HESKETH OF MAINS HALL.
This family was descended from the Heskeths, of Rufford, through William Hesketh, of Aughton, the sixth son of Thomas Hesketh, of Rufford. Bartholomew, the son of William Hesketh, of Aughton, succeeded to his father’s estates, and married Mary, the daughter of William Norris, of Speke, by whom he had one son, George, residing at Little Poulton Hall in 1570. George Hesketh married Dorothy, the daughter of William Westby, of Mowbreck, and had issue a son, William, who, on his father’s death, somewhere about 1571, inherited considerable property, comprising possessions in no less than twenty-eight different townships in Lancashire. William Hesketh, who was living in 1613, married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Allen, of Rossall Hall, and sister to Cardinal Allen. The children springing from that union were William and Wilfrid. William, the elder son, is the first of the Heskeths mentioned as inhabiting Mains Hall, and he appears to have been living there in 1613. We have no documents throwing any certain light upon the way in which he gained possession of the seat, but it is most probable that he purchased it. William Hesketh, of Mains Hall, espoused Anne, the daughter of Hugh Anderton of Euxton, and had issue—Thomas, Roger, John, William, Hugh, George, Anne, Alice, and Mary. Thomas, the eldest son, was nine years old in 1613, hence it is extremely likely that he was the first representative of the family born at Mains Hall. Thomas Hesketh was twice married; the first time to Anne, the daughter of Simon Haydock, of Hezantford, and after her decease, to Mary, the daughter of John Westby, of Westby and Mowbreck. The children of his first marriage were William; Thomas, an officer in the royalist army, and slain at Brindle in 1651; Anne, who became the wife of Thomas Nelson, of Fairhurst; and Margaret, afterwards the wife of Major George Westby, of Upper Rawcliffe. William, the elder son, married Perpetua, the daughter of Thomas Westby, of Mowbreck, and had issue—Thomas, born in 1659; William, who died in infancy; John; Anne, married to Richard Leckonby, of Leckonby House, Great Eccleston; Helen; Dorothy, married to Thomas Wilkinson, of Claughton; Perpetua, died in infancy; and six other daughters, all of whom died in youth. Thomas Hesketh, the eldest son, left four sons and three daughters—William; Thomas, who was a priest; John; George; Mary; Perpetua; and Anne. William Hesketh, the eldest of these sons, was living at the same time as Thomas Tyldesley, who died in 1714, and was a frequent visitor at Fox Hall. He married Mary, the daughter of John Brockholes, of Claughton, and heiress to her brother William Brockholes, of Claughton, and had issue—Thomas, Roger, William, Joseph, James, Catherine (an abbess), Margaret, Anne, Mary (a nun), and Aloysia (a nun). Thomas, the eldest son, inherited the property of his deceased uncle, William Brockholes, and assumed the name and arms of Brockholes. He died in 1766. Roger, the second son, also died in 1766. William, the third son, was born in 1717, and in later years entered the “Society of Jesus,” dying in 1741. Joseph succeeded to the Brockholes’ estates on the death of his brother Thomas, and, like him, assumed the name of Brockholes. He married Constantia, the daughter of Bazil Fitzherbert, of Swinnerton, and dying in a few years without issue, was succeeded by his sole remaining brother, James, who also assumed the name and arms of Brockholes, and some years afterwards died unmarried. The Brockholes’ property now passed, under the will of Joseph Hesketh-Brockholes, to William Fitzherbert, the brother of his widow; and that gentleman, after the manner of his predecessors, assumed the name of Brockholes. He espoused Mary, the daughter and co-heiress of James Windsor Heneage, of Cadeby, Lincolnshire, and had issue—Thomas Fitzherbert-Brockholes, of Claughton; Catherine, abbess of the Benedictines at Ghent; Margaret; Ann; Mary, who became a nun; and Frances.