Scrope
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Scrope is the name of an old English family of Norman origin.
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[edit] Origin of name
Some say the name is derived from the old anglo-norman word for "crab" and that it began as a nickname for a club-footed illegitimate son of an English princess by a Norman knight. A crab moves sideways and so the name could fit a child with club feet. Whether far fetched or not, it is fact that at one stage the family crest was a crab (subsequently five feathers) and that the family motto is still "Devant si je puis" -("forward if I can"), which could have a double meaning as of course a crab can only go sideways.
[edit] Early Scropes
More certain is that Richard Fitz Scrob (or Fitz Scrope) was a Norman knight granted lands by Edward the Confessor before the Norman Conquest, in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire as recorded in the Domesday Book. He built Richard's Castle, near Ludlow in Shropshire.
His son was Osbern FitzRichard, husband of Nest, daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Osbern's great-grandson was Hugh Le Scrope who, having been born at Richard's Castle, was the first of the family to be granted lands formerly belonging to the Priory of Bridlington, in Yorkshire.
[edit] 14th century Scropes
The great-great-great-grandson of Hugh was Sir William le Scrope, of Bolton, in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, who had two sons, Henry le Scrope (d. 1336) and Geoffrey le Scrope (d. 1340), both of whom were in succession chief justice of the king's bench and prominent supporters of the court in the reign of King Edward II of England.
[edit] Richard le Scrope (c. 1327-1403)
Henry was father of Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton (c. 1327-1403), chancellor of England, an active adherent of John of Gaunt. He was a knight of the shire of Yorkshire in the parliament of 1364, and was summoned to the upper house as a baron by writ in 1371, when he was made treasurer and keeper of the great seal. In 1378 Lord Scrope became chancellor, a role in which he attempted to curb the extravagance of King Richard II, an offence for which he was deprived of office in 1382. Scrope engaged in several disputes with regard to his armorial bearings, the most celebrated of which was with Sir Richard Grosvenor as to his right to the shield blazoned "Azure, a bend Or," which a court of chivalry decided in his favor after a controversy extending over four years.(see Scrope v Grosvenor) Both as a soldier and a statesman Lord Scrope was highly regarded.
[edit] William le Scrope (c. 1350-1399)
His eldest son William le Scrope (c. 1350-1399) was created Earl of Wiltes in 1397 by Richard II, of whose government he was an active supporter. Wiltes bought the sovereignty of the Isle of Man from the Earl of Salisbury. In 1398 he became Treasurer of England. His execution at Bristol was one of the first acts of Henry IV, and the irregular sentence of an improvised court was confirmed by Henry's first parliament. Wiltes' father, Lord Scrope, and his other sons were not included in the attainder, but received full pardon from Henry. Scrope, who was the builder of Bolton Castle, his principal residence, died in 1403. He was succeeded in the barony by his second son, Roger, whose descendants held it till 1630. In 1869, the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords, after a series of hearings beginning in 1862 under the title of Wiltes Claim of Peerage 4 HL 126, rejected the claim of Simon Thomas Scrope, of Danby, to the Earldom of Wiltes (Wiltshire) granted to William le Scrope, above. It was proved that Simon Thomas Scrope was the senior heir male of the Earl of Wiltes, but the Committee of Privileges decided that as a matter of law an English peerage could not descend to heirs male general who were not directly descended from the original grantee; they also rejected arguments based on the irregularity of the original sentence by Henry IV before he had become King. The Committee's declined to follows its own earlier decision in the Devon Peerage Claim (1831) 5 English Reports 293, in which a grant to "heirs male" had been allowed to pass to heirs male collateral.
[edit] Geoffrey le Scrope (d. 1340)
Sir Geoffrey le Scrope (d. 1340), chief justice of the kings bench as mentioned above, uncle of the first Baron Scrope of Bolton, had a son Henry, who in 1350 was summoned to parliament by writ as Baron Scrope, the designation of Masham being added in the time of his grandson to distinguish the title from that held by the elder branch of the family. Henry's fourth son was Richard le Scrope (c. 1350 1405), Archbishop of York, who took part with the Percies in opposition to Henry IV, and was beheaded for treason in June 1405. Despite this, Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham (c. 1376-1415), became a favorite of Henry V, by whom he was made treasurer in 1410 and employed on diplomatic missions abroad. However, in 1415 he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Henry and was ignominiously executed at Southampton. His title was forfeited. It was, however, restored to his brother John in 1455; and it fell into abeyance on the death, in 1517, of Geoffrey, 11th Baron Scrope of Masham, without male heirs.
[edit] 16th century Scropes
Henry, 9th Baron Scrope of Bolton (1534-1592), was governor of Carlisle in the time of Elizabeth I, and as such took charge of Mary, Queen of Scots when she crossed the border in 1568; and he took her to Bolton Castle, where she remained till January 1569.
His son, Sir Thomas Scrope, 10th Baron Scrope of Bolton, was Warden of the West March in the Anglo-Scottish border country and governor of Carlisle in 1596 when Walter Scott, the "Bold Buccleuch", staged his raid on Carlisle to rescue the reiver Kinmont Willie Armstrong.
He was the father of Emanuel Scrope, 11th baron (1584-1630), who was created earl of Sunderland in 1627; on his death without legitimate issue in 1630 the earldom became extinct, and the immense estates of the Scropes of Bolton were divided among his illegitimate children, the chief portion (including Bolton Castle) passing by marriage to the marquis of Winchester, who was created duke of Bolton in 1689; to the Earl Rivers; and to John Grubham Howe, ancestor of the earls of Howe. The barony of Scrope of Bolton seems then to have become dormant; and although the title might, it would appear, have been claimed through the female line by the representative of Charles Jones (d. 1840) of Caton, Lancashire, no such claim was ever made. From Stephen, third son of the 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton, were descended the Scropes of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, the last of whom was William Scrope (1772-1852), an artist and author, who was an intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott. His daughter married George Poulett Thompson (1797-1876), an eminent geologist and prolific political writer, who took the name of Scrope, and who after his wife's death sold Castle Combe, of which he wrote a history. Probably from the same branch of the family was descended Adrian Scrope, or Scroope (1601-1660), who was prominent on the parliamentarian side in the Civil War, and one of the signatories of Charles I.s death warrant.
[edit] Descendants
The male line of the Scrope family still exists but it has for centuries now been known simply as "Scrope of Danby", with no hereditary titles left to its name. Although Bolton Castle is still owned by descendants of the Scrope family, they do not have the name of Scrope, being descendants through the female line of the Duchess of Bolton.
Notable descendants of Adrian Scrope include Professor Charles W. Woodworth, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Medal of Honor winner Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, and California Institute of Technology benefactor Amos G. Throop.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Sir N. H. Nicolas, The Scrope and Grosvenor Controversy (2 vols-, London, 1832), containing much detailed information about the various branches of the Scrope family
- J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry IV. (4 vols., London, 18841898)
- Edward Foss, The Judges of England (9 vols., London, 18481864)
- George Julius Poulett Scrope, History of the Manor and Ancient Barony of Castle Combe, Wiltshire (London. 1852)
- G. E. C., Complete Peerage, vol. vii. (London, 1896)
- a 700 year genealogy of the Scrope family may be found on the internet starting here or, for those preferring to work backwards, here
- Burke's Landed Gentry, s.v. "Scrope of Danby"
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
