Henry Macwilliam Explained

Henry Macwilliam (c. 1532 – 1586) was a member of Parliament for Dorchester (1571), Liskeard (1572), Appleby (1584) and Carlisle (1586).^[1]

He was the son of Henry Macwilliam (died 1539) and his second wife Elizabeth Leyes, a daughter of Sir John Leyes. His sister Anne married Arthur Stourton.^{[2] [3]}

His home was Stambourne Hall, Essex. He became Keeper of Colchester Castle.

He died on 27 December 1586.

Marriage and children

He married Mary Cheke, daughter of Richard Hill, sergeant of the wine cellar to Henry VIII, and widow of John Cheke (died 1557), a lady of Elizabeth I's privy chamber. His children included:

• Henry Macwilliam, who was killed by Tom Compton in a duel in 1599.^{[4] [5]}
• Margaret Macwilliam, married Sir John Stanhope (d. 1621)
• Susannah Macwilliam, married Edward Saunders or Sandys, (2) Goddard Pemberton, (3) Thomas Ireland.^[6]
• Ambrosia Macwilliam, who married William Kingsmill, mother of William Kingsmill (died 1618)
• Cassandra Macwilliam, who married George Cotton (died 1613), grandmother of the poet Charles Cotton
• Cicely Macwilliam, who married Thomas Ridgeway, 1st Earl of Londonderry, she was said to have been a maid of honour to Elizabeth I.^[7]

Notes and References

1. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/macwilliam-henry-1532-86 MACWILLIAM, Henry (c.1532-86), of Stambourne Hall, Essex and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Mdx.
2. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/stourton-arthur-1525-58 'STOURTON, Arthur (by 1525-58)', The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
3. https://archive.org/details/gri_33125007826791/page/314/mode/2up The history of the noble house of Stourton, 1, p. 315
4. Thomas Wright, The history and topography of Essex, vol. 1, p. 640.
5. [Sarah Williams (historian)]
6. http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1604-1629/member/pemberton-sir-goddard-1573-1616 PEMBERTON, Sir Goddard (c.1573-1616), of Hertingfordbury, The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
7. Victoria Burke, 'Anne, Lady Southwell', George Justice & Nathan Tinker, Women's Writing and the Circulation of Ideas (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 99, 117 fn. 31.