| Admin_History | Henry Maire is probably Henry Thomas Maire Silvertop (1779-1844) of Lartington Hall, later known as Henry Witham. He belonged to the Roman Catholic family of Maire, who aquired the manor of Lartington in 1654. He was an early researcher into the internal structure of fossil plants. He was a fellow of the Geological Society of London and of the Royal and Wernerian Societies of Edinburgh. Born Henry Silvertop, he married Eliza, daughter of Thomas Witham of Headlam, in the county of Durham, and niece and heiress of William Witham of Cliffe, in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, and thus inherited the Witham name and Coat of arms, and the Lartington estate. He worked strenuously for the Mechanics Institute, which provided education for the working classes and the Relief of the Sick Poor. He was High Sheriff of Durham in 1844. |