{77} Edward III Descents for Mary (née Henley), Countess Ligonier (c.1750-1814)

Henley Coat of Arms
[Azure, a lion rampant argent,
crowned with a ducal coronet or,
in a bordure argent, charged
with eight torteauxes]

It's taking me longer than I had originally thought it would to enter the descendants of the 2nd Viscount Wentworth of Wellesborough into my database. So far, tracing them has led to a forester in Ontario, Canada, a florist in Philadelphia (both early 20th-century North American immigrants descended from Henry VII), and the wife of a Nobel Peace Prize winner, among several others. They hopefully will make a fascinating series of posts starting early next week. In the meantime, I'll turn in this post from the descendants of the 2nd Viscount Wentworth, to the ancestry of his wife.

"The most liberal & the best of Women My Dearest Mary" is how Viscount Wentworth referred to his wife in a letter he wrote to his sister Lady Milbanke in the summer of 1791. Lady Milbanke, however, whose ambition often out-paced her intelligence, and who, from the evidence of her letters and behaviour, showed symptoms of what today is called anxiety disorder, felt otherwise about her sister-in-law, who outranked her both in birth and title: she blamed her for what she perceived was a coldness from her brother. "It really hurts me very much that my Brother should have so little desire to see my Child," Judith Lady Milbanke whined in a letter to her aunt Mary Noel (1725-1802) in the summer of 1797. The child was Annabella Milbanke, whom Judith had given birth to five years previous when aged 40, and whom the lady was determined to make not only the heiress of the Milbankes but that of the Noels as well. Judith's letter prompted a reprimand from her aunt, an experienced woman who saw people in a far more well-rounded light than her temperamental niece: "I am very sure your Brother loves you as much as he can love anything but his dear Mary...It is not now in any bodys power to do you & yours any Injury, as most of his estate was primarily settled upon you & your heirs by his Marriage Settlement after her...She [Mary] certainly does shew the greatest regard & love for him, & is very good to him in money matters, & you know he was always a dupe to the female he lived with, & when all is said we have all our prejudices."

Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington
(c.1708-1772)

Lady Mary Henley was born in 1751, the third of the five daughters of Robert, 1st Earl of Northington, a cabinet minister who had been high in favour with King George III, receiving both his earldom and the position of Lord Chancellor of England from that monarch. Northington died when Lady Mary was age 20, and two years later in 1773, she married Edward, Viscount Ligonier, a handsome military officer whose first marriage to the unfaithful Penelope Pitt had ended in a scandalous divorce. Though married over eight years, Mary was unable to provide her husband, promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1775, and created Earl Ligonier of Clonmell the following year, with an heir to succeed to his titles. His premature death in 1782 at the age of 42 left Countess Ligonier a widow in her early 30s, with a sizeable fortune, increased when her brother the 2nd Earl of Northington died childless in 1786, leaving Mary and their other four sisters as his coheirs. Small, delicate and kind, Countess Ligonier enjoyed playing cards and the latest fashions, and fell in love with Thomas Noel, 2nd Viscount Wentworth in the months following her brother's death. He had a tarnished past: he had taken a Catholic mistress while on the continent, with whom he lived for several years in England, fathering two children with her. They had separated before her 1781 death, and he had begun a romance with Lady Anne Lindsay (1750-1825), which when he met Countess Ligonier was still ongoing. When Lady Anne eventually broke off with Viscount Wentworth, he turned to Countess Ligonier, and the 42-year-old Wentworth wed Mary, in her late 30s, in February 1788.

