GREY, Reginald or Reynold (d.1573), of Wrest, Beds.

Grey was brought into Parliament for Weymouth by his relative the 2nd the end Earl of Bedford. He was described as ‘earnest’ in the 1564 bishops’ reports and as ‘heretic’ in a Catholic list some years later. His grandfather, the de jure 4th Earl of Kent, to whom Grey was heir, died in 1562, but as he had never assumed his peerage dignity, pleading his ‘slender estate’, Grey succeeded him as a commoner and was returned to the Lower House unchallenged. Later, with the support of his mother-in-law, Grey successfully applied for permission to assume the title. He took his seat in the Lords in May 1572 and died intestate at Hornsey, Middlesex, 17 Mar. 1573, being buried at St. Giles, Cripplegate on 17 Apr. Mourners at the funeral included Bedford’s sons, John and William Russell; Charles Morison, the Earl’s stepson, bore the standard and George Gascoigne was present. The widow obtained administration of the estates and was soon involved in litigation against Reginald’s brother, the new Earl. She married Sir John Wingfield in 1581.1CP; VCH Beds. ii. 327; CPR, 1560-3, p. 607; Cath. Rec. Soc. Misc. viii. 154; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 29; CSP Dom. 1547-80, pp. 370, 410, 412, 413, 415; Roberts thesis, 185-6.