Sir George Shirley, 1st Baronet

Sir George Shirley, 1st Baronet (1559–1622), was an English landowner, created a baronet in 1611. He was the son of John (1535–1570), eldest son of Francis Shirley (1515–1571) of Staunton Harold, and Jane, only daughter and heir of Thomas Lovett of Astwell, Northants. The family inclined to Roman Catholicism, and one of his sisters, Elizabeth Shirley, became a nun, but generally they maintained sufficient conformity to avoid the penalties for recusancy.

Inheriting the estate as a minor, George's wardship was granted by the queen to the courtier Mary Cheke, who sold it on to Sir John Throckmorton. George matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, in 1573. In 1584 he was questioned concerning his links to Sir John's son Francis in relation to the Throckmorton Plot.

The following year he made preparations to serve with the Earl of Leicester in the Netherlands, Sir John presumably intended to marry George to one of his own daughters, but instead accepted £1,500 to allow him to choose his own bride. He married Frances (1561–1595), the daughter of Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, and his first wife Katherine, the daughter of the Earl of Surrey. He subsequently married Dorothy, the widow of the diplomat Sir Henry Unton.

In 1603, as High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, he accompanied James I of England on his way through the county on his way to London.

Shirley died in 1622 and was buried at Breedon on the Hill, where he had erected a monument after the death of his first wife.