Editing Calke Abbey (section)

===The Harpurs===

In 1622 the estate was bought by [[Harpur Baronets|Sir Henry Harpur, 1st baronet (c. 1579–1639)]]. The Harpur family had become established in the middle of the previous century; descendants of Richard Harpur who was a successful lawyer who had risen to become a judge at the [[Court of Common Pleas (England)|Court of Common Pleas]] at [[Westminster]] and then Chief Justice of the [[County Palatine of Lancaster]]. He and his descendants acquired, through wealth and marriage, estates in [[Staffordshire]] (centred on [[Alstonfield]]) and [[Derbyshire]] (centred on [[Swarkestone]]).{{sfn|Garnett|2002}}

The house was rebuilt by [[Harpur Baronets|Sir John Harpur]], 4th baronet (1680–1741) between 1701 and 1704.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bygonederbyshire.co.uk/articles/Calke_Abbey |title=Calke Abbey |publisher=ByGone Derbyshire |archive-date=30 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730055247/http://bygonederbyshire.co.uk/articles/Calke_Abbey |access-date=2 February 2018}}</ref> The house and estate were owned by successive Harpur baronets and were ultimately inherited by [[Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe, 10th Baronet]] (1846–1924), 10th (and last) baronet who was devoted to his vast collections of natural history assembled by the Harpurs and Harpur Crewes of Calke Abbey between 1793 and 1924.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brewster |first1=Lindy |date=1997 |title=The Harpur Crewe Collection of Natural History at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire |url=https://academic.oup.com/jhc/article/9/1/131/767401 |journal=Journal of the History of Collections |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=131-138 |doi=10.1093/jhc/9.1.131 |access-date=September 18, 2024}}</ref> When he died, his eldest daughter, [[Hilda Harpur Crewe]] (1877–1949) sold some of his collection of birds, butterflies and fishes to pay death duties. She was succeeded by her nephew, Charles Jenney (1917–81), who was the eldest son of Frances Harpur Crewe, the fourth daughter of Sir Vauncey.  Charles changed his name to Charles Harpur-Crewe.  His sudden death in 1981 led to crippling [[Inheritance tax|death duties]] (£8m of an estate worth £14m) and in 1985 the estate was transferred to the [[National Trust]] by his younger brother Henry Harpur-Crewe (1921–91).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.savebritainsheritage.org/achievement/item/16/Calke-Abbey-Derbyshire |title=Calke Abbey, Derbyshire |publisher=SAVE Britain's Heritage |access-date=2 February 2018}}</ref>