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14(ii). Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers
chr 20 October 1650. He died 25 December 1717 was an English
peer and courtier.They lived at Garsdon
Manor, Wiltshire
 Robert Shirley was the third son of Sir Robert
Shirley, 4th Baronet and his wife, Catherine. In 1669, he inherited
his baronetcy from his infant nephew and in 1677, he was confirmed
as Baron Ferrers of Chartley after the title became abeyant on
the death of his kinsman, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.
From 1682-85, Lord Ferrers was Master of the Horse to the
Queen consort, Catherine of Braganza and her Lord Steward from
1685 until her death in 1705. From 1685-86, he was Colonel of
The Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Foot, Lord Lieutenant
of Staffordshire from 1687-89 and was admitted to the Privy Council
in 1689.
In 1711, Lord Ferrers was created Earl Ferrers. On his death
six years later, his earldom passed to his second (but eldest
surviving) son, whilst his barony passed to his granddaughter,
Elizabeth, her father and elder brother having predeceased Lord
Ferrers in 1698 and 1714, respectively. source: Wikipedia
married 1) Elizabeth Washington b:
1656 daughter of Lawrence Washington;
married 2) Selina Finch daughter of George Finch, of
London esq.
children (by 1st wife Elizabeth Washington)
15(i). Hon. Robert Shirley born 4 Sep 1673,
He died before the death of his father, the 1st Earl Ferrers
on 25 February 1698/99 at age 25
married 1) Catherine Venables, daughter of Peter Venables.
married 2) Anne Ferrers on 27 September 1698, daughter
of Sir Humphrey Ferrers.
children: (by Anne Ferrers)
16(i). Elizabeth Shirley, Baroness Ferrers (of Chartley)
d. 13 Mar 1740/41; married James 5th Earl of Northampton
16(ii). Robert Shirley, Viscount Tamworth - Member
of Parliament (see below) He died unmarried before the
death of his grandfather, the 1st Earl Ferrers on 5 Jul 1714
15(ii). Lady Elizabeth Shirley born Nov 25 1674 died
Oct 10 1677, age 3
15(iii). Lady Katherine Shirley born May 31 1676 died
Aug 18 1679, age 3
15(iv). Washington Shirley, 2nd Earl
Ferrers born
June 22, 1677. He lived in Ireland at times; The Earldom passed
from his descendants to his brothers in failure of a male Shirley
heir.
married Mary Levinge on 17 February 1700 at St Michan
Parish, Dublin Ireland; She was the daughter of Sir Richard Levinge
Feb 17 1700 Hon. Washington Shirley married madame Mary
Leving, spinster by the Rev John Clayton prebd of this parish
pursuant to a lycence from the Perogative Court of Dublin - St.
Michan Parish Dublin
children:
16(i). Hon. Ormond Shirley he was buried 27 June 1706
at St Mary's Parish, Dublin Ireland died young
16(ii). Lady Elizabeth Shirley b 1704; died Aug 13
1731; married Joseph Nightingale, esq.
16(iii). Lady Selina Shirley, Countess of Huntingdon
born 13 August 1707; She died 17 June 1791; She married Theophilus,
Earl of Huntingdon (more information)
 Selina Shirley married the Earl
of Huntingdon. After his death in 1741, Selina devoted her remaining
forty years to the establishment of the Methodist Church. Appointing
Rev. George Whitefield as one of her chaplains, she established
sixty-four meeting houses in England and provided seminaries
for the education of ministers to supply them. Up until her death
in London, Lady Huntingdon continued to exercise an active, and
even autocratic, superintendence over her chapels and chaplains.
She successfully petitioned George III about the gaiety of Archbishop
Cornwallis' establishment, and made a vigorous protest against
the anti-Calvinistic minutes of the Wesleyan Conference of 1770,
and against relaxing the terms of subscription of 1772. On the
Countess's death in 1791, her sixty-four chapels and the college
were bequeathed to four trustees. Amongst these was Dr. Ford,
and Lady Ann Agnes Erskine. Lady Ann was requested to occupy
and constantly reside in Lady Huntingdon's house, adjoining Spa
Fields Chapel, and to carry on all needful correspondence, which
was immense. She carried this on dutifully until her own death
in 1804, and burial at Bunhill Fields.
16(iv). Lady Mary Shirley born 25 September 1712; baptised
16 October 1712 at St Mary's Parish Dublin Ireland, daughter
of Washington and Mary Shurley; She died April 12, 1784; She
married Thomas, Viscount Kilmorey.
15(v). Lady Elizabeth Shirley b June 20 1678 died Mar
7 1740, age 62
15(vi). Lady Anna Elianora Shirley b Nov 12 1679 died
May 18 1754, age 75
PCC Will PROB 11/810 - "...to Mrs Elinor Curzon diamond
ring, to neice Pigot to take care of my sister Lady Barbara Shirley
who has the misfortune to be bline; to my neice Digby daughter
to sister Cotes; to newphew Capt Washington Shirley my hosue
in Conduit St; to nephew Earl Ferrers diamond ring; nephew Mr
Robert Shirley furniture; to Mr Walter Shirley the living I got
of the Earl of Clanrickord; nephew James Cotes and Elinor Curzon
executor...."
