HENRY RADCLIFFE, second Earl of Sussex1 (1506?-1557), born about 1506, served Wolsey
on his embassy to France in 1527 as a gentleman attendant. From 1529 till his father's death he was known as Viscount Fitzwalter.
He was made K.B. on 30 May 1533, and on 31 May 1536 had the valuable grant of the joint stewardship of the royal estates in Essex.
On 26 Nov. 1542 he succeeded as second Earl of Sussex, and exercised the family office of lord sewer at the coronation of
Edward VI. He was one of the lords and gentlemen who put Somerset in
the Tower by the order of the council in October 1549.
He declared for Queen Mary, and was captain-general of her forces and privy councillor in 1553, and
lord sewer at her coronation. He took part in the trials of Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guilford Dudley,
and was made knight of the Garter on 24 April 1554. In October 1556 he was engaged in Norfolk in trying to force the gospellers to
go to mass. Execution for debt was stayed against him in the Star-chamber the same month by the
queen's orders.
He died on 17 Feb. 1556-7 in Cannon Row, London, and was buried at the church of St. Lawrence Pountney. His remains were subsequently
removed to the church of Boreham, Essex. His estates passed to Sir William Radcliffe of Ordsall.2 He married, first, before
21 May 1524, Lady Elizabeth Howard, fifth daughter of Thomas, second duke of Norfolk, and by her had
three sons, Thomas [3rd Earl] and Henry [4th Earl], successively earls of
Sussex, and Robert who was killed in Scotland in his father's lifetime; secondly, Anne, daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe, styled in
his will his 'unkind wife.' By her, whom he divorced, he had Egremont Radcliffe; Maud, who died young; and Frances (1552-1602), who
married Sir Thomas Mildmay. It is to the descendants of Frances that the barony of Fitzwalter ultimately descended.
1. Or Radclyffe, Ratcliffe, Radcliff, Radclyff, Ratcliff, &c.
2. cf. Stanley Papers, Chetham Soc., pt. ii. p. 172.
Source:
Archbold, W. A. J. "Henry Radcliffe, second Earl of Sussex."
The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol XVI. Sidney Lee, Ed.
New York: The Macmillan Co., 1909. 579.
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