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Lopes of Maristow

The biggest owner on the moor's western side in 1840. The family bought the Bickleigh, Walkhampton, Sheepstor and Shaugh lands in 1798 and have lived at Maristow ever since (as of 1887).

In 1840 the tithe lists them as Sir Ralph Lopes, Baronet. 18,672 acres on the Dartmoor-parish tithe maps: Walkhampton 10,124, Shaugh Prior 2,710, Buckland Monachorum 2,321, Sheepstor 2,186, Meavy 1,225, Whitchurch 83, Sampford Spiney 25.

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Family tree

Click a name to see everything the sources say about that person, with the exact words quoted, below the chart. Yellow marks the 1840 tithe owner.

Abraham Lopes of Jamaica

Abraham Lopes of Jamaica, grandfather of Manasseh Massey Lopes. S1

Children shown: Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Clapham

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Clapham

Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Clapham, married Rebecca, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica. The family are described as Sephardi Jews who had migrated to Jamaica and prospered as sugar planters. He came to England, settled at Clapham and died there in 1796, leaving his son an extremely wealthy man (his will was proved on 16 March 1796). S1, S4, S5, S7

Child of Abraham Lopes of Jamaica. Children shown: Sir Manasseh Massey Lopes, Esther Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

S4 Wikipedia, Manasseh Masseh Lopes (secondary; article read 23 October 2026), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh_Masseh_Lopes

Summary of the article, not a word-for-word quotation: son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes and Rebecca Pereira, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica; a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family who "allegedly made their fortune as sugar planters and slave-owners in Jamaica"; bought Maristow in 1798 from the estate of James Modyford Heywood; baptised at St Pancras on 30 June 1802; at the 1818 election bribed voters, his Barnstaple election was declared void and he was convicted over Grampound, fined £1,000 and jailed for two years, remitted in September 1820; created baronet 1805 with remainder to his nephew Ralph Franco.

S5 Legacies of British Slavery database, University College London, Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes (secondary; entry read 23 October 2026), https://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146638667

Summary of the entry, not word for word: son of Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Jamaica and Clapham, who died in 1796 (will PROB 11/1272/194, proved 16 March 1796); bought Maristow in 1798 from James Modyford Heywood, reputedly for £100,000; left about £160,000 in personal property; secondary sources call the family sugar planters, but no Jamaican estates have been traced for Sir Manasseh himself; a 1814 inventory of enslaved people at Windsor Estate and Williamsfield, St Elizabeth, is listed as a document of interest without saying he owned them; no compensation claim is mentioned.

S7 Fisher, History of Parliament 1790-1820, member biography: Lopes (afterwards Masseh Lopes), Manasseh (1755-1831), https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/lopes-(afterwards-masseh-lopes-)-manasseh-1755-1831

Born 27 Jan. 1755 in Jamaica, only surviving son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes by Rebecca, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica; 'descended from Sephardi Jews who had migrated to Jamaica and prospered as sugar planters'. Summary: his father died at Clapham in 1796; Maristow bought 1798 at a reputed 100,000 pounds; by 1820 he claimed about 32,000 acres; bought the Westbury seat in 1810 for about 75,000 pounds; found guilty at Devon assizes on 18 March 1819 and again in Cornwall on 24 March 1819 over Grampound; judgment in King's Bench on 13 November 1819: fined 10,000 pounds in total and two years in Exeter gaol; died 26 March 1831 worth an estimated 800,000 pounds.

Sir Manasseh Massey Lopes

Sir Manasseh Massey Lopes, 1st Baronet, born in Jamaica on 27 January 1755. Succeeded his father in 1796. Bought the Heywood estates at Maristow in 1798, reputedly for £100,000, and the Tamerton, Bickleigh, Walkhampton, Sheepstor and Shaugh property from four co-heirs; by 1820 he claimed about 32,000 acres 'in a ring fence' and ranked among the top eight Devon landholders. Baptised into the Church of England in 1802, the year he bought a seat at New Romney. M.P. for New Romney 1802-06, Evesham 1807-08 (unseated on petition for illegal votes), Barnstaple 1812-19 (unseated for bribery) and Westbury 1820-29, a borough he had bought in 1810 from the 5th Earl of Abingdon for about £75,000. High Sheriff of Devon 1810. Created baronet 1 November 1805, with remainder to his sister Esther's son. Married 19 October 1795 Charlotte, daughter of John Yeates of Monmouthshire. Convicted in 1819 of bribery at Grampound (see the story below): fined £10,000 in all and jailed for two years. Died 26 March 1831, worth an estimated £800,000, chiefly in government and East India stock. S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7

Child of Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Clapham

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

S2 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), p. 32

The four co-heirs above mentioned sold the whole property in Tamerton, Bickleigh, Walkhampton, Sheepstor, and Shaugh, in 1798 to Manasseh Lopes, Esq., M.P., for the borough of New Romney, and he and his successors have ever since resided at Maristow.

