THE NOBLE AND GENTLE MEN OF ENGLAND.

"The truly ancient family of Fairfax," as Camden styles it, is supposed to be of Saxon origin, and to have been seated at Torcester in Northumberland at the period of the Conquest. In 1205 (sixth of John,) Richard Fairfax, the first of the family proved by evidence, was possessed of the lands of Ascham, not far from the City of York. His grandson William purchased the Manor of Walton in the West Riding, which continued for near six hundred years, till the extinction of the elder male line of the family in the person of Charles Gregory Fairfax, tenth Viscount Fairfax of Ireland, in 1772, the inheritance of his descendants. From a younger son of Richard Fairfax, of Walton, Chief Justice of England in the reign of Henry VI. the present family is descended, as well as Fairfax of Denton, Baron Fairfax of Cameron in Scotland (1627,) who represents an elder line,* and who resides in the United States of America.

Steeton was the gift of the Chief Justice to Sir Guy Fairfax, his third son, the founder of this branch of the family, and here he erected a castle in 1477.

Arms.—Argent, three bars gemelles gules, surmounted by a lion rampant sable, crowned or.

* He is descended from the eldest son of Sir William Fairfax of Steeton, who died in 1557.

The pedigree begins with Egbert Coigniers, whose son Roger was living in the ninth year of Edward II., and was father of another Roger, who marrying the heiress of Norton of Norton, their son took that name; sixth in descent was Richard Norton, who joined with the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland in the Rebellion of the North in 1569, and thereby caused the destruction of almost every branch of his family. He was attainted in the twelfth of Elizabeth, and died in exile in Spain. The present family descend from Sir Fletcher Norton, Speaker of the House of Commons, descended from Edmund Norton of Clowcroft, third son of old Richard Norton, which Edmund had taken no part in the Northern Rebellion.

An elder branch, also descended from the third son of Sir Richard, and believed to be now extinct, was of Sawley near Ripon, from the period of Charles I.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. vii. p. 546; Whitaker's Richmondshire, vol. ii. p. 182; and "Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569."

Arms.—Azure, a maunch ermine, over all a bend gules. In the reign of Edward II., Sir John de Conyers bore, Azure, a maunch or, and a hand proper. Sir Robert de Conyers at the same period reversed the colours, bearing, Or, a maunch azure, and a hand proper. Monsieur Robert Conyers in the reign of Richard II. bore, Azure, a maunch or charged with an annulet sable. (Rolls of the dates.)

Savile of Methley, Earl of mexborough in Ireland 1765; and Baron Pollington 1753.

The family of Savile was one of the most illustrious in the West Riding of the county of York. Some writers have fancifully ascribed to it an Italian origin, but it probably had its rise at Silkston, in this county. It certainly flourished in those parts in the thirteenth century; and in the middle of the fourteenth century we find (1358) Margaret Savile Prioress of Kirklees.

In the reign of Edward III. the family divided itself into two main branches, in the person of two brothers, John of Tankersley and Henry of Bradley. The senior branch acquired its greatest renown in the person of George first Marquess of Halifax, a title which became extinct in 1700. The junior branch was of Copley and Methley, and, having produced one of the most learned men of our country, Sir Henry Savile, the Provost of Eton, is now represented by the Earl of Mexborough.

See Dugdale's Baronage, ii. p. 462; Whitaker's Leeds, vol. i. pp. 272, 310; Archdall's ed. of Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 156; Hunter's Antiquarian Notices of Lupset, 1851; and the Savile Correspondence, edited for the Camden Society by W. D. Cooper, F.S.A., 1858.

Arms.—Argent, on a bend sable three owls of the field. This coat was borne by Monsieur John Sayvill, in the reign of Richard II. His son John differenced it by a label of three points gules.

Gower of Stittenham, Duke of Sutherland 1833; Marquess of Stafford 1786; Earl Gower 1746; Baron 1703.

Descended from Sir Nicholas Gower, knight of the shire for this county in the reign of Edward III., and seated at Stittenham from about the same period. Of this family, it has been said, was Gower the Poet, but Sir Harris Nicolas in his memoir of Gower could not trace the connection. Leland remarks, "The House of Gower the Poet yet remayneth at Switenham (Stittenham) in Yorkshire, and divers of them syns have beene knightes." In the end of the seventeenth century the wealth of this family was greatly increased by marriage with the heiress of Leveson, of Trentham, in Staffordshire, and also in the year 1785 by the marriage of the Marquess of Stafford with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William eighteenth Earl of Sutherland, mother of the present Duke.

Younger Branches. The Earl of Ellesmere 1846, and Gower of Bill-Hill, co. Berks, descended from John son of John first Earl Gower, by his third wife.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. ii. p. 441; Historical and Antiquarian Mag., 1828, vol. ii. p. 103; and Leland's Itin., vol. vi. fol. 15.

Present Representative, George Granville William Sutherland Leveson Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland, K. G.

