Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

Henry Grey, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset KG KB (17 January 1517 – 23 February 1554), was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days' Queen".

Henry Grey
Duke of Suffolk Marquess of Dorset
Possible portrayal of Henry Grey-(although now thought to be Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester)
Born	17 January 1517 Westminster, London, England
Died	23 February 1554(1554-02-23) (aged 37) Tower Hill, London
Noble family	House of Grey
Spouse(s)	Frances Brandon ​ (m. 1533)​
Issue	Lady Jane Grey Lady Katherine Grey Lady Mary Grey
Father	Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset
Mother	Margaret Wotton

Origins

He was born on 17 January 1517 at Westminster, London and was the son and heir of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset (1477–1530) by his wife Margaret Wotton (1485–1535), daughter of Sir Robert Wotton (c. 1463–1524) of Boughton Malherbe in Kent. Through his father, he was a great-grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of King Edward IV, by her first marriage to Sir John Grey of Groby.

Marriage and progeny

Before 1530, Grey was betrothed to Catherine FitzAlan, the daughter of William FitzAlan, 18th Earl of Arundel, whom he later refused to marry.^[1]

In 1533, with the permission of King Henry VIII, he married his half-second cousin Lady Frances Brandon (1517–1559), the daughter of King Henry's sister Mary and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. They had three daughters all second cousins to him as well as daughters:

• Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554)
• Lady Katherine Grey (1540–1568)
• Lady Mary Grey (1545–1578)

Career

Henry VIII's reign

Henry Grey became the 3rd Marquess of Dorset in 1530 following the death of his father. Before Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey became a fixture in court circles. A knight of the Bath, he was the king's sword-bearer at Anne Boleyn's coronation in 1533, at Anne of Cleves' arrival in 1540, and at the capture of Boulogne in 1545. Twice he bore the Cap of Maintenance in parliament. He helped lead the army in France in 1545. In 1547, he became a Knight of the Order of the Garter.

Edward VI's reign

After Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey fell out of favour with the leader of King Edward VI's government, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England. Returning to his home in Bradgate, Leicestershire, Grey concentrated on raising his family to greater heights. Thus, with the Protector's brother Thomas, Lord Seymour, Grey conspired to have his daughter Jane married to the King. This plot failed, ending in Seymour's execution, but Grey emerged unscathed.

In 1549, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, overthrew the Protectorship and secured power by appointing loyal friends to the Privy Council. Grey joined the Council as a part of this group. In July 1551 his wife's youngest half-brother, Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, died. Henry Grey was created Duke of Suffolk jure uxoris on 11 October 1551, in the same ceremony that elevated John Dudley to the Dukedom of Northumberland.

Protestantism

Henry Grey was best known for his zeal for the Protestant faith. The Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger dedicated a book to him in 1551 and frequently corresponded with the family. In Parliament and on the Privy Council, Grey pushed for further Protestant reforms. He is credited with making Leicestershire one of the most reliably Protestant counties in early modern England.

Queen Jane

Seriously ill, and fearing his own death, King Edward VI granted Northumberland's request for the marriage of Suffolk's daughter Lady Jane Grey to Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford Dudley, on 25 May 1553. Edward later altered his will to make Jane his designated successor. Edward died on 6 July 1553, and three days later Suffolk, Northumberland, and other members of the Privy Council proclaimed Jane queen.^[2]

This proclamation failed; not by a large-scale rallying of forces in the country to Henry VIII's eldest daughter, the future Queen Mary I, as is often thought, but by a wavering Privy Council switching its allegiance to Mary during Northumberland's absence on the campaign against her. The decision was led by Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, Suffolk's brother-in-law, and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Arundel had been imprisoned earlier by Northumberland for having sided with the previous Protector, Somerset; but it is not clear why Pembroke revolted, especially since his son and heir, Henry Herbert, married Henry Grey's other daughter, Katherine, the same day as Jane's wedding. The country was divided in its loyalties to the two contenders for Queen at the time.^[3]

By his wife's friendship with the new Queen Mary, Grey and his daughter and son-in-law temporarily avoided execution. However, Mary had Henry Grey beheaded on 23 February 1554 at around nine to ten o'clock in the morning on Tower Hill,^[4] after his conviction for high treason for his part in Sir Thomas Wyatt's attempt (January – February 1554) to overthrow her after she announced her intention to marry King Philip II of Spain. Eleven days earlier, on February 12, his daughter Jane and his son-in-law, Guildford, had been executed.

Mummified head

 

The head found at Holy Trinity, Minories

According to Walter George Bell (writing in 1920),^[5] in 1851 the severed head of the Duke of Suffolk was discovered in a vault in the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories, in the City of London, suggested to have been preserved by the tannin-rich oak sawdust used to pad the basket on the scaffold on which he had been beheaded 297 years earlier. Bell believed the head might have been hidden by the Duke's widow to prevent it from being exposed on a spike on London Bridge. Both of them had worshipped in the chapel at Holy Trinity. The church was closed in 1899 and deconsecrated, when the head found a new resting place at St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, to which Holy Trinity Parish had been annexed.^[5]

The head was examined in the late 19th century by Sir George Scharf, former Keeper of the National Portrait Gallery, who noted a strong resemblance between its features and those in the portrait of the duke then in the possession of the Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield House. However, Bell also notes a scandal at Holy Trinity in 1786 in which a sexton had been found sawing and chopping up coffins in the vaults and using the wood to stoke the fire in his quarters. Many of the bodies had been partly dismembered in the process, and Bell warned his readers that the surviving head might well have resulted from this debacle.^[5]

In later years, the head was sealed in a vault in the crypt at St Botolph's, until a planned conversion of the space into an office resulted in an archaeological investigation of the site between April and July 1990. The archaeologists recovered the head from the vault and the Rector of the church buried it in the churchyard.^[6]

Family tree

v t e Family tree of the Earls, Marquesses, and Dukes of Suffolk and the Earls of Bindon and Berkshire

