Savile family (per. c.1480–1644), gentry, formed a branch of an ancient family which accumulated substantial landed estates largely through the well-tried expedient of marriage with heiresses. Thus John Savile (d. 1337) secured part of the Rishworth estate near Halifax and Sir John Savile (d. 1399), his grandson, acquired a group of estates centring on Elland, while to his successor, Henry (d. 1412), fell the greater prize of Thornhill near Wakefield, where his son Sir Thomas (d. 1449) established the senior branch of the family on the death of his mother, Elizabeth, Henry's widow; he founded a chantry on the north side of the chancel of Thornhill church that became the family's place of burial. His successor, Sir John Savile of Thornhill (1415–1482), an active and influential Yorkist, was appointed to the coveted stewardship of Wakefield in 1461, and played an important part in local government under Edward IV as sheriff, MP, JP, and commissioner. His son John, who had married Jane Harrington, predeceased Sir John, who was succeeded by his grandson John. Knighted and made banneret by Richard, duke of Gloucester, in 1481, Sir John Savile (d. 1505), of Thornhill, succeeded his grandfather as steward of Wakefield, but was required to resign the post on his appointment as captain of the Isle of Wight—a condition he appears to have resented. Although a trusted retainer of Richard III, he benefited immediately on the victory at Bosworth of Henry Tudor, under whom he was restored to the stewardship and appointed the new king's first sheriff for the county. Nevertheless he `soon found himself called before the court of Star Chamber, where he failed to make good his claim to certain townships appurtenant to the manor of Elland, and was ordered to desist from infringing the common rights of the tenants. Savile died on 16 March 1505. There was no issue of his first marriage, to Alice Vernon, and it was his second wife, Elizabeth Paston (d. 1547), who was the mother of his children. She is apparently represented on the splendid oak monument in Thornhill church generally considered to be his tomb. The inscription, dating from 1529, may have been added by his son Sir Henry. The wardship and marriage of Sir John's son Sir Henry Savile (1499–1558), of Thornhill, who was aged six at his father's death, was committed by his father to trustees who included the boy's mother, Elizabeth, and Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, who were to offer the king £1000 for the privilege, which they later disposed of to George Talbot, fourth earl of Shrewsbury. A position was obtained for Henry in the household of Cardinal Wolsey, with whom he remained on good terms. On 29 August 1518, his marriage having been sold by Shrewsbury to Thomas Sotehill of Dewsbury, Henry was married to Thomas's daughter and coheir, Elizabeth; three years later his coming of age in the spring of 1522 marked the re-emergence of the family to an active position of power in the West Riding. Its recent absence had made possible the rise of Sir Richard Tempest, some twenty years Savile's senior and a man of less wealth, to a pre-eminence in local gentry society that was soon challenged when Savile's reassertion of his father's unsuccessful claim to the mesne lordship of the townships appurtenant to Elland was contested by Tempest as steward of Wakefield on behalf of the king. The ensuing bitter legal battle developed into a personal vendetta and continued unabated and with mounting venom until Tempest's death in 1537. With his enemy now out of the way the matter was eventually resolved in Savile's favour. His friends found Savile affectionate and hospitable; for example, to William Plumpton he writes that ‘I perceve … ye say ye will com over and hunt with me And it please you to do so,
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ye shall be as hertyly welcome as any man that can heare of a good space’ (Kirby, no. 241). But in 1526 his wife made an unsuccessful request to Wolsey for a divorce on the grounds of his cruelty, and as one of the most powerful men in the West Riding he must be held responsible for the lamentable state of law and order that was described in a letter of about 1534 to Cromwell from an unknown correspondent who averred that the greater gentry were far more culpable in this matter than the local magnates. Unlike Sir Richard Tempest, who supported the rebels in 1536 and died in the Fleet, Sir Henry (created KB in 1533) remained