Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset

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Francis Basset in 1778 on the Grand Tour in Rome, with the Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's Basilica in the background. Portrait by Pompeo Batoni, Prado, Madrid Batoni - Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville.jpg
Francis Basset in 1778 on the Grand Tour in Rome, with the Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's Basilica in the background. Portrait by Pompeo Batoni, Prado, Madrid
Francis Basset in 1778, painting by Pompeo Batoni, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid Francis Basset, primer baron de Dunstanville (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando).JPG
Francis Basset in 1778, painting by Pompeo Batoni, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid
Francis Basset, wearing a red suit and undergraduate robes, with a mortar-board on the wall beside him. Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, private collection Reynolds - Francis Basset.jpg
Francis Basset, wearing a red suit and undergraduate robes, with a mortar-board on the wall beside him. Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, private collection
Arms of Basset of Heanton Punchardon and Umberleigh, Devon and Tehidy, Cornwall: Barry wavy of six or and gules Arms of Basset.svg
Arms of Basset of Heanton Punchardon and Umberleigh, Devon and Tehidy, Cornwall: Barry wavy of six or and gules

Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset FRS (9 August 1757 – 14 February 1835) of Tehidy in the parish of Illogan in Cornwall, was an English nobleman and politician, a member of the ancient Basset family.

Fellow of the Royal Society Elected Fellow of the Royal Society, including Honorary, Foreign and Royal Fellows

Fellowship of the Royal Society is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of London judges to have made a 'substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science'.

Tehidy

Tehidy is an historic manor in the parish of Illogan in Cornwall, England, located on the north coast of Cornwall, far to the west of that county, about two miles north of Camborne, two miles west of Redruth, and about a mile south of the harbour at Portreath. The manor was a seat for many centuries of the junior branch of the Basset family which gained much wealth from local tin mining. 250 acres (1.0 km2) of the parkland and estate around the former mansion house is today open to public access as Tehidy Country Park, having been purchased by Cornwall County Council in 1983 and now being one of four country parks in Cornwall. The park's facilities include an events field, barbecue hire facilities in a specially designated woodland, outdoor education facilities, a permanent orienteering course and a schools and youth campsite.

Illogan village and civil parish in west Cornwall, England

Illogan is a village and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, UK, two miles (3 km) northwest of Redruth. The population of Illogan was 5,404 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan and several satellite villages, stood at 55,400 making it the largest conurbation in Cornwall. Originally a rural area supporting itself by farming and agriculture, Illogan shared in the general leap into prosperity brought about by the mining boom, which was experienced by the whole Camborne-Redruth area.

Contents

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of Francis Basset (1715–1769) of Tehidy by his wife Margaret St. Aubyn, a daughter of Sir John St Aubyn, 3rd Baronet of Clowance in Cornwall. His was the junior branch of the Basset family, the senior line of which was seated at Umberleigh and Heanton Punchardon in North Devon, but nevertheless his Cornish branch owned more land, and from the many mineral and tin mines within its possessions it amassed great wealth. In 1873 (the first time such a survey had been performed) they were the fourth largest landowner in Cornwall, 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 Robartes of Lanhydrock (22,234 acres). Dolcoath, one of the richest copper mines in England, belonged to the Cornish Bassets. Competition from Welsh mines forced Francis to close it in 1787, but the improving market for copper allowed him to reopen it in 1799. A shrewd businessman, he was a partner in the Cornish Bank of Truro and chairman of the Cornish Metal Company, and added to his already large fortune as a result.

Francis Basset (1715–1769) British politician

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).

Sir John St Aubyn, 3rd Baronet (1696–1744), of Clowance and St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1744.

Umberleigh village in United Kingdom

Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of (North) Tawton, but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to be an ecclesiastical parish, but following the building of the church at Atherington it became a part of that parish. It forms however a part of the civil parish of Chittlehampton, which is mostly located on the east side of the River Taw.

Career

Basset was baptized at Charlbury, Oxfordshire on 7 September 1757 and was educated at Harrow School (1770–71), Eton College (1771–74) and King's College, Cambridge (1775). [1] In 1777 he left university early to perform a Grand Tour in Italy, with Rev. William Sandys acting as his Cicerone. In Rome he had his portrait painted by Pompeo Batoni, who did not finished it until after Basset's departure. It was despatched to England on board the Westmorland , which was seized by the French and sold to the Spanish. Two portraits of him by Batoni are today in the collections of the Prado and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid. [2]

Charlbury town and civil parish in West Oxfordshire, England

Charlbury is a small town and civil parish in the Evenlode valley, about 6 miles (10 km) north of Witney in West Oxfordshire. It is on the edge of Wychwood Forest and the Cotswolds. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,830.

Oxfordshire County of England

Oxfordshire is a county in South East England. The ceremonial county borders Warwickshire to the north-west, Northamptonshire to the north-east, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, Wiltshire to the south-west and Gloucestershire to the west.

Harrow School English independent school for boys

Harrow School is an independent boarding school for boys in Harrow, London, England. The School was founded in 1572 by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I, and is one of the original seven public schools that were regulated by the Public Schools Act 1868. Harrow charges up to £12,850 per term, with three terms per academic year (2017/18). Harrow is the fourth most expensive boarding school in the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

He returned to England in 1778, and partly due to his family's great influence in Cornwall, was appointed to the honourable position of Recorder of Penryn in Cornwall. Like his father, he served as a Member of Parliament for his family's pocket borough of Penryn in Cornwall (in 1760 his father was possessed of 82 tenements in the borough, 36 more in the parish, and about 60 of his tenants were electors), [3] which seat he held between 1780 and 1796. The constituency returned two MPs, and the other, also elected due to the Basset family's control of the borough, was at some time his first cousin Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet.

