# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Warner, Edward

​WARNER, Sir EDWARD (1511–1565), lieutenant of the Tower, born in 1511, was the elder son of Henry Warner (d. 1519) of Besthorpe, Norfolk, by his wife Mary, daughter of John Blennerhasset. On 14 Feb. 1543-4 he received the reversionary of Polstead Hall, Norfolk, which was confirmed to him on 14 Oct. 1553 (Blomefield, Hist. of Norfolk, vii. 16, 35). He also benefited largely by the dissolution of the monasteries, receiving grants of ecclesiastical land both from Henry VIII and from Edward VI. On 22 Jan. 1544-5 he was returned to parliament for the borough of Grantham, a seat which he also held in the parliaments of 1547 and 1553. In December 1546 he bore witness against the Duke of Norfolk's son, Lord Surrey, informing Sir William Paget, the secretary of state [see Paget, William, first Baron Paget of Beaudesert], that he had heard him hint at the possibility of Norfolk's succeeding Henry VIII. In recompense he obtained the grant of the duke's lands at Castleacre, Norfolk (Lit. Remains of Edward VI, Roxburghe Club, 1847, vol. i. p. cclxxiii). In 1549 he took part in the defence of Norwich against Robert Kett [q. v.], acting as marshal of the field under William Parr, marquis of Northampton [q.v.] In March 1550-1 he received a license from the king for himself and his wife to eat flesh and white meats during Lent and other fasting days for the rest of his life (Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, 1822, ii. ii. 242). In October 1552 he was appointed lieutenant of the Tower in succession to Sir Arthur Darcy (ib. ii. ii. 15; Acts of the Privy Council, new ser. iv. 156). He was removed, however, on 28 July 1553, shortly after Mary's accession, and Sir John Bridges appointed in his place (ib. iv. 422). His dismissal was probably due to his sympathy with the claims of Lady Jane Grey. His disgrace increased his discontent, and he listened to the outspoken complaints of his friend Sir Nicholas Throckmorton [q. v.], who bitterly censured the ecclesiastical changes which Mary had introduced (Strype, Eccl. Memorials, iii. i. 125). Warner's disposition was known, and on the outbreak of Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion, in which his father-in-law, Lord Cobham, was supposed to be implicated, he was promptly arrested on suspicion on 25 Jan. 1553-4 with the Marquis of Northampton, at his own house by Carter Lane, and the next day was committed to the Tower (ib. iii. i. 149; Wriothesley, Chronicle, Camden Soc. 1877, ii. 107; Chronicle of Queen Jane, Camden Soc. 1830, p. 36). His punishment was not severe; his wife was permitted to enjoy his revenues during his imprisonment, and on 18 Jan. 1554-5 he was released on finding surety in 300l. (Acts of Privy Council, v. 35, 90; Machyn, Diary, Camden Soc. 1848, p. 80). In the early part of 1558 he was employed under Sir Thomas Tresham (d. 1559) [q. v.] on a mission in the Isle of Wight (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-80, p. 100). On the accession of Elizabeth he was promptly reappointed lieutenant of the Tower, and in September 1559 he was present at the obsequies of Henri II of France celebrated in London, and took part in the procession in St. Paul's (Strype, Annals of the Reformation, 1824, i. i. 188, 191; Machyn, Diary, p. 210). In February 1560 he received a grant of the mastership of the hospital of St. Katherine by the Tower, with the stewardship of the manor of East Smithfield on the surrender of Francis Mallett [q. v.] (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-80, p. 180). In 1561 Warner was entrusted with the custody of Catherine Seymour, countess of Hertford [q. v.], who had fallen into disgrace on the disclosure of her marriage with the Earl of Hertford [see Seymour, Edward, 1539?-1621]. He had instructions to the effect that 'many persons of high rank were known to have been privy to the marriage,' and injunctions to urge Lady Catherine to a full confession of the truth. On 22 Aug., however, he wrote to Elizabeth that he had questioned Lady Catherine, but she had confessed nothing (ib. p. 184). He afterwards, in pity to his captive, allowed her husband to visit her; the result was the birth of a second child, an occurrence which redoubled Elizabeth's anger.
To Warner was also entrusted the custody of the bishops deposed for declining to recognise Elizabeth's supremacy. In 1563 he sat in parliament for the county of Norfolk. In 1565 he proceeded to the Netherlands, apparently to inquire into the condition of ​the English trade there, and on 3 Nov. was nominated as a commissioner for Norfolk to carry out measures for repressing piracy and other disorders on the sea coasts (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, pp. 258, 261, Addenda, 1547–65, p. 571; Acts of Privy Council, vii. 285). He died without surviving issue on 7 Nov. 1565, and was buried in Plumstead church at the upper end of the chancel, where there is monument and inscription to his memory. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Brooke, baron Cobham, and widow of Sir Thomas Wyatt [q. v.], he had a son Edward, who died before him (Harl. MS. 897, f. 19). She died in August 1560 and was buried in the Tower (Machyn, Diary, p. 241). He married, secondly, Etheldreda or Audrey, daughter of William Hare of Beeston, and widow of Thomas Hobarte of Plumstead. She afterwards married William Blennerhasset, and died on 16 July 1581. Warner was succeeded in his estates by his younger brother, Sir Robert Warner.
[Blomefield's Hist. of Norfolk, i. 497, vii. 221, 246, 247; Davy's Suffolk Collections in Addit. MS. 19154, ff. 220, 224, 234–6; Froude's Hist. of England, vi. 144–7; Parker Corresp. (Parker Soc.), pp. 121, 122; Official Returns of Members of Parliament.]
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