Buxton Local History Society

“Blue Plaques.”

3. Mary, Queen of Scots.

Born in 1542, the great-granddaughter of
Henry VII, Mary was next in line to the English throne after Henry VIII’s children. She became Queen of Scots when six days old and to cement an alliance between England and Scotland she was betrothed to Henry VIII’s son, the future Edward VI. The Scottish Catholics opposed this and instead betrothed her to Dauphin Francis, heir to the French throne. They married in 1558, he succeeded his father in 1559, but died a year later.

Mary returned to Scotland, now a Protestant country, and ruled successfully until 1565, when she married Henry, Lord Darnley. He became involved in a plot against Mary and the plotters broke into her rooms and murdered her secretary. Darnley was himself murdered in 1567. Mary quickly married Lord Bothwell, rumoured to be Darnley’s killer, which cast suspicion on Mary. The Protestant lords rose against her and she was imprisoned and forced to abdicate in favour of her son James. In 1568 she escaped to England, but soon became the focus of Catholic plots to overthrow Elizabeth I.

George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, became her jailor in 1569 and moved her between his various estates. Mary developed rheumatism and begged to come to Buxton, seeking a cure. Talbot had built the new Hall and eventually Elizabeth allowed this in 1573, and Mary made several visits until 1580. But whilst she was alive she was a danger, the plots persisted, and she was finally tried and executed in 1587, aged 44.

However, Mary had a partial victory. Catholicism was never restored as the official religion in England, but her son became James I.