Gregor family of Trewarthenick, Cornelly

The collection consists of deeds, leases, estate accounts, mining documents, maps and plans, manorial records, personal and private correspondence, and the manuscript Memoirs of Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville Gregor.

<p>Pedigrees are available at CRO on request</p>

Accession Nos. 32, 397, 399, & 405.

Deposited by Mr. P. A. Welman. 15 July 1952 and Nov.-Dec. 1958.

One of the earliest deeds in the collection is a marriage settlement of 1342, in which John Gregor of Tregew in Feock gave his daughter Johanna "unam acram de terram" on payment of a White rose at Midsummer, on her marriage with John Colman of Fowey. The deed seems to indicate that the origins of the family were probably Cornish, although the pedigree is lost. Tregew later became the seat of a Mr. Edmunds, who was an Assay Master sent down by the Pewterers' Company to test Cornish tin. In the nineteenth century Tregew was purchased by Ralph Allen Daniell of Trelissick.

The family of Gregor came into some prominence during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as merchants, and their wealth and standing steadily increased. In 1613 Francis Gregor of Truro purchased Trevithick and Lamborne in Perranzabuloe, Caunder in Probus, Trevarrick in Gulval, and Lanegarth in the parish of Kenwyn, together with the advowsons of Manaccan and St. Anthony in Meneage, thus beginning the family's acquisition of property all over Cornwall.

His son, John, who married Ann Nosworthy of Truro, bought Trewarthenick in 1640, with the farms of Mellangoose and Trelasker, from a Mr. Ceely, for £2,600, which was a fairly high price. The bargain appears to have been a simple sale, without any trace of pressure on the seller, unusual in the troubled days immediately before the Civil War.

It was a mere investment of capital, for it led to no change in the habits of the merchant, who continued to carry on his business in Truro. He gradually acquired more property, and at his death in 1661 the family estates had expanded to include land in Warleggan, Traboe (in St. Keverne), Cusgean in Probus and Landvine in the parish of Ladock.

His son, Francis, formed a connection with an old county family, thus improving the Gregors' social standing. A branch of the Prideaux family was settled at Gurlyn in St. Erth, and had increased its possessions by marriages with heiresses of Nanspian (Gunwalloe), Godrevy (Gwithian), Tregender (Ludgvan), Pulsack (Phillack), etc. Zenobia Nanspian, a co-heiress of these various estates, married Richard Prideaux, and their three daughters inherited the property in undivided thirds. These daughters married into the families of Gregor, Langdon and Harris (of Pickwell), and although Francis Gregor, who married Joan Prideaux, purchased his brother-in-law Langdon's share in some of the farms, and thus left to his successors two-thirds of those estates, a real division never took place until 150 years later, when the property was mutually sold or exchanged by the representatives of the Gregor and Harris families, who were connected by marriage.

Francis and Joan had 6 daughters and one son, John, nicknamed "The Giant", who married Elizabeth Moyle, sister of the learned Walter Moyle of Bake. Her mother was a daughter of Sir William Morice of Werrington (Secretary of State to Charles II), by a Prideaux of Soldon, a connection of the Gurlyn Prideaux. It is not known whether John continued the merchant traditions of the family, or whether all his wealth was invested in land. He was responsible for rebuilding the centre of Trewarthenick house, but the revised plan was apparently very inconvenient and draughty, and Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville and her husband carried out extensive alterations at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

John's family had evidently not become completely accepted as local gentry, for although the eldest son, Francis, became a lawyer, and the next son, William, took orders and became Rector of St. Mabyn, his other sons were apprenticed to various trades and were left to make their own way in the world. John Left his Truro house to his wife, where she lived after the marriage of her son Francis with Maria Radcliffe Kemp, widow of John Kempe of Meudon. Maria left the Meudon property to her husband in reversion, but the Kempes disputed her right to do so, and a lawsuit followed. Judgement was given in favour of Maria, and the land remained in Gregor hands, being let to the Fox family at a life lease. Maria died shortly after the birth of her only son, John ("Master Jacky), and he was brought up by his stepmother, Dorothy Harris of Pickwell, Francis Gregor's second wife. She was co-heiress of the Gurlyn property, and so a cousin of her husband. She lived to be 91 years of age, and was by all accounts a woman of strong mind and determined purpose.

Francis Gregor was a learned man, interested in antiquities and in politics. He carried on a lifelong correspondence with two of his Cambridge associates, Dr. Stephens of Droxford in Hampshire, a learned clergyman who was deeply interested in classical literature, and who zealously supported the house of Hanover and the Protestant succession; and Dr. Lombard, who was presented to the living of Lanteglos-by-Camelford, and whom Gregor rescued from a tricky situation in Truro, where the learned German doctor was searching in vain for the road to Lanteglos, his atrocious pronunciation preventing anyone from understanding where he wanted to go. The letters between these three scholars still survive.

"Master Jacky" died unmarried in early middle age, so the estate passed to Dorothy's son, Francis. He entered the army and served in the 53rd Regiment at Quebec under Wolfe. He married a cousin, Mary Moyle of Bake, by whom he had two sons, Francis and William. Mary died soon after William's birth, and the children were left in the care of their grandmother, the formidable Dorothy Gregor. She was already looking after another grandson, John Williams, son of her daughter Elizabeth and the Rev. William Williams of St. Ewe, a marriage not approved of by Dorothy and which lasted only a few years. John Williams became a merchant and spent most of his life in Amsterdam. His son William eventually inherited some of the lands which had been acquired by Harris in the seventeenth century by marriage with Prideaux of Gurlyn, but the greater part of the property was sold.

