Members of the Basset family were amongst the early Norman settlers in the Kingdom of England. It is currently one of the few ancient Norman families who has survived through the centuries in the paternal line. They originated at Montreuil-au-Houlme in the Duchy of Normandy.[1]
Genealogists over many years have held the mistaken belief that the progenitor of the Basset family in England was one Thurstan Basset who had many pagan beliefs: he said that he was of "old Valor". As early as the sixteenth century, Sampson Erdeswicke proclaimed "Turstin de Basset" as owner of five hides of land at Drayton, Staffordshire, and as father of Ralph Basset, Chief Justice of England. (Erdeswicke’s thorough manuscript was not published until the nineteenth century).[2] Erdeswicke based this claim on an entry in the Domesday Book naming "Turstin" as lord of the manor of "Draiton" in the landholdings of Staffordshire. A manor, which was known later as Drayton Bassett, became the main seat of the Lords Basset of Drayton. It was reasonable to assume that in 1086 the lord of the manor was named Thurstan Basset and that his lands descended to his son Ralph Basset, the Justiciar and his descendants. Unfortunately the entry in Domesday Book on which this supposition was made is an error. This was pointed out by the Rev. R.W. Eyton in 1881.[3] Eyton explained in his Errata that, in compiling the fair version of the Domesday Book for Staffordshire, the details of a tenement in Oxfordshire named "Draiton" were accidentally duplicated by the scribes into the Staffordshire pages. The scribes made a further error by writing the name as "Turstin", whereas the holder of "Draitone" in Oxfordshire was "Turchil" i.e. "Thorkil of Warwick", whose lands have nothing to do with the Bassets. Erdeswicke gives credit to Ms. Charlotte Sophia Burne for pointing this out to him. The lands at Drayton Bassett in Staffordshire were held by the king at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, not by the fictitious Thurstan Basset. Further, Drayton Bassett only came to the Basset family through the marriage of Ralph’s son Richard Basset to Matilda Ridel (granddaughter of Hugh earl of Chester) in 1120x3.
Basset locations in the Department of Orne, southern Normandy
The earliest Basset of whom we have any knowledge is Osmund Basset who, with his unnamed brothers, witnessed a grant from Hawise de Grandmesnil, daughter of Giroie, Lord of Échauffour, to Montivilliers Abbey in 1050.[4] Orderic notes that Osmund Basset was one of the vassals of the Grandmesnil and Giroie clan who pledged part of their wealth to the Abbey of Saint-Evroul in 1051.[5] Osmund was of an age to have participated in the Norman Conquest and perhaps it was his sons who were enfeoffed with land in England by the time of Domesday in 1086.
A charter of Henry I in 1113 confirmed a grant of income from "Fontanias in Obsimine" to St. Evroul Abbey by Ralph Basset. This is apparently the modern Fontaine-les-Bassets, 27km northeast of Montreuil-au-Houlme. Also nearby is the small town of Ouilly-le-Basset, incorporated in 1947 in the modern town of Pont-d'Ouilly. The Domesday overlord of Ralph Basset and of Richard Basset was Robert D'Oyly. Reedy has suggested that Robert may have originated from Ouilly-le-Basset and may have been the overlord of the Bassets there as well as in England.[6] There are thus three towns associated with the Bassets within a relatively compact area of Normandy. Reedy also speculated that Ralph Basset may have come to the notice of the future king Henry I when Henry was lord of Domfront (from 1092 to 1100) during the reign of William II. Domfront is 30km southwest of Montreuil-au-Houlme.
Three Bassets are recorded in the Domesday Book. Ralph Basset held Marsworth (Bucks.) and Tiscott (Herts.) as a sub-tenant of Robert d'Oilly. Richard Basset held Thurleigh (Beds.), also as a sub-tenant of Robert d'Oilly. William Basset held Milton Ernest (Beds.) from Hugh de Beauchamp. It is likely that these men were related, but it is not clear how. Reedy considers it likely that this Ralph Basset was the great justice of Henry I, or otherwise his father.
