Sir William St. Loe, Kt., MP

Family and Education b. c.1518, 1st s. of Sir John St. Loe, and bro. of Edward. m. (1) by 1538, Jane, da. of Sir Edward Baynton†, 2da.; (2) 15 Oct. 1559, Elizabeth, da. of John Hardwick of Hardwick, Derbys., wid. of Robert Barley and of Sir William Cavendish†, s.p. Kntd. 1549; suc. fa. 1559.

Offices Held

Lt. King’s forts in Leinster 1548; constable Waterford castle by 1551; keeper of the horse to Edward VI 1553; gent. attendant to Princess Elizabeth, temp. Mary; capt. of guard by 1558; chief butler, England and Wales 1559; j.p. Glos., Som. from 1559, Derbys. from 1561.2

Biography As Princess Elizabeth’s servant St. Loe was charged with complicity in Wyatt’s rebellion and committed to the Tower 28 Feb. 1554. He was fined £2,200 and released in January 1555. When his mistress became Queen his loyalty to her was recognized by an annuity and the captainship of the guard. St. Loe was elected knight of the shire for Somerset in her first Parliament, and succeeded his father to the Somerset estates of the family during its course. With the income from his estates, his old and new annuities and the perquisites of his court office, he was a rich man. His marriage to Bess of Hardwick, his second, her third, took place when she owed the Crown £5,000 and had heavy family responsibilities, and his continued attendance at court precluded all but the briefest visits to Chatsworth or to his own estates. His position as her husband brought him election for Derbyshire in the second Parliament of the reign. No record has been found of any activity by him in either Parliament.3

St. Loe’s surviving correspondence to his wife shows the great affection that can have been his only reason for marrying her. ‘My own dear wife Chatsworth’ he calls her, lamenting that the Queen’s possessiveness precluded more frequent visits to her. While she was engaged upon one of her perennial building projects there he referred to her as chief overseer of works. Not surprisingly St. Loe’s second marriage was resented by his younger brother Edward, who was under heavy suspicion of poisoning St. Loe and his wife. St. Loe’s old mother wrote to Bess after an abortive attempt in 1561: ‘I was sure you were poisoned when I was at London, and if you had not had a present remedy you had died’. To discourage a further attempt St. Loe made an indenture to hold his lands jointly with his wife. It was in August 1561 that Bess of Hardwick was imprisoned for concealing from the Queen her knowledge of Lady Catherine Grey’s marriage to Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford. Though the conditions were good the term was long, and can probably be seen as part of the Queen’s possessiveness over St. Loe, for the circumstances of the offence did not warrant so harsh a punishment upon one whom the Queen had regarded and was to regard as a friend, in so far as this was possible between sovereign and subject. Perhaps if the Queen had a conscience at all in these matters she regretted the incident, for shortly after Bess’s release on 25 Mar. 1562 the Queen forgave her £4,000 of the £5,000 she still owed from the estate of her second husband, on condition that the remaining £1,000 was paid by her third, which it was. Soon afterwards St. Loe died, before he could receive the promotion to vice-chamberlain of the Household, which he might have expected. His death took place between November 1564 and March 1565, and he was buried beside his father in the church of Great St. Helen, Bishopsgate. All his property went to the sole executrix, his ‘most entirely beloved wife’, in consideration of the ‘natural affection, mature love and assured good will’ which he had always felt for her. The will was unsuccessfully contested.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: P. W. Hasler Notes 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament. 2. Wilts. Vis. Ped. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 7; Genealogist, xi. 248; Collinson, Som. ii. 96; Bath mss, Thynne pprs. 3, f. 27. 3. D. N. Durant, Bess of Hardwick, 33-49. 4. PCC 24 Morrison; Som. Wills (ser. 6), 24-5.

Sir William St Loe (1518–1565) was a 16th-century English soldier, politician and courtier. He was the third husband of Bess of Hardwick, his second wife. His official positions included Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, Chief Butler of England and Member of Parliament for Derbyshire.

He was the eldest son of Sir John St Loe, of an Anglo-Norman warrior family first mentioned at the court of Henry I in 1100, and his wife, Dame Margaret. Their seat was a manor house, Sutton Court, Chew Magna, Somerset, built upon the foundations of a 13th-century castle. Several generations of St Loes kept at the ready a force of a hundred mounted soldiers for the king's service and were repeatedly chosen as "Attendant Knights" at royal funerals.[1]

Sir William's tutor was the distinguished scholar and grammarian John Palsgrave, who had a high opinion of him. Hardened by service with his father in Ireland, he received a courtly polish as a gentleman usher in the grand household of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter.

