A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



self aged and sickly and his children many in number,' 

 he made a release of all his lands to his son Sir 

 William, and dying during the summer of 1606, was 

 buried at Childwall.' 



His eldest son William, who had resided at Blacon, 

 succeeded him. He was made a Knight of the Bath 

 at the coronation of James I.' The end of his life 

 was embittered by a quarrel with his son ' and a 

 heavy fine inflicted by the Star Chamber.* These 

 troubles seem to have hastened Sir William's end 

 for he died in October, 1630.' 



William his son was described as a recusant 

 in 1624, and died 10 July, 1651. He married 

 Margaret, daughter of Thomas Salisbury, of Llevvenny.^ 

 It does not appear that he took any part in the Civil 

 War,' but a younger son Thomas, who inherited the 

 estates, had in 1650 fallen under the displeasjre of 

 the Parliament as ' adhering to and assisting the forces' 

 of the king. His estates were described as 'the 

 manor and capital messuage of Speke, with the 

 demesnes thereof, three cottages, two windmills, two 

 water-mills and lands ofthe yearly value of j^2 24 5/. id., 

 and the like estate in reversion of certain messuages 

 and lands in Speke and Garston, then rented out at 

 £6^) ijs. 6d.' The fine imposed was £lo'i ; and 

 there is no mention of any recusancy.* 



Thomas Norris, aged forty-six in 1 664,' held Speke 

 till his death about i686. He married Catherine, 

 daughter of Sir Henry Garvey, an alderman of 

 London, and had by her a family of seven sons and 

 four daughters. The eldest son Thomas was aged 

 eleven at the visitation ; he was sheriff of Lancashire 

 in 1 696,'° and member of Parliament for Liverpool 

 after the Revolution, being a Whig in politics." He 



married in 1695 Magdalen, daughter of Sir Willoughby 

 Aston, bart. Their only child Mary succeeded to 

 the estates on the death of her uncles " without male 

 issue, and married Lord Sidney 

 Beauclerk, fifth son of the first 

 duke of St. Albans. He was 

 ' a man of bad character . . . 

 notorious for panting after the 

 fortunes of the old and child- 

 less.' The marriage took place 

 in 1736, and the only son was 

 Topham Beauclerk, the friend 

 of Johnson and Reynolds, who 

 married Diana, daughter of 

 the third duke of Marlborough, 

 the divorced wife of Lord 

 Bolingbroke ; by her he had a 

 son Charles George Beauclerk,'^ 

 who in 1797 " sold the Speke 

 estates to Richard Watt, a 

 Liverpool merchant. 



The new possessor was born at Shevington in 

 Standish. In his youth he was the driver of the only 

 hired carriage then in Liverpool ; having been taught 

 at a night school he went out to Jamaica, where he 

 amassed a fortune of half a million sterling." Speke 

 became the property of his nephew, Richard Watt of 

 Bishop Burton in Yorkshire, who died in 1 8 1 2,'" and 

 was succeeded by his son, grandson, and great-grandson, 

 each named Richard. The last of these, who died in 

 1865, was succeeded by his only child Adelaide (born 

 19 May 1857), the present lady of the manor." 



Speke Hall stands a little back from the shore of 

 the Mersey, protected by belts of trees on the west 



Beauclerk. Quarterly 

 Jirst and fourth France 

 and England quarterly^ 

 second Scotland^ third Ire- 

 land, over all a sinister 

 baton gules charged tvith 

 three roses argent. 



1 Fun. Cert. (Chet. Soc), 41, 4.2. 



^ Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 151. About 

 the same time licences to travel were 

 granted to two of his sons, Edward and 

 Alan. 



^ From the Norris D. (B.M.) it appears 

 that the eldest son Edward having died 

 without issue, William, the second son, 

 became heir apparent and was allowed to 

 reside at Blacon with his wife and family. 

 About 1625 Sir William wished to raise 

 money by a mortgage on this property, 

 and would have sold it to Sir Randle 

 Crewe, but his son absolutely refused to 

 move from it, and took the trouble to go 

 to London to set forth his interest in the 

 estate. Thus the mortgage and sale fell 

 through. It appears that the son had 

 been promised an annuity of ^^4.0 by his 

 father, which had never been duly assigned 

 to him, and though he professed the 

 greatest respect and obedience he resolved 

 to hold possession of Blacon till the an- 

 nuity was secure, and in this course he 

 professed to have the support of ' his 

 ghostly father.* On Sir William's death 

 the son brought actions against the trus- 

 tees of Speke, and at length obtained 

 possession J Cal. of S.P. Dom. 1 634-5, 

 p. 172, 199. 



