Dorothy (Bray) Knollys (abt. 1524 - 1605)

Born about 1524 in Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 31 Oct 1605 at about age 81 in Minety, Gloucestershire, England

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Biography

Dorothy Bray was born about 1524, the daughter of Edmund, Lord Bray and his wife, Jane Hallighwell. She was first at Court in 1540 as Maid of Honour to Anne of Cleves, the new Queen of Henry VIII. By 9 July 1540 Anne had been set aside and Dorothy joined the household of the next Queen, Catherine Howard. Dorothy became the mistress of William Parr of Kendal whose wife, Anne Bourchier, had run off with a lover of her own. Despite her light behaviour Dorothy weathered the storms of Queen Catherine's marriage annulment in 1541 and her execution on 13 February 1542. On 12 July 1543 the King married William Parr's sister, Catherine and Dorothy joined her household.

It wasn't until about 1548 when she was 24 that Dorothy married. Her husband was Edmund Brydges, son of John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos of Sudeley and his wife, Elizabeth Grey. She bore him six sons and two daughters. On 12 April 1557 Edmund became 2nd Baron Chandos of Sudeley on the death of his father. Edmund himself died 11 March 1573.

Dorothy married, secondly, William Knollys, son of Sir Francis Knollys and his wife, Catherine Carey, a man some twenty years her junior. The marriage was childless and apparently unhappy. When the young Mary Fitton arrived at Court William quickly became infatuated and Dorothy lived out her life as an unwanted wife. On 13 May 1603 William was created 1st Baron Knollys of Greys.

Dorothy died at Minty, Gloucestershire on 31 October 1605 aged about 80 having lately been known as Old Lady Chandos. She was buried at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire.

Sources

• ThePeerage.com Dorothy Bray Cites: Cokayne, G.E.; Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed.. 13 volumes in 14. 1910-1959. Reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000.

• Wikipedia biography Wikipedia: Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos

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 20.