Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Heathcote, Selina

16 September 1814 – 17 July 1901

On 6 April 1841, Miss Selina Shirley of Eatington Hall, Warwickshire, recorded in her diary that she ‘walked in the Garden with Sir William [Heathcote] & promised to become his Wife’.  They were married on 18 May.  This was a second union for Heathcote, whose first wife, Caroline, had died in 1835, after bearing him four children.  For Lady Selina it was the beginning of a forty-year association with Hursley Park, during the early part of which she would present Sir William with a further four sons and four daughters and throughout all of which she would be an integral part of the running of this influential estate.

The diary entries, however, cease on 4 June 1849. Family distress, caused by William Perceval Heathcote (Sir William’s firstborn and heir) marrying a Roman Catholic girl while serving in the army in Ireland, apparently led her to refrain from recording this, or any further events in this way.  She did, however, continue to collect and collate information which proved an invaluable source when her son, Rev Evelyn Dawsonne Heathcote, compiled an Account of Some of the Families Bearing the Name of Heathcote Which Have Descended Out of the County of Derby.

Evelyn Heathcote dedicated his account (which is an admirable collection of pedigrees and family trees!) to his mother and characterised her input thus. ‘It is hardly fitting to speak of my mother's share in this book as if it had been confined to planning the work and giving assistance in carrying it out, because in reality the laborious family researches which she made during a period of more than fifty years, form the foundation of the volume; and, as I have acknowledged in the dedication, a portion was actually written by her several years ago, which had only to be re-arranged and corrected in accordance with subsequent information. Without these collections I could not have undertaken the work at all, and to some extent, therefore, my part has been only that of a Compiler and Editor.’

Lady Selina’s own journal, concise though it is, provides an insight into the daily life of the household that sponsored the most famous Anglican churchman never to be ordained bishop – John Keble. Hursley was the spiritual hub of a great Anglican following in the 1850s and the diary captures the spirit of this dawning age.

Sources

Published works as noted below

HRO Heathcote family papers. 118M86

Portrait

Contribution to county’s history

Fragmentary insights into the comings and goings at a large country estate – much commentary on individuals' health issues. More detailed descriptions of European tours made in 1845 – 46!

Relevant published works

• Awdry F (1906) A Country Gentleman of the Nineteenth Century: Being a Short Memoir of the Right Honourable Sir William Heathcote, Bart., of Hursley 1801-1881 Warren & Son Winchester.

• Heathcote, E D (1899) Account of Some of the Families Bearing the Name of Heathcote Which Have Descended Out of the County of Derby. Warren & Son, Winchester

• IBM (1984) The Diary of Selina, Lady Heathcote

Critical Comments

Other Comments

Contributor

Dave Allen, September 2023

Key Words

Hursley, Heathcote family history

Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

Back to Historians G-H from Gallup, Peter to Hudson, William Henry