Colonel Francis Billingsley was Royalist officer in the English Civil War. Placed in charge of the defences of Bridgnorth in Shropshire, he was killed in the churchyard of St Leonard's when the town was stormed by Parliamentarian troops in March 1646. His rapier was presented to the church by one of his descendants and for many years was on display in the church. Sadly it was stolen in around 2000 and has not been recovered.