Draft:George Wandesford

George Wandesford (1573-1612) was an English lawyer and landowner.

Life
Born on 20 May 1573, he was a son of Christopher Wandesford (died 1590) and Elizabeth Bowes, a daughter of George Bowes of Streatlam. The Wandesford family home was at Kirklington in Yorkshire. After the death of Christopher Wandesford, Elizabeth married Thomas Preston of Holker.

George Wandesford was educated at St John's College, Cambridge and admitted to Gray's Inn on 19 February 1599. He became known as George Wandesford of Sleningford, from an estate near Tanfield that came to him from his marriage to an heiress, Catherine Hansby. He sold several properties during his lifetime. Following his first marriage, he lived at Hansby House at Bishop Burton.

Wandesford joined the military expedition of the Earl of Essex to Spain and the Azores in 1597. Before leaving London, Wandesford made a will on 20 June, making his brother William Wandesford his executor if he should die in battle or the manifold dangers of the voyage.

Hipswell and the Metcalfe case
George Wandesford restored Hipswell Hall, where his initials "GW 1596" are carved at the entrance. He obtained this house and estate from a relation following a failed plot in 1601 to marry the heir, Christopher Wandesford, to a servant or milk-maid Cecily or Catherine Metcalfe. The wardship of Christopher Wandesford, who was judged incapable in law despite Cecily's protests, was granted to Robert Pamplin, an officer of the royal wardrobe. The couple were divorced, due to Christopher's "incapacity" or "lunacy", and ownership of Hipswell passed to George Wandesford.

Later life and death
Wandesford was knighted at Whitehall Palace in April 1607. He died on 11 September 1612 and was buried at St Andrew Holborn.

Marriages and children
He married firstly, Catherine Hansby, daughter of Ralph Hansby of Beverley and Gray's Inn, and secondly Mary Pamplin, a daughter of Robert Pamplin of Lymington, the officer in the Great Wardrobe of Elizabeth I, who rose from being a page involved in the queen's linen laundry to be yeoman of the robes for James VI and I. Pamplin had been involved in the litigation about the Hipswell estate. George's brother, William Wandesford, married her sister, Margaret Pamplin. Pamplin's widow and daughters received a valuable grant of lands and marshes near Portsmouth Harbour in 1625 which came to the Wandesford family.

His children with Catherine Hansby included:
 * Christopher Wandesford (1592-1640), father of the autobiographical writer Alice Thornton.
 * John Wandesford (1593–1665)
 * Michael Wandesford (died 1637), Dean of Londonderry