This branch of the
Smyth family is also the lineage of
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) another celebrated
descendant of William Smyth of Ireland as confirmed in
the book 'Smythe of Barbavilla' by family
historian, Stephen Penny who also
descends from this Durham/Yorkshire line. Dame Ethel's descent, according to Stephen Penny, was from a Smyth who returned to England in a later era. Click on the image of Dame Ethel Smyth for an article about her public life and a link which leads to more information on her family. A first cousin to Dame Ethel Smyth was Nina Caroline Sarah Smyth (born in 1859) and the following information comes from a direct descendant of hers, Julie (Neal) Summers, to whom gratitude is extended for drawing attention to this line and for making her research available to this site and which is further explored here. Julie states that Nina C. S. Smyth's father was the Reverend Hugh Blagg Smyth, born in 1822. Hugh Blagg Smyth and Dame Ethel Smyth's father, Major General J. H. Smyth, were siblings. Hugh Blagg Smyth's father is named as Edward Smyth who married Sarah Pickford on 22nd. May 1806 at Prestbury in Cheshire. Sarah was of the Pickford's transport company family. In the early years of their marriage, she and Edward Smyth held nearby Birches Farm and oversaw the operation of the Manchester to Leek vehicles and stables at Poynton for the family firm. John Pickford was Sarah's father. Edward's father was Thomas Smyth - a banker and landowner - who was born circa 1738 and who died in 1824. This was Thomas Smyth, Lord Mayor of Liverpool who married Eliza (Elizabeth) Blagg. Site Note: The following entry applies to a list of Mayors of Macclesfield and is probably one and the same Edward Smyth/e who married Sarah Pickford in 1806, given that his father, Thomas, had been a Mayor of Liverpool in the closing years of the previous century. Edward eventually followed his father into banking.
The following is a brief excerpt from a comprehensive study of the area - Chapter 8, entitled " Road and Canal Transport and Traffic: Pickfords, a Local Carrying Firm" - from: Poynton A Coalmining Village; social history, transport and industry 1700 - 1939, by W.H.Shercliff, D.A.Kitching and J.M.Ryan, published by W.H.Shercliff, 1983. ISBN 0 9508761 0 0 - Further deatils can be accessed via the link.
Where Ireland had "Smyth of the Gates" so England had "Smyth of the Fence" for Thomas Smyth and Eliza Blagg lived at the Fence House, in Macclesfield and, according to notes written by Julie (Neal) Summers' great uncle, Michael Livesley - which were "taken from a genealogical study carried out in 1893 by Dame Ethel Smyth, daughter of General John Smyth of Frimhurst, Farnborough, Hants" - Edward Smyth (Dame Ethel's grandfather) became at one time Director of "the Norwich branch of the Bank of England". This may suggest a connection with the Smyth/e and Smith families of Norfolk treated on this site. Especially significant is that there is a Dickens Lane and a "Dickens" estate mentioned in documentation associated with this Macclesfield (Poynton) area - qv the sigfnificance of Dickens family via this Smyth/e Norfolk research link. The names of Dickens and Smyth (as well as the family name Thorpe) are interlinked in Norfolk; additionally, John Hall Smyth (brother of Hugh Blagg Smyth and father of Dame Ethel) was married in that same county in 1849. From the British Public Records Office A2A database comes this reference, contained in the records of the law firm Hand, Morgan and Owen of Lichfield, Staffordshire. Perhaps this was the local Dickens family and, as for many in the area, cotton was the staple of their wealth.
The lineage of the Smyth family of the Fence House - as given by Julie's great uncle - begins with William Smyth, "the first settler" in Ireland who moved from Rosedale Abbey in the early 1600s. There are some inconsistencies which require investigation but there is no reason to doubt the progenitors as being the Smyth family of Rosedale since the expertise and detailed research sources of Stephen Penny quite independently confirm that Dame Ethel Smyth was "a celebrated descendant" of William Smyth. “Perhaps William’s most celebrated descendant was Dame Ethel Smyth, D.B.E., [1922]" declares Stephen Penny, in his 1974 privately printed (200 copies) family genealogy "Smythe of Barbavilla". Details in this book come courtesy of Canon Ronald Smythe, brother of Patricia (Pat) Smythe, the pioneering female Olympic show jumper.
Michael Livesley writes: "I have been able to trace our family through ten generations ... and this shows how Edward married Miss Pickford." The following is a site analysis based on his lineage notes.
Michael Livesley explains:
Michael Livesley concludes, mentioning that there was also a portrait of General J.H. Smyth in oils, painted by Jonquière - head and shoulders, aged about 30. The owner is stated to be Mrs. Hutchinson, Owthorpe, Bournmouth. "There are many other pictures and items mentioned in the study but not directly concerned with our side of the family" Besides Nina Smyth (b. 1859), the Reverend Hugh Blagg Smyth had a son, Hugo William Nairne Scott Smyth who was born at Littlehampton. In 1888, Nina (Caroline Sarah) Smyth married Harry Clifford who was, by 1895, a Minor Canon at Worcester Cathedral. From this marriage, a daughter - Nina Smyth Clifford - married William Arthur Livesley (1918) and they had a daughter, Bettine Livesley. She married (1944) Glanville Percy Ralph Neal from whom Julie (Neal) Summers descends.
