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Sir William Dormer (before 1514 – 17 May 1575) was a Tudor knight, captain and politician. He is best known for a broken engagement to Jane Seymour, who later became the third wife of Henry VIII.

Biography

William Dormer was born before 1514, the only child of Sir Robert Dormer (died 2 or 8 July 1552) of West Wycombe and Wing, Buckinghamshire, and London, and his wife Jane Newdigate, daughter of John Newdigate (died 15 August 1528) of Harefield, Middlesex.

From 1535 until 1559 Dormer main residence was Eythrop in Buckinghamshire. A William Dormer was in the service of Thomas Cromwell, and considered for transfer to royal service in 1538. If the subject of this biography was that William Dormer then his marriage to Mary, daughter of Sir William Sidney may have been assisted with the help of Cromwell influence.

Dormer was returned as the second member for Chipping Wycombe in the parliament of 1542, and he served under his father command in the war against France in 1544. He may well have been the "young Dormer" who two years was captain of 100 men at a muster in Buckinghamshire. Two years later (in 1546) he accompanied his father to a reception at court for the French ambassador.

In 1553 he was returned as a knight of the shire for Buckinghamshire in the second parliament of Edward VI. It is not known what his position was in the succession crisis in 1553 when the John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland attempted to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but in May of 1554 Queen Mary confirmed him in his post as falconer in recognition of his support for her against Northumberland. He may have been made Sheriff for Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire due to the friendship his daughter Jane Dormer had with Mary, and may also have helped him return to Mary's fifth parliament as knight of the shire for Buckinghamshire in 1558.

With the death of Mary his daughter Jane and his mother left for the Continent, and like them he disliked Queen Elizabeth's Anglican compromise, but his family connections did not harm his political standing both in national politics (in 1571 he was sat again a member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire in Elizabeth's third parliament, and local affairs until his death on 17 May 1575.

He died at the age of 72, and was buried in the family vault in the church of Wing. His wife Dorothy had a monument built for him in the church, and founded an almshouse in the village of Wing in his memory.

Marriages and issue

Dormer married firstly Mary, eldest daughter of Sir William Sidney and Anne Pakenham. They had two sons, Thomas Dormer and Robert Dormer, said to have died as infants, and two daughters, Anne Dormer, who married Sir Walter Hungerford, and Jane Dormer, a lady in waiting to Queen Mary who married the Duke of Feria, Spanish ambassador to the Court of Saint James.

After the death of Mary, Dormer married, about 1550, Dorothy, the daughter of Anthony Catesby (died 1554) of Whiston, Northamptonshire by his wife Isabel. Dorothy Catesby was twenty years Dormer's junior. They had one son, Robert Dormer (1550/51–1616), and six daughters, including Mary, Katherine and Margaret. After Sir William Dormer's death Dorothy married Sir William Pelham.

Notes

1. ^ Dale 1982a.
2. Richardson 2011, pp. 254–6. sfn error: no target: CITEREFRichardson2011 (help)
3. Dale 1982.
4. "William was a baptismal name much favoured by the Dormer family and the career of the only son of Sir Robert Dormer before the 1540s is all but impossible to disentangle from those of his numerous kinsmen" (Dale 1982a)
5. Dunlop 1897, p. 210.
6. ^ Hanley 2006.
7. Harding 1982.
8. Richardson III 2011, p. 256.
9. Bowler 2003, p. 138.
10. Dunlop 1895, p. 257.

References

• Bowler, Gerald (2003). "Domer, Jane (1538–1612)". In Hartley, Cathy (ed.). A historical dictionary of British women (2 ed.). Routledge. p. 138. ISBN 1-85743-228-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dale, M.K. (1982). "Dormer, Robert (1485/6-1552), of West Wycombe and Wing, Bucks. and London". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Boydell and Brewer. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dale, M.K. (1982a). "Dormer, William (by 1514-75), of Eythrope in Waddesdon, Bucks.". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Boydell and Brewer. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dunlop, Robert (1895). "Pelham, William" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 44. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 255–257. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dunlop, Robert (1897). "Sidney, Henry (1529-1586)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 210–217. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hanley, Hugh (2006). "Pelham, Dorothy, Lady Pelham (d. 1613)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/95013. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Harding, Alan (1982). "Hungerford, Sir Walter (by 1527-95/97), of Farleigh Hungerford, Som.". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Boydell and Brewer. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. pp. 254–6. ISBN 144996639X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

• "William DORMER (Sir Knight)". Tudorplace.com.ar. Retrieved May 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

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• 1503 births
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• Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707)
• High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire
• High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire
• 16th-century English people
• People of the Tudor period
• English knights