Wolstan Dixie (abt. 1524 - 1594)

Born about 1524 in Catworth, Huntingdonshire, England

Biography

Born about 1524 Wolstan Dixie was the fourth son of Thomas Dixie, a husbandman of Catworth in Huntingdonshire, and of Anne Jephson of Hampshire, his wife. ^[1] He was apprenticed to Geoffrey Walkeden, merchant adventurer only obtaining his freedom in 1555 when he was thirty years old. Then able to marry he took for his wife Agnes Walkeden, daughter of his old master. Successful in his career he was blessed with a steady accumulation of wealth and although at heart a Londoner he also bought the manors of Southwick in Wiltshire and Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. ^[2]

Agnes died in 1567 and in 1569 Wolstan married Anne Draper daughter of Christopher Draper Mayor of London 1567.^[3][4]The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls her Agnes. ^[5]

Wolstan was Lord Mayor of London 1585-1586 and was knighted 6 February 1586. ^[6]

He died childless on 8 January 1594 (NS), his heir being his brother, Richard. ^[7] By his will he left numerous charitable bequests totally in excess of £4000, half his goods to his widow and the bulk of his estates to his great nephew, Wolstan Dixie, grandson of his brother, Richard. ^[8]He was buried at St Michael Bassishaw the following day. ^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ The Visitation of the County of Leicester in the year 1619: Page 116: Dixie
2. ↑ Ian W. Archer, ‘Dixie, Sir Wolstan (1524/5–1594)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 6 Sept 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes
3. ↑ The Visitation of the County of Leicester in the year 1619: Page 52 Draper Anne daughter of Sir Christopher Draper Mayor of London in 1567 died 1580 and his wife Margaret Green. She married Sir Wolstan Dixie, Mayor of London 1585 died 1593
4. ↑ The Visitation of London in The Year 1568, The Publications of The Harleian Society (The Society, London, 1869) Vol. 1, Page 4
5. ↑ Ian W. Archer, ‘Dixie, Sir Wolstan (1524/5–1594)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 6 Sept 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes
6. ↑ Knights of England Page 84
7. ↑ Inquisitions Post Mortem City of London 1577-1603 (Sir Wolstan Dixie died 8 Jan last past; Richard Dixie of Barnewell in co. Northampton, yeoman is his brother and next heir and was then aged 60 years or more) Viewed at Ancestry. Text only
8. ↑ The Will of Sir Wolstan Dixie
9. ↑ Ian W. Archer, ‘Dixie, Sir Wolstan (1524/5–1594)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 6 Sept 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes

See also

• Wikipedia: Wolstan Dixie