Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/212

Grey and chief justice in eyre of the royal forests south of the Trent on 17 June 1523, master of the household to the Princess Mary in 1526, constable of Warwick Castle in 1528, and of Kenilworth Castle in 1529. Like many other prominent Englishmen of his time, he was in receipt of pensions both from the emperor and the French king (ib. iv. 1611, 3619). He was a brave soldier, but seems to have owed his position chiefly to the favour of the king, whose cousin he was, though a writer (quoted by, Dormant and Extinct Peerages) says that he was 'esteemed the first general of those times for embattling an army.' The same authority continues that 'his speech was soldierlike, plain, short, smart, and material.' Dorset, as he directed in his will, was buried in the collegiate church of Astley, Warwickshire; seventy-eight years later the vault was opened, when his body was found well preserved, 'six foote, wanting foure inches, his haire yellow, his face broad' (, Description of Leicestershire, p. 51). There is a portrait of him in a picture at Hampton Court Palace.

Dorset married (1) Eleanor, daughter of Oliver St. John of Liddiard Tregooze, Wiltshire, and (2) Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe, Kent, and widow of William Medley. By his second wife he had four sons and four daughters. Of his sons, Henry, duke of Suffolk (d. 1554), and John (d. 1569) are noticed separately. His third son, Thomas Grey (d. 1554), took part with his brothers in Wyatt's rebellion in 1554, and when it was betrayed fled with them to Suffolk's estates in Leicestershire. On the failure of their attempt to excite a revolt, Thomas Grey fled to Wales in disguise, but was shortly captured, and sent to the Tower. He appealed in vain for mercy, and was beheaded on 23 April (, Hist. of England, v. 317, 326, 342-3, 356, 362;, Historic, &c. p. 1111).

[Polydore Vergil's Hist. ed. 1555; Grafton's, Hall's (ed. 1809), and Holinshed's Chronicles; Herbert's Hist. of Henry VIII, ed. 1683; Chron. of Calais (Camd. Soc.); Cal. of Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ed. Brewer; State Papers of England and Spain, ed. Bergenroth; Brewer's Hist. of the Reign of Henry VIII; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 719; Dugdale's Antiq.of Warwickshire; Nichols's Hist. and Antiq. of Leicestershire, iii. 664, where there is a copy of his will and of the inquisition as to his property; Doyle's Official Baronage, i. 618.]  GREY, THOMAS, fifteenth and last (d. 1614), son of Arthur Grey, fourteenth baron [q. v.], by his second wife, served in the fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He succeeded his father as Lord Grey of Wilton in 1593; and, although he was anxious to gain a military reputation, prominently identified himself with the puritans. He took part as a volunteer in the Islands' Voyage of 1597. In October 1598 Chamberlain writes: 'There was some snapping of late twixt [Sir Francis Vere] and young Lord Grey, who went about [i.e. sought] to have a regiment, and to be chief commander over the English in the Low Countries' (, Letters, temp. Elizabeth, Camd. Soc. 24). Grey's ambition was not satisfied on this occasion. But when Essex went to Ireland as lord deputy in March 1599, Grey was one of the 'great troop of gallants' who went with him. Despite rumours that the queen withheld her assent (ib. 38, 42, 49), he received a commission as colonel of horse. Grey, who was by nature of a choleric temperament, did not find Essex a congenial commander. Soon after his arrival in Ireland Essex begged him (he writes, 21 July 1598) to declare himself `his friend only,' and to detach himself from Sir Robert Cecil. Grey declined on the ground that he was deeply indebted to Cecil. Henceforth Essex and Essex's friend Southampton treated Grey as an avowed enemy. In a small engagement with the Irish rebels fought in June `he did charge without direction' from Southampton, who was general of horse and his superior officer. He was accordingly committed for one night to the charge of the marshal (, Memorials, i. 47). The disgrace rankled in Grey's mind, and he henceforth sought opportunities of vengeance. In May 1600 he abandoned Essex in Ireland, and with Sir Robert Drury went 'over with twelve or fourteen horse to serve the states' in Flanders (, p. 75). His departure, and the reports of his misconduct in Ireland, temporarily excited Elizabeth's anger, but in July his friend Cecil sent Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh to meet him at Ostend, and assure him of 'the queen's gracious opinion and esteem of his poor desert' (, Raleigh, i. 317-18). This meeting at Ostend brought together for the first time Grey, Cobham, and Raleigh, who were afterwards charged with joint complicity in a treasonable conspiracy. It is, however, the only recorded instance of their coming together. Fighting under Prince Maurice, Grey took part in the memorable battle of Nieuport, 2 July 1600, in which the Netherlander gained a decisive victory over the Spanish forces under Archduke Albert. Like Sir Francis Vere he was in the thick of the fight, and was 'hurt in the mouth.' He sent home an account of the victory two days later. Grey was again in