Reginald Bray
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (c.1440–1503)
Who was Reginald Bray?
1440 – 5 August 1503) was an English administrator and statesman. He was an estate officer and senior councillor to both Henry VII and the king's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Reginald (Reynold) Bray was born about 1440 in St. John Bedwardine parish, then outside of Worcester, the second son of Richard Bray, a surgeon,. He was the eldest son born of his father's second marriage to Joan Troughton. With his younger brother, John, Bray entered the service of Margaret Beaufort during the period of her first marriage to Sir Henry Stafford, acquitting himself sufficiently well to become the couple's receiver-general by 1465. Margaret sent Bray several times on missions to her son by Edmund Tudor. Sir Reginald Bray was an English administrator and statesman.
Historical significance
He was the Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster under Henry VII, briefly Treasurer of the Exchequer, and one of the most influential men in Henry VII's government and administration. He was a major benefactor to St George's Chapel, Windsor, where some of the building work for which he provided funds can still be seen and identified.