May 20th, 1776. On March 20th, 1783, he was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the court of Spain. In 1792, he succeeded his father in the Earldom of Bute; and on March 1st, 1796, was created an English Marquis, by the title of MARQUIS OF BUTE. On November 12th, 1766, he married, first, Charlotte Jane, eldest daughter and coheir of Thomas Windsor, Viscount Windsor of Ireland; and by her, who died January 28th, 1800, æt. fiftyfour, he had issue, First, John, Viscount Mount Stuart. Second, Lady Maria Alicia Charlotte, born October 28th, 1769, married Charles Pinfold, Esq. Third, Herbert Windsor, born May 6th, 1770. Fourth, Lady Charlotte, born July 16th, 1771, married, June 13th, 1791, Sir William Jackson Homan, of Ireland, Bart. Fifth, Lord Evelyn James Stuart, born May 7th, 1773, formerly in the foot-guards, and afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the twenty-first regiment of foot; elected member of parliament for Cardiff 1794, and 1796. Sixth, Elizabeth, born July 12th, 1774, died the same day. Seventh, Lord Charles, born July 18th, 1775; lost in the Leda frigate, near the island of Madeira, in 1796. Eighth, Lord Henry, born 1777; married, July 1st, 1802, Lady Gertrude Emilia Villiers, sole daughter and heir of George, last Earl of Grandison, by Lady Gertrude Seymour, and has a son born June 8th, 1803. Ninth, Lord William, born November 18th, 1778; made a post-captain in the navy 1799; elected member of parliament for Cardiff 1802, 1806, 1807; married, June, 1806, the Honourable Georgiana Maude, sister to Viscount Hawarden: she died August 31st, 1807, without issue. Tenth, Lord George, born at Turin, March 1st, 1780; made a post-captain in the navy 1804; married, October 7th, 1800, Jane, daughter of the late major-general James Stuart, by whom he has issue John Windsor, born July 27th, 1802; Elizabeth Jane, born July 18th, 1803; Louisa, born August 4th, 1804, died January 12th, 1807; and Emily Frances, born February 7th, 1806. JOHN, Viscount Mount Stuart, before-mentioned, eldest son of the Marquis, was born September 25th, 1767; was elected member of parliament for Cardiff 1790, and died January 20th, 1794, æt. twenty-seven, at Basingbourne Hall in Essex, in conse quence of a fall from his horse. a He was lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county of Glamorgan, and colonel of its militia. He married, October 12th, 1792, Elizabeth, only daughter and heir of Patrick Crichton, Earl of Dumfries; and by her, who died July 26th, 1797, left John his son and heir; and Patrick, a posthumous son, born August 25th, 1794. John, eldest son, born August 3d, 1793, is heir apparent to his paternal grandfather the Marquis of Bute; and succeeded to the Scotch Earldom of Dumfries on the death of his maternal grandfather, Patrick Earl of Dumfries. Titles. John Stuart, Marquis of Bute, Earl of Windsor, Viscount Mountjoy, Baron Mount Stuart and Cardiff, English titles; also Earl of Bute, and Baron Mount Stuart, Scotch titles. Creations. John Stuart, Baron Mount Stuart, April 5th, 1761; Baron Cardiff, May 20th, 1766; Viscount Mountjoy, Earl of Windsor, and Marquis of Bute, July 20th, 1796. Also in Scotland, Baron Mount Stuart and Earl of Bute, April 14th, 1703; and Baronet of Nova Scotia. Arms. Or, a fess checky, Argent and Azure, within a double tressure flory, and counter flory, Gules. Crest. On a wreath, a demi lion, Gules, and over it in a scroll, this motto, nobilis est ira leonis. Supporters. On the dexter side, a horse, Argent, bridled, Gules; on the sinister, a stag proper. Motto. Avito viret honore. Chief Seats. Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute; Luton House, Bedfordshire; and Cardiff Castle, Glamorganshire. Gent. Mag. vol. liv. p. 95, where see a panegyric on Lis character. THERE appears no rational ground of doubt that the great statesman, who was the ennobler of this family, was branched from the ancient family of SITSILT, or CECIL, of Alterennes in Herefordshire. ROBERT SITSILT, a an assistant to Robert Fitzhamon, in the conquest of Glamorganshire, 1091, the fourth of King William Rufus, was ancestor to this family. Which Robert was rewarded with lands by the said Robert Fitzhamon for his services; and afterwards by marriage had Alterennes in that part of Herefordshire called Ewyas lands, with other lands in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. b d To whom succeeded his son and heir Sir James Sitsilt, or Seisel, Baron of Beauport, (now called Beaupere) in Glamorganshire, slain at the siege of Wallingford castle in the fourth of King Stephen; having then on a vesture, whereon was wrought in needle-work, his arms or ensigns, as they appeared on the tomb of Girald Sitsilt in the abbey of Dore, which were blazoned in a judgment given by commission from King Edward III. on a controversy of the same arms, as will be hereafter shewn. He left issue John, his son and heir, and four daughters. e Which JOHN was after his father's death, in the same wars with Roger Earl of Hereford, and being taken prisoner at the siege of Lincoln, ninth of King Stephen, and paying for his ran Powell's Hist. of Wales, p. 124, 141, 142. d Holinsh, ut supr. Holinshed's Chron. 