A person less distinguished by his illustrious descent

from Henry VII than by his many excellent virtues.

Letter from Anne addressed to her brother, Sir Thomas

Stepney, 5th Baronet, dated 4 January 1741/42

‘Most Honour’d Sir,

After many hearty wishes for Christmas and a happy new year, these are to let you know that your sister Mary has been taken ill with what is called a miserere, and that now she is at that extremity that there is no hopes of her life.

She is entirely resign’d to ye Allmighty’s will and willing to render up her soule to her Creator and Redeemer, and seems to regret nothing but leaving you behind her in darkness and heresy, which you can’t be too conscious of yourself.

She is perfectly well as yett in her senses and likely to be so to her last breath; and what it not that your sister Priscilla is so much griev’d at ye likelihood she has of losing her sister she certainly would have acquainted you of it.

As to ye rest, she is as yett in perfect good health and though perhaps it will be no less grief to you to hear of your sister Mary’s death then it is to your sister Priscilla to see it, yett you may be secure that I shall not be wanting to let you know by ye next post how it goes with her, or how ye Allmighty has disposed of her; remaining at ye same time with all sincerity and veneration most honoured Sir, your most humble and obedient servant at command.’

Sir John Stepney, 6th Baronet 1692-1748

John Stepney, the only son of Sir Thomas Stepney, 5th Baronet, and Margarett Vaughan, was born on 8 February 1692/1693 and baptised the same month.

He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, and matriculated in 1711.

In 1714 he married Eleanor (Elinor), only daughter and sole heiress of John Lloyd of Buwchllaethwen, Llangennech. The couple led a quiet life – enjoying a rural rather than city environment – and it is said that the only time they were not in Llanelli was when they travelled to Bath to try to restore Elinor’s delicate health.

There were five children from the marriage:

1. Margaretta, b. 13 June 1718; buried 11 May 1740

2. Justina Anna, b. 27 February 1719/20

3. Maria, b. 24 September 1721

4. Thomas, b. 10 January 1724/25, buried 24 January 1724/25

5. John Vaughan, b. 6 February 1726/27,died 7 April 1730, aged 3 yrs 2 mths & 3 days

Elinor suffered from poor health and died in 1743 at the young age of 32 before her husband inherited his father’s estate and the Baronetcy.

John Stepney became Sir John Stepney, 6th Baronet, on the death of his father in 1744 and held 2 of the 1/4 Shares of the Llanelli estate, the second Share from his Aunt Anne Vaughan and the fourth Share fromhis mother Margarett Vaughan.

Anne (Duchess of Bolton) and daughter of John Vaughan (1640-1713), of Golden Grove, was married in name only to Charles Paulet, Duke of Bolton, who spent her fortune.

Anne died childless in 1751 and her estate passed to her cousin, John Vaughan (1693-1765), of Shenfield Place, Essex and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. John Vaughan was Elizabeth Vaughan Lloyd’s second husband and stepfather to Elizabeth, the future bride of Thomas Stepney, 7th Baronet.

Sir Thomas Stepney, 7th Baronet 1724-1772

Sir Thomas married Elizabeth Eleanor (Elinor) Lloyd heiress of Derwydd and Danyrallt. Before the nuptials Anne Vaughan, Duchess of Bolton, had written to Elizabeth regarding her forthcoming marriage to Thomas Stepney (later Sir Thomas 7th Baronet).

The children of the 7th Baronet and Elizabeth were:

John, b. 6 October 1743, did not marry

Thomas Vaughan, b. 14 September 1744

Maria Justina (Justina Maria), b. 15 May 1756

Maria Justina married twice:

(1) Francis Head and they had a daughter, Frances Head;

Note the spelling of the name of Maria Justina’s first husband. One source, Sotheby’s Catalogue, says Heading but the inscription on her memorial says Head.

(2) Andrew Cowell, from Coleshill, Buckinghamshire.

The eldest son of Maria Justina and Andrew Cowell was named John Stepney Cowell (1791-1877)

Elizabeth Bridgetta, b. ?, married Joseph Gulston of Ealing

Margaretta, b. ?

Thomas, b. 11 February 1760. Thomas married, but there were no children from the marriage.

It was said of Sir Thomas that:

‘He applied himself assiduously to his Estate and before his death which occurred 24 years after he largely developed mineral wealth that lay beneath his land, encouraged the coal trade and the town of the mineral by water. He also made improvements in the fisheries of his neighbourhood and had a new sort of vessel constructed called by his correspondence “busses” which were used in conveying the product of the fisheries.’

