Conyers baronets

The Baronetcy of Conyers of Horden was created in the Baronetage of England on 14 July 1628 for John Conyers of Horden, County Durham.

Between 1099 and 1133 the then Bishop of Durham, Ralph Flambard, granted lands at Sockburn, in County Durham and Hutton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, to a Roger de Conyers. By the end of the 12th century the lands were divided between two branches of the Conyers family. The elder branch resided at Hutton Conyers, which passed to the Mallory family in 1347 after a Conyers daughter married a Mallory. The other branch was well established at Sockburn. Sockburn Hall was the family seat. The last male Conyers at Sockburn died in 1635, and his granddaughter sold the manor of Sockburn.

In the 16th century Richard Conyers of Hornby, a descendant of Sir Christopher Conyers of Sockburn, married the heiress of the Horden estate near Peterlee, County Durham, and Horden Hall became the family seat.

The second Baronet married Elizabeth Langhorne heiress to an estate at Charlton, Kent and his son, the third Baronet inherited that estate in 1714. The third Baronet had however married the Baldwin heiress to an estate at Great Stoughton, Huntingdonshire in 1675 and moved the family seat there.

After the death of the fourth Baronet, without a male heir, the Horden estate was sold and the Charlton estate passed by entail out of the immediate family. The Baronetcy passed to his cousin, Ralph Conyers of Chester le Street, who was a great grandson of the first Baronet. His sons succeeded as the sixth and seventh Baronets, his grandson George as eighth Baronet who upon his death, left the Baronetcy to be inherited by Thomas, a third son of Ralph's; Sir Thomas was the ninth and last Baronet. Sir Thomas, the great great grandson of the first Baronet, had failed to sire a son, only three daughters; Jane, Elizabeth and Dorothy. All three of Sir Thomas' daughters are listed in the 1841 Burke's Peerage as marrying "working men"; Jane Conyers (1756-1835) was the great great grandmother of Durham coal miner John Harrison (1874-1956).

Sir Thomas Conyers Bt. died on 15 April 1810 and thus the Baronetcy became extinct.

Conyers of Horden (1628)

• Sir John Conyers, 1st Baronet (died 1664)
• Sir Christopher Conyers, 2nd Baronet (1621–1693)
• Sir John Conyers, 3rd Baronet (1649–1719)
• Sir Baldwin Conyers, 4th Baronet (1681–1731)
• Sir Ralph Conyers, 5th Baronet (1697–1767)
• Sir Blakiston Conyers, 6th Baronet (died 1791)
• Sir Nicholas Conyers, 7th Baronet (1729–1796)
• Sir George Conyers, 8th Baronet (died c1800)
• Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet (1731–1810)

References

• A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England Ireland and Scotland 2nd Edition (1844)p127-9 John Burke and John Bernard Burke. Google Books
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets