John Grey of Groby John Grey of Groby Sir John Grey, of Groby, Leicestershire (c. 1432 – 17 February 1461) was a Lancastrian knight, the first husband of Elizabeth Woodville who later married King Edward IV of England, and great-great-grandfather of Lady Jane Grey. Grey was the son and heir of Elizabeth Ferrers, 6th Baroness Ferrers of Groby (1419–1483) and of Sir Edward Grey (c. 1415–1457), a son of Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn. His father was summoned to parliament as Baron Ferrers of Groby in right of his wife. After the death of Grey's father his stepfather, John Bourchier, assumed his
Elizabeth Woodville to the throne with any degree of validity. To strengthen his claim and unite the two feuding noble houses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort agreed that the latter's son should marry the former's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, who upon the death of her brothers became the heiress of the House of York. Henry Tudor agreed to this plan and in December 1483 publicly swore an oath to that effect in the cathedral in Rennes, France. A month earlier, an uprising in his favour, led by Buckingham, had been crushed. Richard III's first Parliament of January 1484 stripped Elizabeth of