Bulmer of Wilton

The Wilton Bulmers, mentioned in the charters of Whitby Abbey, Gyseburne, and Helagh Priories, are considered a.younger branch of the Main Line. The first mentioned is Ralph de Bulmer de Ferlington. He was at the Battle of the Standard in 1138, and was lord of Wilton. He married Aufrida the daughter and co-heir of Stephen Fossard of Wilton, grandson of Nigel Fossard, lord of Mulgrave and Doncaster. This alliance brought the Manor of Wilton into the family.

The Coat of Arms of the Fossards was Or, a bend sable, which was also used by their successors, the De Maulays, Barons of Mulgrave; and it would rank as the first known Quartering of the Bulmer Shield, though not appearing in the Heralds' Visitations.

Ralph de Bulmer de Ferlington had three sons.

(1) Alan de Wilton (grantor of a charter of Whitby Abbey, circ. 1136),

(2) Stephen, who retained the name of De Bulmer. (He made a return of his fees in 1165),

(3) Bertram (said to have been brother of Stephen who was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1140). He made a return of his fees in 1165. Stephen had a sister, Sibilla, who died circ. 1181. She married Stephen de Meinill.

The son of Alan de Wilton was Ralph, who dropped the name of de Ferlington for that of Wilton. He succeeded his father in the lordship of Wilton. He is mentioned in the certificate of fees sent in to Henry II on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter in 1165 - Taken from the Black Book of the Exchequer.

There is a note in Vol. I of the Whitby Chartularies, mentioning Gen. Plantagenet Harrison's Pedigree of the Bulmers in his "History of Yorkshire" and he differs from the account of there in the Charters by making the before-mentioned Stephen the father of Alan de Wilton, the grantor of the Charter, and giving Stephen a son, John instead of Thomas, according to the Charters. The above-mentioned Ralph de Wilton married Cecilia ----, and had two sons, Alan de Wilton and Thomas de Wilton (who was a priest). This Alan de Wilton, according to P. Harrison, "granted the Hospital of St. Nicholas by Yarm to the priory of Helagh. In 1204 he had a grant of free warren in Wilton and its appurtenances and, dying in 1230, was succeeded by his brother, Thomas de Wilton (the priest) who died in 1235-6".

We now revert to Stephen de Bulmer, son of Ralph de Ferlington. He had a son, Thomas, who succeeded his father before 1170. His son was John de Bulmer, "Consaguineus et haeres", who succeeded to the Wilton Inheritance on the death of Thomas de Wilton (the priest). John de Bulmer is assumed to be the one whose name occurs about the year 1230 in a Grant of Homage and Service to Whitby Abbey by John de Aton. The next owner of Wilton is John de Bulmer, whom Burke makes a Baron by Tenure. He married, in 1269, Theophania, daughter and co-heir of Hugh, Baron de Morwic, now called Morrick, in the Parish of Warkworth, Northumberland. (Graves says that "this marriage took place in 1303"). By this alliance the Bulmers became possessed of Morwick, West Chyvington and other lands which are mentioned under "Eschaets and Inquisitions" in Hodgson's "History of Northumberland", temp Edward I.

In 15 Edward I (1286-7) a fine was levied between Alan de Bulmer of Werlton (now Wrelton) plaintiff and John de Bulmer and Theophania, his wife, deforciants, about eight messuages and fifty acres of land in Werlton.

The issue of this marriage was Ralph de Bulmer, who was summoned to Parliament as a Baron by writ, from 1342 to 1349. In 1327 he was Deputy Governor of York to William Ros, Baron of Hamlake. He died in 1357 and was the "last of the Barons". He married a daughter of Lord Fitz-hugh, of Ravenswath, and had a son and heir, Ralph Bulmer of Wilton, who was born circ. 1344. He was under guardianship of the King's daughter Isabel, and, by her, assigned to Ralph Nevill. He had livery of his lands after obtaining his maturity in 1363; and four years later he had license, together with William, a younger son of Ralph, Lord Nevill of Raby, to travel into foreign parts. Graves calls him Roger; and marries him to Margaret, daughter of Sir William Mowbray, Knt. The other Pedigrees do not give the name of his wife; however, he has a son and heir, Sir Ralph de Bulmer, Knt., Lord of Wilton, born 1366, who married Agnes, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Sutton, Baron of Sutton in Holderness, and thus acquired a portion of the Lordship of Sutton Southcote and Stone-ferry, near Hull. He died in 1406 and was succeeded by his son Ralph, who married a daughter of William Fulthorpe, Esq. of Hathorpe.

His son and heir was Sir Ralph Bulmer, Knt., of Wilton, the first mentioned in the Heralds' Visitations. He is said to have lived in 1398. Ord says that "according to Torre's MSS he was to be buried at Bulmer". He married the daughter of Sir William de Hilton, Knt., Baron of Hilton, and had issue Sir William Bulmer, Knt., who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir R. Eure, of Bradley, Knt. His eldest son was Sir Ralph Bulmer, Knt., of Wilton, living in 1472. He died in 1492, when he held, according to Dodsworth's MSS, "Wilton, Lackenby, West Cotum, Lazingby, Bulmer and Foul Sutton". Ord gives Sir Ralph four brothers, viz: Robert, William of Hartlepool and John, Rector of Bulmer, whose Will was dated 1441, and a sister Ellen.

