The Middlemores of Enfield and Lusby

Figure 52  Key Pedigree O.  The Middlemores of Enfield and Lusby

HE Middlemores of Enfield in Middlesex, who settled afterwards in Lincolnshire, were of a distict line from the Middlemores of Grantham, whose history has already been fully dealt with.  The latter it will be remembered came from the Haselwell stock. The Middlemores of Enfield were cadets of the Hawkesley line, the founder of this branch being Henry, the youngest son of William Middlemore (47), of Hawkesley, and Margery Gatacre.  He conformed to the English church, and, as will be seen, he and his evidently took advantage of their position at the Court to obtain various grants from the Crown.  Henry Middlemore, in addition, had influence enough to obtain a lease of the lands at Hawkesley belonging to his brother John, which had come into the hands of the Crown by reason of his recusancy. From Enfield these Middlemores went to Barton-on-Humber, ultimately settling at Lusby and Toynton in the south part of Lincolnshire.  Like their kindred they adhered to King Charles, as is shown by the Royalist Composition Papers. At the visitation of Lincolnshire in 1634, their pedigree was recorded, but they appear to have used a somewhat different coat, Argent a chevron between three moorcocks sable, and the crest is without the reedy grass, but the heralds did not accept this variation, and in the Visitation the coat is entered without any colours.  This family became extinct in 1717
 on the death of Elizabeth Middlemore, the last of her line to bear the name, but it has not been ascertained in whom the representation of this family is now vested.

We accordingly commence the pedigree with

74. Henry Middlemore, of Enfield, in Middlesex, esquire [youngest son of William Middlemore (49), of Hawkeslowe, who died in 1549, and Margery Gatacre]. He evidently conformed to the new order in religion, and obtained a post at Court as groom of the privy chamber to Queen Elizabeth. As already has been noted, his brother, John Middlemore, of Hawkesley, was a recusant, and two parts of his lands were demised, 22 June, 1588, to Henry Middlemore, who continued to hold them at the rent of £18 6s. until his brother's death.   Whether in this Henry Middlemore was using his influence for the purpose of aiding his brother or not does not appear.

It is evident that Middlemore, unlike his brother the squire of Hawkesley, conformed to the new order in religious affairs, and was trusted by the Queen in important business. Thus Chalmers, in his " History of Mary Queen of Scots," writes

"Middlemore left London on the 8th of June, 1568 ; he arrived at Carlisle on the 13th at 9 o'clock, much fatigued. On the morrow, the 14th, he held a long conference with the Scottish Queen, and on the 15th, he pushed forward to Dumfries, where [the Regent] Murray then lay. . . . The arrival of Middlemore on the 15th appears to have thrown Murray into great embarrassment. . . . He now repeated his wish to Middlemore that the epistles might be considered by the English council, and the result of their deliberations communicated to him in order that he might know whether they concurred with him in thinking them decisive of the Queen's guilt."

 

There are many transactions mentioned in various records which relate to him. In 1517 he apparently was seeking a lease of the manor of Manydown, in Hampshire.  At the death of Henry VIII the Princess Elizabeth was
living at Enfield, and in 1582 she leased the house there to Henry Middlemore for fifty-one years.

On 3 November, 1574, he had a grant from the Crown of a lease of South Moulton, Devon, for thirty-one years at a rental of £55 3s. 4d., which five years later he sold to Thomas Hatch, of Aller, Devon, esquire.

In 1579 he purchased the moiety of the manor of Malshanger, Hants, from Wolstan Dixie. This, with lands in Ramsdale Okely, Church Okely, Okely Wotton, Harrington, Ilworth, Dean South, and Fremantle, he sold for ,£980 to Richard Feny, of Broughton, Oxfordshire.

In 1586 he wrote to Lord Burghley urging his claim to a grant of lands of Mr. Abingdon "as they lie in the midst of his kinsmen and friends, and within three miles of where he was born," adding that he bad heard they had been granted to Capt. Furbisher, i.e., probably Martin Frobisher the Actic explorer.

From proceedings in Chancery in 1613 by Sir Vincent Skinner against Sir Henry Fowke and William Fowke, brothers of Mrs. Middlemore, whom Sir Vincent had married, it seems that the Fwkes, doubtless as trustees, had demised Enfield manor, in July, 1594, to Sir Vincent for thirty-seven years, and to Elizabeth Middlemore for thirty-eight years, as a jointure, and disputes further arose as to the possession of the manor between them and the son, Robert Middlemore.

