Henry Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Groby
Henry Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Groby (1356–1388) was a fourteenth century English nobleman. He was a professional soldier, taking part in a number of campaigns during the reign of Richard II, served on several royal commissions, was a justice of the peace and a member of parliament.
Youth and early life
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He was the only son of William, Lord Ferrers by his father's first marriage to Margaret Uford, daughter of Robert d'Ufford, Earl of Suffolk and Margaret Norwich.[1] He was born in Tilty Abbey, Essex on 6 February 1356, and baptised in nearby Stebbing[2] Whist still a minor, in the words of the family's most recent biographer, he "fell prey to the fraudulent schemes of his father's feoffees," who attempted to dispossess Henry of certain Essex and Warwickshire estates.[1] Two of his father's feoffees, a clerk called Edmund de Stebbing and one Robert de Bradenham attempted to use a forged release, which would allow them to take the manors into their own hands.[2] At some point, but certainly before 27 June 1371 he married Joan, possibly the daughter of Sir Thomas de Hoo of Luton Hoo;[3] they had one son, his heir William, who had been born on 25 April 1372 in Hoo, Bedfordshire.[1]
Career
In 1377, he paid homage and fealty to King Edward III for his patrimony and those lands held in dower by his father's second wife Margaret, his stepmother.[2] During the following decade, Ferrers was regularly appointed to royal commission within Leicestershire, including those of Array, Oyer and Terminer, and as a Justice of the Peace.[1] He was also summoned to parliament as Henrico de Ferrariis de Groby from the August 1377 parliament to that of December 1387.[3]
Ferrers was essentially a professional soldier, taking part in five campaigns during the reign of Richard II alone.[4] He performed much royal service in the Hundred Years' War, being part of the earl of Buckingham's contingent in 1377 (in which he was a captain)[4] and that of the duke of Lancaster in 1378. Ferrers fought again under Buckingham in the 1380-1 Brittany chevauchée.[3] He took part in Richard II's invasion of Scotland of August 1385[1] where he was with Richard in the main battle.[3] Two years later the king, with Queen Anne, stayed with Henry Ferrers at Groby whilst on a Royal progress around The Midlands.[5]
In 1382, he and two others were found by Inquisition post mortem to be the heirs of William Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, by rights of their wives, Suffolk's sisters.[4] He died 3 February 1388 aged 31;[6] his wife Joan survived him,[1] dying in 1394.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". www.oxforddnb.com.
- ^ a b c Cokayne, G.E., The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant V, eds V. Gibbs & H.A. Doubleday (2nd ed., London 1916), 351.
- ^ a b c d e Cokayne, G.E., The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant V, eds V. Gibbs & H.A. Doubleday (2nd ed., London 1916), 352.
- ^ a b c Fildes, K.E., 'The Baronage in the Reign of Richard II' (University of Sheffield PhD thesis, 2009), 287.
- ^ Goodman, A., The Loyal Conspiracy: The Lords Appellant under Richard II (Great Britain, 1971), 19.
- ^ Cokayne, G.E., The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant V, eds V. Gibbs & H.A. Doubleday (2nd ed., London 1916), 353.