Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/441

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Percy
429
Percy

ed. i. 421). The manor of Ludford was left by him to the priory of Sixhills (Rot. Cart. Joh. p. 159 b).

On the death of his first wife, a sister of William Brewer, Percy married Agnes de Neville, by whom he had two sons, Henry and Alexander.

[Besides authorities cited in the text, see De Fonblanque's Annals of the House of Percy, 1887, i. 36 sq. and 482–7 (appendix); Dugdale's Baronage of England, 1675, i. 271; Banks's Dormant and Extinct Baronetage, ii. 415.]

W. E. R.

PERCY, SIDNEY RICHARD (1821?–1886), landscape-painter and founder of the ‘School of Barnes,’ was born about 1821. He was the sixth son of Edward Williams, a landscape-painter, whose seven sons followed the same branch of art as their father, and three of whom called themselves respectively Henry John Boddington [q. v.], Arthur Gilbert, and Sidney Richard Percy, in order to avoid confusion with their relatives and other artists of the same name. He began to exhibit landscapes both at the Royal Academy and at the Society of British Artists in 1842, and at the British Institution in 1843. His works consisted chiefly of English and Welsh scenery, and especially of views on the Thames, and, although no picture can be singled out for mention from among others, they were at one time very popular. He contributed in all nearly three hundred pictures to the various London exhibitions.

Percy died at his residence, Woodseat, Sutton, Surrey, on 13 April 1886, aged 64. His remaining pictures and sketches were sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, & Woods on 27 Nov. 1886.

[Athenæum, 1886, i. 592; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong, 1886–9, ii. 769; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1842–86; British Institution Exhibition Catalogues (Living Artists), 1843–1863; Exhibition Catalogues of the Society of British Artists, 1842–84.]

R. E. G.

PERCY, THOMAS (1833-1369), bishop of Norwich. [See under Percy, Henry, second Baron Percy of Alnwick.]

PERCY, THOMAS, Earl of Worcester (d. 1403), second son of Henry, third baron Percy of Alnwick (1322–1368) [see under Percy, Henry, second Baron Percy of Alnwick], by Mary, youngest daughter of Henry, earl of Lancaster (1281?–1345) [q. v.], was born about 1344. Henry de Percy, earl of Northumberland (1342–1408) [q. v.], was his elder brother, and Blanche, first wife of John of Gaunt, his first cousin. The first mention of him is early in 1369, when he was serving under Sir John Chandos [q. v.] at Montauban and Duravel (Froissart, vii. 140, 143, ed. Luce); in July he was present at the siege of Roche-sur-Yon (ib. vii. 160). On both these occasions he is described as seneschal of La Rochelle; and this is perhaps the post which Percy really held, though it has been alleged that in the early months of 1369 he was seneschal of Poitou (ib. vol. vii. p. lxxv, n.). Certainly, in the latter part of 1369, Chandos was seneschal of Poitou, and Percy, as seneschal of La Rochelle, accompanied him on his attempted night attack on St. Savin on 30 Dec., and was present next day in the engagement at the bridge of Lussac, when Chandos lost his life (ib. vii. 196–202). Probably after an interval of a few months—for he is stated to have succeeded Sir Baldwin de Freville (Chandos Herald, Le Prince Noir, 1. 4233)—Percy became seneschal of Poitou, a post which he was holding in November 1370 (Froissart, vol. vii. pp. lxxv, lxxxvii, ed. Luce). He was present at the relief of Belleperche in February 1370, and at the siege and sack of Limoges later in the same year (ib. vii. 215, 244). In February 1371 he served under John of Gaunt at the attack on Montpont, and in August commanded the force which captured Montcontour (ib. viii. 19, 20). On the departure of John of Gaunt, in September 1371, Percy was left in charge of Poitou and Saintonge. On 24 June 1372 he came to La Rochelle, where he received the news of the capture of John Hastings, second earl of Pembroke [q. v.] A little later he marched out to Soubise, but was shortly afterwards recalled to Poitiers, which was threatened by Du Guesclin. About the middle of July Percy advanced, with John Devereux and Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch, to the relief of St. Sévère. After the failure of this enterprise, and despite the dangerous position of Poitiers, Percy consented to remain with the Captal de Buch. The two commanders defeated a French force before Soubise, but were in their turn surprised and taken prisoners by Owen of Wales (d. 1378) [q. v.] under that town on 23 Aug. 1372 (ib. viii. 69). Percy, whose captor was a Welsh squire called Honvel [? Howel] Flinc, was still a prisoner at Paris on 10 Jan. 1373 (ib. vol. vii. p. xxxviii, n. 1). But later in the same year he was ransomed by the surrender of the castle of St. Germain Leuroux (Archæologia, xx. 14).

Percy spent the next few years in England. Previously to 4 April 1376 he was made a knight of the Garter, and about the