The Henleys were a Somerset family descended from a Marian martyr in Taunton. They were granted arms in 1612 and acquired a dozen properties, mostly small, in south-west Somerset and west Dorset, as well as a couple of manors in Devon. The senior branch, seated at Leigh in the parish of Winsham, Somersetshire, rose less rapidly in rank and wealth than their Hampshire cousins, but was the first to marry into the Edward I bloodline when Henry Henley of Leigh (c.1612-1696) took for his second wife Bridget Bampfylde (d. 1657), from the gentry family long established at Poltimore House in Devon. But the Countess Ligonier sprung from the junior branch of the family, founded by Henry's first cousin Robert Henley of Soper Lane, London (d. 1656) who, by his successive occupation of two immensely lucrative offices, first as a Six Clerk in Chancery, and then as chief clerk of the King’s bench (worth £22,500 by his own account), outstripped the senior line both in wealth and status. Robert Henley acquired considerable property in Somerset, Dorset and Hampshire, besides an ‘adventure’ of 5,500 acres in the fens. Henley bequeathed £10,000 to his second (and namesake) son, Robert Henley (c.1624-1692), together with some houses in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Cavaliers during the Civil War, at the Restoration, the younger Robert Henley was able to enjoy the reversion to the King’s bench office, worth £4,000 a year. He brought the bloodline of Edward I to his branch of the family when, as a childless widower, he married in February 1663, Katherine, the fifth of the nine daughters of Anthony Hungerford of Fairleigh Castle. Her father having died five years prior in 1657, it was Katherine's widowed mother, Rachel (née Jones) Hungerford, who consented to the match. What the Henleys lacked in pedigree was more than made up for in financial stability. Money ran through the hands of Katherine's eldest brother Sir Edward Hungerford (1632-1711), the new family head, like water--at one point he is said to have paid 500 guineas for a wig--so it must have been a relief to him, as well as to his mother, that Katherine was marrying a man so financially well-off. Though Katherine's marriage portion could not have been large, she brought to her husband a lineage that stretched back centuries: the Hungerfords could trace their line back to the 12th century, had held a barony during the tumultuous 15th century, and in 1663 could still claim the status of the leading family in Wiltshire. In addition, Katherine's father Anthony Hungerford had inherited from his childless elder brother, the magnificent Farleigh Castle in Somersetshire. Robert Henley celebrated his marriage into the Hungerford family by taking one of his properties, The Grange, a modest house in the parish of Northington, Hampshire, and turning it into an impressive four storey red brick residence which he made his chief seat. When he died in 1692, Robert Henley left his son and heir Anthony an inheritance said to be worth £3,000 per year.

The Grange, in Northington, Hampshire

With no children of her own, Countess Ligonier was able to bestow generosity on her new husband and his family: her fortune was able to help pay off most of Viscount Wentworth's debts, she was attentive to his spinster aunt Mary Noel, and accepting and supportive of her illegitimate stepchildren. Though she apparently lacked warmth (General Bowater, an old family friend of the Noels, referred to her as "almost to an Icycle" in 1805), Countess Ligonier earned the devotion of her husband, who was inconsolable at her death in 1814, and followed her to the grave less than a year later.

1st Earl Ligonier of Clonmell
(c.1740-1782)

Lady MARY HENLEY, b. 20 Sept. 1751; d.s.p. 29 June 1814 Kirkby Hall, Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire, bur. All Saints Church, Kirkby Mallory, 3rd dau. of Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington (c.1708-1772 - see A14 below) and Jane Husband (1716-1787 - see B15 below); m. 1st (lic. 16 Dec.) 1773, as his 2nd wife, EDWARD, 1st Earl LIGONIER of Clonmell, b. c.1740; d.s.p. 14 June 1782, bur. 20 June 1782 St Andrew Church, Cobham, Surrey, only son (illegitimate) of Col. Francis Augustus Ligonier (1683-1746) and Anne (Freeman) Murray; m. 2nd 2 Feb. 1788 Mayfair, London, THOMAS NOEL, 2nd Viscount Wentworth of Wellesborough, b. 18 Nov. 1745 Kirkby Hall, bap. 21 Dec. 1745 All Saints Church, Kirkby Mallory; d. 17 Apr. 1815 Portman Square, London, bur. 28 Apr. 1815 All Saints Church, Kirkby Mallory, only son of Edward Noel, 1st Viscount Wentworth of Wellesborough (1715-1774, descended from Edward III) and Judith Lamb (1725-1761).

Mary, Countess Ligonier has several lines of descent from Edward III. The nine lines that are through his granddaughter Joan (née Beaufort), Countess of Westmorland, are as follows.

