Eleanor Brereton

Notes:

Ormerod and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography both call her Elizabeth Brereton.

Eleanor married John Savage before 1423. John (son of John Savage and Maud Swynnerton) was born between 1401 and 1410 in of Clifton, Cheshire, England; died on 26 Jun 1463. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ralph Mainwaring. Ralph (son of Randall Mainwaring and Margery de Venables) was born in of Kermingham, Cheshire, England; died between 1473 and 1474. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Clifton, Cheshire, England
• Alternate birth: Abt 1422

Notes:

Fought at Bosworth Field. Mayor of Chester, 1484-86. Chamberlain of Middlewich.

"Although there is a possibility that John (III) entered the service of the house of York, it seems more likely that it was his son Sir John (IV) Savage (c. 1423–1495) who did so. He was therefore well placed to benefit from Henry VI's deposition. John (III) served as deputy to Sir Thomas Stanley, afterwards Baron Stanley, as steward of the duchy lordship of Halton, Cheshire. John (IV) married Stanley's daughter Katherine; the couple's children were many and prominent. Aside from John (V), Savage's son and heir, there was Thomas Savage (d. 1507), who rose to be bishop of Rochester in 1492, and of London in 1497, and archbishop of York in 1501, Sir Humphrey, Lawrence, James, Sir Edmund, Christopher, William, George, and Richard. His daughters made good matches, with Ellen being married to Peter Legh of Lyme, Katherine to Thomas Legh of Adlington, Margaret to Edmund Trafford of Trafford, Lancashire, Alice to Roger Pilkington (d. 1527) , and Elizabeth to John Leek of Langford, Derbyshire. John (IV) was knighted at Elizabeth Woodville's coronation in May 1465, and although he is not always easily distinguished from his son and namesake, he probably also became a knight of the body to Edward IV, and a banneret after the Scottish campaign of 1482; he was also very prominent in local affairs in Cheshire and the north midlands. In 1484, as mayor of Chester, he presided when his sons were made freemen of the city." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, citation details below]

Family/Spouse: Katherine Stanley. Katherine (daughter of Thomas Stanley and Joan Goushill) was buried in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Margaret Tytley. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Pallbearer to Edward IV. Said to have had charge of the left wing at Bosworth Field; subsequently made Knight of the Garter by Henry VII.

Killed at the siege of Boulogne. According to J. D. Mackie, The Earlier Tudors 1485-1558 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1952), "The siege was not pressed hard, and save that Sir John Savage was killed nothing of note occured."

"Traditionally, the wife of Sir John Savage is claimed to have been Dorothy Vernon, a descendant of the Vernons of Shipbrook, Cheshire. This claim is based upon the Visitation of Cheshire of 1580 [...T]here is no evidence that Dorothy Vernon even existed." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

"Sir John (V) Savage (d. 1492), who fought for Edward IV at Tewkesbury, became a royal carver and knight of the body, and was second in order of precedence when Edward was buried. He received many important grants, including that of the constableship of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire. As such close supporters of Edward IV, and associates of the Stanleys, it is not surprising that John (V) and his father seem to have been mistrusted by Richard III. Thomas Savage may have been abroad during the latter's reign and possibly acted as the Savages' direct contact with Henry Tudor. According to Polydore Vergil, John (V) was one of those who 'invited' Tudor to invade. He certainly played an important role at Bosworth, where he commanded the left wing. The author of Bosworth Feilde described him and his men, clad in their distinctive white livery hood:



Sir John Savage, that hardy Knight,

deathes dentes he delt that day

with many a white hood in fight,

that sad men were at assay.



As a result of this support, in 1486 he received an extensive grant in the north midlands of the forfeited estates of John, Lord Zouche, and Francis, Viscount Lovell, valued at £158 p.a. or more. He also received extensive grants of office, especially in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The support of the Savages for Henry Tudor guaranteed them a growing prominence at court, and at eight out of eleven council meetings for which evidence survives during the period June–July 1486 either John (V), or Thomas, or both, were present. Sir John (V) Savage led the force that seized Humphrey Stafford from sanctuary at Culham in 1486. [...] Sir John (V) was killed at the siege of Boulogne in 1492." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, citation details below]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 2 Sep 1507, Cawood Castle, Cawood, North Yorkshire, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1492

Ellen married Peter Legh about 1467. Peter (son of Peter Legh and Mabel Croft) was born about 1455 in of Lyme in Prestbury, Cheshire, England; died on 11 Aug 1527 in Lyme in Prestbury, Cheshire, England; was buried in Winwick, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Dugdale, in the 1664-65 visitation of Lancashire (citation details below), calls her "Elizabeth, dau. of Sir John Savage".

