(632) Binney of Pampisford Hall

Binney of Pampisford 

The Binney family are said to have been resident in the Worksop area for several generations before the time of Thomas Binney (1762-1835), with whom the genealogy below begins. Thomas was a corn merchant and maltster, who acquired Morton Hall near Gainsborough and was eventually in partnership with his sons Richard (1796-1875) and Mordecai (1805-63), who operated branches of the family firm in Wakefield (Yorks WR) and Kingston-upon-Hull (Yorks ER) respectively. In 1830, however, father and sons were declared bankrupt, and although the sons eventually emerged from the stigma of bankruptcy and pursued other careers, Morton Hall seems to have been sold and Thomas himself died in 1835.

Morton Hall, near Gainsborough.

Thomas had married twice and produced seven sons and two daughters, and most of the sons who survived to adulthood took up trades and occupations connected with agriculture. Only one became a farmer as such, and he eventually emigrated to Australia, where the family evidently lost sight of him, for in 1865, two years after his death, they were advertising for news of him or his children. The sole exception to the pattern of agricultural pursuits was Thomas' youngest son, Edward William Binney (1812-81), who was articled to a solicitor in Chesterfield and after completing his legal studies in London, set up in practice in Manchester in 1836. From an early age he manifested an interest in scientific and geological matters, and once settled in Manchester he increasingly applied himself to understanding the complex geology of the Lancashire coalfield. In 1851 he entered a partnership with Dr James Young FRS, another geologist, for the extraction of paraffin from a seam of bituminous coal and shale in Scotland. This was financially highly rewarding and by 1865 he had not only made large profits from the business but was able to sell it to a joint-stock company for £120,000. This was the source of the family's later wealth. Edward himself bought Ravenscliffe House, a large house on the seafront at Douglas (Isle of Man) which had been built in 1849, and used it as an occasional residence, while retaining his main home at Cheetham Hill on the northern outskirts of Manchester.

Guisnes Court, Tolleshunt Darcy (Essex)

Ravenscliffe House, Douglas (Isle of Man)

Edward married in 1856 and produced three sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Edward William Binney (1857-96) settled in London but died relatively young. The second son, Thomas Godfrey Binney (1861-1943) was a militia officer and in 1906 bought Guisnes Court at Tolleshunt d'Arcy (Essex), but after his wife's death in 1923 he emigrated to the USA, where he died at San Diego in California. The third and youngest son was James Binney (1868-1935), who became a barrister in 1894. He evidently had ambitions to enter politics, and twice stood for parliament in the Crewe division in 1908 and 1909, but was unsuccessful. He purchased Pampisford Hall (Cambs) in 1893, and added considerably to the collection of conifers in the grounds, acquiring many specimens during his own adventurous travels. 

James Binney married twice, and although his first wife died after only three years of marriage, she left him a son and heir, Richard Christian Cecil James Binney (1897-1966), who duly inherited the Pampisford estate. Cecil, as he was generally known, went to Oxford, where he became one of the founders of the student magazine Cherwell, and then to the Inner Temple, from whence he was called to the bar in 1923. He stood for parliament in 1929 as a Liberal but was not elected, and had a parallel career as a writer of short stories. During the Second World War he was attached to the War Office and Pampisford Hall was used for a time as a reception centre for evacuees. Cecil remained unmarried until 1953, and had no children. When he died in 1966, the Pampisford estate passed to his much younger half-brother, Hector Binney (1919-86), a larger-than-life character who travelled extensively in Europe buying furniture, ceramics and other works of art for a collection which was largely dispersed by sale after his death. After he inherited Pampisford, he became a passionate speaker about the conifer collection in the grounds, but the gardens themselves were neglected during his ownership. On his death, the estate passed to his daughter Arabella (b. 1952), who soon afterwards married Bo Killander (b. 1958). The grounds of the house were extensively damaged in the storms of 1987 and 1990, and this prompted replanting and the start of a programme of restoration of the house and grounds which continued into the 21st century.

Pampisford Hall, Cambridgeshire

The house was first built about 1830 by an unknown architect, on newly-enclosed farmland, for William Parker Hamond (d. 1873), whose ancestors had owned the estate since about 1710 but had been non-resident. As first built it was apparently a moderate-sized villa with the principal rooms along the south-east front. Shortly after the sale of the family's Haling Grove estate at Croydon (Surrey) in the 1860s, Parker Hamond enlarged Pampisford Hall to the designs of George Goldie, creating a new nine-bay south-west front in Italianate style with the centre recessed behind a loggia of banded columns, and a new entrance front to the north-east. The southern three bays on both fronts represent the earlier house. Inside, Goldie created a new entrance hall with an encaustic tiled floor and a chimneypiece carved by Arthur Hayball of Sheffield, a grand staircase and a dining room. A little later, in 1875, all the principal rooms were redecorated in the Italian and French Renaissance styles, and they have been little altered since that time. 

Pampisford Hall: entrance front before 1912.

The large entrance porch is dated 1893 and must have been added immediately after James Binney bought the house. Further additions came in 1912, when he added a ballroom at the northern end of the house - replacing the servants' hall - and a new west wing and a conservatory projecting from the south-east front. The house was used briefly in 1939-40 as a reception centre for boys evacuated from London, but the property has remained in the Binney family. 

Pampisford Hall: the layout of the grounds in 1895, from the 1st edn 25" map.

Formal gardens in the Italian style were designed by Robert Marnock after 1840, and there are significant remains of this layout, but the layout was considerably enlarged and remodelled between 1869 and 1872. The park was already notable for its trees by the mid 19th century, and visitors were welcome every Sunday in the 1870s. The grounds now contain an even finer collection of conifers than they did 150 years ago, with over 1,000 foreign species, many of them collected by James Binney and his elder son. The site was badly affected by the great storms of 1987 and 1990 and was partially replanted with advice from Alan Mitchell. The timber-framed conservatory was restored in the early 21st century.

Descent: built for William Parker Hamond (d. 1873); to son, William Parker Hamond (d. 1884); to cousin, Col. R.T. Hamond, who sold 1893 to James Binney (1868-1935); to son, Richard Christian Cecil James Binney (1897-1966); to half-brother, Hector Danneskold Brudenell Binney (1919-86); to daughter, Arabella Cecilia Bruce Binney (b. 1952), later wife of Bo A.L. Killander (b. 1958).

Binney family of Pampisford Hall

Binney, Thomas (1762-1835). Son of Thomas Binney (1726-83) of Worksop (Notts) and his wife Elizabeth Hannah, daughter of Thomas Casson of Thorne (Yorks WR), born 23 January 1762. Corn merchant and maltster, in partnership with his sons Richard and Mordecai; the firm became bankrupt in 1830. He married 1st, 3 November 1791 at Worksop, Elizabeth (1772-97), daughter of Robert Cowley of Worksop, and 2nd, 19 May 1804 at Gringley-on-the-Hill (Notts), Elizabeth (1772-1843), daughter of James Cross of Gringley-on-the-Hill, and had issue:

(1.1) Eliza Cowley Binney (1792-1875), born 11 August and baptised at Worksop, 13 August 1792; married, 6 May 1813 at Gainsborough (Lincs), Johann Christian Mann of Rostock (Germany), but had no issue; died at Rostock, 27 September, and was buried there, 30 September 1875;

(1.2) Ann Binney (1793-1876), born 15 November and baptised at Worksop, 17 November 1793; married, 15 May 1827 at Gainsborough, Robert Hesleden (1790-1867), and they emigrated to Australia in 1838-39; died without issue at Kew, Victoria (Australia), 18 June, and was buried there, 21 June 1876;

(1.3) Thomas Casson Binney (1795-1865), born 3 May and baptised at Worksop, 6 May 1795; grain and timber merchant of Hull (Yorks ER) and corn factor at Wakefield (Yorks WR); married, 14 November 1822 at Rochdale (Lancs), Isabella Holt of Rochdale, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 21 June and was buried at Worksop, 24 June 1865; will proved 26 January 1866 (effects under £100);

(1.4) Richard Binney (1796-1875), born 10 June and baptised at Worksop, 19 June 1796; corn merchant in Wakefield (bankrupt, 1830) and later a stockbroker in Leeds; lived in Leeds and later Doncaster; married, 5 May 1823 at Halifax (Yorks WR), Jane (1803-42), daughter of Joseph Walker of Mearclough House, Halifax, and had issue nine sons and two daughters; died in London, and was buried at Bethnal Green Cemetery (Middx), 1873;

(2.1) Mordecai Binney (1805-63), born 19 June 1805; corn merchant in Hull, bankrupt in 1830, who lived later at Retford (Notts); married, February 1841 at Hull Registry Office (and previously in Hamburg), Mary Anne Krumbhaar (1816-56) of Hamburg (Germany), and had issue four sons and one daughter; died 1 June 1863 and was buried at Worksop, where he and his wife are commemorated by a monument;

(2.2) James Cross Binney (1807-63), born 20 April 1807; farmer at Pilham (Lincs); married, 12 August 1831 at Pilham, Susanna (1806-53?), daughter of Rev. William Dunkin, rector of Pilham, and had issue two sons and one daughter; after his wife's death he emigrated to Brisbane, Queensland (Australia); died 13 December 1863;

(2.3) Henry Casson Binney (1809-38), born September 1809; tanner (bankrupt, 1837); married, 29 January 1835 at St John the Baptist, Chester, Mary Ann Oxley (d. 1837), and had issue one daughter (who died in infancy); died 29 October and was buried at Worksop, 3 November 1838;

(2.4) William Edward Binney (b. & d. 1811), born 13 March and baptised at Gainsborough, 2 April 1811; died in infancy, 16 May, and was buried at Gringley-on-the-Hill, 19 May 1811;

(2.5) Edward William Binney (1812-81) (q.v.).