His first wife was Jane, daughter of Sir Edward Bayntun of Bromham, Wiltshire, with whom he had two daughters. He was knighted for his services in Ireland, in Dublin, January 1549. On his final return from Ireland he was appointed to head the security detail for the princess Elizabeth. The St Loe family, staunch Protestants, had been implicated in the movement to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne and in Wyatt's rebellion, for which he was held and examined in the Tower of London. Unlike others, he did not give anything away that might implicate Elizabeth. Immediately after her succession, she made him Captain of her Personal Guard.

In January 1559, he married Bess of Hardwick. Their marriage was happy, but William's younger brother Edward, fearing that a son of their marriage would rob him of his inheritance, became their enemy. in 1560, Bess was poisoned, but recovered. Both William and his mother suspected Edward[2]. In 1564, he was made Commissioner for the Peace in Gloucestershire and Derbyshire. William died suddenly in the winter of 1565, in the company of his brother Edward, who had been visiting him. He was buried at the Church of Great St Helen's at Bishopsgate[3]

References

• The Peerage.com
• 1.^ Mary S. Lovell, Bess of Hardwick, Empire Builder, 2005, ch 7 "Sir William St Loe 1518-58".
• 2.^ Lovell, Mary S. (2005). Bess of Hardwick, First Lady of Chatsworth. Little, Brown. pp. 154–157.
• 3.^ Lovell, Mary S. (2005). Bess of Hardwick, First Lady of Chatsworth. Little, Brown. p. 186.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_St_Loe

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• 'Sir William St. Loe1,2,3
• 'M, b. circa 1529, d. January 1565
• Father Sir John St. Loe, Constable of Portbury & of Thornbury Castle4,3 b. c 1479
• Mother Margaret Poyntz4,3 b. c 1482, d. a 10 Apr 1559
• Sir William St. Loe was born circa 1529 at of Churchill, Somersetshire, England; Age 30 in 1559.1,3 He married Elizabeth Hardwicke, daughter of John Hardwicke, Esq. and Elizabeth Leeke, circa 20 July 1559; No issue.1,2,3 Sir William St. Loe left a will on 1 March 1563.3 He died in January 1565.1,2,3 His estate was probated on 5 July 1565.3
• 'Family Elizabeth Hardwicke b. c 1527, d. 13 Feb 1608
• Citations
• 1.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XI, p. 713.
• 2.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 379.
• 3.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 362-363.
• 4.[S61] Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, SLC Archives.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1269.htm#...
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• 'Sir William St. Loe
• 'M, #102, b. 1518, d. 1565
• Last Edited=7 Jul 2006
• ' Sir William St. Loe was born in 1518.1 He was the son of Sir John St. Loe and Margaret (?).1 He married, firstly, Jane Baynton, daughter of Sir Edward Baynton.1 He married, secondly, Elizabeth Hardwicke, daughter of John Hardwicke, circa 27 August 1559.1 He died in 1565.1
• ' He held the office of Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth.
• 'Children of Sir William St. Loe and Jane Baynton
  • 1.Mary St. Loe1 b. 1539
  • 2.Margaret St. Loe1 b. c 1541
• Citations
• 1.[S97] Mary S. Lovell, Bess of Hardwick: Empire Builder (New York, U.S.A.: W. W. Norton, 2006), page 116-118. Hereinafter cited as Bess of Hardwick.
• From: http://thepeerage.com/p11.htm#i102
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• Elizabeth Hardwick, better known as Bess of Hardwick, was the daughter of John Hardwick (b. 1495 - d. 29 Jan 1528) and Elizabeth Leake (b. 1499 - d. 1570). Bess started her life relatively poor. She married four times, had six surviving children of her own and many step-children. She was sent to the Tower twice by the Queen for her attempts to promote herself in wealth and prosperity. ....
• 'Bess was appointed lady-in-waiting to the Queen of England. The ideal place to find a suitable, wealthy and respectable husband was at court. In 1559, Bess married Sir William St. Loe. He was a wealthy widower that had been married twice previously and had children. He proved to be a most generous husband. St. Loe called her his 'honest sweet Chatsworth' and his 'own sweet Bess'. He took on her debts from her previous marriage to William Cavendish.
• 'Queen Elizabeth was a good friend of the St. Loe's, as he had aided her when her life was threatened. He was awarded Captain of the Guard and Butler to the Royal Household. ....
• 'The heir to Sir William St. Loe should have been, by rights, his brother, Edward. William and Edward did not see eye to eye and on one occasion Edward attempted to poison Bess and William.
• 'Sir William died five years into the marriage and left all his lands to Bess and her children.
• 'After St. Loe had died, Bess returned to Court. Slander had been spread throughout Court regarding Bess by the tutor of her sons. The Queen ordered that he was to be punished by corporal or otherwise, openly or publicly for his actions. The type of slander is not known, but it was very vindictive for such punishment to take place. ....
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/BessofHardwick.htm
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