John Wentworth (died 1613)

rdf:langString John Wentworth (died 1613)

rdf:langString John Wentworth (1564–1613) was an English politician. He was the only son of Sir John Wentworth of Little Horkesley and Gosfield Hall, Essex, whom he succeeded in 1588. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Christopher Heydon and his first wife Anne Drury; she died about 1573. He had one sister, also named Elizabeth (died 1627), who married firstly Christopher St Lawrence, 10th Baron Howth, an unhappy marriage which ended in a legal separation in about 1605, and secondly Sir Robert Newcomen, 1st Baronet. He was appointed High Sheriff of Essex in 1592–93. He was a Member of the Parliament of England for Essex in 1597 and for Wootton Bassett in 1601. He leaves little trace on the records of Parliament, nor does he seem to have been active in county affairs. On the other hand, he built up the family estates into "a splendid inheritance", despite the very heavy debts run up by his father-in-law, which involved him in much trouble and litigation over his wife's inheritance. He was also noted for his charity to the poor. He died in 1613 and was buried at Gosfield. He had married Cicely, also spelt Scissil, the daughter of Sir Edward Unton and Anne Seymour, daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and sister of Sir Henry Unton, with whom he had two sons and at least four daughters, including Cicely, or Cecille, who married Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea, and Anne, who married Sir Edward Gostwick. He was succeeded in the family estates, that "splendid inheritance", by his eldest son Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet, who dissipated the wealth accumulated by his father. His widow remarried the soldier, diplomat and scholar Sir Edward Hoby. She died in 1618.