loyal to the king. In the aftermath he and the earl of Cumberland were temporarily unchallenged at the helm of West Riding affairs and rewards followed: the stewardship of Pontefract, membership of the council in the north, appointment to the bench for all three ridings, and two terms, 1537–8 and 1542–3, as sheriff. Sir Henry died on 23 April 1558 in possession of an estate in Yorkshire worth £450 a year, according to an inquisition post mortem taken at Pontefract. In addition his lease of the mills and bailiwick of Wakefield provided a substantial addition to his income. His wife survived him. His heir must have been a deep disappointment to Sir Henry, for Edward Savile (d. 1604) was adjudged to be imbecile, although it appears that he may not have been as incapable as he was represented. Sir Henry's hopes therefore were centred on his beloved illegitimate son, Robert, born of his liaison with a waiting woman named Margaret Barkston (or Barlaston), for whose provision he was intent on releasing as much property as possible out of entail. As he confided to William Plumpton: ‘if his brother dy without isew, in all by gift he shall have v hundreth mark land’ (Kirby, no. 242). In spite of two marriages Edward did indeed die childless but, probably through the influence of his guardian, George Talbot, sixth earl of Shrewsbury, he entered into settlements in favour of the descendants of Thomas Savile of Lupset (d. 1506), by now represented by Henry Savile of Lupset [see below ] and his son, George, to the latter of whom the earl married his daughter Mary. Possibly with the intention of making further provision for Robert, Sir Henry formed a syndicate to acquire part of the Kirkstall Abbey estate, including extensive non-demesne lands around Leeds. By 1584 Sir Robert Savile (d. 1585), of Howley, was in possession of the entire estate in fee, including the abbey site and ironworks. Marriage to a Lincolnshire heiress, Anne Hussey, widow of Sir Richard Thimbleby, brought him an estate in Doddington, and he served as sheriff of the county in 1572. His return to Yorkshire was signalled by his purchase of the Howley estate near Batley in 1578, where he began building the splendid house that was afterwards completed by his son. Knighted on 8 December 1583, he purchased the former chantry of St Anne in Batley church and was buried there on 2 June 1585. His son John Savile, first Baron Savile of Pontefract, and grandson Thomas Savile, later first earl of Sussex, would both play significant, though deeply controversial, roles in national politics. The Howley line ended in 1671 with the death without issue of Sir Thomas's son James, second earl of Sussex. With Sir Henry Savile (1517/18–1569), of Lupset, who was living at Thornhill by about 1564, the estates of the senior branch were about to pass to a junior. Following family precedent Henry contracted two fortunate marriages, the first in 1545, with the Nottinghamshire heiress Margaret Fowler or Fuller, the second with Joan Vernon, through which he acquired estates in the midlands, notably Barrowby in Lincolnshire. Known in 1564 as a ‘favourer of sound religion’ (HoP, Commons, 1558–1603, 3.349), his career suggests a
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man of energy and ability: MP for Grantham 1558, for Yorkshire 1559, JP from 1562 for all three ridings, surveyor for the crown of the northern counties by 1552, common law member of the council in the north from December 1558 until his death (which suggests a legal training but there is no mention of him in the registers), sheriff of Yorkshire in 1567– 8, commissioner for Yorkshire chantries 1548, and commissioner to enforce the Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy in the province of York 1561. Some time in or after 1558 he made a third marriage, to Dorothy Wilbraham (née Grosvenor), who long outlived him, and died about the end of 1615. Henry Savile died between 1 January and 16 May 1569. Savile's eldest son, Sir George Savile, first baronet (1549/50–1622), was probably still a student at Lincoln's Inn when his father died, having proceeded there from St John's College, Oxford. Knighted on 18 June 1587, his few public offices—MP for Boroughbridge 1586–7 and for Yorkshire 1592–3—were undertaken before he succeeded to Thornhill in 1604. His first wife, Lady Mary Talbot, through whom the family acquired the Rufford estates in five midland counties, died in or before 1599, and in 1611 George was one of