Edward III had a 3rd surv son

Eleanor (née Neville),
Countess of Northumberland
- see Generation A3

A1) John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399) m. 3) Katherine Roet (c.1350-1403), and had
A2) Lady Joan Beaufort (1377-1440) m. twice, and had three daus A3, C3 & I3 and three sons D3, F3 & H3 (see below)
A3) Lady Eleanor Neville, by 2nd husband (1403-1472) m. 2) Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (1394-1455, descended from Edward III), and had
A4) Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (1421-1461) m. Eleanor Poynings (1428-1484, descended from Edward I), and had
A5) Lady Margaret Percy (b. c.1447) m. Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe Hall (see C6 below), and had
A6) Elizabeth Gascoigne (c.1480-1559) m. Sir George Tailboys of South Kyme (1467-1538, descended from Edward I), and had two daus A7 and B7 (see below)
A7) Elizabeth Tailboys (b. c.1497) m. Sir Christopher Willoughby of Parham Hall (d. by 1540, descended from Edward I), and had
A8) Anne Willoughby (c.1517-1586) m. Edmund Hall of Greatford (by 1519-1592, descended from Edward I), and had
A9) Rachel Hall (c.1549-1629) m. Sir Arthur Hopton of Witham Friary (c.1545-1607, descended from Edward I), and had
A10) Frances Hopton (c.1592-1642) m. 1) Rice Jones of Asthall House (d. 1615), and had
A11) Rachel Jones (c.1612-1680) m. Anthony Hungerford of Fairleigh Castle (1607-1657, descended from Edward I), and had

Anthony Henley -
see Generation A13

A12) KATHERINE HUNGERFORD, b. Bourton Place, Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, bap. 11 June 1642 St Mary Church, Black Bourton; d. by 1674; m. 12 Feb. 1663 St Mary le Strand, London, as his 2nd wife, Sir ROBERT HENLEY of The Grange, Northington, Hampshire, b. 1631; d. 15 Dec. 1692, bur. St John Church, Northington, 2nd son of Robert Henley of London (1591-1656) and his 2nd wife Anne Eldred, and had
A13) ANTHONY HENLEY of The Grange, b. 1667; d. Aug. 1711; m. 8 Feb. 1700, as her 1st husband, MARY BERTIE (see D12 below), and had
A14) ROBERT HENLEY, 1st Earl of Northington, b. c.1708; d. 14 Jan. 1772 The Grange, bur. St John Church, Northington; m. 19 Nov. 1743 St George Hanover Square, London, JANE HUBAND (see B15 below), and had
A15) Lady MARY HENLEY (1751-1814 - see details above), Countess Ligonier

B7) Anne Tailboys (b. c.1510) m. 1) Sir Edward Dymoke of Scrivelsby Court (by 1508-1567, descended from Edward I), and had
B8) Sir Robert Dymoke of Scrivelsby Court (c.1530-1580) m. Lady Bridget Fiennes de Clinton (b. c.1535, descended from Edward I), and had
B9) Margaret Dymoke (d. aft.1611) m. Sir Vincent Fulnetby of Fulnetby Hall (d. 1623, descended from Edward I), and had
[Note: Line B fails at this generation. Jane (Fulnetby) Amcotts (B10 below) was a daughter of Sir Vincent Fulnetby by his first wife Jane Herndon (d. 1593), not by his second wife Margaret Dymoke (B9 above). Rev. Maddison in his 1902 Fulnetby of Fulnetby pedigree, reverses the issue of Sir Vincent's two wives. Walter C. Metcalfe, in his 1881 Fulnetby pedigree, shows the correct maternity. See the Comments section below.]

