William Sandes - A new report on the Sandes Family in Cumberland and Lancashire

NEW ACCOUNT OF THE SANDES FAMILY IN CUMBERLAND AND LANCASHIRE
Introduction 30 Sept 2023
This family originated in the far north-west of England. The first identified member moved from Lincolnshire to Burgh-by-Sands west of Carlisle in about 1095. His name is not known and the first mention of the family in a written document was in 1186 when Simon de Sabluns and his son also Simon are recorded as witnesses to a transfer of land to the local church. From then on, the family appears in several documents as “del Sandes” or “de Sabulonibus” showing that they took their name from the farm now known as Sandsfield beside the River Eden north of Burgh-by-Sands.
The area suffered from frequent incursions by the Scots and the last member of the Sandes family known to have lived there was Richard del Sandes III (c1318-1382) who was chosen as Knight of the Shire representing the County of Cumberland in the Parliament of 1377. His older son Robert (born c1345) moved to St Bees on the west coast of Cumberland and was the ancestor of two branches of the family at Rottington, north of St Bees and at Esthwaite in the Furness Fells area of Lancashire north of Morecambe Bay. Both of these branches are generally recorded as spelling the family name as “Sandes” or “Sands”.

Robert Sandes of St Bees (born c1345)
College of Heralds’ Visitations, and documents derived from them, show Robert as having two sons: William and John but are not consistent as to which was which. In this document it is assumed that William was the elder son who stayed in the St Bees area and that John was the younger son who moved away from St Bees and into the Furness Fells area of Lancashire north of Morecambe Bay as described below.

William Sandes of Rottington (born c1372)
William acquired Rottington Hall about a mile north of St Bees in 1421. Some records describe this property as Rattenby (or Rottenby) Castle. He had one known son.

William Sandes of Rottington (born c1399)
There are no records about this son of William and grandson of Robert.

Christopher Sandes of Rottington (c1426-1497)
Christopher Sandes was involved in two disputes with the Priory of St Bees. The first in 1574 related to the boundary between Rottington and Priory lands. The second in 1496 related to the ownership of hawks. Christopher had one known son.

William Sandes of Rottington (c1453-c1510)
In 1498 the year after his father Christopher’s death, William Sandes was involved in another dispute with the Priory of St Bees. He had two known sons: Roger and William.

Roger Sandes of Rottington (c1480-1541)
Roger appears with his brother William in a list of Gentlemen of Cumberland compiled in 1526 and in 1538 he sent hawks to Thomas Cromwell. After Roger’s death, his brother William provided horses for the Border Force in 1543. William had a son, also William, who sent hawks to Queen Ann of Cleves in 1544. She was divorced from King Henry VIII in 1540 but appears to have retained her title of Queen in the eyes of this north-country family. Parish records for St Bees start in 1539 and spell the family name as Sands. Roger Sands had two sons: Robert (c1505-1547) who appears to have had no children and William (c1507-1561).

William Sands of Rottington (c1507-1561)
William had three sons: Robert (c1533-1585), Lawrence (c1535-1585), who married Janet Skelton in 1564 and Margaret Grayson in 1579 after Janet’s death the previous year, and John (c1535-1563). He also had a daughter Mabel who married Leonard Brisko. It is likely that Edwyn Sandes of Esthwaite, the future Archbishop of York, lodged with William while studying at St Bees in the early 1530s before going up to Cambridge. Edwyn was the same age as Edmund Grindall a fellow student at St Bees at the same time who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury.

Robert Sands of Rottington (c1533-1585)
Robert married Anne Middleton in about 1560. They had four sons: Henry, Robert (1565-1588), Nicholas (1566-1567) and James (1567-1622). Robert Sands appears in a list of Gentlemen and later as an Armiger in documents between 1572 and 1585. He was also a Governor of the School at St Bees in 1583, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Robert’s wife Anne appears to have died in 1574 and he may then have married Elinor Skelton, who was presumably a sister of his brother Lawrence’s first wife Janet. One record states that Robert Sands sold Rottington to Sir Henry Curwen in 1579, but some members of the Sands family continued to live there.

Henry Sands of Rottington (1562-1621)
Henry married Helen Fletcher in 1584. Henry Sands is listed as an Armiger between 1585 and 1598. In the last of these lists, his wife is referred to as Elinor. He is said to have been involved in court case with Prior of St Bees in 1602 but, if so, this title must have been used by the Headmaster of St Bees school after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry and Helen had six sons: Robert, Henry (born 1589), Nicholas (born 1592), William (1597-1668), Thomas (1599-1606) and Anthony (born 1601). William married Elizabeth Fernley and went to Ireland in 1649 where he was granted land at Carrigafoyle beside the River Shannon.

Robert Sands of Rottington (1588-1634)
The only known detail of Robert is that his Will of 1634 was administered by Anthony Fletcher who was presumably a cousin. Robert may have had sons or nephews: John (born c1615) and William (born c1620) who lived at Sandwith a short distance north of Rottington. John of Rottington had a son William in 1644 and William of Sandwith had a son William in 1653. These are the last records of the family in the St Bees area.

John Sandes of Esthwaite (born c1375)
As the second son of Robert Sandes and growing up in temporary accommodation at St Bees, John had to find a new source of employment. It is thought that his father’s cousin Thomas del Sandes who was a Knight of the Shire representing the County of Cumberland between 1391 and 1395 may have provided him with an introduction to Sir Walter Strickland of Sizergh Castle who represented Westmorland in the Parliament of 1395. Sir Walter may have employed John Sandes at Esthwaite Hall which was adjacent to Strickland Ees, an unusual geological feature on the shore of Esthwaite Water in the Furness Fells area of Lancashire north of Morecambe Bay.
John Sandes as accused of debt in a court case heard at Lancaster in 1401 with his father Robert acting as surety for him. John was acquitted in 1403 and this is probably when he got married. His bride is believed to have been a daughter of Sir Walter Strickland’s younger brother Thomas. They had one known son William.
William Sandes of Esthwaite (born c1405)
William married in about 1430. It is believed that his bride was a daughter of Thomas de Betham who was Knight of the Shire for Westmorland in 1425. Thomas was the son of Sir John Betham of Beetham who was Knight of the Shire for Westmorland in 1406 and Thomas’ sister Mabel had married Thomas Strickland the son of Sir Walter. These links make it more likely that William Sandes married into the nearby Betham family than the more distant (geographically and in social status) Bohun or Bonham families suggested in some records.
William is known to have had a son William (c1435-1515) but it is also believed that he had a younger son Christopher (c1440-c1505). Christopher is believed to have been employed by Margaret Beaufort at her properties in the Barony of Kendal from about 1455. He could have been recommended for this role by his father’s contacts with the Strickland and Betham families.
By 1485, Christopher was definitely employed by Margaret Beaufort in her household at Woking in Surrey and was able to recommend his Hampshire cousins William and Oliver for positions as deputies to Reginald Bray at Guildford and Shere Vachery. Christopher’s son William married Margery Gerard the heiress of Edwarde’s Manor at Woodham Ferrers in Essex and their grand-daughter Mary was the first wife of Edwyn Sandes, the future Archbishop of York.

William Sandes of Esthwaite (c1435-1515)
This William became a scholar at King’s Hall, Cambridge University in 1449 but returned to Esthwaite in 1457, possibly to take over the family estate on the death of his father. In 1458, he married Margaret Rawson (or Rawlinson). The Rawlinsons were another local family who later held property at Graythwaite Lower Hall when the Sandes acquired Graythwaite Upper Hall.
The Sandis (sic) pedigree in the Visitation of Cumberland in 1615 shows William’s father as George the younger son of Robert of St Bees thus getting the name wrong and omitting an intermediate generation. It is also seriously wrong in the descendants shown for William Sandes and Margaret Rawson. This pedigree has been relied upon by many modern researchers in the United States of America and is responsible for most of the errors in profiles of this family.
This extensive pedigree was reproduced by the Harleian Society and wrongly shows William Sandes and Margaret Rawson as the parents of George Sandes of Esthwaite (born c1460 - correct), Sir William Sandys II knighted in 1487 (wrong, should be Hampshire branch), Robert Sandes of (Hawkshead) Field Head (born c1462 - correct), Thomas father of Julian (wrong, should be Hampshire branch), John father of James (no confirming evidence found), Oliver of Shere (wrong, should be Hampshire branch) and Margaret the wife of Richard Bray Counsel to King Henry VI (wrong, she was born in 1409 and Richard served King Henry VII).
The Pedigree omits one son of William Sandes and Margaret Rawson. He was William (born c1465) who lived at Graythwaite Field Head before the family acquired Graythwaite Upper Hall. Robert moving northwards from Esthwaite at Hawkshead and William moving southwards from Esthwaite to Graythwaite imply that the small area of cultivatable land beside Esthwaite Water could not support the growing family. The names of Field Head indicate locations on the edge of previously farmed land and the clearance of less fertile areas of woodlands and open moorland.

