The families in the Landed Gentry are of varied origin, as would be expected in so typically English an institution whose standing is both unofficial and undefined. Though the great majority of them can trace their ancestry hack to the seventeenth century or further, only a limited number have held the same landed estate for a comparable period; so that what is now regarded as an "old county family" may in fact have been seated in the one place for no more than a couple of hundred years; while there are also families of the greatest antiquity - such as POYNTZ - which have long been parted from their ancestral acres and have ceased to be associated with any particular neighbourhood, or even county. The reason why mediaeval families in the Landed Gentry are rare is the obvious one that such families seldom remained static through the centuries. Some of them increased in prosperity which generally resulted in their acquiring peerages or baronetcies; others declined, lost their land and passed into oblivion.

Nevertheless, one can find a certain number of families in the present Landed Gentry descended from the gentry - and in a few instances, the nobility - of the Middle Ages, of whom a good proportion still hold land which their mediaeval ancestors held, or did so until recent years. GIFFARD of Chillington and GIFFARD formerly of Rushall descend in the direct male line from a Sire de Longueville whose son accompanied William the Conqueror; the family have held the lands of Chillington since about 1178. BERKELEY of Berkeley and Spetchley is the surviving male branch of the noble house of Berkeley, formerly Earls and before that, Barons, to which the ancient family estates have passed. SCROPE of Danby is also the surviving male branch of a great mediaeval noble house, which held numerous peerages as well as the Sovereignty of the Isle of Man; though the present family estate came with an heiress in Tudor times. NEVILE formerly of Thorney and NEVILE of Wellingore and Aubourn descend in the male line from Gilbert de Nevill, mentioned in Doomsday Book and an ancestor of the Nevills, Earls of Westmoreland. NEVILE formerly of Skelbrooke and Chevet and NEVILL of Kewland formerly of Nevill Holt also descend from the great house of Nevill, only in the female line. PDYNTZ and SEGRAVE descend in the male line from mediaeval barons, though both have long been separated from their ancestral acres. LF STRANGE of Hunstanton descends, in the female line, from a younger son of the first Baron Strange of Knockin, who was enfeoffed at Hunstanton about 1311; ARDEN formerly of Longcroft is remarkable in descending in the direct male line from Aelfwine, Sheriff of Warwickshire at the time of Edward the Confessor. DYMOKE of Scrivelsby, the family of the Queen's Champion and Standard Bearer of England, descends in the male line from Sir John Dymoke, King's Champion from 1377, by right of his marriage to the heiress of the noble house of Marmion, which had previously held Scrivelsby and the Champion's office.

Of the families descended from the mediaeval gentry, nine have the proud distinction of being descended in the male line from an ancestor who took his surname from lands which they still hold: ALDERSEY of Aldersey, FULFORD of Fulford, FURSDON of Fursdon, GATACRE of gatacre. KELLY of Kelly, KINGSCOTE of Kingscote, LEGH of High Legh, MITFORD of Mitford and PLOWDEN of Plowden. There are other families bearing territorial surnames which are, in fact, of female descent or which no longer hold the lands whence comes their name. Then there are a number of families which have held their lands since the Middle Ages but have surnames different from them. LECHE of Carden is descended from John Leche who married the heiress of William de Cawarden of Carden at the time of Henry IV; EYSTON of East Hendred from John Eyston who married the heiress of East Hendred later in the fifteenth century. EYSTON of East Hendred is one of the many Catholic families among the older families of the Landed Gentry; others including BERKELEY of Berkeley and Spetchley, SCROPE of Danby, PLOWDEN of Plowden, WELD of Lulworth and CHICHESTER formerly of Calverleigh. That these families always adhered to Catholicism, or else, like GIFARD of Chillington, did so until the end of the eighteenth century, is significant; in that many of them were important enough to have risen to the peerage or baronetage had they not been debarred from eighteenth century politics on account of their religion.

