Mercer Nicholas Leveson

St Andrew Undershaft, City of London and its monuments

Nicholas Levison, d.1534, Sheriff of London, and wife, brass still in its matrix, a great stone slab, which doubtless once lay upon the floor or the top of some chest tomb. The kneeling figures of the couple face each other from a close distance, each wearing long, enfolding robes, the folds and angles confidently delineated. His face is not aged, and he is clean shaven, with almost straight combed hair over his ears. His hands are in an attitude of praying. His wife’s face is rather worn, but from her slender figure we can judge her as a relatively youthful figure, her hands raised at her chest as if beseeching, but not praying. Behind and aboe them are three coats of arms, but the chief feature of the monument is the host of offspring, male and female, ranged behind father and mother. Apparently there are 10 boys and 8 girls, though I was unable to quite make the boys add up. Charming, and a splendid piece overall.

Source: http://www.speel.me.uk/chlondon/standrewundershaft.htm

Notes

• Second son of Richard Leveson of Prestwood. From Reference in "Donington Church and Lordship," by H. F. J. Vaughan, in Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, vol. 6, publ. 1883, p. 15.
• Will, dated 7 Nov 1536 and proved 18 Oct 1539, in Genealogical Memoirs of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chicheley, Their Ancestors and Descendants, by Robert Edmond Chester-Waters, vol. 1, publ. 1878 (London: Robson and Sons), p. 227

Links

• http://www.halhed.com/t4r/getperson.php?personID=I5744&tree=tree1
• https://books.google.com.au/books?id=JeoJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA227