[Illustration] The Davenports claim precedence among the knightly
families of Cheshire,--that "seed-plot of gentry," "the mother and
the nurse of the gentility of England," and are traced directly to
the Conquest. The elder line, which Leland terms "the best and first
house of the Davenports at Devonport; a great old house covered with
leade on the Ripe of Daven, three miles above Congleton," became
extinct in 1674. The coheiresses married Davies and Davenport of
Woodford. Ormus de Daumporte, living in the time of William I., is
the first recorded ancestor of this family. To his son, Richard de
Dauneporte, Hugh Earl of Chester gave the chief foresterships of the
forests of Leek and Macclesfield about 1166, a feudal office still
held by this house.
The present family are sprung from Nicholas, third son of Sir John
or Jenkin Davenport, of Wheltrough and Henbury, who was himself a
younger son of Thomas, second son of Sir Thomas Davenport of
Davenport, the 13th of Edward II. Woodford was granted by John
Stafford and Isabella his wife, about the time of Edward III., to
John, third son of Thomas Davenport of Wheltrough, (an elder line
not traced beyond 1677,) while the Davenports of Henbury were
extinct before 1664. Davenport of Calveley, founded by Arthur, sixth
son of Sir John Davenport of Davenport, killed at Shrewsbury in
1403, became extinct in 1771. The coheiresses married Bromley
and Davenport of Woodford. Davenport of Bramhall, founded by the
second son of Thomas Davenport of Wheltrough and the heiress of
Bramhall, in the time of Edward III., survived till 1838. The
Davenports of Davenport House, in the parish of Worfield, in
Shropshire, are the only younger branch now remaining; they spring
from the Davenports of Chorley and the heiress of Bromley of Hallon
or Hawn, in the parish of Worfield. See Blakeway's Sheriffs of
Salop, pp. 85, 143, 228.
For Davenport of Davenport and Woodford, see Ormerod's Cheshire,
iii. 39, 346, 357; for those of Calveley, ib. ii. 153; Henbury, iii.
352; Bramhall, iii. 401; Chorley, iii. 312. See also Leland's Itin.,
vii. fol. 42, and Harl. MSS. 2119, for a good pedigree of the family
drawn from original evidences.
ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron between three cross-crosslets fitchée
sable_. The crest of this family, _a felon's head, souped proper,
haltered or_, alludes to the power of life and death within the
Forests of Leek and Macclesfield, granted by Hugh Earl of Chester.
Present Representative, Arthur Henry Davenport, Esq.
GROSVENOR OF EATON, MARQUESS OF WESTMINSTER 1831, EARL GROSVENOR
1784, BARON GROSVENOR 1761, BARONET 1662.
[Illustration] Descended from Gilbert le Grosvenor, nephew of Hugh
Lupus, Earl of Chester; the pedigree of this ancient family is,
thanks to the famous controversy with the Scropes, well ascertained.
The principal line of the Grosvenors was seated at Hulme, in this
county, in the hundred of Northwich, and was extinct in the
22nd year of Henry VI. The Grosvenors of Eaton descend from
Ralph second son of Sir Thomas Grosvenor of Hulme, who married Joan,
sole daughter and heir of John Eaton, of Eton or Eaton, Esq. early
in the fifteenth century. The match of Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bart.
in 1676, with Mary, sole daughter and heir of Alexander Davies, of
Ebury, in the county of Middlesex, Esq. laid the foundation of the
great wealth and consequent honours of this family.
Younger branches: the Earl of Wilton 1801; the Baron Ebury 1857.
See Ormerod, ii. 454, and iii. 87; Brydges's Collins, v. 239; and
the Scrope and Grosvenor Roll _passim_.
ARMS.--_Azure, a garb or_, used since the sentence of the Court in
the cause of Sir Richard le Scrope and Sir Robert le Grosvenor in
1389, instead of _Azure, a bend or_, and allusive to his descent
from the ancient Earls of Chester.
Present Representative, Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of
Westminster, K.G.