Francis Hall, Esq.

OFFICE: Surveyor of the works of Calais to King Henry VIII. OFFICE: Comptroller of Calais.

DISTINCTION: Esquire.

http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Probate/PROB_11-43_f_433.pdf

SUMMARY: The document below is the Prerogative Court of Canterbury copy of the will, dated 20 July 1551 and proved 25 November 1560, of Francis Hall (d. 10 June 1552) of Grantham, Lincolnshire, Comptroller of Calais, whose son, the translator, Arthur Hall, was a ward of Oxford’s father-in-law, Lord Burghley.

The testator was the son of Francis Hall (d.1534), a descendant of King Edward I, and Elizabeth Wingfield, the daughter of Sir John Wingfield (1428–1481) of Letheringham, Suffolk, by Elizabeth FitzLewis (d.1500), one one of the three daughters of Sir Lewis John (d. 27 October 1442) of West Horndon, Essex, citizen and vintner of London, by his second wife, Anne Montagu (d. 28 November 1457), Duchess of Exeter, daughter of John Montagu (c.1350–1400), 3rd Earl of Salisbury. For the will of Elizabeth Fitz Lewis (d.1500), dated 14 July 1497 and proved 22 December 1500, see Norfolk Record Office 135-8 Cage. For the will of Elizabeth Vere Wingfield, see TNA PROB 11/42B/640. See also Richardson, Douglas, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd ed., 2011, Vol. II, pp. 334-6, and the Wingfield pedigree at: http://www.letheringhamlodge.com/wingfield-of-wingfield-and-letheri....

MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN

The testator married Ursula Sharington (d.1569), the sister of Sir William Sharington (c.1495-1553) and Sir Henry Sharington (c.1518-1581), and daughter of Thomas Sharington (d.1524?) and his wife Katherine Pyrton, the daughter and heir of William Pyrton of Little Bentley, Essex. See the ODNB entries for Sir William Sharington and Sir Henry Sharington, and the Sharington pedigree in Carthew, G.A., The Hundred of Launditch and Deanery of Brisley, in the County of Norfolk, Vol. I, (Norwich: Miller and Leavins, 1877), p. 237 at: https://books.google.ca/books?id=inFEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA237

By Ursula Sharington, the testator is said to have had three sons and three daughters: ..