Mary, Lady Cholmondeley (née Holford; baptized 20 January 1562 – 15 August 1625) was an English litigant in a 40-year-long dispute over her father's estate. She was the wife of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley (the younger) and had eight children with him.
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Personal life
Cholmondeley was born as Mary Holford in late 1562 or January 1563 to Christopher Holford and Elizabeth Mainwaring in Holford manor, Great Budworth, Cheshire, England and christened (baptised) on 20 January 1563. She married, first, Sir Randall Brereton of Malpas but he soon died. Around 1581, she married Sir Hugh Cholmondeley (son of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley). They had eight children, named Robert, Hatton, Hugh, Thomas, Francis, Mary, Lettice, and Frances, before Sir Hugh's death in 1601. Mary Cholmondeley died on 15 August 1625 at the age of sixty-three in Vale Royal, Whitegate, Cheshire, England and was buried the next day in the church at Malpas, Cheshire, England.
Legal dispute over family estate
Cholmondeley came to notice following the legal disputes over Holford Manor and the estates of her father, Christopher Holford, who died on 27 January 1581. His half-brother, George Holford of Newborough, was the next male-heir of the Holfords, but the recently married Mary challenged his legal claim to the land. The lawsuit between them went on for forty years.