The book compiled in 1823 by William Bagot, (2nd) Baron Bagot, was printed at Blithfield by William Hodgetts in 1824. On its inside page is printed: “As every man's house is his castle; so is his family a private commonwealth.” He doesn't give his name as the compiler until he reaches the ninety-ninth page, where he states: “William, the Second Lord Bagot, and the Compiler of these Memorials, succeeded to the Title and Estates, the 22nd of October, 1798, and has a family consisting of three sons and three daughters.” Lord Bagot did have another daughter by his first wife Emily named Louisa Barbara, who died in infancy, whom he didn't name, according to other records.

This book is crammed full of information on the family in its early history in England. He has several continued pedigrees of Bagot interred in almost every chapter in Part 1 of the book. He also has various pedigrees of other families who, in some way, had connections to the Bagot family. He gave a history of each succeeding Bagot, his titles, authority, and various writings concerning their vocation, position, and events of most of the days of their lives. He shows where some of them are buried. (One version of Baron Bagot Arms):

He begins by saying: “It is more than probable that the Family of Bagot were possessed of Lands, and seated in the county of Stafford, before the Conquest; though no absolute proof is to be adduced till the general Survey of Estates, made by command of William the Conqueror, A.D. 1086, when they are recorded as possessors of a moiety of Bagot's Bromley, which they held of Robert de Stafford.” The first document he records is as follows, and it appears to be written in Latin:
 

There were three prominent historians of that day: Erdeswick, Chetwynd, and Sir William Dugdale. Lord William quotes Mr. Chetwynd, in his MS. History of the hundred of Pirehill south: “whether Branselle, here mentioned by this Bromley, as Mr. Erdeswick will have it, or Bromshull, near to it, of which Hervey Bagot was Lord Temp. Hen. II. I cannot certainly determine.” Lord William says Mr. Erdeswick was most certainly right; and the error seems to have arisen from a false reading of the Domesday Book: the ancient m having been mistaken for us.—Sir William Dugdale, in his extract from Domesday, at the beginning of his Pedigree at Blithfield, has entered it properly.—Bromshull is at least five miles from Bagot's Bromley.  Lord William Bagot inters the first pedigree of Bagot as follows:

FIRST PORTION OF THE BAGOT PEDIGREE

BAGOD, Lord of a Moiety of Bramelee com. Staff. temp. W. Conq.
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Bagod de Bramelle, temp. Hen. I.
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Bagod de Bramelle, temp. R. Stepheni.
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Simon Bagot, Lord of Bramelle, temp. Ric. I. & Joannis.
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Sir Hugh Bagot, Kt. Lord of Bromley=Alice, daughter of .........
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Richard Bagot, Lord of Bromley Bagot=Christiana, daughter of .......
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William Bagot, Lord of Bagot's Bromley ob. 1296=Hawisie, daughter of ........
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John Bagot, Lord of Bagot's Bromley 27 Edward I=Lucy, daughter of ............
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John, only son of John, Lord of Bagot's Bromley 15 Edward II=Eglina, dau. and co-heir of Malory.
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Sir Ralph Bagot, Kt. of Bagot's Bromley, co. Stafford=Elizabeth, dau. and heir of Richard,
Lord of Blithfield and Littlehay.

The above is almost identical to a lineage shown as the Staffordshire lineage in a book in the archives. The Staffordshire lineage has “William Bagot, father of Simon Bagot” shown in the time of King Richard I, where the pedigree above only gives “Simon Bagot,” and doesn't mention the other “William.” William Bagot is not mentioned in the above until 1296.

“The Pedigree in the possession of Lord Bagot, (attested by Sir William Dugdale, Gregory King, and others, and supported by a most extraordinary mass of original deeds, and other family muniments,) commences with this BAGOD, Lord of Bromley. The name of his son is not recorded, but Simon Bagot, his great grandson, possessed the same Estate, and had Two Sons; Sir Hugh his heir; and Sir William his second son, who appears by the Pedigree to have had a son Henry. . . Simon Bagot (Temp: R. I. & Joh:) wrote himself Lord of Bromley, but he did not then possess the whole Manor; for his eldest son, Hugh, soon after purchased a fourth part of it from one Henry, son of Wymar, in ‘Fee Farm,’ paying to him and his heirs two Marks yearly.”

