Description:The Sutherland Collection contains many letters and accounts which refer to important figures from the English Civil War.
Sir Richard Leveson (1598-1661)
Sir Richard Leveson (1598-1661) was a Staffordshire gentleman who supported the Royalist cause during the Civil War 1642-1646.
He inherited property in Staffordshire from his father’s cousin the famous Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Leveson (1570-1605). Between 1630 and 1638 he rebuilt his family’s Staffordshire seat at Trentham. Accounts for the building and gardening work involved in this project also survive in the Sutherland Papers.
From his correspondence which remains in the Sutherland Collection, Leveson appears to have done much to encourage Royalist support in Staffordshire.
He was fined £9, 846 at the end of the war which was the largest delinquency fine in Staffordshire, and one of the largest in the country.
Contextual information about Sir Richard Leveson from: Ross Wordie, Estate Management in Eighteenth-Centry England (London Royal Historical Society, 1982
William Paget (1609-1678)
William Paget (1609-1678) was the sixth Baron Paget. He defected to the Royalist cause in June 1642 and undertook to raise a 1200 strong Royalist infantry.
For a more in depth look at William Paget, visit the Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography for a detailed article by Gordon Goodwin.
Gordon Goodwin, ‘Paget, William, sixth Baron Paget (1609–1678)’, rev. John Sutton, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21123]
Sir Francis Wortley (1591-1652)
Sir Francis Wortley was a Royalist Army Officer in the Civil War.
In November 1642 he headed a troop of Royalist horsemen and crossed
the Staffordshire Moorlands before occupying Stafford.
By the end of January 1643 he was firmly established in Stafford and used money lent to him by the town’s residents to raise cavalry.
For a more in depth look at Sir Francis Wortley, visit the Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography for a detailed article by Ian William McLellan.
Ian William McLellan, ‘Wortley, Sir Francis, first baronet (1591–1652)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29996]