Oyno Purcell

In the 12th century, four successive Purcells held the manor of Catteshall directly from the King, each serving in turn as usher to the King’s Chamber. Oyn Purcell, the first one, was a Norman who acted as the King’s usher during the reign of King Henry I, son of William the Conqueror. Whether Oyn Purcell was born in Normandy or England is unknown.

Øyno married a daughter of Nigel de Broc, a famous Justiciar of the time. In 1129–30, his elder son Geoffrey, the King's usher (hostiarius), paid his relief for his father's land and held it free of toll as it had been in his father's time, and gave it to Reading Abbey on becoming a monk there. This gift was confirmed both by the Empress Maud and by her opponent Stephen. No mention is made of Catteshull in the confirmatory grants of Henry II to Reading Abbey, and he seems to have regranted it to Ralph de Broc, son of Øyno Purcell (identical with Ralph Purcell), to hold by the service of usher of the king's chamber.

The Purcels of Newton were descended from Oyn Purcel, an usher sergeant under Henry I. The sergeanty and the family lands at Catteshill (Surr.) descended to Oyn's son Geoffrey, and Geoffrey's son Ralph, on whose death about 1155 they were granted to his uncle Ranulf. Ralph, however, had married a sister of Robert Burnel of Shareshull (Staffs.), another usher sergeant, and had a son Ralph, to whom in about 1155 Henry II granted the office and lands of his uncle Robert. Although in 1283 it was asserted in a lawsuit that the Purcels had held in Newton of the honor of St. Valery before the elder Ralph's marriage, it is more likely that their Oxfordshire lands came to them from Robert Burnel, who in 1130 had been excused payment of danegeld on some 3½ hides in the county.