William Compton

Sir William Compton (c. 1482 – 30 June 1528) was a soldier and one of the most prominent courtiers during the reign of Henry VIII of England. Family and early life Compton was born around 1482, the only son and heir of Edmund Compton of Warwickshire and Joan, the daughter of Walter Aylworth. He was around eleven years of age when his father died in 1493, at which time he became a ward of Henry VII, who appointed him page to Prince Henry, Duke of York. He was about nine years older than Henry, but the two became close friends. Marriage and issue He married firstly, in May 1512, Werburga, the daughter of Sir John Brereton and Katherine Berkeley, and widow of Sir Francis Cheyney. They had a son and at least two daughters: Peter Compton (1523 – 1544), the eldest son and heir, aged six at his father's death, became the ward of cardinal Thomas Wolsey. He married Anne, daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury and by her, had a son, Henry who was created Baron Compton by Elizabeth I. Henry's son, William was made Earl of Northampton by James I. Mary Compton, daughter of Sir William Compton. Mary 1 of England was her god-mother in the xiiith year of the reign of Henry the xiii.} He married secondly, after 8 May 1522, Elizabeth Stonor, the daughter of Sir Walter Stonor and by her had at least one child.