A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Lord Shrew>bury sen-ing in Scotland." He died 

 2 2 October 1575. 



Edward Osbaldeston, aged forty-three in 1576, 

 married in 154S Maui daughter of Sir Thomas 

 Halsail, kt., and died 7 September 1590.^ Thomas 

 his brother was residing at Wigan in 1576, and was 

 fatherof Edward, who laboured in the north of England 

 on the Roman Catholic mission from 1589 to I594i 

 when he suffered for his religion at York." Geoffrey, 

 another brother, was appointed justice of the Court of 

 King's Bench in Ireland in 1605 and chief justice 

 in Connaught in 1607. John son and heir of 

 Edward Osbaldeston was aged thirty-five at his father*s 

 death. He married Ellen daughter and co-heir of 

 John Bradley of Bradley Hall, near Chipping, and 

 Beetham, co. Westmorland, and died in 1 603 .^"* 

 His eldest son Edward Osbaldeston, born in 1573, 

 was said to be skilled in mathematics, in which he 

 found great entertainment in his leisure ; in fencing 

 and riding he excelled all others in the county, and 

 in natural philosophy was a bright ornament." He 

 was knighted by James I at Lathom 20 August 

 161 7." He married Mary daughter and heir of 

 Francis Farington of Hutton Grange, and died in 

 1637. His eldest son John died in his father's 

 lifetime and was twice married. The issue of both 

 marriages died young and unmarried, Edward the 

 eldest son in 1642 at the age of fourteen. Alexander 

 second son of Sir Edward" married in 1645 Anne 



daughter of Sir John Talbot of Salcsbury, by whom 

 he had a numerous family. He entered his pedigree 

 at Dugdale*s visitation in 1664." Notwithstanding 

 that he had never been in arms against the Parliament 

 his estates were sequestrated for recusancy, but in 

 1650 in response to his petition an order was 

 made allowing him to enjoy one- third of his 

 estates " ; two-thirds remained sequestered for his 

 recusancy, though he said he had never been con- 

 victed." 



Edward Osbaldeston, eldest surviving son of Alex- 

 ander, married in 1676 Margaret daughter of Thomas 

 Braddyll of Portfield,^ and died intestate in 1689. 

 His eldest son Alexander, born in 1677, died without 

 issue in 1747,^^ having alienated the manor and the 

 greater part of the family estates. Some portion is 

 said to have passed to his cousin John Osbaldeston son 

 of Michael, a younger brother of Edward.*^ Some 

 time before his death Alexander Osbaldeston had 

 mortgaged the manor and demesne lands of Osbal- 

 deston to Allan Harrison, son of John Harrison of 

 Little Mearley Hall.'^ By his will made in 1752 

 Allan Harrison, then of Lancaster, made a settlement 

 of his estates, including the manor of Osbaldeston, by 

 which after his death his daughter and heir Anne 

 Sybelle became beneficial owner. She married George 

 Wilson, and joined her husband in 1774 in convey- 

 ing the manor with lands here and in Balderston and 

 Ribchester with a free fishery in and a ferry over the 



'■■" W'liUkcr, IVhalley (cd. 1876), ii, 



369- 



** Duchy of L;inc. Inq. p.m. xii, 28. 



In his will dated in 158S he gave t'> his 

 Bon John all his armour and weapons be- 

 longing to war ; Lanes. PVills (Chet. See. 

 old ser. li), 74.. The inventory of his 

 goods amounted to the value of ;^474i 

 and included six fat oxen valued at zoj. ; 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 1051. His widow 

 Maud died in 1592. Inventory £z\^ \ 

 ibid. no. 1050. 



*^ Edward Osbaldeston was educated at 

 Rheims j priest i 5X5, sent on the English 

 mission 1589. 'After labouring in the 

 north for some years he \\a3 betrayed by 

 a fallen priest named Thos. Clark., at 

 Tollcrton, CO. York., 30 Sept. 1594, and 

 committed to York Castle. He was tried 

 and condemned on account of his priestly 

 character, and suffered at York 16 Nov. 

 1594, aged about 34* ; Gillow, Bihl, Diet. 

 ofF'-'l, Cath. r, 221 ; Douai Diariesy 12, 

 31, &c. The hrst step in the process of 

 beatification was allowed by Leo XIII in 

 1886. 



*®-^ His second son Thomas, described as 

 of Cuerdalc, was convicted of the murder 

 of Edward Walsh, the husband of his 

 sister Elizabeth, in 1606, and was out- 

 lawed. His estate consisted of a rent- 

 charge of j^20 a year issuing out of the 

 lands of his maternal grandfather John 

 Bradley ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xx, 

 45 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. iiJ, 178). 

 A younger son John was a student of 

 Grav's I m in 1602; Foster, Alumni 

 Oxon. 1093. 



™ Abram, op. cit. 604, with portrait. 