He attests that there is some doubt about Hervey Bagot being of the line of Bagot from Bagot's Bromley, but of the line of Hyde (another branch). But in his writings, Hervey Bagot, who married Millicent de Stafford, is shown to be of the line of Bagot's Bromley, and that "he had a direct and natural connection with, and interest in Bromley.” A deed in the possession of Earl Talbot, whose collections still remain at Ingestre is shown:
 

His writings declare: “This transaction is confirmed by Ralph de Mutton in the first deed of the Bagot Pedigree, wherein he quits claim to Simon Bagot of all his right in Bromley.”

Several pedigrees are shown throughout the book. There are also many seals of the different Bagots shown. Most of them carry the spelling of Bagot, but one in particular, Sir William Bagot, is shown with the name Bagod on the seal. Millicent de Toesni's seal is shown also.

Sir John Bagot, who was survived by his wife many years, “being described as his Widow in the 24th and 38th year of Edw: III.”   “This Sir John Bagot relinquished the arms of his own Family, and in compliment to the then Great House of Stafford, (a younger branch of his family,) he bore, Arg: a Chev: Gules, between Three Martlets sable.  Chetwynd in his MS. of the Hundred of Pyreehill South (speaking of Sir John Bagot) observes, ‘He gave for his arms, Arg: a Chev: Gules, between 3 Martlets: prop: as some of his ancestors had done; for after Hervey Bagot had married Milicent of Stafford, and that his posterity by her had assumed the name and arms of Stafford; the Eldest House bearing, Or, a Chev: Gules: and the 2nd brother, Stafford of Sandon, the same Coat, between 3 Martlets proper; the Bagots of Bromley in allusion thereto, and for a perpetual mark of their relation to that noble family, took the before named arms, which were constantly borne by all the descendants of that house till the time of Henry VIII, when they resumed their ancient Coat, and have ever since continued bearing the same.’ —It was Richard Bagot that returned to the original arms, in Hen: the VIIIth’s time: —though upon his monument, in Blithfield Church, the arms, first given by Sir John Bagot, are placed in an Escutcheon of Pretence.”

In about the time of King Edward III the Parish of Blithfield contained five townships; namely: Blithfield, Admaston, Newton, Bold (or Booth, as it was then called), and Hampton. There was also in the Parish a depopulated Hamlet, called Saint Stephen's Hill (Stean Wood, or Stean Hill), and a family bearing the name must have resided there in earlier times, according to William Bagot's writings. William Bagot shows pedigrees of the families bearing the names: Admaston, Newton, and Hampton; as well as one of Bareley: Lands in Blithfield called the Bareleys having in ancient times, bearing the name of a family living there. “The tythes of Newton were given to the Abbot and Convent of Burton upon Trent, in the time of Hen: I. by Ralph the son of Urvoi, in exchange for lands at Hampton; and were by Hen: VIII. granted with the Abbey to Sir William Paget, first Lord Paget; who soon passed them to one Robinson, and he in the 4th and 5th of Phil: and Mary, conveyed them to John Bagot, of Blithfield, Esq. in whose family they continue to this day.—The township of Hampton must have come to the Bagots at the same time.”

In the beginning of Chapter II Baron William Bagot continues with the Bagot Pedigree. He begins with Sir John Bagot, son of Sir Ralph, who died about the beginning of the reign of King Richard II. Sir John inherited Blithfield and Littlehay in his mother's right, and Field in the county of Stafford by and exchange with the Abbot of Burton. Sir John was a person of great renoun during the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, V, and VI. There was a very near connection between Sir John Bagot of Blithfield, Knight, and Sir William Bagot of Baginton. He shows a drawing of Sir William Bagot and Margaret, his wife, apparently hanging in Baginton Church at Warwickshire.

Sir John Bagot’s son Richard Bagot, Esq. outlived his father forty-eight years and died in 1485. Richard married Isabella, the daughter of Sir Robert Aston of Tixall, and had by her an only son, who succeeded him. Lord Bagot said he could not say where Richard was buried, but his widow lies before the altar in the Chancel at Blithfield, and appears to be the first of the family buried there.

