SAVILE, Sir George (c.1583-1614), of Soothill, Dewsbury, Yorks.; formerly of Barrowby, Lincs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
Available from Cambridge University Press

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. ?12 Apr. 1583, 1st s. of Sir George Savile†, 1st bt. (d.1622) of Lupset, Yorks. and Barrowby, and 1st w. Mary, da. of George, 6th earl of Shrewsbury.1 educ. Univ. Coll. Oxf. 1598, BA 1601.2 m. (1) Sarah (bur. 16 Feb. 1605), da. and coh. of John Reade of Cottesbrooke, Northants., s.p.;3 (2) 14 Sept. 1607, Anne (d. 30 July 1633), da. of Sir William Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorks., 2s.4 kntd. 11 May 1603.5 bur. 24 Aug. 1614.6

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks. (W. Riding) by 1614-d.7

Biography

The Saviles of Thornhill arrived in the West Riding by the twelfth century, provided a knight of the shire for the first time in 1376, and were one of the premier families of Yorkshire by Elizabeth’s reign. Savile, whose tutor at Oxford was George Abbot, future archbishop of Canterbury, was knighted by James I only weeks into the new reign. His first marriage may have disappointed his father, as he did not secure a seat in the Commons in 1604 and was allowed only £300 p.a. from lands in Halifax parish for maintenance. However, his second marriage, to a sister of Sir Thomas Wentworth* in 1607, was more appropriate to his status. That same year Savile and his father joined in a petition against a grant of Halifax market to David Waterhouse†.8

At the 1614 election Savile’s father, then sheriff, backed not his own son but Wentworth for the county seat. Savile found a seat at Appleby instead, where he was doubtless returned on the interest of Wentworth’s father-in-law Francis (Clifford*), 4th earl of Cumberland. He left no trace on the records of the session, and died soon after the dissolution, being buried at Thornhill on 23 Aug. 1614. In his will, drafted two years earlier, he named Abbot, his uncle Edward Talbot†, Wentworth and the rector of Thornhill as his executors, but in the event only Wentworth was prepared to act, thereby becoming involved in seven years of litigation. Savile’s eldest son died young, but the younger son, Sir William, 3rd bt., sat for Yorkshire in the Short Parliament, and was defeated in the county election for the Long Parliament. Sir William’s eldest son George held high office after the Restoration, and was created successively earl and marquess of Halifax.9

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Authors: John. P. Ferris / Simon Healy

Notes

  • 1. C142/393/169; Peds. Yorks. Fams. (W. Riding) ed. J. Foster (Savile of Thornhill).
  • 2. Al. Ox.
  • 3. J. Bridges, Hist. And Antiq. Northants. (1791) i. 554.
  • 4. Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xxv. 23-4; H.C. Foxcroft, Life of Halifax, 5.
  • 5. Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 109.
  • 6. Peds. Yorks. Fams. (W. Riding) ed. Foster (Savile of Thornhill)
  • 7. C66/1988.
  • 8. HMC 11th Rep. VII, 123; HMC Hatfield, xix. 396.
  • 9. YORKSHIRE; Wentworth Pprs. ed. J.P. Cooper (Cam. Soc. ser. 4. xii), 320-2; PROB 11/127, f. 271v.