Jocelyn Sidney - 7th Earl of Leicester The descendants of Jocelyn Sidney

Jocelyn was the last of the Earls of Leicester in the Sidney family. He died without a legitimate heir  - although apparently far from childless.

Recently I have heard from a Canadian branch of the Sidney family who are descended from the 7th (and last) Earl of Leicester, Jocelyn. Although recognized as his descendants (and able to use the crest and coat of arms) there were no "legitimate" heirs to inherit the Earldom on Jocelyn's death. All the legal papers for the claims to Penshurst from this time are lost.

 

We are the descendants of Jocelyn Sidney the last Earl. The Family left England to work for the Dominion of Canada in the year 1850 approx. We are proud of our heritage although the current Viscount has not been all to co-operative. We still enjoy the right to use the armorial bearings of the House of Sidney through College of Arms. (see Robin Duke Rouge Dragon).

The Case Involving the Perry and Shelly families and my forebears is very interesting as most of the information has been lost according to the British Lib.

The persons of this branch of note are as follows: Sir William Robert Sydney and Richard Chase Sydney

Jocelyn and Elizabeth Sidney had one son as recognized by the House of Lords on two separate occasions. Firstly the claim of John Sidney to the Honours of the Sidney Family and Penshurst Place and park etc. Secondly by The house of Lords in turning down the request of Thomas Sidney's Granddaughter in the case of the Barony of Lisle.

John Sydney 1740-1812.

Algernon Sidney - claimed to be the eighth Earl of Leicester.

Richard Chase Sidney. Solicitor and Author of "The life of Algernon Sidney"

William Robert Sidney. KT. Parliamentary agent Knighted in Ireland by Arthur Wellsley (Duke of Wellington?).

See Burks Dormant Peerage for more information.

Information from Alexander Sydney-Aitken, Arundel, Quebec, Canada.

 

I recently visited Chiddingstone Castle (formerly known as High Street House) in Chiddingstone, Kent which houses the personal collection of Denys Eyre Bower (1905 - 1977). Denys bought the property in 1955 in a very poor condition simply as a place to display his treasures. The house had previously been used as a school and was occupied by the Army during the war. Previous to 1900 it had been the home of the Streatfeild family and Denys, in an attempt to discover some of the properties history, was able to recover one of the original portraits from this period. A picture of Henry Streatfeild (1679 - 1747) is displayed on the stairs next to a short piece of text which is quite interesting.

Henry Streatfeild was co-executor of the last will of Jocelyn Sidney, 7th Earl of Leicester. Jocelyn left no legitimate heir but on his death-bed he wrote a will leaving everything to his 14 year old daughter, Ann (his "Nancy") who lived with him at Penshurst (about five miles away). On his death this will was immediately contested by her legitimate cousins and the husband of one of these cousins, Mr. Perry, "descended" on Penshurst and threw Ann out.

Ann was a protégé of Miss Streatfeild (?) and she appealed to Henry Streatfeild to help her. Despite claiming to be too old to get involved, with the help of the family solicitor William Austen (of Sevenoaks) he eventually helped Ann to a settlement whereby she lost Penshurst but gained Sidney land at WALESAND (?) and was financially better of than her cousins.

Ann later married Henry's son (also Henry) who was 30 years her senior and was left with 4 young children when he died. William Austen continued to advise her ...

The following is from another book about the Streatfeilds in the 1800's

In 1830 the family solicitor was Francis-Austen (great-uncle to the novelist Jane Austen). Possibly grandson of William?

"Grandmamma Streatfeild lived at Penshurst"

One of the son's of Henry Streatfeild (all the eldest sons were called Henry !!!) was named Sidney Streatfeild and he became private secretary to Sir Robert Peel.

No mention is made of Ann's mother although Jocelyn had married Elizabeth Thomas. I did read somewhere that he was well known for his illegitimate children but always acknowledged them.