William Brandon

Categories: 1426 births | 1485 deaths | Soldiers | Suffolk

For the American author and historian see William Brandon. For the former Governor of Alabama, see William W. Brandon


Sir William Brandon (1426 – August 22, 1485) was a son of a senior Sir William Brandon of Wangford, Suffolk (d. 1491) and Elizabeth Wingfield. His maternal grandparents were Sir Robert Wingfield and Elizabeth Gousell.

William was an important figure in the Battle of Bosworth; it was there that he was Henry VII's standard bearer, and was killed by Richard III, according to Polydore Vergil.

He appears in Shakespeare's play Richard III.

He was married to Elizabeth Bruyn, daughter of Sir Henry Bruyn and Elizabeth Darcy. They had five children.

Eleanor Brandon would marry a man named John Glemham, and they'd produce a child named Anne, who would marry a man named Henry Pagrave. According to some genealogies, the Pagrave descendants would emigrate to the United States in the early 17th century, and ultimately would produce the Wellington, Fay and Bush family lines, of which Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are members.