It is also significant that many families of mediaeval descent have had one or more later ancestors who increased or renewed the family fortunes through service of the Crown, the professions or commerce; so that these families probably owe their subsequent position to them. Thus WELD of Lulworth descends from William de Welde, Sheriff of London in 1352; but it was not until 1641 that Humphrey Weld bought Lulworth and the family's other Dorset estates with the fortune built up by his grandfather, Sir Humphrey Weld, Lord Mayor of London in 1609. The standing of PLOWDEN of Plowden was raised in the later sixteenth century by Edmund Plowden, one of the most eminent lawyers of his day. CLIVE of Perrystone and CLIVE of Whitfield descend from mediaeval gentry who took their name from the Shropshire village of Clive; the family fortunes were increased by Sir George Clive, a successful Tudor official, but subsequently dwindled; to be finally restored in the eighteenth century by George Clive, who made money in India under the auspices of his cousin, Robert, the first Lord Clive, and then became a London banker.

Though the "Rise of the Gentry" is frequently spoken of as a consequence of the Tudor agrarian revolution, caused by the downfall of some of the great feudal lords, the break-up of monastic estates and the enclosures of common land, it is, nevertheless, hard to find families founded by obvious Tudor "new men". In fact, the rise of the families which came up under the Tudors and early Stuarts tended to be gradual; while the newer gentry often had roots going as deep in their part of the country as the older families which they displaced. A family of tenant farmers became freeholders with the decline of the feudal system; then under the Tudors and Stuarts enlarged its estate piecemeal, as the opportunity arose. Such families which grew gradually in their own part of the country, starting with a mediaeval, sixteenth century or seventeenth century ancestor, but with no particular ancestor who stands Out as a "founder", are perhaps more typical of the English Landed Gentry than any other group of families. BURNABY formerly of Baggrave - which produced the Victorian hero Colonel Fred Burnaby - is descended from Thomas Burnaby, a tenant of lands in Rutland who died in 1526; by the end of the following century, the family held the estate of Asfordby in the neighbouring county of Leicester. The fourteenth century ancestor of ELMHIRST of Elmhirst was a serf on the lands of Elmhirst in Yorkshire. By the end of the Middle Ages the family owned Elmhirst and various neighbouring lands, to which the sixteenth century Roger Elmhirst added with his purchase of Silkstone Manor and some of the lands of Bretton Abbey. The family fortunes were further consolidated by Richard Elmhirst, agent to the Earl of Stafford in collecting recusants' rents for the Crown; by two generations of merchants in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries; and by the eighteenth century Surgeon Apothecary William Elmhirst, a pioneer of smallpox inoculation.

There are, however, some families with obvious Tudor founders. MORE-MOLYNEUX of Loseley was founded by two Tudor notables; Sir Christopher More, King's Remembrancer of the Exchequer, who bought the Loseley estate in 1532, and his son, Sir William More, a Member of Parliament and a close friend of Elizabeth I.

It is in the seventeenth century and afterwards that one frequently finds prominent men founding landed dynasties. Thus, BANKES of Kingston Lacy was founded by the eminent lawyer Sir John Bankes. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1641; PACKE-DRURY-LOWE of Prestwold by Sir Christopher Packe, Lord Mayor of London under the Commonwealth, a member of Cromwell's Upper House and his Ambassador to Sweden; SELBY-LOWNDES formerly of Whaddon by the financier, William Lowndes. Secretary to the Treasury at the time of the foundation of the Bank of England. The descendants of Sir John Bankes were typical "great commoners" - county magnates whose estates were larger than those of many peers, but who preferred to remain plain Mr. Bankes of Kingston Lacy rather than seek the coronet which would have been theirs for the asking. Indeed, it is hard to think of a better example of a "great commoner" family in the present Landed Gentry than Bankes; many of the other families of this standing - such as WINGFIELD-DIGBY of Sherborne, or LANE-FOX of Bramham - having held peerages or baronetcies in the past, so that they belong more to the nobility than to the gentry in the stricter sense of the term. This is one instance of how the Peerage and Landed Gentry interlock; another being where families in the Landed Gentry are the untitled branches of families in the Peerage. GRANVILLE of Wellesbourne - descended, incidentally, from Sir Richard Granville of the Revenge - is the surviving male line of a family of which an extinct branch held the Earldom of Bath, and is represented in the female line by Earl Granville. CHICHESTER formerly of Calverleigh and CHICHESTER of Hall are branches of a family of which other branches are represented by the Marquess of Donegall, Lord Templemore, Lord O'Neill and the Chichester baronets of Raleigh.

