Sir Thomas Shirley, MP

Thomas Shirley (died 1612)

Sir Thomas Shirley (c.1542 – October 1612),[1] of Wiston in Sussex, was an English Member of Parliament, government official and courtier who is said to have suggested the creation of the rank of baronet.

Thomas Shirley was the eldest of the three children of William Sherley (c.1498–1551) of Wiston, Sussex, and Mary Isley, the daughter of Thomas Isley of Sundridge, Kent.[1]

He was knighted in 1573, and served as High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1576. Also in 1573, he began rebuilding the family seat of Wiston House, which he turned into a massive country house. (It is now the site of the government's Wilton Park conference centre.)

However, soon afterwards Shirley found himself in considerable financial difficulties which eventually swallowed the family fortune. In 1586 Queen Elizabeth I appointed Sir Thomas Treasurer-at-War to the English forces serving in the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt. This gave him the power to speculate with the funds that passed through his hands (a normal perk of office at this period), but he so mishandled them that he contracted massive debts to the Crown and found himself accused of fraud. His estate, including Wiston House, was sequestered in 1602, though he continued to live at Wiston until his death in October 1612.

Sir Thomas was elected to Parliament as MP for Sussex in 1584, representing the county for many years, and then Steyning, in 1601 and 1604, which was controlled by Shirley as a pocket borough; he was apparently not distinguished as a member, but tried to draw upon an MP's privilege of immunity from arrest in 1604 when his debts grew too pressing to meet. Despite his protests that he had parliamentary privilege, he was arrested at the instigation of a goldsmith to whom he owed money, and placed in the Fleet Prison. The House of Commons of England made a number of attempts to order his release by issuing writs of Habeas Corpus, but the Warden of the Fleet Prison would not free him, unless he received assurance that he would not himself be held liable for Shirley's debts, or blamed for what might technically be seen as allowing an 'escape'. The Commons had the Warden placed in the Tower of London and sent the sergeant-at-arms of the Commons, who was carrying the mace, to the Fleet Prison to set Shirley free. However, the Warden's wife proved equally obdurate, and the sergeant-at-arms had to report that his mission had been a failure. The Warden had originally been able to move around within the Tower, but now the Commons made sure that he was placed in an unpleasant dungeon, called the Little Ease, four feet (1.2 metres) square, within the Tower. This persuaded the Warden to release Shirley, and he also had to apologise on his knees to the House of Commons. Shirley then resumed his seat as an MP. Parliament subsequently passed a general act (The Privilege of Parliament Act), which confirmed the privilege of freedom from arrest for Members, but also gave creditors an opportunity to recover what they were owed when the debtor ceased being an MP. This case is generally regarded as having finally settled the question of privilege from arrest in the Commons’ favour, and was cited as Sir Thomas Shirley's Case for centuries afterwards.

His sons Thomas, Anthony and Robert were all noted adventurers.

Shirley married, about 1559, Anne Kempe (c.1542–1623), the daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe (d.1591) of Wye, Kent, by whom he had twelve children, of whom three died as infants. Shirley was survived by three sons and six daughters:[1][2]

• Sir Thomas Shirley (1564–1633/4), who married firstly Frances Vavasour, by whom he had three sons, including the playwright, Henry Shirley, and four daughters, and secondly Judith Bennett, the daughter of William Bennett of London, and the widow of a husband surnamed Taylor, by whom he had five sons and six daughters.[3][4]
• Sir Anthony Shirley (1565–1636?), who married Frances Vernon (baptised 1573), the daughter of Sir John Vernon of Hodnet, Shropshire.[5][4]
• Robert Shirley (c.1581–1628), who married Sampsonia (c.1590–1668), the daughter of Isma‘il Khan, by whom he had an only son, Henry Shirley.[6]
• Margaret Shirley, who married Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577-1618).
• Mary Shirley, who married Sir John Crofts of Saxham, Suffolk.
• Anne Shirley, who married John Tracy, 1st Viscount Tracy, of Toddington, Gloucestershire.[7]
• Elizabeth Shirley, who married Edward Onslow, esquire.
• Kathryn Shirley, who married Sir Pexsall Brocas.
• Jane Shirley, who married Sir John Shirley (1569-1631) of Isfield, Sussex.
• Henry Shirley, Died as an infant.
• Eleanor Shirley, Died as an infant.
• Edward Shirley, Died as an infant.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Shirley_(died_1612)

