Around 11 o'clock in the morning, on Saturday 22 September 1576, Essex "was ready to yield up to the ghost"; prayers were said out loud by his chaplain, with Waterhouse present at his deathbed, "holding him by the hands". The chaplain continued to pray "until, at the name of Jesus 'he held up both his hands, and with that fell asleep...as meekly as a lamb'". Just before noon, after bearing three weeks of pain and dehydration "with marvellous fortitude", Essex died "calmly" at

On This Day, 30 November, in 1554, poet, soldier and courtier Sir Philip Sidney was born at Penshurst Place, Kent. Detail from 'Portrait Miniature of possibly Sir Philip Sidney', ? Nicholas Hilliard, c.1600 © Victoria and Albert Museum London Philip's parents, Mary Dudley (daughter of the late John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane Guildford) and Sir Henry Sidney had been married in March 1551, during the reign of Edward VI, to which the groom had been a cl

With the lease for Durham Place being taken over by Sidney, it became essential for Leicester to identify another local property that would meet his needs, and by June 1569, he had found one: Paget Place. After taking possession of the house, the property was eponymously renamed 'Leicester House', thus becoming the Earl's official residence within the capital, with Jenkins (1972, p.186) describing the house as becoming "the centre of his social and political existence".

On This Day (09 August) in 1586, Mary Dudley, Lady Sidney, sister of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and former Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber and close confidant of Queen Elizabeth I, died.

On the evening of Thursday 03 April 1606, Blount took his final breath, with his loving Penelope by his side, the one woman to whom he had been "faithful and constant" all those years.

On the second page of The First Folio, a dedication is made to its patrons, "the Most Noble and Incomparable Paire of Brethren"...

On 23 March 1596, Sir Henry Unton, the eldest surviving son of the late Anne Seymour, Countess of Warwick, died.

On 16 February 1587, Elizabethan courtier, soldier and poet Sir Philip Sidney was interred at 'Old' St Paul's Cathedral.

On This Day (27 Oct) 1561, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, was born at Tickenhall Manor, Bewdley.