Richard Weston

Sir Richard Weston (1465–1541), KB, of Sutton Place in the parish of Guildford in Surrey, was a courtier and diplomat who served as Governor of Guernsey, Treasurer of Calais and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer during the reign of King Henry VIII. Origins He was born about 1465/6, the eldest son of Edmund Weston of Boston in Lincolnshire by his wife Katherine Cammel, daughter and heiress of Robert Cammel of Fiddleford in Dorset. He quartered the canting arms of Cammel, also of Shapwick, Dorset: Argent, three camels sable. His brother was Sir William Weston (died 1540), the last Prior of the Order of St John in England, deemed Premier Baron of England. His ancestors had long held high office in the Knights Hospitallers. Career His biographer Frederic Harrison of Sutton Place wrote (1899): Immediately after his accession on 22 May 1509, Henry VIII appointed Weston to several offices, including that of Governor of Guernsey. In 1511, Weston served under Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy, in the English contingent sent to assist King Ferdinand of Spain in his campaign against the Moors. Upon his return, Weston visited the court of Spain and received considerable honour. He was knighted by Henry VIII in 1514, and from 1516, was in personal attendance on the king as a Knight of the Body. On 3 January 1518, he was created a Knight of the Bath. In 1519, he was one of the four "sad and ancient knights" who were "put into the king's privy chamber", i.e. he was appointed a Knight of the Privy Chamber. In 1520, he followed Henry to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, as one of the eight county representatives for Berkshire. In 1521, he sat on the jury which tried and condemned Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. The royal manor of Sutton was granted to him on 17 May 1521, the day of the Duke of Buckingham's execution.