While there is no evidence to suggest any connection to my ancestors, it is interesting to look at some of the people through the ages who have carried the name Noers, Norreys, Norris or Nurse.

In this article I look another Hnery Norris, who was made Baron Norreys by Elizabeth I

Henry Norris (see Figure 1)¹ was the son of Sir Henry Norris and Mary Fiennes, daughter of Thomas Fiennes. (see “Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys” 2023).

His mother had died before his father was executed so he was raised by his uncle Sir John Norreys, but details of his early life are obscure. In 1539 Henry VIII restored his patrimony and allowed his uncle to settle his estates on him when he died.

He was made a Knight of the Shire of Berkshire in 1547. He married Margery the younger daughter of John William, 1st Baron Williams of Thame, and when his uncle (1563) and father-in-law (1559) died he inherited a great deal of property including Rycote and Sydenham from his father-in-law and Yattendon Castle from his uncle.

Although he had witnessed Edward VI’s device settling the crown on the Lady Jane Grey, Mary did not hold this against him and in 1554 he was assigned to guard the then Princess Elizabeth, and when Elizabeth came to the throne he was brought into her trusted circle as she had believed his father had died for his loyalty to her mother.

In 1561 he was made High Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and in the autumn he was appointed ambassador to France by the queen. He was recalled in August 1570, being replaced by Sir Francis Walsingham and by way of recompense, Elizabeth summoned him to the House of Lords as Baron Norreys of Rycote on 8^th May 1572.

He died on 27^th June 1601 and was buried on 5^th August 1601 in Rycote.

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