||A Brief History of the Baskerville Families
The Baskerville family history has been studied for many years, and published genealogies first appeared in the late 19th century, notably by Watkins in 1897. One of the goals in 'Baskerville studies' is connecting cadet lines to the primogenitary line of the Lords of Eardisley that was extinguished in the early 18th century. This genealogical table shows the likely connection of the Baskerville line in Western Australia (since 1850) to the Eardisley line.
The genealogical information on this page is drawn from a variety of sources, not all of them verifiable. Information on this page is constantly being sourced, verified, amended or replaced as further research and investigations are made.
Latest update: 3rd January 2007, lines #18-#25
- Baskerville Coats of Arms
- Baskerville Places
- Baskerville Biographies
Other Baskerville websites
- Mike Caswell's site (USA) has extensive links and connections, including a link to a Listserver site for contact with other Baskerville researchers.
Ancient Times: up to c1200
The name 'Baskerville' is derived from the village of Bacqueville-en-Caux in Normandy, about 17 kilometres inland from Dieppe on the coast of the English Channel. Basqueville was the site of a settlement in Roman Gaul known as Bascavilla.
In 1033 Baldric the Teuton, a knight of Robert, Duke of Normandy, was made the first feudal lord of Bacqueville. Baldric had married a great grand-daughter of Richard the first duke of Normandy, and had six sons. The oldest son Nicholas, born in 999, succeeded to his father's lordship and became known as Nicholas de Bacqueville. Nicholas had a son Walter, who was known as Walter Martel (the hammer) de Baskerville. From one of Walter's sons the Norman family of Martell was descended; while another of his sons, Robert de Baskerville, left Normandy for the new Norman frontier in western England.
In 1086 William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, ordered a survey of his new kingdom. Known as the Domesday or Doomsday Book, the survey recorded a man named 'Robert' as holding the domus defensabilis, or fortified homestead, of Herdeslege, deep in the forests of the Welsh Marches or borderlands (Page: 332). Scholars have identified this Robert as Robert de Baskerville, and it is from this Robert and his second wife Agnes, a grand-daughter and heiress of Rhys ap Gryfydd the British Prince of South Wales, that the Cambro-Norman Baskerville family has descended (Watkins: 34).
By the 1150s a branch of the Baskerville's had established themselves in Cheshire at the northern end of the Marches, and it seems that after periods of great upheaval and disturbance there was some dispersal of Baskervilles from Herefordshire, especially within England to Devon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, London and other counties, and also to Wales. After the Civil War of 1642-1649 branches emigrated across the seas to Ireland (1660s) and Virginia (1680s); after the Naploeonic Wars further branches spread to New South Wales (1810s), Ontario (1830s), India (1830s/40s), Western Australia (1850s) and New Zealand (1900s). It is highly likely that were also other emigrations to the Americas, including Brazil, and elsewhere, making a Baskerville diaspora that is evident to the keen-of-eye today.
Biographies are been prepared for people with underlined names - click on those names to view their biography
- names in green - direct line of the lordship of Eardisley Castle
- names in blue - probable cadet line from direct line to Western Australia
- names in other colours, lines #21 to 26 - probable lines of descent within several marriages of close relatives
- names in mauve, line #22.3 - cadet line from direct line leading to Mynors-Baskerville branch.
- Wigerius Teutonicus, b. c952 Normandy, m. c976
- iss: Balderic the Teuton or the German, b. c977, first Lord of Bacqueville-en-Caux, Archearius, m. Denefacta, dau. of Richard, Lord of Clare, grandson of Richard, 1st Duke of Normandy
- iss: Nicolas de Bacqueville, b. c999, m. Albreda
- iss: Walter Martel (the hammer) Bacqeville, living c1051
Norman invasion of England 1066, although Norman settlement in the Welsh marches had begun during the 1050s.
- iss: Sir Robert Baskerville, held domus defensibilis of Herdeslege in 1086, m. (i) Sybil de Port, (ii) Agnes, dau. and heiress of Nesta, dau. of Rhys ap Gryfydd, Prince of South Wales, d. 1109 (Erwin)
- iss: (of ii) Sir Roger, m. Joan Le Gros, dau. of Rhydderch le Gros, Lord of Orcop (Watkins: 40)
The Civil War of Stephen & Matilda, 1138-1154.
- Iss: Sir Ralph, b. 1135, m. daughter of Drogo, Lord Clifford 1170 Eardisley, d. 1194 Northampton (Watkins: 35)
Richardson (1872: 115) wrote that
There is evidence to show that Walter de Baskerville acquired the lordship of Eardisley from Humphrey de Bohun in 1251 (Close Rolls, 36 Hen. III). We have preferred giving merely the names of his known and immediate ancestors to copying the unauthenticated assertions of Heralds and thus adding length to a genealogy at the probable expense of truth. ... The Heraldic pedigree commences with Sir Robert Baskerville who married Agnes, dau. and h. of Nesta, d. of Rees ap Griffith, Prince of South Wales, His successors intermarried with Clifford, le Gros and Streaton.
Richardson's caution is timely: at some stage every family history passes into the realms of myth and legend, and after more than 800 years of documented lineage we need to try and understand this distant past on its own terms.
- iss: Sir Ralph, at Eardisley in 1194, m. Ann St. Owen (Robinson: 116)
- iss: Sir Roger, b, ?, d. ?, m. Bridget (Robinson: 116)
- iss: Sir Walter, b. 1179 Eardisley, m. Elizabeth Penbrugge by 1213 Eardisley Watkins: 40 (dau of Sir Richard Pembrugge - Robinson: 116)
- iss: Sir Walter, b. 1209 Eardisley, m. Susannah Crigdon 1236, d. after 1272 'of Eardisley in time of Henry III' (Watkins: 40)
Medieval: c1200s to 1650s
- iss: (1) Sir Walter, m. Sibilla Streaton; (2) Sir Richard, b. 1239 Eardisley, m. dau of George Sollers 1267, d. 1272, MP for Eardisley 1295-1297 (Watkins: 40)
- iss: (of 2) Sir William or Walter, b. 1268 Eardisley, m. Sybil Corbet de Caux, Shropshire 1298, d. 1319 (Watkins: 40)
- iss: Sir Richard, b. 1299 Eardisley, m. Jane or Joan Poyntz, dau. of Earl of Cory Malet, Gloucestershire 1342, d. 1342 (Watkins: 40)
- iss: Sir Richard, b. 1343 Eardisley, m. Isabella Hampton 1372, d. 1374 (Watkins: 40)
- iss: Sir Richard, b. 1373 Eardisley, m. Joan de Everingham, d. 16/9/1394 (Watkins: 40)
- iss: Sir John, b. 1387 Eardisley, m. (i) Jane Elizabeth Brugge at Ross 1407 (Watkins: 40), (ii) Cecily Devereaux, d. 1415
- iss: (of i) Sir John, b. 12/2/1408 Eardisley, m. Elizabeth Touchet, dau. of John, Lord Audley, d. 23/12/1455 (Watkins: 40)
- iss: Sir James K.B., b. 1430 Eardisley, m Sibilla Katherine Devereaux, dau. of Sir Walter Devereaux, Lord Chartley 1464, d. 1485 (Watkins: 40, 43)
Civil War of the Roses 1455-1487: Sir James Baskerville of Eardisley, along with his brother-in-law Walter Devereaux of Weobley, fought for Edward IV at the first Battle of St. Albans on 22 May 1455.
