The Stately Homes of England

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt; S. C. Hall

From the Wood Walks.

The noble family of Capel to whom Cassiobury, as has been stated, passed by marriage with the heiress of Morrison, and to whom it still belongs, is of considerable antiquity, and few families have been enriched by so many scions of brilliant intellect. The family appears to have been originally of Capel’s Moan, hear Stoke Neyland, in Suffolk, and here, in 1261, resided Sir Richard de Capel, Lord Justice of Ireland: in 1368, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III., left by will “to John de Capell, my chaplain, a girdle of gold, to make a chalice in memory of my soul.” Later on another John Capel, who died in 1441, left, by his wife, Joan, besides a son, John, a second son, William Capel, who was a draper and citizen of London, “and successively alderman, sheriff, representative of the city in Parliament, and lord mayor, and had the honour of knighthood conferred on him by Henry VII.” He was twice lord mayor, and several times M.P. of the city. He died in 1515, and “was buried in a chapel founded by himself on the south side of the church of St. Bartholomew, near the Royal Exchange, London.” He also gave his name to Capel Court. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Arundell, of Lanhorne, by whom, besides two daughters, he had a son, Sir Giles Capel, Knight, who succeeded him, and married, first, Mary, daughter of Richard Roos, son of Lord Roos, and, secondly, Isabel, daughter of Sir Thomas Newton, by whom he had issue a daughter, and two sons, Sir Henry and Sir Edward. Sir Henry Capel married Anne, daughter of Lord Roos, and granddaughter of the Duchess of Exeter, sister to King Edward IV.: he died without surviving issue, and was succeeded by his brother, Sir Edward Capel, whose wife was Anne, daughter of Sir William Pelham, ancestor of the Dukes of Newcastle; he, dying in 1577, was succeeded by his eldest son. Sir Henry Capel, Knight, who, by his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Rutland, had, besides several others, a son, Sir Arthur Capel, Knight, who succeeded him, and was in turn succeeded by his son, Sir Henry Capel. This gentleman, who, like many of his family, had been Sheriff of Herts, married twice. By his first wife, Theodosia, daughter of Sir Edward Montagne, he had issue, besides others, a son, Arthur Capel, who was a minor at the time of his death.

Arthur Capel was born about the year 1614, and, both his parents dying when he was young, he was brought up by his grandfather, Sir Arthur. He espoused the royal cause in the troublous times of Charles I., and became one of his most valued and zealous adherents. He was rewarded with a peerage, being created Baron Capel of Hadham, the king in desiring this reward having written to the Queen, “there is one that doth not yet pretend, that deserves as well as any; I mean Capel; therefore I desire thy assistance to find out something for him before he ask.” After taking an active part in support and defence of the king, Lord Capel was imprisoned in the Tower, and on the 9th of March, 1649, he was beheaded before the great gate of Westminster Hall. “His body was buried at Little Hadham, with an inscription stating him to have been murdered for his loyalty to King Charles I.; and his heart, according to a wish he had expressed to Bishop Morley, was enclosed in a silver cup and cover, to be eventually buried at the feet of the master whom he had so zealously served. But no funeral rites being performed to the memory of Charles I., the cup was kept in a press at Hadham, where it was discovered in 1703, and its contents placed in the family vault.” It was this Lord Capel who, before his elevation to the peerage, had married Elizabeth Morrison, and so acquired Cassiobury and the rest of the large possessions of the Morrison family. The issue of this marriage was four sons and four daughters, viz., Arthur, who succeeded his father; Sir Henry Capel, created Baron Capel of Tewkesbury; Charles and Edward, who died unmarried; Mary, married, first, to Lord Beauchamp, and, secondly, to Henry, Duke of Beaufort; Elizabeth, married to the Earl of Carnarvon; Theodosia, wife of the Earl of Clarendon; and Anne, of John Strangeways.

