Edgcumbe (family)

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Coat of arms of the Edgcumbe family

The Edgcumbe family (also Edgecombe ) is an English noble family.

The family in the Middle Ages

The Edgcumbe family was originally from Devon . It is named after a farm near Tavistock , where the family has been known as free farmers since the 13th century . While the older line of the family existed as free farmers in Devon until the beginning of the 19th century, William Edgcumbe († 1380), a younger son of the family, married Hilaria de Cotehele in 1352 or 1353 . As the heiress of her brother Ralph de Cotehele , she brought Cotehele House in Cornwall with the associated land into the marriage. William's grandson, Sir Richard Edgcumbe, was a supporter of Henry VII and fought with him in the Battle of Bosworth . After the battle he was knighted by the king and received from him, among other things, the extensive possessions of the Bodrugan family in Cornwall, the Honor of Totnes in Devon and rights to silver mines in Devon and Cornwall.

Rise to the leading gentry families in the 16th and 17th centuries

Richard Edgcumbe's son Peter acquired the lands of the Valletorts , which included the southeastern part of the Rame Peninsula and East Stonehouse , through his marriage to Joan Durnford in 1493 . From 1547 to 1553, Peter's son Richard Edgcumbe built Mount Edgcumbe House on the Rame peninsula , which became the family's new home. Due to the construction costs and high investments in mines, the Edgcumbes in the 16th century were considerably in debt so that they had to sell the Honor of Totnes, but due to their extensive possessions they were among the leading families of the gentry of Cornwall and Devon. The heads of families held numerous public offices and often represented the counties as Knight of the Shire in the House of Commons . During the English Civil War , Piers Edgcumbe sided with the king, but surrendered to parliamentary troops in 1645 and was able to preserve the family estates.

Achievement of peer status in the 18th century

Piers Edgcumbe's grandson Richard belonged to Prime Minister Walpole's government for many years and was made Baron Edgcumbe in 1742 . His son Richard Edgcumbe was a friend and early patron of Joshua Reynolds . Richard's brother, George Edgcumbe, served as an officer in the Royal Navy until he became his brother's inheritance in 1761. In 1781 he was elevated to Viscount Mount Edgcumbe and Valletort and in 1789 to Earl of Mount Edgcumbe .

Mount Edgcumbe House near Plymouth, seat of the family from the 16th century to 1987

The family in the 19th and 20th centuries

In the 19th century, members of the family held high offices at the royal court until the direct male line with the 5th Earl died out in 1944 . His heir became his great cousin Kenelm Edgcumbe , a great grandson of the 2nd Earl. Due to inheritance taxes, he had to hand over Cotehele House to the National Trust in 1947 . He had the family seat Mount Edgcumbe House, which was bombed out in 1941, rebuilt from 1958 to 1964. Since Kenelm's only son had died near Dunkirk in 1940 , his great cousin Edward Piers Edgcumbe, who lived in New Zealand, inherited the title in 1965 . This sold as 7th Earl in 1971 Mount Edgcumbe House and the surrounding park to the city of Plymouth and the county of Cornwall, but leased the manor back. His heir and nephew Robert Edgcumbe, 8th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (* 1939) ended the lease in 1987.

Tribe list

  1. Richard Edgcumbe (around 1443–1489)
    1. Peter Edgcumbe (1477-1539)
      1. Richard Edgcumbe (1499–1562)
        1. Peter Edgcumbe (around 1536–1608)
          1. Richard Edgcumbe (before 1570–1639)
            1. Piers Edgcumbe (around 1610–1667)
              1. Richard Edgcumbe (around 1640–1688)
                1. Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe (1680–1758)
                  1. Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe (1716–1761)
                  2. George Edgcumbe, 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1720–1795)
                    1. Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1764–1839)
                      1. Ernest Edgcumbe, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1797–1861)
                        1. William Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1833-1917)
                          1. Piers Edgcumbe, 5th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1865–1944)
                      2. George Edgcumbe (1800-1882)
                        1. Richard Edgcumbe (1843-1937)
                          1. Kenelm Edgcumbe, 6th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1873-1965)
                        2. Edward Edgcumbe (1847-1890)
                          1. George Edgcumbe (1869-1947)
                            1. Edward Edgcumbe, 7th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1903–1982)
                            2. George Valletort Edgcumbe (1907–1977)
                              1. Robert Edgcumbe, 8th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (* 1939)

literature

  • Cynthia Gaskell Brown: Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park: Guidebook , Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint 2003
  • Rachel Hunt: Cotehele, Cornwall. A souvenir guide . National Trust, Swindon, ISBN 978-1-84359-428-4

Web links

Commons : Barons Edgcumbe  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Earls of Mount Edgcumbe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of Parliament online: Piers Edgcumbe. Retrieved March 9, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Rachel Hunt: Cotehele, Cornwall. A souvenir guide . National Trust, Swindon, ISBN 978-1-84359-428-4 , p. 46
  3. ^ History of Parliament Online: EDGCUMBE, Sir Richard (c.1564-1639), of Mount Edgcumbe, Maker, Cornw. Retrieved August 16, 2017 .
  4. ^ The National Heritage List for England: Mount Edgcumbe. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 8, 2014 ; accessed on February 23, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / list.english-heritage.org.uk
  5. ↑ Cynthia Gaskell Brown: Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park: Guidebook , Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint 2003, p. 20