Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent (24 November 1594 – 28 May 1651), known as Lord Ruthin from 1639 to 1643, was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in 1640 and succeeded to the title

Earl of Kent The peerage title Earl of Kent has been created eight times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In fiction, the Earl of Kent is also known as a prominent supporting character in William Shakespeare's tragedy K ...

in 1643. Doyle's ''The Official Baronage of England,'' pp.286-7, vol. ii. (London, 1886).''A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire'' by Sir John Bernard Burke, pp. 251-2, (London, 1866).

Biography

Grey was the eldest son of Rev. Anthony Grey, 9th Earl of Kent, and his wife Magdalene Purefoy, daughter of William Purefoy of Caldecote, Warwickshire. His father was rector of Aston Flamville, Leicestershire. Grey became Lord Ruthin on 21 November 1639. In April 1640 he was elected Member of Parliament for

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

but did not sit in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

. On 4 June 1642 Grey was chosen by the parliament as first commissioner of the militia in Leicestershire. He inherited the title as

on the death of his father in 1643. On 16 August 1644 he became a commissioner of martial law and on 24 August he became

Lord Lieutenant of Rutland This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland. In 1974 Rutland became part of Leicestershire under the Local Government Act 1972, the Lieutenancy was abolished, with Rutland's Lord-Lieutenant becoming Lord-Lieutenant of Le ...

. He became speaker of the House of Lords on 13 February 1645. He was resworn first commissioner of the great seal on 20 March 1645, and continued in office until 30 October 1646, when the seal was given to the speakers of the two houses. He was Custos Rotulorum of Bedfordshire and was appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire. Since 1711, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Bedfordshire. * William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton 1549–1551 *Oliver St John, 1st Baron ...

by parliament on the

on 2 July 1646 and held the position until his death. Grey became speaker of the House of Lords on 6 September 1647 and became a member of the committee of the navy and customs on 17 December 1647. He was one of the lords commissioners who took the four bills to the king at the Isle of Wight, and had to bring them back unsigned. In January 1648, he was selected to replace

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

as one of the seven peers on the Derby House Committee soon after it replaced the

Committee of Both Kingdoms The Committee of Both Kingdoms (known as the Derby House Committee from late 1647) was a committee set up during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the Parliamentarian faction in association with representatives from the Scottish Covenanters, aft ...

as Parliament's principal proto-executive body. On 17 March 1648, he was renominated chief commissioner of the great seal together with another lord and two commoners, but took no part in the trial or death of the king. He remained in office until the commons voted the abolition of the House of Lords on 6 February 1649, and two days after placed the seal in other hands. Grey married firstly Mary Courteen, daughter of Sir

William Courteen Sir William Courten or Curteen (1572–1636) was a wealthy 17th century merchant, operating from London. He financed the colonisation of Barbados, but lost his investment and interest in the islands to the Earl of Carlisle. Birth and upbringing ...

and had a son Henry Grey who is believed to have died young. Mary died on 9 March 1644 and he married secondly on 1 August 1644 Annabel or Amabel Benn, daughter of Sir Anthony Benn and widow of Anthony Fane, the third surviving son of Francis Fane. They had two children:

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

, who inherited the earldom, and Elizabeth, who married

Banastre Maynard, 3rd Baron Maynard Banastre Maynard, 3rd Baron Maynard (c. 1642 – 3 March 1718) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1663 to 1679. He succeeded to the peerage as Baron Maynard in 1699. Life Maynard was the second eldest son of W ...

. Grey died aged 56 and a monument to his memory was erected by his widow in Flitton Church, Bedfordshire.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Henry Grey, 10th Earl of 1594 births 1651 deaths Earls of Kent (1465 creation) Lord-lieutenants of Bedfordshire

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

English MPs 1640 (April) Burials at the de Grey Mausoleum (Flitton) Members of the Parliament of England for Leicestershire Place of birth missing Place of death missing

Biography

See also

References