July 1673 at Great Paxton, Henry Hickuck; buried at Great Paxton, 17 February 1685/6;

(2) Rev. Charles Beridge (1655-93) (q.v.);

(3) Rev. Basil Beridge (1662-86) (q.v.);

(4) Baptius Beridge (b. 1663), baptised at Great Paxton, 20 February 1662/3; perhaps died young.

He lived at Great Paxton (Hunts).

He was buried at Great Paxton, 14 March 1702. His widow was buried at Great Paxton, 11 May 1707.

* I was initially suspicious about the identification of the vicar of Great Paxton with the child baptised in 1609, since if this is correct he would have been 93 when he died. An ordination in 1644 would normally suggest birth about 1620, making him a more plausible 82 at death, and there is no evidence of his pursuing another career before he entered the church. However, I have been unable to find any evidence that there were two Ferdinand(o)s at this time, so I have concluded that Maddison may be right in linking him to the 1609 baptism.

Beridge, Rev. Basil (1662-86). Second son of Rev. Ferdinand Beridge (1609-1702) and his wife Anne, baptised at Great Paxton (Hunts), 13 February 1661/2. Educated at Knotting (Beds) and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1679; BA 1683; MA 1686). Ordained deacon, 1684 and priest, 1685. He was unmarried and without issue.

He died 28 December 1686 and was buried at Algarkirk.

Beridge, Rev. Charles (1655-93). Elder son of Rev. Ferdinand Beridge (1609-1702) and his wife Anne, born at Wartnaby (Leics), 28 November 1655. Educated at Offord (Hunts) and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1671; BA 1675; MA 1678). Rector and patron of Algarkirk, 1678-93. He married, 20 April 1681 at Great Paxton (Hunts), Barbara (1659-94), daughter of Richard Naylour of Offord Darcy (Hunts), and had issue:

(1) Barbara Beridge (1682-1713), baptised at Algarkirk, 20 April 1682; married, 11 December 1712 at Pinchbeck (Lincs), Edward Watson (b. 1675) of Pinchbeck; died without issue and was buried at Algarkirk, 22 November 1713;

(2) Mary Beridge (b. 1683), baptised at Algarkirk, 1 November 1683; said to have married [forename unknown] Ranby;

(3) Rev. Basil Beridge (c.1686-1737) (q.v.);

(4) Anne Beridge (1689-93), baptised at Algarkirk, 2 May 1689; died young, 28 April 1693, and was buried at Algarkirk.

He lived at Algarkirk Hall.

He died 2 December 1693 and was buried at Algarkirk; his will was proved 2 January 1693/4. His widow died in January or February 1693/4; her will was proved 10 February 1693/4.

Beridge, Rev. Basil (c.1686-1737). Only son of Rev. Charles Beridge (1655-93) and his wife Barbara, daughter of Richard Naylour of Offord Darcy (Hunts), born about 1686. Educated at Pembroke College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1702; LLB 1708). Ordained deacon, 1708 and priest, 1710. Rector of Blankney (Lincs), 1712-22; rector of Algarkirk, 1716-37 and vicar of Sutterton, 1722-37. He married, 25 November 1708 at Saltfleetby St Peter (Lincs), Mary (c.1687-1752), daughter of John Williamson of Saltfleetby, and had issue:

(1) Basil Beridge (1709-53), baptised at Pinchbeck (Lincs), 3 November 1708; farmer; died unmarried, 27 February, and was buried at Algarkirk, 7 March 1753;

(2) John Beridge (1710-15), baptised at Pinchbeck, 31 August 1710; died young and was buried at Pinchbeck, 11 November 1715;

(3) Rev. Charles Beridge (1711-82) (q.v.);

(4) Rev. John Beridge (1712-44) (q.v.).

He lived at Algarkirk Hall.

He died 13 October and was buried at Algarkirk, 15 October 1737; his will was proved in the PCC, 21 April 1738. His widow died 10 January 1752 and was buried at Algarkirk.

Beridge, Rev. Charles (1711-82). Third son of Rev. Basil Beridge (c.1686-1737) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Williamson of Saltfleetby (Lincs), baptised at Pinchbeck (Lincs), 26 July 1711. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1730; LLB 1736; LLD 1749); Fellow of Trinity Hall, 1734-38. Ordained deacon and priest, 1737. Rector and patron of Algarkirk, 1737-82; prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral, 1762-69. He married, by 1742, Lettice (1715-78), daughter of Alderman Thomas Fox of Cambridge, and had issue:

(1) Charles Williamson Beridge (b. & d. 1743), born 22 July and baptised at Algarkirk, 1 September 1743; died in infancy and was buried at Algarkirk, 7 October 1743.

He lived at Algarkirk Hall but also had a house in Trinity Lane, Cambridge.

He died in Cambridge, 12 June and was buried at Algarkirk, 20 June 1782. His wife died 6 November and was buried at Algarkirk, 11 November 1778, where she is commemorated by a monument.

Beridge, Rev. John (1712-44). Fourth son of Rev. Basil Beridge (c.1686-1737) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Williamson of Saltfleetby (Lincs), baptised at Pinchbeck (Lincs), 17 July 1712. Educated at St Catherine's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1731; BA 1735). Ordained deacon, 1735 and priest, 1737. Curate of Sutterton (Lincs), 1735-37; vicar of Wethersfield (Essex), and Barkston (Lincs), 1737-44, but evidently employed a curate at the former as he resided in Lincolnshire. He married 1st, 8 May 1736 at Sproxton (Leics), Ruth (1713-39), daughter of Leonard Bury of Sewston (Leics) and widow of John Scott of Buckminster (Leics), and 2nd, 25 February 1741 at Spalding (Lincs), Susanna (c.1721-49), daughter of Robert Butler of Spalding, merchant, and had issue:

(1.1) Rev. Basil Bury Beridge (1736-1808) (q.v.);

(1.2) Rev. Leonard Beridge (1738-91), baptised at Barkston (Lincs), 5 June 1738; educated at Jesus College, Cambridge (matriculated 1756; BA 1760; MA 1763; DD 1763); Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, 1763-71; ordained deacon, 1766 and priest, 1767; vicar of Sutterton (Lincs), 1770-91; died unmarried at Matlock Bath (Derbys), 4 April 1791; 

(1.3) Charles Beridge (1739-40), born 11 June and baptised at Barkston, 25 June 1739; died in infancy and was buried at Buckminster (Leics), 21 May 1740;

(2.1) Frances Beridge (1743-1817), born 29 May and baptised at Barkston, 1 July 1743; married, 30 March 1772 at Tickhill (Yorks WR), Maj-Gen. Henry Gladwin (c.1730-91) of Stubbing Court (Derbys), and had issue two sons and eight daughters; buried at Wingerworth (Derbys), 4 November 1817; will proved in the PCC, 7 February 1818;

(2.2) John Beridge (1744-88), baptised at Carlton Scroop (Lincs), between July and December 1744; educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1763; MB 1769); physician in Derby; married, 2 October 1775 at Bradbourne (Derbys), Martha (1747-1827) (who m2, 28 April 1792, Rev. Thomas Francis Twigge (1755-1821), vicar of Tickhill), daughter of Rev. German Buckstone of Bradbourne, but had no issue; died 17 October and was buried at Algarkirk, 25 October 1788, where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved in the PCC, 15 December 1788.

He lived latterly at Carlton Scroop (Lincs).

He died 18 October 1744, and was buried at Algarkirk, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 9 February 1744/5. His first wife died 22 June 1739 and was buried at Buckminster. His widow married 2nd, 10 January 1747/8 at Sutterton (Lincs), Henry Boulton of Moulton (Lincs), gent.; she died 10 November, and was buried at Moulton, 14 November 1749.

Beridge, Rev. Basil Bury (1736-1808). Eldest son of Rev. John Beridge (1712-44) and his first wife, Ruth, daughter of Leonard Bury of Sewston (Leics), born 4 April and baptised at Barkston (Lincs), 11 May 1736. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1756). Ordained deacon and priest, 1761. A prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral, 1770-1808; rector and patron of Algarkirk, 1782-1808. He married 1st, 7 November 1760 at Mansfield (Notts), Dorothy (d. 1792), daughter of Henry Gladwin (1692-1763) of Stubbing Court (Derbys), and 2nd, 27 June 1793 at St Michael, Paternoster Royal, London, Dorothy (1767-1840), daughter and co-heir of John Tanfield of Carthorpe (Yorks), and had issue:

(2.1) Dorothy Beridge (1794-1833); baptised at Algarkirk, 2 December 1794; married (as his second wife), 18 December 1817, at the house of the British consul in Marseilles (France), James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838) of Gosfield Place (Essex), and had issue three sons and two daughters [for whom see below, under Sparrow of Gosfield Place]; died 12 February and was buried at Gosfield (Essex), 21 February 1833;

(2.2) Frances Beridge (1795-1808), baptised at Algarkirk, 9 November 1795; died young at Cleve Dale, Mangotsfield (Glos), 10 October, and was buried at Abbots Leigh (Som.), 18 October 1808;

(2.3) Rev. Basil Beridge (1797-1881) (q.v.);

(2.4) Tanfield Basil Beridge (1798-c.1819), baptised at Algarkirk, 8 April 1798; an officer in the 4th Dragoon Guards (Cornet, 1813; Lt. 1814); died unmarried in South America, c.1819;

(2.5) Marianna Beridge (1800-84), born December 1800 and baptised at Algarkirk, 11 January 1801; married, 24 October 1820 at Algarkirk, Capt. the Rev. Charles Boothby (1786-1846), vicar of Sutterton, rector of Barnoldby-le-Beck (Lincs) and prebendary of Southwell Minster, third son of Sir William Boothby, 4th & 5th bt., and had issue one son and two daughters; died at Coombe Bury, Kingston-on-Thames (Surrey), 22 December, and was buried at Algarkirk, 30 December 1884; administration of goods granted 13 March 1885 (effects £248).

He lived at Algarkirk Hall and apparently remodelled it and laid out the grounds.

He died 22 February 1808 and was buried at Algarkirk; his will was proved in the PCC, 17 August 1808. His first wife died 4 June and was buried at Algarkirk, 9 June 1792. His second wife married 2nd, 30 March 1814 at Sutterton, John Harriott Roe (c.1768-1833); she died 5 November and was buried at Algarkirk, 12 November 1840.

Beridge, Rev. Basil (1797-1881). Elder son of Rev. Basil Bury Beridge (1736-1808) and his second wife Dorothy, daughter and co-heir of John Tanfield of Carthorpe (Yorks), born 10 January and baptised at Algarkirk, 19 January 1797. Educated at Harrow and Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1815). Ordained deacon and priest, 1822; rector and patron of Algarkirk, 1822-81; prebendary and canon of Lincoln Cathedral, 1872-81. In 1843 he was made responsible for the custody of his nephew, Henry Weare Sparrow, who had been declared a lunatic. He married 1st, 30 October 1823 at Tathwell (Lincs), Bettina Mary Elizabeth (1805-24), only daughter of William Chaplin of Thorpe Hall (Lincs), and 2nd, 21 August 1828 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Judith Pulteney (1808-60), daughter of John Fawcett (later Pulteney) of Northerwood (Hants), but had no issue.

He lived at Algarkirk Hall which he remodelled c.1825.

He died at Coombe Bury, Kingston-upon-Thames (Surrey), 20 July 1881, and was buried at Algarkirk; his will was proved 6 September 1881 (effects £65,627). His first wife died at Clifton near Bristol (Glos), 6 July 1824. His second wife died at Scarborough (Yorks), 10 August 1860; her will was proved in October 1860 but after her husband's death a later will was found and administration was granted to her husband's executors, 1 September 1881 (effects £9,959).

