Sir William Skeffington (c. 1465 – 31 December 1535), was a Lord Deputy of Ireland.

Early life

He was born in Skeffington, Leicestershire. His brother John was the patriarch of the Massareene family. He was appointed sheriff of Leicestershire and Warwickshire for 1508, and again in 1515 and 1521 in the reign of Henry VII and was knighted by that king for his services. In 1523, he received from Henry VIII the property near Tunbridge that had belonged to the traitor Edmund Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.

Career

He was master of the ordnance and a knight of the shire (MP) for Leicestershire from 1529–1535 in the reign of Henry VIII. He was also in 1529 was appointed deputy in Ireland for Henry's son, the duke of Richmond, the nominal lord lieutenant of that country. He crossed over in August 1529, but his power was so circumscribed by instructions from Henry that the head of the Fitzgeralds, Gerald, 9th earl of Kildare, and not Skeffington, was the real governor of Ireland.

This state of affairs lasted for three years and then in 1532 the deputy was recalled. In 1534, Kildare being in prison in England and his son Thomas, afterwards the 10th earl, being in revolt, Skeffington was again appointed deputy , at approximately 70 years of age. After some delay he landed at Dublin in October 1534 and marched at once to relieve Drogheda, but further progress in the work of crushing the rebellion was seriously delayed by his illness. However, in the spring of 1535 he was again in the field. He took Maynooth Castle, killing or execting the entire garrison. The heavy artillery used by him on this occasion earning for him his surname of "The Gunner"; he forced some of Kildare's allies to make peace and captured Dungarvan.

He died in Dublin on the 31st of December 1535, and was buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral. ^[1] he was succeeded by his eldest son Thomas.

Marriages

Skeffington married twice. His first wife was Margaret Digby, daughter of Sir Everard Digby of Tilton, Leicestershire, by whom he had four sons, including Sir Leonard Skeffington, who would hold the post of Lieutenant of the Tower of London. Sir Leonard is credited with having invented the "Scavenger's Daughter", which was a torture device used in the Tower during Henry VIII's reign.^[2] Following Margaret's death, William Skeffington married secondly, Anne Digby, a daughter of Sir John Digby of Kettleby and his wife, Katherine Giffin. This marriage produced two further sons and three daughters.^[3]