The Stately Homes of England

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt; S. C. Hall

Welbeck, with its broad domain, is situated in Nottinghamshire, about four miles from Worksop, and close to the borders of the county of Derby. Its parks are one grand succession of fine old forest trees, and its herds of deer—for it has its herd of white deer, its herd of fallow deer, and its separate herds of red and other deer—are of great extent and of fine and noble quality. Before the Conquest Welbeck was held by the Saxon Sweyn, but afterwards it passed to the Flemangs as part of the manor of Cuckney. By Thomas de Cuckney (grandson of Joceus de Flemang) the Abbey was founded, and here, in the reign of Henry II., he planted a settlement of Præemonstratensian or White Canons from Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, the first house in which they were established in England. The Abbey was dedicated to St. James, and endowed with grants of lands. These were from time to time considerably augmented, and “in 1329 the Bishop of Ely bought the whole of the manor of Cuckney, and settled it upon the Abbey on condition of their finding eight canons who should enjoy the good things and pray for Edward the Third and his queen, their children and ancestors, &c.; also for the bishop’s father and mother, brother, &c.; ‘but especially for the health of the said lord bishop whilst he lived, and after his death for his soul, and for all theirs that had faithfully served him or done him any good;’ to which was added this extraordinary injunction, that they should observe his anniversary, and on their days of commemorating the dead ‘should absolve his soul by name;’ a process whose frequent repetition might naturally be considered as needless, unless the pious bishop supposed that he might perhaps commit a few additional sins whilst in purgatory.”

In 1512, it is stated, the Abbey at Welbeck was made the head of the order. At the dissolution it was granted to Richard Whalley, and later on, after other changes, passed to Sir Charles Cavendish, of whom we shall speak presently. By him the Abbey was converted into a noble mansion, but little of the original religious house being left standing, and these parts only used as cellars, or here and there a wall, for the new building. The present mansion is said to have been commenced in 1604, and was afterwards much altered and enlarged, the riding-house being built in 1623, and the stables two years afterwards, from the designs of John Smithson. By the late Duke of Portland many alterations in the mansion were effected, and the grounds were also much improved.

We have just alluded to Sir Charles Cavendish, and this leads us on to the consideration of the descent of the estates from his time down to that of the present noble owner, and enables us to give, as is our wont, a genealogical account of the great and important families to whom Welbeck has belonged. The family of Cavendish, as already more fully detailed in our account of Chatsworth, traces back to the Conquest, when Robert de Gernon, who came over with the Conqueror, so distinguished himself in arms that he was rewarded with grants of land in Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, &c. His descendants held considerable lands in Derbyshire, and Sir William Gernon obtained a grant of a fair at Bakewell, in that county. He had two sons—Sir Ralph de Gernon, Lord of Bakewell, and Geoffrey de Gernon, of Moor Hall, near Bakewell. From the second of these, Geoffrey de Gernon, the Cavendishes descend. His son, Roger de Gernon (who died in 1334), married the heiress of John Potton, or Potkins, lord of the manor of Cavendish, in Suffolk, and by her had issue four sons, who all assumed the name of Cavendish from their mother’s manor. These were—Sir John Cavendish, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in the time of Edward III., and Chancellor of Cambridge, 4th of Richard II., who was beheaded by the insurgents of Suffolk in that reign; Roger Cavendish, from whom descended the celebrated navigator, Sir Thomas Cavendish; Stephen Cavendish, Lord Mayor, member of Parliament, and Sheriff of London; and Richard Cavendish. Sir John married Alice, daughter of Sir John Odyngseles, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, who brought to her husband the manor of Cavendish-Overhall, and by her, who died before him, had issue two sons—Andrew and John—and a daughter, Alice, married to William Nell. Sir Andrew Cavendish, the eldest son, was Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. By his wife, Rose, he left issue one son, William, from whom the estate passed to his cousin. Sir Andrew was succeeded by his brother, Sir John Cavendish, Esquire of the Body to Richard II. and Henry V., who, for his gallant conduct in killing Wat Tyler, in his conflict with Sir William Walworth, was knighted by Richard II. in Smithfield, and an annuity of £40 per annum granted to him and his sons for ever. He was also made Broiderer of the Wardrobe to the King. He married Joan, daughter of Sir William Clopton, of Clopton, in Suffolk, and by her had issue three sons—William, his successor; Robert, serjeant-at-law; and Walter. William Cavendish, who was a citizen and mercer of London, and of Cavendish-Overhall, married Joan Staventon, by whom he had two sons—Thomas and William. This Thomas Cavendish, who was of Cavendish and Pollingford, in Suffolk, married Katharine Scudamore, and left by her, as son and heir, Sir Thomas Cavendish, who, having studied the law, was employed by Thomas, Earl of Surrey, Treasurer of the King’s Exchequer. He was also Clerk of the Pipe in the Exchequer to Henry VIII. He married twice, and left, by his first wife, Alice, daughter and co-heiress of John Smith, of Podbroke Hall, besides other issue, three sons—George Cavendish, Sir William Cavendish, and Sir Thomas Cavendish.

