Whitfield family

This article is about the English Whitfield family. For the American cadet branch, see Whitfield family of the United States. For other uses, see Whitfield (disambiguation).

The Whitfield family was a landowning Norman family in present-day United Kingdom; the family was seated at Whitfield Hall in Northumberland. The area was granted by William, King of Scotland in the twelfth century. The family derives its name from the old English hwit-feld, meaning open white lands.

Background

Above: King Edward and Earl Leofric of Mercia see the face of Christ appear in the Eucharist wafer; below: the return of a ring given to a beggar who was John the Baptist in disguise. 13th century abridgment of Domesday Book

The family starts with Leofric, the Earl of Leicester around 750, followed by Algar, the first, living in 790, buried at Crowland in Lincolnshire. His son, Algar, the second, living in 820, follows who was slain by the Danes c. 867 and buried at Crowland. Next was Leofric, the second, living in 880, followed by Leofwine, Ealdorman of the Hwicce. Then followed Leofric III, Earl of Mercia, brother of Northman, son of Leofwine, who jointly with his lady were founders of the Holy Trinity Church, Coventry in which he was buried, married Lady Godiva, the sister and heiress of Thorold, the Sheriff of Lincolnshire. Later, descent followed Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia who married the sister of Sir William Mallett. Tradition chronicles the line following still from Lucia, sole heiress of her brothers, Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria who married Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester and after the death of his cousin Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Ranulph was great grandson of Leofwine, Earl of Mercia, and married the daughter of Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester.

A daughter, Ibena d'Strivers, followed and thereafter yet, Ada de Engaine, sister and sole heir of William, her brother, who succeeded his father, but died without issue before 1157, married Simon de Morvill, the son of Hugh de Morville, Lord of Cunningham who had control of all Engaine's lands in 1157. Had issue, Roger de Morvill father of Maud Morvill married William de Vipont of Westmorland. Her brother, Hugh de Morville, Lord of Westmorland was one of the assassins who slew Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1171. His son, Robert de Vipont, High Sheriff of Westmorland by grant of King John in 1203 married Idonia de Buslie, only issue and heir of John de Buslie, Lord of Maltby, whose ancestor, Roger de Buslie, Lord of Tickhill, came to England with William I of England. Son, John de Vipont, Sheriff of Westmorland married Sibill, who was the daughter and coheir of William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby. Their child, Robert de Vipont, Sheriff of Westmorland, was slain at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and he was married to Isabel Fitz-Piers, whose father was John Fitzgeoffrey, the son of Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex and grandson of Roger de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, married Isabel Bigod whose grandfather Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk married Maud Marshal the daughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke who was the Lord Marshal of England and his wife Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke.

At this time, Isabel Vipont, eldest daughter married Roger de Clifford, 2nd Baron de Clifford and then Richard Whitfield, Lord of Whitfield Hall in Whitfield, Northumberland who died in 1331. The family had by then, expanded the estates in Northumberland, Durham and Cumberland to Norfolk and Sussex. Richard Whitfield, of Whitfield Hall living in 1332, was father of Robert de Whitfield, of Whitfield Hall, living 1370. His son, Matthew de Whitfield, was father of John Whitfield, who married Alice, the daughter of Sir John Milford, of Mitford Castle in Northumberland. Next came, Sir Matthew Whitfield, of Whitfield Hall, High Sheriff of Northumberland who married Margaret, the daughter of Sir John de Lancaster, of Howgill and Rydall, a relative of William de Lancaster I. Their son, William Whitfield, married to the sole heiress of Randle Holme of Alston Moor in Cumberland, in turn had son, William Whitfield. His son, John Whitfield, living 1480 had married Ann, the only daughter of Sir William Hilton, of Hylton Castle. Son Richard Whitfield, and grandson, Ralph Whitfield, followed as owners of Whitfield Hall.

Miles Whitfield, of Newtonbury in Alston Moor, Cumberland, married Matilda. His brother, John Whitfield, of Whitfield Hall was the ancestor of Matthew Whitfield who sold Whitfield Hall and estate to William Ord of Fenham sometime after 1730. Miles' son, Robert Whitfield, left Cumberland and settled at Wadhurst in Sussex, where he became an ironmaster. By his second marriage to Agnes Giles he was father of Robert Whitfield (born between 1517-1518), who married Ann, daughter of George and Rose Roberts, and then Agnes Atwood. This Robert was an ironmaster at Worth in Sussex, where he acquired the estate of Rowfant and built the mansion Rowfant House.

Rowfant House

His son Thomas Whitfield, who was born about mid 1545, studied at Oxford University and at the Inner Temple, qualifying as an advocate. He married Mildred Manning (said to be a descendant of Geoffrey Chaucer). Their younger son Henry Whitfield, born about 1591, was a founder of Guilford, Connecticut in the American colonies where he built the Henry Whitfield House, the oldest stone house in New England and Connecticut.

Miles' grandson John Whitfield, born about 1520, settled at Tenterden in Kent and his descendants continued the Whitfield line, which includes the eminent lawyer Sir Ralph Whitfield (1588-1645) and his son Sir Herbert Whitfield (1617-1677).

Bibliography

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