- iss: Sir Walter K.B., b. 1456 Eardisley, m. (i) Anne verch Morgan ap Jenkin ap Philip de Pencoyd, (ii) Elizabeth verch Milo ap Henry, d. 4/9/1508
- iss: (1st son of i) Sir James, b. 1481 Eardisley, m. Elizabeth Breynton at Eardisley 1524,
iss: (2nd son of i) Thomas, b. 1481, Eardisley m. 1527, Maud Hir; of Pontrilas
iss: (1st son of ii)Philip, b. 1486 Eardisley, m.(i) Sibilla Scudamore, (ii) Agnes Elizabeth Hamlyn (Robinson: 117, Watkins 40)
iss: (dau of ii) Jane, b. 1476 Eardisley, m. Richard Monnington (Watkins: 40; IGI)
- iss: Sir James, b. 1526, Eardisley, m. 1540 Catherine Devereaux, d. 1573 without heirs
iss: Sir John, b. 1528, Eardisley, m. Elizabeth Hergest de Cheniston 1553, d. 1577 (Watkins: 40; IGI)
iss: Humphrey, b. 1529 Eardisley, m. Eleanor Gwillim: from here descends the Mynors-Baskerville line of Aberdw and Clyro
iss: Walter, b. 1532, m. 1553 Jane Monnington of Pontrilas
iss: (of Philip and i) Thomas, b. 1500, Netherwood, m. (i) Sybil/Cecily Vaughan, (ii) Jane Baskerville, 1540, d. 23/12/1576
iss: (of Philip and ii) Jane, b. 1520 Netherwood, d. 1562 Netherwood, m. 1540 Thomas Baskerville
iss: Jane, b. 1538, Wotton, m. 1553 Eardisley Walter Baskerville
- iss: Sir Humphrey, b. ?, m. Elizabeth Scudamore of Holme Lacy 1537, d 1587 at Cheniston
iss: Walter, b. 1569, Wormsley Grange, m. 1600 Mary Frances Gage
iss: Thomas, b. 1530 Thornbury, m. 1573 Bridget Cornewall, dau. of Baron Burford
- iss: Sir John, b. 1560 Eardisley, m. Ann Southwell at Eardisley 1585, d. 8/1/1588 Eardisley
iss: John, b. 1574 Thornbury, m. 1594 Thornbury to ?, d. 1602
iss: Walter, b. 1611 Canon Pyon, m. 1640 Judith Vaughan, d. <1662
(Watkins: 40; IGI)
- iss: Sir Humphrey, b. 1586 Eardisley, m. (1) Anne Vaughan, Pontrilas 1604, (2) Elizabeth Coningsby, dau of Sir Thomas Coningsby of Hampton Court, at Eardisley 1615, d. 3/4/1647 Eardisley
iss: Thomas, b. 1597 Thornbury, m. c1610 Thornbury? to Anne
iss: Mary, b. 1643 Canon Pyon, m. 1659 Monnington-on-Wye to James Baskerville [descent continues line #27]
- iss: Thomas b. 1616 Eardisley, m. Frances Pember, Eardisley c1640, d. 2/2/1683 (Watkins: 41, death (IGI))
iss: James, b. c1640 Thornbury, m. 1659 Monnington-on-Wye to Mary Baskerville [descent continues line #27]
Civil War of King & Parliament, 1641-1649: Sir Humphrey Baskerville supported the Royalist cause, and Eardisley Castle was destroyed by Roundheads in a fire as they captured the county in the final stages of the conflict. The family was later reported as living in poverty in the castle Lodge.
Watkins (1897: 42-43) wrote that
The Baskervilles end in co-heirresses. One married a Coningsby of Hampton Court, the other a Kent of Welson ... For many reigns they were champions to the Kings of England ... the family is in direct descent from Edward I.
Early Modern: 1650s to 1800s
The Commonwealth collapsed as Cromwell's successors squabbled, and the monarchy was restored under King Charles II in 1660.
One of the impacts of the Civil War was the destruction of records, and the period is marked by a distinct break in official record keeping. This makes it more difficult than usual to connect pre- and post-civil war genealogical lines.
The Baskerville's did not "end", and establishing a satisfactory connection from James (line #25) to the main Eardisley line remains a work in progress - click on James' name for more discussion.