Sparrow, Rev. John Beridge (1828-97). Third son of James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838) [for whom see below, under Sparrow of Gosfield Place] and his wife Dorothy, eldest daughter of Rev. Basil Bury Beridge of Algarkirk Hall (Lincs), born 24 June and baptised at Gosfield, 7 July 1828. Educated privately and at Magdalene College, Cambridge (matriculated 1847; BA 1851). Ordained deacon, 1851 and priest, 1853. Curate of St Thomas, Dudley (Worcs), 1851-53; vicar of Offton and rector of Little Bricett (Suffk), 1853-58; vicar of Great Cornard (Suffk), 1858-81, and rector of Algarkirk with Fosdyke, 1881-97. JP for Lincolnshire (from 1884). He married, 14 July 1859, Louisa Henrietta (1838-1916), daughter of Rev. Samuel Hartopp Knapp, rector of Letchworth (Herts), and had issue:

(1) Constance Julia Sparrow (1860-1933), born 13 April and baptised at Great Cornard, 13 May 1860; married, 9 April 1885 at Algarkirk, Robert Wyndham Jermyn Rushbrooke (1858-1908), of Rushbrooke Hall (Suffk), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 9 January 1933; will proved 23 May 1933 (estate £6,746);

(2) Mabel Eleanor Sparrow (1861-1947), baptised at Great Cornard, 15 September 1861; married, 9 October 1884 at Algarkirk, Bartholomew Claypon Garfit (1857-1922), son of Thomas Garfit of Kenwick Hall  (Lincs), and had issue five daughters; died 20 January 1947;  will proved 25 April 1947 (estate £10.732);

(3) Violet Dorothy Sparrow (1864-1907), baptised at Great Cornard, 17 July 1864; died unmarried at Thurston (Suffk), 26 July 1907;

(4) Hugh Cuthbert Beridge Sparrow (1867-1943), baptised at Great Cornard, 27 October 1867; served in the Imperial Yeomanry during the Boer War; farmer at Chartknole, Beaminster (Dorset);  married, 29 April 1912 at Beaminster, Evelyn Lucy Margaret (1882-1960), daughter of George Frederic Pinney of Brooklands, Beaminster; died 13 October 1943; will proved 17 January 1944 (estate £20,521);

(5) Sylvia Margaret Sparrow (1871-1955), baptised at Great Cornard, 5 February 1871; married, 18 January 1898 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx), William Cranford Hurrell, son of S.W. Hurrell of Burgh (Lincs), and had issue four children; lived latterly at Probus (Cornw.); died 18 April 1955 and was buried at Probus; will proved 22 November 1955 (estate £4,994).

He lived at Abbas Hall, Great Cornard from c.1858 and at Algarkirk Hall from 1881.

He died 18 September and was buried at Great Cornard (Suffk), 20 September 1897; his will was proved 25 October 1897 (effects £12,702). His widow died at Thurston (Suffk), 4 July 1916, and was buried at Great Cornard (Suffk).

Sparrow of Gosfield Place

Sparrow, James (1725-77). Only son of John Sparrow (1697-1742?) of Halstead (Essex), and his first wife Jane, only daughter and heir of Robert Sparrow of Offton (Suffk), baptised at Sible Hedingham (Essex), 8 April 1725. Farmer and landowner with property at Sible Hedingham, Gosfield and Halstead (Essex) and several parishes in Suffolk, who described himself as 'gentleman' rather than 'esquire'. He married Margaret (d. 1790), daughter and co-heir of Rev. Thomas Bernard, rector of Little Bardfield (Essex), and had issue:

(1) Jane Sparrow (1751-1800), baptised at Stisted (Essex), 4 June 1751; married, 16 February 1775 at Gosfield, Lt. Fiske Manistre RN (1742-82) of Halstead, son of John Manistre of Halstead, surgeon, and had issue one son; died 31 July 1800, and was buried at Sible Hedingham, where she is commemorated on her brother Thomas' monument;

(2) Rev. John Sparrow (1756-86), of Gosfield, born 7 February and baptised at Gosfield, 2 March 1756; educated at Witham GS and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1773; BA 1777; MA 1780); ordained deacon, 1780, and priest, 1781; rector of Thorpe Morieux (Suffk), 1781-86 and rector of Kettleburgh and vicar of Parham and Hacheston (Suffk), 1786; died unmarried and was buried at Sible Hedingham, 30 August 1786;

(3) Sarah Sparrow (1760-1830), born 5 June and baptised at Gosfield, 17 June 1760; married, 11 May 1795 at Gosfield, Rev. Charles Edward Holden (1763-1848), vicar of Great Cornard (Suffk), son of the Rev. Edward Holden of Barsham (Suffk), but had no issue; died 6 April and was buried at Barsham, 14 April 1830; administration (with will annexed) granted to her husband, 15 June 1830;

(4) Thomas Bernard Sparrow (1766-93), born 4 November and baptised at Gosfield, 26 November 1766; educated at Bury St Edmunds GS (from which he was expelled for locking the headmaster out of the school) and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1784; BA 1788); inherited the Gosfield Place estate from his father in 1777; died unmarried when he was accidentally drowned while bathing near his home, 23 April, and was buried at Sible Hedingham, 2 May 1793, where he is commemorated by a monument;

(5) Martha Sparrow (1768-1861), born 5 February and baptised at Gosfield, 11 March 1768; married, 16 January 1798 at Gosfield, Rev. Newman John Stubbin (1768-1835), vicar of Offton with Little Bricett (Suffk) and perpetual curate of Higham St Mary (Suffk), son of John Stubbin, and had issue two sons; lived latterly at Whitton Villa (Suffk); died aged 93 on 25 April 1861; will proved 20 July 1861 (estate under £4,000).

(6) James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838) (q.v.).

He purchased the Biggs (later Gosfield Place) estate, apparently in the 1750s.

He died 29 October and was buried at Sible Hedingham, 6 November 1777; his will was proved in the PCC, 13 February 1778. His widow died 13 March 1790; her will was proved in the PCC, 26 July 1790.

Sparrow, James Goodeve (1770-1838). Third son of James Sparrow (1725-77) and his wife Margaret, daughter and co-heir of Rev. Thomas Bernard, rector of Little Bardfield (Essex), born 28 January and baptised at Gosfield, 23 February 1770. Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (matriculated 1788). Partner in Suffolk & Essex Bank, later Messrs. Sparrow, Walford, Notledge & Greenwood of Chelmsford and Braintree, bankers. A freemason from 1821. He married 1st, 29 October 1799 at Lakenham (Norfk), Anne (1781-1813), youngest daughter of James Crowe of Lakenham, and 2nd, 18 December 1817, Dorothy (1794-1833), daughter of Rev. Basil Bury Beridge of Algarkirk (Lincs), and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Ann Sparrow (1801-25), born 25 May and baptised at Lakenham, 21 June 1801; died unmarried, 27 July and was buried at Lakenham, 5 August 1825;

(1.2) James Crowe Sparrow (1802-20), born 3 November 1802 and baptised at Gosfield, 23 September 1805; died unmarried 'of a decline' [probably tuberculosis] and was buried at Gosfield, 19 September 1820;

(1.3) Margaret Sparrow (1803-04), born 17 November and baptised at Lakenham, 18 December 1803; died 17 July and was buried at Gosfield, 20 July 1804;

(1.4) Margaret Sparrow (1805-92), born about 1805; married, 10 November 1824 at Lakenham, Col. William Bragge (1788-1863) of Sadbarow (Dorset), and had issue three sons and six daughters; died at Weymouth (Dorset), 16 January 1892;

(1.5) Sarah Augusta Sparrow (1807-31), born 12 August 1807 and baptised at Lakenham, 10 November 1811; died unmarried in Brighton (Sussex), 8 December, and was buried at Gosfield, 21 December 1831;

(1.6) Jane Sparrow (1808-91), born 19 November 1808 and baptised at Lakenham, 10 November 1811; married 1st, 27 March 1826 in the chapel of the British Embassy in Paris (annulled on grounds of non-consummation, 1842), Fiske Goodeve Harrison (later Fiske-Harrison (1793-1872) of Copford Hall (Essex), eldest son of John Haynes Harrison, but had no issue; married 2nd, 13 July 1843 at St Marylebone (Middx), Thomas Pynsent (1809-87) of Pitt House, Chudleigh (Devon) and later of Lakenham House (Devon), and had issue three daughters; lived latterly at Belmont House, Northam (Devon); died in Clifton (Glos), 30 January 1891; will proved 7 April 1891 (effects £104,307);

(2.1) Henry Weare Sparrow (later Beridge) (1819-95) (q.v.);

(2.2) Basil Sparrow (1820-80) (q.v.);

(2.3) Dorothy Emma Sparrow (1821-69), born 4 December 1821 and baptised at Christ Church, Bristol, 1 January 1822; married, 27 April 1847 at the house of the British consul in Florence (Italy), as his second wife, Dr Edward John Tilt MD (1815-93) of Grosvenor Sq., Westminster (Middx), obstetrician and gynaecologist; died 17 March and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 23 March 1869; will proved 12 May 1869 (effects under £100);

(2.4) Annette Rosalie Sparrow (1825-1910), born 4 September and baptised at St Andrew, Clifton (Glos), 20 September 1825; married, 14 December 1848 at Holy Trinity, Paddington (Middx), William Devoy (c.1811-62) of Woodlands, Potters Bar (Herts) and Gosfield Grange (Essex), barrister-at-law, son of William Devoy; died at Loughton (Essex), 3 January 1910; will proved 8 August 1912 (estate £18,153);

(2.5) Rev. John Beridge Sparrow (1828-97) [for whom see below, Beridge of Algarkirk].

He inherited Gosfield Place from his elder brother in 1793 and remodelled it c.1800-03. He and his family seem to have lived at Lakenham while the work was in progress. In the early 1820s he and his second wife lived in Bristol for some years.

He died 3 October 1838; his will was proved in the PCC, 30 November 1838. His first wife died at Clifton (Glos) after a long illness, 24 January 1813 and was buried at Gosfield, 7 February 1813. His second wife died 12 February and was buried at Gosfield, 21 February 1833, although curiously the codicil to his will made following her death is dated 1831, presumably in error.

Sparrow (later Beridge), Henry Weare (1819-94). Eldest son of James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838) and his wife Dorothy, eldest daughter of Rev. Basil Bury Beridge of Algarkirk Hall (Lincs), born 5 February and baptised at Christ Church, Bristol, 18 February 1819. Educated at Eton. He became mentally ill in the late 1830s and was found to be a lunatic in 1842 and placed in the custody of his uncle, Rev. Basil Beridge (1797-1881) [for whom see above, under Beridge of Algarkirk] but was confined in asylums from 1848 onwards. His affairs were subsequently under the control of the Lord Chancellor. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Gosfield Place (Essex) from his father in 1838 and the Algarkirk Hall estate from his uncle in 1881.

He died at Hailsham (Sussex), 18 September, and was buried at Gosfield, 22 September 1894.

