William Leighton, second son of Sir Thomas Leighton of Watlesborough, in the same county, Knt. The third son of this Ralph was Thomas, of Wockliff in the parish of Carlton in Craven in the county of York, who changed his name from Tilston to Tillotson. His son George Tillotson had by his wife Eleanor, daughter of Ellis Nutter of Pendle Forest in Lancashire, a son and heir, Robert, the father of the archbishop, who was the eldest of three sons, Joshua and Israel being the younger; and was born of parents more distinguished by their integrity and piety, than their rank and fortune. His father, Mr. Robert Tillotson, was a considerable clothier of Sowerby in the parish of Hallifax, in the county of York, and remarkable for a good understanding, and an uncommon knowledge of the scriptures; but so zealously attached to the system of Calvin, which was almost universally receiv'd in that age, that his prejudices in favour of it were scarce to be moderated by all the reasonings of his son, whom he liv'd to see Dean of Canterbury, being, as appears from a letter of the Dean, alive in May 1679.