Merchant Taylors School - Admission of Students - 12 Mar
1702 William Shirley - born 2 Dec 1694
St Swithin, London Stone - "William the son of Mr
William Shir[ly] son in law to Mr Godman by Elizabeth his wife
was born December 2 1694 and baptised the 4th of the same month
- by W. Baffet, rector"
William, who
was born in 1694, succeeded to his mother's estate, in Sussex,
and resided at Otehall. He received his academic education at
Cambridge, and was designed for the bar ; but his superior talents
and address bringing him under the notice of Sir Robert Walpole
during his administration, the Duke of Newcastle appointed him,
in 1741, Captain and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Massa-
chuset's Bay, in New England; and it was under his direction
and immediate inspection that the expedition to Cape Breton in
1745 was fitted out. In 1750 (January 19th) he was appointed
one of His Majesty's Commissioners, at Paris, for settling the
limits of Nova Scotia, and other controverted rights in America.
In 1755, he obtained the rank of General and Commander-in-Chief
of His Majesty's forces in North America; and in 1759 he was
made a Lieutenant-General in His Majesty's army. It was during
the time that Lieutenant-General Shirley had the principal command
of the Land Forces there in that same year, and in the early
part of the following year, that some of the misfortunes which
afterwards ensued to His Majesty's service, but more particularly
the loss of Fort Oswego, which he had built at the mouth of the
Onondaga River, on Lake Ontario, were, at the time, unjustly
attributed to him and his mismanagement; and from which his conduct,
on this occasion, was most triumphantly vindicated in a pamphlet,
published in 1758, entitled " The conduct of Major-General
Shirley, late General and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's
Forces in North America, briefly stated." On the 16th of
November, 1758, he received the appointment of Captain-General
and Governor-in-Chief of the Bahama Islands. While at Boston,
General Shirley built a house for himself, with bricks imported
from England, at a vast expense, which he afterwards covered,
both within and without, with boards. The house, which still
remains, is called Shirley House.
The General died at Boston, March 24th, his age at the
time being 77 years;—and he was interred in the King's Chapel,
adjoining that city. This Chapel was- the first Protestant Episcopal
place of worship built in America; and when it became necessary
to build it, which was the case in 1749, he laid the foundation
stone. At his death the following testimony of the respect in
which he was held by the proprietors appears among its records,
of the date of ] 771:—" Whereas, the Honourable Lieutenant
- General Shirley, formerly Governor of this province, lately
deceased, did for several years attend public worship at King's
Chapel, to which he was a warm friend, and a very generous benefactor
; for his more honourable interment, and to testify their gratitude
for his many services, the proprietors of the said chapel have
this day voted, that John Erving Esq. have liberty to deposit
the corpse of the said Lieutenant-General Shirley, or any other
of his family or descendants dying in America, in the tomb numbered
18, under the chapel." The remains of his wife, who was
Frances, the daughter of Francis Barker, Esq., of London, had
been previously deposited in a vault under this chapel. She died
in September 1746. A handsome tablet, surmounted by her bust,
was placed by the General to her memory in this chapel. The inscription
on this tablet commemorates also the death of their second daughter,
Frances, who married William Bollan, Esq; and who died in 1741,
upon the birth of their only daughter and heiress, Frances Shirley
Bollan, who married Charles Western, Esq., of Rivenhall,; in
Essex; and was the mother of the first Lord Western. - Sussex
Archaeological Society
married Francis Barker on 6 November 1718 at St Anne
Soho, Westminster, the daughter of Francis Barker esq of London;
She died in Boston Massachusetts in September 1746
children:
16(i). William Shirley born about 1721 Secretary to
Gen William Braddock; He was killed 1755 in a battle with the
French and Indians in the Ohio
16(ii). Capt. John Shirley born about 1725, died 1755
at Oswego USA in the war against the French and Indians.
16(iii). Sir Thomas Shirley born about 1727; He was
Leiutenant General and Governor of the Leeward Islands and Dominica;
He died 1800 at Bath, Somerset England
married Anna Maria Western of Essex.
children:
17(i). Sir William Warden Shirley, baronet. Died unmarried
and without issue. The male lineage
of the Shirleys of Preston ended here
16(iv). Ralph Shirley born 20 Jan 1734, bapt at the
King's Chapel by Haywood and died at Braintree the 13th Aug 1737.
buried on the 16th at Old Episcopal Cem. Quincy Mass.
16(v). Elizabeth Shirley - married Eliakim Hutchison,
Esq by Mr. Commissery Price at the King's Chapel at Boston on
Monday the 13th of November 1738. She died 1790
16(vi). Frances Shirley 1720, died 1744, married William
Bollan, Esq.
16(vii). Judith Shirley 1723, d. 1754
16(viii). Harriet Shirley 1724, d. 1802, m. Robert
Temple, Esq.
16(ix). Maria Catherine Shirley 1729, d. 1816, m. John
Erving, Esq.
Shirleys of Ote Hall