WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Of his sons, Thomas the eldest succeeded him ; he 

 was knighted in 1533 at the coronation of Anne 

 Boleyn. 1 His wife was Jane Stanley, daughter and 

 coheir of John Stanley, son and heir of John Stanley 

 of Weaver. 2 She brought him the manor of Mailing 

 and other lands. Sir Thomas died in 1539, and in 

 the subsequent inquisition are recited the dispositions 

 he made of the estates. 3 The manors and services 

 correspond generally with those recorded in the 

 previous inquisition. Henry his son and heir was 

 eighteen years of age.' 



Henry Halsall lived till I 574..' He married Anne, 

 daughter of Sir William Molyneux of Sefton by his 

 second wife Elizabeth, the heiress of Clifton, and this 

 daughter herself, by the death of her brothers without 

 issue, became heiress of the same. There was only 

 one son, Richard Halsall, who died before his father, 

 leaving an illegitimate son Cuthbert. 



The inquisition after Henry's death, 6 which 

 happened on 2 1 December, I 5 74, states that he held 

 the manor of Melling in right of his mother ; the 

 paternal manors of Halsall, Downholland, and Formby, 

 and various lands ; also the advowson of the church of 

 Halsall ; in addition, there was his wife's manor of 

 Clifton, with various lands and rights north of the 

 Ribble. A settlement was made of this great estate 

 in the spring of 1572, securing the wife's dower; 7 

 the residue going to the following, in successive 

 remainders : To Edward Halsall, bastard son of Sir 

 Henry Halsall, for life ; to Cuthbert Halsall, bastard 

 son of Richard, and his lawful male issue ; to Thomas 

 Halsall of Melling and heirs male ; to James Halsall 

 of Altcar and heirs male ; to Thomas Halsall, brother 

 of James, and to his first, second, and third sons and 

 their heirs male ; to Gilbert Halsall, bastard son of 



HALSALL 



Sir Thomas, and lawful heirs male ; to Thomas Halsall, 

 of Barton, bastard son of Sir Thomas Halsall and law- 

 ful heirs male ; to Silvester Halsall, bastard son of 

 Henry Halsall of Prescot, and heirs male. 8 His 

 lawful heirs were his nephew Bartholomew Hesketh 

 (son of his sister Jane), aged twenty-eight, and his 

 sister Maud Osbaldestone, aged forty. 9 Anne Halsall, 

 the widow of Henry, died in June or July, 1589.' 



Edward Halsall, after coming into possession ot 

 Halsall, occasionally resided there ; he was a member 

 of commissions of array in 1577 and I58o,"and held 

 various public offices. His re- 

 ligious leanings are thus de- 

 scribed in the report of 1590 : 

 'Conformable, but otherwise 

 of no good note.' " He died 

 in 1594, having founded the 

 school at Halsall. He was 

 twice married, but his son 

 predeceased him." 



After his death Cuthbert 

 Halsall succeeded, under the 

 disposition made by his grand- 

 father Henry." He was made 

 a knight in Dublin, 22 July, 

 1599, being apparently in the 



suite of the earl of Essex. 15 He was a recusant in 

 1605, and the profits of his forfeitures as such were 

 assigned to Sir Thomas Mounson. 16 He was one of the 

 knights of the shire in 1614" and sheriff in 1601 

 and l6i2. 18 Within thirty years he had dissipated 

 his inheritance, and in 1631 was in prison for debt. 

 Halsall was sold in 1625, along with the advowson, 

 to Sir Charles Gerard, grandson of Sir Gilbert, who 

 was Master of the Rolls in Queen Elizabeth's time." 



HALSALL OF HALSALL. 



Urgent, three serpents' 



heads erased a 



gules. 



elangued 



195 



