BOOTH & GREY OF DUNHAM MASSEY

The area of Dunham Massey was originally called just Dunham but was given the Massey part to distinguish it from another Dunham near Chester. The family that settled there took their name from Masci in Normandy. The last baron was Hamon who died in 1341.  A complicated sequence of events then took place for Hamon de Massey and his wife Joan, having no issue, had  sold the reversion of the manor to Oliver de Ingham, a judge of Chester.  However, Hamon had four sisters, Cicely had married John Fitton of Bollin, Isabel married Hugh Dytton, a third sister married Thomas de Lathom and a fourth married Hamon de Hilond.   On the death of Hamon, Richard Fitton and the heirs of the other sisters tried to seize the manor as Oliver de Ingham was overseas on the king's service.  However, in due course, the king ordered Hamon Massey of Tatton to ensure that Oliver de Ingham gained possession.  After Oliver's death, Richard Fitton and his cousins tried again and a legal battle ensued.  Eventually, Henry, Duke of Lancaster bought out all the heirs of of Oliver de Ingham and those of Hamon de Massey and gave the manor of Dunham to Roger le Strange, Lord of Knocking. 

The descent from the Masseys through the Fitton and Venables and eventually to the Booths and De Traffords is shown below.

• 1. John Fitton of Bollin in Macclesfield Hundred, son and heir of Edward Fitton of Bollin Fee. His younger brother, Thomas Fitton, married Isabel, daughter and heir of Thomas Orreby of Gawsworth from whom the Fittons of Gawsworth and another brother, Hugh Fitton who was rector of Wilmslow in 1335.
• + Cecily eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir Hamon Massey, baron of Dunham Massey.  This couple had two sons, Richard, son and heir and Hugh Fitton, who married Margery, daughter and heir of Robert de Powall, in 1328 from whom the Fittons of Pownall.
  • 2. Richard Fitton of Bollin
  • + Joan
    • 3. John Fitton, eldest son.  He partitioned the lands of his wife and those of his sister in law, Margaret Arderne, who had married Richard de Wever in 1350 but died without issue.
    • + Christian, daughter and co-heir of Peter Arderne of Over Aldrerley.
    • 3. Hamon Fitton, second son, who became heir to his father.
    • + Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir to Sir Peter Thornton of Thornton
      • 4. Peter Fitton who died without issue about 1368.
      • 4. Joan, sister and heir to Peter
      • + Richard Venables, younger son of Hugh Venables, baron of Kindeton. In addition to the eldest son, William there was a son John Venables of Antrobus.
        • 5. Sir William Venables of Bollin, knight, died 1421.
        • + Joan, daughter of Sir John Massy of Tatton and had a son Richard who was drowned aged about 8 years and two daughters.
          • 6. Alice Venables married Sir Edmund Trafford de Trafford in Lancashire
          • 6. Dowse married Robert Booth younger son of John Booth of Barton in Lancashire and afterwards Sir Robert Booth of Dunham Massey.

Sir Edmund Trafford and his wife Alice and Robert Booth and his wife Dowse, partioned the lands of Sir William Venables.  Sir Edmund and Alice had Morley, Chorley and Hough and the rents and services of Thomas Pownall, Richard Fitton and William de Honford, the rent and service of Sir Lawrence Fitton of Gawsworth for his lands in Bollin Fee and also all the lands which Sir William Venables had held in Norden and Helsby and the advowson of Wilmslow Church.

Robert Booth and his wife Dowse had Styal and Dean Row and all the lands that Sir William Venables had held in Fallibroome, Norley, Oneston, Kingsley, Arrow, Picton, Stoke and Chester and also the manor house of Thornton and the advowson of Thornton church together with Bollin Mills.  Robert Booth, later Sir Robert then made a bid for the lands of Dunham Massey which he felt should have descended to him via the Massey family, Fittons and Venables. Eventually an agreement was made between Sir Thomas Stanley, Sir Robert Booth and William Chauntrell, serjeant-at-law that half the manors, lands, rents and services in Dunham, Hale and Altrincham would remain with Sir Thomas Stanley and William Chantrell and the other half go to Sir Robet Booth and his co-feoffees.   His heirs later made purchases so that by the time Sir Peter Leicester was writing his history of the county, George Booth, Lord Delamere, had the manor of Dunham Massy.  There are documents surviving from the arrival of the Booths showing that the estate had been neglected since the demise of the Masseys. The hall was on a moated site. The Booths were from Boothstown in Salford.