Sparrow, Basil (1820-80). Second son of James Goodeve Sparrow (1770-1838) and his wife Dorothy, eldest daughter of Rev. Basil Bury Beridge of Algarkirk Hall (Lincs), born 1 August and baptised at Christ Church, Bristol, 2 September 1820. Educated at Shrewsbury School and Worcester College, Oxford (matriculated 1838). Banker with Sparrow Tufnell & Co. of Chelmsford and other Essex towns. JP and DL for Essex. A Conservative in politics. He married, 28 December 1846 at Gosfield, Julia (1825-97), daughter of James Scratton of Prittlewell Priory (Essex), and had issue:

(1) Amy Julia Sparrow (1850-76), born 9 June and baptised at Gosfield, 25 August 1850; married, 8 October 1872 at Gosfield, Rev. William Edward Lionel Lampet (1841-1921), vicar of Great Bardfield (Essex), 1867-1921, son of Barrett Edward Lampet, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 19 August and was buried at Great Bardfield, 24 August 1876;

(2) Isabel Mary Sparrow (1851-1922), born 10 September and baptised at Gosfield, 23 November 1851; married, 14 December 1876 at Gosfield, Bendyshe William Ellys Walton (1855-85) of Bower Hall, Steeple Bumpstead (Essex), son of Maj. Charles Walton, but had no issue; lived latterly at Cosgrove Lodge, Lexden (Essex); died 16 October 1922; will proved 13 December 1922 (estate £21,252);

(3) Serena Elizabeth Sparrow (1852-1920), born 16 October and baptised at Gosfield, 26 December 1852; married, 5 June 1888 at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington (Middx), as his third wife, George Courtauld (1830-1920) of Cut Hedge, Gosfield, multi-millionaire partner in Samuel Courtauld & Co. Ltd., cloth manufacturers, and Liberal MP for Maldon (Essex), 1878-85, and had issue one son, who predeceased her; died 4 July 1920; will proved 17 September 1920 (estate £127,948);

(4) Rev. Basil James Harold Sparrow (later Beridge) (1853-1929) (q.v.);

(5) Florence Ellen Sparrow (1854-1937), born 25 November 1854 and baptised at Gosfield, 16 August 1855; lived at Rookwoods, Sible Hedingham (Essex); died unmarried, 3 May 1937; will proved 3 August 1937 (estate £50,979);

(6) Valentine Arthur George John Sparrow (1856-72), born 14 February and baptised at Gosfield, 15 June 1856; died young, 10 July and was buried at Gosfield, 27 July 1872;

(7) Herbert Edward Sparrow (1857-82), born 14 March and baptised at Gosfield, 12 August 1857; educated at Charterhouse and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (matriculated 1874); banker in the family bank; died unmarried following an accident in which he was thrown from a dog cart driven by his brother Reginald near Gosfield, 12 April, and was buried at Gosfield, 17 April 1882; administration of goods granted 20 June 1882 (effects £1,285) and 11 November 1897 (effects £2,265);

(8) Lucy Margaret Sparrow (1858-69), born 30 June and baptised at Gosfield, 14 October 1858; died young, 4 January, and was buried at Gosfield, 8 January 1869;

(9) Beatrice Emma Sparrow (1859-1941), born 22 September and baptised at Gosfield, 30 November 1859; married, 2 April 1891 at Gosfield, Maj. John Charles Lawrie (1859-1915), son of Maj. John Lawrie, and had issue one daughter; died at Glebe House, Stanway (Essex), 10 December, and was buried at White Notley (Essex), 13 December 1941; will proved 25 February 1942 (estate £8,240);

(10) Reginald Bragge Sparrow (1860-82), born 11 December 1860; an officer in the Dublin City militia (2nd Lt., 1878; 'services dispensed with', 1883); died unmarried, 31 December 1882; administration of goods granted, 7 June 1883 (effects £160);

(11) Ethel Bertha Sparrow (1862-1943), born 10 March and baptised at Gosfield, 21 April 1862; a keen member of the East Essex Hunt for more than fifty years; lived with her older sister at Rookwoods, Sible Hedingham (Essex) from 1891; died 28 October 1943; will proved 21 March 1944 (estate £80,504);

(12) Augusta Rosalie Sparrow (1865-70), born 21 March and baptised at Gosfield, 7 May 1865; died young, 6 June, and was buried at Gosfield, 11 June 1870;

(13) Col. Richard Sparrow (1871-1953), born 10 June and baptised at Gosfield, 23 July 1871; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1892; Lt. 1895; Capt., 1899; Maj., 1903; Lt-Col., 1914; retired as Col., 1919) who was appointed CMG, 1916 and DSO, 1918; lived at The Lodge, Colne Engaine (Essex); married 1st, 16 November 1918 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), his first cousin, Cecily Mabel (1890-1940), daughter of Maj. Bartholomew Claypon Garfit and widow of Capt. Lawrence Heyworth of Dalby Hall, Spilsby (Lincs); married 2nd, 10 September 1941 at Hackthorn (Lincs), Dorothea Barbara (1873-1968), daughter of William Goddard Jackson and widow of Arthur Bruce Peacock (later Willson) of Rauceby Hall (Lincs); died 6 December 1953.

He lived at Gosfield Place (Essex), which he rebuilt on a new site in 1863-65 at a cost of £62,000, probably to the designs of J.T. Knowles senior. He lived at Attwoods, Halstead and later at Twinstead Hall (Essex) while the rebuilding was in progress.

He died 21 September, and was buried at Gosfield, 25 September 1880; his will was proved 18 December 1880 (effects under £60,000). His widow died suddenly, 8 February, and was buried at Gosfield, 12 February 1897; her will was proved 21 April 1897 (effects £5,188).

Sparrow (later Beridge), Rev. Basil James Harold (1853-1929). Eldest son of Basil Sparrow (1820-80) and his wife Julia, daughter of James Scratton of Prittlewell Priory (Essex), born 23 November and baptised at Gosfield, 28 December 1853. Educated at Charterhouse and Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1872; BA 1876; MA 1880). Ordained deacon, 1877 and priest, 1878. He was curate of Chaceley (Worcs), 1877-80, Bocking (Essex), 1880-81 and of Clacton-on-Sea, 1902-03, but was otherwise without clerical employment. He took the name and arms of Beridge in lieu of Sparrow by royal licence, 1895. He appointed an elderly (and, as it proved, eccentric) clergyman who was not a member of the family to the vacant living of Algarkirk and sold the advowson in 1903. He married, 18 July 1882 at Hove (Sussex) (sep. by 1911*), Margaret Louisa (1861-1925), daughter of Henry Capel Elliot of South Kensington (Middx), and widow of Mark Markwick (d. 1881), gent., and had issue:

(1) Basil James Goodeve Sparrow Beridge (1883-1923), born 26 September 1883 and was baptised at Gosfield (Essex), 31 July 1884; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1901; resigned 1902); bankrupt, 1906; and later a non-commissioned officer in the army; married, Apr-Jun 1908 at Westminster (Middx), Grace Louise (1880-1967), daughter of Frederick Henry Hurburgh of Limehouse (Middx), master mariner, and had issue one son and two daughters; died at Brighton (Sussex) in the lifetime of his father, 1923; after his death his widow became a boarding house keeper in Brighton.

He inherited Gosfield Place (Essex) from his uncle in 1894, but sold it in 1924 to Mr A.D. Letch, builder, for £1,400 for demolition and lived latterly at Clacton-on-Sea (Essex). Gosfield Place was demolished in 1924-25: Letch is said to have realised more from the sale of the building materials than he paid for the property.

He died at Clacton-on-Sea (Essex), 13 March 1929, and was buried at Gosfield; his will was proved 19 April 1929 (estate £53,429). His wife died April-June 1925.

* He appears not only to have separated from his wife but also to have ceased to acknowledge his son, publishing a notice in 1902 that he would not be responsible for his son's debts and stating in the 1911 census that he and his wife had had no children.

Principal sources

A.R. Maddison, Lincolnshire pedigrees, vol. 1, 1902, pp. 124-27; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, p. 120; H. Healey 'Beridges, benefice and bricks: an Algarkirk miscellany' in C. Sturman (ed.), Lincolnshire People & Places, 1996, pp. 43-50; J. Bettley & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Essex, 2nd edn., 2007, p. 381; R. Pacey, Lost Lincolnshire Country Houses, vol. 6, 2010; R. Burrows, St Peter and St Paul, Algarkirk: Conservation Management Plan, 2013, pp. 11-12; D.L. Roberts, Lincolnshire houses, 2018, p. 424.

Location of archives

Beridge and Sparrow families of Algarkirk: estate and family papers, 1782-1910 [Lincolnshire Archives, Beridge]

Sparrow, Tufnell & Co. of Chelmsford etc., bankers: partnership, branch and customer records, correspondence and accounts, 1808-96 [Barclays Group Archives]

Sparrow and Beridge families of Gosfield Place: deeds, estate and family papers, 1460-1925 [Essex Record Office D/DBm]

Coat of arms

Argent, a saltire engrailed between four escallops sable.

Can you help?

• Does anyone have any further views of Gosfield Place before the 1860s rebuilding, or any pictures of the interior of the 1860s house?
• 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 28 May 2024 and updated 12 June 2024. I am most grateful for the assistance of James Bettley, Rory O'Donnell and Phillip Judge with unscrambling the history of Gosfield Place.

(569) Benyon of Gidea Hall and Englefield House

Benyon of Englefield

The Benyon family were established as merchants in London throughout the 17th century. Daniel Benyon (d. 1690) was master of the tallow chandlers' company in 1689-90, and his son, Daniel Benyon (1664-1708), with whom the genealogy below begins, perhaps continued his father's business. By the time of his death in 1708 he was living at Blackheath (Kent), and in less than two years he was followed to the grave by his daughter and his widow, all three of them being buried at Lee (Kent). This left only his young son, Richard Benyon (1698-1774), orphaned at the age of eleven, for whom responsibility evidently fell on Col. John Perry, probably a neighbour or friend of his father. In what seems at first sight an uncommonly callous and risky action, Perry sent the boy out to India, but it is not known what arrangements were made for him there, or indeed for his care during the journey. On arrival, he was taken into the household of Osmond de Beauvoir, who in due course arranged for his employment by the East India Company as a writer and later as a colonial administrator. He evidently showed some aptitude for the work, for at the age of just twenty he was appointed to the Council of Fort St. George (later Madras and now Chennai), and served in that role until 1725, when he made a first return to England, bringing with him his first wife. Richard had evidently already begun to make money in India, for in 1728 he bought the manor of Coptfold at Margaretting. He probably intended to make this his principal residence at the time, for he constructed a family vault in Margaretting church where he and several members of his family were later buried, but in about 1732 he returned to India, rejoining the Council at Fort St George and in 1735 heing appointed President or Governor of the Fort. Employment as an  official of the East India Company offered many opportunities for private enrichment, which varied from straightforward commercial side-hustles to outright bribery, corruption and extortion. In the relatively lawless world of the Indian sub-continent, Benyon's hands seem to have been cleaner than most, but he still returned to England at the end of his Governorship in 1744 with a fortune estimated at £75,000. Once settled in England he bought further property in Essex, including the Gidea Hall estate in 1745, the Newbury estate in Ilford in 1747, and the North Ockendon Hall estate in 1758. He also married again, this time to Mary Wrighte (1714-77), who was the niece of the Osmond de Beauvoir who had taken him into his household in India thirty years earlier and also the widow of Powlett Wrighte of Englefield House, in which she held a life interest.

Richard and Mary Benyon made a town house in Grosvenor Square, London, their principal residence (although they do seem to have spent time at both Gidea Hall and Englefield), and there they raised their son, Richard Benyon II (1746-96) as well as Mary's son by her first marriage, Powlett Wrighte (1739-79). Once they reached adulthood, Powlett took possession of Englefield House and Richard junior made his home at Gidea Hall, and both men were responsible for alterations. Powlett died without issue in 1779 and the Englefield estate passed to his uncle, Nathan Wrighte (1717-89) for life, with remainder to Richard Benyon II, whose eldest son, Richard Benyon III (later Benyon de Beauvoir), was about to come of age. Probably recognising that Englefield, with its 11,000 acre estate, was a significantly grander property than Gidea Hall, Richard Benyon II installed his son at Englefield and left instructions in his will that Gidea Hall should be sold for the benefit of his younger children, although the other Essex property was retained for several further generations.

