Family and Education

b. by 1510, s. of Thomas Grey of Merton by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Richard Fitzlewis of Bardwell, Suff. and West Horndon, Essex. educ. G. Inn, adm. 1524. m. settlement 31 Dec. 1524, Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Spelman of Narborough, Norf., 5s. 6da.1

Offices Held

Treasurer, G. Inn 1540, Lent reader 1543.2

Commr. gaol delivery, Norwich 1535; other commissions, Norf. 1540-d.; chief steward, Buckenham priory, Norf. by 1535; steward, sheriff’s ct. Norwich Mar. 1536-Aug. 1540, recorder 13 Aug. 1540-d.; j.p. Norf. 1540-d.3

Biography

Edmund Grey did not live to emulate his father-in-law the judge, whom he survived by only three years, but he made his mark locally, being retained as counsel by both Lynn and Norwich. His representation of Norwich in a dispute between the city and the dean heard before the Council early in 1539 may mean that he was the man elected with Augustine Steward to the Parliament of that year, before the city received Cromwell’s letter asking for the return of John Godsalve: the exchange would have been smoothed by their membership of the same inn of court, and Grey’s speedy promotion to the recordership could have been a reward for his accommodation in the matter. Although he was not to sit for Norwich he is likely to have favoured the choice of his kinsman Richard Catlyn as a fellow-Member of the Parliament of 1545. Nothing is known about his part in the House. By a will made nine days before his death on 20 Aug. 1547 Grey provided for his children and named his mother-in-law, his kinsman Sir Edmund Bedingfield and Richard Sandell executors and (Sir) Richard Southwell supervisor; in the following October the wardship of his 17 year-old son was acquired by Thomas Gawdy I.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from education. Vis. Norf. (Harl. Soc. xxxii), 138, 265; PCC 33 Coode; C142/87/51.
• 2. Dugdale, Origines Juridiciales, 293, 295.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, xii, xvi, xvii, xx; Val. Eccles. iii. 317; Norwich ass. procs. 2 passim; CPR, 1547-8, pp. 75, 76, 79, 87.
• 4. DNB (Spelman, Sir John); L. W. Abbott, Law reporting in Eng. 27, 50-57, 79, 260, 306-7; Lynn congregation. bk. 4-5 passim; Norwich ass. procs. 2, f. 166; PCC 33 Coode; C142/87/51; CPR, 1547-8, p. 338; 1550-3, p. 232.