[From Manx Soc vol 30]
THIS celebrated gentleman, who maintained tranquillity in the Isle of Man during a very unsettled period, as governor under James, seventh Earl of Derby, was "a gentleman well born," being the only son of Thomas Greenhalgh, Esq., of Brandlesome Hall, in the parish of Bury, county of Lancashire, and of his wife Mary, daughter of Robert Holte, of Ashworth Hall, Esq. He lost his father in the year 1599, being then about two years old; and his mother afterwards marrying Sir Richard Assheton, of Middleton, knt., in the same county, he seems to have been brought up in that family. His education was carefully attended to, and he appears to have had the advantage of foreign travel. In 1616 he succeeded to the Brandlesome property, which Lord Derby called "a good estate," on the death of his grandfather, John Greenhalgh, Esq., " and he governed his affairs well." He was a deputy-lieutenant and justice of the peace for the county, and had served his country in a military capacity, probably before the civil war.
James, the seventh, " the great Earl of Derby," as he was called, had a very high opinion of Governor Greenhalgh, whose character he has vividly sketched, and thus speaks of him in his History of the Isle of Man, which has been published in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, 1732 and 1779, in the Stanley Papers, part iii. vol. iii. Chetham Society, 1867, edited by Canon Raines, and in the Stanley Legislation of Man, edited by the Rev. William Mackenzie, Manx Society, Vol. III. 1860:
" These be the reasons for the choice I made of Captain Greenhalgh to be governor here.
"First, he is a gentleman well borne; and such will usually scorne to doe a base act.
"His ancestors have formerly dwelt in my house: as the best, if not all the good families in Lancashire have done. This certainly might breed a desire in the man, that the house where his predecessors have served might still flourish. And, belike, he would willingly endeavour to be an instrument thereof himselfe.
" He hath a good estate of his owne. And therefore need not borrow of another. Which hath heretofore been a fault in this countrey. For that governors, who have wanted, were forced to be beholden unto those that, may be, were the parties most offending against lord or countrey. The borrower becomes servant to the lender.
"He was a deputie lieutenant and justice of peace in his countrey. In which place he did his king and countrey good service. And with a good reputation.
" He governed his own affaires well. He was therefore much more likelie to doe mine so.
" He hath been approved valiant. And is therefore fitter for your trust.
" He is such, that I thank God for him. And I charge you, love and cherish him."
Such was the Earl's advice to his son; and he also observes in the same account, " It is to be noted what great care the captaine had to keep up my authoritie, and to awe the people with the same; which he did not in any threatening manner. For soe it might have occasioned the people, in that madd moode, to oppose the same by some daring deeds or words.
" The captaine, before my coming, when he thought to terriefie the people by imprisoning a sawcie fellow in the face of the rabble, observ'd them very resolute. And some spake it alowde, that they all would fare as that man did. Which he warily did not seeme to heare; but then only threatned that man to lay him by the heels, and if he continued in that sawcie mariner, he would punish him severely; knowing very well, that, if he had imprisoned him at that time, then the rest had rescued him ; which would have made them see their owne power, and how little his staffe of office could annoy them. He then therefore broke up the court, adjourning it to another time: wishing them, in the meanwhile, to sett their complaints in writing ; and with good and fayre words (as he well can doe it) promised to redresse all their just grievances as far as lay in his power, and for that purpose would send over immediately to me on their behalf, without whom, he told them, noe lawe could be changed. Whereat, for the present, they were very well satisfied: and soe went every man to his home. Hereby you may observe the benefitt of a good governor here."
Prior to his appointment in the Isle of Man, Captain Greenhalgh had been instrumental, in conjunction with Edmund Assheton of Chadderton, Esq., in 1636, to satisfactorily arbitrate in a dispute between Edward Rawsthorne of Newhall, Esq., and John Bradshaw of Bradshaw, Esq., which had been of some years standing, in the hope that the two squires should become " good and lovinge friends and neighbours again."
He was governor of the Isle of Man from 1640 to 1651, being, at the time of his appointment, about forty-three years of age. It is stated that on the 24th October 1642, he was discharged by order of Parliament from the Commission of the Peace, being a " notorious malignant." This appears from the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. ii. p. 821, f when it was "ordered that Edward, Lord Newburgh, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, shall immediately discharge Sir Gilbert Houghton, knight and baronet, Robert Holt of Stubley, Alexander Rigby of Brough, John Greenhalgh, Edm. Asheton, Sir Alexander Radcliffe, William Farrington, Orlando Bridgeman, Sir Edward Writhington, and Roger Kirkeby, Esquires, from being farther employed as Commissioners of the Peace within the said county, and he is hereby required to render both Houses an account of his due performances of this order."
