Edward Waldegrave - Life

Life

Waldegrave was the son of John Waldegrave of Essex and a maternal nephew of Robert Rochester. In 1547, he joined Princess Mary's household and was granted the manor and rectory of West Haddon, Northamptonshire. He also bought Borley, Essex and made that his home.

In 1551, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London by King Edward VI (with Rochester and Francis Englefield), for refusing to carry out the Privy Council's ban on Mary having mass said in her house of Copt Hall, near Epping, Essex. He was released a year later and on Mary's accession in 1553, he was knighted, admitted to the Privy Council, granted the manors of Navestock, Essex and Chewton, Somerset, and became Master of the Great Wardrobe.

Waldegrave was then elected to the Parliament of England for Wiltshire in October 1553, twice for Somerset in 1554 and lastly for Essex in 1558. He succeeded Rochester as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1554 and was granted the manor of Cobham, Kent. However, after Mary's death a year later, he was dismissed from all his posts and committed to the Tower again, by Queen Elizabeth, for allowing mass to be celebrated in his house.

Waldegrave had earlier married Frances Nevill, a daughter of the executed Sir Edward Neville, and they had five children. Waldegrave died in the Tower in 1561; his grandson was Sir Edward Waldegrave, 1st Baronet.