It has often been noted as a disastrous circumstance that the yeomanry, as a class, has vanished out of the country, and certainly the contemplation of the long list of those under that category, who contributed towards the defence of the country against the Spanish Armada in 1588, gives rise to many reflections and regrets. It may also be a subject of reflection how many of what might be called the lesser gentry have also ceased to exist. Here and there a small manor-house, now turned into a farmhouse, attests the previous habitation of an ancient family which never perhaps rose to the rank of what is now called a county family, but which had been in the county a great deal longer than many who were much higher in the social state. The name of Newcomen suggests, of course, the idea of a “Newcomer,” but the race under the name of “le Newcomen” were in Lincolnshire as early as the twelfth century. They never rose to be High Sheriffs, nor were any knighted, but they put out several branches which all possessed landed estates, and sent to Ireland a branch which was graced with a Baronetcy and Viscountcy. Not one of these branches is now to be found. The very name in Lincolnshire is almost extinct. In writing the above paper one is conscious of not having by any means done justice to the subject. To give an exhaustive list of all the old families in this county, and to trace their fortunes, would be absolutely beyond the scope of this paper. All that can be done is to give a sketch of those families which still survive in the male line after the vicissitudes of several centuries. They are not numerous. Others, such as the Turnors of Stoke Rochford, the Sibthorps of Canwick, the Nelthorpes of Scawby, came in with the Commonwealth. A multitude sprang up in the eighteenth century, and have been largely recruited in the nineteenth. It may be questioned whether Gervase Holles would recognise many of the names which would meet his eye in the lists of magistrates. It is still more open to question whether a herald of 1562 would not “respite for further proof” a good deal of modern heraldry. To bear another man’s coat-of-arms because you happen to be of the same name would scarcely pass muster with a sixteenth century herald, but it is an innocent appropriation by no means uncommon at the present day.