09/12/2023

GU11 – Sir Alexander Denton (1542-1576)

Sir Alexander, Anne Willison and Jane

Forward to 1C11 – Sir Thomas Denton (1574-1633) – Forward to American Denton’s Index
Back to GGF11 – Sir Thomas Denton (1504-1558) – Back to Denton Family Bible

Hillesden was inherited by Alexander when he was just sixteen and a wardship was established in 1559 with his mother Margaret looking after the estate. He lived only to the age of thirty-four, with his first wife Ann Willison (1548-1566) dying at eighteen during childbirth (she was daughter to Richard Willison of Sugwas). Anne was from Sugwas, Hereford; hence their memorial (below) is in Hereford Cathedral.

Alabaster painted effigies of Sir Alexander Denton and Anne Willison (1548-1566) in Hereford Cathedral. The child in the foreground is thus their daughter
Jane Denton (1566-1566)

Alexander remarried Lady Mary Martin from London in 1573.

Lady Mary Martin (1557-1574)

Mary was the daughter of the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Roger Martin. They had one son Thomas in 1574 before she died at just seventeen years old. I cannot establish if this death was also in childbirth, but it appears likely. The memorial below was erected by a Margaret Denton, presumably Alexander’s mother, after his 1576 death.

Memorial to Alexander and Mary Denton
in Hillesden church – ©Bob Denton 201
Note on shorthand acronyms being used in the DFB:
GGF1 / GGM1 – means first great-grandfather /mother;
GU11 / GA11 – means eleventh great-uncle / great-aunt;
1C3 – means first cousin three times removed

Forward to 1C11 – Sir Thomas Denton (1574-1633) – Forward to American Denton’s Index
Back to GGF11 – Sir Thomas Denton (1504-1558) – Back to Denton Family Bible

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