Henry Ravenscroft
Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Death: between 17 May 1486 and 12 July 1486.
Place of Death: unknown.
These are the dates Henry’s will was made and proved.
Date of Burial: unknown.
Place of Burial: probably Hawarden.
Henry asked in his will to be buried in Hawarden.
Relationships
Father: Hugh de Ravenscroft.
This relationship is given by the 1580 visitation of Cheshire (Rylands pp. 194-5, informant: Henry’s great-great grandson, George Ravenscroft), by Jenkins (DWB sub Ravenscroft), and by Lloyd (5:266). This relationship is also given in a 1573 grant of arms given by Green.
Mother: Isabel Holland.
This relationship is given by the 1580 visitation of Cheshire (Rylands pp. 194-5, informant: Henry’s great-great grandson, George Ravenscroft), by Jenkins (DWB sub Ravenscroft), and by Lloyd (5:266). This relationship is also given in a 1573 grant of arms given by Green.
(supposed) Spouse: Joanna Radcliffe.
This relationship is given by later sources (Ravenscroft p. 4; Lloyd 5:266), but I have not been able to find other evidence supporting it. Dwnn (2:315) makes Henry rather than his father the husband of Isabel Holland.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from The Family of Ravenscroft and has not been checked. Ralph, Nicholas, Agnes, and Elizabeth are mentioned in Henry’s will.)
Ralph Ravenscroft married (1) Anne Stanley; (said to have) married (2) a daughter of George Hurleston.
Robert Ravenscroft married Joan.
Nicholas Ravenscroft
Agnes.
Elizabeth married Thomas Oxenden about 1470.
Evidence
From The Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (Recognizance Rolls of Chester):
(p. 610):
Ravenscroft.
1451, July 20. Henry, Thomas Swetenham, Thomas Glegge, Richard de Whitley, and John Laurence, to the King, recognizance for 40l. that the said Henry keep the peace towards Robert de Eton. [29 & 30 Hen. 6 m. 5 (3).]
1454, July 25. Henry de, Adam de Bostok, Thomas Glegge, Thomas Swetenham, and Richard de Moreton, to the King, recognizance for 40l., that the said Henry keep the peace towards Robert de Eton. [32 & 33 Hen. 6 m. 8 (3).]
1455, Aug. 12. Henry de, Hugh Maynwaryng, Thomas del Mere, John Maistresson, and Thomas Kyney, to the King, a like recognizance. [33 & 34 Hen. 6 m. 8 (3).]
Henry was a surety on leases dated 1455-6 (p. 676) and 1474 (p. 454).
A list of the bailiffs of the Borough of Flint (Harl. 1070) names Henry Ravenscroft for 1475. (FHS 1922, p. 100).
A grant of arms in 1573/4:
Feb. 3.
GRANT from Robert Cooke, esq. Clarencieux King of Arms, to George Ravenscrofte of Bretton, co. Flint, (son and heir of Thomas Ravenscrofte, son of George Ravenscrofte, son of Ralfe Ravenscrofte, son of Henry Ravenscrofte, son of Hugh Ravenscrofte and of Isabell his wife daughter and one of the heirs of Ralf Holland and of Rose his wife, daughter and heir of John Scavington, son of William Scavington and of Mary his wife, daughter and heir of Hugh Brickhall), of the arms borne by his ancestors.
Jones’s version:
" Being required to make search in the registers and records of my office for the arms belonging to the name and family whereof George Ravenscroft of Bretton is descended, I find him to be the son and heir of Thomas Ravenscroft, son of George, son of Raulf, son of Henry, son of Hugh Ravenscroft and of Isabel his wife, daughter and one of the heirs of Raulf Holland and Rose his wife, daughter and heir of John Scavington, son of William Scavington and Mary his wife, daughter and heir of Hugh Brickhull: "So that finding the true and perfect descent, I could not, without his great prejudice, assign unto him any other arms and creaste than those which are to him descended from his ancestors, that is to say: Quarterly, in the first (for Ravenscroft) Silver a chevron between three ravens' heads erazed Sable ; the seconde (for Hollande) Azure a lion rampant semy flower de luces Silver; the third (for Skavington) Silver, three bulls' heads, erazed Sable; the fourth (for Brickhull), Sable three garbs within a border Golde; in the fifth (for Swetenham), Silver on a bend Vert three spades Silver the irons Sable; the laste quarter as the firste. And to the Creaste, Standing on a chapeau Gules a lion passant hole faced Silver mantled Gules dubled Silver."
References
Dwnn, Lewys, and Samuel Rush Meyrick. Heraldic visitations of Wales and part of the marches between the years 1586 and 1613 by Lewys Dwnn. (Llandovery: William Rees, 1846).
Hampson, Charles P. The Book of the Radclyffes (Edinburgh, 1940).
Green, Francis (compiler). Hawarden Deeds. (Carmarthen, 1931).
Jenkins, Robert Thomas. “Ravenscroft”. Welsh Biography Online.
Jones, W. Bell. “The Memorial Inscriptions in Hawarden Parish” in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire for the Year 1915. v. 67 (new series 31) (1916).
Lloyd, Jacob Youde William. The history of the princes, the lords marcher and the ancient nobility of Powys Fodog and the ancient lords of Arwystli, Cedewen and Meirionydd. (London: T. Richards, 1881-1887).
"Miscellanea" in Flintshire Historical Society publications, vol. 9, 1922.
Ravenscroft, William, and Raymond Bathurst Ravenscroft. The Family of Ravenscroft. (London: Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1915), page 5.
Rylands, J. Paul. The Visitation of Cheshire in the Year 1580 ... (London, 1882), p. 195, citing Harl. 1424, fo. 120.
The Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records. (London: 1876).
Will of Henry Ravenys[croft], in Church of England. Province of Canterbury. Prerogative Court. Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Probate Records, 1384-1858, PROB 11/12/139.