at Cambridge in 1510, and was incorporated at Oxford in 1522; was chaplain to Wolsey and to John Longland, bishop of Lincoln; held prebends in Lincoln, Salisbury, and York Cathedrals; became treasurer of Lincoln in 1521, archdeacon of Oxford in 1522, dean of Lincoln in 1528, archdeacon of Taunton in 1533, rector of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, and custos of the college of Tattersall in 1534, and archdeacon of Lincoln in 1542. He resigned the deanery of Lincoln for a pension before 1544, but remained archdeacon of Lincoln till his death, about September 1549. He was buried in Lincoln Cathedral (cf. Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. i. 95, 537; Wood, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 61, 63, 124; Le Neve, Fasti). The third brother, John Heneage, had two sons, George (d. 1595) and William (d. 1610), both of whom acted as sheriffs of Lincolnshire, and both of whom were knighted. The latter's son Thomas was also knighted in 1603.
Heneage, the vice-chamberlain, matriculated from Queens' College, Cambridge, in May 1549, and was elected M.P. for Stamford in 1553. On the death of his father, 27 July 1556, he succeeded to his estates. Queen Elizabeth appointed him a gentleman of the privy chamber soon after her accession, and he sat in the parliament of 1562–3 as M.P. for Boston. When attending the queen on her visit to Cambridge in August 1564, he was created M.A. In 1565 he was admitted to Gray's Inn, and about January 1569–70 was appointed treasurer of the queen's chamber. He was M.P. for Lincolnshire in the parliaments of 1571 and 1572, and for Essex from 1585 until his death. He was knighted at Windsor on 1 Dec. 1577, and was appointed by Sir William Cordell master of the rolls, with his brother Michael (see below) keeper of the records in the Tower about the same time. Some dispute as to the fees due to them as ‘members and ministers’ of the court of chancery arose in 1582 (cf. Egerton Papers, Camd. Soc., p. 91). Heneage sat on the special commissions for the trials of Dr. William Parry, 25 Feb. 1584–5; of Sir John Perrot, 22 March 1591–2; of Patrick O'Cullen, 21 Feb. 1593–4; and of Roderigo Lopez, 25 Feb. 1593–4. In May 1585 he and Sir Walter Ralegh were appointed to inquire into a dispute about the ransom of English captives in Barbary, and their report is printed in Edwards's ‘Life of Ralegh,’ ii. 29–32.
Elizabeth trusted Heneage. It was reported in 1565 that he was in such good favour with her as to excite the jealousy of Leicester (Wright, Elizabeth, i. 209). He and his wife constantly exchanged New-year's gifts with her, and she made him many valuable grants of land, chiefly in Essex. On 13 Aug. 1564 the queen granted him the reversion of the estate of Copthall, Essex, where he subsequently erected an elaborate mansion from the designs of John Thorpe. In November 1570 she induced the town of Colchester to make Kingswood Heath over to him; in 1573 she gave him the manor and rectory of Epping; in 1576 the manor of Bretts in Westham-Burnels, and a share in the manor of Brightlingsea. He received in later life the manors of Ravenston and Stoke Goldington, Buckinghamshire, with other lands in Northamptonshire (about 1588); the manor and hospital of Horning, Norfolk, formerly belonging to the see of Norwich (November 1588). John, lord Lumley, also made over to him the manor of Helfholme, Yorkshire, which Edward Carlton also claimed. In 1566 he was granted the office of receiver and treasurer of the tenths of the profits of salt manufacture, under the patent granted to Francis Bertie of Antwerp. In 1581 Heneage subscribed 200l. for Edward Fenton's expedition to Cathay (Cal. State Papers, Colonial, 1513–1616, Nos. 182, 183).
When Leicester offended the queen by accepting the governorship of the Low Countries in February 1586, Heneage was sent to bear expressions of the queen's displeasure. He was instructed to inform the States General that Elizabeth would not permit Leicester to hold the office to which they had appointed him. In the course of the negotiations he somewhat strained his directions by telling the States General that the queen would not make peace with Spain without consulting them. Elizabeth hotly resented this admission, and wrote fiercely to Heneage, repudiating his words. Finally, in May he succeeded in reconciling for the time the conflicting parties, and on his return to England in June was received with favour by the queen (cf. Leycester, Correspondence, Camd. Soc., passim). In September 1589 he succeeded Sir Christopher Hatton [q. v.] as vice-chamberlain of the royal household, and became a privy councillor. He was paymaster of the forces raised in July 1588 to resist the Spanish Armada. Writing to Leicester on 17 July he informs him of a conference at which he was present respecting the best means of meeting a possible attack by the enemy on London. He became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and high steward of Hull in 1590, and seems to have removed from his private residence, known as Heneage House, in Bevis Marks, to the official mansion in the Savoy connected with the duchy of Lancaster. There he entertained the queen on 7 Dec. 1594, although in the early months of the year he had, like Essex, been out of favour with her, and there
