Elizabeth Gresham Neville and the Gresham Inheritance Line

Topic: Elizabeth Gresham Neville and the Gresham Inheritance Line

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• Ian Adamson states that the 1581 legislation was:

“An Act for (e)stablishing of an agreement between Sir Henry Neville and Anne his wife and the Lady Anne Gresham widow touching and concerning the will of Sir Thomas Gresham knight deceased and the payment of his debts”

• Source-hardening note: Adamson's detailed Brill discussion makes clear that this act mediated the dispute between Lady Anne Gresham and the Neville family after Sir Thomas Gresham's death. In this context, Sir Henry Neville is the elder Sir Henry Neville, while Henry Neville (1563-1615) is the minor son and heir whose Mayfield/Wadhurst interest was at stake.
• Adamson states:

“left the Sussex manors of Mayfield and Wadhurst to Henry Neville”

• Adamson states:

“it is abundantly clear that if anyone was responsible for attempting to rewrite Gresham’s will, it was not his wife but the Neville family”

• Adamson states that Sir Thomas Gresham’s will included:

“£500 to his grandniece Elizabeth Neville”

• Adamson also states that the will included:

“£100 to ‘Harry Neville’ (his heir-​at-​law, Henry Neville)”

• Adamson states that Sir Henry Neville petitioned the Privy Council when Lady Gresham delayed payment of a conditional Neville legacy after Catherine Neville's marriage; this is useful family-network context but should not be confused with a direct fact about Henry Neville's own authorship or literary activity.
• Granville Leveson Gower states:

“Sir John Gresham's daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, married Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbere”

• The same volume also gives the pedigree wording:

“Sir John Gresham Knight, first Son, who maried Francis the doughter of Thwayte of Torkshere and by her had yssue Elizabeth maried to Sir Henry Neuill Knight, Sir Thomas Gresham Knight, second Son.”

• Blaauw states:

“On the death of Sir Thomas Gresham, on 21st November, 1579, the estate came, by devise, to Sir Henry Neville”

• The local image of Thomas Gresham’s inquisition post mortem includes the wording:

“The said Henry Nevell Junior was the nearest and next heir”

• The same image states:

“of the age of 16 years 11 moneths and 10 days”

• The local image of the 1573 funeral certificate for Elizabeth Neville includes the heading:

“The Lady Elizabeth Nevill, 1573.”

• The same funeral certificate states:

“late Wyff to Sr Henry Nevell, Knight”

• The same funeral certificate states:

“whoe in London the viijth day of November”

• The same funeral certificate includes a list of children and gives Henry Neville as:

“Henry Nevell her son & heyre of the age of 10 years & halff”

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• No Ken Feinstein Twitter/blog material is isolated in this packet at present.

3. Quoted Source Text

Adamson / Gresham inheritance dispute

• “An Act for (e)stablishing of an agreement between Sir Henry Neville and Anne his wife and the Lady Anne Gresham widow touching and concerning the will of Sir Thomas Gresham knight deceased and the payment of his debts”
• “on behalf of, Henry Neville, the minor son of Sir Henry Neville”
• “left the Sussex manors of Mayfield and Wadhurst to Henry Neville”
• “it is abundantly clear that if anyone was responsible for attempting to rewrite Gresham’s will, it was not his wife but the Neville family”
• “£500 to his grandniece Elizabeth Neville”
• “£100 to ‘Harry Neville’”

Gower / Gresham genealogy

• “Sir John Gresham's daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, married Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbere”
• “Elizabeth maried to Sir Henry Neuill Knight”

Blaauw / transfer by devise

• “On the death of Sir Thomas Gresham, on 21st November, 1579, the estate came, by devise, to Sir Henry Neville”

Thomas Gresham IPM image

• “The said Henry Nevell Junior was the nearest and next heir”
• “of the age of 16 years 11 moneths and 10 days”

Elizabeth Neville funeral certificate image

• “The Lady Elizabeth Nevill, 1573.”
• “late Wyff to Sr Henry Nevell, Knight”
• “whoe in London the viijth day of November”
• “Henry Nevell her son & heyre of the age of 10 years & halff”

4. Citations

• Adamson, Ian. “Origins: The Influence of Sir Thomas and Lady Gresham, 1565–1596.” “So Noble a Design”: The Foundation and Early History of Gresham College, London 1565–1710. Brill, 2023, pp. 15-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004538030_003.
• Blaauw, W. H. “Mayfield.” Sussex Archaeological Collections Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County, vol. 21, Sussex Archaeological Society, 1869, pp. 1-20. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/sussexarchaeolog21suss_0.
• Gower, Granville Leveson. Genealogy of the Family of Gresham. Mitchell and Hughes, 1883. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/genealogyfamily00famigoog.
• “Henry Neville’s Birthdate Settled?” kenfeinstein.blogspot.com, 14 Dec. 2020, https://kenfeinstein.blogspot.com/2020/12/henry-nevilles-birthdate-settled.html.

5. Notes on Access

• The Thomas Gresham IPM and Elizabeth Neville funeral certificate used here are presently available in this project as local image witnesses extracted in the 2020 birthdate note:
• Thomas Gresham IPM image
• Elizabeth Neville funeral certificate image
• Additional Adamson / Gresham College chapter PDFs checked in this project include:
• 9789004538030-BP000003.pdf
• 9789004538030-BP000004.pdf
• 9789004538030-BP000005.pdf
• 9789004538030-BP000006.pdf
• Those later chapters are useful for Gresham College’s institutional history, but they have now been checked for Neville-family hooks and do not supply new direct evidence about Elizabeth Gresham Neville herself.
• I have not yet verified a separate online will for Elizabeth Gresham Neville. This packet therefore uses the currently verified inheritance and funeral witnesses rather than claiming a will witness that has not been located.
• The funeral certificate image gives the date of death as the viijth day of November; some secondary sources give 6 or 7 November 1573. This packet preserves the wording visible in the local certificate image.
• In Adamson’s 1581 legislation discussion and in Blaauw’s phrase the estate came, by devise, to Sir Henry Neville, the relevant Sir Henry Neville is the father of Henry Neville (1563-1615), while the younger Henry appears in the inheritance line as the minor heir shown in the Thomas Gresham IPM image.