Dorothy Bulstrode or Boulstred (1592-1650) was a lady-in-waiting to
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...
. One of her older sisters was Cecily Bulstrode, who was the subject of poems by
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
She was the youngest of six daughters of Edward Bulstrode (d. 1598) of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire, and Cecill Croke who married in London on 28 May 1571 at St Dunstan-in-the-West. The names of her siblings are recorded on her father's tomb at St Laurence's Church, Upton-cum-Chalvey.
Dorothy's eldest sister Elizabeth (1575-1631) married the lawyer
James Whitelocke
Sir James Whitelocke SL (28 November 1570 – 22 June 1632) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1622.
Early life
Whitelocke was the younger of posthumous twin sons of Richard Whitelocke, a Londo ...
in 1602. Elizabeth was mother to Bulstrode Whitelocke,(1605-1675), prominent parliamentarian, lawyer and Ambassador to the Swedish Court of Queen Christina for the New Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. Another sister Anne Bulstrode (d. 1611) married the lawyer John Searle (1569-1622) in 1609. Her grandfather Sir
John Croke
Sir John Croke (1553 – 23 January 1620) was an English judge and politician who served as Speaker of the English House of Commons between October and December 1601. He also served as Recorder of London, and won the City of London constituen ...
died at Chilton in February 1609, leaving in his will £100 "to my daughter Bulstrode towards the preferment of her daughters unmarried".
Life at court
Dorothy and her older sister Cecily Bulstrode (1584-1609) were both gentlewomen in the bedchamber of
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...
, and associated with the influential courtier
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford ( Harington; 1580–1627) was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the primary non-royal performer in contemporary court masques, a letter-writer, and a ...
. They had a family connection to Lady Bedford's Harington family through their aunt Cecily Bulstrode who married her grandfather Robert Keilway.
Bulstrode was involved in the queen's
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...
s, and on one occasion took delivery of a
sceptre
A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty.
Antiquity
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
The '' Was'' and other ...
with a dove from the Royal Jewelhouse as a prop. A wing was lost.
The History of Parliament
The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...
''. Retrieved 1 December 2017. After her marriage, Dorothy was known as "Lady Eyre" or "Lady Ayres". James Whitelocke, recalling the events of 1611, recorded that Eyre and Bulstrode were married without the consent of either family, and wrote, "the man is one of the most dissolute, unjust, and vicious reprobates that lives upon the face of the earth".
Anna of Denmark gave presents of clothing to her gentlewomen, and gave Dorothy, "Lady Eayres", a gown of ash-colour taffeta on 4 July 1610 and a black satin gown on 14 October 1610.
Portraits and jealousy
In 1611 Eyre attempted to murder Sir Edward Herbert, whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife Dorothy Bulstrode. Herbert, two years earlier, had written an epitaph for Dorothy's sister Cecily. In his autobiography he describes his encounter with "Sir John Ayres" in detail. According to Herbert,
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...
obtained his portrait by William Larkin and Dorothy had it copied in miniature by
Isaac Oliver
Isaac Oliver (c. 1565 – bur. 2 October 1617) or Olivier was an English portrait miniature painter.Baskett, John. ''Paul Mellon's legacy: a passion for British art'' (Yale University Press, 2007) pp. 240-1.
Life and work
Born in Rouen, ...
, and she wore it in a gold locket concealed to view. Herbert wrote, she "wore it about her neck so low that she hid it under her breasts". Herbert thought this the cause of Sir John Eyre's jealousy, and although Dorothy was of "an excellent wit and discourse", Herbert claimed he knew her only slightly. However, he also described visiting her chamber at the palace and finding her in bed examining the miniature by candlelight. Soon, following a summons to court from a "great lady", Herbert received warnings from
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester (19 November 1563 – 13 July 1626), second son of Sir Henry Sidney, was a statesman of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. He was also a patron of the arts and a poet. His mother, Mary Sidney ''née' ...
, the Countess of Bedford, and Elizabeth, Lady Hoby another of the queen's gentlewomen, that Sir John Eyre planned to murder him in his bed. Herbert got in touch with Eyre to ask if he would fight a duel, but the answer was unclear.
Eyre and four accomplices caught up with Herbert and his two footmen at Scotland Yard as he was leaving
Whitehall Palace
The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...
, and wounded his horse several times. Eyre broke Herbert's sword. Two other men helped Herbert, and after a prolonged struggle Herbert wounded Eyre, who was carried to the
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
vomiting. A few days later Eyre sent a message that he would kill Herbert with "a musket out of a window". Meanwhile, because Eyre publicly claimed Dorothy had confessed to being unfaithful, she sent a letter to her aunt Lady Croke denying this, and Herbert was able to give this letter to the Privy Council. The
Duke of Lennox
The title Duke of Lennox has been created several times in the peerage of Scotland, for Clan Stewart of Darnley. The dukedom, named for the district of Lennox in Dumbarton, was first created in 1581, and had formerly been the Earldom of Lenno ...
said that John Eyre was "the most miserable man living" because of the shame of Dorothy's letter proving him a liar, and because his father had disinherited him on hearing of the assault.
Herbert mentions that during the assault there were spectators of the "Suffolk faction" sided with Eyre, and the year before Herbert had fought with
Lord Howard de Walden
Baron Howard de Walden is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by Hereditary peer#Writs of summons, writ of summons in 1597 by Queen Elizabeth I for Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, Admiral Lord Thomas Howard, a younger son of ...
in Germany. Dorothy was pregnant and Eyre may have believed Herbert was the father of the child. Dorothy's son William Eyre was born in October 1611 at Flambards at
Cold Norton
Cold Norton is a village on the Dengie Peninsula in Essex, England. It is located in rural countryside 10 miles to the east of Chelmsford, and lies just over a mile to the north of the River Crouch, which can be seen from the village's main hill ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
, the house of Dorothy's mother Cecill, now Lady Brown. The child presumably died young, as he was not mentioned in Eyre's will.
James Whitelocke described the christening of his own son James in May 1612. One godparent was
Humphrey May
Sir Humphrey May (1573 – 9 June 1630) was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1605 and 1629.
Career
May was the fourth son of Richard May, Merchant Taylor of London. He matriculated from St John's Colleg ...
(1573-1630), groom of the king's privy chamber, Whitelocke wrote he "should have been for Dorothy", apparently meaning he would have preferred him as a brother-in-law rather than the "reprobate" Eyre. May had been Whitelocke's friend at St John's College, Oxford and in chambers at the
Inns of Court
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple.
All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...
.
Eyre died in comparative poverty in 1639, leaving just 5 shillings to his wife.
Later life and death
Dorothy Eyre later married John Clyffe (1597-1674).
She died in 1650 and was buried at St Mary's,
Upton Grey
Upton Grey is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England.
History Roman times
The village is on the line of an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way.
Norman times
The Grey derives from the years when the village was owned ...
, Hampshire, where she has a marble or alabaster wall monument with her portrait bust and heraldry, and also a further wooden board with verses commemorating her. The monument's inscription was printed in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'' which alludes to her medicinal practices, and that other daughters were "wise" but she was "best", but the verses were not published, "not being remarkable for their goodness."'Upton Grey', ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', vol. 66 part 1 (London, 1796), pp. 15-16. In his will, John Clyffe wished to buried close to his wife "Lady Eyres", and he is commemorated by a
ledger stone
A ledger stone or ledgerstone is an inscribed stone slab usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial of an important deceased person. The term "ledger" derives from the Middle English words ''lygger'', ' ...