Lady Alice Davenport

• Alice Davenport
• F, #73588, b. circa 1526
• Father Thomas Davenport b. c 1497
• Mother Elizabeth Fitton b. c 1507
• Alice Davenport was born circa 1526 at of Henbury, Cheshire, England. She married George Beeston, son of John Beeston and Katherine Calveley, circa 1535. Alice Davenport was buried on 9 April 1591 at Bunbury Church, Cheshire, England.
• Family George Beeston b. 12 Sep 1502
• Child
  • Dorothy Beeston+ b. c 1544
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2449.htm#... ______________________
• BEESTON, Sir George (c.1520-1601), of Beeston, Cheshire.
• b. c.1520, 1st s. of John Beeston by Katherine, da. of Sir George Calverley of the Lea, Cheshire. m. (1) Alice (d.1591) da. of Thomas Davenport of Henbury, 2s. inc. Hugh 2da.; (2) a da. of George Ireland of the Hutt, Lancs., s.p.; (3) Mary, da. of James Chetwode, wid. of one Dorington, s.p. suc. fa. 1542. Kntd. 1588.1
• Offices Held
  • Gent. pens. by 1547-at least 1589; ranger of Delamere forest, Cheshire 1562; j.p. Cheshire from c.1573, j.p.q. Chester by 1594.2
• According to Ormerod, this Member’s memorial states that he was 102 when he died in 1601, causing biographers to comment on his fighting against the Armada at the age of 89. More prosaically, his father’s inquisition post mortem shows that he was 22 when he succeeded to the family estates in 1542. He was a considerable landowner in Cheshire, and held leases in Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire. The first mention of Beeston after he became head of the family is dated 1548, and is concerned with the siege of Boulogne and his distinguishing himself at the battle of Musselborough. His name is to be found on all the surviving lists of gentlemen pensioners from Mary’s reign, and he ‘went not with the Duke of Northumberland’ in August 1553. In Elizabeth’s reign he was a courtier, a note on a 1587 list of justices of the peace describing him as one who ‘lyeth at the court altogether’. Still, the records show him sometimes fighting at sea. In September 1562 he was one of the captains ordered to ‘keep the Narrow Seas’, and later he commanded the Dreadnought with distinction. About 1576 he was in charge of the shore defences at Gravesend.3
• Like other Elizabethan gentlemen, Beeston seems to have exercised his combative instincts in local faction as well as in his country’s service. In 1574 he, his son Hugh, Lancelot Bostock and others were accused in the Star Chamber of assaulting a certain John Pryce. Giving evidence on Beeston’s behalf, his relative (Sir) George Calverley described him as ‘one of her Majesty’s gentlemen pensioners, of good desert and service to her highness, and of like worship and countenance in his county’.4
• It was when he was an elderly man that Beeston reached the height of his career: in February 1588, at Queenborough, he commanded the four ‘great ships’ that were to sail with Charles Howard I, 2nd Lord Howard of Effingham, and after the Armada battle he was knighted by Howard on board the Ark Royal. In the following April he again held a command at sea.5
• He died 13 Sept. 1601, and was buried at Bunbury, near Beeston. The heir, Hugh, was aged 56.6
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/be... _________________
• Sir George Beeston
• Birth: 1501 Beeston, Cheshire, England
• Death: unknown Beeston, Cheshire, England
• Born, married and died at Beeston. Sir Knight, a soldier and sailor. He fought against the Spanish Armada and was knighted at sea. Son of John & Katherine Calveley Beeston. His wife was Alice Davenport. Her grave has not been located to date.
• Burial: St Boniface Churchyard, Bunbury, Cheshire East Unitary Authority, Cheshire, England
• Find A Grave Memorial# 48883504
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=beeston&GSfn=... _________________________
• St Boniface's Church stands prominently in the village of Bunbury, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.[1] The church dates mainly from the 14th century. Its features include the Ridley chapel, the alabaster chest tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley and the tomb of Sir George Beeston. Richards considers it is architecturally one of the most important examples of its period in Cheshire.[2] Alec Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches.[3] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with that of St Jude, Tilstone Fearnall.[4]
• .... etc.
