(549) Belshes of Invermay House and Balmanno Castle

Belshes of Tofts and Invermay

The Belshes family (the name is also spelled Belsches, Belses and Belchis among other variants, but is standardised as Belshes for the purposes of this account) first appear in the historical record in 1606, when John Belshes (d. 1631) was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates. In the 1620s, he acquired lands at Stitchell (Roxburghs.) and Tofts (Berwicks.), which descended to his son, Sir Alexander Belshes (d. 1656), who was an advocate like his father. He became MP for Berwick-on-Tweed in 1644 and was knighted by King Charles I in 1646 on becoming one of the Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland, where he took the title Lord Tofts. He married in 1632 but had no issue, so on his death his estate at Tofts passed to his younger half-brother, John Belshes (c.1610-93), with whom the genealogy below begins. John also inherited his brother's debts, however, and over the next few years much of the estate had to be sold off to repay them, with the majority being sold in 1673 to Sir William Purves, the solicitor general for Scotland, who renamed the property as Purves Hall. The little of the estate which escaped sale passed to John's eldest son, John Belshes (fl. 1718).

It was, however, the elder John's second son, Alexander Belshes (d. 1745), who founded the branch of the family discussed here. Although there is no record of him being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates or becoming a Writer to the Signet, he was clearly trained as a lawyer as he was appointed Principal Sheriff Clerk of Midlothian, a post in which he was assisted by two of his sons, the elder of whom eventually succeeded him. The role required his routine presence in Edinburgh, which is where he normally resided, but in 1717 he bought the Invermay estate in Perthshire as a summer residence. He may have been responsible for some formal landscaping south of the house which is shown on General Roy's map of 1750, but it possible that this was already in place when he bought the estate. He seems not to have altered the old house on the estate, but his son, John Belshes (c.1700-77), set about replacing it soon after he inherited the estate in 1745. He chose a new site south of the old house, which would have required the clearance of the formal plantations shown on the 1750 map, and new informal planting was begun in the grounds soon afterwards.

On John's death in 1777, the estate passed to his son, John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819), who had married earlier that year Mary Murray (1752-1823) of Balmanno Castle (Perths.), an estate which she had inherited on the death in America of her soldier brother, Sir Alexander Murray, 5th bt. in 1774. The couple seem to have lived principally at Invermay, where improvements were made c.1780 and again, on a much larger scale, in 1802-10, but they also undertook work at Balmanno, which was made more habitable by the installation of sash windows and new staircases, and the addition of a service wing. The couple had two sons, Alexander Hepburn Murray Belshes (1778-1864) and John Hepburn Murray Belshes (1782-1863). The latter forged a career in the army, retiring on half-pay as a Major in about 1820, but continuing to rise through the ranks by seniority so that he ended up as a Lieutenant-General. After his retirement he returned to Perthshire, and lived at Balmanno Castle, while his elder brother occupied Invermay (and owned both estates). Both brothers took an active part in public affairs and local charitable initiatives, but they were unmarried, so on Alexander's death the estates devolved on a distant kinsman, Sir John Stuart Hepburn Forbes (1804-66), 8th bt., of Monymusk, Fettercairn and Pitsligo, the great-great-great-grandson of John Belshes (d. 1693). He and his successors owned many other properties, and both Invermay and Balmanno seem to have been let for periods in the late 19th century, before finally being sold in 1898 and 1915 respectively.

Invermay House, Forteviot, Perthshire

When Alexander Belshes bought the Invermay (or Innermay) estate in 1717, the mansion house was a rubble-built tower house, now known as The Old House of Invermay. The tower house occupied an easily defensible site above the Water of May, and seems to have begun as a two-storey 16th century house, raised to three storeys in the early 17th century. 

Old House of Invermay: the house from the south-west in 2016, after recent restoration. Image: arjayempee. 

In the middle of the south side is a tapering bowed tower with a couple of slit windows, that now has a sloping cap. Above the entrance is a triangular panel with the Drummond coat of arms, the initials of David Drummond and his wife Elizabeth Abercrombie, and the date 1633.  On the north side is a stair tower, rising above the surrounding roofs to a crowstep-gabled cap. At the west end of the house is a crowstep-gabled coachhouse wing, perhaps added in the early 18th century, with a large segmental-arched opening in the gable end. After the present Invermay House  was built, the old house was allowed to fall into decay and some of its outbuildings were apparently demolished. The house has been restored for occupation in recent years.

In 1686 James and David Drummond of Invermay agreed a contract for the building of a new house on the estate which was to be designed by Sir William Bruce or [blank] Mill 'or any other relevant architector that the lairds shall think fit', but this never seems to have happened. Instead, a formal landscape was laid out around the old house in the early 18th century, which is recorded on General Roy's map of 1750. This shows six rectangular blocks of woodland with rides between them. The design presumably incorporated the two mid 17th century sundials which were recorded at Invermay in the 19th century. One of these (having been moved to Pitcairn and then to Wemyss Castle) is now back at Invermay and stands on a corniced pillar between the old house and its successor. 

Old House of Invermay: extract from General Roy's map of the Scottish Highlands, 1750,
showing the Invermay estate and the formal planting south of the house.

The present Invermay House was built in about 1750 for John Belshes (c.1700-77). As first built it consisted of a hipped-roofed main block of three storeys above a basement. The main front was of five bays, with a wider and slightly projecting central bay, while the garden front has six windows on the top floor. The lower floors on the garden side now have two windows either side of a semi-circular bow which is usually assumed to be part of the original design but might well be a fashionable addition of the 1770s or 1780s or even be one of the additions of 1806, when the house was altered by Robert Burn (1752-1815) - father of the more famous William Burn. At that time, single-storey bow windows and a Roman Doric porch were added to the ground floor of the entrance front, and he may also have created the tripartite first floor window above the porch. 

Invermay House: the house from the south-west in the early 20th century (after 1904).

Invermay House: aerial view of the garden front, 2012. Image: RCAHMS.

Further alterations were made in about 1904, when a single-storey over basement wing was added to the south side of the house, which has a canted bay window on the garden front. On the entrance side it is set back behind a terrace built over the basement area which formerly carried a conservatory. The approach to the house was changed at the same time, when a drive from the north was substituted for the original axial western approach. Inside, the house retains a mid 18th century staircase with turned wooden balusters, but otherwise the interiors were all altered later. The principal rooms essentially retain their early 19th century decoration, but were enriched with additional decorative plasterwork in the style of the late 18th century as part of the remodelling of 1904. The house has been well restored in recent years.

The formal landscape shown by General Roy was presumably destroyed soon after his map was drawn, as the new house stands on the site of the formal plantations. New informal planting of trees began in the later 18th century, and the octagonal doocot and an ice house to the east of the house are referred to in the 18th century and were presumably part of the 18th century landscaping. A more comprehensive landscaping scheme was carried out under the direction of Walter Nicol between 1800 and 1808 for Col. John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819), which exploited the picturesque potential of the natural gorge (the Humble Bumble) formed by the Water of May as it flows through the estate. 

Invermay House: engraving of the Humble Bumble gorge on the estate with the house behind, from Scotland Illustrated, 1845.

In places the cliff faces of the gorge rise nearly a hundred feet above a narrow channel just a few feet wide, and paths were cut along both sides, linked by a rustic bridge just east of the gorge. The dramatic scene was a favourite place of Sir Walter Scott and has changed little since his day, except for the loss of the elm trees which formed an important element in the landscape but were a casualty of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s. At the same time, new estate buildings designed by Nicol, the architect Alexander Laing (1752-1823), and others were built, including a gazebo (now lost), dairy and game larder. The west lodges (of 1803) were designed by B.D. Hodge, and two sides of an intended U-shaped stable court (now a house called Hill of Invermay), the walled garden (designed in 1802 by Walter Nicol), and the Home Farm were also built at this time, while the policies were enclosed by a new wall. Nicol designed new peach and grape houses, and proposed the construction of a domed and battlemented Gothick temple and a two-storey classical tea house attached to a greenhouse, which sadly remained unbuilt.

