{46} Henry IV Descent for Susan (née Inge) Moore (1804-1836)

Ludlow coat of arms

Complete Peerage is viewed by most genealogists interested in medieval royal and peerage descents as an authoritative source. In 1926, Volume 6 was released containing the article on the Barony of Gray (of Powis), as well as Appendix C, an article 'Claims to the Baronies of Grey (of Powis) and Cherleton'. On p. 697, it had this to say on the parentage of Elizabeth, wife of John Ludlow, the heir of Stokesay Castle in Shropshire: “The claims of the Vernons and their descendants both as to the estates and peerage were founded on their descent from Elizabeth, daughter of Margaret Tuchet, which Elizabeth they alleged to be daughter of the said Margaret by her 2nd husband, Richard Grey. If, as their opponents declared, Elizabeth was the daughter, not of Sir Richard Grey, but Sir Roger Vaughan, Margaret Tuchet’s first husband, the Vernon claims fell to the ground. It is a curious fact that although everything hinged on this point…., the paternity of Elizabeth was not determined even by the time that the last claim was made in 1800."

Stokesay Castle, Shropshire

This uncertainty as to whether or not Elizabeth Ludlow was the daughter of Richard, 1st Lord Gray of Powis, has led many 20th-century genealogists to assign her as the daughter of Margaret Audley by another of her husbands, Sir Roger Vaughan of Tretower Court. With Vaughan instead of Lord Gray as her father, Elizabeth Ludlow's descendants lose Henry IV of England as an ancestor, for Lord Gray of Powis was the son of Antigone of Gloucester, an illegitimate granddaughter of that monarch.

It was genealogist David Topping, a participant on the SocGenMed newsgroup, who presented definitive evidence that Elizabeth Ludlow was indeed the daughter of Lord Gray, not of Sir Roger Vaughan. In a post made August 2012, Topping pointed out that the claim that Elizabeth was one of the two daughters of Margaret Audley by her first husband Sir Roger Vaughan, originated in 1554. After the 1551 death of the 4th Lord Gray of Powis without any legitimate issue, a dispute

Vernon coat of arms

immediately arose over his inheritance. Lord Gray himself entailed as much of it as was legally possible, including Buildwas Abbey, a Shropshire monastic house he had been granted after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, on his illegitimate son, only nine years old at the time, Edward Gray (d. 1592). Thomas Vernon of Stokesay Castle (c.1482-1562) then stepped forward as husband of Anne, the elder daughter and coheir of Elizabeth Ludlow, and claimed that his wife and their nephew George Vernon of Hodnet Hall (the elder son and heir of Anne's younger sister Alice and her husband, Thomas's younger brother Humphrey Vernon, both then deceased), were the next legitimate coheirs of the 4th Lord Gray of Powis.

Vernon's claim was challenged by his kinsman Edward Kynaston of Hordley, Shropshire (d. 1594). Kynaston was the heir of line of Elizabeth, the only sister of the 1st Lord Gray of Powis. Thomasine, the first wife (she died young and childless) of Kynaston's father, had been the daughter of Sir Roger Vaughan of Tretower Court by his second wife Margaret Audley, and so a half-sister of the 2nd Lord Gray of Powis. Edward, whose Kynaston grandparents had died long before his own birth, was either under the genuine belief that he was the next legitimate heir of the 4th Lord Gray of Powis, or used his father's first marriage as an inspiration to claim that the Vernons couldn't be Lord Gray's next legitimate heirs as Elizabeth Ludlow was the daughter of Margaret Audley by Sir Roger Vaughan, not Lord Gray. Witnesses, two of them claiming to be over age 100, appeared in Chancery in 1554, to depose that both of Margaret Audley's daughters (i.e., Elizabeth Ludlow and Thomasine Kynaston) had been by her first husband, Sir Roger Vaughan. As Topping points out, Kynaston's claim is not only dubious due to the unrealistic ages of the witnesses (they needed to claim to be ancient in order to have memory of Margaret Audley and her husbands in the 1460s), but also due to the fact that the witnesses were in error as to the order of Margaret's marriages. The 1st Lord Gray of Powis died in 1466, and Vaughan was executed in 1471, so we can be certain that Vaughan had been Margaret's second, not her first, husband.

