Maurice Russell, knight

Hugo de Rosel, the fictitious Norman ancestor of the Russells of Kingston Russell invented by Le Neve, York Herald, in 1626. Woburn Abbey collection.

In 1626 the York Herald, William Le Neve, claimed descent for the family of Russell of Kingston Russell from a certain Norman knight, Hugo de Rosel,[2] but this has since been shown to be fanciful,[3] and in fact the family's earliest verifiable ancestor was living about 1200. The family was established at Kingston Russell in the parish of Long Bredy, near Swyre, in Dorset, at the start of the 13th century. About 1210 Sir John Russell (died c. 1224) held Kingston from King John (1199–1216) as half a hide by the serjeanty of being a marshal of the King's buttery on Christmas Day and at Whitsuntide, a service which had originated in the time of William the Conqueror.[4] The tenure was later said to be that of telling out the King's chessmen and putting them away when the King had finished his game.[5] Members of the family also held nearby Allington in Dorset from an early date, by serjeanty of presenting to the King a cup of wine at Christmas,[6] yet it appears in fact to have been part of the Domesday fief of Turstin FitzRolf, which later became the barony of Newmarch. John Russell was Governor of Corfe Castle in Dorset in 1220/1 and sometime Constable of Sherborne Castle, Dorset. He married Rose Bardolph, a daughter of Thomas Bardolph and Adela (or Sybil) Corbet.

Gorges Inheritance

Ancient armorials of Gorges, the “gurges” in Latin meaning a whirlpool

New arms ("Gorges modern") adopted by “Russell” Gorges family, post 1347

(See main article: Gorges family)

Ralph Russell's and Isabel's son Sir William Russell died as a young man in 1310/11, but not without having inherited in 1298 the lands of his two elder brothers, James (who had a son Ralph, d. 1295, s.p.) and Robert (died s.p. 1298). The Russell lands at Dyrham were in 1311 one of the largest arable demesnes in Gloucestershire, that is lands farmed in-hand, not let out to tenants, comprising 420 acres arable and 60 acres of meadow.[12] William produced a male heir, Theobald (1303–1349), by his wife Jane Peverell (or poss. Katherine de Aula from which family the Russells inherited Yaverland, Isle of Wight).[13] Thus, the infant Theobald, having lost father and grandfather, was granted by King Edward II in wardship to Ralph de Gorges, 1st Baron Gorges of Wraxall & Bradpole (Som.), Knighton (IoW), Tothill (Lincolnshire). In 1316, Theobald Russell, as a minor, was recorded as holding 8 manors; 2 in Glos., 1 in Wilts., 1 in Som. & 4 elsewhere.[14] Gorges had a son, Ralph, 2nd Baron Gorges, and 3 daughters, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Joan. He appears to have married his second daughter Eleanor to the young Theobald Russell. Before the death of the 2nd Baron without issue shortly after his father, clearly keen to see his family name and armorials continue, he formed the plan of bequeathing the Gorges estates to the younger son of his sister Eleanor Russell, on condition, apparently, that he should adopt the name and arms of Gorges. This is precisely what occurred when Theobald Russell II, 3rd son of Theobald and Eleanor, his 2nd elder brother William having died, adopted the name Gorges, and founded a revived Gorges line, which flourished, based at Wraxall, Somerset. (see Gorges family and Ferdinando Gorges). When, however, Theobald “Gorges” tried to adopt the Gorges arms, taken from the Morville heiress who had brought them Wraxall, he was challenged by the Warburton (or Warbleton) knight of Cheshire who happened to be serving with him at the Siege of Calais in 1346, who noticed they both bore the same arms on their shields, "Lozengy or and azure". The case was brought before the Earl Marshal, who adjudged on 19 July 1347 in favour of Warburton and forced Theobald Russell "Gorges" to add a "chevron gules" to the Morville arms as a difference. Thus the new Gorges arms became "Lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules",[15] and one of the more celebrated and historic cases heard in the Earl Marshal's court was recorded.[16] The ancient Gorges canting arms of "Argent, a gurges azure", gurges signifying, in Latin, a whirlpool,[17] had been retained some generations before by the senior Gorges line seated at Tamerton Foliot, Devon, the cadet line having married the de Morville heiress. The eldest son of Theobald I, described as of Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight, and Eleanor was Ralph Russell (died 13 February 1375),[18] described as “of the Isle of Wight”, the father of Sir Maurice Russell, the subject of the present article.

St Peter's Church, parish church of Dyrham. Next to it has stood for many centuries the manor house of Dyrham, the present incarnation of which, Dyrham Park (pictured), dates from the reign of William & Mary, and is thought to incorporate some of the structure of the ancient home of the Russells. In this church can be seen the funerary brass of Sir Maurice Russell and Isabel Childrey.