__________________________

• Sir Thomas Shirley1,2,3
• M, #51289, b. 9 February 1542, d. 16 October 1612
• Father William Shirley b. c 1515, d. 28 Feb 1551
• Mother Mary Isley b. c 1512, d. 2 Jul 1596
• Sir Thomas Shirley was born on 9 February 1542 at of Wiston, Sussex, England.1 He married Anne Kempe, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe, Sheriff of Kent and Katherine Cheney, on 20 February 1560 at of Wiston, Sussex, England.1,2,3 Sir Thomas Shirley died on 16 October 1612 at of Wiston, Sussex, England, at age 70.
• Family Anne Kempe b. c 1546, d. c 1623
• Child
  • Cecily Shirley+1,4,2,3 b. c 1575
• Citations
• 1.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. IV, p. 160-161.
• 2.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 326.
• 3.[S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. V, p. 353-354.
• 4.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 404.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1707.htm#... ____________________
• Sir Thomas Shirley1
• M, #207557
• Last Edited=24 Sep 2006
• Sir Thomas Shirley lived at Wiston, Sussex, England.1
• Child of Sir Thomas Shirley and Anne Kempe
  • 1.Cecily Shirley+1 d. c Jul 1662
• Citations
• 1.[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IV, page 161. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p20756.htm#i207557 _______________________
• Sir Thomas Shirley1
• M, #375628
• Last Edited=23 May 2010
• Sir Thomas Shirley was an antiquary.1 He lived at Wiston, Sussex, England.1
• Child of Sir Thomas Shirley
  • 1.Mary Shirley+2 d. c Mar 1649
• Citations
• 1.[S47] BIFR1976 page 292. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S47]
• 2.[S47] BIFR1976. [S47]
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p37563.htm#i375628 _____________________
• SHIRLEY, Thomas I (c.1542-1612), of Wiston, Suss.
• b. c.1542, 1st s. of William Shirley of Wiston by Mary, da. of Thomas Isley of Sundridge, Kent. educ. Oriel, Oxf, 1554, BA 1557; G. Inn 1559. m. Ann, da. of Sir Thomas Kempe of Olantigh, Kent, 3s. inc. Thomas II 7da. suc. fa. 1551.1 Kntd. 1573.
• Offices Held
  • J.p., dep. lt. Suss. from c.1569-1601; sheriff, Surr. and Suss. 1577-8; treasurer at war in Netherlands from 1587-97, in France 1591.2
• The Shirleys of Wiston were descended from a Warwickshire family which acquired Sussex property by a late fourteenth-century marriage. In the mid-fifteenth century this was settled on a younger son, from whom derived both the Wiston line and the still younger branch at West Grinstead, a descendant of which was Thomas Shirley III. By the mid-sixteenth century the Wiston Shirleys had intermarried with such leading Sussex families as the Dawtreys of Petworth and the Shelleys of Michelgrove; they were also connected with the Blounts, Lords Mountjoy, and the Walsinghams.3
• Shirley himself, who was only nine years old at his father’s death, and who became the ward of Cardinal Pole, inherited the manors of Wiston, Heene, Chiltington Slaughter and Eringham in Sussex and of Wedenhill in Buckinghamshire. A protégé of the Earl of Leicester, who may later have secured him his knighthood, he was made a deputy lieutenant at an early age. His name appears frequently on local commissions, such as those for suppressing piracy and recusancy and for the regulation of the grain trade. In 1583-4 the young Countess of Arundel, whose husband was then under house arrest in London, was put in his custody at Wiston.4
• In 1585 Shirley accompanied Leicester to the Low Countries with a troop he had raised himself. When Leicester incurred the Queen’s displeasure by accepting the governorship of the Netherlands contrary to her instructions, he sent Shirley home to plead his cause. Shirley wrote back describing her ‘bitter words’ against Leicester, and his efforts to reason with her. Probably he returned to the Netherlands later that year when the trouble had subsided, and no doubt it was Leicester who obtained him, in February 1587, the post of treasurer at war to the English forces in the Netherlands, in succession to Richard Huddleston, who had got into difficulties with the accounts. Shirley himself at once began speculating with the soldiers’ pay, sold concessions to the army victuallers and set himself up as a moneylender. Reports of his income varied between £16,000 and £3,000 a year, apart from his stipend of 20s. a day. In 1591 the Queen set up a commission of inquiry, despite which he was made treasurer of the forces in France. His land purchases reached their peak in the early 1590s, and included certain lands of the Pellatt family in Sussex and others belonging to Norwich cathedral. After an unsuccessful attempt to secure the comptrollership of the Household in 1592, his financial position deteriorated and on 4 Apr. 1597 he was superseded as treasurer at war by Sir Thomas Fludd; in 1601 he was put off the commission of the peace and the deputy lieutenantship of Sussex; and finally, in March 1604, he was arrested and sent to the Fleet. This happened at a particularly inappropriate moment, made ‘Shirley’s case’ a landmark in the history of parliamentary privilege, and ended in the committal of the warden of the Fleet to the ‘Little Ease’. Shirley was released and allowed to take his seat, but his debts remained unpaid. He sold his estates (except Wiston, which he settled on his wife), and died intestate in October 1612. The family finances never recovered.5
• So far as it is possible to disentangle Shirley’s committees from those of his namesakes in the House (there was always at least one), he was active in his first three Parliaments. In that of 1572 he was appointed to the committee on the subsidy (10 Feb. 1576), the large committee ‘to consult of bills convenient to be framed’ (25 Jan. 1581), and committees concerned with the preservation of woods (28 Jan.), returns (24 Feb.), the Queen’s safety (14 Mar.) and iron mills (18 Mar.). In the 1584 Parliament he was again on a preservation of timber committee (8 Dec.); served on the conference appointed 15 Feb. 1585 to consider the Lords’ complaints about the Commons’ attitude to them over the fraudulent conveyances bill, and was on the subsidy committee (24 Feb.). By 1593 his son also had been knighted, and there can thus be no certainty as to which of them was appointed to the following, though the father is more likely: the committee on recusants (28 Feb. 1593); the second subsidy committee (1 Mar.)—he would have been on the first (26 Feb.) by reason of being a knight of the shire—and the committees on salted herrings (5 Mar.), the poor law (12 Mar.) and the relief of wounded soldiers (30 Mar.). On the last day of the session the House refused Shirley permission to bring in a proviso to a bill explaining a statute of Henry VIII for confirmation of letters patent. By 1601 he was no longer able to sit for the county and instead was returned for his local borough of Steyning. He made no recorded contribution to the business of this Parliament.6
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/sh... _________________
• Peerage of England, genealogical, biographical, and historical (1812) Vol. IV.
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• https://archive.org/stream/peerageofengland04colluoft#page/87/mode/1up
• .... They derive their descent from SASUALLO or SEWALLUS de Etingdon, whose name (says Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire), argues him to be of the old English stock ; which Se-
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• wallis resided at Nether-Etingdon, in com. Warwick, about the reign of king Edward the Confessor : which place had been the seat of his ancestors, as there is reason to believe, for many generations before. After the Conquest, the lordship of Etingdon was given to Henry Earl of Ferrars, in Normandy, who was one of the principal adventurers with the Norman Duke William, and was held under him by this Sewallus ; to whose posterity, .... etc. He died about 1085. It appears by Kenilworth Register, that he built and endowed the church of Etingdon.
• FULCHER, his only child, succeeded him; and died about 1105, leaving issue, 1. Sewallus. 2. Henry, from whom the Shirleys of Ireton, Co. Derby, who took the name of Ireton. 3. Fulcher, twice married, but died S. P. 4. Nicholas. 5. Robert.