S3 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage (1869), entry Lopes, Bart. (of Maristow)

Manasseh-Masseh Lopes, Esq. of Maristow, Devon (descended from an ancient and opulent Jamaica family), was created a Baronet, 1 Nov. 1805, with remainder to (the son of his sister, Esther, wife of A. Franco, Esq.) his nephew, Ralph Franco, Esq.

S4 Wikipedia, Manasseh Masseh Lopes (secondary; article read 23 October 2026), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh_Masseh_Lopes

Summary of the article, not a word-for-word quotation: son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes and Rebecca Pereira, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica; a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family who "allegedly made their fortune as sugar planters and slave-owners in Jamaica"; bought Maristow in 1798 from the estate of James Modyford Heywood; baptised at St Pancras on 30 June 1802; at the 1818 election bribed voters, his Barnstaple election was declared void and he was convicted over Grampound, fined £1,000 and jailed for two years, remitted in September 1820; created baronet 1805 with remainder to his nephew Ralph Franco.

S5 Legacies of British Slavery database, University College London, Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes (secondary; entry read 23 October 2026), https://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146638667

Summary of the entry, not word for word: son of Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Jamaica and Clapham, who died in 1796 (will PROB 11/1272/194, proved 16 March 1796); bought Maristow in 1798 from James Modyford Heywood, reputedly for £100,000; left about £160,000 in personal property; secondary sources call the family sugar planters, but no Jamaican estates have been traced for Sir Manasseh himself; a 1814 inventory of enslaved people at Windsor Estate and Williamsfield, St Elizabeth, is listed as a document of interest without saying he owned them; no compensation claim is mentioned.

S6 Jewish Encyclopedia, Lopez, Sir Manasseh Masseh (secondary; article read 23 October 2026), https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10108-lopez-sir-manasseh-masseh

Summary of the article, not word for word: born in Jamaica; found guilty of bribing voters at Grampound on 18 March 1819 and sentenced to two years in prison with a £1,000 fine; prosecuted again on 13 November for a similar offence with a further fine and term; returned for Westbury in 1823. (The article also says his father converted in 1802, which conflicts with S5.)

S7 Fisher, History of Parliament 1790-1820, member biography: Lopes (afterwards Masseh Lopes), Manasseh (1755-1831), https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/lopes-(afterwards-masseh-lopes-)-manasseh-1755-1831

Born 27 Jan. 1755 in Jamaica, only surviving son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes by Rebecca, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica; 'descended from Sephardi Jews who had migrated to Jamaica and prospered as sugar planters'. Summary: his father died at Clapham in 1796; Maristow bought 1798 at a reputed 100,000 pounds; by 1820 he claimed about 32,000 acres; bought the Westbury seat in 1810 for about 75,000 pounds; found guilty at Devon assizes on 18 March 1819 and again in Cornwall on 24 March 1819 over Grampound; judgment in King's Bench on 13 November 1819: fined 10,000 pounds in total and two years in Exeter gaol; died 26 March 1831 worth an estimated 800,000 pounds.

Esther Lopes

Esther Lopes, his sister, married Abraham Franco, merchant of London, in April 1785; died February 1795. S1

Child of Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Clapham. Children shown: Sir Ralph Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Sir Ralph Lopes

Sir Ralph Lopes (born Franco), 2nd Baronet, born 10 September 1788; took the surname Lopes by sign-manual on succeeding in 1831; M.P. for Westbury and South Devon. Married 8 May 1817 Susan Gibbs, eldest daughter of A. Ludlow of Heywood, Wiltshire. The 1840 tithe owner of the Dartmoor lands. S1

Child of Esther Lopes. Children shown: Sir Massey Lopes, Ralph Ludlow Lopes, Sir Henry Charles Lopes, Edmund Francis Lopes, George Ludlow Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Sir Massey Lopes

Sir Massey Lopes, 3rd Baronet, eldest son (the 'present Baronet' in 1887). S1

Child of Sir Ralph Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Ralph Ludlow Lopes

Ralph Ludlow Lopes, second son: M.A., J.P., D.L.; High Sheriff of Wiltshire 1869; of Sandridge Park. S1

Child of Sir Ralph Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Sir Henry Charles Lopes

Sir Henry Charles Lopes, third son: a judge of the High Court of Justice, Recorder of Exeter, M.P. for Launceston. S1

Child of Sir Ralph Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Edmund Francis Lopes

Edmund Francis Lopes, fourth son, born 19 October 1833, died 28 February 1867. S1

Child of Sir Ralph Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

George Ludlow Lopes

George Ludlow Lopes, fifth son. S1

Child of Sir Ralph Lopes

Where this comes from

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

Stories from the record

Each story is backed by at least two independent sources, at least one of them a printed or official record. The sources are listed under it.

