Biography of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland 1602-1668

On 17th July 1583 Thomas Perrot [aged 30] and [his mother] Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland [aged 19] were married. The marriage took place without the consent of the Queen to whom Dorothy was lady in Waiting for which Thomas was imprisoned in the Fleet Prison [Map]. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Walter Devereux 1st Earl Essex and [his grandmother] Lettice Knollys Countess Essex and Leicester [aged 39]. They were fifth cousins.

In 1594 [his father] Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland [aged 29] and [his mother] Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland [aged 30] were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Walter Devereux 1st Earl Essex and [his grandmother] Lettice Knollys Countess Essex and Leicester [aged 50]. He the son of Henry Percy 8th Earl of Northumberland and Katherine Neville Countess Northumberland [aged 49]. They were third cousin once removed.

On 29th September 1602 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland was born to [his father] Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland [aged 38] and [his mother] Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland [aged 38].

In 1615 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 12] educated at St John's College, Cambridge University [Map].

In 1615 [his brother-in-law] Robert Sidney 2nd Earl of Leicester [aged 19] and [his sister] Dorothy Percy Countess Leicester [aged 17] were married. She the daughter of [his father] Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland [aged 50] and [his mother] Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland [aged 51]. He the son of Robert Sidney 1st Earl of Leicester [aged 51] and Barbara Gamage Countess Leicester [aged 52]. They were fifth cousin once removed.

In 1616 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 13] educated at Middle Temple.

On 6th November 1617 [his brother-in-law] James Hay 1st Earl Carlisle [aged 37] and [his sister] Lucy Percy Countess Carlisle [aged 17] were married. See Diary of Anne Clifford. The difference in their ages was 20 years. She the daughter of [his father] Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland [aged 53] and [his mother] Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland [aged 53].

On 3rd August 1619 [his mother] Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland [aged 55] died.

In 1622 [his brother-in-law] James Hay 1st Earl Carlisle [aged 42] was created 1st Earl Carlisle. [his sister] Lucy Percy Countess Carlisle [aged 22] by marriage Countess Carlisle.

On 13th July 1626 Robert Sidney 1st Earl of Leicester [aged 62] died. His son [his brother-in-law] Robert [aged 30] succeeded 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Viscount Lisle. [his sister] Dorothy Percy Countess Leicester [aged 28] by marriage Countess of Leicester.

In 1629 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 26] and Anne Cecil were married. She the daughter of William Cecil 2nd Earl Salisbury [aged 37] and Catherine Howard Countess Salisbury [aged 39]. He the son of Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland [aged 64] and Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland. They were fourth cousin once removed.

On 5th November 1632 [his father] Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland [aged 68] died. His son Algernon [aged 30] succeeded 10th Earl of Northumberland, 13th Baron Percy of Alnwick, 21st Baron Percy of Topcliffe, 4th Baron Percy of Alnwick, 12th Baron Poynings.

Around 1634 Anthony Van Dyck [aged 34]. Portrait of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 31] and [his wife] Anne Cecil.

Anne Cecil: she was born to William Cecil 2nd Earl Salisbury and Catherine Howard Countess Salisbury. In 1629 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland and she were married. She the daughter of William Cecil 2nd Earl Salisbury and Catherine Howard Countess Salisbury. He the son of Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland and Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland. They were fourth cousin once removed. In 1637 Anne Cecil died.

In or before 1635 [his daughter] Anne Percy 2nd Countess Chesterfield was born to Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 32] and [his wife] Anne Cecil. She married 1652 her fourth cousin once removed Philip Stanhope 2nd Earl Chesterfield, son of Henry Stanhope and Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield.

In 1635 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 32] was appointed 436th Knight of the Garter by King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland [aged 34].

In 1636 [his daughter] Elizabeth Percy Countess Essex was born to Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 33] and [his wife] Anne Cecil. She married 19th May 1653 her fourth cousin once removed Arthur Capell 1st Earl Essex, son of Arthur Capell 1st Baron Capell Hadham and Elizabeth Morrison Baroness Capell Hadham, and had issue.

