Alice Baldwin (Abbess)

Alice Baldwin
Died	1546 Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Parent(s)	Sir John Baldwin, Agnes Dormer

Alice Baldwin (died 1546) was the last Abbess of Burnham Abbey near Burnham, Buckinghamshire. She was the daughter of Sir John Baldwin, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

Alice Baldwin was the daughter of Sir John Baldwin (d.1545), Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, by his first wife Agnes Dormer, the daughter of William Dormer (d.1506) and sister of Sir Robert Dormer (d.1552).

She had a brother and two sisters, all of whom predeceased her:

Alice Baldwin was elected the last Abbess of Burnham Abbey in Buckinghamshire in 1536. The Abbey had been founded in 1265 by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, styled King of the Romans, the brother of King Edward III, who endowed it with several manors, including the manors of Burnham and Cippenham. The Abbey, of which only some old walls and a fishpond remained in the mid-1800s, was situated about a half mile from Burnham.

At the dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII, Burnham Abbey’s revenues were valued at £51 2s 4-1/2d. The document of surrender, dated 19 September 1539, was signed by Alice Baldwin, as Abbess, and the nine remaining nuns who were still living there at the time. In return, it is said, for her readiness to surrender the Abbey to the Crown, Alice Baldwin was granted a small pension. After the surrender she appears to have spent her remaining years at Aylesbury at the home of her father, Sir John Baldwin, who both by deed and in his will left her well provided for with a life estate in his lands.

Sir John Baldwin died on 24 October 1545, and Alice survived him by only a few months; her will was proved on 2 March 1546. After Alice's death Sir John Baldwin's heirs at law, Sir Thomas Pakington and John Borlase (c.1528 – 6 May 1593) inherited the Baldwin estates. Sir John Baldwin had been buried in Aylesbury Church, and in her will Alice requested that her executor erect a tomb of marble over his grave with figures depicting her father and mother and their children. It appears that Alice's executor, Richard Cupper (d.1584), carried out this request, although no trace of the monument now remains in Aylesbury Church.

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