Humphry Sturt MP

1725 - 20th Oct 1786


Biography

MP for Dorset for 30 years 1754-1784. For reasons that have yet to be fully understood by LBS but appear to be connected with the will of Solomon Ashley (q.v.), Sturt's widow Mary, son Charles Sturt and his three executors were parties to a deed with John Jarrett (q.v.) related to Catherine Mount and Catherine Hall in 1794. The two estates had been owned by Samuel Barnett until 1762. LBS has tentatively concluded the 1794 deed arose from certain [unknown] claims on estates in Jamaica, presumably Catherine Mount and Catherine Hall, that Humphry Sturt inherited as part of the estate of Solomon Ashley under the latter's will in 1763.

  1. According to the History of Parliament, only son of Humphry Sturt of Horton, Dorset and Diana, daughter of Sir Nathaniel Napier, 3rd Bt., M.P.; grandson of Sir Anthony Sturt, M.P. Married in St James, Piccadilly, 27/04/1756, to Mary, daughter and heir of Charles Pitfield, ‘proprietor of a considerable estate’ in Shoreditch. Succeeded his father and cousin Sir Gerard Napier, 6th Bt. at Crichel More 26/01/1765. MP for Dorset 1754-1784, of Crichel House Dorset.

  2. Mary Pitfield was the daughter of Charles Pitfield (1712-1740) and Mary was the great-great-granddaughter and sole heir of Sir Charles Pitfield (1599-1680) of Dorset, Hoxton, and the City of London. Her great-grandfather was Alexander Pitfield MP (1658-1728), MP for Bridport. Mary's mother Dorothy Ashley (1722-1761) was the daughter of Solomon Ashley. Solomon Ashley married in 1719 at St Leonard's Shoreditch, to Winifred Pitfield (1687-1753), daughter of Alexander Pitfield (1658-1728). Winifred was therefore Mary's grandmother and great-aunt.

  3. Charles Sturt of Co. Dorset, devisee of the will of Humphrey Sturt, Mary Sturt, the Rev. George Bingham, Rector of Great Critchill, co. Dorset, Edmund Morton Pleydell, and Henry William Portman and John Jarrett of Trelawny in Jamaica, plantation called Catherine Mount and Catherine Hall in Jamaica. Signature of Charles Sturt, dated 1794.


Sources

The Crichel Estate Papers at the Dorset Archives include 'Case: Beckford v Sturt: demands of Humphrey Sturt, residuary legatee of Solomon Ashley on estates in Jamaica 1772', D-CRI/A/115/3, http://dcc.dorsetforyou.com/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=D-CRI%2fA%2f115%2f3 [accessed 26/11/2019].

  1. Year of birth approximate. Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 26 (April 1756) p. 205; London Magazine Vol. 25 April 1756 p. 195; Sir Lewis Namier, 'Sturt, Humphrey, (?1725-1786)', History of Parliament online; Ancestry.com, Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database online]. Note that both Gentleman's Magazine and London Magazine erroneously show the marriage in 1756 of Humphry Sturt Member for Dorsetshire with 'Miss Beckford' 'a sister to the Alderman.' Mary Pitfield was connected to the Beckford family: her grandfather Solomon Ashley was also the father-in-law of Julines Beckford, Alderman William Beckford's brother, and grandfather of Peter Beckford of Stepleton.

  2. Email from Michael Pitfield 09/11/2021 setting out dates and family relationships. Marriages of Solomon Ashley and Winifred Pitfield in St Leonard's Shoreditch in 1719 and of Charles Pitfield and Dorothy Ashley in St Paul's, Covent Garden om 1737, Ancestry.com, London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921 [database online]; baptisms of Dorothy Ashley in 1722 and Mary Pitfield in 1740, Ancestry.com, Westminster, London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1558-1812 [database online]; information about Alexander Pitfield, MP for Bridport, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/pitfield-alexander-1659-1728 [accessed 08/12/2021].

  3. Caribbeana Vol. II 'Deeds relating to the West Indies.'

We are grateful to Michael Pitfield for his assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Spouse
Mary Pitfield
Children
5 daughters, 10 sons

Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
Not known
Not known

Legacies Summary

Political (1)

MP
Tory 
election →
Dorset Dorset
1754 - 1784

Relationships (1)

Executor → Testator
Notes →
Humphry Sturt was also the residuary legatee of Solomon Ashley, and had married Ashley's grand-daughter Mary...

Addresses (1)

Crichel House, Crichel More, Dorset, Wessex, England