Sir Berney Brograve, 1st Baronet (10 October 1726 - 23 February 1797) was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Brograve (1691–1753) of

Great Baddow Great Baddow is a major village and civil parish in the Chelmsford borough of Essex, England. It is close to the city of Chelmsford and, with a population of over 13,000,Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, and his wife Juliana Berney. He was a descendant of Sir John Brograve (d. 1613),

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

to the

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is an estate of the British sovereign. The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then duke of Lancast ...

. Juliana Berney was descended from Sir Richard Berney, 1st Baronet of Parkhall.

Brograve Mill

In 1733 Thomas Brograve purchased the manors of

Waxham Waxham is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sea Palling, in the North Norfolk district, on the north-east coast of the county of Norfolk, England. Buildings in the village include Waxham Hall, the 14th-century St. John's C ...

and Horsey in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, and so began the "notorious" Brograve family of Waxham. Initially they lived at Waxham Hall, which had been built in the 16th Century by the

Wodehouse family Wodehouse ( "wood-house") is an English name, English surname and barony. The baronetcy was created in 1611, the barony in 1797. Since 1866 it has been held by the Earl of Kimberley, the current Baron Wodehouse being John Wodehouse, 5th Earl of ...

. Berney and the Brograve Mill (which he built to drain the land at Brograve Level), where he is said to have hidden from the devil, and he is also reputed to have had a mowing match for his soul with the devil at

Worstead Worstead is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk Non-metropolitan district, district of Norfolk, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 862 in 365 households ...

Family

In 1761 Brograve married Jane, eldest daughter of Edward Hawker of

. They had four children, only two of whom survived, including Ann who married Dr John Rye, the founder of The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society. After his first wife's death Brograve married secondly, in 1769, Jane Halcott, sole heiress of Matthew Halcott of Litcham. Most of their eleven children died in infancy, and their son,

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

succeeded as 2nd Baronet in 1797. A granddaughter married Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 3rd Baronet, in whose family the name of Brograve descended as a given name.

Worstead House

Worstead House, designed by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

for Sir Berney Brograve, was eventually demolished in 1937, "a fine red brick mansion, situated within a noble park of 400 acres, which contains a lake covering 8¼ acres". After building his mansion-house at

he was described as occasionally inhabiting the manor house at Waxham. An account written in 1854 describes the manner in which Brograve lived at Waxham Hall: "He farmed his own land and had about a hundred workmen lodging in his house; these all dined in the great hall together, and Sir Berney every now and then 'knocked down' a bullock for them to live upon". Berney was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on 28 July 1791 and died intestate in 1797. His second wife, Lady Jane, died in 1793 at Waxham, followed the next day by the death of their 18-year-old son, Thomas. According to local legend, like his ancestors, Sir Berney is still around and can be seen on wild and stormy nights galloping between Worstead and Waxham.'Wild Waxham', Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust. C. Davison & R. Pestell, 2004.

References

* History and Antiquities of the County of Norfolk. Norwich, Armstrong, Mostyn John, 1781.

Brograve Mill

Family

Worstead House

References

Further reading