Thomas Levett-Prinsep

Thomas Levett-Prinsep (1800/1–1849), born Thomas Levett, was an English landowner in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. He took on the additional name of Prinsep on inheriting his uncle's holding of Croxall Hall.[1]

Life

He was born at Wychnor Park in Wychnor, Staffordshire, the third son of Theophilus Levett.[2] He was educated at Eton College, and matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1828, aged 17.[3]

In 1835, Levett inherited Croxall Hall in Derbyshire.

Croxall Hall descent
Further information: Croxall Hall
Croxall Hall, inherited by Thomas Levett-Prinsep from his uncle Thomas Prinsep

Croxall Hall is located eight miles (13 km) southwest of Burton-on-Trent. The Curzon family held it for 15 consecutive generations.[4] Mary Curzon, the heiress of the Curzon family and governess to the Royal Family, married Sir Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset.[5]

John Prinsep Esq., India merchant and progenitor of the Anglo-Indian family of the same name, purchased the property from George Sackville, 4th Duke of Dorset, and became lord of the manor.[6] The Prinseps became well known for the cattle they bred at their Croxall estate, which at 1,450 acres (5.9 km2) was said to be the biggest family farm in Derbyshire at the time.[7] Croxall Hall is near to Catton Hall, once a property of the Anson family,[8] who later intermarried with the Levetts of nearby Milford Hall, distant relations of Thomas Levett-Prinsep.[9] Thomas Prinsep, High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1802, died without an heir, and so left Croxall Hall to his nephew, the son of Theophilus Levett[10] of Wychnor Hall, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, who had married in 1794 Frances Prinsep, daughter of John Prinsep of Croxall Hall, and sister of Thomas Prinsep.[11] Prinsep left his property to his nephew Levett on condition that he adopt the name and coat of arms of Prinsep in addition to Levett.[12]

Thomas Levett-Prinsep, Esq., JP, Croxall Hall, Staffordshire

Later life

Following his second marriage, Thomas Levett-Prinsep (as now he was) returned to Croxall Hall, which he had inherited from his father. He renovated the Hall, and built The Grange to manage his farmland. The couple moved to nearby Walton Hall, Walton-on-Trent.[13][14]

Levett-Prinsep was a Derbyshire JP, member of the Tamworth Board of Guardians, and cattle breeder in Derbyshire.[1] He died suddenly while crossing Teignmouth Harbour.[15]

Family and legacy

Levett married:

  1. In 1831 Margaret, the daughter of Scottish merchant David Monro,[16] a seigneur, businessman and political figure in Lower Canada who, after building a fortune in the Canadian ironworks, left North America and moved to Bath, Somerset.
  2. Following Margaret's death, in 1838 as his second wife Caroline Mary Templer.[17] She was the daughter of Rev. John James Templer of Newton Abbot in Devon, the Rector of Teigngrace and a member of the Templer family who owned Stover House and the 80,000-acre (320 km2) Stover Estate in Devon – later sold due to Templer family financial troubles to Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset.[18] Rev. Templer's other daughter Henrietta was married to Thomas Levett-Prinsep's elder brother Theophilus Levett, who had inherited the Levett family's Wychnor Park.[19]

His children, surname Levett-Prinsep, included:

  • A daughter of the first marriage, Margaret Catherine Levett-Prinsep, born in 1837 in Bath. In 1860 she married her cousin Robert Thomas Kennedy Levett, son of John Levett and his wife, the former Sophia Eliza Kennedy, of Wychnor Park.[20] Thomas Prinsep Levett (died 1938),[21] George Arthur Monro Levett (died 1940)[22] and Robert Kennedy Levett[23] were their children.
  • A son, also Thomas Levett-Prinsep, heir to the Croxall estate at his early death in 1849. He married on 23 June 1868, at Stokenham, Devon, Georgina Holdsworth, daughter of Arthur Bastard Easterbrook Holdsworth of Widdicombe House;[24] who was the son of Arthur Howe Holdsworth. Their granddaughter Katherine Mary married Lt. Col. Henry Edward Disbrow Wise, CBE, and their grandson Thomas Francis (Anthony) Levett-Prinsep (1909–1983) was an artist known as Anthony Prinsep; they were both children of their son Thomas Arthur Levett-Prinsep, born 1879.[24][25]

The Levett-Prinsep heirs sold Croxall Hall in 1920, and moved to the West Country, closer to family relations there. The family eventually inherited Widdicombe House in Kingsbridge, Devon.[26]

Catton Hall, one of two manors, along with Levett-Prinsep's Croxall Hall, within the parish of Croxall in Derbyshire
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References
  1. Mansions and Country Seats of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, Alfred Williams, Walter Henry Mallett, F. Brown, Lichfield, 1899
  2. The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: the Isabel of Essex Volume, Containing the Descendants of Isabel (Plantagenet), Countess of Essex & Eu, Marquis of Ruvigny, Raineval Staff, Reissued by Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994] ISBN 0-8063-1434-6 ISBN 978-0-8063-1434-1 p. 338
  3. s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Prinsep, Thomas
  4. The Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire, Vol. III, Joseph Tilley, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Company, London, 1902
  5. History, Topography, and Directory of Derbyshire, Comprising Its History and Archaeology: a General View of Its Physical and Geological Features, with Separate Historical and Topographical Descriptions of Each Town, Parish, Manor, and Extra-parochial Liberty, T. Bulmer & Co., Printed for the Proprietors by T. Snape & Co., Preston, 1895
  6. Croxall, Derbyshire, Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, London, May, 1891, pp 103–104 Archived 4 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  7. History, Gazetteer and Directory of Derbyshire, with the Town of Burton-upon-Trent, Samuel Bagshaw, printed by William Saxton, Sheffield, 1846
  8. The Neilson family, descendants of the Ansons and the Hortons, reside at Catton Hall today.
  9. For the connection between the Anson and Levett families, see Frederick Anson.
  10. The Royal Families of England, Scotland and Wales, with Their Descendants, Vol. II, John Burke, John John Bernard Burke, E. Churton, London, 1851
  11. Croxall, Magna Britannia, Vol. 5, Daniel and Samuel Lysons, 1917, Institute of Historical Research, British History Online
  12. The Court Journal, Jan.-Dec. 1835, Printed by C. and W. Reynell, Printers (by Appointment) to Her Majesty, London, 1835
  13. Chapter Eight: A Lost Way of Life in the Parish, www.edingalevillage.co.uk
  14. Lords of the Manor, Chelveston, Northamptonshire
  15. The Eton School Lists, from 1791 to 1850, H.E.C. Stapylton, E.P. Williams, London, 1863
  16. Three days later, in 1831, Monro's other daughter Helen married at Melcombe Regis, Dorset, Sir Edmund Filmer, Baronet.
  17. Saint James's Magazine, and Historic and Heraldic Register, Vol. I, Bernard Burke, Published by E. Churton, London, 1850
  18. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Vol. I, John Burke, Sir Bernard Burke, published by Henry Colburn, London, 1847
  19. Franks Bequest, Vol. II, British Museum Dept. of Prints and Drawings, Augustus Wollaston Franks, Edward Russel, James Gambier Howe, Printed by Order of the Trustees, Sold at the British Museum, 1904
  20. The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review, Sylvanus Urban, Printed by John Henry and James Parker, London, 1860
  21. "Levett, Thomas Prinsep (LVT882TP)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  22. "Levett, George Arthur Monro (LVT889GA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  23. "Levett, Robert Kennedy (LVT891RK)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  24. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1930). Armorial Families. 2 (7th ed.). London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 1175.
  25. Buckman, David (2006). Artists in Britain. 2 M to Z. Bristol: Art Directories Ltd. p. 1294. ISBN 095326095X.
  26. Visitation of England and Wales, Vol. 14, Joseph Jackson Howard, Frederick Arthur Crisp, Great Britain College of Arms, Privately Printed, 1906

Sources
  • The Levetts of Staffordshire, Dyonese Levett Haszard, Milford, Staffordshire, privately printed
  • Victoria County History: A History of the County of Stafford, M.W. Greenslade, R.B. Pugh (editors)
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