Sir John Shelton - Life

Life

Sir John Shelton (1476/7–1539) was the son of Sir Ralph Shelton (c. January 1431 – 16 July 1497) and Margaret Clere (d. 16 January 1500), the daughter of Robert Clere, esquire, of Ormesby, Norfolk, by Elizabeth Uvedale, the daughter of Thomas Uvedale, esquire. He had two brothers, Ralph Shelton (d.1538), who married Mary Brome (d. 29 August 1540), and Richard Shelton, a priest, and two sisters, Elizabeth Shelton, and Alice Shelton, who married John Heveningham.

The family took its name from the village of Shelton near Norwich, and had held land in East Anglia, including Shelton Hall, for three centuries before Shelton's birth. Before 1503, Shelton married Anne (18th Nov 1475 – 06 Jan 1555), the daughter of Sir William Boleyn of Blickling, Norfolk. Shelton was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1504 and 1522, and was a Justice of the Peace for Norfolk. At the coronation of King Henry VIII he was made a Knight of the Bath.

Shelton and his wife rose to prominence when King Henry VIII married, as his second wife, Lady Shelton's niece, Anne Boleyn, the daughter of Lady Shelton's brother, Sir Thomas Boleyn. After Queen Anne's coronation in 1533, Lady Shelton and her sister, Lady Alice Clere (d. 1 November 1538), were placed in charge of the King's daughter, Mary, at Hatfield Palace. According to Block, this was likely done to pressure Mary to recognize Anne as queen.

By July 1536 Shelton was controller of the household established for Mary and Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth. On 22 November 1538 he was granted the site of the former Benedictine nunnery of Carrow just outside Norwich. This property became the family seat.

Shelton died on 21 December 1539 at the age of 62, and was buried in the chancel of Shelton church. He was said to have been "a man of great possessions", which he sought to pass on to his heirs contrary to the Statute of Uses. When the stratagem came to light after Shelton's death, the lawyers involved were punished, and an Act of Parliament was passed annulling such "crafty conveyances".

Shelton had at least six children. His son and heir, Sir John Shelton (b. in or before 1503, d. 1558), married Margaret, the daughter of Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley. His daughter Anne married Edmund Knyvet. Another daughter, Margaret, is said to have been a mistress of King Henry VIII. His youngest daughter, Mary, married firstly, Sir Anthony Heaveningham, and secondly, Philip Appleyard.