Ex quibus Numerosa effluxit progenies, Maria, Thomas facultatum et virtutum Paternarum Hæres, By the said Grace, his wife, he left issue seven sons and seven daughters. His sons were, First, Thomas, who succeeded his grandfather. Second, Henry, who died unmarried. Third, Sir Rouland Belasyse, Knight of the Bath, ancestor to the present Viscount Fauconberg. Fourth, William, who died an infant. Fifth, John, who died young; Charles, who also died in his youth; and another William, who likewise died in his ealy days. The daughters were, Mary; Barbara; Grace, married to George Saunderson, Viscount Castleton of Ireland; Frances, to Sir Henry Jones, of Alston in Oxfordshire, Knight; Arabella, the wife of Sir William Frankland, of Thirkelby in Yorkshire, Bart.; Margaret; and another Barbara, successively wedded to Sir Marmaduke Dalton, of Hauxwell in Yorkshire, Knight, and Walter Strickland, Esq. a younger son of Sir Robert Strickland, of Siserge in Westmoreland, Knight. THOMAS, SECOND VISCOUNT FAUCONBERG (successor to his grandfather) married, first Mildred, daughter to Nicholas Saunderson, Viscount Castleton, and she dying without issue by him, he married, secondly, Mary, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, the Usurper, at Hampton-Court, November 18th, 1657. The Earl of Clarendon gives this account of him: " r "After Cromwell was declared Protector, and in great power, he married his daughter to the Lord Fauconberg, the owner of a See an account of her in Noble's Memoirs of the Cromwells. Wood's Fasti Oxon. p. 761. • Hist. of Rebel. fol vol. iii. p. 469. very great estate in Yorkshire, and descended of a family eminently loyal. There were many reasons to believe that this young gentleman, being then about three or four and twenty years of age, of great vigour and ambition, had many good purposes, that he thought that alliance might qualify and enable him to perform. His marriage was celebrated at Whitehall" (Wood has given the time at Hampton-Court) " with all imaginable pomp and lustre. And it was observed, that though it was performed in public, according to the rites and ceremonies then in use, they were presently afterwards in private married by ministers ordained by bishops, and according to the form in the book of Common, Prayer, and this with the privity of Cromwell." t In 1657 he was made one of the council of state; and in June 1658, when Dunkirk was taken from the Spaniards, the French King sent the Duke of Crequi, together with Monsieur Mancini, nephew to Cardinal Mazarine, prime minister, to congratulate Cromwell on it; who, in return of the compliment," sent his son-in-law, the Lord Fauconberg, to Calais, to congratulate the French monarch, for their joint prosperity. This was the only employment the Lord Fauconberg had under the usurper; for, as the noble author before-mentioned relates, "His domestic delights were lessened every day; he plainly discovered that his son Fauconberg's heart was set upon an interest destructive to his, and grew to hate him perfectly." And Whitlock y relates, that Richard, the Protector's son, was betrayed by his near relations, and those of his council. In 1659, he was by the council of state sent to the Tower. That he was in the secret of the restoration of King Charles II. it is evident from General Monk's conferring on him the regiment which was Sir Arthur Haslerig's, a on April 25th, the same day the parliament met that restored the King. b Bishop Burnet writes, " that Cromwell's daughter, married to the Lord Fauconberg, was a wise and worthy woman, more likely to have maintained the post (of Protector) than either of her brothers; according to a saying that went of her, 'That those who wore breeches deserved petticoats better; but if those in petticoats had been in breeches they would have held faster." It t Whitlock, p. 666. Clarendon's Hist of Rebel. p. 502, and Whitlock, p. 674. * Hist of Rebel p. 505. a Ibid p. 701 > Ibid. p. 678. b Hist. of his own Times, p 83. z Whitlock, 2d edit. p. 684. may be presumed, that she was influenced by this Lord, her husband, and (from what has been said) concurred with him in the Restoration. King Charles II. was so well satisfied with his Lordship's conduct, that he constituted him lord-lieutenant of the bishopric of Durham, July 27th, 1660; and the same yeard also made him lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the North Riding of Yorkshire, which he held till 1687, when not complying with the designs of King James II. he was put out of the commission. He was also, by King Charles II. sent