Margaret married Edmund Trafford after 1480. Edmund (son of John de Trafford and Elizabeth Assheton) was born about 1454 in of Trafford, Lancashire, England; died on 15 Aug 1513. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

George married Julian Spurway before 29 Mar 1548. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Robert Needham. Robert (son of Robert Needham) was born in of Cranage, Cheshire, England; died in 1448. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Frank Renaud (citation details below), he was "afflicted with lameness."

Peter married Jane Gerard before 1488. Jane (daughter of Peter Gerard and Margery Stanley) died on 5 May 1510. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Margaret de Tyldesley about 17 Jan 1514. Margaret was born in of Tyldesley, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margery married Thomas Gerard before 19 Aug 1511. Thomas (son of Peter Gerard and Margery Stanley) was born about 1488 in of Bryn in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, England; died on 7 Nov 1523 in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Longford. Elizabeth died on 27 Jan 1548. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1632

Oliver married Margaret Torbock before 1587. Margaret (daughter of William Torbock and Katherine Gerard) was born after 14 May 1558; died after 1640. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Maud Brereton. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Judge of the Common Pleas, 1457; MP for London, 1450; Judge of the King's Bench, 1472.

Notes:

Richardson's Royal Ancestry (citation details below) (3:83; 3:557) makes Jane Legh a daughter of Piers Legh and his first wife, Jane Gerard. But that would make Jane Leigh and Thomas Gerard--who are noted as having been second cousins through common Savage ancestry--into first cousins, both grandchildren of Peter Gerard and Margaret Stanley. John Blythe Dobson (citation details below) says that "there is no doubt" that Jane Legh who married Thomas Gerard was a daughter, not of Piers Legh's first wife Jane Gerard, but rather his second wife Margaret de Tyldesley, and this seems more plausible.

Jane married Thomas Gerard before 1522, and was divorced on 27 Nov 1550. Thomas (son of Thomas Gerard and Margery Trafford) was born between 1502 and 1512 in of Bryn in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, England; died after 1550. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Constance Rowson. Constance was born about 1537; died after 1567. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: (Unknown mistress of Thomas Gerard). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1512
• Alternate death: Between 1550 and 1560
• Alternate death: 1553
• Alternate death: Between 1553 and 1560

Notes:

Sheriff of Lancashire 1548, 1553.

In 1536 he was expected to bring a contingent of 450 men to serve against the Pilgrimage of Grace. He was knighted in 1544 during the invasion of Scotland.

John Blythe Dobson (citation details below) says he was at some unspecified time "M.P. for Lancashire", but the History of Parliament entry for his son, also Thomas Gerard (d. 1601), says nothing about the elder Thomas Gerard having been in Parliament.

Thomas married Jane Legh before 1522, and was divorced on 27 Nov 1550. Jane (daughter of Peter Legh and Margaret de Tyldesley) was born after 1513; died after 20 Nov 1575 in Bromley, Staffordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Robert Langley. Robert was born in of Agecroft Hall, Agecroft, Pendlebury, Lancashire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

As Douglas Richardson points out (Royal Ancestry 4:27), "she is called Anne and Mary indifferently in English records."

Anne married Benjamin Gill before 16 Jul 1641. Benjamin was born in St. Andrew's, Holborn, London, England; died on 22 Nov 1655 in Port Tobacco, Charles, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sergeant-at-law of Cheshire, 1461, and bailiff of Drakelowe and Rudheth, 1461 and 1472-76.

Family/Spouse: Isabel Bromley. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William Torbock. William (son of Thomas Torbock and Elizabeth Moore) was born about 1526 in of Torbock Hall, Lancashire, England; died between 1558 and 1559. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Grace. Grace died before 1586. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Reddish. John was born in of Reddish Hall, Manchester, Lancashire, England; died about 1569. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft Nov 1683

Notes:

She was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I.

Family/Spouse: James Neale. James (son of Raphael Neale and Jane) was born in 1615; died between 27 Nov 1683 and 29 Mar 1684 in Charles County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Cranage, Cheshire, England

Notes:

Sheriff of Shropshire 1528-29, 1535-36, 1540-41. Sheriff of Cheshire 1538-39.

Jacobus (citation details below) makes this Robert Needham a younger brother of William Needham who married Isabel Bromley. Richardson (citation details below) clarifies that Robert was a younger son of William.

Family/Spouse: Agnes Mainwaring. Agnes (daughter of John Mainwaring and Maud Legh) died on 2 May 1560. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Aft May 1557
• Alternate death: Aft 1586

Margaret married Oliver Mainwaring before 1587. Oliver (son of George Mainwaring and Julian Spurway) was born in of Exeter, Devon, England; died before 1634. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1641

John married Isabel on 16 Feb 1608. Isabel died in Dec 1655. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Lancashire, England

Family/Spouse: Catherine Dethick. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anthony married Elizabeth Roswell about 1680. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

James married Elizabeth Calvert about 20 Dec 1681. Elizabeth (daughter of Col. William Calvert and Elizabeth Stone) died after 17 May 1684. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

James married Elizabeth Lord in 1687. Elizabeth (daughter of Capt. John Lord) died between 17 Jan 1734 and 22 Apr 1734 in Charles County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Shavington in Adderley, Shropshire, England

Thomas married Anne Talbot on 1 Feb 1526. Anne (daughter of John Talbot and Margaret Troutbeck) was born between 1510 and 1515. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

As Douglas Richardson points out (Royal Ancestry 4:27), "she is called Anne and Mary indifferently in English records."

