Dorothy (Bacon) Colby (1576 - 1621)

Born 1576 in Redgrave, Suffolk, England

Ancestors

Wife of Bassingbourne Gawdy MP — married 30 Apr 1595 (to 17 May 1606) in Culford, Suffolk, England

Wife of Phillip Colby — married 1609 (to 1621) in Culford, Suffolk, England [uncertain]

Descendants

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Biography

Dorothy Bacon was the second-born daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon and his wife Anne Butts. She was baptised in her father's seat at Redgrave, Suffolk, perhaps on 2 October 1576.^[1]

On 30 April 1595 at the Bacon estate at Culford, Suffolk, she married Bassingbourne Gawdy, knight, as his second wife.^[2] This union was probably at least in part political one, as the Gawdys were close allies of Sir Nicholas Bacon in local politics.^[3]

The marriage produced children: Bassingborne is mentioned in the Visitation of Norfolk ^[4] It can be assumed that he was a firstborn son of this marriage and died young.

Younger children Bacon, Dorothy (who married Sir Henry Felton), Anne (Stanhope) & Frances were named as under age in Bassingbourne's Will, proved 1607. ^[5]

Bassingbourne Gawdy died 17 May 1606, after which Dorothy Gawdy married secondly Philip Colby in 1609. Sources disagree as to where this marriage took place - at the Colby seat of Beccles or Culford in Suffolk. There appears to have been one daughter of the marriage, mentioned in Philip Colby's Will: Philippa Colby, baptised at Culford on 5 June 1610.^[6]

Dorothy Colby died at age 47 and was buried at St. Mary the Virgin, Redgrave, on 20 December 1621. The monumental inscription there names her two husbands, but Philip Colby, who erected the monument, lived until 1643 and was apparently buried elsewhere.^[7]

Research Note

Dorothy Bacon has previously been attached to Sir Henry Felton, first Baronet of Playford, Suffolk, as her second husband, following the death of her first spouse, Bassingbourne Gawdy. This information has been presented in such normally reliable works as History of Parliament Online: Felton, Sir Henry [2] and Cokayne's Complete Baronetage, vol. 1, p. 154. [3].

However,The Visitations of Suffolk ^[8] states that Sir Henry Felton married the daughter, not the widow of Bassingbourne Gawdy. Likewise, The Visitacion of Norfolk ^[4] states clearly that Bassingbourne Gawdy and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon of Redgrave in Suffolk, had a daughter Dorothy, ux. Sir Henry Felton of Playford in Suffolk, knt and bart.

Accordingly, Sir Henry Felton has been removed as a spouse of Dorothy Bacon, as well as his son Sir Henry Felton, 2nd Baronet, also previously attached.

The monument for Dorothy in the Redgrave church of St Mary^[7] names her as the wife (1st) of Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy, Bart, and (2nd) Philip Colby, Esq.

The WIll of Philip Colby, proved 14 July 1643,^[9] mentions "my loving brother-in-law Robert Bacon Esq". Accordingly, Philip Colby has been attached as Dorothy's second spouse.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch : 22 March 2020, Dorothia Bacon, 1576.
2. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch : 13 March 2020, Dorothie Bacon in entry for Bassingbourne Gaudie, 1595.
3. ↑ Smith, A Hassell, County and Court, pp 177-180. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1974.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} The visitacion [i.e., visitation] of Norfolk, made and taken by William Hervey, Clarencieux King of Arms, anno 1563, enlarged with another visitacion [sic] made by Clarenceux Cook. Rye, Walter, ed. p. 126. Gawdy
5. ↑ England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. PROB 11/109/331 [Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills PROB 11/109/331 Will
6. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch : 19 March 2020, Philippa Colby, 1610.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} The East Anglian Or, Notes and Queries on Subjects Connected with the Counties of Suffolk, Cambridge, Essex and Norfolk · Volume 1, p. 105. 1864. "A Visitation of the Monumental Heraldry of Suffolk" [1]
8. ↑ The visitations of Suffolk made by Hervey, Clarenceux, 1561, Cooke, Clarenceux, 1577, and Raven, Richmond herald, 1612. Harvey, Walter, ed. 1882. p. 190. Felton
9. ↑ Will of Philip Colby, PRCC 1/2/139/54, Episcopal Consistitory Court of Norwich Will of Philip Colby

• MacCulloch, Diarmaid, Letters from Redgrave Hall, pp. xxviii & 108. Suffolk Records Society: The Boydell Press, 2008.

• Kingsly, Nicholas. "Landed Families of Britain and Ireland" Bacon

• Will of Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy. England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Probate 29 April 1607. West Harling, Norfolk. [Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills PROB 11/109/331 Will

• The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. "Anthony Colby's Purported Ancestry" by Glade Ian Nelson . (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) [1] Children of Thomas and Beatrice... lists several children, then: "viii. Philip, 6th son, b. ca. 1580, married 1609 in Beccles, Lady Dorothy (Bacon) Gawdy, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon knt, and widow of Sir Bassingbourn Gawdy, Bart. She d. 1641 (Note: this date is incorrect - LT) at age 47. Philip's will in 1647 mentions only one daughter."

• The visitacion [i.e., visitation of Norfolk, made and taken by William Hervey, Clarencieux King of Arms, anno 1563, enlarged with another visitacion [sic] made by Clarenceux Cook : with many other descents, and also the vissitation [sic] made by Rye, Walter, 1843-1927; Hervey, William; Cooke, Clarenceux; Raven, John Page 126: Gawdy]