Francis Southwell

Francis Southwell (died 1581) was auditor of the exchequer under Henry VIII and a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for St. Albans in 1558. He was the third son of Francis Southwell and Dorothy, daughter and co-heiress of William Tendring. His elder brothers were Sir Richard Southwell (1502/3–1564) and the lawyer Sir Robert Southwell (c. 1506 – 1559) of Mereworth in Kent. A fourth brother, Anthony, married Anne Le Strange, daughter of Sir Thomas Le Strange.

Southwell first married Alice, daughter of William Standish, the widow of John Mynne (d. 14 December 1542 ), Auditor of the Exchequer, Clerk to the Surveyor General and Master of the Woods to Henry VIII, and the son of Nicholas Mynne of Fransham Parva in Norfolk (d. 1530). John Mynne (d. 1542) was the uncle of Nicholas Mynne. The marriage of Alice and Francis Southwell left no issue, but from her first marriage Alice had many children. Her sons were Edward (22 June 1534 – 14 July 1551 ); George Mynne (14 February 1535/6 – 20 May 1581 ) of Hertingfordbury in Hertfordshire, whose posthumous son George became a Member of Parliament and whose daughter Anne by his wife Elizabeth Wroth, daughter of Sir Thomas Wroth, married George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore; and Andrew. Her daughters were Susan who married John Darnall and died soon leaving a son Henry Darnall of Bird's Place, Essenden, Hertfordshire; Elizabeth who married Roger Lawrence and had four daughters, one of whom, Susan, became the second wife of John Darnall; Anna who married Richard Boteler and perhaps others.

On 6 August 1560 Francis Southwell married Barbara, daughter of John Spencer of Rendlesham Suffolk, who was the widow of Richard Catlyn (d. 1556) of Norwich and Honingham, Norfolk, and had by her two sons and one daughter.