Person Page - 1338

     1st Earl of Essex.

     Baron FitzWarine.

     John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (1467 – 1533) was a statesman and translator, born at Sherfield, Hertfordshire, England, and educated at Oxford University. He held various Offices of State, including that of Chancellor of the Exchequer to King Henry VIII, and Lieutenant of Calais.

He translated, at the King's desire, Froissart's Chronicles (1523-1525), in such a manner as to make distinct advance in English historical writing, and the Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius (1534); also The History of Arthur of Lytell Brytaine (Brittany), and the romance of Huon of Bordeaux.[1]

He died at Calais in 1533.

His illegitimate daughter Ursula married William Sharington.[2]¹

     Sir Thomas Knyvett (1539-1616?) was the High Sheriff of the English county of Norfolk in 1579.

Thomas was the first son of John Knyvett (d. 1524) and Agnes the daughter of Sir John Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire. Knyvett was a native of Ashwellthorpe in Norfolk, and married Muriel Parry, the daughter of Sir Thomas Parry. He was knighted in 1578 and inherited the Ashwellthorpe estates from Jane Bourchier, who was his grandmother. He was buried at Ashwellthorp on February 9th, 1617/1618. It is stated that he unsuccessfully claimed the title of Lord Berners.¹

     King of Great Britain. Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649), the second son of James VI of Scots and I of England, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution.[1] Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles believed was divinely ordained. Many of his English subjects opposed his actions, in particular his interference in the English and Scottish Churches, and the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent grew to be seen as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch.[2]

Religious conflicts permeated Charles' reign. His failure to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years War, coupled with such actions as marrying a Catholic princess,[3][4] generated deep mistrust concerning the king's dogma. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, such as the ecclesiastic Richard Montagu, and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Many of Charles's subjects felt this brought the Church of England too close to the Catholic Church. Charles's later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to the Bishops' Wars that weakened England's government and helped precipitate his downfall.

His last years were marked by the English Civil War, in which he fought the forces of the English and Scottish Parliaments, which challenged the king's attempts to overrule and negate Parliamentary authority, whilst simultaneously using his position as head of the English Church to pursue religious policies which generated the antipathy of reformed groups such as the Puritans. Charles was defeated in the First Civil War (1642–45), after which Parliament expected him to accept its demands for a constitutional monarchy. He instead remained defiant by attempting to forge an alliance with Scotland and escaping to the Isle of Wight. This provoked the Second Civil War (1648–49) and a second defeat for Charles, who was subsequently captured, tried, convicted, and executed for high treason. The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England, also referred to as the Cromwellian Interregnum, was declared. Charles's son, Charles II, became king after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.[2] In that same year, Charles I was canonized as "St. Charles Stuart" by the Church of England.[5]¹

     King of Great Britain. Charles II (29 May 1630 OS – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II as king, and instead passed a statute that made any such proclamation unlawful. England entered the period known to history as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. The Parliament of Scotland, however, proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649 in Edinburgh. He was crowned King of Scotland at Scone on 1 January 1651. Following his defeat by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Charles fled to mainland Europe and spent the next nine years in exile in France, the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands.

A political crisis following the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in Charles being invited to return and assume the throne in what became known as the Restoration. Charles II arrived on English soil on 27 May 1660 and entered London on his 30th birthday, 29 May 1660. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if Charles had succeeded his father in 1649. Charles was crowned King of England and Ireland at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661.

Charles's English parliament enacted anti-Puritan laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England. Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he himself favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of Charles's early reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, Charles entered into the secret treaty of Dover, an alliance with his first cousin King Louis XIV of France under the terms of which Louis agreed to aid Charles in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay Charles a pension, and Charles promised to convert to Roman Catholicism at an unspecified future date. Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oates's revelations of a supposed "Popish Plot" sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charles's brother and heir (James, Duke of York) was a Roman Catholic. This crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, some Whig leaders were killed or forced into exile. Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He converted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed.