George Sandes of Esthwaite (born c1460)
As already noted, George was the first of three confirmed sons of William Sandes and Margaret Rawson. George married Margaret Curwen and they had two sons: William (c1488-1549) and Thomas (c1490-1546). Thomas moved away from Esthwaite to Pennybridge on the River Crake in southern Furness. Over the next 150 years, Thomas’ descendants spread to Lincolnshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, the south of Lancashire and from there to the new colonies in America.
Descendants of George’s brother Robert spread to Lancaster, London and East Anglia, while descendants of George’s youngest brother William spread to other hamlets north and south of Graythwaite and with one group moving further afield to Preston.

William Sandes of Esthwaite and Graythwaite (c1488-1549)
The Visitation of Cumberland in 1615 omits William and shows his wife Margaret Dixon as the wife of William’s father George. It also shows Margaret as the daughter of John Dixon of London and Anne Roos. This is another error. John Dixon actually lived at Lindale a small village on the Cartmel peninsula on the north side of Morecambe Bay.
Anne Roos was the daughter of Thomas Roos of Witherslack a few miles east of Lindale and of Anne Thornborough of Hampsfield a mile west of Lindale. The Roos family of Witherslack were also related to the Bethams of Beetham making Margaret Dixon a distant cousin of William Sandes.
William Sandes and Margaret Dixon had six sons: George (1512-1547), William (1514-1558), Christopher (1516-1588), Edwyn (1519-1588), Myles (1523-1601) and Anthony (1535-1591). George and William died fairly young and only had a few children but all of the other four had quite large families and it is only possible to give a brief summary of their lives and their descendants in this document.

George Sandes of Hawkshead Hill (1512-1547)
The Visitation of Cumberland shows George as the oldest son but he does not appear to have lived in either of the main family properties at Esthwaite and Graythwaite. Instead, he lived at Sand Ground on Hawkshead Hill. Unusually for an eldest child, he joined the army and was killed at the Battle of Musselburgh in 1547. His only son Roger (1541-1610) died without having had any children.

William Sandes of Conishead Priory (1514-1558)
William became his father’s presumed heir on the death of George in 1547. He was involved with others in a cottage industry producing iron from local ore and charcoal. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late-1530s, he acquired Conishead Priory on the Furness peninsula north of Morecambe Bay and spent his last years living there.
By coincidence, both this William Sandes and his father William are recorded as submitting returns on the proceeds from Furness Abbey and the Priory at Hawkshead to their Hampshire cousin Lord William Sandys when he was Lord Chamberlain to King Henry VIII.
Francis Sandes had a son Francis (1546-1583) who spent his days between Esthwaite and Conishead. Francis had three daughters and, after his death, Esthwaite Hall was inherited by his uncle Anthony.

Christopher Sandes of Graythwaite Hall (1516-1588)
As the second surviving son of William Sandes and Margaret Dixon, Christopher inherited Graythwaite Hall on his father’s death in 1549. Prior to this he had married Margaret Carus from Halton near Lancaster and had lived at Killingon further north up the River Lune valley. Christopher and Margaret had one son Adam (1547-1608).
After Margaret died, Christopher married Elinor Curwen and had two more sons: David (c1555-1630) and Christopher (born c1560).
Adam had a large family including two sons: Robert and Myles who were born blind, a son Christopher who moved to Bowth and supported his blind brothers financially, and another son David who was ordained in 1619 and emigrated to America. Adam’s oldest son William fathered four more generations at Graythwaite Hall.
William’s great-great-grand-daughter Anne Sandes of Graythwaite Hall (born 1678) married her cousin Thomas Sandes of Esthwaite Hall (born 1672) and their descendants still own both places in addition to other land in the area. They now spell their surname Sandys as in the Hampshire branch of the family.

