Henry Wentworth

Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk, KB (born c.1448, died between 17 August 1499 and 27 February 1501), de jure 4th Baron Despenser, was the grandfather of Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, and the great-grandfather of Jane's son, Edward VI.

Life

Henry Wentworth, born about 1448, was the only son and heir of the courtier Sir Philip Wentworth (d. 18 May 1464) of Nettlestead, Suffolk, beheaded after the Battle of Hexham, and Mary Clifford, daughter of John Clifford, 7th Baron de Clifford, by Lady Elizabeth Percy, the daughter of Henry Percy (Hotspur). He was the grandson of Roger Wentworth and Margery le Despencer. In taking as her second husband Roger Wentworth, a younger son of John Wentworth of North Elmsall, Yorkshire, Sir Philip's mother, Margery, Lady Roos, who was the daughter and heiress of Philip le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer, was said to have 'married herself dishonourably without licence from the King'. Sir Philip Wentworth served in the army of King Henry VI in the Wars of the Roses. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Hexham, and beheaded at Middleham, Yorkshire, on 18 May 1464.

Wentworth was pardoned in 1462, and two years later his father's lands were restored to him by Parliament. In 1475 he went to France with the army of Edward IV. He was invested with the Order of the Bath in 1489. He served as an Esquire of the Household and a Knight of the Body, and held the offices of Knight of the Shire for Yorkshire, and High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1482. He was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1489 and 1492.

Wentworth's will, made on 17 August 1499, was proved 27 February 1501. He was buried in Newhouse Abbey, Lincolnshire.

Marriages and issue

Wentworth married firstly, Anne Say (died before 22 October 1494), the daughter of Sir John Say and Elizabeth Cheyney, by whom he had two sons and four daughters:

• Sir Richard Wentworth, who married Anne Tyrrell, the daughter of Sir James Tyrrell, by whom he had three sons, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth, Richard and Philip, and five daughters, Anne, Elizabeth, Margery, Dorothy and Thomasine.
• Edward Wentworth.
• Elizabeth Wentworth (died after 22 September 1545), who married firstly, Sir Roger Darcy (d. 30 September 1508) of Danbury, Essex, by whom she was the mother of Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Chiche (1506 – 28 June 1558). She married secondly, as his second wife, Sir Thomas Wyndham (d.1522) of Felbrigg, Norfolk, Vice-Admiral and councillor to Henry VIII, by whom she was the mother of Sir Thomas Wyndham. She married thirdly, as his third wife, John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath.
• Margery Wentworth (c. 1478 - c. October 1550), who married, before 1500, Sir John Seymour, by whom she was the mother of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII and mother of Edward VI.
• Dorothy Wentworth, who married, as his second wife, Sir Robert Broughton.
• Jane Wentworth.

Wentworth married secondly, by licence dated 22 October 1494, Elizabeth Neville (d. September 1517), widow of Thomas Scrope, 6th Baron Scrope of Masham and Upsall (d. 23 April 1493), and second daughter of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu by Isabel, daughter of Sir Edmund Ingaldsthorpe, by whom he had no issue. She died in September 1517, and left a will dated 7 March 1514, which was proved 9 December 1521. She was buried with her first husband at the Blackfriars, London.