Mary (Darcy) Southwell (1521 - bef. 1561)

Born 1521 in Danbury, Essex, England

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Mary was born in 1528. Mary Darcy . She married Sir Richard Southwell^[1]daughter of Thomas Darcy of Danbury, widow of Robert Leeche of Norwich.^[2]

"In 1544 the king granted Widford to Sir Richard Southwell of Horsham St. Faith, co. Norfolk, one of his councillors. In the same year Thomas Lewyn, clerk, who was apparently a trustee for Southwell, had licence to alienate the manor to the use of Mary Leech, wife of Robert Leech, alderman of Norwich; also a field called Newnneye Wood alias Woodfield beside Newnneye (Nimney) Wood in Ware. (This Mary Leech, who in another place is called Mary Darcy alias Leech, must have been Mary daughter of Sir Thomas Darcy of Danbury, co. Essex, who afterwards became the second wife of Sir Richard Southwell. In 1558 she as Mary Darcy alias Leech of Horsham St. Faith, co. Norfolk, alienated the manor to Robert Adams, a yeoman of Widford, who died seised of it in 1580"^[3].

Mary was dead, and buried at Wood Rising, before her husband wrote his will in 1561. ^[4]

Research Notes

Was Mary the Mother of Sir Richard Southwell 1531-1600?

There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with this Mary being the mother of Sir Richard Southwell als Darcy 1531-1600^[5] [1] or there is something amiss with her dates. If her father was born in 1506 then Mary is unlikely to be born until c1527 which makes it impossible for her to be the mother of Sir Richard Southwell als Darcy if he was born c1531.

Her father's will in the Oxford Shakespeare collection indicates she was probably the da. of his 1st marriage to Audrey Raynsford, and she was the mistress and 2nd wife of Sir Richard Southwell, who had married 1st. her aunt Thomasine Darcy.

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/RichardSouthwell1.htmSir Richard Southwell
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Southwell_%28courtier%29
3. ↑ Parishes: Widford', in A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 402-406. British History Online
4. ↑ History of Parliament online: SOUTHWELL, Richard (1502/3-64), of London and Wood Rising, Norf
5. ↑ Southwell, alias Darcy, Richard (by 1531-1600), of Lincoln's Inn, London; Horsham St. Faith, Norf. and Gatton, Surr. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982.

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