Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
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Paternal Family Tree: Burrell
Maternal Family Tree: Elizabeth Lewis
In or before 1428 Duncan Campbell 1st Lord Campbell and Margery Stewart [aged 48] were married. He by marriage Lord Campbell. She the daughter of Robert Stewart 1st Duke Albany and Margaret Graham 3rd Countess Menteith.
On 27th February 1748 [his father] Peter Burrell [aged 23] and [his mother] Elizabeth Lewis were married.
On 16th June 1754 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr was born to [his father] Peter Burrell [aged 29] and [his mother] Elizabeth Lewis.
Around 1768 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 13] educated at Eton College [Map].
Around 1772 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 17] educated at St John's College, Cambridge University [Map].
On 8th June 1775 [his brother-in-law] Algernon Percy 1st Earl Beverley [aged 25] and [his sister] Isabella Susan Burrell Countess Beverley [aged 24] were married at Syon House [Map]. He the son of Hugh Percy 1st Duke Northumberland [aged 59] and Elizabeth Seymour Duchess Northumberland [aged 58].
On 6th November 1775 [his father] Peter Burrell [aged 51] died.
In 1776 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 21] was elected at MP Haslemere.
Around 1777 [his brother-in-law] Douglas Hamilton 8th Duke Hamilton 5th Duke Brandon [aged 20] and [his sister] Elizabeth Anne Burrell Duchess Hamilton Duchess Brandon [aged 19] were married. She by marriage Duchess Hamilton, Duchess Brandon of Suffolk. He the son of James Hamilton 6th Duke Hamilton 3rd Duke Brandon and Elizabeth Gunning Duchess Hamilton and Argyll [aged 43].
In 1779 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 24] and Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth Bertie 21st Baroness Willoughby of Eresby [aged 17] were married. He by marriage Baron Willoughby de Eresby. She the daughter of Peregrine Bertie 3rd Duke Ancaster and Kesteven and Mary Panton Duchess Ancaster and Kesteven.
On 23rd May 1779 [his brother-in-law] Hugh Percy 2nd Duke Northumberland [aged 36] and [his sister] Frances Julia Burrell Duchess Northumberland [aged 26] were married. He the son of Hugh Percy 1st Duke Northumberland [aged 63] and Elizabeth Seymour Duchess Northumberland.
Annals of the six Kings of England by Nicholas Trivet
Translation of the Annals of the Six Kings of England by that traces the rise and rule of the Angevin aka Plantagenet dynasty from the mid-12th to early 14th century. Written by the Dominican scholar Nicholas Trivet, the work offers a vivid account of English history from the reign of King Stephen through to the death of King Edward I, blending political narrative with moral reflection. Covering the reigns of six monarchs—from Stephen to Edward I—the chronicle explores royal authority, rebellion, war, and the shifting balance between crown, church, and nobility. Trivet provides detailed insight into defining moments such as baronial conflicts, Anglo-French rivalry, and the consolidation of royal power under Edward I, whose reign he describes with particular immediacy. The Annals combines careful year-by-year reporting with thoughtful interpretation, presenting history not merely as a sequence of events but as a moral and political lesson. Ideal for readers interested in medieval history, kingship, and the origins of the English state, this chronicle remains a valuable and accessible window into the turbulent world of the Plantagenet kings.
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On 8th July 1779 [his brother-in-law] Robert Bertie 4th Duke Ancaster and Kesteven [aged 22] died of scarlet fever unmarried at Grimsthorpe, South Kesteven. His uncle Brownlow [aged 50] succeeded 5th Duke Ancaster and Kesteven, 5th Marquess Lindsay, 8th Earl Lindsey. His sister [his wife] Priscilla [aged 18] succeeded 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby.
In 1781 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 26] was knighted.
On 19th March 1782 [his son] Peter Drummond Burrell 2nd Baron Gwydyr 22nd Baron Willoughby was born to Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 27] and [his wife] Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth Bertie 21st Baroness Willoughby of Eresby [aged 21]. He married 19th October 1807 Clementina Sarah Drummond Baroness Gwydyr and Willoughby, daughter of James Drummond 11th Earl Perth and Clementia Elphinstone Countess Perth, and had issue.
On 6th June 1786 Hugh Percy 1st Duke Northumberland [aged 70] died. His son [his brother-in-law] Hugh [aged 43] succeeded 2nd Duke Northumberland, 2nd Baron Lovain, 5th Baronet Smithson of Stanwick in Yorkshire. [his sister] Frances Julia Burrell Duchess Northumberland [aged 33] by marriage Duchess Northumberland.
