[Illustration] This ancient family, originally of Biddulph, in the
northern parts of Staffordshire, is traced to Ormus, mentioned in
the Domesday Survey. He was, it is said, of Norman descent, and is
supposed to have married the Saxon heiress of Biddulph, from whence
the name was afterwards assumed. The elder line terminated on the
death of' John Biddulph, Esq. of Biddulph and of Burton in Sussex,
in the year 1835. The Birdingbury branch, now representing this
venerable house, was founded by Symon, second son of Richard
Biddulph, of Biddulph, in the time of Henry VIII., whose descendant,
another Symon, purchased Birdingbury in 1687. The family were
eminently loyal during the Civil Wars, when the ancient seat of
Biddulph was destroyed by the Cromwellians about 1643-4.
Younger Branch. Biddulph of Ledbury, in the county of Hereford,
descended from Anthony, younger brother of the first Baronet.
See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 324; Shaw's History of
Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 352; Erdeswick's Staffordshire, ed. 1844,
p. 8; Ward's History of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, p. 277; and
Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 442.
ARMS.--_Vert, an eagle displayed argent, armed and langued gules_.
Argent, three soldering-irons sable, is also said to have been borne
by the Biddulphs.
Present Representative, Sir Theophilus William Biddulph, 7th
Baronet.