Nathaniel Bliss was an English astronomer of the 18th century, serving as Britain's fourth Astronomer Royal between 1762 and 1764.
Earl of Macclesfield is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1679 in favour of the soldier and politician Charles Gerard, 1st Baron Gerard. He had already been created Baron Gerard, of Brandon in the County of Suffolk, in 1645, and was made Viscount Brandon, of Brandon in the County of Suffolk, at the same time as he was given the earldom. These titles are also in the Peerage of England. Lord Macclesfield was the great-grandson of the distinguished judge Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls from 1581 to 1594. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He was involved in the Rye House Plot of 1683, was sentenced to death but later pardoned by the King. On his death without legitimate issue in 1701 the titles passed to his younger brother, the third Earl. He had earlier represented Yarmouth, Lancaster and Lancashire in the House of Commons. When he died in 1702 the titles became extinct.
Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1710. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and acted briefly as one of the regents before the arrival of King George I in Britain. His career ended when he was convicted of corruption on a massive scale and he spent the later years of his life in retirement at his home, Shirburn Castle in Oxfordshire.
General Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers PC was an English nobleman and soldier who was a senior Army officer in the English and then British Army. The second son of Thomas Savage, 3rd Earl Rivers and his first wife Elizabeth Scrope, Savage was styled Viscount Colchester after the death of his elder brother Thomas in 1680, he was designated by that title until he succeeded to the peerage upon the death of his father, the 3rd Earl, in 1694. Savage served as Master-General of the Ordnance and Constable of the Tower, and was briefly commander-in-chief of the forces in lieu of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde until his death in 1712.
George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, FRS was an English peer and astronomer.
The Macclesfield Psalter is a lavishly illuminated manuscript probably produced c. 1320–30 in East Anglia. The psalter, or book of Psalms, contains 252 beautifully illustrated pages and is named after its most recent owner, the Earl of Macclesfield.
Thomas Hornsby was a British astronomer and mathematician.
Shirburn Castle is a Grade I listed, moated castle located at the village of Shirburn, near Watlington, Oxfordshire. Originally constructed in the fourteenth century, it was renovated and remodelled in the Georgian era by Thomas Parker, the first Earl of Macclesfield who made it his family seat, and altered further in the early nineteenth century. The Earls of Macclesfield remained in residence until 2004, and the castle is still (2022) owned by the Macclesfield family company. It formerly contained an important, early eighteenth century library which, along with valuable paintings, sculptures, and other artifacts including furniture, remained in the ownership of the 9th Earl and were largely dispersed at auction following his departure from the property; notable among these items were George Stubbs's 1768 painting "Brood Mares and Foals", a record setter for the artist at auction in 2010, the Macclesfield Psalter, numerous rare and valuable books, and personal correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton.
Moses Williams was a Welsh antiquarian, scholar and cleric. He oversaw new editions of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer in Welsh.
British and Irish country house contents auctions are usually held on site at the country house, and have been used to raise funds for their owners, usually before selling the house and estate. Such auctions include the sale of high quality antique paintings, furniture, objets d'art, tapestries, books, and other household items.
Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick, KT, styled as Lord Brooke from 1727 to 1746 and Earl Brooke from 1746, was a British peer and landowner. He inherited Warwick Castle and the title of Baron Brooke from his father in 1727. His education included time as a gentleman commoner at Winchester College. He was created Earl Brooke of Warwick Castle on July 7th, 1746 and became Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire in 1749. He became a Knight of the Thistle in 1743. In 1759, he petitioned George II for the title Earl of Warwick when the last Earl of Warwick from the Rich family died. Francis' petition was granted, and Warwick Castle was once again held by the Earls of Warwick.
Thomas Parker, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield FRS, styled Viscount Parker between 1732 and 1764, was a British peer and politician.
Shirburn is a village and civil parish about 6 miles (10 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire. It contains the Grade I listed, 14th-century Shirburn Castle, along with its surrounding, Grade II listed park, and a parish church, the oldest part of which is from the Norman period. The parish has a high altitude by county standards. Its eastern part is in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Shirburn, the largest civil parish in the district, is forested to the south. A motorway cuts across one edge.
George Loveden William Henry Parker, 7th Earl of Macclesfield, of Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, was a British peer and landowner. He was among the last to serve simultaneously as Lord Lieutenant of an English county and as chairman of its county council.
Downes House is situated about one mile east of Crediton in Devon. The house is an 18th-century Palladian re-modelling of an earlier house. It was classed Grade II* listed on 20 May 1985. Nearby is the site of a Roman villa, revealed by crop-marks as a rectangular enclosure containing a winged-corridor structure. In 2012 the estate comprised 1400 acres, including the Home Farm, Fordton Barton, Uton Barton, Dunscombe Farm and other land 110 acres and parkland.
James Alastair Stourton, is a British art historian and a former chairman of Sotheby's UK.
Antonio Montauti was an 18th-century Italian sculptor active in Florence and Rome.
Mary Frances Parker, Countess of Macclesfield, formerly Mary Drake, was the wife of George Parker, 4th Earl of Macclesfield.
George Roger Alexander Thomas Parker, 8th Earl of Macclesfield, of Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, was a British peer and landowner. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1975 until his death.
The Shirburn Ballads is the name given to an early 17th-century manuscript collection of Elizabethan to early Stuart-era ballads that formerly resided in the collection of the Earls of Macclesfield in the library at Shirburn Castle. As per the Ballad Index compiled by W.B. Olsen, it is one of a number of significant sources for ballads of that period. According to the relevant entry in the Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700, the main scribe may have been Edwarde Hull, whose name appears on leaf 155. It is believed that since the current set of leaves is numbered from 98 onwards, a further initial 97 leaves were once present but were lost prior to the set's binding in 1860. The collection is mainly known to scholars via an edited version that was published by the Reverend Andrew Clark in 1907. Most or all of the included ballads derive from broadside ballad sources which were recorded as published for copyright purposes in relevant 16th-century sources, and include a subset for which the original broadside copy has not survived. Since 2007, the original work is now in the collection of the British Library.
