Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset

Thomas Grey, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, 1st Earl of Huntingdon and 1st Marquess of Dorset, KG (c.1455 – 20 September 1501), was an English nobleman, courtier and a man of mediocre abilities pushed into prominence by his mother Elizabeth Woodville's second marriage to the king, Edward IV.[1]

Contents

Family

Thomas was born about 1455, the elder son of Sir John Grey and Elizabeth Woodville, who later became Queen consort to Edward IV.
His one full brother, Sir Richard Grey (c.1458-1483), was arrested by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as he moved to take the throne on the death of King Edward IV. Gloucester's forces later executed Richard Grey at Pontefract Castle.
The Grey brothers had ten half-siblings by their mother's marriage to King Edward.

Career

His mother endeavoured to improve his estates by the conventional means of their class and time, through his marriages and purchase of custodies and wardships.

On the death of his stepfather, Edward IV, and his 12 year old half-brother's, Edward V's, accession to the throne on 9 April 1483 Grey proved unable to maintain his family's position. It was not possible to arrange a Yorkist regency. Internal fighting, particularly the long established battle for ascendancy in Leicestershire between the Grey and Hastings families, now on the national stage, allowed Gloucester to seize power and usurp the throne. On 25 June an assembly of parliament declared Richard to be the legitimate king. Later in the summer, learning of the apparent murder of both his young half-brothers, Grey joined the Duke of Buckingham's rebellion against Richard III. When the rebellion failed he fled to Brittany to join Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, who pledged to marry Grey's half-sister Elizabeth and heal the Yorkist Lancastrian division.

However, just before Henry's successful invasion of England in August 1485, Grey learned his mother had come to terms with Richard III, and was persuaded to desert Henry Tudor. He was intercepted at Compiègne on his way to England and played no part in the overthrow of Richard III. Grey was instead left at Paris, as security for the repayment of a loan made to Henry Tudor by the French government, unable to return home until Henry VII was safely installed as king of England.

Thereafter Henry VII took good care to keep his Queen's brother under control and Grey was not permitted to recover his former influence. Thomas Grey was confined in the Tower in 1487 during Lambert Simnel's rising and not released until after the battle of Stoke. Though he accompanied the King on his expedition to France in 1492 he was obliged to commit himself in writing to ensure he did not commit treason. He was permitted to assist in suppression of the Cornish rising in 1497.

Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, died in London on 30 August 1501, aged about 45, and was buried in the collegiate church of Astley, Warwickshire. His wife survived him and married Henry Stafford, later earl of Wiltshire.

Marriages

His mother sought to make provision for him by marriage to a wealthy heiress. Thomas first married, at Greenwich in October 1466, Anne Holland (c.1455-c.1474), the only daughter of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter and Anne of York. His Mother in Law was the second child and eldest surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville, thus sister to his mother's second husband king Edward IV.

After Anne died young without issue, Thomas married on 18 July 1474, Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington of Aldingham and 2nd Baroness Bonville, the wealthiest heiress in England.[2] Cecily was born on or around 30 June 1460, and was the daughter and heiress of William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington by his wife Katherine Neville.

Grey's new mother-in-law, since 1462 the wife of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, a close associate of Edward IV, was a daughter of Alice Montagu, 5th Countess of Salisbury by her consort Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (jure uxoris).

The maternal uncles of Cecily Bonville included Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu and George Neville, Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England.

Children

He and his second wife Cecily Bonville had seven sons and seven daughters, including:

Titles

Ancestry

Depictions in fiction

He is depicted in William Shakespeare’s play Richard III.

Peerage of England
New creation Marquess of Dorset
1475–1501		 Succeeded by
Thomas Grey
New creation Earl of Huntingdon
1471–1475		 Resigned
Preceded by
Edward Grey		 Baron Ferrers of Groby
1483–1501		 Succeeded by
Thomas Grey

References and sources

  1. ^ T. B. Pugh, ‘Grey, Thomas, first marquess of Dorset’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  2. ^ Lympstone: From Roman Times to the 17th Century. Retrieved 1 September 2011