2, John, son of Robert, living 1612, married daughter of by whom he had two sons, William, his successor, and John of Lascells-Hall, who married Eleanor, daughter of Richard Lewis, of Marr, in Yorkshire, Esq. by whom he had, William Ramsden, of Lascells-Hall, who married Mary, daughter of Thomas Waterton, of Walton, and had issue, but they all died young; so that his estate came to be divided amongst his sisters and coleirs; Mary, wife, first of Henry Grice, of Sandall, Esq.; secondly, of Sir Thomas Smith, of Nottinghamshire, Knt.; Ellen, first, of Tirringham; and secondly, of Henry Portington; Anne, of Marmaduke Wilson; Jane, first, of Leonard Wray, of Cusworth; secondly, of Roger Portington, of Barnby Dun; Elizabeth, of Thomas Wray; and, Grace, of Robert Portington. John, beforementioned, (the father of Wil liam, living 1612,) had also two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of Edward Beaumont, of Whitly-Hall, Esq. and Anne, of Samuel Saltonstall.

3, William Ramsden, Esq. eldest son and heir, married Rosamund, daughter of Thomas Pilkington, of Bradley, in Yorkshire, Esq. by whom he had two sons and three daughters: Sir John, William, Catherine, wife of William Pudsey, of Bolton, in Craven; Rosamund, of Richard Holland, of Heaton, near Manchester, in Lancashire, Esq.; and -, of Sir Christopher Wandesford, Bart.

4, Sir John Ramsden, of Byrom, and Longley, in Yorkshire, Knt. eldest son and heir, was colonel of a regiment, temp. Car. I. and sheriff of Yorkshire, 13 Car. I. and married, first, Margaret, daughter of Sir Peter Frecheville, of Stavely, in Derbyshire, Knt. (afterwards Lord Frechville,) by whom he left two sons: William, and John, who died unmarried; his second wife was, Anne, daughter and heiress of Lawrence Overton, of London, relict of George Chamberlaine, of London, and of alderman Poole, of London, by whom he had no issue. This Sir John, died in Newark castle in the service of King Charles I.

5, William, the eldest son of Sir John, married daughter of George Palmes, of Lindley, in Yorkshire, Esq. by whom he had three sons, John, Frechville, and Peter; and five daughters: 1, Brown, first, wife of Sir George Dalston, of Heath, in Yorkshire, Bart. secondly, of Edward Andrews, of Westminster, Esq. and after his death, of Sir Richard Fisher, of Islington, in Middlesex, Bart. (she died March 15, 1739-40;) 2, Margaret, of Sir John Dalston, of Heath, Bart.; 3, Frances, the wife of Charles, Duke of Bolton, by whom he had Charles and Harry, successively Dukes of Bolton; 4, Mary, of Thomas Wilkinson, of Kirkbridge, in Yorkshire, Esq.; 5, Elizabeth, of John Anderson, Esq. Frechville, and Peter, both died unmarried.

I. Sir JOHN RAMSDEN, his only surviving son, was created a Baronet by King William; he married Sarah, only daughter and heiress of Charles Butler, of Coates, in the county of Lincoln, Esq. by whom he had eight sons: Sir William, his successor; James, commissioner of the wine-licence office, who died Oct. 1770; William died at York, Nov. 16, 1770, the others died unmarried, except,

II. Sir WILLIAM RAMSDEN, Bart. who married Elizabeth, the second daughter of John, Viscount Lonsdale, who died his widow, in 1775, by whom he had six sons, and five daughters; of which, Catherine, the eldest, was wife of Sir

William Lowther, of Swillington, in Yorkshire, Bart. Sir William, dying June, 1736, was succeeded in dignity and estate, by his eldest son,

III. Sir JOHN RAMSDEN, Bart. who represented the borough of Appleby, in Westmoreland; he married Mary, only daughter of Thomas Liddel Bright, of Badsworth, in Yorkshire, Esq. and widow of Charles, Marquis of Rockingham, by whom, who died 1780, he had one son, Sir John, the present Baronet, and a daughter, -, wife, Feb. 11, 1774, of Thomas Reynold, Lord Ducie. Sir John died 1769, and was succeeded by his son,

IV. Sir JOHN RAMSDEN, the present Bart.

ARMS-Argent, on a cheveron, between three fleur de lis, sable, three rams heads, erased, of the first.

