Captains

Earl of Oxford (b1442-1513)
1st Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1485-1486

John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford was one of the principal Lancastrian commanders during the War of The Roses early in the reign of Edward IV. De Vere’s father, the 12th Earl, and his elder brother were executed for plotting against the king (1462). However, Edward was pursuing a policy of conciliation with Lancastrian families, and de Vere was allowed to succeed to his father's estates and titles. He was allowed to assume his family's traditional role as Lord High Chamberlain and with others was created a 'Knight of the Bath, officiating in that capacity at the coronation of Edward's Queen in 1465. In 1468 Oxford was suspected in plotting against the King and spent a short time in the Tower of London; he was released and pardoned in 7 Jan 1469 but fearing that he was now out of favour fled to France with the Earl of Warwick. He returned the following year to England playing a leading role in the restoration of Henry VI in 1470.

Oxford was appointed Constable of England and had the satisfaction of passing a death sentence on John Tiptoft, the Earl of Worcester, whom had condemned his father and eldest brother in 1462. Oxford was active in securing the eastern counties against Edward's landing. He was one of the Lancastrian commanders at the Battle of Barnet in 1471 where he lead the vanguard. He surrounded Hastings on the King's left and drove him off the battlefield but his men 'fell to ryfling' which stopped him pressing ahead an assisting Warwick. Some of his men managed to get through their silver 'mullet' badges were mistaken in the heavy mist for Edward's badge, a sun 'with stremys' and their was a 'blue on blue' (fired upon their own men). There were shouts of "Treason!" and they fled. Defeated, he fled again, this time to Scotland (possibly Wales) and then to France. With a little aid from Louis XI of France he became a pirate against English ships and the occasional raid on the coast. In 1473 he seized St Michael’s Mount (Cornwall). Why? The reason is unclear but most likely, this was to be the prelude to an invasion of England intending to depose Edward and put his brother, George Duke of Clarence, on the throne. However, there was no invasion, and in 1474 following a two month siege from a large contingent lead by John Fortescue, he surrendered. Oxford was imprisoned in the Fortress of Hammes, near Calais.

Three years later, Oxford did 'lyepe the wallys and wente to the dyke, and into the dyke to the chynne; to whatt entent I can nott telle; some sey, to stele away and some thynke he wolde have drownyd hymselfe'. Never the less, he remained imprisoned there until 1484, when with the assistance of the Captain of Hammes, Sir James Blount, to escape with him to the Court in exile of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. It is said that Henry was "ravished with joy incredible" at this event. He landed in Wales with Henry in the Summer of 1485. As the most experienced Lancastrian in battle, Oxford was the real commander at the Battle of Bosworth Field, though Henry was theoretically in charge, and lead its right flank. Oxford commanded the centre, and held off the downhill charge of the Earl of Northumberland at the beginning of the battle. Richard III was conquered, and Oxford was now restored to his estates and titles. He was appointed first Captain of the King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard and was bestowed Knight of the Order of the Garter after Henry VII's coronation and was also appointed Lord High Admiral and Constable of the Tower. Oxford died on 10 March 1513. back to index

Sir Charles Somerset (b1460?-1526)
2nd Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1486-1509

NPG 1492

Charles Somerset the Earl of Worcester was an illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort, third Duke of Somerset. During his childhood he was a exile in Flanders and was knighted by the Archduke Philip, himself a child, before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry VII took a great deal of interest in Charles indeed he is mentioned in the accounts of the coronation 'three yards of cloth of gold fort the bastard Somerset'. Early 1486 he was appointed Captain of the King's Yeomen of the Guard and on 1 March 1486 became keeper of the park of Posterna, Derby. He was the King's Cup-Bearer and from 3 May 1486 until 25 Sep 1503 was a Knight of the Body. He obtained the stewardship of Helmesley on 3 May 1487. During troubled times between Brittany and France he attempted to gain the position of mediator. To this end he fitted out a fleet of ships which he hired from Spanish merchants. He was placed in command of them as Admiral between Feb 1487 and 1488; the only time that an Admiral was Captain of the Sovereign's Body Guard.

Following the death of Francis II, Duke of Brittany, on 9 Sep 1488 Henry began to think about supporting the Duke's daughter Anne. Therefore on 1 Oct Somerset was once again commissioned to go to sea and on Aug 1489 he sailed. In Sep 1490 Somerset was sent to invest Maximilian with the Order of the Garter when an understanding had been reached regarding the protection of Brittany. On 23 Apr 1496 he himself became a Knight of the Order of the Garter and named Commissioner of Array for Wales and was made a Knight Banneret on 17 Jun 1497. In 1498 Somerset was again in the position of diplomat, when Louis XII wished to continue the treaty of Ētaples on the death of Charles VIII of France. He was also present when Henry and The Archduke Philip met outside Calais in 1500. Because of his strong connection with Henry he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household in 1501. That Somerset was trusted and thoroughly relied upon is in little doubt and by 1503 had several valuable grants and was styled Baron Herbert.

In 1504 he received the office of constable of Montgomery Castle and in 1505 became a privy councillor. After the delicate negotiations regarding Henry's French Marriage he was rewarded for his long service to the Crown by the creation of Baron Herbert of Ragland (sic), Chepstow, and Gower in 1506 and to the position of Chamberlain to the Household in 1508. On Henry VII's death Henry VIII continued the appointment of Chamberlain of the Household. He went of the expedition of 1513 landing at Calais on 10 June. On 1 Feb 1513-4 he was created Earl of Worcester. As Chamberlain of the Household he was a major contributor to the arrangements for the Field of the Cloth of Gold and on 13 Apr 1520 he landed at Calais to take charge of the preparations. Worcester was present at the meeting between Henry VIII and Charles at Gravelines. In May 1521 he took part in Buckingham's trail and went with Wolsey to the congress at Calais. In 1522 he Worcester was present at the reception of Charles V and was one of whom attested the Treaty of Windsor. After the Battle of Pavia he took part in the treaty between England and France which was signed on 30 Aug 1525. By now Worcester was old and his office was taken by William, Baron Sandys of The Vine on 27 Feb 1526. On 15 Apr 1526 Worcester died and buried in the Beaufort chapel at Windsor. back to index

Sir Thomas Darcy (b1467 - 1537)
3rd Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1509 only

