William St Loe

Sir William St Loe (1518–1565) was a 16th-century English soldier, politician and courtier. He was the third husband of Bess of Hardwick, his second wife. His official positions included Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, Chief Butler of England and Member of Parliament for Derbyshire. Lineage He was the eldest son of Sir John St Loe, Sheriff of Gloucestershire, MP for Somerset and Gloucestershire, of an Anglo-Norman warrior family first mentioned at the court of Henry I in 1100, and his wife, Dame Margaret. Their seat was a manor house, Sutton Court, Chew Magna, Somerset, built upon the foundations of a 13th-century castle. Several generations of St Loes kept at the ready a force of a hundred mounted soldiers for the king's service and were repeatedly chosen as "Attendant Knights" at royal funerals. Biography