Viscount Molyneux
| Earldom of Sefton | |
|---|---|
 
Azure, a cross moline, or
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| Creation date | 30 November 1771 |
| Monarch | George III |
| Peerage | Peerage of Ireland |
| First holder | Charles Molyneux, Viscount Molyneux |
| Last holder | Hugh Molyneux, 7th Earl of Sefton |
| Subsidiary titles | Viscount Molyneux Baron Sefton |
| Extinction date | 13 April 1972 |
| Former seat(s) |
Croxteth Hall Abbeystead House |
| Armorial motto | Vivere sat vincere ("To conquer is to live enough") |
Earl of Sefton was a title in the Peerage of Ireland created in 1771 for the 8th Viscount Molyneux. The Earls of Sefton held the subsidiary titles Viscount Molyneux, of Maryborough in the Queen's County (created 1628), in the Peerage of Ireland, and (from the 2nd Earl onwards) Baron Sefton, of Croxteth in the County Palatine of Lancaster (created 1831), in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The Molyneux's powerful allegiances led to an acquisition of lands and wealth throughout the period 1100–1700 when the family were Lords of the manor at Sefton.
All three titles became extinct upon the death of the 7th Earl in 1972. The seat of the Earls of Sefton was Croxteth Hall near (now in) Liverpool. It was bequeathed to the City of Liverpool by the 7th and last Earl of Sefton and his wife, the former Josephine Gwynne Armstrong (1903–1980), who was the last member of the Molyneux family to live at Croxteth. The American-born Countess of Sefton, nicknamed "Foxy" and formerly a fashion model of great beauty, was a lifelong friend of the Duchess of Windsor.
Another seat of the Earls of Sefton was the Abbeystead estate in Lancashire, later owned by the Duke of Westminster. Abbeystead was mainly used as a hunting and recreational estate by the Earls of Sefton.
Despite being part of the Peerage of Ireland, the earldom referred to Sefton in Lancashire.
The ancestors of the Molyneaux family who arrived in England around the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066 bore the name "de Molines". They came from Molineaux-sur-Seine, near Rouen, in Normandy where they were guardians of Château de Robert-le-Diable also known as Château de Moulineaux. They were granted lands in Lancashire. They can be shown to have held a large moated manor and St. Helen's Church at Sefton without interruption from about 1100 to 1700 before they moved to Croxteth Hall. Of the Molyneux family, Sir Richard (d.1290) and Sir William Molyneux (d.1320), knights of the Crusades, are entombed within the church, and are its oldest inhabitants. Their effigies now lie beneath an arch moulding set into the wall in the Molyneux chapel, which is outside of the 14th-century church walls.
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