Family and Education

b. by 1519, 2nd s. of John Sackville I of Withyham and Chiddingly by 1st w. Margaret, da. of Sir William Boleyn of Blickling, Norf.; bro. of John II and Richard Sackville II. m. by 1541, Constance, da. of Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury, Kent, at least 2s. inc. John^† 1da.1

Offices Held

Gent. pens. 1540-d.2

Biography

Christopher Sackville perhaps owed his appointment at court to kinship with William Baron Sandys, who died not long after the establishment of the gentlemen pensioners. Most of what has come to light about Sackville refers to his household duties, for which he received £46 13s.4d. a year and, from 1551, an annuity of £10. In 1544 he served in Henry VIII’s last French war and in the following reign he presumably fought in Scotland. In 1547 he leased 240 acres in Hartfield, Sussex, with one of his brothers-in-law, John Ashburnham I, and 11 years later he granted his share to another, (Sir) Nicholas Pelham. In 1551 he acquired from his father-in-law a manor in Kent which he straightway conveyed to George Sydenham, but the lands settled on him by his father in 1552 remained in his possession and passed to his descendants. Five years later his father left him the contents of Buckhurst in remainder, but he did not live to enjoy them.3

Sackville sat with his nephew Thomas in the last Parliament of Mary’s reign. He may have hoped for a nomination at East Grinstead, but five days before the election there he was returned for Heytesbury. His election with Henry Partridge, another Household officer, was probably the work of the sheriff, Sir Walter Hungerford, until recently a gentleman pensioner like Sackville; and of Henry Wheeler, a gentleman of the privy chamber who was lord of the manor. Nothing is known about Sackville’s part in Parliament, but during its prorogation he and Jerome Fermor^† gave surety in £50 that Robert Eyre of Gray’s Inn should surrender to the Fleet at the beginning of the Michaelmas term. Two weeks later, on 27 Aug., Sackville made his will, naming his wife executrix and Sir Nicholas Pelham overseer. He presumably attended the second session of the Parliament, as he was present at Queen Mary’s funeral on 14 Dec., but he must have died shortly afterwards, probably of the disease then widespread, as his will was proved on 28 Feb. 1559. He was buried in St. Sepulchre, Holborn.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: R. L. Davids

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Suss. (Harl. Soc. lxxxix), 95; Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. lxxv), 95; C. J. P. Phillips, Sackville Fam. i. 122.
• 2. The Gen. xxx. 21; xxxiv. 81; Stowe 571, f. 31v; LC2/4/2; E407/1/1.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, xix, xx; CPR, 1550-3, p. 8; 1557-8, p. 345; Phillips, i. 125; Hasted, Kent, v. 328; PCC 48 Chaynay.
• 4. APC, v. 328; PCC 46 Welles; LC2/4/2; Vis. Suss. 95.