Sir John Grey KG (c. 1387 – August 27, 1439), English nobleman and soldier, was the eldest son of Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Margaret Roos. He was also Captain of Gourney.
He traveled with the king to France in 1415 and 1417. He fought at the Battle of Agincourt and was invested as the 151st Knight of the Garter on 5 May 1436.
He married before 1410, Lady Constance Holland (c.1387–14 November 1437), the daughter of Elizabeth of Lancaster, and John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter; the half brother of King Richard II. By her mother, Constance was a niece of King Henry IV. She was the widow of Thomas Mowbray, 4th Earl of Norfolk, whom she had been betrothed to as a 4-year-old child, but the marriage was never consummated. Mowbray was executed at age nineteen due to his revolt against her uncle, King Henry IV.
Sir John Grey and Constance Holland had three children:
- Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent (1416–1490)
- Thomas Grey, 1st Baron of Richemount Grey (from Ridgmount, Bedfordshire) in 1450. Executed in 1461.
- Constance Grey, who married Sir Richard Herbert.
After the death of Constance, Grey married Lady Margaret Mowbray, daughter of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk and widow of Sir Robert Howard, before 1 July 1438. They had no issue.
Grey predeceased his father, who was succeeded by Edmund.
Famous quotes containing the words john and/or grey:
“People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.”
—John Cheever (1912–1982)
“There is grey in your hair.
Young men no longer suddenly catch their breath
When you are passing;
But maybe some old gaffer mutters a blessing
Because it was your prayer
Recovered him upon the bed of death.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)