Chronology also favours Lord Gray as the father of Elizabeth Ludlow. We can deduce from the IPM of Sir Richard Ludlow, taken 26 March 1499 [CIPM Henry VII 2: pp. 77-79], that Elizabeth Ludlow's elder daughter Anne, returned as "aged 16 and more" was born by 1483, and that her younger daughter Alice, returned as age "15 and more" was born by 1484. If Elizabeth Ludlow had been the daughter of Margaret Audley by her second husband Sir Roger Vaughan, the earliest she could have been born is 1467, and so no more than age 16 in 1483 when her elder daughter was born. As Elizabeth Ludlow was not an heiress, there would have been little need for her to consummate her marriage at such a young age. A birth in the early 1460s (her brother the 2nd Lord Gray of Powis was born about 1460, the year following their parents' marriage) fits better with the ages of her daughters in 1499.

Powis Castle

Topping also presented the evidence of Gutin Owain, or Gruffudd ap Huw ab Owain, a Welsh poet, copyist and genealogist who wrote in the latter half of the 15th-century, and who was one of the bards appointed by Henry VII to establish his Welsh pedigree. Owain wrote, at some point between 1460 and 1471, a pedigree of the family of the 1st Lord Gray of Powis, "a Ric’[hard, Lord Gray of Powis] a beiriodes Margred verch Arglwydd Awdle[Audley], ac vddynt i bu vab a merch, John ac Elsabeth.” In Rhandiroedd Powys, a tract describing the division of Powys among the descendants of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Owain wrote in 1493-95, “Jan[Joan] y verch hynaf i Edward o Jarltwn[Edward Cherleton] a briodes Syr John Gray, ac vddvnt y bv vab a elwid Hari iarll Tangkrvil[Harry earl Tancarville], ac arglwydd Powys. Yr Hari hwnn a briodes Ant[i]goni merch o ordderch i Wmffray, dvc o Klowsedr,[Humphrey duke of Gloucester] acc vddvnt y bv ddav vab a merch, nid amgen, Richiart arglwydd Powys, ac Wmffray I vrawd, ac Elsabeth yr honn a briodes Syr Roecher o Kinaston. Richiart[Richard, Lord Gray of Powis] a briodes Margred merch arglwydd Awdle[Audley], ac vddvnt y bv vab a merch, John ac Elsabeth.”

As Owain composed these pedigrees within the lifetime of Elizabeth Ludlow, long before it was known that her Vernon grandsons would be coheirs to the barony of Gray of Powis, it is strong--even definitive--evidence, that the Vernon claim was accurate and Elizabeth Ludlow was indeed the daughter of Richard, 1st Lord Gray of Powis. When in 1571 Henry Vernon of Stokesay Castle (1548-1606), the grandson of Elizabeth Ludlow's elder daughter Anne Vernon, relaunched his late grandfather's bid to be recognized as legitimate heir of the 4th Lord Gray of Powis, the College of Arms became involved. Per the ODNB bio of Henry Vernon, "Baron Burghley referred Vernon's claim to the heralds, who found nothing to support it." Either the heralds were unaware of Gutin Owain's 15th-century pedigrees, or Vernon's rival Edward Kynaston (still alive and vehemently opposing the Vernon claim to be the legitimate heirs to the Lords Gray of Powis) paid to have any evidence of Elizabeth Ludlow's paternity suppressed. Rev. Mark Noble, in his 1804 work A History of the College of Arms, states in his entry on herald Richard Lee (d. 1597), eventually in 1594 Clarenceux King of Arms, "his integrity has been deservedly impeached, for the late Mr. Brooke, Somerset's MS notes say, that he [Lee] had ‎£20 in gold given him for erasing the marriage of Sir John Ludlow with Elizabeth his wife, as is well known, that it might prejudice the party in the great cause between the Vernons and Kynastons for the barony of Powys."

