“Ogerus de Pugoys, a Norman knight, came into England with the Conqueror, and was one of the four knights of the Lord Malet, Lord of the Honour of Eye, in Suffolk; and had the manor of Bedingfield in Suffolk given him by that lord, and from that place assumed the name of Bedingfield.” - Blomfield's Norfolk. Mr. Freeman throws discredit upon this descent. “It is patched up by a deed of which I have a copy before me, and which is plainly one of the class of deeds which were invented to make out a pedigree. Pedigree and deed together go down before the fact that there was no such person as Oger de Pugoys, and that Bedingfield had quite another owner. It appears twice in Domesday, at p. 368 and p. 428 b: and in neither case is any one of the name of Oger set down as past or present owner.” The gift may have been subsequent to that date: and the name of Pugoys - possibly derived from Puchay, near Evreux - is at all events a genuine one, and reappears in various parts of England.

The Bedingfields migrated from Suffolk to their present home at Oxburgh in Norfolk during the early part of the 15th century, when Edmund (thirteenth in descent from Oger de Pugoys) married the heiress of Sir Thomas Tudenham. Their grandson, another Edmund, had a patent from Edward IV. to build the existing manor-house, “that very much resembles Queen’s College at Cam­bridge,” with a moat and fine Gothic hall. He was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Richard III.; yet was “so highly in favour with Henry VII. for his eminent Services, that he paid him a visit at Oxburgh, the room where he lodged being called the King’s room to this day; and gave him some Yorkshire manors, forfeited by the attainder of Lord Lovell.” - Blomfield's Norfolk. The next heir - again Sir Edmund - was the father of Sir Henry Bedingfield, who, with a following of one hundred and forty men, appeared at arms at Framlingham in Suffolk, to support Queen Mary’s title to the crown. He was rewarded for his loyalty with part of Sir Thomas Wyatt’s estate, and held the offices of Knight Marshal of the army and Captain of the Queen’s Guard. Furthermore, as a fervid and austere Catholic, he was the appointed custodian of the Princess Elizabeth during her year’s imprisonment at Woodstock, and proved a harsh jailor. “He kept her under the closest and most offensive supervision, for when on the journey she wanted to see a game of chess played out, he would not let her do so; and when her hood blew off, he made her put it on under a hedge-row, refusing to let her go into a house to adjust her finery.” - Rye’s Norfolk. A short time afterwards, in October 1555, he was named Constable of the Tower, and a member of the Privy Council, as the recompense of his “laborious services. He was one of those whom Elizabeth dismissed with thanks when she came to the throne, adding a taunt to her farewell, and saying to him: ‘God forgive you, as I do. Whenever I have one who requires to be safely and straitly kept, I will send him to you.’ But it seems he did not think himself in disgrace during her reign, for he came from time to time to pay his respects to his sovereign. She herself went to visit him in 1578.” - Wiesener's Youth of Queen Elizabeth. This was five years before his death.

His descendant and namesake, “the seventeenth Knight of this Family,” joined the Royal Standard with his two sons in the Civil War, was taken prisoner and thrown into the Tower, where he was kept in durance for three years, and lost the whole of his estate, part of which was sold by the rebels, and the rest sequestrated. At the Restoration, Charles II. sent for the eldest surviving son, Henry, who, at the King’s request, “laid before him an account of the losses their Family had sustained for his service, which appearing to be upwards of £45,000, His Majesty reply’d with Concern, That was too great for him to recompense, and advanced him to the Dignity of a Baronet.” - Wotton's Baronetage. He is still represented in the direct male line.

The name of Pogeys occurs in the chartulary of Battle Abbey. The charter of John de Dreux, Duke of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, and Lord of the Rape of Hastings, confirming the grants of William de Echyngham to Robertsbridge Abbey in 1314, is witnessed by “Orgerus de Pogeyn, master of our household.” In the preceding century Roger Pugoys of Rochester, in the county of Kent, appears in the Hundred Rolls of Henry III., and Richard Pogeys held the manor of Delce-Parva, in that neighbourhood, during the following reign. Imberic or Imbertus de Pugoys witnesses Henry III.’s charters to Kingston and Ivychurch Priory in 1256, and “held the manor of Gisag” (Gussage).

“All Saints, by service of one pair of gilt spurs; and the said Imbertus gave the said land to the Abbey of Tarrent.” - Hutchins' Dorset.

Stoke-Poges, in Buckinghamshire, is named from Robert Poges, to whom Amicia de Stoke brought the manor in marriage. “He was chosen one of the knights of the shire in 1300: his grand-daughter and heiress Egidia married Sir John Molins, Knight Banneret, and Treasurer of the Chamber to King Edward III.” - Lysons. It has since had a great variety of owners. It was at Stoke-Poges that we hear of the performances of the “dancing Chancellor,” Sir Christopher Hatton - “Full oft within these spacious walls.

When he had fifty winters o’er him, My grave Lord Keeper led the brawls, The seals and maces danced before him.” The existing manor house, built by Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon in the reign of Elizabeth, furnished the subject of Gray’s “long story. The churchyard at Stoke-Poges was the scene of his well-known Elegy. The celebrated poet spent a great part of his youth in this village, and lies buried here himself under a tomb which he had erected over the remains of his mother and aunt.” - Ibid.