Great Cornish families: a history of the people and their houses is a book by Crispin Gill, published in 1995. The author
Crispin Gill, at the time of the book's publication lived in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 and was Assistant Editor of the Western Morning News

Western Morning News

The Western Morning News is a politically independent daily regional newspaper founded in 1860 and covering Devon and Cornwall and parts of Somerset and Dorset.-Organisation:...

. This article names many notable families that have featured prominently in Cornwall's history.

Gill's Great families

Gill chooses the following families:

• The great Arundell
  Arundell
  The Arundell family were a very old Norman family settled in Cornwall and dating back to about the middle of the thirteenth century.*Baron Arundell of Trerice*Baron Arundell of Wardour*Arundell family of Lanherne,...
  
  s of Lanherne, Arundells
  Baron Arundell of Trerice
  Baron Arundell of Trerice, in the County of Cornwall, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1664 for the Royalist soldier and politician Richard Arundell. He was the second son of Sir John Arundell and the great-grandson of Admiral Sir John Arundell. He was succeeded by his son,...
  
   of Trerice
  Trerice
  Trerice is an Elizabethan manor house, located in Kestle Mill near Newquay, Cornwall, UK . The building features a main south-east facing range of 'E'-plan abutting a south-west range containing two earlier phases. Phase I consisted of a tower house with low north-west block...
  
  
• Bassets
  Baron Basset
  Baron Basset, of Stratton in the County of Cornwall, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1797 for Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville, with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to his daughter the Honourable Frances Basset...
  
   of Tehidy
  Tehidy Country Park
  Tehidy Country Park is located near Camborne, Redruth and Portreath. It was once part of a created estate that was owned by the wealthy Basset Tin mining family.Covering , the estate was purchased by Cornwall County Council in 1983...
  
  
• Merchant princes, the Bolitho
  Bolitho
  Bolitho is a small village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately one-and-a-half miles east of Praze-an-Beeble and is in the civil parish of Crowan.-Bolitho family:...
  
  s
• Boscawen
  Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth
  Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for Cornish constituencies from 1702 until 1720 when he was raised to the peerage.-Life:...
  
  s, the Lords Falmouth, Cornwall
  Falmouth, Cornwall
  Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
  
  
• Carew Poles of Anthony
  Antony House
  Antony House is the name given to an early 18th-century house, which today is in the ownership of the National Trust. It is located between the towns of Torpoint and the village of Antony in the county of Cornwall, United Kingdom...
  
  
• Edgcumbe
  Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
  Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe. The Edgcumbe family descends from Sir Piers Edgcumbe of Cotehele in Cornwall, who acquired the Mount Edgcumbe estate near Plymouth through marriage in the early 16th...
  
  s of Mount Edgcumbe House
  Mount Edgcumbe House
  Mount Edgcumbe House is a stately home in south-east Cornwall. It is a Grade II listed building and the gardens are listed as Grade I in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England....
  
  
• The Eliot
  Earl of St Germans
  Earl of St Germans, in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for John Eliot, 2nd Baron Eliot, with remainder to his younger brother the Hon. William Eliot and the heirs male of his body. He had earlier represented Liskeard in Parliament...
  
  s, Earls of St Germans
• The Foxes of Falmouth
  Fox family of Falmouth
  The Fox family of Falmouth, Cornwall, UK were very influential in the development of the town of Falmouth in the 19th century and of the Cornish Industrial Revolution...
  
  
• Godolphin
  Earl of Godolphin
  Earl of Godolphin was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1706 for Sidney Godolphin, 1st Baron Godolphin, the Lord High Treasurer. At the same time, he was created Viscount Rialton. In 1684 he had already been created Baron Godolphin, of Rialton, also in the Peerage of England...
  
  s of Godolphin
  Godolphin Estate
  The Godolphin Estate is a National Trust property situated in Godolphin Cross, a few miles north-west of Helston in Cornwall, United Kingdom....
  
  
• The Gallant Grenvilles
• The Piratical Killigrews, the Theatrical Killigrews
• Molesworth St Aubyn
  Molesworth-St Aubyn Baronets
  The Molesworth, later Molesworth-St Aubyn Baronetcy, of Pencarrow near St Mabyn in Cornwall, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 19 July 1689 for Hender Molesworth, Governor of Jamaica....
  
  s of Pencarrow
  Pencarrow
  Pencarrow is a country house in north Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles east-southeast of Wadebridge and three miles north-northwest of Bodmin...
  