Thomas Darcy was a son of Sir William Darcy and belonged to a family which was seated at Templehurst in Yorkshire. In early life he served, both as a soldier and a diplomatist, in Scotland and on the Scottish borders, where he was Captain of Berwick and in I505, having been created Baron Darcy, was made Warden of the East Marches towards Scotland. In 1511 Darcy led some troops to Spain to help Ferdinand and Isabella against the Moors, but he returned almost at once to England, and was with Henry VIII on his French campaign two years later. One of the most influential noblemen in the north of England, where he held several important offices, Darcy was also a member of the Royal Council, dividing his time between state duties in London and a more active life in the north. He showed great zeal in preparing accusations against his former friend, Cardinal Wolsey; however, after the cardinal's fall his words and actions caused him to be suspected by Henry VIII. Disliking the separation from Rome, Darcy asserted that matrimonial cases were matters for the decision of the spiritual power, and he was soon communicating with Eustace Chapuys, the ambassador of the emperor Charles V, about an invasion of England in the interests of the Roman Catholics. Detained in London against his will by the King, he was not allowed to return to Yorkshire until late in 1535 and about a year after his arrival in the north for the rising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. For a short time Darcy defended Pontefract Castle against the rebels, but soon he surrendered to them this stronghold, which he could certainly have held a little longer, and was with them at Doncaster, being regarded as one of their leaders. Upon the dispersal of the insurgents Darcy was pardoned, but he pleaded illness when Henry requested him to proceed to London. He may have assisted to suppress the rising which was renewed under Sir Francis Bigod early in 1537 but the King believed, probably with good reason, that he was guilty of fresh treasons, and he was seized and hurried to London. During his imprisonment he uttered his famous remark about Thomas Cromwell: "Cromwell, it is thou that art the very original and chief causer of all this rebellion and mischief, . . . and I trust that or thou die, though thou wouldst procure all the noblemen’s heads within the realm to be stricken off, yet shall there one head remain that shall strike off thy head". Tried by his peers, Darcy was found guilty of treason, and was beheaded on the 20th of June 1537. back to index

Sir Henry Marney (b1447-1523)
4th and 7th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard 1509-1512 and 1516-1530 respectively

The Marney family came over from Normandy in the wake of William the Conqueror. The earliest record of the family at Layer Marney dates from 1166, when they were under the over-lordship of the Bishop of London. Layer Marney Tower was built between 1515 and 1525 and is the tallest Tudor Gatehouse in the country.

Sir Henry Marney fought at the battles of Bosworth and Stoke, was knighted for his part in routing the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, and the Cornish rebels at Blackheath in 1497. A respected member of the Privy Council under both Henry VII and Henry VIII he was created a Knight of the Bath at Henry VIII’s Coronation. He was also appointed Lord Privy Seal, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Captain of the Yeomen of the guard. He was created a Knight of the Garter in 1510 and Lord Marney 14th by Henry VIII. Lord Marney died on 24 May 1523 and buried the same day at St Mary the Virgin, Layer Marney, England. Still being researched. back to index

Sir Henry Guildford (b1489-1532)
5th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1512-1513

Henry Guildford, Master of the Horse and Comptroller of the Royal Household, was the son of Sir Richard Guildford by his second marriage. Very little is recorded of Sir Henry prior to the accession of Henry VIII, although there is an implausible story of him having served under Ferdinand and Isabella at the reduction of Granada. He eventually became a favourite of the King. At Court he seems to have been a rather well-titled jester. In 1510 he performing with a company of twelve other men and a woman for the amusement of the Queen. Dressed in coats of 'Kentish Kendal with hoods on their heads and hosen of the same' aped Robin Hood and his men and Maid Marion surprised the Queen in her chamber with their dancing. The next year on Twelfth Night he was the designer of the pageant and as the Christmas revelry ending in a 'mountain which moved towards the King and opened, out of which came morris-dancers'. He went with Lord Darcy's expedition to Spain against the Moors where the English met with a very cool reception. When the rest of his countrymen had returned home he and Sir William Browne remained and were dubbed knights by Ferdinand at Burgos in Sep 1511. The following year they returned home and were honoured with another knighthood, this time by their own King at the prorogation of parliament on 30 Mar 1512. It

was at this time that he was appointed Captain of the Kings Body Guard. At this time a fleet was being fitted out for the imminent war against France. The new Captain of the Guard was appointed as Captain of HMS Sovereign and with him at his side were 'sixty of the tallest Yeomen of the Kynge's Garde'. On 15 August 1512 tragedy almost struck when two ships blew up minutes after they had been alongside HMS Sovereign, an explosion so great that it would have most certainly sunk her and her crew. He was also a 'spear' in the King's service and as such earned an advance of £200.
back to index

Sir John Gage (b1479-1556)
6th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1513-1516

NPG D20004

Sir John Gage was a statesman and military commander. After his father's death in 1496 he was educated for court and camp under the watchful eye of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. He accompanied Henry VIII on the French campaign of 1513. Also in 1513 he was appointed Captain of the King's Body Guard. His name appears several times between 1510 and 1522 as a Commissioner of Peace for Sussex. He was appointed governor of Guisnes, afterwards of Oye in France and received the additional post of Comptroller of Calais. He was eventually recalled to England to take his seat on the Privy Council and in 1528 was created Vice-Chamberlain to the King. In 1529 he entered parliament as a member for his own county and on 22 May 1532 he was installed as Knight of the Order of the Garter. Although Gage was constantly employed on commissions by the King, he was eventually asked to leave Court by Henry. The dispute was almost certainly connected with Catherine of Aragon, for though Gage had signed the petition to the Pope for the divorce he was examined about the Lady Catherine. Being a man more ready to serve God than the world he doubtlessly had spoken on her behalf to Henry. Shortly after he renounced the office of Vice-Chamberlain. The week before Easter 1540 he went with other commissioners to report on the state of affairs at Calais. He was back at Court before Cromwell's arrest and profited from his friend's disgrace. He received the posts of Constable of the Tower, Comptroller of the Household and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Gage commanded the expedition against Scotland which ended in the defeat and death of James V at Solway Moss in 1542. He bought his prisoners back with him to the Tower in the winter, riding before them as Constable when they were taken for trial to the Star-Chamber. At the siege of Boulogne, where he shared the command with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Being lieutenant of the camp and general Captain of Cavalry he was created a Knight-Banneret. Gage was present at the funeral of Henry VIII and was appointed one of the executors of the King's will. Gage was a member of the Privy Council but difference soon arose between him and Somerset, who when he became Protector expelled him from the council and from his post of Comptroller of the Royal Household. Gage joined Southampton, the leader of the catholic party and was one of those that signed the declaration against the Protector. Gage and Southampton only resumed their seats on the council to resign them upon the accession of power of Dudley, Earl of Warwick. Gage had, like Dudley, married into the Guilford family but had no sympathy with the plot for Lady Jane Grey and was therefore suspended from his post as Constable of the Tower a few days before she was there proclaimed Queen. Gage, as a zealous catholic, was at once high in Mary's favour. He received her at the Tower gates on her arrival at London on 3 August 1553 and was restored to his office of Constable and created Lord Chamberlain of her household. He bore her train at the Coronation and helped to hold the Pall over her. On Palm Sunday 18 March 1555 he received Elizabeth under his charge as Constable at the Tower gates. It is reported that he treated the Princess severely 'more for love of the pope than hatred of her person'. Gage died at his house on 18 April 1556 and was buried under a fine alter tomb at West Firle Church. back to index