1255. • Ibid. som four hundred marks, was obliged to sell his lordship of Beauport, and his lands in Gloucestershire. He had by Maud, his wife, daughter of..... De Frenes, EUSTACE, his son and heir, who married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Walter Pembridge, Knight, and had issue Sir BALDWIN SEISEL, knighted by King Henry II. and slain. at the siege of the castle of Cardiff, his father then living. He gave lands in Kegestone to the monks of Dore; as also freedom of common and pasture and other liberties in his woods. By his first wife, daughter of Sir Maurice de Brampton, he had issue six sons, Gerald, Eustace, Henry, John, and Walter; and two daughters; Catherine, wife of Hugh ap Meredith Maredake; and Eleanor, to Walter Wallis. And by his second wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Stephen Radnor, Knight, had issue Stephen, Roger, Hugh, David; Maud, a nun; Joan, wife to John de Solers; and Anne, to Owen ap Meredith. GERALD Sitsilt, eldest son, married Mabel, daughter of Sir William Moigne, Knight, and had issue Gerald, who died an infant; Robert; Owen, a monk in the abbey of Dore in Herefordshire; Catherine, wife to Sir Griffin ap Yereford, Knight; secondly, to Sir David ap Evan; and thirdly, to Geffery, son of Sir Walter Bret, Knight; Anne, wife to Robert, son of Richard Bromwich; Ellen, wife to John, son of Sir Richard Abrahall, Knight. He was succeeded by ROBERT Sitsilt, who married Alice, daughter of Sir Robert de Tregoz, Knight, and had issue James, Gerald, Thomas, Baldwin; Margaret, and Elizabeth. JAMES Sitsilt, eldest son of Robert, had to wife Isabel, daughter of Sir John Knell, Knight, by whom he had issue James, who died young, and Gerard, twins; Robert, John; Alice, wife to Walter Monington; Grace, married to Roger, son of William Blunt; Eleanor, wife to Thomas Paine; Margery, wedded to Morgan ap Meredith; and Cecille, wife to Howel ap Blethin, secondly, to Sir Hugh Bruge, Knight. GERARD Sitsilt, eldest son, was buried in the abbey of Dore in Herefordshire, under a tomb erected to his memory, and thereon the arms of his ancestor Sir James Sitsilt, slain at the siege of Wallingford castle, in 4 King Stephen. He married four wives. By his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Stephen de la Bere, he had issue John and by his second wife Bridget, widow of Sir Simon Ward, Knight, had a son James: also by his third wife ......., daughter of Martin Hopton, had issue Martin, Henry, David, and Jane and lastly by his fourth wife Joan, daughter of Robert Emerton, had issue Stigand Seissel, slain at the siege of Strivelin in Scotland, in the reign of King Edward II. and had no issue, as the register of the abbey of Dore mentions. JOHN Sitsilt, the eldest son by the first wife, married Sibil, daughter of Robert de Ewyas, and had issue, First, Sir John, and Second, George, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Ralph Waldesley, Knight, by whom he had a daughter Joan, married to Sir Richard Baskerville; and, third, a daughter Margaret, wife of Sir Robert Baskerville. Which Sir John Sitsel being at Halidown-hill near Berwick, in 1333, there arose a great controversy between him and Sir William Fakenham, concerning a banner of arms, charged with this coat, viz. a field barry, of ten pieces, argent and azure, on six escutcheons, three, two, and one, sable, as many lions rampant of the first: which arms each challenged as their right, and offered to maintain the same by combat in their proper persons. But the King was pleased to forbid it; and ordering the heralds to decide the affair by law and justice, they solemnly adjudged the right of bearing those arms to Sir John Sitsilt, as heir of blood, lineally descended from the body of James Sitsilt, Baron of Beauport, slain at the siege of Wallingford castle, in the fourth of King Stephen. The proceedings herein being curious, are here inserted. "C'est a tesmoigner a vous mes Seigniours pur le determination final, del discention pur ung Ensigne d'Armes parenter Monsieur Jean de Sitsilt, et Willyam Faknaham Chevaliers, que l'an depuis le nestri de Dieu, mil cent quarante deux, Jaques Sitsilt et ses Ancestors Seigneurs de Beauport, a la siege de la chateau de Wallingford et viues et mortz illonques, et la leueront ung Ensigne tiel comme l'ensigne de leur sang genereux. C'est a dire en la champe de dize barretz d'Argent and Azure, six escocheons Sabels, avec tantes de Lyons rampant, primer incensed Gule, Pere de Jehan Sitsilt, pere de Eustace, pere de Baldwine, pere de Ge i Barnes's Hist. of Ed. III. p. 75. |