| History | The Gells have had a presence in Hopton from at least the 14th century to the late 20th century. They are first recorded as holding an estate in Hopton since at least 1327, with earlier references to them in Wirksworth in the early 13th century. The family derived their wealth from lead mining. It has been said that the Gells acquired the manor in the mid 14th century, but letters patent of 1553 show that Ralph Gell acquired the manor of Hopton then. The Hopton estate remained mostly in the Gell family for the next four centuries, at times passing through different branches of the family.
In 1553 Ralph Gell (1491-1564) bought the Hopton estate as well as Rocester Abbey, Darley Abbey and the royal manor of Hollands or Richmonds. Ralph's eldest son Anthony died 1584 was a barrister at Inner Temple in London who founded Wirksworth Grammar School and almshouses and bought the manor of Carsington. Anthony was succeeded by his brother Thomas (died 1594). Thomas built an Elizabethan manor house at Hopton which was later known as Hopton Hall. The house was largely remodelled by Philip Gell in the early nineteenth century.
During the minority of Thomas's son John (1593-1671), the estates were administered by his stepfather, John Curzon of Kedleston. John was created a baronet in 1642. He occupied Derby in 1643 on behalf of Parliament. His estates were sequestered in 1651 and he was imprisoned until 1653. He eventually regained his estates when the monarchy was restored in 1660.
Sir John Gell II (1613-1689) and his son Sir Philip Gell (1651-1719) served as Members of Parliament for Derbyshire. Sir Philip Gell died without issue and the estate devolved on John Eyre, son of Catherine, Sir Philip's sister. John Eyre (died 1739) took the name Gell. His son Philip Eyre Gell (1723-1795) left the estate to his son Philip Gell (1775-1842). When Philip died in 1842 his brother the antiquarian Sir William Gell (1777-1836) and uncle Admiral John Gell (1740-1806) had already died without children. Philip left the estate to his daughter Isabella, wife of William Pole Thornhill of Stanton, for life. Isabella and her husband took the name Gell and lived at Hopton Hall for a short time but eventually renounced the inheritance. The Eyre Gell line died with Isabella Thornhill in 1878. In accordance with Philip's will the estate then passed to Henry Chandos-Pole of Radbourne.
The Chandos family acquired Radbourne by marriage to a co-heir of Robert de Ferrers of Egginton died c1225, grandson of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby. In the early 15th century Elizabeth wife of Sir Peter de la Pole became the heir of her uncle Sir John Chandos. The Chandos-Pole family made several marriages into local gentry families such as FitzHerbert, Cockayne, Mundy, Newdigate, Sacheverell, Wilmot and Stanhope.
Henry Chandos-Pole (1829-1902), second son of Edward Sacheverell Chandos-Pole, inherited Hopton Hall and estate from Philip Gell and took the name Gell in 1863. His son Brigadier-General Harry Anthony Chandos-Pole-Gell (1872-1934) and his grandson Lieutenant-Colonel John Chandos-Pole-Gell (born 1909) relinquished the surname Gell in 1930 and 1931.
The Hopton estate was inherited by Brigadier-General Harry Chandos-Pole-Gell in 1902. His main seat was at Heverswood, Kent, and Hopton was let to Philip Lyttleton Gell (1852-1926), a relative from a cadet branch at Wirksworth, from 1904. The Chandos-Pole-Gell family sold the estate in 1918 and it was bought in 1920 by Philip Lyttleton Gell.
Philip Lyttelton Gell was descended from John Gell (died 1564) who was the youngest son of Ralph Gell (1491-1564). His descendants acquired property in Wirksworth Gate House, Kirk Langley and Duffield, especially by marriages into gentry families such as Lowe, Borough, Hurt and Wright.
Philip Lyttleton Gell’s father, Revd John Philip Gell (1816-1898), was sent by Thomas Arnold of Rugby School to promote education in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, Australia, where he also served as Chaplain to the Governor, the explorer Sir John Franklin. In Australia Revd John Philip Gell met Eleanor Isabella Franklin, Sir John Franklin's only child by his first wife Eleanor Anne Porden. They married in England in 1849 and settled in Buxted, Sussex.
Philip Lyttleton Gell was closely connected with the development and mineral exploitation of Southern Africa, especially Rhodesia, and Western Australia. In 1889 he married Hon. Edith Brodrick (1860-1944, daughter of the 8th Viscount Midleton of Peper Harow, Surrey. An indefatigable writer of devotional poems, hymns, and moralistic pageants and tracts, Edith Lyttelton Gell was prominent in organisations such as the Mothers' Union, the Central Church Union and the Union of Women Workers. Edith supported her husband’s colonial work by encouraging women to emigrate to Rhodesia through the British Women’s Emigration Association.
Philip Lyttelton Gell died without children and the estate passed on his widow's death to his nephew, Philip Victor Willingham Gell. PVW Gell died in 1970 and the house and estate were sold after the death of his widow in 1986. His son Major Anthony Gell died in 1998. |