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Northey Family Tree Alan Payne November 2019 The succession of the Northey family estate in Box is extremely difficult to trace: too many children called by the same name and not always a regular and straightforward succession. It is further confused by property held in will trusts as well as personal property. The history of the early family is derived from the work of Linda Jackson and the Epsom and Ewell site, to whom we are grateful for permission to use. You can read more at: http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/Northeys0.html. It is through Linda’s work that I have been able to summarise details relevant for Box and I have marked in bold those relating to the estate in Box. The later family owes much to the personal knowledge of Diana and William Northey, who were so generous in sharing their family photo albums and research into their ancestors. Right: George Wilbraham Northey shortly before his death |
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Sir Edward Northey (1652-1723)
Controlled Box about 1711 - 1723
Sir Edward Northey, lawyer and politician, was Attorney-General for William of Orange and Queen Anne and knighted in 1702. He bought estates and the lordship of the manor of Box from the Speke family after the death of George Petty Speke in 1719, possibly using an inheritance from Lady Philadelphia Wentworth.
He married Anne Jolliffe in 1687 and their children included: Elizabeth, Rebecca, Anne, William senior (1689 – 1738) and Edward (1690 – 1774). He left a life interest to his wife who controlled the estate from 1723 until her death in 1743. His second son Edward inherited Woodcote, Epsom, and his elder son, William senior (1689 – 1738), inherited Box, having already spent money on improving the Box Estate. Sir Edward started a trust arrangement for inheriting the land after his wife’s life interest. This trust arrangement dominated family ownership in Box and Surrey throughout the Northey tenure, including the tail male clause.
William senior (1689 – 1738)
Controlled Box personal estate but probably never controlled Box Trust Lands
William senior was Examiner in the court of Chancery from 1712-15, investigating patent law cases. He was Member of Parliament for Calne 1713-15 and then for Wootton Basset. He had a reversionary interest in inherited property at Chippenham, Box and Ditteridge and bought Hazelbury Manor and a large estate at Compton Bassett in 1715, where he lived. Children: William junior (1722-70), Ann (1724-82), Edward (1728-49), Abigail (1728-39) and Thomas (d 1780).
William junior (1722-70)
Controlled Box personal estate 1738-70 and Box Trust 1743 – 1770 after his grandmother’s death
He lived on the family estate at Compton Bassett and Ivy House, Chippenham, which he purchased in 1747 and carried a Parliamentary seat for Calne. His first wife, whom he married in 1742, was Harriet, daughter of Robert Vyner, a Lincolnshire MP. When she died in 1750 William junior had a tablet erected to her memory.[1]
He married Anne Hopkins in 1751 and had three sons and four daughters born in Wiltshire, including Thomas (1752-7),
William (1752 - 1826), Ann (1753), Rev Edward (1754 - 1828), Richard (1756) and Charlotte (died 14 February 1789, aged 28). There is a memorial to this William Northey in the vestry of Box Church.
William of Hazelbury (1752-1826): Wicked Billy
Controlled Box personal and Trust Lands 1770 - 1826
William was born at Compton Bassett and mostly lived at Hazelbury Manor, Box, partly because the Calne estate had been sold to Lord Shelburne. Under his tenure, the Northey lands in Epsom were reunited with the Box lands when no legitimate male heir was available on the death of the Surrey occupant in 1808. William served in parliament for nearly thirty years but left little record of speeches.
William of Hazelbury (known as Wicked Billy by later family members) is reputed to have held wild parties of drunkenness and gambling with the Prince Regent at Hazelbury but there is no evidence to support this.
Reverend Edward Northey (1754-1828)
Never controlled Box
The estate should have gone to Rev Edward on the death of William of Hazelbury in 1826 but instead he passed control to his sons, Colonel Edward Richard Northey and William Brook Northey. Rev Edward married Charlotte Taylor (1771 – 1837), and their children were Edward Richard (1795 – 1878), Charlotte, Harriet, Lucy, Mary and William Brook (1805 – 1880), all born in Kinlet, Shropshire.