Notes and analysis ... Thomas Smyth's Will
The witnesses to the Will were John Dawkins and Thomas Grimsdike. The will was signed "Tho. Smythe" with the letter e being clearly written and used. The Daintrys and Ryles were prominent Macclesfield families - further details may be found on the Smyth of Cheshire page of this site - and it may be seen there that the Ryles and Smyths (or more precisely, the Blaggs, through Eliza's family) were kin. With the name John Smith Daintry in the Will, the Smyths (Smiths) would also appear to have been kin to the Daintrys. Eliza (Blagg) Smyth had predeceased her husband by some ten years and in his Will, Thomas Smyth leaves everything to his two sons. But, interestingly enough, no mention is made in the Will of the actual Estate - the "Fence House" itself - other than to instruct that William Smyth should pay off debts associated with repairs carried out on the property at some previous date "otherwise for the advantage of my said sons Estates". It must be asked, therefore, whether Fence House was, in fact, actually owned by Thomas Smyth at the time of his death. It is more likely that William Smyth had already become the owner of the estate and was enjoying the incomes and rents at Cambridge and received "all the plate I have either at the Fence House or at the Bank of Messrs. Daintry Ryle and Company and also a pair of diamond earrings which were his mothers" whilst Edward was the beneficiary of "everything else". Julie Summers' information concludes:
On Julie Summers' copy of the tithings (this process is believed to have been carried out in 1841) for the Fence House Estate, the owner is noted as being William Smythe (with an e). This, presumably, would have been Edward Smyth's brother - the Cambridge professor - who died in 1849. As has been seen, Edward seems to have had extensive interests elsewhere, in banking. William Smyth was the owner of some 70 parcels in all. Occupying the Smyth land were the following: Thomas Brocklehurst, Thomas Barnes, Len (or Lea?) Foden and Thomas Roylance, Thomas Ollerenshaw and then, leased by John Brown but held by Francis Sherratt and others, part 172, leased by Thomas Ollerenshaw, held by William Beard and others, part 173, leased by Robert Hammond, held by Edward Hammond and another, part 174 and leased by James Harrison and also held by Thomas Goulden and others, part 175. Also named as holding Smyth land are Samuel Harding, James Martin and David Hill. A Plantation and reservoir was not encumbered but remained "in hand" while the Trustees of Macclesfield National School are named - as Lessees of a portion (#171) that was also "in hand". Finally, there was a James Brown who is recorded as being the most extensive holder, being associated with some 24 parcels. Neighbouring parcels to the Smyth land belonged to Edward, Earl of Derby, whose property was occupied by John Booth (4 parcels) and by John Barnes (5 parcels). Since Professor William Smyth died (dsp) in 1849, it is presumed that the property would have reverted to the line of his brother, Edward Smyth and the sons, Hugh and John. In that latter generation 'the Fence' was sold by John Hall Smyth as indicated by Dame Ethel Smyth, his daughter, in her auto-biographical writing.
Further analysis and research reveals ... There is an Ancestry.com record of the birth of an Ethel Mary Julie Smyth registered in the December quarter of 1861 at Thrapston which area is mainly in Northamptonshire but also includes parts of Huntingdonshire. (see below) It may (or may not) be significant that when (Reverend Benjamin) James Francis Smythe moved from his Baptist pastorate at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire (1883-1896) to Small Heath in Birmingham in 1896, his daughter, Helen Smythe (born c. 1873) chose to move to Long Buckby in Northamptonshire. Long Buckby is in census area 165 and Thrapston in area 161 for the 1891 census. Could it be that Helen Smythe removed to stay with a cousin Smyth/e family of Long Buckby - so near to Thrapston as it is? This same Ethel M. J. Smyth shows up living at 'Firwood' in Chalford, Gloucestershire at the 1901 census, stating her age at 39 'last birthday', single and with her father as head of the household. She records she was born at Woodford, Northampton and that she is living on her own means. It is it perhaps also significant that Arthur Smyth, Archbishop of Dublin in the 1700s was married to Elizabeth Bonfoy (died 14 July 1761) who was the daughter of Nicholas Bonfoy of Abbot Ripton, Huntingdonshire. Huntingdon and Northampton share close ties and borders. There must surely have been a Smyth to Smyth family connection between Dublin and Hunts./Northants. This "Smith Forum" message seems to be particularly significant as it includes a Pickford family name associated with Smith (Smyth) of Long Buckby. Information pending. Further from the records of the law firm Hand, Morgan and Owen of Lichfileld, Staffordshire, courtesy of A2A (PRO) UK.
