Sir Humphrey Stanley, who fought on Henry VII’s side at Bosworth, and was knighted by him after the battle. Sir Humphrey died in 1505, and is buried in the Chapel at St. Nicholas.
Sir Giles Daubeny and his wife, who are buried in St Paul’s Chapel. Sir Giles Daubeny was Lord Lieutenant of Calais in Henry VII’s time, when Calais still belonged to England. He died in 1508.
Then come some of the great ladies of the Tudor Court, namely:
Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, granddaughter of Henry VII and mother of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, who, as every one remembers, was Queen of England for twelve days after the death of Edward VI. The Duchess is buried in St. Edmund’s Chapel, close to some of the Plantagenets, and on the spot where the altar used to stand.
Anne Seymour, the wife of Protector Somerset, is buried in the Chapel of St. Nicholas. She was sister-in-law to Queen Jane Seymour, mother of Edward VI. From what is told us about her she seems to have been both very clever and very fierce-tempered, and to have made people afraid of her. She lived on into the days of Elizabeth, and died in 1587, aged ninety.
In the same chapel is a tablet in memory of Jane Seymour, daughter of Protector Somerset. She was cousin to Edward VI, and it had been intended that he should marry her.
Another name of interest is that of Frances Howard, Countess of Hertford, sister of the Lord Howard of Effingham who defeated the Spanish Armada. She is buried in St. Benedict’s Chapel.
In St. Paul’s Chapel are the grave and monument of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. She was the aunt of the famous Sir Philip Sidney, the soldier and poet. This lady was the foundress of Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge, which is called after her.
In the Chapel of St. John the Baptist is the enormous monument—thirty-six feet high—of Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon, who died in 1596. His mother was a sister of Queen Anne Boleyn, and thus he was Queen Elizabeth’s first cousin. He was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth, and was always a most devoted servant and friend to her. He had special charge of the Queen at the time of the Spanish Armada. It is said that he died partly of disappointment at having to wait a long time before Queen Elizabeth would make him Earl of Wiltshire. When he was dying the Queen came to see him, and, having brought the patent for the earldom and the robes, she had them put down on his bed. But Lord Hunsdon said to her: “Madam, seeing you counted me not worthy of this honour whilst I was living, I count myself unworthy of it now I am dying.”
In the Chapel of St. Nicholas are buried the wife and daughter of the great Lord Burleigh, Mildred, Lady Burleigh, and Anne, Countess of Oxford. Lord Burleigh’s own funeral service took place in the Abbey, but he is buried at Stamford. On the monument to his wife and daughter is a figure of Lord Burleigh himself, kneeling, “his eyes dim with tears for the loss of those who were dear to him beyond the whole race of womankind.” One of the figures on the tomb is that of Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, and this is especially interesting when we think of the monument to the Lord Salisbury of our own day (also a Robert Cecil) which has just been placed in the Abbey, close to the Great West Door.