Page "Recusancy" Paragraph 12

Since the 18th century, particularly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some wealthy or ennobled families embraced Catholicism, including branches of the Asquith, Bellingham ( Ireland ), Bowyer ( England ), Calvert ( Maryland ), Cary-Elwes / Elwes ( since 1872 ), Feilding ( England ), Forbes ( Ireland ), Leslie ( Ireland ), Fraser ( Scotland ), Lane-Fox, Meynell, Noel ( Gainsborough ), Ashton Case ( or Ashton-Case ; England ), Radcliffe ( England ), Monckton, Pakenham ( Ireland ), Pontifex ( England ), Crichton-Stuart ( Scotland ) and Strickland ( Counts of Catena, Malta ) families.

They provided a resurgent English Roman Catholic Church with much-needed financial support.

Conversely, some old recusant families, such as the earls of Shrewsbury, the viscounts Gage, and the Giffards of Chillington, embraced Anglicanism.