George Shirley, 1st Baronet

Sir George Shirley (1559-1622) was an English landowner and the second man to be created a baronet. He was the son of John (1535-70), eldest son of Francis Shirley (1515-71) of Staunton Harold, and Jane, only daughter and heir of Thomas Lovett of Astwell, Northants.[1] The family inclined to Roman Catholicism and one of his sisters, Elizabeth Shirley, became a nun,[2] but generally they maintained sufficient conformity to avoid the penalties for recusancy.

Inheriting the estate as a minor, George's wardship was granted by the queen to the courtier Mary Cheke,[3] who sold it on to Sir John Throckmorton.[4] George matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford in 1573.[5] In 1584 he was questioned concerning his links to Sir John's son Francis in relation to the Throckmorton Plot.[6]

The following year he made preparations to serve with the Earl of Leicester in the Netherlands,[7] although he does not appear in the lists of Leicester's retinue.[8] Sir John presumably intended to marry George to one of his own daughters, but instead accepted £1,500 to allow him to choose his own bride. He married Frances (1561-95), the daughter of Henry, lord Berkeley and his first wife Katherine, the daughter of the Earl of Surrey.[4] with whom he had 5 children, including his heir Henry and the Catholic antiquary Sir Thomas Shirley.[9] He subsequently married Dorothy, the widow of the diplomat Sir Henry Unton. [10]

In 1603, as sheriff of Northampton, he accompanied James I of England on his way through the county on his way to London. [11] He died in 1622 and was buried at Breedon on the Hill, where he had erected a monument after the death of his first wife. [12] On his death he owned property in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire, and an income from which he was able to draw several legacies of £2000 each.[13]