Curzon coat of arms

The truth that Elizabeth Ludlow was the daughter of the 1st Lord Gray of Powis, opens up a Henry IV descent for two prominent families: the Vernons of Stokesay Castle, the male line of Anne Vernon, the elder daughter and coheir of Elizabeth Ludlow, went extinct in 1606 on the death of the childless Henry Vernon of Stokesay Castle above, and representation passed to the Curzons of Kedleston Hall, a Derbyshire gentry family elevated to the peerage as baronets in the mid-17th century, and as barons in the mid-18th century. Anne Vernon's senior representative today is the English novelist Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale. The male line of Alice Vernon of Hodnet Hall, the younger daughter and coheiress of Elizabeth Ludlow, continues today, though senior representation (along with Hodnet Hall) passed to the Heber family in 1725. Today the senior representative of Alice Vernon is Sir Algernon Heber-Percy of Hodnet Hall.

Through her paternal grandfather William Inge of Thorpe Hall, Susan Inge, the first wife of George Moore of Appleby Hall, has a line of descent from Henry IV via Elizabeth Ludlow's elder daughter Anne Vernon of Stokesay Castle, and the Curzons of Kedleston Hall.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester -
see Generation 1

Henry IV had a son:
1) Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester (1390-1447), who had
2) Antigone of Gloucester, illegit. (b. c.1420) m. 1) Henry Gray, 2nd Count of Tancarville (1420-1450, descended from Edward I), and had
3) Richard, 1st Lord Gray of Powis (1436-1466) m. Margaret Audley (c.1441-1481, descended from Edward III), and had

4) Elizabeth Gray (b. c.1462-bef.1493) m. John Ludlow, Heir of Stokesay Castle (1459-by 1493), and had
5) Anne Ludlow (b. 1482) m. Thomas Vernon of Stokesay Castle (c.1482-1562, descended from Edward I), and had
6) ELEANOR VERNON, b. c.1520; d. unknown; m. by 1550, FRANCIS CURZON of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, b. by 1523; d. 1592, son of Richard Curzon of Kedleston Hall (1505-1548) and Eleanor Pole (descended from Edward III), and had

Sir John Curzon, 1st Bt -
see Generation 8

7) JOHN CURZON of Kedleston Hall, b. 1552; bur. 6 May 1632 All Saints Church, Kedleston; m. 1597, MILLICENT (SACHEVERELL) GELL, b. c.1573; bur. 22 Jan. 1619 All Saints Church, Kedleston, widow of Thomas Gell of Hopton Hall (1532-1594), and dau. of Sir Ralph Sacheverell of Stanton (d. 1605) and Emme Dethick (d. 1606), and had
8) Sir JOHN CURZON, 1st Baronet of Kedleston, b. 13 Nov. 1598; d. 13 Dec. 1686, bur. All Saints Church, Kedleston; m. 26 Aug. 1623 All Saints Church, Kedleston, PATIENCE CREWE, b. c.1602; d. 30 Mar. 1642, bur. All Saints Church, Kedleston, dau. of Sir Thomas Crewe of Steane Park (1566-1634) and Temperance Bray (1580-1619, descended from Edward III), and had
9) ELEANOR CURZON, b. c.1636; d. after 1682[*1]; m. 1655 St Mary Church, Twickenham, Middlesex, as his 2nd wife, Sir JOHN ARCHER of Coopersale House, Theydon Garnon, Essex, b. 1598; d. 8 Feb. 1682, bur. All Saints Church, Theydon Garnon, son of Henry Archer of Coopersale House (d. 1615) and Anne Crouch, and had

