{60} Edward III Descents for Lady Elizabeth (née Cosby) FitzRoy (c.1715-1788)

Cosby Coat of Arms

Another ancestor of Rachel Esme Newton, wife of Capt. (Lancelot) Geoffrey Moore, was Elizabeth Cosby, the wife of Lord Augustus FitzRoy, younger son of the 2nd Duke of Grafton.

ELIZABETH COSBY, b. c.1715; d. 21 Dec. 1788, er dau. of William Cosby of Soho Square (c.1690-1736, descended from Edward III - see Generation A12 below) and Grace Montagu (1687-1767, descended from Edward III - see Generation B below); m. 1st Mar. 1734 Ft George, New York City, Lord AUGUSTUS FITZROY of Marylebone, M.P. Thetford 1739-41, b. 16 Oct. 1716; d. 24 May 1741 Jamaica, 3rd son of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683-1757, descended from Charles II) and Lady Henrietta Somerset (1690-1726, descended from Edward III), and had issue, two sons; m. 2nd (banns 18 Dec.) 1747, JAMES JEFFREYS of Westminster, Commissioner of Customs 1766-86, b. 2 July 1715 (per his M.I.); d. 27 Sept. 1786 Avington House, Hampshire, bur. 5 Oct. 1786 St Mary Church, Avington, est. son of John Jeffreys of Lincoln's Inn (1689-1741, descended from Henry IV) and Elizabeth Darrell (c.1693-1753), and had further issue, three daughters.

The first interesting item to note about Elizabeth Cosby's ancestry is that she is a 8-generation mtDNA descendant of 'The Other Boleyn Girl': Lady Mary Carey, the sister of Henry VIII's ill-fated second queen Anne Boleyn.

Lady Mary Boleyn (c.1499-1543, descended from Edward I) m. 1) William Carey of Aldenham (c.1496-1528, descended from Edward III), and had
1) Katherine Carey (c.1523-1569) m. Sir Francis Knollys of Rotherfield Greys (c.1512-1596), and had

Lettice (née Knollys), Countess
of Essex -see Generation 3

2) Lettice Knollys (1543-1634) m. 1) Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex (1539-1576, descended from Edward III), and had
3) Lady Dorothy Devereux (c.1564-1619) m. 2) Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (1564-1632, descended from Edward III), and had
4) Lady Dorothy Percy (1598-1659) m. Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1595-1677, descended from Edward I), and had
5) Lady Lucy Sidney (1625-1685) m. Sir John Pelham, 3rd Baronet of Laughton (c.1623-1703, descended from Edward I), and had
6) Elizabeth Pelham (c.1660-1723) m. 1) Edward Montagu of Horton House (1649-1690, descended from Edward III - see Line B below), and had
7) Grace Montagu (1687-1767) m. William Cosby of SoHo Square (c.1690-1736, descended from Edward III - see A12 below), and had
8) Elizabeth Cosby (c.1715-1788) m. 1) Lord Augustus FitzRoy of Marylebone (1716-1741, descended from Charles II)

William Cosby (c.1690-1736),
Governor of New York

Through her father, Elizabeth Cosby has a single line of descent from Edward III, given in Line A below. It is not through the Cosbys of Stradbally Hall. Many genealogies, including the Cosby pedigree in Burke's Irish Family Records (1976), as well as (unfortunately) the ODNB entry for Francis Cosby (c.1510-1580), the founder of the family, state that his wife was Lady Mary Seymour, daughter of the 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England (descended from Edward III). Though Protector Somerset did have a daughter named Mary, she was married 1st to Andrew Rogers of Bryanston (c.1551-1601), and 2nd to Sir Henry Peyton (d. 1624), and died childless in 1620.  Genealogist Paul C. Reed ably demonstrated, in a July 1999 post to the SocGenMed newsgroup, that the marriage of Francis Cosby to Lady Mary Seymour, which first occurs in an 18th-century Cosby pedigree notarized by the Ulster King of Arms, is incorrect, and that primary (16th-century) records show that Elizabeth Palmes was actually the wife of Francis Cosby and the mother of his children.

Elizabeth Cosby and her mother Grace Montagu appear on p. 622 of Ruvigny's Clarence volume. Line B below is an elaboration of her line from George, Duke of Clarence traced by Ruvigny.

Edward III had a 3rd surviving son:
A1) John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399) m. 3) Katherine Roet (c.1350-1403), and had
A2) Lady Joan Beaufort (c.1377-1440) m. 2) Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1364-1425), and had
A3) Richard Neville, 1st Earl of Salisbury (c.1398-1460) m. Alice Montagu 
(1406-1462, descended from Edward I), and had a dau A4 and a son B4 (see below)

Sir Thomas L'Estrange -
see Generation A6

A4) Lady Alice Neville (c.1434-aft.1503) m. Henry, 5th Lord Fitzhugh (1429-1472), and had
A5) Elizabeth Fitzhugh (1462-bef.1507) m. 2) Nicholas, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden (c.1460-1523, descended from Edward I), and had
A6) Anne Vaux (b. 1494) m. Sir Thomas L'Estrange of Hunstanton Hall (c.1490-1545), and had
A7) Richard L'Estrange of Kilkenny, Ireland (by 1526-aft.1589) m. Anne Astley, and had
A8) Thomas L'Estrange of Castle Strange, co. Roscommon (d. aft.1616) m. Elizabeth ---, and had
A9) Hamon L'Estrange of Castle Strange (c.1600-1639) m. Dorothy Moore (b. c.1605), and had
A10) Henry L'Estrange of Moystown House, King's Co. (c.1625-1666) [*1] m. Elizabeth Sandes (c.1625-1695), and had

Elizabeth (née L'Estrange) Cosby
- see Generation A11

A11) Elizabeth L'Estrange (c.1645-1692) m. Alexander Cosby of Stradbally Hall (c.1639-1694, descended from Edward I), and had
A12) WILLIAM COSBY of Soho Square, London, Governor of New York and New Jersey 1732-36, b. c.1690 Stradbally Hall, co. Laois, Ireland; d. 10 Mar. 1736 Ft. George, New York City, New York, bur. St Paul Church Cemetery, New York City; m. GRACE MONTAGU (see B14 below), and had
A13) ELIZABETH COSBY (c.1715-1788-see details above)

[*1] The early generations of the L'Estrange pedigree in BIFR (1976) are problematic. An extra generation - Thomas L'Estrange of Castle Strange (d. 1655), with unidentified wife - is inserted between Generations A9 and A10 above. But this is chronologically impossible, given that Dorothy Moore re-married after the death of Hamon L'Estrange, and had children with her second husband in the early 1640s. I have placed Thomas L'Estrange of Castle Strange (d. 1655) as a childless elder brother of Henry L'Estrange of Moystown House, in my database. Certainly more research is needed into Generations A8 through A10 above for a definitive account of this line.

Earl of Warwick 'The Kingmaker'
- see Generation B4

B4) Richard Neville 'The Kingmaker', Earl of Warwick (1428-1471) m. Lady Anne Beauchamp (1426-1492, descended from Edward III), and had

B5) Lady Isabel Neville (1451-1476) m. George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449-1478, descended from Edward III), and had
B6) Margaret Plantagenet, 3rd Countess of Salisbury (1473-1541) m. Sir Richard Pole of Medmenham (1459-1504), and had
B7) Ursula Pole (c.1498-1570) m. Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford (1501-1563, descended from Edward III), and had
B8) DOROTHY STAFFORD, b. 1 Oct. 1526; d. 22 Sept. 1604 Westminster, London, bur. 23 Sept. 1604 St Margaret Church, Westminster; m. 1545, as his 2nd wife, Sir WILLIAM STAFFORD of Chebsey, Staffordshire, b. c.1500; d. 5 May 1566 Geneva, Switzerland, son of Sir Humphrey Stafford of Blatherwycke (1478-1545) and Margaret Fogge (d. by 1532), and had

Lady Elizabeth (née Stafford) Drury
- see Generation B9

B9) ELIZABETH STAFFORD, b. c.1549 (in her 49th year at death, per her M.I.); d. 6 Feb. 1599, bur. St Mary Church, Nettlestead, Kent; m. 1st by 1574, Sir WILLIAM DRURY of Hawstead Hall, Suffolk, b. 8 Mar. 1550; d. 18 Jan. 1590 Bergen op Zoom, Brabant, bur. 6 May 1593 All Saints Church, Hawstead, Suffolk, son of Robert Drury, Heir of Hawstead Hall (1525-1557, descended from Edward III) and Audrey Rich, and had
B10) FRANCES DRURY, b. 8 June 1576 Hawstead Hall, bap. 13 June 1576 All Saints Church, Hawstead; d. 1637, bur. St Peter Church, Ashby cum Fenby, Lincolnshire; m. 2nd 1600, as his 2nd wife, Sir WILLIAM WRAY, 1st Baronet of Glentworth, b. c.1560; d. 13 Aug. 1617 Ashby cum Fenby, son of Sir Christopher Wray of Glentworth Hall (1522-1592) and Anne Girlington (d. 1593, descended from Edward I), and had

B11) FRANCES WRAY, b. Oct. 1610 Glentworth Hall, Lincolnshire, bap. 27 Oct. 1610 St Michael Church, Glentworth; d. 1628; m. 25 Oct. 1623 St Peter Church, Ashby cum Fenby, as his 1st wife, Sir ANTHONY IRBY of Irby Hall, Lincolnshire, b. 17 Jan. 1605; d. 2 Jan. 1682, bur. St Margaret Church, Westminster, son of Sir Anthony Irby, Heir of Irby Hall (1577-1610) and Elizabeth Peyton (b. c.1585, descended from Edward I), and had

Montagu of Horton coat of arms

B12) ELIZABETH IRBY, b. c.1628; d. 9 Feb. 1684 London, bur. St Katherine by the Tower, London; m. 21 May 1645, Hon. GEORGE MONTAGU of Horton House, bap. 28 July 1622 St Margaret Church, Westminster; d. 19 July 1681 London, bur. 23 July 1681 St Katherine by the Tower, London, son of Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester (c.1564-1642, descended from Edward I) and his 3rd wife Margaret Crouch (1582-1653), and had
B13) EDWARD MONTAGU of Horton House, b. 25 Sept. 1649; bur. 27 Feb. 1690 St Katherine by the Tower, London; m. 30 May 1678, as her 1st husband, ELIZABETH PELHAM, b. c.1660; d. 13 July 1723 Westminster, bur. 17 July 1723 St James Church, Westminster, dau of Sir John Pelham, 3rd Baronet of Laughton (c.1623-1703, descended from Edward I) and Lady Lucy Sidney (1625-1685, descended from Edward III), and had
B14) GRACE MONTAGU, bap. 24 June 1687 St Margaret Church, Westminster; d. 23 Dec. 1767 Covent Garden, London, bur. 25 Dec. 1767 St Marylebone Parish Church, London; m. 1711, WILLIAM COSBY of Soho Square, London, b. c.1690 Stradbally Hall, co Laois, Ireland; d. 10 Mar. 1736 Ft George, New York City, NY, bur. St Paul Church Cemetery, New York City (see A12 above)

My next post will detail the Henry IV descent of Elizabeth (Cosby) FitzRoy's second husband, James Jeffreys of Westminster (1715-1786).

Cheers,                                ------Brad