Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/545

 12 s. vii. DEC. 4, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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COMNENUS. The Byzantine Emperor John II. (1118-1143) had three sons, Manuel 1., Emperor 1143-1180, Andronicus and Isaac. Andronicus d. 1113, leaving a son Alexius, created Protosebastos, whose daughter Mary married (Aug. 29, 1167), Amaury I., King of Jerusalem (1162-1174). She was given the fief of Naples (Nablus) in Palestine, and married as second husband Balian II., d'Ibelin, Lord of Ramleh, who held Jerusalem against Saladin after the Battle of Hattin until its surrender in October, 1187. Who was the wife of the Protosebastos Alexius, and who was his mother ? MEDINEWS.

THE BURIAL OF THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. To whom does the credit of having first suggested this happy idea belong ? G. F. R. B.

\Tht Times of the 13th inst. has the following 1 "The Rev. David Railton, M.C., now vicar of Margate, who served as a chaplain in France, was the author of the idea of the burial of the Unknown

Warrior in Westminster Abbey The Padre's

flag, described in The Times, which covered the coffin was brought back from France by Mr. Railton.]

DlXONS OF FURNESS AND LEEDS. May

I solicit the assistance of fellow readers of
 * N. & Q. ' in the following pedigrees :

1. West, in his 'Antiquities of Furness, Lane.,' referring to the parents of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York, at p. 32 ; "....William Sandys, s. and h., who married Margaret, the d. of John Dixon by Anne his wife, d. of Thos. Boos of Wooderslack (or Withers- lack) in the co. of Westmorland, and Dent, by Anne his second wife, d.'of Roland Thornburgh, of Hanersfield in the co. of Lane."

2. Burke in his 'Landed Gentry ' (1863) tit. Dixon of Seaton Carew ;

" Ralph Dixon of Leeds (fourth in descent from Wm. Dixon, who settled on his own estate at Heaton Royds, in the W. R. of the co. of York prior to 1564, and was grandson of John Dixon of Furness Fells, by his first wife Anne de Roos of Witherslack) married Dorothy Brown [grand- dau. of Bryan Beeston of Beeston, Leeds] .... from Ralph (whose son Bryan was the friend through life of Ralph Thorsby) descended Samuel Dixon of Buston."

3. In Thorsby's 'Ducatus Leodiensis ' at p. 31, referring to the church of St. John, in Leeds ;

" Upon a monument at the S.E. angle of the choir : ' Adjacent is interred the Body of Mr. Thomas Dixon, late of Little Woodhouse in this Parish, Magistrate above forty years, and twice Mayor of this Town, the son of Mr- George Dixon, Mercer, of Leedes, born Febr. 1624-5, deceased

the eleventh of August, 1711, in the 87th year of his age. Arms : Sable, a flower-de-lis or, and chief ermine.' "

4. Nicholas Dixon, buried in the chancel of Cheshunt Church, Herts, Oct. 30, 1448, and whose sepulchral brass is illustrated in Boutell's 'Monumental Brasses of England,' is referred to by Surtees, in his History, as a native of Durham.

I should much appreciate the pedigree of John Dixon, at (1) : the descent from him to William Dixon at (2), and from this William to Ralph Dixon of Leeds. Where does the Thos. Dixon, Mayor of Leeds, at (3) fit into this pedigree, as he bore the same arms as the Dixons of Beeston. Was the Baron of the Exchequer, Nicholas Dixon, at (4) kin of John of Furness Fells ?

H. HARCOURT DIXON.

3 Paper Buildings, Inner Temple.

SARAH WILKES. I saw in print some time ago, but forget where, that " Sarah Wilkes, an eccentric recluse, was a prototype of Miss Havisham in Dickens 's ' Great Expectations.' ' Can any reader help me ?

1 am not sure, but I have an idea, that Sarah Wilkes was some relation to John Wilkes (1727-1797).

FREDERICK CHARLES WHITE.

14 Esplanade, South Lowestoft.

COMMANDANT'S HOUSE, SANDHURST. There is a tradition at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, that the Commandant's house was once an abode of William Pitt. I can find no trace of anything to confirm this. Can any reader enlighten me ?

W. R. DAVIES.

Camberley.

LAND TENURE. In a twelfth-century record occurs the phrase, "the foreign defence of a virgate of land." It was evidently a payment or liability attached to the tenure. What was its nature ?

FREDERIC TURNER.

Ravensworth, Mortimer R.S.O., Berks.

FOREIGN SHIELDS OF ARMS. Whose are the following and what do the inscriptions mean ;

1. A shield of gold, with two ewers in chief and the letters D. K. in base : lettered below, " Aert Symons(o)n Duerkant, 1650."

2. A shield with a cross-bow erect proper, impaling gold, two red lozenges : lettered "Maeyken Joosten Wed. van Jan gerrit Broeck, 1650." The above are in glass panels. R- S. B.