CREST-On a wreath, an armed arm, couped at the elbow, and erect, proper, holding in the gauntlet a fleur de lis, sable. SEAT-At Byrom, in Yorkshire.

212. LEIGHTON, of WATLESBOROUGH, Shropshire.

Created Baronet, March 2, 1692.

THIS family was in England long before the Norman conquest, and of noble extraction, as appears by Doomsday-book, wherein it is found, Anschitel, tenuit humum Comite de Leton, &c. (one of the old ways of spelling this name) which, without doubt, was the reason why Camden stiles them, Nobilem, & Equestrem Familiam; in his Britannia.

Sir Titus de Leighton, Knight of the sepulchre, son and heir of Cuthbert, and grandson and heir of Totilus de Leighton, was one of those who went to the wars in the Holy Land, and at his return was a co-founder of the abbey of Buldewas, Shropshire, of which mention is made in some old manuscripts, wrote by Roger and John Challingworth.

William Fitz-Allan, soon after the conquest, re-conveyed the manor of Leighton, to Sir Richard de Leighton, Knt. † son and heir of Sir Titus, in as full and ample manner, as the said Sir Richard's ancestors had before conveyed it to the ancestors of the said Fitz-Allan; and out of this his manor, which is situate very near the abbey of Buldewas, Sir Richard gave lands to that abbey, as appears by his grant without date, inserted in Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, prior to that, in which King Stephen confirmed the said abbey.

Sir Titus, Sir William,* and Sir Richard de Leighton, severally succeeded; the two last of which are mentioned as witnesses to some donations of land to the abbey of Hagmond; and this Sir Richard, levied a fine of lands in Cheshire to the abbot of Cumbermere, in which he acknowledges them to be the right of the said abbot. Some of the heirs and successors of these knights, highly advanced the reputation, interest, and fortune of their family, by their civil and military employments, in the service of their kings and country; of which John Leighton, in the reign of King Edward III. is a particular instance, † who had several pensions granted to him by that King, for the good and faithful services he had done for him, and the prince his son, as they, and others did by ther marriages, both with the daughters of the noble families of Le Brun, Butler, L'Estrange, Devereux, Sutton, and Gerard, and with the daughters and heirs, or coheirs, of the ancient families of Warren, Cambray, § Drake, Cornwall, and Stapleton, a family descended from the Earls of Chester, and Kings of France and Arragon, from whom they had divers manors and estates of great value, not only in Shropshire, where they lived, but also in the several counties of Cornwall, Gloucester, Wilts, and Somerset: with which they flourished for some ages, being persons of great distinction. They also intermarried with the families of Lacy, Pilhard, Standford, Pygot, Darrell, Deverreux, of Castle-Bromwich, and Stephens.

The castles and manors of Watlesborough and Alberbury, now in possession of the family, came to them, among other estates, upon the marriage of John Leighton, of Stretton, (who was thrice high-sheriff in Shropshire, in the reign of Edward IV.) with Anchoret, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Burgh, || Jane, his wife, daughter and heiress of Sir William Clopton, of Gloucestershire; he was son and heir of Sir Hugh Burgh, treasurer of England, who was descended from Hubert de Burgh, the famous politician, in the reign of Henry III. who married a daughter of William, King of Scotland. Sir Hugh Burgh, married daughter and heiress of John, Lord Mouthwy, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Foulk Corbet, of Morton Corbet, in Shropshire, and was son

Many of the ancestors of this family were interred in the abbey of Buldewas, upon the demolishing of which abbey, two ancient monuments, or tomb-stones, were removed, for their preservation, into Leighton church; one is in memory of Sir William Leighton, and his wife; and the other, in memory of Sir Titus the portraiture of the last is in armour, with his sword by his side, and his coat of arms on his left arm, in a shield, with a lion couchant at his feet. Ex inf. Dom. Edw. Leighton, Bar. 1741. † Ibid. Ibid.

