Shafto family

The Ffolliot family were established by the 14th century at Shafto Crag, Northumberland and adopted the alternative surname of Shafto.

In the 15th century William Shafto married the heiress of Bavington and Bavington became the family seat. The medieval house was replaced in the 17th century when Bavington Hall was built.

William Shafto was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1646 as was his son John in 1675. In 1716 both were attainted for their part in the Jacobite uprising of 1715 and the Bavington estate was forfeited to the Crown. William's nephew George Shafto (later George Shafto Delaval) married a daughter of George Delaval of North Dissington and sister of Admiral George Delaval. The latter bought the sequestered estate and restored it to the Shaftos.

George Shafto Delaval was High Sheriff in 1740 and Member of Parliament for Northumberland 1757/74. He was succeeded by his nephew Sir Cuthbert Shafto, High Sheriff in 1795 and later by his son Robert.

Robert Ingram Shafto held Bavington in 1835 but the male line became extinct and the estate passed to cousins in a junior branch of the family of Beamish Hall, Co Durham. When Slingsby Duncombe Shafto sold Beamish in 1949 that branch of the family moved to Bavington. The estate was later sold by the family in 1994.

Mark Shafto, third son of Edward Shafto of Bavington, married Margaret Riddell of Newcastle. He became a merchant in that city and served as its Mayor in 1548. His first son, Edward a merchant adventurer, married Isabel Ogle (see Ogle family). His second son, Mark was Sheriff of Newcastle in 1575 and Mayor in 1578. A third son Ninian, married a daughter of Henry Brandling (see Brandling of Newcastle).

Ninian's son, Robert Shafto was Sheriff of Newcastle in 1607. He bequeathed Benwell Towers to his eldest son also Robert (see later). Roberts younger brother Mark Shafto (1601-1659), was a Grays Inn barrister, and was appointed Recorder of Newcastle in 1648. In 1652 he purchased the Whitworth Hall estate in Co Durham.

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Wikipedia