John Spencer (sheriff)

Life and family

Marriage and issue

• Sir John Spencer, who succeeded to his father's estates at Wormleighton and Althorp
• Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon
• Alice Spencer, who married Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby. Their daughter Anne was heiress presumptive to the English throne upon the death of Elizabeth I according to the will of Henry VIII and the Third Succession Act. As Countess of Derby, Alice was a noted patron of the arts. The poet Edmund Spenser represented her as the character "Amaryllis" in his eclogue Colin Clouts Come Home Againe and she was the dedicatee of his poem The Teares of the Muses.
• Sir William Spencer, the third son, who became a landowner in Yarnton, Oxfordshire. His son Thomas was Member of Parliament for Woodstock 1604-1611, and was created Baronet of Yarnton on 29 June 1611 in the Baronetage of England.
• Sir Richard Spencer, the fourth son, whose son John was a landowner in Offley Place, Great Offley, Hertfordshire, and was created Baronet of Offley on 14 March 1627 in the Baronetage of England.
• Anne Spencer, who made three notable marriages, the third being to Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset