Baroness Jean Tanner Of the House Of Baskerville
"The Legend Of The Baskervylles".
Declaration of Public Notice:
I am heir to the Baskerville lineage of Eardisley Castle, Old Wihtington and Goosetey, Cheshire, England, English Royals.
I hereby claim my inheritance, my titles and land by the Estates and Wills of these ancestors.
"Karen Jean Tanner, Baroness Jean Tanner of Baskerville"
They are as follows:
In A. D. 1266, Sir John de Baskervyle was grantee of
a moiety (half) of Old Withington in Cheshire. This is the
first definite record of the Cheshire branch of the family, and
we have an unbroken male line of descent from this Sir John
de Baskervyle of A. D. 1266 to ourselves, through 650
years, and twenty-one generations of honorable descent to the
writer's generation, a condition which few families can right-
fully claim. The full table of this descent will be found else-
where.
We may assume with a reasonable claim to certainty that
these Baskervyles in Cheshire are a branch of the Hereford
family. Apparently this was the only family of this name in
the kingdom, and other branches were established from it
authentically, as will be noticed later, so that there was no
other source from which the Cheshire branch could have
come.
We will take up first the Cheshire branch, from which
we can with absolute certainty trace our descent. Please ob-
serve that in this branch with a few exceptions the name is
spelt regularly "Baskervyle," and this spelling continued in
Virginia as long as the family remained in York Co., until
about A. D. 1740.
Quite a number of the prominent writers on genealogy
give detailed accounts of the Cheshire Baskervyles. We find
it in Burke's Landed Gentry, (which may be found generally
in public libraries), in Earwaker's East Cheshire, where there
is a full table of descent, in Ormerod's History of Cheshire,
which is fuller and more in detail than the others (in the
writer's library), and doubtless in many other works on the
history and gentry of Cheshire. We have adopted Ormerod's
account as the basis of our sketch and will follow it closely.
We will also make use of Earwaker's statements.
The County of Chester was erected into a "county pala-
tine," by William the Conqueror and granted to his nephew,
20 Baskerville Genealogy.
Hugh Lupus, whom he made Earl of Chester, and almost
royal authority over iV was given to him.
It had an independent parliament and eight barons.
Henry VIII subordinated it to the English parliament, but it
did not send representatives until 1549, and the separate juris-
diction ceased only after 1831.
The county was divided into seven "Hundreds," one of
which was Macclesfield Hundred. This was divided into
eleven "Parishes," one of which was Prestbury Parish. This
parish was divided into thirty-two "Townships,"' one of which
was Old Withington, the seat of the Baskervyles.
Old Withington does not appear in the "Domesday" sur-
vey, finished in 1086, because it was included in the parish of
Chelford, and the two are still assessed jointly in the county
rate. At an early period the manor formed a part of the
estates of the Ardernes of Aldford, under whom it was held
by the Camvilles of Co. Stafford. Afterwards "a release of
all homages or rents" was granted to Robert de Camville, and
in 1266 he (Camville) granted one moiety of the manor to
Oliver Fitton, and the other moiety to Sir John de Basker-
vyle. The whole manor subsequently became vested in the
Baskervyles, and has descended to the present possessor
This continuation of possession of an ancestral domain
in a direct, unbroken male line is a very remarkable and un-
usual thing, even in England. The changes have been slower
in Cheshire than in other counties, and yet in that county
there are only four families who have held their estates so
long, viz. : the Tattons of Wythenshawe, the Stanleys of Ai-
de rly, the Davenports of Woodford, and the Baskervyles of
Old Withington.
"Old Withington Ha'lU the family seat, was nearly re-
built in 1819 by the possessor, and is a spacious and handsome
mansion situated among park like grounds and at the end of a
fine avenue to the right of the road from Middlewich to Mac-
clesfield, about eight miles distant from the latter place. The
township is on the edge of the hundred, and the general
Baskerville Genealogy.
21
surface of the ground varies little from the flatness of the
district towards Northvvich, but the hills on the border of the
Staffordshire frontier enliven the distant prospect, and the
profusion of forest trees in the surrounding hedgerows breaks
the monotony of the foreground."
We have a picture of the house, as rebuilt in 1819.
