Transcript

of

Rev Roger Granville [Obituary]

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol.  XLIII, (1911), pp.39-40.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1911 Dartmouth meeting. In 1895, the then vicar of Bideford, Rev. Roger GRANVILLE M.A., researched and published a history of the GRANVILLE’s (‘The History of the Granville Family, Traced back to Rollo, First Duke of Normandy’, 1895, 495 pages). The exhaustive work subsequently became the main reference book on his ancient family’s history.  It included transcripts of GRENVILLE family documents that were subsequently lost (mostly during WW2). David and Jenny Carter’s thoroughly researched report on the fascinating history of Rev Roger Granville’s ancestry may be accessed at Wikitree. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

The Rev. Roger Granville was the fifth son of Mr. Bernard Granville, of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, by his second wife, who was the younger daughter of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, and was born on 6 February, 1848. Educated at Wellington College and Durham University, he took his B.A. degree in 1869 and proceeded to M.A. in 1874. He was ordained deacon in 1871 and priest in 1872. He was Vicar of Charlecote, 1875 to 1878, when he became Rector of Bideford, where he remained till his retirement in 1896. He was appointed Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral in 1902, and upon the death of the Rev. Preb. Tudor, in 1907, became Sub-Dean. He was a descendant of Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge, and was author of a History of the Granville Family and of The Grenvilles, a Race of Fighters, and was associated with the late Mr. W. E. Mugford in the production of a valuable work, viz. Volume I of the Abstracts of the Existing Transcripts of the Lost Parish Registers of Devon, 1596-1644, published in 1908. He joined the Association in 1893, and contributed to the Transactions a paper on A History of the Church of St. Mary, Bideford, and some of its Rectors, in 1902.
He married, in 1870, Matilda Jane, daughter of Mr. Alexander Liebert, of Swinton Hall, Lancashire, and by her had issue one son and one daughter.
He died at his residence, Pilton House, Pinhoe, on 16 July, 1911.