Sir Cecil Wray, 11th Baronet


Sir Cecil Wray, 11th Baronet, of Branston Hall, Lincolnshire, was an English aristocrat.

Early life

He was the second son of Sir Drury Wray, 9th Baronet and Anne Casey. Among his siblings was sister, Diana Wray, who married The Ven. William Twigge, the Archdeacon of Limerick.In 1674 his father had obtained grants of land in the counties of Limerick and Tipperary, which he forfeited by his loyalty to James II, on whose side he fought at the Battle of the Boyne.
His paternal grandparents were Sir Christopher Wray, MP for Grimsby, and the Hon. Albinia Cecil. His uncle, [Sir Sir William Wray, 1st Baronet, of Ashby|William Wray, 1st Baronet, of Ashby|William Wray], was created the 1st Baronet Wray, of Ashby. Another uncle was Sir Christopher Wray, 6th Baronet and his aunt, Frances Wray, married Henry Vane the Younger. His maternal grandparents were Bridget Dowdall and Thomas Casey of Rathcannon, County Limerick.

Career

Upon the death of his elder brother, Christopher, in December 1710, he succeeded as the 11th Baronet Wray, of Glentworth, Lincolnshire. His brother had only succeeded to the baronetcy weeks earlier upon their father's death on their father on 30 October 1710. His father had succeeded to the baronetcy from his nephew, Sir Cecil's first cousin, Sir Baptist Edward Wray, in 1689. Upon the 1714 death, without surviving issue, of Elizabeth Saunderson, the only child of Sir John Wray, 3rd Baronet who was a widow of Hon. Nicholas Saunderson, the Glentworth estates passed by entail to Sir Cecil, her next heir male.
He served as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1715 following Francis Anderson. He was himself succeeded as Sheriff by Bartholomew Burton.

Personal life

Wray, who never married, was the father of a daughter, born illegitimately:
Sir Cecil died on 9 May 1736. As he died with no legitimate male issue, the title and estates passed to John Wray, of Sleningford, Yorkshire, the son of his cousin, William Wray. In his will dated 21 January 1735, he "devised his seat at Branston, with all his fee-simple estate there, and all his messuages in Heighington, etc., in the county, to the heirs of his own body begotten or to be begotten, with remainder to Mrs. Ann Casey, his natural and reputed daughter, for life."

Descendants

Through his natural daughter Anne, he was posthumously a grandfather of Albinia Bertie, who married George Hobart, 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire, and Anna Louisa Bertie, who married Lt.-Gen. Sir Charles Stuart.