Robert Earle (abt. 1530)

Born about 1530 in Stockton Heath, Cheshire, England

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Warrington, Lancashire, England

Biography

This profile is part of the Erleigh Name Study.

Research Notes

According to the narative of the book called EARLE OF ALLERTON TOWER by Thomas Algernon Earle Baronet (1860-1945) who is a direct decendent in this line, this Robert was "living in about 1550, at Stockton, near the ancient market town of Warrington" and had decended "out of the north of England". This information comes from a pedigree written in the appendix of an unpublished manuscript at the British Museum (Harl. MS. 2161, p. 205, 58) written by Randle Holme.

If this Robert was "living in about 1550, at Stockton" then this would put his birth at approximately 1520-1530 making him 20 to 30 years old in 1550.

The book also suggests he doesn't have his children John and Gregory until much later. These supposed sons were alive in 1660, making the likely date of their births to be in the early 1600's.

The large gap in the years suggest that there may be a missing generation between Robert and his supposed children. There could be a Robert Sr. and Jr. and there are potential brothers and sons in living Cheshire.

The "Stockton near the ancient market town of Warrington" reference is probably modernday Stockton Heath, Warrington, Cheshire.

The earliest record of an Earle family in Cheshire has several potential fathers, uncles, cousins, or brothers of Robert.

• Thomas Earle (abt.1507-abt.1562) died about 1562 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Henry Earle (abt.1511-abt.1566) died about 1566 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• John Earle (abt.1514-abt.1569) died about 1569 in Frodsham, Cheshire.
• Hugh Earle (abt.1515-abt.1574) died about 1574 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• William Earle (abt.1516-abt.1571) died about 1571 in Runcorn, Cheshire.
• John Earle (abt.1520-abt.1575) died about 1575 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Thomas Earle (abt.1521-abt.1576) died about 1576 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Randle Earle (abt.1522-abt.1582) died about 1582 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Richard Earle (abt.1526-abt.1586) died about 1586 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• William Earle (abt.1530-abt.1585) died about 1585 in Frodsham, Cheshire.
• Thomas Earle (abt.1532-) died about 1587 in Halton, Cheshire.
• Hugh Earle (abt.1534-abt.1594) died about 1594 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Randle Earle (abt.1534-) marries about 1559 in Chester, Cheshire.
• John Earle (abt.1536-abt.1596) died about 1596 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Henry Earle (abt.1536-) married about 1561 in Chester, Cheshire.
• Richard Earle (abt.1540-abt.1595) died about 1595 in Weaverham, Cheshire.
• John Earle (abt.1544-) married about 1569 in Chester, Cheshire.
• Edward Earle (abt.1545-1605) died about 1605 in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
• Hugh Earle (abt.1547-) married about 1573 in Chester, Cheshire.

Wilmslow, Cheshire is about 20 miles west of Stockton. Henry or Thomas could be the father of Robert Earle of Stockton.

Biographical Sketch

Quote from the book called: EARLE OF ALLERTON TOWER. by T. Algernon Earle.^[1]

The family of Earle of Spekelands and afterwards of Allerton Tower has for the last three or four centuries been resident in South Lancashire, tracing direct descent from Robert Earle, living about 1550, at Stockton, near the ancient market town of Warrington.

Scattered among the hamlets and villages of Lancashire and Cheshire, records first disclose them as country people, following various agricultural pursuits in the fertile valley of the Mersey.

As prosperity began to develope this secluded district and seafaring men came up the country, the thoughts of the inhabitants were directed to the stirring life and awakening energy of the towns; and the Earles, with other local families, went to seek their fortunes in the neighbouring ports.

Shortly before 1600 we find them settled at Warrington, where the parish registers and the records of the older churches round Runcorn, Daresbury, Frodsham, Grappenhall, and Winwick contain numerous entries of their name towards the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the succeeding century.

The registers of Warrington commence with an isolated page in 1592, on which there is a record of the burial of Ellin, daughter of Richard Earle ; and later, in 1625 and after, there are many entries, which I detail elsewhere, in the Appendix.

The Runcorn books commence in 1567, one page only, 1550, being extant of earlier date. Those at Winwick are equally old. Daresbury registers, too, are very early, and Frodsham commence 1558 (the latter imperfect during the Commonwealth). In all of these some of the earliest record marriages and deaths of an apparently widely spread family and numerous branches of the Earles.

But in actual point of time the first notice, so far as I have discovered, of any of the name resident in or connected with this neighbourhood, occurs in the year 4 and 5 Philip and Mary (1557), when there is a lawsuit recorded in the "State Papers" in which a certain Henry Erie is given as defendant, together with one Richard Penketh, in a dispute connected with lands at Bold' Manor, county Lancaster. The plaintiff is Richard Bold, Esq., of Bold, then the head of that old family, and he appears to have sued the defendants for "Tortious possession of lands and appurtenances, and detention of title deeds." The Penkeths with whom Henry Erie is here associated were another family who, from a very early date, had lands at Penketh, a township close to Warrington; and Richard Penketh appears elsewhere as the trustee and confidential adviser of Sir Thomas Boteler, Baron of Warrington, I Edward VI. (1547).

This first notice then brings the family name to light in good company, and though it is in the unenviable position of a defendant, little evil need be inferred from that.

At this early date "the law," says Beamont, in his Annals, p. 457, "was either very unsettled, or our ancestors must have been of a litigious, refractory temper, for every transaction seems to have given rise to more than one lawsuit."

Offences, in fact, such as forcible entries and wrongful possession of lands seem to have been of constant occurrence, even among the highest born, and this very year (1557) the Baron of Warrington is himself sued for a like injustice.

Prior to this date, though there are many old documents extant rent rolls, title deeds, &c. which make mention of inhabitants and tenancies in this neighbourhood a good deal earlier, I have never discovered in those that I have seen any record of the Earles.

They seem, however, to have been settled there in large numbers at this time, and Wills are to be seen at Chester (commencing 1587), a list of which is given in the Appendix, which discover them, chiefly as yeomen and gentlemen, resident in most of the villages within a radius of some seven miles from Warrington; and, indeed, their numbers are so considerable that, in spite of the name being unusual, I am led to think they were not all of the same family or possibly of the same original stock. As we have seen, however, that branch from which is descended the family the subject of this memoir originated with Robert Earle, who came, if we mav believe that not always very reliable historian Randle Holme (the third of that name), from a somewhat vague locality which he terms "the North of England."

Among his unpublished Manuscripts at the British Museum (Harl. MS. 2161, p. 205, 58) there is a pedigree, given in the Appendix, which states that ROBERT EARLE of Stockton, county. Chesire, "descended out of the North of England," had two sons, John and George [Gregory ?].

I. The elder, John, had two sons, Robert, and Adam of Chester ; the latter alive in 1660, the year when the pedigree was evidently recorded.

II. The younger, George [Gregory ?], had a son, Peter, minister of Northwich in 1660 ; which Peter, grandson of the first Robert in the pedigree, had, as we shall presently see, also a brother John, a brewer at Warrington.

Sources

1. ↑ T. Algernon Earle: EARLE OE ALLERTON TOWER.[1]