Humphrey Grey, Esq., of Enville and Whittington (in Kinver), Staffordshire [died 1499]

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

Humphrey Grey, Esquire, of Enville and Whittington (in Kinver), Staffordshire [died 1499], married Anne Fielding, by whom he had two sons, Edward, Knt., and Robert, and three daughters, Elizabeth (wife of Sampson Erdeswicke, Esq.), Margery (wife of Richard Saint Barbe, Gent.), and Mary (wife of John Dixwell). Their descendants include many prominent people, including later earls of Claricarde, Cork, Elgin, Essex, Ferrers, Winchilsea, etc.

Mr. Brandon Fradd includes much helpful information on Humphrey Grey, Esq., in an interesting article on the Lowe family published in The Genealogist, 17 (2003): 86–95. Mr. Fradd shows that Humphrey Grey, Esq., died 11 Dec. 1499. His widow, Anne, held the manor of Withybrook, Warwickshire. She died shortly before 20 October 1507, when a writ of diem clausit extremum was issued.

I find that the book, List of Early Chancery Proceedings, 8 (PRO Lists and Indexes 51) (1929): 96 includes reference to a Chancery lawsuit dated 1538-1544, which lawsuit establishes that Humphrey Grey, Esq., was the son and heir of Robert Grey, Esq. [died before 20 June 1460]. Robert Grey is in turn identified in the lawsuit as a son of Reynold Grey, Knt., Lord of Hastings, Wexford, and Ruthin [died 1440, by his 2nd wife, Joan Astley].

A brief abstract of the Chancery lawsuit can be found in the online Discovery Catalogue of the National Archives at the following weblink:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C7488529

The online abstract reads as follows:

"C 1/991/49
Description:

Short title: Grey v Alen.

Plaintiffs: Thomas, great grandson of Robert GREY, esquire.

Defendants: John ALEN, knight, alderman of London.

Subject: Manor of Wootton entailed on the said Robert, together with the manors of Nailstone and Barford (Berkeford), by Reynold Grey his father, lord Hastings, Wexford andRuthyn. Northampton, Leicestershire Bedfordshire

Date: 1538-1544" END OF QUOTE.

Mr. Fradd's article gives further details of this suit:

Thomas Grey the plaintiff sued Sir John Allen over the manor of Wootton, Northamptonshire. Thomas Grey stated that the manor had been entailed on Robert Grey, together with the manors of Nailston, Leicestershire, and Barford, Bedfordshire by Reynold Grey, his father, lord Hastings, Wexford, and Ruthin. The suit further states that Reynold Grey had enfeoffed his younger son, Robert, who held them for 24 years and who left a son, Humphrey, aged 12, where after, Edmund, Earl of Kent, grandson of Reynold demised the manors to Humphrey. However, the manor and documents had come to John Allen, even though Humphrey had a son, Sir Edward Grey. Thomas Grey, Edward Grey's son, was suing to obtain the manors.

Elsewhere I find that there is a Common Pleas lawsuit dated 1505, in which Henry Vernon, Knt., sued Anne Grey, widow, of Withybrook, Warwickshire, and Robert Alen, of Bosworth, Leicestershire, husbandman, regarding a trespass at Snelston, Derbyshire [Reference: Court of Common Pleas, CP40/971, rot. 568d].

The above lawsuit may be viewed at the following weblink:

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H7/CP40no971/bCP40no971dorses/IMG_0568.htm

The defendant in the above lawsuit is Anne Fielding, widow of Humphrey Grey, Esq., who held the manor of Withybrook, Warwickshire, presumably in dower.