Invermay House: unexecuted design by Walter Nicol for a tea house on the estate, c.1802. The location of the original drawing is unknown.

Descent: purchased 1717 by Alexander Belshes (d. 1745); to son, John Belshes (c.1700-77); to son, John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819); to son, Alexander Hepburn Belshes (1778-1864); to kinsman, Sir John Stuart Hepburn Forbes (1804-66), 8th bt.; to daughter, Harriet Williamina Hepburn-Forbes (1835-69), wife of Charles Henry Rolle Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis (1834-1904), 20th Baron Clinton, who sold 1898 to John McLaren Fraser (c.1846-1941), auctioneer; requisitioned in Second World War for use as an evacuation hostel; sold c.1946 to Capt. David Wemyss (1920-2005); to son, Charles John Wemyss (b. 1952).

Balmanno Castle, Dron, Perthshire

A tall harled four-storey late 16th century L-plan tower house, built for George Auchinleck in about 1575-80, after he bought part of the lands of Balmanno from Alexander Balmanno. It has crowstepped gables and a taller square tower in the angle between the two ranges. The tower in turn has a stair-turret corbelled out in the re-entrant angle between the tower and the south range, which is crowned by a small turret with an ogee roof. As first built, the castle was surrounded by a rectangular moat which was largely intact in 1901 but has now mostly been infilled.

Balmanno Castle: ground and first floor plans from Macgibbon & Ross, 1889

Balmanno Castle: engraving from Macgibbon & Ross, 1889

Balmanno Castle: site plan from Ordnance Survey 25" map, 1901,
showing the then largely intact moat and the position and extent of the service wing of c.1800.

The castle came to John Hepburn Belshes (d. 1819) by marriage in 1777, and soon afterwards alterations were carried out. Almost all the window openings were enlarged and new sash windows were inserted. The central window on the first floor of the south front was converted into a door approached by a newly-built external stair. Inside, a new staircase was inserted between the two rooms of the first floor, leading up to the second floor, and on the north side of the castle a low extension was added to provide service accommodation. The Castle Steading was also built around this time to the east of the castle and tree-planting took place across the estate, as at Invermay.

In the later 19th century, the castle became a farmhouse, but in 1906, when the estate was inherited by Lord Clinton, he asked the leading Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer to make plans for the remodelling of house, though nothing was done at that time. However, after the house was sold in 1915 to the Glasgow shipbroker, William S. Miller, Lorimer was once more consulted and in 1916-21 he undertook a tactful but thorough reworking of the house that turned it from a slightly dour laird's house into a quintessentially Scottish country house. It was, in fact, one of Lorimer's favourite projects, and he later said that of all the houses he had worked on, it was the one he would most like to live in. Lorimer's work largely respected the external appearance of the tower, although he did replace the external forestair, make some changes to the fenestration and add a storey to the stair-turret to create a more dramatic silhouette. 

Balmanno Castle: the house from the east in recent times. Image: Travel Scotland.

Inside, he made extensive alterations to create a series of more formal and elaborately decorated rooms; and he also replaced the existing north service wing with a more extensive gabled and harled service range of a single storey and attics; and built a crowstep-gabled gatehouse range to the east of the castle, which artfully conceals the house from the approach. The additions effectively created an enclosed courtyard with the original tower at its south-west corner. The external face of the gatehouse has a central Gothic-arched entrance under a crowstepped gable, and short wings to either side which stand at a slight angle to the entrance, visually funnelling the visitor towards the archway. On the courtyard side, the gateway again stands under a crowstepped gable, which is flanked by two slightly lower gables which connect the gatehouse to the forecourt walls. 

Balmanno Castle: the external face of the gatehouse range in 1931. Image: Country Life.

Balmanno Castle: the gatehouse range from the courtyard in 1931. Image: Country Life.

There was always a doorway in the base of the tower, and this became Lorimer's main entrance. It leads into an entrance passage, with on its left a new hall, which Lorimer created from two vaulted basement storage rooms and gave a plaster tunnel-vault, while straight ahead was the former kitchen, which Lorimer repurposed as the dining room, although it preserves much of its original character, with a low tunnel-vault and massive fireplace. The generous spiral staircase in the tower provides access to the first and second floors, and its windows are decorated with stained glass panels of the months by Walter Camm, 1921. Over the staircase is a plaster ceiling designed by Lorimer in an early 17th century style with floral motifs modelled by either Samuel Wilson or Thomas Beattie, who were responsible for all the early 20th century plasterwork in the house. 

Balmanno Castle: the drawing room in 1931. Image: Country Life.

On the first floor, Lorimer created three rooms with panelling in the late 17th century style of Holyroodhouse. The billiard room (formed from the 16th century hall) has a beamed ceiling enriched with fruiting vines, and flowers in the panels between the beams. The drawing room ceiling has a heavily moulded central roundel surrounded by vine branches, all contained within a rectangular border, with three further panels with floral motifs beyond the border at either end. The smaller parlour has a coved ceiling, with large reliefs of baskets of flowers set against the coving. 

Balmanno Castle: bedroom at top of the tower, 1931.
Image: Country Life. 

The second and third floors are devoted to bedrooms, all decorated in the same manner as the first-floor rooms, with 17th-century style plaster ceilings and panelling, albeit more simply treated here than in the reception rooms. The Hunter's Bedroom has a frieze depicting a medieval hunting scene, and the bedroom at the top of the tower has a particularly charming plaster tunnel vault decorated with with floral motifs in roundels and curly ribbing.

Descent: Alexander Balmanno; sold before 1575 to George Auchinleck (d. 1596); to son, Sir George Auchinleck (d. c.1639), a lord of session as Lord Balmanno; to son, Sir William Auchinleck (d. 1672); to son, Sir Archibald Auchinleck (d. c.1695), who sold to Sir Thomas Murray (d. 1684), 1st bt. of Glendoick; to son, Sir Thomas Murray (d. 1701), 2nd bt.; to brother, Sir John Hepburn Murray (d. 1714), 3rd bt.; to brother, Anthony Murray (d. 1746); to nephew, Sir Patrick Murray (d. 1756), 4th bt.; to son, Sir Alexander Hepburn Murray (c.1754-74), 5th bt.; to sister, Mary (1752-1823), wife of Col. John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819); to son, Alexander Hepburn Murray Belshes (1778-1864), who let it to his brother, Lt-Gen. John Belshes (1782-1863); to kinsman, Sir John Stuart Hepburn Forbes (1804-66), 8th bt.; to nephew, Sir William Stuart-Forbes (1835-1906), 9th bt., who lived in New Zealand; to kinsman, Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis (1863-1957), 21st Baron Clinton; sold 1915 to William Scott Miller (1865-1937); given, c.1934, to son, William Scott Miller jun. (1904-76); sold 1950 with 1,000 acres to Thomas Coats (1894-1971), 2nd Baron Glentanar, who gave it to his daughter, the Hon. Jean Coats (1928-2007), wife of Hon. James Michael Edward Bruce (1927-2013); to son, John Edward Bruce (b. 1958).

Belshes family of Invermay and Balmanno

Belshes, John (c.1610-93). Younger son of John Belshes (c.1580-1631) of Tofts (Berwicks), advocate, and his first wife Janet (d. 1623), third daughter of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, king's advocate, born about 1610. He married, 27 September 1666 at Dunfermline (Fife), Ann (1634-1713), daughter of Sir David Aytoun of Kinglassie (younger son of Robert Aytoun (d. 1595) of Inchdairnie), and had issue:

(1) John Belshes (b. c.1668; fl. 1718), of Tofts; succeeded his father at Tofts in 1693 and was served heir general to him, 21 October 1699; married Janet (d. 1740), daughter of Sir Alexander Swinton of Mersington, Lord Mersington, and had issue three sons and three daughters; living in 1718;

(2) Alexander Belshes (c.1670-1745) of Invermay (q.v.);

(3) William Belshes; died unmarried and without issue in Jamaica;

(4) Ann Belshes; married, 22 February 1701 at Eccles, Patrick Nisbet of Eastbank;

(5) Mary Belshes; died unmarried.