Sir William Kingston (? - 1540)
8th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1530-1539

Sir William Kingston was of a Gloucester family settled in Painswick. He was Constable of the Tower and appears to have been a Yeoman of the Guard before June 1509. In 1512 he was an under-marshal in the Army; went to the Spanish coast; was with Dr William Knight in October of that year at San Sebastian and discussed with him the course to be pursued with the disheartened English forces who had come to Spain under Thomas Grey, second Marquis of Dorset. He fought well at Flodden, was knighted in 1513 and became Sewer to the King and in 1512 was created Carver. Kingston took part in the tilting at the Field of the Cloth of Gold and was at the meeting with Charles V in July. Henry seems to have liked him and he presented him with a horse of great value. In April 1523 Kingston joined Dacre on the disturbed Northern Frontier and with Sir Ralf Ellerker had the most dangerous posts assigned him. He was present at the capture of Ceefurd, the stronghold of Kers, on 18 May 1523. He was returned suddenly to London and was made Knight of the King's Body and Captain of the Guard. On 30 May 1523 he landed at Calais in the Army of the Duke of Suffolk. On 28 May 1524 he became Constable of the Tower at a salary of £100. He appears among those that signed the petition to Clement VII on 13 July 1530 for the hastening of the divorce. In November 1530 Kingston went down the Sheffield Park, Nottinghamshire, to take charge of Cardinal Wolsey. The Cardinal was said to have been alarmed at his coming because it had been foretold that he should meet his death at Kingston. Kingston tried to reassure him, and was with him at the time of his death, riding to London to acquaint the King with the circumstances. He received Ann Boleyn on 2 May 1536 when committed as prisoner to the Tower. Kingston was made Comptroller of the Household on 9 March 1539 and later Knight of the Garter. He had many small grants and on the dissolution of the monasteries received the site of the Cistercian Abbey of Flaxley, Gloucester. He died at Painswick on 14 September 1540 and is buried there.
back to index

Sir Anthony Wingfield (b1485-1552)
9th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1539-1550

Sir Anthony Wingfield was Comptroller of the Household. Wingfield first appears as commissioner for peace in Suffolk on 28 June 1510. He served in the campaign in France of 1513 and was knighted for his bravery. On 7 November 1513 he was chosen for Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk but six days later was discharged the office. His name appears on the Roll in 1514 and he served as Sheriff once again between November 1515 to November 1516. He accompanied Henry VIII to the Field of the Cloth of Gold and subsequent meetings with Charles V in 1520 and 1522. He served under his cousin Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in the campaign in France in 1523. He approved of Henry's religious changes and officiated at the Coronation of Anne Boleyn. He once again served under Suffolk during the Northern Rebellion of 1536 and was commissioner for the dissolution of the monasteries in Suffolk. In his latter years he became Vice-Chamberlain, Captain of the Guard and member of the Privy Council, at which he was a constant attendant for the remainder of his life. He was elected Knight of the Garter in April 1541. His capacity as Vice-Chamberlain necessitated his presence at Court functions and as Captain of the Guard he arrested Cromwell at the council-board in August 1540 and conducted Suffolk tom the Tower on 12 December 1546. Henry VIII made him an executor of his will. Under Edward VI he represented Suffolk in Parliament from 26 September 1547 until his death. He joined Warwick's conspiracy against Somerset and was despatched by the council on 10 October 1549 to arrest the Protector at Windsor and conveyed him to the Tower three days later. He was rewarded by being promoted Comptroller of the Household on 2 February 1549 in succession to Paget and in May 1551 was appointed joint Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk. He died at Sir John Gate's house in Bethnal Green on 15 August 1552. back to index

Sir Thomas Darcy (b1506-1558)
10th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1550-1551

