The Stately Homes of England

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt; S. C. Hall

Sir Nathaniel Curzon, Bart., succeeded his father in 1686. He married Sarah, daughter of William Penn, of Penn, in the county of Bucks, by whom he had issue five sons and four daughters, and died in 1718. His sons were—Sir John, who succeeded him; Sir Nathaniel, who also succeeded to the title and estates; Francis, who was a Turkey merchant, and died at Aleppo unmarried; William, who represented Clitheroe in Parliament; and Charles, LL.D. Sir John Curzon, Bart., who represented the county of Derby in Parliament during the whole of the reign of Queen Anne, died unmarried in 1727, when the baronetcy and estates passed to his brother, Sir Nathaniel Curzon, who also represented, till his death in 1758, the county of Derby in Parliament. He married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Assheton, Bart., of Middleton, county Lancaster, by whom he had issue three sons—-John, who died in infancy; Nathaniel, first Baron Scarsdale; and Assheton, first Viscount Curzon, and father of the first Earl Howe. This Assheton Curzon, created Baron and Viscount Curzon of Penn, was member of Parliament for Clitheroe. He married, first, Esther, daughter of William Hanmer, Esq., by whom he had issue the Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon; secondly, Dorothy, sister of the first Earl of Grosvenor, by whom, with other issue, he had a son, Robert, who married the Baroness Zouche; and, thirdly, Anna Margaretta Meredith, by whom he had no issue. The Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon, just alluded to, eldest son of Viscount Curzon, married Charlotte Sophia, Baroness Howe, by whom he had issue seven sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom was Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, created Earl Howe, who married twice—first, the Lady Harriet Georgiana Brudenell, daughter of the Earl of Cardigan, by whom, with others, he had issue the late Earl Howe; and, secondly, Ann Gore, maid of honour to Queen Adelaide, by whom also he had issue. The Earl died in 1870, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George Augustus Frederick Louis Curzon-Howe, as second Earl Howe, Viscount Curzon, Baron Curzon of Penn, and Baron Howe of Langar, who was born in 1821, and was M.P. for South Leicestershire from 1857 to the time of his accession to the peerage. His lordship married, in 1846, Harriet Mary, daughter of the late Henry Charles Sturt, Esq., M.P., by whom, however, he had no issue. He died in 1876, and was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe. The present peer, who is third Earl Howe, Viscount Curzon, Baron Curzon of Penn, and Baron Howe of Langar, was born in 1822, and, having entered the army, became Captain in 1844, Major 1853, Lieut.-Colonel 1854, Colonel 1857, and Major-General 1868. Having served in the Kaffir war as Aide-de-camp to Sir George Cathcart, and at the siege of Delhi, at which time he was Acting Assistant Quartermaster-General, he became Military Secretary to the Commander-in-chief in India, and was also an Aide-de-camp to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge. His lordship married, in 1858, Isabella Katherine, daughter of Major-General the Hon. George Anson, and has issue, besides other children, a son, the Hon. George Richard Penn Curzon-Howe, who is heir to the titles and estates.

Sir Nathaniel Curzon died in 1758, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Nathaniel Curzon, who, in 1761, was raised to the peerage by the style and title of Baron Scarsdale of Scarsdale, in the county of Derby—the title being derived from the hundred of Scarsdale in that county. His lordship had previously married the Lady Catherine Colyear, daughter of the Earl of Portmore, by whom he had issue five sons and one daughter. He died in 1804, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, the Hon. Nathaniel Curzon, as second Lord Scarsdale. This nobleman married, first, the Hon. Sophia Susannah Noel, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Viscount Wentworth, by whom (who died in 1782) he had issue the Hon. Nathaniel, who succeeded him, and the Hon. Sophia Caroline, who married Robert Viscount Tamworth, son of Earl Ferrars. Lord Scarsdale married, secondly, a Roman Catholic lady, Félicité Anne de Wattines, of Tournay, in Belgium, by whom (who died in 1850) he had, with other issue, the Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon; the Hon. Francis James Curzon, barrister-at-law; the Hon. Mary Elizabeth, married to John Beaumont, Esq., of Barrow; and the Hon. Caroline Esther, married to William Drury Holden, Esq., of Locko Park, in Derbyshire, who assumed the surname of Lowe instead of that of Holden, and is well known as William Drury Lowe, Esq.

