Conyers baronets

The Baronetcy of Conyers of Horden was created in the Baronetage of England on 14 July 1628 for John Conyers of Horden, County Durham. An old name in the county, Horden had been spelt a number of ways, including Hordern and Hordin.[1]

Early history

Between 1099 and 1133 the then Bishop of Durham, Ralph Flambard, granted lands at Sockburn, in County Durham and Hutton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, to a Roger de Conyers. By the end of the 12th century the lands were divided between two branches of the Conyers family. The elder branch resided at Hutton Conyers, which passed to the Mallory family in 1347 after a Conyers daughter married a Mallory.[2] The other branch was well established at Sockburn. Sockburn Hall was the family seat. The last male Conyers at Sockburn died in 1635, and his granddaughter sold the manor of Sockburn.[3]

In the 16th century Richard Conyers of Hornby, a descendant of Sir Christopher Conyers of Sockburn, married the heiress of the Horden estate near Peterlee, County Durham, and Horden Hall became the family seat.

The second Baronet married Elizabeth Langhorne, heiress to an estate at Charlton, Kent and his son, the third Baronet inherited that estate in 1714. The third Baronet had however married the Baldwin heiress to an estate at Great Stoughton, Huntingdonshire, in 1675 and moved the family seat there.

After the death of the fourth Baronet without a male heir, the Horden estate was sold and the Charlton estate passed by entail out of the immediate family. The Baronetcy passed to his cousin, Ralph Conyers of Chester le Street, who was a great grandson of the first Baronet. He married Jane Blakiston (d.1774) on 11 June 1719 at Durham Cathedral[4] - Jane being a scion of the "opulent House of Gibside", near Rowlands Gill.[5] This alliance of the family with the Gibside - Bowes' further "elevated their position and grandeur".[6] The sons of Sir Ralph and Lady Conyers succeeded as the sixth and seventh Baronets, their grandson George as eighth Baronet who upon his death, left the Baronetcy to be inherited by Thomas, their third son; Sir Thomas was the ninth and last Baronet.[7]

The Fall of Conyers; Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet

Sir Thomas, the ninth Baronet, seems to have retained his bearing as a gentleman; he is described as "gentleman" at his marriage in 1754 and as "esquire" in the baptismal entries of his daughters. According to Burke's Vicissitudes of Families, Durham historian Robert Surtees called on him at a Durham workhouse and, distressed at his plight, offered to raise an appeal to alleviate his circumstances. Sir Thomas replied: "I am no beggar, Sir; I won't accept any such offers." His pride extended to the rejection of financial aid from his family.[8] Although on 10 May 1800, he had attended Westminster Abbey[9] for the funeral of his Gibside heiress cousin, Mary Eleanor Bowes - acknowledged as the wealthiest woman in England[10][11] - he accepted no aid from his relatives at Gibside, the coal-rich estate in the Derwent Valley, County Durham, that his ancestor, Sir William Blakiston had owned.

Eventually, Surtees was modestly successful in his appeal for funds and Sir Thomas was moved to more comfortable accommodation in a private house on 1 March 1810.

The fate of Sir Thomas' brother was, according to the 1809 Gentleman's Magazine, somewhat better; Sir Blakiston Conyers (d.1791), was the "heir of two ancient titles, from which he derived little more than his name". But whereas the acceptance of the "generous patronage" of his Gibside relatives, the Bowes-Lyon family, had ensured that Sir Blakiston's situation was considerably more comfortable, his brother, Sir Thomas, died a pauper on 15 April 1810 - only months after having been rescued from the workhouse by his gentry friends.[12]

