Shirley family, Earls Ferrers

The Shirley family was settled at Ettington (Warwickshire) by 1086 and Shirley (Derbyshire) by c.1129. Property in Nottinghamshire (Ratcliffe-upon-Soar), Leicestershire (Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, Ragdale, etc) and elsewhere was inherited from the last Baron Bassett (d. 1390) of Drayton. In the 15th century Brailsford (Derbyshire) and Staunton Harold (Leicestershire) were acquired through marriages to heiresses while another marriage, that of John Shirley and Jane, daughter and heir of Thomas Lovett, in 1558 brought the Astwell estate (Northamptonshire) and lands in other counties. Sir George Shirley was created a baronet in 1611.

In 1646, on the death of his uncle Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, the 4th Bt inherited Chartley (Staffordshire) and a moiety of the barony of Farney (County Monaghan), the remainder of Essex's property passing to his sister Frances, Marchioness of Hertford (see Thynne, Marquesses of Bath). An estate at Garsdon (Wiltshire) was acquired through the marriage of Robert Shirley (created Earl Ferrers in 1711) and Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Laurence Washington, but on the 1st Earl's death in 1717 his estates were divided between the children of this marriage and those of his second marriage to Selina Finch, daughter of the London merchant George Finch. Garsdon (sold 1741) passed to a younger son by Elizabeth Washington and the Ettington and County Monaghan estates to the sons of the second marriage (see Shirley of Ettington), whilst the remaining estates were settled on the 2nd Earl, a son by the first marriage.

The Northamptonshire and some of the Derbyshire property was sold by the 5th Earl (d. 1778) and further Derbyshire and Leicestershire lands were alienated in the 19th century. The Chartley and Staunton Harold estates were disposed of in 1904 and c1949-53 respectively. The 11th Earl, who succeeded his cousin the 10th Earl in 1912, was descended from a brother of the 6th Earl, Walter Shirley, rector of Loughrea (County Galway), the founder of an ecclesiastical dynasty.

Property at Tamworth (Staffordshire) was acquired through the marriage of Robert Shirley (d. 1698), son of the 1st Earl, to Anne, daughter and heir of Sir Humphrey Ferrers. Their son Robert, Viscount Tamworth (d. 1714) had no issue but their daughter Elizabeth, Baroness Ferrers (d. 1741) married the 5th Earl of Northampton and had issue Charlotte, wife of the 1st Marquess Townshend, to whose family the Tamworth estate descended (see Townshend, Marquesses Townshend). Wiston (West Sussex), brought by the marriage of Beatrice (d. 1440), daughter and heir of Sir John de Braose, to Sir Hugh Shirley, devolved upon a junior branch of the Shirley family.

Estates in 1883: Staffs 6,862 acres, Leics 1,801 acres, Derbys 2 acres, total 8,665 acres worth £12,707 a year.