Westbury House History – compilation of material. Victoria County History WESTBURY (Wesberie xi cent.; Westburia xii cent.; Westbyrie xiii cent.) was held by Ulnod of King Edward the Confessor. At the time of the Domesday Survey it was held by Gozelin, not directly of the king, but of Hugh de Port as part of his barony which he held of the king. (fn. 47) It was assessed at 3 hides both in Edward the Confessor's reign and at the time of the Survey. …. Much detail about Westbury in mediaeval times.. including: “In the reign of Henry II or even earlier it seems to have been granted to a family who took the surname of Westbury. (fn. 50) In the reign of Henry III John de Westbury held in Westbury one knight's fee of the ancient enfeoffment of Robert de St. John, and the same Robert of the king. (fn. 51) John de Westbury seems to have been succeeded by a certain William de Campania, who demised it for a term of five years to a certain Peter de Campania and Margery his wife.”… “In 1294 this Peter was in custody in Westminster gaol for the death of Adam Houel, but his lord, John de St. John, interceded for him, and obtained his pardon. After the death of Peter his widow Margery married Robert le Ewer the king's yeoman, (fn. 55) evidently before 1316, since in that year he was holding the manor in right of his wife. (fn. 56) In 1322 Robert obtained the king's permission to fortify his house at Westbury, (fn. 57) and about the same time the king granted to him and his heirs for ever free warren in all their demesne lands of Westbury.” “For some time he rose steadily into favour with King Edward II. In 1308 he was farmer of the gaol of Somerton, and of the hundreds of Cattesashe and Stone. (fn. 60) In 1309 the reversion of the manor of Warblington was granted to him for his life, (fn. 61) and in 1311 Odiham Castle was committed to him to hold during the king's pleasure.” (Fell out with the king, but later made his peace, then fell out again.) “The king accordingly laid the matter before Ralph de Bereford, John de Scures, and John de Tichborne, when it was decided that Robert le Ewer having only held the manor in right of his wife Margery, it should be restored to her, and in addition she should be awarded £160 damages. (fn. 75) It seems probable that shortly after this Margery married, as her third husband, a certain Nicholas de Overton …” (Westbury subsequently passed to 'Margaret who was the wife of James de Molyns’ “In 1428 her second husband John Golafre was holding in Westbury half a fee which Nicholas Devenish formerly held. (fn. 85) Westbury passed with Greatham to the recusant family of Fawconer, (fn. 86) who held it for about two centuries.” The crest of the Fawkoner family “In 1694 Richard Holt of Nursted (Hants), son and heir of John and Katherine, sold the manor for £4,000 to Richard Markes of Petersfield. After the latter's death his widow Mary and his son and heir Richard became involved in financial difficulties, and in 1722 were forced to sell the manor to their tenant Philip Cavendish, obtaining a sum of £7,400 for it. (fn. 90) Philip dealt with the manor by fine in 1737, (fn. 91) no doubt on the occasion of his marriage with Anna Isabella Carteret, the daughter of Edward Carteret and Bridget his wife.” Now we come gradually to the Gage family … Admiral Warren Within the next ten years (from 1722) Westbury had been purchased by Admiral Sir Peter Warren, K.B., (fn. 93) an Irishman by birth. He obtained his commission as a lieutenant in 1722, and from that time his promotion was rapid. He aided the New England colonies in the war with France, and in 1745, with General Pepperell, captured Louisbourg, as a reward for which he was made rear-admiral of the Blue. After the capitulation of Louisbourg Warren captured three French ships valued at £1,000,000, and from his share of the spoils of war realized a large fortune. In 1747 he won a great naval victory off Cape Finisterre, and for his gallantry on this occasion was made Knight of the Bath. On his retirement from active service in 1748 he received many civic honours, being elected M.P. for Westminster in 1750. He died of a violent fever in 1752 while at Dublin…” “In 1735 he had married Susanna daughter of Stephen de Lancey, a wealthy citizen of New York, and by her he left three daughters and co-heirs—Anne, who married Lieut.-General Hon. Charles Fitzroy, first Lord Southampton, in 1758; Susanna, who married in 1767 Lieut.