Portrait of a seated man in a dark coat holding a rolled paper
Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes, 1st Baronet, by an English artist of the 19th century. Wikimedia Commons

The baronet who bribed his way into Parliament

Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes, who owned the Maristow estate and the western moor lands, spent heavily on buying seats in Parliament. In 1816 his agent bribed about 40 voters at Grampound at 35 pounds each, and at Barnstaple in 1818 he paid his agent just over 3,000 pounds for treating and travelling expenses. On 9 March 1819 the Barnstaple election committee unseated him for bribery. He was found guilty at the Devon assizes on 18 March 1819 and again, in Cornwall, on 24 March, over Grampound. A separate prosecution over Barnstaple ended in acquittal for defect of proof on 4 August. The Commons committee's report, given in Flindell's Western Luminary of 6 April 1819, said that 66 of the resident voters, who did not much exceed 300, had taken bribes, that about 140 out-voters had received £20 each and the residents £5, and that Sir Manasseh had spent £3,000 through a banker. The British Mercury of 10 March 1819 reported him removed from his seat and declared incapable of sitting in that Parliament, and the Royal Gazette of Jamaica carried the report on 24 April. On 13 November 1819 the King's Bench fined him 10,000 pounds in total and sentenced him to two years in Exeter gaol, the judge saying his rank made the offence worse. The History of Parliament judges him as much dupe as villain and a convenient scapegoat for the campaign against corruption; he was back in the Commons for Westbury from November 1820.

Sources: History of Parliament 1790-1820, Lopes (afterwards Masseh Lopes), Manasseh (1755-1831), by D. R. Fisher; Jewish Encyclopedia, Lopez, Sir Manasseh Masseh; Wikipedia, Manasseh Masseh Lopes; British Mercury or Wednesday Evening Post, 10 March 1819, page 1; Flindell's Western Luminary, 6 April 1819, pages 6 and 7; Royal Gazette of Jamaica, 24 April 1819, page 25

Places on this family's land

Places on this site that stand on, or beside, the fields this family held in 1840.

On their 1840 fields (38)

Where the sources differ

The Jewish Encyclopedia and Wikipedia give the Grampound fine as £1,000. The History of Parliament, citing The Times of 15 November 1819, gives £10,000 in total, imposed in King's Bench on 13 November 1819 with two years in Exeter gaol; that figure is used. Wikipedia alone says the sentence was remitted in 1820; the History of Parliament has him back in the Commons for Westbury from November 1820.
The Jewish Encyclopedia has him returned for Westbury in 1823. The History of Parliament and the UCL database give 1820 to 1829.
The Jewish Encyclopedia says Sir Manasseh and his father both converted in 1802. The History of Parliament and the UCL database have the father dead in 1796, so only the son's baptism in 1802 is given.
Burke (1869) says Sir Manasseh had no issue. The History of Parliament records one daughter who died in his lifetime. The baronetcy passed to his nephew either way.
The History of Parliament estimates his estate at about £800,000 at death, chiefly government and East India stock. The UCL database gives about £160,000 in personal property. They are different measures.
The History of Parliament says the family prospered as sugar planters in Jamaica, and Burke calls them an ancient and opulent Jamaica family. The UCL database says no Jamaican estates have been traced to Sir Manasseh and that his father may have sold any property before dying. It lists an 1814 inventory of enslaved people at Windsor Estate and Williamsfield, St Elizabeth, without saying the Lopes family owned them, and records no compensation claim.
The baronet who bribed his way into Parliament. The History of Parliament, citing The Times of 15 November 1819, gives the fine as £10,000 in total; the Jewish Encyclopedia and Wikipedia give £1,000. The History of Parliament figure is used. Wikipedia alone says the sentence was remitted in 1820. The Jewish Encyclopedia has him returned for Westbury in 1823; the History of Parliament has him sitting from November 1820.

Notes

Lysons (1822) lists Sir M. M. Lopes at Maristow, Tamerton Foliot, among the baronets' seats.

