A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of the seventeenth century, when the Ogles of Whiston 

 probably acquired the lordship.' 



Their tenure did not continue long. In 1684. 

 Thomas Willis, a merchant of Liverpool, purchased 

 Halsnead and settled there.' He had a son Martin, 

 whose children Thomas' and Daniell* dying without 

 is5ue, Halsnead went to their cousin Thomas, grand- 

 son of William Swettenham of 

 Swettenham, by his wife Bertha, 

 daughter of Thomas Willis.' 

 The heir took the name of 

 Willis, but his son Thomas dying 

 without issue in 1788, another 

 cousin of Daniell Willis, by 

 his mother's side, succeeded. 

 This was Ralph Earle, who took 

 the name of Willis.' He died 

 two years later, when his son 

 Richard came into 

 and held it till his 

 1837. He was suc- 

 hii sons Richard, 



and heir 

 possession 

 death in 

 ceeded 



Willis of Hal- 

 EMKAD. Argent, a feac 

 betvieen three lions ram- 

 pant gulel i a border 



by 



Joseph, and Daniell in turn ; 



the last of these died in 1873, and his son Henry 



Rodolph D'Anyers Willis, in 1902 ; the latter's son 



Richard Atherton D'Anyers Willis, born in 1871, 

 is the present lord of the manors of Whiston and 

 Halsnead.' No courts are held. 



The Athertons of Halsnead occur frequently in the 

 fifteenth century.' 



The freeholders of Whiston in 1600 were John 

 Ogle, James Pemberton of Halsnead, and Peter 

 Wctherby ;' in 1628 they were Henry Ogle, James 

 Pemberton, and George Wetherby.'" According to 

 the hearth-tax list there were in Whiston in 1666 

 eighteen houses of three hearths and more ; the prin- 

 cipal was that of Henry Ogle, with eleven." The 

 ' Papists' estates ' registered in 1 7 1 7 included those 

 of Henry Case, a house and coal mine; William, son 

 of Robert Case ; and William Forrest." The land 

 tax returns of 1787 show that the principal owners 

 there were Thomas Willis of Low Halsnead, the 

 Case trustees, and Thomas Mackin. 



In connexion with the Established Church, 

 St. Nicholas's was built in 1868, succeeding a 

 licensed chapel opened in 1846." There are chapels 

 for the Wesleyan Methodists and the United Free 

 Methodists, erected in 1832 and 1879 respectively. 

 The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists also have a chapel, 

 built in 1890. 



of Halsnead was reckoned among the 

 gentry' io 1512. George Pemberton, who 

 followed, died about 1558 ; hinon James 

 held the manors of Halsnead and Burton- 

 head in 1557-8 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 19, m. 13. 



The Pemberton and Wetherby families 

 had various disputes in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, of which the following summary 

 may be given from the Duchy Pleadings. 

 George Pemberton, being seised of a 

 capital messuage in Whiston called Hal- 

 snead, and of various other messuages and 

 lands in Sutton, Bedford, and Whiston, 

 arranged for the succession by line (PaL 

 of Lane Feet of F. bdle. i 5, m. 84), his 

 wife Isabel to have it after him for her 

 life. But in June, 1554, his son and heir 

 James entered the house, stole certain 

 deeds from a locked chest, and afterwards, 

 with the aid of his wife Alice, Catherine 

 Standish, and other riotous persons, so 

 molested the father that he could not 

 obtain any rents or profits \ Duchy of 

 Lane. Pleadings, Phil, and Mary, xxjciv, 

 P. 4. In a later complaint James Pember- 

 ton, George Wetherby, and Isabel Pem- 

 berton (then a widow), are said to have 

 ousted Hamlet Ditchlield and George 

 Lathom, the father's feoffees ; ibid. Eliz, 

 liv, D. 7. 



George Wetherby, who was in posses- 

 sion in 1566 (Pal. of Lane Feet of F, 

 bdle. 27, B. I "4-), died in or before 1568, 

 leaving as his heir a natural son, Peter 

 Wetherby, aged seven, whose guardian 

 was Matthew Travers ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Pleadings, Eliz. Uxvii, W. 6, Eleven 

 years later James Pemberton and Peter 

 Wetherby being seised of the several 

 capital messuages or manor houses in 

 Halsnead and pasture called * Halsnead 

 Heath,' were disturbed by Thomas Blun- 

 dcU and others, who had casually obtained 

 possession of certain deeds ^ ibid. Eliz. 

 criii, P. 4, A little later Peter Wetherby 

 complained that James Pemberton and 

 James his son and heir withheld an annual 

 rent of 331. 4^. due to him from lands in 

 Halsnead and Whiston occupied by the 

 elder James; ibid. Eliz. cxix, W. 8 5 cxxvii, 

 A. I. This rent had in 1 5 1 1 been sold by 

 James Pemberton and Elizabeth his wife 

 to Richard Molvneui, and was in 1567 



re-sold by John Molyneux to George 

 Wetherby ; Pal. of Lane, Feet of F. bdles. 