-General William Skinner; and Charlotte, who married Willoughby Bertie, fourth earl of Abingdon, in 1768. (fn. 94) The manor was at first divided among the three sisters, but in 1772 Charles Fitzroy and Anne and Willoughby, Earl of Abingdon, and Charlotte gave up their moieties to Lieut.-General Skinner and Susanna, (fn. 95) whose daughter and heir Susanna Maria married her first cousin Major-General Henry, third Viscount Gage, in 1789. Their son Henry, fourth Viscount Gage (1808–77), sold the manor to Mr. John Delawar Lewis, from whom it has descended to Colonel Le Roy-Lewis, the present owner.” Westbury House in the 18th century Plan of Westbury, 1761 Viscount Gage (from Wikipedia) Viscount Gage, of Castle Island in the County of Kerry of the Kingdom of Ireland, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1720 for Thomas Gage, along with the subsidiary title of Baron Gage, of Castlebar in the County of Mayo, also in the Peerage of Ireland. (Note from Deborah Gage: Thomas Gage of Highmeadow was created Baron Gage of Castlebar and Viscount Gage of Castle Island, under the Irish Peerage, in 1720.) In 1744 he also succeeded his cousin as eighth Baronet, of Firle Place. The titles remain united. The Gage family descends from John Gage, who was created a baronet, of Firle Place in the County of Sussex, in the Baronetage of England on 26 March 1622.[1] His great-grandson, the seventh Baronet, represented Seaford in Parliament. He was succeeded by his first cousin, Thomas Gage, 1st Viscount Gage, the eighth Baronet. He sat as a Member of Parliament for Minehead and Tewkesbury and also served as Governor of Barbados. In 1720, 24 years before succeeding in the baronetcy, he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Gage and Viscount Gage. His second son was the military commander the Hon. Sir Thomas Gage. Lord Gage was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Viscount. He represented Seaford in the House of Commons and served as for many years as Paymaster of Pensions. In 1780 he was created Baron Gage, of Firle in the County of Sussex, in the Peerage of Great Britain, with remainder to heirs male, and in 1790 he was made Baron Gage, of High Meadow in the County of Gloucester, also in the Peerage of Great Britain, with remainder to his nephew and heir presumptive Henry, the eldest son of his younger brother, the aforementioned Sir Thomas Gage. On Lord Gage's death in 1791 the barony of 1780 became extinct while he was succeeded in the barony of 1790, the baronetcy and the Irish titles by his nephew Henry, the third Viscount. He was a Major-General in the Army. As of 2010 the titles are held by his great-great-great-grandson, the eighth Viscount, who succeeded his elder brother in 1993. Information provided by Deborah Gage Westbury House, with its celebrated gardens designed by Charles Bridgman, was inherited by the 3rd Viscount, Henry Gage who married on January 12th, 1789, his cousin, Suzannah Maria, only daughter and heiress of Lieut. General Skinner (whose wife was the daughter and co-heiress of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who lived at Westbury). Henry and Suzannah divided their time between Firle and Westbury, their eldest son, Henry Hall Gage became the 4th Viscount, he married Elizbeth Maria Foley. Their eldest son, Henry, pre-deceased Henry Hall, so the line to the 5th Viscount Gage, skipped a generation. Meanwhile, the 4th Viscount Gage’s younger brother Thomas William Gage lived at Westbury, he was born in 1796, and married Arabella Cecil, daughter of T. St. Quintin of Southampton. They had two children Arabella Elizabeth, who in turn married her cousin, Edward Thomas Gage in 1856, and their son William born in 1828, died at the age of 18. Effectively as there was no one to carry on at Westbury after Thomas William, the 4th Viscount Gage rented the property in the late 1850s/early 1860s to Edward and Adelaide Sartoris and his family, his connection being through a maternal uncle, Edard Tunno, who lived nearby at Warnford Park, whose sizeable fortune Sartoris stood to inherit. Frederick Leighton was a frequent visitor and painted a portrait of their daughter May. Westbury, from Malcolm Warner’s book “Their (the Sartoris’) new residence was Westbury House, a stately Palladian mansion leased from Henry, 4th Viscount Gage, of Firle Place in Sussex. The approach to the house was along a tree-lined drive off the road between the villages of East Meon and West Meon. The drive looped into an oval on the north side of the house, and on the south side were pleasure grounds designed by the celebrated early 18th century landscape gardner Charles Bridgeman.