Henry Middlemore married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Fookes, or Fowke, of Somerset, who, after her husband's death, married, before 1594, Mr., afterwards Sir Vincent, Skinner, of Enfield. She was buried at Thornton Castle, 16 December, 1633.

Henry Middlemore and Elizabeth Fookes had issue:

i. Robert Middlemore, of whom next (73).

ii. Mary, maid of honour to Queen Anne, the consort of James I. In 1608 the king granted to her 1,000 marks out of his moiety in two old debts of £1,600 and £1,000.  In 1617 she had licence to search by deputy for treasure trove and books in St. Alban's, Glassenbury, St. Edmondsbury, and Romsey, and in all churches, chapels, and places within one mile compass of the same.  A third part of the benefit to come to the king, two parts to the patentee, of which one is to go to the person where the treasure shall be found.

In January, 1618, Sir Gerard Herbert writes : "Mrs. Middlemore, the Queen's Maid of Honour, is dead." She was buried in Westminster Abbey on the north side of the church, 4 January, 1617-18, and died the day before her burial.

iii. Elizabeth, baptized at St. Philip's, Clerkenwell, 26 October, 1583, and was buried in Westminster Abbey as Lady Souch, 5 March, 1609-10. She married (as his second wife ac­cording to Col. Chester) Sir Edward Zouch, of Bramshill, Hampshire, who was knighted at Whitehall, 23 July, 1603, and was Knight Marshal of England, temp. James I.

75. Robert Middlemore, of Enfield, Middlesex, esquire, was one of the equerries to James I. He was born about 1580, and evidently matriculated at University College, Oxford, as "armigeri filius," aged fourteen, as from Herts, on 15 February, 1593-4.

On 6 May, 1616, being then of Thornton College, Lincolnshire, esquire, he conveyed, for £100 to William Skinner, of Lincoln's Inn, esquire, and John Fowkes, of Symesbury, Dorset, gentleman, doubtless as trustees, two parts of the manor of Skendleby, late parcel of the lands of Lord Wells, and his estates in Partney, Willoughby, Claxby, and Hoggesthorpe in Lincolnshire. Two days later, 8 May, he bought a cottage in Skendleby from Sir Edward Heron, of Burfleet.

In the following year, 1617, William Skinner, then also of Thorneton College, apparently as a mortgage conveyed for £400, to Middlemore, the manor of Gouxhill and premises in Gouxhill, Thorneton Curtise, and Halton, late the lands of Sir Edward Stanhope.

In 1621 Edward Middlemore, being then "of Stepney," Middlesex, conveyed three cottages in Skendleby to Skinner and Fowke.

In 1622[1], being "of London," he conveyed to William Parnell, citizen and wax chandler, two parts of the manor of Skendleby and other premises which he and Roger Edwards, of Westminster, gentleman, had purchased from John Dennacle, of Sutterton, Lincolnshire, yeoman.

In 1644 he was described as a "sequestered delinquent," one Dorothy Hicks, of Isleworth, then having an annuity charged upon his estates; so that it is evident that, like his kindred in the Midlands, he espoused the royalist party.

 

In 1627, being then of Barton-on-Humber, he sued William Skinner to recover an annuity of £40, which he alleged was the consideration to be given him for joining in a mortgage of the Fulstowe property by his father to Skinner.

He married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Fulstowe, esquire, of Keill, co. Lincoln, and sister and heir of Peregine Fulstowe, who died soon after his father, under age, by licence [2]dated 24 October 1601 and died 29 May, 1610. Her inquisitio post mortem was taken at Boston, 26 October, 1610, when it was found that she died seized of Skendleby, Welton, Claxby, and Hoggesthorpe Marsh descended to her from her father, and that Edward Middlemore was her son and heir, aged four years.

Robert Middlemore and Dorothy Fulstowe had issue :

i. Edward Middlemore, of whom next (76).

ii. Elizabeth, married John Sands, of Thornton, Lincolnshire, and was buried at Thornton, 2 July, 1687.

