Henry Wentworth

Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk, KB (born c. 1448, died between 17 August 1499 and 27 February 1501), de jure 4th Baron le Despenser was an English baron who is notable for being the grandfather of Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, and the great-grandfather of Edward VI.

Life

Henry Wentworth, born about 1448, was the only son and heir of the courtier Sir Philip Wentworth (d. 18 May 1464) of Nettlestead, Suffolk, beheaded after the Battle of Hexham, and Mary Clifford, daughter of John Clifford, 7th Baron de Clifford, by Lady Elizabeth Percy, the daughter of Henry Percy. He was the grandson of Roger Wentworth and Margery le Despenser. In taking as her second husband Roger Wentworth, a younger son of John Wentworth of North Elmsall, Yorkshire, Sir Philip's mother, Margery, Lady Roos, who was the daughter and heiress of Philip le Despenser, 2nd Baron le Despenser, was said to have "married herself dishonourably without licence from the King". Sir Philip Wentworth served in the army of King Henry VI in the Wars of the Roses. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Hexham, and beheaded at Middleham, Yorkshire, on 18 May 1464.

Wentworth was pardoned in 1462, and two years later his father's lands were restored to him by Parliament. In 1475 he went to France with the army of Edward IV. He was invested as a Knight of the Bath in 1489. He served as an Esquire of the Household and a Knight of the Body, and held the offices of Knight of the Shire for Yorkshire, and High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1482.