179 



m)t Ttxmm of ll^atJtion IJ^aU. 



John Pym Yeatman, Barrister-at-Law, F.R.H.S. 



UCH has been written respecting this branch of the 

 illustrious family of Vernon which will vanish into thin 

 air on the application of the truer tests of historical 

 accuracy. It is from no captious and with no capri- 

 cious feeling that this subject is approached, and it matters httle 

 to the ducal family who now hold this ancient Barony — a Barony 

 though still in abeyance — how this inheritance falls to them, 

 whether through one or through two heirs female ; but if the truth 

 must be told, the Vernons of Haddon of the time of Queen Eliza, 

 beth, who are now represented by Lord Vernon, were not true 

 Vernons ; they were a family without a patronymic, and they were 

 probably called " le Franceis " from their nationality ; but this 

 sobriquet had attached to them at a very early period — at a time 

 indeed, when surnames were not fairly introduced ; when they 

 were seneschals for part of the dominions of the great house of 

 Richmond ; and it was in the weak and calamitous days of King 

 Henry III. when a member of that family, who was so obscure that 

 his place in the family history can hardly be ascertained, (though 

 he was certainly the head of it), married a daughter of the Vernons, 

 who were banished through their political intrigues. The Franceis 

 family, who succeeded them, in some way acquired their patrimony 

 in this country, and by degrees assumed the name of Vernon. Many 

 writers have essayed to explain this strange descent, and most of 

 them (General Wrottesley has followed the example even in our 

 own day) have not hesitated to claim Gilbert le Francis as a true 



