April 2016

History hangout
Brooke House, Henry Percy's Hackney home. Image courtesy of History &
Antiquities of Hackney, Wm. Robinson 1842
Anne Boleyn
Stephen Selby discovers a Hackney connection in the
downfall of Anne Boleyn
Much has been written about
the downfall of Anne Boleyn –
not least in Hilary Mantel’s novel
Wolf Hall, which was recently
adapted for television.
Thomas Cromwell’s relentless
pursuit of a justifiable reason
for Henry VIII to divorce Anne is
well known, but few of us realise
the Hackney connection to her
demise.
In the hope of saving her life,
Anne is said to have confessed
a precontract of marriage with
her former love (and Hackney
resident), Henry Percy. This
would have given Henry VIII a
justifiable reason for the divorce
to take place.
Percy, however, conclusively
denied this. In a letter to
Thomas Cromwell, written from
30 LOVEEAST
Brooke House, his home in
Newington Green in May 1537,
he refuted that he was ever
betrothed to Anne.
Had he confirmed it, Anne
might have lived and the
English church could still be
answerable to Rome.
Henry Percy
Percy sat on the jury that found
Anne guilty of committing incest
with her brother. When the
verdict was announced, Percy
collapsed and had to be carried
from the courtroom. Anne was
beheaded aged 36, just six days
after being charged.
Percy himself died a few months
after that, aged 35, and is buried
at St Augustine’s, Hackney.
Sadly, Percy's manor was
partially bombed during the
Second World War and was
subsequently demolished. Had
there been any foresight then,
a restored Brooke House could
have been a major Hackney
tourist attraction on a par with
Sutton House.
Next month: One of Hackney's
most ancient secrets