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Luxmoore of Kerslake and Okehampton Park

The Luxmoores held 3,135 acres, almost all in Okehampton parish. Their estate included Okehampton Park, which had been in the hands of the Courtenays for generations before. The 1840 owner, the Rev. John Luxmoore, had inherited it from his uncle six years earlier.

In 1840 the tithe lists them as Reverend John Luxmoore. 3,135 acres on the Dartmoor-parish tithe maps: Okehampton 3,107, Sourton 28.

See their land on the map →

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.

John Luxmoore

John Luxmoore, Esq. of Coomb Park, Devon. Burke (1879) says he was returned for Okehampton towards the close of the 18th century but unseated on petition, and that he married Elizabeth, daughter of William Cunningham, with five sons and two daughters. The History of Parliament says the Okehampton M.P. of the period, John Luxmoore (1726-88), was unmarried, the eldest son of John Luxmoore by Mary Cuningham, with brothers including Henry; he was unseated on petition on 27 April 1785. The two accounts cannot both describe one man, and no source seen links the M.P. to Charles Luxmoore of 1834. S1, S2

Children shown: Charles Luxmoore, Thomas Bridgeman Luxmoore

Where this comes from

S1 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (1879), entry Luxmoore of Kerslake

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., who possessed the Manors of Halstock and Meldon, Devon, and the estates thereto attached, including the Park of Okehampton, for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays. He d. 1834, and was s. by his nephew. Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock, and Meldon Manors, and Okehampton Park, Devon, Rector of Llanymynech, Salop, b. 18 Jan. 1802; s. his uncle, Charles Luxmoore, Esq. 1834.

S2 History of Parliament 1754-1790, member biography: Luxmoore, John (1726-88), https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/luxmoore-john-1726-88

Summary: M.P. for Okehampton 1784-85, unseated on petition on 27 April 1785; unmarried, eldest son of John Luxmoore by Mary Cuningham; died 30 January 1788.

Charles Luxmoore

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., second son. Held the manors of Halstock and Meldon and the estates with them, including the Park of Okehampton, 'for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays'. Died 1834 and was succeeded by his nephew. S1

Child of John Luxmoore

Where this comes from

S1 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (1879), entry Luxmoore of Kerslake

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., who possessed the Manors of Halstock and Meldon, Devon, and the estates thereto attached, including the Park of Okehampton, for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays. He d. 1834, and was s. by his nephew. Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock, and Meldon Manors, and Okehampton Park, Devon, Rector of Llanymynech, Salop, b. 18 Jan. 1802; s. his uncle, Charles Luxmoore, Esq. 1834.

Thomas Bridgeman Luxmoore

Thomas Bridgeman Luxmoore, fourth son, major of volunteers in the French war, 1802 to 1815. Married 1792 Miss Cartwright. S1

Child of John Luxmoore. Children shown: Rev John Luxmoore

Where this comes from

S1 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (1879), entry Luxmoore of Kerslake

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., who possessed the Manors of Halstock and Meldon, Devon, and the estates thereto attached, including the Park of Okehampton, for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays. He d. 1834, and was s. by his nephew. Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock, and Meldon Manors, and Okehampton Park, Devon, Rector of Llanymynech, Salop, b. 18 Jan. 1802; s. his uncle, Charles Luxmoore, Esq. 1834.

Rev John Luxmoore

Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock and Meldon manors and Okehampton Park; rector of Llanymynech, Shropshire; born 18 January 1802; succeeded his uncle 1834. The owner named in the 1840 tithe lists. Married 1st, 1829, Isabella Scott; 2ndly, 1850, Anne Steele; 3rdly, 1857, Elizabeth Harnett Boylan. Died 12 July 1876, when his three daughters became co-heiresses. S1

Child of Thomas Bridgeman Luxmoore. Children shown: Luxmoore co-heiresses

Where this comes from

S1 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (1879), entry Luxmoore of Kerslake

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., who possessed the Manors of Halstock and Meldon, Devon, and the estates thereto attached, including the Park of Okehampton, for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays. He d. 1834, and was s. by his nephew. Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock, and Meldon Manors, and Okehampton Park, Devon, Rector of Llanymynech, Salop, b. 18 Jan. 1802; s. his uncle, Charles Luxmoore, Esq. 1834.

