The Wake Baronetcy, of Clevedon in the County of Somerset, is a title in the
Baronetage of England. It was created on 5 December 1621 for Baldwin Wake. The sixth Baronet assumed the additional surname of Jones but died childless. The eighth Baronet sat as
Member of Parliament for
Bedford. The twelfth Baronet was
High Sheriff of
Northamptonshire in 1879. The thirteenth Baronet was a
Major-General in the
British Army. Another member of the family to gain distinction was Charles Wake, second son of the tenth Baronet; he was an Admiral in the
Royal Navy.[3]
Joan Wake (1884–1974), the noted Northamptonshire historian, was a daughter of the 12th Baronet.
Legend states this family to be descended from the
Anglo-Saxon nobleman
Hereward the Wake (died c.1072). This legend has been examined by various genealogists, unfavourably by
Horace Round[4][5] but favourably by Sir
Iain Moncreiffe, who provided grounds for considering it to be accurate.[6] The Wake family of Lincolnshire claimed descent from Hereward's daughter Turfrida[7] (by his second wife Alftruda)[8] who married Hugh d'Envermeu, founder of
Wilsford Priory in Lincolnshire, by whom she was the mother of Godiva d'Envermeu, who married Richard de Rullos. From this point the pedigree is proven: Adeline de Rullos (daughter of Richard de Rullos and his wife Godiva d'Envermeu) married Baldwin FitzGilbert and left an eldest daughter and co-heiress Emma de Rullos, wife of Hugh Wac,
feudal baron of
Bourne[9] in Lincolnshire.[10]
Since the accession of the twelfth Baronet in 1865, each holder of the title has borne the first-name Hereward. The family seat is
Courteenhall House in Northamptonshire.
^See E. King, "The Origins of the Wake Family: the early history of the barony of Bourne in Lincolnshire." Northamptonshire Past and Present; 5 (1973–1977), pp. 166–176