15(vii). Lady Katherine Shirley b Feb 17 1680 died
Sept 21 1736, age 56
15(viii). Hon. Charles Shirley born ?Apr 9 died May
28 1682, age 1 month
15(ix). Lady Dorothy Shirley born May 25 1682 died
Mar 24 1721, age 39; married John Cotes of Woodcote, esq.
15(x). Hon. Charles Shirley born June 21 1684 died
Sept 12 1685, age 1
15(xi). Hon. Lewis Shirley born July 13 1685 died on
a voyage to China in 1710, age 25. His journal of an earlier
voyage to China is extant in E. P. Shirley mss. (Description
in an inventory report by the Royal Commission on Historical
Manuscripts):
"Journal of a voyage taken by me (God permitting)
from London to Emois in China on board the ship Neptune, Capt.
Lesley Commander, in 1700. Begun, Thursday, December 5th, 1700.
Left Billingsgate, Deal, Canterbury (which he describes). Dec.
sailed out of the Downs. On Tuesday, 28th January, saw Teneriffe;
June 3rd Palma (he gives description of it); Sunday, 15th June,
1701, Batavia (describea). July 24th journal at Amois (17 leaves).
View of the trade of China taken from the port of Emor, in the
province of Tokieu, anno 1701. (73 pp.) At the other end of the
volume is a journal of a voyage from Emoy towards England, in
the ship Neptune Capt. Lesley, Feb. 6th, 1701/2; ends at fol.
46. Tuesday, 15th Sept. 1702, Wednesday and part of Thursday
at Dover. He kept a log. There are some drawings, and good observations."
15(xii). Hon. George Shirley born Oct 21 1686 died
Nov 1694, age 8
15(xiii). Lady Barbara Shirley b Feb 5 1687 died Nov
7 1768, age 81 (died insane, lived in an asylum)
15(xiv). Hon. Ferrers Shirley b Apr 23 1689 He died
prior to the death of his father, the 1st Earl Ferrers on June
20 1707, age 18
15(xv). Hon. Walter Shirley b May 27 1690 supposedly
died infant (Would have inherited the Earldom, if not).
15(xvi). Sir Henry Shirley, 3rd Earl Ferrers, born
14 Apr 1691, He died on 6 August 1745 at age 54, insane and unmarried.
The Earldom passed to his nephew, the son of his brother Laurence
Shirley by failure of a male heir
15(xvii). Hon.
Laurence Shirley born 26 Sept 1693; He died on 27 April 1743
at age 49. lived at Staunton Harold, Leicestershire, England
married: Anne Clarges daughter of Sir Walter Clarges,
1st Bt.
From this marriage, the
Lineage of the Earl Ferrers continues
children (by 2nd wife Selina Finch)
15(xviii). Hon. Robert Shirley, Lord of Ettington born
May 27 1700, He died 12 July 1738
15(xix). Lady Selina Shirley born July 2 1701 died
Dec 14 1777; She married Peter Bathurst
15(xx). Lady Mary Shirley born Nov 20 1702 died May
17 1771; She married Charles Tryon. Their son was the Governor
of North Carolina, William,
Lord Tryon
15(xxi). Hon. George Shirley born Aug 18 1704; He died
Dec 21 1704, age 4 months
15(xxii). Hon. George
Shirley, Lord of Ettington born 23 Oct 1705, lived at Ettington,
Warwickshire, England; He died on 22 October 1787 at age 81
married Mary Sturt, daughter of Humphrey Sturt, on
28 December 1749.
From this marriage, the
lineage of the Shirleys of Lough Fea,
Lords of the Manor of Ettington continues
15(xxiii). Lady Frances Shirley born May 5 1707 died
July 15 1778; lived at Twickenham with her neice Lady Huntington;
reputed to have been a great beauty in her day; rumors of affairs
with Lord Chesterfield; Subject of a famous poem by Alexander
Pope, esq.
15(xxiv). Lady Anne Shirley born May 24 1708 died Feb
26 1779; She married Sir Robert Furnese
15(xxv). Hon. Sewallis Shirley born Oct 19 1709 Member
of Parliament 1742 to 1761; comptroller of the household of Queen
Charlotte; He died Oct 25 1765; He was buried on 2 November 1765
at Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair, London, England;
married Margaret, dowager Countess of Orford on 25
May 1751 at Westminster Middlesex, Later separated; She married
1) Robert Wolpole, the 2nd Earl of Orford, the son of Prime Minister
Sir Robert Wolpole; She was the daughter of Samuel Rolle of Hainton
Devon; She inherited the peerage title, Baroness Clinton and
Say.
Horace Wolpole, later Earl of Orford, son of Prime Minister
Robert Wolpole, and brother-in-law of Margaret, Lady Orford -
" Mr. Shirley has had uncommon fortune in making the
conquest of two such extraordinary ladies (Lady Vane and Lady
Orford), as equal in their heroic contempt of shame, and eminently
above their sex, the one for beauty and the other for wealth.