§ Upon the marriage of John Leighton, with the coheiress of Cambray, in the reign of King Edward III. he took up his residence at Church-Stretton, in which church several generations of this family lie interred in a chancel there, called Leighton's chancel to this day; there are several inscriptions wrote on marble stones, in memory of several of them; but being wrote in an old Saxon character, and much wore, none of them are perfectly legible. Ex inf. Dom. Edw. Leighton, Bar.

Upon the marriage of John Leighton, with the daughter and coheiress of Sir John Burgh, in the reign of Hen. VI. this family again changed their seat, and came to Watlesborough, where Sir Edward Leighton, the first Baronet, departed this life, and was interred in a chapel of his own, in the parish church of Alberbury, among nine generations of his ancestors; but there are no monuments erected to the memory of any of them; there is only one monument erected by himself, on his first lady, the daughter of Sir Job Charlton. Ex inf. ibid. 1741.

and heir of William, Lord Mouthwy, who was lineally descended, in the male line, from Blethyn ap Convyn, King of Powys, and, in the female line, from Gruffith ap Conan, King of North-Wales, Owen ap Edwin, Prince of Tegengle; the Princes of South-Wales, the Princes of Lower Powys, the Lords of Arustly, and the Lords of Dyffryn Cluyd. Which Lord Mouthwy married, daughter and coheiress of Thomas ap Llewelyn, who married daughter and heiress of Philip ap Ivor, Lord of Iscoed, who married —, daughter and sole heiress of Llewelyn ap Gruffith, the last Prince of Wales: she (the wife of William, Lord Mouthwy) was lineally descended, in the male line, from Rees ap Theodore, King of South Wales, who married, daughter and heiress of Riwallon ap Convyn, Prince of Powys; and in the female line, from the Lords of Brecknock, the Lords of Cedewen, Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, Prince of Wales, Reynold, King of Man, Simon Mountford, Earl of Leicester, who married Eleonora, daughter of K. John, and Henry, Earl of Barr, who married Eleonora, daughter of K. Edw I.; so that this family, by the coheiress of Burgh, derive their descent from a great number of British and English nobility; by two marriages, from the royal family of England, by one, from the royal family of Scotland, and by several, from Roderic the Great, King of Wales, the original of whose genealogy is from those ancient British Kings and Princes who first possessed this island. And by this marriage, it is thought the heir of this family may claim a right to some baronies that lie dormant between him and the Earl of Bradford and Richard Mytton, of Hulston, in Shropshire, Esq. whose ancestors married the other coheiress.

This John Leighton, Esq. had two brothers, Sir Cuthbert Leighton, Knight of the order of St. John, of Jerusalem, who had a particular pension allowed him by act of parliament, at the dissolution of the monasteries, temp. Hen. VIII.; and Edward, who married the daughter of Thomas Hopton, from whom the Leightons, of Coats, in Shropshire, a very numerous family, were descended.

2, Sir Thomas Leighton, son and heir of John, and Anchoret, among others, was attainted, temp. Richard III. for espousing the interest of the Earl of Richmond, to whom he was collaterally allied, by the marriage of one of the Earl's ancestors, with the other coheiress of Tho. ap Llewelyn above mentioned, upon whose accession to the crown the attainder was taken off, and a pardon granted to him: he was knight of the body to that king, and one of the chief commanders in the army sent over to France in the beginning of that reign, along with the Lord Brooke, in aid of the Duke of Britain, against the French king. He was again in the wars of France, with King Henry VIII. where he had the honour of being made knightbanneret under the King's own banner, displayed in the royal army, his majesty being present, for his conduct and bravery at the battle of Spurs, and taking of Tournay, and had estates granted in several counties for his life, in consideration of the services he had performed, both for King Henry VII. and King Henry VIII. in both which reigns he served in parliament as knight of the shire for the county of Salop, as divers of his ancestors had done in other reigns, for which, see the Parliament Rolls. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Walter, Lord Ferrers, of Chart

VOL. III.

Ex inf. Dom. Ed. Leighton, Bar. 1741.

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