Sir Henry Isley was an English nobleman involved in Wyatt's Rebellion.
The Isley family were established landowners of Kent county.[1] Henry Isley owned an estate in Brasted, his brother Thomas Isley (Jr.) in Vinters Park near Maidstone.[2]
Between 1547 and 1550 protestants[3] George Harper,Thomas Culpepper, Thomas Wyatt the younger, and Henry Isley followed each other as Sheriffs of Kent.[1] They were strongly associated with the Edwardian Council. Immediately after the accession of Queen Mary Isley was arrested. He managed to make peace with the new regime, accepted the changes in the established religion, and was released.[4]
On January 22, 1554 Henry Isley attended a meeting of thirty key conspirators at Wyatt's Allington Castle. On January 25 Wyatt took control of Maidstone in an open revolt; brothers Thomas and Henry Isley operated their own detachments separately from Wyatt's main forces. On January 27, 1554, when Wyatt occupied Rochester, Henry Isley and his men stayed at Sevenoaks.[5] On the next day, however, Henry Isley and his five hundred men marched out of Sevenoaks to join Wyatt at Rochester.[6] Loyalist sheriff Robert Southwell intercepted Henry Isley at Wrotham and defeated the rebels, taking around sixty men prisoners. Isley himself fled to Hampshire.[6] The Crown offered pardon to all rebels, excluding Isley, Wyatt, Harper and Rudstone, and offered a ₤100 bounty for the capture of each ringleader.[7]
By the end of February all the rebels were apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower of London.[8] The trials began on February 10 and were largely over by February 22. The case against the leaders was examined by the Westminster Commission.[8] Henry Isley was sentenced to death and executed. The overwhelming majority of noble rebels were fined and set free, and some released without fine.[9]