BANKES, WINGFIELD-DIGBY and LANE-FOX are notable in owning three of the most famous houses associated with the present Landed Gentry - the Carolean Kingston Lacy, the Elizabethan Sherborne Castle and the Queen Anne Bramham Park with its great formal garden. Other famous houses belonging to families in the Landed Gentry include the mediaeval Berkeley Castle, the Tudor Loseley Park and the Elizabethan Lulworth Castle-though the latter has been a ruin since it was gutted by fire some forty years ago. The LUTTRELL family owns the mediaeval castle of Dunster; the family of WHITBREAD owns Henry Holland's masterpiece, Southill Park, built for their forebear, the eminent eighteenth century brewer, Samuel Whitbread. Mont acute, one of the best-known Elizabethan houses in England, was owned, until recently, by the family of PHELIPS; while the SELBY family formerly owned the beautiful Kentish manor house of Ightham Mote.

In the eighteenth century, which saw the growth of British commerce and overseas interests, it was natural that a large number of new landed families should be founded; though the buying of a landed estate at this period was no easy matter, existing owners being mostly well off and unwilling to sell. In fact almost all the Landed Gentry families of eighteenth century Origin are founded on commerce; the men who achieved success in the armed forces, or the Law-those other eighteenth century channels of social advancement-usually obtaining baronetcies, if not peerages. ARCHER-HOUBLON of Welford and BOSANQUET of Dingestow are descended from prominent families of the City of London, both of whom included in their number a Governor of the Bank of England - Sir John Houblon being the first Governor. HOARE of Stourton, HOLLAND-MARTIN of Overbury and GOSLING of Hassobury are descended from City bankers. SOAMES of Hamsell Manor, formerly of Sheffield Park descends from Henry Soames, an eighteenth century London tallow chandler, whose forebears in the previous century had been weavers. The various branches of the SMITH family, of Woodhall, of Shottesbrooke, of Longhills, formerly of Hertingfordbury, formerly of Midhurst, formerly of Wilford and formerly of Woodhill, as well as SMITH-DORRIEN-SMITH of Tresco and SMITH-BOSANQLET formerly of Broxbornebury, while descended from Sir John Smith, Second Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Henry VIII, owe their present position to their eighteenth century forebears who were bankers in Nottingham and afterwards in London. The merchants and bankers of the provincial cities founded many landed families, particularly in the counties adjoining the cities from which they sprang. BIRKBECK of Westacre, and several branches of the GURNEY family, of Keswick and Bawdeswell, formerly of North Runcton and of Walsingham and Sprowston are among the Norfolk families descended from bankers in Norwich. HARFORD of Horton, HOBHOUSE of Hadspen and COMBE of Earnshill are among several families in Gloucestershire and Somersetshire founded on the commerce of Bristol. Families in Northumberland and Durham descended from Newcastle-upon-Tyne merchants or bankers include COOKSON of Meldon, SAWREY-COOKSON formerly of Neasham, SURTEES of Dinsdale-on-Tees and SURTEES of Redworth.

Closely allied with the City of London, and with the other great seaports, were the Overseas interests. One can find the "West Indian Interest" in the family of SAWBRIDGE-ERLE-DRAX, whose Drax forebears owned property in Barbados. Jacob Sawbridge, another ancestor of this family, was a Director of the South Sea Company, with which FELLOWES of Shotesham is also connected, Sir John Fellowes having been Sub-Governor of the Company. East India "Nabobs" are represented in the Landed Gentry by Clive, and by PITT-RIVERS of Hinton St. Mary and Tollard Royal, which, descended from Governor Pitt of Madras, is thus also connected with Chatham and Pitt the Younger - like Granville, one of the very few families in the Landed Gentry connected with eighteenth century high politics. Other families with ancestors in the East India Company service include Chicheley Plowden, a branch of PLOWDEN of Plowden: as well as a family unique in the Landed Gentry - BROOKE, the former Rajahs of Sarawak. The eighteenth century forebears of DE LISLE of Garendon and Grace Dieu were connected with the Levant Company; while in the following century the WHITAKER family now of Pylewell, were established in Sicily, engaged in the export of Marsala wine.

