Joan Leche (original) (raw)

Joan Leche (c. 1450 – March 1530), benefactress, was the wife successively of Thomas Bodley, and of Thomas Bradbury, Lord Mayor of London in 1509. She founded a chantry in London, and a grammar school in Saffron Walden, Essex. Her great-grandson, Sir John Leveson (1555–1615), was instrumental in putting down the Essex rebellion of 8 February 1601, and her great-grandson William Leveson (d. 1621) acted as trustee for the original shareholders of the Globe Theatre.