George Kirke

George Kirke, younger, was a page to Prince Henry. He became a Groom of the Chamber to Prince Charles in 1613.Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, Court and Times of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1848), p. 257. Kirke went to Spain in 1623 during Prince Charles' Spanish Match.[https://ereed.library.utoronto.ca/records/hamps-ridp223309136/ REED Online: Sir John Oglander's List] The goldsmith George Heriot, who died in 1623, bequeathed to him either a diamond or piece of gold or silver plate worth £50.William Maitland, [https://archive.org/details/b30451644/page/438/mode/2up The History of Edinburgh from its Foundation to the Present Time (Edinburgh, 1753), p. 438]

He continued as a groom of the bedchamber to King Charles and gentleman of the robes.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), p. 190. His accounts detail purchases of fabric and tailoring for the king.Roy Strong, 'Charles I's clothes for the years 1633 to 1635', Costume, 14:1 (1980), pp. 73-89: Karen Hearn, Van Dyck & Britain (London, 2009), pp. 30-1. Kirke received £5000 to procure costumes for Love's Triumph Through Callipolis (1631) and possibly Albion's Triumph (1632). He accounting was cricitised by William George.Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford, 2006), p. 139. Kirke provided costume for the masque Coelium Britannicum in February 1634, and bought diamonds and pearls for robes worn on St George's day 1639.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), pp. 38, 111.

A royal gift of lands at Gillingham, Dorset, at first held jointly with a courtier colleague James Fullerton, proved troublesome when tenants protested at their enclosures and improvements.Pauline Gregg, King Charles I (University of California, 1981), p. 226.

In 1662, he was made keeper of Whitehall Palace.[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/kirke-george-1675 Peter Lefevre, 'KIRKE, George', The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010] He went to Spain with Prince Charles during the Spanish match of 1623.HMC 3rd Report, Phelips (London, 1872), p. 284. King James wrote that "Kirke and Gabriel" would bring additional jewels to Charles and Buckingham including Georges and garters, insignia of the royal order.James Orchard Halliwell, Letters of the Kings of England, vol. 2 (London, 1846), p. 167.

The court jeweller George Heriot bequeathed him a piece of silver plate or a diamond worth 50 marks Sterling.William Steven, Memoir of George Heriot (Edinburgh, 1845), p. 50.

He has been suggested as the author "G. K." of a poem addressed to Venetia Stanley, the wife of Kenelm Digby, "A Breef and Mysticall description of the Fayre and Statelye Venetia".Henry Bright, Poems from Sir Kenelm Digby's Papers (London, 1877), pp. 14-5.

His, or his father's, eligibility as a Scot to sit as a Member of Parliament for Clitheroe in 1626 was challenged. George Kirke, gentleman of the robes, was naturalized as a denizen of England.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), p. 190.

He died on 20 May 1675 and was buried at St Margaret's, Westminster.

File:Van Dyck - Portrait of Anne Killigrew (1607-1641), wife of George Kirke, c. 1637.jpg, Huntington]]

Kirke married Anne Killigrew (1607-1641), daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew and Mary Woodhouse. In January 1633 she played the part of Camena in Walter Montagu's Shepherd's Paradise.Sarah Poynting, 'Henrietta Maria's Notorious Whores', Clare McManus, Women and Culture at the Courts of the Stuart Queens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p. 163. She was appointed a dresser to Henrietta Maria in 1637. She was painted by Anthony van Dyck twice.Karen Hearn, Van Dyck & Britain (London, 2009), p. 113.

Anne Kirke drowned at London Bridge on 6 July 1641. This tragedy was the subject of several poems including; Robert Heath's Epicedium on the Beautiful Lady Mrs A. K. unfortunately drowned by chance in the Thames in passing the Bridge, Henry King's An Elegy upon Mrs. Kirk unfortunately drowned in Thames, her niece Anne Killigrew's On my Aunt Mrs A. K. drown'd under London-bridge in the Queen's Bardge Anno 1641, and elegies by Henry Glapthorne and Constantijn Huygens.Matthew Spring, 'A goose amongst swans', Jan W.J. Burgers, Tim Crawford, Matthew Spring, The Lute in the Netherlands (Newcastle, 2016), p. 133.

Their children included:

• Charles Kirke, who claimed the keepership of Nonsuch Palace in 1650
• Lucy Hamilton Sandys (Lucie Saunders), (d. 1687), who was a witness to Nell Gwyn's will.Joseph Lemuel Chester, 'The Marriage, Baptismal, and Burial Registers of the Abbey of Westminster', Publications of the Harleian Society, vol. 10 (London, 1876), pp. 135, 218.

In 1646 he married Mary Townshend, daughter of Aurelian Townshend. King Charles is said to have given hin a lace collar, a hanfkerchief, and a night cap as a wedding present.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), p. 100. Their children included:John Harold Wilson, Court Satires of the Restoration (Ohio U. P., 1976), p. 258-9.

• Percy Kirke (d. 1691), who married Mary or Elizabeth Howard, a daughter of George Howard, 4th Earl of Suffolk. He was commander of a regiment known as "Kirke's lambs"
• Philip Kirke
• Diana Kirke, who married Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford
• Mary or "Mall" Kirke, who was a maid of honour to Mary of Modena

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• [https://emuseum.huntington.org/people/3357/anne-killigrew-kirke;jsessionid=56EDD683FED43BA2BB39A81F25B7290A/objects Portrait of Anne Kirke, Huntington]
• [https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/01.+paintings/48247 Portrait of Ladies-in-Waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria: Anne Killigrew, Mrs George Kirke and Charlotte, Lady Strange, Hermitage]

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Category:1675 deaths

Category:17th-century Scottish people

Category:Grooms of the Chamber