He appeared to me gentle, well-bred, well- shaped, and sensible,
but the charms of his face and eyes, which Lady Vane describes
with so much warmth, were I confess always invisible to me, and
the artificial part of his character very glaring."
Lady M. Wortley-Montagu in a letter to her daughter writes,
"Statira (Lady Orford) has declared to her son that she
is marrying Shirley, but ties him up strictly," and
again, " I am not surprised at Lady Orford's marriage;
her money was doubtless convenient to Mr.Shirley, and I dare
swear she piques herself on not being able to refuse him anything."
- source: Letters from Lady Jane Coke to Her Friend, Mrs.
Eyre at Derby, 1747-1758, By Jane Wharton Coke
Horace Walpole, brother of her first husband, wrote to Mann,
5 July 1754: "My sister-in-law has just notified to the
town her intention of parting from her second husband—a
step which, being in general not likely to occasion much surprise,
she had however taken care to render extraordinary, by a course
of inseparable fondness and wonderful jealousy for the three
years since these her second nuptials ... [She] by a most unsentimental
precaution, had so secured to her own disposal her whole estates
and jointure, that he cannot command so much as a distaff."
no children
15(xxvi). Lady Stuarta Shirley born Aug 19 1711 She
died Dec 31 1767
15(xxvii). Hon. John Shirley born Mar 1 1712 He died
Feb 15 1768, age 56.
Robert Shirley had several illegitimate children
making him the father of 57 children in all. (yes, 57).
SHIRLEY, Robert, Visct. Tamworth (1692-1714),
of Staunton Harold, Leics.
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons
1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Constituency
Dates
LEICESTERSHIRE
1713 - 5 July 1714
Family and Education
b. 28 Dec. 1692, 1st s. of Hon. Robert Shirley (d.v.p.) of
Staunton Harold (1st s. of Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers)
by 2nd w. Anne (d. 1697), da. and h. of Sir Humphrey Ferrers
of Tamworth Castle, Staffs. unm. suc. fa. 25 Feb. 1699; styled
Visct. Tamworth from 1711.
Offices Held
Biography
Staunton Harold had been the Shirley family seat since the
15th century. On his mother’s death in 1697, Shirley inherited
the estates of his maternal ancestors comprising Tamworth Castle
and other Staffordshire lands valued in 1688 at £2,000
p.a. At the age of seven he found himself heir apparent to his
grandfather, Lord Ferrers, who was for many years a principal
servant of Catherine of Braganza, formerly as master of horse
and latterly throughout her dowagerhood as steward of her household.
When Lord Ferrers was advanced to an earldom in 1711, Shirley
assumed the courtesy title of Viscount Tamworth.1
Tamworth naturally followed his grandfather’s Tory lead
when, aged still only 20, he was put up as a county candidate
in January 1713, after Geoffrey Palmer* announced his intention
of standing down at the forthcoming election. He campaigned conscientiously
in August, at one point anxiously observing to one of his supporters,
Lord Guernsey (Hon. Heneage Finch I*), that there had been no
canvassing on his behalf in the vicinity of Guernsey’s estate,
politely supposing ‘that either your lordship’s letter
to your steward miscarried, or that he misunderstood it’.
As Sir George Beaumont, 4th Bt.*, later recalled, the threat
of opposition from the Whigs persisted for some time until Tamworth,
Sir Thomas Cave, 3rd Bt.*, and their well-wishers ‘ply’d’
them with cash and the prospect of a poll quickly faded.2
In the new Parliament Tamworth was listed as a Tory. On 22
June he was teller in favour of agreeing with a supply resolution
to grant the Queen additional duties on exported coals and other
commodities for 32 years. A fortnight later he was carried to
the grave by smallpox, dying in the early hours of 5 July after
a week’s illness. In a notice of his death he was described
as a ‘gentleman of excellent parts and very much lamented
by all who had the honour of knowing him’. The Tamworth
estates devolved to his sister Elizabeth, who in 1716 married
Lord Compton (James*), heir to the earldom of Northampton. The
inscription on Tamworth’s tomb in the family chapel at Staunton
Harold includes a classic plaint to the unfulfilled promise of
youth:
In him religion with sweet temper join’d
Prudence of thought with fortitude of mind.
In duty strict, just to the ties of blood,
In friendship firm, to all benignly good.3
Ref Volumes: 1690-1715
Author: Andrew A. Hanham
Notes
1. Nichols, Leics. iii. 710, 715, 718–19.
2. Northants. RO, Isham mss IC 1746, Justinian to Sir Justinian
Isham, 4th Bt.*, 20 Jan. 1713; BL, Verney mss mic. 636/55, Cave
to Ld. Fermanagh (John Verney*), 26 Jan. 1713; Devonshire mss
at Chatsworth House, Finch-Hatton pprs., Tamworth to Ld. Guernsey,
28 Aug. 1713; Leics. RO, Braye mss 23D57/2890, Beaumont to Cave,
Oct. 1714.
3. Folger Shakespeare Lib. Newdigate newsletter 6 July 1714;
Isham mss IC 1799, Vere to (Sir) Justinian Isham (5th Bt.*),
10 July 1714; Nichols, 720.
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Lineage of the Earl Ferrers