Anne Leighton (c1591-1628), First wife of Sir John St John, 1st Baronet

Anne Leighton

Anne Leighton grew up during the volatile period of political intrigue and religious fervour that marked the end of the Tudor period and the beginning of the Stuart. The daughter of professional soldier Sir Thomas Leighton and Elizabeth Knollys, a granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, Anne displays a striking resemblance to her kinswoman Elizabeth I.

Anne married John St. John at St John's Church, Hackney on July 9, 1604. She was 13 years old. The couple went on to have 13 children.

Anne did not live to see the turmoil of the Civil War in which five of her sons played an active role. The first of Anne’s three sons to die for the Royalist cause was William born 1617, killed in action at nearby Cirencester. His body was returned to Lydiard House where he was buried alongside his mother in the family vault at St. Mary’s.

Later the same year, John, Anne’s second son, died fighting in Nottinghamshire. The Royal garrison at Newark was blockaded during the winter of 1643 and it is believed that John was killed during fierce fighting.

The third of Anne’s sons to die fighting in the Royalist ranks was Edward. A captain in Sir John Byron’s Regiment of Horse, Edward saw action at the Second Battle of Newbury on October 27 1644. He returned to Lydiard House where fatally wounded he lingered on, eventually dying of his injuries over five months later. He was also buried in the family vault at St. Mary’s.

An effigy of Anne can be seen on the magnificent alabaster St. John tomb commissioned by Sir John fourteen years before his actual death. The carving is of the highest quality and a comparison with existing portraits confirms the accuracy of the representations of Sir John and his two wives.

The inscription reads: “Anne was the daughter of Thomas Leighton, Knight, by his wife Elizabeth of the Knowles family and of the kindred of Queen Elizabeth, as blessed in character as in connection. She lived for thirty seven years, endowed with noble gifts of mind, body, and manner, a rare example of virtue and piety; she was the mother of thirteen surviving children; in the end, long worn down by the painful agonies of her last confinement and at last overcome, she fled to heaven on the 19^th September, 1638.” 

The date is incorrectly recorded and should read 1628.

About the Portrait

Medium - oil on canvas

Measurements - H 58 x W 45 cm

Purchased by Swindon Corporation in 1965 from Vernon St.John, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke