Great Cornish families

Great Cornish families: a history of the people and their houses is a book by Crispin Gill, published in 1995.^[1] A second edition was published in 2011 (ISBN 978-0-85704-083-1). Crispin Gill, at the time of the book's publication, lived in Plymouth and was Assistant Editor of the Western Morning News.^[1][2] This article names many notable families that have featured prominently in Cornwall's history.

Gill's Great families

Gill chooses the following families:

• The great Arundells of Lanherne, Arundells of Trerice
• Bassets of Tehidy
• Merchant princes, the Bolithos^[3]
• Boscawens, the Lords Falmouth, Cornwall
• Carew Poles of Anthony
• Edgcumbes of Mount Edgcumbe House
• The Eliots, Earls of St Germans
• The Foxes of Falmouth
• Godolphins of Godolphin
• The Gallant Grenvilles
• The Piratical Killigrews, the Theatrical Killigrews
• Molesworth St Aubyns of Pencarrow
• Prideauxs of Padstow
• Rashleighs of Menabilly, The Rashleigh baronets
• Agar-Robarteses of Lanhydrock
• St Aubyns of St Michael's Mount
• Treffrys of Fowey
• Shall Trelawny die?
• The romantic Trevanions^[4]
• Vivians of Glynn^[5]
• Vyvyans of Trelowarren
• The Mining Williamses
• The Penroses of Killiow

Additional families

Gill's list of important families not included above

In the introduction to Great families . . . ,^{[1]:pp.i – iv} the following additional potentially great families are mentioned. They were not included in the list as they were deemed by him to have failed to "found a dynasty":

Buller family of Morval, Cornwall, later of Downes in Devon, founders of a great dynasty. Carminow family Coryton family of Pentillie[6] Fortescue family of Boconnoc Harvey family of Hayle Hawkins family of Trewithen Kendall of Pelyn

Lemon family of Carclew Roscarrock family of St Endellion Smith-Dorrien-Smith family of Tresco Tangye family Tremayne family of Heligan Trevelyan family

Other

• Trefusis of Trefusis Manor, Flushing, near Falmouth, see Baron Clinton

Deacon's list of important families

Bernard Deacon in his History of Cornwall (2007)^{[7] :pp.129–131} suggests the following family names ("merchant bourgeois" who joined the "gentry" from the latter part of the 18th century): Williams, Bolitho, Fox, Davey of Redruth, Daniell of Truro, Harvey of Gwennap, Foster of Lostwithiel.

Landowners

Table of Principal Cornish Landowners, mid-nineteenth century (ranked)

Lord Falmouth Lord Robartes G. M. Fortescue G. L. Basset Earl of Mount Edgcumbe C. H. T. Hawkins Sir R. R. Vyvyan Col. A. Tremayne Augustus Coryton

F. Rodd J. M. Williams J. J. Rogers Earl of St Germans Revd A. Molesworth-St Aubyn Sir J. Trelawney C. P. Brune Edward Coode Col. S. M. Grylls

Source: Returns of owners of land in England & Wales – House of Commons Sessional papers 1872-3: paper No. 1874 lixxii, quoted in Edwin Jaggard Cornwall politics in the age of reform 1790–1855, (1999).^[8]:pp160

Top landowners in Cornwall 1872*	Acres owned in Cornwall
Mr Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly, Par	30,156
Viscount Falmouth of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone, Kent	25,910
Lord Robartes MP of Lanhydrock, Bodmin	22,234
Mr Cyril Fortescue of Boconnoc, Lostwithiel	20,148
Mr Gustavus Basset of Tehidy Park, Redruth	16,969
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe MP of Mount Edgcumbe, Devonport	13,288
Mr Christopher Hawkins of Trewithen, Probus	12,119
Mr Francis Thynne of Haynes Park, Bedford	10,224
Rev Sir Vyell Vyvyan of Trelowarren, Helstone	9,738
Colonel Arthur Tremayne MP of Carclew, Perranarworthal	8,823

*(Source: Who owns Britain ? by Kevin Cahill) (Based on Return of Owners of Land, 1873)

See also

• Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
• High Sheriff of Cornwall
• Landed gentry
• Parliamentary representation from Cornwall
• Category:Cornish politicians
• Cornish heraldry

References

1. Crispin Gill (1995). Great Cornish families: a history of the people and their houses (1 ed.). Tiverton: Cornwall Books. ISBN 978-1-87106-025-6. OCLC 37989802.
2. Moseley, Brian (March 2011). "Ronald Crispin Gill (1916-2004)". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Plymouth Data. Archived from the original on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
3. The Bolitho family's growth to prominence started with Thomas Bolitho (1765–1868), they were initially tanners, who moved into lime-burning and tin smelting before becoming bankers. Their Bank eventually merged with Barclays in 1905. Gill cites the following references:
   • Cornish Magazine and Devon Miscellany
   • Matthews, W. P. History of Barclays Bank.
   • Pool, P. A. S. History of Penzance, 1974.
4. Trevanions: Gill cites as source: Rowse, A. L. The Byrons and Trevanions, 1978.
5. Glynn of the Vivian family: an estate to the east of Bodmin. It later became a centre for biological research.
6. Pentillie Castle described in Devonshire & Cornwall illustrated, from original drawings by T. Allom (1832) p.16-17, on Google Books.
7. Deacon, Bernard Cornwall: the Concise History, (The Histories of Europe series) University of Wales Press, (November 2007) ISBN 978-0-7083-2032-7 (hardback) 978-0-7083-2031-0 (paperback)
8. Jaggard, Edwin (1999) Cornwall Politics in the Age of Reform 1790–1855. London: Royal Historical Society/Boydell Press ISBN 0-86193-243-9