  
• Prideaux
  Humphrey Prideaux
  Humphrey Prideaux , Doctor of Divinity and scholar, belonged to an ancient Cornish family, was born at Padstow, and educated at Westminster School and at Oxford....
  
  s of Padstow
  Prideaux Place
  Prideaux Place is a country house in Padstow, Cornwall, England.For over 400 years, Prideaux Place has been the home of the Prideaux-Brune family. Completed in 1592, the house has been enlarged and modified by successive generations...
  
  
• Rashleighs of Menabilly
  Menabilly
  Menabilly is an Elizabethan house on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Rashleigh Estate, seat of the Rashleigh family. Menabilly is situated on the Gribben peninsula about west of Fowey...
  
  , The Rashleigh baronets
• Agar-Robartes
  John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor
  John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor PC , known as The Lord Robartes between 1634 and 1679, was an English politician, who fought for the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War...
  
  es of Lanhydrock
• St Aubyns
  Baron St Levan
  Baron St Levan, of St Michael's Mount in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 July 1887 for the former Member of Parliament Sir John St Aubyn, 2nd Baronet. He had previously represented Cornwall West in House of Commons as a Liberal and St...
  
   of St Michael's Mount
  St Michael's Mount
  St Michael's Mount is a tidal island located off the Mount's Bay coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish and is united with the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water....
  
  
• Treffry
  Treffry
  Treffry is an Cornish surname. The first record of the name Treffry was found in Cornwall where they were anciently seated as Lords of the Manor of Treffry, some say, at the time of the taking of the Domesday Book survey in 1086...
  
  s of Fowey
  Fowey
  Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,273.-Early history:...
  
  
• Shall Trelawny die?
• The romantic Trevanion
  John Trevanion
  John Trevanion was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1640 to 1643. He was a royalist officer who was killed in action in the English Civil War....
  
  s
• Vivian
  Baron Vivian
  Baron Vivian, of Glynn and of Truro in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1841 for the soldier Sir Hussey Vivian, 1st Baronet. He had already been created a Baronet, of Truro in the County of Cornwall, in 1828...
  
  s of Glynn
  Cardinham
  Cardinham is a civil parish and a village in central Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately three-and-a-half miles , east-northeast of Bodmin....
  
  
• Vyvyan
  Vyvyan family
  The Vyvyans are a prominent Cornish family: they are recorded as landowners in Penwith and Kerrier since the 15th century.The Vyvyan family have had a large estate called Trelowarren in Cornwall for nearly 600 years. They moved to Trelowarren in 1427 from Treviddren, St...
  
  s of Trelowarren
• The Mining Williams
  Williams family of Caerhays and Burncoose
  The Williams family of Caerhays and Burncoose, were, for several generations, dominant in the Cornish Industrial Revolution as owners of mines and smelting works...
  
  es

Gill's list of important families not included above

In the introduction to Great families . . . , the following additional potentially great families are mentioned. They were not included in the list as they failed to "found a dynasty":

• Buller family
  Sir Francis Buller, 1st Baronet
  Sir Francis Buller, 1st Baronet was an English judge.-Life:Buller was born at Downes House in Devon, the son of James Buller, Member of Parliament for Cornwall, and his wife Lady Jane, daughter of Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst. He was educated at the King's School, Ottery St Mary, and...
  
  
• Carminow family
  Oliver Carminow
  Oliver Carminow or Carminowe , of Fentongollan in Cornwall, was an English Member of Parliament. He represented St Mawes , Truro and Tregony . He married Mary Coryton, daughter of Peter Coryton, and left two daughters but no sons...
  
  
• Coryton family
  William Coryton
  William Coryton was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1641. He was expelled from parliament for falsyfying returns....
  
   of Pentillie
  Pentillie
  Pentillie is a grade II* listed country house and estate, located on the banks of the River Tamar in Pillaton, near to St Mellion, in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Fortescue
  Fortescue
  -People:* Adrian Fortescue, 16th century English nobleman beatified by Roman Catholic Church* Adrian Fortescue, 19th-20th century Roman Catholic liturgist and Byzantine scholar* Charles Legeyt Fortescue, Canadian-born electrical engineer...
  
   family of Boconnoc
  Boconnoc
  Boconnoc is a civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom, approximately four miles east of Lostwithiel. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 121.The parish is rural in character and is fairly well wooded...
  
