The Parentage of Simon Digby (d.1520) from Leicester, Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower of London

by Michael P Bodman [1]

Abstract

Simon Digby (d.1520) from Leicester, Esq, Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower of London (Hen VII and VIII) and a veteran of Bosworth (1485) and Stoke Field (1487) with a prominent descendancy in the English Midlands, has long been the subject of genealogical interest but his parentage is equivocal in the Midlands county sources. This article reports research carried out in 2017-18 resulting in the discovery of new biographical details on Digby’s near relatives, utilising contemporaneous records at The National Archives and in Calendar of the Patent Rolls. Simon Digby’s true parentage is revealed as well as new biographical details on Digby’s wife Alice, daughter and heir of John Wallis, Esq, of East Raddon, co. Devon.