Sir John Spencer, Kt., MP

John Spencer

• Born c. 1549 Althorp, Northamptonshire
• Died 9 January 1600 Althorp, Northamptonshire
• Buried St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Brington
• Noble family Spencer
• Spouse(s) Mary Catlyn
• Issue Robert Spencer, 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton
• Father John Spencer
• Mother Katherine Kitson

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Biography

Sir John Spencer (c. 1549 – 9 January 1600) was an English nobleman, politician, landowner, sheriff, knight, and MP from the Spencer family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spencer_(died_1600)

Spencer was the son of Sir John Spencer (died 1586) of Althorp, Northamptonshire, and his wife Katherine Kitson, daughter of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, Suffolk. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he then trained in the law at the Middle Temple. He succeeded his father in 1586, inheriting estates at Wormleighton, Warwickshire, and Althorp, Northamptonshire, and was knighted in 1588.

He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Bedfordshire in 1577 and for Northamptonshire in 1584. He was Sheriff of Northamptonshire for the year 1578–79 and again for 1590–91. He was elected as one of the members of parliament for Northampton in 1572.
Spencer died on 9 January 1600 and was buried in St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Brington, the parish church for Althorp.

His monument was made by Joseph Hollemans, a Dutch sculptor residing in Burton-on-Trent.[1]

Marriage and issue

Spencer married Mary Catlyn, the only daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Catlin, who brought him estates in both Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. They had one son, Robert, who became the first Baron Spencer of Wormleighton..

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spencer-2104

Sir John Spencer, Kt, was the eldest son of Sir John Spencer, Kt, of Wormleighton & Althorp and Katherine (Kitson). He Married Mary Catlin, daughter of Sir Robert Catlyn, of Berne, Dorset. To this union one son was born; Robert 1st Baron Spencer, of Wormleighton.

Sir John Spencer was invested as a Knight in 1588 by Queen Elizabeth I, upon the death of his father.

Sir John planted a large wood a the rear of Althorp. The oldest oaks still growing there today were planted at his instruction in 1589. It was Sir John's intention to boost the timber stocks, in order to help enable the English Navy to build more ships.

Sir John increased the Althorp estate by buying Little Brington in 1592 from Francis Bernard.

Ben Jonson was at Sir John's house and wrote a masque (play).

Pedigree

http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/spencerarms.htm

In the Spencer Chapel in Great Brington Church there are monuments to six consecutive generations of the Spencer family:

• 1. Sir John Spencer (died 1522) and his wife Isabella Graunt
• 2. Sir William Spencer (died 1532) and his wife Susan Knightley
• 3. Sir John Spencer (died 1586) and his wife Katherine Kitson
• 4. Sir John Spencer (died 1599) and his wife Mary Catelin
• 5. Robert, 1st Baron Spencer (died 1627) and his wife Margaret Willoughby
• 6. William, 2nd Baron Spencer (died 1636) and his wife Lady Penelope Wriothesley

These monuments are liberally decorated with carved or painted shields, using Spencer Modern (the arms assigned to the Spencers of Althorp in 1595), as shown in Fig. 1, to illustrate through heraldry the family connections of the Spencers of Althorp

