Lineage. Croxton, Etchells, and many other places in the county of Chester, married a daughter of William Poncius, Count of Arques The family of STANSFELD, of STANSFELD, | Balterley, in the county of Stafford; of in Yorkshire, derives its origin from WYONS MARYONS, a Norman grantee of the Conqueror. That of WOLRICH descends in a direct and Thoulouse, son of Richard II. Duke of line from Ethelred, last king, and first DUKE OF MERCIA, who married ELFLEDA, daughter of Alfred the GREAT, and had a dau. and heir, ELFWINA, who married a nobleman of WESSEX, and was mother of LEOFWINE, Earl and Duke of MERCIA, who married ALWARA, and had issue, Norman, slain at the battle of Assan dun, in Essex, 1016. Edwin, slain in battle, in Wales, 1039. Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who m. the celebrated Lady Godiva, and had issue, Algar, father of Edwin, Earl of Mercia; Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, both of whom died without issue; Aldith, m. first to Griffin, King of Wales, secondly to Harold II. King of England; Lucy, who m. first, Ivo Tailbois, Earl of Anjou, secondly, Roger de Romara, Earl of Lincoln, thirdly, Randle, Earl of Chester. Wolfric gave the manor of Blakeford to Glastonbury Abbey, the town of Marham to Peterborough Abbey, and houses and lands to Shrewsbury Abbey. Uluric Cilt, (the latter appellative denoting royal extraction,) claimed regal privileges at Worksop manor, now the property of the Duke of Norfolk, along with Alveva, Countess of Mercia, his cousin Algar's widow, and others. Domesday Book, vol. i. p. 280. b. Ormerod, in his History of Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 279, supposes the singular favour granted to the two Saxons, Wolfric and Gamel, of retaining the lands of their family, to have been the reward of early subjection or of treachery, but their near relationship to the Conqueror, Wolfric's wife being his first cousin, was the more probable cause of it. Proofs of the connexion exhibited in this pedigree of the Anglo-Saxon with the Norman families at about the time of the Conquest, may be met with in the British Museum; the requisite references are in the possession of the author. Normandy; she was cousin to WILLIAM the Conqueror, and sister to Richard Fitz Pontz. who married the heiress of Clifford Castle, and founded the baronial family of DE CLIFFORD. They had issue, 1. GAMEL DE TETTESWORTH, of the county of Stafford. II. Walthens, Lord of Etchells, Bredbury, and Brinnington, in the county of Chester, the patriarch of many Cheshire families, (see ORMEROD'S Cheshire). Among his direct descendants were the Barons of Stockport, whose last representative was the late Viscountess Bulkeley. From Lidulph de Croxton, his second son, is lineally descended the present Earl of Powis; and his daughter Margery, married Gilbert Venables, Baron of Kinderton, ancestor of the present Archbishop of York, and of Lord Vernon, who is now in possession of that barony. III. Ranulphus, for whose descendants see Ormerod and Harleian MSS. 1174, p. 29. IV. Orme de Davenport. The eldest son, GAMEL, a thane of the king's, Lord of Aldithley, Talk, and Balterley, in the county of Stafford, and of Cedde and Mottram Andrew, in the county of Chester, at the time of the Domesday survey, had issue, ADAM DE ALDITHLEY, whose two sons were the founders of the noble families of AUDLEY and STANLEY, viz. I. LIDULPH. 11. Adam, father of William, Lord of Stanley, in the county of Stafford, who took the name of Stanley, and from whom is descended the present Earl of Derby. LIDULPH, Son and heir, sheriff of Cheshire temp. King STEPHEN, had issue, ADAM, son and heir, living temp. HENRY II. father of HENRY, Lord of Audley, sheriff of Staffordshire, 7 HENRY III. who had issue, 1. James, Lord of AUDLEY, died 1271, leaving issue, 1. James, son and heir, who died 1272, s. p. 2. Nicholas, brother and heir, first BARON AUDLEY, of Heleigh Castle, ancestor of the present baron. RICHARD WOLRYCHE, of Wenlock, who married a daughter of Lenthall, esq. and had a son, JOHN WOLRYCHE, of Wenlock, who married a daughter of Bethe, esq. and had issue, ROGER WOLRYCHE, of Wenlock, who married Margaret, daughter and co-heir of Upton, esq. of Upton, in the county of Salop, and their son and heir, WILLIAM WOLRYCHE, of Wenlocke, m. Margaret, dau. and heir of Hugh de Dodmaston, esq. of Dodmaston, in the county of Salop, living 1398, and had issue, ANDREW WOLRYCHE, esq. of Dudmaston, who married Margaret, sister to Boicus Hampton, esquire of the body to HENRY VI. and had a son and successor, THOMAS WOLRYCHE, esq. of Dudmaston, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Rowley, esq. of Staffordshire, and had issue, 1. HUMPHREY, m. Ellen, daughter of Sir Hugh Pershall, knt. of Knightley, and had issue, 1. ROGER, who m. Katherine, sister of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, s. p. 2. JOHN, ancestor of the WOLRYCHES, baronets, now repre * Several pedigrees in the Harleian MSS. 1174, p. 123 and 158, and in other vols. introduce here an intermediate descent of Robert, married to a daughter of Gray, Marquess of Dorset, but this is not to be found in more authentic pedigrees. sented by Baron Ward. (See BURKE'S History of the Extinct Baronetcies.) 