There is little doubt he contributed, by his forbearance and moderation, to preserve tranquillity in the Isle of Man during the term of eleven years, although the Parliament and Cromwell had possession of Great Britain the greater part of that time, which fully carries out the Earl of Derby's estimate of his character, and his reasons for appointing him governor of the Island.
When the Earl was summoned, in August 1651, to meet Charles II. in Lancashire, Governor Greenhalgh accompanied him with some 300 troops, chiefly Manxmen, and was present at the battles of Wigan Lane and Worcester, where, in order to save the standard from being taken, he tore it from the pole, and wrapped it round his own person. After having secured the retreat of his Majesty, who, with the Earl of Derby and others escaped to White Ladies and Boscobel, he retired to the Isle of Man, and died of the wounds received in these encounters, and was buried at Malew, on the 19th September 1651, in the 54th year of his age.1
Governor Greenhalgh, who had succeeded his grandfather, John Greenhalgh, Esq., in 13 Jac., was born in 1597, and married for his first wife, Alice,2 daughter of the Rev. William Massey, Rector of Winslow, in the county of Chester. He had issue three sons and four daughters. There is a fine portrait of him, lithographed and coloured from the original painting, and published in 1841. Brandlesome Hall has long since passed into other hands.
1 This is alluded to in the Rev. Thomas Parr, Vicar of Malew's Deposition, 13th November 1662, in the Manx Society's Series, Vol. XXVI. p. 23.
2 His first wife, Alice, was only thirteen years old when he married her. In the dispensation for his marriage, dated January 30, 1608-9, and granted by the Court of Chester, on the application of Thomas Holte of Middleton, gent., he is described as " John Greenhalgh, of the parish of Middleton, gent." This lady was interred in Bury Church June 4, 1620, her infant son Robert having been buried there on the 16th of May. Journal of Nicholas Assheton. Chetham Society, vol. xiv. p. 71.
Compiled from a printed Pedigree, dated 1855, for Thomas Garrett, with additions from various authentic sources.
This family came originally from Greenhalgh, near Preston, where they had resided previous to the Conquest (vide Domesday Survey) ; and through the marriage of Harry Greenhalgh of Greenhalgh with Alice, daughter and heiress of Richard Brandlesome of Brandlesome, township of Elton, parish of Bury, Lancashire, in the reign of Henry III.,became possessed of that ancient mansion that still retains the name of Brandlesome Hall, although it presents nothing more to the view than an unsightly pile of ruinous buildings, now tenanted by two farmers and a publican.
The Arms, given in Sir William Dugdale's Visitation, 1664-5.
ARMS. -Quarterly: 1. Argent, on a bend sable, three buglehorns, argent, stringed, or. 2. Quarterly, argent and azure, in the dexter chief quarter a lion passant, sable, on an escocheon of pretence, sable, three bezants. 3. Barry of ten, argent and gules. 4. Argent, on a bend engrailed, sable, three fleurs-de-lis, of the first. 5. Argent, a chevron between three lozenges, sable, a canton, gules. 6. As the first.
CREST.-A bugle horn, sable, stringed, or.
1. John Greenhalgh of Greenhalgh, in Tottington, in the parish of Bury, co. Lancaster = Maude, daughter and heir of Thomas Blakelow of Blakelow. Their son and heir
2. Harry Greenhalgh = Alice, daughter and heiress of Richd. Brandlesome of Brandlesome, township of Elton, parish of Bury, temp. Henry III. ( ), and who in right of his wife became possessed of the Brandlesome estate. His son and heir
3. John Greenhalgh of Brandlesome = Joanna, daughter of John de Urmstone, 11 Hen. IV., 14 10. His son
4. Henry Greenhalgh = daughter of Edmund Prestwich of Hulme near Manchester; 6 Hen. VI., 1428. Their son
5. Edmund Greenhalgh = Alice,1 daughter of Robert Pilkington of Pilkington, Lancashire, 34 Hen. VI., 1456; whose son
6. Thomas Greenhalgh = Margerie, daughter of William Heaton, his first wife. Their son
7. John Greenhalgh = Anne, daughter of Langley of Agecroft, near Manchester, who (ob. 20th Dec., 2d, Philip and Mary) had Thomas and two daughters.
