Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet

Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet, was the grandfather of English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Life

Shelley was born in Newark, Essex County, Province of New Jersey, on 21 June 1731. He became rich and influential due to a combination of marriages to women from other influential families and his own family's wealth. In the 1790s, following the death of his second wife, he built a magnificent country house, Castle Goring, which he intended to be the family seat. He was made a baronet in 1806. He died in 1815 at the age of 83.

Personal life

Sir Bysshe was married twice; firstly on 30 June 1752 to Mary Catherine Michell, the daughter of Theobald and Mary Michell; and secondly to Elizabeth Jane Perry on 17 August 1769.
Child from first marriage:

Timothy Shelley ; later Sir Timothy Shelley, 2nd Baronet

Child from second marriage:

John Shelley Sidney ; later Sir John Shelley-Sidney, 1st Baronet of Penshurst Place
Algernon Bysshe Shelley

Ancestry

Henry Shelley became father to the younger Henry Shelley. This younger Henry had at least three sons. The youngest of them, Richard Shelley, was born in 1583, and baptized 17November 1583 in Warminghurst, Sussex, England. Richard later married on 3February 1601 in Itchingfield to Jonne Feste/Feest/Fuste, daughter of John Feest/Fuste from Itchingfield, near Horsham, West Sussex. Their grandson, John Shelley of Fen Place, Turners Hill, West Sussex, was married to Helen Bysshe, daughter of Roger Bysshe. Their son Timothy Shelley of Fen Place married widow Johanna Plum from New York City. Timothy and Johanna were the great-grandparents of Percy.