The Champion de Crespigny family originated in Normandy, France. The name Crespigny is probably related to Saint Crispin. The second part of the placename, igny, is common in the northwest of France: there are four places called simply Igny and many which include it in their name. It may be derived from the Latin ignis "fire," with the extended meaning of a hearth-fire and hence a place of settlement. On this basis, Crespigny first acquired its name as a settlement containing a church, a chapel or some form of a shrine to Saint Crispin.[2]
The second Baronet sat as the member of parliament for Southampton. The fourth Baronet was a well-known military adventurer and sportsman. He was eccentric enough to bribe hangman James Berry into accepting him as assistant executioner on the occasion of a triple hanging in Carlisle on 8 February 1886.[3] The title became extinct on the death of the eighth Baronet in 1952.
The 8th and last member was Sir Vivian Tyrell de Crespigny, OBE (25 April 1907 – 3 March 1952), who married Helen in 1930 and had a daughter Fleur (later Horley) in 1937, divorced and married Monica Fleming; Helen married one Whitehead. Both couples divorced and De Crespigny and Helen Whitehead remarried in 1947.[4] They divorced in 1951[5] and he died the following year of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[6]
Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 4th Baronet (1847–1935)[7][10]
Sir Claude Raul Champion de Crespigny, 5th Baronet (1878–1941)[11]
Sir Henry Champion de Crespigny, 6th Baronet (1882–1946)[12]
Sir Frederick Philip Champion de Crespigny, 7th Baronet (1884–1947)[13]
Sir Vivian Tyrell Champion de Crespigny, 8th Baronet (1907–1952)[14]
Extended family
Notable members of the family include the soldier and polo player Claude Champion de Crespigny (1873–1910), who was the son of the fourth Baronet, and the artist and author Rose Champion de Crespigny (1859–1935), whose second son became the seventh Baronet. The poet Caroline de Crespigny was the daughter-in-law of the second Baronet.