ambassador to the State of Venice, and the Princes of Italy; and made captain of the band of gentlemen pensioners, on the surrender of that employment by his uncle John Lord Belasyse, of Worlaby, in 1673. He was likewise one of those sworn of the privy-council on April 21st, 1679, when his Majesty declared he was resolved to lay aside the use he had hitherto made of a single ministry, and to constitute such a privy-council as may not only be fit for the consultation and digestion of all business, but may be best informed in the true constitutions of the state, and thereby the most able to counsel him in all the affairs and interests of this crown and nation. On the accession of King William and Queen Mary, his Lordship was sworn of their privy-council; and on March 28th, 1689, constituted lord-lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire, having, as before-mentioned, been put out of the commission by King James II. And in consideration of his great merits, was advanced to the honour of EARL FAUCONBERG, on April 9, in the first year of their reign. He departed this life, without issue, on December 31st, 1700, and was buried at Cockswold in com. Ebor. where a monument is erected to his memory, with the following inscription: M. S. Thomas Belasyse, Comes Fauconberg, Baro de Yarum, Bill. Sign. 12 Car. 11. Ex Eviden. hujus Fam Pat. 12 Car II. • Temple's Memoirs in Appen. p. 12, Ad publica obeunda munera Vere formatus. Regiæ Pensionarium Cohortis Præfectus Nec inter Anglos solum, apud exteras vero Gentes inclaruit, Graviter satisfecit. Gemino Felix Conjugio; Mildredæ primum, Vice-Comitis de Castleton Filiæ. h Postea Mariæ, Cromwelliorum stirpe, Patre Olivero, Progenitæ, Quam indissolubilis Amor, non ficta Pietas, Ptochotrophio propriis sumptibus extructo, Annuum in perpetuum stipendium legavit. Maturo in Colum secessu tandem consecutus est I am therefore now to treat of SIR ROULAND BELASYSE, who died in the lifetime of his brother the said Earl of Fauconberg. Which Sir Rouland was made one of the Knights of the Bath at the coronation of King Charles II. and departing this life at his seat at Sutton in com. pal. Cest. in the year 1699, was buried at Macclesfield. He married Anne, eldest daughter and sole heir of Humphry Davenport, of Sutton in the county palatine of Chester, Esq. by whom he had issue four sons and two daughters. The said Mary died on March 14th, 1712. First, Thomas, of whom hereafter. Second, Henry, who died unmarried. Third, John, who deceased without issue; and, Fourth, Rouland, married to Frances, daughter of Christopher Roper, Lord Teynham, and sister to Henry Lord Teynham, by whom he had issue two sons, Henry, who died unmarried, October 14th, 1782; and Anthony, father of the present Viscount; and four daughters, Bridget, Frances, Barbara, and Anne. THOMAS, the eldest son of Sir Rouland Belasyse, became VisCOUNT FAUCONBERG in 1700, by the death of his uncle the Earl Fauconberg, with whom the Earldom expired. He married Bridget, daughter of Sir John Gage, of Firle in Sussex, Bart. and coheir to her mother, who was daughter and heir of Thomas Middlemore, of Edgebaston, in the county of Warwick, Esq. by whom he had issue four sons and three daughters. And dying at Brussels November 26th, 1718, was buried at Cockswold in Yorkshire, and his Lady deceased on November 18th, 1732. His eldest son, Thomas, was created Earl Fauconberg. Third, Rouland, died unmarried, April 9th, 1768, æt. sixtyfive, and is buried at St. Pancras, Middlesex; and, Fourth, John, died in his infancy. Mary, the eldest daughter, was married on April 4th, 1721, to John Pitt, Esq. third son of Thomas Pitt, Esq. governor of Fort St. George in the East Indies, and brother to the Earl of Londonderry; Anne and Penelope died unmarried. THOMAS, FIRST EARL FAUCONBERG, of the second creation, born on April 27th, 1699, conforming to the church of England, became one of the lords of the bed-chamber to his late Majesty, and, as such, attended his funeral solemnity, on November 11th, 1760. His Lordship was, by that Prince, advanced to the dignity of EARL FAUCONBERG, of Newborough in Yorkshire, by letters patent dated June 5th, 1756, and was afterwards sworn of the privy-council. On August 5, 1726, his Lordship married Catharine, daughter and heir of John Betham, of Rowington in the county of Warwick, Esq. and coheir to William Fowler, of St. Thomas in the county of Stafford, Esq. and by her, who died on May 30th, 1760, of a fit of apoplexy, in George-street, Hanover-square, he had issue three sons. First, Thomas, who died an infant. |