Richard Benyon III was married in 1797 to Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Francis Sykes, another Indian nabob, whose seat at Basildon Park (Berks) lay fairly close to Englefield. Although the couple seem to have been happily married until Elizabeth's death in 1822, the fact that they had no children to inherit their Berkshire and Essex property did not deter Richard from remodelling Englefield House to the designs of Thomas Hopper. Richard had adopted the additional names Powlett Wrighte before Benyon in 1814, and in 1822 he changed his name again to Benyon de Beauvoir, on inheriting the Hackney (Middx) estate of his elderly great-great-uncle, the Rev. Peter de Beauvoir, rector of Downham (Essex). Shortly before his death, de Beauvoir had leased his entire estate at Hackney to William Rhodes (the grandfather of Cecil Rhodes, the explorer), a speculative builder who had plans for developing the area as an up-market residential district. Richard Benyon de Beauvoir quickly realised that the lease, which gave him a paltry £1,200 a year, divided the returns from developing the estate unfairly, and he asked the courts to set it aside on the grounds that his great-great-uncle had not understood what he was agreeing to. The case was hotly contested and went all the way to the House of Lords, but final judgement was given in his favour in 1834. Having recovered possession, he implemented a new plan, developing the area as middle-class housing, the rents from which quickly made him an extremely wealthy man. When he died in 1854, the press speculated wildly about his net worth, estimating it at £7,500,000. That figure was vastly overstated, but the estate income in the 1880s suggests that the capital value might have been as much as £2.5 million. His wealth was not derived wholly from the Hackney estate, for in 1824, before development began, he was in a position to purchase the Culford Hall estate (Suffk) from the estate of Lord Cornwallis for £230,000, perhaps financed partly by borrowing. In 1839 he settled this property on his nephew, the Rev. Edward Richard Benyon (1802-83), who is said to have been born at Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1802 but who first appears on the public record when he went to Cambridge in 1820. 

When he died in 1854, Richard Benyon de Beauvoir left Englefield House, the Hackney estate and his remaining Essex property to a genuine nephew, Richard Fellowes (1811-97), who was the second surviving son of Benyon de Beauvoir's sister Emma and her husband, William Henry Fellowes (1769-1837). He was the middle one of three brothers, collectively known as 'the lucky Fellowes', who all acquired country houses as a result of inheritances. Richard, who was a barrister, took the name Benyon at his uncle's request and settled at Englefield House, which he again remodelled in the late 1850s to the design of a little-known Scottish architect, Richard Armstrong. Richard Benyon served as chairman of the Berkshire Quarter Sessions for twenty years, and was noted as a philanthropist, said to have built more churches on and around his estates than any other man in modern times, although he kept his donations quiet, 'having a dread of his benevolent actions becoming known'.

Kingston Maurward House

He and his wife had three daughters, but no son to succeed him, so at his death in 1897 the estates again passed to a nephew, this time his brother James' son, James Herbert Fellowes (1849-1935). James had also inherited Kingston Maurward House (Dorset) from his father, but he sold this in 1906. He took the name Benyon in 1897 and was Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire from 1901 until his death, when he was succeeded by his only son, Sir Henry Benyon (1884-1959), 1st bt, who was raised to a baronetcy in 1958. Sir Henry sold the remaining Essex estates to clear the death duties payable on his father's estates, but was able to retain the Englefield House and Hackney properties, although due to wartime restrictions during after the Second World War his properties deteriorated in both condition and value. He served as Lord Lieutenant, 1945-59, like his father, and was briefly Chairman of Berkshire County Council.

Sir Henry and his wife had no children, so at his death his estates passed to his second cousin, Vice-Admiral Richard Benyon Shelley (1892-1968), the younger son of Col. Sir John Shelley (1848-1931), 9th bt. and his wife Marion Emma Benyon, daughter of Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) (1811-97). Admiral Shelley took the name Benyon, but passed the estate straight on to his eldest son, Sir William Richard Shelley (later Benyon) (1930-2014), kt., who as Bill Benyon was a long-serving MP for Buckingham and later Milton Keynes, 1970-92, and who was knighted in 1994 after retiring from the Commons. Sir Bill effected a remarkable transformation in the fortunes of his estates, carefully restoring Englefield House and encouraging and supporting the 'gentrification' of his Hackney property, with a resulting growth in the rental income it provides. He handed the estates over to his elder son, the Rt. Hon. Richard Henry Ronald Benyon (b. 1960) in about 2010. Mr. Benyon also pursued a political career, serving as MP for Newbury, 2005-19, and being made a life peer as Baron Benyon in 2021. He has continued the process of developing and diversifying his estates with vigour, and has ensured the succession, with five sons by his two marriages. The Hackney property is now managed on his behalf by his younger brother, Edward Benyon (b. 1962).

Gidea Hall, Hare Street, Romford, Essex

The house is first referred to in 1250. Sir Thomas Cooke obtained the king’s licence to create a park, and to rebuild and crenellate Gidea Hall in 1466, but 'falling under the displeasure of the Court, to the great injury of his fortune, he completed only the front'. His great-grandson, Sir Anthony Cooke (d. 1576), tutor to King Edward VI, who lived in exile during the reign of Queen Mary, completed it before 1568, when he entertained Elizabeth I here. The building was moated, and consisted of four ranges round a courtyard, with an open colonnade on one side, as is shown by a survey plan in John Thorpe's late 16th century 'Book of Drawings' at the Soane Museum. In the 17th century Gidea Hall was the second largest house in the liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, after the king’s house at Havering, being taxed on 35 hearths in 1670, and Marie de Medici, mother of Queen Henrietta Maria, stayed there in 1638, as a result of which a woodcut depicting the house was published in a French account of her visit.

Gidea Hall: the house at the time of Marie de Medici's visit in 1638.

Gidea Park: ground floor plan from John Thorpe's 'Book of Drawings' [Sir John Soane Museum vol. 101, T.164]

The fortuitous survival of both a plan and a view of the house suggests that Thorpe's plan may have silently incorporated improvements of his own invention to increase the symmetry of the design; for example, he shows two canted bay windows and a doorway on the elevation nearest the viewpoint of the drawing, which the latter shows as having only one canted bay; and the external angles of the building had domed octagonal towers at the corners, barely suggested by Thorpe. In the courtyard, two large domed staircase towers stood in the internal angles at either end of the hall range. These distinctive features allow the drawing to be correctly oriented to the plan, and make it clear that the hall range was that nearest the viewpoint, with the private apartments in the range to the left of this, the main entrance being by the bridge across the moat into the right-hand range, and the colonnade facing onto the courtyard lying on the fourth side. The hall was approached from the courtyard by a flight of steps up to a porch leading into the screens passage. The rooms on the service side of the screens passage appear to be very faintly labelled in pencil as 'Wynt' and 'Kit'; i.e. Winter Parlour and Kitchen. 

The house and estate were sold soon after 1710 to Sir John Eyles, who pulled down the Tudor house and built a new one. However, some 16th century stabling west of the Georgian house survived until 1922 and if the stables in question are those shown on the right of the 17th century view - which the shape of the building on 19th century Ordnance Survey maps suggests may well be the case - then the Tudor house stood on almost exactly the same site as its successor, meaning that the 17th century view was taken from the north of the site, and that the archway on the horizon at the top of the drawing marked the access to the estate from the Roman road through Hare Street to the south. The drawing shows the land rising to that gateway, which which accords with the local topography, although it rather overstates the extent of the rise, which is only about ten feet.

Gidea Hall: engraving of the Georgian house in 1771.

Sir John Eyles was a London financier, who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1726-27 and was Whig MP for Chippenham 1715-27 and for London, 1727-34. From 1715-25 he was one of the commissioners to oversee estates forfeited to the Crown following the Jacobite rebellion, and he also served two terms as a director of the East India Company, 1710-14 and 1717-21, before being brought into the South Sea Company as deputy governor to sort out its finances following the collapse of the 'South Sea Bubble'. His new Georgian house was a plain but massive nine by seven bay, three-storey block, said to have been dated 1718, but unfortunately his architect is not recorded. The long fronts to north and south had three bay projecting centres, framed by French quoins, and also projecting end bays. The two main storeys were of even height and separated by quite a deep cornice from a full attic storey.

Gidea Hall: the estate as depicted on Chapman & Andre's map of 1777

The end elevations may originally have had recessed centres, effectively creating pavilions at the angles (as is shown on Chapman & André's map of 1777), but they later acquired broad curved bows. When the house was first built, the service accommodation seems to have been in the basement, to which light was given by an area around the house, bridged by the steps to the doors in the centre of the facade. Nothing is recorded, and little can be deduced, about the original internal arrangement of the building, but its scale means that it must always have had a top-lit central staircase.

In 1745 the estate was sold to Richard Benyon, governor of Madras, who is said to have enlarged the park in 1766, and work does seem to have taken place in the grounds at this time. The early 18th century house was set in a formal garden with a long canal to the north (Spoon Pond) and avenues converging on the house. Chapman & André's map, surveyed in 1773-74, shows that the remnants of this landscape survived but had been softened by the addition of an informal pond (now Black's Canal) to the west flanked by a wilderness with a sinuous path. The landscape architect Richard Woods was a tenant of the Benyons on their property at North Ockendon (Essex), and he was probably responsible for these works, although his name appears in the accounts only in connection with designs for a new ice house (for Richard Benyon junior) in 1776. The pond broadened at its southern end where it met the main road, making a new bridge necessary, and this was designed by James Wyatt. It survives, though it has been widened to the south, and is of three brick arches. 

Gidea Hall: an early 20th century photograph of the house showing the curved bows on the end elevations, perhaps added by James Wyatt c.1788.

By 1788, Wyatt had also designed a temple for a cold bath, and he may well have been responsible for the addition of the broad curved bows on the end elevations of the house and for alterations to the interior decoration: the one photograph of the drawing room which is known shows a late 18th century ceiling much in his style. A pedimented orangery and a stable court with a clock tower and cupola would also seem to have been late 18th century; they survived in 1911 but were demolished soon afterwards. Another landscape gardener, the great Humphry Repton, was also a tenant of the Benyons, having his polite cottage on the main road in Hare Street. In 1794 he published an engraving showing Gidea Hall and its grounds, but there is no evidence that he was employed to make any improvements.

Gidea Hall: view of the estate by Humphry Repton, 1795

Gidea Hall: the orangery c.1911.

Richard Benyon left instructions in his will that Gidea Hall was to be sold, and the house was tenanted for a few years before a purchaser was found in 1802. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, wealth from London flowed into the surrounding countryside and led to the building of many villas for gentlemen, as well as the improvement of old farmhouses as smart seats. In the later 19th and early 20th century this first wave of suburban development was succeeded by rapid urban expansion which removed the seclusion and peace of places like Romford and made parks and gardens into valuable development land.

Gidea Hall: plan of the 1911 cottage exhibition in the garden suburb

In 1883 the Gidea Hall estate was sold to the Lands Allotment Co. for development, and although the group of which this firm was part went bust in 1893 before anything had been done apart from the sale of some outlying areas, it remained earmarked for development. In 1897 the residue was bought by Sir Herbert Raphael, 1st bt., of Havering Court, who gave the lake and some land for a public park and from 1910 set about developing the remainder as a garden suburb. He had the novel idea of inviting one hundred architects and urban planners to design and build houses for the estate at their own expense, which were then opened to the public as an exhibition to showcase the buildings to prospective buyers, and also entered into a competition for the best design. He succeeded in securing 159 entries, including some from many of the leading architects in the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, and a second competition was run on similar lines in 1934 for houses in the Art Deco style. 

Gidea Hall: the house derelict, partially unroofed, and awaiting demolition, 1929.

The Georgian house became a club house for a while, but by 1929 it was derelict and had been partially unroofed. In 1930 it was bought by a demolition contractor who pulled it down and sold the materials, although as he made a loss of £600 he was bankrupted in 1932. The Spoon Pool was filled in in the early 20th century and the site is now occupied by tennis courts. The immediate site of the house seems not to have been built on, and would  offer excellent scope for future archaeological investigation.

