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The Earl of Essex's 'little man'

Anne Falloon


Regions:
England, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham, Conwy
Notice Period:
Regular (more than one month's notice)
Type:
Hobby
Fee:
Paid: £50
Category:
History
Updated:
1st February 2026
Tagged:
1601

This is the story of the controversial relationship between Essex and the influential chaplain he called his ‘little man’. Abdias Assheton (1563-1633) was a member of Middleton’s manorial family who rose to some prominence in the final years of Elizabeth I’s reign. A Protestant with strong Puritan leanings,in the 1590’s his approach to thinking through religious and moral choices using scripture attracted the attention of the greatest man in England.

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About Anne Falloon

I am an alumna of University College London and the University of Leeds, gaining a degree in English language and literature. I am a lifelong Byron enthusiast, and appeared on BBC’s Mastermind with the life of Byron as my subject in my early 20's. I retired from a career in Further Education and helped co-found a Rochdale-based Archaeological Society in 2012. Joining the Byron Society, I researched and wrote ‘Byron’s Week in Middleton’, an account of the poet’s 1811 visit to Hopwood Hall near Rochdale (Byron Journal, Vol. 41, No. 1 2013). I had three further essays published by the Byron Journal, the most recent in 2024. I have carried out research on topics ranging from female gentry in mediaeval and Tudor Lancashire to the Earl of Essex’s pastor, Abdias Assheton, and his role in the death of Elizabeth’s favourite. A recent popular talk is on the mediaeval history of the Byron family of Lancashire and later in Nottinghamshire. Now based in Denbighshire, my most recent talk is 'Celebrity Georgians come to Wales', with a focus on late 18th century English tourists.


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