Cuthbert Halsall MP (1573 - bef. 1632)

Born 1573 in Halsall, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Dorothy (Stanley) Halsall — married [date unknown] in Lancashire

Descendants

Died before 28 Feb 1632 before age 59 in Halsall, Burscough, Lancashire, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Leigh Anne Dear [send private message] and Diana Cooper [send private message]

Biography

Sir Cuthbert Halsall, (b. c. 1573), was a natural son of Richard Halsall (d. 1573), who was born during the reign of Elizabeth I of England. Thrush & Ferris (2010), names his mother as Janet Scarisbrick.^[1][2]

Cuthbert eventually inherited the family estate(s). His uncle Edward Halsall, whose will is given (pt. ii., p.214, vol.1i of the Chetham series), but who does not appear in the Visitations of 1567 and 1613, was evidently in possession of the estate of Halsall, in which he was succeeded by Cuthbert the natural son of Richard Halsall Edward's brother. This Cuthbert Halsall is named as alias Norres in the Will of Anne, widow of Sir Henry.

He served with the Earl of Essex in Ireland and was knighted by the Earl at Dublin on 22 July 1599. He owned property at Halsall and Salwick, Lancashire and was Sheriff of Lancashire for 1601 and 1612. In 1614, he was elected Member of Parliament for Lancashire in the 'Addled Parliament'.

Sir Cuthbert Halsall, 1573-1632, of Halsall & Salwick, Lancs.: ^[3]

b. c.1573, illegit. 1st s. of RICHARD HALSALL (d.1573), of Halsall and JANET SCARISBRICKE.

1 educated at Oxf. as ‘Mr. Case’s scholar’, 1588, aged 15; G. Inn, 1593.

2-3 m. c.1588, Dorothy (d. c.1649), illegit. da. of Henry Stanley, 4th earl of Derby, 2da.

4 suc. cos. Edward Halsall 1594.

5 kntd. 22 July 1599.

6 bur. 28 Feb. 1632.7

Cuthbert Halsall married Dorothy, natural daughter to Henry (Stanley) fourth earl of Derby, and had two daughters only;

• Anne, m. Thomas Clifton, son and heir of Cuthbert Clifton of Westby.
• Bridget, contracted in her nonage to her kinsman Thomas Halsall but did not marry him. See Dugdale's Visitation 1665, where 4 generations are recorded of collaterals of this line seated at Melling, Aughton and Bickerstaff.
  

At some time late in his life Sir Cuthbert sold Halsall Manor to Sir Gilbert, Master of the Rolls. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthbert_Halsall

Misc. Research Notes
Note that the following source records his death as yr 1619:

Source Text: "Sir Cuthbert Halsall of co. Lancaster, matriculated 22 March 1587/8, aged 15 (as arm.), "Mr. Case's scholar; of Halsall and Clifton, co. Lancaster; Student of Gray's Inn 1593; knighted in Dublin 22 Jul 1599; M.P. Lancashire 1614; will proved 1619; see Whitaker's Whalley, 4th ed. ii, 139n and Foster's 'Gray's inn Reg.'" ^[4]

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/halsall-sir-cuthbert-1573-1632

"As the illegitimate only son of Richard Halsall, who died in the year of his birth, Cuthbert was brought up by his grandparents and then by his cousin Edward Halsall, a professional lawyer who founded Halsall school. Edward died in 1594 without surviving issue, leaving Halsall his estates and a collection of books ‘apt to the study of the Common Law’.15 At an early age Halsall became a frequent guest of Henry, 4th earl of Derby at Knowsley, whose illegitimate daughter Dorothy he married in around 1588.16 After pursuing a gentleman’s education at Oxford and Gray’s Inn, he probably served as a volunteer in Ireland with the 2nd earl of Essex, by whom he was knighted at Dublin in 1599.17"