He inherited the Tofts estate in Berwickshire from his elder brother in 1656, and was infeft in these lands, 20 March 1657. Much of the estate had to be sold to meet his brother's debts, with the bulk of the property being sold in 1673 to Sir William Purves, who renamed it Purves Hall.

He was buried at Greyfriars, Edinburgh, 18 March 1693. His widow died 11 February and was buried at Edinburgh, 13 February 1713.

Belshes, Alexander (c.1670-1745). Second son of John Belshes (c.1610-93) of Tofts and his wife Ann, daughter of Sir David Aytoun of Kinglassie, born about 1670. Principal Sheriff Clerk of Midlothian. After buying the Invermay estate, he became an elder of the kirk at Forteviot, 1725. He married 1st, 27 February 1696 at Edinburgh, Emelia, daughter of Sir Thomas Murray (d. 1684), 1st bt. of Glendoick, a Lord of Session as Lord Glendoick and Lord Clerk Register, 1674-80; married 2nd, c.1723, Margaret, daughter of Sir John Clerk MP (d. 1722), 1st bt., of Penicuik, and had issue:

(1.1) John Belshes (c.1700-77) (q.v.);

(1.2) Thomas Belshes (1702-83), born at Edinburgh, 1 October 1702; deputy Sheriff Clerk for Edinburgh; admitted a burgess of the city of Edinburgh, 1739; married 1st, 8 November 1741 at Edinburgh, Margaret (d. c.1755), daughter of Robert Hepburn (1698-1756) of Baads and had issue three sons; married 2nd, 18 July 1756, his cousin, Helen (d. 1789), daughter of John Belshes of Tofts; buried at Edinburgh, 2 July 1783;

(1.3) Alexander Belshes (b. 1703), born at Edinburgh, 27 November 1703;

(1.4) William Belshes (1705-07); born at Edinburgh, 8 May 1705; died young and was buried at Edinburgh, 22 June 1707;

(1.5) Emilia Belshes (b. 1706), born at Edinburgh, 15 August 1706;

(1.6) Mary Belshes (b. 1707), born at Edinburgh, 3 October 1707;

(1.7) Elizabeth Belshes (b. 1709), born at Edinburgh, 28 April 1709;

(1.8) Anthony Belshes (b. 1711), born 4 May 1711; said to have died without issue in Bengal before 1780;

(2.1) James Belshes (b. 1725), born at Edinburgh, 20 November 1725;

(2.2) William Belshes (b. 1726), born 3 December 1726.

He purchased the Invermay estate in 1717, but lived chiefly in Edinburgh, using the Old House of Invermay as a summer residence.

He died at Invermay, 19 April 1745. His first wife probably died c.1712. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Belshes, John (c.1700-77). Eldest son of Alexander Belshes (c.1670-1745) and his first wife, Emelia, daughter of Sir Thomas Murray, 1st bt., of Glendoick, born about 1700. Admitted an advocate, 1720. Succeeded his father as Sheriff Clerk of Midlothian, 1745. He married 1st, c.1722, Mary (d. 1740), daughter and eventual heiress of Daniel Stewart (d. 1708) of Fettercairn and 2nd, 29 May 1743, Margaret (d. 1785), daughter of Sir William Stewart of Castlemilk, and had issue:

(1.1) Margaret Belshes (b. 1727), born in Edinburgh, 11 December 1727; probably died young;

(1.2) Alexander Belshes (b. 1728), born in Edinburgh, 17 November 1728; probably died young;

(1.3) Emelia Stuart Belshes (1729-1807), born in Edinburgh, 27 December 1729; married, 22 December 1751 at Edinburgh, her cousin, William Belshes (c.1717-53), surgeon and director of the hospital at Fort St. David (India) and later of Tofts, and had issue one son (Sir John Wishart-Belshes (later Stuart) (c.1752-1821), 3rd bt.*); died 3 April 1807;

(2.1) John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819) (q.v.);

(2.2) Margaret Belshes (c.1746-71), born about 1746; married, 31 January 1768, as the second of his three wives, Henry Wedderburn (1722-77) of Gosford (East Lothian), second son of Charles Wedderburn of Gosford, but had no surviving issue; died in childbirth at Calcutta (India) and was buried there, 28 July 1771;

(2.3) Mary Belshes (1748-84), born in Edinburgh, 15 December 1748; married, 1 December 1783, as the second of his three wives, Rev. Dr. Thomas Snell Jones (1754-1837), Presbyterian minister of Lady Glenorchy's Church, Edinburgh (who m3, 30 June 1787, Anne (1752-1822), daughter of George Gardner of the Custom House, Edinburgh, and had issue two sons and one daughter); she died without issue and was buried at St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, 31 May 1784.

He inherited the Invermay estate from his father in 1745 and was served heir to him, 1 August 1746. He built a new mansion house at Invermay c.1750, as well as commencing the landscaping of the policies.

He died 29 December 1777 and was buried at Edinburgh, 1 January 1778. His first wife was buried at Edinburgh, 16 January 1740. His second wife died at Thistle Court, Edinburgh, 14 December 1785.

* He assumed the baronetcy on the death of his great-uncle, Sir William Stuart (d. 1777), 2nd bt., but some accounts state that his mother Emilia was recognised as a baronetess (with the title of Dame) and that he should be regarded as 4th baronet; the title became dormant on his death.

Belshes, John Hepburn* (c.1745-1819). Only son of John Belshes (c.1700-77) and his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir William Stewart of Castlemilk,, born about 1745. Educated at Edinburgh University, where he was one of five founders of its Speculative Society, 1764. An elder of Forteviot kirk. Lieutenant-Colonel of the Drummond Fencibles, 1794-1802. He married, 30 May 1777 at Queensferry, Mary (1752-1823), daughter and eventual heir of Sir Patrick Hepburn Murray (1706-56), 4th bt., of Balmanno and Blackcastle, and had issue:

(1) Alexander Hepburn Murray Belshes (1778-1864) (q.v.);

(2) John Hepburn Murray Belshes (1782-1863) of Balmanno (Perths.), born 13 August 1782; an officer in the army (2nd Lt, 1804; Lt, 1805; Capt. 1812; Maj. 1817; retired on half-pay about 1820; Lt-Col. 1837; Col., 1851; Maj-Gen. 1855; Lt-Gen., 1862) and in the Perthshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Cornet, 1820; Lt. 1821; Capt. 1822; retired 1825); a Commissioner of Supply and JP  for Perthshire; a Conservative in politics; a director of the Perth City and County Infirmary, to which he bequeathed £1,000; died unmarried and without issue at Edinburgh, 12 January 1863, and was buried in the family burying place at Muckersie chapel; his will was confirmed, 3 April 1863.

He inherited the Invermay estate from his father in 1777 and was served heir to him, 6 April 1778. He was responsible for much of the landscaping and the construction of ancillary buildings in the policies, c.1800-10. His wife inherited the Balmanno estate from her brother in 1774 and brought it to the Belshes; some alterations were made to Balmanno Castle c.1800.

He died in Edinburgh, 24 July 1819. His widow died 12 January 1823.

* He took the additional name Hepburn after his marriage in 1777.