^1 Peac. c.-L, AT-: .'-/'.'I, I'l. He entered 

 his pedigree at Flower'^ visitation in i 61 3. 



*^ Sir Edward's third son, Francis, 

 joined the English Franciscans, and * in 

 1680 was thrown into prison at York 

 Castle under premunire, suspected of being 

 a priest and for refusing to take the oaths 

 of allegiance and supremacy.' He was 

 released after about five veif, and went 



over to his monastery at Douay, where 

 he died soon after, aged about eighty ; 

 Gillow, op. cit. V, 222. 



®" Chei. Soc. Publ. Uxxviii, 22^. 



•^ Rjyaiist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 238. He was abroad 

 at the time of the sequestr.ilion. Some 

 other members of the family also fell 

 under a like penalty. 



^ Cal. Com. for Comp. v, 3308 ; iv, 

 1574, 



"^ Chester, London Marr. Lie. 



^ The decay of the family was due to 

 the profligacy and ill-judged generosity of 

 Alexander Osbaldeston. In 1689 he was 

 appointed a governor of Blackburn School ; 

 he resided mostly in Preston, and does not 

 appear ever to have married. 



A valuation of the estate in Osbaldeston 

 and Balderston in 171 2 has been printed ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, ii, 23-4. 



Thomas Tyldcsley notes in his diary 



1713, * Oct. 26 . . to Preston, where 

 cos. .Mun (Edmund) Ashton, then mayor, 

 was gentilly attended, when hee gave Her 

 Grace the Dutches off Hamilton and 

 Brandon a gentill treat off sweatmeats 

 and wine, viz. Sir Ed. Stanley, Hen. Flete- 

 wood,[ Alexander] Osbaldeston, &c. . , .' 



1 7 14, Feb. 18. 'Four gentlemen from 

 Preston came purposely to this town 

 [Lancaster] to bee merry with Dalton, 

 Strickland, Hugh Dicconson and ye Re- 

 cordr, viz. [Alexander] Osbaldeston, Tom 

 Stanley, Tom Worton and [Captain] 

 Cicill. Feb, 18. The gentlemen continew 

 theyr jollity. . . Feb. 19. The gentlemen 

 stick together jolly and merry' j Tyldesley 

 Diji-i, 120, 1 ^5. 



By his will made a few days before 

 his Jeath Mr. Osbaldeston gave all his 

 messuages to trustees to pay his debts 

 and legacies to relatives ; to his servant 

 Thomas ;^5oo and horses, furniture and 

 effects ; to his acquaintance Mr. Tom 

 Stanley at Culcheth ^^50, &c.; the residue 

 ' to such housekeepers of the better rank as 

 my executors shall think stind in need 



thereof.' To Thomas CLiyton of Little 

 H.irwooii, one of his executors, he 

 gave ' my chappies, scats, pew?, burying 

 ground, and all my right, iScc, in Blackburn 

 Church, with my right of nominating a 

 parish clerk and churchwarden there'; 

 Abram, op. cit. 605. In the Osbaldeston 

 chnpel there was formerly a plate * To the 

 memory of Alex^ Osbaldeston, esq., late 

 ol Osbaldeston in this parish, who wan 

 yo last in right line of that ancient family,' 

 &c., recording the grant of the chapel, pew 

 and rights to Mr. Clayton ; Clayton 

 papers penes W. Farrer. 



"^ Dr. Whitaker says that the last 

 possessor of the name was reduced to the 

 situation of an accoucheur at Preston j 

 Whalley (ed. 1876), ii, 370. Mr. Abram 

 declares that John Osbaldeston of Preston 

 inherited the entailed estates on the death 

 of his cousin, and surrendered his rights 

 to Sir George Warren for an annuity 

 a ad a large sum of money ; Hist, of Blaek- 

 b irn, 607. This is probably a mistake. 

 John Osbaldeston died without issue ; 

 his brother George, described as of Friar- 

 gate, Preston, in 1719, married twice, and 

 had several sons. By his first wife he had 

 George, a thread weaver of Knutsfoid In 

 Cheshire, who claimed the Oslnldeston 

 estates between 1778 and 1787. The 

 claimant kept a diary, in which he noted 

 his visits to Osbaldeston and proceedings 

 there to maintain his claim by turning 

 over a sod, cutting down and selling timber, 

 and turning the tenant out of the old hall. 

 In prosecuting his claims he is said to 

 have walked 1,832 miles, and to have 

 ridden on horseback or coach 1,612 miles ; 

 ibid. It is extremely improbable that the 

 claimant had a shadow of right to the 

 estate ; his efforts at any rate proved 

 unavailing. Representatives of the claim- 

 ant's brothers, William and John Osbil- 

 deston, are living in a more humble estate 

 than that enjoyed for six cenCuriet by their 

 illustrious and knightly ancestors. 



^'^ A'^ram, op. cit. 606. 



