DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65478#0161
LIONEL, THIRD EARL OF DYSART, AND GRACE
WILBRAHAM, COUNTESS OF DYSART.
LIONEL, eldest son of Sir Lionel Tollemache of Helmingham,
and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart, in her own
right—afterwards by her second marriage Duchess of Lauderdale
—was born at Helmingham on January 30th, 1648, thirteen years before
the death of his grandmother, “the Stanhope Heiress.”1
When Lionel’s mother, then Elizabeth Lady Tollemache, succeeded to
the Dysart peerage on the death of her father, William Murray, in 1669,
the second title of Lord Huntingtower devolved upon her eldest son.
John Evelyn, when visiting the Earl of Arlington 2 at Euston, in
September, 1677, speaks of a great entertainment given at Ipswich by the
Recorder of the city. It took the form of “a collation of dried sweet-
meates and wine” in the Town House on September 10th, and one
of the guests was “ my lord Huntingtoure, Sonn to the Dutchess of
Lauderdale.” 3
Lord Huntingtower did not marry till 1680, when he was thirty-two.
His bride, Grace Wilbraham, called “the Cheshire heiress,” was only
sixteen. Grace was the second daughter of Sir Thomas Wilbraham,
Knight and Baronet, of Woodhey, near Nantwich, in Cheshire, and his
wife Elizabeth Mitton, daughter and heiress of Edward Mitton of Weston-
under-Lyziard in Staffordshire.
Sir Thomas and Lady Wilbraham of Woodhey had four daughters,
but no son. One of their daughters, named Cecily, died in infancy; the
other three were co-heiresses. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, married Sir
Thomas Middleton of Chirk Castle in Denbighshire; Grace, the second
daughter, married Lionel Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower, afterwards
third Earl of Dysart; and Mary, the youngest, married Richard, second
1 Seep. 64. child, Isabel,married the first Duke of Grafton.
2 Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington. His only 3 Evelyn’s Diary.
59
WILBRAHAM, COUNTESS OF DYSART.
LIONEL, eldest son of Sir Lionel Tollemache of Helmingham,
and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart, in her own
right—afterwards by her second marriage Duchess of Lauderdale
—was born at Helmingham on January 30th, 1648, thirteen years before
the death of his grandmother, “the Stanhope Heiress.”1
When Lionel’s mother, then Elizabeth Lady Tollemache, succeeded to
the Dysart peerage on the death of her father, William Murray, in 1669,
the second title of Lord Huntingtower devolved upon her eldest son.
John Evelyn, when visiting the Earl of Arlington 2 at Euston, in
September, 1677, speaks of a great entertainment given at Ipswich by the
Recorder of the city. It took the form of “a collation of dried sweet-
meates and wine” in the Town House on September 10th, and one
of the guests was “ my lord Huntingtoure, Sonn to the Dutchess of
Lauderdale.” 3
Lord Huntingtower did not marry till 1680, when he was thirty-two.
His bride, Grace Wilbraham, called “the Cheshire heiress,” was only
sixteen. Grace was the second daughter of Sir Thomas Wilbraham,
Knight and Baronet, of Woodhey, near Nantwich, in Cheshire, and his
wife Elizabeth Mitton, daughter and heiress of Edward Mitton of Weston-
under-Lyziard in Staffordshire.
Sir Thomas and Lady Wilbraham of Woodhey had four daughters,
but no son. One of their daughters, named Cecily, died in infancy; the
other three were co-heiresses. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, married Sir
Thomas Middleton of Chirk Castle in Denbighshire; Grace, the second
daughter, married Lionel Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower, afterwards
third Earl of Dysart; and Mary, the youngest, married Richard, second
1 Seep. 64. child, Isabel,married the first Duke of Grafton.
2 Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington. His only 3 Evelyn’s Diary.
59