Curzon Origins

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Curzon

Motto: Let Curzon hold what Curzon held

The family name of Curzon derives from the village of Courson in Normandy, and came into England with the Norman Conquest of 1066.

In the 1086 Domesday Book:

• Hubert de Courson held the manors of West Lockinge in Berkshire and Fauld in Staffordshire from Henry de Ferrers.^[1]

• Robert de Courson held land in Norfolk and Suffolk, mostly from Roger Bigod.^[2] Keats-Rohan states that Robert's successor was William, without specifying how they were related.

In the time of Henry I (r. 1100-1135) Richard de Curçun (abt.1080-bef.1165) was demesne tenant of de Ferrars, and held Croxall, Edingale, Twyford and Kedleston for four knights' fees.^[3] Richard is said in some accounts to have been the son of Geraline (Curzon) de Curzon (abt.1020-aft.1086), who is supposed to have come into England with William the Conqueror in 1066, although there is no primary evidence for this.^[4][5]

There is no proof of any connection between these three Curzon families, although it is probable that they all originated in the same Normandy village and therefore may well have been related.

Croxall became the seat of the senior branch of the Derbyshire Curzons when the oldest grandson of the founder took up residence there, and his younger brother resided at Kedleston.

For almost eight hundred years the manor of Kedleston had descended from father to son, through 25 generations.

The fame, dignity, and splendour of the Curzons centres in the Kedleston branch, out of which have arisen six other branches - of Waterperry, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Lockington, Gopsall, Petworth.

Sources

1. ↑ https://domesday.pase.ac.uk/Domesday?op=5&personkey=51658
2. ↑ https://domesday.pase.ac.uk/Domesday?op=5&personkey=47951
3. ↑ England. Exchequer, and Hubert Hall. The Red Book of the Exchequer. London: Printed for H. M. Stationery Off., by Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1896. Page 337.
4. ↑ Thomas Noble, ed. The History, Gazeteer and Directory of the County of Derby, Part II. Derby: Stephen Glover, 1829. Page 333.
5. ↑ The Duchess of Cleveland. The Battle Abbey Roll. London: John Murray, 1889. Page 260.

See also:

• The Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire, London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co, Ltd, Vol II The Appletree Hundred and The Wapentake of Wirksworth, 1843. archive.org
• King's College London, "Domesday", Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE), ( 2010), accessed 22 November 2014, . Gulbert in Domesday
• J Charles Cox, Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, Vol III The Hundreds of Appletree and Repton and Gresley, (Chesterfield: W Edmunds, 1877), archive.org