 Maria
Smythe and her connections with the Smyths of Heath Hall,
Yorkshire"Heath Old Hall" - adapted from a
drawing by N. Whittock. Click on the picture of Heath Old
Hall to visit the Wakefield Headquarters of the West
Yorkshire Archive Service.
It is of interest to
note that the French Revolution affected the French
Benedictine community at Montargis. Officials
called at the convent demanding the title deeds, but
Mother Benedict, the 33 year old Prioress, refused to
hand them over. The community
managed to escape to England - but, in England, religious communities
were still banned by law. However, once safely landed in
England, after a trip that almost ended in disaster, they
received help from Maria Smythe (Fitzherbert). "Mrs
Fitzherbert, the Catholic wife of the Prince, was
Godmother to one of the nuns. Hearing of their
plight she had persuaded the Prince to help. The
Prince [later, George IV] arranged for the Nuns
to be accomodated at a converted house in London for a
while but they soon moved to Norfolk and then on to
Wakefield where they took up residence in Old Heath Hall." For a full account of this particular
story, click here.
This information would seem to
connect the Acton Burnell Smythe family (and of Eshe
Hall, Durham) to the ancestry of Yorkshire Smyth family
of Heath Hall which, in turn, is said to be the lineage
of Dame Ethel Smyth who is proven to have descended from
the Smyth families of Ireland, originally from Rosedale
Abbey in Yorkshire.
The Smyths and Heath Hall
Yorkshire ...
Rt. Hon. John Smyth,
(1748-1811)
John George Smyth of
Heath Hall who was born circa 1811, married Diana
Bosville. She was the daughter of Godfrey
Bosville-MacDonald and Louisa Maria Edsir who
was a natural daughter of Prince (Duke of Gloucester)
William Henry of England (who was a brother of George III
of England) and Lady Almeria Carpenter. The Carpenter
family is linked to the Coote family of Westmeath
in Ireland, to the Clifton family and to the Frances
family, leading to Henry, Count of Nassau. LDS IGI
search references.
From the archives of Hull
University
Martin de Bosville came from Normandy
in the eleventh century. His descendants had property in
Yorkshire and Kent. In the fifteenth century, John
Bosville married first Mary Drax and their eldest son,
William Bosville, inherited Ardsley and a Hall in
Darfield. By his second wife, Isabel Dronsfield, he had
Richard Bosville, who became head of the Gunthwaite
branch of the family. Richard Bosville married Jane
Neville and had seven children. He died in 1501.
Despite owning Gunthwaite he and his heir, John Bosville,
lived much of the time at Beighton where they farmed the
estate of Lord Dacre. His grandson,
Godfrey Macdonald (1519-), married Jane Hardwick (sister
of 'Bess') of county Derby and settled at Gunthwaite. His
brother, Ralph Bosville, became clerk of the court of
wards and started the branch of the family living at
Bradborne in Kent. His heirs inherited the Yorkshire
estates when Godfrey and Jane Bosville's son died without
issue. His son, Godfrey Bosville (1596-1658), was a
member of the Long Parliament and became a colonel in the
parliamentary army. He was succeeded to the Gunthwaite
estates by William Bosville (1620-1662) and Godfrey
Bosville (1654-1714), who married Bridget Hotham, was a
JP and High Sheriff of Yorkshire and who expanded and
improved the estates. They left no children and the
estates passed to the heirs of Godfrey's brother. Godfrey
Bosville (1717-1784) married Diana Wentworth. They had a
wide circle of friends including James Boswell. They were
very wealthy, owning a house and estate in Staffordshire,
Thorpe Hall and Gunthwaite in East Yorkshire and a house
in Great Russell Street.
