1531 Jennet Wood of Longley marries her cousin, William Ramsden.

William is a
Jack the Lad but founds the fortune of the family speculating in monastic lands.
He has no heir and the lands pass to his brother John and his son William.
1599 William Ramsden buys the manor of Huddersfield from Elizabeth 1 st. He is
the last Ramsden to live in Longley Hall.
1600s Williams son, Sir John Ramsden, bought the Manor of Almondbury from
the Duchy of Lancaster was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1626 and Member of
Parliament for Pontefract. During the Civil War he raised a regiment for the King
and was taken prisoner at Selby in 1644. He was committed to the Tower for high
treason, but was exchanged later in the year and went to Pontefract Castle
where he was Colonel of the Third Division. He survived the first two sieges and
helped negotiate the surrender in July 1645, even though he was "in the gout".
Parliament allowed the garrison to leave the castle with "their arms, drums
beating and colours flying, and a bullet in mouth with 6 shot of powder & bullet
proportionable". Sir John went to Newark Castle where he died during the siege
in 1646 and is buried in the Parish Church.
Sir John must have been as astute as his great uncle, William, as we have not
found the Ramsden name amongst those fined by Parliament for supporting the
King.
30th November 1689 Sir Johns grandson, another John, is made baronet
1766 Ramsdens build Cloth Hall (textile market)
1780 Sir John Ramsden builds a canal for the textile industry
1800s From his childhood Sir John William Ramsden, the fifth baronet (18311914), lived with the reputation of being a dislikeable person. His disgruntled
Huddersfield tenants subjected him to a number of legal actions over lease
terms, which he lost in the House of Lords. He purchased an estate at Ardverikie
in Inverness that features in the television series Monarch of the Glen; the family
still own the property. John William married Guendolyn Seymour, a daughter of
the Duke of Somerset, hence Somerset Road and the Somerset Hotel.
1811/12 Huddersfield at centre of Luddite agitation, workers breaking up textile
machinery, headed by Richard Oastler
1830s/40s campaigns to resist Poor Law, headed by Richard Oastler
1840s With eventual Ramsden support the railways arrive. The station is
fabulous and is now aGrade 1 listed building.
1868 Town become incorporated borough, pioneer of municipal services
1920 After inheriting the Pennington estates at Muncaster Castle, the family Sir
John Frechville Ramsden, the sixth baronet, found a opportunity to rid the family
of its turbulent tenantry and sold the Manors of Huddersfield and Almondbury,
and their estate of some 4,300 acres, to the Corporation in 1920. No doubt the
tenants of Huddersfield shed few tears over the change of ownership. The only
properties excluded from the sale were the Old Hall ("because it was the
foundation of the family wealth") and an adjoining cottage. In 1977 Sir Geoffrey

Pennington Ramsden, the seventh baronet, sold these properties and broke the
last connection between the family and the town.
The title and the estates have separated. The present baronet, the 9th., is Sir
John Charles Josslyn Ramsden, who was born in 1950 and succeeded to the title
in 1987. What was the Ramsden Estate is now part of the Pennington Estate at
Muncaster Castle, Cumbria. The present owner is a daughter of Sir Geoffrey
Pennington Ramsden.