In 1637 [his wife] Anne Cecil died.

Before 9th December 1641 Anthony Van Dyck [aged 42]. Portrait of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 39].

On 1st October 1642 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 40] and Elizabeth Howard Countess Northumberland [aged 19] were married. She by marriage Countess of Northumberland. The difference in their ages was 20 years. She the daughter of Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk and Elizabeth Home Countess Suffolk. He the son of Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland and Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland. They were fourth cousin once removed.

On 4th July 1644 [his son] Josceline Percy 11th Earl of Northumberland was born to Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 41] and [his wife] Elizabeth Howard Countess Northumberland [aged 21]. He was educated at the Inner Temple. He married 23rd December 1662 his third cousin Elizabeth Wriothesley Countess Northumberland, daughter of Thomas Wriothesley 4th Earl of Southampton 2nd Earl Chichester and Elizabeth Leigh Countess Southampton, and had issue.

Around February 1650 [his brother-in-law] James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk [aged 30] and Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 27] were married. She by marriage Countess Suffolk. He the son of Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk and Elizabeth Home Countess Suffolk.

In 1652 [his son-in-law] Philip Stanhope 2nd Earl Chesterfield [aged 18] and Anne Percy 2nd Countess Chesterfield [aged 17] were married. She by marriage Countess Chesterfield. She the daughter of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 49] and Anne Cecil. He the son of Henry Stanhope and Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 43]. They were fourth cousin once removed.

On 19th May 1653 [his son-in-law] Arthur Capell 1st Earl Essex [aged 21] and Elizabeth Percy Countess Essex [aged 17] were married. She the daughter of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 50] and Anne Cecil. They were fourth cousin once removed.

In 1654 [his daughter] Anne Percy 2nd Countess Chesterfield [aged 19] died.

John Evelyn's Diary. 9th June 1658. I went to see the Earl of Northumberland's [aged 55] pictures, whereof that of the Venetian Senators was one of the best of Titian's and another of Andrea del Sarto, viz, a Madonna, Christ, St. John, and an Old Woman; a St. Catherine of Da Vinci, with divers portraits of Vandyck; a Nativity of Georgioni; the last of our blessed Kings (Charles I.), and the Duke of York, by Lely [aged 39], a Rosary by the famous Jesuits of Brussels, and several more. This was in Suffolk House, Suffolk Street: the new front toward the gardens is tolerable, were it not drowned by a too massy and clumsy pair of stairs of stone, without any neat invention.

On 20th August 1659 [his sister] Dorothy Percy Countess Leicester [aged 61] died.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 30th June 1660. By times to Sir R. Fanshawe [aged 52] to draw up the preamble to my Lord's Patent. So to my Lord, and with him to White Hall, where I saw a great many fine antique heads of marble, that my Lord Northumberland [aged 57] had given the King. Here meeting with Mr. De Cretz, he looked over many of the pieces, in the gallery with me and told me [by] whose hands they were, with great pleasure. Dined at home and Mr. Hawly with me upon six of my pigeons, which my wife has resolved to kill here. This day came Will¹, my boy, to me; the wench continuing lame, so that my wife could not be longer without somebody to help her. In the afternoon with Sir Edward Walker, at his lodgings by St. Giles Church, for my Lord's pedigree, and carried it to Sir R. Fanshawe. To Mr. Crew's [aged 62], and there took money and paid Mrs. Anne, Mrs. Jemima's maid, off quite, and so she went away and another came to her. To White Hall with Mr. Moore, where I met with a letter from Mr. Turner, offering me £150 to be joined with me in my patent, and to advise me how to improve the advantage of my place, and to keep off Barlow. To my Lord's till late at night, and so home.

Note 1. William Wayneman was constantly getting into trouble, and Pepys had to cane him. He was dismissed on July 7th, 1663.