  
• Harvey family
  John Harvey (ironfounder)
  John Harvey was a Cornishman whose career started as a blacksmith and engineer at Carnhell Green near Hayle, in West Cornwall. In 1779 he established a foundry and engineering works at Hayle called Harvey & Co. By 1800 the company employed more than 50 people and continued to grow as Harvey worked...
  
   of Hayle
  Hayle
  Hayle is a small town, civil parish and cargo port in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River and is approximately seven miles northeast of Penzance...
  
  
• Hawkins family
  John Hawkins (geologist)
  John Hawkins was a geologist, traveller and writer,He was the youngest son of Thomas Hawkins of Trewinnard, St Erth, Cornwall, M.P. for Grampound, by Anne, daughter of James Heywood of London...
  
   of Trewithen
• Kendall
  Nicholas Kendall (Royalist)
  Nicholas Kendall was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1625 and 1640. He was killed in action fighting on the Royalist side in the English Civil War....
  
   of Pelyn

• Lemon family
  William Lemon
  Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet was a Member of Parliament for Cornish constituencies from 1770 to 1824, a total of 54 years.-Parental family:...
  
   of Carclew
• Roscarrock family of St Endellion
  St Endellion
  St Endellion is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and parish church are situated four miles north of Wadebridge....
  
  
• Smith-Dorrien-Smith family of Tresco
  Tresco
  Tresco is the second-biggest island of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is in size, measuring about by .-History:In early times one group of islands was in the possession of a confederacy of hermits. King Henry I gave it to Tavistock Abbey which established a priory on Tresco;...
  
  
• Tangye family
  Richard Tangye
  Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye was a British manufacturer of engines and other heavy equipment.-Biography:...
  
  
• Tremayne family
  John Hearle Tremayne
  John Hearle Tremayne was a member of a landed family in the English county of Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey. He was a member of the UK Parliament for the constituency of Cornwall, a Justice of the peace, and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1831...
  
   of Heligan
• Trevelyan
  Trevelyan
  Trevelyan is a Cornish surname derived from a Cornish place meaning "Village of Elian".-People:* Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English MP* Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet, British MP* Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, British civil servant...
  
   family

Deacon's list of important families

Bernard Deacon

Bernard Deacon

Bernard W. Deacon is a multidisciplinary academic, based at the Institute of Cornish Studies of the University of Exeter at the Tremough Campus. He has an Open University doctorate and displays his thesis on the ICS website.-Academic career:...

 in his History of Cornwall (2007) suggests the following family names ("merchant bourgeois" who joined the "gentry" from the latter part of the 18th century): Williams, Bolitho, Fox, Davey

Richard Davey (MP)

Richard Davey was one of the two MPs for the West Cornwall Constituency for eleven years . He was a JP and a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Cornwall .-His family:...

 of Redruth

Redruth

Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...

, Daniell of Truro, Harvey of Gwennap, Foster of Lostwithiel.

Landowners

Table of Principal Cornish Landowners, mid-nineteenth century (ranked)

1. Lord Falmouth
2. Lord Robartes
3. G. M. Fortescue
4. G. L. Basset
5. Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
   William Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
   William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe GCVO, PC , styled Viscount Valletort between 1839 and 1861, was a British courtier and Conservative politician.-Background:...
   
   
6. C. H. T. Hawkins
7. Sir R. R. Vyvyan
   Sir Richard Vyvyan, 8th Baronet
   Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, 8th Baronet was an English landowner and Whig and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1825 and 1857.-Early life:...
   
   
8. Col. A. Tremayne
   Arthur Tremayne
   Arthur Tremayne was a Crimean War soldier and Cornish MP.-Personal life:Arthur Tremayne, born on 15 May 1827, was the son of John Hearle Tremayne , MP, and his wife, Caroline Matilda Lemon, the daughter of Sir William Lemon MP, and the sister of Sir Charles Lemon MP...
   
   
9. Augustus Coryton

1. F. Rodd
2. J. M. Williams
3. J. J. Rogers
4. Earl of St Germans
   William Eliot, 4th Earl of St Germans
   William Gordon Cornwallis Eliot, 4th Earl of St Germans , known as Lord Eliot from 1864 to 1877, was a British diplomat and Liberal politician.-Life and career:...
   