George Cavendish, the eldest of these three sons, was of Glemsford and Cavendish-Overhall, and is said to have been the author of “Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey,” although the authorship of that work has also been attributed to his brother, Sir William Cavendish. He received a liberal education, and was endowed by his father with considerable landed property in Suffolk. His character and learning seem to have recommended him to the special notice of Cardinal Wolsey, who “took him to be about his own person, as gentleman usher of his chamber, and placed a special confidence in him.” George Cavendish was succeeded by his son William, and ultimately the manor of Cavendish-Overhall passed to William Downes. Sir Thomas Cavendish was one of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and died unmarried.

Arms of Cavendish.

Sir William Cavendish, the second son of the first Sir Thomas, became the founder of the ducal House of Devonshire and of several other noble families. He was married three times: first, to a daughter of Edward Bostock, of Whatcross, in Cheshire; secondly, to a daughter of Sir Thomas Conyngsby, and widow of William Paris; and, thirdly, to Elizabeth, daughter of John Hardwick, of Hardwick, and widow of Robert Barley, of Barley, all in the county of Derby. He was “a man of learning and business,” and was much employed in important affairs by his sovereigns, filling the posts of Treasurer of the Chamber and Privy Councillor to Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary. At the suppression of the religious houses under Henry VIII. he was “appointed one of the commissioners for visiting them, and afterwards was made one of the auditors of the Court of Augmentation,” which was instituted for the purpose of augmenting the revenues by the suppression of the monasteries. For his services he received three valuable manors in Hertfordshire, which, later on, he exchanged for lands in Derbyshire and other counties. He was also knighted by Henry VIII. By his first wife he had issue one son and two daughters who died young, and two other daughters, one of whom, Catherine, married Sir Thomas Brooke, son of Lord Cobham, and the other, Anne, married Sir Henry Baynton. By his second wife he had three daughters, who all died young, and she herself died in child-birth. By his third marriage with “Bess of Hardwick” he had a numerous family—viz. Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, member of Parliament for Derbyshire, who married Grace, daughter of George, Earl of Shrewsbury, but died without lawful issue; Sir William Cavendish, created Earl of Devonshire, and direct ancestor of the Dukes of Devonshire; Sir Charles Cavendish, of Bolsover Castle and of Welbeck Abbey, ancestor of the Dukes of Newcastle, Portland, &c. (of whom presently); Frances, married to Sir Henry Pierrepoint, ancestor to the Dukes of Kingston; Elizabeth, married to Charles Stuart, Duke of Lennox (younger brother of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and father of King James I.), the issue of which marriage was the sadly unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart; and Mary, married to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury.

Arms of Hardwick.

Of the Countess of Shrewsbury, “Bess of Hardwick,” mother of the founder of this house, it will now be well to say a few words. The family to which she belonged, and of which she eventually became heiress, that of Hardwick, of Hardwick was one of considerable antiquity in the county of Derby. One of the family, William Hardwick, married the heiress of Goushill, of Barlborough, and by her had two sons, the eldest of whom, Roger Hardwick, married the daughter of Robert Barley, of Barley, and had issue by her, John, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Bakewell, of Bakewell. Their son, John Hardwick, married Elizabeth Pinchbeck, of Pinchbeck, and was succeeded by his son, John Hardwick, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Leake, of Hasland, of the same family as the Leakes, Earls of Scarsdale. By this marriage John Hardwick, who died in 1527, had issue one son—John Hardwick—and four daughters—Mary, Elizabeth, Alice, and Jane. The son, John, who was only three years old at his father’s death, married Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Draycott, of Paynsley, but died without issue, leaving his four sisters his co-heiresses. Of these Elizabeth, afterwards Countess of Shrewsbury, inherited Hardwick and other estates. When very young—indeed, it is said when scarcely fourteen years of age—she married Robert Barley, of Barley (son of Arthur Barley, of Barley-by-Dronfield, in Derbyshire, by his wife, Elizabeth Chaworth), who died a few months after marriage, leaving his possessions to her and her heirs. By this short-lived marriage she had no issue, and, after remaining a widow for some twelve years or so, she married, as his third wife, Sir William Cavendish, by whom she had a numerous issue, as will be presently shown. To Sir William Cavendish this remarkable lady brought not only Hardwick and the other possessions of her own family, but also those of the Barleys, which she had acquired by her first marriage. Sir William died in 1557, and a few years later his widow married, as her third husband, Sir William St. Loe, or Santloe, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, who settled the whole of his estates upon her and her heirs, and thus greatly added to her already immense possessions. By this marriage there was no issue, and, on the death of Sir William St. Loe, she was a third time left a widow. Soon afterwards she married, as his second wife (he being, of course, her fourth husband), George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, stipulating, however, that the Earl’s eldest daughter, the Lady Grace Talbot, should marry her eldest son, Sir Henry Cavendish, and that his second son, Gilbert Talbot (eventually Earl of Shrewsbury), should marry her youngest daughter, Mary Cavendish. These family nuptials were solemnised at Sheffield on the 9th of February, 1567-8, the younger of the two couples being at the time only about fifteen and twelve years of age respectively.