HUXLOE HUNDRED 



widow of Richard Piggott of London, married as her 

 second husband Richard Hastings, brother to VV'iUiam, 

 Lord Hastings, Chamberlain of the Household to 

 Edward IV.''* A faithful Yorkist, he obtained a grant 

 in 1470 of the lands his wife would tiave inherited 

 but for the attainder of her father and brother. 

 Lilford and its member, as conveyed to himself and 

 his wife Joan by grant of Thomas Fitzwilliam, senior, 

 and Thomas Fitzwilliam, junior,** were expressly 

 excepted from the act of attainder and forfeiture 

 against Richard Lord Welles, his son Lord Robert, 

 and his sons-in-law Thomas de la Laund and Sir 

 Thomas Dymock and others, and from the petitioa 

 for its repeal presented in 1485** by the heirs of 

 Lord Welles. In 1473 Lilford was conveyed by 

 Sir Richard Hastings, kt., and Joan his wife, daughter 

 and heir of Sir Richard Welles, kt., sometime Lord 

 de Welles and Willoughby, to William Brown of 

 Stamford, John Brown of Stamford, Sir William 

 Stoke, kt., Thomas Stoke, clerk, John Elmes of 

 Henley-on-Thames, and William Est.*' In 1475 

 an exemplification was obtained at the request of 

 William Brown of Stamford, merchant, of the article 

 in the act of attainder exempting Lilford from its 

 operation, as being at the date of the passing of the 

 act in tlie hands of the Fitzwilliams, by whom it 

 had been conveyed as above to Sir Richard Hastings 

 and his wife, who afterwards sold it to the said 

 William.*' 



William Brown settled the manors of Lilford and 

 Papley on himself and his wife Margaret, with 

 remainder to John Elmes and his wife Elizabeth, 

 daughter of William and Margaret, for the life of 

 Elizabeth, to William Elmes, the son and heir of 

 John Elmes and Elizabeth, to John brother of the 

 said William, and to the heirs of Elizabeth, and the 

 heirs of each successively. Both William and 

 Margaret died in 1489.** From this date the manor 

 of Lilford follows the descent of Warmington and 

 Papley (q.v.) to the death of Arthur Elmes in 1663. 

 Jane, widow of Arthur Elmes, seems to have married 

 Sir Francis Compton, kt. and had a life interest in 

 the manor which she and her husband conveyed to 

 Sir John Langham, kt. and bart. in 1666.*' Arthur 

 Elmes evidently died without issue and was succeeded 

 by his cousin Thomas Elmes, the youngest son of 

 Anthony Elmes of Greens Norton. He was knighted 

 as Thomas Elmes of Lilford in 1688'' and died in 

 1690. He was succeeded by his brother William 

 Elmes, who made various settlements of the manor of 

 Lilford cum Wigsthorpe and the advowson,'* He 

 died in 1699, ' the last male branch of that ancient and 

 honourable family of the Elmes. '^^ John Adams 

 and other trustees under the abovementioned settle- 

 ments conveyed the manors of Lilford and Wigs- 

 thorpe, the rectory and advowson, to Sir Thomas 

 Powys in 171 1, who took a fine of them in 1713." 



Sir Thomas Powys, the second son of Thomas 



LILFORD-WITH- 

 WIGSTHORPE 



Powys of Henley (co. Salop) and of Anne daughter 

 of Sir Adam Littleton, was the judge who conducted 

 the trial of the Seven Bishops in 1688. He died in 1 719, 

 and was buried at Lilford.^ Thomas, his eldest son by 

 his first wife Sarah, daughter of Ambrose Holbech 



Elmes. Ermine two ban 

 iMe chargtd with elm 

 leaves. 



Powys, Lord Lilford. 

 Or a lion's leg razed 

 set bendwise between itvo 

 crussleis Jitchy gules. 



(co. Warwick), who succeeded him, married Catherine, 

 daughter and heir of Thomas Ravenscroft of Broadlane 

 (co. Flint), and died in 1720. His son and heir, also 

 named Thomas, married Henrietta daughter of 

 Thomas Spence, Serjeant of the House of Commons.^ 

 He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was M. P. 

 for the county from 1774-97. A man of great 

 parliamentary talents and distinguished integrity, 

 lie was one of the batch of peers created during the 

 ministry of William Pitt in 1797, being created 

 Baron Lilford on 26 October. He married Mary, 

 the daughter of Galfridus Mann, and died in 1800. 

 His son Thomas succeeded him at Lilford, as second 

 baron. Thomas Atherton Powys, third baron, 

 inherited Lilford at his father's death in 1825." 

 The Lilford estates, increased by a succession of 

 inheritances, to which the eventual inheritance from 

 Sir Littleton Powys, elder brother of its purchaser 

 Sir Thomas, must be added, were, after the death of 

 Thomas Powys, third Baron Lilford, at Lilford Park 

 in 1861, dealt with by the Lilford Estate Act, passed 

 on 29 July 1864,^' as the result of a Chancery suit 

 instituted by his son Thomas Littleton Powys, the 

 fourth baron, for the purpose of amending the will 

 of his father, dated 24 February, 1 84 1. From the 

 operation of this Act, Lilford, with its chief messuage, 

 park and pleasure grounds, was expressly excluded. 

 It was as an ornithologist that the fourth baron, one 

 of the founders of the Ornithologists' Union, left his 

 mark on Lilford,^* the valuable collections he made 

 being housed there. He travelled much, and wrote 

 on his subject. After being twice married he died in 

 1896, and was succeeded by his son John, the present 

 and fifth baron. 



The Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem near Clerken- 

 well had a preceptory at Dingley as early as the reign 

 of King Stephen, with lands valued in 1535 at 

 /[108 13/. 5}ii." In 1330 the prior of the Hospital of 

 St. John of Jerusalem claimed view of frankpledge 



*«G.E.C. op. cit. viii,78. 



" Rolls of Pari. v\, 145a. 



" Ibid. 287a. 



" Feet of F. Div. Co.. Hil. 12 Ed. IV, 

 file 76, no. 90. Wm. Brown had m.irricd 

 the daughter and heir of John Stoke of 

 Warmington, by which marriage Warming- 

 ton became hii. 



*' Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 508. Joan died 

 • P 'i°i-S- 



** Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, nos. 476, 478, 



525.533- 



" Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 18 

 Chai. 11; Recov. R. Mich. iS Chaj. II, 



ro. 2q. 



'° Bridge), op. cit. ii, 243, cit. M.I. ; 

 Harl. MS. 1553, fol. 41 ; Shaw, Knights of 

 Engl, ii, 264. 



" Recov. R. Mich. 3 Wm. & M. ro. 

 7, 286 ; Trin. 5 Wm. & Miry, ro. 7. 



" M. I. 



" Feet of F. Northanti. Hil. 1 1 Anne. 

 '« Di t. \al. Biog. 

 " G. '■.<". Complete Peerage, v, 80. 

 " G.I..C. loc.cit. 

 '" Priv. Stat. 27-8 Vict. c. 10. 

 »" Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. Memoir by hii 

 Bislcr, Mr«. Drewitt. 



" Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. vi, 801. 



229 



