DAVE BERKELEY - Key Persons

Possibly the greatest of all the Berkeley family, George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne was born in Ireland. He is probably most famous now for the University posthumously named after him in California (there is also a Berkeley Library at Trinity College, Dublin). A great philosopher, his works are no longer so highly regarded. He also wrote on the healing effects of tar water. The Rt. Hon. George Charles Grantley Fitzhardinge Berkeley, son of Mary Cole wrote a book "Berkeley Castle" an historical romance based on life at Berkeley during the war of the roses. Published in 1836 it was pilloried in Fraser's Magazine. The author was so incensed at the criticism that he hired a boxer to stand guard at the door while he badly assaulted the editor of the magazine, James Fraser, with a hunting whip. In court he was fined £100 for the offence, and was awarded 40/-. (£2) in damages for the libel. He pleaded for clemency on the grounds that he was a Justice of the Peace, and a Member of Parliament. He subsequently fought a duel with the author of the article, Dr. Maginn, who he badly injured. He devoted most of his life to hunting. He kept a tame cormorant called Jack, and several dogs (a terrier 'Smike', a bloodhound 'Druid', a mastiff 'Grumbo', and retriever 'Smoker'). His books include "The English Sportsman on the Western Prairies'. His interpretation of 'sportsman" presumably included hitting defenceless people with hunting whips, and apparently in his younger days he and his brothers used to pick fights with the local children near their estate at Cranford, and horse whip them too. He represents the degenerate English aristocrat at its very worst.

It is well recorded how Dr. Edward Jenner discovered the principle of vaccination by noticing that being infected with cowpox seemed to prevent the often fatal disease smallpox. Jenner was the family physician of the Berkeley's at Berkeley Castle, and their own son was among the first people in Britain to be vaccinated. To Jenner we owe one of the most important breakthroughs in medical history. There is now a Jenner museum at Berkeley. A British postage stamp celebrating vaccination was recently issued. It shows a mad cow patterned with a silhouette of Jenner jabbing someone in the arm while a milk maid looks on. Judge for yourself. It is also acknowledged that Lady Mary Wortley Montague (1689-1762) learnt of the principle of vaccination much earlier; it had been practiced in Turkey for many years. She had her son vaccinated while living there with her husband, the Ambassador to Turkey. But Jenner was certainly important in popularising the technique, which has saved countless lives and all but eradicated smallpox.

James Lord Berkeley, was married to Isabel Mowbray (see The Mowbray family). James was in dispute with his uncle's heirs for most of his life. His uncle, Thomas the Magnificent, 10th Lord Berkeley (there is a fabulous brass of him and his wife at Wooton-under-edge in Gloucestershire), left a solitary daughter, Elizabeth, who married the powerful Richard Beauchamp (1382-1439), Earl of Warwick, and guardian of Henry VI. They had three daughters. The eldest, Margaret, married the feared John Talbot (1388-1453), Earl of Shrewsbury, the youngest married Richard Neville, later Earl of Warwick (1428-1471). During the long dispute over ownership of the Berkeley estate, Isabel was captured by the Countess of Shrewsbury and died in 1452 in prison in Gloucester. James promptly remarried the daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury. The family dispute is claimed to be the longest dispute in English legal history. During this period the village of Berkeley was burned down twice - once by each side - for 'supporting the enemy', i.e. paying them rent. The life of ordinary people during this time must have been hard indeed. The dispute was eventually resolved by open battle . - Greyfriars in Gloucester: where Lady Isabel Berkeley nee Mowbray is buried James and Isabel's third son James was killed in battle in France (Castillon 1453) along with John Talbot in the closing battle of the Hundred Years War. Father and son are buried at St. Mary's Berkeley, and there is a splendid stone effigy of them both in full armour in a small chapel to the side of the chancel. Isabel was buried at Greyfriars in Gloucester in 1452. The abbey was destroyed in the dissolution, and is now partly ruined, where now stands a fine Georgian building, the County music library, contained within the ribs of the medieval building.

The brilliant satirist Jonathan Swift is undoubtedly best known for writing the classic "Gulliver's Travels". Like many of the greatest writers in the English language, he was of course Irish. He was not a Berkeley, but he was closely associated with them. He spent a short time as chaplain to George, Earl of Berkeley, at Berkeley Castle, though spent most of his time in England in the employ of Sir William Temple.

