Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet

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Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet (22 June 1593 – 26 October 1671) was a Parliamentarian politician and military figure in the English Civil War.

The Gell family were important land-owners in the Wirksworth/Hopton area for over 500 years, and the article concludes with some other notable members of the family.

Contents 1 Background 2 Politics 2.1 First Civil War 2.2 Post Civil War 3 Other notable Gells 4 References

[edit] Background

He was born to Thomas Gell and Millicent Sacheverell in Hopton Hall in Derbyshire. His father owned a large estate in the Wirksworth area, largely based on extensive interest in the lead industry, which included possession of the lead tithes in the mines of Bakewell, Hope and Tideswell and smelting and mine owning in Wirksworth. His father died shortly before the birth of a second son in 1594 and his mother married John Curzon, of Kedleston Hall, soon afterwards. Until his return to Hopton in 1620, Gell lived with his mother and stepfather at Kedleston. This proved significant to his later political career as he formed a close relationship with his stepbrother, John Curzon, who became an influential Member of Parliament (MP). Gell was married in 1611, at the age of 15, to Elizabeth Willoughby, daughter of Sir Percival Willoughby of Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire.

In 1624 Gell was appointed captain of foot in the trained bands, or militia, in the hundreds (administrative areas) of High Peak and Scarsdale. During a decade or more as a militia captain Gell learned how the military was organised in Derbyshire. He became familiar with the rank and file and their officers and with the minutiae of training and command. This knowledge and expertise was soon to be put to use.

[edit] Politics

Gell's next public appointment was shared with his brother, Thomas, who was a well-connected barrister in London. This was the office of Receiver and Supervisor of the Honour of Tutbury, granted in 1632 successively, for life, to Thomas, and to John and his son, John Gell the younger. The Honour of Tutbury was the name given to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire estates of the Duchy of Lancaster, a royal possession, and Thomas was responsible for collecting Duchy rents and dues, including fees payable whenever a Duchy tenancy was transferred by sale or inheritance. Armed with a schedule of property on which inheritance fees were outstanding, Thomas Gell ordered that defaulters' property should be seized in lieu of unpaid Duchy rents. At a time when the king, Charles I, was governing without a Parliament, and was desperately short of money, the Gells' revenue raising earned them Royal favour. John Gell was rewarded by appointment to the post of High Sheriff of Derbyshire for the year 1635.

Gell's year as High Sheriff was politically important because one of his duties was to raise the tax known as Ship Money,levied for the first time in 1635. Ship Money had previously been levied on coastal towns and its extension to inland areas caused resentment which contributed toward the gathering estrangement between Charles I and Parliament. In Derbyshire Gell set about raising the tax with a thoroughness which made him many personal enemies, especially among those of his own class, who paid the highest rates. Gell was ruthless in using "distraint" - confiscation of assets - against non-payers, and succeeded in raising more for the king than subsequent sheriffs. Gell's record of service to the crown was rewarded by the grant of a baronetcy in 1642.

[edit] First Civil War

The honour may have been designed to secure Gell's loyalty to the Crown in the conflict with Parliament which by then seemed inevitable. However Gell, a Presbyterian, was opposed to the king's attempts to reform the church on High Church lines and to his political absolutism, and chose Parliament. He was commissioned as Colonel to raise a regiment in Derbyshire and throughout the First English Civil War, between 1642 and 1646, managed to maintain the county's allegiance to Parliament. Units of his regiment fought engagements in the neighbouring counties of Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire and took part in the siege of Chester. Among the more important engagements in which the Derbshire troops were involved were the siege of Lichfield and the Battle of Hopton Heath, in which the royalists suffered the loss of the Earl of Northampton. Gell was appointed Governor of Derby in 1643.

[edit] Post Civil War

Gell had an irascible nature and a dictatorial way with both his regiment and his colleagues in the county administration which made enemies and provoked complaints to Parliament. He also became disaffected with the Parliamentary commanders in the Northern and East Midlands regions and was out of sympathy with the political direction taken by the regime which emerged after the king's surrender in 1646. A further cause of disillusionment for Gell was Parliament's reluctance to compensate him for losses he incurred in fighting the war. In 1646 his regiment was disbanded and he was relieved of all appointments; two years later he moved permanently to London, having previously transferred his estate to his son John.

In London he made contact with the king, asking pardon for his part in the war and making a gift of £300. In 1650 he was tried and found guilty of misprision of treason, in other words of knowing of a royalist plot and not revealing it to the authorities. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and confiscation of his estates. The authorities were thwarted in their attempt to confiscate the Hopton estate since John Gell the younger was able to prove its transfer to himself. Gell was imprisoned in the Tower of London but released in 1653 on grounds of ill health; he took no further part in politics during the Commonwealth period. He was pardoned by Charles II at the Restoration in 1660 and given an appointment at the royal court.

