William Petre, of Bellhouse

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 45
• Petre, William (1602-1677) by Thomas Seccombe
• PETRE, WILLIAM (1602–1677), translator, the third son of William, second lord Petre (1575–1637) of Writtle in Essex, and great-grandson of Sir William Petre [q. v.], was born in his father's house at Ingatestone, Essex, 28 July 1602. His mother, who died in 1624, was Catherine, second daughter of Edward Somerset, fourth earl of Worcester. His family, who remained Roman catholic, had been steady benefactors of Exeter College, Oxford, whither he was sent as gentleman commoner, matriculating on 5 Feb. 1612, at the early age of ten. In the following year, however, when Wadham College was completed by his great-aunt, Dame Dorothy Wadham, he migrated thither, and ‘became the first nobleman thereof’ (Wood). In October 1613 his eldest brother John died, and the society of Exeter dedicated a threnody to the family (Madan, Early Oxford Press, p. 92). About the same time he was joined at Wadham by his elder brother Robert, and the two brothers, both of whom left without taking degrees, presented to the college two fine silver tankards, which were sacrificed to the royal cause on 26 Jan. 1643. After leaving Oxford he was entered of the Inner Temple. Subsequently he travelled in the south of Europe, and, according to Wood, ‘became a gent. of many accomplishments.’ In 1669 he issued from St. Omer a translation of the then popular ‘Flos Sanctorum’ of the jesuit Pedro de Ribadeneira, originally published at Barcelona in 1643, fol. The translation, which was entitled ‘Lives of the Saints, with other Feasts of the Year according to the Roman Calendar,’ is continued down to 1669. The first edition soon became scarce, and a second, corrected and amended, was issued at London in 1730, folio. Petre's rendering has been commended by Southey and Isaac Disraeli. Petre died on the estate at Stanford Rivers in Essex which had been given him by his father, and he was buried in the chancel of Stanford Rivers church. His wife Lucy, daughter of Sir Richard Fermor of Somerton, Oxfordshire—by whom he had three sons and two daughters—was buried by his side in March 1679.
• [Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 1144; Gardiner's Register of Wadham, i. 21; Collins's Peerage, vii. 36; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. 278; Morant's Hist. of Essex, ‘Hundred of Ongar,’ p. 152; Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature; Howard's Roman Catholic Families of England, pt. i. p. 44.]
• From: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Petre,_William_(1602-1677)_(DNB00)
• https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati45stepuoft#page/95/mode/1up to https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati45stepuoft#page/96/mode/1up _______________________
• William PETRE
• Born: 1602
• Died: 1677
• Father: William PETRE (2° B. Petre of Writtle)
• Mother: Catherine SOMERSET (B. Petre of Writtle)
• Married: Lucy FERMOR
• Children:
  • 1. William PETRE
  • 2. Robert PETRE
  • 3. Richard PETRE
  • 4. John PETRE
  • 5. Catherine PETRE
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/PETRE.htm#William PETRE1 ___________________
• A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and ... by John Burke
• https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalan00goog
• https://archive.org/stream/agenealogicalan00goog#page/n286/mode/1up
• Pg.264
• SIR WILLIAM PETRE, of Tor Brian, Devonshire, secretary of state to HENRY VIII. married, for his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir William Browne, lord mayor of London in 1514, and was father of
• SIR JOHN PETRE, who was elevated In the peerage as Lord Petre, Baron of Writtle, in 1603. His Iordship married Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Waldegrave, knt. of Barclay, in Essex, and was s. at his decease in 1637 by his son,
• WILLIAM, second Lord Petre, of Writtle, who married Catherine, second daughter of Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester, and had
  • I. ROBERT, third Lord Petre.
  • II. William, ancestor of the Petres of Bellhouse.
  • lII. Thomas.
  • IV. JOHN, of whom presently.
  • V. Henry.
  • VI. George
  • I. Elizabeth, m. to William Sheldon, esq. of Beoley, in Worcestershire.
  • II. Mary, m. to John, Lord Teynham.
  • III. Catherine, m. to John Carrel, of Harting, in Sussex.
• The fourth son,
• THE HON. JOHN PETRE, waa of Fidlers, in Essex. He married thrice. By his first wife, Elizabeth (who d. in 1658), daughter of Thomas Pordage, esq. of Radmersham, he left, at his decease in 1696, a son and successor,
• .... etc. _________________

Second son of William, second Baron Petre of Writtle. Ancestors of the Petres of Bellhouse. Source: Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain, vol. 3, p. 264.