Lord (Sir) Henry Parker

  General Notes:

Henry Parker was brought up in the household of Margaret Beaufort. Lady Margaret paid five hundred marks to the new husband of his mother, Sir Edward Howard, to make sure that young Henry kept some family land.

Henry was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn in 1533, and was groom of the privy chamber in attendance on Anne of Cleves at Calais in 1539.

Henry who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Morley, from 5th April 1523 to 20th October 1555.

Henry Parker, Lord Morley, was a gentleman usher to King Henry VIII and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. In around 1518, he took over the Hallingbury estates. He probably built the Tutor house, which was finally pulled down in 1923. Henry died in 1556 and the funeral helms in the church are his. (one is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum).

Henry’s grandson succeeded him. He was also called Henry and was a recusant in Elizabeth’s reign, which is probably why the priest, Richard Amadas continued to worship as a Catholic. He hid the altar Statues in the walls of the church. They were found when the church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century.

Henry was implicated in the rebellion of the Northern earls against Elizabeth in 1570, although previously in 1560, he had entertained Elizabeth at Hallingbury Place. After the uprising, he was considered a dangerous traitor and fled abroad. The crown seized the estates.

After the death of Henry, his son Edward was restored to the estates. He conformed to the Protestant religion, and in 1586 was one of the judges in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. He again entertained Elizabeth on one of her progresses through Essex and in 1592 he bought Hatfield Forest, previously a royal hunting forest.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Marriage: to Grace Newport.

• Marriage: to Alice St John.

• Residence: Hallingbury Place: Great Hallingbury, Essex.

Henry married Alice St John, daughter of Sir John St John and Sybil Verch Morgan. (Alice St John was born in 1484 in Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, died in November 1553 in Great Hallingbury, Essex and was buried on 23 November 1553 in Great Hallingbury, Essex.)