William Sharington

Sir William Sharington (born in around 1495, died before 6 July 1553) was an English courtier of the time of Henry VIII, master and embezzler of the Bristol Mint, member of parliament, conspirator, and High Sheriff of Wiltshire.

Sharington was the eldest son of Thomas Sharington, a gentleman of Cranworth in Norfolk, by his wife Katherine, daughter and heiress of William Pyrton of Little Bentley, Essex. In early life, Sharington is known to have made a visit to Italy, during which he developed an interest in art. Sharington's father left him the manor of Swathing's at Fransham in the Launditch hundred of Norfolk by a Will dated 15 October 1519, and Sharington sold it in 1532. The manor had come to Sharington's great-grandfather Henry Sharington, who was steward to the Bishop of Ely, when he married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Edmund de Swathing.

Sharington's early career is obscure. He married Ursula, an illegitimate daughter of John Bourchier, Lord Berners, who had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he was a friend of Berners. By 1538, he was in the service of Sir Francis Bryan, who was a soldier and diplomat, thus becoming a friend of Thomas Seymour, who was also in Bryan's service. Seymour was one of the brothers of Jane Seymour, who in 1536 became King Henry VIII's third queen consort. By 1539, Sharington had been appointed a page of the king's robes, and in 1540 was promoted to Groom of the Robes. The king trusted him, and in 1541 he was made a page of the Privy chamber and in 1542 a Groom of the Chamber. Also in 1542, he was appointed steward and constable of Castle Rising, in his home county of Norfolk. In 1544, he joined the household of Queen Catherine Parr.

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