[Illustration] The antiquity of this family need not be doubted,
although the lineal descent, as Dugdale avouches, is not very plain.
William de Suckeberge is presumed to be the first who assumed the
name, from Shuckborough Superior, in this county; he was living in
the third of John. The pedigree is deduced by Baker, in his History
of Northamptonshire, from John de Shuckburgh, living in the first of
Edward III. In the seventh of Henry V. his great-grandson William is
ranked amongst those knights and esquires of this county who bore
ancient arms from their ancestors. It was to Richard Shuckburgh,
head of the family in 1642, that the remarkable incident happened
which is related by Dugdale. Charles I. having met him hunting
with his hounds a day or two before the battle of Edgehill, "Who is
that," said the King, "hunting so merrily, while I am about to fight
for my crown and dignity?" He was knighted the next day, and proved
his loyalty at the battle of Edge-hill. He died in 1656, and his son
was rewarded with the Baronetcy on the Restoration.
Younger Branch. Shuckburgh of Downton, Wiltshire, descended from
Charles, fourth son of the first Baronet.
See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 309; Baker's
Northamptonshire, vol. i. p. 371; Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. p.
76; and Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, vol. iv. p. 34.
ARMS.--_Sable, a chevron between three mullets pierced argent_. This
coat is evidently founded on the arms of Danvers, the Norman family
under whom the Shuckburghs held: it has been fondly assumed that the
mullets are allusive to the astroites found in the ploughed fields
at Shuckburgh.
Present Representative, Sir Francis Shuckburgh, 8th Baronet.