• SEWALLUS died about 1129 ; leaving by his first wife, Matilda, daughter of Ridel, of Halaughton, Co. Derb. 1. Henry. 2. Ful-
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• cher,(d) who held four Knights fees ; but died S. P. 3. Hugh, a priest. 4. Ralph. 5. Richard. Having translated his seat from Etingdon to Shirley, in Derbyshire, he was the first of that family that called himself de Shirley.
• HENRY, eldest son, held five Knights fees in Derbyshire, of Robert de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, and died about 1165. He gave the lordship of Ivanbrook to the Monks of Bildewas ; and was a witness to the foundation Charter of Merevalle Abbey. He left issue by Joanna, daughter and heir of John de Clinton,(e) of Effex,
• SEWALLIS, his son and heir, who, in 1167, acknowledged himself to hold of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, those nine Knights fees which Henry, his father, and his uncle, some time held of Earl Robert, grandfather to the said Earl. (f)He married Isabel, daughter and coheir of Robert Meynell, of Langley Meynell, Co. Derb. by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, wife of John de Walton, son of Simon Bishop of Norwich : and a son and heir,
• Sir JAMES DE SHIRLEY, who was a Knight, and had freewarren granted to him in all his demesnes at Shirley in 1247, and at Etingdon in 1255. He married Agnes de Walton, daughter of Simon de Walton, Bishop of Norwich, and had issue by her Sir Ralph, his successor.(g) He died about 1278.
• Which Sir RALPH de Shirley, in 7 Edw. I. held the manor of Eatendon(h) aforesaid, in com. Warwick, of Edmund Earl of Lancaster, the King's brother, by the service of two Knights fees. In 9 Edw. I. he was of full age. In 28 Edw. I he had the custody of the counties of Salop and Stafford, with the castle of Shrewsbury, committed to his charge ; and was Sheriff of the counties of Derby and Nottingham, in the 27th, 28th, and 30th of Edw. I. In 1301, he was summoned to attend the King at Berwick upon Tweed, on Midsummer-day, well-appointed with horse and arms, to march against the Scots. In 3 Edward II. he was constituted
  • (d) Of Ednesour, co. Derb.
  • (c) Ever since the marriage with the heiress of Clinton, the family have taken her arms ; viz. Paly of six, Or, and Arg. a quarter of Bretaigny ; the family of Clinton, being allied to the Dukes of Bretaigny.
  • (f) See Lib. Nig. Scacc. under Derbyshire,
  • (g) Nichols gives also three younger sons ; James, Simon, and Henry, a priest, parson of St. George, co. Norf.
  • (h) He held also the manor of Barnham, co. Suff. near Thetford, by gift of his grandfather, Bishop Simon Walton.
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• one of the Justices in the county of Warwick for the gaol-delivery ; .... etc.
• He married (i)Margaret, daughter, and one of the coheirs of Walter de Waldeshief, of Fairfield, co. Derby, cupbearer to Edward II. and dying in 1327, 20 Edward II. left issue
• THOMAS,(k) his son and heir, said to be "the great founder of the family of the Shirleys, famous in his time for his valour, and for the many services, &c. rendered to the Kings of England against the French." A Commissioner for assessing and collecting a fifteenth and tenth, granted in 11 Edw. III. and in the 12th, appointed to collect the scutage due to the king for the Scotch expedition. In 14 Edw. III. he served as one of the Knights in parliament for the county of Warwick. This Sir Thomas Shirley died(l) in 36 Edw. II. 1362.
• He married Isabel, daughter of Ralph, son and heir of Ralph Lord Basset, of Drayton, and sister and sole heir to her brother Ralph, the last Lord Basset of that line, who died 13 Richard II. without issue ; having by deed, dated Jan. 26th, 13 Richard II. named Sir Hugh Shirley, son of this Sir Thomas, by his sister Isabel, to be his nephew and right heir: thereby leaving him heir to his whole inheritance, on condition that he assumed his surname of Basset, and his arms, leaving his own ; but should he refuse to comply with that condition, then the whole estate to go to the earl of Stafford, on the same terms, who was descended from Margaret Basset, great aunt to the said Lord Basset ; and should that Earl refuse to comply with the above condition, then the estates to go to the other relations mentioned in the will ; but expressly on condition that they assumed the name and arms of
  • (i) Dugdale's Antiq. of Warwicksh. p. 466.
  • (k) Nichols mentions an elder brother, Ralph de Shirley, by a former wife, who died S. P.
  • (l) He was noted also for the liberal donations of lands and rents by himself and his wife, to the College of St. Mary, at the Newark, in Leicester, &c.
  • (m) He and his Lady were interred in the Chapel of the Duke of Lancaster's College, called Newark. See Nichols, I, 399. III. 708.
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• Basset.(n) But neither Sir Hugh Shirley, nor the Earl of Stafford, complied with the conditions of the will, but contended for the estate ; which dispute was not finally settled till the reign of Henry VI. when the estates of the Barons Basset of Drayton, were divided between them. Colston Basset, in com. Nott. &c.
  • (n) This marriage with the heiress of Lord Basset, of Drayton, deserves some remarks. The Lady's legitimacy has latterly been doubted, in defiance of what seems decisive proof, for reasons which appear extremely weak, or rather no reasons at all. .... etc.
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• being allotted to Shirley ; and Drayton Basset, com. Staff. &c. to Stafford. His widow remarried Sir Gerard Braybroke, Knt.
• But to return : HUGH Shirley, son and heir of Sir Thomas, by Isabel Basset, succeeded his father ; and was, as before mentioned, by the will of the late Lord Basset his uncle, acknowledged by him to be his nephew and right heir ; in 7 Rich II. he confirmed the manors of Shirley and Hoone, in com. Derby, and that of Etingdon, in com. Warwick, to his mother Isabel, then the wife of Sir Gerard Braybroke, Knt. these manors having been assigned to be for her dower by Sir Thomas Shirley, his father. This Sir Hugh was made Chief Warden of Higham Ferrers Park, by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster ; and in 22 Rich. II. constituted Constable of Donnington-Castle, by Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, afterward King Henry IV. On March 27th, 1400, being then a Knight, he was made Grand Falconer to King Henry IV. for the Kingdom of Ireland. He was killed at the battle of Shrewsbury,(o) on the part of King Henry IV. being one of those who was habited as the King, and taken for him by the opposite party. By Beatrix his wife, sister and heir to John de Braose, or de Breus, of West-Neston (now called Wiston), in Sussex, heir male of the ancient family of that name, Barons of Brember, in Sussex, and of Brecknock, Abergavenny, and Gower, in Wales, he had issue three daughters ; Isabel, wife of Sir John Cokayne, of Ashbourne ; Elizabeth ; and Nichola ; also
• RALPH, his son and heir, then twelve years of age ; who, in 5 Henry V. was retained to serve that King in person in his army in Guyen, with six men at arms, and eighteen archers ; and the next year, with eight men at arms, and sixteen archers, and was about that time knighted ; for in 8 Henry V. being then Sheriff of the counties of Nottingham and Derby, he was then styled a Knight. He was one of the chief Commanders under King Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt, as appears by an ancient Roll in the office of Arms ; and was often a great actor in the subsequent Wars of the said King Henry V. in France ; as is evidently proved by diverse instruments of accord made between the said King and Sir Ralph Shirley ; in one of which, dated 1416, after agreement had for the number and pay of his soldiers, &c. the King granted to him all the prisoners that he or his soldiers should take, only reserving to himself, the French King, his
  • (o) The Spirits of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blount, are in my arms." Prince of Wales's Speech in Shakespeare's Henry IV.
