John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford

John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford (1465/1466 – 1536/1537) (sometimes "Huse") was Chief Butler of England from 1521 until his death. He was a member of the House of Lords, and a Chamberlain to King Henry VIII's daughter, Mary I of England.

Early years
Hussey was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, son of William Hussey, an English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. His mother was the former Elizabeth Berkeley. Hussey's siblings included Sir Robert Hussey (d.1546), the father of Elizabeth Hussey, the 'Mistress Crane' at whose home at East Molesey the first of the Marprelate tracts, Martin's Epistle, was printed in October 1588; Elizabeth Hussey, who married Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent; and Mary Hussey, who married William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby.

In 1497, at the Battle of Blackheath, Hussey was knighted. Six years later, he was made "Knight of the Body", bodyguard to King Henry VII, followed by an appointment as "Master of Lyfield Forest", Rutland in 1505 and Comptroller of the Household in 1509. On 16 August 1513, at the battle of the Spurs, he was promoted to Knight banneret.

Career
In 1493 Hussey was appointed Sheriff of Lincolnshire and by 1513 he was custos rotulorum for the county. On 6 July 1523, he was elected Member of Parliament as a knight of the shire for Lincolnshire. Three years later, 5 February 1526, he was appointed a judge. On 3 November 1529 he was re-elected to Parliament as knight of the shire for Lincolnshire but received a Writs of Summons on 1 December 1529 to the House of Lords as 'Johannes Hussey de sleford, chivaler'. In June 1530, Hussey was named Lincolnshire Castle's Commissioner for Gaol Delivery, and later that same year, Hussey sold some of his large holdings (the Somersetshire manors of Batheaston, Bathampton, Bathford, Twerton; the Wiltshire manors of Compton Bassett, Comerwell, and North Wraxall).

On 10 September 1533, Lord Hussey attended the christening of princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth 1), daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and carried the canopy over the 3-day old child with George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Lord Thomas Howard, and William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham.

Hussey was Chamberlain to King Henry's daughter, Mary, while Hussey's second wife, Lady Anne, was one of Mary's attendants. Though King Henry forbade anyone from calling his daughter, Mary, by the title of Princess, Lady Anne did do so, after which she lost her attendant position around June 1534 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London in August. Asking for the King's pardon, she was released before the end of the year.

In addition to his responsibilities at Court and Parliament, Hussey was steward to John Longland, the conservative Bishop of Lincoln, and King Henry's confessor.

Downfall
Hussey was implicated along with his cousin as complicit in the 1536 uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Though Hussey denied participation in the rebellion, he was accused of conspiring to change laws and depose the king, and that he abetted those who made war on the king in October 1536. The charges may have been levied in part because of Hussey's Catholic sympathies, and because Hussey and his wife, having served 'Princess' Mary, were partisans on her behalf. Hussey was indicted and tried for treason, and found guilty by the House of Lords. He was beheaded in Lincoln in 1536, while his cousin, Thomas Darcy, was executed on Tower Hill.

Hussey's statement ("confession") survives.

Family
Hussey first married Margaret Blount in 1490 at Mangotsfield, by whom he had three sons:
 * Sir William Hussey, Knt. (c. 1492)
 * Thomas Hussey (c. 1495)
 * Gilbert Hussey (c. 1497)

About 1509, he then married Lady Anne Grey (c. 1490, Denbigh – from 1 March 1544/1545 to 11 February 1545/1546), daughter of George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent by his second wife, Catherine Herbert. They had eight children:
 * Sir Giles Hussey (born 1505, who married Jane Pigot, and had issue (descendants include President Richard Nixon (twice), actor James Dean and entrepreneurs J. A. Folger and Peter Folger )
 * Joan Hussey, wife of Sir Roger Forster.
 * Elizabeth Hussey, second wife of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton, Warwickshire (d. 1586), and had four daughters and two sons
 * Bridget Hussey (c. 1526 - 13 January 1600/1601, bur. Watford, Hertfordshire, will dated 2 June 1600) probated 12 January 1600/1601), wife of Sir Richard Morrison of Cashiobury, Hertfordshire (d. Strasbourg, 17 March 1556), Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland before 1563, without issue, and second wife of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford on 25 June 1566, without issue; her daughter by first husband Jane Sibella Morrison (d. July 1615, last will dated 6 March 1614/1615 probated 14 July 1615), naturalized as an English subject in 1575/1576, married c. 1571 Edward Russell, Baron Russell (d. bef. June 1572 without issue and intestate and his estate was administered on 30 June 1572, bur. Chenies, Buckinghamshire), son of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford and Margaret St John, and after 1572 Sir Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton, and had issue
 * Anne or Agnes Hussey, who married Sir Humphrey Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, by whom she was the mother of Christian Browne, wife of Sir John Tufton, 1st Baronet.
 * Dorothy Hussey
 * Mary Hussey
 * William Hussey

After his execution, Hussey's home in Sleaford, as well as his other estates were confiscated by the crown. His children were restored to Parliament in 1563 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but Hussey's title was forfeited, and the estates were not returned.

Honors

 * 6 December 1533, John Fewterer, Confessor-General of Syon Abbey, dedicated his book, The myrrour or glasse of Christes passion, to "the Honorable 'Lord Husey', from Syon".