Biography of William St Lo 1518-1565

In or before 1518 [his father] John St Lo [aged 17] and [his mother] Margaret Kingston were married. They were fifth cousins.

In 1518 William St Lo was born to John St Lo [aged 18] and Margaret Kingston.

In 1543 Robert Barlow aka Barley [aged 14] and [his future wife] Bess of Hardwick [aged 16] were married.

On 20th August 1547 William Cavendish [aged 42] and [his future wife] Bess of Hardwick [aged 20] were married. The difference in their ages was 22 years.

Before 1549 William St Lo [aged 30] and Jane Bayntun [aged 25] were married.

In 1549 [his wife] Jane Bayntun [aged 26] died.

Chronicle of Queen Jane and Two Years of Queen Mary 1554. Sondaie the xxv^th [25th] of Februarye [1554] was brought into the Tower prysoner sir William Seinctlowe [aged 36]^c, a man that cam in with a wounderfull stoute corage, nothing at all abashed.

Note c. Foxe states that sir William Sentlow had been "committed as prisoner to the master of the horse" on the previous day. See other particulars of his imprisonment in the Rev. Joseph Hunter's memoirs of him, Retrospective Review, Second Series, vol. ii. p. 319; also the letter written by the counsellors above named directing his arrest, in Tytler, ii. 314.

Before 23rd March 1559 [his father] John St Lo [aged 59] died.

Around 27th August 1559 William St Lo [aged 41] and Bess of Hardwick [aged 32] were married. They were half third cousin twice removed.

Around March 1561 Bess of Hardwick [aged 34] was poisoned. Both William St Lo [aged 43] and his mother Margaret Kingston believed William's younger brother Edward St Lo [aged 42] to be guility. Edward St Lo feared he would lose his inheritance if William and Bess had a child. William St Lo, probably as a consequence of his brother's actions, 'did of very good will toward [his wife] convey [his lands] unto her'. Edward had previously been suspected of poisoning his first wife's husband John Scutt and, following their marriage, his wife Bridget Malte.

In January 1565 William St Lo [aged 47] died suddenly in the company of his brother Edward St Lo [aged 46]. He was buried in St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. Given that he had been suspected of poisoning William's wife Bess of Hardwick [aged 38] five years before it is possible Edward had poisoned William. Edward St Lo contested his brother's will unsuccessfully.

On 6th February 1568 Gilbert Talbot 7th Earl of Shrewsbury [aged 15] and [his former step-daughter] Mary Cavendish Countess Shrewsbury and Waterford [aged 12] were married. She the daughter of William Cavendish and [his former wife] Bess of Hardwick Countess Shrewsbury and Waterford [aged 41]. He the son of George Talbot 6th Earl of Shrewsbury [aged 40] and Gertrude Manners Countess Shrewsbury and Waterford. They were sixth cousins.

Three days later on Gilbert and Mary would become step-siblings when their father and mother respectively George Talbot 6th Earl of Shrewsbury and Bess of Hardwick were married. She by marriage Countess of Shrewsbury Countess Waterford. It is likely the latter marriage a condition of the former. He the son of Francis Talbot 5th Earl of Shrewsbury and Mary Dacre. They were fifth cousins. He a great x 5 grandson of King Edward III of England.