George Shirley, 1st Baronet

Sir George Shirley (1559-1622) was an English landowner and the second man to be created a baronet. He was the son of John (1535-70), eldest son of Francis Shirley (1515-71) of Staunton Harold, and Jane, only daughter and heir of Thomas Lovett of Astwell, Northants.^[1] The family inclined to Roman Catholicism and one of his sisters, Elizabeth Shirley, became a nun,^[2] but generally they maintained sufficient conformity to avoid the penalties for recusancy.

Inheriting the estate as a minor, George's wardship was granted by the queen to the courtier Mary Cheke,^[3] who sold it on to Sir John Throckmorton.^[4] George matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford in 1573.^[5] In 1584 he was questioned concerning his links to Sir John's son Francis in relation to the Throckmorton Plot.^[6]

The following year he made preparations to serve with the Earl of Leicester in the Netherlands,^[7] although he does not appear in the lists of Leicester's retinue.^[8] Sir John presumably intended to marry George to one of his own daughters, but instead accepted £1,500 to allow him to choose his own bride. He married Frances (1561-95), the daughter of Henry, lord Berkeley and his first wife Katherine, the daughter of the Earl of Surrey.^[4] with whom he had 5 children, including his heir Henry and the Catholic antiquary Sir Thomas Shirley.^[9] He subsequently married Dorothy, the widow of the diplomat Sir Henry Unton. ^[10]

In 1603, as sheriff of Northampton, he accompanied James I of England on his way through the county on his way to London. ^[11] He died in 1622 and was buried at Breedon on the Hill, where he had erected a monument after the death of his first wife. ^[12] On his death he owned property in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire, and an income from which he was able to draw several legacies of £2000 each.^[13]

References

1. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. pp. 62–73.
2. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. p. 80.
3. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. p. 83.
4. Broadway, Jan (2021). The Wives of the Berkeleys. p. 56. ISBN 9780956742810.
5. Foster, Joseph (1892). Alumni Oxonienses. p. 1352.
6. CSPD Elizabeth 1580-91. p. 184.
7. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. p. 83.
8. Adams, Simon (2002). Leicester and the Court. pp. 393–8. ISBN 9780719053252.
9. "Shirley, Sir Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47732. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
10. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. p. 96.
11. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. p. 85.
12. Shirley, E. P. (c. 1873). Stemmata Shirleiana. Westminster. p. 96.
13. "Shirley, Sir Henry, second baronet". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/70620. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)