the first to purchase a baronetcy from the ever impecunious King James I. Trouble arose after his second marriage, to Elizabeth Ayscough (d. 1625/6), and consequent desire to benefit the children of this union to the detriment of his heir, George, with whom he was on bad terms. Sir George Savile (c.1583–1614) had a short life that followed a familiar pattern: University College, Oxford, and the Inner Temple; knighthood in 1603; election to parliament for Morpeth in 1601, a seat he may have owed to Edward Talbot (whose patronage may also have helped secure George's knighthood), and for Appleby in 1614. His first wife, Sarah Rede, had died childless in January or February 1605. He committed his two young sons George and William [see below ], from his second marriage, to Anne (d. 1633), sister of Sir Thomas Wentworth (later earl of Strafford), to the care of his brother-in-law and of his Oxford tutor, George Abbot, then archbishop of Canterbury. The boys and their mother were indeed to have need of a champion, for on the younger Sir George's death in August 1614 his father's resumption of the estate that had been provided for his maintenance left Lady Anne with two sons and no means. Wentworth, who had a sincere affection for his brother-in-law, took up their cause with vigour. The ensuing legal battle continued in the courts until the baronet's death. In 1617 Sir George and Lady Elizabeth were committed to prison for contempt of court and were reported by Sir George Radcliffe to be in good heart and the good company of prisoners of equal rank to their own. At last, on 2 June 1617 Wentworth's unflagging efforts produced a verdict in favour of his nephews. He was also deeply concerned with negotiations to protect their title to the Rufford estates settled on them through their Talbot grandmother. Sir George the younger is commemorated by a splendid tomb in Thornhill church, ‘probably erected by Wentworth as a token of affection’ (Whitaker, Loidis and Elmete, 323). Meanwhile the old baronet settled Lupset on his issue from his second marriage but owing to bad estate management he was forced to sell substantial property in Yorkshire. He died on 12 November 1622 aged seventy-two. He is represented by an alabaster effigy on his tomb at Thornhill. Of the brief life of Sir George the younger's son Sir George Savile, second baronet (1611– 26), there is little to say save that he was born at Thornhill, matriculated at University College, Oxford, on 5 May 1626, and died in college on 19 December following of smallpox.
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His inheritance thus passed to his brother Sir William Savile, third baronet (1612–1644), of Thornhill, who was himself at University College at the time, and proceeded thence two years later to Gray's Inn. On 29 December 1629, probably as a result of Wentworth's influence, he married Anne (d. 1662), daughter of Lord Coventry of Aylesborough, a woman who was to be celebrated as one of the heroines of the civil war. Sir William was undoubtedly a young man of impetuous self-assurance whom his solicitous uncle showered with advice not to be ‘too positive, or take too much upon you, till you fully understand the course of proceeding’ (Whitaker, Loidis and Elmete, 315). That he applied himself to the improvement of his estates is demonstrated by the fact that at his death he left an estate of over 50,000 acres producing an income in normal conditions of £7000 a year. Included were three main residences: Thornhill Hall (destroyed by parliamentary forces), Rufford Abbey, and a house in York. Selected by Wentworth to be deputy lieutenant of the West Riding before 21 September 1633, Sir William Savile was appointed to the council in the north in July 1636, but took no pains to conceal his contempt for the vice-president, Sir Edward Osborne, a man of inferior wealth, and Wentworth eventually intervened to reinforce Osborne's authority against Savile's attempts to undermine it. As the civil war approached Sir William devoted his energies to raising the regiment of ‘900 very able fellows’ from the West Riding who marched through Newcastle on 9 May 1639, the king coming to the court gate to see them (Hodgson, 9). The following April, sitting for Yorkshire in the Short Parliament, he signed the petition against forced billeting and spoke against ship money, afterwards lamenting that the moderation of his speech had precluded him from sharing the fate of those bolder spirits who