Amcotts Coat of Arms

B10) Jane Fulnetby (c.1575-1628) m. Sir Richard Amcotts of Aisthorpe Hall (c.1564-1629), and had
B11) William Amcotts of Aisthorpe Hall (c.1593-1639) m. Anne Bennett (b. c.1600), and had
B12) John Amcotts of Aisthorpe Hall (1630-1655) m. Rhoda Hussey (1635-1659), and had
B13) Rhoda Amcotts (1653-1692) m. Sir Thomas Broughton, 2nd Baronet of Broughton (see I12 below), and had
B14) Rhoda Broughton (1680-1745) m. Sir John Huband, 2nd Baronet of Ipsley (see E11 below), and had
B15) JANE HUBAND, b. Jan. 1716 Ipsley Court, Warwickshire, bap. 3 Feb. 1716 St Peter Church, Ipsley; d. 12 Sept. 1787 Grosvenor Square, London, bur. St John Church, Northington; m. 19 Nov. 1743 St George Hanover Square, ROBERT HENLEY, 1st Earl of Worthington (see A14 above)

C3) Mary Ferrers, by 1st husband (1394-1458) m. Sir Ralph Neville of Oversley (1395-1458, descended from Edward I), and had
C4) John Neville of Oversley (c.1415-1482) m. Elizabeth Newmarch (b. 1415), and had
C5) Joan Neville (c.1434-bef.1482) m. 1) Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe Hall (c.1428-1463), and had
C6) Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe Hall (c.1450-1487) m. Lady Margaret Percy (see A5 above)

D3) Edward Neville, 3rd Lord Abergavenny, by 2nd husband (c.1417-1476) m. twice, and had a dau D4 and a son E4 (see below)
D4) Margaret Neville, by 2nd wife (c.1455-1506) m. John Brooke, 7th Lord Cobham (c.1447-1512, descended from Edward I), and had
D5) Thomas Brooke, 8th Lord Cobham (c.1475-1529) m. 1) Dorothy Heydon (c.1477-by 1515), and had

Sir Thomas Wyatt -
see Generation D7

D6) Elizabeth Brooke (c.1503-1560) m. Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington Castle (c.1503-1542), and had
D7) Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington Castle (by 1521-1554) m. Jane Haute (d. aft.1595), and had
D8) Anne Wyatt (1542-1592) m. Roger Twysden of Roydon Hall (1542-1603), and had
D9) Jane Twysden (1572-1639) m. Sir William Monyns, 1st Baronet of Waldershare (c.1570-1643), and had
D10) Sir Edward Monyns, 2nd Baronet of Waldershare (c.1600-1663) m. Elizabeth Style (d. 1703), and had
D11) Susan Monyns (1651-1697) m. Hon. Peregrine Bertie of Waldershare House (c.1634-1701, descended from Edward I), and had
D12) MARY BERTIE, b. c.1679; d. by 27 May 1720 (when will was proved); m. 1st 8 Feb. 1700, ANTHONY HENLEY of The Grange (see A13 above)

E4) George Neville, 4th Lord Abergavenny, by 1st wife (1440-1492) m. 1) Margaret Fenne (c.1444-1485), and had
E5) Sir Edward Neville of Addington Park (by1482-1538) m. Eleanor Windsor (d. 1531, descended from Ed

Huband Coat of Arms

ward I), and had
E6) Edward Neville, 7th Lord Abergavenny (c.1518-1589) m. 1) Katharine Brome (b. c.1530), and had
E7) Grissell Neville (c.1565-by 1614) m. Sir Henry Poole of Oaksey (1564-1632, descended from Edward I), and had
E8) Elizabeth Poole (c.1590-1622) m. John Huband of Ipsley Court (c.1585-1650), and had
E9) Ralph Huband of Ipsley Court (1613-1651) m. Anne Tevery (d. 1672), and had
E10) Sir John Huband, 1st Baronet of Ipsley (c.1649-1710) m. Jane Paulet (see F11 below), and had
E11) Sir John Huband, 2nd Baronet of Ipsley (c.1675-1717) m. Rhoda Broughton (see B14 above)

F3) Richard Neville, 1st Earl of Salisbury, by 2nd husband (c.1398-1460) m. Lady Alice Montagu (1406-1462, descended from Edward I), and had a dau F4 and a son G4 (see below)
F4) Lady Katherine Neville (c.1442-1504) m. 1) William Bonville, 6th Lord Harington (1442-1460, descended from Edward I), and had
F5) Cecily Bonville (1460-1529) m. 1) Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset (c.1456-1501, descended from Edward I), and had