In the period from 1585 to 1587 is most interesting with letters which showed the stature of this man, Richard Bagot, Esq., High Sheriff of Staffordshire. He was called upon to act a very conspicuous part: “His fidelity to Queen Elizabeth, and the great degree of confidence reposed in him by all her Ministers, appear most striking.” Mary, Queen of Scots was in captive at this time, and Mr. Bagot received many letters from men of high authority. “Whatever they were in want of, to him they applied; —he was looked to for all. —With regard to the latter article [referring to the holding of Queen of Scots at Tutbury Caster], he seems to have been a very considerable sufferer, —for I find, many years after, applications made to the Queen’s Ministers by him, and his son, for repayment of money so lent, but apparently with little or no success.”

In November 1585 Queen Elizabeth and her Ministers removed Queen of Scots from Tutbury to Chartley, the seat of Lord Essex, in Staffordshire. Many letters are sent to Richard from 1585 to 1587, when it is said that the execution of Mary of Scotland took place on 7 February 1587, but lay unburied till the first of August, following. “The unfounded rage of Elizabeth towards her Ministers, and unfortunate Davison, on the occasion; with the well feigned grief she expressed, could not have been of long duration; for Anthony Bagot in a letter to his father in the beginning of May, describes her time fully occupied, and her thoughts wholly engrossed, with her new favorite; though the body of her sister Queen had not received Christian burial.”

Baron William Bagot included in his book a host of letters exchanged by various people, including the letters exchanged by Richard Bagot, Esq. and Baron Edward Stafford, when Stafford was accused of treason against the Crown. Baron William Bagot showed that Richard was a very busy man with several letters written to him from various individuals and from him to them. He received several letters from his son Anthony Bagot, and before this, in the year 1588, Richard Bagot was assailed with letters from Ministers and great men, as well as numberless private friends, concerning certain businesses in that year.

Apparently during the trial of Edward Stafford for treason, according to Baron William Bagot, Richard Bagot was only a magistrate handling his business of the day; but even that caused Lord Stafford to turn against Richard, a man of great statue at the time. Lord William Bagot describes Richard Bagot, Esq. as a quite man, slow to anger, and a man of integrity. William quotes the exchange of letters, apparently after the trial had ended: “I shall introduce both Lord Stafford's letter and Richard Bagot's answer, to shew the different characters of the men; —the violence and folly of the one, compared with the quiet, composed, gentleman-like firmness of the other.” Excerpts of each letter are shown below:
 

The answer of Richard Bagot, Esq. in his letter:
 

Lord William Bagot wrote in a footnote: “‘That shamefast Higons,’  whom Lord Stafford reproaches Richard Bagot with having countenanced, had charged his Lordship with Treason. This matter, (in which it is most likely, Richard Bagot was no further concerned than as a Magistrate receiving the depositions) derives some elucidation from the following minute of the Privy Council, in the Stafford MSS. now in the collection at Blithfield:”
 

In all the writings above, not once does it mention that Richard Bagot said or did anything against Edward Stafford, but rather the accusations were made by Ralph Higgons, and in which Lord Stafford could, if he pleased, file charges of slander against Higgons. At that time, in 1589, Richard Bagot discontinued the Arms of Sir John Bagot, Argent, a chevron Gules, between three Martlets Sable. At this time he resumed the original Arms, Ermine, two Chevrons Azure:

In about 1591 or 1592 the nation was in great alarm at the fitting out of the Spanish Armada. Then in about the beginning of 1593, the Plague began in London and other parts of England, and increased so terribly, that the Courts at Westminster did not sit; and his son-in-law Richard Broughton became very anxious to leave London with his wife and family for safety, and retire to Blithfield. In his letters in 1594, he expresses that much of his time was spent in trying to recover what his father-in-law had advanced during the imprisonment of the Scottish Queen in Saffordshire. In his writings, Lord Bagot expressed that he could not discover that “anything was finally arranged in the business; very fair promises were given, but I fancy little more.”

