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Henry NEVILLE
(5th E. Westmoreland)
Born: ABT 1524/5
Died: 10 Feb 1562/63/64, Kelvedon, Essex, England
Buried: Staindrop, Durham, England
Notes: Knight of the Garter.
Father: Ralph NEVILLE (4° E. Westmoreland)
Mother: Catherine STAFFORD (C. Westmoreland)
Married: Anne MANNERS (C. Westmoreland) 3 Jul 1536, Holywell, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England
Children:
1. Charles NEVILLE (6° E. Westmoreland)
4. Mary NEVILLE
Married 2: Jane CHOLMLEY (C. Wesmoreland) (dau. of Richard Cholmley and Catherine Constable) ABT 1550, Roxby, Yorkshire, England
Married 3: Margaret CHOLMLEY (C. Wesmoreland) (dau. of Richard Cholmley and Catherine Constable) (w. of Henry Gascoine) ABT 1559, Roxby, Yorkshire, England
Children:
7. Margaret NEVILLE
8. Elizabeth NEVILLE
Associated with: ¿?
9. Margaret WATSON
Wood carving tomb at Staindrop of Henry Neville and two of his wives,
Anne, daughter of the Earl of Rutland, and Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Cholmley.
Son of Ralph Neville, fourth Earl of Westmoreland, by his wife, Catherine, dau. of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, was born in 1525 (cf. Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, iv. ii. 4891). Brother of Cuthbert and Sir Christopher Neville, a leaders in the Northern rebellion of 1569.
Henry married Anne Manners, daughter of the Earl of Rutland in a dynastic triple marriage, in the same ceremony that her sister Margaret married Henry Manners, heir of the Earl of Rutland and her sister Dorothy married John De Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford. Henry VIII attended the festivities with her new queen, Jane Seymour, just 6 weeks after beheading Anne Boleyn.
By 1543 Lady Anne had had two sons, and perhaps one or more daughters (whose arrival was less interesting).
When Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was welcomed from Germany in Jan 1540, Henry was a face in the crowd. He deputized for his father in organizing the defence of the Scottish Border in 1541, and rallied to the Border again during an invasión scare in 1543.
Knighted, 30 Sep 1544, after the surrender of Boulogne. He held the office of Carver to the King in 1545. He fought in the the Earl of Hereford's great and successful raid into Scotland in Sep 1545. On 7 Jun 1546 he was attached to Lord Lisle's embassy to France for the negotiation of the Treay of Camp.
By the end of 1544, he had developed a serious gambling habit. His father, Earl Ralph, disapproved of the gambling, or at least of the debt, and relations between father and son became further strained. Worse, Lord Henry’s relationship with his wife, Lady Anne, was icy. The gambling houses and brothels provided Henry with an easy solution to this particular problem. He was, it seems, a regular customer of both.
On 1 Oct 1546 he was committed to the Fleet for plotting to murder his father and wife by witchcraft. He was heavily in debt for gambling and turns to Gregory Wisdom, a self-taught physician, magician and master conman. Wisdom had already sold Neville a “magic” ring, apparently guaranteeing him gambling success and mystical abilities. Now he offered to solve Neville’s financial woes by murdering his father, Ralph Neville, the incumbent 4th Earl of Westmorland, and his wife, Lady Anne Manners, by magic. Inevitably, the plot fell flat, and 18 months later Neville was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. For a few weeks it’s a major scandal and it looks as though he might be hanged. He confessed, but in Mar 1547, after the death of Henry VIII, he was pardoned and released in early 1547. His father was ordered on 24 Mar 1546/7 to take him back and pay his debts.
He succeeded to the title of 5th Lord Neville [E., 1459]; 8th Lord Neville of Raby [E., 1295] and 5th Earl of Westmorland [E., 1397] on 24 Apr 1549. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) before 26 Feb 1550/1.
He held the office of Chief Commissioner to divide the debatable land between England and Scotland on 8 Mar 1551/2. Privy Councillor probably in 1552, and ambassador to Scotland in the same year. He held the office of Lord Lieutenant of the Bishopric of Durham on 16 May 1552. He was invested as a Knight of the Garter on 16 Dec 1552. On 16 Jun 1553 he was one of the 26 peers who signed the Letters Patent to agreed to settle the crown on Lady Jane Grey on Edward VI's death, but swiftly declared for Mary, and bore the second sword and the cap of maintenance at her coronation. He was commander of the the capture of Scarborough Castle in Apr 1557 then held in rebellion by Thomas Stafford.