had been sent to the Fleet. Nevertheless he remained loyal to the king. Defeated in the election of 1640, he was returned for Old Sarum in a by-election early the following year and was thus present throughout the trial of Strafford, in whose favour he gave evidence and whom he supported to the end. For some unspecified offence he was himself committed to the Tower on 12 June and released on the 29th after a reprimand on his knees at the bar of the house from the speaker. On 22 August 1642 Sir William Savile was with the king at Nottingham when the royal standard was raised; the following month, branded as a ‘suspicious man’, he was expelled from the Commons by parliament. Towards the end of 1642 Newcastle marched into the West Riding and Sir William was placed in command at Leeds, but on 23 January 1643 Fairfax captured the town after a furious attack and Savile escaped by swimming across the river. Appointed governor of the town and castle of Sheffield, his letters at this time ‘breathe much of the high tone and heroic spirit which animated supporters of the royal cause’ (Hunter, 107). His last is dated 19 January 1644 from York, whither he had been transferred and where he died in arms for the king five days later. His widow, described as a woman ‘of incomparable affection to his Majesty, of singular Prudence … and of great interest and power’ (Foxcroft, 29), was permitted to leave Sheffield Castle with her children and baggage. Their son, Sir George Savile, baronet, who was then aged ten, was subsequently created marquess of Halifax. Henry Savile (1642–1687) was their younger surviving son. With the death without male issue of the second marquess in 1700, the Thornhill and Rufford estates passed ultimately to Sir George Savile, the seventh baronet, a descendant of the first Sir George through his second marriage. Thus the first baronet's
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hopes came to fulfilment. Joan Kirby Sources J. W. Clay, ‘The Savile family’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 25 (1918–20), 1–47 · J. T. Cliffe, The Yorkshire gentry from the Reformation to the civil war (1969) · R. B. Smith,
Land and politics in the England of Henry VIII: the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1530–46 (1970) · J. P. Cooper, ed., Wentworth papers, 1597–1628, CS, 4th ser., 12 (1973) · T. D. Whitaker, Loidis and Elmete (1816) · T. D. Whitaker, ed., The life and original correspondence of Sir George Radcliffe (1810) · A. Gooder, ed., The parliamentary representation of the county of York, 1258–1832, 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 91 (1935); 2, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 96 (1938) · J. C. Hodgson, ed., Six north country diaries, 1, SurtS, 118 (1910) · G. Radcliffe, The earl of Strafforde's letters and dispatches, with an essay towards his life, ed. W. Knowler, 2 vols. (1739) · The life and letters of Sir George Savile … first marquis of Halifax, ed. H. C. Foxcroft, 1 (1898) · H. B. McCall, ed., Yorkshire Star Chamber proceedings, 2, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 45 (1911) · W. Brown, ed., Yorkshire Star Chamber proceedings, 3, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 51 (1914) · LP Henry VIII, vols. 3/2–4, 7 · The Plumpton letters and papers, ed. J. Kirby, CS, 5th ser., 8 (1996) · J. Hunter, Hallamshire: the history and topography of the parish of Sheffield (1869) · HoP, Commons, 1558–1603, vol. 3 · HoP, Commons, 1509–58, 3.280–81, 614–15 · M. Sheard, Records of the parish of Batley in the county of York (1894) · monuments, Thornhill church Archives Notts. Arch., estate papers and title deeds · West Yorks. AS, Kirklees, maps and plans; papers and title deeds | West Yorks. AS, Kirklees, Denby Dale sale plan and particulars Likenesses oak effigy, 1529 (John Savile), Thornhill church, Yorkshire · engraving, 1635 (William Savile; after oil painting), priv. coll.; repro. in E. Hailstone, ed., Portraits of Yorkshire worthies, 1 (1869) · M. Colt, alabaster effigy on monument (George Savile), Thornhill church, Yorkshire · two recumbent effigies on a tomb chest (George Savile), Thornhill church, Yorkshire Wealth at death £427 p.a. value of estate in Yorkshire, Henry Savile: Clay, ‘The Savile family’, 14 · £7000 p.a., value of estate, William Savile: Cliffe, The Yorkshire gentry, 30–31 © Oxford University Press 2004–8 All rights reserved: see legal notice
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