Robert ALDRIDGE (Bishop of Carlisle)

Died: 1555/6

One of those prelates, who, with Thomas Crammer, set out the godly and pious institution of a Christian man, commonly called the Bishop's Book. One of the bishops who supported in Parliament the "Act for Abolishing of Diversity of Opinions", known as the of "Statute of the Six Articles", and "The Whip with Six Strings". Henry VIII gave him and his successors the house of Lambeth Marsh, called Carlisle House, in exchange for his house, near Ivie Bridge, now Beaufort's Buildings, for which the duke of Beaufort pays an annual quit rent of £16 to the Bishop of Carlisle.

An old ballad tells the story that Aldridge seduced Hugh Graham's wife. The Grahams were one of the greatest of the clans on the English-Scottish border. In revenge Graham staged a raid and stole the bishop's horse. He was pursued by the Warden of Carlisle, John, Lord Scrope, and was caught near Solway Moss. He was taken to Carlisle and convicted. Despite many pleas for clemency the sentence was carried out, and the last obstacle to the Bishop's pleasure was removed. Although Hugh does not appear among the first names of the Grahams of that time, Robert Aldridge was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1537 to 1555 and Lord Scrope held the office of English warden of the West Marches in 1542.

He died in 1555, having held the see eighteen years, during which great changes ware made both in church and state.

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