3. Edward, of Dynmore, in the county of Hereford, from whom are descended, JOHN WOOLRYCH, esq. of the Ordnance Office, and HUMPHRY-WILLIAM WOOLRYCH, esq. of Croxley House, in the county of Hertford, both now living. II. WILLIAM. The second son, SIR WILLIAM WOLRICH, knt. of Ludlow, in the county of Salop, came into Suffolk with the Earl of Kent, and married Isabel, daughter and heir of Cullinge, esq. of Wickombroke, in the county of Suffolk, and had a son, JOHN WOLRICH, esq. of Wickombroke, who married Joane. daughter of — Barnes, esq. of Soham, in the county of Cambridge, and had issue, 1. JOHN, his heir, of Cowling and Wickombroke, m. Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Moyning, esq. and had issue, 1. Charles, who m. Honora, daughter of Thomas Wolrich, esq. of Alconbury. 2. Arthur, of Ipswich, who m. a daughter of Wood, esq. of Groby, in the county of Leicester, leaving Robert Wolrich, esq. a bencher of Gray's Inn, who m. a daughter of Mott, esq. and their only child, Sarah Wolrich, m. Sir John Hewley, knt. of York, M.P. and surviving her husband and two children, made over before her death, Hay Park, and other paternal estates in Yorkshire, now yielding about £3000 per annum, to trustees for the benefit of poor and godly preachers of Christ's Holy Gospel." The question as to whether those who profess Unitarian opinions can be considered as such or not, has been the subject of litigation for some years in the Court of Chancery, and is expected to come shortly for ultimate decision before the House of Lords. 3. William Wolrich, m. Anne, daughter of Thomas, second Lord Wharton, of Helaugh Park, in the county of York. 66 11. William, m. Anne, daughter of Poley, esq. of Boxted, in the county of Suffolk, leaving issue, Mary, m. to William Allington, esq. III. Thomas, of Alconbury, in the county of Huntingdon. The third son, THOMAS WOLRICH, esq. of Alconbury, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Wingfield,* K.G. of Kimbolton Castle, in the county of Huntingdon, and left issue, 1. FRANCIS, his heir. II. Christopher, m. Lady Stafford, widow of Sir Humphry Stafford, knt. leaving two daughters. The son and successor, FRANCIS WOLRICH, esq. of Alconbury, married Lore, daughter of Robert Higham, esq. of Branches Park, in the county of Suffolk, and was s. by his son, of Earl Fitzwilliam. He was descended from Wolfaith, Lord of Hatton, in the county of Chester, a grantee of WILLIAM the Conqueror; also through the Holdenbys of Holdenby, in the county of Northampton, (whose estates came by an heiress into the Hatton family,) from the Scottish Bruces, and the Lords Grey de Ruthyn. Sir Toby Wolrich is stated, in an inscription on an ancient monument in Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds, to have, as well as his brother Henry Wolrich, captain of horse to CHARLES I. sacrificed his fortune, and hazarded his life in defence of that monarch and the constitution. His son and heir, HATTON WOLRICH, esq. of Kingston-onThames, married Penelope, widow of Dale, and d. leaving an only child, THOMAS WOLRICH, esq. of Alconbury, who married Frances, daughter of William Wickham, Bishop of Winchester, by Antonina, daughter of William Barlow, Bishop of Chichester, and sister of Anne, wife of PENELOPE - HATTON WOLRICH, married Herbert Westphaling, Bishop of Hereford; Toby, eldest son of Thomas Wolrich, vicar Elizabeth, wife of William Day, Bishop of of Brotherton, in the county of York, who Winchester; Margaret, wife of William was eldest son of the above mentioned Capt. Overton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry; Henry Wolrich, and father of Thomas Woland Frances, married first, to Matthew, son rich, esq. of Leeds, who was brought up by of Måtthew Parker, Archbishop of Canter- Lady Hewley, in the expectation of inhebury; secondly, to Toby Matthew, Archbi-riting her property, some part of which she shop of York. Mr. Wolrich left a son and successor, SIR TOBY WOLRICH, knt. LL.D. of Bishopsbourne, in the county of Kent, and Cowling, in the county of Suffolk, who married Jane, daughter, and at length heir, of Sir Robert