Lady Anne Dudley

Lady Anne Dudley was a one of the four daughters of Robert Dudley (son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester) by Alice Leigh, the second daughter of Sir Thomas Stoneleigh by Katherine, the daughter of Sir John Spencer.

There are various accounts of holdings that came down to Dudley's daughters. Two such interesting accounts are preserved in the Victoria History of the County of Warwick, in which reference is made to the Manor of Balsall in the Hemlingford Hundred, which had been, during the reign of King Stephen, the site of a preceptory of the Order of the Knights Templar, with whom it remained until the suppression of the order in 1308. The Manor was made over to the revised order of Knights Hospitallers in 1322 and remained as such until that order was dissolved in 1544 and the Manor and park were given to Queen Catherine Parr.

The place was already steeped in history when it came into the ownership of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and was some years later acquired by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick in July 1553. Following his attainder in 1554, it was bestowed to his cousin, Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley. A plan by Queen Mary to begin anew the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem included the reversion of the Dudley Manor to that order in 1558.

Elizabeth I of England, upon her succession, put an end to this scheme and in 1572 gave the Manor to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, ‘to whom the Hospitalliers rights had been granted in 1565’. Leycester left the manor to his brother, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, for life, thence to follow to his son, Robert. It thus came in due course to Dudley’s four daughters.

Anne then being the widow of the late Sir Robert Holborne, acquired three shares, which were passed on her death to her only surviving sister Lady Katherine Leveson, who by her will in 1671 returned Balsall the role of an Hospital, founding almshouses for twenty needy women, widows or unwed with a pension of £8/~ yearly and a gown for each with the letters ‘K.L’. in blue cloth thereon.

The Hospital of the Lady Katherine Leveson was incorporated in 1704. The Church of St. Mary having been built by the Knights Templar around 1290 fell into decay after the suppression of that order and eventually became roofless. It was restored to use by Katherine Leveson and Anne Holborne in 1662 and served as a chapel for the adjacent said almshouses of 1677. It became a parish church in 1863.

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A second account from the Victoria History of the County of Warwick is from the section covering the Knightlow Hundred, wherein the history of the Manors of Long Itchington is covered from the year 1001 when King Ethelred gave 25 manors thereabouts to his then Clofig. In 1086 the Manor was in the possession of Cristina, the sister of Edgar Atheling, who had himself received it from William the Conqueror.

Long Itchington came into the possession of Lord Robert Dudley about 1571~2, and here he provided a ‘glorious entertainment’ for Queen Elizabeth on her progress to Kenilworth in 1575.

Dudley intended to have bequeathed the Manor, after the death of his third wife Lettice, to his only son Robert, but the countess lived until 1634 and pursued a claim for possession of the said manor house with Sir Edward Blount and others in 1612. Robert, having failed to establish his legitimacy, had left the Country.

The manor however was passed to his cousin Robert Sidney, Viscount L’Isle who had retained it until his death in 1626. Leicester's four granddaughters by his son jointly claimed possession of the manor about this time, by right of Leicester’s original will, and after a long Chancery suit were successful.

Lady Anne Holborne, Katherine Leveson and her husband, Sir Richard being vouchees in the recovery of the manor in 1656. With a successful outcome they divided the manor into four equal parts, of which the Lady Anne took three, having purchased the Lady Alicia’s share for £1000/~ and also received the deceased Lady Frances's share. It was Lady Anne Holborne who financed the lawsuit.