Biography of Anthony Mildmay -1617

In 1576 [his sister-in-law] Ursula Sharington (age 25) died.

On 16 Mar 1576 [his mother] Mary Walsingham (age 48) died.

On 31 May 1589 [his father] Walter Mildmay (age 68) died at Hackney. He is buried at St Bartholomew the Less with his wife [his mother] Mary Walsingham.

On 11 Sep 1617 Anthony Mildmay died. He was buried at the Church of St Leonard, Apethorpe [Map]. His inscription reads ... Here sleepeth in the Lord with certaine hope of resurection Sr Antony Mildmay Knt eldet sonne to Sr Walter Mildmay Knt Chaunclor of the Exchequor. to Queene Elizabeth. He was Embassador from Queen Eliza: to the most Christian King of Fraunce Henry the 4th Ano. 1596; He was to Prince and Country faithful, and serviceable, in peace and warre, to freinds constant to enemies reconciliable. Bountiful and loved hospitality. He died September 11 1617.

On 27 Jul 1620 [his wife] Grace Sharington (age 68) died. She was buried at the Church of St Leonard, Apethorpe [Map]. The inscription of her monument reads ... Here also lyeth Grace Ladie Mildmay the only wife of the saied Sr Antho: Mildmay one of the heyres of Sr Henry Sharington Knt: of Lacock in the County of Wiltes who lived 50 years maried to him and three years a widow after him. she was most devout, unspotedly chast mayd, wife, and widow, compassionate in heart, and charitably helpful with phisick, cloathes, nourishment, or counsels to any in misery, She was most careful and wise in managing worldly estate. So as her life was a blessing to hirs, and hir death she blessed them which hapned July 27 1620.

From RCHME Inventory. It is of grey veined and black marble and is partly gilded and painted. Two effigies lie on a black and white marble tomb chest beneath a baldachino consisting of a shallow dome with a cupola having round-headed openings in its drum, which give light to the interior. The baldachino is supported at each end by a rectangular pier onto which curtains, hanging from the architrave of the dome, are looped. Against the piers are standing figures representing the four Virtues, and the frieze is inscribed 'Devoute', 'Wise', 'Charitable' and 'Just'; the frieze is also inscribed 'Chaste' and 'Valiant'. The head of the figure representing Justice is modern. Seated on the cornice are smaller figures, on the E. of Faith and on the W. of Hope; on the cupola dome is a seated figure of Charity. Crowning the cornice are freestanding cartouches of arms of Mildmay (N.E. and S.E.) and Sherington (N.W. and S.W.). Against the cupola drum are shields of arms of Mildmay impaling Sherington, both quartered with alliances, and Mildmay quarterly. The W. pier of the baldachino is inscribed with a record of the setting up of the monument by [his son-in-law] Sir Francis Fane (age 37) in 1621. The tomb chest is enriched with emblems of mortality and eulogistically-phrased inscriptions record the lives of Sir Anthony on the S., and of Lady Grace on the N. The effigies lie on rush mats, he in Greenwich armour, she in full mantle, ruff and head-dress. The authorship of the monument is not known but the figures of the four Virtues are in the manner of Maximillian Colt (age 42) (cf. Cecil monument, Hatfield, Hertfordshire); the baldachino may be compared with that over the tomb of the Countess of Derby at Harefield, Middlesex, probably also by Colt (age 42).