- Margaret Fiennes, 11th Baroness Dacre
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Margaret Fiennes, 11th Baroness Dacre (1541 – 16 March 1612) was a suo jure peeress having been created Baroness Dacre by King James I of England in 1604. She was the daughter of Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre who was executed for murder in the year of her birth. His title and lands had been forfeited to the crown. Baroness Margaret's husband was Sampson Lennard MP.
She was also known as Baroness Dacre of the South.
Portrait of Margaret Fiennes, 11th Baroness Dacre by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c.1595-1600
Contents
Family
Margaret was born in 1541, the youngest child and only daughter of Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre and Lady Mary Nevill. In the year of her birth, her father was hanged for the murder of a gamekeeper by the order of King Henry VIII, and his lands and title were forfeited to the crown.
Marriage and issue
On 10 November 1564 at the age of 23, Margaret married Sampson Lennard (died 1615), who came from a family of landed gentry. They resided at Chevening, Kent. He was a Member of Parliament for various constituencies, and from 1590 to 1591, he held the post of High Sheriff of Kent. Together Margaret and her husband had seven children:[1]
- Elizabeth Lennard, married Sir Francis Barnham, by whom she had issue.
- Gregory Lennard (died 1620), he was childless.
- Anne Lennard, married Herbert Morley
- Mary Lennard, married Sir Ralph Bosville
- Margaret Lennard, married Sir Thomas Waller, by whom she had issue, including Parliamentarian soldier Sir William Waller.
- Frances Lennard, married Sir Robert More
- Sir Henry Lennard, 12th Baron Dacre (25 March 1570- 8 August 1616), married Chrysogona Baker, by whom he had issue.
Baroness Dacre
The title of Baron Dacre had been restored to Margaret's brother Gregory by Queen Elizabeth I shortly after her ascension to the throne; however upon his death in 1594, it had once again lapsed in abeyance. On 8 December 1604,[2] King James I created her suo jure Baroness Dacre, and she held this title until her death on 16 March 1612. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Henry.
In literature and art
- Between 1595 and 1600 her portrait was painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.
- A character loosely based on Lady Dacre can be found in the 1993 novella Candlemass Road by George MacDonald Fraser.
References
Categories:- 1541 births
- 1612 deaths
- Barons in the Peerage of England
- Women of the Tudor period
- Women of the Stuart period
- Fiennes family
- 16th-century women
- 16th-century English people
- English women
- 17th-century women
- 17th-century English people
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