Sir Thomas Sadleir

  General Notes:

The Rt. Hon. Sir Ralph Sadleir, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, was appointed keeper of the site, parker, bailiff of the manor and steward of the lordship of Standon in 1539. In the same year he was visited there by Cromwell, through whose influence he rose to power and became principal Secretary of State. In 1540 he obtained a grant of the manor with the park and warren in tail-male, which in 1544 was changed to one in fee. Two years later, while he was on an embassy in Scotland, his steward built a house for him in Standon, on a much larger scale, it is said, than he wished, and here he several times entertained Queen Elizabeth. Sadleir was created knight banneret on the battlefield of Pinkie in 1547. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, sat for the county in seven Parliaments and survived until 1587, having served with distinction in three successive reigns. He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was M.P. for Lancaster from 1572 to 1583 and Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1595. On 30 April 1603 James I came to Standon and having been met by the Bishop of London and a company of gentlemen 'in coats and chains of gold,' proceeded to Sadleir's house, where he stayed for a Sunday and knighted his host. Sir Thomas Sadleir died in 1606. His son Ralph, the 'noble Mr. Sadler' of Walton's Compleat Angler, was Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1609-10. He died in 1660, leaving no issue, and was succeeded in the manor by Walter Lord Aston, son of his sister Gertrude, who married Sir Walter Aston of Tixall, co. Stafford, created a baronet on the institution of that order in 1611 and made Lord Aston of Forfar in 1627. ⁶⁵

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation/Address: Sheriff of Hertfordshire, Standon, Hertfordshire.

Thomas married Gertrude Markham, daughter of Robert Markham and Mary Leake.