William Ibgrave (died 1557) was an embroiderer working for the English royal court.
Career
He was a son of William and Elizabeth Ibgrave. Ibgrave worked for the Duke of Suffolk and for the revels. He was embroiderer to Henry VIII from 1528. He provided work with "H" and "K" initials for Henry and Catherine of Aragon.Eleri Lynn, Tudor Textiles (Yale, 2020), 148: Maria Hayward, Inventory of Henry VIII, 2 (London, 2012), 152.
Ibgrave worked Lady Lisle and visited Calais. Henry VIII paid him for work supplied to Anne Boleyn before their marriage, and he continued to work for her with Stephen Humble and Guillaume Brellant. He used pearls and jewels in his designs,Nicola Tallis, All The Queen's Jewels, 1445–1548: Power, Majesty and Display (Routledge, 2023), p. 171. in June 1536 outlining the "J" or "I" initial of Jane Seymour with emeralds for Henry's doublet, and using large quantities of pearl for her sleeves and kirtle. He also worked on saddles and the livery coats of the royal guard.Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 165, 318, 326–27, 340: James Gairdner, Letters & Papers Henry VIII, 10 (London, 1887), 475 no. 1132.
Ibgrave was rewarded with the manors of the Hyde at Abbots Langley and Sarratt in Hertfordshire in 1545.Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 326–27. He embroidered clothes for Edward VI with Venice silver and damask silver thread,Ann Rosalind Jones & Peter Stallybrass, Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory (Cambridge, 2000), 25: Horace Stewart, History of the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre-drawers, 21. and in 1551 was given spangles (a kind of sequin) to decorate the coats of the guard and messengers.John Roche Dasent, Acts of the Privy Council of England, vol. 3 (London: HMSO, 1891), 384.
Ibgrave bought disused vestments from churches during Edward's reign.Henry Beauchamp Walters, London Churches at the Reformation (London, 1939), 197. He and his workshop were paid for embroidering the coats of 109 guards in March 1552.John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, 2:2 (Oxford, 1822), p. 286 A payment made to Ibgrave after Edward's death, on 20 October 1553, includes quilting the king's hose, and pinking and cutting (slashing) six taffeta doublets.Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda, 429: TNA SP 15/7 f.4.Ann Rosalind Jones & Peter Stallybrass, Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory (Cambridge, 2000), p. 25.
Ibgrave died in 1557.
Family
Ibgrave was married twice, his wives's names were Alice and Ellen. The lands in Hertfordshire were inherited by his sons Giles (or Elisha), who married Bennet Clitherow, and Thomas Ibgrave, and the family of his brother Robert Ibgrave. The lands return to the crown for want of heirs and in 1606, James VI and I, granted them to Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinloss.Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, 1603–1610 (London, 1857), p. 298 no. 32. The transaction required a private act of Parliament, (4 Jas. 1. c. 6 ).John Edwin Cussans History of Hertfordshire: History of the hundreds of Dacorum and Cashio, 3 (London, 1881), 110: Calendar of the Patent Rolls: 1555-1557, 9.
Sancia, Sence, or Sencippa Ibgrave, recorded in 1569 making a presentation to appoint a vicar to the parish of Sarratt, was the daughter of Bennet Clitherow and Giles Ibgrave. Bennet's first husband was Robert Smithwick of Lees Langley.Richard Newcourt, Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense, 883: Walter Metcalfe, Visitations of Hertfordshire (London, 1866), 14, 21.
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