ThomasDarcy of Danbury, Wivenhoe and St. Osyth(Chiche) was an Esquire of the Body of Henry VII. On 1 Nov 1532 he was knighted at Calais. By 1545 he was Master of the Artillery in the Tower of London, and Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Henry VIII. Between 1550-1551 he was appointed Vice Chamberlain and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard to Edward VIand Lord Chamberlain 1550-1553. On 5 April 1551 he was created Baron Darcy of Chiche, Essex. Nominated Knight of the Garter in 1551, he was installed 6 October 1551. He was one of the 26 Peers who signed the letters patent, 16 Jun 1553, settling the Crown on Lady Jane Grey.Darcy's own record keeping during these years was one of steady and unspectacular progress. He had first appeared at Court as one of the Household of the King's bastard son Richmondand in this capacity had attended the Coronation of Anne Boleyn. From 1536 it was his kinship with the Seymour family which brought him on. By 1540 he was a Gentleman Pensioner and Carver to the King, and in the wars which followed he became Master Armourer and Captain of the Guard in and commanded the Pensioners in the expedition of 1544; this was a busy year for him. In February or March he crossed to France but by May he was back in Essex strengthening coastal defences. While there, he was empowered to demand the extraordinary assistance of the shire in preventing invasion, and in Jun he joined the Earls of Essex and Sussex in arranging for the defence of the Isle of Sheppey. In August he was at Court, at least for a time, occupying himself with, among other things, the promotion of suits to the King. Darcyis known to have sat at two of Henry VIII's Parliaments and may have sat in at least two more. His name first appears in this connexion in a list of nominees for vacancies in the Commons which was drawn up by Cromwell in 1532 or early in 1533. At that time one of the Essex seats was vacant, Thomas Bonham having died in June 1532, and the other was in process of becoming so with Sir Thomas Audley's appointment as Keeper of the Great Seal. Although the names of those by-elected are unknown. Darcy's fellow-knight in the first Edwardian Parliament was Sir William Petre. This is the first Parliament at which there is any indication of Darcy's part in the proceedings of the Commons, his signature is one of those found on four Acts passed during the third session, those for a general pardon, for a churchyard in West Drayton, Middlesex, for the restitution of Sir William Hussey and for the fine and ransom of the Duke of Somerset. That his connexion with Somerset did not compromise Darcy at the time of the Protector's fall is clear from the string of appointments and honours which he received shortly after it; these included leading posts in the royal household, a Privy Councillorship and a Knight and the Garter. It was the years of Northumberland's ascendancy, too, which saw the greatest accession to Darcy's landed wealth. To the ex-monastic properties which he had been accumulating since 1540 there was added in 1551 a slice of the valuable estates of the bishopric of London recently exchanged with the crown on Ridley's consecration, and in 1553 a large miscellaneous purchase worth nearly £4,000. His ennoblement created a vacancy in the Commons which was filled not long afterwards by Sir John Gates. As Chamberlain Darcy was one of the leading figures in England during the closing years of Edward VI's reignand it was in this capacity that he presided over the committee for reforming the revenue courts. He signed the deviceenabling Lady Jane Grey to succeed to the throne and helped to proclaim her Queen. At Northumberland's behest he ordered Baron Rich to hold Essex against Mary but on realizing the popularity of Mary's cause he forsook Jane and advised Northumberland to surrender. For Darcy's support of her rival Mary dismissed him from office and placed him under house arrest. Rumour had it that arms were smuggled into his house during his confinement there and that he was conspiring with Princess Elizabeth, but on 1 November 1553 he was pardoned through the intercession of his brother-in-law the Earl of Oxford. By that time Parliament had been in session for several weeks, and it is probable that he had been absent from the Lords until then. In the previous reign he had attended the Upper House as far as his duties elsewhere had allowed, and this standard he maintained until his death, although without appearing to make much mark there. He requited the clemency shown him and the freedom to reside again at St. Osyth's priory, until recently in occupation by Mary as princess, by helping to check the spread of Wyatt's rebellion to Essex and afterwards by supporting the restoration of Catholicism in the country. Darcy's exertions during the emergency following the fall of Calais earned the Queen's thanks, but whatever promise of restoration this offered perished with his death at Wivenhoe on 28 June 1558. He was buried in the church at St Osyth, where a monument was later erected to his memory. back to index

Sir John Gates (b1504-1553)
11th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1551-1553

Sir John Gates, statesman, was born in 1504. Henry VIII made him a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. In January 1535 he was placed on the committee for Essex and Colchester appointed to inquire into tenths of spiritualities and in the ensuing October was ordered to accompany the King on the expedition to quell the Lincolnshire rebellion. He was appointed one of three commissioners authorised to sign all documents by stamp in the name and on behalf of the King by patent dated 31 August 1546. In December of the same year Gates, along with Sir R Southwell and Sir W Carew, was despatched to Kenninghall, Norfolk, to bring back the Duchess of Richmond and Elizabeth Holland, that they might give evidence against the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey. Henry rewarded him by a rich grant of lands and other property, including the college and rectory of Pleshey in Essex. He forthwith demolished the chancel of the church for the sake of making money of the materials, and obliged the parishioners to purchase what was left standing. He also obtained the under-stewardship and clerkship of Waltham Forest and the clerkship of the court of Swanmote in the same. At the Coronation of Edward VI on the 20 February 1546-7 Gates was created a Knight of the Bath, and took part in the jousts. On 23 June 1550, being then sheriff of Essex, he was ordered to enforce observances of the injunctions issued by Ridley, Bishop of London, in regard to the ‘plucking down of superaltaries, altars, and such ceremonies and abuses’. In the following month he took measures to prevent the flight of the Princess Mary to Antwerp as contrived by the emperor Charles V. On 8 April 1551 the King made him his Vice-Chamberlain and Captain of the Guard, with a seat at the Privy Council. In May 1552 he was chosen a commissioner to sell chantry lands and houses for payment of the King’s debts; and on the following 4 July was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Other favours were at this time conferred on Gates, who had become one of Northumberland’s chief creatures, and supported him in promoting the celebrated ‘devise’ of succession in favour of Lady Jane Grey. He accompanied Northumberland in his expedition against Mary in July 1553. On 19 August he was tried before a special commission, pleaded guilty, and was executed three days afterwards. Before he received the sacrament he expressed regret to Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire for his long imprisonment of which he admitted himself in part the cause. On the scaffold he warned the people against reading the Bible controversially as he had done. Three strokes of the axe severed his head. His possessions were forfeited to the crown. back to index

Sir Henry Jerningham (b?-1571)
12th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1553-1557

Sir Henry Jerningham, an adherent of Queen Mary, was granted the manor of Cossey (or Costessy) in 1547 and thus became the founder of the Jernegan family (spelling his name Jerningham to distinguish his branch from the Somerleyton Jernegans). He was the first to appear openly on Mary’s side, joining her at Kenninghall with his tenantry in July 1553, immediately after Edward’s death. He then proceeded to raise forces for her in Norfolk and Suffolk, and while she raised her standard at Framlingham went on to Yarmouth to guard the coast. Here he successfully defied a squadron of the fleet and persuaded the captains to surrender, he and the Yarmouth burgess taking possession of their ships in Mary’s name. He proceeded to London with the new queen, and was rewarded by the posts of Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household, Captain of the Guard, and a seat on the privy council on 31 July 1553, the offices vacated by the attainder of Sir John Gates. On 29 Sept, he also created a Knight Banneret. Jerningham went with Norfolk against Wyatt, and routed him on his way to Rochester: rallied his division at Charing Cross, and finally defeated Wyatt’s men (1554). In 1556 Jerningham was appointed a commissioner to examine into the conspiracy of Clerbery, and became Master of the Horse the next year. He was in high favour throughout Mary’s reign, and entrusted with constant state business by the queen. He received the offices of keeper of the royal parks at Eltham and at Horne, Kent with the various sources of income pertaining to these manors, besides being allowed to keep a hundred retainers of his own. On Elizabeth’s accession he was deprived of his seat on the Privy Council, and his name no longer appears in state affairs. He died in 1571. back to index

Sir Henry Bedingfeld (b1511-1583)
13th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1557-1558

NPG D11034

Sir Henry Bedingfeld of Oxborough in Norfolk and supporter of Queen Mary, succeeded his father's estates in 1553 and was MP for Suffolk in the first Parliament of that year. He was one of the earliest to acknowledge Mary as Queen on the death of Edward VI, and is said to have rallied round her with 140 fully armed men. In reward for his services on this occasion he was made a Privy Councillor, and his name appears at the head of several orders in council for 1553. In March 1554 the Princess Elizabeth was committed to the Tower on a charge of complicity in Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion. On 5 May the Constable of the Tower was replaced by Sir Henry Bedingfeld, with a special guard of 100 soldiers, in blue liveries; according to Foxe, Elizabeth was in constant fear of murder at the hands of her new gaolers. But in this she did her keeper wrong, who was merely taking the steps necessary for carrying out his orders to conduct her to Woodstock. The journey was commenced under Bedingfeld’s charge on 19 May, on which day ‘with a company of rakehells’ she was conveyed by water to Richmond, and thence to Woodstock. Sir Henry Bedingfeld’s conduct is said by both Foxe and Holinshed to have been extremely harsh, not only on the way but also during the full year during which she was under his care. He is even charged with the impertinence of himself sitting down after a long journey to have his boots pulled off in a chair of state that had been specially prepared for his royal prisoner. He was a careful guardian of Elizabeth’s life, and, according to Foxe it was only owing to the strict injunction left behind him against the admittance of any one even with the queen’s order to Elizabeth’s presence during his absence, that she was not made away with by Gardiner’s creature Bassett. Sir Henry was released from his charge in June 1555. During the years 1553, 1554 and 1557, he sat in parliament as one of the Knights of the Shire for Norfolk, but was not returned after Elizabeth’s accession. In 1553-4 his name appears as one of two commissioners appointed to receive the payments in compoundment of knighthood throughout England. On Elizabeth’s accession, according to Foxe, Sir Henry Bedingfeld once more made his appearance at court, with apologies for his previous conduct; and the common story runs that the Queen contended herself with discouraging his attendance there and with a nipping word: ‘If we have any prisoner whom we would have sharply and straitly kept, we will send for you'. For the rest of his life Sir Henry Bedingfeld seems to have lived quietly as a country gentleman. Sir Henry Bedingfeld died in the year 1583, shortly after the death of his wife, being, apparently, still in adherent of the old religion. He was buried in Oxborough, where a fine monument was erected commemorating his virtues. back to index

Sir Edward Rogers (b1498-1567)
14th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1558 only

Sir Edward Rogers was Comptroller of Queen Elizabeth's Household. He was an Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII and had a licence to import wine in 1534; on 11 December 1534 he became bailiff of Hampnes in the marches of Calais and Sandgate in Kent. At the Coronation of Edward VI he was dubbed a Knight of the Carpet, and on 15 October 1549 was made one of the four Principal Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. In January 1549-50 he was confined to his house in connection with the misdemeanours of the Earl of Arundel, whom he had doubtless assisted in his peculations but he was soon free, and on 21 June 1550 had a pension of £501 granted to him. As an ardent protestant he deemed it prudent to go abroad in Queen Mary’s days. Under Elizabeth he obtained important preferment. On 20 Nov, 1558 he was made Vice-Chamberlain and Captain of the Guard, and a Privy Councillor, in 1560 he succeeded Sir Thomas Parry as Comptroller of the Household. He died before 21 May 1567. back to index

Sir William St Loe (b?-1566)
15th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1558-1566

Sir William St Loe was the eldest son of Sir John St Loe and his wife Dame Margaret of Sutton Court, Chew Magna in Somerset; they also had land in Gloucestershire and the West Country where they owned property in Bristol and Bath. Since 1100, during the Court of Henry I, St Loe men were on the periphery of Royal service. On the death of each Monarch the head of family was repaid for their loyal devotion by being chosen as an Attendant Knight keeping vigil over the body. Later, Queen Elizabeth was a good friend of the St Loe family as the family had aided her when her life was threatened. Although William St Loe was a highly intelligent boy, as was remarked by his tutor John Palsgrave, he never attended Oxford or Cambridge. In 1532, and despite William's obvious intelligence his father decided to bring William back from London because of the plague and his safety. Palsgrave wrote to William's father "This Monday.... your servant Thomas Fowlkes informed me you had commissioned him to bring home your son, Master Will Sayntlowe, as the mortality in London was so great, and you supposed I had gone overseas with the King. But as I was not gone, and there is no danger of sickness he left it to me to write... At Candlemass I mean to go to the University of Cambridge, and keep house at the Blackfriars. There I could have with me your son, Mr Russell's son, a younger brother of Andrew Bayton and Mr Noryce's son, of the King's Privy Chamber... I go to Cambridge rather than Oxford, because I have a benefice 16 miles off. Your son, Will Sayntlowe, is the best sped child of his age. If you withdraw him, either for any tenderness that my lady, his mother, may have towards him, or for any doubts about my honest dealing with such an inheritor as he is, on my faith I promise you, you have killed a schoolmaster, for I will never more teach after Candlemass Day." Although William was intelligent he is not listed as attending Oxbridge (Oxford or Cambridge). William's parents didn't succumb to Palsgrave's letter and was taken home to Somerset. From January 1535 a teenage William spent ten months in Ireland with his father before marrying Jane Baynton, the twelve year old daughter of Sir Edward Baynton of Bromham, Wiltshire. For unknown reasons the marriage was never consummated by the Spring of 1536 when William became a Gentleman Usher to Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter. William spent two years with the Courtenay family along with twelve other young men and six young ladies all learning how to become a courtier. All went sour in November 1538 when the Marquess was arrested for plotting against the King. He was subsequently sent to the Tower of London, convicted of treason and executed. The execution of Exeter may have been a double-edged sword because William returned home to his wife and in 1539 she gave birth to their first daughter, Mary. In 1540 William St Loe and his father were summoned to Windsor Castle to appear before the King with regards to complaints made by his neighbouring landowners. The St Loe's guarded their lands jealously, indeed zealously, as did their servants in a sometimes violent way. The St Loe family was given a reprimand by the King and whether as a punishment or as a form of penance by William we don't know he joined the Crown's permanent army and soon promoted to Captain. In August 1543 he was mentioned in despatches whilst on active service in Boulogne and several time again whilst in Ireland whilst fighting the rebels such a Cahir O'Connor. William St Loe was a good, fair and good-humoured officer and popular with his fellow officers and his leadership in command earned him a knighthood; the honour was bestowed in Dublin in January 1549. It was very soon after that Sir William wrote a letter of complaint to the Lord Justice of Ireland regarding the lack of provisions and food for his men. Almost immediately he was recalled by the new King, Edward VI, and his command given to Sir Anthony St Leger. He returned to his wife Jane and their two daughters Mary and Margaret (born c1541) but sadly in the Autumn of 1549 Jane died, possibly in child birth. In 1551 Sir William returned to Ireland as Marshal serving under Lord Cobham and Sir James Croft. Having served just two years in Ireland Sir William was recalled to Court never to return to serve in Ireland. His charm, good manners and humour made him an excellent courtier. These traits coupled with his military experience made him ideal as the man to head the personal security of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I) then aged nineteen. Service to the Princess became a family affair as a fourteen year old Mary St Loe became one of her six maids of honour. It is therefore ironic that when Edward VI died in 1553 the St Loe family was part of the movement to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne as Queen. Maybe not too surprising however given that Sir John St Loe was a staunch Protestant and the thought of a Catholic Queen Mary sitting on the throne of England. Queen Jane's request that he raise a force and proceed to Buckinghamshire was carried out but in the meantime Queen Mary's force won the day before, luckily, St Loe's men arrived. Because of this good timing who was to say who St Loe was supporting. However, within months Sir John and, especially, Sir William were involved in the Wyatt Rebellion. Sir William was more than a little involved in the rebellion and acted as messenger many times and met with the Wyatt conspirators. The rebellion failed, mainly due to a lack of conviction on several fronts and the fact that the authorities knew of the rebels' plans from a confession from Edward Courtenay. Sir William was arrested and taken to the Tower but not as a beaten, sorry man but stout of stature and with courage. Reading between the lines of papers of that time he was subjected to very hard questioning from his gaolers more than certainly with some form of physical or mental torture. Never-the-less, and unlike his fellow conspirators, he gave nothing away that would involve Princess Elizabeth in the rebellion, a fact that may well have saved her live; and since Queen Mary had executed Lady Jane Grey without a second thought, the execution of a treasonous Elizabeth would have been certain. Elizabeth, Sir William and others lesser involved in the rebellion remained in the Tower of London. On 25 June 1554 he was transferred to Fleet Prison and released on 28 January 1555 on the fine of £202 and an oath to be of 'good bearing and order'. In November 1558 Queen Mary died and Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne. She acknowledged William's loyalty by immediately appointing him Captain of her personal Body Guard and Chief Butler of England and Chief Butler of Wales. Many other sinecure positions making Sir William a wealthy, eligible 40 year old widower that had been married twice before marrying the celebrated Elizabeth (Bess) Hardwicke. This lady had four husbands; her second being Sir William Cavendish, by whom she had six children. Sir William called her 'honest sweet Chatsworth' and his 'own sweet Bess'. He proved to be a most generous husband taking on her debts from her previous marriage to William Cavendish. By Sir William she had no issue (although Sir William had had children from his previous marriages), and on his death gave the greater part of the estates she had from him to her second son, Charles Cavendish. back to index

Sir Francis Knollys (b1514-1596)
16th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1566-1572

Sir Francis Knollys was a statesman who's pedigree cannot be authentically traced beyond Sir Thomas Knollys. In 1542 he entered the House of Commons for the first time as member for Horsham. At the beginning of Edward VI’s reign he accompanied the English army to Scotland, and was knighted by the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Somerset, at the camp at Roxburgh, 28 September 1547. Knollys’ strong protestant convictions recommended him to the young King and his sister the Princess Elizabeth, and he spent much time at court, taking a prominent part not only in tournaments there but also in religious discussion. On 25 Nov 1551 he was present at Sir William Cecil’s house, at a conference between a few catholic and protestants respecting the corporeal presence in the Sacrament. About the same date he was granted the manors of Caversham in Oxfordshire and Cholsey in Berkshire. At the end of 1552 he visited Ireland on public business. The accession of Mary darkened Knollys’ prospects, his religious opinions placed him in opposition to the government , and he deemed it prudent to cross to Germany, on his departure the Princess Elizabeth wrote to his wife a sympathetic note, expressing a wish that they would soon be able to return in safety.

Before Mary’s death he returned to England, and as a man ‘of assured understanding of truth, and well affected to the protestant religion’ he was admitted to Elizabeth’s Privy Council in December 1558, he was soon afterwards made Vice-Chamberlain of the household and Captain of the Halberdiers, in 1559 Knollys was chosen Member of Parliament for Arundel, and in 1562 for Oxford, of which town he was also appointed Chief Steward. In 1572 he was elected member for Oxfordshire, and sat for that constituency until his death. In April 1556 he was sent to Ireland to control the expenditure of Sir Henry Sidney, the lord deputy, who was trying to repress the rebellion of Shane O’Neil, and was much hampered by the interference of court factions at home but Knollys found himself compelled, contrary to Elizabeth’s wish, to approve Sidney’s plans. It was, he explained, out of the question to conduct the campaign against Irish rebels on strictly economical lines. In August 1564 he accompanied the queen to Cambridge, and was created MA. Two years later he went to Oxford, also with his sovereign, and received a like distinction there, in the same year he was appointed Treasurer of the Queens’ Chamber. In May 1568 Mary Queen of Scots fled to England, and flung herself on Elizabeth’s protection. She had found refuge in Carlisle Castle, and the delicate duty of taking charge of the fugitive was entrusted jointly to Knollys and to Henry Scrope, ninth Baron Scrope. In April 1571 Knollys was appointed Treasurer of the Royal Household and he entertained Elizabeth at Reading Abbey, where he often resided by permission of the crown. The office of Treasurer he retained till his death. back to index

Sir Christopher Hatton (b1540-1591)
17th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1572-1586

