James Leyburn


Sir James Leyburn was MP for Westmorland in 1542 and 1545. He was a Justice of the Peace for Westmorland, Escheator of Cumberland and Westmorland and commissioner of the survey of the monasteries of Lancashire in 1536.

Life

He is believed to have been knighted some time after November 1529, possibly after he became deputy steward of the barony of Kendal. It is possible that his relationship to Queen Katherine Parr may have been partially responsible for his appointment as a knight of the shire in 1545.

Family

In a Star Chamber suit of 1534, Leyburn is described as being "of great power, blood and ally." He was the son of Thomas Leyburn, of Conswick, Westmorland, and Margaret, daughter of Sir John Pennington, of Muncaster Castle, Cumberland. He married twice: to Eleanor, daughter of Sir Thomas Curwen, of Workington, Cumberland, and to Helen, daughter of Thomas Preston, of Preston Patrick, Westmorland. His daughter Anne married William Stanley, Lord Monteagle, and his daughter Elizabeth married twice: firstly to Thomas, Lord Dacre, and secondly to Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, whose three Howard stepsons married her three Dacre daughters. His grandson James Leyburn was executed in 1583 for being "a Catholic traitor" and his great-grandson was George Leyburn.