Henry Neville (Gentleman of the Privy Chamber)

Sir Henry Neville (ca. 1520 – 1593) was Gentleman of the Privy chamber to King Edward VI.

Family background

Sir Henry Neville's father was Sir Edward Neville (d. 1538), of Addington Park in Kent, who married Eleanor, daughter of Andrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor, and Elizabeth, sister of Edward Blount, 2nd Baron Mountjoy.

His father was the younger brother of George Neville, 5th Baron Bergavenny and older brother to Sir Thomas Neville, Speaker. As Manning said, the Neville surname "stands proudly forth as a pedigree in itself, and is associated with all that is noble in blood, distinguished in chivalry, eminent in counsel, and celebrated in the historic annals of Britain."

Career

However, it stands curious that Sir Henry Neville secured a post in the Privy chamber, in consideration that his father was an allegedly attached to the Courtenay conspiracy, and moreover, executed in 1539 on order of King Henry VIII, charged with "devising to maintain, promote, and advance one Reginald Pole, late Dean of Exeter, enemy of the King, beyond the sea, and to deprive the King". (Reginald Pole was a Catholic exile and a second cousin once removed of Neville).

In March 1542, Neville attended Charles de Marillac the French ambassador, however, he apparently was not destined to have a career in politics, for by 1546, he is found serving as a groom of the privy chamber. He was made Groom of the Privy Chamber in 1546,...
Read More