Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland
Encyclopedia
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
on the side of the Cavalier
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
s.
Henry was born at Althorp
Althorp
Althorp is a country estate of about and a stately home in Northamptonshire, England. It is about north-west of the county town of Northampton. The late Diana, Princess of Wales is buried in the estate.-History:...
to William Spencer, 2nd Baron Spencer
William Spencer, 2nd Baron Spencer
William Spencer, 2nd Baron Spencer of Wormleighton was an English peer.Spencer was the son of Robert Spencer, 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton and his wife, Margaret Willoughby, and was baptised on 4 January 1591 at Brington, Northamptonshire...
and was baptised on 23 November 1620 at Great Brington
Great Brington
Great Brington is a village in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire, England. The village, in the civil parish of Brington, has a population of about 200. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and St John....
church. He attended Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
and graduated from there with a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree on 31 August 1636. He then succeeded to his father's title of Baron Spencer later that year on 19 December 1636.
On 20 July 1639, he married Lady Dorothy Sidney
Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland
Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland was the wife of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland and the daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester....
(who had previously rejected Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679.- Early life :...
's hand in marriage), daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester
Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester
Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester was an English aristocrat and diplomat.-Life:He was the son of Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, and his first wife, Barbara Gamage...
at Penshurst Place
Penshurst Place
Penshurst Place is a historic building near Tonbridge, Kent, south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The original medieval house is one of the most complete examples...
. He and his wife had three children:
- Lady Dorothy SpencerDorothy Savile, Viscountess HalifaxDorothy Savile, Viscountess Halifax was the first wife of George Savile, 1st Viscount Halifax and the daughter of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland...
(1640–1670), married George Savile, 1st Marquess of HalifaxGeorge Savile, 1st Marquess of HalifaxGeorge Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax PC was an English statesman, writer, and politician.-Family and early life, 1633–1667:...
and had issue. - Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of SunderlandRobert Spencer, 2nd Earl of SunderlandRobert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland KG, PC was an English statesman and nobleman.-Life:Born in Paris, son of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, Spencer inherited his father's peerage dignities at the age of three, becoming Baron Spencer of Wormleighton and Earl of Sunderland...
(1641–1702) - Lady Penelope Spencer (c. 1644–1645), died in infancy.
Henry fought in the Battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
in 1642 and was rewarded for his services on 8 June 1643 by being created 1st Earl of Sunderland (although the title cost him £3000). He then fought in the Siege of Gloucester
Siege of Gloucester
The Siege of Gloucester was an engagement in the First English Civil War. It took place between August 3 and September 5, 1643, between the defending Parliamentarian garrison of Gloucester and the besieging army of King Charles I. The siege ended with the arrival of a relieving Parliamentarian army...
in August 1643 and the First Battle of Newbury
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex...
on 20 September 1643, where he was killed, aged 23, by a cannon ball
Round shot
Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
. Cokayne writes that "he was, according to Clarendon, a lord of a great fortune, tender years ... and an early judgment; who, having no command in the army, attended upon the King's person under the obligation of honour; and putting himself that day into the King's troop a volunteer, before they came to charge was taken away by a cannon bullet.'"