 1 1, m. 242 ; 29, m. 144. 



A settlement of lands in Whiston and 

 Halsnead was made in 1585 by James 

 Pemberton and Alice his wife, and James, 

 the son and heir apparent, and Katherine 

 his wife; ibid. bdle. 47, m. 124, 117. 

 The younger James had a son James, 

 whose wife was Margaret ; ibid. bdle. 58, 

 m. 211. 



James Pemberton and George Wether- 

 by, son of Peter, suffered sequestration 

 and forfeiture, under the rule of the Par- 

 liament ; George's son Thomas peti- 

 tioned for restoration in 1653 ; Cal. Com. 

 for Comp. iii, 1952 ; v, 32x3 ; iv, 2861, 

 3142 ; and Indix of Royalists [Index Soc), 

 43, 44. James Pemberton's estates were 

 sold to John FuUerton of London ; he 

 remonstrated against being put in the 

 additional Act for Sale, but in vain, for 

 his sequestration was for recusancy as 

 well as delinquency. Thomas Wetherby' s 

 petition was successful. 



^ Edward Orme, who died at Tarbock 

 I January, 1631-2, held land in Whiston 

 and in Halsnead, in each case of Henry 

 Ogle ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p. m. xxix, 3 8. 

 Edward, his son and heir, was eighteen 

 years of age in 1636. 



^ Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), vi, 72 ; 

 see Burke, Commoners, ii, 374. Thomas 

 Willis's son Martin was reckoned among 

 the gentlemen of Huyton in 1689 ; Ken- 

 yon MSS. 194. Martin married Ellen 

 daughter of William Daniell, originally 

 D'Anyers, of Over Tabley, who had been 

 a colonel in the Parliamentary forces in the 

 Civil War ; his elder son Thomas died in 

 1727 ; the younger, Daniell, lived until 

 1763, having arranged the succession. 

 Their house at Halsnead was called the 

 Red Hall ; Char. Rep, of 1828. A plate 

 of Chester in Browne Willis's Cathe- 

 drals states that it had been given by 

 'Thomas Willis of Wigan, the author's 

 only Willis cousin.* Some letters from 

 this Thomas to the antiquary are printed 

 in Local Gleanings, Lanes, and Cbes. 1, 62, 

 7 1 ; he knew little of his ancestry, but de- 

 sired a confirmation of the arms he used. 



^ In 1728 administration of the estate 

 of Thomas Willis of Liverpool was 



352 



granted to Daniell Willis, brother and 

 next of kin. 



« By his will, 1758, Daniell Willis 

 left his estates in Prescot, Huyton, Stan- 

 dish, Bolton, Ecclcs, Wigan, Wigan 

 Woodhouses, and Ireland, under different 

 limitations, to kinsmen : Thomas Swet- 

 tenham of Swettenham, esq., Roger 

 Mainwaring of Church Minshull, William 

 Heyes son of Robert Heyes (late collector 

 of excise at Northwich) by Elizabeth hit 

 wife ; Willis Martin, only son of Edward 

 Martin of the General Post Office in 

 Dublin ; and Ralph, Thomas, and Wil- 

 liam Earle. The owner of Halsnead was 

 to take the name of Willis. From a 

 note by Mr. W. F. Irvine. 



' Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii, 74. 



" Elizabeth, daughter of William 

 Daniell, had married Ralph Finch of 

 Chester ; their daughter Mary married 

 John Earle of Liverpool, as his second 

 wife, and Roger Earle was their son ^ 

 Tram. Hist, Soc. (New Ser.), vi, 30-39, 72, 

 74. He was a merchant in Liverpool, and 

 mayor in 1769 ; in politics a Whig. 



7 This account of the family has been 

 taken from the paper already quoted in 

 Trant. Hist. Soc. and from Burke's Landed 

 Gentry. 



8 There are several charges against 

 Thomas Atherton of Halsnead the elder, 

 called also the coroner, and Thomas 

 Atherton the younger, for debt, waylaying 

 and defaults, between 1443 and 1446 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea. R. 8, m. 4, &c. 

 Thomas Atherton of Prescot, executor of 

 the will of Edward Atherton, one of the 

 chaplains of St. Stephen's, Westminster, 

 had absolution for contumacy in 1459-60} 

 Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 229^. 



^ Mi:c. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 239, 242. In 1619 George Georgeson 

 alias Dam was found to be holding lands 

 in Whiston of Henry Ogle ; the Irelandi 

 and Bolds were also freeholders ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (same soc), ii, 139. 



10 Norris D. (B.M.). 



" Lay Subs. 250-9. 



" Estcourt and Payne, Eng. Catk. Son- 

 jurors, 120, 121, 119. 



^ For the district sec Lond. Gat:. 

 22 June, 1869. The vicar of Prescot is 

 patron. 



