WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HUYTON 



of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe," and by her had 

 three daughters. Through his mother he was one of 

 the nearest heirs to the crown, for, excluding the 

 king of Scots as a foreigner, in accordance with the 

 Act of Henry VIII, he came next after Lord Beau- 

 champ, son of Lady Katherine Grey, whom many 

 considered illegitimate." The English exiles for re- 

 ligion, now that Elizabeth was growing old, were 

 endeavouring to secure the succession of a sovereign 

 who, if not in communion with Rome, would miti- 

 gate the persecuting laws and allow liberty for the 

 ancient worship. It was believed that Ferdinando 

 was so inclined,' and Sir William Stanley, of the 

 Hooton family,' and the Jesuit Father Holt, sent 

 Richard Hesketh to sound him on the matter.' 

 Lord Derby, however, handed Hesketh over to the 

 authorities and he was executed in November, 1593. 

 Four months afterwards the earl was taken ill, and 

 after a fortnight's suffering died on 16 April, 1594.'^ 

 He was buried at Ormskirk.' 



His brother William, then thirty-two years of age, 

 succeeded to the earldom and estates. He was called 

 ' the wandering earl,' and was the hero of several ballads, 

 having travelled much and lived an adventurous life.* 

 He married in June, 1594, Elizabeth, sister and 

 coheir of Henry de Vere, earl of Oxford ; was 

 made chamberlain of Chester 1603 and lord-lieu- 

 tenant of Lancashire and Cheshire 1607 ; these 

 offices were shared by his son. Lord Strange, from 

 1626.' For some reason unknown he retired from 

 public life about this time, living as a private gentleman 

 chiefly at Bidston and at a house he built by the side 

 of the Dee, near Chester, Lord Strange taking up the 

 public duties and the management of the estates. 



He died 29 September, 1642, and 20 years later was 

 buried at Ormskirk.'" 



His son Lord Strange, the ' Martyr Earl,' and 

 the most famous of the line, now succeeded to the 

 earldom. He had served in numerous public 

 offices ; was member for the borough of Liverpool 

 in 1625 " ; mayor of that town 1626. He married in 

 June, 1626, Charlotte de la Tremouille, daughter 

 of the duke of Thouars, one of the Protestant 

 nobility of France, and a granddaughter of William 

 of Nassau, prince of Orange." After a short experi- 

 ence of the court he preferred to live in Lancashire, 

 spending his time chiefly at Lathom and Knowsley." 



The Civil War had begun before his father's 

 death, and he had taken his side decisively for the 

 king. After some endeavours to secure peace in 

 Lancashire, he attempted to seize Manchester, and 

 was proclaimed a traitor by the Parliament. In 



1643 he took part in the unsuccessful assaults on 

 Bolton and Lancaster, and recovered Preston ; he 

 fortified Lathom House, which his countess in 



1644 bravely defended against the Parliamentary 

 forces. Lord Derby had in the meantime been 

 settling grievances in the Isle of Man ; in 1644 

 he joined Prince Rupert, who was hastening to 

 the relief of Lathom, took part in the storming 

 of Bolton, and later in the year fought at Marston 

 Moor. His countess having retired to the Isle 

 of Man, after this defeat he joined her there, 

 taking no further part in the war, but retaining 

 the island for the king." Parliament retaliated by 

 excepting him from pardon, by the renewed siege 

 and destruction of Lathom House, and by the con- 

 fiscation of his great estates.'' 



^ * Marrying the earl of Derby's son to 

 the daughter of a mean knight ' was 

 alleged as an offence of the earl of 

 Leicester ; Cal. S.P. Dom. Addenda 1580- 

 1625, p. 138. 



^ See note in the Complete Peerage, iii, 72. 



3 In 1583, however, he had been very 

 hostile, writing to Bishop Chaderton that 

 he was 'willing to give in the first blow,' 

 and in a 'secret letter* accusing his 

 father of being lukewarm or hostile. See 

 Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, iv, 24, 3 1 . 



^ He had betrayed Deventer to the king 

 of Spain and raised a regiment of exiles 

 for the Spanish service. 



* It appears from the cal. of State 

 Papers that they had approached him be- 

 fore he came to the earldom. Perhaps 

 his building of the solitary tower at 

 Leasowe (1593) in Cheshire had some- 

 thing to do with these negotiations. 

 Richard Hesketh was a son of Sir Thomas 

 Hesketh of Rufford. 



' A minute account of his sufferings 

 has been preserved, printed in Pennant's 

 Tour to Alston Moor, from the Somen Tracts, 

 and in Baines' Lanes, {cd, Croston), v, 83, 

 from Harl. MS. 247, fol. 204. 



