Edward Warner (1511–1565)

Sir Edward Warner (1511 – 7 November 1565[1]) was an English politician, and Lieutenant of the Tower of London.[2]

He was an MP for Grantham in 1545, 1547, March 1553 and October 1553, for Great Grimsby in 1559, and Norfolk in 1563.[3]

He was the younger son of Henry Warner (d.1519[2]) of Besthorpe by Mary, daughter of John Blennerhassett of Frenze. He was the brother of Robert Warner. He married 1) Elizabeth (d.1560), daughter of Thomas Brooke, 8th Lord Cobham, widow of Sir Thomas Wyatt I (d.1542) of Allington Castle, Kent, and had by her 3 sons.[4] She died in August 1560 and was buried in the Tower;[2] 2) Audrey (d. 16 July 1581), daughter and heiress of William Hare of Beeston, Norfolk, the widow of Thomas Hobart of Plumstead.[3] Audrey's mother was Alice Wayte (d. 1 July 1566),[1] the daughter of William Wayte of Tittleshall. As the widow of William Hare of Beeston Alice married secondly, as his second wife, Robert Rugge, Mayor of Norwich (d. 18 February 1558/9).[4]

Lady Jane Grey

On 14 February 1543/4 he received the reversionary of Polstead Hall, Norfolk, which was confirmed to him on 14 October 1553. He also benefited largely by the dissolution of the monasteries, receiving grants of ecclesiastical land both from Henry VIII and from Edward VI. On 22 January 1544/5 he was returned to Parliament for the borough of Grantham, a seat which he also held in the parliaments of 1547 and 1553. In December 1546 he bore witness against the Duke of Norfolk's son, Lord Surrey, informing Sir William Paget, the secretary of state, that he had heard him hint at the possibility of Norfolk's succeeding Henry VIII. In recompense he obtained the grant of the Duke's lands at Castleacre, Norfolk. In 1549 he took part in the defence of Norwich against Robert Kett, acting as Marshal of the field under William Parr, Marquis of Northampton. In March 1550/1 he received a license from the king for himself and his wife to eat flesh and white meats during Lent and other fasting days for the rest of his life. In October 1552 he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower in succession to Sir Arthur Darcy. He was removed, however, on 28 July 1553, shortly after Mary's accession, and Sir John Brydges appointed in his place. His dismissal was probably due to his sympathy with the claims of Lady Jane Grey. His disgrace increased his discontent, and he listened to the outspoken complaints of his friend Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, who bitterly censured the ecclesiastical changes which Mary had introduced. Warner's disposition was known, and on the outbreak of Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion, in which his father-in-law, Lord Cobham, was supposed to be implicated, he was promptly arrested on suspicion on 25 January 1553/4 with the Marquis of Northampton, at his own house by Carter Lane, and the next day was committed to the Tower. His punishment was not severe; his wife was permitted to enjoy his revenues during his imprisonment, and on 18 January 1554/5 he was released on finding surety in 300l. In the early part of 1558 he was employed under Sir Thomas Tresham (d.1559) on a mission in the Isle of Wight. On the accession of Elizabeth I he was promptly reappointed Lieutenant of the Tower, and in September 1559 he was present at the obsequies of Henri II of France celebrated in London, and took part in the procession in St. Paul's. In February 1560 he received a grant of the mastership of the hospital of St. Katherine by the Tower, with the stewardship of the manor of East Smithfield on the surrender of Francis Mallett. In 1561 Warner was entrusted with the custody of Lady Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford, who had fallen into disgrace on the disclosure of her marriage with the Earl of Hertford. He had instructions to the effect that 'many persons of high rank were known to have been privy to the marriage,' and injunctions to urge Lady Katherine to a full confession of the truth. On 22 August, however, he wrote to Elizabeth that he had questioned Lady Katherine, but she had confessed nothing. He afterwards, in pity to his captive, allowed her husband to visit her; the result was the birth of a second child, an occurrence which redoubled Elizabeth's anger.[2]

To Warner was also entrusted the custody of the bishops deposed for declining to recognise Elizabeth's supremacy. In 1563 he sat in Parliament for the county of Norfolk. In 1565 he proceeded to the Netherlands, apparently to inquire into the condition of the English trade there, and on 3 November was nominated as a commissioner for Norfolk to carry out measures for repressing piracy and other disorders on the sea coasts. He died without surviving issue on 7 November 1565.[2]

Edward Warner was knighted on 18 May 1544, becoming Sir Edward Warner.[3]

At the upper end of the chancel in a little church in Little Plumstead there is a marble grave-stone, with the portraiture of a knight in complete armour, at his feet a — couchant, in brass.[1][5]

Little Plumstead

Sir Edward Warner, Knight, now resteth here,

Who lived to full 50 years and fower;

His wifes also by armes you see appeare,

What needeth then with words to blaze them o're.

His virtues rare, would not be letten passe,

Ne yet so worthy state in silence synke,

But who dares wright his golden gifts in brasse,

Or blot his fame with rude and silly inke.

In somme therefore, let this be sayd for all,

With God and man he liveth and ever shall. [1][6]

Obijt. 7°. die Nov. Ao. Domi. 1565.[1][6]

And these arms; quarterly, per bend indented, argent and sable— and azure, a lis or, quarterly, in the 1st and 4th quarters, by the name of Warner; in the 2d and 3d quarters, vert, a cross ingrailed, ermin, Whetenhall.—Also Warner and Whetenhall, as before, impaling quarterly, 1st, gules, on a chevron a lion rampant sable, crowned or, Brook Lord Cobham;—2d, gules, on a chevron or, three lioncels rampant sable, Cobham Lord Cobham;—3d, azure, on a fess between three leopards faces or, a crescent sable, Delapole;—4th, argent, seven mascles voided gules, Braybrook. Sir Edward's first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lord Brook of Cobham.[1] There is a tablet in the same church in Norfolk, the same church where her mother rests, to Audrey:

Audrey daughter of William Hare,

His only heir by law, and right,

Of Thomas Hobart, a wife very rare,

And then to Sir Edward Warner, Knight.

And last to William Blenerhasset,

Three cozens Germans, by God so assigned,

Where - - - - - - and lovely marriage was met,

To live all in one, a rare thing to find.

Full ty's to them, a wife most true,

To these a most good and loveing mother;

St. Protase and St. Gervase, Little Plumstead, Norfolk

But by Hobart only her issue grew,

The eldest Miles, and Henry his brother.

She loved God's word, and lived likewise,

She gave to the poore, and welcomed the rich.[1][7]

She exchanged this life July 16, 1581.[1][7]

Lo here, you ladies, you widows, and wives,

A glass for your geer, your selfs to behold,

Seek here a sample, and guide for your lifes,

Far passing beauty, and borders of gold.[1][7]

On the top of this tablet; Hobart le Hart, quarterly, impaling Hare; Blenerhasset and Hare; Warner and Hare; Hobart and Woodhouse, quarterly, ermin and azure, a leopard's head in the first quarter, or, and these mottos: Qui perde la foye, a ne plus de perdre. —Go strait and fear not.—Deus providebit.[1][7]

The Henry mentioned above was Sir Henry Hobart, 1st Baronet (1 Jan 1560 – 29 December 1625), of Blickling Hall, the son of Thomas Hobart and Audrey Hare.[8][9]