A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank; but uninvested with heritable honours. By John Burke pp.460-57

DIGBY

Of the great house of Digby, which for centuries past has stood preeminent in the rank of British aristocracy, pedigrees are to be found in numerous county and genealogical works. Of these, the fullest, perhaps, is that given by Pennant in his tour from Chester to London, and that writer states, that he derived the information on which he
founded it, "from the extensive genealogy of the family, compiled at the cost of fourteen hundred pounds, by the famous Sir Kenelm Digby, in the year 1634, with the use of which, his neighbour, Watkin Williams, had favoured him." From that valuable compilation, as well as from extensive additional collections, the following details are derived. The first recorded ancestor,

AELMAR

"Anglus Saxonicus qui tenuit terras in Tilton, com. Leicr." had two sons:

EVERARD and WILLIAM

The second, WILLIAM, by LETITIA DALBY, his wife, was father of:

WALTER DE TILTON and ROBERT DE DIGEBY[, Sr.]

Of the second [Robert], is further written, "et de Tilton post mortem Waited." He married his cousin, CHRISTIANA [DE TILTON], daughter of his uncle, EVERARD, and had a son and successor:

ROBERT DE DIGEBY[, Jr.]

who m. ANNA FITZHERBERT, and was father of:

SIR JOHN DE DIGEBY

who died 53 Henry III. leaving by ARABELLA HERECOURT, his wife, a son and heir:

JOHN DE DIGEBY

father of,

ROBERT DE DIGEBY

whose son, by SIBILLA, his wife, was:

JOHN DIGBIE

the first named by Collins in his account of the family. He was six times commissioner for the gaol delivery of the county of Warwick, from the 11th to the 33rd of EdwardI. and served that monarch in his wars. He lies buried at Tilton, under a tomb adorned with his effigies at full length, and a shield of his arms of the fleur de lys,with the sun and moon thereon, and the inscription, "Johan de Digebie gist icy, praiez pour lui." He married ELIZABETH, daughter of SIR WALTER DE OSVILE, KNT. and had a son and successor:

ROBERT DE DIGBIE

who married CATHARINE, sister and co-heir of SIMON PAKENHAM, of KIRBY, and had two sons,

SIMON and SIR EVERARD DE DIGBIE, KNT. of TILTON and DRYSTOKE

Simon died before 9Henry V.; and Sir Everard married AGNES, daughter and co-heir of JOHN CLARKE, and relict of Richard Siddrell, by whom he had a son and successor:

EVERARD DIGBIE of TILTON, DIGBIE, and DRYSTOKE

who fell at Towton, fighting under the Lancastrian banner, high sheriff for the county of Rutland, and M.P. for that
shire. His wife was JACQUETA, daughter and co-heir of SIR JOHN ELLYS of DEVONSHIRE, and he had by her, beside one daughter, seven sons:

1. SIR EVERARD, KNT. LORD of TILTON and DRYSTOKE, sheriff of Rutland 1459, I486, and 1499, and M.P. for that shire from the 25th to the 38th of Henry VI. He died in 1509, leaving a son and heir, SIR EVERARD DIGBY, ancestor of the senior branch of the family, the Digbys of Drystoke, of which was the celebrated Sir Kenelm Digby
2. SIR SIMON, KNIGHT, of whom presently.
3. SIR JOHN, KNT., ancestor of the Digbys of North Luffenham and Red Hall.
4. ROWLAND, who acquired Welby, in Leicestershire, temp. Henry VIII. in marriage with AGNES, daughter of RICHARD ASHLEY, and relict (or by some accounts, daughter and heir) of JOHN SHELDON. His son and successor, WILLIAM DIGBY [Sr.], ESQ., of Welby, married JANE, daughter of J. RAMSEY, by his wife, MARGARET DANVERS of Hitcham, Bucks, and was s. by his son, WILLIAM DIGBY[Jr.], ESQ. of Welby, who married first, ELIZABETH DIXWELL, of Over, in Warwickshire; and m. secondly, a daughter of CARLTON. By the former he had a son and successor, THOMAS DIGBY, ESQ. of Welby, who sold that estate, and is the last of this branch, whose marriage is recorded in the visitations. He married ANN-PETO, dau. of HENRY DE CHERTERTON, and had two sons and three daughters, viz.: John, b. in 1597, William, b. in 1598, Elizabeth, Sarah, Penelope.
5. SIR THOMAS, who received the honour of knighthood from Henry VII. at Bosworth, was made a gentleman usher of the king's chamber, and had conferred upon him the bailywick of Oulney, Bucks, and the custody of the park. He married DOROTHY, daughter of THOMAS OXENBRIDGE, and had three sons and four daughters, viz.:

