WESTON - family history - Tudor history - Sutton Place

[benhdh23]

Hi,

This is my first posting, so please forgive any ambiguity.

I understand that Weston's family has been a household name within Shropshire, Surrey, and Staffordshire for a long time. 

My Grandmother is Sylvia Weston, born in Sale in 1931, daughter of William Roper Weston of Wem Shropshire, and Elise Bennet. It has long been a rumour supposedly in my grandmother's father's side of the family, the Westons, that there was an ancestor beheaded in the Tower of London. I had long dismissed this as nonsense, but then I learned of Francis Weston, beheaded on the orders of Henry VIII for a supposed love affair with Ann Boyln, in 1536. I am aware that it could quite simply have been a case of hearing someone with the same name and thinking they are a relation, but I thought I would give it a look for my Grandma's sake.

Tracing my Grandmother's paternal line, I have managed to go back to my 6th Great-grandfather, Richard Weston, born in Shropshire in 1738, and married to Ann Ridgeway. Their son, my 5th great grandfather was Richard Weston, born in 1772 in Prees Shropshire, and then his son, my 4th great grandfather was Richard Weston born in 1798, in Prees Shropshire. Sensing a theme here.

So then we go to the descendants of Francis Weston, his son Henry had a son Richard Weston born in 1564, who had a son who was a Richard Weston born in 1591, who would go on to become famous for his construction of canals in England. The family were located in Surrey, in their family seat of Sutton place, nowhere near Shropshire I am aware but It was enough to intrigue me as to see if there could possibly have been a connection in some way formed in the hundred or so years between the two lines - wishful thinking I am know. But anyway, here we come to the crux of the matter, it is stated on Wikipedia, (Not the best of sources) that he had Seven sons and two daughters, and I can not for the life of me find out who they were or what happened to them, other than a few vague lists of who the hall was passed down to over the generations. So I was wondering if anyone could help me find the names, or what happened to the missing children. I have linked his Wiki. Sorry for the request's vagueness; any help would be greatly appreciated!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Weston_(canal_builder)

Best,

Ben

[Little Nell]

Welcome to RootsChat 

There are some burials recorded at Holy Trinity, Guildford for children of Richard & Grace, but at the moment I can't find the corresponding baptisms.

Henry son of Sir Richard Weston knight bd 10 Aug 1624
Richard son of Richard knight buried 27 Sep 1624
William son of Sir Richard knight bd 8 Dec 1627
Grace dau of Sir Richard bd 24 Sep 1632
Bridget dau of Sir Richard & Grace from Sutton Place bd 23 Dec 1637

There is no indication of ages.

If Sir Richard left a will, I haven't tracked it down yet.

The visitation of Surrey indicates that there were sons Richard (aged 5 in 1623), John, Henry, and a daughter Frances.  I would think that this visitation was taken in 1623 or there abouts.  Obviously other children born after this date.

Berry's County Genealogies for Surrey (see this link to the page for Weston)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101073849091&seq=73&q1=weston
has the following children:

Richard buried 1624 aged 6
John died 1690
George
Charles
Francis
Thomas
Andrew
Henry d 1624
William died 1627
Philip d 1673
France
Grace died 1632
Honor
Cecily d 1678
Bridget d 1637

The records from Holy Trinity back up some of the information, but like all secondary sources, the information in Berry should be followed up with primary sources.

Good luck

Nell

[Watson]

Brayley's History of Surrey, ii, 81-88, contains an 8-page pedigree of the Westons of West Horsley. If you want anything specific checked from it, let me know.

[Viktoria]

There is/ was a Lord Weston near Bishop’s Castle .
His son was killed in WW1.
As a memorial to his son ,when trees were being felled on Callow Hill for props for shoring up trenches and tunnels in WW1, Lord Weston asked that the very top be left, with those trees not felled, as a memorial to his son.
It is at Bromlow Callow ,a very distinctive landmark for mills and miles.
Local name Callow Ring.
It is thought there might have been a connection in that it was a very obvious land mark and perhaps something was there which served drovers when taking cattle to market ,but the hill became overgrown and so when the trees covering the hill were needed Lord Weston really restored what had been there years before as his son’s memorial .
Viktoria.