[Illustration] The ancient extraction of the Berties from Berstead
in the county of Kent is proved by the Thurnham charters in the
possession of Sir Edward Dering, and by various public records of
undoubted authority; and, although the exact line of pedigree is by
no means clear, there appears no reason to doubt the descent of this
"undefamed house" from John or Bartholomew de Bereteghe, who were
living in the 35th of Edward I. The marriage of Richard Bertie son
of Robert, who died in 1500, with Katherine daughter of William
Willoughby, last Lord Willoughby of Eresby, and widow of Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was, as is well known, the origin of the
consequence of this right loyal family, five generations of whose
history have been so agreeably illustrated by Lady Georgiana Bertie.
Grimsthorpe, inherited from the Duchess of Suffolk from her paternal
Willoughby ancestors, became the principal seat of the Berties,
Barons Willoughby of Eresby and Lords Great Chamberlains of England,
advanced in the person of Robert second Lord Willoughby to the
Earldom of Lindsey by King Charles I. His great-grandson was created
Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven in 1715, which titles became extinct
on the decease of the fifth Duke in 1809. The Earldom of Lindsey and
representation of the family thereupon devolved on the father of the
present Earl, descended from the fifth son of the second Earl of
Lindsey by his first wife.
Younger branch, the Earl of Abingdon 1682, Baron Norreys of Rycote
1572, descended from the second marriage of the second Earl of
Lindsey and the heiress of Wray, whose mother was the sole
heir of Francis Norreys, Earl of Berkshire, and Lord Norreys of
Rycote.
See Lady G. Bertie's "Five Generations of a Loyal House," 4to. 1845,
and Brydges's Collins, vol. ii. p. 1, vol. iii. 628.
ARMS.--_Argent, three battering rams barways in pale azure, armed
and garnished or_. The "docquet or grant" in the fourth of Edward
VI. gives the arms, _Quarterly,_ 1 _and_ 4, _Argent, a battering ram
azure, garnished or;_ 2 _and_ 3, _Sable a tower argent_.
Present Representative, George Augustus Frederick Albemarle Bertie,
10th Earl of Lindsey.