Radford in the parish of Plymstock in Devon is a historic manor and the oldest recorded seat of the prominent Harris family.Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.447-51, pedigree of Harris of Radford & Harris of Hayne It is today a suburb of the City of Plymouth. The 16th century manor house of the Harris family was remodelled in the 18th century and was demolished in 1937.Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.681 However, various traces of the estate remain, including most notably the deerpark, now a public amenity known as Radford Park, with its large lake, an early 19th century gate-lodge at the entrance drive to the former mansion house, with gatepiers, on Radford Park Road, a bridge and boathouse with follies of a sham castle and another sham-ruin.Pevsner, p.681
Descent of the manor
le Abbé
In 1242 Radford was held by William le AbbéPole, p.328: regnal date 27 Henry IIIRisdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.199 (in English "Abbot"). Radford descended to his son Henry le Abbé of Alsemston, and then to Walter le Abbé, whose posterity, having adopted the surname de RadfordRisdon, p.199 remained seated at Radford for several generations.
de Radford (le Abbé) The succession of the le Abbé family at Radford, under the newly adopted surname of de Radford, commenced with Robert de Radford who was succeeded by his son Henry de Radford, who married a certain Matild by whom he had a son Walter de Radford.Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.328
Harris
Radford is the earliest recorded seat of the prominent Harris family. The earliest member of this family recorded by the Devon historian Pole (died 1635) is John I Harris, resident there during the reign of King Henry VI (1422–1461). He was followed by five Johns,Pole, p.328 namely John II Harris, John III Harris, who had two sons, John IV Harris (died 1485), the eldest son, who inherited Radford, and John V Harris, second son who married the daughter and heiress of the de Stone family of Stone in the parish of Lifton in Devon and founded the prominent junior branch of Harris of Hayne in the parish of Stowford in Devon, about 22 miles north-west of Radford. The subsequent descent of Radford was as follows:
Francis Harris (1475–1509) Francis Harris (1475–1509), who married Phillipa Grenville (died 1524), a daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville (died 1513), lord of the manors of Bideford in Devon and of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton, Cornwall, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1481 and in 1486. She survived her husband and remarried to Humphry Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall, younger brother of Sir John Arundell (1474–1545), her brother-in-law.
William Harris (born 1504) William Harris (born 1504) of Radford, son, a Member of Parliament for Newport-juxta-Launceston in Cornwall in 1529. At some time before June 1527, he married Catherine Trecarrel, a daughter and co-heiress of Henry Trecarrell (alias Esse) of Trecarrell in Cornwall.
Sir Christopher Harris (c. 1553 – 1625)
Sir Christopher Harris (c. 1553 – 1625) of Radford, son, a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in 1584, knighted in 1607. He was a close friend of Admiral Sir Frances Drake, who on one occasion lodged part of his captured treasure at Radford. In partnership with John Hele (died 1608) of Wembury in Devon, serjeant-at-law and MP, Harris acquired the estate of Buckland Abbey in Devon as a seat for Drake.Vivian, p.448, footnote He owned the Armada Service, a set of 31 silver dishes now in the British Museum. He married Barbara Arscott (d.1597/8), a daughter of John Arscott of Dunsland in the parish of Bradford (or Cookbury) in Devon. His son John Harris died young and pre-deceased his father, thus Radford passed to the closest living male descendant of his only sister Jane Harris, namely his great nephew John Harris (c. 1596 – 1648) of Lanrest in Cornwall, four times elected MP for Liskeard, Cornwall.
The descent from his sister was as follows: Jane Harris in 1562/3, at Menheniot in Cornwall, married her cousin John Harris (d.1579) of Lanrest in Cornwall. Her eldest son (and thus heir apparent to his uncle) was John Harris (1564 – June 1623) of Lanrest, Recorder (or Steward) of the Borough of West Looe in Cornwall ( established in 1574) and MP for West Looe in Cornwall in 1614.History of Parliament biography However, as he predeceased his uncle by two years, he did not inherit, nor did his eldest son Christopher II Harris (1590 – November 1623) of Lanrest, a Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall (1621), who also predeceased his great-uncle by two years, having survived his father by only a few months. It was thus Christopher II's younger brother John Harris (c. 1596 – 1648) of Lanrest, MP, who gained the inheritance.
John Harris (c. 1596 – 1648) John Harris (c. 1596 – 1648) of Lanrest in Cornwall and of Radford, great-nephew and heir. He was elected four times as a Member of Parliament for Liskeard in Cornwall, between 1628 and 1644 and supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War. In 1630 he married Elizabeth Johnson (died 1637), a daughter of Emorb Johnson of Bridge in the parish of South Petherton in Somerset and of Bonham in Wiltshire.
John Harris (died 1677) John Harris (died 1677) of Radford, eldest son, a Member of Parliament for Liskeard after 1660 and the Restoration of the Monarchy. He married Mary Rashleigh, a daughter of John Rashleigh of Menabilly in Cornwall.Vivian, p.448
John Harris John Harris of Radford, son, who married Amy Sawle, a daughter of Joseph Sawle of Penrice in Cornwall.
