Winifred BRYDGES

(M. Winchester)

Died: 16 Jun 1586, Chelsea, Middlesex, England

Buried: 1586, Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, Middlesex, England

Father: John BRUGGE (Sir Knight Lord Mayor of London)

Mother: Agnes AYOLFFE

Married 1: Richard "Fill Sack" SACKVILLE (Sir Knight) ABT 1531, Dymocke, Gloucestershire, England

Children:

1. Thomas SACKVILLE (1° E. Dorset)

2. Anne SACKVILLE (B. Dacre of the South)

Married 2: William PAULET (1° M. Winchester)

Daughter of Sir John Brydges or Brugges, Lord Mayor of London in 1520-21, and his wife Agnes Ayloffe. Winifred married Richard Sackville of Ashburnham and Buckhurst, cousin of Anne Boleyn, by whom she had Thomas, Earl of Dorset, two sons who died young, and Anne. In 1562 and again in 1566, the Sackvilles were given custody of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, when she had offended Queen Elizabeth.

By early 1571, about age 55, Winifred remarried to Sir William Paulet, Marquis of Winchester. From him, as a wedding present, she inherited all the Sir Thomas More properties in Chelsea. Comtemporary accounts state that she owned roughly one good half of the town, the Crown holding everything else.

After 1572, Paulet's heirs were the highest-ranking nobles in England. Paulet generously provided for Winifred, including property and title of Marchioness. Paulet's grandson, William (c.1532-98, 3rd Marquis 1576), unsuccessfully sued to decrease her benefits.  When Winifred died in Jun 1586, she had arranged for her daughter Anne to inherit the Chelsea estate.

Many accounts state that she married, in about 1568, John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, as his third wife. Winifred was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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