Frances Leveson

Frances Sondes was the daughter of Thomas Sondes of Throwley Park, Kent (d. February 7, 1592/3) and Margaret Brooke (June 2, 1563-1621). Before her birth, her father claimed she was not his child and tried to disown her, but the terms of her mother's jointure remained in effect when he died before the matter could be settled in court. Margaret Brooke Sondes, however, had by then gone insane. She and Frances lived at Cobham Hall, where Margaret was cared for by a nurse until Lord Cobham was arrested for treason in 1603 and his estate forfeited to the Crown. In an attempt to get his Tower gaoler's son, Gawen Hervey, to help with an escape plan, Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, promised his niece in marriage to Hervey, who was under the mistaken impression that Frances had a dowry of £10,000. According to David McKeen's A Memory of Honour: the life of William Brooke, Lord Cobham, under the terms of Margaret's marriage contract Frances was to have £100/year or a dowry of £2000, while her mother's jointure was worth £333 6s. 8d. Frances became an unwelcome boarder in the Leveson family but eventually married the younger John Leveson of Cuxton, Kent (d. December 1613 of the plague). They had two daughters, Christian (d.1655) and Frances (b. February 1614). On May 19, 1618, she married Thomas Savile of Hawley, Yorkshire (1590-c.1659). In 1624, Frances made a claim to inherit £6,900 as the estate due her mother. Savile was created Viscount Savile in the Irish peerage in 1528 and became 2nd baron Savile of Pomfret in 1530. Some years after Frances died he was created earl of Sussex. Frances had no children by her second marriage.