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• adversary; the Dauphin, his son ; and all other Kings, his adversary's assistants, giving to him only the third part of the ransom of the captive Kings, by him or his soldiers taken. To this Sir Ralph, the feoffees of Ralph Lord Basset, released all their right to the estates he claimed as heir to that Barony. In 1432, he resided at Radcliffe upon Soar ; and died at his government and charge in France, about 1443. His body was brought to England, and buried in the Collegiate Church of the Newark, at Leicester. His second wife was Alice, daughter of Sir John Cokayne, Knt. who died 1466, without issue.
• By his first wife, Joan, daughter and heir of Thomas Basset, of Brailsford, co. Derb. he had a daughter, Beatrix, wife of John Brome, of Badesley Clinton, co. Warw. and
• RALPH, who was Constable of Melbourn Castle, and of the castle in the Peak of Derbyshire : and died in 1466, "seised of many goodly manors, fair possessions, and large territories in the several counties of Leicester, Derby, Warwick, and Nottingham." He was buried in the church of Brailesford, where his tomb still remains.
• His first wife was Margaret, daughter and sole heir of John de Staunton, of Staunton Harald, in Leicestershire (whereby he obtained that estate, still the chief seat of the family), by Joan, daughter and coheir of Sir Ralph Meynell, of Langley Meynell (with which family a former match of Shirley has been already, mentioned). By this marriage he had issue John, his son and heir, hereafter mentioned.
• His second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Blount, Knt. and sister to Walter Blount, Lord Montjoy ; by whom he had Ralph Shirley, Esquire of the Body to King Henry VII. ancestor to the Shirleys of Wiston, of Sussex ; of whom an account will be given in an accompanying note, this branch having been of considerable eminence.(p)
• His third wife was Lucia, daughter of Sir John Aston, of
  • (p) Ralph Shirley, by his second wife, Elizabeth Blount, sister to Walter Lord Mountjoy, had issue Sir Ralph Shirley, of Wiston, who, by Jane, daughter of Thomas Bellingham, of Lymster, in Sussex, Esq. had four daughters ; Jane, wife of John Dawtrey, of Petworth, in Sussex ; Elizabeth, wife of John Lee, of Fitleworth, co. Sussex ; Beatrix, wife of Edward Eldrington, of Hoggeston, and afterwards of Sir Edward Bray, of Vachery, Surrey, died 1582 ; and Isabel, wife of John Dawtrey, of Hampton ; also, 1. Sir Richard, 2. Thomas Shirley, of West Grinsted, who died 1606; leaving by Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Marmaduke Gorges, of Gloucestershire, Cecilie, daughter and coheir, aet. 19, 1606, wife of Sir George Snelling, of Postlade, Sussex.
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• Atherton, Knt, widow, first, of Sir John Byron, of Clayton and Colwich ; and, secondly, of Sir Barton Entwissel, Knt. Viscount of Brykbeke, in Normandy. She died in Feb. 1481 ; and lies buried at Braylesford.
• John, son and heir, married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Hugh Willoughby of Wollaton, co. Notts, and dying 1485, left issue,
• RALPH, twenty-six years old, who, for his valour in the battle of Stoke, in com. Nott. June 16th, 1487, was made a Banneret ; to which battle (q)he brought forces to the King's aid, when the Earl of Lincoln was slain. In 7 Henry VII. he was retained to serve the King in his wars beyond sea for one year ; and died on Jan. 6th, 1516-7, at his manor house of Staunton-Harold ; and was interred in Geronden Abbey. By his last will and testament,(r) which bears date four days before his death, writing himself Sir Rauf Shirley, of Staunton-Harold, in com. Leic. Knt. he orders his body to be buried at the discretion of his executors. He bequeaths to Jane his wife, his manors of Shirley and Brailesford, with the lands, rents, and services, as also other lands, in full of her jointure and dower, for term of her life ; and his manor of Barnham, to the monastery of Geronden, for the term of fifty years.
  • Sir Ralph, the eldest son by his second wife, daughter of Sir Richard Guildeforde, had four daughters ; but by his first wife, Anne, daughter of John Shelley, of Michelgrove, he had Elizabeth, wife of John Michell, of Staunton ; Anne, wife of Richard Fernwold ; Cecely, married to John Leedes ; Alice, married to Thomas Chandler, of Lyndfield. John ; Edward ; and
  • William Shirly, of Wiston, son and heir, who died May 29th, 1551 ; leaving by Mary, daughter of Thomas Isley, Esq. of Sundridge, Kent, Anthony Shirley, a younger son, of Preston, in Sussex ; whose great grandson, Sir Anthony, was created a Baronet, 1665 (and left a granddaughter, Anne, married to Robert Western, of London, merchant), and
  • Sir Thomas Shirley, of Wiston, son and heir, Treasurer for the Wars in the Low Countries, from which he was removed 1597. (See Birch's Elizabeth, I. 455, and Sydney Papers, II.28, 31, 33.) By Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe, he left issue several daughters, and three sons ;
    • 1. Sir Thomas.
    • 2. Sir Anthony, born 1563 ; a great traveller, died in Spain about 1636. See Fuller's Worthies, Sussex, 107. Hakluyt, Purchas, &c.
    • 3. Sir Robert, equally famous with his brother. See a whole-length print of him in Harding's Cabinet, &c. &c. He married Teresia, a relation of the great Sophy.
  • Sir Thomas married Frances, sister of Sir Thomas Vavasor, Knt. and left issue
  • Sir Thomas Shirley, M. D. who suffered much for his loyalty, and had the estate at Wiston torn from him by Sir John Fagg, Bart. See Topogr, IV. 335, 336.
  • .... etc.
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• It also appears by his will, that he had five brothers; and that he was possessed of the manors of Staunton-Harold, Rakedale, and Willowes, Burton, Long-Whatton, Ratclyff, Dunton, Esterleyke, Sutton-Bonyngton, and Newton-Regis ; he bequeaths all his household furniture, plate, &c. to his wife and his son Francis, to be divided equally between them; and ordains executors, his cousin, Sir Richard Sackvil (to whom he bequeaths a cross of gold, hanging at his chain) : his brother, Robert Hasylryg (husband to Elizabeth, his sister) ; Sir James Smith, his priest ; and Thomas Herbert.
• He married four wives,(s) but had no issue by his first and third; and by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and coheir to Thomas Walsh, of Wanlip, in Leicestershire, had only a daughter, Anne, heir to her mother, married to Sir Thomas Pultney, of Misterton, in com. Leic. Knt. ancestor to the late Earl of Bath. By his last wife, Jane, daughter to Sir Robert Sheffield, Knt. ancestor to the late Duke of Buckingham, he had Francis, his son and heir, before mentioned.
• Which FRANCIS was (t)Sheriff of the counties of Warwick and Leicester, in 4 Philip and Mary; and having lived(u) to an advanced age, famous for his charity and hospitality, died on July 27th, 1571 , and was buried in the church of Breedon on the Hill, in Leicestershire, where a monument was erected to the memory of him, and Dorothy his wife, who survived him but a short time; as appears by her last will and testament,(x) bearing date August 9th, 1571, and the probate thereof May 16th following. She was daughter of Sir John Gifford, of Chillington, in Staffordshire, Knt. and married to her first husband, John Congreve, Esq; but had issue by the said Francis Shirley, three sons ; John Shirley, Esq. hereafter mentioned; Edward, who died young; and Ralph : also three daughters ; Cassandra, married to Walter Powtrell, of West-Hallum, in com. Derb. Esq. ; Elizabeth, to Thomas Cotton, of Conington, in Huntingdonshire, Esq. father by her to the famous Sir Robert Cotton, Knt. and Bart, the great collector of the records now reposited in the British Museum; and Anne, to John Brook, of Madeley, in Shropshire, esq.
• JOHN Shirley, eldest son and heir apparent, died A. D. 1570, in
  • (s) His second wife was Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Vernon, of Haddon, whom he married 1496 ; and his third, Anne, daughter of Thomas Warner, Esq.
  • (t) Fuller's Worthies. (u) Ex inscript. tumul.
  • (x) Ex Regist. Daper. qu. 16. Collect, T. Meller, Gent. ___________________________________________________

5. Sir Thomas Shirley, the elder b_______d 1612 Buried in the chapel at Wiston. He changed from Catholic to Protestant.

In 1578 he served as sheriff for Surrey and Sussex CO. He later became Treasurer of War in the Low Countries (Holland). Having fallen under the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth, he became indebted to the Crown, his estates and personal effects, with exception of the manor of Wiston, settled on his wife, were seized.

King James 1st was indebted to Sir Thomas Sherley for the idea of the creation of the baronetage. This brought to the Majesties coffers--more than 100 thousand pounds. He was promised by the late Lord of Salisbury, Lord Treasurer, a good recompense, and this he never received.

The following lands were sold by Sir Thomas Sherley the elder: SUSSEX CO: West Chiltington, Erringham and Slaughters in the Parish of Billinghurst. SUSSEX CO: Buncton with lands in Blackland and Frenchland in the Park of Findon, The manor of Barkfold with the ironworks in parish of Kirdford and the 1/4th part of the manor of Heyghley. SURREY CO: Burstow near Ryegate BERKSHIRE CO: East Ilsley LEICESTERSHIRE CO: Cottsback NORTHAMPTONSHIRE CO: Bugbrook. (The last two were given to Sir Thomas Sherley by Robert, 2nd Earl of Essex).  
m. Anne Kemp died 1622/23 daughter of Sir Thomas Kemp of Wye in Kent