Cecily (née Bonville),
Marchioness of Dorset -
see Generation F5

F6) Lady Dorothy Grey (c.1485-1553) m. 1) Robert, 2nd Lord Willoughby of Broke (1472-1521), and had
F7) Elizabeth Willoughby (c.1510-by 1552) m. John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester (c.1510-1576, descended from Edward I), and had
F8) William Paulet, 3rd Marquess of Winchester (c.1532-1598) m. Agnes Howard (c.1534-1601, descended from Edward I), and had
F9) William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester (c.1552-1629) m. Lady Lucy Cecil (see G9 below), and had
F10) Lord Charles Paulet of Abbotts Ann (c.1610-1655) m. Elizabeth (---), and had
F11) Jane Paulet m. 2) Sir John Huband, 1st Baronet of Ipsley (see E10 above)

G4) John Neville, Marquess of Montagu (c.1431-1471) m. Isabel Ingaldesthorpe (1441-1476, descended from Edward I), and had
G5) Lady Lucy Neville (1468-1534) m. 2) Sir Anthony Browne of Calais (1443-1506, descended from Edward I), and had
G6) Elizabeth Browne (c.1502-1565) m. Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester (c.1496-1549, descended from Edward III), and had

Dorothy (née Neville),
Countess of Exeter -
see Generation G8

G7) Lady Lucy Somerset (1523-1583) m. John Neville, 4th Lord Latimer (see H7 below), and had
G8) Dorothy Neville (1548-1609) m. Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter (1542-1623), and had
G9) Lady Lucy Cecil (1568-1614) m. William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester (see F9 above)

H3) George Neville, 1st Lord Latimer, by 2nd husband (c.1411-1469) m. Lady Elizabeth Beauchamp (c.1411-1480, descended from Edward I), and had
H4) Sir Henry Neville, Heir of Latimer (c.1435-1469) m. Joan Bourchier (c.1448-1470, descended from Edward III), and had
H5) Richard Neville, 2nd Lord Latimer (1468-1530) m. 1) Anne Stafford (d. by 1521), and had
H6) John Neville, 3rd Lord Latimer (1493-1543) m. 1) Dorothy Vere (c.1500-1526, descended from Edward I), and had
H7) John Neville, 4th Lord Latimer (1520-1577) m. Lady Lucy Somerset (see G7 above)

I3) Lady Anne Neville, by 2nd husband (c.1408-1480) m. 1) Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of 
Buckingham (1402-1460, descended from Edward III), and had
I4) Humphrey, Earl of Stafford (c.1425-1458) m. Lady Margaret Beaufort (c.1437-1474, descended from Edward III), and had

2nd Duke of Buckingham
- see Generation I5

I5) Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1455-1483) m. Lady Katherine Woodville (c.1458-1497), and had
I6) Lady Elizabeth Stafford (c.1481-by 1532) m. Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex (c.1483-1542, descended from Edward I), and had
I7) Sir Humphrey Radcliffe of Elstow (1509-1566) m. Isabel Harvey (1518-1594), and had
I8) Frances Radcliffe (c.1547-by 1584) m. Henry Cheke of Elstow (c.1548-1586), and had
I9) Mary Cheke (b. c.1575) m. Thomas Spencer of Claverdon (c.1570-1630), and had
I10) Alice Spencer (c.1594-1648) m. Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote Hall (1585-1640, descended from Edward I), and had
I11) Bridget Lucy (1621-1692) m. Sir Brian Broughton, 1st Baronet of Broughton (1618-1708), and had
I12) Sir Thomas Broughton, 2nd Baronet of Broughton (c.1650-1710) m. Rhoda Amcotts (see B13 above)

I will be very busy this weekend in Victoria, helping my partner out with a family project, but hope to have the next blogpost, on the children of Rev. Thomas Noel (Countess Ligonier's illegitimate stepson), and the Edward III descent of his first wife, posted Monday or Tuesday.

Cheers,                                -----Brad