^ The Star Chamber fine arose out of 

 religious differences. Sir William had 

 been accused in 1626 of sending arms and 

 money to Flanders * to the king's enemies 

 beyond seas' ; Cal. of S.P. Dom. 1625—6, 

 p. 304. A younger son Henry is called 

 'Captain' in 1622, and is said to have 

 served in Flanders. 



Sir William was described as * not con- 

 formable to the laws ecclesiastical now 

 established,' in Richard Fleetwood's will, 

 1626; ff^Uls (Chet. Soc. New Ser.), ii, 



194. Two years later he was a ' convicted 

 recusant,' paying double taxes ; Norris D, 

 (B.M.). 



Edward Moore of Liverpool, a magis- 

 trate and a Protestant, had questioned the 

 churchwardens of Childwall as to Sir 

 William's attendance — or non-attendance 

 — at the legal services. Sir William 

 therefore lay in wait for him, and accused 

 him of ungentlemanlike dealing. On 

 Moore hinting that the churchwardens 

 had misrepresented his conduct. Sir 

 William ' gave him the lie,' and being 

 answered on the same manner drew his 

 sword and struck the other with it. He 

 was summoned before the Star Chamber 

 and fined ,^1,000. The fine was after- 

 wards reduced to jf 250 ; Rushworth, Hist. 

 Coll. pt. 2, voL ii, App. p. 35 (quoted by 

 Gibson, LjJiate Hall, 156) ; Cal. of S.P. 

 Dom. 1 63 1-3, p. 80. 



* His will and the disposition of his 

 property may be read in Royalist Comp. 

 P. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 176-9. 



It was about the same time that Lord 

 Wentworth made compositions with 

 various recusants ; Sir William Norris, 

 whose income was estimated at ,^600 per 

 annum, was charged ^60 ; Cal. of S.P. 

 Dom. 1629-31, p. 428. 



The inquisition taken after Sir 

 William's death is in Towneley MS. C 8, 

 13 (Chet. Lib.), 916. The manor of 

 Speke was held of Lord Molyneux. 



^ Her father was executed in 1586 in 

 connexion with the Babington plot ; he 

 was grandson of Jane, daughter and coheir 

 of David Middleton of Chest. For 

 William Norris's issue see yisit. of \66^ 

 (Chet. Soc), 220 ; also Ormerod, Paren- 

 talia, ped. IV. 



136 



' The 500 tons of timber to be taken 

 out of the cavaliers' woods for the benefit 

 of Liverpool included some from William 

 Norris's ; Victon, Liverpool Municip. Rec. 



145- 



He was named in a commission of 

 array in 1642. Farington P. (Chet. Soc), 

 76. See also Feet of F. Lanes. Aug. 

 1652. 



8 Royalist Comp. P. iv, 227-30. See 

 also Norris P. (Chet Soc), 13-15. In 

 1642 Edward Norris, the eldest son, had 

 held Liverpool for a few months on behalf 

 of the king ; Picton, Liverpool Municip. 

 Rec. 138. He also commanded at War- 

 rington. This may be the reason why 

 his widow Frances had to petition the 

 Parliament for her allowance of a third 

 from her husband's estate 5 Royalist Comp. 

 P. iv, 219. 



' Dugdale's yisit. (Chet. Soc), 220. 



"P.R.O.ia?, 73. 



" Pink and Beavan, Lanes. Pari. Rep. 

 192. Other members of the family also 

 served ; ibid. 193, &c. 



1* Those who had Speke were Sir 

 William Norris, bart. (cr. 1698), who 

 died 1702, s.p. ; Edward Norris, M.D. 

 who died in 1726, leaving two daughters ; 

 and Richard Norris, Mayor of Liverpool, 

 1718. 



^ For these and other particulars of the 

 family history see the Norris P. (Chet. 

 Soc), p. xi-xx. 



" For a recovery of Speke Manor, Ice, 

 by Lady Diana Beauclerk, see Com. Pleas 

 Rec. R. Hil. 35 Geo. Ill, m. 55; also 

 Enrolled D. R.55, m.z^J. 



*" Brooke, Liverpool, 177-8. 



" A view of Speke Hall appeared in 

 the Gent. Mag. of 1804, pt. i. 



'' Burke, Landed Gentry. 