- iss: Humphrey b. 1661 Eardisley, m. Philipa Coningsby, Eardisley, d. 10/3/1728
iss: Andrew, b. 1669 Monnington-on-Wye, m. Abigail, Monnington-on-Wye c1700 (IGI)
- iss: Frances, b. 1682, d. ?, m. 1702 Conningsby - no issue
iss: Philipa, b. 1684, Westminster, d. 1748, Eardisley m. 1698, Thomas Kent - no issue
Direct line extinct
iss: Edward, b. 1702 Monnington-on-Wye, m. Mary Green, Lugwardine 1730, d. 6/5/1776 at Burghill (IGI)
- iss: Andrew, b. 1739 Burghill, m. Mary Skyrme, Hereford 1763, d. 1808 Holmer (IGI)
- iss: Edward, b. 1778 Holmer, m. Mary Newman, Hereford 1800, d. (IGI)
Modern: 1800s to 1950s
- iss: John, b. 1808 Hereford, m. Harriett Stringer, Poona India 1837, d. 1867 Bunbury Western Australia (WA) (IGI)
- iss: Albert, b. 1845 Stoke Lacey, m. Eliza Ann Knapton, Busselton WA 1870, d. 1925 Claremont WA (RGO)
- iss: Charles, b. 1881 Busselton WA, m. Harriett Harman, East Perth 1906, d. 1972 Perth (RGO)
- iss: Victor Harmon, b. 1906 Bunbury WA, m. May Day, Mundijong WA 1932, d. 1989 Geraldton WA (RGO)
- iss: Lindsay Clive, b. 1933 Mundijong WA, m. Valerie Anderson, Greenough WA 1957 (RGO)
Contemporary: 1950s onwards
- iss: (1st) Bruce Gordon, b. 1958, Geraldton WA; (3rd) Kaye Anne, b. 1961, Geraldton WA (RGO)
- iss: (of 3rd) Adam Lindsay Baskerville, b. 1982, Geraldton WA. (RGO)
- iss: Liam Howard Baskerville, b. 2008, Geraldton WA.
- Page, W. (Ed), The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of Herefordshire, Archibald Constable & Co Ltd., London 1908; Vol. 1.
- Erwin, B., from Rance, P.B., Baskerville Family History, c1990 [link]
- Watkins, Rev Morgan G., Collections Towards The History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, in Continuation of Duncumb's History: Hundred of Huntington, Jakeman & Carver, High Town Hereford 1897.
- IGI = International Genealogical Index [link]
- RGO = Registrar-General's Office, Perth (records of births, deaths & marriages)
- K.B. = Knight of the Order of the Bath
Picture information and sources
Ancient Times: up to c1200 -
The flags of Wales (top) and Normandy (bottom) over panorama of hilly, forested Herefordhsire countryside looking as it may have in the 11th and 12th centuries when the Baskervilles first came to the shire from Normandy as knights and later as Marcher Lords.
Photo: Paul Barker, 'panorama of the Herefordshire countryside', in 'Eardisley Park', Country Life, 5 February 2004, page 52; flags from Flags of the World, www.fotw.net/flags.
Medieval: c1200 to 1650s -
The flags of the Kingdom of England (top) and Cromwell's Commonwealth (bottom) over view of half-timbered wooden pub in Weobley, a major commercial town in medieval Herefordshire when the Baskervilles were an established courtly and gentry family until destroyed during the Civil War and the Commonwealth.
Photo: Alex Ramsey, 'Weobley', in 'Share a Handle with Elgar', Country Life, 5 February 2004, page 46; flags from Flags of the World, www.fotw.net/flags.
Early Modern: 1650s to 1800s -
Flags of Great Britain over Ireland (left) and Virginia (right), all over panorama of cultivated fields and hedgerows of Herefordshire is may have looked during this period when the Baskervilles began to recover from the Civil War by turning to farming and artisanship, or emigrating to Ireland and Virginia.
Photo: Alamy, 'Heavenley Herefordshire', cover and contents page of Country Life, 5 February 2004; flags from Flags of the World, www.fotw.net/flags.
Modern: 1800s to 1950s -
Flags (left to right, top to bottom) of the United Kingdom, New South Wales, East India Company, Ontario, New Zealand, Western Australia, Ireland and the United States of America, all sites of the Baskerville diaspora, over a view of the facade of newly-rebuilt Eardisley Park, originally built by the buyer of the Baskerville estate ruined in the Civil War, and destroyed by fire in early 1999 as shown on right.
Photos: Paul Barker 'Eardisley park' and Donald Insall Associates 'the house after the 1999 fire', in Country Life, 5 February 2004, both page 52; flags from Flags of the World, www.fotw.net/flags.
Contemporary: 1950s onwards -