Thomas Grey (1384–1415)

Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton (sometimes spelt Gray), County Durham (Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 30 November 1384 – North Gate, Southampton, Hampshire, 2 August 1415), was an English nobleman and plotter.

Family

Born at Alnwick Castle, seat of the Percy Earls of Northumberland, he came from an old military family of the North Country.

He was a son of Sir Thomas Grey of Heton, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, of Chillingham, Northumberland, and of Berwick, Northumberland (Heton, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, 1359 - 26 November 1400), by wife (married circa 1381) Joan de Mowbray (Axholme, Lincolnshire, circa 1363 - after 30 November 1402), daughter of John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray and Elizabeth de Segrave, 5th Baroness Segrave. He had three brothers and one sister: William Grey, who was Dean of York, Bishop of London in 1426 and Bishop of Lincoln in 1431; Sir Henry Grey of Ketteringham, Norfolk; Matilda or Maud Grey (1382–1451), wife of Sir Robert Ogle (Ogle Castle, Ogle, Northumberland, 1379 - 12 August 1435), by whom she had one daughter; and John Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville. His paternal grandparents were Sir Thomas Grey and Margaret de Pressene.

Life

What part, if any, he played in the Percy revolt of 1405 is not clear. However, he became a ringleader of the Southampton Plot in 1415, which aimed to murder King Henry V in Southampton before he sailed to France, and replace him with Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March. However, Mortimer revealed the plot to the King, and the conspirators were promptly arrested and executed by beheading.

Marriage and issue

He married before 1402 Lady Alice Neville, born c. 1384, daughter of Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and first wife Margaret de Stafford, by whom he had eight children:

• Elizabeth Grey (c. 1402–1454), married Sir Roger Widdrington
• Sir Thomas Grey (c. 1405–1443), without issue
• Sir Ralph Grey (1406–1443), married Elizabeth FitzHugh, daughter of Sir Henry FitzHugh, 3rd Lord and Elizabeth Grey, and left issue.
• Joan Grey (c. 1408–1488), married Sir John Salvine
• a daughter (born c. 1410), married an Arundell
• William Grey
• Margaret Grey (born c. 1414), married Gerard Widdrington
• John Grey

Notes and sources

Notes

Sources

• The Tudor Place
• Barker, Juliet (2006). Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle. United Kingdom: Abacus. ISBN 978-0349119182. 
• Curry, Anne (2005). Agincourt: A New History. United Kingdom: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0752428284. 
• Mortimer, Ian (2009). 1415: Henry V's Year of Glory. London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 978-0224079921. 
• Mosley, Charles (ed.), (1999). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, p. 15.
• Mosley, Charles (ed.), (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, pp. 1660–1661.
• Pugh, T B (1988). Henry V and the Southampton plot of 1415. United Kingdom: Southampton University Press. ISBN 978-0854322800.