Simon Digby (died 1519) was lord of Coleshill, in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England. He was the second son of

Sir Everard Digby Sir Everard Digby (c. 1578 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in a Protestant household, and married a Protestant, Digby and his ...

, Lord of Tilton and Drystoke in the County of

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. Sir Everard and four of his sons were killed at the 1461

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 ...

, a part of the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

. In 1477, Simon Digby was knighted by the

Yorkist 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, t ...

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 England ...

, but he fought eight years later on the victorious Lancastrian side at the

Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...

. For his services, he was rewarded with extensive lands in Rutland. He also fought at the

Battle of Stoke Field The Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487 may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was the last major engagement between contenders for the throne whose claims derived from descent from the houses of Lancaster and Yo ...

in 1487, for which he received the manor at

Revesby, Lincolnshire Revesby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is south-east from Horncastle, east from Woodhall Spa and north from Boston, and on the A155. The parish includes the hamlet of Moorhouses t ...

. The following year, "he was appointed Comptroller to the petty customs in the port of London."

Simon de Montford Sir Simon Montford (died circa 30 January 1495) was an English Lord of several manors, who was executed for treason. Simon Montford was the son and heir of Sir Baldwin Montfort, Knt, of Coleshill Manor, Warwickshire (1410-c1458) by his spouse Jo ...

was executed in 1495 for contributing to the fund of

Perkin Warbeck Perkin Warbeck ( 1474 – 23 November 1499) was a pretender to the English throne claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and one of the so-called "Princes in the Tower". Richard, were he alive, ...

, who was plotting to oust King Henry VII from the throne. During de Montford's imprisonment in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

, the King granted his lands at Coleshill to Simon Digby, who was the Deputy Constable of the Tower. Descendants of Simon Digby (Wingfield-Digby) still hold the titles. Simon Digby married Alice, heir of John Walleys of East Haddon, Devon. They had two sons and three daughters. He died in 1519, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Reginald. He was survived by his wife. They are buried in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Coleshill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digby, Simon 15th-century births 15th-century English nobility 1519 deaths

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

People from Coleshill, Warwickshire