Ist. Anne = Bradshaw of Bradshaw, co. Lancaster.2d. = Banister of Altham.
8. Thomas Greenhalgh = lst daughter and co-heiress of Robert Lowbury, sergeant-at-arms to Henry VII. ( ), obit. s. p. = 2d, daughter of Davenport of Davenport, co. Chester, and had issue John, son and heir. =3d, Alice, daughter -of Ralph Cudworth of Werneth, whose issue, Ann, married Joshua Radcliffe of Todmorden;2 second husband, John Starkey of Padiham.
9. John Greenhalgh = Alice, daughter of Robert Holte of Stubley Hall, near Rochdale, ob. 19h January, 12 Jac., and left issue-Thomas, son and heir, and six sons; also-
Anne = Willm. Shaw of Holderness, Yorkshire.
Elizabeth = Richard Rishton of Speake.
Dorothy = John Holte of Fowcotes.
Alice = Thomas Gartside of Orchard, near Rochdale. John Greenhalgh died in 1616.
10. Thomas Greenhalgh = Mary, daughter of Robert Holte of Ashworth Hall, co. Lancaster. Thomas Greenhalgh died in 1599, leaving an only son, John. Mary Greenhalgh married for her second husband Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton Hall, co. Lancaster, Knt., aged sixty years, who died 27th December 1617 (by whom she had two sons), to whom she was second wife;3 whose descendants married Lord Suffield and the Earl of Wilton, and who inherited the Middleton estates. (In Barrett's MSS., Chetham's College Library, Manchester, she is described as widow of John, instead of Thomas, Greenhalgh of Brandlesome.)
11. John Greenhalgh, governor of the Isle of Man, born 1597, = 1st. Alice, daughter and heiress of the Rev. William Massey, B.D., rector of Wilmslow, co. Chester; 2d wife, Mary, daughter of William Asheton of Clegg Hall; 3d wife, Alice, daughter of George Chadderton of Lees, near Oldham, Co. Lancaster; issue, three sons and three daughters-
1. Richard, son and heir.2. John = Eleanor, daughter of Monsieur Messure. He died 1674. He was D.D., rector of Bury 1660, and chaplain to the brave and unfortunate Earl of Derby, and accompanied him during his last fatal visit to Bolton, 15th October 1651.
3. Thomas, died young, 1620.
4. Alice = Theophilus Holte of Grizzlehurst, her relative (see pedigree of Holte of Stubley). He died in 1630 ; issue, an only daughter and one son, Thomas Posthumus Holte, who Ann, daughter and heiress to John Goodhand of Kermond, in Lincolnshire. Thos. P. Holte was the last of the Holtes of Grizzlehurst, obit 11 th March 1664, aged thirtyfour years. Catherine = John Sutcliffe of Stansfield, Yorkshire, groom of the bedchamber to King Charles I., son to John Sutcliffe, and nephew to Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe, dean of Exeter, and chaplain to King James I. They had issue two sons, Thomas and William Sutcliffe.4
5. Mary = Edward Rowstorne of New Hall, for his second wife; died issueless.
6. Jane = Richard Holte of Ashworth.
12. Richard Greenhalgh of Brandlesome = Alice, daughter of Edward Rowstorne of New Hall, co. Lancaster. His son and heir
13. Thomas Greenhalgh (aet. 31 an., 10th Sept. 1664)=Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Henry Bridgeman, bishop of Sodor and Man 1671-1682. He was third and youngest son to John, bishop of Chester, and brother of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Bart., the Lord Keeper, ancestor to the Right Hon. the Earl of Bradford, Viscount Newport (see Burke's Peerage).5 Had issue John and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth = Miles Lonsdale of Field House, near Bury, and had issue two sons and one daughter. Henry = Miss Waring, They had a daughter married to the Rev. R. H. Roughsedge, rector of St. Nicholas, Liverpool; issue, an only daughter, married the Rev. R. Formby of Formby, and had issue six sons and four daughters. Miles Lonsdale the second son = Miss Sill of Manchester. He was rector of Gawsworth, co. Chester. Died s.p.6
14. John Greenhalgh = Ann, daughter and heiress to Robert Tatton of Withenshaw. Both died s. v. The Brandlesome and Withenshaw estates went to collateral relatives, viz., the Matthews, Tattons, and Egertons.