He lived at Morton Hall, Gainsborough (Lincs), which was probably sold after his bankruptcy, although he was still described as 'of Morton' in 1831; he lived subsequently at Wakefield (Yorks WR).

He died at West Stockwith (Notts), 16 November, and was buried at Worksop (Notts), 23 November 1835. His first wife died 17 December 1797. His widow died 10 July 1843.

Binney, Edward William (1812-81). Fifth and youngest son of Thomas Binney (1762-1835) and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Cross of Gringley-on-the-Hill (Notts), born 7 December 1812 and baptised at Gainsborough, 1 March 1813. Educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar Sch., Gainsborough and articled to a solicitor in Chesterfield (Derbys). Solicitor in Manchester from 1836, but he became increasingly occupied by scientific and geological affairs and entered in 1851 into a partnership with Dr James Young FRS for the extraction of paraffin from bituminous coal and shale, with works at Bathgate in Scotland and Leigh (Lancs), which they subsequently sold for £120,000 in 1865. He had an expert knowledge of the Lancashire coalfield, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1856 and also of the Geological Society, 1853. He was one of founders of the Manchester Geological Society (President, 1857-59, 1866-67) and the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society, of which he was successively secretary, vice-president and thrice president. He married, 28 August 1856*, Mary Christiana (1827-82), fourth daughter and co-heiress of Rev. David Jones (d. 1868), rector of Hope Bagot (Shrops.), and had issue:

(1) Edward William Binney (1857-96), born 13 December 1857; educated at King William's College (IoM) and Manchester University; law student; married, 14 February 1888 at St Dunstan's-in-the-West, London, Anne Alexandra Efford (1863-1906), daughter of William Henry Weekes, of Lambeth (Surrey), builder, but had no issue; died 13 October 1896 and was buried at Heston (Middx), where he is commemorated by a monument;

(2) Thomas Godfrey Binney (1861-1943), born 27 May and baptised at Hope Bagot (Shrops.), 15 September 1861; an officer in the North Irish Militia brigade of Royal Artillery (Lt., 1884; Capt.); owned Guisnes Court, Tolleshunt d'Arcy (Essex), 1906-23, but made it available as a VAD Hospital in First World War; married, 31 October 1882 at Douglas (IoM), Susan Lockhart (1865-1923), eldest daughter of Rev. Canon W.T. Hobson, incumbent of Douglas (IoM) and later rector of Playden (Sussex), and had issue six sons; after his wife's death he emigrated to the USA and died at San Diego, California (USA), 27 December 1943; his will was proved 14 September 1944 (estate in England, £2,863);

(3) Maud Elizabeth Binney (1863-1937), born 1 July 1863 and baptised at Hope Bagot, 11 May 1864; married, October 1884, Francis Sowerby (1856-1931) of Hawerby Hall, Coxwold Hall and Beelsby Hall (Lincs), son of J. Sowerby, and had issue three sons and three daughters; lived latterly at Hatfield (Herts); died 10 April 1937; will proved 5 July 1937 (estate £715);

(4) Alice Hannah Binney (1864-1955), born 6 September 1864 and baptised at Hope Bagot, 18 June 1865; married, 8 July 1885 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Col. Samuel Richard Grubb (1855-1921) of Kiltinan Castle (Co. Tipperary), son of Richard Davies Grubb, and had issue one son and one daughter; died at Clonmel (Co. Tipp.), 29 August 1955; will proved at Waterford, 8 November 1955 (estate £100)

(5) Joan Cross Binney (1865-1939), born 10 November 1865 and baptised at Hope Bagot, 15 April 1866; married, October 1888, Lt. George Bailie Guthrie (1861-1900) of Craigie (Angus) and had issue one daughter; died 14 January 1939; will proved 2 March 1939 (estate £25,375);

(6) James Binney (1868-1935) (q.v.).

He lived at Morton Hall, Gainsborough (Lincs) and later at Cheetham Hill, Manchester. After he made his fortune, he invested in a large seafront house, Ravenscliffe House, at Douglas (IoM), which was sold in 1884, following his death.

He died 19 December, and was buried at Worksop (Notts), 23 December 1881; his will was proved 31 March 1882 (effects £109,278 in the UK). His widow died at Ludlow (Shrops.), 4 May and was buried at Hope Bagot, 10 May 1882; administration of her goods was granted to her second son, 30 May 1883 (effects £241).

* The date is given thus in Burke's Landed Gentry, but I have been unable to trace the marriage, which seems not to have been recorded at Hope Bagot.

Binney, James (1868-1935). Third and youngest son of Edward William Binney (1812-81) and his wife Mary Christiana, daughter and co-heiress of Rev. David Jones, rector of Hope Bagot (Shrops.), born at Douglas (IoM), 14 August 1868. After being orphaned in 1882 he was made a ward in Chancery. Educated at Giggleswick, Rugby and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1887; BA 1892; MA 1898) and Middle Temple (admitted 1889; called 1894). Before attending university he travelled in Europe with a tutor. Barrister-at-law. An officer in 3rd battn., King's Regiment (2nd Lt., 1890; Capt., 1892; retired 1901). JP and DL for Cambridgeshire; High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, 1903-04. A Conservative in politics, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in the Crewe division, 1908, 1909. He travelled extensively in Europe, India, Egypt, the West Indies and South America, and was a notable collector of conifers which he added to the gardens at Pampisford. Author of a short biography of his father, The centenary of a nineteenth-century geologist (1912). He married 1st, 4 January 1894 at Whiston (Lancs), Cecilia de Anyers (1872-97), younger daughter of Capt. Henry Rudolph de Anyers Willis of Halsnead, Whiston, and 2nd, 9 July 1907 at Great Bedwyn (Wilts), Lady Violet Louisa Marjory (1880-1923), daughter of Henry Augustus Brudenell-Bruce (1842-1911), 5th Marquess of Ailesbury, and had issue:

(1.1) Cecilia Ermyntrude Alice Binney (1896-1941), born 4 February and baptised at Pampisford, 29 February 1896; educated at Girton College, Cambridge; language teacher; married, 1938, Maurice Henry Black (1910-91), musician; died 19 March and was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, Oxford, 24 March 1941; administration of goods granted to her brother, 11 March 1942 (estate £920);

(1.2) Richard Christian Cecil James Binney (1897-1966) (q.v.);

(2.1) Merlin Brudenell Binney (1908-76), of St Annes Heath, Virginia Water (Surrey), born 5 August and baptised at Pampisford, 20 October 1908; educated at Radley, 1922-23, and St Catherine's College, Cambridge; died unmarried at the Holloway Sanatorium, Egham (Surrey), 18 May 1976; administration of goods (with will annexed) granted 14 June 1977 (estate £3,109);

(2.2) Olivera Rowena Binney (1910-86), born 3 September and baptised at Pampisford, 20 October 1910; educated at Heathfield School, the London School of Economics and the Open University (BA 1979); Vice-President of Royal College of Nursing; a member of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales; JP for Glamorganshire (from 1954); appointed OBE, 1967; a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John; married, 24 May 1934 at Pampisford, Col. Sir Cennydd George Traherne KG (1910-95), of Coedarhydglyn, Cardiff (Glam.), son of Cdr. Llewellyn Edmund Traherne; died 22 October 1986; will proved 16 April 1987 (estate £187,255);

(2.3) Hector Danneskold Brudenell Binney (1919-86) (q.v.).

He purchased Pampisford Hall in 1893 and also owned property in Lancashire.

He died 3 September and was buried at Pampisford, 6 September 1935; his will was proved 19 December 1935 (estate £115,230). His first wife died 25 March and was buried at Pampisford, 30 March 1897. His second wife died 26 August 1923; her will was proved 29 November 1923 (estate £6,644).