On 5th November 1660 [his sister] Lucy Percy Countess Carlisle [aged 60] died.

On 23rd December 1662 Josceline Percy 11th Earl of Northumberland [aged 18] and Elizabeth Wriothesley Countess Northumberland [aged 16] were married. She by marriage Countess of Northumberland. She the daughter of Thomas Wriothesley 4th Earl of Southampton 2nd Earl Chichester [aged 55] and Elizabeth Leigh Countess Southampton. He the son of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 60] and Elizabeth Howard Countess Northumberland [aged 39]. They were third cousins.

On 13th October 1668 Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 66] died at Petworth. He was buried at Petworth. His son Josceline [aged 24] succeeded 11th Earl of Northumberland, 14th Baron Percy of Alnwick, 22nd Baron Percy of Topcliffe, 5th Baron Percy of Alnwick, 13th Baron Poynings.

John Evelyn's Diary. 6th September 1680. I dined with Sir Stephen Fox [aged 53], now one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. This gentleman came first a poor boy from the choir of Salisbury, then he was taken notice of by Bishop Duppa, and afterward waited on my [his brother] Lord Percy (brother to Algernon, Earl of Northumberland), who procured for him an inferior place among the clerks of the kitchen and Greencloth side, where he was found so humble, diligent, industrious, and prudent in his behavior, that his Majesty being in exile, and Mr. Fox waiting, both the King [aged 50] and Lords about him frequently employed him about their affairs, and trusted him both with receiving and paying the little money they had. Returning with his Majesty to England, after great want and great sufferings, his Majesty found him so honest and industrious, and withal so capable and ready, that, being advanced from clerk of the kitchen to that of the Greencloth, he procured to be paymaster of the whole army, and by his dexterity and punctual dealing he obtained such credit among the bankers, that he was in a short time able to borrow vast sums of them upon any exigence. The continual turning thus of money, and the soldiers' moderate allowance to him for keeping touch with them, did so enrich him, that he is believed to be worth at least £200,000, honestly got and unenvied; which is next to a miracle. With all this he continues as humble and ready to do a courtesy as ever he was.

John Evelyn's Diary. 15th November 1681. I dined with the [his son-in-law] Earl of Essex [aged 49] who, after dinner in his study, where we were alone, related to me how much he had been scandalized and injured in the report of his being privy to the marriage of his Lady's [aged 45] niece [aged 14], the rich young widow of the late Lord Ogle, sole daughter of the Earl of Northumberland; showing me a letter of Mr. Thynn's [aged 33], excusing himself for not communicating his marriage to his Lordship. He acquainted me also with the whole story of that unfortunate lady being betrayed by her grandmother, the Countess of Northumberland [aged 58], and Colonel Bret, for money; and that though, upon the importunity of the Duke of Monmouth [aged 32], he had delivered to the grandmother a particular of the jointure which Mr. Thynn pretended he would settle on the lady, yet he totally discouraged the proceeding as by no means a competent match for one that both by birth and fortune might have pretended to the greatest prince in Christendom; that he also proposed the Earl of Kingston [aged 21], or the Lord Cranburn, but was by no means for Mr. Thynn.

John Evelyn's Diary. 11th March 1705. An exceedingly dry season. Great loss by fire, burning the outhouses and famous stable of the Earl of Nottingham [aged 57], at Burleigh [Rutlandshire], full of rich goods and furniture, by the carelessness of a servant. A little before, the same happened at Lord Pembroke's [aged 49], at Wilton. The old [his former wife] Countess of Northumberland [aged 82], Dowager of Algernon Percy, Admiral of the fleet to King Charles I., died in the 83d year of her age. She was sister to the [his former brother-in-law] Earl of Suffolk, and left a great estate, her jointure to descend to the [his grandson-in-law] Duke of Somerset [aged 42].

On 11th March 1705 [his former wife] Elizabeth Howard Countess Northumberland [aged 82] died.