Descent: Robert of Havering; sold to William Baldwin (fl. 1376), saddler of London; sold by 1412 to Robert Chichele of London, merchant, brother of Archbishop Henry Chichele... Robert and Christine Saltmarsh, who sold 1452 to Sir Thomas Cooke (d. 1478), draper and lord mayor of London in 1462; to son, Phillip Cooke (1454-97); to son, Sir John Cooke (1473-1536), kt.; to son, Sir Anthony Cooke (1505-76), kt., tutor to King Edward VI and father-in-law of Lord Burghley; to son, Richard Cooke (d. 1579); to son, Anthony Cooke (d. 1604); to son, Edward Cooke (1581-1625); to son, Charles Cooke (d. 1629); to sister Ann (d. 1652), wife of Sir Edward Sydenham, who sold 1658 to Richard Emes, cooper of London; sold 1664 to John Burch (d. 1668), a West India planter; to widow, Margaret (d. 1685), for life, with remainder to his sister Rebecca Hothersall; to sons, Thomas and Burch Hothersall; to Thomas Hothersall (d. 1710); sold after his death to Benjamin Haskins Stiles and John Hunter, agents for Sir John Eyles (1683-1745), 2nd bt., who rebuilt the house; to son, Sir Francis Haskins Eyles-Stiles (d. 1762), 3rd bt., who sold 1745 to Richard Benyon (1698-1774), governor of Fort St. George (Madras, India); to son, Richard Benyon (1746-96); to son, Richard Benyon (later Benyon de Beauvoir) (1769-1854); sold 1802 to Alexander Black (d. 1835); to widow, Alice (d. 1871); to daughters, Anne, wife of William Neave and Adelaide, wife of Alfred Douglas Hamilton, who sold 1883 to the Lands Allotment Co., a member of Jabez Balfour’s Liberator group, which collapsed 1893; sold 1897 to Sir Herbert Henry Raphael (1859-1924), 1st bt., who gave part of the grounds for a public park and developed the rest as a garden suburb. 

Englefield House, Berkshire

The estate belonged from at least the mid 12th century to the eponymous Englefield family. We know almost nothing about the manor house they had here, except that in the 19th century workmen undertaking repairs claimed to have found the date 1558 inscribed on a timber in the long gallery. Work at this date would have been undertaken for Sir Francis Englefield (d. 1592), a Catholic lawyer who was Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries under Queen Mary I, and who fled to Spain soon after Queen Elizabeth I's accession, being outlawed in 1564. His possessions were seized by the Crown and his complaints to the privy council falling on deaf ears, in 1576 he transferred his rights in all his property to a Protestant nephew, retaining the right to reclaim his property on presenting the nephew with a gold ring. In 1585, Sir Francis was attainted for treason and his possessions were formally forfeited to the Crown, but only after four years of litigation and a special Act of Parliament did the authorities succeed in getting a clear title to the lands, and even so the Protestant branch of the family was able to recover a house in the village and a small part of the land, which their descendants held for another 200 years.

Queen Elizabeth granted the estate in 1589 to her 'favourite', Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, but its descent over the next forty years was unusually complex. By 1599 it had come to the Queen's venerable counsellor, Lord Norris of Rycote (Oxon), who settled it on his third son, Sir Edward Norris. According to the latter's secretary, Dudley Carleton, in 1600 Sir Edward was 'making a parke about this house... having a purpose to enlarge his house the halfe as much as it is according to old Englefields building but after a new project". This letter seems to confirm that Sir Francis Englefield had been responsible for the earlier building, and makes it very likely that it was Norris who built the new main block which still forms the core of the present house. The Queen dined at Englefield on her way to Basing House (Hants) in September 1601, but if work had not started in 1600 it seems unlikely that the new building could have been completed by then, although it is probable that it was largely finished before Norris died suddenly in 1603. 

Englefield House: the earliest depiction of the house seems to be this view, from the background of Paulet Wrighte's portrait of c.1775,
showing it after his alterations, though the form of the house of c.1600 remains clear.

Although there are no known illustrations of the house before it was altered in the 18th century, the earliest views make clear that the new building was of three storeys, with an E-plan layout consisting of a central three-storey porch and shallow projecting wings at either end. Thus far, the house was traditional in arrangement, but the walls terminate in a castellated parapet, not gabled attics, suggesting an awareness of and sympathy with the late Elizabethan and Jacobean fashion for neo-medieval decoration, as at Longford Castle, Bolsover Castle and Wadham College, Oxford. The shallow pediments set over mullioned and transomed windows are reminiscent of those found on many houses in East Anglia at this time (e.g. Roos Hall), as is the flushwork decoration between the floors on the porch and bay windows. Such flushwork is also known in Wiltshire, however, and it seems more likely that the master mason responsible for the remodelling came from this more local source rather than from further afield. The pairs of shell-headed niches on the return walls of the two end bays are a motif which can be found in works of the 1590s by William Arnold (Montacute House and Cranborne Lodge), and since Arnold was also responsible for the design of Wadham College, with its crenellated parapets, he may tentatively be suggested as a possible designer. Sadly, nothing is known of the original interiors, which were completely remodelled later.

The estate was acquired in 1635 by John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester and his wife, Lady Honora de Burgh. Their principal seat was Basing House (Hants) which was famously beseiged and destroyed in the Civil War. After the Restoration, they made no attempt to rebuild Basing, but settled at Englefield. In 1712, the estate descended to the Marquess' granddaughter and her husband, the Rev. Nathan Wrighte, who were probably responsible for the creation of the forecourt and formal gardens shown on an estate map of 1762, and for alterations to the house of which some traces remain. These include three fine carved Corinthian doorcases in the present entrance hall, which are believed to have been moved from the original entrance hall when it was converted into a library in 1855, and perhaps some elements of the ceiling in the library, including the slightly recessed rectangular section in the centre with delicate sprays of acanthus, and six medallions of birds, although the ceiling was otherwise altered in the 19th century. 

During the mid 18th century, Englefield saw the long minorities of Paulet Wright, who inherited in 1729, came of age in 1737 and died aged 24 in 1741, and of his son, also Paulet Wright, who was born in 1739 and came of age in 1760. It was the latter who eventually initiated further changes to the house. It is unclear when he gained effective control of the property, but it is unlikely that he had to wait until his mother's life interest expired at her death in 1776. It would seem that his alterations took place in the 1770s, and had probably been completed when his portrait was painted standing in front of the remodelled house. This was almost certainly before his marriage in 1777, as the portrait shows him standing alone. An account of 1792 in Robertson's Topographical Survey of the Great Road from London to Bath and Bristol says that he 'reduced and modernised' the house, and an undated plan of the house suggests that he intended to build a new corridor and staircase behind the Jacobean house, with a cupola-capped tower at either end of it, and ranges of new service accommodation set around a courtyard at the rear. 

Englefield House: plan of proposed alterations, c.1775. The works as completed seem to have been broadly in line with this scheme.

Broadly, this intention seems to have been carried out, for the wide corridor behind the main rooms on the south front still exists today, and the staircase is in the position (but not the Imperial form) the plan depicts. The cupola-capped towers at either end of the corridor were constructed at this time (though altered since), and major elements of the decoration of the dining room, drawing room and study look right for the 1770s. Paulet Wrighte died in 1779, and his executors' accounts show that he left unpaid bills for new furniture from Ince & Mayhew, as well as a bill of 10 guineas from 'Mr Woods, surveyor' (no doubt Richard Woods, the landscape architect, who had worked for his half-brother at Gidea Park), and who was presumably consulted about landscape improvements. His alterations were evidently financed by raising money secured on the estate and his uncle, Nathan Wrighte, who inherited in 1779, was obliged to let the house as he could not afford to live in it.

Englefield House: a pencil sketch of the house c.1800.

In 1796 the estate came into the possession of Richard Benyon (1770-1854), who married Elizabeth Sykes, a Berkshire neighbour from Basildon Park, in 1797 and made his home at Englefield. Sir John Soane was employed at both Benyon's town house in London, in 1805, and at Englefield in 1806, but the entries in his cost book suggest he was only making repairs or minor alterations to both properties. These may have included the removal of cupolas from the towers, the replacement of the Venetian windows on the south front with large mullioned and transomed windows, and the opening up of a new entrance on the east side of the house. More extensive improvements did not take place until the 1820s, by which time Richard Benyon's income had been augmented by his inheritance of the de Beauvoir estate in Hackney (Middx) and he had changed his name to Benyon de Beauvoir. In about 1823 he brought in Thomas Hopper (whose work he may have encountered at nearby Purley Hall), who added the bay windows to the south fronts and side elevations of the drawing room and dining room. Those on the south front copy exactly the proportions and decoration of the Jacobean porch bay, while those on the side elevations are broader; together, they strongly reinforce the Elizabethan character of the house. He also added a series of rather curious small square turrets with finials to the skyline of the house, some of which concealed chimneys. Inside the house, the ceilings of the dining room and library (formerly the entrance hall) were given their current form. Work seems to have been completed by 1829, and to mark the remodelling, Benyon de Beauvoir commissioned a painting of the house from John Constable which now hangs in the house. It was also photographed early in the 1840s by W.H. Fox-Talbot, the photographic pioneer, in one of the earliest country house photographs.

Englefield House: photograph by W.H. Fox-Talbot, c.1840-45, showing the house as altered by Thomas Hopper in the 1820s.

Richard Benyon de Beauvoir died in 1854 and was succeeded by his sister's second son, Richard Fellowes (1811-97), who took the name Benyon and at once put in hand further changes to the house. The works were undertaken in c.1856-57 to the designs of Richard Armstrong (1799-1876), a Scottish architect who seems to have trained in the office of William Burn, acted as clerk of works to Edward Blore at Haveringland Hall, and also altered Haveringland for Benyon's elder brother at the same time as he was working here. His alterations to Englefield were extensive, but stylistically conservative and surprisingly sympathetic to the earlier fabric. The south front was entirely refaced and the porch at its centre was converted into a bay window, but the flushwork decoration of the porch and the 17th century shell-headed niches were faithfully reproduced in the new work. The crenellated parapet was replaced all round the house by a much showier fretwork balustrade that breaks forward over the bay windows with inset panels of coats of arms. 

Englefield House: view of the house as remodelled by Richard Armstrong in the 1850s, exhibited in 1873. The domed winter garden was never built.

Inside, the former entrance hall was converted into a large new library, and the 18th century Corinthian doorcases no doubt formerly in this room were moved to a new two-storey hall on the east side of the house, where a new main entrance was created. The present staircase dates from the 1850s, and the corridors which run through the house from east to west on the ground and first floors were also redecorated at this time. The most significant change was the rebuilding of the east tower which was made wider and higher than before, so that it became the dominant feature of the house from any angle, and creates the sort of picturesque asymmetry so favoured by Blore and his contemporaries. Armstrong probably also laid out the formal gardens west of the house in the style of W.A. Nesfield, and in 1862 created the neo-Jacobean gate screen at the end of the main approach drive on the A340. In 1860-61, the interiors of the house were extensively redecorated by J.G. Crace, though few traces of his work have survived today.

Englefield House: the library created from the former entrance hall in the 1850s.

On 12 August 1886 a fire broke out in the laundry in the east wing of the house and did considerable damage, although it was happily prevented from spreading to the main block. The one interior of note that was damaged was the long gallery on the upper floor of the east range, where workmen had earlier found a timber dated 1558. The long gallery was quickly repaired, apparently under the direction of Richard Anderson junior, who continued his father's practice after his retirement in 1875, and was given a coved ceiling with skylights. It was probably Anderson junior who made the fine drawing of the house exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873, which shows a large domed winter garden to the west of the house which was never built.

Englefield House: the house today from the south-east. Image: Richard Croft. Some rights reserved.