Ancestral link with Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Sir Thomas Blakiston Conyers, the great great grandson of the first Baronet Conyers, had failed to sire a surviving heir and had only three daughters : Jane, Elizabeth and Dorothy. Sir Bernard Burke, in his 1861 work "Vicissitudes of Families", presents a chapter entitled "The Fall of Conyers" which concludes with the following: "Magni stat nominis umbra! The poor Baronet left three daughters, married in very humble life: Jane, to William Hardy; Elizabeth, to Joseph Hutchinson; and Dorothy, to Joseph Barker, all working men in the little town of Chester-le-Street. A time may yet come, perchance, when a descendant of one of these simple artizans may arise, not unworthy of the Conyers' ancient renown; and it will be a gratifying discovery to some future genealogist, when he succeeds in tracing in the quarterings of such a descendant the unsullied bearing of Conyers of Durham."[13]

Listed in the 1841 Burke's Peerage is Sir Thomas' daughter, Jane Conyers (1756-1835) who married William Hardy.[14] Jane is the great great grandmother of Durham coal miner John Harrison (1874-1956) who is the great great grandfather of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, née Catherine Middleton.[15][16] It was reported in December 2014 that Sir Thomas Conyer's great great great grandfather, Sir William Blakiston (1562-1641), was also the direct ancestor of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, née Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and that the famous Blakiston-Bowes Cabinet, held at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, was created to celebrate the union of the Bowes-Lyon family with the Blakiston baronets.

The Duchess and the Queen Mother are thus distant blood cousins.[17][18]

The Baronetcy of Conyers of Horden became extinct in 1810.[19][20]

Conyers of Horden (1628)

Royal Ancestry and Descendants of Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Bt.

Edward III of England m. 24 Jan 1329, York, Philippa of Hainault
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John of Gaunt m. 13 Jan 1396, Lincoln, Katherine Roet
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Lady Joan Beaufort m. 03 Feb 1397 Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland
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Lady Eleanor Neville m. Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
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Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland m. 1435 Eleanor Poynings
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Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland m. Lady Maud Herbert
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Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland m. Catherine Spencer (bur 19 Oct 1542, Beverley), daughter of Sir Robert Spencer and Lady Eleanor Beaufort
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Lady Margaret Percy (bur 25 Nov 1540, Skipton) m. Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland
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Lady Catherine Clifford m. John Scrope, 8th Baron Scrope of Bolton
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Hon. Margaret Scrope m. Sir John Constable (10 Jan 1527, Halsham - 25 May 1579, Halsham)
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Sir Henry Constable (d. 15 Dec 1608, London) m. Margaret Dormer (d. 26 Apr 1637), daughter of Sir William Dormer
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Dorothy Constable (d. 26 Mar 1632, Newcastle upon Tyne) m. 10 Mar 1596/97, Burton Constable, Roger Lawson of Brough Hall, near Catterick, Yorkshire (d. 1623)
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Henry Lawson (bap 01 Dec 1601 - bur 17 Dec 1635, Newcastle upon Tyne) m. Anne Hodgson (bur 22 May 1663, Newcastle upon Tyne)
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Dorothy Lawson (bur 09 Jul 1712, Fairfield) m. William Blakiston (bap 18 Sep 1616, Tanfield)
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Ralph Blakiston (w.d. 17 Mar 1700, d. 1704) m. Mary Sampson
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Jane Blakiston (bur 23 Nov 1774, Chester-le-Street) m. 11 Jun 1719, Durham, Sir Ralph Conyers, 5th Bt. (bap 20 Jun 1697, Chester-le-Street - 22 Nov 1767)
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Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Bt. (bap 12 Sep 1731 - 15 Apr 1810, Chester-le-Street) m. 24 Jan 1754, Chester-le-Street, Isabel Lambton (bur 10 Nov 1779, Chester-le-Street)
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Jane Conyers (bap 24 Jan 1756, Chester-le-Street - May 1835) m. 19 Sep 1778, Crossgate, William Hardy (1748-1833)
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Jane Hardy (bap 03 May 1795, Penshaw - bur 11 May 1864, Pittington) m. 06 May 1815, Chester-le-Street, James Liddle (bap 27 Jun 1790, Newburn - bur 05 Nov 1860, Pittington)
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Anthony Liddle (bap 11 Aug 1816, Chester-le-Street - 1857) m. 18 Aug 1838, Pittington, Martha Stephenson (bap 05 Apr 1818, Penshaw - 10 Oct 1896, Sherburn Hill)
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Jane Liddle (d. 23 Dec 1881, Hetton-le-Hole) m. 07 Apr 1860, Shadforth, John Harrison (bap 18 May 1833, Newcastle upon Tyne)
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John Harrison (25 Jul 1874, Hetton-le-Hole - Sep 1956) m. 23 Feb 1897 Jane Hill (28 May 1875, Hetton-le-Hole - 1957)
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Thomas Harrison (23 Jun 1904, Hetton-le-Hole - 24 Aug 1976) m. 12 May 1934, Tudhoe, Elizabeth Mary Temple (20 Mar 1903 - 01 Dec 1991, Southall)
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Dorothy Harrison (26 Jun 1935, Sunderland - 21 Jul 2006, Reading) m. 08 Aug 1953, Southall, Ronald Goldsmith (25 Apr 1931, Uxbridge - 10 Sep 2003, Pangbourne)
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Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith (31 Jan 1955, Ealing) m. 21 Jun 1980, Dorney, Michael Francis Middleton (23 Jun 1949, Chapel Allerton)
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Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