Arms of Russell impaling Childrey, detail from monumental brass of Sir Maurice Russell, Dyrham Church

Arms of Childrey: Quarterly 1st & 4th, on a bend a riband wavy, 2nd & 3rd, 3 concentric annulets[19]

Maurice Russell, aged just 13, was married firstly in June 1369,[20] to Isabel Childrey, daughter of Sir Edmund Childrey (died 1372)(or Chelrey) of Frethornes Manor in the parish of Childrey, Berkshire. Frethornes was a manor anciently held from the Newmarch family, and its tenant prior to Edmund was the “de Frethorne” family, which held other Newmarch lands in Gloucestershire and Somerset.[21] Certainly Frethornes was part of the Newmarch moiety which had gone to the husband of Hawise, since the Bottreaux family, eventual heirs of Nicholas de Moels, were the overlords to Edmund.[22] Sir Edmund was from a relatively new gentry family, though long resident within the parish of Childrey, which rose rapidly in his own person, from his profession as a lawyer. His armorials in 1368, even at the height of his career, were stated in contemporary documents to be “unknown”, pointing to his family's lowly origins.[23] These armorials can be seen on the funerary brass in Dyrham church, above Isabel's figure (see illustration). He began his public career in 1343.[24] In 1348, he was a Commissioner of the Peace for Berkshire. In 1362, he was appointed a King's Serjeant-at-Law, rising to Justice of King's Bench in 1371, whereupon he was knighted. In 1355, he had begun to acquire property in Berkshire, at Watlingtons manor in West Hagbourne, Frethornes manor in Childrey Parish, South Fawley, Letcomb Bassett (Berks.) and Balsdon. On the marriage of Maurice Russell and Isabel, his father, Ralph Russell, settled upon them the manor of Dyrham.[25] His lands in the Isle of Wight, comprising three manors,[26] apparently were settled on the two elder brothers of Maurice who died without male issue,[27] but do not appear to have descended to Maurice. Edmund Childrey's connection with Gloucestershire, and thus with Maurice Russell's father, may have developed as a result of his having been granted, in 1362, the wardship of the lands of William FitzWarin at Whityngton, Glos.[28] In 1388, Sir Maurice Russell sold his ex-Newmarch Berkshire manor of Upton “Russell” to John Latton, who sold it in 1401[29] to Thomas Childrey (c. 1350-1407), MP for Berkshire in 1390 and 1406, brother-in-law to Maurice Russell[30] and steward of the estates of Bishop William of Wykeham of Winchester .

Maurice's father, Ralph Russell, died on 13 February 1375, while Maurice was still a minor, aged 19, two years from his majority. He was granted in wardship to Sir Robert Assheton (died 1384), his father's cousin, soon to be appointed Treasurer of the Exchequer. Having reached his majority, in December 1377, Maurice took possession of his inheritance, following the early deaths of his two elder brothers, Theobald and John(both fl. 1341),[31] excepting the customary 1/3 dower share retained by his mother Alice, whose family name is unknown, apparently resident at Kingston Russell, who died on 16 March 1388. In 1382, Maurice leased the reversion of Kingston Russell, from his mother's death, to Walter Clopton for 20 marks p.a. Maurice also had a sister, Alice, who married into the Haket family, producing a son John Haket (died 1498).

Sir Robert Assheton (senior) of Pitney, Somerset, had married Elizabeth de Gorges, eldest daughter of the first Baron Gorges. On the death of their son, Sir Robert Assheton (junior),[32] without issue, in 1384,[33] Maurice Russell inherited the former Gorges manors of Bradpole, and the hundred courts of Redhone and Beaminster Forum, in Dorset. Assheton's manor of Litton and Combe in Dorset were split, after some argument, between Russell and Sir Ralph Cheyne (died 1400), of Brooke in Westbury, Wilts., whose father, Sir William Cheyne, of Poyntington, Somerset, had married, as his second wife, Joan Gorges, the youngest daughter of the 1st Baron Gorges.[34]

