The Rugby Advertiser published some background information on the Brierly family, perhaps the glue that brought together the controlling nineteenth century families in the village. This was shortly after an interview they had carried out with John Brierly – which can be found here.
Mr. John Brierly’s family have been at Kings Newnham since the time of Charles I. John Brierly, an officer in the Royalist Army, sold his estates of Mossley Hall, Cheshire, where his family had been seated for centuries, to find money to help King Charles. He was also a great friend of Francis Leigh (of the Leighs, of High Leigh. County Chester), and when the latter, after being knighted and created Earl of Chester, and Baron Dunsmore, acquired the Church Lawford and Kings Newnham estates, John Brierly went to live there, residing in the old Mansion House, and dying in 1653. He was buried in the church the ruined tower of which now only remains. His son, John, succeeded him, and a younger son. Harry Bryerly, lived near Hinckley.
The elder son, John, had five sons. two of whom successively resided at Kings Newnham. a younger son settling at Dorden Hall, near Polesworth. The third son John, carried on the line. and during his time the old Mansion House was demolished, and the present Hall erected in 1776. He had a large family. mostly daughters. One son. John, succeeded at Newnham. He married Elizabeth Hudson, of Wolston, and had five sons and six daughters, the youngest of the latter (Ann) married her cousin George Worth, of the Manor House, Kings Newnham, whose father. George Worth, married Sarah Brierly. Their eldest daughter married Henry Townsend, father of William Henry Worth Townsend, J.P., and first chairman of the Rugby Union Rural District Council. The John Brierly last mentioned was succeeded at Newnham by his eldest son. Harry, and another son. Jeremiah, of Stretton-under-Fosse, was High Constable for the Hundred of Knightlow, whose Grand-daughter is Mrs. R. T. Simpson.
Harry Brierly married Ann Brown, of Brinklow, and had four sons and seven daughters. Of the latter, the eldest married Rev. William Staresmore Marvin, cousin of the Benn family, of Rugby, and their daughter married Sir T. G. Paleston, Bart., of Emral Park, Co. Flint, whose grandfather entertained King George IV. on his first visit to Wales. Another Brierly daughter married John Higginson Marvin (note the Staresmore and Higginson names in both Benn and Marvin families), and another daughter married Rev. S. L. Noble, whose family for nearly 300 years were patrons and Rectors of Frowlesworth, near Lutterworth, and previously for a nearly like period Rectors at Reresbv, Co. Lincoln. Harry Briefly last mentioned was twice married, first to Margaret Rooke, of Wigton, Co. Cumberland, sister to John Rooke, one of the most noted men in that county, and whose biography was written by Henry Lonsdale. M.D. His second wife was Selina Worth, daughter of George Worth and Ann Brierly and granddaughter of George Worth and Sarah Brierly.
With his first wife Margaret he had three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Harry Brierly, of Church Lawford Grange, chairman of Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, 1885, an alderman of the first County Council of Warwickshire 1888-1897. He married Priscilla Jane Norman, daughter of John Norman, of Harborough Magna, near Rugby, son of Edward Norman, of Cosford House, whose ancestor was an executor of the will of Richard Elborow, founder of Elborow Schools and Alms-Houses, Rugby.
John, the third son, succeeded at Newnham, and married Maria Laurence, daughter of James Laurence, of Potford Dam, near Rugby, and had one son and three daughters.
In I852 the ground surrounding Kings Newnham Church was cleared, and a number of leaden coffins were found containing perfectly embalmed bodies, mostly of the Earl and Countess at Chichester and their family and relations. While one had a perfectly preserved body of a man who had been beheaded, and from the marks on his shroud is presumed to have been a brother of the Royalist officer, John Brierly, who first settled at Kings Newnham.
In 1899 a lavish “Coming-of-age” party was held in Newnham Hall to celebrate the 21st Birthday of Harry Laurence Brierly.
In July 1924 the report in the Rugby Advertiser on John Brierly’s funeral showed the regard the villagers from both Kings Newnham and Church Lawford had for him (as well as people from Bretford).
Newnham Hall was put up for sale shortly afterwards, and by March 1925 the remaining family had moved out, with their departure being recognised by villagers in both Kings Newnham and Church Lawford, as described in the Rugby Advertiser during that month.
The domination of Kings Newnham life by the three families who came together during the 19th Century ended by the 1920s, but the following chart gives an idea of the presence in the area of the Worth Family, the Brierly family and in latter days the Townsend family.
