Christopher Sykes

Notes:

Matriculated at Oxford (Brasenose College) 5 Nov 1767. M.A. 16 Jun 1770; D.C.L. 9 Jul 1773. Succeeded as 2nd Baronet Sykes of Sledmere 14 Sep 1783.

M.P. for Beverley, 1784-90. "Sykes was returned head of the poll for Beverley in 1784. He voted for parliamentary reform on 18 Apr. 1785, and supported Pitt over the Duke of Richmond’s fortifications plan, 27 Feb. 1786, and over the Regency. He is not known to have spoken in the House, and though he did not stand in 1790 he maintained an interest at Beverley. He died 17 Sept. 1801." [History of Parliament]

Christopher married Elizabeth Tatton on 23 Oct 1770 in Northenden, Cheshire, England. Elizabeth (daughter of William Tatton and Hester Egerton) was born on 14 Apr 1748 in Wythenshawe, Cheshire, England; was christened on 20 Apr 1748 in St. Wilfrid's, Northenden, Cheshire, England; died on 27 Jul 1803. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Tatton Sykes was born on 22 Aug 1772 in Wheldrake, Yorkshire, England; was christened on 22 Aug 1772 in St. Helen's, Wheldrake, Yorkshire, England; died on 21 Mar 1863 in Sledmere House, Yorkshire, England; was buried on 27 Mar 1863 in St. Mary's, Sledmere, Yorkshire, England.

Notes:

B.A. 1733, and then M.A. 1749, at Cambridge. D.D. in 1761. Rector of Roos. Created 1st Baronet Sykes of Sledmere 28 Mar 1783, six months before his death. Said to have been the first clergyman made a baronet.

Mark married Decima Woodham on 14 Feb 1735 in Ely Cathedral, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. Decima (daughter of Twyford Woodham) was born before 24 Mar 1707; was christened on 24 Mar 1707 in Holy Trinity, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England; died on 9 Mar 1793. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1658

Notes:

According to his descendant Mark Sykes, while trafficking in the Baltic Richard Sykes rendered service to Peter the Great, and presentation pictures of the Tsar and Tsarina were still at Sledmere in Mark Sykes's lifetime.

Richard married Mary Kirkby. Mary (daughter of Mark Kirkby, Mayor of Hull) died about Apr 1714. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Co-heiress to the Sledmere estates.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1 Sep 1697

Daniel married Deborah Oates. Deborah (daughter of William Oates, Mayor of Pontefract) was buried in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Sledmere, Yorkshire, England

Notes:

According to his descendant Mark Sykes, he "invested the proceeds of tallow, hemp and Baltic coast produce in enclosing, planting and cultivating."

Notes:

He is said by some sources to have been a republican. He established himself in Knottingley, Yorkshire just after the Civil War, and in 1652 he led a rebellion against the payment of tithes. He was arrested and convicted, and fined £266-13-4, which he refused to pay despite being personally wealthy. As a result he was imprisoned in York Castle and died there.

William married Grace Jenkinson in 1625 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Grace (daughter of Josias Jenkinson) died on 25 Sep 1685 in York Castle, York, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

After her husband's death she became an active Quaker and was arrested several times; she appears to have died a prisoner in York Castle like her husband decades earlier.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1567
• Alternate death: 29 Mar 1645

Notes:

He may be the Richard Sykes recorded as baptized at St. John the Baptist, Halifax, Yorkshire on 17 Oct 1568, son of Richard Sykes.

He was one of the "new, exuberant generation of confident, buccaneering merchants, whose determined exploitation of their influence over local parliamentary elections culminated in 1626 in the grant [to Leeds] of a charter of incorporation, whose provisions ensured that power was to reside unequivocally in their hands." [Joan Kirby, citation details below]

Alderman (in essence, mayor) of Leeds in 1629-30 and 1636-37. Further from Joan Kirby: "His wealth attracted a demand for a contribution to the Privy Seal loan and a fine of £60 (the highest in the county) for distraint to knighthood. Not surprisingly he is believed to have been the first 'private gentleman' in Leeds to own a carriage. The complete absence of business records and correspondence, however, means that nothing is known about the enterprises which brought wealth to him and to others like Thomas Metcalfe, Joseph Hillary, and John Harrison; but his will provides impressive evidence of Sykes's investment in real estate. Unlike the childless Harrison who was able to devote a large part of his fortune to the achievement of lasting renown as the town's most munificent benefactor, Sykes had a large family to provide for in a manner that would reflect credit upon his reputation. A trustee of the Grammar School and member of the prestigious Committee for Pious Uses, his own great civic benefaction was to take an intiative in the purchase of the manor of Leeds from the City of London to which it had been sold by Charles I. Thereafter he and the other eight shareholders (each having a one-ninth share in the lordship of the manor) transferred the major part of the manorial rights to the Corporation of Leeds."

His will includes a bequest of "a suit of apparel" to "my poor kinsman Alexander Reame", "and his dinner euery Sabboth Day that he goeth to the Church in the same suit of apparrell, to be at my Executrix disposing."

Richard Sykes (d. 1645) = Elizabeth Mawson (d. 1646)
William Sykes (1605-1652) = Grace Jenkinson (d. 1685)
Daniel Sykes (1632-1697) = Deborah Oates
Richard Sykes (1678-1726) = Mary Kirkby (1681-1714)
Mark Sykes (1711-1783) = Decima Woodham (1714-1793)
Christopher Sykes (1749-1801) = Elizabeth Egerton (d. 1803)
Tatton Sykes (1772-1863) = Mary Anne Foulis (d. 1861)
Tatton Sykes (1826-1913) = Christina Anne Jessica Cavendish-Bentinck (~1856-1912)
Mark Sykes (1879-1918), of the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement

Richard married Elizabeth Mawson on 30 Jan 1594 in St. Peter's, Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Elizabeth died on 19 Aug 1644; was buried on 19 Aug 1644 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her burial record calls her "wife of m^r Richard Sikes of Brigait." Briggate was historically the main street of Leeds, leading north from Leeds Bridge. Among Richard Sykes's extensive property holdings was a burgage house in Briggate, which is where Elizabeth Sykes died "during a severe outbreak of plague, when the parish church was closed, the registers were discontinued, and the daily toll of the unnamed dead was reported to the military governor of the town." [Joan Kirby, citation details below]

Ironically, since he outlived her by eight months, Richard Sykes's 1641 will bequeaths to her "all that Burgage scituate in Briggate in Leeds with all the apppurtences [sic] thereto belonging".