John Killigrew (died 1584)

Sir John Killigrew (died 5 March 1584) of Arwenack, near Penryn, Cornwall, was the second Governor of Pendennis Castle (1568–1584),[1] appointed by Queen Elizabeth I, as stated on his father's brass in St Budock's Church.

[1] The Killigrews thereby gained control over the west side of the Penryn haven, including the land of the Pendennis promontory and the coastlands as far south as the Helford River.

[1] They are commemorated by a monumental brass at St Budock, which shows him in full armour, and describes him as the first Captain of Pendennis Castle, to which he was appointed by King Henry VIII.

[3] He became notorious for engaging in cattle theft, "evil usage in keeping of a castle" (presumably Pendennis) and as a Justice of the peace for abuses in arranging the quarter sessions.

In January 1582, both he and his wife, Mary Wolverston,[23] were suspected of involvement in a notorious act of piracy concerning a Spanish ship which had sheltered from a storm in an anchorage opposite Arwenack.

He was buried in St Budock's Church, near Arwenack, where there is a mural monument to him, erected by his grandson in 1617, showing effigies of him and his wife facing each other kneeling in prayer.

[3][4] In the historical novel The Grove of Eagles by Winston Graham, Sir John's formidable widow Mary Wolverston ("old Lady Killigrew") is arguably the dominant character - the protagonist's highly intimidating grandmother.

Additionally, he appears in the novel The Sea Hawk by Raphael Sabatini, and in With the Knights of Malta by Douglas Valder Duff (using the pseudonym of Peter Wickloe).