Henry Compton (1544 - bef. 1589)

Born 14 Jul 1544 in Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Frances (Hastings) Compton — married 1560 in Leicestershire, England

Husband of Anne (Spencer) Sackville — married 1578 in England

Descendants

Died before 12 Nov 1589 before age 45 in Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Sir Henry Compton, knight, Lord Compton^[1]

Henry Compton was born on 14 July 1544.^[2]

Henry was the posthumous, and only son, of Peter Compton of Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, and his wife Anne, daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and the grandson of Sir William Compton.^[2] Peter Compton died in January 1644, and the infant Henry succeeded him at his birth. Anne, Henry's mother, was then married to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who became Henry's guardian.^[2]

He was educated in the law at Gray's Inn, graduating in 1563.^[2] He was knighted by the Earl of Leicester at Arundel House in 1567.^[2]

Henry married twice:

1. Frances, who died in 1574, the daughter of Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, and his wife, Katherine, the daughter of Henry Pole, Lord Montagu,^[2] with whom he had:
   1. William Compton, created Earl of Northampton in 1618;^[2]
   2. Thomas Compton,^[1] (The History of Parliament says Henry had two sons by his second wife,^[2] but he was not mentioned in the will of Anne Spencer, his father's second wife^[3]) married as her third husband, Mary Beaumont, Countess of Buckingham, mother of James I’s favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.^[1]
2. Anne, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp, Northants, and his wife, Katherine, the daughter of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, Suffolk, and the widow of William Stanley, 3rd Lord Monteagle,^[2] with whom Henry had:
   1. Sir Henry Compton, born circa1584, married Cecily Sackville, daughter of Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset, and his first wife, Margaret Howard, the daughter of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk;^[1]

Henry was elected a Member of the Parliament of England for Old Sarum in 1563.^[2] He was appointed High Sheriff of Warwickshire for 1571-72.^[2] In 1572 he was summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Compton, of Compton in the County of Warwick, one of the the few people created a peer during the reign of Elizabeth I Queen of England.^[2] Elizabeth I visited him at Tottenham in 1578.^[2]

Anne, his second wife had Catholic connexions, and Henry, classified as a Catholic in 1574 in a list connected with Mary Stuart, was in 1580 described as a backslider in being willing to conform to the new religion and in August 1581 he was listed as a papist. However, his loyalty was never in question, and Lord Compton was one of the commissioners at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1586.^[2]

Sir Henry Compton, knight, Lord Compton. made his will on 17 May 1589 in which he appointed as executor his son and heir, William Compton, esquire. Henry's will proved 12 November 1589.^[1]

Anne, Henry's widow, married Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset, in 1592 and separated from him in 1608.^[2] In her will, Anne requested to be buried in the church at Compton Wynyates in the county of Warwick according to the promise she made to Lord Compton, her late husband, who had prepared a tomb there for her.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} "THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/74/434", the Oxford Authorship Site, http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Probate/PROB_11-74-434.pdf, accessed 17 August 2015.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14} Alan Hasler, and P W, "COMPTON, Henry I (1544-89), of Compton Wyniates, Warws. and Tottenham, Mdx.", The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, 1558-1603, ( Crown copyright and The History of Parliament Trust, 1964-2015), accessed 17 August 2015, http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/compton-henry-i-1544-89 .
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/132/298", the Oxford Authorship Site, http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Probate/PROB_11-132-298.pdf, accessed 17 August 2015.