In 1897, on the death of Richard Benyon without issue, the estate passed to his nephew, James Herbert Fellowes, who again took the name Benyon. By this date, the richly coloured and patterned decoration by Crace had fallen out of favour, and in 1907 he brought in Gillow & Co. to redecorate the house in a more neutral, loosely dixhuitième style. Further redecoration took place in 1937 for Sir Henry Benyon (1884-1959), 1st bt., under the supervision of Jacksons, the interior decorators.

Descent: Sir Francis Englefield (d. 1592), attainted 1585 and forfeited to Crown, which granted 1589 to trustees for Robert Devereux (1567-1601), 2nd Earl of Essex; sold 1597 to Henry Norris (c.1530-1601), 1st Baron Norris de Rycote; who gave it 1599 to his third son, Sir Edward Norris (d. 1603); to widow, Elizabeth, later wife of Sir Thomas Erskine (1566-1639), 1st Viscount Fentoun and 1st Earl of Kellie, who sold 1622 to his creditors, Sir Peter Vanlore and William Rolfe, who sold 1623 to Erskine's stepdaughter's husband, Sir John Davis (d. 1626), kt.; to daughter, Lucy, wife of Ferdinand Hastings (1609-56), Baron Hastings and later 6th Earl of Huntingdon, who sold? 1635 to John Paulet (c.1598-1675), 5th Marquess of Winchester, whose lands were sequestered and sold 1649 to Sir Thomas Jervoise (1587-1654), but were restored to him at the Restoration in 1660; to younger son, Lord Francis Paulet (c.1646-96); to son, Francis Paulet (1686-1712); to sister, Anne Paulet (1685-1729), wife of Rev. Nathan Wrighte (d. 1721); to son, Powlet Wrighte (1716-41); to widow, Mary (d. 1777), later wife of Richard Benyon (1698-1774) for life and then to her son, Powlet Wright (1739-79); to uncle, Nathan Wrighte (1717-89) for life and then to half-brother, Richard Benyon (1746-96); to son, Richard Benyon (later Powlet Wrighte and then Benyon de Beauvoir) (1769-1854); to nephew, Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) (1811-97); to nephew, James Herbert Fellowes (later Benyon) (1849-1935); to son, Sir Henry Fellowes (later Benyon) (1884-1959), 1st bt.; to second cousin, Adm. Richard Shelley (d. 1967); to son, Sir William Richard Shelley (later Benyon) (1930-2014), kt.; to son, Richard Henry Ronald Benyon (b. 1960), Baron Benyon. From 1781-89 the house was let to Lady Clive, the widow of Clive of India.

Benyon family of Gidea Hall and Englefield House

Benyon, Daniel (1664-1708). Son of Daniel Benyon (c.1628-90) of Crooked Lane, London, tallow chandler, Master of the Tallow Chandlers Company, 1689-90, and his wife Mary, baptised at St Nicholas Acons, London, 12 August 1664. He married 23 April 1691 at St Anne & St Agnes, London, Elizabeth Moore, and had issue*:

(1) Richard Benyon (1698-1774) (q.v.);

(2) Elizabeth Benyon (d. 1709); died young and was buried at Lee (Kent), 29 July 1709.

He lived in London and later at Blackheath (Kent).

He was very probably the 'Daniel Bynian' buried at Lee (Kent), 27 May 1708, whose widow was buried at Lee, 19 October 1709.

* Bernard Benyon, who died in India in 1715, and who is sometimes said to be an elder son of Daniel, describes himself in his will as the cousin of Richard Benyon (1698-1774).

Richard Benyon (1698-1774) 

Benyon, Richard (1698-1774). Only recorded son of Daniel Benyon (1664-1708) and his wife Mary, born 26 November 1698. On the death of his mother he was orphaned and his guardian, Col. John Perry, sent him out to India, where he joined the household of Osmond de Beauvoir (whose niece he would eventually marry as his third wife). As soon as he was old enough he joined the East India Company as a writer, and was appointed a member of the Council of Fort St George (Madras), 1718-25, resigning on returning to England in the latter year. He subsequently went out to India again, and was re-elected to the Council in 1732, becoming President of Madras, 1735-44. He is regarded as one of the best and least oppressive early Presidents of Madras, who oversaw the rapid development of the city and the repulsion of two Maratha invasions. He returned to England at the end of his Presidency with a modest fortune of some £75,000. He married 1st, 17 October 1724 in Madras, Mary, daughter of Edward Fleetwood; 2nd, 14 October 1738, Frances (d. 1742), daughter of Richard Horden and widow of Sandys Davis; and 3rd, 18 July 1745, Mary (1714-77), daughter of Frances Tyssen of Hackney and widow of Paulet Wrighte (1716-41) of Englefield (Berks), and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Benyon (b. & d. 1727), born 7 May and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx), 7 June 1727; died in infancy and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, 8 June 1727;

(1.2) Lucy Benyon (b. & d. 1729), baptised at St George the Martyr, Bloomsbury (Middx), 14 February 1728/9; died in infancy and was buried at Margaretting, 17 May 1729;

(2.1) Frances Benyon (b. & d. 1741), born 24 January 1741; died in infancy and was buried in Madras, 25 January 1742;

(3.1) Richard Benyon (1746-96) (q.v.).

He bought the manor of Coptfold Hall at Margaretting (Essex) in 1728, while on a visit back to England. He bought Gidea Park in 1745 after retiring from the East India Co.; Great Newbury House, Ilford in 1747; and the North Ockendon Hall estate (Essex) in 1758. His third wife had a life interest in Englefield House. They also had a town house in Grosvenor Square, which seems to have been their principal residence.

He died 22 September and was buried at Margaretting, where he built a family vault, 4 October 1774; his will was proved in the PCC, 11 October 1774. His first wife died between 1733 and 1738. His second wife died in childbirth, 21 October 1742. His third wife died 18 September 1777 and was buried at Englefield; her will was proved in the PCC, 8 October 1777.

Benyon, Richard (1746-96). Only child of Richard Benyon (1698-1774) and his third wife, Mary, daughter of Frances Tyssen of Hackney and widow of Paulet Wrighte (d. 1740/1) of Englefield (Berks), baptised at St George, Bloomsbury (Middx), 26 June 1746. Educated at Eton. A 'well-meaning and honest man', he was a supporter of Lord Fitzwilliam, his friend and Eton contemporary, and sat as MP for Peterborough, 1774-96, in the Fitzwilliam interest. He married, 3 September 1767 at Breamore (Hants), Hannah (1747-1828), eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, 2nd bt., of Breamore House, and had issue:

(1) Richard Benyon (b. & d. 1769), baptised at Romford, 23 February 1769; died in infancy and was buried at Romford, 3 March 1769;

(2) Richard Benyon (later Powlet Wrighte Benyon and then Benyon de Beauvoir) (1770-1854) (q.v.);

(3) Hannah Elizabeth Benyon (1771-1852), born 1 June and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 2 June 1771; married, 30 March 1813 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Vice-Adm. Edward Fellowes (1772-1841) of Little Gidding (Hunts), son of William Fellowes (d. 1804) of Mortimer Lodge, Stratfield Mortimer (Berks), but had no issue; died 5 October and was buried at Stratfield Mortimer, 13 October 1852;

(4) Maria Benyon (1772-1852), born 8 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 6 May 1772; married, 15 May 1797 by special licence, as his second wife, George Brodrick (1754-1836), 4th Viscount Midleton, of Peper Harow House (Surrey), MP for Whitchurch, 1774-96 and Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, 1814-30, and had issue one son and five daughters; died 14 January 1852; will proved in the PCC, 3 May 1852;

(5) Charlotte Benyon (1774-1854), born 13 January and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 10 February 1774; married, 11 June 1799 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Joseph Berens (1773-1853) of Kevington House, St Mary Cray (Kent) and Lincoln's Inn, barrister-at-law, and had issue five sons and one daughter; died 1 July 1854 and was buried at Orpington (Kent); will proved in the PCC, 8 September 1854;

(6) Louisa Benyon (b. 1775), born 30 August and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 25 September 1775; probably died young;

(7) Harriet Benyon (1777-98), born 19 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 17 March 1777; died unmarried and was buried at Margaretting (Essex), 27 February 1798;

(8) Edward Henry Benyon (1779-1806) (q.v.);

(9) Emma Benyon (1780-1862) (q.v.); 

(10) Frances Benyon (1781-1866), born 6 October and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 2 November 1781; died unmarried in London, 3 February 1866; will proved 16 March 1866 (effects under £120,000);

(11) William Benyon (1786-97?), born 6 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster the same day; probably died young and was the person of this name buried at Margaretting, 6 December 1797;

(12) Charles Benyon (1789-1810), born 5 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 28 June 1789; an officer in the Royal Navy (Lt.); killed in action while attempting to board an enemy vessel of the island of Elba, 11 September 1810.

He inherited Gidea Park from his father in 1774 and Englefield House from his kinsman, Nathan Wrighte, in 1789.

He died at Bath (Som.), 22 August and was buried at Margaretting (Essex), 30 August 1796, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 14 September 1796. His widow died 27 April 1828, and was buried at Margaretting, where she is commemorated by a monument; her will was proved 9 June 1828.

Richard Benyon de Beauvoir (1770-1854)
Image: The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust 

Benyon (later Powlett Wrighte Benyon and then Benyon de Beauvoir), Richard (1770-1854). Eldest surviving son of Richard Benyon (1746-96) and his wife Hannah, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, 2nd bt., of Breamore (Hants), born 28 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 28 May 1770. Educated at Charterhouse and St. John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1788; BA 1792; MA 1795). JP and DL for Berkshire. Independent MP for Pontefract, 1802-06 and for Wallingford, 1806-12; he retired from the House in 1812 and declined an invitation to stand for Reading in 1816. High Sheriff of Berkshire, 1816-17; High Steward of Wallingford, 1828-44. He assumed the surnames Powlett Wrighte in addition to Benyon in 1814, and in 1822 substituted the name Benyon de Beauvoir on inheriting the Hackney estate. In 1839 he made a major benefaction of £5,000 towards the foundation of the Royal Berkshire Hospital. He became blind in his old age. He married, 27 September 1797 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Elizabeth (1775-1822), only daughter of Sir Francis Sykes (1732-1804), 1st bt., of Basildon Park (Berks), but had no legitimate issue. 

He inherited Gidea Park, a lease of the manor of Havering-atte-Bower, property at North and South Ockendon (Essex) and the Englefield House estate from his father in 1796, but sold Gidea Park in 1802 and the lease of Havering-atte-Bower in 1819. He inherited the Hackney (Middx) estate of the Rev. Peter de Beauvoir (who had conducted his marriage and was his great-great-uncle), rector of Downham (Essex) in 1822 and, after a lengthy legal dispute with the tenant of the estate, developed it for middle-class housing. In 1824 he purchased the 11,000 acre Culford Hall estate (Suffk) for £230,000, but he gave this property to his nephew, the Rev. Edward Richard Benyon (1802-83) in 1839. At his death, he bequeathed Englefield House and the Hackney estate to another nephew, Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) (1811-97).

He died 22 March 1854 and was buried at Englefield, where he is commemorated by an elaborate monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 1 June 1854 (effects under £300,000, although press reports after his death claimed his real and personal estate was worth as much as £7,500,000; the real figure may have been around £2,500,000). His wife died 29 October 1822 and was buried at Lower Basildon (Berks), where she is commemorated by a monument.

Benyon, Edward Henry (1779-1806). Third son of Richard Benyon (1746-96) and his wife Hannah, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, 2nd bt., of Breamore (Hants), born 9 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 2 June 1779. He had an illegitimate son by his mistress, Dorothy Elizabeth Hanske: 

(X1) Rev. Edward Richard Benyon (1802-83), said to have been born in Lausanne (Switzerland), 1 November, and baptised 14 December 1802, but later naturalised as a British subject; educated at St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1820; BA 1824; MA 1827); ordained deacon, June 1826 and priest, December 1826; rector of Downham and North Ockendon (Essex), 1827-39, and of Culford (Suffk), 1839-83 and Elveden (Suffk), 1841-45; given the Culford Hall estate by his 'uncle', 1839; married, 5 October 1830 at Eyton (Herefs), Jane (c.1806-76), daughter of Edward Evans of Eyton Hall, but had no issue; died suddenly, 7 July 1883, and was buried at Culford; will proved 14 January 1884 (effects £50,167).

