Sir John Killigrew (died 5 March 1584) of Arwenack, near Penryn, Cornwall, was the second Governor of Pendennis Castle (1568–1584), appointed by Queen Elizabeth I, as stated on his father's brass in St Budock's Church. He was MP for Lostwithiel in 1563 and twice for the family's pocket borough of Penryn, in 1571 and 1572.

Overview

Sir John Killigrew (died 5 March 1584) of Arwenack, near Penryn, Cornwall, was the second Governor of Pendennis Castle (1568–1584), appointed by Queen Elizabeth I, as stated on his father's brass in St Budock's Church. He was MP for Lostwithiel in 1563 and twice for the family's pocket borough of Penryn, in 1571 and 1572. His appointment as a commissioner to enquire into piracy notwithstanding, he was himself a notorious pirate and smuggler. It was said of his son John Killigrew (1547-1605), by an opposing litigant, that "He kept not within the compass of the law, as his father now and then, from fear of punishment, did." Origins Killigrew family background The Killigrew family, influential in Cornish life for several centuries, arose in the parish of St Erme, some five miles north of Truro. There, the placename "Killigrew" signifies "a grove of eagles". Ralph de Killigrew was reputedly a natural son of Richard, Duke of Cornwall by Joan de Vautort, a tradition supposedly exemplified by the spread eagle and bordure bezanté of the Killigrew arms.

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