Lady Craven was the youngest daughter of the fourth Earl of Berkeley. Brought up at the castle, she was a talented poet and playwright, and later led a scandalous and eventful life. One source says of her: "Lady Craven, as was befitting a poetess, had a passion for romance, but unfortunately she did not confine her feelings to verses. She was, indeed, singularly indiscreet in her conduct, and her reputation suffered greatly, nor, it is to be feared, without cause." A few years after her marriage at the age of seventeen to Lord Craven, she had an affair with the Duc de Guines, the French Ambassador at the Court of St. James. Discovered but pardoned by her husband, she was still received in society, admired by many, including Horace Walpole who wrote the following of her:

Mary Cole, a butcher's daughter from Bristol was seduced by Frederick Augustus, 5th Earl of Berkeley. She lived with him at Berkeley Castle, and bore him several illegitimate children. The problem with this was that under the law, only legitimate children could inherit the title. He did eventually marry Mary in 1796, but the two of them forged an entry in the marriage register of St. Mary's church at Berkeley, inventing a previous marriage prior to the birth of their eldest son. Mary Cole was poorly treated both by her husband, and later by her children. Her only real crime was that she was from a poor family, and therefore deemed a total unsuitable match for an Earl in the class ridden society to which she was born. There are several books about her, including "Mary Cole, Countess of Berkeley", by Hope Costley-White, published by George Harrap & co. 1961.

The Rev. Miles Joseph Berkeley was one of the first people to make a scientific study of fungi. His 'Monograph of British Fungi' (1836) formed the third volume of Hooker's 'British Flora', which became the standard work on the subject for the next 35 years. He was engaged in classifying the specimens brought back from the voyage of the Beagle - the voyage on which Darwin first realised the principles of Evolution. He was vicar of Sibbertoft, Northamptonshire, where he is buried alongside his wife, Cecilia Emma Campbell of Blackheath, and several of their fifteen children. He built a stained glass window to his wife, but sadly this no longer exists. Apparently the vicarage at Sibbertoft now suffers badly from dry rot - perhaps it is some exotic strain collected by Miles Joseph? He presented his collection of 10,000 species to the botanical gardens at Kew - containing 4,866 specimens named by himself. He claimed to be descended from a nephew of Justice Sir Robert Berkeley, though I have yet to prove this either way. For a fuller account of his life, see his obituary. Note: Miles Joseph was a near relative of mine. I am interested in getting in touch with anyone with information about this branch of the Berkeleys in Northamptonshire.

The founder of the Mowbray family was one Roger Mowbray (d. 1188). The Dictionary of National Biography has two alternative accounts of where he died. He fought on the Crusades and was captured by Saladin along with King Guy of Jerusalem, and subsequently ransomed and released. The first version of the story says that he died shortly afterwards and is buried at Tyre in what was then Palestine. The second version, which I prefer, says that he returned home, coming upon a valley called Saranelles, where he found a lion fighting with a dragon. He slew the dragon, and the lion was so grateful that it followed him home to his castle at Thirsk in Yorkshire where he died. It then says that he is buried at nearby Byland Abbey - which he founded. The photo shows two grave covers at Byland supposed to be those of Roger (right) and his mother Gundreda (left). Roger's bears a simple sword motif. The Mowbray crest is a lion rampant, and the crest of Byland is this lion crossed with a bishop's crosier. Byland Abbey was closed by King Henry VIII and now lies in ruins. The site is now run by English Heritage, and is open to the public. I would recommend a visit. There is an account of the founding of the Abbey in A History of the County of Yorkshire.

Sir Robert Berkeley, descended from Thomas, the fourth and youngest son of Lord James and Isabel, was a justice of the King's Bench in the reign of King Charles I. He was a staunch Royalist, and was one of the judges at the Ship Money trials, where several Members of Parliament, including John Hampden, were fined or imprisoned for refusing to pay the illegal tax. Sir Robert stated that "Rex was Lex", that the King was "a living breathing law". The divine right of Kings was just about to become an unfashionable idea in England - the English Civil War was upon us. The judgement was overturned, and the Judge himself was arrested when presiding in Court. He was reputedly dragged from the Bench by the Usher of the Black Rod, and thrown in the Tower of London. Whilst on bail awaiting trial, there was a chronic shortage of Judges, so he was allowed to practice until his own trial. He was fined an astonishing £10,000 and deprived of ever holding public office. He went into retirement on his estate at Spetchley near Worcester. In 1651 his house was requisitioned by Cromwell prior to the battle of Worcester. His town house in Worcester, now known as Charles' House, was used by King Charles II to make his escape prior to his famous night spent sleeping in the branches of an oak tree. Sir Robert's house at Spetchley was subsequently burned down by a retreating band of Scottish Presbyterians. Sir Robert ended his days living in the stable block - all that remained of his manor house - and died there in 1656. His descendants still live at Spetchley Park, whose gardens are open to the public. See an account of his ancestry and life in Nash. There is an unparalleled account of the siege of Worcester during the Civil War in The Diary of Henry Townshend of Elmley Lovett. This includes a description of the Berkeley town house being hit by canon fire.