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Sir Christopher Sykes, 2nd Baronet (23 May 1749 – 17 September 1801) of Sledmere House in Yorkshire, England, was a prominent landowner who served as a Tory Party Member of Parliament for Beverley in Yorkshire from 1784 to 1790, when he retired from politics.

Origins

He was the only surviving of the five sons of the Reverend Sir Mark Sykes, 1st Baronet (1711-1783), Rector of Roos in the East Riding of Yorkshire, who had been created a baronet a few months before his death in 1783, having in 1761 inherited Sledmere House and its large estates from his childless elder brother Richard Sykes (1706-1761), who in 1751 had started to rebuild the former Tudor manor house in the Georgian style. Christopher Sykes's mother was Decima Woodham, a daughter of Twyford Woodham (d.1772) of Ely in Cambridgeshire, a surgeon, whose mural monument survives in Ely Cathedral. On his father's death in 1783 Christopher inherited Sledmere House and the baronetcy.

Expansion of Sledmere

In the 1790s he greatly enlarged Sledmere House, commenced by his uncle in 1751, and expanded the estate to about 30,000 acres, having purchased and enclosed huge areas of land for cultivation, built two new wings to the house, landscaped the grounds, planted 10 square kilometres of trees, and moved the entire ancient village of Sledmere to a more convenient position. For the house interior he employed Joseph Rose, the most celebrated plasterer of his day, to add decorative elements. Sir Christopher left a vast estate of nearly 120 square kilometres and a large mansion set in 0.8 square kilometres of parkland, which survives and continues in the ownership of his descendants the Sykes baronets to the present day.

Marriage and issue

In 1770 Christopher Sykes married Elizabeth Tatton, a daughter of William Tatton of Wythenshawe Hall in Cheshire, by his wife Hester Egerton, sister and heiress of Samuel Egerton (1711-1780), MP, of Tatton Park, Knutsford, in Cheshire, great-grandchildren of John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgwater. Elizabeth Tatton's brother William Tatton (1749–1806), MP, who inherited Tatton Park from his mother (which he rebuilt in the surviving Georgian form), changed his surname to his matronymic of Egerton in 1780, and was the ancestor of the Barons Egerton "of Tatton in the County Palatine of Chester". By his wife Sykes had three sons and two daughters, as follows:

• Sir Mark Masterman-Sykes, 3rd Baronet (1771–1823), eldest son, who married twice but produced no issue;
• Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet (1772–1863), 2nd son, who in 1822 married Mary Foulis (d.1861), 2nd daughter of Sir William Foulis, 7th Baronet (1759–1802) of Ingleby in Yorkshire;
• Rev. Christopher Sykes (1774-1857), Rector of Roos, who in 1799 married Lucy Langford, a daughter and co-heiress of Henry Langford of Stockport, with issue; The manor and barony of De Ros (Roos) had been purchased in 1709 by the eminent Hull merchant Mark Kirkby (d.1718) of Sledmere, and descended with Sledmere to his son-in-law Richard Sykes (1678-1726), the father of Rev Sir Mark Sykes, 1st Baronet, Rector of Roos. The manor of Roos and 1,100 acres was sold in 1867 by "Mr York", the nephew and heir of Rev. Christopher Sykes.
• Decima Hester Sykes (d.1843), eldest daughter, who in 1795 married John Robinson Foulis (d.1826), 2nd son of Sir William Foulis, 6th Baronet (1729–1780) of Ingleby in Yorkshire;
• Elizabeth Sykes (1775-1843), youngest daughter, whose portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence survives at Sledmere, who married her first cousin Wilbraham Egerton (1781-1856), MP, of Tatton Park in Cheshire. Her son was William Tatton Egerton, 1st Baron Egerton (1806–1883) of Tatton Park.

See also

• Sykes family of Sledmere

References

1. Inspired by Thomas Gainsborough's 1785 Mr and Mrs William Hallett (or The Morning Walk), National Gallery, London
2. Papers of the Sykes family of Sledmere, c.1300-1984, Description ("There are two competing stories of the origins of the Sykes family"), Hull History Centre, University of Hull
3. Leigh Rayment's list of baronets – Baronetcies beginning with "S" (part 4)
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
5. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) . Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 398. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
6. Lodge, Edmund (1859). The genealogy of the existing British peerage and baronetage: containing the family histories of the nobility. With the arms of the peers. Hurst and Blackett. p. 837.
7. "Richard in his diary entry for June 17, 1751, wrote ‘Laid the first Stone of the new house at Sledmere.’", quoted by Christopher Sykes, introduction to website of Sledmere House
8. See image
9. "Sledmere House and Gardens" (PDF). Tourism Leafets Online. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
10. Re the marriage settlement, "Proposals agreed to by Rev. Mark Sykes and William Tatton, prior to marriage of Christopher Sykes and Elizabeth Tatton", 1 Sep 1770, Hull University Archives, Reference No: U DDSY/108/37
11. Gentleman's magazine and historical chronicle, Volume 14. 1863. p. 788.
12. British Towns.net
13. A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the ... By John Burke
14. Roos Parish information from Bulmers' 1892
15. Roos Parish information from Bulmers' 1892
16. A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the ... By John Burke

• 1749 births
• 1801 deaths
• British MPs 1784–1790
• Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
• Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain