Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of

Gilsland Gilsland is a village in northern England about west of Hexham, and about east of Carlisle, which straddles the border between Cumbria and Northumberland. The village provides an amenity centre for visitors touring Hadrian's Wall and other f ...

( 1424 – 30 May 1485), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

soldier,

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

landowner and peer. He remained loyal to the

House of Lancaster The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancasterfrom which the house was namedfor his second son Edmund Crouchback in 126 ...

when Henry VI was deposed by

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

and fought on the Lancastrian side at the

Battle of Towton The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between a ...

of 1461, after which he was

attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...

. He was later pardoned, regained the family estates, was summoned to

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

, attended the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

, and was appointed

Governor of Carlisle Carlisle Castle is a medieval stone keep castle that stands within the English city of Carlisle near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. First built during the reign of William II of England, William II in 1093 and rebuilt in stone under Henry I of En ...

and

Warden of the West Marches The Lord Warden of the Marches was an office in the governments of Scotland and England. The holders were responsible for the security of the border between the two nations, and often took part in military action. They were also responsible, alo ...

Life

Dacre was the third son of

Thomas Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre Thomas Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre of Gilsland (27 October 1387 – 5 January 1458) was a medieval English nobleman. Biography Thomas was the son and heir of William Dacre, 5th Baron Dacre of Gilsland (c. 1357–1399), and Joan Douglas, the illeg ...

(1387–1457/1458), by his wife Lady Philippa Neville (1386–1453), the daughter of

Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Earl Marshal (c. 136421 October 1425), was an English nobleman of the House of Neville. Origins Ralph Neville was born about 1364, the son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville by his wife Maud Percy (d. ...

. He was born at

Naworth Castle Naworth Castle, also known or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a castle in Cumbria, England, near the town of Brampton. It is adjacent to the A69, about east of Brampton. It is on the opposite side of the River Irthing to, and ...

, about 1424, one of at least nine children born to his parents between 1410 and 1426.Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham, ''Plantagenet ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families''
p. 251
/ref>George Edward Cokayne, ''The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: extant, extinct, or dormant'', vol. 4, pp. 19–20 He married Mabel Parr (d. 1508), a daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal, by his marriage to Alice Tunstall, a daughter of Sir Thomas Tunstall, of

Thurland Castle Thurland Castle is a country house in Lancashire, England which has been converted into apartments. Surrounded by a moat, and located in parkland, it was originally a defensive structure, one of a number of castles in the Lune Valley. It is reco ...

. His wife was the great-aunt to King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's sixth consort,

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

, who coincidentally was the only other female in the Parr family to marry into the peerage when she married her second husband, Lord Latimer.Susan E. James. ''Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love'', The History Press, 2009 US Edition. pp. 61–73. With her, Dacre had six sons and three daughters: * Sir Thomas Dacre (1467–1525),

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

, later 2nd Baron Dacre, * Hugh, a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, * Christopher, * Philip, * Ralph, * Humphrey, * Anne, who married Thomas Strangeways, * Elizabeth, who married Richard Huddleston, * Katherine, who married firstly

George FitzHugh, 7th Baron FitzHugh George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

(c.1487–1513) without issue then secondly

Sir Thomas Neville Thomas Fauconberg or Thomas Neville, sometimes called Thomas the Bastard, or the Bastard of Fauconberg (1429 – 22 September 1471), was the natural son of William Neville, Lord Fauconberg, who was a leading commander in the Hundred Years' War ...

(c.1484–1542) with whom she had an only child, Margaret Neville. Dacre's elder brother, Ralph, was summoned to

by Henry VI as

Baron Dacre Baron Dacre is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England, every time by writ. History The first creation came in 1321 when Ralph Dacre was summoned to Parliament as Lord Dacre. He married Margaret, 2nd Baroness Mult ...

in 1459. The brothers remained on the side of the

when Henry VI was deposed by

of the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, ...

, and both fought for Lancaster at the

of 1461. His brother Ralph was killed in the fighting, and after the battle, Dacre and his brother were

, but he had received a general

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

by 21 June 1468. Dacre was appointed Chief Forester of

Inglewood Forest Inglewood Forest is a large tract of mainly arable and dairy farm land with a few small woodland areas between Carlisle and Penrith in the English non-metropolitan county of Cumbria or ancient county of Cumberland. Etymology ''Inglewood'' is fi ...

in 1469/70, and the attainder of 1461 was reversed on 8 February 1472, whereupon Dacre inherited most of the family estates under

entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...

s created by his father, although possession was disputed by the

heir general In English law, heirs of the body is the principle that certain types of property pass to a descendant of the original holder, recipient or grantee according to a fixed order of kinship. Upon the death of the grantee, a designated inheritance such ...

, Dacre's niece Joan Fiennes, the only child of his eldest brother, Sir Thomas Dacre (1410–1448).Dacre of Gilsland, Baron (E, 1473 – abeyant 1569)
at cracroftspeerage.co.uk, accessed 29 December 2010 On 8 April 1473

King Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

confirmed Dacre as heir male of his father, but allowed the Barony of Dacre to pass to the heir general. By

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

he created Dacre Baron Dacre of Gilsland, declaring "that the said Humfrey Dacre, Knight, and the heirs male of the body of the said Thomas, late Lord Dacre, comyng, bee reputed, had, named and called the Lord Dacre of Gillesland". Dacre was summoned to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

between 15 November 1482 and 9 December 1483, the writs of summons being addressed to ''Humfrido Dacre de Gillesland''. On 6 July 1483, he attended the

. He was Governor of Carlisle Castle and

from 1484. He died of natural causes on 30 May 1485 and was succeeded by his son

Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, KG (25 November 1467 – 24 October 1525) was the son of Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of Gilsland and Mabel Parr, great-aunt of queen consort Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King He ...

(c. 1464–1525). Dacre's widow Mabel, Lady Dacre, died on 14 November 1508 and was buried with her husband's remains at

Lanercost Priory Lanercost Priory was founded by Robert de Vaux between 1165 and 1174, the most likely date being 1169, to house Augustinian canons. The priory is situated at the village of Lanercost, Cumbria, England, within sight of Naworth Castle, with which ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dacre, Humphrey 1420s births 1485 deaths People from Cumberland

Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of Gilsland ( 1424 – 30 May 1485), was an Kingdom of England, English soldier, Cumberland landed gentry, landowner and Peerage of England, peer. He remained loyal to the House of Lancaster when Henry VI of England ...

Barons Dacre of Gillesland