Margaret Massingberd d.1712?

Margaret MASSINGBERD d.1712?

Margaret Massingberd's bookplate (British Museum Franks Collection *451)

Biographical Note

Daughter of SirWilliam Massingberd, 2nd bart (1650-1719), of Gunby Hall, Lincolnshire. No details of her life or education have been traced, but we assume she spent most of her life at Gunby, where her father built the house which became the seat of the family thereafter. Her will was made in March 1712, when she was sick, though not proved until 1713.

Books

Margaret used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks *451).

We do not know the extent or disposition of her library; her will contains directions for bequests of money around her family and associates, and mentions a gold watch and diamond rings, but has no reference to books. Her brother William, later 3rd baronet was named as executor. The National Trust reports one book with her bookplate remaining at Gunby Hall: Aubery du Maurier, The lives of all the princes of Orange (1702).

No bookplates are known for other immediate members of her family and we do not know why she alone had one, whether this reflects personal bookish interests or there is some other explanation.

Sources

• Will of Margaret Massingberd, The National Archives PROB 11/536/66.
• The Massingberd family, National Trust.
• Massingberd baronets, Wikipedia.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.