The following statement contains all the information we yf , /?_
can gather in regard to t h e m . The records of the early period v-t.A^j
are very meagre, and have doubtless been thoroughly exam- /%>
ined by the genealogists from whom these notes are obtained.
On the earliest list of chief men of Macclesfield
Hundred, containing ninety-eight names, all who had
sufficient land to entitle them to be called on juries,
occurs the name of "William Baskervill" (so spelt),
which looks very familiar. This was in 1445, thirty years
after the battle of Agincourt, and just before the "War of the
Roses." So in 1579, the middle of the reign of Queen Eliza-
beth, occurs another list of knights, esquires, gentlemen, and
freeholders containing ninety-six names, and among them
again "William Baskervill"* (of course another man.)
There is not much information in regard to the family
at that time. The names are found in records of juries,
witnesses to deeds and charters, lawsuits, and other such pro-
ceedings. Some of these are rather amusing. In 1477 Wil-
liam Baskervyle and his son Randle. or Randal, and Ralph
and John Baskervyle, sons of Randle, (three generations),
were bound over by a £40 recognizance to keep the peace to-
wards John Henshawe of Chilford.
A hundred years later
one of them, also named William, married Agnes Henshawe.
The heads of the family from time to time acquired other
estates and domains by right of inheritance of their wives. So
Thomas Baskervile, of Old Withington, Esqr., who died
in 1588, married Margery, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas
Kinsey of Blackden, gent., and inherited the domain of Black-
den and Goosetrey, through his wife. And after that time he
was "Thomas Baskervile, of Old Withington and Blackden,,
Esqr./' and his heirs retained the same title^. So John Bask-
22 Baskerville Genealogy.
ervyle, of Old Withington and Blackden, Esqr., who died in
1784, married Men. 1st, 1731, Mary, daughter and final heiress
of Robert Glegg, of Gayton, Esqr. Robert Glegg died and
was succeeded by his son, William Glegg, who died without
issue in 1758. John Baskervyle, pursuant to the will of Wil-
liam Glegg, in order to inherit the Glegg estate of Gayton,
assumed the name of Glegg in place of Baskervyle, and the
name of the family at Old Withington has since then been
Glegg, or Baskervyle Glegg. This seems to us mercenary
and objectionable, but it is not an unusual occurrence in Eng-
land, and many men of great prominence and fame have done
the same thing. One conspicuous example is found in the
present Lord Bishop of London, Rt. Rev. Arthur Foley Win-
nington-Ingram, D. D., who visited Richmond during the Gen-
eral Convention of 1907, and was so popular. The family
name was "Wlnnington," and his father assumed that of^In-
gram in order to inherit an estate. Moreover this assump-
tion of the name "Glegg" occurred about a hundred years
after John Baskervyle, the Emigrant, the ancestor of the
Virginia Baskervilles, came to Virginia about 1662, as will
appear later. And yet we cannot help feeling a little resent-
ment that it should have been so. However, it is so, and has
been since 1758, and the representative of the family in 1881
was John Baskervyle Glegg, oi Old Withington and Gaytpn,
esqr., born Nov. 10, 1876, his father having died in iSyj.^JJU^M-^ â– '-
They were all loyal members of the Church of England,
and continue so, and their Virginia descendants are with few
exceptions Episcopalians. They worshipped at the chapel at
Goosetrey, where they were baptized and buried for many
years. Later most of the baptisms and some of the burials
occurred at the chapel at Chelford.
One of the parishes of Northvvich Hundred is "Goosetrey
cum Barnshaw Chaplry," which contains the townships of
"Barnshaw cum Goosetrey," Twemlowe, Blackden, and Lees.
Of these Blackden and Goosetrey were inherited, as previ-
ously stated, by the Baskervyles through Margery, daughter
of Thomas Kynsey, of Blackden, gent., (the latter died and
Baskerville Genealogy. 23
was buried at Goosetrey March 2nd, 1590), who married
Thomas Baskervyle, of Old Withington, gent., (died and
buried at Goosetrey 1588). This seems to have been the first
recorded burial of a Baskervyle at Goosetrey. After this
most of the baptisms and burials seem to have occurred here
until after John Baskervyle, of Old Withington and Blackden,
esqr., (died Jany. 19th, 1784, aged 78, monument at Goose-
trey), married Mary Glegg on March 1, 1731, (died Febry.
