famous Sir Henry Sidney, Knt. Lord-deputy of Ireland. He departed this life in the 83d year of his age, on January 6, 1596-7, seised (as the inquisition after his death shews),i of the manor of Cholmondeley, and of twenty-two messuages, four cottages, two water-mills, and one wind-mill, &c, in Cholmondeley; as alfo of the manor or barony of Wich-Malbank, with all the rents, reversions, services, &c. the manor of Barkesford, alias Basford, with the appurtenances, and the several manors of Moldsworth, Bickley, Norbury, with Alhurst, Aston juxta Mondrem, Church. Minsule, two parts of the manor of Copenhurst, the manors of Newbald and Elderston juxta Wich-Malbank, and the fourth part of the vill of Burwardsley; with divers lands and tenements in Henhull, alias Hendle, Barton, Haughton, Horton, Tilston, Rowton, alias Row-Christleton, Wirswall, Bradley Boughton, Haslington, Badington; Chowley, Plumley, two messuages, and two salt-works in North-wich, and lands in Worleston, Wrenbury, Frith, Egerton, Church Shocklach, and Shocklach-Oyat, Audlim, Swanbach, Golbourne, Bellow juxta Tattenhall, ChurchCopenhall, Monks-Copenhall, Woodbanke alias Rough-Showicke infra Great Saughall, Bebyngton, St. Ann's Heys, in the parish of Plumstall, &c. Beckford, Newhall; and of one capital messuage called Cholmondley-house, in the parish of St. John Baptist in the suburbs of the city of Chester; also of the manors of Hinton and Madford, in Somersetshire; and lands in Shropshire and Flintshire. He lies buried in the chancel of the family in the church of Malpas; and a noble monument is erected there; his effigies, with his lady by him, lying thereon. k He married two wives; but by Mary his last Lady, daughter to Sir William Griffith of Pentrin, relict of Sir Randle Brereton of Malpas, he had no issue. His first lady was Anne, daughter and coheir to George Dorman of Malpas, by Agnes his wife, daughter and heir of Thomas Hill of Malpas, son of Humphry Hill, and of Anne his wife, daughter and coheir of John Bird of Chorlton, by Catharine his wife, aunt and heir of David de Malpas, of Hampton and Bickerton, in com. Cestr.; and the said Humphry Hill was lineally descended from Hugh Hill, who in the reign of King Edward III. married Eleanor, daughter and coheir of Hugh de Wloukeslow, lord of Wloukeslow, in com. Salop; and the coats of arms, of these heiresses, the present Earl of i Esc. 39 Eliz. in the Exchequer of Chester. Cholmondeley has a right to quarter. Sir Hugh had issue (by the aforesaid Anne), three sons, and one daughter; Frances, married to Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey, in com. Cestr. Esq. father (by her) of Sir Richard Wilbraham, Knt. and Bart. whose male issue terminated in Sir Thomas Wilbraham, who had two daughters, his coheirs; viz. Grace, married to Lionel Tolmache, first Earl of Dysart; and Mary, to Richard Newport, second Earl of Bradford, and father by her of the last two Earls. Of Sir Hugh's three sons, only the eldest left issue, who was named after his father Hugh.. Which HUGH Cholmondley, of Cholmondley,' was knighted in the lifetime of his father, in 1588, the memorable year of the Spanish invasion; and at his father's decease wasm forty-six years of age and more." He was heir to his virtues, as well as to his esate; and gave many proofs of an honourable benevolence, and a steady adherence to the Protestant religion, and the interests of his country. Before he was twenty-one years of age, he headed 130 men, raised by his father's interest and expense, and marched with them for the suppression of that rebellion in the North, begun P in the 12th year of Queen Elizabeth, under the leading of the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland, for restoring the Romish religion: and the Queen's forces having put them to flight, those Earls, with other of the conspirators, were attainted in parliament. He was twice the Queen's Escheator of the county of Chester, viz. in 33 and 41 Eliz. as also Sheriff of the same county; and in 42 Eliz. was in a special commission, with the Lord Chancellor Egerton, Thomas Lord Buckhurst, Lord Treasurer of England, and others, for the suppression of schism. He increased his estate by his marriage, and by divers purchases, as appears by the inquisition after his death, in 43 Eliz.t which shews that he departed this life on the 23d of July the same year, and that Robert Cholmondley, Esq. was the eldest son and heir, and of the age of seventeen years, on the 16th of June last past. He lies buried with his ancestors in the chancel of the family, in MS. de Equit. penes meip. n Fuller's Worthies, p. 187. m Esc. 39 Eliz. • MS. hujus Famil. præd. p. 88. P Camden's Hist. of Q. Eliz. in Hist. of Eng. Vol. I. p. 422. 