Lineage:
The family of Abney is of great antiquity in the
County of Derby, where they were seated at Abney in the Peak, about the time of the
Conquest.
John de Abeney, (son of William de
Abeney, and grandson of John de Abeney, living at Wivelisle in 1318), m. about 1400, the
elder dau. and co-heir of William de Ingewardeby, of Willesleye, Co. Derby, and was
great-grandfather of
George de Abeney, of Willesley, who m. Ellen, dau. of John de Wolseley of Wolseley, and had,
James,
of Willesley, from whom derived the Abneys of that place.
The last male heir, Thomas Abney, of Willesley, Esq., (son of Sir Thomas Abney, a learned
lawyer, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas, and grandson of Sir Edward Abney, LL.D.,
also distinguished as a Judge), m. Parnell, dau. and co-heir of George Villiers, of
Hanbury, Co. Staffford, Esq., and d. in 1790, leaving an only dau. and heir,
Parnell Abney, m. to Gen. Sir
Charles Hastings, Bart.
Of the Willesley family was the celebrated Sir
Thomas Abney, Lord Mayor and M.P. for the City of London, one of the principal founders of
the Bank of England. He was younger brother of Sir Edward Abney, the Judge.
Robert.
Robert Abney, of Newton Burguland,
Esq., m. Arthurine, dau. of Robert Howe, Esq., and dying in 1602, left a son,
Thomas Abney, of Newton Burguland,
Esq., father by Anne, his wife, dau. of Robert Smith, Esq., of Lockington, of
Thomas Abney, of London, Esq.,
whose son,
Robert Abney, Esq., b. in 1672; m.
Mary, dau. of W. Webb, of Hamstal Redware, Esq., and had three sons: Robert, of Oldbury,
whose only dau. and heir, Susannah, m. Roger Holmes, Esq., : George, whose line is
extinct, and
William Abney, of the Inner Temple,
Esq., who purchased the estate of Measham, Co. Derby, and erected the family mansion
there. This gentleman b. 25 Nov. 1713, lived, like many of his
predecessors, to an advanced period of life, and died, after filling all the duties of a
country gentleman in the most exemplary manner, in 1800. He m.
Catherine, dau. and heir of Thomas Wotton, of Little Cannons, Herts. Esq., and had, with
two daus., Mary, wife of John Swinfen, of Swinfen, Esq., and Catherine, wife of the Rev.
Thomas Burnaby, four sons: the two youngest d. unmarried; the eldest, Robert of
Measham, b. in 1748, High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1777, m. Anne, dau. of the Rev. Phillip
Bracebridge, and left an only dau. and heir, Anne, wife of Samuel B. Heming, Esq.,
The second son,
Edward Abney, of Measham, Esq., b.
in 1751, d. in 1827; having had by Hephzibah, his 2nd wife, dau. of Samuel Need, Esq., of Nottingham, two sons and a dau., viz.,
William Wotton, Capt. Royal Horse Guards blue, m. Elizabeth, dau. of W.
Richardson, Esq.,
and dying v. p., left with other issue,
William Wotton, present
proprietor.
Edward Henry,
m. in 1833, Catherine, dau. of J. Strutt, of Belpar, Esq.
Catharine, m. in 1835, to the Rev. T. W. Sandys.
Edward,
m. in 1822, Ellen, dau. of
Hyla Holden, of Wednesbury, Esq., and left two daus., Hephzibah Constance and Ellen
Clarke.
Elizabeth, m. to Henry Walker, of
Blythe Hall, Notts. Esq. |
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