SAVILE of Methley et al

Pedigree of Savile of Bowlings

The Savilles were at Thornhill, near Dewsbury until the civil wars of Charles I. when the house was

besieged, (having been previously fortified by Sir William Saville, the third baronet of this family)

taken, and demolished by the forces of Parliament.

Church Monuments The north chapel where the Thornhills and Saviles rest has an iron screen with

gates.There are four stained glass windows. On an alabaster tomb with 18 figures lies Thomas Savile

of 1449, with his wife. On a monument with a canopy lies George Savile of 1622, in armour. There is a

monument of his son George, who died in 1614, with his second wife and two sons. The rarest

monument is an oak tomb with three oak figures. Its knight in armour is Sir John Savile of 1529.

Sir George Saville, Bart. many years representative in Parliament for this county, was the last

surviving male descendant of this ancient family. He died Jan. 9, 1784, and was buried among the ancestors, at Thornhill, having devised his estates to the second son of his sister Barbara, who

married Richard Lumley Sanderson, afterwards Earl of Scarborough.

Source: Visitation of Yorkshire, Sir. William Dugdale, A.D. 1665 and 1666

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Pedigree of Savile of Methley Hall

Methley Hall

During the second and third quarters of the seventeenth century gentlemen and wealthy clothiers in the Halifax district created a unique style of domestic building. Though their gabled halls were

arranged in a traditional manner, the decorative details applied to the exteriors were amazing in their

virtuosity. An influential prototype was the (demolished) Methley Hall, a fifteenth-century structure

enlarged between 1588 and 1611 by Sir John Savile and his son, Sir Henry. Sir John was a founder

member of the Society of Antiquaries and a friend of William Camden, (1605); his youngest brother,

Thomas, also had a considerable reputation as an authority on British antiquities. It was therefore

natural for the Saviles to favour elements taken from Gothic architecture as well as classical forms.

Methley was the first house in the West Riding to have an enormous hall window divided by numerous

mullions and transoms. The master masons responsible for the building were probably those members

of the Akroyd family whose names appear in the contemporary Methley parish register. John,

Abraham and Martin Akroyd also erected the first West Riding buildings to have distinctive windows

shaped like a rose or a Catherine-wheel. The original source of inspiration for these may have been

Robert Smythson, the great Elizabethan architect, who in 1599 designed a circular window divided

into twelve lights.


William Wilkinson, of Astley, married Jennet,a widow, daughter of Henry Savile, in Halifax in 1610.


Pedigree of Savile of Mexborough

In the Middle Ages the Saviles were a knightly family based in the West Riding of Yorkshire. They

gradually built up estates by marriages to the heiresses of the Tankersley, Eland, Thornhill and

Soothill families. By the 16th century their main seat was at Thornhill near Wakefield, and they came

to own extensive property in the Halifax-Huddersfield region on the western edge of the Pennines.

Thornhill Hall was destroyed during the Civil War and the family consequently adopted Rufford Abbey as their principal seat. Sir William's son Sir George Savile was raised to the peerage as Marquess of

Halifax and became a prominent minister in successive Restoration governments, earning the nickname

of 'The Trimmer', as he constantly trimmed his sails in accordance with the political winds of the day.

He extensively enlarged Rufford Abbey into a major country seat in c.1679-85. Following the death of

both the Marquess in 1695 and his son five years later the estates passed to distant Savile cousins

from Yorkshire and subsequently through a torturous sequence of inheritance during the 19th

century. Notable owners were Sir George Savile, 8th bart. (1726-1784) who was a highly respected MP

for Yorkshire (and commemorated by a statue in York Minister) and John Lumley Savile, the 8th Earl

of Scarbrough (1788-1856).


John Savile the first Earl of Mexborough was born in December 1719 and acceded in February,1766,

son of Charles Savile (1676-1741) of Methley and Alethia Mellingson.

In January, 1760 he married Sarah Delavil (d9/08/1821), daughter of Francis Blake Delavil. . They had

three children:

• John, the 2nd Earl, was born in April, 1761 and married Elizabeth Stephenson. Died in 1830

• Henry Charles, born September, 1763, died 1828

• Charles born April, 1774, died 1807.

Sarah (nee Delavil) married again on 4th May, 1780 to Rev. Sandford Hardcastle.

Children of John, the 2nd Earl, and Elizabeth (Nee Stephenson):

• Sarah Savile married in October 1807, John George, Baron Monson fourth. Married in

October, 1816 to Henry Greville, 3rd Earl of Warwick.

• John, 3rd Earl of Mexborough, born July, 1783. Acceded in 1830, died December, 1860.

The 3rd earl John born 1783 married Ann Yorke in 1807. They had seven children:

• John Charles George, Earl of Mexborough 4th, b. 4 JUN 1810

• Henry Alexander (1811-1850)

• Sarah Elizabeth (1813-1890) married Sir James Lindsay, M.P.

• Rev. Philip Yorke (1814-1897)

• Charles Stuart (1816-1870)

• Lieutenant Frederick (1817-1851)

• Rev. Arthur (1819-1870) of Royston Cambridgeshire

The 4th Earl, John Charles George (1810-1899) married Rachel Walpole, daughter of Horatio Walpole,

the 3rd Earl of Orford. Acceded in 1860


Children of the 4th Earl of Mexborough and Rachel:

• John Horace (1843- 1916). 5th Earl of Mexborough. Acceded 1899. He married 3 times:

E April, 1867 to Venetia Stanley Errington

E April, 1906 to Sylvia Cecilia Maria de Ser-Antoni

E January, 1916 to Anne Belcher

In 1861 the 4th Earl married Agnes Louisa Elizabeth Raphael, they had 4 children:

• John Henry, 6th Earl of Mexborough (1868-1945) Acceded 1916

• George, JP (1871-1937)

• Mary Louisa died 1945

• Anne died 1927


Bankruptcy: John Savile, Earl of Mexborough

December, 1846

At Leeds District Court of Bankruptcy, before Mr. Commissioner Burgh.

On Thursday week a fiat in bankruptcy came down to this Court against John Savile, Earl of

Mexborough, Methley Park, and describing his Lordship as a sharebroker, jobber, dealer and chapman.

The solicitor to the fiat was Mr. John Smith, of Birmingham, and the petitioning creditor a Mr.

Joseph Joel, of London, A Jew money lender.

On Saturday the case was first mentioned to his Honour, on an application to open the fiat, when

several witnesses, chiefly from London (Including the Hon. Frederick Savile.), who had been

summoned, were in attendance.

Mr. Dyson, of Halifax, and Mr. Courtney, of Leeds, attended on behalf of Lord Mexborough.

One of the witnesses was to produce a deed by which the solicitor to the fiat intended to prove an act

of bankruptcy, but, being unable to prove the trading of the alleged bankrupt, his Honour refused to

order the production of the deed until the preliminary question was settled, namely, whether the

party was a trader. It was stated that Mr. T. M. Lee, of Leeds, solicitor, was in a condition to prove

the trading, but his attendance was required in London, under subpoena from the superior courts, and

he would not be able to return to Leeds before Saturday night.

Under the circumstances, Mr. Smith applied for an adjournment until Monday.

During the sitting of the Court the petitioning creditor proved his debt for £250. on a bill drawn at

four months.

His Honour gave liberty to Mr. Courtney to appear for Lord Mexborough during the future

proceedings respecting the fiat.


Rufford Abbey and the Savile Family

See also Rufford. Rugford on the River Maun 1677

Rufford Abbey was a Cistercian house,

in honour of the Virgin Mary, founded

by Gilbert de Gant, Earl of

Lincoln,nephew to the Conqueror, in

1146. Situated on the eastern edge of

Sherwood Forest between Newark and

Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, the

community firstly, a colony of monks

whom he brought from the abbey of

Rievaulx, in Yorkshire, built up estates

both locally and farther afield and

ultimately owned some fourteen

granges in the parishes around Rufford

as well as in north Lincolnshire and the

Derbyshire Peak District.

Following its dissolution in 1537 the abbey and its estates were granted Sir John Markham, for 21

years, afterwards, with the manor of Rotherham, which had previously belonged to the Abbey, and

with much other property, he gave it to George Talbot, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury , in exchange for

many large estates in Ireland, and in consideration of the prompt measures he adopted to suppress

the rebellion in the north, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace

George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, whose family subsequently converted part of the abbey

buildings into a small country house and demolished the remainder. Rufford became an occasional

residence of this noble family, and it was here that Bess of Hardwick , arranged a hasty marriage

between her daughter Elizabeth and Charles Stuart, younger brother of Darnley, the father of James

1st.

Mary, the wife of Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury and daughter of Bess of Hardwick, resided at Rufford

in her widowhood, and the estate passed into that family by the marriage of her sister-in-law, Lady

Mary Talbot, with Sir George Savile, of Barrowby, Lincolnshire. Sir George was succeeded by his

grandson of the same name, his eldest son, Sir George, who married Anne, daughter of Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, and sister to the first Earl of Strafford, having died before

him. Sir George Savile, second Baronet, died unmarried in his minority, and was succeeded by his

brother, Sir William Savile, the royalist general commander, who married Anne, daughter of Thomas,

Lord Keeper Coventry. This lady was noted for her courage and resolution during the civil wars,

especially at the siege of Sheffield Castle, where she remained for security after her husband’s

death, which had taken place six months before the siege.


In the Middle Ages the Saviles were a knightly family based in the West Riding of Yorkshire. They

gradually built up estates by marriages to the heiresses of the Tankersley, Eland, Thornhill and

Soothill families. By the 16th century their main seat was at Thornhill near Wakefield, and they came

to own extensive property in the Halifax-Huddersfield region on the western edge of the Pennines.

Thornhill Hall was destroyed during the Civil War and

the family consequently adopted Rufford Abbey as

their principal seat. Sir William's son Sir George

Savile was raised to the peerage as Marquess of

Halifax and became a prominent minister in

successive Restoration governments, earning the

nickname of 'The Trimmer', as he constantly trimmed

his sails in accordance with the political winds of the

day. He extensively enlarged Rufford Abbey into a

major country seat in c.1679-85. Following the death

of both the Marquess in 1695 and his son five years later the estates passed to distant Savile cousins

from Yorkshire and subsequently through a torturous sequence of inheritance during the 19th

century.

When, the Honourable and Reverend John Lumley Savile, the 7th Earl of Scarbrough who in 1832

succeeded his eldest brother as earl, he held both the Sandbeck and Rufford estates till his death in

1835, and was succeeded by his son, John Lumley Savile, the eighth Earl of Scarborough; after his

death in 1856, he left it to his son, Henry Savile.

Notable owners were Sir George Savile, 8th bart. (1726-1784) who was a highly

respected MP for Yorkshire and John Lumley Savile, the 8th Earl of Scarbrough

(1788-1856).

The Rufford estate was broken up and sold by the Savile family trustees in 1938.

The abbey buildings were mostly demolished in 1956, and the restored ruins and

grounds now form the nucleus of Rufford Country Park , owned by

Nottinghamshire County Council.


Documents

SAVILE of Methley et al