Location map of Basset Domesday manors
Ralph Basset was the ancestor of a prolific family of royal administrators he also ruled as Prince Regent when his third cousin abdicated. He had at least four sons; Richard, Nicholas, Turstin and Ralph, a clerk.[7] They gave rise to the later Baronies of Drayton, Sapcote, Weldon and Wycombe. Further, Reedy considers that Ralph had two brothers Osmund (ancestor of the Bassets of Tehidy and the Baron of Stratton and de Dunstanville) and Gilbert (ancestor of the Barons of Headington and of Wycombe).
Amongst the earliest recorded arms of the Basset family were those of Gilbert Basset (d. 1241), "barry wavy of six, or and gules".[8] Variations of that design were followed by the older branches of the family. Following the marriage of Richard Basset to the rich heiress Matilda Ridel, his son Geoffrey (d. 1180x2) assumed the surname Ridel and adopted the Ridel arms "or three piles gules". His descendant, a Richard Basset, became the first Lord Basset of Weldon in 1299. Another Ralph Basset, a descendant of Geoffrey's brother Ralph became the first Lord Basset of Drayton in 1295, and bore the arms "or three piles gules with a quarter ermine". William Basset, another brother of Geoffrey Ridel, received no inheritance from his mother and so retained a variation of the old Basset arms. His descendant, yet another Ralph Basset, bore "argent, 3 bars wavy sable" on becoming the first Lord Basset of Sapcote in 1371.
Arms of Ralph Basset, first Lord Basset of DraytonArms of Ralph Basset, first Lord Basset of Sapcote
The Bassets of Cornwall and Devon
The one surviving branch of the descendants of this family was long seated at the manor of Tehidy in the parish of Illogan, near Camborne, in Cornwall. The family later moved its principal seat to Devonshire (Whitechapel, Bishops Nympton, then Umberleigh and Heanton Punchardon) and Tehidy became the seat of the junior branch, which became very wealthy in the 18th century from leases granted by them for tin and copper mines located on their estates, most notably the tin and copper mines at "Pool", between Camborne and Redruth, from which they earned income of £10,000 per annum. The family also controlled two of the richest mines in Cornwall, namely "Cook's Kitchen", in Pool and "Dolcoath", near Tehidy.[9] They were the fourth largest landowner in Cornwall in 1873, as revealed by the Return of Owners of Land, 1873, with 16,969 acres, after the Rashleigh family of Menabilly (30,156 acres), the Boscawens of Tregothnan (25,910 acres) and the Robarteses of Lanhydrock (22,234 acres).
According to Hals, a Basset held some military post in Cornwall as early as the time of Robert, Earl of Mortain (fl.1066). However Lysons (who had a good opportunity of forming a sound judgment, from his personal acquaintance in the early part of the 19th century with Sir Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville) says that the Bassets (who seem to have been first settled in Oxfordshire and other of the midland counties) can scarcely be said to have become Cornish folk (although they may have held property in Cornwall earlier) until the marriage of Adeliza de Dunstanville with Thomas, Baron Basset of Hedendon, Oxfordshire, in the time of King Henry II (1154-1189). Her ancestor, Alan de Dunstanville, was lord of the manor of Tehidy as early as 1100. Scrope in his History of the Manor of Castle Combe, Wilts, corroborates this account.
This Thomas Basset appears to have been a descendant (probably a great-grandson) of King Henry I's justiciary Osmund Basset, and himself held a like post under King Henry III (1216-1272). Other members of the families of Basset and De Dunstanville also intermarried in the reign of Richard I (1189-1199). It is extremely difficult to trace the details of the first settlement of the Bassets in Cornwall.
Once settled in Cornwall they remained at Tehidy steadfastly in a direct male line, albeit in a junior line, until 1915, and the bones of many generations of Bassets lie in Illogan church. They intermarried with the families of Trenouth, Trengove, Trelawny, Marrys, Enys, Carveth, Godolphin, Prideaux, Grenville, Pendarves, Rashleigh, and other prominent Cornish families.