Wrottesley coat of arms

10) ELEANOR ARCHER, b. 1660; bur. 28 Jan. 1694 St Michael Church, Tettenhall, Staffordshire; m. 28 June 1678, as his 1st wife, Sir WALTER WROTTESLEY, 3rd Baronet of Wrottesley, b. 1659; d. Somerford Hall, Brewood, Staffordshire, bur. 4 Apr. 1712 St Mary & St Chad Church, Brewood, son of Sir Walter Wrottesley, 2nd Baronet of Wrottesley (c.1631-1686, descended from Edward III) and Margaret Wolryche (c.1635-1673, descended from Edward I), and had
11) Sir JOHN WROTTESLEY, 4th Baronet of Wrottesley, b. c.1682; bur. 1 Nov. 1726 St Michael Church, Tettenhall; m. 15 Jan. 1704 St Mary Church, Enville, Staffordshire, FRANCES GREY, b. c.1689; d. 22 Mar. 1769, bur. 1 Apr. 1769 St Michael Church, Tettenhall, dau. of Hon. John Grey of Enville Hall (c.1628-1709, descended from Edward III) and his 2nd wife Hon. Katherine Ward (c.1663-1691, descended from Henry VII), and had
12) HENRIETTA WROTTESLEY, bap. 25 Nov. 1717 Wrottesley Hall, Tettenhall; d. 12 Sept. 1790 Thorpe Hall, Thorpe Constantine, Staffordshire bur. 13 Sept. 1790 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine; m. 1 Jan. 1736 St Chad Church, Pattingham, Staffordshire, THEODORE WILLIAM INGE of Thorpe Hall, bap. 12 June 1711 St Mary Church, Newton Regis, Warwickshire; d. 14 Dec. 1753 Thorpe Hall, bur. 17 Dec. 1753 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine, son of William Inge of Thorpe Hall (1669-1731, descended from Edward I) & Elizabeth Phillips (1681-1728), and had

Inge of Thorpe coat of arms

13) WILLIAM INGE of Thorpe Hall, bap. 8 Mar. 1737 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine; bur. there 19 Feb. 1785; m. 26 Nov. 1763, ANNE HALL, b. The Hermitage, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, bap. 7 Mar. 1743 St Luke Church, Holmes Chapel; bur. 25 July 1792 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine, dau of Thomas Hall of The Hermitage (1702-1748) & Elizabeth Bayley (d. 1745), and had
14) WILLIAM PHILLIPS INGE of Thorpe Hall, High Sheriff Staffordshire 1847-48, b. 26 Aug. 1773 Thorpe Hall, bap. 25 Sept. 1773 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine; d. 5 Feb. 1838 Thorpe Hall, bur. 12 Feb. 1838 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine; m. 5 Jan. 1798 St Chad Church, Seighford, Staffordshire, Lady ELIZABETH EUPHEMIA STEWART, b. 6 Oct. 1771 Westminster, bap. 5 Nov. 1771 St James Church, Westminster; d. 12 Nov. 1855 Thorpe Hall, bur. 21 Nov. 1855 St Constantine Church, Thorpe Constantine, 4th dau of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway (1736-1806, descended from Henry VII) & his 2nd wife Anne Dashwood (1742-1830, descended from Edward I), and had
15) SUSAN INGE (1804-1836), first wife of George Moore of Appleby Hall

[*1] I cannot find birth or death dates for Dame Eleanor (née Curzon) Archer. But neither the parish registers of Kedleston, Derbyshire, where she was most likely baptized, nor those of Theydon Garnon, Essex, where she was most likely buried, have been indexed by the three major online genealogy sites - Ancestry, Family Search and Find My Past. It's only known that she survived her husband.

My next blogpost will look at the Edward III descent for another of Susan (née Inge) Moore's ancestors - Katherine (née Watts), Countess of Dunmore.

Cheers,                                      --------Brad