The Hon. Nathaniel Curzon succeeded his father as third Lord Scarsdale in 1837, but died unmarried in 1856, when the title and estates passed to his nephew, the present peer, the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, second son of the Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon, already mentioned.

The Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon, eldest son, by his second marriage, of the second Lord Scarsdale, was born in 1801, and married in 1825 Sophia, daughter of Robert Holden, Esq., of Nuttall Temple, by whom he had issue two sons—George Nathaniel Curzon, Esq., who was accidentally killed by being thrown from his horse, and the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, the present Lord Scarsdale—and two daughters, Sophia Félicité Curzon and Mary Curzon, the elder being married to W. H. De Rodes, Esq., of Barlborough Hall, and the younger to Lord Arthur Edwin Hill-Trevor, son of the Marquis of Downshire. He died in January, 1850.

The present peer, the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, succeeded his uncle in the title and estates as fourth Baron Scarsdale, and as a baronet, in 1856. His lordship, who was born in 1831, was educated at Rugby, and at Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1852, and M.A. in 1865. In 1856 he became Rector of Kedleston, and in the same year married Blanche, second daughter of Joseph Pocklington Senhouse, Esq., of Nether Hall, Cumberland, by whom he has issue living—the Hon. George Nathaniel, heir-apparent, born 1859; the Hon. Alfred Nathaniel, born 1860; the Hon. Francis Nathaniel, born 1865; the Hon. Assheton Nathaniel, born 1867; the Hon. Sophia Caroline, born 1857; the Hon. Blanche Felicia, born 1861; the Hon. Eveline Mary, born 1864; the Hon. Elinor Florence, born 1869; the Hon. Geraldine Emily, born 1871; and the Hon. Margaret Georgiana, born 1874. Lady Scarsdale died in 1875. His lordship is patron of five livings (viz. Kedleston, Quarndon, Mickleover, and Littleover, in Derbyshire, and Worthington, in Leicestershire), and is a magistrate for the county of Derby.

Arms of Scarsdale.

The arms of Lord Scarsdale are—argent, on a bend, sable, three popinjays, or, collared, gules. Crest—a popinjay rising, wings displayed and inverted, or, collared, gules. Supporters—dexter, a female figure representing Prudence, habited, argent, mantled, azure, holding in her sinister hand a javelin, entwined with a remora, proper; sinister, a female figure representing Liberality, habited, argent, mantled, purpure, holding in both hands a cornucopia, resting against her shoulder, proper. Motto—“Recte et suaviter.”

The title of “Scarsdale” had previously been held by the family of Leake, but had become extinct. The Leakes were descended from Adam de Leca, of Leak, in Nottinghamshire, who was living in 1141. William Leake, or Leke, who settled at Sutton-in-the-Dale, or, as it is frequently called, Sutton-Scarsdale, in Derbyshire, early in the fifteenth century, was a younger son of Sir John Leake, of Gotham. One of his descendants, Sir Francis Leke, Knt., married one of the co-heiresses of Swift, of Rotherham, and by her had issue a son, Francis Leke, who, on the institution of the order of baronetcy, was created a baronet in 1611. In 1624 he was created Baron Deincourt of Sutton, and, having taken an active part for the King during the civil wars, was in 1645 raised to the dignity of Earl of Scarsdale. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Carey, Knt., and had issue by her—Nicholas, his successor; Francis, Edward, and Charles, slain in battle; and six daughters, one of whom was married to Viscount Gormanston, and another to Charles, Lord Lucas. His lordship felt the execution of his royal master, Charles I., so acutely, that he clothed himself in sackcloth, and, causing his grave to be dug some years before his death, laid himself in it every Friday for divine meditation and prayer. He died in 1665, and was succeeded by his son Nicholas as second Earl of Scarsdale and Baron Deincourt. This nobleman married Lady Frances Rich, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and died in 1680. His eldest son, Robert, succeeded to the titles and estates, and having married Mary, one of the co-heiresses of Sir John Lewis, was made Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Colonel of Horse, and Groom of the Stole to Prince George of Denmark. Dying in 1707, he was succeeded, as fourth Earl of Scarsdale and Baron Deincourt, by his nephew, Sir Nicholas Leke, who, dying unmarried in 1736, the titles, including the baronetcy, became extinct.