Richard Bagot, Esq. died in 1597, as shown in Lord William's writings: “From the end of 1594 to 1596, the period at which this excellent man, Richard Bagot, died, little of interest occurs. He quitted this state of existence February 2nd, in the latter year, and lies buried under an altar tomb, in the Chancel of Blithfield Church; his figure in gilt armour, with his head resting upon the helmet; and his wife's, in a black dress of the times, lying theron. Latin verses, written at the time of his death, include a brief detail of the descent of the family, whilst they justly blazon the virtues of one of its brightest ornaments.” Richard Bagot's son Walter succeeded his father.

Hervey Bagot, son of Walter Bagot who succeeded Richard Bagot (as written by Lord William), appears to have entered into active life soon after the death of his father in 1622. He was Sheriff of Staffordshire and in 1623 was created a Baronet. Several letters mention Hervey, his name written: Hervey Bagot, Knight and Baronet; Harvey Bagott; and Harvey Baggott, Baronet, in different documents. It appears that this is the first time any surname of this lineage have varied form the original spelling. There is also in this chapter a William Baggott mentioned in a document.

Hervey seemed to be bothersome to the Parliamentarians in this period. His estate, according to an ordinance of Parliament, is sequestered. One document of 1644 shows that Lady Bagot (apparently his wife) was granted fourteen pounds to be paid on the day ordered, and that she should enjoy the Mansion House and all the demesne lands belonging to it, together with lands at Leigh, ffield, and Bromley Pagets. She also received certain lands at Blithbury, called the Peacock’s Holme, and others to enjoy for one year. It was ordered that she should quietly and peaceably use the same, she paying the rent aforesaid and the weekly pay due for the said lands.

There are several records of events that happened from that time forward to the time of the (1st) Baron Bagot, William of the county of Stafford. He succeeded his father Walter Bagot, Baronet, in 1768. He was created Baron Bagot, of Bagot's Bromley, on 17 October 1780 by King George III.

“In the summer of 1773, a most affecting circumstance occurred at Blithfield, namely, the deaths of Sir William Bagot's two sons, and one daughter, by the scarlet fever, within three days of each other. One only daughter survived. But to the great joy and consolation of the family, a son was born the September following. (This son was (2nd) Baron Bagot, William Bagot who succeeded in 1798.)

“Sir William continued his attendance in the House of Commons with unabated zeal and constancy, till the general election of 1780; just before which he received the following intimation of His Majesty's pleasure, from his esteemed friend, Lord North. ‘My dear sir, As the moment of dissolving the present Parliament is at hand, I trouble you with this letter to inform you that you need not offer your services again to County of Stafford; it being His Majesty's intention to require your attendance, and counsel, in the House of Peers.’

“Upon Sir William's quitting the representation of the County, the Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders, assembled in the Shire Hall, at Blithfield, came to the following Resolution, signed by the High Sheriff.”
 

In the year, 1788, Lord Bagot was afflicted with an illness that nearly proved fatal, but in time his health was restored to serve his country in 1789, which was most constant at that period. The horrors of the French Revolution began and “rendered a close attendance necessary in the House of Lords; and Lord Bagot, as well as his brother, the Bishop of St. Asaph, were almost constantly at their post.”

“During the last three or four years of his life, Lord Bagot dwelt, as much as possible, at his residence at Blithfield Hall, constantly making great alterations in the grounds, and laying the foundation of all those improvements, which have taken place under the hands of his successor; who though he might enlarge upon an idea, never found, in a single instance, any thing to alter, as to the general effect.

“Very early in the Spring of 1798, Lord Bagot was seized with an illness, which in the end proved fatal, —though he languished, with much suffering, till the month of October following, when he expired, surrounded by his afflicted family, on the 22nd day of that month, at his house, in Upper Brook Street, London, (to which place he had been removed some months before, for the benefit of the best medical advice, in the 71st year of his age.” (Here is a version of the Baron Coat of Arms having the two Goats supporting the Shield):

Part I of his book has ninety-nine pages filled with information and events of the time, as well as records of several of the family, even those not living in Blithfield and Bromley, but in other places in England. Some letters are most interesting, although they are written in old English and sometimes hard to understand. But he does give vivid details of the times and makes one understand just how prominent this family was, and is at present, in that country. Part I and Part II of the book include one hundred seventy-two pages with Part I having six chapters with four beginning with a Bagot Pedigree, carrying that line down to Lord William Bagot, (2nd) Baron Bagot, and Part II has four chapters.