Cecil Binney (1897-1966) 

Binney, Richard Christian Cecil James (1897-1966). Only son of James Binney (1868-1935) and his first wife, Cecilia d'Anyers, younger daughter of Capt. Henry Rudolph d'Anyers Willis of Halsnead (Lancs), born 27 February 1897. Educated at Eton, and then served in the First World War with Royal West Kent Regiment (Lt.), before completing his education at Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1919; BA 1923; MA) and Inner Temple (admitted 1921; called 1923). Barrister-at-law with chambers in 6 Kings Bench Walk, London; employed in Second World War as civilian assistant to the General Staff in the War Office, 1940-43. A freeman of the City of London. While an undergraduate at Oxford he became one of the founders of Cherwell magazine. He was a Liberal in politics and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in the Uxbridge constituency, 1929, and he also enjoyed considerable success as a writer of short stories. He married, 14 August 1953, Elaine (1904-2002), daughter of G.L.K. Finlay of Edinburgh, but had no issue.

He inherited Pampisford Hall from his father in 1935.

He died 2 October and was buried at Pampisford, 6 October 1966; his will was proved 4 November 1966 and 7 April 1967 (estate £379,790). His widow died aged 97 on 26 January 2002; her will was proved 24 October 2002.

Binney, Hector Danneskold Brudenell (1919-86). Second son of James Binney (1868-1935) and his second wife, Lady Violet Louisa Marjory, daughter of Henry Augustus Brudenell-Bruce, 5th Marquess of Ailesbury, born 5 December 1919 and baptised at Pampisford, 9 January 1920. He served in the army in the Second World War. He was a bon vivant and a larger-than-life character, who travelled extensively throughout Europe, amassing an impressive collection of furniture, ceramics and works of art, especially objects with romantic or historical associations; his collection was sold after his death. On succeeding to his family property, he became known as an eccentric conservationist and spoke passionately about his collection of rare conifer trees. He married 1st, (div. by 1960), Jutta Katharina Marie Elizabeth Antonia von Haxthausen (1916-2004), and 2nd, Oct-Dec 1960, Ann Elizabeth (1926-2017), daughter of Lt-Col. Bernard Ewart Hammond-Davies (1894-1969), and had issue:

(1.1) Arabella Cecilia Bruce Binney (b. 1952) (q.v.);

(2.1) Theresa C. Bruce Binney (1958-2013), born Apr-Jun 1958; had issue three sons and one daughter; died at her home at Wolf Hall Manor, Burbage (Wilts), 25 April 2013.

He inherited Pampisford Hall from his half-brother in 1966.

He died 15 May 1986; administration of his goods (with will annexed) was granted 3 December 1986 (estate £1,678,429). His first wife married 2nd, [forename unknown] Bowen and died in February 2004. His second wife died 21 March 2017.

Binney, Arabella Cecilia Bruce (b. 1952). Only child of Hector Danneskold Brudenell Binney (1919-86) and his first wife, Jutta Katharina Marie Elizabeth Antonia, daughter of Walter Paul Wilhelm von Haxthausen, born 23 December 1952 and baptised at Great Bedwyn (Wilts), 23 June 1953. She married, August 1987, Bo A.L. Killander (b. 1958), and had issue:

(1) Calixta Emily M.G. Binney Killander (b. 1989); educated at Ampleforth and Warren Wilson College, North Carolina (USA); created an award-winning regenerative farming and organic vegetable business (Flourish Produce) on 80 acres of the estate;

(2) Karl Frederick Killander (b. 1992), born 6 March 1992; a competitive shooting specialist, who has represented Great Britain in skeet shooting.

She inherited Pampisford Hall from her father in 1986.

Now living. Her husband is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1972, pp. 67-68; VCH Cambs, vol. 6, 1978, pp. 105-13; S. Bradley & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Cambridgeshire, 3rd edn., 2014, p. 633; T. Mowl & L. Mayer, The historic gardens of Cambridgeshire, 2013, pp. 165-68.

Location of archives

Binney family of Pampisford: deeds, manorial records, estate and family papers, 1672-1925 [Location unknown: for further information contact The National Archives]

Coat of arms

Per saltire, or and azure, four horses' heads couped at the neck counterchanged

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs 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 22 April 2026.

(620) Bidlake of Great Bidlake

Bidlake of Great Bidlake 

The manor of Bidlake in Bridestowe parish (Devon) was acquired by Ralph de Combe in 1268, and his grandson John took the name Bidlake as a surname. It then descended through several generations to Thomas Bidlake (c.1461-1531), with whom the genealogy below begins. Throughout the medieval period, the family seem to have been very minor gentry, kept above the status of yeomen largely by virtue of being tenants in chief of the Crown. Even as late as the 16th century, when they rebuilt or enlarged their house at Bidlake (the name Great Bidlake was not adopted until the late 18th century, but is used throughout this account for clarity), the heads of the family described themselves as 'gentleman' rather than 'esquire'. 

Thomas Bidlake (d. 1531) married twice and had children only by his second wife, who were all still very young when he died, aged about seventy. His elder son, Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604), was made a ward of Sir George Rolle, who brought him up with his own sons, but when he was a teenager, Rolle sold the wardship to Roger Denys of Lodsworth (Sussex), who married Henry to his daughter Anne in about 1546. Henry and Anne had one son and two daughters who reached adulthood and have been recorded, and Great Bidlake descended to their son, John Bidlake (c.1547-1625), whose short biographical notes about himself and his family formed the basis, with other family papers, for a short account of the family in Devon Notes and Queries, 1905. The article helps to compensate for the fact that the Bridestowe parish registers do not survive before 1696, so many genealogical details of the family have been lost. John's notes state that Henry undertook work to extend and improve the house in 1575 and there was evidently further work in 1594. John Bidlake married Elizabeth Langsford, and through his marriage acquired a property at Germansweek, where he lived in preference to Great Bidlake. In 1610 he settled Great Bidlake on his eldest son, William Bidlake (c.1585-1625) on the latter's marriage; William and his wife seem to have been prickly and litigious characters, and John had occasion to write to his son begging him to " seeke peace" and warning him that "suits of law . . . are as variable as the turnings of a woadercock [weathercock]." As it happened, William died a few weeks before his father, when the Great Bidlake estate descended to his eldest son, Henry Bidlake (1612-59).

Henry Bidlake was of the generation most closely involved in the Civil War, and although his wife belonged to a family which declared for Parliament, he became a zealous Royalist, who took an active part in the fighting in the south-west between 1642 and 1646, and was heavily fined by the victorious Parliamentarians. It took him some seven years to borrow enough from friends, relations and neighbours to pay off his sequestration fine and the accrued interest, and recover his estates, and he died just five years later, shortly before the Restoration of the Monarchy. His eldest son and heir, William Bidlake (1639-70), was also left in straightened circumstances, and attempted to repair the position by marrying an heiress, Elizabeth Furlong, who gave him two sons. Sadly William died after less than ten years of marriage and long before his wife came into her inheritance; moreover, when Elizabeth secured her own future by marrying again in 1677, her second husband became entitled to her eventual inheritance, cutting out the sons of her first marriage. To try and compensate for this, Elizabeth's father took William's two sons into his own household, and did his best to provide for their futures, including apprenticing the younger son, Thomas Bidlake (c.1669-88?), to a wine merchant kinsman. The young man was unlucky enough to be injured when the powder magazine of the ship he was on exploded while the vessel was in Plymouth harbour, and he died not long afterwards, presumably from the injuries he received.

The elder son, Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718), came of age in about 1685 but did not gain possession of Great Bidlake until 1697, when he reached an agreement with his grandmother for her to hand over most of the house. This Henry was married twice, and produced five daughters but only one son, who died aged two, a few months after his father. By Henry's will, the estate thus passed to his widow and her three daughters, and the two daughters of his first marriage were excluded from a share in the inheritance. They were married off by their stepmother within a year of Henry's death, but her own children were almost a generation younger, and lived with their mother at Great Bidlake for the next twenty years. Two of the three eventually married, leaving the youngest, Philippa Bidlake (1717-92) looking after Henry's widow until she died in 1755. She then stayed on in the house, eventually sharing it with a tenant farmer, who ran the estate, and a companion who had come to her as a pauper apprentice in the domestic arts. From the 1730s, the three sisters and later their husbands, had to fight off a series of challenges to their inheritance from an audacious fraudster calling himself 'Sir Richard Bidlake' and his relatives. 'Sir Richard', who was really a man of humble origins called Richard Becklake or Beckalake, had cleverly laid the groundwork for his claim by creating forged title deeds and altering entries in parish registers. He claimed to be a descendant of the Thomas Bidlake who had been blown up in Plymouth harbour, but although he garnered quite a lot of support for his claim, he was never able to make it stick. Moreover, he tried the same thing - with rather more success - on the heirs of Sir Richard Combe of Hemel Hempstead (Herts).

Of the three sisters, only Elizabeth Bidlake (1714-1802) produced any children. She married John Hiern (c.1720-90) of Great Torrington, a solicitor, and they had two sons and five daughters. The two sons both died in their father's lifetime, so on Elizabeth's death the estate came into the hands of her eldest daughter, Mary (1746-1835), who was the wife of Col. Thomas Stafford Woollocombe (1742-1814), whose descendants owned Great Bidlake until the mid 20th century. The Woollocombes will be the subject of a future post.

