Please see below which is the result of my recent researches. The key to this is that Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII grew up at Bletsoe Castle and took Reginald Bray into her household when she married her second husband Henry Stafford in 1458.
There are over a hundred refences to the Brays in Bedfordshire in the 13th and 14th Centuries, mostly at Silsoe.
Richard Bray was NOT born at Furness Fells Lancashire. His first wife was NOT the daughter of William Sandis of Esthwaite Furness Fells as shown in the Cumberland Visitation.
RICHARD BRAY
Richard Bray: born c1405 at either Chiswick Middlesex or Silsoe Bedfordshire
Father John Bray, son of Sir Thomas de Bray of Chiswick (MP for Middlesex 1391)
Mother not known. Place and date of death not known, but probably at Betsoe (or
Silsoe) Bedfordshire before 1465.
Wed (1) c 1430 to Margaret Sandys dau of Sir Walter Sandys, son of Sir John Sandys, and
Walter’s second wife Margaret Erleigh at East Cholderton, Hampshire.
Child: John Bray the elder, born c1432 at Bletsoe (or Silsoe) Bedfordshire.
Margaret died c1435 at Bletsoe (or Silsoe) Bedfordshire
Wed (2) c1436 to Joan Troughton dau of John & Alice Troughton of Dunstable Bedfordshire.
Joan died at Woking (after 1465) was buried at Guildford Surrey.
Child: Reginald Bray, born c1438 at Bletsoe (or Silsoe) Bedfordshire. Became chief
adviser to Margaret Beaufort at Woking Surrey and then Chief Counsel to her son
King Henry VII. Married Katherine Hussey, younger dau of Nicholas Hussey of
Harting near Petersfield Hampshire. No children. Acquired many properties in
Bedfordshire in the 1480s. Died 1503.
Child: Alice Bray, born c1444 at Bletsoe (or Silsoe) Bedfordshire. Married Richard
Hyde c1465 probably at Woking Surrey.
Child: Joan Bray, born c 1450 at Bletsoe (or Silsoe) Bedfordshire. Married Isaak ap
Rhese c1475 probably at Woking Surrey.
Child: John Bray the younger born in or before 1462 at Woking Surrey. Father of Edmund Bray, Edward Bray, Reginald Bray and possibly others.
Nick Alexander
