Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/86

 66 CARRINGTON On 25 Sep. 1646 his estates were directed to be sold by the Parliament- arians, and '■'■the Lady Caringion" was fined £'ji4- as a composition for her estate at Ashby Folville. He m. Elizabeth (sometimes called "Anna"), da. of Sir John Caryll, of South Harting, Sussex, by Mary, da. of Robert (Dormer), ist Baron Dormer. She d. and was iur. 21 Mar. 1658, at Wootton-Wawen. He d. 22 Feb. or 4 Mar. 1664/5, ^§^^ ^5> being murdered, for the sake of plunder, by one of his own servants, near Pontoise in France, and was i>ur. in the church of St. Maclou there. M.I.(^) Admon. 21 Apr. 1668, to his son. II. 1665. 2. Francis (Smith), Viscount Carrington of Bur- ford [I.] and Baron Carrington of Wotton [E.], s. and h., i>. about 1 62 1. Lord Lieut, of co. Worcester 1687-89. He did not Carrington, is said from his adherence to the unfortunate Richard II to have "expa- triated himself" and to have for security changed his name to Smith! It is to be observed, however, that no such descent is mentioned in the Her. Visit, of co. Leicester 1619, where the pedigree begins with Sir John Smith, Baron of the Exchequer, 1539. Sir John was son of Hugh Smith of Cressing, Essex, who was probably a yr. son of John Smith of Rivenhall, Essex, by Millicent (a great heiress in that co.), da. and h. of Robert Lainham, the said John Smith being presumed to be the fugitive John Car- rington, alias Smith, above-mentioned. The following note on this subject is in Vincent's handwriting in "Vincent's Leicestershire," one of the MSS. in the College of Arms: "I cannot but feare this descent from which y' Smiths of Ashby Folvill and others of that name derive themselves; because it is scarce known that, upon any occasion, both name and arms should be changed, and Sir John Smith, Knt., Baron of y* Exchequer, gave first [as the armorial ensigns of his family] Argent^ on a chevron, iablt i> fleur de lis, or: on a chief, of the second, a lion passant, of the first, and y°, after many years, y' issue of him gave [as such armorial ensigns] y^ cross, between 4 peacocks, proper; and now they flye to CARRINGTON, sed quo jure penitus ignoro. Ex libro Thomas, Baronis Brudenell, a° 1 64 1." An allusion to the descent from the Standard Bearer is probably made by the red cross on a white field (the Cross of St. George), in the Arms above quoted, and certainly in the grant of supporters, the dexter of which is a man in armour supporting "a standard ensigned with the cross of St. George." See [Delamotte's] Historical Arms, &c. 1803, pp. 451-452. The legend of Sir Michael Carington is elaborately worked up in The History and Records of the Smith-Carington Family, by Walter A. Copinger, LL.D., 1907, an enormous tome which was offered for sale to the public at ^^5 5s. The historical and genealogical value claimed for this work led J. H. Round to submit it to a searching scrutiny, the result of which — disastrous to the book and its author — is set forth in the article "The Great Carington Imposture" in his Peerage and Pedigree, vol. ii, pp. 1 34-2 5 7, where the whole " Carington " story is shown to rest on a document concocted ap- parently in the time of Elizabeth. The Smith family, however, which is now of Ashby Folville by purchase, has been allowed to take the additional name of Caring- ton by Royal licence. A pedigree has been entered at the Heralds' Coll. deducing the descent of this family of Smith from the afsd. Sir Michael Carington, and a copy (cer- tified 30 Oct. 1890 by H. F. Burke, Somerset Herald) is in the possession of R. Smith Carington of Ashby Folville. G.E.C. and V.G. (*) See for this M.I. and details of his murder. Her. and Gen., vol. iii, pp. 62-64. {ex inform. G. W. Watson).