Thynne family, Marquesses of Bath

The Thynne or Botevile family was well established at Stretton (Shropshire) by 1500. Sir John Thynne (d. 1580), steward to Lord Protector Somerset, acquired estates in Somerset and Wiltshire (including former Glastonbury Abbey lands), Shropshire (Minsterley, a former Stafford property) and Gloucestershire (Kempsford). Longleat House (Wiltshire) as it now stands was largely built under his close direction during the year 1567-80.

Kempsford passed to a junior branch of the family, which also acquired Caus Castle and other property in Shropshire in the early seventeenth century. Sir Thomas Thynne, 2nd Bt (1640-1714), of that branch, succeeded his cousin Thomas Thynne in the Longleat estates in 1682. He had married c1673 Frances, daughter of the third Earl of Winchilsea and granddaughter of Frances, Duchess of Somerset, sister and co-heir of Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex (d. 1646). Through his wife Sir Thomas Thynne (created Viscount Weymouth in 1682) acquired former Devereux properties in Herefordshire (Ross-on-Wye, Weobley, etc) and Ireland (County Monaghan) (see also Shirley of Ettington). He also purchased the Drayton Bassett (Staffordshire) estate from the Duchess of Somerset's executors. As an executor himself he further acquired records relating to other Devereux properties in Herefordshire, Wales and elsewhere, to Ferrers properties in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and other counties, and to the Bourchier Earls of Essex, together with records relating to the Seymour Dukes of Somerset and to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, second husband of Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex.

The 2nd Viscount Weymouth (1710-51) married in 1733 Louisa Carteret, daughter of the 2nd Earl Granville. On the death of the 3rd Earl Granville in 1776 Granville and Carteret estates in Cornwall, Devon and Bedfordshire (Haynes or Hawnes Park) passed to a younger son of the second Viscount Weymouth, Henry Frederick Thynne, who was created Baron Carteret in 1784. The 3rd Viscount Weymouth (1734-96) married in 1759 Elizabeth Bentinck, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Portland, through whom some Harley and other papers came to Longleat, and was created Marquess of Bath in 1789.

Estates in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Dorset and Gloucestershire were sold between c1790 and 1805. The widow of the 2nd Marquess acquired Muntham Court (Findon, Sussex) in 1850. The Norton Hall (Northamptonshire) estate, with land in Northamptonshire and Shropshire, passed under the will of Beriah Botfield (d. 1863) to his widow and then to Lord Alexander Thynne, second surviving son of the fourth Marquess. On Lord Alexander's death in 1918 the estate passed to his sister Lady Beatrice Thynne, and then, on her death in 1941, to the future 6th Marquess of Bath.

Estates in 1883: Marquess of Bath: Wilts 19,984 acres, Somerset 8,212 acres, Salop 3,508 acres, Herefs 699 acres, Sussex 409 acres, Co Monaghan 22,762 acres, total 55,574 acres worth £68,015 a year; Mrs Alfred Seymour (formerly Botfield) (in 1873): Northants 2,211 acres, Salop 2,697 acres, total 4,908 acres worth £7,323 a year.