Francis Dereham
Francis Dereham (c 1513 – executed 10 December 1541) was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Catherine Howard in her youth, was a principal cause of the Queen's execution.
Francis Dereham was the son of John (Thomas) Derham, of Crimplesham in Norfolk, and Isabell, the daughter of John Paynell, of Boothby in Lincolnshire.
Dereham is known for his sexual indiscretions with Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England long before she became queen, when she was aged fifteen. Dereham convinced himself that he loved her when their affair began late in 1538. Dereham had previously been having an affair with Joan Bulmer who lived in the same household in Norfolk House in Lambeth, but dropped her for Catherine Howard. Dereham's relationship with Catherine Howard came to an end when her music master, Henry Manox sent an anonymous letter to the Dowager Duchess. Manox, who had started a sexual relationship with the girl when she was only eleven, suggested to the Dowager she should visit Catherine's bedroom "half an hour after" going to bed, adding that "you shall see that which shall displease you." Dereham was sent away and Catherine was told off for her "banqueting by night" because she feared "it would hurt her beauty". David Starkey has argued that the Duchess was more concerned about her looks than her morals. Dereham was forced to go to live in Ireland where it is believed he resorted to piracy. Before he left he asked Catherine to look after £100. This money was the bulk of his savings and the Queen later admitted that he told her that if he did not return "I was to consider it as my own."
In late 1539 Catherine Howard was made lady-in-waiting to the King's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Subsequently, Dereham was appointed a secretary at Hampton Court, an appointment possibly engineered by the dowager Duchess of Norfolk, Agnes Tilney, to silence him about Catherine's previous indiscretions. On 27 August 1541, using the Dowager as a reference, Dereham rashly approached his former lover at Pontefract Castle, seeking employment, while the court was still on progress. Queen Catherine made him her Private Secretary and then a Gentleman Usher of the Queen's Chamber. Dereham was a braggart unable to keep his mouth shut. He brashly boasted that if the King died, he would marry Catherine, elaborating the situation by explaining he had been generously favoured by grants. The flagrant arrogance caused some consternation at court, possibly to arouse Culpepper's jealousy. Dereham, the jilted lover, had a violent temper, getting drunk, he attacked John Fell, a Gentleman Usher of similar standing, who had questioned Dereham's pleasure at remaining seated after a Queen's Council meeting.
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