Great Bidlake (formerly Wester Bidlake), Bridestowe, Devon

The house appears to be a plain, two-storey Tudor E-plan manor house with a later wing to one side, but while it does have genuine Tudor origins, much of what exists today was created in the 19th and 20th centuries. The manor was acquired by Ralph de Combe, from whom the Bidlakes traced their descent, in 1268. Nothing is known of the medieval house on the site, but the core of the present building was a great hall, perhaps of early Tudor date, which was enlarged in 1575 by Henry Bidlake to create 'the newe parlour and chamber over it'. Further work may have taken place in 1594 and in the early 17th century, but the family were heavily fined for their support of the Royalist cause in the Civil War, and are unlikely to have made many changes after 1640. In 1674, Philippa Bidlake was taxed on eight hearths, and in 1693 a deed lists the accommodation as 'the kitchen, the dairy, the brewhouse, the new house or wash house, and chambers over the hall, the great parlour, the chamber over the said greate parlour, the chamber over the little parlour, the malthouse, the larder and the little house at the higher end of the sayd malthouse, and chambers over the same'. It is clear from this list that the house was little more than a large farmhouse, and some of the chambers were probably unheated.

Great Bidlake: the entrance front in 1927. Image: Chapman Collection, © The Dartmoor Trust Archive

Great Bidlake: the entrance front today.

In 1792 the house descended to Thomas Woollocombe (d. 1829), who let it as a farmhouse. He or his brother, the Rev. John Stafford Woollocombe (d. 1866), seems to have demolished 'the greater part of the old mansion', but in the 1840s there was a rebuilding in fairly convincing Tudor style to recreate the appearance of an E-plan manor house. The surviving original work lies to the left of the porch and is constructed of rubble stone, whereas Woollocombe's new building is in coursed rubble, and includes the porch and everything to its right, and the upper parts of the bays left of the porch. The lintels and sills on the new work have helpful dates and initials, but the old part of the house also has a reused lintel with the date 1594 and the initials AB. On the far left of the facade, and disturbing its symmetry, is an additional bay of the 1880s that also incorporates some reused stonework. This addition was designed to link the main block with the early 19th century south-east wing and the three-storey tower with a pyramid roof. 

Great Bidlake: the rear elevation in 1927. Image: Chapman Collection. © The Dartmoor Trust Archive

The rear of the house is also gabled, but is more irregular in form, and retains a few early windows, including a reused 15th century cinquefoil-headed one. The central two bays on this side may be an early 20th century addition, and the bay its left the remnant of a gabled stair turret. On this side, the approach to the house is framed by a fine pair of gatepiers, apparently those supplied in 1701 by John Doidge and Richard Gunn, stonemasons.

Great Bidlake: entrance hall, now used as a dining room.

Inside, the house has few surviving pre-19th century features, and those that do exist are mainly in the south-east wing and adjoining room. The latter room may have been the hall in the 16th century, and although it was later divided horizontally, the roof supported on five trusses is still visible in the upper room. The next room, which was perhaps originally the parlour, has a 17th century granite fireplace which was reconstructed in the 19th century and the massive lintel of which is now carved with the Woollocombe arms. The granite heraldic fireplace in the entrance hall, bearing the Bidlake and Woollocombe arms, and the carved granite fireplaces in the north wing are all 20th century. The house was used as a school during the Second World War but returned to private occupation in 1946. For twenty years after 1985 it was the home of Professor John Robinson, an aerospace engineer who composed musicals, some which were performed in a natural wooded amphitheatre in the grounds. The house was restored, re-roofed and given a new main staircase in 2007, and in 2015, in a remarkable twist of fate, was bought back by members of the Bidlake family. At the time of writing it is available for short-term lets.

Descent: Thomas Bidlake (c.1461-1531); to son, Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604); to son, John Bidlake (c.1547-1625); to son, William Bidlake (c.1570-1625); to son, Capt. Henry Bidlake (1612-59); to son, William Bidlake (1639-70); to son, Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718); to daughters, Anne (1712-38?), wife of John Herring, Philippa (1717-92) and Elizabeth (1714-1802), wife of John Hiern (c.1720-90), whose daughter Mary Hiern (1746-1835) was their heir and married Col. Thomas Stafford  Woollocombe (d. 1829); to brother, Rev. John Stafford Woollocombe (1776-1866); to son, Rev. John Bidlake Woollocombe (1823-1903); to son, Rev. John Henry Bidlake Woollocombe (1854-1930); to son, Cdr. Henry Bidlake Woollocombe (1894-1944); used as a school during the Second World War; sold 1946 and returned to private occupation; sold 1985 to Prof. John Robinson; sold 2005 to Moya and Richard Connell; sold 2015 to James & Alex Bidlake.

Bidlake family of Great Bidlake

Bidlake, Thomas (c.1461-1531). Son and heir of John Bidlake and his wife Joan Come, born about 1461. He married 1st, Elizabeth [surname unknown] and 2nd, 1523, Katherine, daughter of Thomas Hadde of Canterbury (Kent), and had issue:

(2.1) John Bidlake; died young;

(2.2) Edward or Edmund Bidlake; died young;

(2.3) Alice Bidlake; married William Smallacombe of Smallacombe, and had issue one son and two daughters;

(2.4) Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604) (q.v.);

(2.5) James Bidlake (d. by 1606); married [forename unknown], widow of [forename unknown] Denys, and had issue one daughter;

(2.6) Dorothy Bidlake (fl. 1605).

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father.

He died in 1531. His first wife died before 1523. His widow married 2nd, John Coke of Thorn in Ottery St Mary (Devon) and 3rd, William Trent of Ottery St Mary; she died after 1555 and was buried at Aylesbeare (Devon).

Bidlake, Henry (c.1527-1604). Elder surviving son of Thomas Bidlake (c.1461-1531) and his second wife Katherine, daughter of Thomas Hadde of Canterbury (Kent). After the death of his father when he was aged four, the Crown granted his wardship to Sir George Rolle, 'who most honestly brought him up among his sons at school and in his house fifteen years or thereabout' and then granted his wardship to Roger Denys of Lodsworth (Sussex), who married him to his daughter. He was churchwarden of Bridestow in 1596. He married 1st, c.1546, Anne, daughter of Roger Denys (d. 1550) of Lodsworth, and 2nd, Jane, widow of Richard Denys, and had issue including:

(1.1) John Bidlake (c.1547-1625) (q.v.);

(1.2) A daughter; married Robert Stokes (fl. 1604);

(1.3) Thomasine Bidlake (d. 1621); married William Langsford (d. 1603) of Bratton Clovelly (Devon), and had issue at least one son and one daughter; died 13 April 1621.

He lived at Broadwoodwidger (Devon) from the time of his marriage until his mother gave him possession of Great Bidlake in 1555. He altered and improved the house and reconstructed Bidlake Mill.

He died 20 April 1604 and was buried at Bridestowe; his will was proved at Totnes (Devon), 1 May 1604. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bidlake, John (c.1547-1625). Only recorded son of Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604) and his wife Anne, daughter of Roger Denys of Lodsworth (Sussex), born about 1547. He left short autobiographical notes about himself and his family. He married, c.1566, Elizabeth, daughter of Roger Langsford of Germansweek, and had issue including:

(1) William Bidlake (c.1570-1625) (q.v.);

(2) John Bidlake (fl. 1627), of Germansweek; married Mary, daughter of Oliver Denham, and had issue one daughter;

(3) Grace Bidlake; married John Davy (b. 1585?), attorney, of Sanford by Crediton (Devon), and had issue at least three sons and five daughters.

He lived at Germansweek. He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1604 but never lived there, giving it to his elder son on his marriage in 1610.

He died after 27 May 1625 and his will was proved in 1626. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bidlake, William (c.1570-1625). Elder son of John Bidlake (c.1547-1625) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Roger Langsford of Germansweek, born about 1570. His wife was evidently quick to detect a slight and highly litigious, and she picked fights with the rector of Bridestowe and the neighbouring Ebsworthy family, who had been in disputes with the Bidlakes before. He married, 1610 (settlement 20 April), Agnes (d. 1651), daughter of Richard Sture of Morley (Devon), and had issue:

(1) Henry Bidlake (1612-59) (q.v.)

(2) Anna Bidlake (b. c.1614); married John Taverner; living in 1652;

(3) Thomas Bidlake (b. 1619); died young; living in 1625;

(4) William Bidlake, born after 1620; married, 27 July 1658 at Germansweek, Tabitha Rundle (d. 1671), and had issue five sons and four daughters.

His father settled Great Bidlake on him in 1610, and his widow retained it until 1641. She then moved to south Devon, where she is said to have indulged in more costly law suits.

He died in the lifetime of his father and was buried 2 May 1625; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 23 May 1625, and an inquisition post mortem was held on 24 August 1627. His widow died in 1651; administration of her goods was granted to her daughter, 22 January 1651/2.

