Francis Fitton or Fytton (died 1608) was an English landowner and amateur musician. Gawsworth Old Hall1

He was a younger son of Edward Fitton of

Gawsworth Gawsworth is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,705. It is one of the eigh ...

, Cheshire, and Mary Harbottle, an heiress of Guiscard Harbottle of

Horton Horton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Horton Glacier, Adelaide Island, Antarctica * Horton Ledge, Queen Elizabeth Land, Antarctica Australia * Horton, Queensland, a town and locality in the Bundaberg Region * Horton River (Australia), ...

and Beamish in Northumberland. His own estates were at Wadborough in Worcestershire (a Latimer property which had belonged to

Katherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

Binfield Binfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 8,689. The village lies north-west of Bracknell, north-east of Wokingham, and south-east of Reading at the westernmost extremity of ...

in Berkshire, and

Heckfield Heckfield is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies between Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Hook, Hart, Hook. It is the location of Highfield Park, Heckfield, Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain died in 1940, and it is adjacent to Strat ...

, Hampshire, where he had a house called "Holleshotte". In 1588 he married Katherine Nevill (died 1596), a daughter of

John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer (1520 – 22 April 1577) was an English peer, and the stepson of Catherine Parr, later the sixth wife of King Henry VIII. Early life John Neville, born about 1520, was the only son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Lati ...

. She was the widow of

Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 2nd Baron Percy (153221 June 1585) was an English nobleman and conspirator. Origins He was born in about 1532 at Newburn Manor (Northumberland), the second of two sons of Sir Thomas Percy (c. 1504–15 ...

. Fitton was a relation of hers and had been her steward, and in 1587 her son,

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, KG (27 April 1564 – 5 November 1632) was an English nobleman. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Northumberland was a long-term prisoner i ...

, attacked him with a rapier in her London townhouse. Fitton continued to be involved the business affairs of his stepson. He leased his own manor of

Nun Monkton Nun Monkton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of York at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Nidd. Cottages and houses are grouped around a village green of with ...

in Yorkshire (another Latimer property) to the Earls's solicitor John Carvile. At the

Union of Crowns The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...

in 1603,

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

travelled to London, and aristocrats and gentry were keen to meet them on the way. Fitton wrote to his great-niece

Anne Newdigate (1574–1618) Anne Newdigate ( Fitton; 1574 – 1618) was a gentlewoman and letter writer. Many of her letters have survived including those concerning her scandalous sister Mary Fitton which help to explain whether Mary was Shakespeare's "Dark Lady". Life Ann ...

with news of a delay to the queen's journey, caused by her miscarriage at

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

, "the Queene hathe had lately some myshapp, (which is not to be spoken)". A great-nephew, Edward Fitton, joined the service of Anne of Denmark when George Carew became the queen's Vice-Chamberlain. Anne Newdigate's name was put forward as a nurse for the queen's daughter Princess Mary in 1605. She sent Francis Fitton lace that she had made and he called her "his owne sweete Nan". Fitton died on 17 June 1608. He is commemorated with a two-stage monument depicting him in armour and as a decayed cadaver below at

St James' Church, Gawsworth St James' Church is in the village of Gawsworth, Cheshire, England, and is sited near Gawsworth Hall. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church ...

. In his will, written in March 1608 when he was living at Gawsworth, he left a sapphire, a "clowdy lowpe saffer", which he used as medicine for the eyes to his sister Margaret (died 1612), wife of John Englefield (1562-1631), with the hangings and tapestries and furnishings including the

virginals The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ...

in his two chambers and dining chamber at Holleshotte. Fitton mentions a number of musical instruments, loaned and exchanged among family members, including sets of viols da gamba and recorders, a great

gittern The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...

, and another pair of virginals. Some of the instruments were in his London lodging near the Savoy. Fitton had no children and left the diamond-studded gold star that he wore in his hat to his nephew,

Edward Fitton, the younger Sir Edward Fitton the younger (1548?–1606), was an Englishman who took part in the Elizabethan plantation of Ireland. Biography Fitton was the son and heir of Sir Edward Fitton (the elder) of Gawsworth, Cheshire and his wife Anne Warburton, da ...

. He called this jewel a " gimmal".J. P. Earwaker, 'Will of Francis Fitton', ''Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine: Lancashire and Cheshire Wills'', 28 (Manchester, 1893), pp. 170-5: Lawrence M. Clopper, Elizabeth Baldwin, David Mills, ''REED Records of Early English Drama: Cheshire including Chester'' (Toronto, 2007), p. 814: National Archives PROB 11/112/118.

External links

The Fitton Memorials at Gawsworth

References

{{Reflist Fitton family 1608 deaths