References

  1. ↑ Swyrich Corporation. "A History of Family Names - Horden". Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Page, William, ed. (1914). "A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1 (Parishes: Hutton Conyers)". Victoria history of the counties of England. Constable & Co. OCLC 277868328.
  3. ↑ Page, William, ed. (1914). "A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1 (Parishes: Sockburn)". Victoria history of the counties of England. Constable & Co. OCLC 277868328.
  4. ↑ Bell, George. "Marriages from the Durham Cathedral Registers (1609-1837)". GENUKI. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Surtees, Robert (1820). "Chapelry of Tanfield (Footnote 64)". The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham: volume 2: Chester ward. University of London & History of Parliament Trust. pp. 219–236. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Burke, Sir Bernard (1860). A Second Series of Vicissitudes of Families. Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts. p. 19. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  7. ↑ Child, Christopher Challender (Fall 2011). "A Gratifying Discovery: Connecting Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Bt. of Horden, Durham" (PDF). American Ancestors Magazine. New England Historical Genealogical Society. p. 36. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Kirtley, Al; Blackett, Martin; Longbottom, Pat (2007). "And Finally, a Tale of (Prince) George and the Dragon". The Blacketts of North East England. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  9. ↑ "Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore". Westminster Abbey, The Dean and Chapter of Westminster. 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Cliff, Martha. "Kate really was destined for royalty! The Duchess of Cambridge shares an ancestor with the late Queen Mother historian reveals". UK Daily Mail, 9 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Wedlock: Georgian Britain's Worst Husband Met His Match". History Today. 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
  12. ↑ Surtees, Robert (July 1809). "Letter". Illustrations of Horace - Sir Thomas Conyers. Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review. 79.2. pp. 1110–11.
  13. ↑ Burke, Sir Bernard. "Vicissitudes of Family - The Fall of Conyers". 1861 pages 21-25, London: Longman Green, Longman, and Roberts. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  14. ↑ A History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies. London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. 1841. p. 129.
  15. ↑ Joseph, Claudia (23 April 2011). "Princess from the Pit". Express. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  16. ↑ Child, Christopher Challender (Fall 2011). "A Gratifying Discovery: Connecting Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Bt. of Horden, Durham" (PDF). American Ancestors Magazine. New England Historical Genealogical Society. p. 36. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  17. ↑ Parring, Rebecca. "Proof Kate Middleton IS related to Queen Mother: Duchess to view cabinet proving ancestry". UK Daily Express, 8 December 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  18. ↑ Cliffe, Martha. "Kate really was destined for royalty! The Duchess of Cambridge shares an ancestor with the late Queen Mother historian reveals". UK Daily Mail, 9 December 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  19. ↑ Surtees, Robert (July 1809). "Letter". Illustrations of Horace - Sir Thomas Conyers. Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review. 79.2. pp. 1110–11.
  20. ↑ A History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies. London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. 1841. p. 128.

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