Chapter VII.

Pedigrees.—Bassett Family.

Ralph Bassett was justiciary to Henry I. He was buried at Abingdon.

Gilbert Bassett, in the 12th Henry II., was en­feoffed in seven knights fees in the honour of Wallingford. He had been a supporter of the Empress Maude against Stephen.

Thomas Bassett, who succeeded his father was sheriff of Oxon and Berks in 1163, and one of the King's judges. In 1179 he was appointed one of the itinerant judges for Hampshire, Wilts, and Oxon.

Gilbert Bassett, his son, founded the monastery of the Black Canons at Burcester. He sided with John against Richard, but afterwards pur­chased the king's pardon for himself for £8, and for his two sons for £4 each. In 1200 he was sheriff of Oxfordshire. His wife was Egilana, daughter of Reginald Courtnay. He died in 1203, and was succeeded by

Thomas Bassett, who in the 3rd John was appointed Governor of Oxford Castle. In June, 1215, he appeared on the side of John at Runnymede. He died 1231, and was succeeded by his brother.

Alan Bassett who died 1233, left by his will 200 marks to the University of Oxford. Gilbert, his son, died out hunting in 1241, and was followed by his brother.

Fulco, afterwards Bishop of London, a strong opponent of the Pope's claims upon the clergy. He died of the plague in 1258, and was suc­ceeded by

Philip, who was styled by Henry III., amicus noster speciales. He died im 1271 and left one daughter, Alivia, who married, first, Hugo le Despencer, Justiciary of England, and, second, Robert de Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.

(For the above see Sir Henry Nicolas' synopsis of the Peerage; Harleian Manuscripts; Matthew Paris, 579; Skelton's Oxfordshire (Ploughley Hundred), p. 7; White Kennett, p. 387.)

Cox Pedigree.*

The Cox family, now lords of the Manors of Broxwood and Eaton Bishop, in the county of Hereford, and of Souldern, Oxon, claim descent from Clement Cox, a favourite of Queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor. Edward bestowed on him the government of the western parts of the realm, and raised him to a high position at court. His son, who was created an earl, fought with his retainers on behali of Harold at the battle of IIastings, but afterwards submitted to the Conqueror, and was entrusted by William with the governorship of the country north of the Tyne.

* For this paper we are indebted to George Dolman, Esq. Colonel Cox kindly furnished us with a copy of the family pedigree. Many interesting details have been unavoidably omitted in this short sketch.

He lost his life endenvouring to suppress one of the Saxon insurrections. The son of this Earl Cox, Clement, is said to have acquired large estates in Herefordshire. In the reign of Henry VI. Sir Gabriel Cox, who married A. de Grey, was a zealous partizan of the House of Lancaster, and was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury. His son John was a great favourite of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and his grandson, John Cox, was a courtier in the reign of Mary. At the acces­sion of Elizabeth he lost his court favour, and, entering the Spanish service, spent nearly 30 years in the various engagements between the Spaniards and the Dutch. He eventually lost his life in the battle of Neimport in Flanders, under archduke Albert of Austria. His son Richard, returning to England, was knighted by James I., on his acces­sion, and spent the remainder of his life peaceably on his estate. His son, also named Richard, served in the office of High Sheriff of Herefordshire in the reign of James I. He was offered a baronetcy by Charles I., but declined the honour. When the civil war broke out, he, with a regiment raised from his estates, declared for the king, and this troop of horse, led by himself and his son, rendered good service to the royal cause. He was killed at the battle of Naseby by a musket shot in the groin. His son erected a monument of black marble to his memory, which recites that “he was 24th titular Earl Cox, was Colonel of a regiment of horse for his late royal master, King Charles, of blessed memory, sparing no difficulties or expenses for the best of causes, but persisting in spite of all dangers in loyalty to his sovereign, as he sufficiently manifested in the late fight of Naseby, where he fell fighting for his king and country. Of whose soul Jesu have mercy.” His son Richard was a sufferer also for the royal cause, the greater part of his fortune being spent in the king's service. The rebel troops burnt down his house and destroyed his property, and he was declared by the Parliament guilty of high treason. His son, Sir John Cox, a naval officer, served with distinction during the reign of Charles. He was disgraced by the Commonwealth, but at the Restoration received the honour of knighthood, together with the command of the Prince man-of-war. At the outbreak of hostilities with the Dutch he was ap­pointed commander of His Majesty's fleet, and during the obstimately contended battle of Sole's Bay, while serving under the Duke of York, he was killed by a cannon ball, 28th May, 1672, in the 63rd year of his age. By his wife, a daughter of Samuel Delahay, Esq., he had an only son, Gabriel Cox, of Farmingham Lodge, Kent, who, like his ancestor, was conspicuous for his loyalty, aud at the abdication of James II., followed his king to France and advanced large sums of money to relieve his royal master's necessities. He was killed out hunting with the king in the forest of St Gerinain's, near which place he was buried, and an elegy was written to his memory by Sir Roger Lestrange.† The said Gabriel married Eliza­beth, daughter of Richard Snead, Esq., of Eaton Bishop, Herefordshire, by whom he had five sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Samuel, followed the profession of the law, and died suddenly at Farningham Lodge, in 1715. He married Alicia, daughter of Richard Kilby, Esq., of Souldern, and left two sons, Samuel, who suc­ceeded him in his estates, and Gabriel, who married Mary, daughter of Richard Walker, Esq., of Brailes, by whom he had two sons, Robert Kilby, who inherited his uncle's property, and Samuel, of Eaton Bishop. The latter married Sarah, daughter of George Duncombe, Esq., of Wonersh, in Surrey, and died January 21, 1840, in the 94th year of his age. His only son, Samuel Cox, M.D., who married Anne, daughter of Major Murdock McLean had four sons and seven daughters. The only sur­viving son Richard Snead is the present representative of the family, his heir presumptive being John Cox, of the Middle Temple. The fourth daughter, Anne Helen, married John Thomas Dolinan, Esq., M.D., of Pocklington, Yorkshire. This gentleman was directly descended (through the female line) from Sir Miles Stapleton, who, for eminent services was called to Parliament by writ of summons as Baron Stapleton, 1315. His descendants greatly dis­tinguished themselves in the various wars of the Plantagenets until, in consequence of a failure in the male line, the title became wested in Sir Thos. Metham, who had married Elizabeth, heiress of Sir Nicholas Stapleton, the ancestor of that Sir Thomas, killed at Marston Moor, sighting for his king. He left two daughters, one of them espoused Thomas Dolman, Esq., of Pocklington. Dr. Dolman, some years before his death, petitioned the Crown as heir of this marriage, for the confirmation of his right to the Barony of Stapleton, and the matter was referred to the Attorney-General, but no further steps were taken. Dr. Dolman left issue, two sons and a daughter.

