John Crocker Bulteel

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John Crocker Bulteel, depicted in his hunting attire with two of his favourite foxhounds, watercolour by John Frederick Lewis (1805–1876), private collection

John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of

Sheriff of Devon in 1841. He was Master of the Dartmoor Foxhounds and bred the finest pack of hounds in England.[1]

Origins

He was the son and heir of John II Bulteel (1763–1837) of Flete in the parish of

Huguenot refugee from France, whose son was James Bulteel (1676–1757) of Tavistock, MP for Tavistock 1703-8 and 1711–15,[6] who married Mary Crocker, daughter and heiress of Courtenay Crocker (d.1740), MP, of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton
, Devon, the last male of the senior branch of the ancient Crocker family.

James Bulteel inherited the estate of Fleet (alias Fleet Damarell), one of the finest estates in Devon,[7] under the will of Richard Hele (d.1709) of Flete,[8] 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.[9]

Education and career

He attended

Jack Russell (1795–1883), later the famous hunting parson. Bulteel and Russell fought on one occasion whilst at school, when Bulteel received a black eye from Russell, but in later life became firm friends sharing a common passion for hunting.[10]

He was MP for

Sheriff of Devon in 1841. In about 1835 he remodelled his residence at Fleet House to his own castellated Gothic design.[11]

Hunting

During his father's life he lived as a young man at the family's secondary seat of Lyneham, while his father resided at Fleet.[12] He was the originator of the Lyneham Pack of foxhounds, afterwards famous under the mastership of Mr. Trelawny.[13] He was later Master of the Dartmoor Foxhounds.

A six-verse poem on the subject of Bulteel, in the style of Sir

Sporting Magazine, of which the first verse was as follows:[15][16]

Oh the young Squire of Fleet is come into the West
From the packs of the Kingdom his drafts are the best
Save Jack Square and Dick Ellis attendants he's none
He feeds them himself and he hunts them alone
If he keeps to his point and he stands on his feet,
There'll be never a man like the young Squire of Fleet.

Marriage and children

Lady Elizabeth Grey (d.1880), wife of John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of Fleet, engraving by Henry Bryan Hall, after William Say, published 1841; National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D32379

In 1826 he married Lady Elizabeth Grey (d.1880), 2nd daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), by whom he had the following children:[17]

Arms

Arms of Bulteel: Argent biletée gules, a bend of the last

The arms of Bulteel of Fleet were described in Magna Britannia (1822) as: Arg. a bend between 14 billets, Gules with crest: Out of a ducal crown, G., a pair of wings, A., billetty of the first.[25]

According to Thomas Robson the canting arms of Bulteel (of Somerset) are: Azure, three bull's heads couped argent, with crest: A bull's head gules between two wings or.[26] The Bull and Bear Lodge at Membland has gate piers showing those heraldic beasts, supposedly a reference to the families of Bulteel and Baring, whose arms feature a bear. These are said to refer to the two principal types of allegorical beasts denoting stock market speculators, the bull and bear.[27]

References

  1. ^ Llewellyn
  2. ^ Pevsner, p.485
  3. ^ Swete, vol. 4, p.13
  4. ^ Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, 6th edition, London, 1839, p.824, Perring Baronets [1]
  5. ^ The London Gazette: no. 15998. p. 155. 7 February 1807
  6. ^ "BULTEEL, James (c.1676-1757), of Tavistock, Devon | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  7. ^ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.387
  8. ^ Risdon, p.387
  9. ^ Risdon, p.387
  10. ^ Davies, E.W.L., A memoir of the Rev. John Russell and his out-of-door life, first published 1878, 1902 edition [2]
  11. ^ Pevsner, p.450
  12. ^ Swete, John, Names of the Noblemen and Principal Gentlemen in the County of Devon, their Seats and Parishes at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century, 1810, published in 1811 edition of Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions
  13. ^ Davies, p.101
  14. ^ Llewellyn; From Scott's Marmion (1808)
  15. ^ The Sporting Magazine, 1828, vol. XX, p. 440
  16. ^ Full text at
  17. ^ Burke's Landed Gentry
  18. ^ Pevsner, p.450
  19. ^ Henry and Mary Ponsonby by William Kuhn, Chapter 3
  20. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.581
  21. ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.769
  22. ^ Henry and Mary Ponsonby by William Kuhn, Chapter 3
  23. Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete
    , 1789–1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, vol 4, p.13
  24. ^ Henry and Mary Ponsonby by William Kuhn, Chapter 3
  25. ^ Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons, Magna Britannia, volume 6, Devonshire, 1822, General History: Gentry, p. cxxxvi.
  26. ^ Robson, Thomas, The British Herald
  27. ^ Pevsner, p.566
Sources
  • Llewellyn, Briony, Catalogue entry, Christie's sale 9747 Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolours, 5 December 2013, lot no. 138, London, South Kensington [3]
  • Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp. 282–3, pedigree of Bulteel of Pamflete

Further reading

Allen, Vivien, The Bulteels: The Story of a Huguenot Family, Phillimore & Co Ltd, Chichester, 2004