Gell's wife Elizabeth had died in 1644 and in December 1647 Gell had remarried. His second wife was Mary Stanhope, widow of one of his Derbyshire enemies, Sir John Stanhope of Elvaston. Gell had harried Stanhope for payment of Ship Money and, according to another of his enemies, had defaced the Stanhope monument in Elvaston church and had wrecked Mary Stanhope's garden under a pretext of searching for arms. This unlikely alliance lasted less than a year and the couple separated in late 1648. Mary died in 1653. Gell died in 1671 and his body was carried in procession back to Wirksworth where he was buried in the church there.

[edit] Other notable Gells

Wirksworth Grammar School was founded (circa 1576) by Anthony Gell (d 1583). The modern comprehensive school is now called the Anthony Gell School.

Via Gellia - Philip Gell, of Hopton, (1723-1795), was the grandson of Katherine Gell, sister of the third and last baronet, Sir Philip, and her husband William Eyre. Their son John assumed the Gell name in 1730, after the death of Katherine's sister Temperance. Philip is credited with opening the road from Grangemill to Cromford called Via Gellia in the late 18th century. The road connected the family's extensive lead-mining interests around Wirksworth with a new smelter in Cromford. (Some sources indicate its use by the Gells as early as 1720 to transport stone from the Hopton area).

The road, which winds scenically up a narrow wooded steep-sided 'dry valley', is now the eastern part of the A5012.

The Gell family is one of the oldest families in England with a tradition of service in the Army, Navy, Parliament and the Church. The earliest record of the name is that of a Robert Gyll who was a juror at an inquest in nearby Wirksworth in 1209, in the reign of King John. In 1371, Robert Gyle de Hopton is recorded as having leased land in the village. His son, Ralph, is mentioned as Tenant in Chief and named as being among the 'Gentry of Derbyshire'. He died in 1433, leaving a son, John Gelle. John died in 1471, leaving two sons, Ralph and Thomas, who spelt the name Gell and it has remained that way ever since.

It is recorded that Ralph Gell 'held the whole of the township of Hopton and that all the people of the township were his tenants'. He died in 1508 and was succeeded by his son, John, who died in 1521, leaving a son, another Ralph Gell, who acquired more land including Rocester Abbey, Darley Abbey and the Royal Manor of Hollands or Richmonds. This manor had previously been granted to the Hollands and the Lancastrian Earls of Derby and Richmond.

Ralph Gell married twice and had two sons, Anthony and Thomas, by his first wife. Anthony, the elder, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth 1. He was a Bencher of the Inner Temple and built the east wing of Hopton Hall. He also built the Almshouses and a free school in Wirksworth. It was to Anthony that the grant of Arms - blazoned party per bend azure and or, three mullets of six points in bend pierced counterchanged and the crest on a wreath, a greyhound, statant, sable collared or - was made in 1575. Anthony died in 1579 and was succeeded by Thomas, who is recorded as having given £50 to the Spanish Armada Defence Fund.

His brother Thomas Gell married Millicent Sacheverell, daughter of - Sir Ralph Sacheverell, an ancestress of Lord Scarsdale, and their elder son, John became famous during the civil wars. John Gell was born in 1593 and matriculated as a commoner of Magdallen College, Oxford, but left the university before taking a degree. He was married for the first time when aged only 16 to Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Percival Willoughby of Woolaton, Nottinghamshire, and succeeded to Hopton on reaching his majority, the hall having stood empty for the previous 19 years. In 1636, he became Sheriff of Derbyshire and in 1641, he was created a baronet by Charles 1.

However, John was a strong Parliamentarian and disagreed with the way the King wished to rule without Parliament, so, he took the side of Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads against the King's Cava liers. Together with the Earl of Essex, he raised a regiment of foot for the Parliament and occupied and defended Derby, being appointed governor of the town in 1643. Sir John's soldiers were described as 'good, stout-fighting men, but the most licentious, ungovernable wretches that be longed to the Parliament. He himself nor no man knows for what reason he chose that side, for he had not understanding enough to judge the equity of the cause, nor piety, nor holiness, being a foul adulterer all the time he served the Parliament, and so unjust that without any remorse he suffered his men to plunder both honest men and Cavaliers'.

Whatever Sir John's moral defects may have been, he was one of the most active commanders in the service of the Parliament. He captured many of the fortified homes of the Royalists, held Derby throughout the war and greatly contributed to the maintenance of Leicester and Nottingham. The most notable of his services were his share in the capture of Lichfield and in the Battle of Hopton Heath on 19 March, 1643. In revenge, Royalists sacked Hopton Hall in 1644.