Alice, daughter of Governor Greenhalgh, and widow of Theophilus Holte, married secondly Peter Heywood of Heywood, Lancashire. He died 29th December 1657, and had issue two sons and five daughters. He was son to Robert Heywood (from whom descended the " Marristow " family, in the county of Devon) of the city of Westminster, called " Powderplot Heywood," on account of having seized Guido Fawkes the conspirator. He was assassinated in Westminster Hall by a Dominican friar, A.D. 1640. The lantern taken by him from Guido Fawkes is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, with the following inscription on it: -" The very lantern that was taken from Guy Fawkes 'by Robt. Heywood, when he was about to blow up the Parliament House. It was given to the University of Oxford in 1641, by Robt. Heywood, proctor of the university." Alice, wife of Peter Heywood, died 27th December 1671.
1. Robert Heywood, the eldest son, married Mary, sister and co-heir of John Haslam of Rochdale, who died 24th February 1674, and was appointed Governor of the Isle of Man by James, Lord Strange, in 1678, died 7th of January 1690, interred in St. Mary's, Castletown, and removed on the 27th July 1699 to the parish churchyard of Malew, aged 57 years. Including Piers Heywood, who lived in the 10th Henry II., 1164, Robert Heywood was the seventeenth generation from him. The Heywood estate in Lancashire was granted by Adam do Barye to Peter Heywood and his heirs, in consideration,of a certain sum of money to be paid at the feast of St. Oswald ; this estate, and manor or lordship of Spotland, were sold to John Starkie of Rochdale, solicitor, who had raised money to purchase back the property, etc., seized by the sequestrators of the Commonwealth, on account of the inability of Robert Heywood to redeem his property, who resided in the Isle of Man from 1717 to 1742, the year of his death, on the yearly pittance of £50, in quarterly payments.
2. Margaret Heywood = John Garrett of Ballabroy or Ballabrooie, Captain of Sulby, Lezayre, Isle of Man, third of the name in possession of Ballabrooie. She died 16th January, and was interred in the chancel of the ancient church, Lezayre, 19th January 1669, and left issue one son and three daughters, viz., John, died aged twenty-nine, in 1692 ; Mary, Alice, and Elizabeth.
3. Peter.
4. Dorothy.
5. Elizabeth.
6. Jane.
7. Martha.
The brass formerly in the chancel of the old church at Lezayre, but taken down on the rebuilding of the present church, is now in the possession of Thomas Garrett, merchant, Douglas, and bears the following inscription in capitals, with the arms of Heywood and Greenhalgh:-
Here lyeth inter'd the body of Mris. Margaret,
daughter to Peter Heywood of Heywood,
in ye Countie of Lancaster,
Esq., by his wife Alice, daughter of
John Greenhalgh of Brandlesom, in
the same Countie, Esq. : and Governor
of this Isle of Man many yeares.
She was wife to Capt: John Garrett
of Sulby, and had issue by him one
sone and three daughters, viz. : John,
Mary, Alice, and Elizabeth; and dyed
the 16 of January, and buryed ye
19, Anno Dom: 1669.
On the same brass is the following:-
The above John Garrett, Captain of Sulby, died 1692, aged twenty-nine years. Also his granddaughter-in-law, Elizabeth, daughter of William Sutcliffe of Stansfield Hall, within Hallifax vicarage, by his wife Grace Gibson of Briggroyd, wife of John Garrett, the fifth of Balabroy, died the 13th March 1745, aged forty years, with four of her children, who died in their minority, and left issue Elizabeth, Ann, Margaret, Philip, William, Evan, and Alice.
The Arms.
1 ? Elizabeth.
2: Her son, Saville Radcliffe of Todmorden Hall, Esq., born in 1582, a barrister-at-law, and in the commission of the peace for Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, married at Rochdale, 3d March 1599-1600, Dorothy (baptized there 6th August 1587), daughter of William Asheton of Clegg Hall, a justice of peace, and his second wife, Jane, daughter of Edmond Hopwood of Hopwood, Esq. It will be seen that Mr. Radcliffe was only seventeen and his wife thirteen at the time of their marriage.
3 John Greenhalgh was one of the executors of his step-father, at this time a young man, along with Sir Richard's second son, Ralph Assheton, and Lady Assheton. Middleton Hall was a tirnber-built house, surrounding two spacious courts, and approached by bridges over a moat. In it were numerous suits of armour, matchlocks, etc., which have all been removed and dispersed within living memory, and the house itself was demolished in 1845, and a cotton factory now stands upon the site.
Sir Richard's second son, and one of the executors, was the issue of his second marriage with Mary Greenhalgh, widow of Thomas, and was ancestor of the Asshetons of Kirkby in Cleveland. His brother John was baptized at Middleton, 21st December 1582.