He lived at Newbury Hall, Barking (Essex), but c.1801 he left England to live at Belle Vue near Lausanne in Switzerland.

He died unmarried at Nîmes (France), 25 January 1806; his will was proved in the PCC, 8 November 1806 and provided for his son to live with his mother until the age of six and then be moved to school at Sorez (France) before being brought to England to finish his education under the care of his uncle and godfather, Richard Benyon (1770-1854). The combination of the will and codicils was open to interpretation and resulted in a Chancery case in 1807.

Benyon, Emma (1780-1862). Sixth daughter of Richard Benyon (1746-96) and his wife Hannah, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, 2nd bt., of Breamore (Hants), born 4 July and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq, Westminster (Middx), 25 July 1780. She married, 23 July 1805 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, William Henry Fellowes (1769-1837) of Ramsey Abbey (Hunts), MP for Huntingdon, 1796-1807 and Huntingdonshire, 1807-30, and had issue:

(1) William Henry Fellowes (1806-36), born 11 July and baptised at St Marylebone, 11 August 1806; educated at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1824; BA 1828); appointed a conservator of the Bedford Level Corporation, 1830; DL for Huntingdonshire, 1834; died unmarried, 17 March, and was buried at St Michael, Paternoster Royal, London, 22 March 1836;

(2) Emma Fellowes (1808-87); a keen amateur meteorologist, who collected rainfall data for over fifty years; married, 9 August 1842, Rev. Henry William Townshend (later Powlett) (1797-1866), 3rd Baron Bayning of Honingham Hall (Norfk), younger son of Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning, and had issue one son (who predeceased his father); died 10 November 1887; will proved 24 December 1887 (effects £50,570);

(3) Edward Fellowes (1809-87), 1st Baron de Ramsey, born 14 April and baptised at St Marylebone, 8 May 1809; MP for Huntingdonshire, 1837-80; raised to the peerage as 1st Baron de Ramsey, 8 July 1887; inherited Ramsey Abbey from his father and remodelled it to the designs of Edwrd Blore, whom he subsequently employed to rebuild Haveringland Hall (Norfk); married 22 July 1845 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, Hon. Mary Julia (1825-1901), daughter of George John Milles (1794-1874), 4th Baron Sondes, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 9 August 1887;

(4) Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) (1811-97) (q.v.);

(5) James Fellowes (1813-89) (q.v.).

Her husband inherited Ramsey Abbey, which he employed Sir John Soane to alter, and Haveringland Hall (Norfk). After his death she moved to Felthorpe Hall (Norfk).

She died at Felthorpe Hall, 27 January 1862; her will was proved 9 April 1862 (effects under £25,000). Her husband died 23 August 1837 and was buried at Ramsey (Hunts); his will was proved in the PCC, 6 December 1837.

Richard Benyon (1811-97) 

Fellowes (later Benyon), Richard (1811-97). Third, but second surviving, son of William Henry Fellowes MP (1769-1837) of Ramsey Abbey (Hunts) and his wife Emma, second daughter of Richard Benyon (1746-96), born 17 November and baptised at Haveringland (Norfk), 9 December 1811. Educated at Charterhouse and St. John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1829; BA 1833; MA 1836), and Lincolns Inn (admitted 1833; called 1837). Barrister-at-law. JP (Chairman of Quarter Sessions, 1864-84) and DL for Berkshire; High Sheriff of Berkshire, 1857-58; MP for Berkshire, 1860-76; an Alderman of Berkshire County Council, 1888-91. He assumed the name of Benyon in lieu of Fellowes by royal licence, 10 January 1855, in compliance with the wishes of his uncle. It was noted at the time of his death that he had probably built more churches than any other man in modern times, but he kept his philanthropy quiet, having 'a dread of his benevolent actions becoming known'. His charity extended to the support of many schools on and around his estate in Berkshire, the National Society, and missionary work overseas. He married, 25 April 1858, Elizabeth Mary (1833-1909), second daughter of Robert Clutterbuck of Watford House (Herts), and had issue:

(1) Marion Emma Benyon (1860-1948) (q.v.);

(2) Edith Gertrude Benyon (1862-1953). born 15 January and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., Westminster (Middx), 18 February 1862; married, 27 September 1894 at St Mark, North Audley St. Westminster, Alfred Ernest Hoare OBE (1861-1930) of Hendon (Middx), son of Francis Hoare of Cromer (Norfk), banker, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 9 April 1953; will proved 26 June 1953 (estate £2,895);

(3) Julia Benyon (1863-1905), born 19 November and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St.,  Westminster, 19 December 1863; married, 9 February 1888 (sep.), Sir Anthony Henry Wingfield (1857-1952), kt., of Ampthill House (Beds), Chairman of Bedfordshire Quarter Sessions and owner of a private zoo, eldest son of George John Wingfield (1822-60), and had issue two sons; after leaving her husband she lived with her mother; she died 17 September and was buried at Englefield, 22 September 1905.

He inherited Englefield House, the Hackney estate and the remaining Essex property from his uncle, Richard Benyon de Beauvoir, in 1854. At his death his estates passed to his nephew, James Herbert Fellowes (later Benyon).

He died 26 July 1897 and was buried at Englefield; his will was proved 4 November 1897 (effects £722,809). His widow died 23 October 1909 and was buried at Englefield; her will was proved 10 December 1909 (estate £261,372).

Fellowes, James (1813-89). Fourth, but third surviving, son of William Henry Fellowes MP (1769-1837) of Ramsey Abbey (Hunts) and his wife Emma, second daughter of Richard Benyon (1746-96), born 31 July 1813. He was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge in 1830 but did not reside, having already joined the Royal Navy in 1826 (Lt., 1838; retired 1841). DL and JP for Dorset; High Sheriff of Dorset, 1859. A staunch Conservative in politics, he was 'a man of some peculiarities', according to his obituarist. He married, 19 July 1847 at All Souls, Langham Place, Marylebone (Middx), Gertrude Charlotte (1826-1906), daughter of Nathaniel Micklethwait of Taverham Hall (Norfk), and had issue:

(1) James Herbert Fellowes (later Benyon) (1849-1935) (q.v.);

(2) Emily Gertrude Fellowes (1851-82), born 19 February and baptised at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., Westminster (Middx), 15 April 1851; married, 30 April 1872 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Sir Henry Cosmo Orme Bonsor (1848-1929), 1st bt. (who m2, 3 March 1886, Mabel Grace Brand), of Kingswood Warren (Surrey), brewer and company director, MP for Wimbledon, 1885-1900, son of Joseph Bonsor, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 18 July and was buried at Tandridge (Surrey), 22 July 1882; administration of goods granted 7 March 1883 (effects £337);

(3) Georgiana Charlotte Fellowes (1859-1936), born 17 April and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 20 May 1859; married, 14 January 1892 at St Marylebone, Francis William Preston (1851-98), barrister-at-law, son of Thomas Edward Preston (1816-90), and had issue one daughter; lived latterly at Westbrook House, Upwey (Dorset); died 31 October 1936; will proved 31 December 1936 (estate £75,452).

He purchased Kingston Maurward House (Dorset) in 1853.

He died 4 July 1889; his will was proved 9 August 1889 (effects £264,881). His widow died 25 April 1906 and was buried at Stinsford (Dorset); her will was proved 31 May 1906 (estate £74,348).

James Herbert Benyon (1849-1935)
by Oswald Birley.
Image: Reading University Art Collection 

Fellowes (later Benyon), James Herbert (1849-1935). Only son of James Fellowes (1813-89) and his wife Gertrude Charlotte, daughter of Nathaniel Micklethwait of Taverham Hall (Norfk), born 30 October 1849. Educated at Eton, Magdalene College, Cambridge (matriculated 1868; BA 1873; MA 1876; Hon. Fellow, 1928) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1872; called 1875). JP and DL for Dorset; High Sheriff of Dorset, 1892-93. He assumed the name of Benyon in lieu of Fellowes by royal licence, 1897, on inheriting the Englefield estate. Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1901-35; President of Berkshire Territorial Forces Association, 1908-35; a member of Berkshire County Council (Alderman from 1898; Chairman, 1916-26, and chairman of its education committee from its formation in 1903); President of University College, Reading, and first Chancellor of Reading University (to which he was a generous benefactor), 1926-35; a Governor of Abingdon School, 1902-34 (Chairman, 1903-27). He was also a keen agriculturist.  He married, 29 July 1875 at Uffculme (Devon), Edith Isabel GBE (1857-1919), youngest daughter of Sir John Walrond (1818-89), 1st bt., of Bradfield House, Uffculme, and had issue:

(1) Gertrude Fellowes (1876-1953), born 29 August and baptised at St Peter, Eaton Square, Westminster (Middx), 27 September 1876; married, 1 January 1897 at Stratfield Mortimer (Berks), Rev. Francis Edward Rooke (later Trelawny) (1862-1937) of Coldrennick (Cornw.), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 8 November 1953 and was buried at Menheniot (Cornw.); will proved 9 January 1954 (estate £14,034);

(2) Edith Marion Fellowes (later Benyon) (1880-1942), born 19 January and baptised at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), 21 January 1880; died unmarried, 9 November 1942 and was buried at Englefield; administration of goods granted 19 February 1943 (estate £25,089);

(3) Sir Henry Arthur Fellowes (later Benyon) (1884-1959), 1st bt. (q.v.);

(4) Winifred Fellowes (later Benyon) (1893-1970), born 28 March and was baptised at St Saviour, Chelsea (Middx), 1 April 1893; died unmarried, 19 December 1970; will proved 18 February 1971 (estate £55,807).

He inherited Kingston Maurward from his father in 1889, and Englefield House, the Hackney estate and the remaining Essex property from his uncle, Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) in 1897. He sold Kingston Maurward in 1906.

He died 14 February 1935 and was buried at Englefield; his will was proved 28 June 1935 (estate £1,586,968). His wife died 25 March 1919; administration of her goods was granted 14 June 1919 (estate £2,572).

Fellowes (later Benyon), Sir Henry Arthur (1884-1959), 1st bt. Only son of James Herbert Fellowes (later Benyon) (1849-1935) and his wife Edith Isabel GBE, daughter of Sir John Walrond, 1st bt., born 9 December 1884 and baptised at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), 6 January 1885. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. An officer in the Berkshire Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1910; Lt., 1917; Capt., 1917; retired 1921). JP for Berkshire; High Sheriff of Berkshire, 1925; Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1945-59. Member of Berkshire County Council, 1922-49 (Vice-Chairman, 1938; Chairman, 1948-49) and County Alderman, 1935-49; Chairman of Berkshire Agriculture Executive Committee, 1944-57 and Deputy President of Royal Agricultural Society, 1954. Appointed CBE, 1946 and created a baronet, 1958. He married, 10 March 1915 at Holy Trinity, Sloane St., Chelsea (Middx), Violet Eveline (1887-1964), second daughter of Sir Cuthbert Edgar Peek, 2nd bt., of Wimbledon House (Surrey) and Rousdon (Devon), but had no issue.

He inherited Englefield House, the Hackney estate and the remaining Essex property from his father in 1935, but sold the Essex estates to pay the death duties. During his ownership, wartime neglect and other issues led to Englefield becoming rather dilapidated.

He died 15 June 1959; his will was proved 2 July 1959 (estate £997,587). His widow died 3 February 1964; her will was proved 23 March 1964 (estate £168,972).

