Alice Hungerford, Lady - BAD MERGE!

Fixed it, but now the Whites are in a Gawful mess again. There is SO little documentation and SO much bad information in this section of the tree....

John White II of Swanborne married Alianora (Eleanor) Hungerford, not "Lady Alice Hungerford".

And there's even more confusion involved....

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-london/hauntings...
...one of the most beautiful women to grace Tudor England, found guilty of arranging her first husband’s murder and hung at Tyburn for her crime in 1523, Lady Agnes Hungerford. Not much is known about Lady Hungerford’s early life, before she married John Cotell. On 26th July 1518 whilst the couple were staying with a widow[er] named Edward Hungerford of Heytesbury, John Cotell died. By 28th December 1518 Agnes and her two servants were residents of Hungerford’s Farleigh Castle and the two were soon married. On 24th January 1522, Edward Hungerford died making his widow, Agnes his only beneficiary, bequeathing to her "the residue of all" his "goodes, detts, catalls, juells, plate, harnesse, and all other moveables whatsover they be". His son from his previous marriage was to receive nothing. Edwards will was dated 14th December 1521.

It soon came to light though that John Cotell had been murdered whilst at Farleigh, strangled with a neckerchief and his body destroyed in the kitchen furnace of the castle. Two Yeomen of Heytesbury and servants of Lady Hungerford, called William Mathewe and William Ignes were responsible "by the procurement and abetting of Agnes Hungerford".

The three were indicted for murder on the 25th August 1522 and brought to trial on the 27th November. William Mathewe was found guilty of the murder and Agnes of inciting it. They were both hanged at Tyburn on 20th February 1523. William Ignes claimed benefit of clergy and avoided punishment, however was eventually hanged after he was found to be a bigamist.

Lady Hungerfod’s estates and possessions were seized by the crown in July 1523 and later returned to her stepson Walter Hungerford. The case raises a few questions. Why was John Cotells body cremated in the kitchen of the castle? Was Edward Hungerford involved in the murder? Why did the murder only come to light after Edwards death and Walter had been left out of the will? Was Agnes Hungerford innocent? One must bare in mind that her stepson Walter, like his father married three times. His third and last wife Elizabeth Hussey, whom he abused, wrote to Thomas Cromwell for assistance in 1536. She accused Walter of locking her in the south-west tower of Farleigh Castle for three years and attempting to poison her. Thomas was a friend of Walter and instead paved the way for him to become Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury, a seat in the House of Lords. However, Walter was executed for treason and unnatural vice in 1540. He was beheaded on 28th July 1540 on Tower Hill, along with his friend Cromwell.

The apparition of Agnes Hungerford was said to wander the cloisters of the ancient church and monastery, then the graveyard it became.

NOTES:
The ghost of Agnes is almost always referred to as Alice Hungerford. The method of murdering her husband is sometimes shown as poison and she was hanged at Tyburn, not boiled in oil as some other accounts have stated. This confusion comes from the other Lady Hungerford, Alice Hungerford, daughter of William, Lord Sandys. She was the second wife of Walter (Stepson of Agnes). They married in 1527 but she was accused of poisoning him and was hanged with one of her servants some years later. I don’t think she was buried Christ Church and in the ghostly accounts her date of execution is given as 1523, which is the date Agnes paid for her crime.

And it doesn't look like she's a daughter of Robert Hungerford, 3rd Baron Hungerford ??

The one Eleanor Garth who married John White was a daughter of Robert Hungerford, 2nd Baron Hungerford

You can see how some confusion could arise there too - but the birth and death dates tell the story. The 3rd Baron was her brother.

There is Chancery evidence that she later married Sir Henry FitzLewis, Kt., but no evidence whatsoever that she ever married anyone named Tyrell. Possibly that bit of disinformation arises from Sir William Tyrell of Gipping (killed at Barnet, 1471) having had a wife named Eleanor - Eleanor Darcy. But she survived him, so there was no room for any additional wives.

Neither of the Hungerford ghosts was one by birth - they both married into the family.

I've applied a hatchet & eraser to NN White

The dates for "Lady Alice" were impossible - she must have drifted down tree from whatever Hungerford castle she was haunting, just to give you White headaches.:)

There already exists an "Alice Eleanor" who looks to have died as a teenager.

And we've turned Mistress Whitd back into a more typical English matron - not a whole lot known.

If you discover more raise it on up.

Hopefully that shoves her back in her coffin! :-D

Yup, already have a major headache, lol! This whole White family is driving me nuts, and of course I have TONS of White ancestors!! But I appreciate the alert--now where did I put my Tylenol?!? ;-)