Walter Mildmay (abt. 1520 - 1589)

Born about 1520 in Essex, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 31 May 1589 at about age 69 in City of London, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Sir Walter Mildmay, Knight, of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, and St. Bartholomew-the-Great, City of London

Walter Mildmay was the 4th and youngest son of Thomas Mildmay of Chelmsford, Essex, and his wife, Agnes Read.^[1]

Walter's date of birth is uncertain but he may have been born by 1520/1, since in a portrait of 1574 his age was stated as 53.^[2]

He was Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge.^[1]

He was knighted on 22 Feb 1547.^[1]

Marriage and Children

He married Mary, daughter of William Walsingham of Footscray, Kent on 25 May 1546 [location unknown].^[1][3]

Children:

• Anthony Mildmay^[1][3]
• Humphrey Mildmay^[1][3]
• Martha Mildmay (married William Brounker)^[3][4]
• Winifred Mildmay (married William Fitzwilliam)^[3][5]
• Christian/Catherine Mildmay (married Charles Barrett; John Leveson)^[3][6]

Death and Monument

He died on 31 May 1589 (see monument below). It was stated he was buried at Apethorpe, Northamptonshire^[1], however, the monument to Sir Walter and his wife Mary is in the church of St Bartholomew the Great, City of London.

Monument to Sir Walter Mildmay and his wife Mary in the church of St Bartholomew the Great, City of London.^[7][8]

"It is a fine classical monument of different coloured Italian marbles, built after the manner of an altar tomb. It is in three stories and the one, containing the coffins, constitutes the tomb: the front and ends consist of plain marble panels upon which rests a plain marble slab. The second story contains in the centre the memorial tablet on which is inscribed:

Mors nobis lucrum:

Hic jacet Gualterus Mildmay Miles et Maria uxor ejus

ipse obiit ultimo die Maii, 1589,

ipsa decimo sexto die Martii, 1576

reliquerunt duos filios et tres filias.

fundavit collegium Emanuelis Cantabrigiæ

Moritur Cancellarius et subthesaurarius scaccarii

et regiæ majestati a consiliis.

[Translation]

Death is gain to us.

Here lies Walter Mildmay, knight, and Mary his wife.

He died on the last day of May 1589

she on the 16th day of March 1576.

They left two sons and three daughters.

He founded Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

He died Chancellor and sub-treasurer of the Exchequer, and a member of her Majesty's Privy Council.

Below the tablet is a smaller marble slab on which is inscribed:

Hoc Monumentum Restaurandum curavit Henricus Bingham Mildmay Armiger 1870. (Henry Bingham Mildmay Esquire had this monument restored 1870.)"

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Mildmay, Sir Walter (bef.1523-89), of Apethorpe, Northants. and St. Bartholomew-the-Great, London. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981 HOP.
2. ↑ L. L. Ford, ‘Mildmay, Sir Walter (1520/21–1589)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} The Visitations of Essex 1552-1636. Publications of the Harleian Society. Vol XIII. Edited by Walter C Metcalfe 1878. Part I, p452 Mildmay No 1 Pedigree Internet Archive.
4. ↑ Visitation of Wiltshire 1623. Edited by George W Marshall, 1882. Branker Pedigree pp 49-50.
5. ↑ Fitzwilliam, William (c.1550-1618), of Dogsthorpe and Milton, Northants. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981 HOP.
6. ↑ Leveson, John (c.1556-1615), of Halling, Kent; Lilleshall, Salop and Farringdon, London. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981 HOP.
7. ↑ E A Webb, 'Monuments, memorials and heraldry', in The Records of St. Bartholomew's Priory and St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield: Volume 2 (Oxford, 1921), pp. 449-487. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/st-barts-records/vol2/pp449-487 [accessed 26 June 2020].
8. ↑ The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield. By G Worley. 1908 Link.

See also:

• Copy Will of Sir Walter Mildmay of Athorpe dated 6 Ap. 1588. Ref: W(A) box 1/parcel IX/no. 1. Northamptonshire Archives [1].
• http://thepeerage.com/p11557.htm#i115570
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mildmay
• Pedigree 5. Brouncker of Erlestoke and Melksham [2]
• Cambridge Alumni: Walter Mildmay
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20084/walter-mildmay
• Lehmberg, Stanford E. Sir Walter Mildmay and Tudor Government. University of Texas Press, 2014. Google Books