21st, 1784, aged , monument at Goosetrey), when all the
baptisms and some of the burials occurred at the chapel at
Chelford.
The Goosetrey Chapel was a "chapel of ease'' to the
Vicarage of Sandbach, and had been established previous to
I 35°, when "there was granted a license to bury at Goose-
tree on account of the distance from the mother church, in
which (license) all oblations for funerals and otherwise are
reserved for the Church of Sandbach." The chapel, as
stated, was in Xorthwich Hundred, five or six miles S. E.
from Old Withington Hall. Reference is made to a map of
Chesshire in Ormerod's History, Vol. I, p. xlvii, where
Goosetrey, Chelford. and Old Withington Hall may be located.
The table of descent of the Kinseys of Blackden, and
other information in regard to them, and to Goosetrey, will
be found in the history, Vol. Ill, p. 131 and f.
The present (1881) chapel at Goosetrey is a plain but
neat and commodious building of brick, with a tower erected
in 1792. The church yard is on the bank of a small brook,
forming a parallelogram, which appears to have been the site
of the ancient manor house of Goosetrey. In this chapel and
the one at Chelford are many interesting monuments of the
Baskervyles and Gleggs. We will mention only some of
those of our own ancestors , as having special interest for us.
In the chapel at Goosetrey on an old wooden tablet sus-
pended in the vestry is the following inscription, viz. :
"John Baskervyle, of Old Withington, in the county
palatine of Chester, who took to wife Magdaline, daughter of
George Hope, of Queens Hope, in the county of Flint, Esq.
24 Baskerville Genealogy.
"He had issue six sons. viz. : George, who died in his
minority, Thomas, Lawrence, Randle, John [who emigrated to
Virginia about 1662. — P. H. B.], and Henry [whose wijl on
record in London identifies the Emigrant. — P. H. B.], and six
daughters, viz.: Rebecca, Elizabeth, Magdaline, (deceased);
Katherine, Alary, and Elizabeth, (surviving). He died ye
sixteenth day of February anno Domini MDCLXII, and about
sixty-third yeere of his age." He was the last of our Eng-
lish grandfathers.
Then follows the coat-of-arms, which will be described
later.
On another tablet is inscribed : "Here lyeth the body of
Magdalen, daughter of George Hope of Dodleston, in the
county palatyne of Chester, Esqr., the relict of John Basker-
vyle_, of Old Withington, in the said county palatyne of
Chester, Esqr., by whom she had yssue several sonnes and
daughters. She died the XIX day of April, in the year 1670,
aged 66 years." She was the last of our English grand-
mothers.
Then follows the coat of arms.
The font (in the Goosetrey chapel) is octagonal, orna-
mented with quartrefoils in panels round the upper part, and
with shields round the base, the bearings of which are defaced.
A survey of Goosetrey church taken 1569, (Harl. MSS,
2151, 66), notices the arms of Kinseys, Venables, &c, and the
memorial of John Baskervyle of Old Withington and his wife
already noticed. The vicarage is the gift of the Vicar of
Sandbach, and it is of the gross value of £300 per annum.
The population in 1882 was 623. In i860 Wm. Geo. Armis-
tead, M. A., became vicar and continued in 1882.
The Chapel cf Chclford is situated in the township of
this name, in the Macclesfield Hundred, four or five miles
N. W. of Old Withington Hall, as will be seen on Orme-
rod's map. It is a "chapel of ease,'' granted with the entire
"vill" (township) by Robert de Worth just before his death
in 1266, with his body to be buried there, to the monks of
Chester, "'who shall celebrate mass there on Sundays and two
Baskerville Genealogy. 25
week days," al! of which, and other features and conditions,
are confirmed in a charter (deed) given by him in the year
named. The manor of Chelford finally passed to the Main-
warings, and was divided up to various purchasers. The
burials of Easkervyles there all seem to be subsequent to the
emigration of John Baskervyle, about 1662. except that of
Mrs. Dorothy (Davenport) Baskervyle, second wife of
"Thomas Baskervyle. of Old Withington and Blackden, gent.,"
the grandfather of John 1 Baskervyle. This burial occurred
in 1654.