   
5. Revd A. Molesworth-St Aubyn
6. Sir J. Trelawney
7. C. P. Brune
8. Edward Coode
9. Col. S. M. Grylls

Source: Returns of owners of land in England & Wales – House of Commons Sessional papers 1872-3: paper No. 1874 lixxii, quoted in Edwin Jaggard Cornwall politics in the age of reform 1790-1855, (1999) .

Top landowners in Cornwall 1872*	Acres owned in Cornwall
Mr Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly Menabilly Menabilly is an Elizabethan house on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Rashleigh Estate, seat of the Rashleigh family. Menabilly is situated on the Gribben peninsula about west of Fowey... , Par Par, Cornwall Par is a town and fishing port with a harbour on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated in the civil parish of Tywardreath and Par and is approximately east of St Austell. Par has a population of around 1,400.....	30,156
Viscount Falmouth of Mereworth Castle Mereworth Castle Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.Originally the site of a fortified manor licensed in 1332, the present building is not actually a castle, but was built in the 1720s as an almost exact copy of Palladio's Villa Rotunda. It was designed in 1723... , Maidstone Maidstone Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural... , Kent Kent Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...	25,910
Lord Robartes MP of Lanhydrock Lanhydrock House Lanhydrock is a civil parish centred on a country estate and mansion in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The parish lies south of the town of Bodmin and is bounded to the north by Bodmin parish, to the south by Lanlivery parish and to the west by Lanivet parish. The population was 171 in the 2001 census... , Bodmin Bodmin Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...	22,234
Mr Cyril Fortescue of Boconnoc, Lostwithiel Lostwithiel Lostwithiel is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739...	20,148
Mr Gustavus Basset of Tehidy Park Tehidy Country Park Tehidy Country Park is located near Camborne, Redruth and Portreath. It was once part of a created estate that was owned by the wealthy Basset Tin mining family.Covering , the estate was purchased by Cornwall County Council in 1983... , Redruth Redruth Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...	16,969
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe Earl of Mount Edgcumbe Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe. The Edgcumbe family descends from Sir Piers Edgcumbe of Cotehele in Cornwall, who acquired the Mount Edgcumbe estate near Plymouth through marriage in the early 16th...  MP of Mount Edgcumbe Mount Edgcumbe House Mount Edgcumbe House is a stately home in south-east Cornwall. It is a Grade II listed building and the gardens are listed as Grade I in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.... , Devonport Devonport, Devon Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...	13,288
Mr Christopher Hawkins of Trewithen, Probus Probus, Cornwall Probus is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is famous for having the tallest church tower in Cornwall. The tower is high, and richly decorated with carvings...	12,119
Mr Francis Thynne of Haynes Park, Bedford Bedford Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...	10,224
Rev Sir Vyell Vyvyan of Trelowarren, Helston Helston Helston is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately 12 miles east of Penzance and nine miles southwest of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town in the UK and is around further south than... e	9,738
Colonel Arthur Tremayne Arthur Tremayne Arthur Tremayne was a Crimean War soldier and Cornish MP.-Personal life:Arthur Tremayne, born on 15 May 1827, was the son of John Hearle Tremayne , MP, and his wife, Caroline Matilda Lemon, the daughter of Sir William Lemon MP, and the sister of Sir Charles Lemon MP...  MP of Carclew, Perranarworthal Perranarworthal Perranarworthal is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately four miles northwest of Falmouth and five miles southwest of Truro....	8,823

*(Source: http://www.who-owns-britain.com/Who owns Britain ? by Kevin Cahill

Kevin Cahill (author)

Kevin Cahill FRSA is an author and investigative journalist, living in Devon, England...

])

See also

• Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
  Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
  This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Since 1742, all the Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Cornwall.*John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford 1552–1554*John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath 1556–?...
  
  
• High Sheriff of Cornwall
  High Sheriff of Cornwall
  High Sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:Note: The right to choose High Sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall, rather than the Privy Council, chaired by the Sovereign, which chooses the Sheriffs of all other English counties, other than those in the Duchy of...
  
  
• Landed gentry
  Landed gentry
  Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
  
  
• Parliamentary representation from Cornwall
  Parliamentary representation from Cornwall
  The historic county of Cornwall in south-west England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Cornwall....
  
  
• :Category:Cornish politicians