Mary (Neville) Thursby (abt. 1527 - aft. 1565)

Born about 1527 in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 18 Dec 1565 after about age 38 in London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Mary Neville (b. aft. 1523 - d. abt. 1576), was the daughter of George Neville, Baron Bergavenny and his third wife Mary, daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham.

Marriage

Mary had three husbands. In 1536, she married her first husband was Sir Thomas Fiennes (1516 - 29 June 1541 executed at Tyburn), son of Sir Thomas Fiennes and Jane Sutton. They had at least three children, including:

• eldest son Thomas (b. aft. 1536 - d. 25 Aug 1553);
• Gregory, Lord Dacre (bp. 25 Jun 1539 Hurstmonceaux - d.s.p.m. 25 Sep 1594 at home in Chelsea);
• and Margaret (b. 1541 - 1611), suo jure Baroness Dacre

m. (bef. 10 Nov 1564) Sampson Lennard of Knole, Chevening

According to James (2017), she remarried to John Wotton of the Wottens of St. Clere's manor in North Tuddentham, Norfolk before 18 May 1546. The marriage was short-lived and Mary went on to marry her third and last husband, Francis Thursby, esq. of Congham, Norfolk. They were already married by the time she sat for painter Hans Eworth around c. 1553. James (2017), states that she had six more children with Thursby.

Death

Mary was buried at St. Sepulchre without Newgate Churchyard in London.

Art History

• Portrait by Hans Eworth 1555-58: Mary Nevill with inset portrait of first husband Thomas Fiennes dated a year before his death.

Sources

• Barrett-Lennard, H. (1908). An Account of the Families of Lennard and Barrett. Spottiswoode & Co. Google Books.
• Cokayne, G.E. (1916). Complete Peerage IV: Dacre to Dysart, pp. 10. Vicary Gibbs & H.A. Doubleday, Eds. Archive.org.
• Ellis, W.S. (1866). Hurstpierpoint: Its Lords and Families, Ancient and Modern, pp. 29. Google Books.
• James, S. (2017). The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485-1603: Women as Consumers, Patrons and Painters, pp. 155. Routledge. Google Books.
• Wikipedia: Mary Fiennes, Baroness Dacre
• The visitations of the county of Sussex... 1530,... 1633-4 page 12 (accessed 12 April 2019)

See also:

• Benolte, Thomas; Philipot, John; & Owen, George. The Visitations of the County of Sussex: 1530 and 1633-4. London: The Harleian Society, 1905. Vol LIII, p 12, Fynes.