THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. 1 59 



group in which he occurs, we find that one of the seven named 

 was William " de Westburgo," and we know that Geoffrey 

 "Alselin," in Domesday (fo. 269^), had an important manor 

 at Westborough, Lines., immediately adjoining which is Stubton. 

 Fulbeck, also, which gave its name to another of the group, 

 is hard by. It was obviously this Stubton which gave its 

 name to Ulf, and when we turn to the Testa de Nevill (p. 324) 

 we actually find it included with Westborough as part of the 

 Hanselin fief then held by Bardulf. 



Mr. Yeatman, however, having first misread " Stobbeton[e] " 

 as " Seccobiton," goes on to assert that this place " is no 

 doubt Skegbi" (p. 317),* and proceeds to erect a pedigree 

 upon this wild supposition. Mr. Yeatman, without the slightest 

 ground, has denounced me as " a signal and deplorable 

 example " of " wild cat genealogy."! I must leave my readers 

 to discover a term for his own performance. 



Having now sampled Mr. Yeatman's work, we shall find 

 ourselves in a better position for appreciating the value of 

 his fierce attack on the pedigree of Gresley of Drakelowe, 

 of which no less an authority than Mr. Eyton spoke as " a 

 genealogy second to none among the commoners of England." J 



On the opening page of the preface to Section VII. of 

 his history, Mr. Yeatman describes this pedigree as " a most 

 impudent fraud," originating in "the enlightened age of 

 James I." He asserts that in that reign a family — 

 having acquired great wealth, purchased a, baronetcy when James set 

 them up for sale to replenish his coffers, and bearing a very ancient Derby- 

 shire name— that of Gresley— eventually purchased the land and found 

 a congenial herald to fake up a pedigree, showing that the novus homo 

 was of the old stock. 



The charge is, at least, definite enough; the "fraud" is 

 associated with the first baronet, Sir George Gresley, who 



* That is, Skegby, Notts. In his index of places we read, " Seccobiton - 

 Skeggisby," while his index of persons identifies " Scegby, Sceggebi, 

 Seccobiton." 



^Feudal History of Derbyshire, vii., 1S6. 



% In his remarks on the " Staffordshire fief of Fitz Alan (Salt Society, 

 vol. i.). 