Near the banks of the stream, which bounds one side of
the park of Astle Hall, and adjacent to the high road, is this
Chapel of Chelford, a neat modern building of brick, erected
in 1774. In this chapel, East of the North aisle, is found a
panel, upon which there was originally a portrait, but that
it might be turned into a monument, this was overlaid with
paint, as a ground for the lettering of the inscription. And
below the arms of Baskervyle impaling Davenport of Calverly,
with crests of both families, is an inscription. The effect is
now very curious, the operation of time on the paint having
brought out in dim, shadowy form the features of the person
represented.
The inscription is as follows :
"On ye death of Mrs. Dorothy Baskerville, who died y e first day of
Febru, and was interred y e 3 r<1 of Febr., 1654, at Chelford.
This little He, this narrow roome, contains more worth shutt up in
Tombe
Than can my Tongue or Pen expresse; to Rich, to Pore, to Fatherlesse
Our Dorothy a Dorcas was; but now shee" gone, shee s dead alas —
Let us behinde then melt to tears, few liv d her life, though some her
years —
What said I; she is gone (not yett), God's Pearles are in his cabinett.
Shee* chang 1 ; not dead; dyes, th' day starr onely setts to rise."
This Airs. Dorothy Baskervyle was not our ancestor.
She was the second wife of Thomas Baskervyle, grandfather
of John Baskervyle, the Emigrant. His first wife, our an-
cestor, was Dorothy Adderly, who was buried at Goosetrey.
26 Baskerville Genealogy.
The table of descent preceding this sketch, taken from
Ormerod's work, will give the names, and such facts about
each one as we know. It is given just as we find it.
The last of our English ancestors were John 1 * Basker-
vyle, of Old Withington, b. 1599, d. 1662, and Magdaline
(Hope) Baskervyle, his wife, d. 1669. They had six sons and
six daughters. The oldest, George 15 Baskervyle died under
age, and the family estate was inherited by the second son,
Thomas 15 Baskervyle, from whom the present owners are de-
scended. The fifth son was John 15 Baskervyle, the Emi-
grant, born 1637, baptized at Goosetrey, Oct. 1st, 1637, who
came to Virginia, and settled in York Co. about the time of
his father's death in 1662, or soon after, as he was on record
as Clerk of York Co. in 1664. The sixth son, Henry 15 Bask-
ervyle, born in 1646, died in 1676, and was buried at Goose-
trey. His will is on record in Somerset House, London, and
the following is an abstract:
"Henry Baskerville, citizen of London. Will 26th
Febry., 1675-6; proved 19th May, 1676. To my
brother Thomas Baskerville and wife £12 for mourning. To
my brother Thomas Hund and wife £12 for mourning. To
my brother Thomas Cowper and wife £12 for mourning. To
my sister Gregg the sum of 16. To my brother Randall Bask-
erville £6 for mourning and £5 per annum for life. To my
goddaughter Katherin Baskerville iio for a piece of plate.
To Mr. Thomas Edge and Mr. William Jenkyns, ministers,
£5 apiece. To my brother, John Baskerville, in Virginia,
£10. To Joan Eaton and Mary Morley, maid servants to my
brother Lawrence Baskerville £3 apiece. To Mr. Henry Aston
and wife and to my cosen Swetanham 20s apiece to buy them
rings. To my friends, Mr. Hugh Noden, Mr. Thomas Yates,
Doctor William Vaughan, Mr. John and Mr. Charles Hearle,
Mr. Richard Newstub, Mr. Richard Malcher, Mr. Thomas
Jackson of Bromfield, and Mr. Thomas Cowles, being all my
countrymen, 10s. each for a ring. All the rest to my executor
and brother Lawrence Baskerville. Witnesses, Richard Mal-
cher, Tho. Cowles." (Va. Hist. Mag., Vol. XV, p. 58.)
Baskerville Genealogy. 27
The names in this will identify the Cheshire family, and
the fifth brother John as having gone to Virginia. His pres-
ence in York Co., Va., in or before 1664, the only person of
that name on record in Virginia at that time, and the
Cheshire spelling of the name, which was continued in York
Co. for a generation or two, render the identification com-
plete.
This completes the record in England, and this history
will next be taken up in that of the Virginia Baskcrvillcs.
The coat-of-arms is the same for the several branches of
the family, viz. :
Arms : Argent, a chevron Gules between three hurts.
This is the same as in the old hall at Dives, France, and on
the Battle Abbey Roll, and is represented on page 15.
The crests are different for the different branches of the
family. That for the Hereford and Oxford branches is de-
scribed, as follows :
A wolf's head, erased, argent, holding in its mouth a
broken spear or staff, or head argent, imbrued gules.
Motto, Spero ut fidelis. This seems to be used only by
the Oxford branch.
The crest for the Cheshire branch (our own) is:
On a wreath, a forester vert, edged or, holding over the
right shoulder a cross-bow or, and with the other hand in a
leash a hound — passant Argent.
28 Baskerville Genealogy.
Thus our coat of arms and crest appears as follows :
SK c- i ,% ' V" - ' v'--' 4^' ' *Q\
It remains to say a few words about the other English
branches.
The original settlement was in Hereford at Erdisley,
where they built a castle, of which only the site remains, and
this branch of the family was most prominent. Camden in
his Brittanica in the account of Herefordshire speaks of
"Erdisley, where the famous and ancient familv-TBASKERViLLE
have long inhabited, which bred in old time so many noble
knights." An abbreviated sketch of them has been given on
p. 18, bringing them down to Walter Thomas Alynor Basker-
ville, Esqr., of Clyrow Court, Radnorshire, b. Jany. 1839, the
head of this family in 1847.
This branch has a royal descent, which was engrafted
into it, when Sir James Baskerville, Knight, of Erdisley, liv-
ing in 1433, married Elizabeth Touchet, daughter of John
Touchet, Baron Auoley, living 1405, who was descended from
William the Conqueror. Charlemagne. Henry I of France,
Llewellyn the Great. Prince of North Wales, &c. This will
be found in Burke's Commoners of Great Britain, Vol. II, p.
XVIII, in the Va. State library. This does not affect the
Cheshire branch.
For a full and long account of the Erdisley (Hereford)
family, see Burke.
Opposite p. 38.
"At Erdisley, like so many ether places in this county
(Herefordshire), is the site of a demolished castle, or rather,
as recorded in the Domesday Book, 'of a fortified dwelling',
domus defensabiiis,' 'builded,' says Taylor in his History of
Gavelkind (a peculiar kind of land tenure), 'because of its
vicinity to the Welsh borders.' " — Beauties of England and
Wales, Brewer, London, 181S, Vol. 6. p. 547 (Herefordshire).
Baskerville Genealogy. 29
Several celebrities, descended from this family, are men-
tioned in the encyclopedias.
Sir Thomas Baskerville (died 1597) was the son of
Henry Baskerville, Esqr., of the city of Hereford, and is de-
scribed as "of Good Rest. Warwickshire." He was a promi-
nent general in the English army, and obtained a high repu-
tation as a military commander. He led several successful
military expeditions, and accompanied several voyages under
Drake and Hawkins, as a military commander. He died of
fever at Ficqueny, in Picardy, France. June 4th, 1597, and
was buried in St. Paul's, London, with a monument. Of
course, this was consumed in the Great Fire of 1666.
Sir Simon Baskerville, M. D., (1574-1641), phvsician,
son of Thomas Baskerville, apothecary, &6* v , descended from
the Baskervilles of Herefordshire. He attained great eminence
in the profession, and was appointed physician to James I, and
afterwards to Charles I, who conferred knighthood upon him.
It is related that he had a hundred patients a week, and he
amassed so much wealth as to acquire the title ''Sir Simon
Baskerville, the Rich." Further it is recorded of him that he
was a great friend to the clergy and never took any fees
of them, or of any suffering cavalier. &c, &c. He died July
5, 1641, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, where a
mural monument was erected to his memory, which was
also burned in 1666. An abstract of his will may be found
in the Va. Hist. Soc. library, in "Genealogical Gleanings in
England," Waters, proved by his wife. "Dame Catherine Bask-
erville," but it is not of special interest.
John Baskerville, the printer, (1706-1775) born at Sion
Hill, Wolverley. Worcestershire, on Jany. 28th, 1706, was
probably the most widely known of the name. He acquired
his prominence as a printer solely by his genius, and energetic
industry.
A more detailed account of these people, and others of
the name, may be found in tiie Dictionary of National Biogra-
phy (English), Leslie Stephens, 1885, ' m the Virginia State
library.
30 Baskeryille Genealogy.
Another branch of the family, an offshoot of the Here-
ford famiiy, is found in the Baskerviiies cf Crowsley Park,
Oxfordshire, of which the representative in 1882 was
John Baskerville, Esqr.. of Crowley Park, Oxfordshire,
J. P., and D. L. ; Lt. Coin. Oxfordshire Hussars, formerly
Major of 14th Hussars ; born Nov. 9th, 1839, m. Caroline,
daughter of Win. Chas. Henry, Esqr., of Haffield, Co. Here-
ford, and has issue :
Geoffrey, b. 23rd Augt, 1870.
Humphrey, b. 1879.
Clara Juliet.
Maud Lucy.
This is a branch of the ancient family of Baskerville, as
follows :
Philip Baskerville, who settled in Wilts (son of Sir
Walter Baskerville of Erdisley, K. B., by Elizabeth his sec-
ond wife, daughter of Henry ap Milo ap Henry) had by Ag-
nes, his wife, daughter of John Harnlyn of that county,
John Baskerville, who settled Malmesbury, married and
had two sons, Francis and John, the latter
John Baskerville. of Malmesbury, Wilts, buried there
Nov. 3rd, 1681. And so on through a iong line to the present
representative first stated.
A full account of the Oxfordshire family will be found
in Burke's Commoners of Great Britain, Vol. VII, p. xviii,
in Va. State Library.
The writer en route to England, crossing the Atlantic in
the Atlantic Transport Co. steamer "Minehaha" in July 1900,
met on board Capt. Lund of the English army, retired, and
his wife, Mrs. Lund. When I met her, she was attracted by
my name, and told me that her earliest and lifelong friends
were Misses Baskerville of Oxfordshire, whose family was
one of the best in the country, and who were very attractive
people. It seemed to be a bond of union between us, and she
was very gracious, and cordial. We found her a very at-
Baskerville Genealogy. 31
$
tractive lady. Her friends were evidently of this CrowJey
Park family.
Thus we see that there are at present at least three dis-
tinct branches of the Baskervilles in England, all of good
standing among the gentry, viz. :
1. The Hereford family, of which the representative in 1881
was
Walter Thomas Mynor Baskerville, Esqr., of Clyrow
Castle, Radnorshire, born Jany. 7th, 1839;
2. The Oxford family of which the representative in 1881 was
John Baskerville, Esqr., of Crovvley Park, Oxfordshire,
J. P. & D. L. ; Lt. Coin, of Oxfordshire Hussars, former
Major of 14th Hussars; born Nov. 9th, 1839, m - Caro-
line, daughter of Wm. Chas. Henry, Esqr., of Haffield,
Co. Hereford ;
3. The Cheshire family, if they may be called Baskervilles,
of which the representative in 1881 was
John Baskervyle-Glegg, b. Nov. 10, 1876.
The lists, which we have, are only those of the heads of
families, the oldest sons inheriting by right of primogeniture.
The families have been quite large, and it may well be under-
stood that in the lapse of so many centuries the descendants
have multiplied into a vast host. Of course many of these
have become empoverished, particularly under the English
method of inheritance, and many have, perhaps, become ob-
scure and sought maintenance and occupation in the lower
ranks of life. This is the case with every family. But the
name is wide-spread and well known in England, and holds
an honorable and good position, with nothing to be ashamed
of. The writer has acquired a habit of spelling the name to
people here in America, but in England he found this unnec-
essary, as he was often told "You need not spell it — we are
very familiar with the name." But they all spelt it with a>"e"
at the end of it. He did not know of the Cheshire branch
then, and did not investigate the name in that country. k
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