• Monuments
• Sir Hugh Calveley (d.1394)
• Sir George Beeston (d.1601)
• In the north wall of the sanctuary is the tomb of Sir George Beeston who was the commander of Dreadnought when it fought against the Spanish Armada. At this time he was aged 88, and he died at the age of 102.[10] The Latin inscription is as follows, translated into English:[11]
  • "Here lies buried George Beeston, knight, a promoter of valour and truth; having been brought up from his youth in the arts of war he was chosen one of his company of pensioners by the invincible King Henry the Eighth, when he besieged Boulogne [1544]; he merited [the same] under Edward the Sixth in the battle against the Scots at Musselburgh [1547]. Afterwards under the same King, under Mary, and under Elizabeth, in the naval engagements as captain or vice-captain of the fleet, by whom, after that most mighty Spanish fleet of 1588, had been vanquished, he was honoured with the order of knighthood; and now, his years pressing heavily on him, when he had admirably approved his integrity to princes, and his bravery to his adversaries, acceptable to God, and dear to good men, and long expecting Christ, in the year 1601 and in the ... of his age, he fell asleep in Him, so that he may rise again in Him with joy. And together with him rests a most beloved wife, Alice, daughter of [Thomas] Davenport of Henbury, esquire, a matron most holy, chaste, and liberal to the poor, who, when she had lived in matrimony 66 years, and had borne to her husband three sons, John, Hugh, and Hugh, and as many daughters, Ann, Jane, and Dorothy, passed into the heavenly country in the year 1591 and in the [refer below] year of her age, with Christ for ever to live. The dutifulness of their son Hugh Beeston, esquire, the younger, Receiver General of all the revenues of the Crown as well as in the county palatine of Chester as in the counties of North Wales, set up this monument to parents most excellent and beloved."
• His daughter Dorothy (d.29 July 1601) became the wife of John Copleston Esq. (d.1606), of Eggesford, Devon, and their sole daughter Anne Copleston (1588-1616) married Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester (1568-1648) Governor of Carrickfergus and Lord High Admiral of Lough Neagh, in Ireland.[12] Under the semi-circular tomb arch and above Sir George Beeston's effigy in armour a further inscription, when translated, reads:
  • "Hugh Beeston, knight, son of George Beeston, knight, mindful of mortality, and in certain hope of rising again in Christ, placed this monument to his parents, himself, and George Beeston an only son, of the same knightly order, a youth, alas! snatched away by a too early death. Hugh, the father, died in the year of our salvation, 1627, but George, the son, 1611."
• .... etc.
• From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Boniface%27s_Church,_Bunbury __________________________
• Sir Hugh Beeston (ca. 1547 – February 1626) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1614.
• Beeston was the second son of Sir George Beeston of Beeston and his first wife. Sir George baptised both his two eldest sons Hugh which leads to confusion. Hugh Beeston was awarded BA at Oxford University in 1563 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1565. This is taken to be the younger Hugh who was deputy comptroller for Cheshire and Flintshire in 1585 and in 1589. It is likely that he was also the Member of Parliament for several constituencies that were open to court influence. In 1589, he was elected Member of Parliament for Bodmin. He was J.P. for Cheshire from about 1592. In 1593 he was elected MP for West Looe in 1593.[1]
• .... etc.
• From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Beeston ____________________
• Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester (1568 – 8 July 1648) of Eggesford in Devon, was Governor of Carrickfergus and Lord High Admiral of Lough Neagh, in Ireland.
• .... etc.
• Edward Chichester married twice:
• Firstly in 1605 to Anne Copleston (1588–1616), the sole daughter and heiress of John Copleston Esq., (died 1606) of Eggesford by his wife Dorothy Biston (died 29 July 1601).[4] They had the following .... etc.
