Granville Penn (1761 - 1844)

Born 9 Dec 1761 in Spring Gardens, Woodburn, Buckinghamshire, England

Ancestors

Died 1844 at about age 82 in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

In a Vault In this Church are deposited the Remains of Thomas Penn, of Stoke Park in this Parish (Son of William Penn Founder of Pennsylvania), Born 1701. Married 1751. Died 1775. And of his wife the Rt Hon. Lady Juliana Penn, Born 1729. Married 1751. Died 1801. Also the remains of their Sons John Penn of Stoke Park. Born 1760. Died 1834. And Granville Penn of Stoke Park. Born 1761. Married 1791. Died 1844. Also Isabella, wife of the above Granville Penn, eldest daughter of Gen1 Gordon Forbes, Col. 29th Regiment. Born 1771. Married 1791. Died 1847. And of their Sons Granville John, late of Stoke Park. Born 1802. Died 1867. Thomas Gordon, in Holy Orders. Born 1803. Died 1869. William, Born 1811. Died 1848. Also their Daughters Sophia, 1st wife of F. M. Sir Wm Gomm G.C.B. Col. Coldstream Guards. ^[1]

Granville, born at the city residence, New Street, Spring Gardens, December 9, 1761; married, June 24, 1791, Isabella Forbes; died September 28, 1844, leaving issue. See later.

At the death of John Penn, June 21, 1834, his brother Granville succeeded. He was born at the city house, New Street, Spring Gardens, December 9, 1761. He had matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, November 11, 1780, but did not take a degree. He entered the civil service, and became an assistant chief clerk in the War Department, for which, upon retiring, he received a pension of five hundred and fifty pounds a year. June 24, 1791, he married Isabella, eldest daughter of General Gordon Forbes, Colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Foot. General Forbes was "of the family of Forbes of Skillater, in Aberdeenshire;" his wife Mary was the "eldest daughter of Benjamin Sullivan, Esq., of Cork, Ireland."

At his marriage, Granville Penn "settled in London."1 [Footnote: In a house in Hertford Street, Mayfair, it would appear from an allusion in John Jay Smith's Address. In 1801, the notice of his mother's death states, he lived at Petersham.] He occupied his leisure with literary labors, the results of which remain to us in numerous substantial volumes, two of which, the "Memorials" of his great-grandfather, Sir William Penn, are of value and form one of the chief sources of knowledge concerning the Admiral. The other works are largely theological; some, however, being classical commentary and criticism. Mr. Penn's first book, "Critical Remarks on Isaiah," appeared in 1799; the Life of Admiral Penn was published 1833.

Granville Penn was a justice of the peace for Buckinghamshire, presumably after his succession and residence at Stoke. He died at Stoke, September 28, 1844, and it has been observed that this was almost precisely two centuries after the birth of his grandfather, William Penn the Founder,--a remarkably long period to be covered by three succeeding generations.2 [Footnote: William Penn was fifty-eight years old when his son Thomas was born, and Thomas Penn was sixty-one when his son Granville was born.]

The children of Granville and Isabella Penn were nine in number, four sons and five daughters, as follows:

1. John William, died in infancy; buried at Stoke Poges, December 18, 1802.

2. Granville John, born November, 1803; died at Stoke, unmarried, March 29, 1867. See below.

3. Thomas Gordon, died unmarried, September 10, 1869. See below.

4. William, died unmarried, at Brighton, January 7, 1848. He was M.A. of Christ Church, Oxford.

5. Juliana Margaret, died in infancy; buried at Stoke Poges, March 21, 1804.

6. Sophia, married (first wife of) Sir William Maynard Gomm, field-marshal, K.C.B., and died without issue, 1827. (Her husband was an officer of high distinction in the English military service. His father was killed at the storming of La Pointe-Ö-Påtre, in Guadeloupe, 1794, and he--the son--was gazetted an ensign before he was ten years old. His most notable service was in the Peninsular war. After the death of his first wife, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Kerr, but died childless. Upon his return from service in India, he purchased the Penn mansion in London, in Spring Gardens, and made it his residence.)

7. Louisa Emily, died unmarried, May 27, 1841.

8. Isabella Mary, died unmarried, at Brompton, January 28, 1856.

9. Henrietta Anne, died unmarried, at Brompton, June 13, 1855.

Granville Penn's will is referred to at some length in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1845. It was proved January 16 of that year, and was dated February 9, 1836. It left to Granville John Penn, his eldest living son, substantially the whole of the disposable estate, including three thousand pounds a year of the Parliamentary annuity (charged, however, with some annuities and legacies), the premises in New Street, Spring Gardens, and the estate at West End, Stoke Poges, Bucks (the same, probably, purchased by John in 1822). The entailed property passed to Granville John Penn, as tenant in tail male, by the provisions of previous wills and settlements.1 [Footnote: The "Dictionary of National Biography," in its article on Granville Penn, states that Pennsylvania Castle, with all its historical contents, was subsequently, in 1887, purchased by J. Merrick Head, Esq.]

Of the nine children of Granville Penn, it will be seen above that only one married, and she left no issue. In the line of Thomas Penn, therefore, this branch of the family ends here, and our account of it will be completed when we speak of Granville John and his brother Thomas Gordon. Referring first to the latter, it may be said, briefly, that he was M.A. of Christ Church College, Oxford, took orders in the English Church, and at his death, September 10, 1869, was the last male descendant of William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania, bearing the name of Penn. With him the male entail of the Proprietary estate ended, and it passed to the heirs of his aunt Sophia, the wife of Archbishop Stuart. He was a man "of most extensive reading and research," but he was declared by a commission of lunacy incapable of managing his estates, which were consequently in Chancery until his death. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Family History: Chapters IX-X, Jenkins, The Family of William Penn, 1899, Pennsylvania, p. 151. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Linda Kyle.
2. ↑ Family History: Chapters IX-X, Jenkins, The Family of William Penn, 1899, Pennsylvania, pp. 165-8. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Linda Kyle.

• Family History: Chapters IX-X, Jenkins, The Family of William Penn, 1899, Pennsylvania, p. 151. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Linda Kyle.

• Website: The Peerage, Darryl Lundy, Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.thepeerage.com/p2392.htm#i23918