John Nevill, 4th Baron Latymer

John Nevill, 4th Baron Latimer

John Neville
Baron Latymer
Spouse(s)	Lady Lucy Somerset
Issue
Katherine Neville Dorothy Neville Lucy Neville Elizabeth Neville
Noble family	House of Neville
Father	John Nevill, 3rd Baron Latymer
Mother	Dorothy de Vere
Born	c.1520
Died	22 April 1577

John Nevill or Neville, 4th Baron Latimer or Latymer (c.1520 – 22 April 1577) was an English nobleman of the House of Neville.

Early life

Born about 1520 (he was 23 when his father died, 2 March 1543), he was the only son of John Nevill, 3rd Baron Latimer and his first wife Dorothy, sister and co-heiress of John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford. After the death of his mother, Lord Latimer married secondly, Elizabeth Musgrave, by whom he had no children. After her death in 1530, Latimer married again in 1534 the widowed Catherine Parr.

From the beginning of his father's marriage to Catherine, she tried to be a good step-mother to both children, but John proved to be difficult. There is some indication that Margaret, his sister, was their father's favorite. If that is true, it may explain the turbulence which would follow as John got older. As a "teenager", John proved to be a confident sulking, lying, and over-sensitive boy. Lord Latimer did not name his son as heir to his properties and made sure that his son could not meddle with his inheritance or father's legacy. In Lord Latimer's will, Catherine was named guardian of his daughter and was put in charge of Lord Latimer's affairs which were to be given over to his daughter at the age of her majority.

In January 1537, John, his sister Margaret, and step-mother Catherine, were held hostage at during the uprising of the North. The rebels ransacked the house and sent word to Lord Latimer, who was returning from London, that if he did not return immediately they would kill his family. When Lord Latimer returned to the castle he somehow talked the rebels into releasing his family and leaving, but the aftermath to follow with Lord Latimer would prove to be taxing on the whole family.

Later life

Nevill became Baron Latimer on his father's death in 1543. Although the relationship proved difficult during his youth, Catherine, did not forget Nevill. Catherine stayed close with her former stepchildren. In fact, Catherine made John's wife, Lucy Somerset, a lady-in-waiting when she became queen consort to King Henry VIII.

In 1544, Nevill went to war in France where he took part in the siege of Abbeville. In 1545, he was involved with the siege of Scotland and it was there that he was knighted.

John became an emotionally unstable man later in life. In the summer of 1553, John was sent to Fleet Prison on charges of violence done to a servant. He was arrested for attempted rape and assault in 1557 and in 1563, he killed a man. Of the situation in 1553, Thomas Edwards wrote to the Earl of Rutland describing the violence which had taken place with the servant quoting "too great a villainy for a noble man, my thought." That this public violence occurred after the death of his step-mother, Catherine, might suggest that at least she had some sort of control over Nevill while she was alive.

Marriage and issue

In 1545, Latimer married Lady Lucy Somerset, daughter of Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester and Margaret Courtenay, Baroness Herbert. Through her mother, Lucy was a great-granddaughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Lady Lucy became a lady-in-waiting to her husband's former step-mother, Queen Catherine Parr.

Together they had four daughters:

All of the first marriages above produced childten.

Lord Latimer died without sons in 1577; his four daughters became his joint heiresses. The barony became abeyant until 1913, when its abeyance was terminated in favour of Latimer's distant descendant Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer.

See also

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