Hatton, knt. M.P. by Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Legh, knt. of Baggiley, in the county of Chester. Sir Robert Hatton was brother of Sir Thomas Hatton, bart. and of Sir Christopher Hatton, K.B. father of Lord Hatton, and ancestor of George Finch Hatton, Earl of Winchilsea, and Second cousin of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, grandfather by Mary, sister of HENRY VIII. and widow of Louis XII. King of France, of Lady Jane Grey. Sir Richard Wingfield was great-grandson of Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, (great-grandson of Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, son of HENRY III.) by Elizabeth daughter of William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, grandson of EDWARD I. He married first, Catherine, (sister of Elizabeth Widvile, queen of EDWARD IV.) widow of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, and of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, but by her had no issue. By his second wife, Bridget, daughter and heir of Sir John Wiltshire, knt. of Stone Castle, in the county of Kent, he had the above named Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Wolrich. Sir Richard Wingfield was nearly allied in blood to the Sidneys, from whom Sir Philip and Algernon Sidney, as well as to Lady Jane Grey, thus bequeathing to his descendants the honour of consanguinity with individuals who were rendered more illustrious by their talents and their virtues, than by their high birth. He was chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and died at Madrid whilst ambassador at the court of Spain. did indeed bequeath to him. She left issue, THOMAS WOLRICH, esq. of Armley House, in the county of York, who m. Peggy, daughter of Samuel Hamer, esq. of Hamer, in the county of Lancaster, by Mary, sister of Sir Henry Ibbetson, bart. and of Samuel Ibbetson, esq. of Denton Park, whose only daughter and heir married Admiral Edward Vernon, Earl of Shipbroke. He left an only daughter and heir, SARAH WOLRICH, m. to David Stansfeld, esq. of Leeds, who was seized of the manor of Armley in 1791, and died in November, 1818, having had issue, I. THOMAS-WOLRICH STANSFELD, son and heir. II. George, of New Laithes Grange, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, m. Anna, daughter of Richard Micklethwaite, esq. and died in 1834, leaving George Micklethwaite, David, Richard, Sarah-Ellen, and Mary. III. William, of Manor House, near Flock ton, Yorkshire, m. Margaret, daugh- IV. David, who was lost at sea in 1810. Warwick, and has Thomas-Wolrich VIII. Henry, of Burley, Yorkshire, d. IX. Hamer, of Burley House, a magis- 1. Peggy, m. to James Bischoff, esq. Having issue, Edward, Arthur, Marian, Elea- co-heir of Hatton Wolrich, esq. of Posternewton, nor, and Margaret Towgood. The last surving descendant of Sir William Wolrich, born of the name, is Mary, daughter and and relict of Maurice Logan, esq. M.D. now living at Seacroft Lodge, in Yorkshire. Her father was the younger brother of the abovementioned Thomas, of Armley House. WOODFORDE, OF ANSFORD HOUSE. WOODFORDE, WILLIAM, esq. of Ansford House in the county of Somerset, b. 4th May, 1758, m. 16th November, 1790, Anne, only surviving child of George Dukes, esq. of Galhampton, in the same county, and by her, who died 10th February, 1829, aged fifty-five, has issue, 1. WILLIAM, M.D. b. at Galhampton House, 22nd January, 1792, now residing at Fredericton, New Brunswick, North America; he entered the army as a medical man at an early period, was at the siege of Badajos, and several important battles in the Peninsula, afterwards with the 104th regiment in America, in the memorable campaigns in Canada, and lastly in the 1st rifle brigade. Hem. Lucy Ann, youngest daughter of Edward Miller,* esq. colonel in the British service in the first American war, by Hannah, his wife, sister of Judge Winslow, and has issue, This gentleman was in the navy in the first American war, in the same fleet with his majesty, WILLIAM IV., and at the taking of the largest vessel in the American service, the South Carolina, and several other engagements; he also cruized in the Colonel Miller was a zealous and distinguished loyalist; he built at his own expense, and defended Fort Miller on the Hudson, north seas after the celebrated pirate, Paul Jones: at the termination of the war in 1784 he left the navy, and resided at Galhampton House; in 1804 he raised the first corps of volunteer infantry in the county of Somerset, and was lieut.-col.