On 20th June 1786 [his son] Lindsey Burrell was born to Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 32] and [his wife] Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth Bertie 21st Baroness Willoughby of Eresby [aged 25].
In 1790 [his brother-in-law] Algernon Percy 1st Earl Beverley [aged 39] was created 1st Earl Beverley. [his sister] Isabella Susan Burrell Countess Beverley [aged 39] by marriage Countess Beverley.
On 20th December 1790 Elizabeth Gunning Duchess Hamilton and Argyll [aged 57] died in Argyll House 211 King's Road King's Road. Her son [his brother-in-law] Douglas [aged 34] succeeded 2nd Baron Hamilton of Hameldon in Leicestershire. [his sister] Elizabeth Anne Burrell Duchess Hamilton Duchess Brandon [aged 33] by marriage Baroness Hamilton of Hameldon in Leicestershire.
On 25th April 1791 George Cholmondeley 1st Marquess Cholmondeley [aged 41] and [his sister-in-law] Georgina Charlotte Bertie Marchioness Cholmondeley [aged 29] were married. She by marriage Countess Cholmondeley in Cheshire. She the daughter of Peregrine Bertie 3rd Duke Ancaster and Kesteven and [his mother-in-law] Mary Panton Duchess Ancaster and Kesteven.
On 16th June 1796 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 42] was created 1st Baron Gwydyr of Cwydyr in Carnarfonshire. [his wife] Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth Bertie 21st Baroness Willoughby of Eresby [aged 35] by marriage Baroness Gwydyr of Cwydyr in Carnarfonshire.
In 1800 [his brother-in-law] Henry Cecil 1st Marquess Exeter [aged 45] and [his sister] Elizabeth Anne Burrell Duchess Hamilton Duchess Brandon [aged 42] were married. She by marriage Countess Exeter.
In February 1801 [his brother-in-law] Henry Cecil 1st Marquess Exeter [aged 46] was created 1st Marquess Exeter. [his sister] Elizabeth Anne Burrell Duchess Hamilton Duchess Brandon [aged 43] by marriage Marchioness Exeter.
Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke
Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.
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On 19th October 1807 [his son] Peter Drummond Burrell 2nd Baron Gwydyr 22nd Baron Willoughby [aged 25] and [his daughter-in-law] Clementina Sarah Drummond Baroness Gwydyr and Willoughby [aged 21] were married. She the daughter of James Drummond 11th Earl Perth and Clementia Elphinstone Countess Perth [aged 58].
On 24th January 1812 [his sister] Isabella Susan Burrell Countess Beverley [aged 61] died. She was buried in the Northumberland Vault, Crypt, Westminster Abbey.
On 28th April 1820 [his sister] Frances Julia Burrell Duchess Northumberland [aged 67] died at Syon House [Map]. She was buried in the Northumberland Vault, Crypt, Westminster Abbey.
On 29th June 1820 Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [aged 66] died. His son Peter [aged 38] succeeded 2nd Baron Gwydyr of Cwydyr in Carnarfonshire. Clementina Sarah Drummond Baroness Gwydyr and Willoughby [aged 34] by marriage Baroness Gwydyr of Cwydyr in Carnarfonshire.
After 29th June 1820. Church of St Michael and All Angels, Edenham [Map]. Monument to Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr [deceased] sculpted by Joseph Nollekens [aged 82]. Freestanding square marble shaft bears a bust.
On 29th December 1828 [his former wife] Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth Bertie 21st Baroness Willoughby of Eresby [aged 67] died. Her son Peter [aged 46] succeeded 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby. Clementina Sarah Drummond Baroness Gwydyr and Willoughby [aged 42] by marriage Baroness Willoughby de Eresby.
The Times. 26th December 1910. We regret to state that [his great grandson] Lord Ancaster [deceased] died on Saturday night at his Grimsthorpe, Bourne, Lincolnshire seat, in his 81st year.
Gilbert Henry Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, created first Earl of Ancaster in 1892, was Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain of England. This dignity is held jointly by Lord Cholmondeley [aged 27], Lord Ancastor, and Lord Carrington [aged 67]. The late peer filled it during the reign of Queen Victoria, Lord Cholmondeley during that of King Edward, and Lord Carrington fills it during the present reign.