Anne married Benjamin Gill before 16 Jul 1641. Benjamin was born in St. Andrew's, Holborn, London, England; died on 22 Nov 1655 in Port Tobacco, Charles, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1 Feb 1672 and 19 Oct 1673

Notes:

"He immigrated to Maryland in 1638, brought his family in 1650, [and] was lord of St. Clement's, Basford, and Westwood Manors, St. Mary's County, Maryland. He was a controversial figure in provincial politics and frequently at odds with the proprietor's spokesman. He served as a member of Provincial Assembly and Upper House, the Provincial Council, and a Justice of the Provincial Court. He supported Fendall's Rebellion in 1659/60, for which he was permanently barred from voting or holding office in the colony. He removed to Westmoreland County, Virginia in 1664, where he settled at Gerard's Reserve in Lower Machadoc." [Royal Ancestry, citation details below]

"Doctor Thomas Gerard, 'Esq.,' Lord of 'St. Clement's Manor,' St. Mary's County, Md. [...] ]was a Member of the Assembly of Maryland from St. Mary's Hundred, and also in 1641, of the Council. He seems to have been a fearless and determined man, and to have acted on his conviction irrespective of all parties. With the grant of a manor, there was frequently granted a right for the Lord of the Manor to hold a 'Court Leet and Court Baron.' There is a record of the holding of several of such Courts at 'St. Clement's Manor,' from 1659-72, which gives an interesting insight into the life and customs of that time. It was in the session of Assembly that met on February 28th, 1659-60, (which convened at Thomas Gerard's) that Governor Fendall, Thomas Gerard and Nathaniel Utie (Utye), the latter two were of the Council, and the majority of the house of Delegates, struck their blow for the overthrow of the Lord Proprietor's power and attempted to make the house of Delegates supreme. By this means a Commonwealth, similar to that which had existed in the Mother country, was to be established." [Ancestral Records and Portraits, citation details below]

From John Walton, "Genealogica Marylandia: Gerard's Daughters" (citation details below):

Dr. Thomas Gerard, member of an ancient and great Lancashire County Catholic family, was born in 11609, probably in Newhall. In 1629 he married Susanna Snow, daughter of John and Judith (some say Edryth) Snow of Staffordshire, and a sister of Abel, Justinian, and Marmaduke Snow who were associated with Lord Baltimore in the Maryland enterprise. Abel Snow held the manor of Snow Hill. Apparently, Dr. Thomas Gerard was a distant cousin of the Richard Gerard who came to Maryland in 1633 and returned to England in 1635. Richard was probably a descendant of Sir Thomas Gerard, the great Elizabethan. As far as is known Dr. Thomas Gerard came to Maryland, first, in 1638; after a return trip or two, brought his family over in 1650. On September 19 of that year he demanded 2000 acres of land for transporting himself, his wife, and five children into the province as well as Mr. Austin Hall (or Hull) and eight manservants and four woman servants. His children were Justinian, Susan, Frances, Temperance, and Elizabeth.

Of all Baltimore's manorial Lords, Dr. Thomas Gerard probably governed his demesne in the most traditionally baronial style. At St. Clement's he held manorial courtto--the Court Leet and the Court Baron--he took advantage of prover bial prerogatives of his position for the enjoyment of the good things of this world, and he continued to acquire land. To the 3500 acres that lay across the Potomac in Westmoreland County he retreated after his unexplained participation in Josias Fendall's rebellion in 1660. There he married his second wife, a young widow by the name of Rose Tucker (by whom he had no children), and there he died in 1673. His body was brought back to St. Clements to lie by that of his first wife, Susanna.

A footnote to the history of Virginia records that Dr. Thomas Gerard, together with Henry Corbin, John Lee, and Isaac Allerton*, erected a "Banquetting House"; many years later an unusually strait-laced Bishop of Virginia cited the events that occurred in this house as an example of "riotous living" in the seventeenth century.

[* Son of the Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton by his second wife, Fear Brewster. --PNH]

Thomas married Susanna Snow after 21 Sep 1629. Susanna (daughter of John Snow and Eydreth) died before 1673. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Robert Darcy. Robert (son of Edward Darcy and Elizabeth Astley) was born in of Dartford, Kent, England; died before 1632. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]