As well as English families which had interests abroad, the Landed Gentry includes a number of families of foreign descent. Archer-Houblon is descended from sixteenth century refugees from the Low Countries. BOSANQUET, like MARTINEAY, COURTAULD and ROMILLY of Huntington - the family of the early nineteenth statesman and philantrophist, Sir Samuel Romilly - is of Huguenot descent. GRANT-DALTON of Brodsworth is descended in the female line from the wealthy Swiss merchant Peter Thellusson whose unconventional Will led to a celebrated lawsuit and a special Act of Parliament. RICARDO formerly of Gatcombe Park is of Sephardic Jewish descent: Abraham Ricardo, the father of the economist, David Ricardo, having come to England from Holland in the eighteenth century. Another distinguished Jewish family in the Landed Gentry is SASSOON formerly of Ashley Park. The forebears of PEREIRA of Caversham Place came to England from Portugal at the beginning of the nineteenth century; ARGENTI is of Italian origin, but was long settled in Chios. EMMET of Amberley Castle is of Anglo-Irish origin; Thomas Addis Emmet, having been a leader of the United Irishmen in 1797, went in exile to the United States, and his descendant left America for England a hundred years later.

Not many families in the Landed Gentry originate with the Industrial Revolution; the reason for this being that the dynasties founded by successful industrialists generally rose to the peerage or baronetage. There are six well-known brewing families in the Landed Gentry: CHARRINGTON, COBBOLD of Glenham, COURAGE of Edgcote, WATNEY formerly of Cornbury, WHITBREAD of Southill and WORTHINGTON of Kingston Russell. Then there are the several branches of the ARKWRIGHT family, of Kinsham Court, formerly of Sutton Scarsdale, and formerly of Willersley, whose fortunes were founded in the eighteenth century by Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of the spinning frame. Also connected with textiles, but from a later period of the Industrial Revolution, is COURTAULD of Halstead. LLOYD of Dolobran and CRAWSHAY formerly of Caversham Park descend from ironmasters.

Along with these few representatives of the new England of the Industrial Revolution, one can find the family that was, so to speak, their voice: WALTER formerly of Bear Wood, which owned The Times from its foundation by John Walter in 1785 until about fifty years ago. As champions of Victorian radicalism - it was their radical views that prevented them from accepting a peerage - the Walters can be compared with the Chamberlains, another family that grew out of the Industrial Revolution. CHAMBERLAIN formerly of Highbury is one of a small group of families in the present Landed Gentry which are distinguished not so much on account of their lineage, or association with a particular landed estate, but because of having produced a number of eminent men in the last century and this. Another such family is HUXLEY. Then there is BUTLER formerly of Ewart Park and the other branch of the family, BUTLER formerly of Bourton, of which the living members include Lord Butler of Saffron Walden, Sir James Butler, former Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge and Sir Nevile Butler, former Ambassador to Brazil and the Netherlands; and which, during the past century and a half have produced a no less famous Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Henry Montagu Butler; as well as two Indian provincial Governors and a Headmaster of Harrow.

To speak of present-day celebrities in the Landed Gentry is really outside the scope of this article. Yet having mentioned how so many old families have renewed themselves by producing men of distinction in later generations, it must be said that this process is still going on. Thus the family of Plowden having held the Shropshire acres from which it takes its name since the early Middle Ages, having produced an eminent Elizabethan lawyer and having played a notable part in governing British India, has, at the present time, produced a Chairman of the Atomic Energy Authority. It is this combination of genealogical distinction and personal achievement - in single families as well as in different families in juxtaposition - which makes the Landed Gentry such a fascinating historical and social document. If one looks for what this vast and heterogeneous collection of families has in common, one can perhaps say that each family includes one or more people who played some part in making Britain great: by simply doing their duty as landowners, by helping to develop British commerce and industry, by administering the British possessions Overseas or by contributing to British culture and thought. It is fashionable to discount the part played in present-day life by people from such families; but it will be a sad day for Britain if such families are no longer able to serve their country as they have done for the past thousand years.