Benyon, Marion Emma (1860-1948). Eldest daughter of Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) (1811-97) and his wife, Elizabeth Mary, second daughter of Robert Clutterbuck of Watford House (Herts), born 14 February and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., Westminster (Middx), 22 February 1860. She married, 29 June 1882 at St Mark, North Audley St., Col. Sir John Shelley (1848-1931), 9th bt., of Shobrooke Park (Devon), son of Rev. Sir Frederick Shelley (1809-69), 8th bt., and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Marion Shelley (1883-1949), born 14 June and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., 21 July 1883; married, 29 April 1911, Kenneth Loder Cromwell Prescott (1875-1922) of Arborfield Court (Berks), banker and company director, and had issue one daughter; died 19 November 1949; will proved 10 February 1950 (estate £27,094);

(2) Sir John Frederick Shelley (1884-1976), 10th bt., born 14 October and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., 19 November 1884; educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge; JP and DL for Devon; married 1st, 17 April 1912 at Exeter Cathedral, Nora Coleridge (1886-1953), daughter of Francis James Coleridge Boles (1854-1934), and had issue two sons and three daughters; married 2nd, 28 October 1953, Marianne (1885-1974), daughter of Maj. Wolstan Francis (1855-1945) and widow of Capt. John Theodore Martin Mee (d. 1950) of Hempsted (Norfk), poultry farmer; died 8 March 1976 and was buried at Shobrooke (Devon); will proved 7 May 1976 (estate £151,414); 

(3) Constance Mary Shelley (1890-1971), born 5 May and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., 3 June 1890; married, 14 April 1921 at Shobrooke (Devon), Noel Arthur Godolphin Quicke (1888-1943), son of Ernest Henry Godolphin Quicke of Newton House, Newton St Cyres (Devon), and had issue two sons and one daughter, died 1 November 1971 and was buried at Newton St. Cyres (Devon); will proved 10 January 1972 (estate £12,313);

(4) Vice-Adm. Richard Benyon Shelley (1892-1968) (q.v.);

(5) Mary Shelley (1895-98), born 16 September and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., 19 October 1895; died young and was buried at St John the Baptist, Margate (Kent), 20 May 1898.

She and her husband lived at Shobrooke Park (Devon). As a widow she moved to Newton House, Newton St. Cyres (Devon).

She died 30 March 1948; will proved 7 June 1948 (estate £27,529). Her husband died 29 March 1931; his will was proved 19 June 1931 (estate £97,756).

Vice-Adm. Richard Shelley
(later Benyon). Image: NPG 

Shelley (later Benyon), Vice-Adm. Richard Benyon (1892-1968). Second son of Sir John Shelley (1848-1931),9th bt., and his wife Marion Emma, eldest daughter of Richard Fellowes (later Benyon) (1811-97), born 18 January and baptised at St Mark, North Audley St., Westminster (Middx), 20 February 1892. An officer in the Royal Navy (Lt., 1914; Lt-Cdr, 1922; Cdr., 1927; Capt., 1934; Rear-Adm., 1944; retired as Vice-Adm., 1948), who served in the First and Second World Wars. He was naval attaché to Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands at the outbreak of the Second World War, and Captain of the Mediterranean Fleet, 1940-42; appointed CBE, 1942 and CB, 1946. He took the name Benyon in lieu of Shelley by deed poll, 1964 and by royal licence, 1967. High Sheriff of Berkshire, 1958; Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1961-68. He married, 16 April 1929, Eve Alice (1900-95), daughter of the Right Reverend Lord (Rupert Ernest) William Gascoyne-Cecil, Bishop of Exeter, and had issue:

(1) Sir William Richard Shelley (later Benyon) (1930-2014), kt. (q.v.);

(2) James Edward Shelley (1932-2017), of Ramsdell (Hants), born 18 June 1932; educated at Eton and University College, Oxford (MA 1961); secretary to the Church Commissioners; appointed CBE, 1990; married, 16 June 1956 at Fulmer (Bucks), Judith (b. c.1934), only daughter of George Grubb of Gerrards Cross (Bucks), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 18 January 2017; will proved 16 June 2017;

(3) Andrew Thomas Rupert Shelley (1933-2018), born 18 November 1933; educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1954; Lt., 1956; Capt., 1960; Maj., 1967; retired 1988); married, 11 December 1971, Joanna Margaret (1938-2006), only daughter of Adm. Sir Randolph Stewart Gresham Nicholson CB DSO DFC (1892-1975), kt., of The Toll House, Bucks Green (Sussex) and had issue one son and one daughter; died 3 April 2018; will proved 3 September 2018;

(4) David Robert Shelley (1937-2018), born 2 April 1937; educated at Eton and University College, Oxford (BA 1961); married, 30 August 1971, Elizabeth Rhoda (b. 1938), younger daughter of Gilbert Graham Balfour of Upper Hardres (Kent), and had issue two sons; died 31 December 2018; will proved 1 December 2019.

He lived at The Pickeridge, Fulmer (Bucks) until he inherited the Englefield House and Hackney estates from his kinsman, Sir Henry Fellowes (later Benyon), 1st bt., in 1959. He did not, however, occupy Englefield House but handed the estate over to his eldest son and lived latterly at The Lambdens, Beenham (Berks).

He died 13 June 1968 and was buried at Englefield; his will was proved 21 August and 31 October 1968 (estate £118,863). His widow died aged 95 on 4 March 1995; her will was proved 15 August 1995 (estate £116,456).

Sir Bill Benyon (1930-2014) 

Shelley (later Benyon), Sir William Richard (k/a Bill) (1930-2014), kt. Eldest son of Vice-Adm. Richard Benyon Shelley (later Benyon) (1892-1968), and his wife Eve Alice daughter of the Right Reverend Lord (Rupert Ernest) William Gascoyne-Cecil, Bishop of Exeter, born 17 January 1930. Educated at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 (Sub-Lt., 1951; Lt., 1951; retired 1956). With Courtaulds Ltd., 1956-64. MP for Buckingham, 1970-83, and for Milton Keynes, 1983-92; PPS to Minister of Housing. 1972-74; Opposition Whip, 1974-77. JP for Berkshire, 1962-77; County Councillor for Berkshire, 1964-74; Vice Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1994-2005 (DL 1970-94). Chairman of Peabody Trust, 1993-98 and Ernest Cook Trust, 1993-2004. He married, 24 August 1957, Elizabeth Ann (b. 1932), daughter of Vice-Adm. Ronald Hamilton Curzon Hallifax (1885-1943) of Shedfield (Hants), and had issue:

(1) Catherine Rose Ingrid Benyon (b. 1958), of Mayridge Fm, Englefield, born 15 November 1958; married, 22 September 1984, Peter David Ian Haig (b. 1954), son of Maj. Andrew Haig of Southernwood House, Hingham (Norfk), and had issue one son and two daughters;

(2) Richard Henry Ronald Benyon (b. 1960), Baron Benyon (q.v.);

(3) Edward Benyon (b. 1962), born 23 May 1962; manages the Hackney estate on behalf of his brother; married, 17 June 1989 (div.), Karen Elizabeth (k/a Katy) (b. 1969) (who m2, 2004, Oliver Christian Davis (b. 1966) of Fifehead St Quintin (Dorset), vetinary surgeon), younger daughter of Robin Crofts of Nethercote House, Flecknoe (Warks), and had issue one son and one daughter;

(4) Mary Elizabeth Benyon (b. 1965), born 4 July 1965; High Sheriff of Berkshire, 2020; a director of the Ernest Cook and Ufton Court Educational Trusts; married, 9 June 1990, Capt. Thomas Richard Phineas Riall (b. 1960), company director, son of Maj. Patrick Riall of Knockbawn (Co. Wicklow), and had issue two sons and one daughter;

(5) Susannah Eve Benyon (b. 1969), born 17 May 1969; bookbinder and paper conservator; married, 18 May 1996, George Neville McBain (1960-2020), and had issue three sons and one daughter.

His father handed over the Englefield House and Hackney estates to him on inheriting them.

He died 2 May 2014; his will was proved 16 July 2015. His widow was living in 2022.

Lord Benyon

Benyon, Rt. Hon. Richard Henry Ronald (b. 1960), Baron Benyon. Elder son of Sir William Richard Shelley (later Benyon) (1930-2014), kt., and his wife Elizabeth Halifax, born 21 October 1960. Educated at Bradfield College, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. An officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1981; Lt., 1983; retired 1984). Land agent, 1987-90. He stood for parliament unsuccessfully in 1993 and 1997, but was Conservative MP for Newbury, 2005-19; appointed to Privy Council, 2016; created a life peer, 29 January 2021; Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 2010-13 and 2021-22; Minister of State for Biosecurity, Marine and Rural Affairs in DEFRA, 2022-24. Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household, 2024-date. Member of Newbury District Council, 1991-98? He married 1st, 8 October 1988 (div. 2003), Emma (b. 1963), daughter of Capt. Anthony Henry Heber Villiers (1921-2004) of Woodchester (Glos), and 2nd, 24 May 2004, Zoe Lavinia Beatrice (b. 1970), daughter of (Francis) Alastair Lavie Robinson (b. 1937) of Ousden (Suffk), and had issue:

(1.1) Hon. Henry Charles William Benyon (b. 1990), born 12 July 1990; director of Englefield Estate Trust since 2021; married, 2021, Sarah, daughter of Philip Proctor of Skelton (Yorks), and has issue one son;

(1.2) Hon. Thomas Anthony Edward Benyon (b. 1992), born 6 June 1992; married, September 2022, Roseanna (b. 1992), elder daughter of Henry Vane Eden of Cromlix, Dunblane (Perths.);

(1.3) Hon. Frederick Richard Benyon (b. 1994), born 14 March 1994; educated at Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 2018; Lt., 2019, Capt., 2021) and an accomplished polo player;

(2.1) Hon. Louis Benyon (b. 2005), born 19 November 2005;

(2.2) Hon. Jimmy Benyon (b. 2007), born 10 May 2007.

His father handed over Englefield House and the de Beauvoir estate in Hackney to him c.2010.

Now living. His first wife married 2nd, 14 June 2013, as his second wife, Edward John Beckett (b. 1953), 5th Baron Grimthorpe of Brinkley (Suffk), and is now living. His second wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 162; P. de la Serre, Histoire de L'Entrée de la Reine Mère dans la Grand Bretagne (1775), pl. ii; VCH Essex, vol. 7, 1978, pp. 64-72, 110-17;.G. Jackson-Stops, 'Englefield House, Berkshire' in Country Life, 26 February and 5-12 March 1981; S. Daniels, Humphrey Repton, 1999, pp. 59-60; F. Cowell, Richard Woods (1715-93): master of the pleasure garden, 2009, pp. 194-95; G. Tyack, S. Bradley & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Berkshire, 2nd edn., 2010, pp. 293-94; K. Smith, 'Englefield House: processes, practices and the making of a Company house' in M. Finn & K. Smith (eds.), The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857, 2017, pp. 191-204; 

https://archive.org/details/bookofexhibition00romf/page/n5/mode/2up;

Location of archives

Benyon of Englefield House: deeds, estate and family papers, 13th-20th cents. [Royal Berkshire Archives D/EBy, D/EZ 173]; Essex deeds and papers, 15th-20th cents. [Essex Record Office, D/DBe; A10365]; Hackney deeds and estate papers, 1550-1950 [London Metropolitan Archives, E/BVR]; Hackney deeds and rent accounts, c.1727-1826 [The National Archives, C108/283]

Coat of arms

Benyon of Englefield: Vair, sable and or, on a chief wavy of the second, an Eastern crown between two mullets gules.

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 13 February 2024 and updated 14-15, 25 February, 1 August, 21 October and 14 November 2024. I am most grateful to Shane Coulson and Sharon Lewison for additional information and corrections.