Their Son, William Bosville (d.1813),
was schooled at Harrow and entered the Coldstream Guards
in 1761. He did not involve himself in his Yorkshire
estates and when he died they passed to Godfrey Macdonald
(1775-1832), the second son of his sister, Elizabeth
Diana Bosville and her husband Alexander Macdonald
(d.1795), the first Macdonald to hold the Irish barony of
Sleat (Isle of Skye). Godfrey Macdonald changed his name
to Bosville and he became 3rd Lord Macdonald on the death
of his older brother. In 1799 he met and fell in love
with Louisa Maria Edsir, the illegitimate daughter of the
duke of Gloucester (brother of George III) and Lady
Almeria Carpenter. The couple eloped and married by
'mutual consent' under Scottish law; their eldest son,
Alexander William Robert Macdonald (1800-1847), was born
outside official English wedlock. He inherited the Thorpe
and Gunthwaite estates in Yorkshire but, as he was
technically illegitimate, he did not succeed as 4th baron
of Sleat and the title fell to his younger brother who
had been born after an 1803 church ceremony. In 1910
Alexander Macdonald Bosville's grandson, Alexander
Wenworth Macdonald Bosville (b.1847) reclaimed the
Scottish title and retrospectively became 14th baronet
and 21st chief of Sleat. This unseated his cousin as 6th
Lord Macdonald of the Isles and in 1911 Alexander
Wentworth Macdonald Bosville travelled to Skye to take up
residence at the seat of his forbears who could trace
their ancestry back to Hugh Macdonald, Lord of the Isles
in the mid-fifteenth century. He also assumed the surname
Macdonald thus becoming Alexander Wentworth Macdonald
Bosville-Macdonald. His descendants still own Thorpe Hall
near Rudston.
 Smyth
family of Ashton Court, Bristol and
Margaret Wilson - a daughter of Christopher
Wilson, Bishop of Bristol. She married Sir Hugh
Smyth of Ashton Court. Sir Hugh Smyth left no legitimate
children. He died in 1824. It is known
that the Smyth family from Yorkshire also married a
Wilson - a daughter of the Wilson family of Dallam Tower.
"George Smyth, Esq., son of J. Smyth, Esq.,
of Heath Hall,
Yorkshire, married the heiress of Dallam Tower, assumed
the name of Wilson, and succeeded to the estates in 1824.
George Edward Wilson, Esq., of Heversham, being his son
and heir apparent."
Individual Smyths and Heath
Hall Yorkshire ...
Rt. Hon. John Smyth,
(1748-1811)
Heath Hall was a 17th century
mansion built by George Ramsden. Extensions were done for John
Smyth by John Carr (Carr of York) between 1754-1780. It
was last owned by Ingram Fuller Godfrey, sold to Halifax
Corporation in 1889 and demolished in 1890 for the
construction of Heath Road and the Heath estate. During
the demolition, parts of a tombstone, inscribed: "Here
lyeth the body of Hannah, the daughter of John Elam of
Halifaxe, who died the 7 of the first month 1594"
were found in a chimney flue. Other objects were found: a
razor dated 1691; coins of 1776 and 1793. The image above
shows the modern "Heath Hall" and is adapted
from an original photograph supplied by Angela
Petyt.
Dallam Tower, Lancaster - Dallam
Tower was no doubt built to repel incursions from the
Scots. The estate includes a 17th century deer park and
19/20th century ornamental gardens.
After Dallam Tower was recorded as being a
ruin in 1541, a manor house was erected in front of the
present house looking towards Whitbarrow Scar. Dallam
Tower was rebuilt in the 1720s. Around 1750 Daniel Wilson
of Dallam Tower purchased the ruin of the once opulent
Rectory of Beetham for £2,500 from Thomas Shepherd.
Daniel Wilson of Dallam Tower married Elizabeth Livesey
(died 1801 aged 72) only sister of Ralph Livesey of
Livesey Hall, Blackburn. Thomas Wilson was baptised at
Beetham, Westmoreland, England; the third son of Daniel
Wilson of Dallam Tower
In 1757 George Wilson (b.1724) retired
Lieutenant Colonel 1st Regiment Foot Guards, fourth son
of Daniel Wilson purchased the Old Abbot Hall lock stock
and barrel from Christopher Hudson for £550. A Brewery
was licensed in 1758 on or near the site of the town
house of the Wilson family of Dallam Tower.
On September 7th 1864 the foundation stone
of a church at Arnside was laid by Mrs. Wilson, of Dallam
Tower, after the Rev. William Hutton suggested the need
for a church some 12 months previous. The Wilson family
owned the Dixies Inn from where a road accross the sands
to Foulshaw was passable at low tide. It was also near
here that the Wilson's employed a ferry-man charging 3d
at low tide and 6d at full tide to cross the estuary. In
1905 an overloaded boat carrying ten passengers from
Oldham, overturned in rough seas, resulting in the loss
of six lives."
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