Queen Mary of the office of royal printer. After suffering a few weeks' imprisonment he made his peace with Mary, but his office was bestowed on John Cawood [q. v.], and he seems to have practically retired from business. He was elected M.P. for London in 1553-4 and 1556-7, and in 1562-3 sat in parliament as M.P. for Coventry. He was warden of the Grocers' Company in 1555 and 1556, and was a master of Bridewell Hospital in 1559 and 1560. In 1561 he was one of the overseers for the repair of St. Paul's Cathedral. Strype asserted that he fell into indigence in his old age; but his third son, Richard, who had a confirmation of arms made to him in 1584, was a barrister-at-law in good circumstances, Grafton seems to have died about 1572. His wife died in 1560, and was buried with much ceremony (Machyn's Diary, 236).
In 1543 Grafton began his career as a chronicler by printing for the first time Hardyng's 'Chronicle.' The printer added a dedication in verse to Thomas, duke of Norfolk, a preface in verse, and a continuation in prose from the beginning of Edward IV's reign, where Hardyng stopped, to the year of publication. Stow, a severe critic of all Grafton's original writing, declared in his 'Summarie,' 1570, that Grafton's Hardyng differed entirely from a manuscript copy of Hardyng in his possession. Grafton replied, not very satisfactorily, in his 'Abridgement,' 1570, that Hardyng had doubtless written more chronicles than one. Grafton was in any case responsible for most of the volume, which is throughout a very meagre record. A more important service was rendered by the printer in 1548, when he reissued Hall's 'Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke.' This valuable work was first printed by Berthelet in 1542; there the chronicle ceased in 1532. Hall died in 1547, and in the next year Grafton brought out his edition, carrying the record down to the death of Henry VIII. Stow charged Grafton with mangling Hall's chronicle, and Grafton replied that he was a friend of Hall and only changed his obscure phrases for clear language. A very fine woodcut of Henry VIII in council appears on the back of fol. cclxiii, and has been attributed to Holbein. Grafton reissued Hall with a new preface in 1550.
After he had retired from business as a printer Grafton first avowed himself an original author in his 'Abridgement of the Chronicles of England,' printed by Tottel in 1562, and reissued in 1563, 1564, 1570, and 1572. This was dedicated to Lord Robert Dudley, and Grafton in the dedicatory address (dated 1562) explains that he was moved to compile the book because he had seen a very inaccurate work bearing the same title already in circulation. This censure was doubtless aimed at Stow's 'Summarie of English Chronicles,' also dedicated to Dudley. The earliest edition of Stow's 'Summarie' now extant is dated 1565; but there was doubtless an earlier version. In 1565 Grafton issued (with the printer, John Kingston) his 'Manuell of the Chronicles of England,' dedicated to the 'Stationers'Company.' Grafton offered the book as a gift to the company, on condition that they republished it from time to time with the necessary additions to bring it up to date, and refused their license to any similar publication. In the preface he explains that this book is an abridgment of his earlier volume which had been impudently plagiarised. Stow replied at length in a new edition of his 'Summarie of Chronicles,' 1570, and sought to convict Grafton of gross ignorance, and of garbling Hardyng and Hall. Grafton vindicated himself in the preface to a new edition of his original work, 1570.
In 1568 Grafton first published his 'Chronicle at large and meere Historye of the Affayres of Englande,' a compilation from Hall and others, in two volumes. A second edition appeared in 1569, printed by Henry Denham for R. Tottle and H. Toye. A eulogy by T[homas] N[orton] is prefixed, in which Grafton's patriotic labours as a printer of the Bible are dwelt upon at length. The dedication is addressed by Grafton to Cecil. Archbishop Parker encouraged Grafton in the undertaking (Parker Corresp. p. 295). Buchanan attacked (Grafton bitterly for his exaggerations and slanders in his 'Hist. Scot.' cap. viii., and, writing to Randolph 6 Aug. 1572, complained that Knox, in his 'History of Reformation,' used Grafton's work too freely (Wright, Queen Elizabeth, i. 429); but the criticism seems ill-deserved. Grafton writes simply. His chief fault is his lack of original information. Grafton's 'Chronicle' was reprinted by Sir Henry Ellis in 1809. A useful 'Brief Treatise conteinyng many Proper Tables,' including a calendar compiled by Grafton, was first issued by Tottel in 1571, and was appended to the 1572 edition of his 'Abridgement.' It was reprinted separately in 1576, 1579, 1582, 1592, and ('augmented this present yeare') 1611.
The portrait of Grafton that appears in Ames's 'Typographical Antiquities,' and is reprinted by Herbert and Dibdin, seems to be quite unauthentic. The device which appears in most of his books is formed of a tun with a grafted fruit tree growing through