A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions.

Penryn, Cornwall town in Cornwall, England

Penryn is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penryn River about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of Falmouth. The population was 7,166 in the 2001 census and a receded 6,812 in the 2011 census, a drop of more than 300 people across the ten year time gap. There are two electoral wards covering Penryn: 'Penryn East and Mylor' and 'Penryn West'. The total population of both wards in the 2011 census was 9,790

Penryn was a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of England from 1553 until 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to until 1832. Elections were held using the bloc vote system.

In August 1779 [lower-alpha 1] as part of the national move to counter a Franco-Spanish invasion fleet gathered in connection with the American War of Independence, he marched 600 Cornish miners to Plymouth and strengthened that town's defenses and fortified Portreath. As a reward, he was created by the King a Baronet, "of Tehidy, County Cornwall" on 24 November 1779.

Portreath farm village in the United Kingdom

Portreath is a civil parish, village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about three miles (5 km) northwest of Redruth. The village extends along both sides of a stream valley and is centred on the harbour and beach. West of the harbour entrance and breakwater are two sandy beaches which are popular with holidaymakers, surfers and naturists.

Baronet A hereditary title awarded by the British Crown

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess, is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The practice of awarding baronetcies was originally introduced in England in the 14th century and was used by James I of England in 1611 as a means of raising funds.

Following his marriage in 1780 he finally graduated from King's College as a Master of Arts in 1786. He purchased Radnor House on the banks of the River Thames in Twickenham, which he owned from 1785 until 1793. [4]

Radnor House

Radnor House was a 17th-century house on the banks of the River Thames in Cross Deep, Strawberry Hill, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of Twickenham town centre. It was destroyed by a bomb in 1940, and the remains of house and grounds form part of present-day Radnor Gardens.

River Thames river in southern England

The River Thames, known alternatively in parts as the Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At 215 miles (346 km), it is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn.

Twickenham suburban area in west London, England

Twickenham is an affluent suburban area of south-west London, England. It lies on the River Thames and is 10 miles (16 km) west-southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965.

He was one of the dominant political figures in Cornwall, rivalled in influence only by Viscount Falmouth and Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet. Each of them sought to use their powers of patronage to control elections to the House of Commons (Cornwall, with 44 seats, was grossly over-represented in Parliament given its population). Basset was personally on bad terms with Hawkins, and they fought a notorious duel in 1810, although neither was injured. Not surprisingly, he was a determined opponent of electoral reform, which he saw as a threat to his own power base.

He was elevated to the peerage on 17 June 1796 as Baron de Dunstanville, and later on 30 November 1797 also as Baron Basset of Stratton, with special remainder to his daughter.

Marriage & progeny

He married twice:

His second marriage, when he was close to seventy, and so soon after his first wife's death, caused some derisory comment, and was generally thought to be inspired solely by the hope of producing a male heir: "the one ambition in his life which he never fulfilled". The hope of a male heir was not realised, nor did he have any grandchildren, as Frances never married.

Death & succession

He died on 14 February 1835 without surviving male issue, whereupon his barony of de Dunstanville became extinct as did his baronetcy, while the barony of Basset passed by the special remainder to his only child, Frances Basset, 2nd Baroness Basset, his daughter by his first marriage.

Monument

Basset Monument on Carn Brea Carn Brea Basset Cross.jpg
Basset Monument on Carn Brea

On the highest point of Carn Brea in Cornwall is a 90-foot (27 m) high celtic cross, erected by public subscription in 1836. It is dedicated to Francis Basset and inscribed "The County of Cornwall to the memory of Francis Lord de Dunstanville and Basset A.D. 1836". [5] [6] 50°13′16″N5°14′56″W / 50.22111°N 5.24889°W / 50.22111; -5.24889 (Basset Cross)

Depiction in literature

He is a recurring character in the Poldark novels by Winston Graham, where he is shown in a generally sympathetic light. The novels describe the long-standing struggle between Basset and George Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth for political supremacy in Cornwall. This relates in part to control of the pocket borough of Penryn. [7]

Notes

  1. The History of Parliament biography describes him as lieutenant-colonel of the North Devon Militia in this year, but an ode published in the Gentleman's Magazine of November 1802, p.1048, makes it clear that it was his distant senior cousin Francis Basset (1740–1802) of Heanton Punchardon in North Devon who held this post.

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References

  1. "Bassett or Basset, Francis (BST775F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. "The captured cargo that unpacks the spirit of the grand tour". The guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  3. History of Parliament, Penryn Constituency
  4. "Radnor House". Twickenham Museum. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  5. As shown by the stone inscription on the south of the monument. See inscription text on Basset Cross photograph
  6. "Tuesday's Post". Jackson's Oxford Journal. 17 September 1836. A chaste and elegant monument from the chisel of Westmacott put up in parish of Illogan, Cornwall, to the memory of the late Lord De Dunstanville
  7. History of Parliament, Penryn Constituency
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Sir George Osborn
William Chaytor
Member of Parliament for Penryn
17801796
With: John Rogers 1780–1782
Reginald Pole-Carew 1782–1784
Sir John St Aubyn 1784–1790
Richard Glover 1790–1796
Succeeded by
Thomas Wallace
William Meeke
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Baron de Dunstanville
17961797
Extinct
New creation Baron Basset
17971835
Succeeded by
Frances Basset