Charles was popularly known as the Merrie Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no children, but Charles acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses.¹

     1st Duke of Grafton. Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton KG (28 September 1663 – 9 October 1690) was the illegitimate son of King Charles II by Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine.

In August 1672 he was married to Isabella, the daughter and heiress of Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington. They were parents to Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton. Diana, Princess of Wales was his descendant.

At the time of his marriage, Henry was created Baron Sudbury, Viscount Ipswich, and Earl of Euston; in 1675 he was created Duke of Grafton. Charles II made him a Knight of the Garter in 1680. He was made a colonel of the Grenadier Guards in 1681.

He was brought up as a sailor, and saw military service at the siege of Luxembourg in 1684. In that year, he received a warrant to supersede Sir Robert Holmes as Governor of the Isle of Wight, when the latter was charged with making false musters. However, Holmes was acquitted by court-martial and retained the governorship.

At King James II's coronation Grafton was Lord High Constable. In the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth he commanded the royal troops in Somerset; but later he acted with John Churchill, and joined William of Orange to overthrow the King in the Revolution of 1688.

He died of a wound received at the storming of Cork, while leading William's forces. He was 27.¹

     Duke of Richmond (England) and Duke of Lennox (Scotland).

     Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton PC (25 October 1683 – 6 May 1757) was an Irish and English politician.

He was born the only child of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Isabella Bennet, 2nd Countess of Arlington. His father was an illegitimate son of Charles II of England and Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland.

Fitzroy inherited his father's peerages on 9 October 1690. He was Lord High Steward at King George I's coronation. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1715 and a Knight of the Garter in 1721. He also served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1720 to 1724 and Lord Chamberlain from 1724 until his death. In 1719 he was one of main subscribers in the Royal Academy of Music (1719), a corporation that produced baroque opera on stage. In 1739 he supported the creation of what was to become one of London's most notable charities, the Foundling Hospital. He sat on that charity's original Court of Governors with such fellow Governors as the Duke of Bedford, the Lord Vere and the Lord Mayor of London.

He married Lady Henrietta Somerset, daughter of Charles Somerset, Marquess of Worcester and Rebecca Child; they had seven children:

Charles Henry FitzRoy, Earl of Euston (13 April 1714 - 18 December 1715).
George FitzRoy, Earl of Euston (24 August 1715 - 7 July 1747). He was married 10 October 1741 to Lady Dorothy Boyle (14 May 1724 - 2 May 1742) elder daughter of Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, 3rd Earl of Burlington and his wife Lady Dorothy Savile, daughter of William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax. The Earl was notorious for mistreating his wife, who died seven months after their marriage, and died childless.[1]
Lord Augustus FitzRoy (16 October 1716 - 24 May 1741). He was married to Elizabeth Cosby, daughter of Colonel William Cosby who served as a colonial Governor of New York. They were parents to two sons, who founded branches still extant today.
Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton and
Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton.
Lord Charles FitzRoy (23 April 1718 - 29 July 1739).
Lady Caroline Fitzroy (8 April 1722 - 26 June 1784). She married William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington. They were parents to Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington and other six children.
Lady Harriet FitzRoy (8 June 1723 - August 1735).
Lady Isabella FitzRoy (1726 - 10 November 1782). She married Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford. They were parents to Francis Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford and other eleven children. They were ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Duke also fathered an illegitimate son, Charles FitzRoy-Scudamore.¹ 2nd Duke of Grafton, Earl of Arlington.

     Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford KG, PC, PC (Ire) (5 July 1718 – 14 June 1794) was born in Chelsea, London, and died in Surrey, England.

He was a descendant of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and his first wife Catharine Fillol. Their marriage was annulled and their children declared illegitimate. Their son Sir Edward Seymour (d. 6 May 1593) later served as a Sheriff of Devon.

The Sheriff of Devon was father to Sir Edward Seymour, 1st Baronet, grandfather of Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd Baronet, great-grandfather of Sir Edward Seymour, 3rd Baronet and a fourth-generation ancestor of Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet.