9 Leicester's Antiq. of Chesh. p. 187. r Bundle of Inquisitions in the Exchequer at Chester. s Rymer's Fœdera, Vol. XVI. p. 386. t Esc. 43 Eliz. in Scac. Cestr. the church of Malpas, where his Lady had also sepulture, who lived many years after him, deceasing on the 15th of August 1626. Her name was Mary; and she was sole daughter and heir of Christopher Holford, of Holford, Esq. by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and coheir of Sir Randle Manwaring, of Pever and Badeley in Cheshire, elder brother to Philip Manwaring, Esq.; of whom descended Sir Thomas Manwaring, Knt. and Bart. The said Christopher Holford was grandson" and heir to Sir John Holford, and of Margery his wife, sole daughter and heir of Ralph Brereton of Escoyd, second son of Randle Brereton, grandson and heir of Sir Randle Brereton of Malpas, Knt.* and of Alice his wife, daughter and coheir to William de Ipston, by Maud, heir to Sir Robert Swynerton, Knt. by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and coheir to Sir Nicholas Beake, and of Jane his wife, only daughter of Ralph Earl of Stafford, by his second wife, Catharine, daughter and coheir of Sir John de Hastang of Chebsey, in com. Staff. And this family of Cholmondley, by the marriage of the Holfords with the daughter and heir of Brereton, is also maternally descended from Alice, fourth daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, third son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, son of David, King of Scotland; the Earldom of Huntingdon being for some time in the royal line of Scotland. And the said Alice was also, by her mother, descended from the Earls of Chester; she being eldest daughter of Hugh Kiveliock, Earl of Chester, and sister and heir of Randle, Earl of Chester. The said Mary, Lady Cholmondley, had a great contest with George Holford of Newborough, about the lands that descended to her by the death of her father, Christopher Holford, Esq. : which, after it had continued for above forty years, was at length, by the mediation of friends, composed: and on the partition, she had the manors and lordships of Holford, Bulkeley, and other large possessions. This Lady in her widowhood resided at Holford, which she rebuilt and enlarged; and by conducting, with spirit, the great suit beforementioned, was styled by James I. "The bold Lady of Cheshire." She had issue, by Sir Hugh Cholmondeley, six sons and three daughters; Mary, married to Sir George Calveley of Ley, in com. Cestr. Kat.; Lettice, wife to Sir Richard Grosvenor of Eaton, Knt. u Ex Stem, de Famil. de Holford. x Ex Stem. de Fam. Brereton & Ipston. y Dugdale's Baronage, Vol. I. p. 608, 609. z Ibid. p. 33, & 45. a Leicester's Antiq. of Chesh. p. 344. and Bart.; and Frances, wedded to Peter Venables, Baron of Kinderton. Of the sons, three died unmarried. The others were Robert; Hugh, ancestor to the present Earl of Cholmondeley; and Thomas, seated at VALE-ROYAL," married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John Minshull of Minshull, Esq. and departing this life on January 3d, 1652, was buried at Minshull, having had issue Thomas Cholmondeley of Vale-Royal; Robert, second son, who died on September 4th, 1658; Francis, third son; Mary, married to Thomas Middleton, Esq. eldest son of Sir Thomas Middleton of Chirk-castle; Catharine, wife to Charles Mainwaring of Ightfield, in com. Salop, Esq.; and Elizabeth, who died unmarried. The said Thomas, eldest son, was one of the Knights of the shire for the county of Chester in the reign of Charles II. and by his first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir Lionel Talmash, Knt. and Bart. (grandfather of Lionel, first