Sir Christopher Hatton's family was old and claimed, though on doubtful evidence, to be of Norman lineage. Hatton was entered at St Mary Hall, Oxford, probably about 1555, as a Gentleman-Commoner. He took no degree, and in November 1559 was admitted to the society of the Inner Temple, where, according to Fuller he ‘rather took a bait than a meal’ of legal study. There is no record of his call to the bar, but the register was not then exactly kept. Tall, handsome, and throughout his life a very graceful dancer, he attracted the attention of the queen at a subsequent masque at court, and became one her Gentlemen Pensioners in June 1564. On Sunday 11 November 1565, and the two following days he displayed his prowess in a tourney held before the queen at Westminster, in honour of the marriage of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and he jousted again before the queen at the same place in May 1571. Elizabeth gave him in 1565 the Abbey and demesne lands of Sulby, nominally in exchange for his manor of Holdenby, which, however, was at the same time leased to him for forty years, and was two years later reconveyed to him in fee she appointed him (29 July 1568) keeper of her parks at Eltham in Kent and Horne in Surrey she granted him the reversion of the office of Queen’s Remembrancer in the Exchequer (1571), and estates in Yorkshire, Dorsetshire, Herefordshire, the reversion of the monastery De Pratis in Leicestershire, the stewardship of the manors of Wendlingborough in Northamptonshire, and the wardship of three minors (1571-2). She also made him one of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, though at what date is uncertain, and Captain of her Body Guard in 1572. Hatton’s relations with the queen were very intimate. When he fell seriously ill in 1573 she visited him daily, was pensive when he left for Spa to recover his health, and sent her own physician. His letters to her while on this journey are written in a very extravagant style e.g. ‘My spirit, I feel, agreeth with my body and life that to serve you is a heaven, but to lack you is more than hell’s torment unto them. Love me, for I love you’ he signs himself her ‘most happy bondman Lyddes’ She also called him her ‘mutton’, her ‘bellwether’, her ‘pecora camp’; malignant gossip said that he was her parmour.

Hatton was probably in London in October 1573 when Hawkins, the celebrated seaman, was mistaken for him, and stabbed in the street by one Burchet, a puritan fanatic, who vowed to take Hatton’s life as an ‘enemy to the gospel'. On 11 November Hatton was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Queen’s Household, with a seat in the Privy Council. On 1 December he was knighted at Windsor. Sir Walter Raleigh, was at this time rising into favour with the Queen, and Hatton saw fit to exhibit jealousy of him, sending her in 1582 some foolish tokens and a reproachful letter. Having lost the Queen’s favour he withdrew from court early in 1584, and sulked at Holdenby until Elizabeth condescended to write him two letters desiring his return. He had early become the recognised mouthpiece of the Queen in the House of Commons. In this capacity he communicated to the house on 12 March 1575 Elizabeth’s desire for the release of Peter Wentworth, who had been committed to the Tower for a speech in defence of free speech, and on 24 January 1581 disapproval of an ‘apparent contempt’ committed by the house in appointing a public fast to be held in the Temple Church, without taking her pleasure. On 25 April 1587 the queen appointed Hatton Lord Chancellor, delivering the seal to him personally at the archiepiscopal palace at Croydon, and on 3 May he took the oaths of office, riding from Ely House to Westminster for that purpose in great state. He was preceded by forty of his retainers in blue livery wearing gold chains, part of The Corps of Gentlemen Pensioners and other gentlemen of the court, and attended by the officers and clerks of the chancery. His appointment occasioned much surprise and some indignation in the legal profession, as his knowledge of law was supposed to be slight, and some ‘sullen serjeants’ even refused to plead before him. His decrees have not been preserved. On 24 April 1588 Hatton was invested with the Order of the Garter his installation followed on 23 May.

It was largely through Hatton’s influence that Elizabeth had abandoned her rash scheme of making Leicester Lord-Lieutenant of the realm in 1587. This however, did not disturb his relations with Leicester, with whom he had long been on terms of close friendship, and who had made him one of the overseers in his will. On the death of Leicester (20 Sept 1588) Hatton succeeded him as Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Hatton opened the proceedings in parliament in 1588-9 with a long speech, in which, after celebrating the destruction of the Armada, he asked for a liberal supply for the Navy. As Hatton was suspected of secretly favouring the Roman Catholics, it is curious to observe that he exerted himself on behalf of Udal, the puritan minister, charged with plotting against the Queen’s life in 1591. In truth he appears to have favoured neither of the extreme parties, but to have held that, in Camden’s words ‘in religionis causa non urendum, non secandum’. He died at Ely House on 20 Nov, 1591 of a diabetes, aggravated, it is said, by vexation at the exaction by the Queen of payment of a large sum of money, representing arrears of tenths and first-fruits for which he was accountable. He was buried on 16 December in St Paul’s Cathedral, between the lady chapel and the south aisle, where and elaborate monument was placed. The corpse was preceded to the grave by one hundred poor people in gowns and caps provided for them by the executors, and followed by four hundred Gentlemen and Yeomen, the Lords of the Council, and eight Gentlemen Pensioners. back to index

Sir Henry Goodyere (b1534- )
18th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard - 1586 only

Sir Henry Goodyere spent his early years at his family’s ancestral home in Hadley, Middlesex, and then when he was of the proper age, was sent off to be raised in the home of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Henry studied for a law degree and it was at Gray’s Inn, renowned for its revelries and feasting, that he began a lifetime commitment to the arts - poetry, music and the theatre - mostly as a patron, and only occasionally as a practitioner. It was said 'He knows he is no great poet – all the more because he has his cousin Philip Sidney to whom he must compare himself, but he cares little for these deficiencies. He has other pursuits at which he excels'. In addition to managing his estates, he sat in the Commons for both Stafford and Coventry and a Justice of the Peace in Warwick. It was this last position that put him in greater contact with the Dudley family in general and the Earl of Leicester in particular. It was then through Leicester that Henry became more involved with the “hawks” at court and through Leicester again that Henry received a commission to fight in the Low Countries for a time. He spent two and a half years there, mostly in garrison duty, interspersed with marching and only occasionally actual fighting. While not a glorious and renowned soldier (like his cousin Philip Sidney), what he did do well was command the loyalty of his men and the respect of the local allies. It was probably this ability to remain even-handed, and more importantly tactful, under occasionally difficult circumstances that suggested to the Earl of Leicester that Henry might do well at court. It was only a few months after returning from the Low Countries that Henry was summoned to Greenwich and there, much to his surprise, given command of the Queen's Body Guard. That having only been in January, Henry is still fairly new to court. Those who sat in the Commons knew him, and those courtiers who have lands in Staffordshire, Warwickshire or Middlesex may have know him from dealings there, but to the rest of the court, he was still somewhat new. The only slightly scandalous thing known of by most of court is that Henry’s youngest brother, William 'currently resides in The Tower, having been implicated (in some unclear way) in the Duke of Norfolk’s latest activities'. back to index

Sir Walter Raleigh (b1554-1618)
19th Captain of The Sovereign's Body Guard -

1586-1592 Then relieved of the Captaincy
1592-1597 Imprisoned in the Tower of London
1597-1603 Re-instated as Captain. Beheaded in 1618