The 4th Baronet was father to Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Baronet and grandfather to Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset. His younger son was Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Lord Conway (1679–1732).

Lord Conway married Charlotte Shorter, a daughter of John Shorter of Bybrook. They were the parents of the Marquess. His father died when the younger Francis was about fourteen years old. The first few years after his father's death were spent in Italy and Paris. On his return to England he took his seat, as 2nd Baron Conway, among the Peers in November 1739. Henry Seymour Conway, politician and soldier, was his younger brother.

On 29 May 1741 he married Lady Isabella Fitzroy, daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, and they became the parents of thirteen children.¹ Earl of Hertford, 1st Marquess of Hertford.

     Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour (29 April 1759 – 11 September 1801) was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the late eighteenth century who was the fifth son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford and became known for being both a prominent society figure and a highly competent naval officer. He served during the American Revolutionary and French Revolutionary Wars and later in his career performed a period of shore duty on the Admiralty board.

Seymour maintained a reputation as a courageous and innovative officer: he was awarded a commemorative medal for his actions at the battle of the Glorious First of June and is credited with introducing epaulettes to Royal Navy uniforms as a method of indicating rank to non-English speaking allies. In his youth he formed close personal friendships with fellow officer John Willett Payne and George, Prince of Wales, through association with whom he gained a reputation as a rake. His marriage in 1785, made at the insistence of his family as an antidote to his dissolution, was brought about through royal connections and proved very successful. During his lifetime he also held several seats as a Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Great Britain, although he did not pursue an active political career.

Hugh Seymour was born in 1759 into one of the wealthiest families in England, as the fifth son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford and his wife Isabella Fitzroy (Hugh retained the surname "Seymour-Conway" until his father's death in 1794, at which point he shortened it to Seymour). He was initially educated at Bracken's Academy in Greenwich, where he met lifelong friend John Willett Payne, before joining the Navy at age 11 at his own insistence. Seymour became a captain's servant on the yacht William & Mary,[1] and two years later moved to HMS Pearl under his relation Captain John Leveson Gower, stationed off Newfoundland. After several short commissions, including service in the West Indies under George Rodney, Seymour was attached to HMS Alarm as a midshipman in the Mediterranean.[2] Apart from a brief spell in HMS Trident, Seymour remained on her for several years, becoming a lieutenant in 1776. By 1776 the American Revolutionary War was underway, and Seymour continued in Alarm until he was made a commander in 1778, taking command of the xebec HMS Minorca.[2]

In 1779, Seymour was promoted once more, making post captain in HMS Porcupine and serving in command of HMS Diana, HMS Ambuscade and HMS Latona, all in the Channel Fleet. The only major operation in which he participated during the period was the conclusion of the Great Siege of Gibraltar, when Latona was attached to Lord Howe's fleet that relieved the fortress.[2] During this service, Seymour was repeatedly engaged in scouting the Franco-Spanish fleet in Algeciras, a task made difficult by bad weather and the erratic movements of the enemy. During much of the operation, Captain Roger Curtis was stationed aboard Latona in order to facilitate communicate between Howe and the Governor of Gibraltar. The effort to relieve and resupply the fortress was a complete success and Latona was sent back to Britain with dispatches, although Seymour remained in Gibraltar.[3]

Following the Peace of Paris in 1783, Seymour took a house in London with his brother Lord George Seymour and John Willett Payne. The three men became notorious socialites, joining the Prince of Wales on many of his drinking exploits across London: Seymour remained close friends with Prince George for the rest of his life. Seymour, already known for his good looks, good manners, height and martial bearing, rapidly gained a reputation for dissolution.[2] In 1785 however, Seymour married Lady Anne Horatia Waldegrave, daughter of Earl Waldegrave and Maria Walpole (later Duchess of Gloucester) at the insistence of his family in a successful attempt to curtail his social activities.[2] It was at this time that Seymour made his first foray into politics, becoming MP for Newport on the Isle of Wight before relinquishing the post two years later. In 1788 he became MP for Tregony, but in 1790 he switched to become MP for Wendover. Seymour remained in this position until 1796 when he changed his seat to Portsmouth, in which he remained until his death. He did not serve as an active politician in any of these positions, preferring his navy career to his political one.[2]¹

     Colonel Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour (22 November 1791 - 23 November 1851) was a Peelite Member of Parliament for Lisburn, Antrim, Oxford, Bodmin and Midhurst.