Maurice Russell's career began in December 1385 in connection with the administration of Gloucestershire, when he was appointed, aged 29, tax collector for Glos., and again in March 1388. In the same year of 1385 he sold the former Newmarch manor of Hardwick, Bucks. to William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, for the purpose of the founding of New College, Oxford, and also granted the Bishop an annual rent of £10 from the manor of Aust, Glos., during his wife's lifetime. Later, in 1400, his brother-in-law Thomas Childrey would become steward to the estates of Wykeham.[35] He also sold the ancient Russell manor of Allington to John Roger I (died 1441), of Bridport and Bryanston, Dorset.[36] Russell remained a very wealthy man as the assessments made in 1412 for the purposes of taxation make clear. His estates in Hampshire, Somerset, and Gloucesterhire were then said to be severally worth £40 p.a., whilst those in Dorset apparently gave him an annual income of £122 5s, making a total, no doubt under-declared, of over £242.[37] In 1394, he was removed from the post of Coroner of Glos. for the reason that “He dwells not in the county”, although most of his official positions related to that county. He made a loan of £40 to King Richard II in August 1397.[38] He was clearly a supporter of King Richard, as he had married off his younger daughter to Richard le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, one of the King's staunchest supporters, who was beheaded at Bristol, only 7 miles from Dyrham, by Henry Bolingbroke, in 1399. Russell, however, continued to serve in official positions in Gloucestershire after the usurpation of the throne, in 1399, by Henry IV. Indeed, he served as Knight of the Shire in 1402 and 1404. In 1403, he was among the prominent figures of Gloucestershire commissioned by the new King to select the best fighting men of the region to join the royal army in fighting the Welsh rebels under Owen Glendower, and, in the same year, he was appointed feoffee, by Sir John Luttrell, of the Somerset manor of East Quantoxhead. In 1408, he was involved in a dispute, of unknown cause, with the influential Sir Walter Hungerford, as a result of which both men were required to enter into recognizances for 1,000 marks each as surety that they would abide by the award of the Chancellor Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Armorials of de Dauntsey family of Dauntsey, Wiltshire: Per pale or and argent, 3 bars nebulée gules. These arms can be seen on various monuments within Dauntsey parish church

Sculpted alabaster tombstone of Joan Dauntsey (died 1457) & John Dewale, her 3rd husband, before the high altar of Dauntsey Church, Wilts. His shield of arms, of which only a chevron remains visible, is at top right

Before 1412, aged 56, Russell married 17-year-old Joan Dauntsey (c. 1395-1457), daughter of Sir John Dauntsey of Dauntsey, Wilts., by Elizabeth daughter and co-heiress of John Beverley of London, sister and eventual heiress of Sir Walter Dauntsey. Isabel Childrey had produced only 2 daughters for Russell, but now Joan produced a son and heir, Thomas (1412–1431). Thomas was aged only 4 at most when his father died in 1416, and was granted by King Henry V (1413–1422) in wardship to Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence (1387–1421), the King's eldest brother. Thomas married young, no doubt at the direction of Clarence, and had a daughter Margery Russell, but father and daughter both died, in mysterious circumstances, in 1431, Thomas aged about 18, certainly still a minor. The elderly Sir John Stradling (died 1435)[39] of Glamorgan, Wales, obtained the marriage of Joan the young widow, yet omitted to obtain royal licence to marry a widow of a King's Tenant-in-chief, which Russell was regarding Dyrham and other manors, and was fined heavily in 1418 for his error.[40] The marriage occurred possibly as a result of Stradling's connection to Sir Gilbert Denys, Russell's son-in-law originally from Glamorgan. On Denys's death in 1422, the wardship of his son and heir Maurice Denys, Russell's grandson, was granted to Sir Edward Stradling (died 1453) of St Donat's Castle, Glamorgan, nephew of Sir John Stradling. Joan married thirdly, after 1435, John Dewall, next to whom she was buried in Dauntsey church in 1457.[41]

Rubbing from Denys monumental brass, 1505, Olveston Church. Kneeling at left, Maurice Denys (died 1466), son and heir of Sir Gilbert, by Margaret Russell. Sir Walter Denys (died 1506), son of Maurice, to R. The Denys paternal armorials are blazoned at top left, at top right are the arms of Russell.

Funerary brass of Sir John Drayton (died 1417), 3rd husband of Isabel Russell, at Dorchester Abbey, Oxon.

By 1st wife Isabel Childrey, on marriage to whom, in 1369, Dyrham and other estates were entailed to the progeny of the marriage:[42]

• (1) Margaret Russell (born c. 1383, died 1460) married twice:
  • (1) c. 1404 as his 3rd wife, Sir Gilbert Denys (died 1422) of Siston, Gloucestershire. They had 3 sons, at least 1 daughter, including Maurice Denys (1409–1466).
  • (2) John Kemys (died 1477). They had at least 1 son, Roger Kemys.
• (2) Isabel Russell (born c. 1386, died 1437) married 4 times:
  • (1) William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, beheaded 1399 at Bristol by Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster. He was a staunch adherent to Richard II, and a zealous treasurer of the Exchequer.[43] They had no issue.
  • (2) Sir Thomas de la River (died 1406) of Tormarton & Acton Turville, Gloucestershire. They had one son, Maurice de la River, who inherited the Gorges manor of Bradpole, Dorset, which he sold in 1457 to the Earl of Ormonde.[44]
  • (3) Sir John Drayton (died 1417) of Nuneham Courtenay.[45] They had two daughters, Joan Drayton, who married Drew Barantyne, her marriage having been purchased by Thomas Chaucer, 5 times Speaker of the House of Commons & son of the great poet Geoffrey Chaucer after Isabel and her fourth husband had sold the reversion of Drayton's manor of Nuneham Courtenay to him; and Elizabeth Drayton, who married 1stly Christopher Preston of Slapton, Northamptonshire, and 2ndly by 1437 John Wenlock, 1st Baron Wenlock, future Speaker of the House of Commons.
  • (4) Stephen Hatfield (died 1461), Esquire.