Bidlake, Henry (1612-59). Eldest son of William Bidlake (c.1570-1625) and his wife Agnes, daughter of Richard Sture of Morley (Devon), born 1612. His wardship was first granted to Sir Thomas Wise of Sydenham House (Devon), but was bought back by his mother who was reluctant to lose control of her son and the estate. A zealous Royalist in the Civil War, in 1642 he joined Sir Ralph Hopton and Edmund Fortescue who were mustering men at Modbury (Devon), but the event was surprised by a party of Parliamentarian dragoons who arrested many men, including Henry Bidlake, who was taken to London and imprisoned for treason, although he seems to have merely been fined and released. He rejoined the Royalist army (Capt. of Horse, 1643 in Sir Thomas Hele's regiment), and was probably present at the Battle of Sourton Down in April that year, after which the defeated Royalists withdrew to Bridestowe. In 1645-46 he was one of the defenders of Pendennis Castle (Cornw.), where he was among the starving survivors who eventually accepted honourable terms of surrender. His estates were sequestrated and he was fined three times the annual value of the estate. Because he seems already to have been in debt before the start of the Civil War he was unable to pay, and he was obliged to borrow widely from friends and neighbours. His mother-in-law, Philippa Kelly, repaid some of these creditors, in return for which Bidlake signed over to her all his goods and chattels except his clothes. He later sold some land, raising enough to finally pay off the fines and accrued interest and recover his property in 1654. Churchwarden of Bridestowe, 1659, He married, 1633, Philippa (c.1614-1701), daughter of William Kelly of Kelly, and had issue:

(1) William Bidlake (1639-70) (q.v.);

(2) Henry Bidlake (fl. 1663); living, unmarried, in 1663;

(3) Charles Bidlake (d. 1705); solicitor in Crediton (Devon); married and had issue two sons; buried at Crediton, 12 November 1705; will proved at Exeter, 1706;

(4) Margery Bidlake (d. 1663); died unmarried, 1663; will proved at Exeter, 19 January 1663/4;

(5) Philippa Bidlake (d. 1706); married, by 1660, Peter Manaton (1640-1708) of Manaton (Devon), son of Sampson Manaton (d. 1657), and had issue three sons and five daughters; buried at Stoke Climsland (Cornw.), 15 February 1705/6;

(6) Elizabeth Bidlake (fl. 1663); living, unmarried, in 1663;

(7) Mary Bidlake (fl. 1663); living, unmarried, in 1663.

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1625 and came of age in 1633. After his death his widow remained in occupation of the house until 1697, when she ceded most of the property to her grandson, Henry Bidlake (c.1668-1718).

He died in 1659; his will was proved 31 December 1659. His widow was buried at Bridestowe, 7 March 1700/1.

Bidlake, William (1639-70). Eldest son of Henry Bidlake (1612-59) and his wife Philippa, daughter of William Kelly of Kelly, said to have been born 2 September and baptised 29 September 1639. He was in straightened circumstances because of the family's role in the Civil War, and in an attempt to repair the situation he married and heiress, but her father outlived him and so he never came into possession of her fortune, which passed instead to her second husband. He married, 1661 (settlement 20 July), Elizabeth (c.1637-82), only child of Anthony Furlong (d. 1690) of Carbeel, Antony (Cornw.), and had issue:

(1) Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718) (q.v.).

(2) Thomas Bidlake (c.1669-88?), born about 1670; apprenticed to a wine importer; was injured in 1688 when a ship he was aboard blew up and sank in Plymouth harbour; he died unmarried soon afterwards;

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1659, but his mother remained in occupation.

He was buried 22 November 1670. His widow married 2nd, 1677, Roger Collings, and had further issue one son; she was buried at Antony, 30 September 1682.

Bidlake, Henry (c.1664-1718). Elder son of William Bidlake (1639-70) and his wife Elizabeth, only child of Anthony Furlong of Carbeel, Antony (Cornw.), born about 1664. After his mother's remarriage, he and his brother were placed in the care of their grandfather, Anthony Furlong (d. 1690). He married 1st, 12 February 1693/4 at Shillingford (Devon), Mary (d. 1706), daughter of Edward Greenwood and widow of Edward Kneeboone, and 2nd, 8 February 1710 at Throwley (Devon), Anne (d. 1755), daughter of Rev. Edward Seddon, rector of Throwley, and had issue:

(1.1) Agnes Bidlake (c.1694-1747), said to have been born in 1694; married, 1 June 1719 at Launceston (Cornw.), Richard Beare of Sourton; died without issue and was buried at Bridestowe, 8 April 1747;

(1.2) Mary Anne Bidlake (b. 1698), baptised at Bradstone (Devon), 21 March 1697/8; married, 16 October 1719 at Stoke Climsland (Cornw.), William Warne of Bridestowe; died without issue;

(2.1) Anne Bidlake (1712-38?), baptised at Bridestowe, 18 December 1712; married, 1738, John Herring of Langstone; died without issue and was perhaps the woman of this name buried at Newton St Cyres (Devon), 8 December 1738;

(2.2) Elizabeth Bidlake (1714-1802) (q.v.);

(2.3) William Bidlake (1716-18), baptised at Bridestowe, 17 April 1716; died young and was buried at Bridestowe, 24 October 1718;

(2.4) Philippa Bidlake (1717-92), baptised at Bridestowe, 18 August 1717; lived at Great Bidlake with her widowed mother and later with a companion who had been her pauper apprentice; died unmarried and was buried at Bridestowe, 19 July 1792.

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1670 and came of age about 1685, but his grandmother remained in occupation of the house until 1697.

He was buried at Bridestowe, 14 February 1717/8; his will was proved at Exeter in 1718. His first wife was buried at Bridestowe, 14 July 1706. His widow was buried at Bridestowe, 15 July 1755.

Bidlake, Elizabeth (1714-1802). Second daughter of Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718) and his second wife, Ann, daughter of Rev. Edward Seddon, rector of Throwley, baptised 9 March 1713/4. She married, 14 July 1741 at Bridestowe, John Hiern (c.1720-90) of Great Torrington (Devon), attorney, and had issue:

(1) Mary Hiern (1746-1835), baptised at Great Torrington, 21 May 1746; married, 7 May 1774 at Great Torrington, Col. Thomas Stafford Wollocombe (1742-1814) of Lifton (Devon), and had issue three sons (from whom descended the later owners of Great Bidlake) and three daughters; died 8 April and was buried at Bridestowe, 15 April 1835; will proved at Exeter, 1835;

(2) Elizabeth Hiern (1747-85?), probably the person of this name baptised at Langtree, 10 September 1747; living in 1766 when she was named as an executor of her father's will, but perhaps died in his lifetime as three Elizabeth Hearns were buried at Langtree between 1779 and 1785;

(3) James Hiern (1753-79), baptised at Langtree, 15 March 1753; died unmarried and was buried at Langtree, 22 January 1779;

(4) Bidlake Hiern (1755-1810), baptised at Great Torrington, 17 September 1755; married, 13 August 1798 at Great Torrington, Rev. Richard Slade (1767-1823), curate of Gt Torrington, 1791-98 and vicar of Thornbury (Glos), 1798-1823, son of Rev. Richard Slade of Westwell (Oxon), but had no issue; died 14 August and was buried in the chancel at Thornbury, 18 August 1810;

(5) Anne Hiern (b. 1756; fl. 1790), baptised at Langtree (Devon), 4 March 1756; living in 1790, when she was an executor of her father's will;

(6) Frances Hiern (1759-64), baptised at Langtree, 17 April 1759; died young and was buried at Langtree, 7 March 1764;

(7) Thomas Hiern (b. & d. 1767), baptised at Langtree, 11 November 1767; died in infancy and was buried at Langtree, 1 December 1767.

She and her sisters inherited Great Bidlake jointly from her father in 1718, but she was the only one to leave issue, and the estate therefore passed to her daughter's husband, Col. Wollocombe, and his descendants.

She was buried at Great Torrington, 7 July 1802. Her husband was buried at Great Torrington, 4 August 1790; his will was proved in 1791.

Principal sources

Devon Notes and Queries, vol. 3, 1905, pp. 241-48; H. Meller, The country houses of Devon, 2015, pp. 451-52; E. Babbage, 'The Bidlakes of Bridestowe and the Young Pretender', The Devon Historian, vol. 87 (2018), pp. 37-48; E. Babbage, The Bidlakes of Bridestowe, 2018;

https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/ss4tz/stafford06.php#lk2; 

https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/bb4fz/bidlake1.php#dau1.

Location of archives

Bidlake of Bridestowe: deeds and papers, 13th-18th cents. [Devon Archives & Local Studies Service 189M]; papers of Richard Bidlake, claimant of Bidlake estates, 18th cent. [The National Archives, E192/6]

Coat of arms

Gules, a fesse argent between martlets of the second (two and one).

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 12 December 2025 and updated 29 December 2025.

