THE HISTORY

OF

THE DAYRELL FAMILY

From William the Conqueror to Victoria.

Secure vivere mors est.

CHAPTER I.

THE HOME OF THE DAYRELLS.

ILLINGSTONE DAYRELL, the seat of the elder branch of the Dayrell family, is situated in Buckinghamshire, about four-and-a-half miles north of the County town.

The Manor belonged in Saxon times to the Giffards, Earls of Buckingham, but was given by William the Conqueror to a Norman Knight named D'airel, who accompanied him on his first landing in England.

The name spelt thus "Darell" appears in the roll of Battle Abbey, amongst the Norman followers of the Conqueror, and is also in Doomsday Book. Beyond this mention, but little is known of the founder of the English branch of the Dayrells; it is, however, noteworthy that the name of the Norman follower

B

of Duke William, who accompanied his master in that invasion of England which resulted in conquest and the division of the rich Saxon lands between William and his Knights, is spelled in old Norman deeds as D'Ayrell of D'Ayrell Castle, four miles north of St. Lô, in the diocese of Coutances, département de la Manche, France; in the roll of Battle Abbey, is spelt Darell; in a deed of 1170, is signed Dayrell, in which way the name has continued to be written.

In 1300, the Dayrells became possessed of the fee-simple of the Manor of Lillingstone Dayrell, consisting of 800 acres of land with extensive seignorial rights of chase and forestry.

The Manor has continued in the family by lineal descent in the direct male line down to the present proprietor, Captain E. Marmaduke Dayrell, R.N., who is the 35th Lord of the Manor.

Lyson, the historian, says in his Magna Britannia:

"The family of Dayrell appears to be the only "one now existing in the male line, which is to "be found in the list of the gentle families of Bucks "of 1433, excepting the Grenvills, now Dukes of "Buckingham, and the Chetwodes, created Baronets, "but who no longer reside in the county of Buck"ingham, although they still hold land there."

In the second year of King John (1200) Richard, son of Elias Dayrell, was seized of a messuage and half a Knight's fee.

In 1300, we find Henry Dayrell, then Lord of the Manor, was disputed with for the lands, I presume on a mortgage, for Jolin de Foxley and Constance, his wife, impleaded Henry Dayrell for the Manor of Lillingstone, and says the Roll of Suffield Priory

"Henricus Dayrell in misericordia est."

About ten years after, Henry Dayrell having agreed with Foxley and his wife, recovered the Manor.

After which we hear no more of Foxley or any other Claimants, and so the Manor seems from this time, for 685 years, to have rested in this family and acquired its second name from this family, Lillingstone Dayrell.

CHAPTER II.

CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE.

It is proper to notice that Lipscombe, the great historian of Buckinghamshire, gives a different version of this Dayrell family's origin.

In the 3rd Vol. of his history, page 660, he states, mentioning one Roger, in the time of Edward the Confessor :

"This Roger is presumed to have been one of "the family of Dayrell; for they may be traced "back beyond all existing records as resident on "the Estate. Everything is vague and uncertain

"until William Darell, a gentleman from the North

part of Normandie, so called from a Castle, in that "Countrie, coming into England with William the "Conqueror, was by him for several services done "in the North, as well as pacifying the Rebellion of "the Yorkshire men, as in resisting the Scotch that "came to aid them, not only made Knight of the "City of York after the burning of it, but also "endowed with the possessions of a Saxon called "Ethelred of Bradsworth.

"This Sir William had issue, William, knighted "by King Henry the First, and made Constable of "the Castle of York."

DOROTHY DANVERS OF COLETHORPE ..Wife of THOS. DAYRELL.

MARGARET (Daughter of Home,

Bishop of Winchester)

ANNE (Niece of Richard, Viscount Cobham and Marquess of Buckingham, Co-heiress of the Temple family)....

}

66

SIR THOS. DAYRELL.

66

RICHARD DAYRELL, D.D.

Extracted from Somerset Herald at Arms.

Ralph Dayrell, the husband of the heiress of the De Brays, made good use of his money, giving largely to Luffield Abbey, also building a Chapel to St. Thomas the Martyr, on a distant part of the estate, far from the Parish Church of St. Nicholas,