William Skeffington

For the MP for Leicestershire, see William Skeffington (died 1571).

Sir William Skeffington (c. 1465 – 31 December 1535), was a Lord Deputy of Ireland.

Early life

William Skeffington was born in Skeffington Hall, Leicestershire, the eldest son of Thomas Skeffington by his wife, Mary. His brother John was the patriarch of the Massareene family. William was appointed High Sheriff of Leicestershire and Warwickshire for 1508, 1515 and 1521 in the reign of Henry VII and was knighted by that king for his services. In 1523, he received from Henry VIII property near Tunbridge that had belonged to the executed traitor Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.

Career

He was Master of the Ordnance and a knight of the shire (MP) for Leicestershire from 1529–1535 in the reign of Henry VIII. He was also in 1529 appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland to Henry's son, the duke of Richmond, the nominal Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He crossed over in August 1529, but his power was so circumscribed by instructions from Henry that the head of the Fitzgeralds, Gerald, 9th earl of Kildare, and not Skeffington, was the real governor of Ireland. In May 1531 Skeffington accepted the formal submission of the Gaelic leader Hugh Duff O'Donnell in Drogheda.

This state of affairs lasted for three years and then in 1532 the deputy was recalled. In 1534, Kildare being in prison in England and his son Silken Thomas, being in revolt, Skeffington was again appointed Deputy, at approximately 70 years of age. After some delay he landed at Dublin in October 1534 and marched at once to relieve Drogheda, but further progress in the work of crushing the rebellion was seriously delayed by his illness. However, in the spring of 1535 he was again in the field. He took Maynooth Castle, killing and executing the entire garrison. The heavy artillery used by him on this occasion earning for him his surname of "The Gunner"; he forced some of Kildare's allies to make peace and captured Dungarvan.

He died at Kilmainham, Dublin on 31 December 1535, and was buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. There is a monument to him in the parish church at Skeffington. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas.

Marriages

Skeffington married firstly Margaret Digby, daughter of Sir Everard Digby (d.1509) of Tilton, Leicestershire, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas Skeffington.

He married secondly, Anne Digby, the daughter of Sir John Digby (d. May 1533) of South Luffenham, Rutland, by Katherine (née Griffin), widow of John Bellers (d. 27 January 1476), esquire, and daughter of Nicholas Griffin (d. 6 June 1482), esquire, de jure Baron Latimer, by Katherine Curzon, by whom he had several children, including a son Leonard Skeffington 'who served as a Lieutenant of the Tower of London, as a soldier in Ireland, and as a messenger who regularly represented his father at court'. Leonard Skeffington is credited with having invented the "Scavenger's Daughter", a torture device used in the Tower during the reign Henry VIII.

References

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Attribution

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Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Kildare	Lord Deputy of Ireland 1529–1532	Succeeded by The Earl of Kildare
Preceded by The Earl of Kildare	Lord Deputy of Ireland 1534–1536	Succeeded by The Viscount Grane