Sir Peter Leycester, 1st Baronet
Peter Leycester, 1st Baronet ( born March 3 1614 Tabley Inferior ( Nether Tabley ) at Knutsford in Cheshire, England; † October 1, 1678 in Tabley House, Cheshire, England ) was an English antiquary and historian of the 17th century.
Life
Leycester was the eldest son of Peter Leycester (1588-1647) and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Randle Mainwaring of Peover Superior ( Over Peover ), Cheshire. In 1629 he began his studies at Brasenose College, Oxford, but did not graduate. 1632 he was a lawyer at Gray's Inn, one of the four Inns of Court, admitted.
When the English Civil War began, Leycester was appointed by the king as a Commissioner of Array for Cheshire, who was responsible for the defense of his district. In 1646 he was in Oxford, when the city is the republican commanders Thomas Fairfax revealed. He then used his forced retirement to devote himself to his interests for antique things and history.
One of the themes of the studies of Leycester was the pedigree of the Mainwaring family. In 1649 he acquired the part of the Domesday Book, which referred to Cheshire. In 1655 he was jailed. After the Stuart Restoration to put him but as a justice of the peace and arbitrator again. 1660, he was a baronet.
Leycester established a large library of books and manuscripts in Tabley House. The catalog dating back to 1672 includes 1332 books. In 1642 he married Elizabeth Gerard, the third daughter of Lord Gilbert Gerard of Gerard's Bromley, Dutton, Cheshire. The couple had three sons and three daughters. Leycester died in 1678 in his home and was buried in the north chapel of the Church of St. Mary and All Saints in Great Budworth. His eldest son, Robert Leycester (1642-1684), succeeded him as baronet.