With regard to Pickering
family mentioned above: The reference has no date but
there is also a reference to a Pickering
family marriage with
Manners in which William Manners b1734
and d. 1827 m. Caroline Pickering. This
William Manners was a son of Lord William Manners and
Corbetta Smyth, daughter of William Smyth, Apothecary of
Shrewsbury.
The Local area and the Blagg connection - These Halls are in the vicinity of the former Fence House: Adlington Hall - Macclesfield | Arley Hall - Northwich | Gawsworth Hall - Macclesfield | Capesthorne Hall - Macclesfield. Here may be found the history of a number of local families and much about the history of the area. During the 18th Century, many Halls and Manors all over England - such as Capesthorpe Hall - as well as public and civic buildings of note, were designed and/or built by Francis and William Smith - known as 'Smiths of Warwick'. They were the sons of a bricklayer from Tettenhall near Wolverhampton. Their accomplishments were legendary and their skills and contacts were much in demand. There is a note mentioning Lord Mayor Thomas Smyth in the Bridgewater Archives (Archives of Francis Egerton, 3rd. Duke of Bridgewater (the canal Duke) - see page 3 dated 12 April 1790 - located at the University of Salford's Clifford Whitworth Library, Salford Manchester in England). This is an Adobe Acrobat Reader .pdf file. The software (and updates) may be downloaded here. There is also a tantalising snippet in (PRO) Middlesex (London) County Records which states:-
This William Smyth and "Blagg" are connected in London as opposed to Cheshire but ... the co-incidence is attractive. It must be assumed that Mr Blague, associated above with Sir William Smythe was a relative/descendant of the Robert Blague mentioned below who seems to have married twice into the same family. This family is also linked with Beaufort and Beauchamp - significant in that the period of the Wars of the Roses and the early Tudor era placed the Smyth/e family and the Neville family in close association. The Nevilles and the Beauforts and Beauchamps were high ranking and powerful families of the day. 'Warwick the Kingmaker' was a Neville. Margaret Nevill - a direct descent from John of Gaunt and of the Nevill(e) family that was so closely associated with the Smyth family of Yorkshire and Rosedale Abbey - was from Raby. She died 30 Sep 1506 in Cobham, Kent. She married John Brooke, son of Edward Brock Brooke and Elizabeth Touchet. John was born 1447 in Cowling, Kent. He died 9 Mar 1512. - Source John Brooke and Margaret Nevill had the following children:
There is an internet mention of a Col. Thomas Blague, Groom of The Chamber to Charles II - whose daughter, Mary (1633-1688) 'was a Maid of Honour to Anne, Duchess of York - and disliked by the French diarist, (Count) de Grammont, because of her "paupières blondes" (blond eyelashes).' She married Adam Colclough. See Chapter VI of The Colclough Family by John Nicholas Colclough of Cuffesborough, Ballacolla, Laois in Ireland - a work commenced by his late father - and which charts a most comprehensive history of the different eras in which the Smyth/e families of England and Ireland also operated as key (as well as lesser) players. Another Blague daughter, Margaret, married into the Godolphin family. She died in childbirth and was burried in Cornwall. A Thomas Blagge was born in Suffolk in about 1626 (according to LDS IGI). He married in 1655 Mary North. Their daughter is listed as Margaret Blagge. It states that she was born in 1652. She died in 1678, aged 26. Additional note on Thomas Blague ...groom of the bed-chamber to Charles I. and Charles II., colonel of a regiment of foot, and Governor of Wallingford during the Civil War, and Governor of Yarmouth and Landguard Fort, after the Restoration. The following story is told of Blague - "Worcester fight was on September 3, 1651; the king was defeated, and fled, escaping, thanks to a stand made by Wogan, and to the loyalty of Mistress Jane Lane, and of many other faithful adherents. A jewel of Charles's, the lesser George, was preserved by Colonel Blague, who intrusted it to Mr. Barlow of Blore Pipe House, in Staffordshire. Mr. Barlow gave it to Mr. Milward, a Royalist prisoner in Stafford, and he, in turn, intrusted it to Walton, who managed to convey it to Colonel Blague in the Tower. The colonel escaped, and the George was given back to the king. Ashmole, who tells the story, mentions Walton as 'well beloved of all good men.' This incident is, perhaps, the only known adventure in the long life of old Izaak." (Izaac Walton was of Stafford.)
In about 1655, a Thomas Blagg was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire. He married (20 May, 1680) Mary Hall at Prestbury in Cheshire. A later generation Smyth (John H. Smyth, father of Dame Ethel Smyth) had the second name Hall. Mary Hall was born in Macclesfield in about 1659. A Search for a male Blagg descended from this marriage with a daughter Elizabeth Blagg would provide the answer to that lineage link!
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Pickfords family - carriers and
removers.