ARMORIALS OP THE SAVAGE FAMILY. 155 



(vol. 1, p. 180), and he appears to have come to that conclusion 

 upon little more than negative grounds namely, that at an early 

 period there was a family of that name in Dorsetshire, from which 

 those of Bloxworth might probably have descended. In investi- 

 gating the family history and such evidence as bears upon it I must 

 confess that I had a latent wish to disprove the editor's suggestion ; 

 but evidence too conclusive compels me to come to the same opinion 

 as his. In the four earlier Heraldic Visitations of Dorsetshire (in the 

 years 1531, 1560, 1565, and 1574) no allusion is made to Savage of 

 Bloxworth. In the last visitation, however, that of 1633, there is 

 an authentic pedigree of five generations, extending from Richard 

 Savage (who was afterwards claimed to be the 6th son of the House 

 of Rock-Savage) to George Savage, then 3 months old (Harleian 

 MSS. 1153, 1166, 1451, and 1539). What adds immeasurably to 

 the value of this pedigree, as evidence of the then claims and 

 beliefs of the family as to their lineage, is the fact that it was 

 signed as authentic by George Savage, then living, the third 

 generation in the pedigree. This George Savage was grandson of 

 Richard Savage, of Piddle Hinton and Bloxworth ; yet he did not 

 claim that his grandfather was of the House of Rock-Savage, 

 neither did he assume, nor was he accorded, the armorial coat of 

 that ancient House, differenced for a sixth son. Presumably he 

 would have done this if he was so entitled, jS"o arms are prefixed 

 to the pedigree in the Visitation Book, and the inference is that the 

 Heralds (Henry St. George and Sampson Lennard) considered the 

 family non-arm iger. Xeither is it said in the pedigree that Richard 

 Savage is a sixth son of the Cheshire House, which the Heralds 

 would have recorded had there been proof. The inevitable con- 

 clusion is that at that time (1623) this idea was not entertained, or 

 that there was no evidence forthcoming to establish it. The Cheshire 

 pedigrees are blank upon the matter, and, as far as I can discover, 

 this supposed connection of Bloxworth and Rock-Savage is simply 

 based upon the statements in Hutchins's 1st edition, and which lie 

 doubtless derived from members of the family when he wrote his 

 history. 



