Giles Strangways (1528–1562)


Sir Giles Strangways, of Melbury Sampford, Dorset, was five times MP for Dorset in 1553, 1554, 1555, 1558 and 1559.

Origins

He was the eldest son of Sir Henry Strangways,, and his wife Margaret Manners, a daughter of George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros of Helmsley or Hamlake Castle in Yorkshire, and a sister of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. In 1546 Giles therefore succeeded his grandfather in the family estates.

Career

He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and was knighted in 1549. He served as Member of Parliament for Dorset in 1553, 1554, 1555, 1558 and 1559. In 1557 he saw military service in France under the Earl of Pembroke.

Marriage and progeny

He married Joan Wadham, a daughter of John Wadham of Merryfield, Ilton, Somerset and Edge, Branscombe, Devon, and a sister and co-heiress of Nicholas Wadham, also educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and co-founder with his wife Dorothy Wadham of Wadham College, Oxford. Sometime after 1545 he and Joan re-built the tudor period Melbury House. Joan later married Sir John Young MP, of The Great House, Bristol, and her effigy is included in her monument to herself and both husbands in Bristol Cathedral with the following inscription:

She was in later life a defendant in the Case of the Swans. By Joan he had four sons and two daughters:
He died in 1562 and was buried at Melbury Sampford.