Francis Gregor, the elder son, entered the legal profession, though his main interest was in military affairs, and he commanded, for many years, the 2nd or Roseland, regiment of local militia. He married Catherine Luke Masterman of Restormel. The Restormel property was in the early eighteenth century held by a Welshman, Thomas Jones, on leasehold from the Duchy. Jones' sister, who had accompanied him from Wales, married a Cornishman named Luke, probably from Treviles in Veryan. The only child of this marriage became heiress to her uncle Thomas. She married William Masterman, a London solicitor who had been employed as legal adviser to Lord Mount Edgcumbe. His marriage brought him the Restormel estates. Soon after his daughter's marriage to Francis Gregor, Masterman died, and Gregor thus inherited half of Masterman's property; the remainder (mostly out-county) went to Masterman's other daughter, Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville, later to become the wife of Francis Glanville of Catchfrench in St. Germans. With the estates, Gregor and his wife in-herited a considerable amount of money which Masterman's legal practice had brought in, and about £20,000 of this went to finance the electoral campaign of 1788, when Francis, though a comparatively unknown man, and of merchant descent, defeated well-known members of the local aristocracy. Be continued to represent Cornwall for the next 16 years, and even his bitterest opponents acknowledged his political skill and ability.

Francis and Catherine at first lived at Restormel, but after the deaths of Francis senior (1786) and Dorothy Gregor (1790), they inherited all the Trewarthenick property. Although they preferred Restormel as a residence, the expense of the 1788 election decided Gregor to dispose of the Masterman property; which was leasehold, and to keep Trewarthenick and the freehold estates.

A number of improvements were made at Trewarthenick, and the estate was enlarged. The property round the house was of very limited extent and consisted only of the barton itself, Mellangoose, and Trelasker. When the question of residence was decided, Gregor spent his wife's money on the purchase of Ruan Lanihorne and Elerky Jenkin from Sir William Molesworth, who was financially embarrassed. It was an advantageous bargain, and he nearly repaid himself by re-selling some of the farms. He later purchased Trevorra from a Mrs. Drew, and from the Trevanions he bought Woods End and Ventonvanna. He also contemplated the purchase of Grogoth, Nansaker and Killiow, which were all sold by Trevanion in 1810, but he did not succeed in obtaining them.

In 1794 Catherine Masterman died, and four years later Francis married a Miss Jane Urquhart of Aberdeen. There were no children of either marriage, and the estate therefore went to Francis' brother William, who had taken holy orders, and at first served the parish of Cornelly, living at home at Trewarthenick with his grandmother. After his marriage in 1788 with Charlotte Anne Gwatkin of Bristol, the couple at first lived at Carhays, which they continued to rent until they moved to Creed Rectory where they spent the rest of their married life.

William and Charlotte had one daughter, Charlotte Anne, whose death in 1825, at the early age of 24, brought to an end the direct line of Gregor. The whole of the estates were left to Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville Glanville, niece by marriage of William's brother Francis. Francis' wife, Catherine, had a sister, Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville, who married Francis Glanville of Catchfrench. She died of an overdose of laudanum a few hours after the birth of her daughter, Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville, in 1792. The baby was left in the care of her aunt Catherine, and spent much of her early life at Trewarthenick until her father remarried in 1796 and she returned to Catchfrench. As her mother had died a minor, the Masterman property which she had inherited was vested in the infant Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville, and could not be sold or otherwise disposed of until she came of age.

In 1814 she married Gordon William Francis Booker, grandson of the 3rd Duke of Gordon, and when in 1825 the Trewarthenick estates came to Loveday Sarah Gregor, nee Glanville on the death of Charlotte Anne Gregor, they assumed the name and arms of Gregor.

More consolidation of estates was undertaken at this time, much of the more distant western property being sold, and additions made to the estate included lands at Portloe, Trethennal, Grogoth and Cornelly churchtown. The old system of scattered lands was not easy to adminster, and Gordon Gregor hoped to purchase Penpell, Penrose, Greater Grogoth and Trethewy which were held on a lease from Lord Falmouth. Gordon and Sarah also carried out extensive alterations to Trewarthenick House, adding wings and porticoes and landscaping the gardens.

Their son, Francis Glanville Gregor, born in 1816, did not marry until he was 53, and spent much of his life abroad. After his parents' death, he visited England only rarely and the administration of the estate was left in the hands of his solicitors and agents, Hearle-Cock and Parkin. Crippling death duties and high taxation forced him to sell a considerable amount of property. His childress marriage resulted in the estates being inherited by Lewis William Molesworth, his sister's son (Jane Frances Gregor had married Paul Molesworth, rector of Tetcot in Devon). In 1909 a considerable part of the property was sold, including Tretharrup, Trelaminny, Tregeage, Anhay, Traboe, Lesneage, Polpidnick, Mellin Mehall (all in St. Keverne area) and the tithes of Manaccan and St. Anthony in Meneage which had been in the family since the early seventeenth century. Lewis William's marriage to Jane Graham Frost, an American, was childless, and the remainder of the property passed to William's sister's son, Paul Arundel Welman.