[Illustration] Although there is no doubt of the antiquity of the
house of Shelley, the accounts of the earlier descents of the family
are very scanty. Originally of the county of Huntingdon, the
Shelleys are said to have removed into this county at a very early
period. But the earliest mention we have in history of any of this
family is of John and Thomas Shelley, who, following the fortunes of
Richard II., were attainted and beheaded in the first year of Henry
IV. The remaining brother, Sir William Shelley, not being connected
with the followers of Richard II., retained his possessions, and was
the ancestor of this family, who in the reign of Henry VI., by a
match with the heiress of Michelgrove, of Michelgrove, in Clapham,
was seated at that place, which continued the residence of the
Shelleys until the year 1800, when it was sold, and Maresfield
became the family seat.
Younger Branches. Shelley or Castle-Goring, Baronet 1806,
descended from the fourth son of Sir John Shelley, of Michelgrove,
who died in 1526. Shelley of Avington, in the county of Southampton,
and Shelley (called Sidney Foulis) Lord de L'Isle and Dudley 1835,
descended from the second marriage of Sir Bysshe Shelley, of
Castle-Goring, Baronet, and the heiress of Perry, of Penshurst.,
See Wotton's Baronetage, vol. i. p. 39; Cartwright's Topography of
the Rape of Bramber, p. 76; and Dallaway's Rape of Arundel, p. 40.
ARMS.--_Sable, a fess engrailed between three whelk-shells or_.
Present Representative, Sir John Villiers Shelley, 7th Baronet.