And she, taking an affecting leave of him, declares her intention of spending her days in prayer in a nunnery. Sir Richard married the daughter of the famous Earl of Nottingham, who was Lord High Admiral and Commander-in-chief of the fleet which defeated the Armada. Sir Richard Leveson, who was in this engagement, was, in 1601, made Vice-Admiral, and died in 1605. In the collegiate church at Wolverhampton was formerly a “stately monument in black marble erected to his memory, by which were two brass plates, the one inscribed with the chief events of his life, registered at length in Latin,” and the other in English, erected by Sir Richard Leveson. It was executed by Le Sueur for £300, the original contract being still preserved at Trentham. During the civil wars “this bronze effigy was ordered by the Committee of Sequestrations at Stafford to be taken away and cast into cannon; but by the timely interposition of Lady Leveson, the Admiral’s widow, it was redeemed for a sum of money, and deposited in Lilleshall Church till the strife was over. The marble monument being destroyed, it now occupies a niche in the church of Wolverhampton,” and a copy is preserved in a recess in the court-yard at Trentham.
Sir Richard Leveson, Knight of the Bath, M.P. for Shropshire, and afterwards for Newcastle-under-Lyme, was devoted to the cause of Charles I. He made his residence at Trentham, “being accounted one of the best housekeepers and landlords in the county. In consequence of his adherence to the royal cause, his property was sequestrated, for which he compounded by the payment of more than £6,000—the largest composition obtained. A letter of his to the Governor of Shrewsbury strikingly indicates the distresses sustained even by persons of distinction during those troubled times:—
“Sr
“Since the unhappy surprise of Stafford by the rebelles, the place where I am is not safe, either for myselfe or my goodes, and therefore I have sent 2 wagons loaded with some household stuffe, which I desire, with your dispensacon, may be received into your towne of Shrewsbury, into a roome which I have longe reserved in myne owne handes for this purpose against a tyme of neede; and that to this effecte you will please to give order unto your watch for free passage to and fro, whereby you will oblige mee more and more to remayne
“Yor ever affectionate frende
“R. Leveson.”
“Lilleshall Lodge, 16 May, 1643.
“To my much respected frende
“Sr Francis Oteley, Kt
“Governour of Shrewsbury—Haste these.”
The Sir Richard Leveson who built the old hall at Trentham in 1633 (two views of which are given in Plot) died in 1661. His widow, Lady Katharine Leveson (daughter of Robert, Duke of Northumberland, and Lady Alice Dudley), was a great benefactress to the parish. She died at Trentham in 1674, and was buried at Lilleshall. Her charities were almost boundless. Sir Richard Leveson dying without issue, the Trentham estates passed to his sister and co-heiress, who had married Sir Thomas Gower, and in the Gower family they have remained to this day. Sir William Leveson-Gower, his second son, who inherited the estates on the deaths of his elder brother and nephew, married Lady Jane Granville, eldest daughter of the Earl of Bath, by whom he had issue, with others, Sir John Leveson-Gower, who in 1703 was created Baron Gower of Sittenham. He married Catherine, daughter of the first Duke of Rutland, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. The eldest of these sons, John, was in 1746 advanced to the dignity of Viscount Trentham and Earl Gower. He was married three times: first, to Evelyn, daughter of the Duke of Kingston, by whom he had four sons and seven daughters; secondly, to Penelope, daughter of Sir John Stonehouse, by whom he had one daughter; and, thirdly, to Lady Mary Tufton, daughter of the Earl of Thanet, by whom he had three sons and one daughter, one of whom was the famed Admiral John Leveson-Gower. His lordship was succeeded by his third son by his first wife, Granville Leveson Gower, who in 1786 was raised to the dignity of Marquis of Stafford. He married three times: first, Elizabeth Fazakerly, by whom he had a son, who died in infancy; second, Lady Louisa Egerton, daughter of the first Duke of Bridgewater, by whom he had issue a son, George Granville, who succeeded him, and three daughters (Lady Louisa, married to Sir Archibald Macdonald; Lady Caroline, married to Frederick, Earl of Carlisle; and Lady Anne, married to Edward Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York); third, Lady Susan Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Galloway, by whom he had issue one son, Granville Leveson-Gower, created Baron Leveson of Stone, and Viscount and Earl Granville (who married Lady Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the fifth Duke of Devonshire, and was father of the present eminent statesman, Earl Granville), and three daughters—viz. Lady Georgiana Augusta, married to the Earl of St. Germains; Lady Charlotte Sophia, married to the Duke of Beaufort; and Lady Susanna, married to the Earl of Harrowby. The Marquis, who held many important public offices, died in 1803, and was succeeded by his eldest son—
George Granville Leveson-Gower, as second Marquis of Stafford. This nobleman married, in 1785, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland and Baroness Strathnaver (a title dating from 1228), and was, in 1833, advanced to the dignity of Duke of Sutherland. His grace, who had been called to the Upper House during his father’s lifetime as Baron Gower, became heir to the Duke of Bridgewater, and thus added immense wealth to the family property. He had surviving issue two sons—viz. George Granville, by whom he was succeeded, and Lord Francis, who took the name and arms of Egerton, by sign-manual, in 1833, and was raised to the peerage as Earl of Ellesmere in 1846 (he married Harriet Catherine, eldest daughter of Charles Greville, Esq., by whom he had issue, with others, the second Earl of Ellesmere, and Admiral Egerton, who married Lady Louisa Cavendish, daughter of the present Duke of Devonshire)—and two daughters, viz. Lady Charlotte Sophia, married to the Duke of Norfolk; and Lady Elizabeth Mary, married to Richard, Marquis of Westminster, father of the present Duke of Westminster.