Sir Francis Englefield | |
---|---|
Spouse(s) | Katherine Fettiplace |
Father | Sir Thomas Englefield |
Mother | Elizabeth Throckmorton |
Born | c.1522 |
Died | 13 September 1596 St Albans College, Valladolid, Spain |
Sir Francis Englefield (c. 1522 – 1596) was an English courtier and Roman Catholic exile.
Francis Englefield, born about 1522, was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Englefield (1488–1537) of Englefield, Berkshire, Justice of the Common Pleas, and Elizabeth Throckmorton (died 1543), sister of Sir George Throckmorton (died 1552), and daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton (died 1518) of the well-known Catholic family of Coughton Court in Warwickshire. His grandfather, Sir Thomas Englefield (1455–1514), was an adviser to Henry VIII during the King's youth, and Speaker of the House of Commons in 1497 and 1510.
Englefield had a brother, John Englefield (died 1567), who married Margaret Fitton, the daughter of Sir Edward Fitton (d.1547/8) of Gawsworth and his wife, Mary Harbottle (died 1557), and three sisters, Margaret Englefield (died 1563), who married firstly, George Carew (died 1538), and secondly, Sir Edward Saunders (1506–1576), Chief Baron of the Exchequer; Anne Englefield, who married Humphrey Coningsby (1515–1569); and Susan Englefield, who married Humphrey Barnes.
Francis, who succeeded his father in 1537, was too young to have taken any part in the opposition to the abolition of the Roman jurisdiction and dissolution of the monasteries; and he acquiesced in these measures to the extent of taking the oath of royal supremacy, serving as High Sheriff of Berkshire and Oxfordshire in 1546-1547, and accepting in 1545 a grant of the manor of Tilehurst, which had belonged to Reading Abbey. He was even knighted at the coronation of Edward VI of England in February 1547.