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 William’s 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 John’s 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 (1831-1914), 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.