Isabel and Drayton sold their share in the Russell lands to Margaret and her husband Sir Gilbert Denys, whose family retained Kingston Russell until 1543,[46] Dyrham until 1571[47] and Aust until after 1600.[48]

By 2nd wife Joan Dauntsey (c. 1395-1457):

• Thomas Russell (born c. 1412, died 1431), ward of Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, married, wife's name unknown, at unknown date, had 1 daughter, Margery (died 1431/2). Before his death in 1416 Sir Maurice Russell had placed the bulk of his lands into the hands of feoffees to act as trustees for his son Thomas during his minority. These feoffees included Sir William Hankeford, Chief Justice; Robert Hill, Justice of the Common Pleas; Sir William Cheyne (died 1420) of Brooke, Wilts, son of Sir Ralph (died 1400)[49] a cousin of Ralph Russell, Maurice's father;[50] Robert Poyntz of Iron Acton & Robert Stanshawe, Glos. Gentry. On Thomas's death in 1431, much of the Russell lands descended to his half-sisters Margaret and Isabel and their families, mainly passing into the Denys family, which long continued to quarter the Russell arms, for example on the 1506 Denys brass at Olveston Church, Glos. and on the facade of Siston Court, Glos., c. 1550. Some of Thomas's lands, especially those in the Isle of Wight, were inherited by John Haket (died 1498), his first cousin, son of Alice Russell, his aunt. The Haket family seem to have been connected with Wolverton Manor within Brading parish, Isle of Wight.[51] On the death of John Haket, his heir was his daughter Joan's husband, John Gilbert.

Russell monumental brass, south aisle, St Peter's Church, Dyrham. Viewed from east. The tiles are similar to those found in the presbytery of Hailes Abbey, Winchcombe[52]

The monumental brass, created post-1416, of Sir Maurice Russell and his 1st wife Isabel Childrey is in the south chapel of St Peter's Church, Dyrham. It is over life-size, measuring 7 ft. 6in. by 3 ft. 11in., set into a surviving section of floor covered with mediaeval tiles.

• Roskell, J.S. (ed.) et alia, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386–1421, 4 vols., Stroud, 1992. Vol. 4, pp. 251–253, Russell, Sir Maurice, biography by L.S.Woodger.
• Scott-Thomson, Gladys. Two Centuries of Family History, London, 1930. Appendix D, pp. 324–328, Pedigree of Russell of Kingston Russell.
• Gorges, Raymond & Brown, Frederick, Rev., FSA. The Story of a Family through Eleven Centuries, Illustrated by Portraits and Pedigrees: Being a History of the Family of Gorges. Boston, USA, (Merrymount Press privately published), 1944.
• Wiffen, Jeremiah Holmes Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell, (2 Vols.), vol. 1, London, 1833, Russell of Dyrham, pp.142-155 (contains much inaccuracy)
• Round, J. Horace. Studies in Peerage and Family History, Vol. 2, London, 1901, pp.250-279, The Origin of the Russells (a severe critique of Wiffen's work)
• Davis Cecil T., The Monumental Brasses of Gloucestershire, London, 1899, reprinted Bath, 1969, pp. 25–28.
• Jefferies, P.J. Social Mobility in the Fourteenth Century: The Example of the Chelreys of Berkshire. Oxoniensia, Vol. 41, 1976, pp. 324–336.
• Victoria County History, Berkshire, 1923, Vol.3: Parishes of Blewbury with Upton and Aston Upthorpe: Upton, pp. 280–291.
• Victoria County History, Somerset (On-line texts in progress, Univ. of London, April 2007), North Cadbury.
• Victoria County History, Somerset, 1999, vol.7: Bruton, Horethorne & Norton Ferris Hundreds: Horsington, pp. 119–131
• Sanders, English Baronies, p. 68. (Newmarch)
• Saul, Nigel. Knights and Esquires: The Gloucestershire Gentry in the Fourteenth Century, Oxford, 1981