Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre
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England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
notable for his conviction and execution for murder.
Dacre was the son of Sir Thomas Fiennes and Jane Sutton daughter of Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley
Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley
Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley was an English nobleman, the son of Edmund de Sutton, Knight of Dudley Castle and Gatescombe, and Joyce de Tiptoft, daughter of Sir John de Tibetot and Joyce de Cherleton...
. When his father died in 1528 he became heir apparent to his grandfather's
Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre
Sir Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre was an English peer and soldier, the son of Sir John Fiennes.- Career :He was born in 1472, the son of Sir John Fiennes and Alice FitzHugh. He had one sister, Anne, Marchioness Berkeley . Thomas was invested as a Knight of the Bath in 1484 at the age of 12...
title and the family seat at Herstmonceux Castle
Herstmonceux Castle
Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built Tudor castle near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, United Kingdom. From 1957 to 1988 its grounds were the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory...
in Sussex, and he succeeded to the title at the age of approximately 19 in 1533. In 1536 he married Mary Nevill
Mary Nevill, Baroness Dacre
Mary Fiennes, Baroness Dacre was the daughter of George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny by his third wife, Mary, daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham....
, daughter of George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny
George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny
George Nevill, 5th and de jure 3rd Baron Bergavenny KG, PC was an English courtier. He held the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.-Life:...
.
He was a member of the jury at the trial of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
in 1536, and of Thomas, Lord Darcy, and John, Lord Hussey
John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford
John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford was Chief Butler of England from 1521 until his death...
in May 1537 (for their part in the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
), and of Baron Montagu
Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu
Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu , the only holder of the title Baron Montagu under its 1514 creation, was most famous as one of the peers in the trial of Anne Boleyn.-Life:...
and the Marquess of Exeter
Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter
Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, KG, PC was the eldest son of William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon and Catherine of York, and grandson of King Edward IV of England.He was an older brother of Margaret Courtenay...
in 1538 for the Exeter Conspiracy
Exeter Conspiracy
The Exeter Conspiracy, 1538, was a supposed attempt to depose the reigning Henry VIII and replace him with a Yorkist, Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, KG who was 1st cousin to the King. An Act of Attainder was brought against the Marquess of Exeter and he was found guilty of treason by his...
.
On 30 April 1541 Dacre led a party of gentlemen including his brother-in-law John Mantell, John Frowds, George Roidon, Thomas Isleie, and two yeomen Richard Middleton and John Goldwell, to poach on the lands of Sir Nicholas Pelham of Laughton
Laughton, East Sussex
Laughton is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is located five miles east of Lewes, at a junction on the minor road to Hailsham . It appears in the Domesday Book, and there are Roman remains nearby.Education is provided at the Laughton Community...
. During the escapade they encountered John Busbrig (or Busbridge), James Busbrig, and Richard Summer who were servants of Pelham. The encounter turned into an affray during which John Busbrig was fatally wounded. Dacre and several others were charged with murder and arraigned before the Lord High Steward
Lord High Steward
The position of Lord High Steward of England is the first of the Great Officers of State. The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, except at coronations and during the trials of peers in the House of Lords, when the Lord High Steward presides. In general, but not invariably, the Lord...
, Lord Audley of Walden
Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden
Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, KG, PC, KS , Lord Chancellor of England, born in Earls Colne, Essex, the son of Geoffrey Audley, is believed to have studied at Buckingham College, Cambridge...
on 27 June. Dacre originally entered a plea of not guilty but was later persuaded to change it to guilty and throw himself upon the King's mercy in the hope of a reprieve. Unlike many of his contemporaries he was not executed by beheading but was hanged at Tyburn on 29 June 1541. An account of the execution in Hall's Chronicle says:-
- he was led on foot between the two sheriffs of London from the Tower through the city to Tyburn where he was strangled as common murderers are and his body buried in the church of St Sepulchre ; Hall's Chronicle, 842.
Mantell, Frowds and Roidon were also executed for the crime.
Dacre's family were stripped of their lands and title, but the title was restored to his second son Gregory
Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre
Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre was an English courtier.He was the son of Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre and Mary Nevill...
in 1558 (the elder son Thomas died before the restitution aged 15).