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Athur Davie Bassett, of Watermouth, traces descent from the ancient and knightly family of Bassett, and also from William the Conqueror; also consanguinity to Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, Founder of All Souls' College, in the University of Oxford.*

The Early History of the Bassett Branch

  1. Osmond Bassett came into England with William the Conqueror, and died possessed of the lands of Ipesdon and Stoke Bassett, in the County of Oxford; his son
  2. John married Ada, daughter of Sir Andrew Ballum, Kt., and left Issue,
  3. William m. Cicely, dau. of Sir Alan Inglefield (temp. King John), and left Issue,
  4. Alan m. Lucia, sister to Sir William Peveril, by which marriage he acquired the Estates of Whitechapel and La Heyne, in the parish of Bishopsnympton, Devon, (temp. King Henry III.); his son
  5. William m. the daughter of Sir Ralph Mallett, and had Issue,
  6. Laurence m. the daughter of Sir John Walleys; his son
  7. William m. the daughter of Sir William Bottreaux, and had two sons: William, who died in his father's lifetime, unmarried; and
  8. Thomas, m. Margery, dau. of Sir Richard Helligan, and had two sons, William and Thomas;
  9. William m. Margaret, dau. of Sir Simon Fleming, and left
  10. John, m. Jane, dau. of Sir Thomas Beaumont; by this marriage he gained the Estates of Heanton Court and Umberleigh, Devon. He lies buried at Atherington, beneath a Monument bearing two recumbent stone figures.
  11. John m. Isabel, dau. of Sir Thomas Budockside, and had Issue,
  12. John, m. 1st, Ann, daughter of John dennis of Orleigh, Esq., and left 4 daughters; 2ndly, Honor, dau. of Sir Thomas Grenville, and had Issue, John and James, (the latter, of the Privy Council, m. a dau. of the celebrated Margaret Roper, dau. of Sir Thomas Moore.)
  13. John m. Frances, dau. of Sir Arthur Plantagenet, and had Issue - Sir Arthur; George; Honor, (married William Whiddon, Esq., of Whiddon Park, and 2ndly, Christopher Chichester, of Frithelstoke, Esq.); Mary, m. John Woollacombe, of Combe, Esq.
  14. Sir Arthur m. Eleanora, dau. of Sir John Chichester, of Raleigh, and had Issue: Sir Robert; Arthur; William; George; John; Margaret, m. Richard Duke, of Otterton, Esq.; Ann, m. John Chichester, of Hall, Esq.
  15. Sir Robert (christened at St. Dunstan's, London, 1573), m. Elizabeth, dau. of Sir William Peryam, Kt., and had Issue, Arthur, born 1597; William, born ----; Francis, died 1601; Thomas; John; Ann, m. Jonathan Rashleigh, of Menabilly, Esq.; Elizabeth, m. George Yeo, of Huish, Esq.; Eleanora; Mary. Sir Robert, by extravagance, diminished the family property, selling Whitechapel and La Hayne, with 30 manors in Devonshire and Somerset.
  16. Sir Arthur, who distinguished himself on the King's side during the Civil War, m. Elizabeth, dau. of --- Leigh, of Burrough, Esq., and died 7th Janry., 1672, aged 75, and was buried at Heanton. He had Issue John, (who died in his father's lifetime), m. Susanna, dau. of Thomas Bluett, of Holcombe (he died Aug., 1660, aged 30, and she died 22nd April, 1662), and left Issue John, who succeeded his grandfather, Arthur, born July, 1655, died Oct., 1681, unmarried; Francis, who succeeded his elder brother; Thomas, born 1659, died 1660, and Elizabeth.
  17. John, born 26th Feb., 1653, married 1682, Elizabeth, dau. of John Ackland, of Bittadon, Esq., (she died 1683, aged 18; he died May 1686, aged 33, without issue.)
  18. Francis, born 13th April, 1657, m. Elizabeth, dau. of --- Connock, of Treworgy, Esq., and had Issue, John and Elizabeth; the latter m. Thomas Davie, of Orleigh, Esq., who died without Issue; Francis died 22nd Feb., 1693, aged 36.
  19. John, m. Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Nicholas Hooper, and had Issue - John, born 10th Oct., 1714; Elizabeth, born 6th Sept., 1715, died in infancy ; Elizabeth, born 6th Oct., 1716; Francis, born 1719, died 1721. The above-named John died 1721, and his Wife re-married the Rev. Thomas Morrison.
  20. John m. at Powderham, 10th June, 1734, Eleanora, eldest dau. of Sir William Courtenay, of Powderham.