Joint Tenancy: Colonel Edward Richard Northey (1795-1878) and Lt-Col William Brook Northey (1805 – 1880)
Controlled Box Trust 1826 - 1880
Colonel Edward Richard Northey (1795-1878) fought in the Peninsular War where he was wounded by a shell at the Battle of Vittoria, 1813, but later fought in the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. At some point he exchanged his commission in the 52nd for one in the Scots Fusiliers.
Col Edward Richard inherited Woodcote on the death of his father in 1828. He married Charlotte Isabella Anson (later used as a Christian name by the family) and had seven children including Rev Edward William (1832 – 1914), and George Wilbraham (1835 – 1906). Edward later married Louisa Mary Ann Hesketh of Epsom, another reason for his spending more time in Surrey.
William Brook Northey (1805 – 1880) was a Lieut-Colonel in the Coldstream Guards. William Brook seems to have spent more time in Box than his brother and the Loyal Northey Lodge of Oddfellows was named after him. He married Agnes Boreel in 1829 and their children included William Brook Junior (1835-1855), Lieutenant in the 71st Highland Light Infantry, who died of cholera at Yenikale in the Crimea and has a memorial in the vestry of Box Church although his body was interred in the Greek Cemetery at Yenikale; Rev Alfred Edward (1838 - 1911), Agnes Mary (c.1844-1912, unmarried), and Sarah Emily (c.1846-1922, unmarried).
On William Brook’s death in 1880, the estate passed to the two elder sons of Col Edward Richard Northey –
Rev Edward William and George Wilbraham Northey.
Joint Tenancy Rev Edward William Northey (1832-1914) and George Wilbraham Northey (1835-1906)
They controlled the Box Trust 1880–1906
Rev Edward William was prominent in Epsom, becoming a magistrate and Chairman of the Bench from 1870 until 1877. He was High Sheriff of Surrey in 1856 and Deputy Lieutenant. In 1873 his Surrey land holdings were recorded as 1,598 acres. Shortly after 1879 he had succeeded his father as owner of Woodcote House, Epsom. Although not resident in Box, Rev Edward William subscribed liberally to a fund for the restoration of Box Church spire in 1913, being the lay rector of the church. Edward married Florence Elizabeth Honywood in 1867. They had eleven children including Major-General Sir Edward Northey.
George Wilbraham-Northey (28 January 1835 Epsom - 12 March 1906) married in 1859 to Louisa Barrow (2 December 1837 Bermuda - 28 December 1907). They lived at Ashley Manor. He died on 12 March 1906, followed by Louisa on 28 December 1907. Children:
Joint Tenancy of Box Trust Major-General Sir Edward GCMG, CB (1868-1953) and
Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Hamilton Northey (1870-1938)
By now the Box estate was much diminished but the terms of the will trust prevailed for the remaining land and the trusteeship passed to Major-General Sir Edward Northey of Epsom and his cousin Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Hamilton Northey of Perth, Australia. Herbert was a curious choice because he was the third son of George Wilbraham. This reflected badly on the eldest son, George Edward.
Major-General Sir Edward Northey GCMG, CB (1868-1953) was a most distinguished military leader. He served on the Indian North-West Frontier (now Pakistan) and in the Second Boer War from 1899-1902, at Ladysmith, the Transvaal, the Orange River and the Cape Colonies. On retirement he bought a house near Dunster, Somerset, became a magistrate until the death of his mother, Florence, in 1928 when he moved back to Woodcote House, eventually selling it after his wife’s death in 1941.
Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Hamilton (1870-1938) was a career soldier, attending Sandhurst in 1887 before he entered the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1891, aged 21. He served on the North-West frontier of India in 1897 before his transfer to the South Africa Boer War where he was captured and held in the Pretoria Prisoner-of-War Camp. After such distinguished military service, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fusiliers in the First World War, wounded in 1916 and awarded the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by the personal investiture of King George V. He retired and he and his wife moved to Strathdoon, Ayr, where his wife had been born.
George Edward Wilbraham Northey (4 July 1860 Dublin - 26 September 1932)
Held only Personal Assets after Sales 1912 - 1923
George Edward Northey and Mabel Hunter lived at Cheney Court, Ditteridge. Their children were:
Sir Armand Hunter Kennedy Wilbraham Northey (1897 – 1964)
Inherited residue of Box personal lands 1935-64
Armand went to Balliol College, Oxford and was a practising barrister from 1923 until 1935.[3] He served in both World Wars, in the Foreign Office in the First and at the Admiralty, Bath, in the Second. In 1929 he married Mollie Katherine Helyar (born in 1909) and they lived in Cheney Court until 1948, moving into Cheney Cottage.[4] He was knighted for political and public services in Wiltshire in 1958.
He was actively involved in Ditteridge Church and Box Cricket Club.[5] He championed the Box Horse Show in the late 1940s and 1950s.[6] Armand died in 1964 and Mollie in 1983.
Arthur Cecil Northey and Family
Never controlled Box lands
As the ninth child of George Wilbraham, Arthur Cecil had little chance of inheriting the Box lands and he did not live in the village. Arthur and his wife Madeleine had three sons, Peter (1906 - 74), Adrian (1913 - 85) and John (1918 - 42).
Captain Adrian Paul Wilbraham Northey was born in Malta on 25 January 1913, when his parents were stationed there. Adrian served in the Royal Navy from 1930 until 1963.[7] He married Elizabeth (Betty) Doreen Belford, an officer in WRNS in 1942. Adrian was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the evacuation of Dunkirk and later two bars for service in the North Atlantic campaign. In 1949 he was promoted to the rank of Commander. In 1956 he served as the Naval Attaché to Russia and escorted the Russian Prime Minister Bulganin and President Krushchev on a trade mission to Britain. In 1970 he was awarded the honour of Commander of the British Empire.
Adrian and Betty lived in Kingsdown House. Adrian died in 1985 and Betty in 1998. Their children include Timothy JA Northey (1945 - 2009) and Pip. In 1975 Tim married Diana V Colley at Chichester and they have children: Arabella, Edward, William and Crispin. It was Diana who became the custodian of the Box records and we owe their publication to her and her family’s generosity.
Controlled Box about 1711 - 1723
Sir Edward Northey, lawyer and politician, was Attorney-General for William of Orange and Queen Anne and knighted in 1702. He bought estates and the lordship of the manor of Box from the Speke family after the death of George Petty Speke in 1719, possibly using an inheritance from Lady Philadelphia Wentworth.
He married Anne Jolliffe in 1687 and their children included: Elizabeth, Rebecca, Anne, William senior (1689 – 1738) and Edward (1690 – 1774). He left a life interest to his wife who controlled the estate from 1723 until her death in 1743. His second son Edward inherited Woodcote, Epsom, and his elder son, William senior (1689 – 1738), inherited Box, having already spent money on improving the Box Estate. Sir Edward started a trust arrangement for inheriting the land after his wife’s life interest. This trust arrangement dominated family ownership in Box and Surrey throughout the Northey tenure, including the tail male clause.
William senior (1689 – 1738)
Controlled Box personal estate but probably never controlled Box Trust Lands
William senior was Examiner in the court of Chancery from 1712-15, investigating patent law cases. He was Member of Parliament for Calne 1713-15 and then for Wootton Basset. He had a reversionary interest in inherited property at Chippenham, Box and Ditteridge and bought Hazelbury Manor and a large estate at Compton Bassett in 1715, where he lived. Children: William junior (1722-70), Ann (1724-82), Edward (1728-49), Abigail (1728-39) and Thomas (d 1780).
