Gresley Baronets

Drakelowe Hall, circa 1890

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.^[1] (His son Nigel de Stafford began calling himself after his holding of the castle at Gresley.)^[2][3] The Domesday Book recorded Nigel de Stafford holding the Manor of Drakelowe 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.^[4][5] The family established the Priory of Gresley near their castle in Gresley before the year 1200.^[6] Drakelowe Hall, latterly the family seat, was a large Elizabethan mansion. A subsidiary branch of the family had a seat at Netherseal Hall, Netherseal, Derbyshire.

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.^[7]

The last of the Gresley family vacated Drakelowe Hall in 1931 after 28 generations had lived there.^[8][9] The Hall was demolished three years later, in 1934, when the site was redeveloped as Drakelow Power Station, which itself was later demolished. Netherseal Hall was demolished in 1933.

The Gresleys of Drakelowe, written by Falconer Madan, librarian of Oxford University's Bodleian Library, was published in 1899 and is the accepted history of the family.

Sir Robert Gresley, Eleventh Baronet, oil on canvas, Philip de László, 1924

Lady Frances Gresley, wife of Sir Robert Gresley, oil on canvas, Philip de László, 1924

Gresley of Drakelow (1611)

• Sir George Gresley, 1st Baronet (c1580-1651)
• Sir Thomas Gresley, 2nd Baronet (c1628-1699) High Sheriff of Derbyshire 1663
• Sir William Gresley, 3rd Baronet (1661-1710) High Sheriff of Derbyshire 1704
• Sir Thomas Gresley, 4th Baronet (c1699-1746) High Sheriff of Derbyshire 1724
• 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) High Sheriff of Derbyshire 1780^[10]
• Sir Roger Gresley, 8th Baronet (1799-1837) Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire
• Sir William Nigel Gresley, 9th Baronet (1806-1847)
• Sir Thomas Gresley, 10th Baronet (1832-1868) Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire
• Sir Robert Gresley, 11th Baronet (1866-1936). High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1906
• Sir Nigel Gresley, 12th Baronet (1894-1974) Extinct on demise

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 engineer of railroad steam locomotives. He designed the 'Flying Scotsman."
• Wilmot Maria Gresley, daughter of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet, married Rev. Thomas Levett of Packington Hall in Staffordshire.^[11][12][13]

References

1. ^ Magna Britannia, Volume 5, Daniel and Samuel Lysons, 1817, Institute of Historical Research, British History Online
2. ^ Gresley, Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, John Charles Cox, London, 1877
3. ^ The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America calls the Gresley Baronets "a well-known branch of the house of De Toesni, Barons of Toesni and Conches, Normandy.[1]
4. ^ Gresley, Magna Britannia, Daniel and Samuel Lysons, 1817, British History Online
5. ^ The Gresley Charters Preserved at Drakelowe, Descriptive Catalogue of the Charters & Muniments of the Gresley Family, Isaac Herbert Jeayes, 1895
6. ^ Houses of Austin canons, The priory of Gresley, A History of the County of Derby, Victoria County History, William Page, 1907, British History Online
7. ^ Debrett's baronetage of England, revised, corrected and continued by G.W. Collen, John Debrett, London, 1840
8. ^ Drakelowe Hall, British Towns and Villages Network
9. ^ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Vol. XIX, The William Salt Archaeological Society, Published by Harrison and Sons, London, 1898
10. ^ Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet, died at Bath, where there is a mural monument to him in Bath Abbey.[2]
11. ^ The Baronetage of England, John Debrett, 1840
12. ^ The Admission Register of the Manchester School, Vol. I, Jeremiah Finch Smith, The Chetham Society, Manchester, 1866
13. ^ Rev. Levett and Wilmot Maria Gresley Levett are buried at St. Giles Church, Whittington, Staffordshire, where there are memorials to them in the chancel.

Bibliography

• History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3 (1835) pp 528-530 {ISBN9781847271686}
• Leigh Rayment's List of Baronets
• Gresley Genealogy

External links

• Drakelowe Hall, Burton-on-Trent.org.uk
• Sir Robert Gresley, Eleventh Baronet, Philip Alexius de Laszlo, jssgallery.org
• Lady Frances Gresley, Philip Alexius de Laszlo, jssgallery.org