Fig 1: The arms of Spencer of Althorp: Great Brington Church, Northamptonshire

• Sir John Spencer (c. 1549 – 9 January 1600) was an English landowner, sheriff and MP from the Spencer family.
• He was born the son of Sir John Spencer of Althorp, Northamptonshire, and his wife Katherine Kitson, daughter of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, Suffolk. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and trained in the law at the Middle Temple. He succeeded his father in 1586, inheriting estates at Wormleighton, Warwickshire and Althorp, Northamptonshire, and was knighted in 1588.
• He was appointed a JP for Bedfordshire in 1577, for Northamptonshire in 1584 and High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1578–79 and 1590–91.
• He was elected MP for Northampton in 1572.
• Spencer died 9 January 1600 and was buried in St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Brington, the parish church for Althorp.
• Spencer married Mary, the only daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Catlin, who brought him estates in both Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. They had one son, Robert, who became the first Baron Spencer.
• Spencer was a direct ancestor of Lady Diana Spencer.
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spencer_(died_1600)
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• Sir John Spencer1
• M, #105261, d. 9 January 1599/0
• Last Edited=7 Dec 2008
• Sir John Spencer was the son of Sir John Spencer and Katherine Kitson.2 He married Mary Catlin, daughter of Sir Robert Catlin.2 He died on 9 January 1599/0.1
• He was invested as a Knight in 1588.2 He leased the house at Great Brington, Northamptonshire to Robert Washington before 16 April 1599.3
• Child of Sir John Spencer and Mary Catlin
  • 1.Robert Spencer, 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton+1 b. 1570, d. 25 Oct 1627
• Citations
• 1.[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XII/1, page 159. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• 2.[S9] Charles Kidd and David Williamson, editor, DeBretts Peerage and Baronetage (London, U.K.: DeBrett's Peerage, 1999), volume 2, page 1870. Hereinafter cited as DeBretts Peerage, 1999.
• 3.[S60] Charles and Hugh Brogan Mosley, editor, American Presidential Families (London, U.K.: Alan Sutton and Morris Genealogical Books, 1994), page 49. Hereinafter cited as American Presidential Families.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10527.htm#i105261
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• SPENCER, John (c.1549-1600), of Newnham, Warws. and Althorp, Northants.
• Family and Education
• b. c.1549, 1st s. of Sir John Spencer† of Althorp by Katherine, da. of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, Suff.; bro. of Richard and William. educ. Trinity Coll. Camb. 1561, M. Temple 1564. m. 1566, Mary, da. and h. of Sir Robert Catlin, 1s. Robert. suc. fa. 1586. Kntd. 1588.1
• Offices Held
  • J.p. Beds. from c.1577, Northants. from c.1584; sheriff, Northants. 1578-9, 1590-1, commr. musters by 1593-7; steward of Higham Ferrers, Daventry, Long Buckby and Passenham from 1592.2
• Biography
• The Spencers’ administration of their Northamptonshire and Warwickshire estates was admired and often emulated by gentlemen all over England. Sheep from their pastures were purchased for breeding and it is probable that the family’s success as farmers was rarely equalled in the century. Spencer himself, however, in the years before his father’s death was frequently in debt, perhaps because he had been over-ambitious in his purchases of land, or because of too lavish hospitality. The estate was not freed from the burdens of his debts and his father’s legacies until 1590.3
• The family was well-known to most of the important men of the day. Three of Spencer’s sisters married noblemen: George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, the Queen’s cousin; Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby; William Stanley, 3rd Baron Monteagle. His father refers to the honourable favour shown to him and his family by Burghley and Sir Walter Mildmay. A man so powerfully connected might come into Parliament for a neighbouring borough more or less when he liked, and the reason for Spencer’s having himself returned is probably to be found in the subject of his only recorded participation in the business of the House, when he managed in committee a bill to assure certain lands his father had sold to (Sir) Christopher Hatton I, 14 Feb. 1576. Spencer did not bother to sit in later Parliaments, though his two younger brothers and his son did. Spencer obtained no court or central government appointments, and in comparison with such men as Sir Richard Knightley and Sir Edward Montagu he played a minor role in county life.4
• Spencer died on 9 Jan. 1600. His main contribution to the expansion of the estates to a size which was to support an earldom in his grandson’s time, came through his marriage. Mary Catlin brought him the vast estates in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire which her father had built up from the profits of a successful legal career. Besides these, his own purchase of the manor of Sandys and the rectory of Dunton in Bedfordshire were insignificant. As he had only one child, his will is mainly concerned with small legacies to his servants, to those who had cared for him in his last sickness, which may have been of some length, and to his minister Thomas Campion. He was buried, as he had requested, in Brington church.5
• Ref Volumes: 1558-1603
• Author: S. M. Thorpe
• Notes
• 1. C142/215/258; Baker, Northants. i. 109; M. Finch, Five Northants. Fams. (Northants. Rec. Soc. xix) ped. ii.
• 2. Harl. 5968, no. 139; Musters, Beacons and Subsidies ed. Wake (Northants. Rec. Soc. iii), 34, 35; HMC Buccleuch, iii. 33; HMC Montagu, 25; Somerville, Duchy, i. 587, 591.
• 3. J. H. Round, Studies in Peerage and Fam. Hist. 281; H. R. Trevor Roper, The Gentry 1540-1640 (Econ. Hist. Rev. Supp. 1), 12; Finch, 38, 51-2 seq.
• 4. PCC 1 Spencer; CJ, i. 105; CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 207; 1595-7, p. 210; APC, xxii. 123, 442, 546; xxiii. 258, 286; xxiv. 454; xxv. 157, 392; xxviii. 47; HMC Montagu, 24, 25; HMC Buccleuch, iii. 33, 36, 39, 48, 49, 50-4.
• 5. Finch, 50-1, app. iv; C142/262/129; PCC 95 Kidd; Baker, Northants. i. 97.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/sp...

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GEDCOM Note

Notes for John Spencer

Sources: Eng. A.M. Vol. 1, P. 40. Visitation of Cambridge. Eng. pub. AC Vol. 41, p. 15.

High Sheriff of Northamptonshire Sold house in Ladbroke in 1598 to Sir Robert DUDLEY. Purchased Little Brington from BERNARDS in 1592. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1588. Sources: ABC 18094, 18107, 18109

GEDCOM Source

9BZQ-J1V John Spencer in entry for Dorathie Spencer, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975" "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JW2W-CZ4 : 11 February 2018, John Spencer in entry for Dorathie Spencer, 13 Jun 1592); citing , index based upon data collected by the Gene https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JW2W-CZ4

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spencer_(died_1600)

Sir John Spencer
Funeral display of Sir John Spencer.png

The funeral honours of Sir John Spencer, Kt. (1546–1600). He displays both the Despencer arms (differenced as a cadet branch) adopted after c. 1595 and the blue and white arms granted in 1504.

• Catherine KYTSON
• Born: ABT 1525, Hengrave, Suffolk, England
• Died: BEF 8 Nov 1586
• Buried: Brington, Northamptonshire, England
• Father: Thomas KYTSON (Sir Knight)
• Mother: Margaret DONNINGTON (C. Bath)
• Married: John SPENCER of Wormleighton (Sir) 1545, Hengrave, Suffolk, England
• Children:
  • 1. Anne SPENCER (B. Mounteagle/B. Compton/C. Dorset)
  • 2. Catherine SPENCER
  • 3. Elizabeth SPENCER (B. Hundson /B. Eure of Witton)
  • 4. Alice SPENCER (C. Derby)
  • 5. John SPENCER of Wormleighton (Sir)
  • 6. Mary SPENCER
  • 7. Margaret SPENCER
  • 8. Thomas SPENCER
  • 9. William SPENCER of Yarnton (Sir)
  • 10. Richard SPENCER
  • 11. Edward SPENCER
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/KYTSON.htm#Catherine KYTSON1

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Visitation ofHertfordshire Page 165: Spencer of Offley. < Archive.Org >

References

• http://thepeerage.com/p10527.htm#i105261