__________________

• SHIRLEY, Thomas II (1564-c.1630), of Wiston, Suss.; later of the I.o.W.
• b. 1564, 1st s. of Thomas Shirley I of Wiston by Ann, da. of Sir Thomas Kempe of Olantigh, Kent. educ. Hart Hall, Oxf. 1579; I. Temple 1581. m. (1) 1591, Frances, da. of Henry Vavasour of Copmanthorpe and Hazlewood, Yorks., 3s. 4da.; (2) Dec. 1617, Judith, da. of William Bennett of London, wid. of one Taylor, 6s. 6da. Kntd. 1589; suc. fa. 1612.1
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/sh... ______________________
• Sir Thomas Shirley (1564 – c. 1634) was an English soldier, adventurer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1622. His financial difficulties drove him into privateering which culminated in his capture by the Turks and later imprisonment in the Tower of London.
• Thomas Shirley was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex, and Anne Kempe, the daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe (d. 7 March 1591) of Olantigh in Wye, Kent.[1][2] Sir Anthony Shirley[3] and Sir Robert Shirley[4] were his younger brothers.
• Shirley matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford in 1579, but left the university without taking a degree.[5] In 1584 he was elected Member of Parliament for Steyning.[6] He went on military service with his father and brother in the Low Countries in 1585, and later saw some in Ireland. He was knighted at Kilkenny in Ireland by the lord deputy, Sir William Fitz-William, on 26 October 1589.[7] Shirley later came to the court. In the summer of 1591 he made a secret marriage to one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour and when the queen heard of it, she promptly committed him to the Marshalsea Prison. He remained in prison till the spring of 1592.[5] In 1593 he was elected MP for Steyning again.[6] In the same year he saw service with the rank of captain in the Low Countries again.
• Shirley was beginning to suffer from hopeless embarrassment because of his father's increasing financial difficulties. To secure a livelihood, he decided to fit out a privateering expedition to attack Spanish merchandise. He handed over his company at Flushing to Sir Thomas Vavasour, a relation of his wife, and in the summer of 1598 sailed into the English Channel, and seized four 'hulks' of Lübeck which were reputed to be carrying Spanish goods.[5] He may have made some of his attacks with the Queen's ship Foresight, which he commanded in 1599. The costs and returns were high. A ship that Shirley captured while returning from San Domingo laden with sugar, was valued at £4,700. In April 1600, Shirley offered the Earl of Nottingham £600 for his tenth share in two ships which he brought into Plymouth and said he had already paid £2,000 for 'the company's thirds'. In October 1600 Shirley was brought before the Admiralty court for seizing a ship from Hamburg which had a cargo belonging to some Dutch merchants and Lord Cobham had to intervene on his behalf. He was also coming under attack from his creditors for in July 1600 some supporters of Sir Richard Weston broke into his father's house at Blackfriars and threatened the Shirleys, father and son, demanding payment. In 1601 his father required the borough seat of Steyning. Shirley was elected MP for both Bramber and Hastings and chose to sit for Hastings.[6] In 1602 he renewed his privateering adventures, and pillaged 'two poor hamlets of two dozen houses in Portugal.'[5]
• At the end of 1602 Shirley equipped two ships for a more ambitious adventure in the Levant where he aimed to strike a blow against the Ottoman Empire of Mehmed III. He was given encouragement by the Duke of Tuscany at Florence, who supported Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor in this respect. However, he made an imprudent descent on the island of Kea on 15 Jan 1603 and was captured by the Turks. He was transferred to Negropont on 20 March, and on 25 July 1603 he was carried a close prisoner to Constantinople. When news of his misfortunes reached England, James I appealed to the government of the sultan to release him. The English ambassador to the Porte, Henry Lello, used every effort on his behalf, and finally he was released on 6 December 1605, after eleven hundred dollars had been paid to his gaolers. He immediately went to Naples, where he was described by Toby Mathew, on 8 August 1606, as living there 'like a gallant.' At the end of 1606 he returned to England.[5]
• Shirley was imprisoned in the Tower of London in September 1607 on a charge of illegal interference with the operations of the Levant Company. It was said that he had "overbusied himself with the traffic of Constantinople, to have brought it to Venice and to the Florentine territories." In August 1611 he was confined in the king's bench as an insolvent debtor. The death of his father next year, and his second marriage greatly increased his difficulties. Wiston, which had fallen into ruins, was sold, but he was elected MP for Steyning in 1614, and 1621.[6]
• Shirley is said to have retired subsequently to the Isle of Wight, and to have died there about 1630.[5]
• Shirley married firstly Frances Vavasour, daughter of Henry Vavasour of Copmanthorpe, by whom he had three sons and four daughters.[2] His second son, Henry Shirley (fr), was the dramatist who was murdered in London on 31 October 1627.[8] His only surviving son by his first marriage, Thomas Shirley, was baptised at West Clandon, Surrey, on 30 June 1597, was knighted in 1645 by Charles I at Oxford, was alive in 1664, and was father of Thomas Sherley [q. v.], the physician.[5]
• Shirley married secondly at Deptford on 2 December 1617, a widow, Judith Taylor, daughter of William Bennet of London, by whom he had five sons and six daughters.[5][2]
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Shirley ______________________
• Sir Anthony Shirley (or Sherley) (1565–1635) was an English traveller, whose imprisonment in 1603 by King James I caused the English House of Commons to assert one of its privileges—freedom of its members from arrest—in a document known as The Form of Apology and Satisfaction.
• Anthony Shirley was the second son of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex, and Anne Kempe, the daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe (d. 7 March 1591) of Olantigh in Wye, Kent. He had an elder brother, Sir Thomas Shirley, and a younger brother, Sir Robert Shirley, and six sisters who survived infancy.[1][2][3][4]
• Educated at the University of Oxford, Shirley gained military experience with the English troops in the Netherlands and during an expedition to Normandy in 1591 under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who was related to his wife, Frances Vernon; about this time he was knighted by Henry of Navarre (Henry IV of France), an event which brought upon him the displeasure of his own sovereign and a short imprisonment.
• In 1596, he conducted a predatory expedition along the western coast of Africa and then across to Central America, but owing to a mutiny he returned to London with a single ship in 1597. In 1598, he led a few English volunteers to Italy to take part in a dispute over the possession of Ferrara; this, however, had been accommodated when he reached Venice, and he decided to journey to Persia with the twofold object of promoting trade between England and Persia and of stirring up the Persians against the Turks. He obtained money at Constantinople and at Aleppo, and was very well received by the Shah, Abbas the Great, who made him a Mirza, or prince, and granted certain trading and other rights to all Christian merchants.