-commandant of the regiment when it became the East Somerset regiment of local militia. Lineage. This family came into England with WILLIAM the Conqueror, but the first regular record now in possession of the family is the "Bibliotheca Typographica Britannica, Registrum Cartarum de omnibus Maneris Terris, &c. Johanni de Woodforde olim de Ashby Folvile in Comitatu Leicester, Armigero Spectantibus;" from a MS. in the British Museum, (Claudius A 13,) on which is written, Ex dono Samuelis de Heanome com. Derb. arm. Brantingby. “Here beginneth a true register copied out of fines and deeds sealed in wax, how that old John of Woodford, the age or that he passed out of this world was fivescore years and seven, and he was a gentleman's son beside Salisbury, and came into Melton Mowbray, and wedded the daughter of Sir Walter Prest, or Preston, and his heir, and he purchased divers lifeholds, in Melton aforesaid, and in Brentingby Burton Sancti Lazari, Thorp Arnold and Wyverdby, as it appeareth and sheweth in this true register that followeth the said purchases by fine and deed. First is for to wit how the aforesaid John of Woodforde purchased the manor of Brentingby, of a knight called Sir John Nevill, the which Sir John Nevill and his ancestors were possessed in the said manor lineally time out of mind; he bore arms, sable the field and three fleurs de luce ar About this time lived William de Woodford, kinsman of the aforesaid John de Woodford, abbot of the celebrated monastery of Peterburgh in Northampton of the Benedictine order, a person of good parts and great diligence, two years before his election, he was coadjutor to his predecessor, in whose time he distinguished himself by his eloquence, pleading before the judge of assize at Northampton in a suit at law with Gilbert, Earl of Clare, for the manor of Biggin near Oundle. He added to the buildings, and gave Suthorp Manor to the monastery, and dying in the fourth year of his office, was buried near the choir in the south aisle of the church in 1299: the monks proceeded to another election. The manor of Suthorp was purchased by William de Woodford, when sacrist, which he assigned after he was elected abbot to the sacristan's office.-Vide Bridge's History of Northampton; M.S. Cott. Vesp. xi. Fo. 14. 6. &c. "The manor of Eastwell, in the hundred of Framland, in the county of Leicester, was for many hundred years, the inheritance and chief seat of the family of Brabazon, who bore gules on a bend or, three martlets sable, of which house was Sir Roger Brabazon, one of the judges of the Common Pleas in the reign of King EDWARD I. It gent, returned into three leopards' heads gules, and in this said coat of armour was the said John of Woodforde with King Edward at the getting of Calais, and at the taking of the King of France at the battle of Poictiers,-and the said John of Woodforde was nine years blind or ever he passed out of this world, he lies buried at ThorpArnold near Melton, on whose soul, Almighty God, have mercy and pity. Amen." This SIR JOHN DE WOODFORDE, who was born in the 10th HENRY III., 1226, and died 1333, aged one hundred and seven, was of Wyfordby, Brentingby, and Thorpe Arnold, in the county of Leicester. He m. Alice, daughter and heir of Sir Walter Preste, (or Preston), of Melton Mowbray, and Burton Lazars, and had two sons, WALTER, who d. s. p. and SIR WILLIAM DE WOODFORDE, Sergeant-atlaw, (heir to his brother), who m. Janetta, or Joan, daughter and heir of Sir John Brabazon, knt. of Eastwell,† and Sproxton, and was father of SIR JOHN DE WOODFORD, kut. who was ward of the Black Prince. He m. Maud, or Mabella, daughter and heir of Geoffrey de Folville, or Folvile, of Ashby Folvile, and Newbolt Folvile, in the county of Leicester, and had a son and successor, SIR ROBERT WOODFORDE, one of the war is now the inheritance of Edward, Lord Brabazon, Baron of Ardee, in Ireland by lineal descent from his ancestors. "The manor of Sproxton, in the hundred of Framland, was the inheritance of Sir John de Sproxton, knt. in the time of HENRY III. Sir Roger Brabazon, one of the judges of the Common Pleas, in the time of King EDWARD I. son of Sir Roger de Brabazon, m. Beatrix, daughter and heiress of this Sir John Sproxton, knt. who by her had issue, William Brabazon, who m. Janet, daughter of William Trussel, who by her had issue, John Brabazon, who m. Agnes, daughter of Richard Whatton, who by her had issue, Joan, sole daughter and heiress, m. to William Woodforde, lord of this manor in right of his wife, whose descent I have set down in Ashby Folvile."-Vide BURTON'S History of Leicestershire, p. 248. A very curious gold ring on which is engraved the arms of the Folvile family, (party per fess. argent and or, a cross moline gules), has been preserved "time out of mind," in the Woodforde family, and is now in the possession of Col. William Woodforde, of Ansford, its present representative. |