Sir Thomas died in 1772 at the age of 48 and Elizabeth, his wife, survived him by 23 years.

Maria Justina Stepney  Also known as Justina Maria

Maria Justina was the daughter of Sir Thomas, 7th Baronet and Lady Elizabeth Stepney. She married:

1. Francis Head of St Andrews Hall, County Norfolk, when she was 23 years old and they had a daughter, Frances Head, born in 1780. Francis Head died within a year of their marriage and their only daughter Frances was born after her father died. In 1806 Frances Head married the Hon & Revd George Herbert, brother of the Second Earl of Carnarvon. Frances died at Florence in 1862.

2. Andrew Cowell from Coleshill, Buckinghamshire (d. 1821).

General Andrew Cowell

Maria Justina remained a widow for eight years before marrying Andrew Cowell. General Cowell commanded a Brigade of Guards in the Rebellion of 1798 in Ireland where he witnessed scenes of horror of which even the passions aroused in times of revolution can neither diminish nor excuse.

He was placed as a Major General on the staff in different parts of England and Wales in command of troops pending the defence of the country from the threatened invasion of the Emperor Napoleon.

He was also Aide-de-Camp to the General Commander-in-Chief in Jamaica.

General Andrew Cowell (known as Colonel Cowell) died on 21 September 1821 and his wife Maria Justina only survived him for 7 weeks when she died on 9 November 1821. By coincidence their daughter-in-law also died on 9 November 1821 in Nice.

Andrew and Maria Justina Cowell had two children:

1. John Stepney Cowell (1791-1877) who married twice.

2. William George Stepney Cowell married Margaret, daughter of the Revd Packington George Tomkyns, and they had one daughter, Una.

Mililtary career of Andrew Cowell

16 March1779 Ensign commission by purchase

25 June 1781 Lieutenant & Captain commission by purchase

27 October 1790 Captain and Lieut. Colonel commission by purchase

21 August 1795 Colonel

30 December 1797 Major (commanding 2nd Battalion)

18 June 1798 Major General

19 November 1800 Lieut. Colonel, Coldstream Regiment of Guards

30 October 1805 Lieutenant General

14 June 1814 Full General

John Stepney, 8th Baronet 1743-1811

John Stepney, eldest son of Sir Thomas Stepney, the 7th Baronet, and Elizabeth Elinor Lloyd of Derwydd and Danyrallt was described as a man of cultivated mind, natural abilities and of high breeding.

When his father died in 1772 at the comparatively young age of 48, John Stepney, as the eldest son, inherited his father’s estate and title, and became Sir John Stepney, 8th Baronet, at the age of 29. He had already been in the House of Commons five years as Member of Parliament for Monmouth Boroughs on the death of Mr Benjamin Bathhurst in 1767 and for many years before he became 8th Baronet, his interests and whole way of life had been outside Llanelli. He was re-elected as Member of Parliament for Monmouth Boroughs in 1768 and 1774.

Within a year of inheriting the title he had sold the Stepneys’ Prendergast Estate in Pembrokeshire so that he could raise money to finance the terms of his great grand-father’s will.

[His great grandfather, Sir Thomas Stepney, 5th Baronet, had specified that his grand-daughters, Mary (Maria) and Justina, the daughters of Sir John Stepney 6th Bart, should each receive £2,000 and a further £2,000 as marriage settlements. For one reason or another the clause in the will had not been fully administered.]

Unlike his predecessors Sir John spent most of his time abroad, and probably never visited the Llanelli estate. According to one source he was in Naples in 1770 and again in 1781 when Sir William Hamilton noted in a letter that his chase overturned on the road to Portici.

From 1775-82 he went on a diplomatic mission as British Envoy in Dresden and in 1782 went to Berlin to replace Hugh Elliot as Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Elector of Saxony and the Court of Frederick the Great.

He was offered a peerage but refused.

By 1784 his health was causing him problems and he returned to Britain where he accepted the stewardship of the Chiltern 100s in March.

Three later in 1787, he advertised part of his estate at Llanelli for sale. It was said he had hoped to raise £23,000 if all the lands were sold, but it is not known if any of the advertised lands were sold at this time. It as obvious that Sir John Stepney had little interest in his estate apart from the income it produced and from 1785 his Agent William Hopkins handled all his coal interests. One of his previous Agents had been Henry Child.

By 1788 Sir John had retired due to ill-health from Parliament, after holding his seat for 21 years, but he did not come to live in Llanelli.

He returned to foreign parts and continued to try to sell his estates. During his brief visits to London he was well known in society and frequented Devonshire House. He was on good terms with leading Liberals and during 1788 before he went abroad again he was offered a peerage and a pension by the Government as a reward for his public services. But not having a direct heir he declined what he considered a flattering proposal.

