Dorothy (Sutton) Wrottesley (aft. 1462 - abt. 1517)

Born after 1462 in Staffordshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Richard Wrottesley — married about 1473 in England

Descendants

Died about 1517 before about age 55 in Staffordshire, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Dorothy Sutton was the daughter of Sir Edmund Sutton^[1] and Maud Clifford.^[2][3][4][5] She was probably born at Dudley, Staffordshire, where her father held lands. Her date of birth is unknown and is estimated as shortly after 1462 as her mother's first husband died in 1460 and her father's first wife gave birth to a son in 1461. Accordingly, her parents wouldn't have married until 1461/2 at the earliest.^[6][7]

Dorothy married Richard Wrottesley,^[5] Esq., of Wrottesley, Staffordshire, son of Sir Walter Wrottesley^[1][8] and Joan (or Jane) Baron, probably before 1473,^[2] both being under age at that time.^[4] They had at least sixteen children, including the following:

• Walter, Esq., his father's main heir,^[4] married Isabel Harcourt and had issue^[1][2][8]
• George,^[2] named in father's will, nothing more is known, probably died soon after his father^[4]
• Thomas,^[2] married and had a son, George^[4]
• John,^[2] named in the 1536 will of Richard Dudley^[4]
• Henry,^[2] married and had a son, Richard^[4]
• Eleanor, wife of Edmund Leversedge and of Sir Henry Long,^[2] eldest daughter, died in 1543^[4]
• Anne, wife of Thomas Leveson^[2][4]
• Margery (or Margaret), wife of James Leveson^[2][4]
• Margaret, wife of Humphrey Onslow^[2][4]
• Jane, wife of Richard Cressett^[2][4]
• Elizabeth^[2][4]
• Jane, again^[2][4]
• Isabel^[2][4]
• Alice^[2][4]

Dorothy is named with her husband in the indenture for their son Walter's marriage to Isabel Harcourt dated 12 March 1501 and again in a deed dated 28 June 1505.^[4]

Dorothy died in 1517 and was buried at Tettenhall, Staffordshire, where her husband would later be buried. He died testate between July 1522 and 3 June 1524.^[2] They were buried in St. Thomas chancel within the parish church of St. Michael the Archangel.^[4]

Around the rim of their alabaster tombstone is inscribed the following verse, probably composed by Richard himself:^[4]

"Here lye closed in cley, the body of Richard Wrottesley.

And also Dorothy, his wif, which lived togedder all yir lif.

The year MCCCCCXVII of our Lord, Dorothy departed out of ye world,

And after within short space, Richard was leyd in this place.

Here now our bodies do ley, on our soules Jesu hafe mercy.

We desire every Xtian mon, to prey for our soules that bin gon."

Richard Wrottesley's 1518 will named the following children: sons George, Thomas, Harry, Walter and John and also "sons" James Leveson and Thomas Leveson; daughters Margaret, Anne, Elizabeth, Jane, Isabel, Alice, Eleanor; and grandchildren John Wrottesley and Dorothy (daughter of son Walter).^[4]

Research Notes

Some sources, such as Betham's Baronetage of England (1801) have Dorothy as being the widow of John Musgrave when she married Richard Wrottesley. This idea has been discounted and it is now thought that it must have been another Sutton sister (named either Margaret or Dorothy) who was married to Sir John Musgrave of Fairbank, Cumberland. For more information, see Brad Verity's post in SGM.^[6][7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Thomas Wotton. The English Baronetage. Vol. 2, London: the author, 1741. Page 346. Google Books.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013), vol. III, page 686, MACKWORTH 9, Dorothy Sutton.
3. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd edition, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2011), vol. III, page 91, MACKWORTH 9, Dorothy Sutton. Google Books.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19} George Wrottesley. History of the Family of Wrottesley of Wrottesley, co. Stafford. Exeter: W. Pollard & Co., 1903. Online at Archive.org, page 244 (marriage), pages 255-266 (will, children).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} William Flower. The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564. London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1881. Page 105. Online at Archive.org: Dudley
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "Richard Wrottesley/Dorothy Sutton Marriage" 2002 post by Brad Verity in soc.genealogy.medieval.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} "Who is the mother of Dorothy Sutton?" 2001 discussion in soc.genealogy.medieval.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Richard St. George, et al. The Heraldic Visitations of Staffordshire ... 1614, 1663 and 1664. Vol. 5, Part II. London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1884. Page 331. Online at Hathi Trust.

See also:

• Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol 1. Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1981. Page 624. Google Books, lists a first marriage to John Musgrave.

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was developed for the Magna Carta Project by Thiessen-117 on 16 March 2022 and reviewed for the project by Michael Cayley on 17 March 2022.

Dorothy (Sutton) Wrottesley appears in Magna Carta Ancestry in a Richardson-documented trail from Gateway Ancestor Agnes Mackworth to Magna Carta Surety Baron Saher de Quincy (vol. III, pages 91-93 MACKWORTH) that was badged by the Magna Carta Project in March 2022. This trail is set out in the Magna Carta Trails section of the Gateway's profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".