John St. Leger (died 1596)


Sir John St Leger, of Annery in the parish of Monkleigh, Devon, was an English landowner who served in local and national government.

Origins

He was the son of Sir George St Leger, of Annery, by his wife, Anne Knyvett, daughter of Sir Edmund Knyvett of Buckenham and his wife Eleanor Tyrrell. His paternal grandparents were Sir James St Leger, of Shipton, and Lady Anne Butler, heiress of Annery, daughter of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormonde and great-aunt of Queen Anne Boleyn. One of his great-uncles was Sir Thomas St Leger, the husband of Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, sister of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. His great-grandfather was Sir John St Leger lord of the manor of Ulcombe in Kent, whose three sons Ralph, Thomas and James, all made advantageous marriages. The manor of Ulcombe had been held by the family from the See of Canterbury from shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, during which a St Leger knight is supposed by tradition to have supported William the Conqueror with his hand on disembarking from his ship at Pevensey.

Public career

Knighted in 1544 and Sheriff of Devon in 1560, he was Member of Parliament for Dartmouth, Devon, in 1555–1558, Devon in 1559–1563, Arundel, Sussex, in 1563–1571, Devon again in 1571-1583 and Tregony, Cornwall in 1584–1585.

Landholdings

Under a royal grant dated 10 June 1543 "John St Leger, King's servant" acquired the following former monastic lands following the Dissolution of the Monasteries:
The lands were exchanged with the king for other lands of St Leger, with an excess balance paid by him of £116 9s 9d.

Marriage and children

He married Catherine Neville, daughter of George Neville, 5th Baron Bergavenny and his third wife Lady Mary Stafford, youngest daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and his wife Lady Eleanor Percy. Their children included:

Despite accumulating much land, he became encumbered with debts and parted with many of his estates. He died "a poor man" and on the death of his son John without children the St Leger family of Annery was extinguished. However, another line descended from Ralph St Leger, Sheriff of Kent and it was one of his great uncles, father of Sir Anthony St Leger, KG, Lord Deputy of Ireland, whose descendants were created Viscount Doneraile, who later inherited the manor of Eggesford in Devon.