Edwyn Sandes, Archbishop of York (1519-1588)
Edwyn was the fourth son of William Sandes and Margaret Dixon. Edwyn started his education at St Bees Priory before going up to Cambridge. He gained his BA degree in 1539 and his MA degree in 1541. He stayed on at Cambridge, becoming BD in 1546 and Doctor of Divinity in 1549. He was Master of St Catherines College from 1549 to 1553 and Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1552 to 1553.
In 1553, possibly unwisely, he supported the claim of Lady Jane Grey to the throne following the death of King Edward VI and was put in prison in the Tower of London. After being moved to the Marshalsea prison south of the Thames, he was aided to escape and went into exile in Europe with his wife Mary. Edwyn had been one of the first priests to marry in c1549, and his wife was a distant cousin from Woodham Ferrers in Essex. They had a son James (born c1551). Many records state that both Mary and James died in Europe during Edwyn’s exile there, but it is more likely that James stayed in England to be cared for by his uncle William or his aunt Anne.
A few weeks after Edwyn Sandes returned from exile in January 1559, he made an agreement with his brother-in-law William that the family property at Edwarde’s Manor Woodham Ferrers Essex would not be sold without Edwyn’s son James first being given the opportunity to buy it at a fair market price. A James Sandys entered St John’s College Cambridge in 1566 and was of the right age to be Edwyn’s son but no more is known about him. Edwyn himself acquired Edwarde’s Manor and Cecily the widow of his second marriage lived there with her son Samuel from 1589 until 1610.
After his first wife’s death in Europe, Edwyn got to know other exiles including the Wilford family. He married Cecily Wilford in February 1559 shortly after his return to England. Edwyn was made Bishop of Worcester from 1559 to 1570, then Bishop of London from 1570 to 1577 and finally Archbishop of York from 1577 until his death in 1588.
Edwyn and Cecily had a large family at Worcester including Samuel (1560-1623), Edwyn (1561-1629), Myles (1563-1644), William (born 1565 and died young), Margaret (born 1566), Thomas (born 1568) and Anne (born 1570). They had two more sons: Henry (born 1572 in London) and George (born 1577 in York and died in 1644). Edwyn junior and George were involved in the early years of the Colony of Virgina in America.

Myles Sandes of Latimer Buckinghamshire (1523-1601)
Myles entered St John’s College Cambridge in 1544 and was admitted as a Lawyer at the Middle Temple in London in 1551. In 1560, he moved to Fladbury in Worcestershire to be near his older brother Edwyn when he was Bishop there. In 1570, Myles moved to Latimer near Chesham in Buckinghamshire. In 1575 and 1577, Myles acquired land at Houghton Regis and Eaton Bray from his distant cousin William third Baron Sandys of The Vyne.

Myles Sandes married Hester Clifton in c1560 and they had seven children: Edwyn (1563-1608) who married the third Baron Sandys’ daughter Elizabeth in 1586, William (1565-1640) who married twice, Bridget (wed 1590), Elizabeth (wed 1595), Hester wed 1596), Myles (born 1575) and Henry (1580-1657). After his first wife Hester’s death, Myles married a widow Mary Woodcock in London in 1578 but did not have any more children.

Anthony Sandes of Shoreditch and Esthwaite (1535-1591)
Anthony entered St Catherine’s College Cambridge in 1551 while his older brother Edwyn was Master there. Nothing is known about his life after University until about 1575 when he married Anne Mann at Shoreditch in East London. Anne turned out to be somewhat promiscuous and, although she had at least five children given the surname Sandes, Anthony only acknowledged three of them as his. These were Cecily (born 1576), Edwin (1581-1625), and Jane (born 1583). The other two were Margaret (born 1579) and James (born c1585). Shoreditch was the home of the Curtain Theatre where William Shakespeare worked until he moved to the new Globe Theatre in Southwark. Cecily and Jane both married actors at the Globe Theatre and James was apprenticed to one of its promoters.
In 1583, Anthony Sandes inherited Esthwaite Hall from his nephew Francis. Anthony died there in 1591 and Esthwaite was inherited by his son Edwin. Edwin died in 1625 and the Hall was inherited by his only surviving son Samuel (1612-1651) whose grandson Thomas (born 1672) married his cousin Anne of Graythwaite Hall in 1695 thus re-uniting the two parts of the Sandes family estates.