Amongst the early Cornish Bassets are Sir Ralph Basset, who was summoned from Cornwall to attend, with other knights, King Edward I in the Welsh wars at Worcester in 1277, and it was probably he or one of his sons who obtained from King Edward III a patent for certain markets and fairs for the neighbouring town of Redruth in Cornwall. He also procured a licence to crenellate his manor house of Tehidy in the year 1330–31, and Leland mentions it as "a castelet or pile of Bassets". The name of a William Basset appears in 1324, during the reign of King Edward II, amongst the "nomina hominorum ad arma in com(itatu) Cornubiae" ("names of men-at-arms in the county of Cornwall") (Carew), and another Basset of the same name held a military fee at Tehidy and Trevalga in 1403.[10]
During the reigns of Kings Henry VI, VII and VIII, the Bassets were frequently Sheriffs of Cornwall; and during the reign of King Edward IV, according to William of Worcester, a Sir John Basset held the castle, the ruins of which still stand, on the summit of Carn Brea, not far from Tehidy. Their "right goodly lordship", as John Leland called it, extended over the parishes of Illogan, Redruth, and Camborne, the advowsons of which churches pertained to the manor of Tehidy, and the livings of which were occasionally held by some member of the family; but their wealth in later times was mainly derived from the enormous mineral riches of this part of Cornwall, although they also held considerable property in the north-eastern part of the county.
The names of the earlier Bassets are little known in history, save that in the time of Henry VII (1485-1509) John Basset, Sheriff of Cornwall, found his posse commitatus too weak to suppress the Cornish rebellion of 1497 ("Flammock Rebellion").
William I Basset of Ippesden, Oxfordshire, was the son of John I Basset of Ippesden.[12] He married Cecilia de Dunstanville[12] and obtained Tehidy Manor c. 1150[13]
Alan I Basset (son), married Lucia Peverell, from whom he inherited the Devon manor of Whitechapel[12]
Alan II Basset, (son) married the daughter of Sir Andrew Haccombe.[12]
Sir Lawrence Basset, (son) married Hawisia Mallet, daughter of Sir Ralph Mallet.[12]
William II Basset (d. 1304) (son) of Tehidy, married Alice Wallis, daughter of Sir John Wallis.[14]
Sir William IV Basset (d. 1384) (son), married Margaret Fleming, daughter of Sir Simon Fleming.[14]
John II Basset (1374–1463) of Tehidy, (son), Sheriff of Cornwall 1449, married Johanna Beaumont, daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont and heiress of Umberleigh and Heanton Punchardon in Devon.
Sir John III Basset (1441–1485) (son) of Tehidy, married Elizabeth Budockshyde, daughter of Thomas Budockshyde.[14]
Sir Arthur Basset (d. 1586) (son) of Umberleigh. He gave the manor of Tehidy to his uncle George Basset (d. 1580), MP for Bossiney[17]
Junior line
George Basset (d. 1580), 2nd son of Sir John Bassett (d. 1529) of Umberleigh and Tehidy. He was MP for Bossiney in Cornwall. The manor of Tehidy was settled by deed of entail dated 26 March 1563 made by George's nephew Sir Arthur Basset (d. 1586) of Umberleigh, eldest son of his elder brother John Basset (d. 1541) of Umberleigh and Tehidy. The deed granted Tehidy to Arthur's grandmother Honor Plantagenet, Viscountess Lisle (d. 1566), for her life, then to her son George Basset and his wife Jaquet Coffin (d.1589) and the heirs male of his body.[18]
Monumental brass of James Basset (d. 1603) of Tehidy, Illogan Church
James Basset, died 1603, son and heir. He inherited Tehidy under the above entail. He married Jane Godolphin, daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin. His monumental brass showing himself dressed in armour opposite his wife, with their ten children between, exists in Illogan Church, with the following inscription:[19]
"Here lyeth buryed the body of James Bassett Esquire who had to wife Jane Godolphin ye daughter of Sr Frauncis Godolphin, knight, haveinge 5 sonnes and 5 da'u'hers. He departed this life ye 8th day of February An'o 1603 beinge of ye age of 43 yeres"
Gustavus Lambert Basset (1834-1888) – in 1872 Gustavus Basset of Tehidy Park was quoted as the fifth largest landowner in Cornwall with 16,969 acres (68.67km2).[20]
Arthur Francis Basset, born 1873 – moved to Crewkerne in 1915, then to the Lodge House of Hatfield House and later to London. Sold Tehidy in 1915.
