John Spencer (abt. 1460 - 1522)

Born about 1460 in Warwickshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 14 Apr 1522 at about age 62 in Althorp, Northamptonshire, England

Biography

John Spencer was born in approximately 1460, probably in Radbourne, Warwickshire. His father William Spencer is usually referred to in contemporaneous documents as 'William Spencer of Radburn'. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Sir Peter Empson^[1]. The fact that the Spencers are marrying into local gentry shows that the family of yeoman farmers and sheep graziers is firmly on the rise.

He married Isabel Graunt, the daughter and heir of Walter Graunt of Snitterfield in Warwickshire in about 1485^[1]. They went on to have five children together, three daughters and two sons^[1].

On 26 May 1504, the upwardly mobile John Spencer and his brother Thomas Spencer were jointly granted arms: Azure a fess Ermine between six Seamews' Heads erased Argent and for a crest: A Moor-hen proper. 'Seamew' is the heraldic term for a sea-gull and is quite a rare motif in heraldry. John had witnessed a deed in 1497 with a non-armorial seal, which tells us that the 1504 grant was the first time John and Thomas had born arms, i.e. before that date they were non-armigerous and not entitled to display or use a coat of arms.

Spencer 1504 Coat of Arms

John Spencer bought the Wormleighton estate in Warwickshire in 1506 and the Althorp estate in Northamptonshire in 1508.

In 1518, Henry VIII granted him the wardship of Richard Catesby^[2].

He was knighted in 1519^[3].

His will is dated 12 April 1522 in the 13th year of the reign of Henry VIII^[4]. He died two days later at Althorp.

Sir John Spencer had built a family vault on the north side of the chancel of St Mary the Virgin with St John, Great Brington, near Althorp. This family vault is still in use today by the Spencer family. The effigy on his tomb in the Spencer Chapel is wearing a tabard of the arms granted in 1504^[5].

Sir John Spencer's tomb in the Spencer Chapel, Great Brington church

Research Notes

Sir John is a direct male-line ancestor of Lady Diana Spencer.

Winston Churchill also hailed from the Spencer family. Churchill's Family History has an excellent genealogy that begins right with this very man, Sir John Spencer.

Let me begin with the Spencer line proper. Sir John, mentioned above, married Isabel, the daughter and co-heiress of Walter Grant of Snitterfield. He gained his wealth by enclosing lands and converting arable land into pasture. With thousands of sheep he was no common shepherd — more a farming entrepreneur. -excerpt from Churchill's Family History

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} The Visitation of the county of Warwick in the year 1619. Taken by William Camden, Clarenceaux king of arms https://archive.org/details/visitationcount01britgoog/page/n310
2. ↑ Grant by Henry VIII to John Spencer of Wormleighton, esq, of the wardship of Richard, brother and heir of William son of George Catesby. Warwickshire. 10 Hen VIII https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4954059
3. ↑ Ancestor Hunting, the first chapter in Mists of Antiquity.
4. ↑ https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D948547
5. ↑ Find A Grave record https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141337266/john-spencer

• Wikipedia:John_Spencer_(died_1522)
• Wikipedia:Spencer_family
• Blore, Edward. The Monumental Remains of Noble and Eminent Persons (Harding, Lepard and Co., London, 1826) Page ?-8. This book has the false descent from the Despencers and is derived from the post 1595 visitations. However the description of the tomb is excellent.
• Visitation ofHertfordshire Page 165: Spencer of Offley
• Stott, Clifford L., Ancestry of Agnes Spencer, Wife of Thomas Higginson of Berkeswell, Warwickshire, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2020) Vol. 174, Page 330-335.