† The wife of this Sir Roger Lestrange was a daughter of Sir Thomas Dolman.

Marmaduke Francis Cox

George T. Cox, and

Mary Helen Alicia, who married in 1857, the Hon. Bryan John Stapleton, brother of Miles Thomas, 8th Lord Beaumont.

Gough.

This family is undoubtedly of Welsh origin, and the name, originally spelt Gôch, signifying “the red,” was at an early period corrupted into its present form (see “Pennant's Tour” and “Roscoe's Wanderings”). At what time the Goughs set­tled in Oxfordshire we cannot discover, but it seems most probable that they obtained grants of land at the Heyfords, Steeple and Westcot Barton, and Souldern, upon the dissolution of the monas­teries in the reign of Henry VIII. In Brewer's Oxfordshire, p. 542, it is mentioned that several of the family are buried at Upper Heyford, and in Wing's Annals of Steeple and Westcot Barton, it is stated that “they held considerable property in those places as well as at the Heyfords and elsewhere in the neighbourhood, but many of their gravestones within Steeple Barton Church were cast aside in 1851. One, however, still exists to the memory of Lucie, wife of Ferdinando Gough, daughter of Thomas Marten, of Rousham, gent, who died in 1705. Her husband was also buried here on Christmas Day, 1727.” In the late Mr. Turner's annals of Oxford, from 1509–1583, the name frequently occurs, and in Beesley's “History of Banbury,” p. 246, John Gough, is mentioned in some letters patent of the Queen concerning the tithes, etc., of Grimsbury, Nethercote, and Over­thorpe, 30th Eliz., 9th February, 1589. In the same reign Richard Gough was a freeholder of Souldern, and in that capacity was a petitioner to the Court of Chaucery in 1613. He died and was buried in Souldern Church in 1638, and Ferdinando, his son, in 1664. The son of this Ferdinando Richard, married Anne Eeles¹, daughter of John Eeles, Esq., of Piddington, by Sarah, daughter of William Drope,* Esq., of Aynho, North­ampton­shire. He bought and enlarged a house at Souldern, formerly the property of the Cartwrights. His only son, Drope, succeeded him and married Anne, daughter of — Caulfield, Esq., of Witney. Their eldest son, Richard Drope, married Anne, daughter of — Linden, Esq., of Southam, Warwickshire, and left a numerous family; the eldest son being Richard Drope, who died in 1838. The only landed proprietor of the name in Souldern at the present time is John Hill Gough, of the Middle Temple, son of Charles third son of Richard Drope Gough, the elder.

¹ Editorial Note 2018, The details here appear to be incorrect and inconsistent with the church inscriptions listed earlier. Andrew Gough, using a Gough Family tree compiled by Graham Gough, informs us that Richard actually married an Elizabeth Bowers, in Dunns Tew in 1665. It was this Richard's son (born 1666), who is the one who married Sarah (not Anne) Eeles c 1683, being the daughter of John Eeles and Sarah Drope.

* The Dropes descended from John Drope, of Huntingdull (see Waterlow's History of Cornhill). This John Drope's sun Robert was alderman of London, and Lord Mayor in 1473. In the 10th Edward IV, he enlarged the conduit in Cornhill, and increased the cistern with an east end of stone castellated in a comely manner. He was knighted, and obtained a grant of arms from the king, “sable in a chief gulas, alion passant gardant.” He was buried on the north side of the choir of St. Michael's Church, under a fair tomb of grey marble, 1485. Jane, his widow, matching with Ed. Grey, Wiscount Lisle, second son of Lord Ferrers, of Groby, died in 1500, and was buried by her first husband (see Stowe's Survey of London, p. 72, 74). One of Sir Robert Drope's descendants, Thomas, B.D., was vicar of Banbury in the reign of Elizabeth (see Beesley's History of Banbury pp. 248, 255, 258.) Other members of the family resided at Neithrop, and Aynho until the death of William Drope, whose only child married John Eeles, as mentioned above. In the possession of the late Miss Gough was a curious old cabinet, also some apostle's spoons, which came into the family through Anne Eeles, and the coat of arms of Sir Robert Drope on vellum.