The family of Booth at Dunham Massey was one of the most influential Cheshire families in English history because of the Booth Rebellion and the subsequent role played by George Booth in the Restoration of King Charles.  They Booths rose to prominence in the 16th and 17th centuries. Old George Booth and his grandson, young George Booth were two of the principal players in this advance. Old George Booth lived to be 80, dying in 1652, and married three times. He outlived his son, who died in 1632, and was succeeded by his grandson. Old George Booth married heiresses and established the family on a firmer financial basis. His marriage to Elizabeth Carrington brought land south west of Manchester which linked Dunham to Boothstown. Old George built the Elizabethan house at Dunham and made it the family seat.

In 1618, George Booth bought a baronetcy from James I as did his son-in-law, Henry Brereton of Handforth. The family were on the low church side of Anglicanism and wary of the innovations of Charles I and Archbishop Laud. They supported Parliament in 1642 but became disillusioned by the end of the Protectorate. Young George Booth was excluded from Parliament by Pride’s Purge of 1648 because he favoured continued negotiations with the king. Both George’s retired to Dunham. Old George died in 1652 leaving the family wealthy from his marriages, with an hereditary title and his children married into the Cheshire gentry.

After the death of Oliver Cromwell and the resignation of his son Richard, there was great uncertainty and George Booth was one of the men behind what became known as Booth’s Rebellion. He favoured the idea that parliament be allowed to decide how the country should be run, and privately believed that they would call for the Restoration of the Monarchy. In this regard he made common cause with royalists like Peter Leicester of Tabley. Booth’s colleague in instigating this move was at Chirk Castle and he made the mistake of calling directly for the Restoration. The rebellion was put down but the next year, following the march to London of the army under Wade, the decision was made to invite Charles to return and Booth was one of the delegation sent over to the Hague to organise it. He was rewarded by becoming Lord Delamere, having had no part in the execution of Charles I. However, Booth disliked the frivolity of the Restoration Court.

Being from the Low Church, the Booths favoured Monmouth against James II. The future 2nd Lord also favoured Monmouth and was also suspected of involvement in the Rye House Plot. In 1684, Young George Booth died. The 2 nd Lord Delamere was accused of treason over the Monmouth Rebellion. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and pawned the family silver to purchase legal help. The case did not come to trial as no evidence was found against him. He returned to Cheshire. In 1688, William of Orange landed and the 2 nd Lord formed a regiment and called on other Cheshire gentry to support him. They marched down to join William and in gratitude he was made Earl of Warrington. Lord Delamere was one of three peers who went to see James II to ask him to leave. He then returned to Cheshire, became Lord Lieutenant and organised the army for its expedition to Ireland. James was defeated in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne. However, by this stage, the Booth family were in financial difficulty.

In 1694, the first Earl died with £50,000 of mortgages. The 2nd The Earl needed to marry well and met John Oldbury who had made a fortune in the East India Trade. Oldbury had no son but two daughters and was eager to marry them into the aristocracy. They were reputed to be worth £40,000 apiece. Warrington married Mary Oldbury, but the two were not temperamentally suited. She was not very well educated or refined and Warrington was reserved and shy. As a consequence, they lived at opposite ends of the house and had one child, a daughter, Mary Booth, who was the apple of her father’s eye. He did not want her to lose her money as her mother had done, so had it tied up for her children to inherit.  Mary Booth married the Earl of Stamford, whose family name was Grey, with a marriage settlement to ensure he got no control of her capital. Mary ran her own financial affairs. Eventually the Grey family gained the estate through the inheritance of Mary’s son. The Grey’s seat was at Enville.

The following family tree is taken from Ormerod's History of Cheshire and from the National Trust brochure on Dunham Massey.  Note that there was a marriage connection with the Grey family at the time of the first Baron Delamere.

