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Arms Quarterly Gules and Azure over all a Cross engrailed Ermine Crest A Plume of five Ostrich Feathers alternately Azure and Gules Motto NIL TEMERE NEQUE TIMORE (Nothing with rashness or fear) | ||
The Berney Baronetcy, of Parkehall in Redham in the County of Norfolk, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 5 May 1620 for Richard Berney, Sheriff of Norfolk in 1622. The sixth Baronet was Sheriff of Norwich in 1762. The Berney family claim Norse descent, and is known to have been settled at Berney near Walsingham in Norfolk at the time of the Norman conquest.
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The 7th Baronet, Sir John Berney, married Lady Henrietta Neville, daughter of George Neville, 1st Earl of Abergavenny in 1779.
The 8th Baronet, Sir Hanson Berney, oversaw the renovation and extension of the family seat, Barton (Bendish) Hall. Designed by James & Turner of Norwich, the existing east wing was renovated and the south-west double wing was added in 1865. Sir Hanson also established the village pub known today as “The Berney Arms".
Connection with Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Jane Dorothy Elizabeth Berney (1878–1964), daughter of Sir Henry Hanson Berney, the 9th Baronet, married solicitor Henry Dubs Middleton of Leeds in 1907. Middleton was also the chairman of the Leeds General Infirmary Hospital from 1928 to 1932 and, in that role, played host to Princess Mary.
Middleton went to Charterhouse and graduated from University College, Oxford. He was later a partner in the family law firm, Messrs. Middleton and Sons. He died in June 1933. The 107th Edition of Burke's Peerage records that Henry Dubs Middleton was the son of solicitor Arthur Middleton. Arthur was the brother of solicitor John William Middleton, of Fairfield, Far Headingley, who was the great great grandfather of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.
Both Jane Middleton's father, Sir Henry Hanson Berney, as well as her father-in-law, Arthur Middleton, died in 1907. It was reported that Sir Henry, "of Barton Bendish, Norfolk; Burncrook, Moffat, Dumfries; and of Lawn, Hythe ", left an estate valued at £65,495 gross. Arthur Middleton left his entire estate, valued at £57,603 gross, to Jessie Marie, who was both his wife and the mother-in-law of Jane Middleton, née Berney.
The Berney Baronetcy passed to Sir Henry's grandson, Thomas Reedham Berney, son of Captain T. H. Berney, 2nd West Yorkshires, who died in the Boer War.
Berney Baronets, of Parkehall (1620)
The heir apparent to the baronetcy is William Reedham John Berney (born 1980), eldest son of the 11th Baronet.