EFL - Enciclopedia delle Famiglie Lombarde

Di Brokesby, presso Leicester. Nel 1592 era sceriffo del Leicestershir e. John and Bernard Burke, ''A genealogical and heraldic History of t he extinct and dormant baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland'' , London, 1844, p. 547: "He died having entailed Brokesby, Howby, Godb y Marward, and the Grange of Godby, upon the issue of his first marria ge; and all the tythes of herbage, grain, and hay, and all other tythe s arising in Cadwel and Wikeham, in the county of Leicester, upon th e children of the second. http://www.thebuckinghamchronicles.com/sir -george-villiers.html Sir George Villiers (c1544 – 1606) George V illiers was the son of William Villiers and Colette Clarke, widow of R ichard Beaumont, and inherited the lands and lordships of Brooksby an d Hoby in Leicestershire 1558. George enjoyed the life of an ordinar y country squire; hunting, hawking, and socialising as well as later u ndertaking the duties of sheriff of Leicestershire. Like his half-brot her Nicholas Beaumont, George married into the Saunders family of Harr ington in Northamptonshire, who were prosperous merchants. His wife, A udrey Saunders, the daughter of William Saunders and Frances Zouche, w as related by her great uncle William to his daughter Anne Saunders wh o had married Nicholas Beaumont. Interestingly the Saunders family pro duced another royal favourite, for Alice Saunders, sister to Audrey’ s father, had married William Hatton of Holdenby, Northamptonshire, ma king Audrey the cousin of Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourite and cour tier of Queen Elizabeth I. Audrey Villiers provided her husband Geor ge with at least five children; William, Elizabeth, Edward, Anne and F rances. The latter did not marry, and may have died young, but her bro thers and sisters married well, with Anne marrying Sir William Washing ton, an ancestor of the American president. With George and Audrey’ s increasing brood, it was perhaps fortunate that George bought the ma nor of Goadby Marwood from his half-brother Nicholas Beaumont in 1575 . In a deed dated August 4th 1579 Villiers left the manor of Goadby t o Audrey for her life-time and then after her death to Nicholas Beaumo nt esquire and his heirs. The year 1588 proved to be an auspicious o ne for George Villiers. England faced the threat of a Spanish invasio n and 12,000 Leicestershire men responded to the summons to bear arms ; 2000 were sent to Tilbury and George Villiers commanded the forty to wn soldiers who comprised the Tilbury contingent. In May Audrey died , however, George did not remain a widower for long, and was shortly a fter remarried to the beautiful nineteen year old Mary Beaumont. Thi s marriage was the target of sneers and sniggers when George and Mary