John Leveson

Sir John Leveson (21 March 1555 – 14 November 1615) was an English politician. He was instrumental in putting down Essex's Rebellion on 8 February 1601.

Family John Leveson, born 21 March 1555 at Whornes Place, Cuxton, Kent, was the eldest son of Thomas Leveson (1532–1576), second son of the London mercer Nicholas Leveson (d.1539) by Denise or Dionyse Bodley (d.1561), youngest daughter of Thomas Bodley (d.1493) and Joan Leche (d. March 1530). His mother was Ursula Gresham (1534–1574), one of the twelve children of Sir John Gresham, Lord Mayor of London.

Leveson had a younger brother, William Leveson (d.1621), one of two trustees used by William Kempe, Thomas Pope (d.1603), Augustine Phillips (d.1605), John Heminges (bap. 1566, d. 1630) and William Shakespeare (1564-1616) to allocate shareholdings in the Globe Theatre in 1599.

Career Leveson matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 10 January 1576, and studied for a time at Gray's Inn.

Leveson was a Member of Parliament for Bossiney in 1586, Maidstone in 1597 and 1601, and for Kent in 1604.

Leveson married secondly, on 9 July 1586, Christian Mildmay (d. February 1627), widow of Charles Barrett by whom she was the mother of Edward Barrett, 1st and last Baron Barrett, and daughter of Sir Walter Mildmay, After Sir John Leveson's death, Frances married, as his first wife, Thomas Savile (bap. 14 September 1590 – c.1659), later Earl of Sussex. There were no issue of the marriage. After Frances' death, Savile married secondly, shortly after November 1640, Anne Villiers, only daughter of Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey, by Elizabeth Sheldon, the daughter of Thomas Sheldon. Christian Leveson, married to Sir Peter Temple, 2nd Baronet by whom she was the mother of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet. Richard Leveson. Richard was made heir to the large but heavily indebted Shropshire and Staffordshire estates of his relative and namesake, Vice-Admiral Richard Leveson, who died in 1605. Sir John was much concerned in his later years, as head of a family trust, with the struggle to rectify the financial position of the Leveson estates. He died with the issue unresolved but his wife, Christian, was able to pay off the debts and secure the inheritance of their second son in 1623. He was a regionally important as royalist in the English Civil War. Francis Leveson. Rachel Leveson, who married Richard Newport, 1st Baron Newport (7 May 1587 – 8 February 1651), of Eyton and High Ercall, Shropshire.