*NOTE. - Founders Kin to All Souls' College, Oxford. Henry Chicheley, (the Founder), died unmarried in 1400. William Chicheley, his next brother, married Beatrice Barret, and had Issue, with other children, Agnes, who married William Keene, Esq., of Wethall, Kent; their daughter, Bridget, married Sir William Trussell, Knight, and had Sir Edward Trussell, Knight Banneret temp. Henry VII., who married a daughter of Sir John Dun, Kt., and had Issue, Elizabeth, m. to John Vere, Earl of Oxford, temp. Queen Elizabeth, who married Mary, sister of Sir Thomas Golding, Kt.; their daughter, Mary, m. Peregrine Bertie, Lord. Willoughby d'Eresby, whose; son, Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsay, m. Elizabeth, dau. of lord Montague: Issue, Montague Bertie, Earl of Lindsay, who married Bridget, dau. of Edward ,Wray, Esq.; their second son, James Bertie, Earl of Abingdon, m. Eleanor, dau. of Sir Henry Lee, of Difchley, county Oxford, and they dau. Ann m. Sir William Smyth Courtenay, of Pow-derham, whose third dau., Eleanora, m. John Bassett, of Heanton Court, whose fourth dau., Eleanora, m. Jqhn Davie, Esq., of Orleigh.

THE DAVIE BRANCH. (Temp. Queen Ann.)

*1. Thomas Davie, of Orleigh, Devon, mar. Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Bassett, Esq., of Heanton, and died without Issue.

*2. John, his brother, succeeded him in the property. He married Elizabeth, dau. of Sir William Price, and had Issue, John and Joseph, (the latter was the father of the late Rev. Joseph Davie, of Oxford.)

3. John married Juliana, daughter of Richard Musgrave, of Stone, county of Somerset, by whom he had Issue, John. He married, 2ndly, Mary, daughter of Sir William Courtenay, and widow of John Langdon, Esq., by whom he had Mary, who m. A. S. Willett, Esq., and William and Elizabeth, who died young.

4. John m. Eleanora Bassett, 18th Aug., 1763, and had Issue 14 Children.

* NOTE. - Portraits of the Father and Mother of John and Thomas Davie are in the Picture Gallery, at Watermouth. He served as Sheriff of the County of Devon, and she bore a very remarkable character for learning and for commercial enterprise, and in those superstitious days was almost deemed a witch.

THE SCOTT FAMILY.

General Sir HOPTON SCOTT, of Woodville, co. Dublin, traces descent from the ancient and Knightly family of Scott, of Scott's Hall, Kent.

The original name of the family was "Baliol." William Baliol, younger brother of John Baliol, King of Scotland, frequently wrote his name thus:-" William de Baliol le Scot," and after the contest between King Edward I. and his brother John for the Sovereignty of Scotland, ending in the overthrow of the latter, was one of the few among the Scotch Nobility who were allowed their liberty on the condition that they should never pass northward of the river Trent, under pain of death. Then it was that William de Baliol le Scot assumed the surname, of Scot, only. The ancient arms of this family bear a Catherine Wheel. John Baliol was the Founder of Baliol College, Oxford; two shields carved in the stone-work, also the plate and furniture of the College bear the Catherine Wheel.

The family of Scot (since spelt Scott) removed from Braborne, in Kent, to Scott's Hall, in King Henry VI.'s time, where they continued for several generations, till 1784, when the trustees of Francis Talbot Scott (uncle of the present Sir Hopton), conveyed his whole possessions in Kent to Sir John Honeywood, Bart. - (See Halsted's "History of Kent")

NOTE. - Scott's Hall descended from father to son, for a period of 600 years; and after it came into the possession of Sir John Honeywood (who was a relative of the Scott family), the mansion-house was taken down. The property is now possessed by Sir John Honeywood and Sir Edward Knatchbull.

