ON THIS DAY - 10 September 1549

On This Day (10 September) in 1549, Sir Anthony Denny died, likely at his primary residence of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.

Detail from 'Sir Anthony Denny, aged 29 in 1541' After Hans Holbein the Younger, 16thc ©Staatsgalerie

Denny had previously been a loyal servant to Henry VIII, initially joining his household in 1536. After joining Henry on a military campaign to France in 1544, he was taken further into the increasingly paranoid king's confidence, being appointed Groom of the Stool in 1546. It was this year that, following the death of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley, Lord High Chancellor, that the wardship of his two young daughters, Margaret and Mary, was granted to Denny.

Denny was one of sixteen men chosen by Henry to act as executors of his will, and on his death, to form a Regency Council, with the view of governing England during the minority of his son, Edward, which was instigated on Henry's death on 28 January 1547. His political career continued to flourish, including his appointment as the Keeper of Westminster Palace, although it was said that Denny's "whole time and cares were occupied with religion, learning, and affairs of state", being an outspoken champion of religious reform.

In early June 1548, it was to Cheshunt that the teenage Lady Elizabeth Tudor was sent, following her departure from the Dowager Queen Katherine Parr's household, due to the scandal surrounding her stepdaughter and her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour. Cheshunt was likely chosen due to the connections to Denny's wife, Joan Champernowne; she had been a lady-in-waiting to Katherine during her queenship, with her kinswoman, probably her sister, Kate Astley, having been appointed to Elizabeth's household since infancy, and continuing to hold essential roles as governess, attendant and confidant. Elizabeth remained at Cheshunt until October 1548, before leaving and setting up her own household at nearby Hatfield.

Detail from 'Elizabeth I as a Princess' Attributed to William Scrotes, 1546 © Royal Collection Trust

Following Denny's death, the wardship of Margaret and Mary Audley returned to the Crown, with the young king effectively becoming their guardian, although Mary appears to have died shortly after. Only one month after Denny's death, his old friend John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, led disillusioned members of the Regency Council in a coup, removing Somerset from power, himself later being appointed as 'Lord President'. Potentially one of his rewards was being granted the wardship of Margaret Audley, as by the summer of 1553, she was married to his young son Harry. Denny was said to have been buried within the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Cheshunt, although no burial markers remain. He was survived by his widow Joan, and their many children, three of which left England as 'Marian Exiles' due to the persecution of Reformers during the later reign of Mary I.