Gresley Baronets

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The Baronetcy of Gresley of Drakelow was created in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 for George Gresley of Drakelow Hall, Derbyshire who was later High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Member of Parliament for Newcastle under Lyme (UK Parliament constituency).

The Gresleys were an ancient Norman family, descended from Nigel de Stafford, the son of Robert de Stafford, scion of one of the most powerful Norman families in England. (His son Nigel de Stafford began calling himself after his holding of the castle at Gresley.)[1] The Domesday Book recorded Nigel de Stafford holding the Manor of Drakelow near the conclusion of the 11th century, and his descendants, the Gresleys, continued to hold it for nine hundred years -- as long as any family in England is said to have owned the same manor.[2][3] The family established the Priory of Gresley near their castle in Gresley before the year 1200.[4] Drakelowe Hall latterly the family seat was a large Elizabethan mansion. A subsidiary branch of the family had a seat at Netherseal Hall, Netherseal Leicestershire.

The two branches of the family were reunited by the marriage of the sister of the 8th Baronet to Rev William Gresley, Rector of Netherseal, and the succession of their son William Nigel Gresley as 9th Baronet.[5]

Drakelowe Hall was demolished in 1934 when the site was redeveloped as an electric power station (itself since demolished). Netherseal Hall was demolished in 1933.

The Gresleys of Drakelowe (Falconer Madan) was published in 1899 and is the accepted history of the family.


Contents

[edit] Gresley of Drakelow (1611)

  • Sir George Gresley, 1st Baronet (c1580-1651)
  • Sir Thomas Gresley, 2nd Baronet (c1628-1699)
  • Sir William Gresley, 3rd Baronet (1661-1710)
  • Sir Thomas Gresley, 4th Baronet (c1699-1746)
  • Sir Thomas Gresley, 5th Baronet (1722-1753) Member of Parliament for Lichfield 1753.
  • Sir Nigel Gresley, 6th Baronet (c1727-1787) High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1759.
  • Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet (d 1808)
  • Sir Roger Gresley, 8th Baronet (1799-1837)
  • Sir William Nigel Gresley, 9th Baronet (1806-1847)
  • Sir Thomas Gresley, 10th Baronet (1832-1868)
  • Sir Robert Gresley, 11th Baronet (1866-1936). High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1906
  • Sir Nigel Gresley, 12th Baronet (1894-1974) Extinct on his death

[edit] Other members of the family

  • Sir Robert Gresley (1866-1936) married Lady Frances Spencer Churchill, eldest daughter of the George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough, and had four children, but only one grandchild Janet Gresley, (1934-1996) daughter of Antony Gresley. Following the death of Sir Robert's son Nigel the direct lineal descendants of the family are Paul Antony Davey (1961-), son of Janet Gresley, and his children.
  • Herbert Nigel Gresley, born in 1876 at Netherseal was a famous steam locomotive engineer designing the Flying Scotsman.
  • Wilmot Maria Gresley, daughter of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet, married Rev. Thomas Levett of Packington Hall in Staffordshire.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gresley, Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, John Charles Cox, London, 1877
  2. ^ Gresley, Magna Britannia, Daniel and Samuel Lysons, 1817, British History Online
  3. ^ The Gresley Charters Preserved at Drakelowe, Descriptive Catalogue of the Charters & Muniments of the Gresley Family, Isaac Herbert Jeayes, 1895
  4. ^ Houses of Austin canons, The priory of Gresley, A History of the County of Derby, Victoria County History, William Page, 1907, British History Online
  5. ^ Debrett's baronetage of England, revised, corrected and continued by G.W. Collen, John Debrett, London, 1840
  6. ^ The Baronetage of England, John Debrett, 1840

[edit] Bibliography