Anne (Spencer) Sackville (abt. 1554 - 1618)

Born about 1554 in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of William Stanley — married before 15 Feb 1575 in England

Wife of Henry Compton — married 1578 in England

Wife of Robert Sackville — married 4 Dec 1592 in Yarnton, Oxfordshire, England

Descendants

Died 22 Sep 1618 at about age 64 in Hengrave, Suffolk, England

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Biography

Lady Anne Countess Dorset, (nee Spencer) Monteagle Compton Sackville^[1]

Anne Spencer was the the fifth of the eight daughters and one of the thirteen children of Sir John Spencer (d.1586) of Althorp, Northamptonshire, and his wife, Katherine Kitson, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Kitson (1485–1540) of London.^[1]

Anne's siblings included:

1. Sir Richard Spencer of Offley in the county of Hertford, knight;^[1]
2. Alice Spencer (1559–1637), who married 1) Ferdinando Stanley (1559?–1594), 5th Earl of Derby, and 2) Thomas Egerton (1540–1617), 1st Viscount Brackley;^[1]
3. Elizabeth Spencer (29 June 1552 - 24 or 25 February 1618), who married 1) George Carey (1548-1603), 2nd Baron Hunsdon, and 2) Ralph Eure (d.1617), 3rd Baron Eure.^[1]

Anne married three times:

1. in 1575, William Stanley, 3rd Lord Monteagle, son of Thomas Stanley, 2nd Lord Monteagle, and his first wife, Mary Browne, the daughter of Charles Brandon (c.1484–1545), 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his first wife, Anne Browne (d.1510), the daughter of Sir Anthony Browne (d.1506) of Calais.^[1]
2. Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton, knight, the son of Peter Compton and Anne Talbot, and they had children:^[1]
   1. Sir Henry Compton (c.1584-c.1649), married Cecily Sackville, daughter of Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset, and his first wife, Margaret Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk,^[1] and they had children:
      1. Richard Compton, eldest son, knight;^[1]
      2. William Compton;^[1]
      3. Cicely Compton;^[1]
      4. Anne Compton;^[1]
3. on 4 December 1592 at Yarnton, Oxford, Robert Sackville, later 2nd Earl of Dorset. This marriage ended in separation, although the terms of separation were not agreed by the time of the 2nd Earl’s death in 1609.^[1]

Anne, Countess Dowager of Dorset, made her will on 24 July 1618, requesting to be buried in the daytime in a decent manner as a Christian without any extraordinary pomp in the church at Compton Wynyates in the county of Warwick according to the promise she made to Lord Compton, her late husband, who had prepared a tomb for her. She left her servants a year's wages and her house was to be maintained for two months after her decease to provide meat, drink and lodging for her servants. Her brother, Sir Richard Spencer of Offley in the county of Hertford, knight, and her son, Henry Compton, were executors and her loving son-in-law [=stepson], William, Lord Compton, Earl of Northampton, was overseer of her will.

In her will, Anne left legacies to:^[1]

• her son, Henry Compton, which included Allestley park alias Awseley park, the tithes of Princethorpe in the county of Berwick, Vintes farm lying near unto Egglestone Abbey within the county of York and "merchandise which I have and do adventure with the East India Company";
• her grandchild, Richard Compton, eldest son to her son, Henry Compton, knight;
• her gentlewoman, Frances Stanley, and her husband, George Stanley, gentleman, the profits of High Holland in the county of Middlesex which Anne bought of Elizabeth Blackhead, widow, to use the said household stuff therein for their lives;
• her grandchild, William Compton, all those manors, lands, tenements and hereditaments which Anne purchased within the county of Lincoln;^[1]
• her grandchild, Cicely Compton, 8.000 pounds for her portion;
• her grandchild, Anne Compton, 8.000 pounds for her portion;
• servant and kinsman, William Wallop;
• servant, James Orrell, gentleman;
• trusty servants, Samuel Collier and Alice, his wife;
• faithful servant, John Scott;
• two musicians, Edward Wilcox and William Golledge;
• servant Sara Bartholomew;
• servant Thomasine Howson;
• servant Edward Gollege;
• Elizabeth Simmons who she placed with her son’s children;
• Ralph Patrick, my son’s servant;
• A tenth of her dower from her late husband, Robert, Earl of Dorset, was to be distributed to the poor of England's counties in 100 pound allotments, with the remainder distributed to:
  • the youngest daughter of the right honourable the Lord of Huntingdon, to be paid unto her at her age of fifteen years if she be then living and not sole heir to her father (Lady Alice Hastings [born 1606] the daughter of Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, and his wife, Elizabeth Stanley, daughter of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, Lord of Mann, and his wife, Lady Alice Spencer [Anne's sister].^[2]);
  • the now youngest daughter of the right honourable the Lord Chandos, to be also paid unto her at her age of fifteen years if she be then living and not sole heir to her said father (Elizabeth Brydges [1619–1678], the daughter of Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos, and his wife, Anne Stanley, daughter of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby and his wife, Lady Alice Spencer.^[3]);
  • her son, Henry Compton;

Anne died on 22 September 1618, and her will proved three days later on 25 September.^[1]

The poet, Edmund Spenser, dedicated Prosopopoia, or Mother Hubberd's Tale to Anne Spencer, with whom he claimed kinship.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16} "THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/132/298", the Oxford Authorship Site, http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Probate/PROB_11-132-298.pdf, accessed 17 August 2015.
2. ↑ Wikipedia:Elizabeth Stanley, Countess of Huntingdon, accessed 19 August 2015.
3. ↑ Wikipedia:Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven, accessed 19 August 2015.

See also

• Oxford Historical Society (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1893) Vol. 24: Three Oxfordshire Parishes. A History of Kidlington, Yarnton and Begbroke, Page 296.
• "1592, 4th Dec. Mr. Robert Sackville and Ann Ladie Compton, in praesentia Sir Thos. Leigh, Knight, Sir William Spencer, Knt., Thomas Spencer, Esq., John Sydley, Esq., The Lady Spencer, Mrs. Mary Aylworth and Ann Cotton were married."