• 1. Sir George Booth (Old George Booth) 1566-1652, 1st Baronet
• + 1st wife, Jane daughter of John Carrington, married in 1577.
• + 2nd wife, Katherine, daughter of Sir Edmund Anderson. She died in 1638
  • 2. William Booth, died 1636.
  • +Vere, daughter of Sir Thomas Egerton
    • 3. Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, (Young George Booth), born 1622, succeeded his grandfather as 2nd Baronet in 1652, created 1st Baron Delamere, 20 April 1661, died Dunham 8 Aug 1684, aged 63 and buried at Dunham
    • + 1 st wife, Katherine Clinton daughter of 4th Earl of Lincoln, married 1639, buried Bowdon, 5 August 1643. This couple had one daugther, Vere Booth who died unmarried on 14 November 1717.
    • +2nd wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Henry Grey, Earl of Stamford, married 1644, died 4 January 1690 and buried at Bowdon. This couple had seven sons, William, Henry, Charles, George, Cecil and Nevil and five daugthers, Elizabeth, Ann, Jane, Diana and Sophia of whom Jane Ann and Sophia died young.
      • 4. William, eldest son, born 17 April 1648 and died without issue, 20 January 1661/2.
      • 4. Henry Booth, second son, Lord Delamere and created Earl of Warrington on 17 April 1690, died London, 2 January 1693 aged 42 and buried at Bowdon.
      • + Mary the daughter of James Langham of Cottesbrooke, Northampton, died 23 March 1690 aged 37 and buried at Bowdon. This couple had four sons: James, who died in infancy; George; Langham who died unmarried and Henry who died in Rotterdam. There were two daughters of whom Elizabeth married Thomas son of Thomas Delves of Doddington on 6 February 1696 at Wybunbury and Mary who became wife of the Hon. Russel Robartes, brother of the Earl of Radnor. We follows the second son, George, who succeeded.
        • 5. George Booth, Earl of Warrington, born Mere-Hall, Cheshire, 2 May 1675, died 2 August 1758 and buried at Bowdon.
        • + Mary, eldest daughter and coheiress of John Oldbury of London, merchant, who died at Dunham Massey in April 1740. This couple had only one child, Mary.
          • 6. Mary Booth, married May 1736, died 10 December 1772, aged 60 and buried at Bowdon.
          • + Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford, died 30 May 1768, buried Enville, Staffordshire. This couple had three sons, George Harry Grey, Booth Grey and John Grey and two daughters, Mary who married George West, second son of George Earl Delawarr and Anne who died in infancy.
            • 7. George Harry Grey, 1st son, born 1 October 1737, MP for Staffordshire in 1761 and succeeded as the 5th Earl of Stamford 30 May 1768, Lord Lieu of Chester 14 May 1783 and created baron of Delamere of Dunham Massey and Earl of Warrington on 22 April 1796. Thus he regained the titles of his maternal grandfather. He died in 1819.
            • + Henrietta Cavendish Bentinck, 2nd daughter of William, 2nd Duke of Portland, married 28 May 1763 and died 4 June 1827. This couple had four sons, George Harry, who succeeded; William Booth, who married twice but died without issue in 1852; Anchitel, prebendery of Durham, died without issue; Henry, a captain in the RN who died when shipwrecked on the Weasel in Barnstaple Bay. There were six daugthers, Henrietta, who married Sir John Chetwode of Staffordshire; Maria who died when less than a month old; a second Maria who married John Cotes of Woodcote in Shropshire; Louisa died a spinster in 1830; Sophia married on 21 October 1809 to her cousin Booth Grey of Ashton Heys in Cheshire, son of the Hon Booth Grey mentioned above, and died 7 January 1849; Amelia, married John Lister Kaye of Grange near Wakefield in Yorkshire.
              • 8. George Harry Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford, born 31 October 1765, married 23 December 1797 and died 26 April 1845.
              • + Henrietta Charlotte Elizabeth Charteris, eldest daughter of Francis Lord Elcho, eldest son of the 5th Earl of Wemyss. She died on 30 January 1838. This couple had son George and daughter Margaret Henrietta Maria.
                • 9. George Harry Grey, born 7 January 1827, succeeded in 1845 as 7th Earl of Stamford, died 1883.
                • + 1st wife, Elizabeth daughter of Mr. J. Billage of Wincanton on 1 December 1848. She died without issue in October 1854.
                • + 2nd wife, Catherine (Kitty) Cocks (1826-1905), married 29 August 1855.
                • 9. Margaret Henrietta Maria, died 7 March 1852.
                • + Henry John son of Mark Milbank married 6 October 1846
              • 8. Booth Grey, born 15 August 1740, MP for Leicester in 1768 and 1774, married 10 May 1782 and died 24 March 1802.
              • + Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Mainwaring of Bromborough, who died in 1823.
                • 9. Booth Grey of Ashton Hayes, born 12 Feb 1783, married his cousin, Sophia Grey, daughter of George 5th Earl of Stamford.
                • 9. Elizabeth Kynaston born 6 January 1786, married 28 Dec 1826 to the Rev. Charles Mytton who assumed the name Thornycrof
            • 7. John Grey, second son of Harry Grey 4th Earl of Stamford, born 22 May 1743, married 22 July 1773 and died 12 July 1802.
            • + Susanna, 4th daughter of Ralph Leycester of Toft. This couple had a son Harry Grey, and four daughters, Henrietta, born 29 January 1775 married Charles Mytton (Thornycroft) MA, rector of Eccleston; Mary; Emma, who married Thomas William Tatton of Wythenshawe and died 28 April 1851; Anna Maria, who married the Rev. T. Clarke and died in 1827.
              • 8. Rev. Harry Grey, born 8 July 1783, married first Francis Ellis on 14 May 1811 and second on 11 May 1847 to Mary Hervey with whom he had no issue.
              • + Francis Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Ellis of Caernarvon.  She died in 1846. This couple had five sons, Harry, in Holy Orders; John; William, in Holy Orders; George, in Holy Orders; Reginald. There were four daughters, Mary, Emma, Anna and Frances Charlotte Elizabeth.
                • 9.  Rev. Harry Grey, 8th Earl of Stamford (1812-90)
                • +1st wife, Susan Gaydon in 1844.  She died in 1869, no issue.
                • +2nd wife, Ann Mcnamara in 1872, she died in 1874, no issue
                • +3rd wife, Martha Solomon in 1880, she died in 1916.  Children from this marriage below
                  • 10.  John born 1877
                  • 10. Frances (1879-1883)
                  • 10. Mary (1881-1945)
              • 8.  Rev. William Grey (1819-1872)
              • +  Harriet (1829-80) great niece os Gilbert White of Selborne, married 1849.
                • 9. William Grey, 9th Earl of Stamford, (1850-1910)
                • + Penelope, daughter of Rev. Charles Theobald (1865-1959) married in 1895.
                  • 10. Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896-1976) died unmarried.
                  • 10. Lady Jane Grey (1899-1991)
                  • + Rev. Peveril Turnbull (died 1972).  This couple had two sons and a daughter and subsequently grandchildren in the second half of the 20th century.