76. Edward Middlemore, of Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire, esquire. Entered and signed his pedigree at the Visitation of Lincolnshire in 1634. He removed to Lusby, near Spilsby, before 1652, and was buried there, 16 June, 1663^-4.

In 1627 he conveyed, in consideration of £500, to Sir Philip Monckton, of Howden, Yorkshire, knight, and to Thomas Apleyard[3], of Burst­wickgarth,
Yorkshire, esquire, all his lands in Tealby, Lusby, Dalby, Skendalby, Waynflete, Dutton, Stickny, and Thurseney, but in 1630 this was described as a trust transaction, and the premises were "for 20s.," reconveyed to Middlemore.

About 1625 his father, requiring £1,000, persuaded him to join in mortgaging the property which descended to them from the Fulstowes in consideration of an annuity of ,£40to William Skinner and Mr. Whatman, but the annuity was not purchased in 1627 he sued the mortgagees, who, combining with the said Robert Middlemore, "refused to pay the annuity," and asked for an injunction.

This conveyance led to litigation, and in 1630 he sued Monckton and Apleyard, alleging that no money was paid, nor any consideration given for this conveyance, which was in trust only; that he now desired to dispose otherwise of the lands, but that the defendants refused to give up the conveyance.  The result is not shown.

He was executor and legatee of the will, proved 1632, of Dame Anne, or Amy, Browne, widow of Sir Valentine Browne, knight, junior, of Croft, his mother's sister, who died childless, whereon her moiety of the Fulstowe property passed to her sister Dorothy, Mrs. Middlemore. He, in 1636, was obliged to sue one William Slanden to recover certain deeds relating to the property.

A curious incident is recorded of him in the year 1634. He was nominated by the local authorities at Barton-on-Humber as "ale taster," a post which he said was "unfit for a gentleman of quality," he refused to perform the duties of that office and was fined about 30s. ; he petitioned for relief, and to be freed from " such mean places," and in due course obtained an order of discharge.

In 1658 Thomas Appleyard sued Mrs. Middlemore, and her sons, Henry and George, under the following circumstances. He stated that "some time ago" he married Elizabeth, mother of Mrs. Middlemore, and that they lived at Barton and elsewhere in Lincolnshire, but afterwards removed to Burstewickgarth, Yorkshire ; that his wife, wishing to live with her daughter Mary, removed to Lusby, and took with her goods, chattels, and silver, to the value of £1,000, and shortly after died there, and that Mary Middlemore refuses to return the goods.

He married Mary, daughter of George Booth, of Killingholme, Lincolnshire; she was baptized there, 19 July, 1607,and administered her husband's affairs, 21 March, 16 Edward Middlemore and Mary Booth had issue:

 

i. Richard Middlemore,  baptized at Barton St. Peter, 6 March, 1627, and was buried at Killingholme, 30 November, 1629.

ii. Henry Middlemore, of whom next (77).

iii. George Middlemore, of Bolingbroke, in 1671, being aged thirty eight, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 3 March, 1631, perhaps the George Middlemore appointed quartermaster, in 1667, for a troop of non-regimented horse under Prince Rupert, was a captain in the Lincolnshire militia in 1680. He married (1) at Walesby, Notts, 14 February, 1666-7, Frances, daughter of Joseph Bilcliffe, who was baptized at Normanby, 3 May, 1642, and was buried at Lusby, 8 March, 1668-9. He married (2) Anne, who was buried at Bolingbroke, 11 June, 1685.

By his first wife he had issue:

1. Dorothy, baptized at Lusby, 7 March, 1668-9.

2. Francer, baptized at Lusby, 27 September, 1667-8, and married at Bolingbroke, 29 November, 1688, Mr. John Bishop.

iv. Robert Middlemore, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 16 February, and buried there, 20 February, 1629.

v. Edward Middlemore, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 10, and buried 13, March, 1634.

vi. Edward Middlemore, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 2 March, 1636, and buried as "Edward Middlemore gent.," at Lusby, 16 June, 1663-4.

vii. Philip Middlemore, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 2z February, 1637.

viii. Elizabeth, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 29 January, 1628, and buried there, 24 January, 1629.

ix. Dorothy, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 5 February, 1632. x. Mary, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 1 January, 1633.

xi. William Middlemore, baptized at Barton St. Peter, 16, and buried 29, July, 1639.