3 From a series of suits in Chancery, brought by John Holte of Shrewsbury, gent., between the years 1694 and 1721, against the several purchasers of estates, late the inheritance of Thomas Posthumus Holte of Grislehurst, Esq., it appears that the latter individual succeeded to a patrimonial estate by virtue of a settlement of entail, made in 1627, on the marriage of his grandfather (? father), Francis (? Theophilus) Holte, Esq., with Alice, daughter of John Greenhalgh of Brandlesome, Esq., comprising the manors of Spotland, Steed, and Forton, with lands in Dutton, li'ibeliestel,, Blackburn, etc., which in 1677 were valued at £4000 per. annum, not including valuable mines of coal, lead, and other minerals ; which lands were originally conveyed by Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Holte of Grislehurst. Being reduced to great necessity by his extravagances, the said Thomas Posthumus Holte was obliged to sell all his property ; and, in order to bring himself into an estate of feesimple, suffered a common recovery at Lancaster in 1650, and afterwards disposed of his manors and lands to various purchasers. He afterwards lived in Spotland, and for many years before his death was in absolute want, being supported entirely by the charity of his friends and neighbouring gentry, and dying in 1677 (vide pedigree, 1664) without issue. Thomas Holte, an officer in the army, killed at the siege of Londonderry in 1689, and father of the plaintiff, claimed as the heir-at-law. The claim seems to have been allowed, but the entail had been barred by the recovery of 1650. It appears from these proceedings that the property at Grislehurst, "being the usual and ancient seat of the family," was purchased by Alexander Holt of Little Mitton, Esq., about the year 1651 ; but no connection existed between the two families. Lane. MSS. vol. xxix. ; Notitia Cestriensis, Chetham Society, vol. xxii. p. 477.
4 William = Grace Gibson of Briggroid, Yorkshire (from whom descended the Sutcliffes of Stansfield Hall, Todmorden. Their daughter, Elizabeth = John Garrett, sixth of Ballabroole, Lezayre, Isle of Man (first wife). Issue, eleven children ; four died in their minority, and are interred with their mother in the chancel of the ancient church of Lezayre. She died 13th March 1745, aged 40 years.
Thomas = Elizabeth Garrett, his cousin (of Ballabrooie) on their maternal side, Elizabeth being grand-daughter to Peter Heywood, Thomas being grandson to Theophilus Holte.
Thomas of Burnley, their eldest son, married Miss Ridehalgh of Colne, Lancashire. His brother John died s. p. John, their eldest son, = Frances, daughter to John Kay of Bury, a descendant of the Woodsome family. Issue, an only son, Thomas, born 13th May 1791.
The " Sutcliffe " family came from Germany, and were amongst the first followers of Luther. On account, of persecution they emigrated to the Low Countries, and were again expelled by the Duke d'Alva, and finally settled in England, and established their manufactures of cotton, wool, etc., at Bolton in Lancashire, and Heptonstall in Yorkshire, and became allied with the most wealthy families in the neighbourhood-Greenhalgh of Brightmett, Stansfield of Stansfield, from one of whom was descended Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe, Fellow of Eaton College, Rector of Stamford Rivers, Dean of Exeter, and Private Chaplain to His Majesty James I. He founded Chelsea College, and wrote many works on divinity, and one on the Arts and Usages of War. John Sutcliffe, and his brother the Rev. Dr. Matthew, distinguished themselves during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. John served under the orders of Lord Howard of Effingham, during the attack of the Spanish Armada.
[fpc - the early part of this family history is very unlikely to be true - the Sutcliffe name was known in the West Riding of Yorkshire from c.1279 (probably initially in the Halifax region) and by mid 16th century was well established. It is possible that immigrant families may have adopted a more English name]
5 He was qualified to be a Knight of the Royal Oak, but persuaded his Majesty Charles II. to annul the order, to prevent jealousies, etc. He served the office of High Sheriff for Lancashire in 1668-69. Obit 1672.
6 Elizabeth = John Kay of Bury, a descendant of the Woodsome family. Issue, two sons, died s. p. ; Frances, their eldest daughter, married John Sutcliffe (grandson of Thomas, by his wife Elizabeth Garrett) of Sandywells, father to Thomas Sutcliffe, Governor of the island of Juan Fernandez. Born 13th May 1791.
7 William Tatton.-Burke's Commoners, 1836, vol. iii. p. 41.
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