Edward
Tyldesley 1635-1685
Edward
Tyldesley was the eldest son of Sir
Thomas Tyldesley and Frances
Standish. Born in 1635 he married twice. His first wife
was Anne Fleetwood, daughter of Sir Thomas Fleetwood
of Colwich and Gertrude Eyre. The marriage took place
on 26 November 1655 at
Ellastone, near Uttoxeter.
Edward and Anne had nine children:
Thomas (the Diarist), Edward, Frances, Anna Maria,
Dorothy, Adam, Edward, Mary and James. Anne died and
was buried at Garstang on 10 March 1667. Edward's second
wife was Elizabeth Beaumont,
daughter
of Adam
Beaumont of Whiteley and
Elizabeth Ashton. Edward and Elizabeth had a daughter,
Catherine.
Soon
after the restoration in 1660, Charles determined to
create a new order of knighthood,
to be called the " Royal Oak," as a
reward to some of the more distinguished of his
faithful
adherents. Edward
Tyldesley was amongst those selected for the
honour. Each
member of the order was required
to possess a certain amount in land. The value
of of each intended recipient's
estate is annexed to
his name in a list
from the manuscripts of Peter le Neve, Norroy.
Collins, in
his Baronetcy (1741), states that it was intended
that the knights of the order should wear
a silver medal with a device of the King in
the oak, pendant to a ribbon, about their
necks; but, he adds, it was thought proper
to lay it aside lest it might create heats and
animosities, and open those wounds afresh which
at that time were thought prudent should be healed.
Edward Tyldesley is believed to have been one of the English
embassy sent out to Lisbon in 1662 to bring Catharine
of Braganza
to London for her marriage to King Charles II.
On 1 October
1667 Edward Tyldesley is found writing to Samuel
Pepys. As secretary to the Admiralty, Pepys was seeking
oak
forests to build ships. Edward Tyldesley reported that
there was a fine show of such timber at
Foudray Pile.
Edward Tyldesley
built Fox Hall, the first significant building on the then
deserted coastline which is now known as Blackpool. Fishwick
gives further detail:
It was originally
a small three-gabled building,
with a small tower at one side of it. The walls were
made
of sea-shore cobble
stones, and were of great
thickness. Over the main entrance was engraved " Seris
factura nepotibus," a motto which Edward Tyldesley
expected would be his own, as his name was down on the
list of " Knights of the Royal Oak," which Charles
II. at one time proposed to create as a means of rewarding
the faithful supporters of the Stuarts. Over the south
gateway was inserted a stone on which was chiselled a pelican
feeding her young, round which was inscribed “Tantum
valet amor regiae et patriae." Inside the hall was
a priest's hiding place, long known as the "king's
cupboard," tradition saying that it was erected for
King James (who, however, never came there) during the
plots of 1690 and 1694. During the rebellion of 1715 Fox
Hall was a private rendezvous for Popish recusants.
The name Fox Hall derives from the custom of the Tyldesleys
of keeping a fox chained in the entrance to the property.
Edward's son, Thomas Tyldesley, records buying a fox cub
in his diary entry for 4 June 1713:
4
June 1713 —Went to
Aldclife; pd 1s. pro 2 samon mortts, and gave 2s. 6d.
pro a ffox cub.
References
The History of the Parish of Bispham in the County
of Lancaster, Henry Fishwick, 1887.