Granville William Gresham Leveson-Gower was born on 25th February 1838 at Titsey Place, Oxted, the eldest son of William Gresham Leveson-Gower and Emily Josephine Eliza Leveson-Gower nee Doyle. Granville's grandfather William had married Katherine Maria Gresham in 1804 and she inherited the Titsey estate which had been in the Gresham family since 1534. Granville became the squire of Titsey through most of the second half of the nineteenth century. He built St. James's Church at Titsey and considerably remodelled the house and the garden, continuing the work begun by his grandfather William in the 1820s. He decorated the house with the heraldry of the Gresham, Leveson and Gower families and over a twelve year period compiled the Genealogy of the Family of Gresham, privately printed in 1883. He was an enthusiastic historian and archaeologist, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries who wrote many papers on local history and excavated two Roman sites on the Titsey Estate. He was also active in public life, sitting for many years as MP for Reigate. He married Sophia, daughter of Lord Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey and raised a large family of fifteen children.