Part II of the book gives a very vivid account of the Church at Blithfield. The origin of the Church at Blithfield (Blidevelt) is presumed to be soon after the Conquest; as Domesday Book notices the priest there, who naturally would have a place provided for the accommodation of his flock, the "tenants ‘Bond and Free,’ of the Manor." Lord William takes the next several pages to describe the Church at Blithfield, which is dedicated to St. Leonard. Alterations were made in the Chancel in 1823 with an organ placed in the body. Flues were constructed for warming the Church and a small Vestry room built on the north side, opening from the Chancel. Hervey Bagot and Millicent Toesni of Stafford are buried in the Priory of Stone; as were some of their immediate descendants.

Under an alabaster slab on the Chancel floor in the center of the rails before the Altar lies the first of the family entombed there. Among the tombs hanging on the wall above is the actual helmet of John Bagot. John Bagot, Esq., who died in October, 1480, is buried there between his two wives, so apparently it is this John whose helmet is hanging on the wall above. Lord William did some work on the inscriptions on the slabs in the Chancel, restoring the original words that would thereafter mark correctly the persons buried there.

On the north side of the Chancel stands an alter monument of alabaster upon the top engraved “the portraiture of a man in armour, having thereon a surcoat of Bagot Arms; his head resting upon his crest, which is a goat's head on a helme.” Another Alabaster slab lies at the entrance of the Chancel door, “having the remains of a man in armour, and of a woman in the dress of the times, drawn thereon. A brass plate is therefore inserted, and the original words preserved.” There are several Altar tombs following, with the Coats of Arms of Bagot engraved, alongside their wives’ Arms.

The latter part of Part II records the Rectors of Blithfield compiled from the Episcopal Register at Lichfield, the Parish Register, and other sources. The earliest account of the Parsonage House at Blithfield seems to be in the year, 1676. Following his account of the Parsonage, he gives a Registry of Baptisms, which apparently began in the year, 1538. William has recorded the Bagot family and their connections that have been christened, buried, and married at Blithfield since that time.

Baron William Bagot gives an account of the house and grounds of Blithfield. He asserts that he cannot say precisely that the family has been here on this spot since Heremanous bequeathed the property to his second son. But “there are so many strong reasons for believing, that upon this spot, and this spot alone, that family resided and had done so for some ages, when Sir Ralph Bagot married the Heiress, that I cannot have the smallest doubt of its having been so. —Its central situation within the ancient manor; its proximity to the Church; the deep and extensive moat with which it was formerly surrounded, (part of which remained upon as late as the 1769, when William, the first Lord Bagot, filled it up, and built a suite of rooms over it;) and there never having been discovered in the Parish any remains that could, in the most distant way, suggest the possibility of any other considerable residence, convince me that the families of Blithfield and Bagot have lived upon, and enjoyed this precise spot, for the last seven hundred years. It is a curious circumstance, that the lands surrounding the present mansion, in most instances, retain the same names at this moment, that they did in Deeds as old as Edw: II. and Edw: III.”

He describes several other things of interest at the Main House; it being built around a Court leading to an entrance under the Gateway and crossing the Court into the Great Hall. In Queen Elizabeth's time the Hall was shortened, which led onto a flight of stairs to the Library. Portraits hang on the Oak Stair Case leading into the Gallery where several portraits of the Bagot family are preserved.

Bagot's Park lies about four miles from Blithfield, and between Blithfield and the Park was a wooded area that had a Park-like appearance up to Bagot’s Park itself. “Throughout the whole extent is a continuation of hill and valley; interspersed with woods of magnificent old timber, very stately single trees, and much of judicious modern planting. All the distance was (as before mentioned) planned and executed by the first Lord Bagot himself; and never has the smallest alteration of that able outline been found necessary. All that has been since executed, having only been done with the hope of more clearly showing the taste and judgment of the first designer, and uniting the home scene with that admirably planned distance.”

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