The genealogy of the Newmans of Thornbury Park are presented in Burke's Commoners. At the bottom of page 113 is a brief summary of the estate, as follows: "Situated between the borough town of Thornbury and the River Severn, purchased by Richard Newman, esq, on 17th May 1679. The first account of this estate is the sale by Henry Lord Stafford, in the year 1555." However, Thornbury Park does not appear to be mentioned in Richard's will which is dated 1681, so Burke's information may not be correct.

Anyway the estate was handed down to Richard's grandson Sir Samwell Newman who died without issue, and thence to his spinster sister Frances who died in 1775. Frances's will appears to have left the estate to "Sir William Jones and Francis Filmer their Executors Administrators and Assigns for the Term of four hundred years". Notwithstanding, the estate seems to have remained in the family, being taken over by the sons of France's (and Sir Samwell's) aunt Anne who had married Ashburnham Toll of Greywell, Somerset. Her sons, Edmund and Ashburnham, changed their name to Newman on the death of Frances in 1775. According to Burke's Commoners (page 113) the estate was inherited by Henry Wenman Newman on the death of his father in September 1829.

In his "Family History of Ashburnham Cecil Newman and His Many Descendents", Geoffrey Newman notes that "on the death of Henry (Wenman Newman), Thornbury Park was jointly held by his two oldest sons, Henry and George. Why the property was sold by them in the 1930s is not known. Probably lack of money during the Depression. The family was dropped from Burke's register in 1937."

Page updated 13 July 2005 - text added at top of page.

Page created 23 Nov 2003