He was born on October 1, 1830, and succeeded his father [aged 12] as second Lord Aveland on September 6, 1807, and his mother as 24th Lord Willoughby de Eresby on November 13, 1888.
Few noblemen possessed a longer lineage, for the lordship of Erresby in Lincolnshire was acquired by the family of Bee or Belec bv the marriage of Walter dc Bec with Agnes, daughter and heiress of Hugh Fitz Pincheon, a 12th century magnate of Lincolnshire. A John Beeke received permission from Edward I to make a castle of his manor house at Eresby and was summoned to Parliament as one of the barons of the realm. By his wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas, Lord Furnival, be had, among other children, Alice, who was married to Sir William de Willoughby, one of those who went with Prince Edward to the Holy Land. His son, Robert, became first Lord Willoughby de Eresby. Subsequent holders of that title played a prominent part in the country's history at home and abroad. The 13th baron was created Earl of Lindsey. The fourth Earl of Lindsey was created Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven in 1713. That dukedom became extinct with the death of the fifth Duke in 1809. The barony of Willoughby de Eresby fell into abeyance between the sisters of the fourth duke until it was terminated by the Crown in 1780 in favour of the elder co-heir, Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth, whom the first Lord Gwydir married in 1779. Their eldest son Peter Robert, 21st Baron Willoughby de Eresby, married the daughter of the first Lord Perth, and one of their daughters became in 1840 the wife of the second Lord Carrington. Almeric, the 22nd Lord Willoughby do Eresby and third Baron Gwydyr of Gwydyr, County Carnarvon, Joint Hereditary Great Chamberlain of England, died in August, 1870. The barony of Willoughby do Eresby again fell into abeyance between his lordship's surviving sisters, and it was terminated in favour of the elder, the Dowager Baroness Aveland, who married in 1827 Sir Gilbert John Heathcote, created Baron Aveland in 1856. Their eldest son was the late Lord Ancaster, whose sister, Clementina Charlotte [aged 78], married in 1869 Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, who died in her Majesty's ship Victoria in June 1893.
The late Lord Ancaster married in 1863 Lady Evelyn Elizabeth Gordon [aged 64], second daughter of the tenth Marquis of Huntly, by whom be had four sons and six daughters. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and sat as Member of Parliament for Rutland from 1856 to 1867. He was a magistrate for Kesteven and chairman of Quarter Sessions, lord of the manor of Thurlbv Baston and Langtoft, as well as chairman of the Stamford Division Conservative and Unionist Association; and was Lord Chamberlain during Queen Victoria's reign and contested the right to continue on King Edward's succession.
He is succeeded in the title by Lord Willoughby de Eresby [aged 43],??? for the Hornecastle Division of Lincolnshire, who is a major and hon. lieutenant-colonel of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry and was formerly an officer of the Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. He married in 1905 Eloise Laurence [aged 28], eldest daughter of the late Mr. W. L. Breese, of New York, and has a son, Gilbert James [aged 3], born in 1907, and two daughters.
The late earl's other children include Major Charles S. Heathcote-Drunmond-Willoughby [aged 40], who married Lady Muriel Erskine, daughter of Lord Buchan [aged 60]; Major Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby [aged 38], who married Lady Florence Astley [aged 43], youngest daughter of the third Marquis Ponyngham; Lady Evelyn Clementina [aged 46], wife of Major-General Sir Henry Peter Ewart; the Hon. Margaret Mary [aged 44], who was married to the late Mr. Gideon Macpherson Rutherford; the Hon. Cecilie [aged 36], wife of Mr. T. C. E. Goff; and Lady Dalhousie [aged 32]. The late peer assumed by Royal licence in 1872 the additional surnames of Willoughby and Drummond. He was a large landowner, owning Drummond Castle Crieff, and extensive deer forests in Perthshire and land in Lincolnshire and Rutland. Recently, however, he sold considerable portion of his estates, in many instances to the tenants who had the option of purchase. He was a very generous landlord, and was highly respected. He used Normanton Castle as his chief country house till Lord Willoughby de Eresby was married; then Normanton became the latter's home, and Lord Ancester lived at Grimsthorpe. He was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
GrandFather: Peter Burrell
Father: Peter Burrell
Great x 2 Grandfather: John Raymond
Great x 1 Grandfather: Hugh Raymond
GrandMother: Amy Raymond
Peter Burrell Baron Willoughby, 1st Baron Gwydyr
GrandFather: John Lewis 
Mother: Elizabeth Lewis