Sir John Shelton

  General Notes:

Sir John Shelton was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1504 and 1522, and was a Justice of the Peace for Norfolk. At the coronation of King Henry VIII he was made a Knight of the Bath.

Sir John Shelton and his wife rose to prominence when King Henry VIII, married, as his second Queen, Lady Shelton's niece, Anne Boleyn, the daughter of Lady Shelton's brother, Sir Thomas Boleyn. After Queen Anne's accession to the throne in 1533, Lady Shelton and her sister, Lady Alice Clere (d. 1 November 1538), were placed in charge of the King's daughter, Princess Mary, at Hatfield Palace.

By July 1536 Shelton was controller of the household established for Princess Mary and Queen Anne Boleyn's daughter, Princess Elizabeth. On 22 November 1538 he was granted the site of the former Benedictine nunnery of Carrow just outside Norwich. This property became the family seat.

Shelton had at least six children. His son and heir, Sir John Shelton (b. in or before 1503, d. 1558), married Margaret, the daughter of Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley. His daughter, Margaret, is said to have been a mistress of King Henry VIII. His youngest daughter, Mary, married firstly, Sir Anthony Heaveningham, and secondly, Philip Appleyard.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Marriage: to Anne Boleyn, 1496.

John married Lady Anne Boleyn, daughter of Sir William Boleyn and Lady Margaret Butler, in 1496. (Lady Anne Boleyn was born in 1479 in Blicking, Norfolk and died on 6 January 1555 in Shelton, Norfolk.)