The de Marney/Marney family came over from Normandy in the wake of William the Conqueror. The earliest record of the family at Layer Marney dates from 1166, when they were under the overlordship of the Bishop of London. Layer Marney Tower was built between 1515 and 1525 and is the tallest Tudor Gatehouse in the country.

Henry Marney, 1st Baron Marney KG (c. 1447 – 4 May 1523[1]) of Layer Marney, Essex was a politician of the Tudor period in England. He was a favourite of Henry VIII and captain of his guard.[2]

He was the son of John Marney and his wife Joan Throckmorton of the Coughton Court Throckmortons.

He rose to favour in the Royal household of King Henry VII during the battles of Bosworth and Stoke and following the rout of Perkin Warbeck in 1497. He was appointed to the Privy Council.

When King Henry VIII acceded to the Throne in 1509 Marney was made a Knight of the Garter and honoured with a tranche of public offices, including Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Privy Seal, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Warden of the Stannaries and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard.[3] Along with the other Knights of the Garter he accompanied Henry VIII in 1520 to his meeting with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

He was made Keeper of the Privy Seal and ennobled in the last year of his life as the first Baron Marney.

In 1515 he had begun building the Tudor-style Layer Marney Tower in Layer Marney which is now visited by thousands of people annually. The uncompleted house was inherited by his son, John, Governor of Rochester Castle. John continued the building work but died himself just two years later, leaving no male heirs to continue the family line or to complete the construction of Layer Marney.

Marriage and issue
He died in 1523, having married twice, firstly Thomasine, the daughter of Sir John Arundell and secondly Elizabeth (Isobel), the daughter of Sir Nicholas Wyfold, Lord Mayor of London.[4]

With Thomasine he had three children: John, 2nd Baron Marney (who first married Christian Newburgh (b. 1466 – d. 6 August 1517), daughter of Roger Newburgh, then second married c. 1518 Bridget Waldegrave (d. September 1549); his daughters Catherine and Elizabeth survived him),[5] Catherine (who first married Edward Knyvet of Stanway then upon his death married Thomas Bonham, MP (d. 1532), and had issue),[2] and Thomas, who died young With Elizabeth he had several children, including: Grace (married to Edmund Bedingfield)