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Margaret DE WELLES.4005118. Sir Lionel DE WELLES
6th Baron de Welles was born in 1406. He died on 29 Mar 1461 in Battle
of Towton. Sir Lionel Welles, 6th Baron Welles, was a soldier and courtier of
considerable distinction. He succeed his grandfather as Lord Welles in 1421 and
was knighted on May 19 1426, together with King Henry VI, at Leicester by the
Duke of Bedford. In 1434 he was named a privy councillor and in 1436 sent to
relieve the seige of Calais then being pressed by the Burgundians.
In 1438 he was named Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post he would hold the rest
of his life. He is described in the Dictionary of National Biography as "a
friend--indeed a connection--of the king, and constantly at court." In 1451
he was again sent to Calais, this time with Lord Rivers, and was in command there,
as lieutenant of the Duke of Somerset, until 1456, when he was relieved by the
Earl of Warwick.
A devoted Lancastrian, he took the oath of allegiance at Coventry in 1459 and
the following year join Queen Margaret on her march south and was at the secnd
Battle of St. Albans on Feb 7th, 1461. He was killed fighting at the Battle of
Towton on March 29th of that year.
By his second wife, Margaret Beauchamp, the widow of Sir Oliver St. John and
John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, he was the stepfather of Lady Margaret Beaufort,
the mother of King Henry VII. He was married to Joan WATERTON.
4005119. Joan WATERTON died after 1434.
Children were:
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Margaret DE WELLES.
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