Winifred BRYDGES

(M. Winchester)

Died: 16 Jun 1586, Chelsea, Middlesex, England

Buried: 1586, Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, Middlesex, England

Father: John BRUGGE (Sir Knight Lord mayor of London)

Mother: Agnes AYOLFFE

Married 1: Richard "Fill Sack" SACKVILLE (Sir Knight) ABT 1531, Dymocke, Gloucestershire, England

Children:

1. Thomas SACKVILLE (1° E. Dorset)

2. Anne SACKVILLE (B. Dacre of the South)

Married 2: John PAULET (2° M. Winchester) ABT 1568

Daughter of Sir John Brydges or Brugges, Lord Mayor of London in 1520-21, and his wife Agnes Ayloffe. Winifred married Richard Sackville of Ashburnham and Buckhurst, cousin of Anne Boleyn, by whom she had Thomas, Earl of Dorset, two sons who died young, and Anne. In 1562 and again in 1566, the Sackvilles were given custody of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, when she had offended Queen Elizabeth.

By early 1568, Winifred remarried to John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, as his third wife. From him, as a wedding present, she inherited all the Sir Thomas More properties in Chelsea. Comtemporary accounts state that she owned roughly one good half of the town, the Crown holding everything else.

After 1572, Paulet's heirs were the highest-ranking nobles in England. Paulet generously provided for Winifred, including property and title of Marchioness. Paulet's son, William, unsuccessfully sued to decrease her benefits. He complained that Winifred had used undue influence on his father when he made his will. When Winifred died in Jun 1586, she had arranged for her daughter Anne to inherit the Chelsea estate.

Many accounts incorrectly state that she married, in about 1571, Sir William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester. Winifred was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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