(617) Biddulph of Rathrobin

Biddulph of Rathrobin

This family is believed to be a cadet branch of the Biddulphs of Biddulph Old Hall and Burton Park, although to my knowledge the connection has never been demonstrated. The first of the family to settle in Ireland was evidently Francis Biddulph (d. 1673), with whom the genealogy below begins. He received a grant of lands in Co. Wexford after the restoration of King Charles II, which was perhaps recognition of service abroad to the Crown during the Commonwealth. His lands in Co. Wexford passed to his eldest son, Richard, but it was his youngest son, Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702), who in 1694 obtained a lease of Rathrobin, renewable in perpetuity, from Lord Shelburne, and who thus first brought the family to King's County (now Co. Offaly). Nicholas is said to have built a new house at Rathrobin, but this was probably no more than a gentleman farmer's house. In 1722, Nicholas' son and heir, Francis Biddulph (b. 1690) took a lease of Fortal Castle from Lord Shelburne on similar terms to the lease his father had negotiated on Rathrobin, and he seems to have made Fortal his home. Even less is known about the house at Fortal than about Rathrobin, though its name suggests Fortal may have been a medieval tower house in origin. Apart from a very long approach drive from the south, 19th century map evidence does not suggest it was more than a farmhouse. Francis Biddulph's only recorded child was Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62), who was married twice. By his first wife, Patience Colley, he had two daughters, who were the ultimate heirs to Fortal and Rathrobin. His second wife, Alice Scott, gave him a son, Angel Biddulph, who died young and probably in his father's lifetime. As a widow, Alice married her husband's cousin, Lt-Col. John Biddulph, but had no further issue.

It was therefore Nicholas' two daughters who inherited his estates in Co. Offaly as tenants in common. Both were married: Margaret (d. 1811) to Alexander Cornwall of Lismola (Co. Limerick) and Sarah (d. 1774) to Gifford Nesbitt of Tubberdaly (Co. Offaly), but Sarah died without issue in 1774, leaving her moiety of the estate to Margaret. Alexander Cornwall died in 1779, and the following year Margaret married again, to Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815) of Castle Bernard (Co. Offaly), who was in control of events at Rathrobin until his wife's death. Since neither of Margaret's marriages produced any children, when she died in 1811 she bequeathed her estate to her second cousin, Elizabeth, Lady Waller (d. 1851), but this prompted a lengthy legal dispute with Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827), who was a great-grandson of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) and another of Margaret's second cousins. The dispute was eventually settled in 1824 when the parties agreed that Lady Waller should inherit Fortal and F.H. Biddulph should inherit Rathrobin. I have not pursued the detailed story of Fortal Castle after 1824 as I have no evidence it was much more than a farmhouse, but Lady Waller died in 1851 without surviving issue, after which Fortal passed to her nephew, Nicholas Biddulph (1803-88) and then to his son, Francis Edward Biddulph (1834-1919). The house appears to have been let throughout the 19th century, and was sold at some point in the early 20th century.

Annaghmore House, as altered c.1820

Rathrobin came in 1824 into the possession of Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827), who made his home at Sandymount (Co. Dublin) and seems also to have rented Annaghmore House (Co. Offaly), which nearly adjoined Rathrobin. He probably never occupied Rathrobin, as he lived only three years after gaining undisputed possession. Instead, he improved the house at Annaghmore in about 1820, adding bow ends and new windows that gave it a more fashionable appearance. Francis Harrison Biddulph and his wife Mary Marsh had an unusually large family of fourteen children, of whom only two died young, and several of whom lived notably long lives. The eldest son, Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68) inherited Rathrobin. He attended Trinity College, Dublin and became a justice of the peace. Although there does not seem to be any evidence that he was a particularly harsh landlord, in 1840 he terminated the leases of two of his tenants and later that year an attempt was made to shoot him in the road near Rathrobin. Happily he received only minor injuries and was able to give chase to his assailants. Two relatives of his ex-tenants were arrested and tried for attempted murder and they were put on trial. The first trial was inconclusive as the jury could not reach a verdict. A second trial was held at the next assizes, with the same result, after which a third trial was moved to Dublin, where the men were finally acquitted for lack of solid evidence. Biddulph was the one who suffered a penalty, for it emerged during the third trial that he had advised one of the accused men to flee justice to avoid execution. For this, he was suspended from his office as a justice of the peace, although he seems to have been restored to the role a few years later. He married in 1845, and he and his wife had four sons and two daughters, almost all of whom were still minors when he died at a relatively modest age. 

Rathrobin passed to his eldest surviving son, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926), who had just embarked on a military career when his father died, which he continued to pursue until 1895. It was only then, having left the army, that he returned to Rathrobin and, finding the house neglected and forlorn, decided to rebuild it on a larger scale. The work was financed in part through Col. Biddulph's inheritance of lands in Hampshire and Lancashire from a maternal uncle. One part of the old house was preserved, but otherwise it was completely reconstructed, with experimental cast concrete walls and stone used only for the window surrounds and architectural details. His wife, Vera Flower, was a keen gardener, and an important part of the reconstruction was creating a walled flower garden immediately adjoining the house. Col. Biddulph was an excellent amateur photographer, and his scenes of life at Rathrobin and on the wider estate have happily survived and been published. He was a generous, engaged and well-liked landlord, who co-operated with the process of selling tenanted land to the occupiers in the early 20th century, and as the agitation for Irish home rule grew in the early 20th century, he found it difficult to believe that he or his estate at Rathrobin would be targetted by revolutionary forces. By 1921, at the height of the Troubles, however, he and his wife decided they would be safer in London, and in 1923 the house at Rathrobin, protected only by a resident steward, was attacked by anti-Treaty forces and deliberately burned down, as a reprisal for executions in Dublin. Col. Biddulph died three years later, his widow did not return to Ireland, and as they had no children, the estate was sold.

Rathrobin House, Co. Offaly

Rathrobin House: the OSI 6" plan of 1838 shows the footprint of the house. 

The Down Survey of the 1650s marks Rathrobin as a 'castle habitable' and one of the 'five handsome houses' noted in the parish, and a small part of the old castle survives among the outbuildings today. The estate is said to have been acquired in 1694 by Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702), who built a new house at Rathrobin soon afterwards, adjacent to the old castle of the Molloy family. Despite the fact that this survived - perhaps with later additions or alterations - until the 1890s, very little is known about it. The 1st edition 6" map of 1838 shows its footprint to have been fairly regular, suggesting it was a classical block with perhaps some older and less regular work at the rear, and this is confirmed by one photograph of 1879 which shows about half the entrance front. It was a two-storey building, probably of three bays, with a lower one-bay wing to the left, and was approached by a drive from the north, where a single-storey lodge built in the mid 19th century survives in a derelict condition. Griffith's Valuation of 1854 assigns a value of just £21 to the house, confirming that it was modest in scale (Annaghmore at £53 was worth more than twice as much).

Rathrobin House: entrance front as rebuilt in 1898-1900. Image: Magan-Biddulph Collection.

In the 1890s, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926) married and retired to his estate at Rathrobin, and in 1898-1900 he employed Sir Thomas Drew of Dublin to design him a new neo-Tudor mansion which was considerably larger than its predecessor. It stood on the same site and incorporated elements of the older house, including the three bays on the right of the entrance front, which continued to have Georgian-style sash windows, whereas the rest of the front was given mullioned windows with casement fittings. The new house was irregular, of two and three storeys, with gables, high-pitched roofs and pinnacles. Although a good deal of sandstone was used for the window surrounds and architectural details, the walls were cast using a pioneering mass concrete construction, disguised externally by a cement render that was lined to sugest ashlar.

Rathrobin House: watercolour of the rear of the house and flower garden by E. Crane, c.1910.

The plan was essentially L-shaped, with a flat, north-east facing, entrance front broken by a projecting single-storey Gothic porch, and a projecting cross-wing to its left that showed a blank wall to the entrance front. Round the corner to the south, however, the cross-wing had a large projecting two-storey canted bay window, which lit the principal bedroom and drawing room. The south-west facing rear of the house had irregular gables, a rather lumpen tower, and a further canted two-storey bow marking the end of the cross-wing. To complement the house, a walled flower garden was laid out on the south side of the house.

Rathrobin House: the ruins of the entrance front in 2013. Image: Mike Searle. Some rights reserved.

Colonel Biddulph had an excellent relationship with the local population and was regarded as a very considerate landlord, so that as violent agitation for Irish self-government grew in the early 20th century, he did not personally feel threatened. By 1921, however, the general level of lawlessness made a retreat with his wife to a house in Chelsea (Middx) expedient. It was perhaps because the house was unoccupied except for a steward living in one wing that on 18 April 1923 it was targetted by anti-Treaty forces and burned in reprisal for the execution of prisoners. An important library of some 3,000 books and the family picture collection were destroyed in the fire, which left the house a gutted shell. Although some parts of the structure have subsequently collapsed, much of it remains as a striking ruin, a testament to the solidity of its concrete construction.

