Nat Gould

Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley 1753-1808

Nigel Bowyer Gresley was born in 1753, the son of Sir Nigel Gresley 1726-1787, the 6th Baronet, and his wife nee Elizabeth Wynne, the daughter of the Reverend Ellis Wynne of Cheshire.

He married twice. His first wife was Wilmot Gresley, his first cousin. They had three daughters:-

Wilmot Maria 1778-1845. She was married to the Reverend T. Levett.

Emma Sophia Gresley 1785-1813

Elizabeth Augusta 1787-1808

Their mother Wilmot Gresley died in 1790.

Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley married as his second wife Maria Eliza Garway.

He died in 1808.

Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley was the 7th Baronet.

"Nigel Bowyer was born on March 18, 1753 1, and educated at Manchester Grammar School : but we know little of his life before his father's death, except in connexion with his June 1763 marriage. In 1780 however he was High Sheriff of Derbyshire, and in 1783 obtained a private Act enabling him to lease part of his Staffordshire estates to persons interested in iron works. From this Act it appears that Nigel had already interested himself in iron works on his estates, following the example of his father. He also endeavoured to improve the pottery made at Gresley, which had previously been a coarse brown ware made from a bluish-white superficial clay known as 'Rough Tom.' In 1795, in conjunction with Mr. Adderley, Sir Nigel established a porcelain factory."

"There was a manufactory of china established at Gresley Hall, the seat of the Gresley family, in 1795. It was at Church Gresley, employing Staffordshire men, and succeeded in producing the Gresley China, for which the Miss Gresleys used to paint the patterns. Several sets of this ware are still at Drakelowe, but the factory was unremunerative, and was sold in 1825. About £80,000 are said to have been lost in this unfortunate venture.

"At a bye-election early in 1799 Sir Nigel unsuccessfully contested a Parliamentary seat at Lichfield in the Conservative interest ... Among the public posts which he held were the Recordership of Lichfield from 1802, a Trusteeship of Raunston Hospital in the same year, and a Governorship of Appleby School. At Drakelowe he kept open house, and delighted the neighbourhood with masqued Balls.

"Sir Nigel married first at Croxall on Jan. 26, 1776, his first cousin Wilmot, only child and heir of Sir Thomas Gresley the 5th Baronet. ...She died at Bristol on Dec. 3 4 or 5 1790, and was buried at Gresley on Dec. 13. ... She left three daughters, but in order to keep the property and title together bequeathed the bulk of the estates to any son of Sir Nigel by a future wife.

"The issue of this marriage was as below :

1. Wilmot Maria, born at Drakelowe April 7, 1778, baptized at Walton May 20, was married at Gresley Church on Sept. 21, 1802 to the Rev. Thomas Levett, second son of Thomas Levett Esq. of Packington. He died without issue on Oct. 9, 1843, at Leamington in his seventy-fourth year, and was buried at Whittington where he had been for forty years curate. She died on Dec. 17, 18458, at Packington, and was buried at Whittington.

2. Emma Sophia, born at Lichfield April 17, 1785, and baptized in the Cathedral on July 18, was married at Scarborough on Sept. 15, 1808 to Richard Edensor Heathcote, M.P., her first cousin, and had three children ... She died in Sept. 1813.

3. Elizabeth Augusta, born at Drakelowe Dec. 5, 1787, christened at Walton on Feb. 20, 1788, died on or about Oct. 4, 1808, unmarried, and
was buried at Gresley on Oct. 10.

Sir Nigel married secondly Maria Eliza, only daughter and heir of Caleb Garway Esq., of Worcester. The marriage was at St. James's, Piccadilly, London, on June 25, 1796. She died at Cheltenham on Nov. 9, 1840, in her seventieth year, having had four children :

4 (1). Almeria Georgiana Eliza, born April 9, 1797, christened at Gresley Sept. 22 in that year, died on Jan. 6, 1798 and was buried at Gresley on Jan. 10.

5 (2). Louisa Georgiana Maria, born at Drakelowe on July 18, 1798, married on March 2, 1822, at Leamington the Rev. Edward Woodyat M.A., and had eight children, of whom the eldest son was the Rev. George Woodyat, who on July 4, 1865, married Ella (Pendrill), and the eldest daughter was Georgiana Louisa who on Jan. 10, 1843, married the Rev. Dennis L. Cousins of Cheltenham. Edward was of Kempsey in Worcestershire, and son of George Woodyat of Ledbury.

6 (3). Roger (born Dec. 27, 1799), 8th Baronet.

7 (4). Nigel, born at Worcester on March 15, 1801, died of consumption at the Hotwells near Bristol on May 19, 1816, and was buried at Church Gresley on the 29th."

Their father Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley himself at "the end of his life he resided at Bath, and died there of dropsy on March 26, 1808, and on April 4 was buried in the Abbey, where there is a monument to his memory." (1)

(1) The Gresleys of Drakelowe by Falconer Madan (1899) pages 117-120. The later history of the Gresley family, following on from the information given in the Falconer Madan book, including an account of the 1933 sale and 1936 demolition of Drakelow Hall, is provided in Sir Nigel Gresley: the Engineer and his Family by Geoffrey Hughes (2001) pages 15-17.