Derby family’s aristocratic link

Joan Kniveton, shown with her hair loose, and Nicholas Kniveton, Lord of Mircaston and Underwood, engraved c1475

DESPITE genealogists’ advice that people setting out to research their family tree have little hope of discovering gentry among their ancestors, many people nurture a secret dream that it might happen to them.

Not James Richardson, of Littleover.

He knows he has an excellent pedigree which links his mother’s family, the Knivetons, to aristocracy.

Lords, ladies, landowners, vicars and people with names renowned in Derbyshire, like Okeover, Fitzherbert, Vernon, have all been associated with the family and there are also believed to be connections with families associated with Chatsworth House and Kedleston Hall.

Said James (80): “I do have quite grand links from long ago, but I’m a retired electrician from Ley’s and live in a bungalow in Derby, where my mother was born, so I don’t think there is much chance of finding a title or of any money coming my way.”

James’ mother was Mabel Kniveton and she had a sister, Maude, and a brother, Harold, who was killed in the First World War.

Members of her family researched the family tree some years ago and traced it back to the end of the 12th century when Henry II reigned, though there are still several blanks lasting many years.

The village of Kniveton, near Ashbourne, was the seat and manor of the family for many centuries.

“One of the major problems with our family research has been a name change which has made tracing people difficult,” said James.

He knows that during Edward I’s reign (1239-1307), the older branch of the family settled at Bradley and the younger one settled at Mercaston, in the parish of Mugginton.

The title came into the family in the mid 17th century when Mary, daughter of Thomas Kniveton of Mercaston, married Sir George Chaworth, 1st Viscount Chaworth., of Richmond, Surrey.

One branch of the Kniveton family made their home at Mercaston Hall, near Mugginton which is still a family home.

Local historian, Jim Oakley of Belper, believes it is one of the oldest buildings in the area. In Bygones (January 3), Jim queried if there was a connection between the village of Kniveton and the Kniveton family – whose tomb, containing 11 family members, is in Mugginton Church.

The picture (left) is of brass rubbings taken from an engraving, dated 1475, on the Kniveton tomb. They represent Joan Kniveton and her husband, Nicholas Kniveton, who is described as the “Lord of Mircaston and Underwood”.

Said Jim: “It is a very interesting monument and the hall is a lovely country house. The structure is, I believe, is identical now to how it was all those years ago, though obviously it has been updated.”

He said several distant members of the Kniveton family living around the world, including Australia and the U.S., had visited the area over the past few years to see the tomb in the church and look at the hall.

James Richardson was interested to read Jim’s query about his family and the two have since talked. James has passed on the information he knows but would like to hear from anyone else who can add to it.

He believes one of his ancestors decided to settle in Kniveton and adopt it as his family name after going out hunting in the area and liking it.

James’ ancestors owned property all over Derbyshire and he knows that one of them was a Lord Chancellor.

“So there must be some money in Chancery somewhere,” he laughed.

But he realises that with so many branches of the family, the story is likely to end up rather like Jarndyce versus Jarndyce in Dickens’ book, Bleak House, which recently featured on BBC television. It told of how a long, drawn-out dispute over a family will brought nothing but ruin and despair to all it touched.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, though I know a cousin who did spent hundreds of pounds on researching the family history. He’s dead now but, like him, I do find it very interesting when you begin digging back into the past.

“Unfortunately, much of the paperwork has disappeared over the years because there have been so many branches of the family,” he added.

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