Henry Jerningham

Sir Henry Jerningham KB (1509/10 – 6 September 1572) was an English courtier during the Tudor period. He was a Gentleman Pensioner during the reign of Henry VIII. In the succession crisis of 1553 he was one of the foremost supporters of Mary Tudor, and after her accession was one of her most trusted servants, being appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, and a member of the Privy Council.

Henry Jerningham was the son of Edward Jerningham (d. 6 January 1515) of Somerleyton, Suffolk, and Mary Scrope (d. 15 August 1548), one of the nine daughters of Richard Scrope (d.1485) of Upsall, Yorkshire, second son of Henry Scrope, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton (4 June 1418 – 14 January 1459), by Eleanor Washbourne (d.1505/6), the daughter of Norman Washbourne (1433-1482). Via his mother, he was a nephew of Elizabeth Scrope (d.1537), who married firstly William Beaumont, 2nd Viscount Beaumont, and secondly, John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, and Margaret Scrope (d. 1515), who married Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk.

By his mother's first marriage Jerningham is said to have had three brothers and a sister.

By his father's first marriage to Margaret Bedingfield, Jerningham had several brothers and sisters of the half blood, including Sir John Jerningham of Somerleyton, and Lady Anne Grey.

Jerningham's father died in 1515, and by 1532 his mother had married Sir William Kingston, who had been appointed Constable of the Tower of London on 28 May 1524.