Chichester-Constable family of Burton Constable

The Constable family was established in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the 12th century, resided at Burton Constable from the late 15th century, and purchased the seignory of Holderness in 1560. In 1620 Sir Henry Constable was created Viscount Dunbar. On the death of the 4th Viscount in 1718 the peerage became dormant and the Constable estates passed to his nephew Cuthbert Tunstall of Wycliffe (Yorkshire, North Riding), who assumed the name of Constable. His son William died without issue in 1790 and was succeeded by his nephew Edward Sheldon, afterwards Constable, who in turn was succeeded by his brother Francis. Upon the death of the last-named in 1821 the Constable estates descended to his cousin Sir Thomas Clifford, 1st baronet of Tixall (Staffordshire), whose mother had inherited property there from her father Lord Aston of Forfar. Sir Thomas took the name of Constable. His grandson Sir Frederick Constable, 3rd baronet, died in 1894 and was succeeded by his cousin Walter George Raleigh Chichester. The latter, who in turn took the additional name of Constable, was the son of Charles Raleigh Chichester by Mary Balfe of Runnamoat (Co. Roscommon), the grandson of Sir Charles Chichester by Mary Barbara Constable and the great-grandson of Charles Chichester of Calverleigh Court (Devon).

Estates in 1883: Constable: 10,981 acres in Yorkshire (East Riding); 7,685 in Yorkshire (North Riding); 25 acres in Co. Durham; 15 acres in Middlesex; 8 acres in Staffordshire; worth £24,381 a year; Balfe: 6,024 acres in Co. Roscommon and 376 acres in Co. Galway; worth a total of £5,158 a year.