xii. Elizabeth, baptized at Lusby, 25 July, 1640-1.  She was afterwards of St. Martin's in the Fields, and apparently was the last survivor of her family. She made her will 3 September, 1716, the same being proved by the Earl of Lincoln, 14 May, 1717: to Hon. George Clinton, Esq., 10 guineas; to Lady Susanna Booth, 1o guineas; to her sister, Mrs. Catherine Maria Fox, £10; to her niece Mrs. Catherine Maria Fox, £5 to buy a piece of plate; to her brother, Rev. Mr. John .Booth, £10; to her brother, Rev. Mr. Pennystone Booth; £10; to her .niece, Mrs. Anne Hughson, ,£10, and her diamond ring; to Priscilla Hughson, daughter of Anne, £10; to her nephew and niece, Mr. Francis Anton and Mrs. Susanna Hodgkin, £10 each; and to latter's daughter, Susanna, £5; to her-:cousin Mrs. Anna Maria Fitzwilliam, £10; to her cousin, Mrs. Martha Francis, £5; residue to executor, Henry, Earl of Lincoln.

77. Henry Middlemore, of Lusby, esquire, was baptized at Killingholme, 24 March, 1630-1.

On 16 September, 1652, his father and he conveyed, in consideration of £1,200 to Anthony Peniston[4], of Sharpenhoe, Bedfordshire, the manor of Skendleby and lands in Danby and Dalby) ,which evidently was a settlement on his marriage with Elizabeth, one of the four daughters and co-heirs of the Rev. Anthony  Penyston and Alice his wife. She, in 1670, conveyed her fourth share in her father's estates in Upper and Neyther Toynton, next Spillesby, Dalby, Winceby, and Hameringham to (her brother-in-law) George Middlemore and Norton Bryan, both of Bolingbroke, esquires, by way of settlement, after the death of her mother Alice, on on her two younger sons, then under
 twenty-one, Anthony and George.  After his death Mrs. Middlemore remarried to Thomas Booth.

Henry Middlemore and Elizabeth Penyston had issue:

i. Henry Middlemore, of whom next (78).

ii. Mary, born about 1664, being of Hackney, Middlesex, spinster, aged thirty on 8 August, 1694, when she had licence to marry at Enfield, John Archer, of Enfield, widower, aged fifty.

iii: George Middlemore, baptized at Lusby, 28 April, 1665-6, and living in 1670:  Probably died young.

iv. Anthony Middlemore, under twenty-one in 1670.

78. Henry MIddlemore,of Lusby, esquire, was admitted to the Inner Temple as "son and heir of Henry Middlemore, of Lusby, esquire, deceased," 9 December, 1681, but does not appear to have been called to the bar. He died in March, 1687-8, and his widow Anne administered.  In September, 1686, he became bound for, £400 to Henry Stone, of Skillingthorpe.  Some years after his death a question arose respecting the payment of this sum, and Stone's executors, in 1697, sued Mrs. Middlemore, the widow, and her infant daughter, Alice, in respect thereof.

He married Anne, third daughter of William Savile[5], of Newton, Lincolnshire, esquire; she remarried Cecill Cooper of Thurgarton Hall, near Nottingham, esquire, who was buried at Thurgarton 29 October 1706.  On 16 September,

Figure 53  Signature of Anne Cooper

1716, being then a widow, she joined in a deed settling the proceeds of the sale of the Lusby estates.

Henry Middlemore and Anne Savile had issue:

Alice, only child and heiress, baptized at Southwell, Notts, 78 August, 1688, as daughter of Henry Midlemore, Esq.,

Figure 54  Signaure of Alice Parkyns

and Anne his wife, married at Thurgarton q. September, 1707, then under age, settlement dated 24 August, 1707, Sampson Parkyns[6], of Great Leake, Notts, and of the Middle Temple, who was buried at Bunny 17 April, 1713, aged twenty-seven, eldest
 son of Sir Thomas Parkyns, bart., of Bunny, "Luctator." They had issue, besides Thomas, born 25 January, and baptized at Thurgarton 24 February, 1708­1709, who died in infancy, Anne and Harriet,

Thomas Parkyns, of Wymeswold, Leicestershire, who died 1 June, 1735, aged twenty-five, and, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Woodroffe, of London, merchant, left issue,

