Henry Green

Who is Henry Green?

Sir Henry Green was a courtier and councillor to Richard II.

Born in Greens Norton, Northamptonshire, he was the son of Sir Henry Green, a lawyer and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, by his second marriage to Katherine Drayton, daughter of Sir John Drayton of Drayton.

Green inherited Drayton House in Northamptonshire at his father's death in 1370. He became a JP in 1380 and MP for Huntingdonshire in 1390, for Northamptonshire in 1394 and 1397 and finally in the autumn of 1397 MP for Wiltshire. He also served in France with John of Gaunt.

He became a close confidante of King Richard II. Along with Sir John Bussy and Sir William Bagot he was appointed one of the eccentric Richard's 'continual councillors' who gained an unsavoury reputation. At one point they advised the king to confiscate the lands of the exiled Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Hereford.

When Bolingbroke returned from exile in 1399 to reclaim his inheritance, the three councillors decided flight was the best option. Bussy and Green sought sanctuary in Bristol Castle but were delivered up to Bolingbroke on 23 July 1399, who had them beheaded the following day.