Sir Ralph Bulmer married a daughter of Sir William Bowes, Knt. and had issue Sir William Bulmer, Knt., who married Margery, the daughter of Sir John Conyers, Knt. He had a brother, Ralph, and a sister Jane; and Anne, who married Marmaduke Delariver (Harl. MSS No. 1420). Ord says that "Sir William was at Flodden; and that he was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1518". His will is dated 1531, and a copy of it will be found in the Notes relating to him. Ord also says that "an effigy lies over the grave of the Parish Clerk in Kirkleatham Churchyard, which is, doubtless, that of Sir William Bulmer!".

Sir William had issue:

I. Sir John Bulmer, Knt., the last Lord of Wilton. He, unhappily for himself and family, joined in the Religious Rising called the "Pilgrimage of Grace", as one of three chief leaders of the Yorkshire portion of the Insurrection. Sir John was Attainted of High Treason by King Henry VIII in 1537; and his lands were forfeited to the Crown. He was hanged at Tyburn and his wife was cruelly burned at Smithfield..On May 9th 1537, amongst the prisoners lodged in the Tower of London, were Sir John Bulmer, Margaret Cheyne, Wife of William Cheyne, Esq. (Lady Bulmer). There is a graphic account of the part Lady Bulmer took in the Insurrection, in "Her Majesty's Tower", 5th Edition, by Mr Hepworth Dixon. From this time the fortunes of the family seem to have declined. Their devotion to the Catholic cause was a bar to future progress.

Sir John Bulmer married, first, Anne daughter of Sir Ralph Bigot, Knt. He married, secondly, Margaret, natural daughter of E. Stafford (Duke of Buckingham) by whom he had a son, John Bulmer, of Pinchinthorpe in Cleveland, who married Agnes, daughter of James Crathorne. He was living in 1584, but had no issue.

II. Sir Ralph Bulmer, Knt., who married Anne, daughter and co-heir of Sir Roger Aske, Knt., and had issue an only child, Dorothy Bulmer, who married John Sayer, Esq. of Worsall, near Yarm, the heiress of whose family married into that of Bulmer, of Tursdale.

III. Sir William Bulmer, Knt., who married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Elmeden, Esq., of Elmeden. Sir William had a sister Margery, who married George, son and heir of Sir. Ralph Salvein, of Croxdale. Durham.

Reverting to I. Sir John Bulmer, he had issue by his first marriage:

(1) Sir Ralph Bulmer, who was Restored in Blood (He married Anna, daughter of Sir Thomas Tempest).

(2) William Bulmer of Levening near Malton.

(3) Elizabeth, who married first, Henry Malton, and secondly, in 1585, Francis Constable, Gent., of Shirburne.

(4) Anne married Mr Boynton of Acklam.

(5) Agnes married Mr Layton

(6) Mary died unmarried.

Reverting to (1). Sir Ralph Bulmer, Knt., he had no male issue; only three daughters, viz:

(1) Joan Bulmer, daughter and co-heir, who married Francis, son and heir of Sir R. Chomeley, Knt. of Roxby in Whitby. She married, secondly, Francis Ilsley.

(2) Millicent Bulmer, second daughter and co-heir, who married T. Grey, Gent., of Borton-in-Ryedale. Son of Ralph Grey, living in 1541 who, according to Surtees, married Margaret, daughter and heir of Robert Bulmer. From this line descend the Earls Grey, statesmen of modern times.

(3) Francisca Bulmer, daughter and co-heir, who married Marmaduke Constable, Gent., of Cliffe, Co. York.

Reverting to (2), William Bulmer of Levening, he married Joan, daughter and heir of ----Wilberfoss, of ---- and had issue, Robert Bulmer of Levening, who married Elizabeth, daughter of ---- Greene of Naburn, near York, and had issue Francis Bulmer of Levening, who married Anne, daughter of Mathew Oglethorpe of Thornton, Co. York, who had issue:

(1) Thomas Bulmer of Levening in 1584, who married Jane, daughter of James Thompson of Thornton.

(2) Elizabeth, who married Miles Noddell of Howden

(3) Margaret, who married John Jackson of Fenton in the barony of Sherburne.

Thomas Bulmer of Levening had issue

(1) Henry Bulmer aged 7 years in 1584 and Thomas Bulmer, second son. The chief male line of the family of Bulmer terminated in 1558 by the death of Sir Ralph Bulmer, Knt., who is said to have left eight daughters and co-heirs, of five of whom nothing is known: hence only the names of three are given in the Pedigree.

The Barony of Bulmer is, therefore, according to Burke, in Abeyance between the descendants of such other daughters of the said Sir Ralph, who may have left issue, and the descendants and representatives of Francis and Milicent, who married respectively, T. Grey and Marmaduke Constable; the same daughters being also co-heirs of the Barony of Sutton-in-Holderness.

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