DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65478#0030
and in one or two of her letters at that troubled time she alludes to the
services rendered by “ litel vil Murray.”
William Murray married Catherine Bruce, daughter of Sir Robert
Bruce of Clackmannan, near Stirling, by whom he had five daughters,
but no son. On the death of William Murray in 1651, the Dysart title
passed to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. She was then the wife of Sir
Lionel Tollemache, third Baronet, of Helmingham, and became Countess
of Dysart in her own right.
Sir Lionel Tollemache and Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart,
had eleven children, six of whom died in infancy. Sir Lionel was a Roman
Catholic, and in 1663 he addressed a letter to his eldest son, Lionel, then
a boy of fifteen, in which he urges him never to abandon the religious
faith of his father. Sir Lionel died in Paris in 1669, having received the
last sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.
Sir Lionel Tollemache’s will is dated 1667, and was apparently
made before he went abroad. In this will he explains that he had settled
on his “ deare Wyfe Elizabeth now Countesse of Dysert ” the manor-
house of Framsden Hall in Suffolk, with the lands attached to it, for her
jointure. But now that she had succeeded to her father’s property, Sir
Lionel left his Suffolk estate, with the Northamptonshire lands brought
into the Tollemache family by “the Stanhope heiress,” to his eldest son,
Lionel, and his heirs. Failing these, Sir Lionel left his property to his
second son, Thomas (afterwards General Tollemache), and his heirs; and,
should these fail, to his third son, William, and his heirs. Failing all
these, Sir Lionel, to quote his own words, leaves his possessions “ to my
fourth, fifth, sixth, seaventh, eighth, nynenth and tenth Sonnes, if it should
please God I should have so manie.”
It has already been stated that William Murray, first Earl of Dysart,
died in 1651. His wife, Catherine, died two years before, in 1649, and
was buried at Petersham. The brass plate was, at some period now un-
known, removed from her coffin, and it is now at Ham House; a rubbing
of the inscription is preserved at Helmingham. The inscription is:
Here Lyeth Enter rd ye Bodie ofye Honorably Descended Catherine
Murray. Late Wyfe to William Murray Esquire Groome of ye Bed-
chamber to ye Late King Charles ye First: Who by Her Sayd Husband
had Five Daughters: viz: Elizabeth ye Eldest Married to Sr Lionel
Tallimach Knight and Baronet: Katherine f Second: Ann ye Third:
Mary ye Fourth formerly Deceas'd and Burried in this Place: And
4
services rendered by “ litel vil Murray.”
William Murray married Catherine Bruce, daughter of Sir Robert
Bruce of Clackmannan, near Stirling, by whom he had five daughters,
but no son. On the death of William Murray in 1651, the Dysart title
passed to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. She was then the wife of Sir
Lionel Tollemache, third Baronet, of Helmingham, and became Countess
of Dysart in her own right.
Sir Lionel Tollemache and Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart,
had eleven children, six of whom died in infancy. Sir Lionel was a Roman
Catholic, and in 1663 he addressed a letter to his eldest son, Lionel, then
a boy of fifteen, in which he urges him never to abandon the religious
faith of his father. Sir Lionel died in Paris in 1669, having received the
last sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.
Sir Lionel Tollemache’s will is dated 1667, and was apparently
made before he went abroad. In this will he explains that he had settled
on his “ deare Wyfe Elizabeth now Countesse of Dysert ” the manor-
house of Framsden Hall in Suffolk, with the lands attached to it, for her
jointure. But now that she had succeeded to her father’s property, Sir
Lionel left his Suffolk estate, with the Northamptonshire lands brought
into the Tollemache family by “the Stanhope heiress,” to his eldest son,
Lionel, and his heirs. Failing these, Sir Lionel left his property to his
second son, Thomas (afterwards General Tollemache), and his heirs; and,
should these fail, to his third son, William, and his heirs. Failing all
these, Sir Lionel, to quote his own words, leaves his possessions “ to my
fourth, fifth, sixth, seaventh, eighth, nynenth and tenth Sonnes, if it should
please God I should have so manie.”
It has already been stated that William Murray, first Earl of Dysart,
died in 1651. His wife, Catherine, died two years before, in 1649, and
was buried at Petersham. The brass plate was, at some period now un-
known, removed from her coffin, and it is now at Ham House; a rubbing
of the inscription is preserved at Helmingham. The inscription is:
Here Lyeth Enter rd ye Bodie ofye Honorably Descended Catherine
Murray. Late Wyfe to William Murray Esquire Groome of ye Bed-
chamber to ye Late King Charles ye First: Who by Her Sayd Husband
had Five Daughters: viz: Elizabeth ye Eldest Married to Sr Lionel
Tallimach Knight and Baronet: Katherine f Second: Ann ye Third:
Mary ye Fourth formerly Deceas'd and Burried in this Place: And
4