• On the wall to the right above the monument is a black stone tablet inscribed as a memorial to Anne Copleston's parents:
  • "Here lyeth buried ye bodies of John Copleston Esq., & Dorothie his wife daughter to Sr. George Biston of Biston Castel in Chelshere, knight. They had issue Anne their sole daught. & heire who is now maryed to Edwarde Chichester Esq., one of ye sonnes of Sr. John Chichester of Rawleigh, knight, in whose memory the said Edwarde Chichester their son in law hath erected this monument in ye yere 1614. She departed ye 29 of July in ye yere 1601 he departed ye 11 of ... in ye yere 1606, living together 30 yeres in much peace w.th God & lovinge societie e.ch w.th other".
• Sir George Beeston (c. 1520 – 1601) of Beeston House near Bunbury, Crewe, Cheshire, acquired Beeston Castle from the Crown shortly before his death. He was a naval captain who commanded HMS Dreadnought against the Spanish Armada in 1588, and was knighted at sea on board the Ark Royal by Lord Howard of Effingham the Lord High Admiral. He served as MP for Cheshire in 1589. His wife, and Dorothy's mother, was Alice Davenport (died 1591), daughter of Thomas Davenport Esq., of Henbury. Sir George's effigy and elaborate monument exists against the north wall of the sanctuary in St Boniface's Church, Bunbury.[15]
• From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Chichester,_1st_Viscount_Chich... ____________________
• BEESTON, Hugh (c.1547-1626), of Denbighshire and Beeston, Cheshire.
• b. c.1547, prob. 2nd s. of Sir George Beeston of Beeston by his 1st w. educ. ?BA Oxf. 1563; L. Inn 1565. m. Margaret, da. of Roger Downes, wid. of Philip Worth of Titherington, 2s. d.v.p. 1da. Kntd. 1603; suc. bro. 1608.
• Offices Held
  • Dep. comptroller, Cheshire, Flints. 1585, comptroller 1589; receiver gen. of the revenue in the Exchequer for Cheshire and N. Wales by Apr. 1595; j.p. Cheshire from c.1592, Denb. 1596.
• Sir George Beeston’s two eldest sons, born within two years of each other, were both christened Hugh, and until 1603, when the younger was knighted, it is difficult to distinguish their careers. There is no evidence as to which brother was educated at Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn. On the whole it is more likely that Hugh the younger, who was certainly the receiver general, was also the Member of Parliament for so many constituencies open to court influence. As an Exchequer official he was in touch with Burghley, and became a close friend of Sir Robert Cecil—connexions which probably secured him the seats at Bodmin and West Looe, and almost certainly at Knaresborough: Cecil had become chancellor of the duchy barely a fortnight before the Knaresborough election. Again, it was presumably Cecil who asked his brother-in-law the 11th Lord Cobham, lord warden of the Cinque Ports, to nominate Beeston at Winchelsea. His elder brother joined him once, sitting for Stafford in 1604 until his death in 1608.
• .... etc.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/be... ____________________
• BEESTON, Hugh (c.1545-1608), of Beeston, Cheshire and Stafford, Staffs.
