Add MS 44026

'THE GENEALOGYE OF THE WORSHIPPFULL AND AUNCIENT FAMILIE OF THE HESKAYTHES OF RUFFOURD IN LANCASHIRE': an illuminated pedigree of the Hesketh family of Rufford, and of related families (Fitton, Stanley, Strange, etc.) made in roll form in or about 1594 (see the reference to Sir

Rowland Stanley 'now lyving 1594', f. 8), ff. 1-96, with two later continuations, of which the first (ff. 9b-12) appears to have been made between 1723 and 1728, and the second (ff. 12-13b) not earlier than 30 Dec. 1796. Added pencil notes (f. 13 b) refer to births and deaths as late as 1801 and 1802. The original part of the pedigree (ff. 1b-9b), which is wrongly attributed by F. R. Baines (Visitation ... of Lancaster ... 1664-5, Chetham Society, vol. lxxxiv, 1872, p.vii) to the authorship of Sir William Dugdale, traces the family's descent from the unnamed father (fl. mid(?) 12th cent.) of Richard de Hesketh. lt appears to have been used as a source for the rough draft of a pedigree roll of similar date in Harley MS. 2075, ff. 22b, 23b, 24b, 25 a, 26 a, although the latter makes some alterations and additions to it (e.g. in the arms of Fleming, Harley MS. 2075, f. 23 b; cf. f. 5 b of the present MS.); it may also have been used in connexion with Sir Richard St George's visitation of Lancashire, 1613 (Harley MS. 1437, ff. 124b, 125; ed. F. R. Raines, Chetham Society, vol. lxxxii, 1871, pp. 128-129). The text of the entire pedigree was printed privately (London, 1869) under the title as given above, and again in Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, ed. J. J. Howard, ii, 1876, pp. 140-149. See also E. Baines, Hist. County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, iv, 1891, pp. 152-157; College of Arms, Heralds' Commemorative Exhibition 1484-1934, 1936, p. 86 and plate XLV; Brit. Mus. Quart., x, 1935-1936, p. 103 and plate XXX. Vellum; ff. i + 19. At one time in roll form but now bound and mounted in a large quarto volume. 525 mm. x 450 mm. xvi cent., with continuations to early xix cent. as above. The pedigree, which is reproduced in reduced facsimile by the Rev. W. G. Procter, Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancashire and Cheshire, lxii (new series xxvi), 1911 for 1910, pp. 58 sqq. and six plates, is illustrated with:-(i) Forty-three shields of arms in tincture. The last, which was at the end of the roll and is contemporary with the second continuation, is a full coat Of 28 quarterings with crest. ff. 1b-12, 19;-(2) Half-length portraits, in colour, of twelve of the principal members of the family with their respective wives, in costume. The first portrait is of Sir William Hesketh, knt., 1275, and the last is of Robert Hesketh, d. 1620. Procter, loc. cit., plates 2-5, etc. ff. 3 b-9 b;-(3) In the first continuation, apparently unfinished drawings in pen-and-ink of six family monuments 'In the Parish Church of Rufford', where two still survive, cf. Procter, loc. cit., plate 5, and Victoria County Hist. Lancaster, vi, 1911, p. 126. f. 10. Presented by Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, Ist Baron Hesketh.