Henry CROMWELL

(2nd B. Cromwell of Oakham)

Born: BEF 1 Mar 1538

Died: 20 Nov 1592/3

Buried: Launde Abbey, Leicestershire, England

Father: Gregory CROMWELL (1° B. Cromwell of Oakham)

Mother: Elizabeth SEYMOUR (B. Cromwell of Oakham)

Married: Mary PAULET (B. Cromwell of Oakham) BEF 1560

Children:

1. Catherine CROMWELL

2. Gregory CROMWELL (Sir)

3. Edward CROMWELL (3° B. Cromwell of Oakham)

Henry Cromwell was an English peer during the reign of Elizabeth I. Eldest son of Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell and Elizabeth Seymour, widow of Sir Anthony Oughtred, daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall, Wiltshire, and Margery Wentworth. He was the grandson of Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, 1st earl of Essex, nephew of the Protector Somerset and first cousin of Edward VI. He was baptised 1 Mar 1538, probably at Hampton Court, where the Lady Mary almost certainly stood godmother. Shortly after the baptism, his parents left for Lewes in Sussex to the former Cluniac Priory of St. Pancras, recently acquired by his grandfather, where they remained from Mar 1538 until early 1539, when they took up residence in Leeds Castle, Kent.

Henry's grandfather, Thomas Cromwell, had been created Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon in 1536 and Earl of Essex in 1540 as a reward for his service as chief minister to Henry VIII, but he had lost those titles by attainder in Jun 1540. On 18 Dec 1540, his son Gregory was created 1st Baron Cromwell. This title was a new creation rather than a restoration of his father's forfeited barony. Henry succeeded his father as the second Baron Cromwell under that creation. A minor at his father's premature death from sweating sickness on 4 Jul 1551, he was first summoned to Parliament in 1563.

His mother remarried, in 1554, Sir John Paulet, later Lord St John, son of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester. Henry married, before 1560, her new husband’s daughter by his first wife Elizabeth Willoughby, Mary Paulet. By her, Cromwell had two sons, Edward and Gregory, and one daughter, Catherine.

Cromwell was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1553. He may have been admitted to Lincoln's Inn, 7 Mar 1557. His siblings included brother Thomas Cromwell and half-brother Henry Oughtred, and his brother-in-law was William Paulet, later 3rd Marquess of Winchester.

He was arrested in 1572 for contempt of court (an injunction in the Court of Chancery) but the House of Lords insisted on his release since as a peer he was immune from arrest in civil actions.

Cromwell's wife died at North Elmham, Norfolk, 10 Oct 1592, and was buried, on 23 Oct, at Launde Abbey, Leicestershire. He died on 20 Nov following at North Elmham, Norfolk and was buried, 4 Dec, in the chapel at Launde Abbey, Launde, Leicestershire.

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