Senior Devon branch
In 1558 the Bassets divided into two branches, the senior remaining at Umberleigh in Devon having given Tehidy to the junior branch, which remained there until 1915. The senior Devon branch were seated in addition at Heanton Punchardon in Devon, and became extinct in the male line in 1802, but continued under the adopted name of Basset via the female line, in the successive families of Davie and Williams at Watermouth Castle until that adoptive line failed a second time on the death in 1907 without children of Walter Basset Basset (1863–1907) (born Walter Basset Williams). The remaining Basset manors in Devon of Umberleigh and Berrynarbor (in which was situated Watermouth Castle) were then sold.[citation needed]
Junior Cornish Branch
The junior Cornish branch continues to this day in 2017, but Tehidy was sold by the family in 1915.[21] The Cornish branch was re-founded by George Basset (died 1580) who in 1558 had been given Tehidy by his nephew Sir Arthur Basset (1541–1586), of Umberleigh, who was buried in the Umberleigh Chapel in Devon (now a ruin) but whose chest tomb was moved circa 1820 to nearby Atherington Church where it remains today.[citation needed]
Descent of junior Cornish branch
The descent of the junior branch of the Basset family of Tehidy is as follows:[21]
George Basset (died 1580), second son of Sir John Bassett (1462–1529), KB, of Umberleigh, was given Tehidy by his nephew Sir Arthur Basset (1541–1586), of Umberleigh. He married Jacquetta Coffin.
James Basset (son) of Tehidy, in 1587 married Jane Godolphin, daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin, knight and had nine children.
John Prideaux Basset (1740 (posthumous)-1756), (son), died aged 16, when his heir became his uncle, Francis Basset (died 1769)
Francis Basset (1715-1769; uncle) of Tehidy, formerly of Imley, Northamptonshire, 2nd son of Francis Basset (died 1721) of Tehidy. MP for Penryn 1766-69. Married in 1756 to Margaret St Aubyn (died 1768), daughter of Sir John St Aubyn, 3rd Baronet
John Basset (1791-1843; nephew), son of Rev. John Basset, 2nd son of Francis Basset (died 1769) by his wife Mary Wingfield, daughter of George Wingfield of Durham. MP for Helston 1840-41. Married Elizabeth Mary Price, daughter of Sir Rose Price, 1st Baronet (1768–1834), of Trengwainton.
John Francis Basset (1831-1869; eldest son), married Hon. Emily Prendergast, daughter of John Vereker, 3rd Viscount Gort (1790-1865); died childless. Rebuilt Tehidy House in 1861.
Arthur Basset (1833-1870; brother), died unmarried.