• Then, as the Shah's representative, he returned to Europe and visited Moscow, Prague, Rome, and other cities, but the English government would not allow him to return to his own country. Two members of his expedition returned to London, where they published the anonymous pamphlet The True Report of Sir Anthony Shirley's Journey, which, additionally spurred by the actor Will Kempe's meeting with Sir Anthony in Rome, evoked two references to "the Sophy"— the Shah— in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1601–02).[5]
• For some time he was in prison in Venice, and in 1605, he went to Prague and was sent by Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor on a mission to Morocco; afterwards he went to Lisbon and to Madrid, where he was welcomed very warmly. The King of Spain appointed him the admiral of a fleet which was to serve in the Levant, but the only result of his extensive preparations was an unsuccessful expedition against the island of Mitylene. After this he was deprived of his command. Shirley, who was a count of the Holy Roman Empire, died at Madrid some time after 1635.
• Shirley wrote an account of his adventures, Sir Anthony Sherley: his Relation of his Travels into Persia (1613), the original manuscript of which is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. There are in existence five or more accounts of Shirley's adventures in Persia, and the account of his expedition in 1596 is published in Richard Hakluyt's Voyages and Discoveries (1809-1812). See also The Three Brothers; Travels and Adventures of Sir Anthony, Sir Robert and Sir Thomas Sherley in Persia, Russia, Turkey and Spain (London, 1825); EP Shirley, The Sherley Brothers (1848), and the same writer's Stemmata Shirleiana (1841, again 1873).
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Shirley _________________________
• Sir Robert Shirley (c. 1581 – 13 July 1628) was an English traveller and adventurer, younger brother of Sir Anthony Shirley and of the adventurer Sir Thomas. He is mostly famous for his help modernising and improving the Persian Safavid army according to the British model, by the request of Shah Abbas the Great. This proved to be highly successful, as from then on the Safavids proved to be an equal force to their arch rival, the Ottoman Empire.
• Robert Shirley was the third son of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex, and Anne Kempe, the daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe (d. 7 March 1591) of Olantigh in Wye, Kent. He had two elder brothers, Sir Thomas Shirley and Sir Anthony Shirley, and six sisters who survived infancy.[1][2][3][4]
• Shirley travelled to Persia in 1598, accompanying his brother, Anthony, who had been sent to the Safavid Persia from 1 December 1599 to May 1600, with 5000 horses to train the Persian army according to the rules and customs of the English militia and to reform and retrain the Persian artillery. When Anthony Shirley left Persia, Robert remained in Persia with fourteen other Englishmen. There he married Teresia, a Circassian lady. In 1608 Shah Abbas sent him on a diplomatic mission to James I of England and to other European princes for the purpose of uniting them in a confederacy against the Ottoman Empire. From since his very first mission in Persia, the modernisations by Robert and his men proved to be highly successful; the Safavids scored their first crushing triomph over the Ottomans in the Ottoman-Safavid War, ending the war on highly favourable terms.
• Shirley travelled first to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he was received by Sigismund III Vasa. In June of that year, he arrived in Germany, where he received the title of Count Palatine and appointed to Knight of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Rudolph II. Pope Paul V also conferred upon him the title of Count. From Germany, Sir Robert travelled to Florence and then Rome, where he entered the city on Sunday, 27 September 1609, attended by a suite of eighteen persons. He next visited Milan, and then proceeded to Genoa, from whence he embarked to Spain, arriving in Barcelona in December 1609. He sent for his Persian wife, and they remained in Spain, principally at Madrid, until the summer of 1611.
• In 1613 Shirley returned to Persia. In 1615 he returned to Europe, and resided at Madrid. In a pleasingly serendipitous meeting Shirley's caravan met Thomas Coryate, the eccentric traveller and travel writer (and attendant of Prince Henry's court in London), in the Persian desert in 1615.
• Shirley's third journey to Persia was undertaken in 1627 when he accompanied Sir Dodmore Cotton the first British ambassador to the Kingdom of Persia,[5] but soon after reaching the country they both died at Qazvin, in what is today northern Iran.[6]
• There are several double portraits of Shirley and his wife in English collections, including the private collection of R.J. Berkeley and of Petworth House (by van Dyck).[7]
• The exploits of the Shirley brothers were dramatised in the 1607 play The Travels of the Three English Brothers by John Day, William Rowley and George Wilkins.
• In 1609, Andreas Loeaechius (Andrew Leech), a Scot living in Cracow, Poland, wrote a Latin panegyric to Shirley entitled Encomia Nominis & Neoocij D. Roberti Sherlaeii. This text was translated in the same year by the English writer Thomas Middleton as Sir Robert Sherley his Entertainment in Cracovia.[8]
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Shirley ____________________________
• Thomas WEST (3º B De la Warr)
• Born: 9 Jul 1577, Wherwell, Hampshire, England
• Died: 17 Jun 1618, Nova Scotia / Hampshire, England
• Notes: See his Biography.
• Father: Thomas WEST (1º B. De La Warr)
• Mother: Anne KNOLLYS (B. De La Warr)
• Married: Cicely SHIRLEY (B. De La Warr) (dau. of Thomas Shirley and Anne Kempe) 1602, Hants, England
• Children:
  • 1. John WEST
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/WEST.htm#Thomas WEST (3º B De la Warr) ____________________
• Frances VAVASOUR
• Born: ABT 1565
• Father: Henry VAVASOUR
• Mother: Margaret KNYVETT
• Associated with: Robert DUDLEY (E. Warwick) contract early 1591
• Married: Thomas SHIRLEY (son of Thomas Shirley and Anne Kempe) 1591
• Children:
  • 1. Henry SHIRLEY
  • 2. Thomas SHIRLEY
  • 3. Son SHIRLEY
  • 4. Son SHIRLEY
  • 5. Son SHIRLEY
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/VAVASOUR.htm#Frances VAVASOUR2 ______________________________
• 'Shirley1'
• Sasuallo or Sewallus of Ettington, etc. (d c1085)
  • 1. Fulcher of Ettington, etc. (d c1105)
    • A. Henry ancestor of Shirley of Ireton and families named Ireton
    • B. Sewallis of Shirley (d c1129)
    • Sewallis and the next few generations may well have been known as 'de Ettington' rather than 'de Shirley'.
    • m. Matilda (dau of Ridel of Halaughton)
      • i. Henry de Shirley (d c1165)
      • m. Joanna (dau of John de Clinton of Essex)
        • a. Sewallis de Shirley (a 1167)
        • m. Isabel Meynell (dau of Robert Meynell of Langley Meynell)
        • Visitation adds 2 intervening generations here: Henry then Sewall, apparently younger son of Henry (the other son being another Henry) and father of ...
          • (1) Sir James de Shirley and Ettington (d c1278)
          • m. Agnes de Walton (dau of Simon de Walton, Bishop of Norwich)
            • (A) Sir Ralph de Shirley, Sheriff of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (d 1327)
            • m. Margaret (dau of Walter de Waldeshief of Fairfield)
              • (i) Sir Thomas Shirley
              • m. Isabel Basset (sister of Ralph Basset, Lord of Drayton)
                • (a) Sir Hugh Shirley (d Shrewsbury 1403, grand falconer)
                • m. Beatrix de Braose (sister of John de Braose of West Neston)
                  • ((1)) Sir Ralph Shirley, Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire (a 1422)
