Beatrice ap Rice
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Beatrice ap Rice (died 1561) was a servant of Mary I of England. She was first recorded as a laundress in 1519.[1]
Her name was sometimes written as Beatrix a Pryce, or Beatrice Aprice.[2][3][4] The household accounts of Lady Mary call her the "launder".[5] She and Jane Foole were ill in 1543 while the household was at Beddington,[6] and at Greenwich Palace.[7]
Mary and Philip II of Spain granted her lands at Boreham in the honour of Beaulieu alias Newhall, citing her forty years in royal service.[8] This included a holding of 30 acres known as "Bullis" or "Boles", with the "Deyhouse" and "Coggeshallfield". Beatrice was confirmed as the leaseholder on 6 November 1557, after the death of her husband.[9][10]
Beatrice ap Rice was of sufficient status to be involved in the New Year gift exchange at court, perhaps as an assistant to the "mother of the maids". The surviving 1557 gift roll records a "free gift" of a gilt salt given to "Betterys, laundrys".[11][12][13]
Beatrice died in December 1561, after making a will on 25 May,[14] and was buried at Boreham in Essex. The parish register recorded her burial in January, "Betteris Apryse landeris to Queen Marie".[15]