People

Local History Group - People

The Parish is dominated by 2 large houses - The Mynde and Bryngwyn.

The Mynde -

Bryngwyn - James Rankin (25 Dec 1842 - 17 Apr 1915) was from a wealthy Scottish family, his father having made his fortune in the Canadian timber trade and from shipping. Upon his marriage, his father bought him the old estate of Bryngwyn, Much Dewchurch. A new Mansion was required, and Frederick Kempson was commissioned to design the building we see today.

He was elected the Member of Parliament for Leominster from 1880 to 1885, and from 1886 until the general election of 1906. He regained the seat in January 1910 and resigned in March 1912.

On the 1881 census, we see

He was made a Baronet on 20 June 1898, of Bryngwyn, Herefordshire, and was granted the following Arms

They are described as "Or a cinquefoil Gules between in chief a battleaxe erect between two boars' heads couped and in base a boar's head couped between two battleaxes erect Sable"

He received a baronetcy and was High Sheriff of the county and Chief Steward of the City. By his

20 Jun 1898	UK	1	James Rankin	25 Dec 1842	17 Apr 1915	72
			MP for Leominster 1886-1906 and 1910-1912

17 Apr 1915		2	Reginald Rankin	31 Aug 1871	9 Sep 1931	60

9 Sep 1931		3	Hugh Charles Rhys Rankin	8 Aug 1899	25 Apr 1988	88
			For further information on this baronet, see
			the note at the foot of this page.

25 Apr 1988		4	Ian Niall Rankin	19 Dec 1932

Sir Hugh Charles Rhys Rankin, 3rd baronet


			Sir Hugh was one of the very few baronets who were born in the middle of the Tunisian desert. His father, Sir Reginald, the 2nd baronet, was a big-game hunter who had shot the largest snow-leopard on record in India and who had survived being frozen after falling asleep in the Andes.




			Hugh was educated at Harrow, but ran away to work in a Belfast shipyard before joining the
			1st Royal Dragoon Guards. By 1921, he was the broadsword champion of the cavalry. Posted
			to Ireland during the Troubles, he was shot by a sniper and invalided out of the army.

			He then devoted himself to the study of sheep. When he succeeded to the baronetcy in
			1935, he was a sheep shearer in Western Australia. During his travels in the Middle East, he
			fell under the influence of the Muslim peer, the 5th Baron Headley (qv) and, in 1935,
			succeeded Headley as president of the British Muslim Society. However, finding that 'they
			were very rude and knew nothing of law and order. I was disgusted with the whole lot of
			them', he resigned a few weeks later.

			Having never been a strong Christian, and now disillusioned with Islan, he turned to Buddhism.
			In 1959, he came out in support of the existence of Abominable Snowmen. He also confirmed
			that one of Buddhism's five Bodhisattvas (Perfected Men) lived in the Scottish Cairngorms and
			met with his fellow Bodhisattvas each year in a cave in the Himalayas to decide the destiny of
			the world.

			In 1965, Sir Hugh claimed that he was the only baronet in the UK who was living on National
			Assistance. Asked what job he might like, he replied 'Anything except being a butler. I hate
			snobbishness.'

4655 - London Gazette -

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1871.

THE names of those who were nominated for

Sheriffs by the Lords of the Council at the

Exchequer on the Morrow of Saint Martin, in

the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Queen

Victoria, and in the year of our Lord one thousand

eight hundred and seventy-one :—

ENGLAND

(excepting Cornwall and Lancashire).

Bedfordshire, William Francis Higgins, of

Turvey House, Esq.

Harry Thornton, of Kempston,

Esq.

Sir Salusbury Gillies Payne,

of Blunham, Bart.

Berkshire, Sir Nicholas William Throckmorton,

of Buckland House,

Bart.

John Alves Arbuthnot, of

Cowarth Park, Old Windsor,

Esq.

William Hew Dunn, of Inglewood,

Hungerford, Esq.

Bucks, Richard Rose, of The Chestnuts,

Aylesbury, Esq.

James Edward McConnell, of

The Woodlands, Great

Missenden, Esq.

Lawrence Robert Hall, of

Foxcott Manor, Esq.

Cambridgeshire 1 William Wells, of Holme,

and > Esq. .

Huntingdonshire, ) The Honourable George Fitzwilliam,

of Milton Park,

Northamptonshire.

Edward Reynolds, of Little

Paxton, Esq.

Cheshire, Egerton Leigh, of Jodrell Hall,

Esq.

Sir Harry Mainwaring, of

Peover Hall, Bart.

Ralph Oswald Leicester, of

Toft Hall, Esq.

Cumberland, George Moore, of Whitehall,

Esq.

Thomas Holme Parker, of

Warwick Hall, Esq.

John Lindow, of Eben Hall,

Esq.

Derbyshire, Thomas William Evans, of

Allestree Hall, Esq.

John Gilbert Crompton, of

The Lilies, Brailsford, Esq.

Charles Robert Colvile, of

Lullington, Esq.

Devonshire, John George Johnson, of

Cross, Esq.

John Henry Ley, of Trehill,

Esq.

George Soltau Symons, of

Chaddlewood, Esq.

Dorsetshire, Edward Joseph Weld, of Lulworth

Castle, Esq.

Sir Molyneux Hyde Nepean,

of Loder's Court, Bart.

John William Townseud

Fyler, of Heffleton, Esq.

Durham, Rowland Burclon, of Castle

Eden, Esq.

Charles Freville Surtees, of

Mainsforth, Ferryhill, Esq.

The Honourable Gustavus

Russell Hamilton Russell,

of Hardwick Hall.

Essex, Thomas Kemble, of The Hall,

Runwell, Esq.

Robert John Bagshaw, of

Dovercourt, Esq.

Thomas White, of Wethersfield,

Esq.

Gloucestershire, Sir William Vernon Guise, of

Elmore Court, near Gloucester,

Bart.

Thomas Anthony Stoughton,

of Owlpen, near Dursley,

Esq.

John Charles Bengougb, of

The Ridge, Wotton-under-

Edge, Esq.-

Herefordshire, John Habington Barneby Lutley,

of Brockhampton, Esq.

James Rankin, of Bryngwyn,

Hereford, Esq.

Colonel Broadley Harrison, of

Kynastone, near Ross.