John Spencer

Sir John Spencer ( – 14 April 1522) was an English nobleman, politician, sheriff, knight, merchant and landowner.

Life and family Spencer was the son of William Spencer of Rodburn (1430–1485) and his wife Elizabeth Empson, daughter of Sir Peter Empson. In 1469, John Spencer's uncle — another John Spencer — had become feoffee (feudal lord) of Wormleighton in Warwickshire and a tenant at Althorp in Northamptonshire in 1486. The Spencers’ administration of their Northamptonshire and Warwickshire estates was admired and often emulated by gentlemen all over England. Sheep from their pastures were purchased for breeding and it is probable that the family's success as farmers was rarely equalled in the century. The Spencers were granted a coat of arms in 1504, "Azure a fess Ermine between 6 sea-mews' heads erased Argent", which bears no resemblance to that used by the family after around 1595.

Spencer first made a living by trading in livestock and other commodities and eventually saved enough money to purchase the manors of Wormleighton and Althorp. Wormleighton was bought from Sir William Cope in 1506, and a new manor house was completed in 1512. In 1508, John Spencer also purchased the estate of Althorp with its moated house and several hundred acres of farmland. He had grazed sheep here from the 1480s. Impressed by the quality of the land, he eventually bought it and rebuilt the house in 1508. At that time, his estate and mansion in Warwickshire were considerably larger, the house in Wormleighton was four times the size of Althorp. Their great-grandson Robert Catesby was leader of the Gunpowder Plot.

Upon his death in 1522, the Spencer estates at Wormleighton and Althorp passed to his younger son Sir William Spencer, who died ten years later.