William junior (1722-70)
Controlled Box personal estate 1738-70 and Box Trust 1743 – 1770 after his grandmother’s death
He lived on the family estate at Compton Bassett and Ivy House, Chippenham, which he purchased in 1747 and carried a Parliamentary seat for Calne. His first wife, whom he married in 1742, was Harriet, daughter of Robert Vyner, a Lincolnshire MP. When she died in 1750 William junior had a tablet erected to her memory.[1]
He married Anne Hopkins in 1751 and had three sons and four daughters born in Wiltshire, including Thomas (1752-7),
William (1752 - 1826), Ann (1753), Rev Edward (1754 - 1828), Richard (1756) and Charlotte (died 14 February 1789, aged 28). There is a memorial to this William Northey in the vestry of Box Church.
William of Hazelbury (1752-1826): Wicked Billy
Controlled Box personal and Trust Lands 1770 - 1826
William was born at Compton Bassett and mostly lived at Hazelbury Manor, Box, partly because the Calne estate had been sold to Lord Shelburne. Under his tenure, the Northey lands in Epsom were reunited with the Box lands when no legitimate male heir was available on the death of the Surrey occupant in 1808. William served in parliament for nearly thirty years but left little record of speeches.
William of Hazelbury (known as Wicked Billy by later family members) is reputed to have held wild parties of drunkenness and gambling with the Prince Regent at Hazelbury but there is no evidence to support this.
Reverend Edward Northey (1754-1828)
Never controlled Box
The estate should have gone to Rev Edward on the death of William of Hazelbury in 1826 but instead he passed control to his sons, Colonel Edward Richard Northey and William Brook Northey. Rev Edward married Charlotte Taylor (1771 – 1837), and their children were Edward Richard (1795 – 1878), Charlotte, Harriet, Lucy, Mary and William Brook (1805 – 1880), all born in Kinlet, Shropshire.
Joint Tenancy: Colonel Edward Richard Northey (1795-1878) and Lt-Col William Brook Northey (1805 – 1880)
Controlled Box Trust 1826 - 1880
Colonel Edward Richard Northey (1795-1878) fought in the Peninsular War where he was wounded by a shell at the Battle of Vittoria, 1813, but later fought in the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. At some point he exchanged his commission in the 52nd for one in the Scots Fusiliers.
Col Edward Richard inherited Woodcote on the death of his father in 1828. He married Charlotte Isabella Anson (later used as a Christian name by the family) and had seven children including Rev Edward William (1832 – 1914), and George Wilbraham (1835 – 1906). Edward later married Louisa Mary Ann Hesketh of Epsom, another reason for his spending more time in Surrey.
William Brook Northey (1805 – 1880) was a Lieut-Colonel in the Coldstream Guards. William Brook seems to have spent more time in Box than his brother and the Loyal Northey Lodge of Oddfellows was named after him. He married Agnes Boreel in 1829 and their children included William Brook Junior (1835-1855), Lieutenant in the 71st Highland Light Infantry, who died of cholera at Yenikale in the Crimea and has a memorial in the vestry of Box Church although his body was interred in the Greek Cemetery at Yenikale; Rev Alfred Edward (1838 - 1911), Agnes Mary (c.1844-1912, unmarried), and Sarah Emily (c.1846-1922, unmarried).
On William Brook’s death in 1880, the estate passed to the two elder sons of Col Edward Richard Northey –
Rev Edward William and George Wilbraham Northey.
Joint Tenancy Rev Edward William Northey (1832-1914) and George Wilbraham Northey (1835-1906)
They controlled the Box Trust 1880–1906
Rev Edward William was prominent in Epsom, becoming a magistrate and Chairman of the Bench from 1870 until 1877. He was High Sheriff of Surrey in 1856 and Deputy Lieutenant. In 1873 his Surrey land holdings were recorded as 1,598 acres. Shortly after 1879 he had succeeded his father as owner of Woodcote House, Epsom. Although not resident in Box, Rev Edward William subscribed liberally to a fund for the restoration of Box Church spire in 1913, being the lay rector of the church. Edward married Florence Elizabeth Honywood in 1867. They had eleven children including Major-General Sir Edward Northey.
George Wilbraham-Northey (28 January 1835 Epsom - 12 March 1906) married in 1859 to Louisa Barrow (2 December 1837 Bermuda - 28 December 1907). They lived at Ashley Manor. He died on 12 March 1906, followed by Louisa on 28 December 1907. Children:
- George Edward (4 July 1860 Dublin - 26 September 1932) married Mabel Beatrice Helen Hunter in 1885. George Edward was educated at Sherborne School;
- Francis William (5 January 1862 Belfast - 9 August 1898 Cairo) married Beatrice Lotty Robinson (d 1933) in 1888;
- Constance Fanny (1864 Belfast - 14 November 1932 Melksham) married in 1892 to Rev Walter Charles Barlow (21 July 1868 - 1933 buried at Lacock). Walter's occupation was Gentleman, son of Col Henry Barlow. In 1891 he was a visitor at Ashley Grove with Alice Mitton; In 1901 parents and WNC living at Bridgnorth with three servants.
- Mary Louisa (1865 Colchester - 8 January 1938 Wiltshire) married Captain William Haldane Burt in 1911;
- Alice (1867 Colchester - 1942 Bath) married Colonel George Jones Mitton in 1885;
- Mabel Charlotte (known as May) (1868 Chatham - 1947 Wiltshire) married twice: Reginald Kerr Granville of the Colonial Civil Service in 1902 and Sir John Middleton in 1920;
- Herbert Hamilton (27 June 1870 Chichester - 7 January 1938 Glasgow) married Elizabeth Maude Thomson in 1903;
- Percy Wilbraham (31 January 1872 Chichester - 20 February 1935 London) married twice: Gertrude Rosalie Roupell in 1896 and Isabel Carss Gerveys Grylls in 1931;
- Arthur Cecil (11 November 1873 Chichester - 21 December 1931 Buckinghamshire) married Madeleine Harriett Owen in 1905. Arthur had only lived in the village during his childhood and, after travelling the world, settled in Buckinghamshire (Datchet and Eton) where his children were brought up and his wife died in 1951. But their second child Adrian returned to the family roots in Box;
- Bridges (1875 Chichester - 1884 Bath);
- Cyril Brook (October 1877 Chichester - 1942 Bath) married Elsa Thiedemann (1876 - 1946) in 1899. He served as a Major in the Royal Scots in World War 1 and lived at Ditteridge House;
- Lilian Beatrice (1879 Chichester - 1934 Wiltshire) married Captain Douglas Hamilton Keats Hunter in 1904;
- Evelyn Marion (1881 Bath - 5 November 1940 York) married Major-General Sir Ernest Cyril Gepp in 1910.
Joint Tenancy of Box Trust Major-General Sir Edward GCMG, CB (1868-1953) and
Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Hamilton Northey (1870-1938)
By now the Box estate was much diminished but the terms of the will trust prevailed for the remaining land and the trusteeship passed to Major-General Sir Edward Northey of Epsom and his cousin Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Hamilton Northey of Perth, Australia. Herbert was a curious choice because he was the third son of George Wilbraham. This reflected badly on the eldest son, George Edward.
Major-General Sir Edward Northey GCMG, CB (1868-1953) was a most distinguished military leader. He served on the Indian North-West Frontier (now Pakistan) and in the Second Boer War from 1899-1902, at Ladysmith, the Transvaal, the Orange River and the Cape Colonies. On retirement he bought a house near Dunster, Somerset, became a magistrate until the death of his mother, Florence, in 1928 when he moved back to Woodcote House, eventually selling it after his wife’s death in 1941.
Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Hamilton (1870-1938) was a career soldier, attending Sandhurst in 1887 before he entered the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1891, aged 21. He served on the North-West frontier of India in 1897 before his transfer to the South Africa Boer War where he was captured and held in the Pretoria Prisoner-of-War Camp. After such distinguished military service, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fusiliers in the First World War, wounded in 1916 and awarded the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by the personal investiture of King George V. He retired and he and his wife moved to Strathdoon, Ayr, where his wife had been born.
George Edward Wilbraham Northey (4 July 1860 Dublin - 26 September 1932)
Held only Personal Assets after Sales 1912 - 1923
George Edward Northey and Mabel Hunter lived at Cheney Court, Ditteridge. Their children were:
- George Evelyn Anson Northey (1886 - 1914) died in opening days of First World War and is commemorated at Ditteridge Church;
- Vere Wilbraham Northey (26 June 1888-1960) married Austin Gardner in 1910 and divorced him in 1931.[2] She lived at St Christopher's, Ditteridge, until her death. Vere and Austin had three children, who were Joyce V (1911-16), Adrian H A (1914) and Gerald A (1922);
- Sir Armand Hunter Kennedy Wilbraham Northey (1897 - 1964); inherited residual parts of the Northey Estate. Sir Armand and his wife Mollie had two children, Christopher and Mavis;
- Another child died in infancy.
Sir Armand Hunter Kennedy Wilbraham Northey (1897 – 1964)
Inherited residue of Box personal lands 1935-64
Armand went to Balliol College, Oxford and was a practising barrister from 1923 until 1935.[3] He served in both World Wars, in the Foreign Office in the First and at the Admiralty, Bath, in the Second. In 1929 he married Mollie Katherine Helyar (born in 1909) and they lived in Cheney Court until 1948, moving into Cheney Cottage.[4] He was knighted for political and public services in Wiltshire in 1958.
He was actively involved in Ditteridge Church and Box Cricket Club.[5] He championed the Box Horse Show in the late 1940s and 1950s.[6] Armand died in 1964 and Mollie in 1983.
Arthur Cecil Northey and Family
Never controlled Box lands
As the ninth child of George Wilbraham, Arthur Cecil had little chance of inheriting the Box lands and he did not live in the village. Arthur and his wife Madeleine had three sons, Peter (1906 - 74), Adrian (1913 - 85) and John (1918 - 42).
Captain Adrian Paul Wilbraham Northey was born in Malta on 25 January 1913, when his parents were stationed there. Adrian served in the Royal Navy from 1930 until 1963.[7] He married Elizabeth (Betty) Doreen Belford, an officer in WRNS in 1942. Adrian was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the evacuation of Dunkirk and later two bars for service in the North Atlantic campaign. In 1949 he was promoted to the rank of Commander. In 1956 he served as the Naval Attaché to Russia and escorted the Russian Prime Minister Bulganin and President Krushchev on a trade mission to Britain. In 1970 he was awarded the honour of Commander of the British Empire.
Adrian and Betty lived in Kingsdown House. Adrian died in 1985 and Betty in 1998. Their children include Timothy JA Northey (1945 - 2009) and Pip. In 1975 Tim married Diana V Colley at Chichester and they have children: Arabella, Edward, William and Crispin. It was Diana who became the custodian of the Box records and we owe their publication to her and her family’s generosity.
References
[1] For epitaphs see Early Family
[2] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 7 February 1931
[3] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 17 September 1955
[4] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 13 March 1948
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 24 November 1923
[6] The Wiltshire Times, 27 August 1949
[7] The Daily News, 4 January 1972
[1] For epitaphs see Early Family
[2] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 7 February 1931
[3] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 17 September 1955
[4] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 13 March 1948
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 24 November 1923
[6] The Wiltshire Times, 27 August 1949
[7] The Daily News, 4 January 1972