Richard Weston (treasurer)

Sir Richard Weston, (representative image, not portrait) drawn by Sir Thomas Wriothesley in 1509, attending deathbed of King Henry VII. (Detail from: British Library Additional MS 45131, folio 54)
Arms of Weston: Ermine, on a chief azure five bezants
Sir Richard Weston at the deathbed of King Henry VII at Richmond Palace, 1509. He stands 5th at the King's left hand, his armorials above

Sir Richard Weston (1465–1541), KB, of Sutton Place in Surrey, was a courtier and diplomat who served as Governor of Guernsey, Treasurer of Calais and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Biography

Richard Weston, son of Edmund Weston of Boston in Lincolnshire, was born about 1465–6.[1][2] His brother was Sir William Weston (died 1540), the last English prior of the Order of St John (the Knights Hospitaller) in England.

Immediately after his accession on 22 May 1509, Henry VIII appointed Weston to several offices, including that of governor of Guernsey. In 1511, Weston served under Thomas, Lord Darcy, in the English contingent sent to assist King Ferdinand of Spain in his campaign against the Moors. Upon his return, Weston visited the court of Spain and received considerable honour. He was knighted by Henry VIII in 1514 and from 1516 was in personal attendance on the king as Knight of the Body. On 3 January 1518, he was dubbed Knight of the Bath. In 1519, he was one of the four "sad and ancient knights" who were "put into the king's privy chamber".[3] In 1520, he followed Henry to the Field of the Cloth of Gold. In 1521, he sat on the jury which tried and condemned Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.[4] The manor of Sutton was granted to him on the day of the Buckingham's execution (17 May 1521).[2]

In 1523, Weston served under Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, in France; in 1525, he became Treasurer of Calais and, in 1528, under-treasurer of England.[2] He also served as knight of the shire for Berkshire in 1529.[1]

His main residences were Cranbourne Lodge, where he was the keeper, and Ufton Court, both in Berkshire, and then Sutton Place, Surrey, the last two being granted to him by the king.[1] In 1533, Henry VIII paid a state visit to Sutton. Thomas Cromwell was a guest there later.[2]

In 1539, Weston was appointed to meet Anne of Cleves on her arrival in England. He must then have been considerably over seventy years of age.[2] In 1542, he surrendered his post of sub-treasurer of England "ob senectutem debilitatam et continuam infirmitatem" (20 January) and died on 7 August. He was buried in his family chapel in Holy Trinity Church, Guildford.[2] His eldest son, Francis, predeceased him, so Francis's son, Henry Watson, succeeded at age six to his grandfather's estates.[5]

Frederic Harrison wrote:

There is hardly a single state ceremony or event during the eighth Henry's reign in which he is not recorded to have part. A bare list of the offices he held would fill some pages. He is a soldier, seaman, ambassador, governor, treasurer, privy councillor, judge of the Court of Wards.[5]

Family

Weston married Anne, one of Queen Catherine's gentlewomen, daughter of Oliver Sandys of Shere, with whom he had a son, Sir Francis, and two daughters, Margaret and Katherine.[6]

Weston's only son, Sir Francis Weston, was arrested as one of the alleged lovers of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. The father is said to have offered all the family had to gain his son a pardon, but Sir Francis was executed in 1536.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Baker 1982.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Clarke 1899, p. 363.
  3. ↑ Clarke 1899, p. 363 cites Hall's Chronicle.
  4. ↑ Clarke 1899, p. 363 cites State Trials, i. 287.
  5. 1 2 Harrison 1899, p. 40.
  6. ↑ Clarke 1899, p. 364.

References

  • Baker, T. F.T. (1982). "Sir Richard (c.1465-1541), of Sutton Place, Surr.". In Bindoff, S.T. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Boydell and Brewer.
  • Harrison, Frederic (1899). "III". Annals of an Old Manor House. London: Macmillan and co. pp. 37–81.

Attribution

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Clarke, Ernest (1899). "Weston, Richard (1466?-1542)". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 60. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 363–364. Endnotes:
    • Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ed. Brewer and Gardiner, passim;
    • 'Harrison's Annals of an Old Manor House pp. 31–65
    • Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, i. 133, 134.
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