Sir Geoffrey Middleton

Geoffrey Middleton of Middleton Hall, Knight, died August 1545 and was buried on 29 August 1545 according to the Kirkby Lonsdale Parish Register.  He was Major General to King Henry Vlll during his expedition to Boulogne, Normandy.  

Notes

• Arms of Middleton Hall: Quarterly, 1st, Or a saltire engrailed sable, for Middleton; 2nd, Argent, three fleur-de-lis azure, for Betham; 3rd, Argent, a chief indented azure, for Burton; 4th, Lozengy or and azure, for Croft.
• Sir Geoffrey Middleton was knighted in France by Henry VIII at the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold'. 
• Sir Geoffrey's Inquisition Post Mortem was proved 11 Henry VIII, Chancery Series II, Vol 34. 
• A descendant of Sir Geoffrey was Fletcher Christian, the 'Bounty Mutineer'.  
• A Sir Geoffrey Middleton of Middleton was involved in the 'Pilgrimage of Grace' in 1536-7.

Family

• parents: eldest son of Thomas Middleton & Margaret Lascelles

Married

1. Margaret, daughter of George Kirkham, of Wormington, co. Northampshire
2. N. N. Kirby, co. Lancaster.

Children by 1st wife include 

1. George Middleton 

Also

1. John Middleton, of Middleton Hall, co. Westmoreland, m. Anne, daughter of N. N. Tunstall, of Thurland Castle, co. Lancaster.
2. a daughter, m. Anthony Fleming, of Ridale, co. Westmoreland, Esq.

Middletons of Middleton Hall

 ... were a powerful family in Westmorland from the reign of Edward III until that of Charles I. They owned the manor of Middleton in the parish of Kirkby Lonsdale, between the Valley of the Lune and the eastern boundary of the county, bordering on Yorkshire. Their sons and daughters married into what in Anthony Trollope's time used to be called the "governing" classes; they made matches (as did the Greshams of Greshambury in Barsetshire) among the neighbouring landowners: Musgrave of  Hartley Castle, Ducket of Grayrigg, Bellingham of Burneshead, Fleming of Rydal, Tunstall of Thurland Castle, Lowther of Lowther, Bindloss of Borwick - these were some of the North Country families with which they formed alliances.

It was then, in the reign of Charles I, that the state of affairs at Middleton Hall began to decline. There was anciently a chapel in it, but that went into decay; the deer in the park were destroyed about the year 1640; the family, as we have seen, were great sufferers in the civil war; the tenants purchased the freehold of their farms at different times; in 1644 the male line of the family ended, the inheritance descended through daughters and, though part of the demesne remained in the female line, the estate was broken up. (Clement Jones)

Sources

1. Foster's Visitation Pedigrees of Cumberland and Westmorland. "Middleton, of Middleton Hall - Part 2." page 90.
2. Foster's Visitation Pedigrees of Cumberland and Westmorland. "Middleton, of Middleton Hall." page 89.
3. The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, by Nicolson and Burn. Vol 1. page 160.
4. C.W.A.A.S., Tr. N.S., Vol. 5, 1905, 213 - 242. "The Kirkby Lonsdale Parish Registers" by Edward Conder, Junior, F.S.A..
5.  Foster's Yorkshire Pedigrees. "Pedigree of Constable, of Flamborough, etc.."

Links

1. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=allerton%5Fmanor&id=I47936''''''
2. A Tour In Westmorland by Sir Clement Jones, published 1948