page_title: Buckenham Tofts
section_title: Tyssen-Amherst
hierarchical_section_title: Buckenham Tofts / Descent (Buckenham Tofts) / Tyssen-Amherst
caption_attribution_description: William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, Baron Amherst of Hackney
context_page_description: Buckenham Tofts is a now deserted historic parish and manor in Norfolk, England, situated about 7 miles north of Thetford, and since 1942 situated within the Stanford Training Area, a 30,000 acre military training ground closed to the public. It was situated about one mile south of the small village of Langford, with its Church of St Andrew, and about one mile west of Stanford, with its All Saints' Church and one mile north of West Tofts, with its Church of St Mary, all deserted and demolished villages. None of these settlements are shown on modern maps but are simply replaced by "Danger Area" in red capital letters. It is situated within Breckland heath, a large area of dry sandy soil unsuited to agriculture. The parish church of Buckenham Tofts, dedicated to St Andrew, was demolished centuries ago and stood to the immediate north of Buckenham Tofts Hall, the now demolished manor house, as is evidenced by a graveyard which was discovered in that location. The parishioners, few as they were, used nearby St Mary's Church, West Tofts, one mile to the south, where survive 18th c. monuments to the Partridge family of Buckenham Tofts.
context_section_description: In 1869 Buckenham Tofts was sold by Lady Ashburton, complete with furniture, to 
  William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909), who also owned Didlington Hall (4 miles north-west of Buckenham Tofts), where he kept his valuable art collection, including objects from ancient Egypt. He had served as High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1866 and served as MP for West Norfolk (1880-5) and for South-West Norfolk (1885-1892). He was descended in the male line from the Daniel family, originally MacDaniel "of good repute in County Mayo, Irland, in the 17th century", and in a female line from Francis Tyssen (c.1625-99) of Flushing in Holland, who owned plantations in Antigua in the West Indies, and who in 1685 purchased the estate of Shacklewell in Hackney. The latter's great-grandson Francis John Tyssen (d. 1781) left the reversion of his estate to his illegitimate daughter Mary (d. 1800) wife of Capt. John Amhurst, RN, of Court Lodge, East Farleigh, Kent, whose daughter Amelia Amhurst in 1794 married William George Daniel (d.1838) of Foulden Hall in Norfolk, of Westbrooke House, Upwey, Dorset and of Foley House, Maidstone, Kent, High Sheriff of Kent in 1825, who in 1814 adopted the surname Daniel-Tyssen and became the largest landowner in Hackney. His son and heir was William George Tyssen Daniel-Tyssen (d.1885) of Foulden Hall in Norfolk, who in 1852 adopted the surname Tyssen-Amhurst and at about the same time purchased Didlington Hall, one mile south-east of Foulden. His son was the 1st Baron, who changed the spelling of his surname to Tyssen-Amherst.
  In 1906 he was ruined by a fraud perpetrated by Charles Cheston his solicitor and land agent in Hackney who had managed the construction of much of Dalston and Stoke Newington on his behalf and was a trustee and treasurer of the East London Hospital for Children. Over time he had  gambled £250,000 (now about £25 million) of Lord Amherst's assets on the Stock Exchange and the losses were discovered following Cheston's suicide on 8 May 1906. Lord Amherst was forced to sell a large part of his remaining assets to cover the loss and the subsequent law-suit he was subjected to by his mother's family the Fountaines of  Narford Hall in Norfolk, whose trustee he was. It appears however that the estate of Buckenham Tofts had already been advertised for sale in 1904 as: "The Buckenham Tofts Estate, near Brandon, a grand sporting and residential estate", and included the following lots: Buckenham Hall, Stanford; Gardens, Buckenham Hall; Glasshouses, Conservatory, Mound Cottages; Bodney Warren Lodge, Buckenham Hall, Hilborough; Buckenham Home Farm, Stanford; Bodney Lodge Farm, Hilborough; Bodney Hall Farm, Bodney, Hilborough; Bodney Hall, Bodney, Hilborough; Stables, Bodney Hall; Red Buildings, Hilborough. The 1st Baron died in 1909, of apoplexy probably caused by his financial problems, six weeks after the first auction of his art collection by Sotheby's, his probate valuing his net assets at just £341. He was buried at Didlington, and having died without a male heir, he left six daughters, of whom the eldest was Mary Tyssen-Amherst (1857-1919), who succeeded to his title by special remainder. She was the wife of Lord William Cecil, a younger son of the Marquess of Exeter. In 1910 Mary sold Didlington Hall to Colonel Herbert Francis Smith and moved back to their more modest house at Foulden.
  Clearly Buckenham Tofts did not sell as During WWI the house was operated as a hospital for wounded soldiers, by the 1st Baron's widow, Margaret Susan Mitford (1835-1919) and their unmarried daughters, especially Sybil (born 1858), and Florence (born 1860).
caption: William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909), who purchased Buckenham Tofts in 1869 and in 1906 was ruined by the fraud of his land agent
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