Gustavus Lambart Basset (1834-1888; brother), married in 1869 Charlotte Mary Elmhirst (died 1898)
Bryan Ronald Basset, CBE (1932-2010; son); Chairman, Royal Ordnance,[25] who in 1987 oversaw the sale of the public-sector business and its 16 factories and 19,000 employees to British Aerospace.[27] He attended Eton College and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and became a captain in the Scots Guards. He worked as a stockbroker in Toronto, Canada, in 1957. In 1959, he returned to the City of London where he joined Panmure Gordon & Co until 1972. In 1971 he and his wife survived a serious accident on a private road on his father-in-law's Holkham Hall estate, when in thick fog his Bentley hit an 80ft high obelisk. In 1972 he was appointed managing director of Philip Hill Investment Trust until 1985, when he was appointed chairman of Royal Ordnance. He inherited from his mother a 1/100th share of the office of Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain. He farmed at Quarles, on the Holkham estate, where he enjoyed shooting and fishing and where he bred Saler cattle and won supreme titles at the 1997 Royal Show at Stoneleigh.[28] In 1960 he married Lady Carey Elizabeth Coke, daughter of Thomas William Edward Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester (1908–1976)[29] of Holkham Hall in Norfolk. Deemed the "marriage of the year", attended by the Queen Mother, it was broadcast by Anglian Television.[30] He had children including:
David Francis Basset (1961-2010) eldest son and heir apparent, who died aged 49 with no sons.[31]
Michael James Basset (born 1963). Married Caroline Bailey on 7 September 1996. Has a daughter, Elizabeth Jane Basset (born 1998).[32]
James Bryan Basset (born 1968), a former Page of Honour to the Queen, who has a son, Harry James Oscar Basset (born 2002).[33]
Related Research Articles
Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:
Sir John Basset, of Tehidy in Cornwall and of Umberleigh in Devon was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1497, 1517 and 1522 and Sheriff of Devon in 1524. Although himself an important figure in the West Country gentry, he is chiefly remembered for his connection with the life of his second wife and widow Honor Grenville, who moved into the highest society when she remarried to Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle KG, an illegitimate son of King Edward IV, and an important figure at the court of King Henry VIII, his nephew.
Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville, FRS was an English peer and politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1796.
Francis Basset (1715–1769) of Tehidy in the parish of Illogan, Cornwall, was a Westcountry landowner who served as a Member of Parliament for Penryn, Cornwall, in (1766–69).
Honor Grenville, Viscountess Lisle was a Cornish lady whose domestic life from 1533 to 1540 during the reign of King Henry VIII is exceptionally well-recorded, due to the survival of the Lisle Papers in the National Archives, the state archives of the UK.
Sir Francis Bassett of Tehidy in the parish of Illogan in Cornwall, was Sheriff of Cornwall, a Vice-Admiral of North Cornwall, and Recorder of St Ives. His portrait by Vandyck was formerly displayed at Tehidy. He appears to have been a sportsman, much addicted to hawking and cock-fighting.
Charles Henry Williams of Pilton House and Westaway House, Pilton, near Barnstaple, and of Watermouth Castle all in North Devon, was a British naval and military officer, JP and Deputy Lieutenant for Devon, and a Conservative Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnstaple, 1868–1874. He was master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds between 1887 and 1893.
Sir Henry Ashley was an English politician.
Sir Arthur Bassett (1541–1586) was a member of the prominent west-country Basset family and was MP for Barnstaple in 1563 and Devon in 1572. He served as JP for Devon from 1569 to his death and as Sheriff of Devon in 1574–5. He was knighted in 1575. He had been appointed deputy warden of Stannaries by 1580.
Whitechapel is an ancient former manor within the parish of Bishops Nympton, in north Devon. It was the earliest known residence of the locally influential Bassett family until 1603. The core of the present manor house is late 16th or early 17th century, with later additions and alterations, and was classed as Grade I listed on 9 June 1952.
The Manor of Shirwell was a manor in North Devon, England, centred on the village of Shirwell and largely co-terminous with the parish of Shirwell. It was for many centuries successively the seat of two of the leading families of North Devon, the Beaumonts and their heirs the Chichesters of Raleigh, Pilton, both of which families were seated at the estate of Youlston within the manor of Shirwell. The manor house which survives today known as Youlston Park is one of the most architecturally important historic houses in North Devon and exists largely in its Georgian form, but retains many impressive late 17th-century interiors.
George Basset, of Tehidy in the parish of Illogan, near Redruth in Cornwall, was an English politician.
