SAVILE, Henry I (1517/18-69), of Lupset, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. 1517/18, 1st s. of John Savile by Anne, da. of William Wyatt. educ. ?Oxf. BCL 1535. m. (1) 1545, Margaret, da. and coh. of Henry Fowler or Fuller, ?s.p.; (2) by 1551, Joan, da. and h. of William Vernon of Barrowby, Lincs., wid. of Sir Richard Bozom of Long Clawson, Leics., 3s. inc. George Savile I 2da.; (3) Dorothy, da. of Richard Grosvenor of Eaton, Cheshire, wid. of Richard Wilbraham (d.1558), s.p. suc. fa. 1530.1

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks. (W. Riding) from c. 1547, (all ridings) from 1562, Lincs. (Kesteven) from c.1554; commr. chantries, Yorks. (W. Riding) 1548, relief, Lincs. (Kesteven), Yorks. 1550; surveyor, ct. of augmentations, Yorks. (N. Riding) by 1552-4, Exchequer 1554-d.; keeper, New park, Wakefield, Yorks. 1554; escheator, Lincs. 1555-6; member, council in the north from Dec. 1558; sheriff, Yorks. 1567-8; commr. to enforce Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy, province of York 1561.2

Biography

In addition to the extensive family estates to which Savile succeeded, he was heir male of his relative Edward Savile, the idiot son of Sir Henry Savile. In September 1559 Edward Savile made a settlement of his property on the Lupset branch of the family, and by 1567 Henry Savile already held much of it. About 1564 he successfully fought a case in the duchy of Lancaster court concerning his title to Edward’s duchy lands. He made two fortunate marriages, his second bringing him considerable Lincolnshire property. As knight of the shire for Yorkshire in 1559 he is not mentioned in the journals.3

Savile was an active local official throughout Mary’s reign, but he evidently supported the Elizabethan church settlement and was classified as a ‘favourer’ of sound religion in 1564. He was one of those members of the council in the north ‘bounden to continual attendance’, which, with his salary of £40, suggests that he was a lawyer. As his name has not been found in any inn of court register he was probably the man of his name who graduated BCL in 1535, though his youth militates against the identification. The last reference found to him in an official capacity is in November 1565 as an arbitrator in a dispute concerning the tenants of the archbishop of York.4

Savile’s will, made in January 1569, was proved the following May. His heir, George, aged 18 at his father’s death, married a daughter of the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, a union arranged by the parents when the prospective bridegroom was only ten. A younger child had been named after his godfather, Sir William Cordell, master of the rolls, who was an executor of the will, and who was asked to bring up Bridget, Savile’s unmarried daughter. The main charitable bequest was for setting up an almshouse at Wakefield.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

  • 1. C142/51/106; Glover, Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 341; Al. Ox. i(4), p. 1319; Emden, Biog. Reg. Oxf. 1501-40, p. 505; PCC 11 Sheffelde; Yorks Arch. Jnl. xxv. 16 seq.
  • 2. Inventories of Church Goods (Surtees Soc. xcvii), 109; CPR, 1547-8, p. 92; 1553-4, pp. 21, 238; 1554-5, p. 109; 1560-3, p. 436; 1566-9, p. 172; Lansd. 1218, f. 12; CSP For. 1558-9, p. 55; J. J. Cartwright, Chapters in Yorks. Hist. 19 n; Reid, Council of the North, 493.
  • 3. LP Hen. VIII, v. 237; xx(2), p. 453; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. viii. 488 n; xi. 161-2; xxv. 16; W. Riding Sessions Rolls (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. iii), 216 n; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 129; J. Watson, Hist. Antiqs. Halifax, 86 seq.; C142/155/138; Wards 7/12/52.
  • 4. Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 70; CPR, 1560-3, pp. 170, 186-7; CSP For. 1558-9, p. 55; CSP Dom. Add. 1566-79, p. 61; APC, vii. 293.
  • 5. PCC 11 Sheffelde; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xxv. 16; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 151.