Sir John Southworth, MP, of Samlesbury

Sir John Southworth, Member of Parliament, (c.1526-95), of Samlesbury, Lancs.

Of Samlesbury Hall, co. Lancaster, knighted 1547, high sheriff of Lancashire 1562, M.P. 1566, commended for valor in Scottish war 1557, owned vast estates but was land poor, imprisoned for harboring Catholic priests.

biography

from http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/so...

b. c.1526, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Southworth of Samlesbury by Margery, da. of Sir Thomas Butler of Bewsey. m. Mary, da. of Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton, 7s. 4da. suc. fa. 1546. Kntd. 1547.

In early life Southworth fought in the Scottish wars, being knighted in the field. During Mary’s reign he was often in London, probably because of a series of land disputes heard in the court of duchy chamber. By the early years of Elizabeth he was back on his Lancashire estates, and represented the county in the Parliament of 1563. There is no record of any activity by him in the Commons until 21 Oct. 1566 when he had a cloth bill committed to him. On 31 Oct. he was put on the committee to consult with the Lords concerning the Queen’s marriage and the succession.2

In October 1564 Southworth was classified as unfavourable to the newly established church, and some four years later he was proceeded against by the bishop of Chester for not attending church and for speaking against the prayer book. After examination before the ecclesiastical commission at Lathom, he was sent to London to appear before the Privy Council. In July 1568 he was examined by Archbishop Parker, who failed to persuade him to conform. Next he went to Bath, where he consorted with ‘noted hinderers of God’s word’. Accused of planning a western rebellion to coincide with the rising in the north, he was put into the custody of Bishop Grindal, who reported to Cecil that:

"he was altogether unlearned, carried with a blind zeal without knowledge ... His principal grounds were that he would follow the faith of his fathers; and that he would die in the faith wherein he was baptized."

Dean Nowell’s persuasions proving equally fruitless, Southworth remained in prison in London until August 1569, when Grindal petitioned the Privy Council for his release on account of the unhealthy conditions in prison during the summer. Southworth’s name appears on a list drawn up in the interest of Mary Queen of Scots in 1574, and he was reported by the bishop of Chester as a recusant in 1576 and 1577. At Easter 1581 he entertained Campion at Samlesbury, where Mass was said before a congregation of his household and neighbours. Campion was arrested in July and Southworth soon afterwards. He spent much of the next three years in the New Fleet at Salford, under the care of Robert Worsley. He was permitted to exercise and to see his friends only in Worsley’s presence. In July 1584 he was removed from Worsley’s care and sent first to London, then (by March 1586) to Chester. In that month the Privy Council let him visit Bath. Southworth next appears in Cheshire, where, in May 1586, he was rearrested. In July 1587 he was released so that he could make arrangements for the payment of fines, now amounting to more than £900. He may have conformed about this time and part of this sum was remitted. He subscribed £25 to the Armada fund in 1588 and in January 1589 he attended a sermon at the Earl of Derby’s house at Lathom. In 1592 he and his son were arrested after a search at Samlesbury had revealed a vault over the dining chamber, containing an altar canopy and candlesticks, 14 images and 21 ‘books of papistry’. How long Southworth stayed in prison on this occasion is unknown, but he had presumably been released before his death, which occurred on 3 Nov. 1595. His heavily encumbered estate, which had been vested in trustees in 1588, passed to his son Thomas. Much of it was sold early in the seventeenth century.3

pedigree

Sir John Southworth, Knight is a direct decendent and bloodline of the kings of England, Scotland, France, and Norse Kings from Denmark/Norway.

Two separate identified family blood lines run to the Plantagenet kings through the strong Southworth family line, either from King Edward I (his mom's side/line, Margery Boteler) or King Edward III (his dad's side/line, Sir Thomas Southworth). One of these English royalty lines begins with Elizabeth of England (Sir John Southworth's 6th great grandmother) and her father King Edward I "Longshanks" of England (reign 1272-1307ad) Sir John's 7th great grandfather. Through the Edward I line, Sir John Southworth is a direct decendent and blood line of the House of Mercia, House of Wessex, House of Normandy, and the House of Plantagenet (Angevin). (King Edward I, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan countess of Hereford, William de Bohn 1st earl of Hereford, Elizabeth de Bohn countess of Arunder, Elizabeth FitzAlen duchess of Norfolk, Joan Goushill baroness of Stanley, Margaret Stanley countess of Sussex, Thomas de Boteler, Mary Boteler Southworth, Knight Sir John Southworth.

John's French king bloodline begins in the Carolingian Dynasty with Charles III (reign 893 AD - 922 AD) and continues through the line of Louis II, Charles II, Louis I, Charlemagne (John's' 20th great grandfather), Pepin "the younger", Charles Martel "the Hammer" and continues through Pepin II.

Links

• http://www.geneajourney.com/sthwrth.html
• https://histfam.familysearch.org//getperson.php?personID=I672&tree=...

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• 'A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great ..., Volume 2 By John Burke
• A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great ..., Volume 2 By John Burke
• Pg. 56
• THOMAS CLIFTON, esq. of Westby, who m. Mary, daughter of 'Sir Edward Norris, of the Speke, in the county of Lancaster, knt.' and was succeeded by his son,
• ____________________
• 'A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of ..., Volume 1 By John Burke, Bernard Burke
• A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of ..., Volume 1 By John Burke, Bernard Burke
• Pg. 232
• _________