Frederick Tilney

Who was Frederick Tilney?

Sir Frederick Tilney Lord of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, and Boston, Lincolnshire, England, was the husband of Elizabeth Cheney, Lady Say and father of Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey. He is a great-grandfather of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard, three of the wives of King Henry VIII of England, and a great-great-grandfather to King Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Tilney, himself son of Sir Philip Tilney and Isabel Thorpe, made his principal residence at Ashwellthorpe Manor, inheriting his father's titles which were originally earned during the Siege of Acre amidst the Third Crusade. His death left his young daughter Elizabeth as heiress to his estates. Elizabeth Cheney went on to marry again, wedding to Sir John Say of Broxbourne, Speaker of the House of Commons, and a member of the household of King Henry VI.