Francis Sone, MP

Family and Education b. by 1523, 1st s. of John Sone of Wantisden. educ. G. Inn, adm. 1537. m. (1) Alice, da. of Sir John Spelman of Narborough, Norf.; (2) Margaret, da. of Sir Anthony Wingfield of Letheringham, Suff., 2s. 3da.; 1s. suc. fa. 1552.1

Offices Held

J.p.q. Suff. 1558/59-d.

Biography In May 1544 Francis Sone and his father acquired the manor, rectory and advowson of Wantisden. On his father’s death he inherited considerable property in Suffolk, including the manors of Boville and Peche in Alderton and of Campsea and Chillesford, some of which he sold in February 1553 to Robert Vesey. In the autumn of that year he levied a fine against Francis Harman for houses and pasture in east Suffolk, and three years later he acquired lands in Sudbury from Roger Warren, perhaps the brother-in-law mentioned in his will. Sone’s return for Orford on three occasions may have reflected the influence of the Willoughbys or Wingfields, but as a landowner in the neighbourhood with some legal training he could well have been the town’s own choice. He was brother-in-law to George Jerningham, Member for Orford and Dunwich under Mary. The Protestant leanings expressed in his will may explain his absence from most of the Marian Parliaments and his belated appointment to the Suffolk bench.2

Sone died on 11 Nov. 1561.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558 Author: John Pound Notes 1. Date of birth estimated from education. Vis Norf. (Harl. Soc. xxxii), 264-5; C142/97/74; Copinger, Suff. Manors, v. 119. 2. LP Hen. VIII, xix; C142/97/74; CP25(2)/75/666, no. 15; CPR, 1555-7, p. 129; 1557-8, p. 364; 1558-60, pp. 271, 341; PCC 41 Pyckering. 3. C142/132/43.