Funeral hatchment of Nathaniel Lee Acton (1757-1836), husband of Penelope Rycroft, showing her coat of arms. Church of St Mary and St Lambert, Stonham Aspal, Suffolk, England
Portrait of: Penelope Rycroft was born on March 4, 1764, the eldest daughter among eleven children born to Penelope Stonehewer (1737-1821) and the Rev. Sir Richard Nelson (1736-1786), Bart., D.D., of Calton, Yorkshire, who by royal license had taken the name Rycroft on December 28, 1758. Her father died in 1786, when she was twenty-two years old and in 1791 she became the second wife of Nathaniel Lee Acton (1757-1836) of Livermere Park, near Ipswich, Suffolk, who had been widowed two years earlier. They had no children and she died in 1819. (text per catalogue entry). Re her husband: Church of St Mary and St Lambert, Stonham Aspal, Suffolk, hatchment for funeral of Nathaniel Lee Lee-Acton (1757-1836) of Livermere Park, in the parish of Little Livermere, Suffolk, High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1789. 1779 Chapter 19 George III. c. 21 Type of Act Private Act Not printed Short title Nathaniel Lee Acton’s name. Long title An Act to enable Nathaniel Lee Acton Esquire, and the Heirs Male of his Body, to take and use the Surname of Lee before and jointly with the Surname of Acton, pursuant to the Will of Baptist Lee Esquire, deceased[1]. A deed dated 1778 describes him as "Nathaniel Lee Acton Esq. of Livermere, son of Nathaniel Acton and nephew of Baptist Lee" ("Copy of lease and release by Nathaniel Acton Esq. of Bramford sole executor of Baptist Lee and Rev. Joseph Lathbury of Livermere, with Nathaniel Acton surviving devisee and trustee of Baptist Lee", 3 - Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich Branch, HA61 - Loraine family archive[2]). "Will of Baptist Lee of Livermere , Suffolk. Date: 16 April 1768". Held by: The National Archives, Kew[3]. Thus his mother was a Lee, heiress of Livermere, hence he quarters her arms. The village of Little Livermere was almost entirely demolished in the 18th century when a park and mere were created in the grounds of the stately home, Livermere Hall, which was itself destroyed in 1923.[1] Livermere Hall is thought to be the setting M.R. James had in mind for Castringham Hall in his ghost story "The Ash-tree", published in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary in 1904.[2] Extract from The Book of Bramford – A Suffolk Parish and its People (Halsgrove 2003 & 2012)[4]:
There is no doubt that had the structure still been standing today, Bramford Hall would have been the most important residence in the parish. It was built on the high ground overlooking the village, probably by John Acton in 1631. On an early plan the first hall appears to have been built as four sides around a central courtyard, a popular style at the time. At some stage it was enlarged, probably by Nathaniel Acton II around 1745. Over several generations the family expanded their landholding in this and other nearby parishes, until the last male heir died in 1836 and the estate passed through the female line to the Broke family of Nacton. After this date, the building and shooting rights were let to various tenants. One famous visitor to a shooting party around 1900 was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. During the Second World War the hall was used as quarters for officers but being no longer required by the family it was sold and demolished in 1956. Part of it survives as a modern dwelling.
The Acton family generations:
William Acton I – died 1616
His son John Acton I – died 1661, in 1631 High Sheriff of Suffolk
His son John Acton II – died 1663
His son John Acton III – died 1668
His son John Acton IV – died 1703
His William Acton – died 1743
His brother Nathaniel Acton I – died 1795
His son Nathaniel Acton II – died 1836
His son Nathaniel Lee Acton – died 1836, inherited Livermere from his maternal uncle Baptist Lee.
Following text from "Suffolk Institute of Archaeology", Vol XXX, Part III, 1966, pp.272-4 [5]
LIVERMERE PARVA: A MISSING HATCHMENT FOUND, By LESLIE Dow, F.S.A.