Earl of Dysart of his name), had issue one son, Robert, and three daughters; Elizabeth, married to Sir Thomas Vernon, of Hodnet, in com. Salop, Bart.; Jane, who died unmarried; and Mary, wedded to John Egerton of Oulton, in com. Cestr. Esq. His second wife was Anne, daughter of Sir Walter St. John (and sister to Henry, late Lord Viscount St. John), and by her (who died in Dec. 1742, aged ninety-two), had issue two sons and a daughter; Charles, who succeeded to the estate; and Seymour, who married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Lord Ashburnham, widow of Robert . Cholmondeley, of Holford, Esq.; and dying on July 26th, 1739, at Arden, in Cheshire, left no issue by her. His daughter was Johanna, married to Amos Meredith, Esq. son and heir to Sir William Meredith, of Henbury, in Cheshire, Bart. Robert, eldest son of the said Thomas Cholmondeley, married Elizabeth, sister to Sir Thomas Vernon, Bart. and deceasing 1679, leaving one daughter, Elizabeth, married to John Atherton, of the county Palatine of Lancaster, Esq.d the estate devolved on his brother, a Vale-Royal was the site of an ancient abbey. See an Elegy or Ode on it, among T. Warton's Poems. b Born 1641; married 1657; died 1702. c Sir Thomas Vernon left a son, Richard, who died S. P. in Poland; and a surviving daughter, Henrietta; who dying 1752, left her estate at Hodnet to her cousin, Mrs. Heber. d Elizabeth, their daughter and heir, married, 1722, Thomas Heber, Esq. of Marton, in Yorkshire; who dying 1752, was grandfather of the present Richard Heber, Esq. of Marton and Hodnet, well known in the literary world. Whitaker's Craven, 68. Charles Cholmondley, of Vale-Royal, Esq. one of the Knights for Cheshire in eight several parliaments, from 1722 till his death, 1759; who married Essex, eldest daughter of Thomas Pitt, Esq. (and sister to the late Countess of Stanhope), by whom he had issue (who lived to maturity), four daughters; Essex, Jane, Mary, and Elizabeth; of whom, Jane was married in August, 1732, to the third son of Owen Merrick, Esq. of Bodorgan, in Anglesey, for which he was member 1 Geo. I.; and one son, Thomas, his heir, one of the Knights for the county of Chester, on his father's death, 1759; and again 1762. His son, Thomas Cholmondeley, Esq. was elected for the same in 1796, and continues to represent it to this day. I now return to ROBERT, eldest son of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley; who being a well-deserving person, and enjoying an ample estate, was, upon June 29th (1611), 9 Jac. I. advanced to the dignity of a Baronet, being the 36th order of creation: also by Charles I. was advanced to the degree of a Viscount of the kingdom of Ireland, by the title of Viscount Cholmondeley of Kellis, in the province of Leinster, in that realm, A.D. 1628. "And afterwards, in consideration of his special service, in raising several companies of foot in Cheshire, in order to the quenching those rebellious flames which began to appear anno 1642, and sending many other to the King, then at Shrewsbury (which stood him in high stead in that memorable battle of Kineton, happening soon after), as also raising other forces for defending the city of Chester, at the first siege thereof by his Majesty's adversaries in that county, and courageous adventure in the fight at Tilston-Heath; together with his great sufferings, by the plunder of his goods, and firing his houses;" was by letters patent, bearing date at Oxford, September 1st, 21 Car. I. created a Baron of the kingdom of England, by the title of LORD CHOLMONDELEY, of Wiche-Malbank (commonly called Nantwiche), in com. Cestr. And by other letters patent, bearing date on March 5th next ensuing, was created Earl of the province of Leinster, in Ireland. When the royal power was at an end, and the whole kingdom was under the obedience of the parliament, he was suffered to compound for his estate; but paid no less a fine for the enjoyment of it, than 77421. He was revered for his liberal hospitality, his conduct in the government of his country, and other virtues. He married Catharine, daughter of John Lord Stanhope, of Har e Bill. Sign. 21 Car. I. f f Lloyd's Memoirs of Loyalists, p. 681. |