An ancient Norman family, who have been possessed of the manor of Sefton, in this county, from the period of the Conquest, or very soon afterwards: it was held as a knight's fee, as of the Castle of Lancaster.
William de Molines is the first recorded ancestor, and from him the pedigree is very regularly deduced to the present day. This truly noble family have been greatly distinguished in the field, witness Agincourt and Flodden. Thrice has the honour of the banner been conferred on a Molyneux. The second occasion was in Spain in 1367, from the hands of the Black Prince himself. In the seventeenth century, the family proved themselves right loyal to the crown, and suffered accordingly.
Sir Archdall's Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, iii. 239; Brydges's Biographical Peerage, iv. 93; and Baines's Lancashire, iv. 276.
Younger Branch. Molyneux, of Castle Dillon, co. Armagh, Baronet 1730, descended from Thomas Molyneux, born at Calais in 1531, for whom see "An Account of the Family and Descendants of Sir Thomas Molyneux, Knight, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland to Queen Elizabeth." Evesham, sm. 4to. 1820.
For Molyneux of Teversal, co. Notts, Baronet 1611, extinct 1812, descended from the second son of Sir Richard Molyneux, the hero of Agincourt, see Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, p. 269; and Wotton's Baronetage, i. 141.
Arms.—Azure, a cross moline or. The Irish branch bears a fleur-de-lis or in the dexter quarter.
Present Representative, William Philip Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton.
Hoghton of Hoghton-Tower, Baronet 1611.
