Sir Richard de Molyneux, Lord of Sefton

Additional Curator's Notes:

Richard de Molyneux was the son of Sir William de Molyneux, Lord of Sefton, and wife Isabell Scarsbrick. He was born c.1272, most likely at Sefton, Lancashire, England. He was only 17 (one source says age 14) when his father died and he succeeded to the title Lord of Sefton. Five documented children.

According to Dugdale's Visitation of Lancashire in 1664-65, Richard married Agatha, daughter and heir of Roger de Sefton. For the previous nine generations the descriptive "of Sefton" applied to the Molyneux family. Roger is not a common name in the Molyneux line, however, Richard's great-grandparents William Molyneux and Margaret de Thornton, may have named one son Roger. This Roger does not appear on Dugdale's Visitation, but does in some secondary sources.

According to all other sources found, Sir Richard de Molyneux married Agatha Kyrton, daughter of Sir Roger Kyrton (or Kyerton) and wife Alice (or Alicia) de Twenge. The de Twenge line is well-documented. Alice's father Marmaduke, from Kilton Castle in Yorkshire, was raised to the peerage and created a baron for his services to the King in battles in Scotland. The Kyrton line, on the other hand, is difficult to trace. Alternate spellings include Kyerton, Kyralon, Kryton and Krylon.

As a curator it is difficult for me to go against what is found in a Visitation text. Visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms (or more often by junior officers of arms, acting as the Kings' deputies) in England, Wales and Ireland. Their purpose was to regulate and register the coats of arms of nobility and gentry and boroughs, and to record pedigrees. They staked their own families' reputations on the accuracy of their work. Their work determined who had the right to use a particular coat of arms and they were authorized by the king to "put down or otherwise deface at his discretion...those arms unlawfully used."

Bearing all this in mind, as curator for this profile, I have elected to include two wives for Sir Richard de Molyneux. One will be "Agatha of Sefton," with Dugdale as the source. The other will be Agatha Kyrton with a variety of sources. I will also place all the children under the more widely accepted Agatha Kyrton.

Maria Edmonds-Zediker, Volunteer Curator, Aug. 31, 2013

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Children of Sir Richard Molyneux and wife Agatha (accordign to Dugdale - there may be more):

• Sir William Molyneux (his generation appears to have dropped the Norman de prefix), the heir, who married twice, four known children
• Richard Molyneux who founded the Molyneux of Larbreke line
• Roger Molyneux who founded the Rainhill line.
• John Molyneux
• a daughter who married into the Arden line.

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• The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster; (1906)
• https://archive.org/details/cu31924088434554
• https://archive.org/stream/cu31924088434554#page/n177/mode/1up
• Pg.132
• .... William de Molyneux of Sefton granted in free marriage with his daughter Joan to Robert son of Richard Erneys, a citizen and merchant of Chester, all his lands and wood in the vill of Speke with the homages, wards, and reliefs of the heirs of Patrick de Haselwell and Roger de Molyneux, the grantor's brother.(8) This grant was confirmed by Richard son of William de Molyneux about 1290, or before the death of Robert Erneys.(9) ___________________________________________
• Richard Molyneux1
• M, #10956, d. 1363
• Father Sir William Molyneux d. a 1289
• Mother Isabella of Scarsbrick
• Richard Molyneux was born at of Sephton, Little Crosby, & Speke, Lancashire, England. He married Agatha Kryton, daughter of Roger Kryton and Alice Thweng. Richard Molyneux died in 1363.
• Family Agatha Kryton
• Children
  • William Molyneux+ d. 1372
  • Elena Molyneux+
• Citations
• 1.[S2784] Unknown author, Burke's Peerage, 1938, p. 2209; Magna Charta by Wurts, p. 390.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p365.htm#i... ________________________