He held the office of Chief Commissioner to treat with the commissioners of Mary, Queen of Scots on 25 May 1557. He was Captain General of the the Horse in the North on 30 May 1557. He held the office of Steward of life of Galtres Forest, Yorkshire on 3 Jul 1557. He was Lieutenant-General of the the North between 22 Jan 1558 and Dec 1558, probably in succession to the more usual appointment of warden of the west marches. Im Jul 1558, ‘being a man of good experience’, John Markham was appointed with Sir John Forster to attend upon Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland ‘at his commandment at all such times as his lordship shall require their counsel and advice’. He held the office of Commissioner to fortify the castle and town of Berwick on 11 Jun 1558. He was admitted to Gray's Inn on 22 Jan 1561/62.
Married secondly Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Cholmley; and, thirdly, her sister Margaret, widow of Sir Henry Gascoigne.
In his will, probed 22 Sep 1561, he ask to buried in the parish church of Staindrop, under the tomb that last was made “nighe unto my late wife Lady Jane”. Left to his two daughters Mary and Adeline Neville one thousand marks; and one hundred pounds yearly unto Lady Margaret Cholmley, his last wife, and to his two daughters begotten of her, Margaret and Elizabeth, either of them one thousand marks, provided that do not marry themselves to any man, during the life of their mother, without her consent. His will also mention his servants William Lee; Francis Burton; Robert Cholmley; Nicholas Fetherstonhaugh; George Bisham and his chaplain Sir Nicholas Forster, parson of Brancepeth. Also left:
"To my said wife I give my whole interest in Blandsbye Parke in Yorkshire, and in the parsonage or tithe of Kirkby Misperton, and in the parsonage or tithe of Sehame, and all my goods at Kirkby Moreshead, Keldehome, Rockbarghe and Blandsbye Parke.
To the said Lady Margaret, now my wife, all the plate belonging to the foresaid Sir Henry Gascoigne, knight, or my said wife, at or before the day of our marriage, and the rest of all my plate to be equally divided between her and my son Charles.
To my said wife all my household stuff at Kirkby Moreshead and Keldhome.
To Thomas Gascoigne, youngest son of the said Sir Henry Gascoigne, my farmhold called Carleburye, after the expiration of a lease granted by me to John Killinghall, for his life, paying the accustomed rent.
To my bastard daughter Margaret Watson, otherwise called Margaret Nevyll, my two farmholde called Newham and Westholme, after the expiration of the leases granted by me to John Cholmeley and John Dowthaite deceased, for forty-one years.To Margaret Gascoigne, daughter of Sir Henry Gascoigne, late of Sadburye, deceased, my interest in the deanery and tithe of Darlington.
To Lady Margaret, now my wife, one gelding, called Gray Wycliffe.
To my brother-in-law Sir Richard Cholemeley knight, one bay gelding, which I bought of my servant Rauffe Newbye.
To Roger Dalton (d. 1587) one black gelding, which Thomas Watson bought at Malton.
To my servant William Constable, my great gresselde gelding, which I had of Hebburn.
To all my household servants, giving daily attendance, every one of them one half years wages, over and besides their ordinary wages.
I will that my executors pay unto Sir Robert Brandling, (d. 1568) of Newcastle upon Tyne, knight, c marks which I do owe him, and also 80£.
To my said brother-in-law Sir Richard Cholmeley, which I do owe to him, and also to Thomas Nicholas, merchant tailor of London, 18£. which I am indebted to him.
Item where before this time I did give by dead unto my daughter Elenor, my manor of Bolbeck in Northumberland, till she were paid 1000£, now I will that if she be of the said manor lawfully evicted, then my executors shall pay to her 1000£, to be taken out of all my lands and tenements.".
Henry made executors his son Charles Neville, Sir Richard Cholmeley, knight, Robert Bowes and Gerard Salven, esquires.
Died 1563, was succeeded by his elder son, Charles. His tomb at Staindrop is a wood carving. It has been, most improperly, removed from its old position in the chancel. An inscription on the monument informs that it was made in 1560 by Henry for himself and his three wives. Two only of those ladies have their effigies on the tomb.
[Doyle's Official Baronage ; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, passim ; State Papers, i. 598, and vols. iv. and v. passim, ix. 671 ; Plumpton Correspondence, passim ; Chronicle of Calais, p. 20 ; Rutland Papers, pp. 30, 45, 73 ; Bapst's Deux Grentilshommes poetes de la Cour de Henry VIII, p. 150, &c. ; Wriothesley's Chronicle, i. 50 ; Chron. of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, pp. 82, 99, all in the Camd. Soc. ; Metcalfe's Knights, pp. 78, 99 ; Parker's Correspondence (Parker Soc.), p. 105.] W. A.
Sources:
Tallentire, Mark: A tale of gambling and gangs - https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8364249.tale-gambling-gangs/
Ryrie, Alec: The Sorcerer's Tale: Faith and Fraud in Tudor England
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