Anne Sadleir

"[2] Ralph was the eldest son, and heir, of the wealthy landowner, Sir Thomas Sadleir (c. 1536 – 1607), lord of the manor of Standon, and his second wife, Gertrude, daughter of Robert Markham, of Cotham, Nottinghamshire.

[3] Sir Henry Chauncy, writing thirty years after his death, says he delighted in hunting and hawking and the pleasures of country life; was famous for his noble table, his great hospitality to his neighbours, and his abundant charity to the poor.

An autograph poem about her early life appears in the smallest of her commonplace books (R.13.74):"Hunting-field gave me BirthEllsing EducationStandon brought AfflictionWhich made Heaven my Meditation"These lines are thought by some to imply that her childless marriage was not a happy one.

[1] He visited Anne in 1603 when James VI of Scotland stayed two nights at Standon on his way to London to claim the English throne.

[1][15] She made substantial bequests to the libraries at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Inner Temple, institutions attended by her father and by other members of her family.

[1][22] There are magnificent tombs, with effigies, for her late husband's father and grandfather in the chancel, while for his wife there is only "a modest tablet" of black and white marble on the wall of the vestry with the following inscription:[23][24]"Here lieth the body of Anne Coke, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Coke, Knight, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, by his first and best wife Bridget Paston, daughter and heir of John Paston, of Norfolk, Esq.

She survived him, and here lies in assured hope of a joyful resurrection".Anne Sadleir was the inspiration behind M. R. James's ghost story "The Uncommon Prayer Book".

Ralph Sadleir, c. 1615 – 1625
( Sutton House )
St Mary's church, Standon, Hertfordshire