Life
Rochester was born at Terling, Essex, England, the third son of John Rochester of Terling and Grisold, daughter of Walter Writtle, of Bobbingworth. By 1551 Robert had received the appointment of Comptroller of the Household to Princess Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, declared illegitimate after Henry divorced her mother and married Anne Boleyn. In that year, the Privy Council ordered him to stop any priest from saying mass in the princess's household; however, Rochester refused and was put in the Tower, and was replaced in his position by Sir Anthony Wingfield. The next year, he was released to retire to the county because of his health. He was soon allowed to resume his post as comptroller.
When the princess assumed the throne as Mary I, she rewarded Rochester for his faithful service, making him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and letting him enter the inner circle of the Privy Council. He served as a Member of Parliament for Essex from 1553 to 1555.
He died on 28 November 1557 and was buried at the Charterhouse at Sheen, the house reconstituted by the remnant of the English Carthusians under Dom Maurice Chauncy. Rochester's younger brother, Blessed John Rochester, was a Carthusian priest and martyr, who was executed in York in May 1537 and beatified in 1888.
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