Sir Wolstan Dixie of Appleby Magna and then Market Bosworth (1576 – 25 July 1650) was the founder of the

Dixie Grammar School Dixie Grammar School is an independent school in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. The earliest records of the School's existence date from 1320, but the school was re-founded in 1601 under the will of an Elizabethan merchant and Lord Mayor of L ...

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle o ...

.Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, Vol 2 London and Middlesex Archaeological Society He was born the son of John Dixie, a yeoman farmer of Catworth, Huntingdonshire and educated at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

from 1595. In 1594 he inherited an estate at Market Bosworth from his great-uncle the first Sir Wolstan Dixie,

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

, who had endowed the

Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History The Dixie Professorship of Ecclesiastical History is one of the senior professorships in history at the University of Cambridge. Lord Mayor of London in the 16th century, Sir Wolstan Dixie, left funds to found both scholarships and fellowships at ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. He was knighted by

James I of England 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 ...

in 1604 as Sir Wolstan Dixie of

Appleby Magna Appleby Magna is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It includes the small hamlets of Appleby Parva and Little Wigston. The parish has a total collective population of 1,084 (2011) spread across 500 properties (2020), with ...

. In 1608 he moved to Market Bosworth and commenced work on the original manor house and a grammar school. In 1614 he was appointed

High Sheriff of Leicestershire This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries mos ...

and in 1625

the county ''The County'' ( is, Héraðið) is a 2019 Icelandic Melodrama#Film, melodrama directed by Grímur Hákonarson. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Cast * Arndís Hrönn Egi ...

's representative in Parliament. He died in 1650. He had married Frances, the daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont of Stoughton Grange, Leicestershire with whom he had 4 sons and 4 daughters. His son, the then elderly

Sir Wolstan Dixie, 1st Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

was also appointed High Sheriff of Leicestershire for 1660 and created the first of a line of the

Dixie baronets The Dixie Baronetcy was created in the Baronetage of England at the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 for Sir Wolstan Dixie (1602–1682), a supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War and afterwards. He was descende ...

by Charles II of England when the King returned from exile in France.

References

1576 births 1650 deaths People from Market Bosworth Members of Gray's Inn 16th-century English people Members of the Parliament of England for Leicestershire English knights English MPs 1625 High Sheriffs of Leicestershire Knights Bachelor {{17thC-England-MP-stub