For interest's sake, I've included below a list of the 17th Century New World immigrants that descend from Humphrey Grey, Esq., and his wife, Anne Fielding:

Christopher Batt, Matthew Clarkson

For further details on the Grey family, please see my book, Royal Ancestry [5 volume set] published earlier this year.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

Recently I posted a message regarding Anne Fielding (or Feilding), wife of Humphrey Grey, Esq. (died 1499), of Enville and Whittington (in Kinver), Staffordshire. Brandon Fradd's article on the Lowe family published in The Genealogist, 17 (2003): 86–95 identifies Anne (Fielding) Lowe as the daughter of Sir William Fielding, a Lancastrian, who was slain at the Battle of Tewkesbury 4 May 1471. Mr. Fradd makes no mention of Sir William Fielding's wife.

Recently I located some information regarding Sir William Fielding's wife, Agnes.

The Fielding pedigree in Lennard & Vincent, Visitation of Warwick 1619 (H.S.P. 12) (1877): 10–12 gives the following information regarding Sir William Feilding's marriage:

“Will'm Felding miles. = Agnes Da. & heire of Seyton."

The arms of Seaton are included in the Fielding family quarterings: Gules, a bend argent between six martlets or.

Ives, Common Lawyers of Pre-Reformation England: Thomas Kebell (1983): 470 (biog. of Richard Nele) states that Agnes, wife of Sir William Fielding (died 1471), was the daughter and heiress of John Seyton, of Martinsthorpe, Rutland. She married (2nd) Richard Nele (died 1486), of Shepshed, Leicestershire, Justice of the Common Pleas.

VCH Rutland 2 (1935): 84–85 states that "Though the pedigree of the Seytons given in the visitation of Northamptonshire shows that John Seyton had a son Thomas and three grandsons, Martinsthorpe is said to have passed to William Feilding by his marriage with Agnes, daughter and heir of John de St. Liz or de Seyton. This John may perhaps have been a younger brother of Thomas, who acquired the manor under a settlement." END OF QUOTE.

Collins, Peerage of England 2 (1756): 248 states William Fielding married Agnes, "daughter and heir to John St. liz, otherwise De Seyton, with whom he had the Lordship of Martinesthorp in com. Rutl. and a descent in blood from those great families of Vaux, Longvile, and Bellers (a younger branch of Moubray)." END OF QUOTE.


In 1475 Henry Botiller sued Agnes Feldyng late of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, widow, former wife and executrix of William Fyldyng, Knt., in a plea of debt. The matter was respited to the Octave of the Purification because the jury did not turn up.

The above lawsuit may be viewed at the following weblink:

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/E4/CP40no853/aCP40no853fronts/IMG_0022.htm

Farnham “Prestwold & its Hamlets in Medieval Times” in Trans. Leics. Arch. Soc. 17 (1931): 45 gives the following abstract of another Common Pleas lawsuit. The abstract may be viewed at the following weblink:

http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/FarnhamPrestwoldPagesfromVolume17.pdf

De Banco Roll 874.
Mich[aelmas term], 20 Edward IV, 1480, m. 271, Simon Mountford, of Coleshill, co. Warwick, esquire, was sum­moned to answer Richard Neel, kt., and Agnes, his wife, administratrix of the goods and chattels which were of William Feldyng, of Lutterworth, knight, who died intestate, in a plea of 10 marks due on a bond dated 9 May, 36 Henry VI, 1458, given by Simon to William Feldyng in his lifetime and never paid. Simon asks leave to imparl at Hilary. END OF QUOTE.

Curiously in the first lawsuit, Agnes is styled "executrix" of her late husband, Sir William Fielding, and in the 2nd lawsuit, she is styled his "administratrix."

In summary, it appears that Sir William Fielding married Agnes Seyton (or Seaton), allegedly daughter and heiress of John Seyton, of Martinsthorpe, Rutland. Following Sir William's death in battle in 1471, his widow, Agnes, served as his adminstratrix (or executrix). She married (2nd) between 1475 and 1480 Sir Richard Neel (or Neele, Nele), Knt., Justice of the Common Pleas. She was living in 1480.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

P.S. I have followed Mr. Fradd in spelling the surname Fielding above. However, I believe the modern spelling of this family's surname is Feilding.