Worthy (1887) and Burke (1869) are printed Victorian books. The History of Parliament biography by D. R. Fisher cites The Times, the Journals of the Commons and family papers, and is the most detailed account. Wikipedia, the UCL Legacies of British Slavery database and the Jewish Encyclopedia are secondary compilations. The will (National Archives PROB 11/1272/194) has not been read.

The name appears as 'Manasseh Lopes' in the 1798 purchase and 'Manasseh Masseh Lopes' in the footnote; Worthy also spells it 'Massey' once. The 1873 Return of Owners lists Sir Massey Lopes of Maristow with a figure that is misprinted in the printed volume.

Sources

S1 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), pp. 32-33 and footnote

Sir Ralph, 2nd Bart., who was born 10th September, 1788, represented Westbury and South Devon in Parliament for several years, and was a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Wilts and Devon. He married, 8th May, 1817, Susan Gibbs, eldest dau. of A. Ludlow, Esq., of Heywood, Wiltshire, by whom he had issue five sons.

S2 Worthy, Devonshire Parishes, vol. 1 (1887), p. 32

The four co-heirs above mentioned sold the whole property in Tamerton, Bickleigh, Walkhampton, Sheepstor, and Shaugh, in 1798 to Manasseh Lopes, Esq., M.P., for the borough of New Romney, and he and his successors have ever since resided at Maristow.

S3 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage (1869), entry Lopes, Bart. (of Maristow)

Manasseh-Masseh Lopes, Esq. of Maristow, Devon (descended from an ancient and opulent Jamaica family), was created a Baronet, 1 Nov. 1805, with remainder to (the son of his sister, Esther, wife of A. Franco, Esq.) his nephew, Ralph Franco, Esq.

S4 Wikipedia, Manasseh Masseh Lopes (secondary; article read 23 October 2026), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh_Masseh_Lopes

Summary of the article, not a word-for-word quotation: son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes and Rebecca Pereira, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica; a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family who "allegedly made their fortune as sugar planters and slave-owners in Jamaica"; bought Maristow in 1798 from the estate of James Modyford Heywood; baptised at St Pancras on 30 June 1802; at the 1818 election bribed voters, his Barnstaple election was declared void and he was convicted over Grampound, fined £1,000 and jailed for two years, remitted in September 1820; created baronet 1805 with remainder to his nephew Ralph Franco.

S5 Legacies of British Slavery database, University College London, Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes (secondary; entry read 23 October 2026), https://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146638667

Summary of the entry, not word for word: son of Mordecai Rodrigues Lopes of Jamaica and Clapham, who died in 1796 (will PROB 11/1272/194, proved 16 March 1796); bought Maristow in 1798 from James Modyford Heywood, reputedly for £100,000; left about £160,000 in personal property; secondary sources call the family sugar planters, but no Jamaican estates have been traced for Sir Manasseh himself; a 1814 inventory of enslaved people at Windsor Estate and Williamsfield, St Elizabeth, is listed as a document of interest without saying he owned them; no compensation claim is mentioned.

S6 Jewish Encyclopedia, Lopez, Sir Manasseh Masseh (secondary; article read 23 October 2026), https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10108-lopez-sir-manasseh-masseh

Summary of the article, not word for word: born in Jamaica; found guilty of bribing voters at Grampound on 18 March 1819 and sentenced to two years in prison with a £1,000 fine; prosecuted again on 13 November for a similar offence with a further fine and term; returned for Westbury in 1823. (The article also says his father converted in 1802, which conflicts with S5.)

S7 Fisher, History of Parliament 1790-1820, member biography: Lopes (afterwards Masseh Lopes), Manasseh (1755-1831), https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/lopes-(afterwards-masseh-lopes-)-manasseh-1755-1831

Born 27 Jan. 1755 in Jamaica, only surviving son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes by Rebecca, daughter of Manasseh Pereira of Jamaica; 'descended from Sephardi Jews who had migrated to Jamaica and prospered as sugar planters'. Summary: his father died at Clapham in 1796; Maristow bought 1798 at a reputed 100,000 pounds; by 1820 he claimed about 32,000 acres; bought the Westbury seat in 1810 for about 75,000 pounds; found guilty at Devon assizes on 18 March 1819 and again in Cornwall on 24 March 1819 over Grampound; judgment in King's Bench on 13 November 1819: fined 10,000 pounds in total and two years in Exeter gaol; died 26 March 1831 worth an estimated 800,000 pounds.

Tithe polygons: Devon Tithe Mapping Polygonisation Project (Adnams 2023), © Devon County Council and Devon Heritage Centre, CC BY 4.0. Transcriptions: Devon County Council.