Belshes, Alexander Hepburn Murray (1778-1864). Elder son of John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819) and his wife Mary, daughter and eventual heir of Sir Patrick Hepburn Murray of Balmanno, born 22 June 1778. JP for Perthshire and East Lothian and DL (from 1819) for Perthshire. An officer in the Perthshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt.; Maj. 1821; disbanded 1828) but also described as Major in 1813. Convenor of Perthshire; a Commissioner of Supply (from 1812), JP and DL (from 1819) for Perthshire. A director of the Perth City and County Infirmary and a supporter of many other charitable endeavours. A Conservative in politics. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited the Invermay estate from his father in 1819, and the Balmanno estate from his mother in 1823, although Balmanno Castle was occupied by his brother. After his death his estates passed to his heir general, Sir John Stuart Hepburn Forbes (1804-66), 8th bt., of Monymusk, Fettercairn and Pitsligo, the great-great-great-grandson of John Belshes (d. 1693).

He died at Invermay, 17 January 1864, and was buried in the family burying place at Muckersie chapel; his will was confirmed, 26 April 1864.

Principal sources

G. MacGregor, The Red Book of Scotland, 2nd edn, 2018, vol. 1, pp. 482-88; A. Wedderburn, The Wedderburn Book, 1898, pp. 383-85; N. Meldrum, Forteviot: the history of a Strathearn parish, 1926; A.A. Tait, The landscape garden in Scotland, 1735-1835, 1980, pp. 140-43; J. Gifford, The buildings of Scotland: Perth and Kinross, 2007, pp. 181-84, 433-34;

http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/GDL00227;

http://www.stravaiging.com/history/castle/balmanno-castle/

Location of archives

Belshes of Invermay: papers of Robert Peddie WS of Perth as factor to Invermay estate, 1795-1826 [Perth & Kinross Archives B59/38/5/23]

Coat of arms

Belshes of Tofts and Invermay: Or, three pallets gules, a chief vair.

Hepburn Belshes of Invermay: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, gules, on a chevron argent, a rose between two lions combatant of the field; in base a buckle in the shape of a heart of the second (for Hepburn); 2nd, or, three pallets gules, a chief vair (for Belshes); 3rd, azure a cross pattée between three mullets, all within a double tressure flory counterflory gules (for Murray).

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 2 July 2023 and was updated 4 July and 18 July 2023.

(364) Bannerman and Campbell-Bannerman of Wyastone Leys, Hunton Court and Belmont Castle

Campbell-Bannerman
of Belmont Castle

Bannerman of Hunton Court

The Bannermans were a farming family from Perthshire who had an eye to commercial opportunities. William Bannerman (1732-1812) diversified from farming into distilling, and his son Henry Bannerman (1753-1823) did not fail to observe the rapid growth of the cotton industry in and around Manchester.  In about 1806 he sent his son David Bannerman (1785-1829) to set up a small warehouse operation in the city on an experimental basis, and finding after a couple of years that this was profitable, he determined to move south for a radical change of career. Most of his family went with him, although his eldest son remained in Scotland to farm and his two eldest daughters, who were already married, also stayed behind. Within a month he had rented a warehouse, and established a company with the name of Henry Bannerman & Sons, although initially his only partner seems to have been David, with the younger sons, Alexander, John, Henry and Andrew joining the firm as they became old enough. The new enterprise began trading in cotton, calicoes, muslins and plain fabrics, and soon diversified into manufacturing cotton goods.

When Henry died in 1823, he was succeeded as head of the firm by David, who managed the business until he died six years later. By the late 1820s the family were sufficiently well-established in commercial circles for David to be chosen as boroughreeve (the leading municipal officer) for 1828-29. After David's death, the business was continued by his younger brothers. Bannermans was by this time prospering and in the late 1830s the company moved to a huge warehouse in York Street which was right in the centre of the Manchester cotton trade. They also had four cotton mills in the Manchester area : Brunswick Mill in Ancoats, Old Hall Mill in Dukinfield and the North End Mill and River Meadow Mill, both in Stalybridge.

Of the four remaining sons of the founder, Andrew died in 1839 and Alexander in 1846, and in 1844 David's two sons were brought into the business. Henry Bannerman junior (1798-1871) retired in 1850 and moved to Kent, where he had invested his profits in the Hunton Court estate in the hop-growing district around Maidstone and extensively remodelled the house. A few years later, the last of the brothers, John Bannerman (1795-1870) made a similar move, buying Wyastone Leys in Herefordshire and largely rebuilding it to designs of William Burn and his assistant John MacVicar Anderson.

In the middle years of the 19th century the firm was run by David's son, James Alexander Bannerman (1821-1906), with his cousin William Young (whose mother had been a Bannerman). Young's daughter Marion married one of the managers in the business, Sir Charles Wright Macara (1845-1929), 1st bt., and he became the Chairman of the firm in 1880, and redirected its production into goods such as curtains, quilts, sheets, blankets and calicoes. Macara - whose baronetcy was a reward for his remarkable charitable work with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - remained the chairman until his death, by which time the Lancashire cotton industry was dying. The First World War had made it difficult to import the vast quantities of raw cotton that had sustained the industry, and the Government had encouraged colonial administrations to build their own mills, which subsequently competed very effectively with the Lancashire industry. In 1929 the Bank of England was sufficiently concerned about the state of the industry to set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation to co-ordinate the rescue of the industry, and Bannermans' mills were all taken over a few years later (and subsequently acquired by Courtaulds in 1964, who closed them in 1967), although the firm continued trading, latterly as Banner Textiles, until comparatively recently.

John Bannerman (1795-1870) left Wyastone Leys to his son, James Murray Bannerman (1846-1915), who also became a director of the family firm. Although he initially seems to have lived at Wyastone, he seems not to have been fond of the house, as he rented other houses (notably Bishopswood in Gloucestershire and Llwyn Onn Hall in Denbighshire) which he occupied instead. He died during the First World War when the Lancashire cotton industry had been plunged into crisis, and his executors sold Wyastone Leys in about 1918. His eldest son, Lt-Col. John Arthur Murray Bannerman (1881-1953) became a career soldier and had no involvement with the family firm, although his elder son, Alistair John Murray Bannerman (1914-2009) worked there in the 1950s and 1960s in a more prosaic interlude between his early career as an actor and his later work as the first National Events Officer for the National Trust. Colonel Bannerman's younger brother, Ronald Bannerman (1882-1958), was however chairman of the company in succession to Sir Charles Macara.

Henry Bannerman (1798-1871), who lived at Hunton Court in Kent from 1850 onwards, left that property to his wife for life, and then to his nephew, Henry Campbell, on condition that the latter took the additional name of Bannerman, a condition with which he reluctantly complied in 1872. Henry Campbell was the son of Sir James Campbell, kt., a Glasgow merchant and Lord Provost, and his wife Janet, who was one of the daughters of the first Henry Bannerman. By the time he received his legacy he had embarked on a political career which culminated in his leadership of the Liberal Party, 1899-1908, and his appointment as Prime Minister, 1905-08.

Gennings Park: the house as painted by M.A. Rooker, 1776.

He did not gain possession of Hunton Court until his aunt died in 1894, and in the meantime he seems to have bought another house close by, Gennings Park. which he used as an occasional residence between 1872 and 1888. He had always wanted a Scottish country seat, however, and in 1885 he invested much of his capital in buying 800 acres in Perthshire and the burned-out shell of a house called Belmont Castle, which he laid out a further £20,000 in restoring. Belmont became his favoured residence, and coupled with his busy life in London and regular annual forays to Europe (he and his wife liked to spend a month or six weeks at Marienbad and then to visit Paris), this may explain why he first rented and then sold Gennings Park before he gained possession of Hunton Court.

When Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman died in April 1908, a few days after leaving office as Prime Minister and while he was still living at 10 Downing St., he left his Scottish estate to a Campbell relative who was still a minor, and his Kentish estate to his first cousin once removed, James Campbell Bannerman (1857-1934). The Scottish property was quickly sold to Sir James Caird (1837-1916), 1st bt., the Dundee jute magnate, and in 1918 was presented by the latter's widowed sister to Dundee City Council. The house became a care home in 1931 and is currently empty and rather tragically unloved. Hunton Court, by contrast, continued to be occupied by the descendants of James Campbell Bannerman until 2008, when it was sold after the death of Capt. Michael Campbell Devas (1924-2007).

Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire

The first house on this site on the borders of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire (and thus of England and Wales) seems to have been built c.1795 for S.O. Attley, who had a fairly small property here. It was bought before 1817 by Richard Blakemore MP, ironmaster and partner of John Partridge, who built a country house nearby (Bishopswood in Gloucestershire) to the designs of Sir Jeffrey Wyatville at the same time as Blakemore remodelled and enlarged this house in the 1820s. It is therefore tempting to suggest that Wyatville might have been Blakemore's designer too, although there is no evidence to that effect and I have not found a record of the building at this time to form the basis for a stylistic judgement.

Perhaps more important than his work on the house was Blakemore's development of the estate and the grounds. He began by diverting a highway across his land in 1817 and took advantage of the turnpiking of the Ross-Monmouth road (now A40) in 1821 which allowed him to use the old line of the public road as a new drive to the house. According to Bradney's History of Monmouthshire, the creation of the park and gardens also required the clearing away of many cottages and smallholdings. The 1st edition OS map of 1831 shows pleasure grounds with drives, and he planted a bank of woodland to screen the house from the new road; a walled garden had been constructed by 1835. In 1833 the common called Little Doward east of the house was enclosed and Blakemore was able to develop a 320-acre deer park on this land, which was enclosed by a wall after 1842, and stocked with deer from Llantrithyd in Glamorganshire, where the deer park ceased to be maintained when the house was abandoned. In 1872 it was reported that 'the wooded park of The Leys [is] a scene of varied beauty which cannot easily be surpassed' and this is broadly still true.

Wyastone Leys: entrance front. Image: Martinevans123. Some rights reserved.

 In 1861 the executors of Blakemore's son sold the house to John Bannerman (d. 1870), a Manchester cotton manufacturer. He extensively rebuilt it in 1861-62, as a rather dull rendered three-storey block. Although the house was designed under the name of William Burn, Paul Bradley has discovered that it was actually a collaboration between the ageing Burn and his nephew and successor in practice, John Macvicar Anderson, who may actually have played the leading role. Although the strapwork motifs above the first-floor windows, the pinnacled parapets, Jacobean shaped gables and ogee-topped turrets are all elements drawn from Burn's stylistic repertoire, they do not combine into an integrated design, and appear rather as restless and superficial decorations applied to an obstinately lumpen block. Previous commentators have suggested that the quoins, sash windows and Doric porch might be survivals from the earlier house, but Dr. Bradley's researches show that the porch is certainly, and the other details are probably all part of the Burn-Anderson rebuilding. The west-facing entrance front has a four-storey clock tower in the angle with a short projecting wing that separates the main block from the service range. The south side, facing the river, is livelier, and has a canted two-storey bay window. At the same time as the house was being altered two rather good lodges, a new stable block (converted into a business park in 1976), kennels, park-keeper's lodge and a 'belvedere' close to the River Wye were also built.

Wyastone Leys: the south-facing garden front, as altered by William Burn. Image: Dawnswraig. Some rights reserved.

Wyastone Leys descended to James Murray Bannerman (1846-1913), who seems to have let the house at times after 1894. His family sold it after his death and it subsequently passed through a number of hands. During the ownership of Brig. Robert Peel Walker (1895-1978) after the Second World War, the house fell into disrepair, and it was in a fairly poor condition when he put it up for sale. The purchaser, in 1975, was Nimbus Records Ltd, who were one of the first firms manufacturing CDs in the UK and needed a base for their operations. They and associated companies still own the house, which is now largely used for offices. A 550-seat music concert venue was built in the grounds in 1992.

Descent: built c.1795 for S.O. Attley; sold to James? Meek; sold by 1817 to Richard Blakemore MP (1774-1855); to nephew, Thomas William Booker Blakemore (d. 1858); sold 1861 to John Bannerman (1795-1870); to son, James Murray Bannerman (1846-1915); sold after his death to Walter Levett (d. 1935); to widow (d. 1938); sold to Sir Alfred Edward Hickman (1885-1947), 2nd bt.; sold 1946 to Brig. Robert Peel Walker (1895-1978); sold 1975 to Nimbus Records. The house was let in the 1890s and 1900s.

Hunton Court, Kent

Hunton Court: engraving of 1838 showing the house before its enlargement for Henry Bannerman.

The house is now an irregular classical building, apparently 18th and 19th century in date, but this conceals a far earlier core, with a medieval (perhaps 13th century) cellar and the three bay crown-post roof of an unusually large 14th or 15th century hall. An engraving of 1838 shows that the exterior had by then been clad in classical form, but preserved what was essentially the medieval plan, with a hall range and cross-wing at the left-hand end; the corresponding wing at the right-hand side, if it ever existed, had been demolished by that date. 

Hunton Court: the house in 1960. Image: Peter Reid/Historic England.

After the house was bought by Henry Bannerman in c.1847, it was enlarged and remodelled, with the area in the angle between the hall and cross-wing being filled in to give the house a rectangular plan. The features of the entrance front - the central pediment, the canted bay windows, and the balustraded parapet -  are therefore of about 1848. At the same time, Bannerman refitted the interior with delicate plasterwork and painted decorative panels depicting classical scenes, foliage and flowers. The porch is probably an even later addition, as it looks late 19th century.

Descent: Thomas Turner Alkin (d. 1846); sold after his death to Henry Bannerman (1798-1871); to widow, Mary Bannerman (d. 1894) for life and then to nephew, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836-1908); to nephew, James Campbell Bannerman (1857-1934); to widow, Frances Louisa Campbell-Bannerman (c.1863-1938); to daughter Joan (1888-1975), wife of Geoffrey Charles Devas (1887-1971); to son, Michael Campbell Devas (1924-2007); sold 2008...

Belmont Castle (formerly Kirkhill), Meigle, Perthshire

The house incorporates some remains of a tower house called Kirkhill of Meigle built in the 15th or 16th century for the Bishops of Dunkeld, which was a plain three or four storey square tower with shotholes. This forms the north-east corner of the harled and hipped-roofed south range, but no significant early features are now visible.

Design by Robert Adam for a house for James Stuart-Mackenzie, 1766. This design was not executed, but Belmont Castle as built appears to be a reduced version of the design, perhaps adapted by a local mason. Image: Soane Museum Adam Volume 37/62.

In the mid 18th century, James Stuart-Mackenzie inherited the estate, and embarked upon an ambitious building project, erecting a “fine mansion” which he named Belmont Castle. In the process the old tower house was absorbed and probably partly demolished. The new house echoed the military origins of its predecessor by adopting the castle style developed by Robert Adam, and Adam was apparently consulted, for drawings by him dated 1766 survive in the Soane Museum for a house designed for Stuart-Mackenzie. These proposed a much larger quadrangular building than was actually built at Belmont, but there is a marked resemblance between the centre of the Adam scheme and the south front of the house as executed. It is perhaps most likely that Adam's design was given to another, more local, architect as an indication of what was wanted, rather than that Adam was personally involved any further with the project.

Belmont Castle: the new house erected by James Stewart Mackenzie, from an engraving on James Stobie's Map of Perthshire & Clackmannan, 1783. Image: National Library of Scotland.

The house as built consisted of a two storey main range with a central three-storey section flanked by circular turrets, and with less regular wings running away behind. The date of the new house is not clear: John Gifford in his account of the house refers to 'a large addition' having been made by 1752, but the date of 1766 on the Adam drawings seems more realistic for the castle-style facade. Sadly, nothing seems to be recorded of the interior or of any subsequent alterations, except that a ballroom was added by the 2nd Lord Wharncliffe in about 1850.

Belmont Castle: the house from the south-west after rebuilding in 1885.