A Norman family by reputation, and said to be traced to the Conquest, descended from Sir William Downay, who was in the wars in the Holy Land with Richard I. in 1192, at which time that King gave him, in memory of his acts of valour, a ring from his finger, which is still in possession of the family.

At an early period the Dawnays were in possession of lands in Cornwall; fifteen manors in that county descended by an heiress to the house of Courtenay Earl of Devon, about the reign of Edward II. In Richard the Second's time the family removed into this county by a match with the heiress of Newton of Snaith. Cowick was the seat and residence of Sir Guy Dawnay, in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. viii. p. 453; and Gilbert's Cornwall, vol. i. p. 457.

Pilkington of Nether-Bradley and Chevet-Hall, Baronet of Nova-Scotia 1635.

"A right ancient family, gentlemen of repute in the county (of Lancaster) before the Conquest," according to Fuller in his "Worthies," and also mentioned by Gwillim as a "knightly family of great antiquity, taking name from Pilkington in Lancashire." That estate appears to have remained in the family until the ruin of the elder branch in consequence of Sir Thomas Pilkington having taken part against Henry VII. and with Richard III. at the battle of Bosworth. The present house descended from Sir John Pilkington, second son of Robert Pilkington, and brother of the unfortunate Sir Thomas. His son Robert is stated to have been of Bradley, in this county. He died in 1429, and was the ancestor of Sir Arthur the first Baronet.

Younger Branches. Pilkington of Park-Lane Hall, in this county, descended from the second son of Robert Pilkington, of Bradley, who was living in 1540; and Pilkington of Tore, in the county of Westmeath, descended from Sir Robert, younger brother of Sir John Pilkington, ancestor of the house of Bradley.

See Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iv. p. 338; Hunter's South Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 394; Burke's Landed Gentry; and "The Grand Juries of the County of Westmeath," vol. ii. p. 254.

Arms.—A cross patonce voided gules. The crest, "a mower of parti-colours argent and gules," is said by Fuller in his "Worthies of England" to have been assumed in memory of the ancestor of the family having so disguised himself in order to escape after the Battle of Hastings. The Battle of Bosworth is the more probable scene of this event, where four knights of the family were in arms on the part of Richard III.

Present Representative, Sir Lionel Milborne Swinnerton Pilkington, 11th Baronet.

A well-known Wiltshire family, seated at Stourton, in that county, soon after the Norman Conquest. "The name of the Stourtons be very aunciente yn those parties," writes Leland in his Itinerary. "The Ryver of Stoure risith ther of six fountaines or springer, wherof three be on the northe side of the Parke harde withyn the pale: the other three be north also, but without the Parke; the Lord Stourton gyveth these six Fountaynes yn his armes."

The Yorkshire property, and consequent settlement in this county, came from the match with the heiress of Langdale Lord Langdale in 1775.

Younger Branch. Stourton, (called Vavasour,) of Hazlewood. Baronet 1828, first cousin of the present peer.

A remote branch of an ancient Nottinghamshire family, which can be traced to the time of Henry II. The name is derived from Markham, near Tuxford, in that county, but Coatham was afterwards the family seat, until it was sold by Markham, "a fatal unthrift," who was the brother of the antiquary Francis Markham; this was about the end of the reign of Elizabeth. William Markham, Archbishop of York, who died in 1807, was the ancestor and restorer of this worthy family; he was descended from Daniel, a younger son of the House of Coatham. Becca-Hall has been in possession of the Markhams since the end of the last century.

See Markham's History of the Markhams, privately printed, 8vo. 1854; the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 1859; and the Topographer, vol. ii. p. 296, for Markham of Sedgebrook, co. Lincoln, extinct 1779.

Arms.—Azure, on a chief or a demi-lion rampant issuing gules. The Markhams of Sedgebrook bore their arms differenced by a border argent.

The name is derived from Boreton, in the parish of Condover, in Shropshire, an estate which remained in the family until the reign of James I., although the Burtons became resident at Longner, in the same county, prior to the reign of Edward IV. "Goiffrid de Bortona," (Burton,) one of the foresters of Shropshire, in the reign of Henry I., is the first recorded ancestor. The senior line of this house terminated with Thomas Burton, who died unmarried in 1730, and whose sister carried the Longner estate to the Lingen family, who have assumed the name of Burton (see p. 198.) Thomas, fifth son of Thomas Burton, of Longner, is the ancestor of the present family, and of the Marquess of Conyngham (elder brother of the late Lord Londesborough). He went to Ireland in the reign of James I., and died there in 1665. His great-grandson married the heiress of Conyngham. The late Lord assumed the name of Denison on succeeding to the estates of his uncle W. J. Denison, Esq.

See Archdall's edition of Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, vol. vii. p. 173; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Per pale azure and purpure, a cross engrailed or between four roses argent, granted in 1478, and commemorative of the devotion of this house to the White Rose of York.

Present Representative, William Henry Forester Denison, 2nd Baron Londesborough.

Rawdon of Rawdon-Hall, Marquess of Hastings 1816 Earl of Moira in Ireland 1761; Baronet 1665.

