Wolstan Dixie (born 1576)

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Sir Wolstan Dixie of Appleby Magna and then Market Bosworth (1576 – 25 July 1650) was the founder of the Dixie Grammar School in Market Bosworth.^[1]

He was born the son of John Dixie, a yeoman farmer of Catworth, Huntingdonshire and educated at Gray's Inn from 1595. In 1594 he inherited an estate at Market Bosworth from his great-uncle the first Sir Wolstan Dixie, Lord Mayor of London, who had endowed the Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University.^[2]

He was knighted by James I of England in 1604 as Sir Wolstan Dixie of Appleby Magna. In 1608 he moved to Market Bosworth and commenced work on the original manor house and a grammar school.

In 1614 he was appointed High Sheriff of Leicestershire and in 1625 the county's representative in Parliament.^{[citation needed]}

He died in 1650. He had married Frances, the daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont of Stoughton Grange, Leicestershire with whom he had 4 sons and 4 daughters.^[2]

His son, the then elderly Sir Wolstan Dixie, 1st Baronet, was also appointed High Sheriff of Leicestershire for 1660 and created the first of a line of the Dixie baronets by Charles II of England when the King returned from exile in France.^{[citation needed]}