In 1884 a fire destroyed the south and east ranges of the house, although a large part of the west range was saved from the flames. Although the house was insured, Lord Wharncliffe decided not to rebuild it, and sold the ruined shell to Henry Campbell-Bannerman in 1885. He employed James Thomson (of Baird & Thomson, Glasgow) to repair and remodel the house, and to add a sizeable embattled extension on the north, in 1885-87. These alterations removed the subtlety of the Georgian medievalising in favour of a more vigorous Baronial treatment. The centrepiece of the south front was rebuilt with a new gabled attic and candle-snuffer roofs on the circular towers; bay windows were added; the crenellated parapet was replaced with a much chunkier Victorian one, and a new Jacobean-style porch was built on the east side. The interiors are now wholly of 1885. The groin-vaulted entrance hall leads into a very large top-lit living hall, with a French-influenced fireplace. The hall in turn provides access to the principal rooms: three drawing rooms to the south, decorated in 18th century French style; a dining room to the west, with decoration in a mixture of the Jacobean and neo-classical styles; a library to the east; and a richly decorated staircase hall to the north, containing an Imperial staircase with partly-gilded cast iron balusters under a coved ceiling.

The house and estate were gifted to the city of Dundee in 1918 and were leased by the civic authorities to the Church of Scotland for use as an 'eventide home' in 1931. Significant alterations were undertaken for the church by Allan & Friskin in 1931 to adapt it for its new use. The care home closed in 2013, and since then the house has stood empty, with the City Council rumoured to be considering selling the property. 

Descent: Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, Lord Advocate to Charles II; to daughter, Agnes, wife of James Stuart (d. 1710), later 1st earl of Bute; to son, James Stuart (d. 1722/3), 2nd Earl of Bute; to younger son, Hon. James Stuart-Mackenzie (1719-1800); to nephew, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley (later Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie) (1747–1818); to son, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (later Stuart-Wortley) (1776-1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe; to son, John Stuart-Wortley (1801-55), 2nd Baron Wharncliffe; to Edward Montagu Stuart Granville Stuart-Wortley (1827-99), 3rd Baron and later 1st Earl of Wharncliffe; sold 1885 to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836-1908); to niece-in-law, Alice Eliza Campbell until his great-nephew, James Hugh Campbell should attain the age of 25; sold 1913 to Sir James Caird (1837-1916), 1st bt.; to sister, Mrs Marryat, who gifted 1918 to city of Dundee. 

Bannerman family of Wyastone Leys

Bannerman, Henry (1753-1823). Only recorded son of William Bannerman (1732-1812), farmer and distiller, and his first wife, Janet Lawson, born at Tullibardine, 5 August 1753. Farmer at Tullibardine until 1808, when he followed his son David to Manchester and became a cotton goods retailer and manufacturer (Henry Bannerman & Sons) in partnership with his younger sons. He married, 21 July 1777 at St Ninian, Stirling (Stirlings), Janet Motherwell (c.1755-1830), and had issue:
(1) William Bannerman (b. 1778), born 4 May and baptised at Auchterarder (Perths.), 10 May 1778; apparently remained in Scotland as a farmer at Auchterarder;
(2) Amelia Bannerman (b. 1779), born at Auchterarder, 17 December 1779; married, 11 December 1808 at Trinity Gask (Perths), James Young, and had issue;
(3) Louisa Bannerman (1781-1844), born at Auchterarder, 28 September 1781; married, 19 August 1804 in Glasgow, Peter McLaren (1776-1817) of Glasgow, merchant, and had issue three sons and five daughters; said to have been buried at Dunblane (Perths), 19 June 1844;
(4) Marianne Bannerman (b. 1783), born at Tullibardine, 15 July 1783; married, 2 March 1811 at St Paul, Perth (Perths.), William Tindal of Perth, merchant;
(5) David Bannerman (1785-1829), born at Tullibardine, 5 June 1785; retailer and manufacturer of cotton goods at Manchester; chairman of Henry Bannerman & Sons, 1823-29; boroughreeve of Manchester, 1828-29; married, 9 June 1817 in Glasgow Mary Harrower (c.1796-1845), daughter of James Alexander, merchant, of Glasgow, and had issue three sons and three daughters (including James Alexander Bannerman, for whom see Bannerman & Campbell-Bannerman of Hunton Court below); buried at Rusholme Road Cemetery, 7 December 1829; will proved 22 January 1830;
(6) Isabella Bannerman (1787-1859), born at Tullibardine, 18 August 1787; married, 29 March 1812 at Kinnoull (Perths.), James McLaren (1775-1852), merchant in Glasgow, and had issue; died 10 December, and was buried at Pendlebury (Lancs), 16 December 1859;
(7) Elizabeth Bannerman (1789-1816), born at Tullibardine, 26 July 1789; married, 23 February 1814 at St John Deansgate, Manchester, John Fyffe (fl. 1835) (who m2, Sarah Sproule (c.1790-1818)), land agent to the Marquess of Abercorn, and had issue one son; died at Baronscourt (Tyrone), 6 April 1816 and was buried at Newtownstewart;
(8) Janet Bannerman (1791-1873), born at Tullibardine, 7 July 1791; married, 17 January 1822, Sir James Campbell (1790-1876) of Stracathro, Lord Provost of Glasgow, 1840-43, and had issue two sons and four daughters (including Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836-1908), the future Prime Minister, for whom see Bannerman and Campbell-Bannerman of Hunton Court below); died 3 October 1873;
(9) Alexander Bannerman (1793-1846), born at Tullibardine, 18 June 1793; partner in Henry Bannerman & Sons and the Manchester Bank; lived at Didsbury (Lancs); died 15 June and was buried at Rusholme Road Cemetery, Manchester, 20 June 1846; will proved in PCY, October 1846 (effects under £50,000);
(10) John Bannerman (1795-1870) (q.v.);
(11) Henry Bannerman (1798-1871) [for whom see below, Bannerman & Campbell-Bannerman of Hunton Court and Belmont Castle]
(12) Andrew Bannerman (1800-39), born at Tullibardine, 21 July 1800; partner in Henry Bannerman & Sons; lived at Ramsdell House, Didsbury (Lancs); died 22 April 1839 and was buried with his parents at Rusholme Road Cemetery, Manchester; will proved 9 November 1839.
He lived in Tullibardine to c.1808, when he moved to Manchester.
He died of dropsy, 6 June 1823 and was buried at Rusholme Road Cemetery, Manchester. His widow died 24 March 1830 and was also buried at Rusholme Road Cemetery.

Bannerman, John (1795-1870). Only son of Henry Bannerman (c.1753-1825) and his wife Janet Motherwell, born at Tullibardine (Perths), 3 July 1795, and baptised at Blackford (Perths). Cotton manufacturer (Henry Bannerman & Sons) in Manchester; he expanded the business to the point where his obituarist described him as 'a merchant prince'. He married, 8 October 1829 at Manchester Collegiate Church (Lancs), Margaret (d. 1875), eldest daughter of James Burt of Chorlton House, Manchester, and had issue:
(1) Margaret Bannerman (1831-1901), born 15 October and baptised at Scotch Presbyterian Church, St Peter's Square, Manchester, 8 November 1831; married, 12 September 1850 at Salford Presbyteriam Church, Robert Smith of Kilcott, Godalming (Surrey) and had issue; died 28 February 1901; will proved 9 May 1901 (estate £7,236);
(2) Henry William Bannerman (1832-38), born 12 March and baptised at at Scotch Presbyterian Church, St Peter's Square, Manchester, 13 May 1832; died young, 24 January 1838;
(3) Jane Bannerman (1834-1915), born 23 December 1834 and baptised at Scotch Presbyterian Church, St Peter's Square, Manchester, 11 February 1835; died unmarried at 'Cloudlands', Torquay (Devon), 10 May 1915; will proved 21 August 1915 (estate £9,810);
(4) Marian Bannerman (1839-1931), born 3 June and baptised at Scotch Presbyterian Church, St. Peter's Square, Manchester, 3 July 1839; died unmarried aged 91 at Hove (Sussex), 16 January 1931; will proved 23 February 1931 (estate £2,280);
(5) Isabella Bannerman (c.1842-89); married, 9 June 1870 at Ganarew, Rev. Robert William Everett (1842-85), rector of Micheltroy (Monmouth); died in Florence (Italy), 22 November 1889; will proved 28 May 1890 (effects £16,614);
(6) Louisa Bannerman (1844-1925), born 28 February and baptised at Scotch Presbyterian Church, St Peter's Square, Manchester, 6 April 1844; lived at Plas Gwynant, Beddgelert (Caernarvons.); died unmarried, 20 September 1925; will proved 23 January 1926 (estate £21,589);
(7) James Murray Bannerman (1846-1915) (q.v.);
(87) Grace Marshall Bannerman (1849-1928), born Jul-Sep 1849; married, 7 September 1870 at Ganarew, John Hertslet Wainwright (1849-1927) of Belmont, Lee, Kent, barrister-at-law, and had issue three children; died 24 May 1928; will proved 28 June 1928 (estate £11,624).
He lived at Swinton Lodge (Lancs) and Wootton Lodge (Staffs) before purchasing Wyastone Leys (Herefs) in 1861 and remodelling the house in 1861-62.
He died 24 February 1870; his will was proved 22 August 1870 (effects under £120,000). His widow died 27 November 1875; her will was proved 16 February 1876 (effects under £7,000).