Colonel Sir Horace was the son of Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour (son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford) and Lady Anne Horatia Waldegrave. He married, firstly, Elizabeth Malet Palk, daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, Bt., on 15 May 1818. He married, secondly, Frances Selina Isabella Poyntz, daughter of William Stephen Poyntz and Hon. Elizabeth Mary Browne, in July 1835.

He was invested as a Knight Commander, Hanoverian Order (K.C.H.) and gained the rank of Colonel in the service of the British Army.

By his first wife he had three children;

Lt.-Col. Charles Francis Seymour (13 Sep 1819 - 5 Nov 1854), killed at the Battle of Inkerman
Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester (12 Apr 1821 - 30 Mar 1895)
Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour (27 Jan 1825 - 29 Oct 1877), who married Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer and was an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales.¹

     Vice-Admiral Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer KG CB PC (14 April 1798 – 27 December 1857) was a British peer, the son of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer and the younger brother and successor of John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer.

Spencer was born in 1798, at the Admiralty Building, London and was baptised in St Martin-in-the-Fields. He was educated at Eton College from 1808 to 1811, then joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman. He eventually rose to the rank of Captain in 1822 and was awarded several honours from various European countries for fighting in the Napoleonic Wars in the Mediterranean between 1811 and 1815. These were: Knight of the Order of St Louis of France (1828), the Order of St Anne of Russia (1828) and the Order of the Redeemer of Greece (1828).

He then retired from naval life and became Whig MP for Worcestershire (1831–1832) and Midhurst (1832–1834 & 1837–1841). He was later an equerry in the household of the Duchess of Kent (Queen Victoria's mother) from 1840 to 1845.

On 23 February 1830, he married his cousin, Georgiana Poyntz (1799–1851) and they had three children:

Lady Georgina Frances Spencer (1832–1852), died unmarried.
John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (1835–1910)
Lady Sarah Isabella Spencer (1838–1919), died unmarried.
On 9 August 1854, he married secondly, Adelaide Seymour (1825–1877), daughter of Sir Horace Seymour and a great-granddaughter of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford. They had two children:

Lady Victoria Alexandrina Spencer (1855–1906), married William Mansfield, 1st Viscount Sandhurst and had issue.
Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer (1857–1922)
Thanks to the efforts of Spencer's father, George John, Althorp had one of the finest collections of printed books in Europe. George John was also noteworthy for co-founding and serving as the first president of the Roxburghe Club, widely-regarded as the world's first book club.[citation needed]¹

     Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, KG, GCVO, PC, VRD (30 October 1857 – 26 September 1922) was a British Liberal Party politician.

Spencer was born in 1857 in the parish of St. James's, Westminster[1], the son of the 4th Earl Spencer and his second wife Adelaide, daughter of Horace Beauchamp Seymour and granddaughter of Admiral Hugh Seymour. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2] On 23 July 1887, he married Margaret Baring (14 December 1868 – 4 July 1906), a daughter of the 1st Baron Revelstoke at St James's Church, Piccadilly. They had six children:

