Lord Sandys and his descendants
Lord Sandys lived in Basingstoke at the Vyne, a manor house now
owned by the National Trust. William Sandys was well placed within court circles
during the reign of Henry VII. He became a close personal friend of the Kings
son, prince Henry, who later became Henry VIII. Sandys was a great supporter
of Katherine of Aragon who was married to Henry VIII's brother Arthur. The
marriage to Arthur lasted only six months until Arthur died. When Henry VII died,
she was given special permission by the Pope, to marry Arthur's brother when he
became King.
Henry VIII first visited the Vyne in 1510 with his Queen,
Katherine. Between 1512 and 1517 William went on military expeditions to Spain,
Flanders and the north of France for the King. In return for his service he was
appointed the post of Treasurer of Calais. Then in 1518 William Sandys was made
a Knight of the Garter. Two years later he was chosen to be one of the
Commissioners to arrange an interview between Francis I of France and Henry VIII
at what became known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
In 1523, whilst fighting against the French, William Sandys
became the first Lord Sandys. Then in 1526 he was appointed Lord Chamberlain in
the Kings Household. In 1531 King Henry VIII again visited the Vyne, but the
denouncement of his marriage to Katherine upset Sandys and he gradually tried to
withdraw from court life. But as Lord Chamberlain he was forced to take part in
the public reception of Anne Boleyn when, as Henry's second Queen, she made her
entry up the River Thames. In 1535 he was also forced to receive Henry and his
new Queen at the Vyne. Lord Sandys died in 1540, and he was buried in the Chapel
of the Holy Ghost, which he had helped to found in Basingstoke.
The third Lord Sandys was visited at the Vyne by Queen Elizabeth
I in 1569. It was from here that she wrote the letter to the Earl of Huntingdon,
commanding him to take custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, and to allow her
"neither to send or receive any message or letters without our
knowledge". The Sandys family continued to live at the Vyne until 1650,
when the house was sold to Chaloner Chute. The Families name lives on in
Basingstoke, with Sandys road being named after them.
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