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Home PageJohn SACKVILLE, Esq.
Born: 1484/5, Chiddingleigh, England / Buckhurst, Withyam, Sussex, England
Died: 27 Sep 1557 / ABT 5 Oct 1557, probably Withyham
Father: Richard SACKVILLE
Mother: Isabel DIGGES
Married 1: Margaret BOLEYN
Children:
2. Richard "Fill Sack" SACKVILLE (Sir Knight)
4. Isabel SACKVILLE (Prioress of St. Mary Clerkenwel) (b. ABT 1518 - d. 21 Oct 1570)
Married 2: Anne TORRELL (dau. of Homphrey Torrell of Willingale Doe, Essex)
The details in this biography come from the History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.
Born by 17 Mar 1484, 1st son of Richard Sackville of Withyham by Isabel, daughter of John Digges of Barham, Kent; brother of Richard Sackville. Married 1st, by 1507, Margaret, daughter of Sir William Boleyn of Blickling, Norfolk and had three sons, Christopher, John and Richard, and three daughters; married 2nd by 1534, Anne, daughter of Humphrey Torrell of Willingale Doe, Essex, s.p. Succeeded father 28 Jul 1524. Justice of the peace Essex 1513-1524, Sussex 1524-death; commissioner subsidy, Essex 1523, 1524, Sussex 1546, loan, Essex 1524, musters, Sussex 1539, relief 1550; other commissions 1530-death; sheriff, Surrey & Sussex 1527-28, 1540-1, 1546-7. Member of Parliament for East Grinstead 1542.
John Sackville's father held lands in both Sussex and Essex, but Sackville's early domicile and public service in Essex probably arose from his marriage into the Boleyn family. From 1524, when he came into his inheritance, he lived in Sussex and his career was thereafter confined to that county and Surrey. The John Sackville of Calais, 'late soldier', late of Withyham, Sussex, pardoned in 1509, was his uncle.
The loss of returns leaves it in doubt whether Sackville had sat for the borough of East Grinstead in 1539 or would do so again in 1545, but the shrievalty which kept him out of the 1st Edwardian Parliament he doubtless used on behalf of his sons John, who came in for East Grinstead, and Richard, elected at Chichester, as well as for his son-in-law Nicholas Pelham, who sat for Arundel.
Apart from sharing with his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Boleyn in the presentation to a prebend of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, Sackville seems to have derived no benefit from his first marriage, and he did little on his own account to augment his inheritance. It is thus tempting to see behind some transactions of the late 1540s the acquisitiveness for which his son Richard was to become notorious. In 1541 the pair bound themselves to perform an award made by Thomas Bromley and William Whoorhood governing the manumission of one John Selwyn of Friston, Sussex, gentleman, whom they claimed as their bondsman; a year later they sold to Selwyn for 6.13.4 the wardship and marriage of the heir of John Bray of Westdean, Sussex, and the custody of the manor of Westdean which was held of the elder Sackville by knight's service.
After making settlements of his property Sackville passed his closing years at Chiddingly, and it was there that he made his will on 1 Jul 1556. He bequeather sums to the poor of five Sussex villages, and of Mount Bures in Essex, and asked for candles at his funeral, a requiem mass for himself and prayers for his parents. His wife was to have the household goods at Chiddingly, with remainder to the three daughters, all his livestock, including sheep, which she could give 'to those that she findeth the most friendship in', and the contents of Buckhurst, the house at Withyham of which only the gatehouse survives. The executors were the widow and Sir Nicholas Pelham. Sackville died on 27 Sep 1557 and was buried at Withyham on 5 Oct. The execution of the will was to be successfully challenged by Sir Richard Sackville, who, for what reason is unknown, had not been mentioned in it; he was granted the administration in Oct 1559.
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