Thomas Levett (rector)
Encyclopedia
Whittington, Staffordshire
Whittington is a village and civil parish which lies approximately 3 miles south east of Lichfield in the Lichfield district of Staffordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,591. The parish council is a joint one with Fisherwick...
, for 40 years, and as a large landowner in addition to being clergy, played a role in the development of Staffordshire's educational system. He was also a member of one of Staffordshire's longest-serving families in ecclesiastical circles, having produced three rectors of the village of Whittington. The Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
family also produced Members of Parliament, High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
High Sheriff of Staffordshire
This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Staffordshire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred...
, Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
town recorders and businessmen who were friends and contemporaries of Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
, Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
, writer Anna Seward
Anna Seward
Anna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...
, actor David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
and other local luminaries. Several streets in Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
are named for the family.
Rev. Richard Levett served as Whittington's vicar from 1743 to 1751. His son, also Rev. Richard Levett, served as vicar of Whittington from 1795 to 1796. And Rev. Thomas Levett served for forty years, from 1796 to 1836. There are memorials to the Levett family in St. Giles Church in the village, located about three miles (5 km) from Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
. Large landowners, the family also established charitable gifts towards the Whittington Free School, and were generous donors to schools and other foundations in the county.
Rev. Thomas Levett was the son of Thomas Levett of Packington Hall
Packington Hall (Staffordshire)
Packington Hall in Staffordshire, England was a country mansion designed by architect James Wyatt in the 18th century that was the home of the Levett family for many generations...
and nephew of John Levett
John Levett
John Levett of Wychnor Park, Staffordshire, was an English landowner and investor, and a Tory politician.-Biography:John Levett was the son of Theophilus Levett , Lichfield attorney and town clerk, and his wife Mary Babington, daughter of Zachary Babington. The Levett family had common roots in...
, who sat for one term as a Tory Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
before he was recalled. Rev. Levett was the grandson of Theophilus Levett
Theophilus Levett
Theophilus Levett was an attorney and early town clerk of Lichfield, Staffordshire, a prominent early Staffordshire politician and landowner, and a member of a thriving Lichfield social and intellectual circle which included his friends Samuel Johnson, the physician Erasmus Darwin, the writer Anna...
, Lichfield town clerk in the early eighteenth century.
Large landowners, the Levett family also made liberal endowments to the church at Whittington. Rev. Levett lived in Packington Hall, a Levett family property that had been acquired in the eighteenth century. The same Levett family also lived at Wychnor Hall
Wychnor Hall
Wychnor Hall is an early 18th century country house near Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. Formerly owned by the Levett family, descendants of Theophilus Levett, Steward of the city of Lichfield in the early eighteenth century, the hall has been converted to a Country Club. It is a Grade II listed...
at nearby Wychnor
Wychnor
Wychnor is a civil parish in Staffordshire, England, situated in the East Staffordshire local government district adjoining Alrewas and Barton-under-Needwood. It is situated on the A38, formerly the Roman road Ryknild Street, and contains the hamlet of Wychnor Bridges where the A38 crosses the...
, Staffordshire. The family also owned the ancient woods at Hopwas
Hopwas
Hopwas is a village in Staffordshire, England. It lies just over west of Tamworth and east of Lichfield. It is situated where the A51 road crosses both the River Tame and the Coventry Canal...
, Staffordshire, a holding inherited by Rev. Thomas Levett.
Levett was early interested in education in the region in which his ancestors had lived for more than a century. He was among family members managing a family bequest to the local schools.
Rev. Levett was also a well-known sportsman, and frequently hunted with family friend British General and Royal aide William Dyott, whose family lived at nearby Freeford Hall
Freeford Hall
Freeford Manor is a privately owned 18th century country house at Freeford, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. It is the home of the Dyott family and is a Grade II listed building....
. The artist James Ward
James Ward (artist)
James Ward , R.A., was a painter, particularly of animals, and an engraver.-Biography:Born in London, and younger brother of William Ward the engraver, James Ward was influenced by many people, but his career is conventionally divided into two periods: until 1803, his single greatest influence was...
, a longtime family friend, painted the rector as he hunted at Packington in a canvas called Portrait of the Rev. Thomas Levett and Favourite Dogs, Cock-Shooting, 1811..
Rev. Levett was married to Wilmot Maria Gresley, daughter of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet of Drakelowe Hall, High Sheriff of Derbyshire
High Sheriff of Derbyshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Derbyshire from 1568.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been...
in 1780, of the Gresley Baronets
Gresley Baronets
The Baronetcy of Gresley of Drakelow was created in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 for George Gresley of Drakelow Hall, Derbyshire who was later High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Member of Parliament for Newcastle under Lyme .The Gresleys were an ancient Norman family, descended from Nigel...
, a family seated at their Drakelow
Drakelow
Drakelow is a hamlet in the parish of Church Gresley in South Derbyshire, England. It is two and a half miles south-west of Burton on Trent. It is pleasantly situated on the east bank of the River Trent. Drakelowe Hall was the principal residence of the Gresley Baronets, but this has been replaced...
Derbyshire manor since the end of the eleventh century. Following his marriage, Rev. Levett quartered the arms of Levett with those of his wife's family. She died December 17, 1845. Memorials to Wilmot Maria Gresley and her husband Rev. Levett are in St. Giles Church in Whittington. The couple had no children.
Packington Hall
Packington Hall
Packington Hall is a 17th century mansion situated at Great Packington, near Meriden, Warwickshire, England the seat of the Earl of Aylesford. It is a Grade II* listed building....
, designed by architect James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
, sat in 1000 acres (4 km²) of parkland owned by Rev. Levett. Situated just over three miles (5 km) from Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, where the first Staffordshire Levett had served as town clerk in the early eighteenth century, Packington Hall home was the residence of successive generations of Levetts. The home was remarkable for its avenues of old oaks and elms.
Another distant branch of the Sussex Levett family lives at Milford Hall
Milford Hall
Milford Hall is a privately owned 18th-century country mansion house at Milford, near Stafford. It is the home of the Levett Haszard family and is a Grade II listed building....
in the same county. The two branches of the family were reunited when in the late nineteenth century a Wychnor Levett married a Milford Hall Levett.
External links
Sources
- The Levetts of Staffordshire, Dyonese Levett Haszard, Milford, Staffordshire, privately printed