Jane, daughter and heiress, died z4 December, 1760, having married, 7 April, 1747, Sir ThomasParkyns, third baronet, her great uncle by the half blood, eldest son of Sir Thomas Parkyns, "Luctator," by Jane Barnard, his second wife. They had issue (with two daughters) an only son, as follows,

Thomas Boothby Parkyns, created Lord Rancliffe in the peerage of Ireland, 10 October, 1795, who died, vita patris, 17 November, 1800, leaving issue (besides five daughters) by his wife, Elizabeth Ann, daughter and heiress of Sir William James of Eltham, bart., an only son,

George Augustus Henry Anne Parkyns, second Lord Rancliffe, M.P. for Minehead and Nottingham, an active politician, married Lady Elizabeth Mary Forbes, eldest daughter of George, sixth earl of Granard, but died s. p. in 1850, when the peerage became extinct though the baronetcy, which still exists, passed to his cousin. This nobleman and con­sequently this line of Middlemore is now (1900) represented by coheirs, the descendants of his three sisters, Lady Levinge, Lady Rumbold, and the Princess de Polignac, as shown below, viz.,

(1) The Hon. Elizabeth Anne Parkyns, who died 28 October, 1853, married 3 December, 1810, Sir Richard Levinge, of High Park, co. Westmeath, sixth baronet, who died 12 September, 1848, and left, amongst other issue

i. Sir Richard George Augustus Levinge, seventh baronet, who died s. p.

ii. Sir Vere Henry Levinge, eight baronet, who died a bachelor.

iii. William James Levinge; who died 22 October, 1867, leaving, by his wife Anna Maria, only daughter of Baron de Robeck, a son, amongst other issue,

Sir William Henry Levinge, of Knockdrin Castle, Westmeath, ninth baronet, born 21 May, 1849, married 2 November, 1878, Judith, second daughter of Sir Richard Sutton, fourth baronet, and died 17 April, 1900, leaving issue,

Sir Richard William Levinge, tenth and present baronet, lieutenant in the 8th hussars, senior co-heir of the Middlemores of Lusby, and also of Parkyns, Baron Rancliffe.

(2) The Hon. Henrietta Elizabeth Parkyns, who died 8 September, 1830, married 13 July, 1809, Sir William Rumbold, third baronet, who died at Hyderabad, 24 August, 1833, leaving amongst other issue,

i. Sir Cavendish Stuart Rumbold, fourth baronet, who died s. p. 27 March, 1853.

ii. Sir Arthur Carlo Henry Rumbold, fifth baronet, died 1869, whose only child, Sir Arthur Victor Raoul Anduze, sixth baronet, died an infant under age, 16 June, 1877.

iii. Sir Charles Hale Rumbold, seventh baronet, died unmarried, 28 August, 1877.

iv. Right Hon. Sir Horace Rumhold, eighth baronet, a Privy Councillor, G.C.B. and G.C.M.G., late H.M. ambassador to the Court of Vienna, one of the co-heirs of Middlemore of Lusby and of Parkyns, Baron Rancliffe.

(3) The Hon. Maria Charlotte Parkyns, who married (1) in 1817 the Marquis de Choiseul, who died s. p. in 1823, and (2) 3 June, 1824, Prince Jules Armand de Polignac, minister of Charles X, King of France.  They left issue, amongst others,

i.  Prince Alphonse de Polignac, born 1826, died 1863, having married Jeanne Emilie Mires, by whom he had issue,

Princesse Jeanne de Polignac, co-heir (with Sir R. W. Levinge and Sir Horace Rumbold) of the Middle­mores of Lusby and Parkyns, Baron Rancliffe.             She married,

Figure 55  Key Pedigree P

 1889, Franfois Vicomte d'Oilliamson, de­scended from a Scottish family of Williamson, which settled in France temp. Charles VIII, and has issue a son, Thomas.

ii. Princesse Yolande de Polignac, who died 1855, having married Sosthenes Due de la Roehefoueauld Doudeauville. Their daughter

Yolande married, 1867, Charles, Due de Luynes, killed, 1871, in the Franco-German war, leaving issue

1. Honori, Due de Luynes, who married Simonne, daughter of the Due d' Uzes.

2. Yolande, b. 1870, married the Due de Noailles.