Descent: built c.1700 for Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702); to son, Francis Biddulph (b. 1690); to son, Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62); to daughters, Margaret (d. 1811), wife of Alexander Cornwall (d. 1779) and later Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815), and Sarah (d. 1774), wife of Gifford Nesbitt (d. 1773); subject to legal dispute ended by an agreement between Elizabeth, Lady Waller (d. 1851) and Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827), by which the latter obtained Rathrobin; to son, Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68); to son, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926); burned 1923.

Biddulph family of Rathrobin

Biddolph, Francis (d. 1673). Parentage unknown, but reputedly a descendant of the Biddulphs of Biddulph Old Hall. He is said to have had a grant of lands at Kilpatrick (Co. Wexford) from King Charles II. He married Alice [surname unknown] and had issue:

(1) Richard Biddulph (fl. 1679); inherited the Kilpatrick lands from his father; married, 1679, Martha (who m2, Michael Jones of Droghenure (Co. Wexford)), daughter of John Vivors of Crosstown (Co. Wexford) and had issue two sons and two daughters;

(2) Thomas Biddulph (d. 1677); married, 1674, Elizabeth Raby, but had no issue; died 1677, when his nuncupative will was proved at Ferns;

(3) Nicholas Biddulph  (d. 1702) (q.v.).

He lived at Kilpatrick (Wexford).

He died in 1673. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Nicholas (d. 1702). Third son of Francis Byddolph (d. 1673) and his wife Alice. He married Charity [surname unknown] (d. 1753), and had issue, perhaps among others:

(1) Francis Biddulph (b. 1690) (q.v.);

(2) John Biddulph (d. 1741) (q.v.);

(3) Alice Biddulph (d. 1735?); married, 1701 (licence 29 January) Kildare Tarleton (d. 1711) of Geashill and Ballylevin (Co. Offaly), and had issue one son and three daughters; said to have died in 1735;

(4) Jane Biddulph.

He had a lease of Rathrobin, renewable for ever, from Charles Petty (c.1673-96), 1st Baron Shelburne, 25 October 1694, and built a new house on this estate soon afterwards.

He died 5 March 1702. His widow married 2nd, 1707, John Newcombe of Aghanville (Co. Offaly), and died 18 March 1753.

Biddulph, Francis (b. 1690). Elder son of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) and his wife Charity, born 1690. He married, 1712 (licence 7 April), Mary, daughter of Robert Jackson of Ballymackey, Knockinglass (Co. Tipperary), and had issue:

(1) Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62) (q.v.).

He inherited Rathrobin from his father in 1702. In 1722 he obtained a lease of Fortal Castle (Co. Offaly), renewable for ever, from Henry Petty (1675-1751), 1st Earl of Shelburne.

He was living in 1739 but his date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Nicholas (c.1715-62). Only recorded son of Francis Biddulph (b. 1690) and his wife Mary, daughter of Robert Jackson of Knockinglass (Co. Tipperary), born about 1715. JP for King's County; High Sheriff of King's County, 1741-42. He married 1st, 1736 (settlement 26 April), Patience, elder daughter of Thomas Colley of Killmin (Co. Offaly), and 2nd, 1754, Alice, eldest daughter of Angel Scott (d. 1755) of Cahercon, Kilfiddane (Co. Clare), and had issue:

(1.1) Margaret Biddulph (c.1740-1811) (q.v.);

(1.2) Sarah Biddulph (c.1742-74); married, 8 February 1769, Gifford Nesbitt (d. 1773) of Tubberdaly (Co. Offaly), son of Albert Nesbitt, but had no issue; died 1774 and bequeathed her moiety of the Rathrobin estates to her elder sister; will proved 23 March 1774;

(2.1) Angel Biddulph; died young.

He inherited Rathrobin and Fortal Castle from his father.

He died 11 June 1762. His first wife died before 1754. His widow married 2nd, 30 November 1769, Capt. John Biddulph [for whom see below], but had no further issue; her date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Margaret (c.1740-1811). Elder daughter of Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62) and his first wife, Patience, elder daughter of Thomas Colley of Killmin (Co. Offaly), born about 1740. She married 1st, 1762, Alexander Cornwall (d. 1779) of Lismola (Co. Limerick), and 2nd, 16 April 1780 at St Mary, Dublin, Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815) of Castletown (which he renamed Castle Bernard and which is now called Kinnitty Castle) (Co. Offaly), but had no issue.

She inherited a moiety of her father's estates from him in 1762 and the other moiety from her younger sister in 1774. At her death she bequeathed her property to her second cousin, Elizabeth, Lady Waller, but this was disputed by another second cousin, Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827) [for whom see below], and the ownership remained contested until an agreement between the parties in 1824.

She died 31 March 1811. Her first husband died in 1779. Her widower died at Birr (Co. Offaly), 8 May 1815; his will was proved in 1815.

---

Biddulph, John (d. 1741). Younger son of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) and his wife Charity, born after 1690. He was perhaps a clothier. He married, c.1725, and had issue:

(1) Francis Biddulph (1727-1806) (q.v.);

(2) John Biddulph; an officer in the army (Capt.); married, 30 November 1769, Alice, daughter of Angel Scott of Cahercon, Kilfiddane (Co. Clare), and widow of Nicholas Biddulph of Fortal [for whom see above], but had no issue;

(3) Richard Biddulph; married, 1755, Prudence Toukes, but had no issue;

(4) Nicholas Biddulph (1737-99), of Glenkeen, Borrisoleigh (Co. Tipperary), born 1737; married 1st, 1759, Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Dempsey of Dublin, and had issue two sons and two daughters; married 2nd, 1776, Hannah (d. 1824), daughter of Joseph Cooke of Currangreny (Co. Tipperary), and had further issue one daughter; died 6 September 1799 and was buried at Glenkeen;

(5) Alice Biddulph.

He settled at Stradbally (Co. Leix).

He died in 1741, when his will was proved. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Francis (1727-1806). Elder son of John Biddulph (d. 1741) and his wife, born 21 June 1727. JP for Queen's County. He married, 14 February 1765 at St Peter, Leeds (Yorks WR), Eliza Harrison (c.1737-1827), and had issue:

(1) Eliza Biddulph (1766-1808), born 26 June 1766; married, 20 February 1788, Richard Grattan (c.1759-1839) of Drummin (Co. Kildare), and had issue four sons and four daughters; died in Dublin, July 1808;

(2) Mary Anne Biddulph (1769-1832?); born 9 July 1769; married, 27 December 1784 at Vicarstown (Co. Leix), John or William Scott of Graiguenaskerry (alias Fisherstown) (Co. Leix); probably the woman of this name buried at St Peter, Dublin, 8 September 1832;

(3) Patience Biddulph (1771-72), born March 1771; died in infancy, June 1772;

(4) Frances Margaret Sarah Biddulph (1772-75), born June 1772; died young, 1775;

(5) Patience Biddulph (1773-1859), born October 1773; married, 19 March 1801, Henry Warner (d. 1831) of Warner Castle (Co. Meath) and Dublin, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 31 March 1859;

(6) Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827) (q.v.);

(7) Nicholas John Biddulph (1778-79), born 23 August 1778; died in infancy, 1779;

(8) Harriett Biddulph (1781-1850); married, 26 January 1799, Rev. Richard Clarke JP (1777-1838), chaplain of Portarlington (Co. Leix), 1801-38 and sovereign of the borough of Portarlington, son of William Clarke, and had issue four sons and five daughters; died 20 October 1850.

He lived at Vicarstown (Co. Offaly).

He died 11 September 1806. His widow died in 1827, aged 90.

Biddulph, Francis Harrison (1774-1827). Elder and only surviving son of Francis Biddulph (1727-1806) and his wife Eliza Harrison, born 26 December 1774. Admitted an attorney, 1796; Registrar of the Court of Exchequer. After the death of his cousin, Mrs. Margaret Bernard, in 1811, he became involved in a lengthy and expensive legal battle over the succession to the Rathrobin and Fortal estates, at the end of which a compromise was reached by which he succeeded to Rathrobin, while his rival, Elizabeth, Lady Waller, received Fortal. He married, 1797 (licence 10 July) at Stradbally (Co. Leix), Mary (c.1773-1861), eldest daughter of Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law, and had issue:

(1) Anne Biddulph (b. 1798), born 15 September 1798; married 1st, September 1821 in Dublin, Capt. Simon Biddulph (1793-1823), fourth son of Sir Theophilus Biddulph, 5th bt., and had issue one daughter; married 2nd, 1827, James Moilse (1798-1830), of Dublin, solicitor; and 3rd, 1835 Robert Frederick Grahame; death not traced;

(2) Elizabeth Biddulph (1799-1893), born 10 November 1799; died unmarried aged 93 at Kingstown (Co. Dublin), 10 June 1893, and was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery (Co. Dublin);

(3) Mary Biddulph (b. & d. 1801), born 10 March 1801; died in infancy, 10 September 1801;

