Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/167

 died in 1606. Richard Butler married Agnes, the daughter of Sir Richard Houghton, knt., but having no offspring, the estates of Rawcliffe passed to William Butler, the eldest son of his younger brother, Henry Butler, somewhere about 1627. William Butler espoused Elizabeth, the daughter of Cuthbert Clifton, of Westby, by whom he had one son, Henry, who was thrice married, and had numerous offspring. Richard, the eldest son of Henry Butler by his first wife, Dorothy, the daughter of Henry Stanley, of Bickerstaffe, died before his father, but left several sons, one of whom, also named Richard, succeeded to the Rawcliffe property, and was thirty-two years of age in 1664; another, Nicholas, was a colonel in the time of Charles I.; and another, John, was a citizen of London. Richard Butler espoused Katherine, the daughter of Thomas Carus, of Halton, by whom he had a large family, the eldest of which, Henry, was six years of age in 1664. Henry Butler, of Rawcliffe, espoused as his first wife, Katherine, the granddaughter, and subsequently heiress, of Sir John Girlington, knt., of Thurland Csstle, and had issue—Richard, Christopher, Philip, Mary, and Katherine. Henry Butler, and Richard, his eldest son, took part with the Pretender in the rebellion of 1715, and for this piece of disaffection their estates were confiscated by the crown, and afterwards sold. Henry Butler made his escape over to France, but Richard was seized, tried, and condemned to death. He died in prison, however, in 1716, before the time appointed for his sentence to be carried out, leaving an only child, Catherine, by his wife, Mary, the daughter of Henry Curwen, of Workington, who married Edward Markham, of Ollarton, in the county of Nottingham, and died a minor without issue. Henry Butler lived in the Isle of Man for several years, and espoused Elizabeth Butler, of Kirkland, his third wife, but had no further issue.

CLIFTON OF CLIFTON, WESTBY, AND LYTHAM.

The family of the Cliftons, whose present seat is Lytham Hall, has been associated with the Fylde for many centuries. The earliest ancestor of whom there exists any authentic record, was Sir William de Clyfton, who lived in the time of William II., surnamed Rufus, and during the last year of that monarch's reign, 1100, gave certain lands in Salwick to his son William