Lady Adelaide Margaret Delia Spencer (1889–1981), married Sir Sidney Peel, 1st Baronet and had issue.
Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (1892–1975), the grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Lt.-Cdr. Hon. Cecil Edward Robert Spencer RN DSC Croix de guerre (1894–1928), died unmarried in a riding accident.
Lady Lavinia Emily Spencer (1899–1955), married the 4th Baron Annaly and had issue.
Captain Hon. George Charles Spencer (1903–1982), married (1) Barbara Blumenthal and had issue, married (2) Kathleen Henderson; no issue.
Lady (Alexandra) Margaret Elizabeth Spencer (1906–1996), married Hon. Henry Douglas-Home (son of the 13th Earl of Home) and had issue. She was the author of "A Spencer Childhood", published in 1994.[3]
Spencer represented the constituency of North Northamptonshire from 1880 to 1885 and Mid Northamptonshire from 1885 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1905. In 1898 he contested Hertford.[4] He was a Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria between February and June 1886, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 1892 to 1895 and a Privy Councillor from 1892.[5] Between 1900 and 1905 he was a Liberal whip.[6] On 19 December 1905, he was created 1st Viscount Althorp so as to allow him to become Lord Chamberlain (his older brother was still Earl Spencer at that time). From 1908 he was Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire.[5]

On 13 August 1910, he succeeded to his childless brother's titles, and died 12 years later at his home in St James Place, London. He had been ill for four months after contracting a 'chill' at a public event in his home county of Northamptonshire.[7]

He held a large number of foreign decorations: the Grand Cross of Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, the White Eagle of Serbia, Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III and Order of Philippe le Bon of France. He was also an honorary major in[6] and later honorary colonel of the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment.[5]¹

     Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (23 May 1892 – 9 June 1975), known formally as The Hon Albert Spencer until 1910 and from then until 1922 as Viscount Althorp, and less formally as "Jack" Spencer, was a British peer. He was the paternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Lord Spencer was born in London, the son of Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer and his wife, the former Margaret Baring, second daughter of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke.[1] His godparents included King Edward VII.[2]

After his education at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge[3], Spencer served in the First World War as a Captain in the First Life Guards[4], and was active in the local politics of Northamptonshire as a Conservative councillor. He opened his ancestral home, Althorp, to the public and was a well-known art connoisseur, being a trustee of the Wallace Collection and chairman of the Royal School of Needlework.[5] He was a Fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society of Arts, and for eight years in the 1960s he was Chair of the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Spencer was active in the Territorial Army for 43 years from 1924.[3] He was Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire from 1952 to 1967, and Chairman of the Governors at Wellingborough School from 1946 to 1972..

Lord Spencer married Lady Cynthia Hamilton, second daughter of the 3rd Duke of Abercorn in 1919 and they had two children.

Lord Spencer died at St Matthews Nursing Home, Northampton after a short illness[6], and was succeeded as Earl by his son, John, the father of Diana, Princess of Wales.¹

     Edward John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, MVO (24 January 1924–29 March 1992) was the son of Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer and Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton, the daughter of James Albert Edward Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, and the father of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Lord Spencer was educated in Eton College, in the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, and in the Royal Agricultural College. A Captain in the Royal Scots Greys, Lord Spencer fought in the Second World War from 1944 to 1945. From 1947 to 1950, Lord Spencer served as Aide-de-Camp to then-Governor of South Australia, Willoughby Norrie. [1]

Lord Spencer held the offices of County Councillor for Northamptonshire (1952), High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (1959) and Justice of the Peace for Norfolk (1970).[1] He served as Equerry to King George VI (1950-52) and to Queen Elizabeth II (1952-54),[2] and was invested as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (M.V.O.) in 1954.[1]

On 1 June 1954, Lord Althorp and the Hon. Frances Ruth Roche, the younger daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy, were married in Westminster Abbey by Percy Herbert, Bishop of Norwich. They had five children:

1955: Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia Spencer (Lady Sarah McCorquodale)
1957: Cynthia Jane Spencer (Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes)
1960-1960: John Spencer, who died within 10 hours of his birth
1961-1997: Diana Frances Spencer (Diana, Princess of Wales)
1964: Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer
Lord and Lady Althorp were divorced in April 1969. Lord Spencer later won a bitter custody battle for his children. On 14 July 1976, Lord Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the former wife of the 9th Earl of Dartmouth, and the only daughter of the romantic novelist Barbara Cartland and Alexander McCorquodale.

Lord Spencer died on 29 March 1992 at The Wellington Hospital, London, and was succeeded as Earl by his son, Charles, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.¹