(4) Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68) (q.v.);

(5) Mary Biddulph (1803-63), born 16 September 1803; died unmarried at Kingstown (Co. Dublin), 2 April 1863;

(6) Nicholas Marsh Biddulph (1805-99), born 20 December 1805; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1821); an officer in the Irish Revenue Police (insolvent debtor, 1831; dismissed for malfeasance, 1835); married, 25 September 1824 at Gretna Green, Elizabeth Maria Steele (1808-52), and had issue two sons and five daughters; died aged 93 in Dublin, 8 November 1899;

(7) Frances Biddulph (c.1808-1901); married, 14 April 1847 at St Peter, Dublin, Matthew Meredith (1810-69) of Killart, Clonaslee (Co. Leix), and had issue one daughter; died aged 92 on 2 February 1901;

(8) William Francis Biddulph (b. 1809), born 1 March 1809; died young;

(9) Harriet Biddulph (1810-93), born 8 November 1810; emigrated to America where she married, 1848, Rowland McBride, and had issue two sons and two daughters; said to have died 22 March 1893 and been buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Muskegon, Michigan (USA);

(10) Jane Biddulph (1812-1900), born 8 May 1812; emigrated to America where she married, 1845, George Priest (d. 1889) of Norfolk, and had issue seven children; settled in Canada but later moved back to Iowa (USA); died 13 January 1900 and was buried in Oakdale Memorial Gardens, Davenport (Iowa);

(11) Sarah Nesbit Biddulph (1814-88), born 11 December 1814; possibly* the person of this name who emigrated to Australia in 1855, where she married, 10 February 1856, William Day, an American miner, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 20 July and was buried at Kelso, New South Wales (Australia), 21 July 1888;

(12) Charlotte Biddulph (b. 1815), born 9 December 1815; living unmarried in Ireland in 1850;

(13) Patience Biddulph (b. 1817), born March 1817; living unmarried in Ireland in 1850;

(14) Caroline Biddulph (1819-74), born 16 May 1819; died unmarried at Kingstown, 28 May 1874.

He inherited Rathrobin from his cousin, gaining undisputed possession after an agreement in 1824, but lived chiefly at Sandymount (Co. Dublin) and Annaghmore, near Rathrobin, which he rented and altered c.1820.

He died in July 1827 and was buried at Curraclone graveyard, Stradbally; his will was proved in Dublin, 8 January 1828. His widow died aged 88 on 9 August 1861 and was buried at Carrickbrennan Cemetery, Monkstown (Co. Dublin).

* Statements of her age in Australian records imply a date of birth between 1823 and 1828, so if they do apply to her, she must have consistently mis-stated her age.

Biddulph, Francis Wellesley Marsh (1802-68). Eldest son of Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827) and his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law, born April 1802. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1821). JP for King's County (from 1836). In 1840 he was the victim of an attempted murder (receiving only minor injuries); the relatives of two tenants he had evicted were put on trial for the crime, but after two inconclusive trials were found not guilty; Biddulph admitted advising one of them to flee to escape justice, for which he was suspended from his role as a JP. He married, 2 September 1845 at St Bride, Liverpool (Lancs), Lucy (1819-96), second daughter of Robert Bickerstaffe of Preston (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Annie Adela Waller Biddulph (1847-1926), born 25 March 1847; married 1st, 24 April 1867 at Killoughy (Co. Offaly), Capt. John Willcocks JP (1833-82) of St. Lawrence, Chapelizod (Co. Dublin), eldest son of John Willcocks, resident magistrate in King's County, and had issue two sons and three daughters; married 2nd, 5 October 1898 at St Barnabas, Dublin, as his second wife, John Ouseley Bonsall Murphy (1848-1925?) of Palmerstown (Co. Dublin), accountant, son of Charles Murphy; died at Ealing (Middx), 21 April 1926; will proved 17 November 1926 and 29 March 1933 (estate £2,683);

(2) Francis Biddulph (b. & d. 1848), born 14 August 1848; died in infancy, 31 August 1848;

(3) Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926) (q.v.)

(4) Assheton Biddulph (1850-1916), born 12 October 1850; lived at Moneyguyneen House, Kinnitty (Co. Offaly); an officer in the army (Ensign, 1869; Lt., 1870; retired 1873); Master of the King's County Hunt (Ormond and King's County until 1897), 1884-1916; married, 17 June 1880 at St Mary, Warwick (Warks), Florence Caroline (1858-1942), younger daughter of Rev. Cunningham Boothby, vicar of Holwell (Oxon), and had issue one son (who was killed in the First World War) and four daughters; died in Bath (Som.) from the effects of blood poisoning, 16 January 1916; will proved 6 June 1916 (estate £19.647);

(5) Franc Digby Biddulph (later Biddulph-Colclough) (1853-95), born 22 April 1853; an officer in the 3rd Middlesex Militia (Capt., 1874); assumed name and arms of Colclough by letters patent, 1886; JP for Co. Wexford; married, 15 September 1885 at Castleknock (Co. Dublin), Louisa Maria Susanna* (1848-1912), eldest daughter of John Thomas Rossborough-Colclough, of Tintern Abbey, New Ross (Co. Wexford), and had issue one son and one daughter; he died of pneumonia, 13 July 1895; administration of goods granted 30 July 1895 (effects £121);

(6) Gertrude Louisa Biddulph (1856-1945), born 22 September 1856; married 1st, 25 February 1879, George Carpenter Anderson (1854-87) of Bolham House (Devon), and had issue one son and three daughters; married 2nd, 24 January 1893 at St Peter, Tiverton (Devon), Dr. Nevil Pottow Cadell (1860-1949), physician, and had further issue one son; died 7 November and was buried at Keymer (Sussex), 10 November 1945; will proved 6 March 1946 (estate £6,158).

He inherited Rathrobin from his father in 1827. His widow lived latterly at Clare House, Tiverton (Devon).

He died 28 March and was buried at Ballyboy (Co. Offaly), 1 April 1868; his will was proved in Dublin, 21 May 1868 (effects under £4,000). His widow died 29 August 1896; her will was proved in London, 17 January 1898 (effects £802).

* A stout woman, his wife is said to have suffered a mental breakdown after the birth of her last child, and to have been confined in a tower at Tintern Abbey, where her husband kept her on a meagre diet in the hope of reducing her weight.

Biddulph, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra (1849-1926). Second, but eldest surviving, son of Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68) and his wife Lucy, second daughter of Robert Bickerstaffe of Preston (Lancs), born 17 August 1849. Educated at the Royal School, Banagher (Co. Offaly). An officer in the army (Ensign, 1867; Lt., 1871; Capt., 1881; Maj. 1883; retired as Lt-Col., 1895); JP (from 1897) and DL (from 1910) for King's County; High Sheriff of King's County, 1901-02. He was a skilled amateur photographer, whose albums of photographs of daily life taken at his home and around the estate are an important survival and have been published in Rathrobin and the two Irelands (2021); he was also a good linguist, and spoke French, German and Hindustani. He married, 21 October 1891 at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), Vera Josephine (1863-1938), second daughter of Sir William Henry Flower KCB DCL DSc LLD PhD FZS FRS (1831-99), director of the Natural History Museum and an eminent zoologist, but had no issue.

He inherited Rathrobin from his father in 1868 and came of age in 1870. In 1894 he inherited lands at Monks Sherborne (Hants) and Woodplumpton (Lancs) from his uncle, Lt-Col. Robert Bickerstaff, and it was presumably this access of fortune which enabled him to largely rebuild Rathrobin House in 1898-1900. In 1921 he moved to a flat in Chelsea because of the war of independence in Ireland and Rathrobin was burned by anti-Treaty forces in 1923 and not restored.

He died 10 May 1926; he was not buried in the tomb he had constructed in his lifetime in Killoughey churchyard, but cremated; his ashes were scattered in the Cotswolds; his will was proved 2 September 1926 (estate £32,749). His widow died 28 January 1938; her will was proved 14 March 1938 (estate £4,269).

Principal sources

Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 108-11; T. Blake, Abandoned mansions of Ireland II, 2nd edn., 2017, pp. 220-25; A. Tierney, The buildings of Ireland: Central Leinster, 2019, pp. 181-82; M. Byrne, Rathrobin and the two Irelands, 2021;

https://offalyhistoryblog.com/2023/04/12/the-burning-of-the-biddulph-big-house-at-rathrobin-mountbolus-county-offaly-during-the-civil-war-18-april-1923-by-michael-byrne/

Location of archives

Biddulph of Rathrobin and Fortal: deeds and papers, 1655-1851 [Private collection; enquiries to National Library of Ireland].

Coat of arms

Biddulph of Rathrobin: Per pale, vert and azure, an eagle displayed ermine, armed and beaked or, between four trefoils slipped of the last.

Can you help?

• Does anyone have a painting or photograph of Rathrobin before it was rebuilt in 1898?
• 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 14 November 2025 and was updated 27 November 2025.