Kelham church, where a monument was erected to his memory.
Lexington married, in 1691, Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir Giles Hungerford of Coulston, Wiltshire, by whom he had three children, viz. (1) William George, who died at Madrid in October 1713, aged 15, and was buried at Kelham; (2) Eleanora Margaretta, who died unmarried in 1715; and (3) Bridget, who married, in 1717, John Manners, marquis of Granby, afterwards third Duke of Rutland, and became mother of the famous Marquis of Granby. On her death, in 1734, her second son, Lord Robert Manners, in accordance with the will of his maternal grandfather, assumed the surname of Sutton, and succeeded to the Lexington estates. On his death, in 1762, he was succeeded by his next brother, Lord George Manners, who thereupon assumed the additional surname of Sutton, and from him are descended all those who bear conjointly the names of Manners and Sutton. The title became extinct upon Lexington's death.
Macky describes Lexington as being ‘of good understanding, and very capable to be in the ministry; a well-bred gentleman and an agreeable companion, handsome, of a brown complexion, 40 years old’ (Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, p. 101). Swift, however, makes the amendment that he had only ‘a very moderate degree of understanding’ (Swift, Works, x. 309).
Lexington entered nine protests in the House of Lords (Rogers, Complete Collection of Protests, 1875, vol. i. Nos. 85, 127–131, 135–6, 166), but there is no record of any of his speeches. Extracts from his official and private correspondence during his mission to Vienna were published in 1851 under the name of ‘The Lexington Papers.’ His letters during his residence at Madrid as ambassador are in the possession of Mr. J. H. Manners-Sutton, the present owner of Kelham Hall. Six of Lexington's letters are preserved in the British Museum (Addit. MSS. 27457 f. 9, 32686 ff. 117, 215, 217, 239; Stowe MS. 750, f. 238).
[Authorities quoted in the text; Burnet's History of his own Time, 1833, vi. 138–9; Burke's Extinct Peerage, 1883, p. 523; G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage, 1893, v. 73; Quarterly Review, lxxxix. 393–412; Calendar of Treasury Papers, 1557–1696 pp. 42, 393, 1697–1701–2 pp. 53–4, 418–19, 1708–14 pp. 422, 602; Haydn's Book of Dignities, 1890; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. ix. 36, 104, 5th ser. xii. 89, 116, 137, 7th ser. xii. 388, 455.]
SUTTON, THOMAS (1532–1611), founder of the Charterhouse, son of Richard Sutton of the parish of St. Swithun in Lincoln, steward of the courts of that city, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Brian Stapleton (Chetwynd-Stapylton, The Stapeltons of Yorkshire, pp. 154, 158), was born at Knaith, Lincolnshire, in 1532, and, according to tradition, received his school education at Eton. It is improbable that he is identical with the Thomas Sutton who was admitted a sizar of St. John's College, Cambridge, 3 Nov. 1551, and matriculated on the 27th day of the same month, but did not graduate (Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. iii. 49). He was, however, a student of Lincoln's Inn, but during Queen Mary's reign was abroad, visiting Holland, France, Spain, and Italy. His father made a nuncupative will, dated 27 July 1558, and probably died soon afterwards. By this will he bequeathed to his son Thomas his lease of Cockerington, and also half the residue of his goods. As the will was not proved until 22 Feb. 1562–3, it is probable that Sutton was up to that date travelling on the continent or engaged in military service at home or abroad. He had friends among the nobility, and he may possibly have been distantly related to the Sutton family to which belonged the Lords Ambrose and Robert Dudley, alias Sutton, afterwards Earls of Warwick and Leicester respectively. He is said to have been in early life secretary to each of these noblemen, as well as to Thomas Howard, fourth duke of Norfolk [q. v.] On 12 Nov. 1569 the Earl of Warwick and the Lady Anne, his wife, granted to their well-beloved servant Thomas Sutton for life an annuity of 3l. 1s. 8d. out of the manor of Walkington, Yorkshire, and subsequently granted him a lease of the manor for twenty-one years at the rent of 26l.
But his early ambition was to follow a military career, and he saw some active service in the north. Doubtless he was the Captain Sutton who, from December 1558 to November 1559, formed part of the garrison of Berwick. His wages were 4s. a day, and he had under him a petty captain, an ensign-bearer, a sergeant, a drum, forty-six armed soldiers, and fifty-four harquebusiers. Although during 1566–7 he was acting in the civil capacity of estreator of Lincolnshire, he was apparently an officer in the army sent for the suppression of the rebellion in the north in 1569. There is a letter from him in the record office, dated Darlington, 18 Dec. 1569, narrating the flight of the rebels on the preceding night from Durham to Hexham (State Papers, Dom. Add. xv. 107). Promotion to a military post of high responsibility followed.
On 28 Feb. 1569–70 Sutton was by patent
