Henry G. Spencer Esq.

• General Notes
  • At this point with Henry, the "De" was omitted from the Spencer line. This statement may not be correct, as the connection between the DeSpencer line and the Spencer was disproven by John Horace Round in his book Peerage Studies and Allied Families. In order to show that I will present here some excerpts of his book and other sources. Source: Peerage of England, Volume 1 by Arthur Collin, published about 1785, with Addenda by Sir Egerton Brydeges, K.J., 1812, printed by AMS Pres Inc., New York, NY 10003, 1970. Page 382, Thomas, the eldest son and heir of Nicholas, was father (g) of HENRY SPENCER, of Badby in com. Northampton, Esq. as appears by a (h) receipt (i), dated 13 Henry VI, for subsidies then paid to the King.  Which HENRY took to wife Isabel, daughter and coheir of Henry Lincoln, from whom proceded four sons, John, Thomas, William and Nicholas; and died about (k) 16 Edward IV, his last will and testament bearing date 1476, wherein he appoints his sons, John and Thomas, executors, and Isabel his wife overseer. The seal affix had the arms the family now bear, viz, quarterly in the first and third, a fret, over all, on a bend, three Escallops (l). He was succeded by his eldest son.(g)Orignal
    proof wanting (h) Visit. com. Northampton praed (i) Query, whether this receipt is cited to prove that Henry was son of Thomas? (k) Visi. comm. Northampton, praed. (l) If this fact be ascertained, it is a very stong case. In the above, Collins' himself doubts the connection of Henry, son of Thomas, son of Nichols, son of Sir John le Despencer, son of Geffrey le
    Despencer, son of Geffrey le Despencer, son of Thurstan le Despencer, son of Almaric le Despencer, son of William le Despencer, son of Robert le Despencer, who came with William the Conqueor in 1066. (My notes: No where else in this Volume, Volume 5 or Volume 7 do we seen any mention of this Henry and his wife Isabel. Source: The Worthies of
    Warwickshire, who lived between 1500 and 1800, by Frederick Leigh Colville, M.A., printed by Henry T. Cooke and Sons, London: J.R. Smith, Soho Square, prefaced by Lee Wooton, December, 1869. The history of the SPENCERS' begins in this book on page 706 with Sir John Spencer of Snittenfield, later of Wormleighton and Hodell and Althorp. He died in 1522. The lineage in this volume descends down to Henry Spencer, Third Lord Spencer, and first Earl of Sunderland. He succeeded his father, Sir Robert Spencer, first Lord Spencer, who died at Wormleighton in 1627. Sir Henry succeeded his father in 1637 and he died in 1643 athe the Battle of Newbury. (My notes: Here again we can find no connection with Henry of Badby, Northamptonshire. Source: Family Origins, Chapter VII, The Rise of the Spencers, by John Horace Round, publisher and date
    are not known to me at this time. pps 279-329. In this disertation, Mr. Round proceeds to disprove the connection of the Le De Spencer line and the Spencer line. He mentions where: " The family of Spencer of Wormleighton and Althorpe recorded in its pedigree at the Hearlds Vistionation of the County of Northampton in 1564 (H.IV in Coll.Arms) beginning with Sir John Spencer of Hodnell, in the County of Warwick Kt who died in 1521. At that time no pretension was made to a descent from
    the Despencers or of any relationship to the Earls of Winchester and Gloucester, nor was there the least similitude in the arms.  Clarencieux Lee in 1595 made a pedigree for the then Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton and Althorpe, in which he drew the descednt nearly in the manner in which Dugdale has given it; he professes to have complied it from divers records, registers, wills, and other good sufficient proofs which he had diligently and carefully perused, and in his character of Clarencieux King of Arms he confims and allows it officially. Whatever the proofs which he saw and examined, I confess that I cannot give implicit credit to his work". On pps 325 and 326 we find: " One must repeat that Lee's deeds and persons may be genuine, but that he connected and combined them at his own sweet will (compare my article on "The Origin of the Thynnes" in Genealogist (N.S.) XI, 193. It is, for instance, quite possible that he found a HENRY SPENCER obtaining a lease of tithes at
    Badby in 20 Hen. VI. (1441-1442), and that his wife's name was Isabel; for, although it has been supposed that there is now no evidence for this Henry, I have found Henry Spencer of Badby", with Isabel (Lincoln) his wife, occuring in 1468. (My notes: There again is the only mention of Henry and Isabel Spencer in his volume. Source: Genealogy of the Four Spencer Brothers, by Flora Clarke, under Michael, part 1, we find she starts with it off with John Spencer, who died at Edworth, Bedfordshire, 9 June 1558. Source: Genealogy of the Spencer Family, by Albert H. Spencer, 1956, he starts the line with Henry G. Spencer of Badby, who married Isabel Lincoln. Source: The Spencers of Bedfordshire, England and East Haddam, Connecticut", by H.R. Spencer, Duluth, Minnesota, 1927, he starts the line from Amaury d' Abbetot and continues forth to Henry Spencer of Northamptonshire, who married Isabel Lincoln. Between Robert Le De Spencer and Henry Spencer, Mr. Spencer follows the line that was drawn up my Arthur Collins. Source: Ancestors of Ossian Hatch Brainerd and Mary Hubbard Goodrich" by Berwyhn Brainerd Thomas, Mason County Historical Society, Shelton, Washington, 1991, he too begins the line starting with Amauri d' Abbetot. Source: A Comparative Analysis ofGenealogical Records for Ancestors of the Four Spencer Brothers in England", by Jack T. Spencer, Edith W. Spencer and Virgil Spencer, Le Despencer, Vol 17, Num 3, August 1993, they indicate of the 9 Proposed Lineages to the 4 Brothers, that they feel that the lineage supplied to the LDS in 1993 by Dr. John Kimball and Virgil Spencer to be the most accurate. They begin the line with Henry of Badby. Source: Genealogical Bulletins, Number 4, The Spencer Family", LDSFHL Film 0496485, the author, unknown to me, begins the lineage with Robert Le Despencer. He sites many many references, but I believe, as Rounds states, there is no connection between the DeSpencer and the Spencers of our line. Source: The Spencers and Their Name, by B.F. Spencer, 1914, he begins the line with John Le Spencer of Southampton, 1273, Henry Le Spencer of Cambridge about the same time, Thomas and Agnes Spencer of Yorkshire in 1379, to John Spencer of Bedfordshire! There is much lacking in this lineage! And so with this, we must wondcr, where did Henry Spencer come from? How do we make the connection between him and John Spencer of Bedfordshire? Is this all speculation, or can it be proven? Is anyone pursuing this? I myself am trying via various Bulletin Board Systems and the Internet to make the connection, and hopefully in the near future will succeed in doing so. But I do believe we can put to "rest" the connection between the le Despencer line and our Spencer line, and concentrate on finding Henry's whereabouts and his ancestors.  From A Short History of Badby by A.E.Evens (?) c: 1940.
    Henry Spencer, son of Thomas Spencer and Joan, daughter of Richard Pollock, of Kent, lived here. Henry Spencer of Badby, Esquire, held certain lands and was lessee of the demesne and tithes of Badby under the Abbey of Evesham in the reign of Henry VI., and also in the reign of Edward IV, from 1451 to 1477. The Spencer Family removed to Everdon. The death of William Spencer of Badby and Everdon on August 17, 1576, is noted in Baker's History.

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