THE WINCH FAMILY.

Alexander Wynch (the grandfather of the present Col. Wynch), was Governor of Madras from 2nd Feb., 1773, to Dec., 1775 ; George Wynch, his son, was in the Civil Service of the same Presidency, and left 3 sons and 1 daughter; the latter was afterwards Lady Sale, the wife of the gallant Major-General Sir Robt. Sale, and obtained a well-deserved celebrity for her sufferings and heroism during the disasters at Caboul, in 1842.

THE SHAIRP FAMILY.

STEPHEN FRANCIS SHAIRP, of The Rectory, Totnes, Devon, Banker, traces descent from Alexander Shairp, Merchant and Banker, of Edinburgh, born 25th May, 1686, died 20th Feb., 1775, aged 89; son of Thomas Shairp, Esq., of Houston, Linlithgowshire, M.P. in the Scottish Parliament before the Treaty of Union with England. As a merchant, he sent the first ship from Leith to the West Indies after the Union. He was Treasurer of the City of Edinburgh during the years 1738-39, and for a period of 34 years he was a Director, Ordinary and Extraordinary, of the Royal Bank of Scotland., He left 4 Sons:-

1. John Shairp of Kirkton, Linlithgowshire, N.B., a Captain R.N., born 15th March, 1729, died 2nd April, 1795, aged 66.
2. Thomas Merchants in London.
3. Alexander
4. William Major Royal Marines.

WILLIAM SHAIRP, 4th Son of the above-named Alexander Shairp, a Major Royal Marines, married Ann, the daughter of Charles and Ann Mordaunt, and had Issue,

1. William

a Captain 29th Regt. Foot. The eldest son of the above, married at the Parish Church, Heanton Punchardon, Devon, Aug. 1797, to Eustatia Davie, daughter of John Davie, Esq., of Orleigh. Died in Jersey, 1840, aged 65, and had issue,
1. William Joseph Died at Sydney, Nov., 1847.
2. John Whalley Drowned at Sea, April 21, 1822.
3. Alexander Mordaunt Killed at Sea, June 4, 1848.
4. Henry Bromley Died in Edinburgh June 24, 1834.
5. Stephen Francis
6. Eustatcia Courtenay Died in infancy, May 5, 1809.
7. Charles Mordaunt Died in India, Oct. 24, 1841.
8. Eustatia Harriett Died in infancy, May 15, 1828.
9. Francis Mary Died at Jersey, June 14, 1844.
10. Mordaunt Died at Jersey, Nov. 15, 1838.
11. Peregrine Courtenay Died in infancy, Oct. 17. 1821.
2. Alexander a Major Royal Marines.
3. Thomas a Captain Royal Artillery.
4. John a Lieutenant Royal Navy.
5. Ann Died unmarried.

THE LEWIS FAMILY.

LEWIS LEWIS, of Gwinfè, a Deputy-Lieutenant of the County of Caermarthen, married Barbara Lloyd, of Llancamthon, in the county of Glamorgan, 1782; his son

2. Rev. Thomas Lewis, a Magistrate for the county of Brecon, and Deputy-Lieut. of Caermarthen, Rector of Penboyr, county of Brecon, married Elizabeth Studley, of Shropshire, and had Issue Lewis, Elizabeth, and Susanna.

3. Rev. Lewis Lewis, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieut. for the county of Caermarthen, Rector of Clovelly, in. the county of Devon, married Eleanora, eldest daughter of John Davie, Esq., of Orleigh, Devon, and had Issue Lewis, Thomas, and Eleanora.

4. Lewis Lewis, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Caermarthenshire, married 9th March, 1830, Sarah Simmons, Barnes Colbome, niece of the late William Barnes, Esq., of Red Court, in the county of Gloucester; Issue, 10 Children.