I. his heir, JOHN DIGBY, ESQ. of St. Julian's, Herts, married ELIZABETH BECK, and had a son and successor, EVERARD DIGBY, ESQ. who married ALICE FULBRAM and had two sons, JOHN and THOMAS. The latter m. MARIA, dau. of FRANCIS NELE, and relict of SAMPSON ERDSWICK and previously of EVERARD DIGBY, ESQ. of Drystoke. The former, JOHN DIGBY, ESQ. had a son, SIMON, the last of this branch of whom we have any account,

II. SIMON and III. EVERARD

IV. ANNE, m. to LIBASUS DERBY, of Gadsby

V. KATHERINE, m. first, to SIMON WHEELER, ESQ. of Kenilworth and secondly to JOHN FISHER, ESQ. of Packington Magna. She was mother, by her second husband, of SIR CLEMENT FISHER, bart. of Packington, and lies buried in the church there, under a monument with the arms of Fisher and Digby impaled.

VI. BRIDGET and VII. ELIZABETH

6. SIR LABAEUS, KNT. of Coates and North Luffenham, whose son and heir, THOMAS, of Coates, had an only daughter, ANNE, m. to JOHN BURTON, ESQ. of Stockerston, in Leicestershire, to whom she carried a large estate, and by whom she had SIR THOMAS BURTON, KNT., created a Baronet 20 James I.

7. BENJAMIN, of London, ancestor of the Digbys of Ravenstone, Leicestershire

SIR SIMON DIGBY, KNIGHT of COLESHILL, in WARWICKSHIRE

The second son of Sir Everard, SIR SIMON DIGBY, KNT. of Coleshill, in Warwickshire, a lordship which was among the extensive grants with which he was rewarded after the accession of Henry VII., for his services at Bosworth, married ALICE, daughter and heir of JOHN WALLEYS, ESQ. of East Haddon, in the county of Devon, by whom he left, with three daughters, 1)SARAH, m. to NICHOLAS STRELLEY; 2)ALICE, m. to ROBERT CLIFTON, ESQ. of Clifton, Notts; and 3)AGNES, m. to WILLIAM TRACY, ESQ. two sons, namely,

REGINALD, his heir.

THOMAS, of Mansfield Woedehouse, Notts, whose descendant, JOHN DIGBY, ESQ., M.P. for East Retford, in the reigns of Anne and George I. left a son, JOHN, who d. s. p. and two daughters, co-heirs, viz. 1)FRANCES, m. in 1726, to SIR THOMAS LEGARD, bart. of Ganton, in Yorkshire. 2)PHILADELPHIA, m. to SIR GEORGE CAYLEY, bart, of Brompton.

SIR SIMON DIGBY died in 1519, and was succeeded by his eldest son, REGINALD DIGBY, ESQ. of Coleshill, sheriff of Leicestershire 26 and 36 Henry VIII., who married ANNE, daughter and co-heir of SIR JOHN DANVERS, KNT. of Calthorpe, in Oxfordshire, by whom he had a son and successor,

JOHN DIGBY, ESQ. of Coleshill, who married ANNE eldest daughter of SIR GEORGE THROGMORTON, KNT. of Coughton, in the county of Warwick, by CATHERINE, his wife, daughter of NICHOLAS, LORD VAUX, of Harrowden; and was father of SIR GEORGE DIGBY, KNT. of Coleshill, who received the honour of knighthood from Robert, Earl of Leicester, for the gallant services he performed at the siege of Zutphen, in Flanders. He married ABIGAIL, daughter of SIR ARTHUR Heveningham, of Kettering, in Norfolk, and had, with other issue, ROBERT, his heir, and GEORGE, created EARL of BRISTOL. (See Burke's Extinct Peerage.)

The eldest son, SIR ROBERT DIGBY, KNT. of Coleshill, was knighted at Dublin by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, in 1596, and returned to parliament for Athy, in the county of Kildare, in 1613. He married LETTICE, daughter and heir of GERARD, LORD OFFALEY,* which lady was created Baroness of Offaley for life, and had issue: [Sons,] 1. ROBERT, advanced to the peerage of Ireland in 1620, as Baron Digby, of Geashill; and from him lineally descends the present Earl of Digby. (See Burke's Peerage.) 2. GEORGE. 3. GERALD. 4. JOHN. 5. SIMON, M.P. for Philipstown. 6. ESSEX, of whom presently. 7. PHILIP, who married MARGARET, relict of SIR THOMAS MOORE, of Croghan. [Daughters,] 1. LETTICE, m. to SIR ROGER LANGFORD, KNT. 2. MABEL, m. first to GERALD FITZGERALD, ESQ. of Dromana, in the county of Waterford, and secondly to Donagh O'Brien, of Arragh. 3. ABIGAIL, died in infancy.

Sir Robert Digby died 24th May, 1618, and was buried at Coleshill.