Sir George Trevillian, 1st Baronet

Trevelyan, (Sir) George, arm. fil, matriculated Wadham College University of Oxford on 22 March, 165o-1; of Nettlecombe, created a baronet. 24 Jan., 1661-2; died 1671; father of John 1687. [20]

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The Trevilian, later Trevelyan Baronetcy, of Nettlecombe in the County of Somerset, was created in the Baronetage of England on 24 January 1662 for George Trevilian.

He was the son and namesake of George Trevilian, a member of the gentry and supporter of the Royalist cause in the Civil War.

The Trevelyans became a prominent liberal aristocratic family with many notable men who served England. The Baronetcy is now extinct.

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The Monmouth Rebellion

The Trevillian family had enjoyed many generations of well-being and prosperity at Nettlecombe that was severely threatened by the English Civil War, and in the same generation, the upheaval of the Rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth which took place locally in Somerset during the summer of 1685 after the death of King Charles II.

The Protestant Duke of Monmouth, albeit illegitimate, as the only son of King Charles II, upon his father's death, Monmouth sailed from France and arrived in Somerset where he proclaimed himself the rightful King of England at Taunton (not too far from Nettlecombe). However, after local fighting, Monmouth was captured by forces loyal to his rival heir to the throne, Catholic King James, and was beheaded at the Tower of London.

Since many local people of Somerset had supported the Duke of Monmouth, the new king exacted revenge upon the county. About 320 local people were hanged and over 800 local people were sentenced to slavery, and were transported to the West Indies where they were sold-off as slaves. In Somerset, “two hundred and thirty-three prisoners were in a few days hanged, drawn, and quartered ironed corpses clattering in the wind, or heads and quarters stuck on poles, poisoned the air, and made the traveller sick with horror”. In one small village alone, 13 men were hanged, their bodies dismembered, then boiled in pitch and publicly exhibited. In many villages, neighbour had fought neighbour, causing much resentment for years after.

As a local landowner, Parliament demanded that Nettlecombe pay an enormous sum as "recompense" for the rebellion.

A number of the landowners were able to buy themselves off with crippling bribes while the common people were brutally treated. Trials were largely used as a means of extracting the property of prominent Whigs and potential political opponents of the King who frequently had nothing to do with the Rebellion. These unfortunate noblemen only escaped with their lives by paying huge ransoms or surrendering all their property. This was done with the enthusiastic support of the King James II, the Queen and a number of the new Catholic courtiers enjoying their rise to prominence. It was effectively an act of revenge.

James II further took advantage of the suppression of the rebellion to consolidate his power. He asked Parliament to repeal the Test Act and the Habeas Corpus Act, used his dispensing power to appoint Catholics to senior posts, and raised the strength of the standing army. Parliament opposed many of these moves, and on 20 November 1685 James dismissed the Parliament. In 1688, when the birth of an heir heralded a Catholic succession, James II was overthrown in a coup d'état by Protestant William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution at the invitation of the dispossessed Protestant Establishment.

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The family derived its surname (which is pronounced "Trevillian") from Trevelyan in the parish of St Veep, Cornwall.

The second Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Somerset and Minehead. He changed the spelling of the family surname to Trevelyan.

The fourth Baronet was Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Somerset. The eighth Baronet served as High Sheriff of Cornwall from 1906 to 1907.

The presumed tenth Baronet never successfully proved his succession and was never on the Official Roll of the Baronetage.

Likewise, as of 13 June 2007 the presumed eleventh and present Baronet has not successfully proven his succession and is consequently not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage, with the baronetcy considered dormant since 1976.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nettlecombe_Court

Nettlecombe Court has a late medieval hall, with the entrance front, porch, great hall and parlour added in 1599. Around 1641 there were further additions to rear of great hall, and between 1703 and 1707 the South West front was extended. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.[1]

As stated in "Nettlecombe Court" by R. J. E. Bush:

"Nettlecombe is first mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086, when it was stated to be held by William the Conquerer, and in the charge of his Sheriff for Somerset, William de Mohun." A family lineage published in Nettlecombe Court shows that the estate passed into the Trevelyan (Trevilian / Trevillian) family in 1452, upon the marriage of Elizabeth Whalesburgh to John Trevelyan.

It remained as a family estate in the Trevelyan family until the mid-nineteen hundreds.

Nettlecombe Court is a large country mansion in the English county of Somerset.

Nettlecombe Court was originally built as a manor house, becoming a girls' boarding school in the early 1960s. Since 1967 has been the Leonard Wills Field Centre run by the Field Studies Council. The house is surrounded by Nettlecombe Park, a 90.4 hectares (223 acres) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Records suggest this site has been wood pasture or parkland for at least 400 years. There are some very old oak pollards which may be of this age or older. The oldest standard trees are over 200 years of age. The continuity of open woodland and parkland, with large mature and over-mature timber, has enabled characteristic species of epiphytic lichens and beetles to become established and persist. Many of these species are now nationally scarce because this type of habitat has been eliminated over large areas of Great Britain.

The house and park are set in a secluded valley on the northern fringes of the Brendon Hills, within the Exmoor National Park.

The Trevilian, later Trevelyan Baronetcy, of Nettlecombe in the County of Somerset, was created in the Baronetage of England on 24 January 1662 for George Trevilian. He was the son and namesake of George Trevilian, a member of the gentry and supporter of the Royalist cause in the Civil War.

The family derived its surname (which is pronounced "Trevillian") from Trevelyan in the parish of St Veep, Cornwall.

The second Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Somerset and Minehead. He changed the spelling of the family surname to Trevelyan.

The fourth Baronet was Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Somerset.

The eighth Baronet served as High Sheriff of Cornwall from 1906 to 1907.

The presumed tenth Baronet never successfully proved his succession and was never on the Official Roll of the Baronetage.

Likewise, as of 13 June 2007 the presumed eleventh and present Baronet has not successfully proven his succession and is consequently not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage, with the baronetcy considered dormant since 1976.