John Harris John Harris, son, who married Elizabeth Lampen, a daughter of Nicholas Lampen of Holwell in the parish of Stoke Climsland, Devon. His 3rd son was Christopher Harris who married Susanna Freke, a daughter of Francis Freke.Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, p.471, 1810 Notes In 1777 Christopher Harris built a new residence for himself near Radford, in the village of Hooe, also the parish of Plymstock, named Bellevue, according to Pevsner "a very elegant small mansion".Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.682 It is now a grade II* listed building known as Hooe Manor, on Bellevue Road, sub-divided into five flats.Rightmove - Property Description www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk - Listed building text Christopher Harris left two daughters and co-heiresses, Susannah Harris the wife of Thomas Mills of Great Saxam in Suffolk, and Anne Harris (1772–1849),Carter, Grayson, Anglican Evangelicals: Protestant Secessions from the Via Media, c. 1800 – 1850, 2015, p.253 heiress of Bellevue and wife of Thomas Hillersdon Bulteel I "of Bellevue", who was a partner in the Naval Bank in nearby Plymouth, Devon, founded in 1774. The couple had ten children, a younger one of whom was the radical priest Henry Bellenden Bulteel (1800-1866). The eldest son was Thomas Hillersdon Bulteel II (1798-1878) of Bellevue, banker, who married Caroline Louisa Harris, heiress of Radford. Their son was Thomas Bulteel of Radford, who married Margaret Cork.
John Harris (d.1778) John Harris (d.1778) of Radford, son of John Harris and Elizabeth Lampen. He died without progeny when his heir became his nephew John Harris (d.1817).Prince, p.471
John Harris (d.1817) John Harris (d.1817) of Radford, nephew. He was the eldest son and heir of Lampen Harris (2nd son of John Harris and Elizabeth Lampen) by his wife Elizabeth Spry, a daughter of Joseph Spry. His sister Elizabeth Harris married Vice-Admiral John Manley. He was one of the founding partners of the Naval Bank, established in 1773 in Market Place, Plymouth. He married Catharine Bulteel, a sister of John II Bulteel (1763–1837) of FleteRisdon, 1810 Additions, p.396: "Daughter of the late John Bulteel of Flete", who thus died pre-1810 in the parish of Holbeton, Devon, and an aunt of John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) a Whig MP for South Devon 1832-4 and Sheriff of Devon in 1841. By his wife he had six sons and five daughters.Risdon, 1810 Additions, p.396
In 1793 Rev. John Swete visited Radford on one of his Picturesque Tours and recorded in his Travel Journal:Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789–1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.2, pp.14-15 "The gate leading in to Radford being opposite the lane, I past through it in the hope of being gratified with a sight of an edifice which had been the mansion house of the Harrises from the time of Edward the fourth to the present day - in this however I was disappointed, for neither house or grounds answer'd my expectations. The former was, in what I look upon in the country the worst stile of building, a front of but little extent with two deep projecting wings, towards the south however one of these wings extended itself and open'd towards a steep acclivity — nor in the latter was there any thing striking: it consisted of a fertile meadow, which was bounded on every quarter by high hills. The situation was a shelter'd one and that, as I have already noticed, was a circumstance which in former times overbalanc'd the weaker pretensions of beauty of prospect".
Thomas Harris The occupant of Radford in the 1841 census was Thomas Harris (born 1796), a banker.
Col. Harry Bulteel Harris The occupant of Radford in the 1841 census was Col. Harry Bulteel Harris, a partner in the Naval Bank in 1845/6, and his wife Anne (born 1795). In 1818 he was Deputy Adjutant-General of Nova Scotia serving under the governorship of Lt-Gen George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie. In 1834 he was created a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. In 1838 he retired as Lt-Col of the 93rd Regiment of Foot. He was resident at Radford in the 1851 census.
Bulteel
Radford was later inherited by a branch of the Bulteel family of Flete in the parish of Holbeton, Devon, which changed its name to Harris-Bulteel. Their tenure ended in debt, fraud and imprisonment. The earliest recorded ancestor of the Bulteel family in England is Samuel Bulteel (died 1682) of Tavistock in Devon, a Huguenot refugee from France, whose son was James Bulteel (1676–1757) of Tavistock, MP for Tavistock 1703-8 and 1711–15, who married Mary Crocker, daughter and heiress of Courtenay Crocker (died 1740), MP, of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon, the last male of the senior branch of the ancient Crocker family. Another possible relative was John Bulteel (died 1669), MP for Lostwithiel, Cornwall in 1661 and 1669, a friend of Samuel Pepys and secretary to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and cousin of John Bulteel the writer and translator. James Bulteel inherited the estate of Fleet (alias Fleet Damarell), one of the finest estates in Devon,Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.387 under the will of Richard Hele (died 1709) of Flete,Risdon, p.387 who was no blood relation. James's son was John Bulteel (1733–1801), who in 1757 purchased the estate of Membland, in the parish of Holbeton. Membland, in about 1877, and the manor of Revelstoke were purchased by Edward Baring (1828–1897), who in 1885 was elevated to the peerage as "Baron Revelstoke of Membland". He was senior partner of Barings Bank, which had originated in nearby Exeter, Devon. In 1861 he had married Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel (died 1892), a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of Fleet, Holbeton, the adjoining estate, MP for South Devon 1832–4 and Sheriff of Devon in 1841. Thus the two banking dynasties of Baring and Bulteel, both founded in Devonshire and both destined for ignominious collapse, became linked.
Thomas Bulteel (born 1838)