Simon Weston (MP)

His uncle was married to a cousin of the Queen, while his own wife, Frances Burke, Countess of Clanricarde, was the daughter of the Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's spymaster.

Weston initially evaded capture but was later brought in front of the Privy Council, and given to the custody of his brother-in-law, Bishop Martin Heton, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

[5] After successfully denying his involvement in the uprising, despite his close relationship with rebel Sir Christopher Blount, he was set free in 1602, and was awarded a Royal Lordship under King James I of England.

Weston later became Deputy lieutenant and a personal trustee of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, brother of Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, who was also Vice-Admiral and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army.

Thereafter, Weston lived in relative obscurity, although around 1632 he reached for help to the Secretary of State, Sir John Coke, on behalf of his daughter Elizabeth and her children, who had been deserted and left unsupported by her husband, Robert Ridgeway, 2nd Earl of Londonderry.

St John's Hospital , seat of the Weston family, in Lichfield
An 1822 engraving of Hagley Hall from the estate side by John Preston Neale , Weston's parent family
Coat of arms of the Earl of Londonderry , Robert Ridgeway, husband of Elizabeth Weston
Merevale Hall , estate of Weston's replacement as MP, Sir Edward Littleton
Wollaton Hall , seat of the cousins of the Ridgeway family, the Willoughbys