Earl of Norfolk (1st creation), before 1069 Ralph the Staller (c. 1011–1068) 1st Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, or of the East Angles, ?–1068 Ralph de Gael (c. 1040 – c. 1096) 2nd Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, or of the East Angles, 1068–1074 Earldom of Norfolk and Suffolk, or of the East Angles (1st creation) extinct, 1382 Earl of suffolk (2nd creation), 1337 Robert Ufford (1298–1369) 1st Earl of Suffolk, 1337–1369 Earl of suffolk (3rd creation), 1385 Michael de la Pole (1330–1389) 1st Earl of Suffolk, 1385–1388 William Ufford (1330–1382) 2nd Earl of Suffolk, 1369–1382 Earldom of Suffolk (2nd creation) extinct, 1382 Thomas de Mowbray Duke of Norfolk Michael de la Pole (1367–1415) 2nd Earl of Suffolk, 1398–1399, 1399–1415 Marquess of Suffolk, 1444 Earl of Pembroke (6th creation), 1447 Duke of Suffolk (1st creation) 1448 Robert Howard (1385–1436) Margaret de Mowbray (c. 1388–1459) Elizabeth Mowbray Michael de la Pole (1394–1415) 3rd Earl of Suffolk, 1415 William de la Pole (1396–1450) 4th Earl of Suffolk, 1415–1450 1st Marquess of Suffolk, 1444–1450 Earl of Pembroke, 1447–1450 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1448–1450 Earldom (3rd creation), Marquessate, and Dukedom (1st creation) of Suffolk and Earldom of Pembroke (6th creation) forfeit, 1450 John Howard (1425–1485) Duke of Norfolk Cecily Neville Richard Plantagenet Duke of York Earldom (3rd creation), Marquessate, and Dukedom (1st creation) of Suffolk restored, 1463 Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk Richard III Duke of Gloucester King of England Edward IV King of England Elizabeth Plantagenet John de la Pole (1442–1492) 2nd Duke of Suffolk, 2nd Marquess of Suffolk, 5th Earl of Suffolk, 1463–1492 Elizabeth Boleyn (c. 1480–1538) Countess of Wiltshire Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk Lord Edmund Howard Elizabeth of York Henry VII King of England Edmund de la Pole (1472–1513) 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Suffolk, 1492–1493 6th Earl of Suffolk, 1492–1504 Marquessate and Dukedom (1st creation) of Suffolk surrendered, 1493 Earldom of Suffolk (3rd creation) forfeit, 1504 Marquess of Pembroke, 1532 Duke of suffolk (2nd creation), 1514 Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507–1536) Marquess of Pembroke 1532–1536 Henry VIII King of England Mary Tudor Queen of France Charles Brandon (1484–1545) 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1514–1545 Marquessate of Pembroke forfeit, 1536 Duke of suffolk (3rd creation), 1551 Henry Howard Earl of Surrey Catherine Howard (c. 1524–1542) Henry Grey (1517–1554) 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1551–1554 3rd Marquess of Dorset Frances Grey Dukedom of Suffolk (3rd creation) forfeit, 1554 Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk Jane Grey Disputed Queen of England Henry Brandon (1535–1551) 2nd Duke of Suffolk, 1545–1551 Charles Brandon (1537–1551) 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 1551 Dukedom of Suffolk (2nd creation) extinct, 1551 see Dukes of Norfolk family tree Earl of Suffolk (4th creation), 1603 Thomas Howard (1561–1626) 1st Earl of Suffolk, 1603–1626 Earl of Berkshire (2nd creation), 1626 Theophilus Howard (1584–1640) 2nd Earl of Suffolk, 1626–1640 Thomas Howard 1st Earl of Berkshire James Howard (c. 1620–1689) 3rd Earl of Suffolk, 1640–1689 George Howard (1625–1691) 4th Earl of Suffolk, 1689–1691 Henry Howard (1627–1709) 5th Earl of Suffolk, 1691–1709 Charles Howard (1615–1679) 2nd Earl of Berkshire Thomas Howard (1619–1706) 3rd Earl of Berkshire William Howard Philip Howard (1629–1717) Earl of Bindon, 1706 Henry Howard (1670–1718) 1st Earl of Bindon, 1706–1718 6th Earl of Suffolk, 1709–1718 Edward Howard (1672–1731) 8th Earl of Suffolk, 1722–1731 Charles Howard (1685–1733) 9th Earl of Suffolk, 1731–1733 Craven Howard Dorothy Howard Capt. Charles Howard Charles Howard (1693–1722) 2nd Earl of Bindon, 7th Earl of Suffolk, 1718–1722 Henry Howard (1706–1745) 10th Earl of Suffolk, 1733–1745 Henry Bowes Howard (1686–1757) 4th Earl of Berkshire, 1706–1745 11th Earl of Suffolk, 1733–1745 Catherine Graham Capt. Philip Howard Earldom of Bindon extinct, 1722 Henry Howard (1739–1779) 12th Earl of Suffolk, 5th Earl of Berkshire, 1745–1779 Thomas Howard (1721–1783) 14th Earl of Suffolk, 7th Earl of Berkshire, 1779–1783 John Howard (1739–1820) 15th Earl of Suffolk, 8th Earl of Berkshire, 1783–1820 Henry Howard (1779–1779) 13th Earl of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Berkshire, 1779–1779 Thomas Howard (1776–1851) 16th Earl of Suffolk, 9th Earl of Berkshire, 1820–1851 Charles Howard (1804–1876) 17th Earl of Suffolk, 10th Earl of Berkshire, 1851–1876 Henry Howard (1833–1898) 18th Earl of Suffolk, 11th Earl of Berkshire, 1876–1898 Henry Howard (1877–1917) 19th Earl of Suffolk, 12th Earl of Berkshire, 1898–1917 Charles Howard (1906–1941) 20th Earl of Suffolk, 13th Earl of Berkshire, 1917–1941 Michael Howard (1935–2022) 21st Earl of Suffolk, 14th Earl of Berkshire, 1941–2022 Alexander Howard (b. 1974) 22nd Earl of Suffolk, 15th Earl of Berkshire, from 2022 Arthur Howard (b. 2014)

Arms

 

Arms of Grey

The arms of the head of the Grey family are blazoned Barry of six argent and azure in chief three torteaux gules.^[7]

Notes

1. Julian Lock, "Fitzalan, Henry, twelfth earl of Arundel (1512–1580)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
2. Grey, Henry, duke of Suffolk (1517–1554), magnate by Robert C. Braddock in Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
3. Eric Ives (ref.)
4. The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563. (1848). In Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Retrieved January 31, 2024, from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol42/pp50-66 (ref.)
5. Walter George Bell, Unknown London (London: John Lane, 1920), pp. 3–18.
6. . London Archaeologist. 6 (10). 1990. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
7. Woodward, John (1896). A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign. Vol. 2. p. 49.

References

• Robert C. Braddock, "Grey, Henry, duke of Suffolk (1517–1554)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004,
• Eric Ives, "Lady Jane Grey, A Tudor Mystery", Wiley-Blackwell 2009,

Political offices
New title	Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire 1549–1551	Succeeded by The Earl of Huntingdon
Preceded by The Earl of Huntingdon	Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire 1552–1554
Legal offices
Preceded by The Earl of Wiltshire	Justice in Eyre south of the Trent 1550–1553	Succeeded by The Earl of Sussex
Peerage of England
Preceded by Thomas Grey	Marquess of Dorset 3rd creation 1530–1554	Forfeit