At a sale which took place in the stables at Shrubland Park on 11 November 1966, Lot 249 was described in the catalogue as
'Armorial hatchment painted in oils on canvas, with separate stretcher and frame.' Miss Corder and I inspected it before the
sale and the following is a description of it (amended per blazons in Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884):—
Quarterly,
1 and 4: Gules, a fesse within a bordure engrailed ermine (ACTON) ("Acton of Worcestershire" per Burke, 1884, p.4, with several differences)/br>
2 and 3: Argent, a fesse between two pellets (roundels) (in chief) and a martlet (in base) sable (Lee, of Little Livermere, Suffolk)
impaling:
in chief: Argent, a fesse wavy azure (sable?) between three wolves' heads erased gules (MILLER)
in base: Per bend or and azure, three griffons' heads erased counterchanged on a chief argent (ermine) a fleur-de-lys between two roses gules (RYCROFT)
CREST : An arm in armour enbowed holding a sword argent enfiled thereon a boar's head sable (ACTON)
BACKGROUND: All black
The paint is rather dirty and this makes it difficult to distinguish between azure and sable. The hatchment measures about 4 ft. 6 ins. by 3 ft. 10 ins. (Plate XLV). It commemorates the death of Nathaniel Lee Acton of Livermere Park who was born in 1757 and died 1January 1836; he was buried at Little Livermere. He married, first, in 1787, Susanna daughter of Sir Thomas Miller, 5th Baronet of Chichester ; she died 5 April and was buried 13 April 1789 at Little Livermere. He married, second,
in 1791, Penelope daughter of the Revd. Sir Richard Nelson Rycroft, 1st Baronet, of Penshurst, Kent ; she died 5 November 1819
and was buried at Little Livermere (see her portrait at HUNTINGTON LIBRARY & ART MUSEUM, San Marino, California[6] and an engraving of it at Polesden Lacey, Surrey[7]). Text from catalogue of Huntingdon: Penelope Rycroft was born on March 4, 1764, the eldest daughter among eleven children born to Penelope Stonehewer (1737-1821) and the Rev. Sir Richard Nelson (1736-1786), Bart., D.D., of Calton, Yorkshire, who by royal license had taken the name Rycroft on December 28, 1758. Her father died in 1786, when she was twenty-two years old and in 1791 she became the second wife of Nathaniel Lee Acton (1757-1836) of Livermere Park, near Ipswich, Suffolk, who had been widowed two years earlier. They had no children and she died in 1819.[8]. Nathaniel Lee Acton left no issue and his large estates descended to his nephew, Sir William Fowle Middleton of Shrubland Park (son of his sister Harriot who died 1852 aged 97) ; from him they passed, through the Brokes, to the Saumarez family, the present owners of Shrubland.' Since Nathaniel Acton was buried at Little Livermere (as were his two wives) one would expect to find his hatchment in that church. In fact, that is where it was about 1890-1900 when Edmund Farrer was compiling his SuffolkChurchHeraldry,2where he describes it as being 'in the Acton vault, down below', but it is not mentioned in a detailed account of the church which was printed in 1925;3 this of course may be because it was still in the vault and therefore passed over, but on the other hand accoiding to the present incumbent of the united benefice of Ampton and Ingham the church of Little Livermere has been in bad repair and out of use 'for about fifty years.' So the hatchment may have been removed when the church ceased to be used. When these facts were pointed out to the Hon. J. V. B. Saumarez he readily agreed to withdraw the hatchment from the sale. Since it cannot go back to the ruined church of Little Livermere, it has been housed at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, with a note on its back recording its vicissitudes, as far as they are known. But this is not the end of the story. Miss Corder has pointed out to me that there hangs in Stonham Aspall church a hatchment for Penelope (Rycroft) second wife of Nathaniel Acton; it bears the arms of LEE and ACTON impaling RYCROFT (as above), with the dexter half of the background white and the sinister half black, showing that it was the wife who had died. As we have seen, Penelope died in November 1819 and was buried at Little Livermere so it is difficult to account for the presence of her hatchment at Stonham Aspal. Farrer does not record it in either edition of his manuscript volumes, but the late Charles Partridge, who owned the illustrated edition after Farrer's death in 1935, has added a note on page 159 of the Bosmere volume stating that it was 'found in a builder's yard at Stonham about 1915 by the rector, the Revd. A. W. Darwin.' How it got to Stonham is a mystery, but evidently Mr. Darwin hung it in his church, where it has remained ever since. It is perhaps worth noting that the Saumarez family inherited the manor of Stonham Aspal as well as the Livermere property, through the marriage of the fourth Lord de Saumarez with the Broke heiress in 1882.One can only assumethat both hatchments were removed from Little Livermerechurch about 1915,when the church ceasedto be used, and that one found its way to Stonham,while the other ended up at Shrublands.
Unknown painter (circle of Reynolds/Romney/Lawrence, etc. ?)
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{{Information |Description=Portrait of: Penelope Rycroft was born on March 4, 1764, the eldest daughter among eleven children born to Penelope Stonehewer (1737-1821) and the Rev. Sir Richard Nelson (1736-1786), Bart., D.D., of Calton, Yorkshire, who by royal license had taken the name Rycroft on December 28, 1758. Her father died in 1786, when she was twenty-two years old and in 1791 she became the second wife of Nathaniel Lee Acton (1757-1836) of Livermere Park, near Ipswich, Suffolk, who ha...
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