Henry POLE

(1st B. Montague)

Born: 1492, Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, England

Died: 9 Jan 1538/9, Tower Hill, London, Middlesex, England

Father: Richard POLE (Sir Knight)

Mother: Margaret PLANTAGENET (C. Salisbury)

Married: Jane NEVILLE May 1510, England

Children:

1. Catherine POLE (C. Huntingdon)

2. Thomas POLE

3. Henry POLE

3. Winifred POLE

Eldest son of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury. He had three brothers, Reginald Pole, Sir Geoffrey Pole, and Sir Arthur Pole; and one sister, Ursula. Knighted by Henry VIII in 1513 during Henry’s French campaign. Created Baron Montague, much of the lands originally held by the Neville family were conferred on him (for a fee of course). He was referred to as Lord Montague in official documents and was a witness to the great peace Treaty of London in 1518. He was a member of the royal household and was allowed his own livery. In 1520, he attended Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He was one of the peers who convicted Anne Boleyn.

He married Jane, daughter of George Neville, second Lord Bergavenny, in 1513. They had four children.

As a Roman Catholic, Pole did not approve of Henry’s destroying Church property and the anti-Catholic feeling in England. Henry was fully of Montague’s feelings, and through his betrayal of his brother Geoffrey Pole, the King now had the evidence he needed to have Montague arrested in put into the Tower. Late in Nov 1539 Montague and Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter were tried before Lord Chancellor Audley, the Lord High Steward, and a jury of peers found them guilty of treason. A week later, on 9 Dec, both lords met their deaths on Tower Hill.

Lord Montague, left a son and two daughters. The son may have been attainted with his father and must have died soon after his father for there is no mention of him in official documents. His daughter, Catherine, married Francis, Lord Hastings, later Earl of Huntingdon, and her sister, Winifred, married first a brother of Catherine’s husband and later a member of the Barrington family. The girls were restored to full honours and property at the accession of Queen Mary.

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