Edmund Mody

Rescue of Henry VIII

Edmund Moody was born into a yeoman family in 1495 in Suffolk, England. During his twenties, Edmund Moody served as an infantryman in the retinue of Henry VIII. In 1525, Henry VIII, during a hawking excursion at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, attempted to leap over a clay marsh using a pole: the pole broke under Henry’s weight and Henry fell into the marsh, the clay of which closed over his head. Moody leapt into the marsh and pulled the king’s head up through the clay, thereby preventing Henry from drowning and saving his life.

As a reward for this valiant action, Moody was rewarded with a pension of one groat per day and an award or grant described as 'The Reward of Valour'. Had Moody not leapt into the marsh to save the King, it is likely that the King would have perished: if Henry had so perished, he would have been succeeded by his daughter, Mary, who proceeded to adhere dogmatically to Roman Catholicism, in the eventuality of which a break with Rome and creation of a Protestant Church of England would have been improbable.

Captain and Bailiff of Dover Castle

Moody was appointed Captain of the newly constructed Black Bulwark at Dover in September 1534. 1534. In July 1537 he was granted the Baliffship of Dover, to which he succeeded in 1543, upon the death of Thomas Vaughan. In 1543, he was made a freeman of Dover and bought property in the town’s Snargare and Werston wards. He was a member of the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports.

Moody is mentioned in The Inventory of Henry VIII’s assets on his death, which is now held in the British Library as Harley Manuscript no. 1419, where he is stated to be the occupant of a bulwark of Dover Castle that was adjacent to Dover Cliff.

Grant of Arms

On his retirement from the Royal Court, in 1540, he was granted a Coat of Arms, on 6 October, by Thomas Hawley, Clarenceux King of Arms. On the certificate of the grant of arms, which remains in the possession of the College of Arms, London, it is specified that Moody has received the arms, 'for miraculously saving his [Henry VIII's] life at Hitchin, County of Herts, when leaping over a ditch with a pole which brake; that if the said Edmund, a footman in the King's retinue, had not leapt into ye water and lifted up the King's head, he had drowned'. The Letters Patent describe Moody as a resident of Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk.

Member of Parliament for Dover

In 1545, Moody became Member of Parliament (MP) for Dover. In 1546, he was granted another annuity of £20. In 1547, he attended the Coronation of Edward VI.

Marriage and Death

Moody married a woman named Margery and had at least one son, named Christopher.

Moody died on 28 May 1552. In his will, he requested that he be buried in St. Mary's, Dover, 'in a chancel where the alderman do sit' and stipulated that small bequest were to be left to the officers of Dover Castle. His ship, named the Christopher, passed, together with his goods and leases, to his wife. He was succeeded as Bailiff of Dover by his deputy Thomas Portway.

At least two descendants of Edmund Moody emigrated to North America. John Moody (b. c. 1593, England; d. 1655, Hartford Connecticut) arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633. His descendants settled in Hadley, Massachusetts. William Moody (b. 16 January 1611, England; d. 23 October 1673 at Newbury, Massachusetts). His descendants settled in the state of Maine.