Sir Walter Raleigh, military and naval commander and author was born at Hayes or Hayes Barton, near Budleigh Salterton, South Devonshire. In 1569 Raleigh sought adventures in France as a volunteer in the Huguenot army. With it he was present in the Battle of Jana and again at Moncontour. It has been conjectured that on 24 Aug, 1572, the day of the massacre of St Bartholomew, he was in Paris it is more probable that he was in the South of France, where, according to his own testimony , he saw the Catholics smoked out if the caves in the Languedoc hills. It is stated authoritatively that he remained in France for upwards of five years, but nothing further is known of his experiences there. In December 1557 he appears to have had a residence at Islington, and been known as a hanger-on of the court. In April 1578 he was in England and in September he was at Dartmouth, where he joined his half-brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert in fitting out a fleet of eleven ships for a so-called voyage of discovery. That the ‘voyage of discovery’ was a mere pretence may be judged by the armament of the ships, which according to the standard of the age, was very heavy. Gilbert commanded the Admiral, of 250 tons, Carew, Raleigh’s elder brother, commanded the Vice-Admiral, Raleigh himself the Falcon of 100 tons, with the distinguishing motto ‘Nec mortem peto, nec finem fugio.’ After an indecisive engagement with some Spaniards, the expedition was back at Dartmouth in the spring of 1579. A few months later Raleigh was at the court, on terms of intimacy at once with the Earl of Leicester, and with Leicester’s bitter enemy and Burghley’s disreputable son-in –law, the Earl of Oxford. At Oxford’s request he carried a challenge to Leicester’s nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, which Sidney accepted, but Oxford refused to fight, and it is said, proposed to have Sidney assassinated. Raleigh's refusal to assist in this wicked business bred coldness between him and Oxford, which deepened on the latter’s part into deadly hatred.

Next June Raleigh sailed for Ireland as the Captain of a company of one hundred soldiers. It was apparently in November that Raleigh, on his way home from Lismore to Cork with eight horses and eight foot was attacked by a numerous body of Irish. They could not, however, stand before the disciplined strength of the English, and fled. Raleigh, hotly pursuing them with his small body of horse, got in among a crowd of the fugitives, who turned to bay, and fought fiercely, stabbing the horse with their knives. Raleigh’s horse was killed, and Raleigh, entangled under the falling animal, owed delivery from imminent danger to the arrival of reinforcements. This marked the end, for the time, of Raleigh’s Irish service. In the beginning of December 1581, he was sent to England with despatches from Colonel Zouch, the new governor of Munster, and coming to the court, then at Greenwich, happened to attract the notice and catch the fancy of the Queen. There is nothing improbable in the story of his spreading his new plush cloak over a muddy road for the Queen to on. The evidence on which it is based is shadowy, but the incident is in keeping with Raleigh’s quick, decided resolution, and it is certain that Raleigh sprang with a sudden bound into the royal favour. Fuller’s other story of his writing, on a window of the palace with a diamond. Fain would I climb, yet fear I would fall And of Elizabeth’s replying to it with if thy heart fails thee, climb not at all, rest on equally weak testimony, and is inherently improbable.

He was under thirty, tall, well-built, of a ‘good presence,’ with thick dark hair, a bright complexion and an expression full of life. He had, moreover, the reputation of a bold and dashing partisan, ingenious and daring, fearless alike in the field and in the council-chamber, a man of a stout heart and a sound head. For several years Raleigh belonged to the court, the recipient of the Queen’s bounties and favour to an extent which gave much occasion for scandal. Among other patent and monopolies, he was granted, in May 1583, that of Wine Licenses. In 1584 he was knighted, and in 1585 was appointed Warden of the Stannaries that is one of the mines of Cornwall, and Devon, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, and Vice-Admiral of the two counties. Both in 1582 and 1586 he sat in parliament as member for Devonshire. In 1586 he was also appointed Captain of the Queen’s Guard, an office requiring immediate attendances on the Queen’s person. It is by his long, costly and persistent effort to establish this first of England colonise that Raleigh’s name is most favourably know, to Raleigh belongs the credit of having, first of Englishmen, pointed out the way to the formation of a greater England beyond the seas. But he had no personal share in the actual expeditions, and he was never in his whole life near the coast of Virginia.

Among the more immediate results of his endeavours is popularly reckoned the introduction, about 1586, into England of potatoes and tobacco. The assertion is in part substantiated, his ‘Servant’ Harriot, whom he sent out to America, gives in his ‘Brief and True report of Virginia’ (1588) a detailed account of the potato and tobacco, and describes the use to which the natives put them, he himself made the experiment of smoking tobacco. The potato and tobacco were in 1596 growing as rare plants in Lord Burghley’s garden in the Strand. Although potatoes had a far earlier period been brought to Europe by the Spaniards, Harriot’s specimens were doubtless the earliest to be planted in this kingdom. Some of them Raleigh planted in this garden at Youghal. And on that ground he may be regarded as one of Ireland’s chief benefactors. The cultivation spread rapidly in Ireland, but was uncommon in England until the eighteenth century. In March 1588, when the Spanish invasion appeared imminent, Raleigh was appointed on of a commission under the presidency of Sir Francis Knollys. To draw up a plan for the defence of the country. The statement that it was by Raleigh’s advice that the Queen determined to fit out the fleet is unsupported by evidence. It nowhere appears that Raleigh had any voice as to the naval preparations.

His recall and imprisonment were due to the Queen’s wrath on discovering that the man whom she had delighted to honour and enrich, who had been professing a lover’s devotion to her, had been carrying on an intrigue with one of her maids of honour, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicolas Throgmorton. The Queen showed no more mercy to Mistress Throgmorton that to her lover, as she also was imprisoned in the Tower. It is probable that Raleigh and Elizabeth Throgmorton were married afterwards. Being forbidden to come to court, they settled at Sherborne, were in January 1591-2 Raleigh had obtained a ninety-nine year’s lease of the castle and park. In 1595 as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, prepared for the defence of the country against a threatened invasion from Spain. This prevented his personally undertaking a new voyage to Guiana, but in January 1595-1596 he sent out his trusty friend, Lawrence Kemys. Meanwhile Raleigh took a brilliant part in the expedition to Cadiz in June 1596. He commanded the vanguard himself in the leading ship, the Warspite, as the fleet forced its way into the harbour, and through severely wounded, he was carried on shore where the men landed for the storming of the town.

Raleigh had been commended for his share in the taking of Cadiz his friends believed that the Queen’s wrath was wearing itself out and Essex was not hostile. In May 1597 Raleigh was in daily attendance at