John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton
John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton of Stourton, Wiltshire, was an English soldier and politician, elevated to the peerage in 1448.Origins
He was born 19 May 1400 at Witham Friary, Somerset, the son of Sir William de Stourton, Speaker of the House of Commons, by his wife Elizabeth Moigne, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Moigne of Ower Moigne, Dorset.Career
Stourton served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1426, 1433 and 1437, Somerset and Dorset in 1428 and of Gloucestershire in 1439. He was returned to Parliament as knight of the shire for Wiltshire in Dec 1421, 1425 and 1432 and for Dorset in 1423. He was knighted c. 1430.
He was also Treasurer of the Household from 1445 to 1453 and fought for five years in the wars in France and Normandy, acting as Lieutenant of Calais from 1450 to 1451. In 1448 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Stourton, of Stourton in the County of Wiltshire.Marriage and children
Stourton married Margery Wadham, a daughter of Sir John Wadham of Edge, Branscombe, Devon, of Merryfield, Ilton, Somerset, and of Wadham, Knowstone near South Molton, Devon by his second wife Joan Wrottesley.
Sir John Wadham was MP for Exeter in 1399 and for Devon, as a knight of the shire with Sir Philip Courtenay, in 1401. He was a Justice of the Common Pleas from 1389 to 1398, and ancestor to Nicholas Wadham co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford. Sir John and Margery Stourton had children as follows:
- William Stourton, 2nd Baron Stourton, married Margaret Chidiock, daughter of Sir John Chidiock and Catherine Lumley.
- Margaret Stourton, married Sir George Darell of Littlecote, Wiltshire. Their daughter, Elizabeth would marry Sir John Seymour, Warden of Savernake Forest, grandfather of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Elizabeth Seymour, Marchioness of Winchester, and Sir John Seymour, and Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII and mother of Edward VI of England.
- Sir Reginald Stourton of Stourton, High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1455–1456 and 1462–1463.
- Nicholas Stourton
- John Stourton
- Joan Stourton, married Richard De La Warr.
Death and succession
He died in November 1462 and was succeeded in the barony by his son William. He was outlived by his wife.
