Francis Massy 1703-1748

Francis MASSY or MASCY 1703-1748

Massy's bookplate (Princeton University Library)

Biographical Note

Son of Richard Massy, a member of a long-established Roman Catholic gentry family with estates in Rixton and Glazebrook, Lancashire; these were heavily encumbered with debt when inherited by Francis in 1723. He died unmarried, the last of the male line of the family, and bequeathed the estates to his relation George Meynell.

Books

Massy used an engraved armorial bookplate, dated 1739 (Franks 19944). The extent and disposition of his library is not known, but one example of a book with the plate in it has been much studied, for the marginalia left in it by a previous owner, Gabriel Harvey.

Sources

• Rixton with Glazebrook, British History Online.
• Ferguson, S., Armorial bookplate dated 1739, Princeton University Library.
• Gabriel Harvey's Livy online.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.