Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale

Coat of arms of Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale

Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale (* before 1581; † April 9, 1665 ) was an English nobleman and politician .

Life

He was the son and heir of Sir Francis Leke, lord of Sutton in Scarsdale, Derbyshire , from his first marriage to Frances Swift, daughter and partial heir of Robert Swift, lord of Bayton in Yorkshire .

In 1601 he was elected Knight of the Shire for Derbyshire in the English House of Commons . Around 1604 he was promoted to a Knight Bachelor and served as Sheriff of Derbyshire. On May 22, 1611 he was given the hereditary title of Baronet , of Sutton in the County of Derby, in the Baronetage of England . On October 26, 1624 he was raised in the Peerage of England to Baron Deincourt , of Sutton in the County of Derby, and thereby became a member of the House of Lords . In the English Civil War he was on the side of the royalists and was raised to Earl of Scarsdale on November 11, 1645 in the Peerage of England .

Marriage and offspring

On September 16, 1607 he had married Anne Cary (1585– before 1660), sister of Henry Cary, 1st Viscount of Falkland . With her he had five sons and six daughters

• Hon. Francis Leke († 1646);
• Nicholas Leke, 2nd Earl of Scarsdale (1612–1681) ⚭ 1653 Lady Frances Rich († 1692), daughter of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick ;
• Hon. Edward Leke (⚔ in the Civil War);
• Hon. Charles Leke (⚔ in Civil War);
• Hon. Henry Leke († unmarried);
• Lady Anne Leke ⚭ Henry Hildyard, lord of Winestead, Yorkshire;
• Lady Catherine Leke ⚭ Cuthbert Morley;
• Lady Elizabeth Leke († unmarried);
• Lady Muriel Leke († unmarried);
• Lady Frances Leke († 1682) ⚭ Jenico Preston, 7th Viscount Gormanston ;
• Lady Penelope Leke († after 1705) ⚭ Charles Lucas, 2nd Baron Lucas .

When he died in 1665, his second born son Nicholas inherited his title of nobility.

Web links

• Scarsdale, Earl of (E, 1645-1736) in Cracroft's Peerage
• Peerage: Scarsdale at Leigh Rayment's Peerage ( Memento from October 25, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
• Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale on thepeerage.com

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Scarsdale 1645-1665	Nicholas Leke
New title created	Baron Deincourt 1624-1665	Nicholas Leke
New title created	Baronet, of Sutton 1611-1665	Nicholas Leke