The Newgate Calendar - LAURENCE, EARL FERRERS   Executed at
Tyburn, 5th of May, 1760, for the Murder of his Steward, after a
Trial before his Peers  Earl Ferrers shooting his steward  The
execution of Earl Ferrers  LAURENCE, EARL FERRERS, was descended
of an ancient and noble family. The royal blood of the
Plantagenets flowed in his veins, and the Earl gained his title
in the following manner. The second baronet of the family, Sir
Henry Shirley, married a daughter of the celebrated Earl of
Essex, who was beheaded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and his
son, Sir Robert Shirley, died in the Tower, where he was
confined during the Protectorate, for his attachment to the
cause of the Stuarts. Upon the Restoration, the second son of
Sir Robert succeeded to the title and estates, and Charles,
anxious to cement the bonds which attached his friends to him,
summoned him to the Upper House of Parliament by the title of
Lord Ferrers of Chartley, as the descendant of one of the co-
heiresses of the Earl of Essex; the tit