Rawdon, in the parish of Guiseley in this county, is the original seat of this ancient family, which is traced to Thor de Rawdon, whose son Serlo lived in the reign of Stephen. Rawdon remained the family residence till early in the seventeenth century, when Sir George Rawdon, the then head of the house, removed into the North of Ireland, and was seated at Moira, in the county of Down, where the family principally lived till the match with the heiress of Hastings in 1752.

See Whitaker's Leeds, vol. i. p. 171; Brydges's Collins, vol. iv. p. 606; Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 467; and Archdall's Lodge, vol. iii. p. 95.

Present Representative, Henry Weysford Charles Plantagenet Rawdon Hastings, 4th Marquess of Hastings.

At a very early date, and probably not long after the Conquest, the ancestors of this family were seated at Borough-Bridge, which appears to have been ever since one of the residences of the house of Tancred.

Hilton in Cleveland appears to have been the original seat of this ancient family; here it was resident in the twelfth century, and here it remained till the middle of the sixteenth, when Anthony Meynell, the immediate ancestor of the present family, removed by purchase to North Kilvington, which has since continued the residence of his descendants.

Arms.—Azure, three bars gemelles and a chief or. This is the ancient coat of Meysnill or Meynell of Dalby-on-the-Woulds in Leicestershire, and was borne by Trevor de Menyll in the reign of Henry III., and also by Sir Nicholas de Meynell in that of Edward II., with the exception of two instead of three bars gemelles. (Rolls of the dates.)

Of this family Mr. Hunter has remarked, that "it is a single instance of the male line being maintained in its ancient port and rank out of all the gentry of the Deanery of Doncaster, summoned to appear before the Heralds in 1584." The pedigree begins with Sir William de Anne, Constable of the Castle of Tickhill in the time of Edward II. He married the coheiress of Haringel, from whom came the manor of Frickley, sold in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Burgh-Wallis came from the heiress of Fenton in the reign of Elizabeth. Mr. Hunter observes, "The Annes, like too many other families, have not been careful of preserving their ancient evidences, and theirs was not one of the muniment rooms to which our diligent antiquary Dodsworth had access."

The pedigree is traced to the sixth of Edward II., when John de Lister was resident at Derby. He married the daughter and heiress of John de Bolton, Bowbearer of Bollond, and thus became connected with this county. The elder line was of Mydhope, or Middop, and afterwards, in the reign of Philip and Mary, of Thornton in Craven, and became extinct in 1667. The present family is sprung from Thomas, second son of Christopher Lister, who lived in the time of Edward IV. The Listers were of Gisburn early in the sixteenth century, the ancient seat of Arnoldsbiggin in that manor being their seat for many generations. Lyster, of Rowton, in Shropshire, is supposed to be a branch of this family, though there is no evidence of the fact; Rowton has been in possession of the Lysters since 1482.

See Whitaker's Craven, ed. 1812, pp. 38, 103; and Brydges's Collins, vol. viii. p. 584; and for Rowton, Blakeway's Sheriffs of Salop, p. 144.

Arms.—Ermine, on a fess sable three mullets or. Lyster of Rowton bears the mullets argent.

A family of ancient standing in this county, descended from John de Lascelles, of Hinderskelfe, now called Castle Howard, in the wapentake of Bulmer, in the North riding, living in the ninth year of Edward II. For seven generations immediately following they were called "Lascelles alias Jackson." About the reign of Henry VI. they removed to Gawthorpe, also in the North riding, and afterwards to Stank and Northallerton; Harewood was purchased about 1721.

Arms.—Sable, a cross flory within a border or. This coat, without the border, was borne by Monsieur Lascelles de Worthorpe, as appears by the Roll of the reign of Edward III. Monsieur Rafe de Lascelles bore at the same period, Argent, three chaplets of roses vermaux, with a border engrailed sable.

There was a family who took the local name of Wombwell from that manor in the thirteenth century, but this cannot with certainty be connected with it. The pedigree therefore commences with Hugh Wombwell of Wombwell, son of Henry Lowell de Wombwell, living in the reign of Edward III. The elder branch of this family became extinct in the male line on the death of William Wombwell of Wombwell, Esq. in 1733. Part of the estate from whence the name is derived belongs to the present family, who represent a junior line, descended from George Wombwell, of Leeds, who died in 1682, by purchase of the coheirs.

Arms.—Gules, a bend between six unicorn's heads cooped argent; and so borne in the sixth of Henry IV.

There appears no reason to doubt the antiquity of this family, said to be descended from Manfred Palmes, living in the reign of Stephen, and seated at Naburn since the year 1226, by a match with the heiress of Watterville.

On the authority of Whitaker we learn that Screven has been in this family since the early part of the fifteenth century; the first recorded ancestor being John Roundell, of Screven, living in the third of Henry VI.

"There is no subject more difficult to be dwelt on than that of honourable descent; none on which the world are greater sceptics, none more offensive to them; and yet there is no quality to which every one in his heart pays so great a respect."—SIR EGERTON BRYDGES'S Autobiography, p. 153.

INDEX