[Illustration] This is a younger branch of the Molesworths of
Ireland, Viscount Molesworth of Swords, in the county of Dublin,
1716. They can be traced to the reign of Edward I. as a knightly
family, but never remained very long in any one county: they have
been seated in Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire.
Sir Walter de Molesworth, the first recorded ancestor, is said to
have attended Edward I. in his expedition to the Holy Land. The
family estate is believed to have been greatly impoverished by the
profuse entertainment of Queen Elizabeth at Fotheringay, by Antony,
elder brother of John Molesworth, who settled at Pencarrow in the
reign of the same Queen.
See Gilbert's Cornwall, i. 571; Lysons, xcii. 82; Wotton's
Baronetage, iv. 25; Archdall's Lodge, v. 127.
ARMS.--_Vaire, a border gules charged with cross-crosslets or_.
This coat, except that the crosses were argent, was borne by Sir
Walter de Molesworth of co. Huntingdon, as appears by the Roll of
Arms of the reign of Edward II. Sir Gilbert Lyndesey (?) of the same
county bore the present coat.
Present Representative, the Rev. Sir Paul William Molesworth, 10th
Baronet.
+Gentle.+