Luxmoore co-heiresses

Marion, Elizabeth Cunningham and Anne Dove Luxmoore, co-heiresses of Kerslake, Halstock and Meldon manors and Okehampton Park. Burke gives one marriage in 1877 (to W. Trevor Roper, for Elizabeth Cunningham) and Anne Dove's in 1871 (to G. D. Lees). Seat: Kerslake, Okehampton. S1

Child of Rev John Luxmoore

Where this comes from

S1 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (1879), entry Luxmoore of Kerslake

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., who possessed the Manors of Halstock and Meldon, Devon, and the estates thereto attached, including the Park of Okehampton, for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays. He d. 1834, and was s. by his nephew. Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock, and Meldon Manors, and Okehampton Park, Devon, Rector of Llanymynech, Salop, b. 18 Jan. 1802; s. his uncle, Charles Luxmoore, Esq. 1834.

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.

The town family that held Okehampton

Okehampton was a small borough whose two seats went with property in the town. William Northmore, a town man, shared the seats with Thomas Pitt until his death in 1735, when his Okehampton property was bought by the Luxmoores, another town family. In autumn 1740 Pitt visited to prepare for an election and wrote that Mr Luxmoore seemed to have the town very much at his command, because a word from him settled any voter who hesitated. In 1747 Pitt wanted to drop George Lyttelton, who had joined the Government, and wrote that Luxmoore did not quite agree and that a payment of 1,000 pounds might persuade him. Luxmoore, allied with John Harris, nominated Lyttelton regardless, and Pitt called him a rogue in a letter. The History of Parliament suggests the Treasury and the Duke of Bedford were behind Lyttelton. Lysons (1822) records one fourth of the manor of Okehampton passing from Northmore to Luxmoore and then to Henry Holland, and says Charles Luxmoore then owned Okehampton Park, with the manors of Halstock and Meldon bought a few years earlier from Viscount Courtenay.

Sources: History of Parliament 1715-1754, constituency of Okehampton, by Shirley Matthews; Lysons, Magna Britannia, vol. 6, Devonshire (1822), Okehampton

Where the sources differ

Burke's John Luxmoore of Coomb Park, with a wife and five sons, is shown as Burke gives it. The History of Parliament says the Okehampton M.P. of 1784-85 was unmarried, so the father of Charles Luxmoore (died 1834) is not established.
The town family that held Okehampton. The History of Parliament cites Lysons for the Northmores being a town family, so the two are not fully independent on that point; the 1740 and 1747 details come from Pitt's own letters (the Chatham papers and the Fortescue manuscripts). Which Luxmoore this was, and how he relates to the later Luxmoores of Kerslake, is not stated.

Notes

Lysons (1822) also records a Rev. Charles Thomas Coryndon Luxmoore as patron and incumbent of Bridestowe, and a Charles Luxmoore, Esq., as owner of an estate with great tithes in another parish. They are other branches of the name and are not placed on the tree.

Sources

S1 Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (1879), entry Luxmoore of Kerslake

Charles Luxmoore, Esq., who possessed the Manors of Halstock and Meldon, Devon, and the estates thereto attached, including the Park of Okehampton, for many generations in the possession of the Courtenays. He d. 1834, and was s. by his nephew. Rev. John Luxmoore, M.A., of Kerslake, Halstock, and Meldon Manors, and Okehampton Park, Devon, Rector of Llanymynech, Salop, b. 18 Jan. 1802; s. his uncle, Charles Luxmoore, Esq. 1834.

S2 History of Parliament 1754-1790, member biography: Luxmoore, John (1726-88), https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/luxmoore-john-1726-88

Summary: M.P. for Okehampton 1784-85, unseated on petition on 27 April 1785; unmarried, eldest son of John Luxmoore by Mary Cuningham; died 30 January 1788.

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