John Basset (1518–1541) was a young English gentleman from Devon, a member of the old Basset family, and heir to a substantial inheritance. His short life is well documented in the Lisle Papers. He studied law at Lincoln's Inn and at the age of 20, at the start of a promising career, entered the household of Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, but died suddenly aged only 23, albeit having married and produced a son and heir, born posthumously. His stepfather and father-in-law was Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (d.1542), Lord Deputy of Calais 1533–1540, a bastard son of King Edward IV and thus uncle of King Henry VIII, whose arrest with that of his mother in 1540 at Calais for heresy and treason, was a major, potentially catastrophic, event in his life. He died a year after the arrests, from an unknown illness, but his siblings all went on to have successful careers, especially his younger brother James, mostly as royal courtiers, apparently unaffected by the crisis.
Orleigh is a historic manor in the parish of Buckland Brewer, situated 4 miles to the south west of Bideford, North Devon, England. The manor house is known as Orleigh Court.
Philip Beaumont (1432–1473), lord of the manors of Shirwell in North Devon and of Gittisham in East Devon, was a member of parliament for a constituency in Devon and was Sheriff of Devon in 1469. He was the rightful heir of his elder brother William Beaumont (1427–1453), a substantial landholder, but faced claims to his inheritance from his bastard nephew, John Bodrugan, "The Beaumont Bastard", the illegitimate son of Joan Courtenay, William's wife.
Gittisham is an historic manor largely co-terminous with the parish of Gittisham in Devon, England, within which is situated the village of Gittisham. The capital estate is Combe, on which is situated Combe House, the manor house of Gittisham, a grade I listed Elizabethan building situated 2 1/4 miles south-west of the historic centre of Honiton and 3 1/4 miles north-east of the historic centre of Ottery St Mary.
Sir Robert Basset (1573–1641), lord of the manor of Umberleigh and lord of the manor of Heanton Punchardon in Devon, England, was MP for Plymouth in 1593.
Woolleigh is an historic estate in the parish of Beaford, Devon. The surviving mansion house known as Woolleigh Barton, situated 1 3/4 miles north-west of the parish church of Beaford, is a grade II* listed building, long used as a farmhouse. It incorporates remains of a "very fine example of a late Medieval manor house" and retains a "very rich" 15th century wagon roof, a garderobe with the original door, and an attached private chapel with a 17th-century roof.
The Manor of Heanton Punchardon was a manor in the parish of Heanton Punchardon, Devon, England.
References
↑ Reedy, William T. (1995). Basset Charters c. 1120 to 1250. Pipe Roll Society. pp.ix.
↑ Erdeswicke, Sampson (1844). A Survey of Staffordshire, Containing the Antiquities of that County. ed. by Rev. T. Harwood. p.417.
↑ ed. H.R.Luard (1882). Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora. v. 6 Additamenta. p.470.{{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
↑ Havinden, Michael & Stanes, Robin, Agriculture and Rural Settlement 1500-1800, published in Kain, Roger & Ravenhill, William (Eds.) Historical Atlas of South-West England, Exeter, 1999, pp. 281–293, p.293, quoting: Halliday, F.E., A History of Cornwall, London, 1959, p.258
↑ Identification of "Mrs Anne Basset" per Cornwall Record Office, Ref:CN/152/1,2, "99 year lease (lives of lessee's w. Susanna, sons Thos. and Edw. B.) (also counterpart) Dated 29 Sep. 1758"
↑ Cornwall Record Office, Ref:CN/152/1,2: "Anne Basset of Haldon House, Devon"
↑ Obituary of Lady Elizabeth Basset, Daily Telegraph, 5 December 2000
↑ Obituary, EDP24, Britain's Regional Newspaper of the Year Friday, 12 November 2010, quoted by the Basset Family Association, bassettbranches.org, December 2010; accessed 30 March 2016.
↑ Obituary, EDP24, Britain's Regional Newspaper of the Year Friday, 12 November 2010.
↑ "Anglia News: The Earl Of Leicester's Daughter Married Mr Bryan Basset Running time 2:55 Black & White Silent 1960 Holkham, Norfolk". For moving images see here
↑ Debrett's Peerage, 2015, p.733, Earl of Leicester
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