Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/332

 a year out of the monopoly for gold and silver thread, but actually received only 150l. during the whole of its existence (, iv. 13, 22). In addition to these sources he received considerable sums from the patent for ale-houses, and his malpractices in this connection formed the subject of charges against him in parliament, which were, however, abandoned (ib. iv. 116). The next step was to secure a suitable heiress as a wife; ineffectual suit was made first for the only daughter of Sir Sebastian Harvey, lord mayor of London, and then for Elizabeth Norris, daughter of the Earl of Berkshire. Villiers eventually married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Sheldon of Howley, Leicestershire. On 23 March 1622–3 he was created Baron Villiers of Daventry and Earl of Anglesey. His mediocre abilities prevented his employment in any important position, and he himself acknowledged to his brother the duke that ‘his want of preferment proceeded from his own unworthiness rather than from the duke's unwillingness’ (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1627–8, p. 327). On 6 Dec. 1628 he was appointed keeper of Hampton Court, and on 4 March 1628–9 of Bushey Park. He died on 3 April 1630 at Windsor, and was buried on the 12th in St. George's Chapel. An engraving after a portrait by Honthorst is given in Doyle's ‘Official Baronage.’

His only son, Charles Villiers (d. 1661), succeeded as second earl of Anglesey; married, on 25 April 1648, Mary, widow of his cousin, William Villiers, viscount Grandison, and mother of [q. v.], and died without issue, being buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 4 Feb. 1660–1. His honours became extinct, and the estates passed to his sister Anne, widow of, earl of Sussex [q. v.]



VILLIERS, EDWARD (1585?–1626), president of Munster, born about 1585, was the second son of Sir George Villiers, by his first wife, Audrey, daughter of William Saunders of Harrington, Northamptonshire. His father, (d. 1606), came of a family which claimed descent from a companion of William the Conqueror, and had long been settled at Brooksby in Leicestershire (, Peerage, iv. 172-7, s.v. 'Jersey, Earl of '). He served as sheriff of Leicestershire in 1591, was knighted, and died on 4 Jan. 1605-6. By his first wife, Audrey (d. 1587), he had issue, besides Sir Edward and three daughters, Sir William, who was sheriff of Leicestershire in 1608-9, and was created a baronet on 19 July 1619, an honour which became extinct on the death of his grandson, Sir William, on 27 Feb. 1711-12. Sir George married, secondly, Mary, daughter of Anthony Beaumont of Glenfield, Leicestershire, and by her had issue, viscount Purbeck [q. v.];, first duke of Buckingham [q. v.];, first earl of Anglesey [q. v.]; and Susan, who married, first earl of Denbigh [q. v.], and is noticed under her husband. Sir George's widow was on 1 July 1618 created Countess of Buckingham for life, and married, secondly, Sir William Rayner, and, thirdly, Sir Thomas Compton. She died on 19 April 1632 in the sixty-third year of her age, and was buried in St. Edmund's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

Edward, being only half-brother to the favourite, George, duke of Buckingham, depended for his advancement more on his own abilities. He was knighted on 7 Sept. 1616, and in October 1617 succeeded Sir Richard Martin as master of the mint, and in November 1618 became comptroller of the court of wards. On 30 Dec. 1620 he was returned to parliament as member for Westminster, but was in the same month sent to the Elector Frederick to say that assistance would be rendered him, but only on condition that he entered into an agreement to relinquish the crown of Bohemia (, iii. 386, iv. 178, 181). He returned before May and took his seat in parliament, but was in that month temporarily excluded from the house for attempting to speak on the question of a patent in which he was personally interested (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1619-23). This was apparently the famous gold and silver patent in which Villiers had invested 4,000l. in 1617, and from which he derived an income of 500l. annually. His conduct in this business was vindicated in the inquiry by the House of Lords in June, and Villiers was allowed to resume his seat in the commons (ib. p. 264;, iv. 12, 17, 116). In the following September he was again sent to the Elector Frederick, then serving with the Dutch army, to persuade him to withdraw from it and submit to the emperor. On 23 Sept. 1622 he was granted a lease of the customs and subsidies on gold and silver thread on condition of surrendering the mastership of the mint, but the latter office was restored to him in July 1624. He was