At the time they were put down to poison 

 or witchcraft, and the friends of Hesketh 

 have been accused of avenging his death 

 in this manner. It must be remembered, 

 however, that Queen Elizabeth was speci- 

 ally sensitive in this matter of the succes- 

 sion and that suspected pretenders had 

 very uncertain lives under the Tudors. 

 See Cal. S.P. Dom. 1591-4, p. 545. No one 

 was punished. 



7 'The inquisition taken after the death 

 of Ferdinando is a long and elaborate 

 document, it being necessary to give de- 

 tails of the conditions of tenure and 



descent on account of his heirs being 

 three daughters. It therefore sets forth 

 the grants of Toxteth and Smithdown by 

 Henry VI, renewed by Queen Elizabeth; 

 of Bolton, &c., by Richard III ; of the 

 earldom and the manors of Holland, 

 Bury, &c. by Henry VII; of Wraysholme 

 by the same ; and of Burscough by Queen 

 Elizabeth — all these being to the heirs 

 male. The deed by which Edward the 

 third earl entailed Lathom, Knowsley, 

 and most of the other possessions of the 

 family upon * male issue ' is also given in 

 full ; as also are feoffments made by the 

 second and fourth earls. An elaborate 

 account of the descent is also contained 

 in it, to show that William the sixth earl 

 was the heir male to whom all these 

 manors legally descended. The lordship 

 of Man not being included was claimed 

 by Ferdinando's daughters ; Add. MS. 

 32104, fol. 406, 453, 465-476. See 

 also Chanc. Inq. p.m. 247 (92), 38 Eliz. 

 Their cause was not settled till 1609, 

 when an Act of Pari, was passed deciding 

 the whole matter ; private Acts of 4 Jas. I, 

 and 7 Jas. i- A statement of the case 

 is in Cott. MS. Titus, B. 8, fol. 65. 



8 Halliwell, Pal. Anthologv, 272, 282 ; 

 Stanley P. pt. i, 47, 49. 



' On first coming to the estates, he 

 appears to have been a spendthrift ; he 

 sold Leasowe Tower to the Egertons in 

 1598, paid a gaming debt to William 

 Whitmore by a grant of Neston, and sold 

 Bosley to the Fittons. See Ormerod, 

 Ches. ii, 474, 534, iii, 738. He is men- 

 tioned as hawking and dicing in Asshe- 

 ton's Diary (Chet. Soc), 80. 



1" His body lay at Chester during the 

 Civil-War period, and was ' buried in his 

 own tomb at Ormskirk ' on 30 June, 1662. 



163 



An account of his estates made in 

 1 60 1 gives the rental in Lanes. Westmor- 

 land, Yorks. Cheshire, Somerset, Warwick, 

 Surrey, Essex and Lincoln as follows : 

 — Total in possession ^^2,1 36 155. io%d. 

 in right of lady Elizabeth his wife, ;^56o ; 

 in leases redeemable, £'i.%J ; in reversion 

 after the decease of Alice, countess of 

 Derby (Ferdinando's widow) and Sir 

 Edward Stanley, ,^1,151 14J. gj^/., making 

 a total of j^4,0 35 loj. %^d. beside advow- 

 sons, stewardships and bailiwicks j Cal. of 

 S.P. Dom. 1598-1601, p. 541. 



^^ Pink and Beavan, op, cit. 186, 



^2 She is said to have been descended 

 from one of the Greek emperors. She 

 had come to England in the train of 

 Elizabeth queen of Bohemia, daughter 

 of James I. Denization was granted 

 12 Sept. 1626 ; Rymer, Foed. (Syllabus), 

 ii, 866. 



^ At the latter place he formed ' a well- 

 stocked library' ; his widow recovered in 

 1654. *five pictures and maps in oil with- 

 out frames, 76 pictures in frames, 360 

 books of great volume, and 570 books 

 of lesser volume ' ; Stanley P, pt. iii, 

 p. xxiv. 



In 1630 the duke of Tremouille, Lady 

 Strange' s nephew, visited Knowsley. The 

 chaplain about that time was Dr. Peter du 

 Moulin the younger ; ibid, xxxv, xxxvi. 



^■* For an account of the capture and 

 plunder of the ship Mary, bound from 

 Liverpool to Carrickfergus, by the earl's 

 servants, see Royalist Comp. P. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 131-5 ; and Stanley 

 P. pt. iii, pp. clvi-clviii. 



^^ The earl petitioned to compound on 

 22 Jan. 1648-9 (Royalist Comp. P. ii, 122), 

 and this was apparently allowed him * at a 

 moiety.* 



