Ralph "le Rous" de Mitton

  Noted events in his life were:

• Web Reference: The family de Mitton.
Stonyhurst in Aighton was part of the original manor granted to Ralph the Red by Robert de Lacy in the Nov. 23, 1102 charter. Stonyhurst descended through Richard Bailey's grandfather, John, who received it by deed from his cousins Emma and Cecily Mitton in 1362. The Baileys were all descendants of Otto de Mitton, the grandson of Ralph the Red. Otto received the manor of Bailey from his older brother Hugh, then Lord of Mitton manor, around 1200. Otto de Mitton took the name de Bailey to differentiate his own sub-feuded manor. The de Bailey surname lasted until the death of his great, great, grandson Richard Bailey in 1388. That Richard Bailey was the founding father of the Shireburnes of Stonyhurst through his son only Richard Shireburne who took his mothers surname.

"A History of the Parish of Mitton in the West Riding of Yorkshire" by Frederick George Ackerley, 1947

"Otto's grandson, Jordan de Bailey, had a son Walter who was living in 1292 to 1323. His son John, who died in 1271, left a son Richard. This Richard de Bailey married Margaret Sherburne and assumed the surname of his wife. From this pair descended the Sherburne's of Stoneyhurst, who played a prominent part in the subsequent history of Mitton until the male line became extinct in the year 1717 (Sir Nicolas Sherburne's death). Thus the later Sherburnes were directly descended from the original grantee of the Manor, Ralph the Red.

• Background Information. ⁷⁵⁵
Aighton was in 1102 given by Henry I to Robert de Lacy, and from that time onward formed part of the great fee or honor of Clitheroe. [Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 382] Robert immediately bestowed Aighton, together with Great Mitton and other manors, upon Ralph le Rous, who was to hold them by the service of half a knight's fee. [Ibid. 385] This grant was between 1135 and 1141 confirmed by Ilbert de Lacy, who in his charter styled Ralph 'my brother.' Ralph was ancestor of the Mitton family, who retained possession for some 150 years, though there is little to record of their tenure. [Whalley Couch. (Chet. Soc), iii, 680.]

~A History of the County of Lancaster, Vol. VII, pp. 1-20