Sir Henry Neville (baptised 20 May 1564 – 10 July 1615[1]) was an English courtier, politician and diplomat, noted for his role as ambassador to France and his unsuccessful attempts to negotiate between James I of England and the Houses of Parliament. In 2005, Neville was put forward as a candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare's works.
Neville was the elder son of Sir Henry Neville (died 1593) and his second wife, Elizabeth Gresham (died 6 November 1573), granddaughter of Sir Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor of London, and only daughter and heir of the latter's elder son, John Gresham (died 1560), by Frances Thwaytes, the daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Thwaytes of Lund, Yorkshire.[2][3][4]
Neville's father had earlier married, between 1551 and 1555, Winifred Losse (died in or before 1561), daughter of a property speculator, Hugh Losse (died 1555) of Whitchurch, London, by whom he had no children.[5]
After the death of his second wife, Neville's father married thirdly, about May 1578, Elizabeth Bacon (c. 1541 – 3 May 1621),[6] widow of Sir Robert Doyley (died between 21 and 29 July 1577) of Chislehampton, Oxfordshire, and GreenlandsinHambleden, Buckinghamshire.[7] Elizabeth Bacon was the eldest daughter of Queen Elizabeth'sLord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510–1579), by his first wife, Jane Ferneley (died 1552), the daughter of William Ferneley of Suffolk.[8][9] After Neville's death, his widow, Elizabeth, married, before the end of September 1595, Sir William Peryam (died 9 October 1604).[10] She made her last will on 12 November 1618 and died on 3 May 1621. There is a monument to her in the church of St Mary's Henley-on-Thames.[11]
In 1599, Neville was appointed Ambassador to France and attended the court of Henri IV.[14] Although knighted for his services in France, he was unhappy with the way he was treated by the French and in 1600, complaining of deafness, he asked to be recalled to England.[14]
He was stripped of his position and fined £5,000, which he agreed to pay in annual instalments of £1,000.[14] After the death of Elizabeth I of England and the accession of James IaRoyal Warrant was issued for his release.[14]
After his release, he played a greater role in the political life of the nation, but earned the antagonism of King James by advocating the King surrender to the demands of the House of Commons.[14]
In the first session of 1610, and again in 1612, he advised the king to give way to the demands of the House of Commons.[16] It was these actions that, on the death of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, in May 1612, lost him the possibility of becoming the Secretary of State.[14] Although offered the position of Treasurer of the Chamber he turned it down.[14]
Neville died in 1615 and was buried at the church of St Lawrence in Waltham St Lawrence.[14]
In 2005, Neville was proposed as the actual author of Shakespeare's works.[14] The attribution is rejected by almost all academic Shakespeareans who have responded to the claim.
Tittler, Robert (1976). Nicholas Bacon; The Making of a Tudor Statesman. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
Todd, Robert (1996). "Henry and Thomas Savile in Italy". Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance. 58 (2). Librairie Droz: 439–444. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
Urban, Sylvester (1845). "The Law of Quartering Arms, by W.D.B."The Gentleman's Magazine. New Series. XXIV. London: John Bowyer Nichols and Son: 476–9. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
