Dorothy (Devereux) Shirley (1600 - 1636)

Born 1600 in Essex House, London, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 30 Mar 1636 at about age 36 in Staunton Harold, Leicestershire, England

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Dorothy Devereux was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Biography

Father Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Mother Frances Walsingham

Lady Dorothy Devereux was the daughter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Frances Walsingham.^[1]

She married Sir Henry Shirley, 2nd Bt., son of Sir George Shirley, 1st Bt. and Frances Berkeley, on 1 August 1616.^[2]

She married William Stafford, Esq., in 1634, no issue. He died 3 July 1637 and is buried 4 July 1637 at Blatherwycke. ^[3]

She died on 30 March 1636.^[4]

Family 1

• Sir Henry Shirley, 2nd Bt

Children

• Lettice Shirley b. c 1617, d. c Sep 1655
• Sir Robert Shirley, 4th Bt. b. a 1623, d. 6 Nov 1656
• Sir Charles Shirley, 3rd Bt.4 b. 9 Sep 1623, d. 7 Jun 1646

Family 2

• William Stafford - see death and burial noted above.

Sources

• The Family Forest Descendants of Lady Joan Beaufort p 291
• [1] The History of the County of Monaghan By Evelyn Philip Shirley p 272

https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/130626683/dorothy-shirley

• Fact: Burial (5 April 1636) Holy Trinity Church, Blatherwick, Northamptonshire, England
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch Lady Dorothy Devereux was born in Essex House, London. She married Sir Henry Shirley on April 1, 1616 in Charley, Staffordshire, England. She was daughter of Lady Frances Walsingham and her second husband, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, a favorite of Elizabeth I. However, Essex was found guilty of treason following an abortive coup d'état against the government and, on 25 February 1601, became the last person to be beheaded in the Tower of London.

Lady Dorothy's grandmother was Lady Lettice Knollys, cousin to Queen Elizabeth and granddaughter of Lady Mary Boleyn. Her grandfather was the 1st Earl of Essex, Walter Devereux and was descended from the only daughter and heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of King Edward I. Marriage to Lady Dorothy joined Henry Shirley in nearness of blood with the Royal stem of England. By this, Chartley Castle (briefly a place of imprisonment for Mary, Queen of Scots) and twelve other mansions and estates in the county of Stafford became the rich inheritance of the Shirley family and successors, Dorothy's lineal ancestor being the Lady Agnes Ferrers, daughter and heiress to her father William de Ferrers, married Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex.

Henry and Lady Dorothy had three children: Lettice, Charles and Robert. At the time of her husband's death, Lady Dorothy was said to be pregnant but there is no account of this child, so we may presume that it was still born.

Following her husband's death, it appears Lady Dorothy petitioned King Charles I setting forth her weak estate and her children's want of maintenance and we may suppose that it was in consequence of her straitened circumstances that the Lady Dorothy Shirley re-married the year after first husband's decease William Stafford, of Blatherwick, in the county of Northampton. She died two years after her second marriage, and was interred at Blatherwick, in the register of which parish her death is thus recorded : "The noble Ladie Dorothy Stafford died 30th March, and was buried 5th Apr. 1636."

Sources

1. ↑ Burkes Peerage 2003 volume 2, page 1876
2. ↑ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 250. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
3. ↑ Blatherwycke Parish Registers 1621-1687 Image by subscription https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9198/images/34P-1-1784-1812_00018?pId=9642241
4. ↑ The Peerage

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 18 November 2020, 05:49), entry for Lady Dorothy Devereux(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LCQQ-TRD); contributed by various users.
• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 29 July 2020, 00:29), entry for Dorothy Devereux(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:MMV6-K6B); contributed by various users.