"On achieving his majority in the mid-1590s, Halsall, whose extensive estates comprised ten manors in West Derby hundred and Amounderness,18 found an immediate place on the bench, and served as sheriff of Lancashire in 1601.19 Although removed from the bench for suspected Catholicism early in James’s reign, he subsequently conformed and was reinstated in about 1609, serving as sheriff again in 1612.20 He maintained cordial relations with the Stanleys, asking William 6th earl of Derby, his wife’s kinsman, to be party to an indenture for his eldest daughter’s marriage in 1611.21 Elected for the senior knighthood of the shire in 1614, Halsall left no trace at all upon the records of that brief and troubled Parliament. In the following year he was elected mayor of Liverpool, but he carried out most of his duties by deputy. Halsall seems to have lived beyond his means, and in around 1614 he began to liquidate his assets by mortgaging outlying properties and leasing various parcels of land.23 His impending financial difficulties were apparent by 1618, when he started borrowing heavily. Despite his inability to manage his own affairs, he stood as surety for various friends, and found himself liable for their unpaid debts as well as his own.24 By the late 1620s he was being pursued by numerous creditors.25 A dispute concerning the manor of Prees, which Halsall had attempted to buy in 1614 but found he could not afford, resulted in a series of petitions to the House of Lords in the 1620s. The matter was finally resolved in his favour by Chancery only several years after his death.26 In many cases Halsall himself initiated litigation against those he had failed to repay, such as Anthony Scarisbrick, a London Mercer and possibly his mother’s kinsman, who was accused of keeping a chain of pearls and two jewels that Halsall had pawned.27 Shortage of money did not deter Halsall from resorting to the courts, for his opponents frequently accused him of vexing them with ‘multiplicity of suits’, in both the duchy court and Chancery.28 His name appears as a deletion in the Forced Loan commission of 1627, by which time he was completely insolvent."

"Halsall spent the last years of his life in and out of the Fleet, having entirely dissipated his estates. He made increasingly desperate attempts to redeem the lands upon which his mortgages had been secured.30 Much of his former land lay along the coast north of Liverpool, and despite its loss Halsall continued to claim the lord of the manor’s customary rights of shipwreck. Indeed, his heirs were later sued because on one occasion Halsall had unlawfully seized a ship’s sailyard, barrels of tallow, and ‘sundry fishes royal, as namely a shark, a seal, and several porpoises’.31 He died in prison and was buried at St. Bride’s, Fleet Street on 28 Feb. 1632. His will, dated 27 Feb., demonstrates how little of his inheritance remained. He bequeathed only minor cash sums to relatives, and instructed his executors to continue the suit for two manors he had sold, Halsall and Downholland, leaving whatever could be recovered to his wife Dorothy.32 After petitioning the king she salvaged part of the Halsall estate from its purchaser, Sir Charles Gerrard.33 Dame Dorothy lived at Salwick, the last remaining property that had come to Halsall from his grandmother’s dower, which finally passed to their daughter Anne Clifton as her jointure. Halsall had no male heirs."

Sources

1. ↑ Thrush, A. & Ferris, J.P. (2010). "Halsall, Sir Cuthbert (c.1573-1632), of Halsall and Salwick, Lancs.," in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629. HOP. Web.
2. ↑ for mother see: Wills and Inventories ed. G.J. Piccope (Chetham Soc. liv), 145; Stanley Pprs. ed. F.R. Raines (Chetham Soc. xxxi), 143-4, 147, (Thrush & Ferris, 2010).
3. ↑ http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/halsall-sir-cuthbert-1573-1632 HALSALL, Sir Cuthbert (c.1573-1632), of Halsall and Salwick, Lancs.
4. ↑ Source: Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886; 1500-1714, Vol. II; Hallifax - Henshaw; Publisher Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007, Provo, UT, USA. Online access 1 Aug 2019

• The Chetham Society; 'Historical & Literary Remains, Connected with the palatine counties of Lancaster & Chester'; Council for the Year 1879-80; Vol. CX. Printed for the Chetham Society, MDCCC>LXXXII; pg.168-169. Visitation of Lancashire, and a Part of Cheshire, made in the 24th year of the reign of King Henry VIII A.D. 1533; Part II; Printed for the Chetham Society. Publication in the public domain and freely available at www.archive.org.

Acknowledgements
This person was created through the import of BJ-2011-03-02.ged on 08 April 2011.

Profile gedcom creation by Jodi (Trogstad) Brennan by 31 Aug 2018.