Anne Knollys, Baroness De La Warr


Anne West, Lady De La Warr was a lady at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Biography

Anne Knollys was the third daughter of Sir Francis Knollys, Treasurer of the Royal Household to Queen Elizabeth I, and his wife Lady Catherine Carey.
Her maternal grandparents were Sir William Carey and Mary Boleyn. Mary was a sister of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England. Anne Knollys' mother was thus a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. Mary Boleyn had preceded her more famous sister in the King's affections, and had affairs with both Francis I of France and Henry VIII. Both Catherine Carey and Henry Carey may have been Henry's children, though exact dates of birth are uncertain. If true, this would make Anne the granddaughter of Henry VIII.
Anne's eldest sister was Lettice Knollys, chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth and the mother of the queen's favourite, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

Marriage and issue

Anne Knollys married, on 19 November 1571, Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr, by whom she had six sons and eight daughters:
  • Sir Robert West, who married Elizabeth Coks and predeceased his father.
  • Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, who married Cecily Shirley, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley and Anne Kempe, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe of Olantigh, Kent.
  • Walsingham West.
  • Francis West, esquire, Governor of Virginia, who emigrated to Virginia, and married firstly, before 6 February 1626, Margaret, widow of Edward Blayney; secondly, on 31 March 1628, Temperance Flowerdew, widow of Sir George Yeardley, Governor of Virginia, daughter of Anthony Flowerdew of Hethersett, Norfolk, by Martha Stanley; and thirdly in 1630, Jane Davye, by whom he had a son, Francis West.
  • John West, Governor of Virginia, who emigrated to Virginia, and married a wife named Anne Percy, by whom he had a son, John West.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel West, who emigrated to Virginia, where in 1621 he married Frances Greville, by whom he had a son, Nathaniel West. His widow married secondly Abraham Peirsey, esquire, and thirdly Captain Samuel Mathews, esquire.
  • Elizabeth West, who married firstly at Wherwell, Hampshire, on 12 February 1594, as his second wife, Sir Herbert Pelham of Michelham, Esquire, a widower with two sons and one daughter by his first wife, Katherine Thatcher, by whom she had three sons and six daughters.
  • Lettice West, who married Henry Ludlow.
  • Anne West, who married firstly, by licence dated 30 August 1608, John Pellatt, esquire, of Bolney, Sussex, by whom she had three daughters; secondly Christopher Swale, by whom she had a son, Christopher, and a daughter, Elizabeth; and thirdly Leonard Lechford, by whom she had no issue.
  • Penelope West, who married, about 1599, as his first wife, Herbert Pelham ), esquire, of Hastings, Sussex, stepson of Penelope West's elder sister, Elizabeth, by whom she had five sons and four daughters.
  • Katherine West, who married Nickolas Strelby.
  • Helen West, who married Sir William Savage of Winchester, Hampshire, by whom she had a son, John Savage, and two daughters, Cecily and Anne.
  • Anne West.
  • Elizabeth West, who married as his second wife Sir Richard Saltonstall of Huntwick Grange, near Nostell, Yorkshire.

    Related material

The US state of Delaware is named after Anne's son, Thomas West, Baron De La Warre.

Ancestry