Bannerman, James Murray (1846-1915). Only son of John Bannerman (1795-1870) and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of James Burt of Chorlton House, Manchester, born 30 September 1846. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1865; BA 1869) and Inner Temple (admitted 1869; called 1874). A director of Henry Bannerman & Sons of Altrincham (Lancs). An officer in the Royal Monmouthshire Engineer Militia (Capt); JP and DL for Monmouthshire and Herefordshire; High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, 1879. He married, 4 November 1880 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx), Louisa Mary (1846-1935), daughter of Robert Wheeley of The Pentre, Abergavenny (Monmouths.), and had issue:
(1) John Arthur Murray Bannerman (1881-1953) (q.v.);
(2) Ronald Henry Wheeley Bannerman (1882-1958), born 13 December 1882; educated at Charterhouse School; Chairman of Henry Bannerman & Sons Ltd.; lived at Newton House, Alderley Edge and later at Archery House, Knutsford (both Cheshire); died unmarried, 14 December 1958; will proved 9 April 1959 (estate £100,692);
(3) Marion Grace (k/a May) Bannerman (1884-1972), born 3 April 1884; died unmarried at Hove (Sussex), 21 May 1972; will proved 10 August 1972 (estate £114,335);
(4) Robert Walter Malcolm Bannerman (1887-1941); fruit grower at Toddington (Glos); married, 15 July 1924 (sep. by 1935) at Ross-on-Wye (Herefs), Honor Delicia (1897-1997), youngest daughter of F. J. Constable Curtis of the Manor House, Ganarew; died at Upton-on-Severn (Worcs), 11 November 1941; will proved 27 February 1942 (estate £342);
(5) Dorothy Lilian Bannerman (1889-1978), born 5 January 1889; died unmarried at Hove, 28 October 1977; will proved 20 January 1978 (estate £119,113).
He inherited Wyastone Leys (Herefs) from his father in 1870, but seems to have preferred to live elsewhere: in 1895 he was renting Bishopswood, Ruardean (Glos) and towards the end of his life he leased Llwyn Onn Hall, Wrexham (Flints.). His executors relinquished the lease of Llwyn Onn and sold Wyastone Leys after his death.
He died 13 February 1915; administration of his goods (with will annexed) was granted 19 May 1915 (estate £61,677). His widow died at Hove (Sussex), 9 July 1935; her will was proved 21 October 1935 (estate 3,228).

Bannerman, John Arthur Murray (1881-1953). Eldest son of James Murray Bannerman (1846-1915) and his wife Louisa Mary, daughter of Robert Wheeley of The Pentre (Monmouths.), born 14 September 1881. An officer in Royal Warwickshire Regiment (2nd Lt., 1900; Lt., 1902; Capt., 1912; Maj., 1916; Lt-Col., 1926), he served in the First World War (wounded, 1916; awarded DSO, 1917); Assistant Quartermaster General, 1917. He married, 12 November 1913 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx), Aline Mabel de Laune (1884-1950), daughter of David Ryrie of New South Wales (Australia), and had issue:
(1) Alastair John Murray Bannerman (1914-2009), born at Cranford Hall (Northants), 15 September 1914; educated at Wellington College and London Theatre Studio, 1935; actor in films, TV and classical theatre, 1939, 1947-49; served in Second World War with Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Capt.; prisoner of war, 1944-45); joined the family clothing business, Henry Bannerman & Sons (later Banner Textiles) in Altrincham in the 1950s (retired 1969); and then worked for the National Trust as National Events Organizer, 1973-84; married, Apr-Jun 1940, Elisabeth Mary (1915-2003), actress and dancer, only daughter of Rev. Francis William Gresley Douglas, of Salwarpe, Worcestershire, and had issue three sons; died aged 94, 6 February 2009; will proved 11 June 2009;
(2) David de Laune Bannerman (1917-2002), born 16 October 1917; designer; served in Royal Engineers in Second World War (Capt.); married, 29 April 1946 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx), his first cousin, Sonia Isobel H. De Laune (1920-2002), daughter of Col. Bruce Ryrie of Nanyuki (Kenya), but had no issue; died 15 June 2002; will proved 2 December 2002.
He lived near Newbury (Berks).
He died in Newbury (Berks), 10 December 1953; will proved 12 March 1954 (estate £21,117). His wife died 12 November 1950; administration of her goods was granted 28 December 1950 (estate £1,047).

Bannerman and Campbell-Bannerman of Hunton Court and Belmont Castle

Bannerman, Henry (1798-1871). son of Henry Bannerman (1753-1823) and his wife Janet Motherwell, born at Tullibardine, 13 June 1798. Partner in Henry Bannerman & Sons until 1850, when he retired and moved to Kent to grow hops. High Sheriff of Kent, 1862-63. He married, 9 January 1834 in Glasgow, Mary (c.1807-94), daughter of John Wyld of Glasgow, banker, but had no issue.
He purchased Hunton Court (Kent) in about 1847 and remodelled it. At his death, he bequeathed it to his widow for life, with remainder to his nephew, Sir Henry Campbell MP, on condition that he took the additional name Bannerman.
He died 13 September and was buried at Hunton, 19 September 1871; will proved 14 December 1871 (effects under £120,000). His widow died 6 October 1894; her will was proved 14 August 1894 (effects £7,284).

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836-1908)