The 7th Earl of Stamford, highlighted above, succeeded his grandfather at the age of 18. The family fortunes had been turned round to the degree that he had an income of £60,000 a year. His first wife was Bessy Billage, the daughter of his servant at Cambridge. She died young and he then married Kitty Cocks, a circus equestrienne. Her brother had been convicted of grevious bodily harm. Kitty was beautiful and intelligent but did not go down well with the new Victorian middle-class in Bowden. She was also rejected by many of the Cheshire gentry. The Earl decided to leave Cheshire, live at Enville, the Grey's family seat and rebuild it. No Stamfords lived at Dunham from 1855 to 1905. The Earl enjoyed horse racing and moved with the set around the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. In these circles, where the Prince might be entertained for the weekend (not always with his wife), Kitty could act as hostess in a way not possible among the more conservative gentry in Cheshire. The Earl knew that the estate would be inherited by his cousins and arranged to leave as much as possible away from them. Kitty had a life interest in the estate and her family were to get Enville. In the 1850s he had arranged to sell land in the Wilmslow area that was not entailed and this led to the development of the town in the early years of the railway.

The 8th Earl was a missionary Bishop in South Africa. His third wife, and the mother of his children was his African housekeeper. They had two illegitimate children and one born after the marriage. In the Boer lands they had the Code Napoleon that legitimised children when the parents married. However, this did not apply in England and so the children were referred to as Ann, John and Lady Mary. The House of Lords decided that John was not legitimate so on the death of his father the title and estate went to his cousin. The 9th Earl’s wife was a the daughter of a clergyman and seems to have taken to being countess with great zeal. She was a determined and outspoken woman. The African children were paid off and John became a solicitor in Worthing. The 9th Earl moved to Dunham in 1905 as it was the only large house now with the estate. They used the architect, Chapman Hall, to alter the frontage with the stone entrance and the Mansard roof. The Countess was alway eager to emphasise the Grey’s Elizabethan forebears including Lady Jane Grey, who lived at Bradgate in Leicestershire.

Sources:

The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, incorporated with a republication of King's Vale Royal and Leycester's Cheshire Antiquities, 2nd Ed., revised and enlarged by Thomas Helsby, Esq., published by George Routledge and sons, Ludgate Hill, London, 1882. This is now available from the Family History Society of Cheshire on CD ROM. A reprint of the work was published by Eric Morten of Didsbury.  Ormerod, in Volume 1 page 534 gives what he describes as a continuation of the family tree of Booth, following his usual practice of starting out from the work of Sir Peter Leicester.

Dunham Massey, National Trust Brochure.

Notes from Cheshire Gentry by Clare Pye a series of lectures held underr the aegis of  Wilmslow Guild, at Poynton, Autumn 2005.

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