                  • m1. Joan Basset (dau of Thomas Basset of Braylesford)
                    • ((A)) Ralph Shirley of Ettington, Shirley and Staunton (constable of Melbourne Castle)
                    • m1. Margaret Staunton (dau of John de Staunton of Staunton Harold)
                      • ((i)) John Shirley of Ettington, etc. (d 1485)
                      • m. Eleanor Willoughby (dau of Sir Hugh Willoughby of Wollaton)
                        • ((a)) Sir Ralph Shirley of Ettington, Shirley and Staunton (d 1517)
                        • m1. Elizabeth Walsh (dau of Thomas Walsh of Wanlep)
                        • m2. Jane Sheffield (dau of Sir Robert Sheffield)
                    • m2. Elizabeth Blount (dau of Sir Thomas (not John) Blount)
                      • ((ii)) Ralph Shirley of Westneston (Wiston) - continued below
                      • m. Jane Belingham (dau of Thomas Belingham of Lemyster)
                      • ((iii))+ other issue - Elizabeth, Alice, Sauch. (sic), Ann, Margaret
                    • m3. Lucia Aston or Assheton (dau of Sir John Assheton of Atherton)
                    • ((B)) Beatrix Shirley
                    • m. John Brome of Bedesley Clynton
                  • m2. Alis Blunt
                  • ((2)) Isabel Shirley
                  • m. Sir Gey Cockend (John Cokayne) of Ashburne
                  • ((3))+ other issue - Elizabeth, Nichola
              • (ii) Isabel Shirley
              • m. Geffrey Lee Burgylond of Weston (sic)
          • (2) Elizabeth de Shirley
          • m. John de Walton (son of Simon, Bishop of Norwich)
      • ii.+ other issue - Fulcher (dsp), Hugh (priest), Ralph, Richard
    • C.+ other issue - Fulcher (dsp), Nicholas, Robert
• Ralph Shirley of Westneston (Wiston) - continued above
• Visitation shows this Ralph as married also to Elizabeth, dau of Thomas Blount, with a note (apparently provided The Harleian's Society's editor) saying that she was "added, but in a like hand". On the basis that this looks like a repetition of his mother (whose marriage to his father is mentioned in BP1934) we ignore this.
• m. Jane Belingham (dau of Thomas Belingham of Lemyster)
  • 1. Sir Richard Shirley of Westneston or Wiston (d 1543-4)
  • m1. Ann Shelley (dau of John Shelley of Michelgrove)
    • A. William Shirley of Westneston or Wiston
    • m. Mary Isley (dau of Thomas Isley or Issley of Kent)
      • i. Sir Thomas Shirley of Westneston or Wiston (a 1585)
      • A web site gives Sir Thomas's dates as 1542-10.1612 and reports that he also married a Frances Vernon (probably of the family of Hodnet) who was mother of Sir Anthony. Visitation reports only one wife ...
      • m. Anne Kempe (dau of Sir Thomas Kempe of Wye by Catherine Chenye)
        • a. Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston (b 1564, d c1620)
        • m. Frances Vavasor (dau of Sir Thomas Vavasor)
        • Visitation merely names Thomas and his wife. A web site confirms he inherited Wiston, gives his dates, and reports that he was father of ...
          • (1) Henry Shirley (dramatist, younger son)
        • b. Sir Anthony Shirley ## note probable duplication below
        • m. Barbara Walsingham (dau of Sir Thomas Walsingham)
        • c. Robert Shirley
        • d. Mary Shirley
        • m. Sir John Croftes of Suffolk
        • e. Elizabeth Shirley
        • m. Edward Onslow
        • f. Margery Shirley
        • m. Pexsall Brocas
        • g. Jane Shirley
        • m. John Shirley of Isefeild (b 1569, d 1631)
        • h. Anne Shirley (b 23.12.1573)
        • m. (c1590) Sir John Tracy of Toddington, Sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1st Viscount of Rathcoole (d before 14.02.1648)
        • i. Cecily Shirley (bur 31.07.1662)
        • m. (25.11.1596) Thomas West, 3rd Lord De La Warr (b 09.07.1557, d 07.06.1618)
      • ii. Anthony Shirley ## note probable duplication above
      • m. Barbara Walsingham (dau of Sir Thomas Walsingham)
        • a. Thomas Shirley of Preston, Sussex (d 02.1636-7)
        • The folllowing is supported by Visitation (Susse, 1662, Shirley of Preston) with input also from BEB1841 (Shirley of Preston).
        • m1. (13.06.1598) Jane Essex (bur 03.11.1599, dau of Thomas Essex of Lamburne, sister of Sir William)
          • (1) Thomas Shirley of Preston (bpt 31.03.1599, bur 20.05.1654)
          • m. Elizabeth Stapley (dau of Drew Stapley of London)
            • (A) Sir Anthony Shirley, 1st Bart of Preston (b 05.07.1624, bur 22.06.1683)
            • m. Anne Onslow (dau of Sir Richard Onslow of West Clandon)
              • (i) Sir Richard Shirley, 2nd Bart of Preston (b c1654, bur 30.03.1692)
              • m. (13.03.1676-7) Judith Bateman (bur 04.06.1729, dau of Joas Bateman of London, sister of Sir James, m2. Sir Henry Hatsell)
                • (a) Sir Richard Shirley, 3rd Bart of Preston (d unm 1705)
                • (b) Anne Shirley
                • m. Thomas Western of Rivenhall
                • (c)+ other issue - Anthony (dsp?), Judith, Mary
              • (ii) Elizabeth Shirley (bpt 17.11.1651)
              • m. (c03.1676-7) William Boys of Hawkhurst
            • (B)+ other issue - Elisabeth, Mary, Abbigale, Jane, Francis(es?)
        • m2. (1606) Grace Stapley (bpt 06.12.1586) dau of Anthony Stapley of Framfield)
          • (2) Anthony Shirley
        • m3.(02.02.1614-5) Elizabeth Stoner (bur 25.01.1630, dau of John Stoner, widow of Thomas Stephens)
          • (3) Abbigale Shirley
        • b. Judith Shirley
        • m. Sir Henry Mallory
        • c. Elizabeth Shirley
        • m. Sir Samwell Smyth
        • d. Sarah Shirley
        • m. Edward Godman of Etehale
        • e.+ other issue - Anthony (dsp), Richard, Walsingham, Edward, Henry
    • B. Ciseley Shirley
    • m. John Ledys
    • C. Ann Shirley
    • m. Richard Fernwold
    • D. Elizabeth Shirley
    • m. John Mychell of Stammerham
    • E. Alys Shirley
    • m. Thomas Chaunceler of Lyndford
    • F.+ other issue - John, Edward (dsp)
  • m2. Elizabeth Gifford (dau of Sir Richard Gifford)
  • 2. Thomas Shirley of West Grinstead
  • m. Elizabeth Gorges (dau/coheir of Marmaduke Gorges alias Russell of Gloucestershire)
    • A. Francis Shirley of West Grinstead reported by a web site to have been Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex (a 1574)
    • m. _ Blount (dau of Richard Blount)
      • i. Thomas Shirley of West Grinstead (b c1555, a 1577)
      • m. _ Carell
        • a. Scissely Shirley
        • m. Sir George Snelling of West Grinsted or Grinstead
        • b. Barbara Shirley
        • m1. Sir Thomas Thornhurst
        • m2. Anthony St. Leger
    • B.+ other issue - Isabel, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Joan
  • 3. Jane Shirley
  • m1. John Daney (sb Dawtrey) of Petworth
  • m2. Sir Richard Lister (d 14.03.1553)
  • 4. Elizabeth Shirley
  • m. John Lee of Little Worth
  • 5. Beatrix Shirley
  • m. Edward Eldrington of Hogston
  • 6. Isabel Shirley
  • m. John Dawney of Hampton
• Main source(s):
• (1) For upper section : BP1934 (Ferrers), Visitation (Sussex, 1530+1633-4, Shirley)
• (2) For lower section : Visitation (Sussex, 1530+1633-4, Shirley)
• From: Stirnet.com
• http://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/ss4as/shirley1.php#con2 ___________________________

References

• Stemmata Shirleiana By E.P. Shirley. Page 235. GoogleBooks “Pedigree of Sherley of Wiston, in Sussex.”
• http://www.shirleyassociation.com/NewShirleySite/NonMembers/England...
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ancestors...
• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/ke...
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasWest(3BDeLaWarr).htm

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