Campbell (later Campbell-Bannerman), Sir Henry (1836-1908). Younger son of Sir James Campbell (1796-1876), kt., and his wife Janet, daughter of Henry Bannerman (1753-1823) [for whom see above, under Bannerman of Wyastone Leys], born in Glasgow, 7 September 1836. Educated at Glasgow High School, and then after travelling in Europe for almost a year, at Glasgow University, 1851-53, and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1854; BA 1858; MA 1861; LLD). He joined his father's family drapery and warehousing business, becoming a director in 1860. He reluctantly took the additional name Bannerman in 1872 as a condition of receiving an inheritance from his uncle, Henry Bannerman, but hated his double-barrelled name and preferred to be called 'CB'. Although brought up in a Conservative family he was converted while at Cambridge to radical Liberal views, and he became Liberal MP for Stirling Boroughs, 1868-1908. His performance as a parliamentarian did not initially impress the House, but in Government he possessed a quiet authority and an efficiency in the dispatch of business which commended him to both his political masters and his civil servants. He was Financial Secretary to the War Office, 1871-79, 1880-82 and Secretary to the Admiralty, 1882-84, before being promoted to what was arguably the most challenging job in Government, as Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1884-85. Although he only held the appointment for seven months before the Liberal government fell, his handling of this sensitive and difficult role was the making of his career and transformed his reputation at Westminster. He supported Gladstone on Home Rule for Ireland, putting 'an end to agitation' above other political considerations. He was rewarded by being made a Cabinet minister as Secretary of State for War, 1886, 1892-95. In this role he oversaw a series of important military reforms, to achieve which he had to persuade the Queen's elderly cousin, the Duke of Cambridge, to resign as commander-in-chief. This he succeeded in doing in 1895, but at this precise moment the opposition censured him for providing insufficient small-arms ammunition and cordite for the Army, and he was forced to resign. Lord Rosebery chose to resign as Prime Minister rather than carry on in office without Campbell-Bannerman as a colleague. In the 1890s he tried twice to become Speaker of the House of Commons, believing this role would give him more time at home with his ailing wife than a ministerial post, but he could not be spared, and in 1899 he was elected Leader of the party. His first years as leader, against the background of the Conservative government's inept management of the Boer War and of tariff reform, were dominated by battles for Liberal party unity, and he eventually achieved a fragile consensus in 1904-05. He became Prime Minister in December 1905 when Balfour resigned, and immediately held a general election in which he secured a sweeping victory. A large Parliamentary majority gave Campbell-Bannerman the platform for a radical agenda, but although a number of important reform measures were successfully passed, some of his key initiatives - e.g. on Home Rule for Ireland, education, and temperance - were blocked by the House of Lords, laying the ground for his successor's emasculation of the upper house through the Parliament Act of 1911. Under the stresses of office and of his wife's illness and eventual death, his own health was failing. He suffered a series of minor heart attacks and then in November 1907 a more serious one. He struggled on for some months before being succeeded by Asquith on 4 April 1908. He was still resident in 10 Downing St. when he died two and a half weeks' later. He was knighted (GCB) in 1895 as part of Lord Rosebery's resignation honours list, but did not survive long enough to receive the peerage which was the traditional reward of retiring senior ministers. His death was marked not only by the respect of his opponent and the affection of his supporters, but by the intense reverence and sympathy of the general public; it is said that as his coffin was transported north for burial at Meigle, groups of railwaymen stood bare-headed at the railway side, paying silent tribute to a good man. He was a JP and DL for Kent and JP for Lanarkshire. He had an exceptionally close relationship with his wife, whom he married, 13 September 1860 at All Souls, Langham Place, London, (Sarah) Charlotte (1832-1906), daughter of General Sir Charles Bruce KCB, but they had no issue.
He lived chiefly in London, and travelled every year on the continent, staying at Marienbad for four to six weeks and visiting Paris. He inherited Hunton Court from his maternal uncle in 1871, subject to the life interest of the latter's widow. He seems to have bought Gennings Park nearby in about 1872 and in 1885 bought Belmont Castle, Meigle (Perthshire) with about 800 acres for £52,000 and restored it. He leased Gennings Park from 1888 and sold it to his tenant in 1890. He gained possession of Hunton Court on the death of his aunt in 1894.
He died in 10 Downing St., 22 April 1908 and was buried with his wife at Meigle, 28 April 1908; his will was proved 2 November 1908 (estate £54,908, excluding Scottish real estate). His wife died at Marienbad (Germany), 30 August 1906 and was buried at Meigle; administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 28 November 1906 (effects £1,365).

Bannerman, James Alexander (1821-1906). Eldest son of David Bannerman (1785-1829) of Manchester and his wife Mary Harrower, daughter of James Alexander of Glasgow, merchant, born 21 July and baptised at Lloyd St. Scotch Presbyterian Church, Manchester, 20 September 1821. Cotton spinner and wholesaler; partner in Henry Bannerman & Sons from 1844; director of the Consolidated Bank Ltd. from 1864 (Chairman); he retired from business after 1894. He was one of the founders of Manchester Golf Club and also took a keen interest in cricket and football. He married, 9 October 1855, at Blythswood (Lanarks.), his cousin Louisa (1833-73), daughter of Sir James Campbell, kt., and had issue:
(1) James Campbell Bannerman (1857-1934) (q.v.);
(2) Mary Isabella Bannerman (1859-1927), born Oct-Dec 1859; married 30 January 1884 at Prestwich (Lancs), Samuel Armitage Bennett (1856-1940) of Moat Lodge, Beckenham (Kent), son of John Marsland Bennett of Manchester, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 17 March 1927; will proved 4 June 1927 (estate £6,695).
He lived at Bent Hill, Prestwich, Manchester until his retirement in 1898, and then moved to Alderley Edge (Cheshire).
He died at Alderley Edge, 28 December 1906; no will has been found for him. His wife died at Newton Abbot (Devon), 12 April 1873.

Bannerman, James Campbell (1857-1934). Only son of James Alexander Bannerman (1821-1906) and his wife Louisa, daughter of Sir James Campbell, kt., of Manchester, born 16 October 1857. Educated at Harrow, Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1876) and Inner Temple (admitted 1877). JP for Kent. He married, 6 November 1883 at Christ Church, Albany St., London, Frances Louisa (c.1863-1938), only daughter of Henry Joy of Dublin, esq., and had issue:
(1) Joan Bannerman (1888-1975) (q.v.).
He inherited Hunton Court from his great-uncle, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, in 1908. At his death it passed to his daughter and her husband.
He died 14 November 1934; his will was proved 22 February 1935 (estate £79,233). His widow died 24 February 1938; her will was proved 16 May 1938 (estate £16,402).

Bannerman, Joan Campbell (1888-1975). Only child of James Campbell Bannerman (1857-1934) and his wife Frances Louisa, only daughter of Henry Joy of Dublin, esq., born 17 July amd baptised at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., London, 23 August 1888. She married, Jul-Sep 1916, Capt. Geoffrey Charles Devas MC (1887-1971) of Hartfield, Hayes (Kent), and had issue:
(1) Anne Rachel Devas (1920-2012), born Jan-Mar 1920; married, 18 May 1946 at Hunton, William Herbrand Sackville (1921-88), 10th Earl de la Warre, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 9 May 2012;
(2) Capt. Michael Campbell Devas (1924-2007), born 6 June 1924; served in Second World War with Welsh Guards (Capt.); awarded MC, 1945; merchant banker and company director; a director of the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, 1992-97; married 1st, 1952 (div., 1967), Patience Merryday, daughter of Sir Albert Gerald Stern, and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, 1967, Gillian Barbara Hewitt, formerly wife of Charles Arthur Smith-Bingham (1931-2003); died 4 May 2007; will proved 7 December 2007.
She inherited Hunton Court from her father in 1934, subject to her mother's life interest, and came into possession in 1938. At her death it passed to her son, and was sold after his death.
She died 26 July 1975; her will was proved 2 October 1975 (estate £25,418). Her husband died 29 July 1971; his will was proved 2 November 1971 (estate £42,660).

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, p. 75; D. Whitehead, A survey of historic parks and garden in Herefordshire, 2001, pp. 418-20; J. Gifford, The buildings of Scotland: Perth and Kinross, 2007, pp. 193-95; A. Brooks & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Herefordshire, 2nd edn., 2012, pp. 242-43; J. Newman, The buildings of England: Kent - West and the Weald, 4th edn, 2012, p. 314; ODNB entry for Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman; personal communication from Dr. Paul Bradley.

Location of archives

Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry (1836-1908), kt.: correspondence and papers, 1855-1908 [British Library, Add MSS 41206-52, 52512-21]

Coat of arms

Campbell-Bannerman: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, per pale Gules and Sable a Banner displayed bendways Argent thereon a Canton Azure charged with a Saltire of the Third (for Bannerman); 2nd and 3rd, Gyronny of eight Or and Sable on a Chief engrailed Argent a Galley her oars in action between two Hunting Horns stringed all of the Second (for Campbell of Belmont).

Can you help?

• I should also be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated. 
• As always, any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 13 February 2019.