[Illustration] A Norman family by reputation, and said to be traced
to the Conquest, descended from Sir William Downay, who was in the
wars in the Holy Land with Richard I. in 1192, at which time that
King gave him, in memory of his acts of valour, a ring from his
finger, which is still in possession of the family.
At an early period the Dawnays were in possession of lands in
Cornwall; fifteen manors in that county descended by an heiress to
the house of Courtenay Earl of Devon, about the reign of Edward II.
In Richard the Second's time the family removed into this county by
a match with the heiress of Newton of Snaith. Cowick was the seat
and residence of Sir Guy Dawnay, in the reigns of Henry VII. and
Henry VIII.
See Brydges's Collins, vol. viii. p. 453; and Gilbert's Cornwall,
vol. i. p. 457.
ARMS.--_Argent, on a bend cotised sable three annulets of the
field_.
Present Representative, Hugh Richard Dawnay, 8th Viscount
Downe.
PILKINGTON OF NETHER-BRADLEY AND CHEVET-HALL, BARONET OF NOVA-SCOTIA
1635.
[Illustration] "A right ancient family, gentlemen of repute in the
county (of Lancaster) before the Conquest," according to Fuller in
his "Worthies," and also mentioned by Gwillim as a "knightly family
of great antiquity, taking name from Pilkington in Lancashire." That
estate appears to have remained in the family until the ruin of the
elder branch in consequence of Sir Thomas Pilkington having taken
part against Henry VII. and with Richard III. at the battle of
Bosworth. The present house descended from Sir John Pilkington,
second son of Robert Pilkington, and brother of the unfortunate Sir
Thomas. His son Robert is stated to have been of Bradley, in this
county. He died in 1429, and was the ancestor of Sir Arthur the
first Baronet.
Younger Branches. Pilkington of Park-Lane Hall, in this county,
descended from the second son of Robert Pilkington, of Bradley, who
was living in 1540; and Pilkington of Tore, in the county of
Westmeath, descended from Sir Robert, younger brother of Sir John
Pilkington, ancestor of the house of Bradley.
See Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iv. p. 338; Hunter's South Yorkshire,
vol. ii. p. 394; Burke's Landed Gentry; and "The Grand Juries of the
County of Westmeath," vol. ii. p. 254.
ARMS.--_A cross patonce voided gules_. The crest, "a mower of
parti-colours argent and gules," is said by Fuller in his "Worthies
of England" to have been assumed in memory of the ancestor of the
family having so disguised himself in order to escape after _the
Battle of Hastings. The Battle of Bosworth_ is the more
probable scene of this event, where four knights of the family were
in arms on the part of Richard III.
Present Representative, Sir Lionel Milborne Swinnerton Pilkington,
11th Baronet.