By 1791 a new sale which included all of the Stepney lands at Llanelli was advertised. It would appear that Sir John had decided to sever his connections with the town. Although his Llanelli Estate was not sold at this time his lands at Llangennech were sold to John Symmons of Paddington House, London, who formed the Llangennech Estate when he purchased lands from Sir John Stepney, Mary Martha Ann Margaret Mansel and possibly others.

In his will of 1802 Sir John left his remaining estate to a succession of named inheritors, with friends being given precedence over family. His brother Thomas (1760-1825) inherited the title to become 9th Baronet but did not inherit the estate and its income.

The estate was settled as follows:

1. Richard Henry Alexander Bennett and George James the Earl of Cholmondeley were joint first inheritors. Sir John may have been in debt because he was unable to sell his Llanelli estate, and may have borrowed from his friends using the estate as security.

2. William Chambers, friend of Sir John and fellow prisoner, was also a named inheritor. (When William Chambers senior died in 1855 the Stepney family took steps to regain the estate.)

3. His brother Thomas Stepney was the first of his family named in the Will, which stipulated that if Thomas had no son, the estate was to pass in succession to other members of the family.

In 1802 the Peace of Amiens was signed and then broken, the Napoleonic Wars which resulted in hostilities between France and Britain began in 1803. Many British subjects were unceremoniously arrested by the French Authorities on Napoleon’s instructions, and for some time Sir John was detained as a prisoner.

William Chambers senior was also held prisoner by the French authorities.

In Britain Mr Fox, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, made a direct appeal for Sir John’s release on the grounds that he was an old diplomatic servant of the Crown. Although Sir John was released William Chambers was held in captivity for about 12 years and it was during this captivity that William married Emma Maria Adams, the daughter of a West Indian gentleman. It was rumoured that William Chambers was Sir John’s illegitimate son but this is highly unlikely.

Sir John Stepney, 8th Baronet, died on 3 October 1811 aged 68 at Tirgau near Temesvar (Timisoara) in Hungary (now part of Romania).

Finally, after many years of litigation with the Chambers family, the estate passed to John Stepney Cowell, son of Maria Justina and her second husband, Colonel Andrew Cowell.

Sir Thomas Stepney, 9th Baronet 1760-1825

Sir Thomas Stepney, 9th Bart, youngest son of Sir Thomas and Lady Stepney was born in 1760, the year that George III acceded to the Throne and was 18 years younger than his brother. Sir Thomas was well known about St James’s as a young man.

He was a Groom of the Chamber of the Duke of York and intimate friend of Charles James Fox.

In 1825 the following appeared in Gentlemen’s Magazine and the New Monthly Magazine.

‘This polished gentleman of the Old School was seen in his usual attire perambulating St James Street from Clubhouse to Clubhouse (his daily practice) so recently as the day before his death:

‘His dress had been the same for half a century namely a blue coat with a broad back and long waist of the “Monmouth Street cut”, that is much too large for his body and he recently wore a remarkably short spencer nankeen was his constant wear in small-clothes and his blue broad striped silk stockings produced a remarkable contrast added to these was a hat not deeper in the crown than an inch and a half but with a rim of greater proportion and a black ribbon tied around it. Sir Thomas in his 65th year on the coldest day of the winter was clad the same in the dog days. He was an amiable character and an accomplished gentleman. His picquet parties from February to July were regularly attended by some of the most distinguished persons of the day.

‘Sir Thomas Stepney, the last of the Baronets, was very popular and somewhat eccentric in his dress and manners. He was for 35 years a personal and intimate friend and Groom of the Bedchamber to his late Royal Highness the Duke of York. He was 18 years younger than this brother, Sir John Stepney, 8th Bart, and would not accept a salary when appointed to the Duke’s household.`

There is a memorial at Llanelli Parish Church to Mary, the wife of Thomas Stepney, 2nd son of Sir Thomas Stepney of Llanelly, Baronet and John Innes in his book Old Llanelly records that Lady Mary Stepney died in 1810 aged 47.

In 1813 Sir Thomas married Catherine Russell, novelist and former wife of Russell Manners. The marriage between Catherine and Sir Thomas took place in Edinburgh on 8 June 1813.

The 9th Baronet died in 1825 when the title became extinct and his cousin Elizabeth Gulston (1767-1857), inherited his estate. When Elizabeth (Eliza) Gulston died in 1857 John Cowell Stepney regained the Stepney estate after lengthy litigation with the Chambers family.