In July, 1645, Sir John was in command of 1,500 local horse and might have intercepted the King's troops in their flight from Naseby to Leicester. His neglect to do so gave rise to grave suspicions and charges of misconduct as a military commander were brought against him and in 1650, he was accused of taking part in plots against the Commonwealth and committed to the Tower of London. He was -subsequently found guilty of treason and condemned to forfeit his personal estate and the rents of his lands for life. However, three years later, he obtained a full pardon and was released. He died in 167 1, aged 79, and was buried at Wirksworth where his tomb was attacked and destroyed. Only the brass tablet with his name on it remains to his memory.

Sir John's younger brother, Thomas, also served the Parliamentary Army with distinction as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was a Bencher on the Inner Temple, a barrister and a Member of Parliament for Derby. Sir John's second wife was Lady Mary Stanhope, the widow of his rival, Sir John Stanhope of Elvaston, Derbyshire, and their son became the second Sir John Gell, a justice of the Peace, M.P. for Derbyshire from 1671-1689 and High Sheriff of Derby in 1673, in the reign of Charles 11. He married Katherine Packer of Donnington Castle in 1640 and the couple had a son, Philip, who became the third baronet on his father's death in 1689.

Sir Philip succeeded to Hopton in 1689, the same year that he became M.P. for Derbyshire. He built the four almshouses in Hopton and travelled to Turkey, bringing back with him a number of Arab horses with which he started a stud at Hopton. He was also High Sheriff of Derby and married Elizabeth Fagg, daughter of Sir John Fagg of Wiston, Sussex, but there was no issue.

On Sir Philip's death in 1719, the estate passed to his sister, Miss Temperance Gell, a much loved lady who founded a school in the village and built a house for the school mistress. She died in 1730 and as she had no direct heir, Hopton went to her brother's son, John Eyre, who assumed the name of Gell. He had been apperinted High Sheriff of Derby in 1691 and had married Isabella Jessop, daughter of judge William Jessop in 1721. They had six children and on his death, in. 1738, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Philip Eyre Gell.

Philip Gell married a poetess, Dorothy Milne in 1774. The couple had a son, born in 1776, and he died in 1795. Philip Gell also had a brother, John Gell, who became famous as an Admiral of the Blue and was known as 'Fighting Gell'. He was a Lieutenant in the Navy in 1760 and a Commander two years later. In 1766, he was posted to HMS Launceston of 44 guns going out to North America as the flag ship of Vice Admiral Durell who died within a few months of taking command of the station. Gell, however, remained with the ship and in 1776 was appointed to the frigate 'Thetis' also on the North America station.

In 1780, he was appointed to the 'Monarca' a- fine 70-gun ship captured from the Spaniards by Sir George Rodney. He was sent to the West Indies under the. orders of Sir Samuel Hood, but the ship was dismasted in a violent storm and compelled to return to England. After a refit, he took the Monarca to the East Indies where, as- one of a squadron, he took part in five engagements with the French, before returning to England in 1784.

During the Spanish armament in 1790, Gell commanded the 'Excellent' and in 1793, he was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral. He was then ordered out to the Mediterranean with his flag in the 'St. George' in command of a squadron of four ships of the line and a frigate. On the way, off the coast of Portugal, they fought and captured a French privateer convoying a Spanish treasure ship, the 'Santiago' which she had taken a few days before. The Spanish ship was of immense value and her capture was said to have been one of the principal causes of the war between Spain and England.

Gell's squadron subsequently took part in the occupation of Toulon and was then sent to Genoa where he captured a French frigate, the 'Modeste' after what was described as slight opposition when a volley of musket fire killed one and wounded eight Frenchmen. French writers represented this as a massacre and this was used to excuse their butchery in cold blood of the crew of the English merchant brig 'Peggy' nearly a year later. Gell became Vice-Admiral in 1794 and Admiral in 1799. He died in 1806 and there is a portrait of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds at Greenwich Naval Museum.

When Philip Gell died in 1795, he was succeeded by his son, also called Philip, who re-modelled Hopton Hall, joining the two Elizabethan wings together with a flagade of an arch and adding the large dining room. He also built a writing room for his wife, Georgina, at the far end of the house. In 1822, he was appointed High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire. He was also a JP and MP and raised and commanded a troop of the Derbyshire Yeomanry.

Philip Gell decided the main road past the house was too near to his property so he realigned it and built the high ribbon wall with six curves (see photograph below) to the north of the kitchen garden. He also instructed the builders to con struct a summer house with a view over the garden and to go on building until he told them to stop.

He then drove off to Westminster in his coach and due to a delay, on his return, the summer house had reached two storeys! (also pictured below). He was also responsible for building a road called the Via Gellia, primarily to cart lead from his mines at Hopton to be washed at the water wheel at Cromford. While the road was being built, a funerary urn was unearthed by a workman which contained human remains. It was inscribed with the name Philipus Gellius, Centurian 111 Cohort. Philip Gell died in 1842.

This Philip Gell had a famous brother, Sir William Gell, who was a classical archaeologist and traveller.

When Philip Gell died in 1842, he left his youngest daughter and only surviving child, Isabella, a life interest in Hopton with the remainder, after 21 years, to his old friend Henry Chandos-Pole, providing he assumed the name of Gell. Isabella had married William Pole Thornhill in 1828, but when her father died, she resumed the name of Gell and she and her husband went to live at Hopton. William Pole Gell became a J.P. and was M.P. for Derby from 1856-1868. However, she renounced the interest in Hopton and its contents were sold. The house was then let for seven years until 1849 and it stood empty for the next 14 years until 1863, when Chandos-Pole-Gell inherited it. The (Eyre) Gell line became extinct on Isabella's death in 1878.

Henry Chandos-Pole-Gell married twice and lived at Hopton for 39 years. By his second wife, Teresa Charlotte, the daughter of Sir E. Manningham Buller, Baronet, he left an only, son who became Brigadier Harry Anthony Chandos-Pole-Gell C.B.E. of the Coldstream Guards. He served with distinction in the South African War and the First World War, inheriting Hopton on the death of his father in 1902.

In 1904, Hopton, left empty for the intervening two years, was let to Philip Lyttleton Gell (1852 1926) the son of the Rev. John Philip Gell and Eleanor, only daughter, of Admiral Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer. He lived there until 1918 when Harry Chandos-Pole-Gell returned from the war and took up residence with his wife. However, mounting debts forced Chandos-Pole Gell to sell the property to a local colour merchant, Mr George Kay, who promptly sold the hall, together with about 800 acres, back to Philip Lyttleton Gell. The hall then remained in this line of the Gell family to the present day.

Philip Lyttleton Gell (1852-1926) took a first class degree at Balliol College, Oxford. At first, he entered the publishing house of John Cassell and Son, leaving it to take up the post of secretary to the Oxford University Press, in which he remained until 1896. After leaving unexpectedly, he did not find a permanent post until offered a place on the Board of the British South Africa Company in 1898, just as it began the serious development of the country, named after the founder of the company, Rhodesia. He was subsequently elected President of the company in succession to Sir Starr Jameson after the First World War and did not retire until 1923, when Southern Rhodesia was granted responsible government.

Philip Lyttleton Gell lived at Hopton Hall with his wife Edith Brodrick, daughter of Viscount Midle ton whom he married in 1889. Under his will and on Edith's death in 1944, Hopton passed to Philip Victor Willingham Gell, the only son of Henry Willingham Gell, Philip Lyttleton Gell's brother. He was educated at Eton College and served with the Royal Horse Artillery in the First World War, afterwards joining Chance Brothers Glass Works as a director. He subsequently left to start his own heat resisting glassworks, first in Birmingham and then in Bilston, Staffordshire. He was chairman and managing director of British Heat Resisting Glass Co., from 1933-1966, a J.P., Deputy Lieute nant of Derbyshire, High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1953, and the first chairman of the Riding for the Disabled Association for whom Sotheby's are staging a special charity advisory day prior to the sale. He lived at Hopton until his death in 1970, whereupon his widow inherited it for life. She died in 1986.

The family's link with the Arctic explorer Admiral Sir John Franklin is a fascinating one. The main family line includes a Philip Gell (1748-1822) who married Elizabeth Dod and had seven sons. One of them was Frederick, born in 1861, who became the Bishop of Madras, and another was Arthur Daniel, born in 1822, who was Private Secretary to Governor Gawler of South Australia. He was lost at sea in 1848 on his way to join Sir G. Grey as Private Secretary in New Zealand. There is a monument to him in Adelaide.

The couple's eldest son, however, was the Rev. John Philip Gell M.A. born in 1816 and educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. He subsequently sailed for Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, to work under the Governor, Admiral Sir John Franklin, to further education in the Colony. He founded the Hutchins School in Hobart, the Launceston Church Grammar School and was the first Warden of Christ College, Hobart. He was also Sir John's Chaplain and when Sir John made his historic journey across Tasma nia to Macquarie Harbour in 1842, Sir John named Mount Gell after him. Back in England, in 1849, Gell married Sir John's only child and heiress Eleanor Isabella. They lived at Buxted in Sussex, where Gell was Rector. The couple had four daughters and three sons, one of whom was John Franklin Gell M.A. who is buried in the Cathedral precincts at Madras. Another was Philip Lyttleton Gell who is mentioned above.

[edit] References

• Polkey, Andrew. The Civil War in the Trent Valley. Hall, 1992. ISBN 0-946404-92-5
• Slack, Ron. Man at war: John Gell in his troubled time. Chesterfield, 1997. ISBN 0-9509746-3-3
• Leigh Rayment's Baronetage Page

Preceded by New Creation

Baronet (of Hopton, Derbyshire) 1642–1671

Succeeded by John Gell