Biography of Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent 1495-1562

Before 1481 [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent [aged 26] and Anne Woodville Viscountess Bourchier [aged 42] were married. See Woodville Marriages. She the daughter of Richard Woodville 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxemburg Duchess Bedford. He the son of [his grandfather] Edmund Grey 1st Earl Kent [aged 64] and [his grandmother] Katherine Percy. They were sixth cousins. He a great x 3 grandson of King Edward III of England.

Before 1485 [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent [aged 30] and [his mother] Katherine Herbert Countess Kent [aged 20] were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] William Herbert 1st Earl Pembroke and [his grandmother] Anne Devereux [aged 54]. He the son of Edmund Grey 1st Earl Kent [aged 68] and Katherine Percy. They were sixth cousins. He a great x 3 grandson of King Edward III of England.

Around 1495 Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent was born to [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent [aged 41] and [his mother] Katherine Herbert Countess Kent [aged 31]. He a great x 4 grandson of King Edward III of England.

Between 1st December 1500 and 8th May 1504 [his mother] Katherine Herbert Countess Kent [aged 36] died.

On 25th December 1505 [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent [aged 51] died. His son [his half-brother] Richard [aged 24] succeeded 3rd Earl Kent, 6th Baron Grey of Ruthyn. [his future sister-in-law] Elizabeth Hussey Countess Kent by marriage Countess Kent.

In 1509 [his brother-in-law] John Hussey 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford [aged 44] and [his sister] Anne Grey Baroness Hussey Sleaford [aged 19] were married at Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The difference in their ages was 25 years. She the daughter of [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent and [his mother] Katherine Herbert Countess Kent.

Before 19th November 1516 [his half-brother] Richard Grey 3rd Earl Kent [aged 35] and [his sister-in-law] Elizabeth Hussey Countess Kent were married. He the son of [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent and Anne Woodville Viscountess Bourchier.

After 19th November 1516 [his half-brother] Richard Grey 3rd Earl Kent [aged 35] and [his sister-in-law] Margaret Fynche Countess Kent were married. She by marriage Countess Kent. He the son of [his father] George Grey 2nd Earl Kent and Anne Woodville Viscountess Bourchier.

In or before 1520 Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent [aged 24] and Anne Blenerhassett [aged 28] were married. He the son of George Grey 2nd Earl Kent and Katherine Herbert Countess Kent.

In 1520 [his son] Henry Grey was born to Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent [aged 25] and [his wife] Anne Blenerhassett [aged 29]. He married his half fifth cousin once removed Margery St John and had issue.

In 1524 [his half-brother] Richard Grey 3rd Earl Kent [aged 43] died at the Sign of the George having much wasted his estate by gaming. His half brother Henry [aged 29] succeeded 4th Earl Kent, 7th Baron Grey of Ruthyn although by reason of his slender estate, declined to take upon him the title of Earl. Henry tried, with little success, to reacquire the property his brother Richard had sold, and had to live as a modest gentleman, never formally taking title as earl.

In 1545 [his son] Henry Grey [aged 25] died.

In 1545 [his sister] Anne Grey Baroness Hussey Sleaford [aged 55] died.

On 24th September 1562 Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent [aged 67] died. His grandson Reginald [aged 22] succeeded 5th Earl Kent, 8th Baron Grey of Ruthyn.

On 30th September 1562 Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent [deceased] was buried at St Giles without Cripplegate Church [Map]. His epitaph reads "Sir Henry Grey knight, sonne and heire to [his father] George lord Grey of Ruthen and earl of Kent."

Henry Machyn's Diary. 30th September 1562. The xxx day of September was raylles mad at sant Giles's withwtt Crepull-gatte [Map], and hangyd with blake and armes, [for the] gentyll knyght ser Hare Gray [deceased], and was brodur unto the [his half-brother] earl of Kent [Note. Hare Gray was Earl but didn't use the title.], with ij haroldes of armes, master Clarenshux [aged 52] kynge, and Ruge-crosse pursewantt of armes, and he bare the helme and crest, master Clarenshux the cott of armes, and then the standard and [banners of] armes; and the clarkes syngyng; and then the corse covered [with a bla]ke velvett pall with a whyt crosse of saten and armes a-p[on it,] and many mornars in blake; and ther dyd pryche master (Nowell) [aged 45] the [dean of] Powlles; and after he was bered home to the plase to d[inner, where] ther was good chere, dener after dener tyll iiij of the [clock.]

Note. P. 293. Funeral of sir Harry Grey, brother to the earl of Kent. Richard earl of Kent, having much wasted his estate by gaming, died at the sign of the George in Lombardstreet, in 15 Hen. VIII. and was buried at the White Friars in Fleet-street. Whereupon his brother and heir male, sir Henry Grey of Wrest, by reason of his slender estate, declined to take upon him the title of Earl. (Ralph Brooke's Catalogue of Nobilitie.) He died Sept. 24, 1562; and in his epitaph at St. Giles's, Cripplegate, was styled "Sir Henry Grey knight, sonne and heire to George lord Grey of Ruthen and earl of Kent." (Stowe's Survay.) The dignity was resumed by his grandson Reginald, in 1571. "Sir Harry Grey knight dyed at his howsse in London in Sant Gyles parishe the xvjth day of September, in the 4th yere of our soveraigne lady quene Elizabethe, and was buryed in the parishe churche there the xxijth of the same mounthe, and lyeth in the chapel of the south syde the quere. The said sir Henry maryd Anne doghter of John Blenerhasset, in the county of Suffolk." (MS. Harl. 897, f. 20b, where his issue is also stated.)

On 6th March 1565 [his former wife] Anne Blenerhassett [aged 74] died.

[his daughter] Katherine Grey was born to Henry Grey 4th Earl Kent and Anne Blenerhassett.