• b. c.1545, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir George Beeston† of Beeston and his 1st w. Alice, da. of Thomas Davenport of Henbury, Cheshire; bro. of Sir Hugh*. m. (1) Thomasine, da. of John Copleston of Eggesford, Devon, 2s. d.v.p.; (2) 7 May 1579, Margaret (bur. 21 Jan. 1595), da. of Thomas Ireland of The Hutt, Halewood, Lancs., wid. of John Aston of Aston, Cheshire, s.p.; (3) Margaret (bur. Apr. 1612), da. of James Chetwode of Worleston, Cheshire, wid. of Richard Dorington (d.1597), mercer, of Stafford, s.p.; 1 illegit. s. suc. fa. 1601, aged 56+.1 d. 3 May 1608.2
• Offices Held
  • J.p. Cheshire c.1592-d.;3 commr. charitable uses, Staffs. 1599;4 bailiff (jt.), Stafford 1600-1, capital burgess 1605-d.5
• The Beestons had been seated in the Cheshire village from which they took their name since at least the thirteenth century. Beeston’s father, a courtier, soldier and naval commander, was knighted on board the Ark Royal after the defeat of the Armada, and was returned for Cheshire in the following year. Beeston himself preferred a quieter life with his hawks, although it may have been he rather than his more ambitious brother who fought in Ireland, where their father was an undertaker.6 He settled in Stafford in the late 1590s after his third marriage to a widow .... etc.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/be... ___________
• BEESTON, Sir Hugh (c.1547-1627), of Plas Cadwgan, Denb.; later of Beeston, Cheshire
• b. c.1547, 3rd but 2nd surv. s. of Sir George Beeston† (d.1601) of Beeston and his 1st w. Alice, da. of Thomas Davenport of Henbury, Cheshire; bro. of Hugh*.1 educ. Oxf. BA 1563; L. Inn 1565.2 m. by 1583, Margaret (bur. 25 Mar. 1615), da. of Laurence Downes of Shrigley, Cheshire, wid. of Philip Worth of Tytherington, Cheshire, 2s. d.v.p. 1da. kntd. 7 May 1603; suc. bro. 1608. d. 24 Feb. 1627.3
• Offices Held
  • Dep. comptroller of records and fines, Cheshire, Flints. and Caern. 1585-9, comptroller 1589-1625;4 j.p. Denb. 1592-at least 1612, Cheshire by 1604-at least 1608, 1617-at least 1624;5 recvr.-gen. Cheshire and N. Wales 1594-1603;6 commr. sewers, Cheshire, Denb., Flint, 1607,7 subsidy, Cheshire 1608, 1624, ?1626, aid 1609,8 inquiry into the lands of Sir John Davis, Mdx. 1610.9
  • Treas. Azores 1597;10 member, embassy to France 1598.11
  • As a younger son from a long-established Cheshire family, Beeston is easily confused with his elder brother and namesake, who was returned for Stafford in 1604. Nevertheless it is clear that it was this Member who formed a life-long friendship with Sir Michael Hicks* at Lincoln’s Inn. It was doubtless through Hicks that Beeston attracted the patronage of Sir Robert Cecil†, who wrote in 1611 that he had ‘long known and favoured’ Beeston.12
• .... etc.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/be... _____________________
• Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire for the year .. (1855)
• http://www.archive.org/details/transactionsofhi70hist
• https://archive.org/stream/transactionsofhi70hist#page/75/mode/1up
• 1 Translation :
• Here lies buried George Beeston, knight, a promoter of valour and truth ; having been brought up from his youth in the arts of war, [he was] chosen one of his company of pensioners by the invincible king Henry VIIl., when he besieged Boulogne; he merited [the same] under Edward VI., in the battle against the Scots at Musselburgh. Afterwards, under the same king, under Mary, and under Elizabeth, in the naval engagements, as captain or vice-captain of the fleet, by whom, after that most mighty Spanish fleet of 1588 had been vanquished, he was honoured with the order of knighthood ; and now, his years pressing heavily on him, when he had admirably approved his integrity to princes, and his bravery to his adversaries, acceptable to God, and dear to good men, and long expecting Christ, in the year 1601 and in the 99th of his age, he fell asleep in Him, so that he may rise again in Him with joy. And together with him rests a most beloved wife, Alice, daughter of [Thomas] Davenport of Henbury, esquire, a matron most holy, chaste, and liberal towards the poor, who, when she had lived in matrimony 66 years, and had borne to her husband three sons, John, Hugh, and Hugh, and as many daughters, Ann, Jane, and Dorothy, passed into the heavenly country in the year 1591, and in the 86th year of her age, with Christ for ever to live. The dutifulness of their son Hugh Beeston, esquire, the younger. Receiver General of all the revenues of the Crown as well in the county palatine of Chester as in the counties of North Wales, set up this monument to parents most excellent and beloved.
  • Whose memory [is preserved] in blessings.
  • Sacred to their Memory. _________________________
• Links
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_buildings_in_Bunbury,_Cheshire
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggesford

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