Colonel William FitzHardinge Berkeley,

1st Earl FitzHardinge (1786–1857) and

Admiral Maurice Frederick FitzHardinge Berkeley of Berkeley Castle, 1st Lord FitzHardinge of Bristol (1788-1867).

Chipping House formed one of several properties in an area around The Chipping Green that were endowed to the grammar school, Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School. Founded in 1384, the school is the earliest known case of grammar school foundation by a layperson independent of the church, the first by a woman and the first in which tuition was offered free to all pupils.

At some point in the 19^th century, the Headmaster of Katherine Lady Berkeley’s School moved into Chipping House. In 1924, the head was Mr Cyril Fiske, who wanted to encourage boarders at the school. He needed to increase numbers and, by boarding, he could attract children from nearby towns.

Chipping House had sufficient rooms and the numbers of boarders rose, especially in 1940s, when families sought refuge from the blitz and when pupils from Harwich Grammar School (north-east Essex) were evacuated here. The boys boarded at Chipping House whilst the girls were housed separately in a building that is now Lloyds Chemists in the High Street.

A 1920s prospectus for Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School states that the boarders were under the care of Mrs Fiske BA, a qualified nurse and the headmaster’s wife. The children ate with the headmaster at his table. Accommodation included a sick room on the ground floor (now our family room) and, on the first floor, a senior dormitory (at the south end) and a junior dormitory.

At the back was the headmaster’s kitchen garden (now modern housing). Adjacent buildings were The Manor where Dr Walshman Ward, the school doctor, resided and Well House that featured the school tennis court.

Chipping House continued to home the headmaster until 1973, when the grammar school became a comprehensive school.

Chipping House was therefore sold as a private house and then converted to administrative offices for Messrs Jotcham, Master Builders. When it became surplus to their requirements, Vernon Jotcham Esq restored it back to a private house for his daughter.

We bought the house in 2003 for our four young children and, at one point, four Labrador dogs

EARL AND BARON FITZHARDINGE – the first freeholders of Chipping House

Colonel William FitzHardinge Berkeley MP (1786–1857) 1st Earl FitzHardinge

The first freeholder of Chipping House was Colonel William FitzHardinge Berkeley, 1st (and only) Earl FitzHardinge.

Family: He was born on 26^th December 1786, the son of Frederick Augustus Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley (1745-1810) and Mary Cole. From 1796 to 1831, he was styled as Viscount Dursley. Colonel Berkeley was created 1^st Baron Segrave of Berkeley on 10^th September 1831 and 1^st Earl FitzHardinge on 17 August 1841. He died on 10^th October 1857 as the age of 70. He did not marry and had no children so his two peerage titles became extinct.

Army career: He was a colonel of the South Gloucester Militia.

Lord Lieutenant : William held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire from 1836 until his death in 1857.

Admiral Maurice Frederick FitzHardinge Berkeley GCB, PC, MP

(1788–1867) 1st Baron FitzHardinge

The next freeholder of Chipping House was Admiral Maurice Frederick FitzHardinge Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge of Bristol, GCB PC, Royal Navy First Sea Lord and First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria.

Family: He was born on 3^rd January 1788, the son of Frederick Augustus Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley and Mary Cole. First marriage (1823): Charlotte Lennox, daughter of Sir Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and Lady Charlotte Gordon. They had two sons and two daughters. Second marriage (1834): Lady Charlotte Reynolds-Moreton, daughter of Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie. They had no children. He was created 1st Baron FitzHardinge of Bristol on 5^th August 1861. His sons, Francis and Charles, became 2nd and 3^rd Barons Fitzhardinge. He died on 17^th October 1867 at the age of 79 in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire.

Royal Navy career: 1828-1841: Commanded HMS Semiramis, Hercules & Thunderer. 1833-1834 & 1837-1839: Fourth Naval Lord of the Admiralty. 1846-1849: Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria. 1846-1852: Third Naval Lord, during which time he was promoted Rear-Admiral. 1852-1857: First Naval Lord for several different periods. 1856: Vice-Admiral. 1862: Admiral of the Blue. 1863: Admiral of the White, the highest rank in the Royal Navy.

Honours: Invested within the Order of the Bath, as a Companion (CB) in 1840, Knight Commander (KCB) in 1855 and finally as a Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in 1861.

The Berkeleys’ political offices

It was said that at one time, a Berkeley succeeded a Berkeley for many years. They were all Whigs or Liberals.

William was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gloucester from 1810 to 1811. Maurice was elected several times as a Member of Parliament for Gloucester, but in three separate periods. His first spell was between 1831 and 1832, the second from 1835 and 1837 and the third in 1841 where he remained as Liberal Member for Gloucester through two more general elections until 1857. He was appointed as a Privy Councillor in 1855.

Two more of Mary Cole’s sons, Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley and Craven Fitzhardinge Berkeley, became members of parliament for Bristol and Cheltenham respectively. Francis, son of Maurice and 2^nd Baron Fitzhardinge, was also a Member of Parliament.

The Baronies of Berkeley and FitzHardinge

William and Maurice unsuccessfully claimed the title of Barony of Berkeley.

Their father Frederick was the 5th Earl of Berkeley, and their mother, Mary Cole, was the daughter of a small tradesman at Wotton-under-Edge. They lived together at Berkeley Castle and had several illegitimate children. Frederick eventually married Mary in 1796 in Lambeth. However, wishing to legitimise their children born before this marriage, the two of them forged an entry in the marriage register of St. Mary's Church at Berkeley, inventing a previous marriage that had taken place in 1785.

In 1801, the Earl made a declaration of this supposed earlier marriage. However, on his death in 1810, the validity of this alleged marriage was tested by the committee of privileges of the House of Lords in 1811. The Prince Regent (later King George IV) had planned to give evidence in support of William and Maurice but was prevented from doing so.

At the time of this Lords’ trial, William sat in the House of Commons as Viscount Dursley.

The House of Lords showed that without doubt from evidence that the parish register entry was a forgery. Furthermore, at the very time when the banns of marriage were said to have been published (in an inaudible voice by the clergyman) at Berkeley, Mary Cole was living in Kent in the service of a Mrs. Foote.

The Lords ruled that because the elder children were illegitimate, they could not inherit the title.

Thomas Moreton FitzHardinge Berkeley, the eldest legitimate son, was made 6^th Earl but chivalrously declined to claim the peerage because it would have been necessary, in order to establish his title, to asperse the character of his mother.

Under the will of the 5^th Earl, William and then Maurice retained the substantial Berkeley estates, including Berkeley Square in London and Berkeley Castle , Gloucestershire.

Having failed in his claim to the Earldom of Berkeley, in 1828, Colonel William Berkeley (as he had become known) brought before the House of Lords a claim to the barony of Berkeley because of his tenure of Berkeley Castle and all the manors originally constituting the Barony. No judgment was given in the matter but, in 1669, the then King in council had declared that baronies by tenure were "not in being and so not fit to be revived".

Eventually, Colonel Berkeley's political influence procured him a peerage as Lord Segrave of Berkeley in 1831 and ten years later, in 1841, an earldom with the title of Fitzhardinge.

William died with no heirs so his brother, Sir Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley, succeeded to the Berkeley estates under the terms of the 5th earl's will.

Maurice unsuccessfully revived the claims to the barony. Like his brother, he given a new barony (1861) as Lord Fitzhardinge. Maurice’s two sons, Francis and Charles, became the 2^nd and 3^rd Barons Fitzhardinge and as neither had any heirs, the title became extinct.

HISTORY OF CHIPPING HOUSE