William Saunders (bef. 1497 - bef. 1571)

Born before 1497 in Ewell, Surrey, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 10 Nov 1571 at about age 74 in Ewell, Surrey, England [uncertain]

Biography

William Saunders (died 1570) was an English landowner, lawyer, administrator and politician from Surrey. The family name was also written as Saunder, Sander or Sanders.

He was the son of Henry Saunders (died 1519), holder of a reputed manor at Ewell called Battailes,^[1] and his wife Joan Lepton (also died 1519), daughter of John Lepton, a landowner at Kepwick in North Yorkshire.^[2] His contemporary Thomas Saunders (died 1565), lawyer and MP, was a first cousin, while the Catholic controversialist Nicholas Saunders was a first cousin twice removed.

Born by 1497, his father had died in 1518 but he did not inherit all the family estates until 1529, when he married.^[3] In 1537 his name first appears in local affairs acting in connection with the manors of Ewell and Kingswood, the property of Merton Priory, from whom he leased their manor of Chessington. He seems to have been occupied mostly in managing and extending his own properties until he was appointed in 1540 as one of the Receivers of the Court of Augmentations for Surrey and Sussex, seizing monastic property for the Crown. The next year he was admitted to the Inner Temple and made a justice of the peace for Surrey. When England joined in the Italian War of 1542–46, he was appointed a Commissioner for Musters and as a landowner had to provide three infantrymen for service overseas. In 1546 he was further involved in implementing the Reformation in England as a member of the Commission for Chantries, seizing the assets of parish churches, chapels and fraternities. In 1548 he served as Escheator for Surrey and Sussex.^[3]

When Queen Mary I came to the throne in 1553, though he had been a leading agent of suppressing Catholicism in Surrey, he emerged as a supporter of the return to papal allegiance and the suppression of Protestantism. During his year as High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1555-56, he is recorded as burning to death 14 heretics. He also sat as a Member of Parliament for Surrey in October 1553, November 1554 and 1555. His acquisition of lands and persecution of Protestants made enemies, which involved him in legal and extra-legal battles with his opponents.^[3]

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558 he continued in local government, acting as Surveyor of Crown Lands in Surrey and Sussex in 1562-3 and sitting as a magistrate until 1564. His family became noted recusants, holding to the Catholic faith and associating with families of similar views.^[3] In his will of 2 Oct 1570, proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 10 Nov 1570, after providing for his widow, younger sons and stepson, the bulk of his assets was left to his eldest son Nicholas.^[2][3]

Around 1529 he had married Joan Marston (died on 28 Oct 1539), widow of Nicholas Mynne and daughter of Sir William Marston, of Horton in Surrey, and his wife Beatrice Barlee from Havering-atte-Bower in Essex. Joan's sister Ursula Marston was stepmother-in-law to John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford.^[2] Their children were:

• Nicholas Saunders (died 1587), his heir, who was father of Sir Nicholas Saunders (died 1649).
• Erasmus Saunders (died 1603), who married Janet Barrett and moved to Wales.
• Mary Saunders, who married Nicholas Lusher, of Puttenham in Surrey.
• Urith Saunders(died 27 July 1600), who married John Palgrave, of Norwood Barningham in Norfolk, and was the grandmother of Sir John Palgrave, 1st Baronet.

In 1544 he married another Joan, widow of a vintner named Thomas Gittons who had died in 1543, and she survived him.^[2] Their children were:

• Francis Saunders (died 1613).
• Frances Saunders (died 15 Oct 1622), who married Henry Spelman, of Congham in Norfolk, and was the mother of the antiquarian Sir Henry Spelman.^[2]
• Catherine Saunders, who married first Edmund Kervill of Wiggenhall St Mary's in Norfolk, secondly John Spelman, of Narborough in Norfolk, and thirdly Sir Miles Corbet, of Sprowston in Norfolk.^[4]
• Elizabeth Saunders, who married first Roger Castell (died 1581), of Raveningham in Norfolk, secondly William Ford, of Hadleigh in Suffolk, and thirdly Thomas Garnish, of Horningtoft.

Sources

1. ↑ 'Ewell' in 'A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3' editor H. E. Malden, London, 1911, pages 278-284 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp278-284
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Nina Green at http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} S.R. Johnson at http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/saunders-william-1497-1570
4. ↑ Francis Blomefield, 'Freebridge Hundred: Wiggenhall St. Mary's' in 'An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 9', London, 1808, pages 176-183 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol9/pp176-183