Sir Miles Partridge, of Almondsbury

Sir Miles Partridge (died 26 February 1552) was an English courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was arrested in 1551, before being convicted of treason and hanged, as part of the factional struggle that followed the fall of Protector Somerset.

biography

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Partridge

Life

During the reign of Henry VIII he made himself notorious as a gambler. On one occasion, when playing with the king, he staked on one throw of the dice £100 against the bells of the Jesus Chapel in the churchyard of St. Paul's Cathedral; Partridge won, and had the bells taken down and broken. [3] He was granted the manor of Almondsbury in 1544, and served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1546–7.[1]

After Edward VI's accession, Partridge attached himself to the Duke of Somerset; he accompanied the Protector to Scotland in 1547, fought at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh on 10 Sept., and was knighted at Roxburgh on 28 Sept. After Somerset's fall, Partridge became implicated in the plot against his successor, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland; on 7 October 1551 he was accused by Sir Thomas Palmer of having undertaken to raise London and seize the Great Seal of the Realm, with the help of the apprentices. His guilt is not clear: both Palmer and Northumberland subsequently confessed that the evidence was false. He was arrested on 16 October, and imprisoned in the Tower of London; he was afterwards moved, on grounds of ill-health, to the lieutenant's house on Tower Hill, and his wife was allowed to attend him. A commission was appointed for his trial on 29 November. He was convicted of felony, and hanged on Tower Hill on Friday 26 February 1552. Others implicated were executed there the same day: Sir Ralph Vane and alongside him Sir Thomas Arundel and Sir Michael Stanhope beheaded.[2] Partridge was little pitied, says John Strype, since he was credited with the evil deeds of Somerset.[1]

Family

Partridge was at one time possessed of the manor of Kew, Surrey. His wife's name was Jane, and after his death she was granted the manor of Kenn, Devon. By her he had two daughters, Margery and Katherine, who in 1553 obtained restitution by act of parliament. One of them married William Stokebrege, grocer, and in 1563 George Barton, rector of St Mary Abchurch, was imprisoned for committing adultery with her.[1]

notes

From A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of ..., Volume 2 By Sir Bernard Burke Page 1157 "Partridge of Bishop's Wood:"

From Kendal they removed into Gloucestershire; the precise date of their removal is unknown, but John Partridge was of Leonard Stanley soon after the year 1300, and he stands third in the pedigree at the College of Arms which commences with Roger Partridge, of Kendal, and John was succeeded by his son William, who m. into the family of the Fowlers of Stroud.
Miles Partridge, who accompanied the Duke of Somerset in the expedition to Scotland, was knighted after a battle fought at Pinkie in 1547, I Edward VI, and the second paternal coat borne by the Partridges, is said to have been granted to Sir Miles Partridge on this occasion. A courtier and a soldier, he had entered too deeply Into tbe amusements of tbe Court during tbe previous reign, and it is recorded of him that he won at a game at hazard, of Henry Vlll, the bells called Jesus Bells, the tower whereon they hung, and the image of St Paul at the top of the spire, all belonging to St. Paul's Cathedral. One hundred pounds (a large stake in those days) was staked against the tower and bells, Sir Miles being the winner, pulled them down and removed them. {Vide Duodalk's History of St. Paul's Cathedral, Stow's Survey, Malcolm's London, Ac.} He served the office of high sheriff for the co. Gloucester, and received a grant of the manor of Almondsbury from Henry VIII. Sir Miles possessed the great messuage called Kew, In the parish of M-jrtlake, Surrey (stryps's Ecele*). He was one of the Intimate friends of the unfortunate Duke of Somerset, and was apprehended with the Duchess of Somerset, soon after the Duke's fall, and was executed on the 26th Feb. 1552.

• 1. "Partridge, Miles". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  • PARTRIDGE, Sir MILES (d. 1552), courtier, is said by Burke (Landed Gentry, 1894, ii. 1570) to have been a relative of William Partridge of Wishanger in Miserden, Gloucestershire, but his name does not appear as a member of that family in the visitation of 1623. It is not unlikely that he was connected with the numerous Gloucestershire Partridges, as he served as sheriff for the county in 1546–7, and was granted the manor of Almondsbury in 1544 (Rudder, Gloucestershire, p. 223
• 2. Brayley 1829, p.166. Brayley, Edward Wedlake (1829). Londiniana: or, Reminiscences of the British metropolis: including characteristic sketches, antiquarian, topographical, descriptive, and literary.
• Page 366 of The Wards of London: Comprising a Historical and Topographical ..., Volumes 1-2 By Henry Thomas
• 4. Hurst, Chance, and co.
• http://www.oocities.org/val_james/genealogy/partridge.html
  • 1. John PARTRICHE (1470-) & Agnes BENNETT (1470-)
    • 1. Robert Partridge (1487 - )
    • 2. Miles Partridge (1488) & Lady Jane
    • 3. William Partridge (1489)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Sheriff_of_Gloucestershire
  • home page of the Gloucestershire High Sheriff's website
  • The History of a High Sheriff
• Feb 26, 1552 in THE EVERY DAY BOOK OF HISTORY AND CHRONLOLGY By JOEL MUNSELL
  • Four English noblemen, namely, Ralph Vane, Miles Partridge, Michael Stanhope and Thomas Arundel, were executed as accomplices to the duke of Sommerset.
• http://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/miles-partridge_103107377
  • Born on 1488 to John Partriche and Agnes Bennett. Miles married Jane and had 4 children.