Lady Margaret Sackville (1562–1591)

Lady Margaret Sackville (1562 – 19 August 1591), formerly Lady Margaret Howard, was the wife of Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset.

Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and his second wife, the former Margaret Audley.^[1] In keeping with family tradition, she was a devout Roman Catholic.^[2]

She married the future earl in February 1580, but died prior to his inheriting the earldom, and thus was never countess.

Their children were:

• Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset (1589–1624)
• Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset (1591–1652)
• Anne (died 25 September 1664), who was married twice: first to Sir Edward Seymour, eldest son of Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, and, second, to Sir Edward Lewis, by whom she had children.^[3] A memorial to her, with effigies of herself and her second husband, stands in Edington Priory Church, Wiltshire.^[4]
• Cecily, married Sir Henry Compton, K.B.

The countess died on 19 August 1591. Robert Southwell's Triumphs over Death (1596) was dedicated to her and her surviving children.^[5] Her husband left instructions in his will that he should be buried at Withyham, "as near to my first dearly beloved wife ... as can be".^[2]

The year after her death, Dorset married the twice-widowed Anne, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp.

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