Sir John CHESTER Bt ³

  Notes:

John was the second son of Sir Anthony Chester of Chicheley. He married Anne Wollaston (qv) in 1686, and lived with his wife's parents in Shenton Hall in Leicestershire. Although he inherited his father's title and estates in 1698, his older brother Anthony having died in 1685, he continued to live in Shenton Hall where his 11 children were born. He was fond of hunting and was also a courtier, so lived in London for three months a year. He rebuilt Chicheley Hall on higher ground at great expense - the house is now owned by the Royal Society. His wife Anne (qv) died in childbirth in 1704, and 10 years later he married Frances Noel, widow of Sir Charles Skrimsher (Sir John was the third of her four husbands), and they moved to Chicheley Hall. Sir John had spent much of the family fortune on rebuilding the Hall, and settled the rest so that his successors did not have enough income to maintain it.

John and his first wife Anne had 11 children. Their eldest son William was educated at Oxford University, but did not graduate, and lived at his father's home at Shenton. He remained there with his grandmother when his father remarried, and then at Great Glen. His father did not approve of his marriage to Penelope Hewitt, and disinherited him by leaving his Bedfordshire estates to his younger brother John, although William outlived his father by just a few months. The next son Thomas also matriculated at Oxford University, and was appointed by his godfather Lord Pembroke, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as a Lt Col in a regiment of Foot in the Army: he was drowned in a transport ship on the way to Lisbon, at the age of 21.

John and Ann then had two daughters - Mary, who died young, and Elizabeth, who did not marry and lived in Lindley in Leicestershire. Their next son John was educated at Cambridge University, and then studied for the Bar, but did not pursue that career. He inherited the title and estate after his older brother William died in 1726, and took a more active role in public affairs than his father, being elected as a Tory MP for Bedfordshire in 1741. His eldest son Charles did not marry and left a will that left his estate to his mother's nephew Charles Bagot on the condition that he adopted the name Chester. John and Ann's next son Francis was a merchant in London, but spent the last 20 years of his life in an Asylum in Chelsea after his wife died in 1743.

The next four daughters were Anne, who married Thomas Theed, a landowner in Buckingham; Catherine, who married John Toller, a barrister; Rebecca, who died young; and Penelope (qv) who married Richard Smith, the squire of Padbury in Buckinghamshire. The youngest son and 11th child was Anthony, who also died young.

Although three of John's sons inherited the baronetcy, none of his grandsons left male offspring, and the title became extinct after the death of his nephew Anthony Chester in 1769.

Additional source:
Simon Jenkins (2003) England's Thousand Best Houses. London: Allen Lane.

John married Anne WOLLASTON, daughter of William WOLLASTON and Elizabeth CAVE, on 2 Nov 1686 in St John the Baptist, Shenton, Leicestershire.¹ (Anne WOLLASTON was christened on 13 May 1661 in St John the Baptist, Shenton, Leicestershire,¹ died on 3 Oct 1704 in Shenton, Leicestershire ⁶ and was buried on 11 Oct 1704 in St Lawrence, Chicheley, Buckinghamshire ⁵.)

John next married Frances NOEL on 22 Apr 1714 in All Saints, Nailstone, Leicestershire.² (Frances NOEL was christened on 14 Apr 1673 in St Michael and All Angels, Himley, Staffordshire ⁷ and died in Feb 1751 ⁸.)