Arthur, second Baron Capel, was, in 1601, created Viscount Maiden and Earl of Essex, and in 1670 was appointed ambassador to the court of Denmark. He it was who, as has already been stated, rebuilt Cassiobury, and formed its beautiful gardens. In 1683 his lordship was apprehended at Cassiobury on a charge of being concerned in the famous “Rye House Plot,” and was committed to the Tower, where he was, as is believed, foully murdered, or at all events, where he was found dead with his throat cut. The earl married Elizabeth, only daughter of Algernon Percy, Earl of Northumberland, by whom he had six sons and two daughters, most of whom dying young, he was at his death succeeded by his fifth son, Algernon Capel.

From the South West.

Algernon, second Earl of Essex, was Gentleman of the Bed-chamber to King William III., and held important offices under Queen Anne. He married Mary, daughter of the Earl of Portland, by whom he had issue two daughters and one son, William Capel, who succeeded him as third Earl of Essex. This Earl married twice, and had, by his first wife, Jane, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, four daughters; and by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the Duke of Bedford, four daughters, and one son, by whom he was succeeded. This was—

William Anne Holles Capel, fourth Earl of Essex, one of the Lords of the Bed-chamber to George II. and George III., and Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire. He married Frances, daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Bart., by whom he acquired the estate of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, which was afterwards sold to Richard Arkwright, Esq., of Cromford, Derbyshire, and by her had issue two daughters, and a son, George Capel, who succeeded him, in 1759, as fifth Earl of Essex; and, secondly, Harriet, daughter of Colonel Thomas Bladen, by whom he had issue five sons, viz., one who died young; John Thomas, whose son succeeded to the title and estates as sixth Earl of Essex; Lieut.-General Thomas Edward Capel; Hon. and Rev. William Robert Capel, chaplain to the King; and Rear-Admiral the Hon. Bladen Thomas Capel. His lordship died in 1799, and was succeeded by his son, George Capel, who, having succeeded to the estates of his maternal grandmother, assumed the name of Coningsby, and became George Capel-Coningsby, fifth Earl of Essex, Viscount Malden, and sixth Baron Capel. His lordship married twice, first, in 1786, Sarah, daughter of Henry Bazett, Esq., of St. Helena, and widow of Edward Stephenson, Esq.; and secondly, in 1838, Catherine, daughter of Mr. E. Stephens, but had no issue by either marriage. His lordship died in 1839, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his nephew, Arthur Algernon Capel, the son of his half-brother, the Hon. John Thomas Capel.

Arthur Algernon Capel, sixth Earl of Essex and Viscount Malden, and seventh Baron Capel of Hadham, was born January 28th, 1803. In 1825 he married the Lady Caroline Jeanetta Beauclerk, third daughter of the eighth Duke of St. Albans, and by her, who died in 1862, had issue: Arthur De Vere Capel, Viscount Malden, born 1826 (heir to the title and estate, who married, in 1853, Emma Martha, daughter of Sir Henry Meux, Bart., and has issue), the Hon. Adela Caroline Harriet Capel, now deceased, married to the Earl of Eglintoun; the Hon. Reginald Algernon Capel, married to Mary, daughter of John Nicholas Fazkerly, Esq., and niece of the Earl of Rokeby; and the Hon. Randolph Capel. In 1863, his lordship married, secondly, the Lady Louisa Caroline Elizabeth Boyle, daughter of Viscountess Dungarvon, and sister to the Earl of Cork, and by her has issue living, the Hon. Arthur Algernon Capel, born 1864, and the Hon. Beatrice Mary, born 1870. His lordship is patron of the livings of Watford, in Hertfordshire, Rayne, in Essex, and Shuttington, in Warwickshire.

The arms of the Earl of Essex are—Gules, a lion rampant between three cross-crosslets fitchée, or; crest, a demi-lion rampant supporting a cross-crosslet fitchée, or; supporters, two lions, or, ducally crowned, gules; motto, “Fide et Fortitudine.”