Douglas Dansey

From Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica "Alice, Duchess Dudley"

The very interesting account of this lady, her husband, and her issue, given in the "Family of the Dudleys" (pp. 259—263 ante), states that two of her five daughters died unmarried. This, however, was not the case, for though four of them died in her lifetime, only one, Alice (as to whom see p. 263), died unmarried. Of the other four :—

(1) Douglas, married Captain William Dansey, and is ancestress of the family of Dansey of Brinsop, со. Hereford (see Cooke's "Duncombe's Herefordshire," Grimsworth Hundred, p. 40). Her monumental inscription in Brinsop Church (copied by G. W. Marehall, L.L.D., Rouge Croix Pursuivant) is as under :—

"Here lyeth the body of the Rl Hon. Ladie Douglas Dudley, wife unto Captain William Dansey, beinge the second son to Roger Dansey, Esq., who departed this life the 11 day of August, Anno Domini 1649."

From Index to Burke's dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland (Google eBook) Sir Bernard Burke Colburn and Company, 1853 - Heraldry. Page 92

William Dansey, Esq. of Brinsop, who m Lady Douglas Dudley, and had three sons, William, Richard, and Edward;

From Collections for a History of Staffordshire (Google eBook) William Salt Archaeological Society, 1888 - Staffordshire.  "The Barons of Dudley."  Page 114.  

There were 5 surviving daughters of Sir Robert Dudley (son of the Earl of Leicester by Douglas (laughter of Lord Howard of Eifingham) by Alice (created Duchess Dudley in May, 1641), daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh. 

Sir Robert Dudley was born in 1573, and after vainly endeavouring to establish his legitimacy, retired to Italy, deserting his wife and children, and taking with him Elizabeth Southwell (with whom he afterwards contracted a bigamous marriage) disguised as a page. The Emperor Ferdinand bestowed upon him in 1620 the title of a Duke of the Holy Roman Empire, whereupon he assumed his grandfather's title of Northamberland. 

Sir Robert Dudley had issue by the aforesaid Alice Leigh five surviving daughters: 

• 1, Alice; 
• 2, Douglas, who was married to William Dansey of Brinsop, co. Hereford, and was buried in August, 1649, at Brinsop, where in the churchyard is a flat stone inscribed, “ The Right Honorable ladie Douglas Dudley ” (see Robinson’s “ Manors of Herefordshire," p. 44); 
• 3, Katherine, wife of Sir Richard Leveson, K.B., of Trent-ham; 
• 4:. Frances, wife of Sir Gilbert Kniveton, Bart., of Bradley, co. Derby; and 
• 5, Anne, married to Sir Robert Holborne. 

From A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England (Google eBook) John Burke H. Colburn & R. Bentley, 1831 - 631 pages. Page 183

SIR ROBERT DUDLEY, who having in vain endeavoured to establish his legitimacy, retired in umbrage to Italy: whence, through the influence of his enemies, being summoned to return, and disobeying the mandate, his lands were seized under the statute of fugitives.

Sir Robert m. Alice Leigh, daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh, Bart., and his wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Spencer, of Wormleighton, in the county of Warwick, and aunt of Thomas, first Lord Leigh, of Stoneleigh, by whom he had issue:

1. Alice, died unmarried
2. Douglas, died unmarried
3. Catherine, m. to Sir Richard Leveson, K.B.
4. Frances, m. to Sir Gilbert Kniveton, of Bradley, in the county of Derby.

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