Percival Levett

Percival Levett (1560–1625) was an early merchant and innkeeper of York, England, Sheriff of the city,[1] member of the Eastland Company and father of English explorer Capt. Christopher Levett.

York, England

Levett was born in Harewood, Yorkshire, and removed early to the city of York, where he was listed as a freeman in 1581, and where he served the city as chamberlain and subsequently Sheriff in 1597.[2] His daughter Ann married another York Sheriff, Christopher Topham (father of Member of Parliament Christopher Topham), and on his death married Dr. Joseph Micklethwaite.[3][4]

The ancestors of Percival Levett came from Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, and they shared a coat-of-arms with the Levetts of Normanton,[5] High Melton and Hooton Levitt, Yorkshire, indicating that a cadet branch of the family probably relocated to Bolton Percy during medieval times.[6]

Levett was a contributor from York to the Queen's Loan in 1590.[7] He was a member of the Eastland Company,[8] an English company established in the sixteenth century in an attempt to wrest Baltic trade from the Hanseatic League.

Percival Levett was buried at St. Martin's Micklegate in York on 13 February 1625.[9] Levett had done well enough as a merchant to acquire the title of gentleman, a title he assuredly was born without,[10] and sold his home in Coppergate, in central York, to Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of York.[11] Levett's sons, aside from Capt. Christopher the explorer, also became merchants, including his son Percival, a merchant at Beverley and York.[12][13] Percival Levett's brother Richard Levett was a long-serving mayor of Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Ancestry of Percival Levett of York, Visitation of Dorset, 1623

References
  1. History and description of the ancient city of York, William Hargrove, William Alexander, York, 1818.
  2. Walks through the city of York, by R. Davies, ed. by his widow, Robert Davies, Chapman and Hall Limited, London, 1880
  3. The Register of Burials in York Minster, Robert H. Skaife, The Mount, York, GENUKI.ORG Archived 16 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Sir Bernard Burke, Printed by Harrison, London, 1866
  5. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, Vol. I, Third Series, G. Milner-Gibson-Cullum, Mitchell and Hughes, London, 1896
  6. The arms of the Levetts of Bolton Percy (and subsequently of York) and those of the Levetts of Normanton and High Melton were: Sable, a fess embattled, between 3 lions' heads erased, argent.
  7. Chapters in the History of Yorkshire, James Joel Cartwright, B.W. Allen, Wakefield, 1872
  8. The Acts and Ordinances of the Eastland Company, Maud Sellers, Offices of the Royal Historical Society, London, 1906
  9. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Vol. LXVII, Published by the Society, Boston, 1913
  10. In deeds of covenant of about 1590, 'Percyvall Levitt' is referred to as 'yeoman.' Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine By 20 May 1617, referring to Levett and his 'son and heir Christopher,' Percival Levett is referred to as 'Gentleman.'
  11. Archaeologia Aeliana, or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Vol. V, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, J.G. Forster, 1861
  12. 'Percivallus Levett, mercator, fil. Percivalli Levett, generosi,' Register of the Freemen of the City of York: Vol. 2: 1559-1759, Francis Collins, 1900, British History Online
  13. The Publications of the Surtees Society, Wills & Administrations from the Knaresborough Court Rolls, Vol. II, Published for the Society by Andrews & Co., Durham, 1905

See also
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