George Folbury (also spelled Folberry or Folbery; died 1540) was an English churchman and academic, who served as master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge from 1537.
Life
Folbury was of the family of Fowbery, of Fowberry Tower, Chatton, Northumberland. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) at Cambridge in 1515, and received a Master of Arts (MA) in 1517, having become a Fellow of Clare Hall in 1515. He took the degree of Bachelor of Divinity (BD) in 1524, and received a Doctor of Divinity (DD) at some point in Montpellier, France.
He served as preacher to the university in 1519. In March 1531, he was presented to a canonry and to the prebend of North Newbald in York Cathedral. On 20 February 1534, he was presented to the rectory of Maidwell, Northamptonshire. There is a long-standing theory that he was tutor to Henry FitzRoy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. According to biographer Beverley Murphy, Folbury may have succeeded Richard Croke as FitzRoy's tutor and remained until the boy turned 12 in 1531, with his subsequent ecclesiastical preferments following this appointment, which would have begun in the late 1520s.
Folbury was elected master of Pembroke Hall in 1537 and died between 10 July and 10 November 1540. Among those taught by him was William Turner, who was elected a Fellow of Pembroke in 1531.
Reputation and Works
Folbury was reputed by contemporaries to be a poet, orator, and epigrammatist. However, this reputation is supported only by contemporary report, and none of his works are known to have survived. His probate inventory included 23 titles in 27 volumes, valued at £1 7s, predominantly consisting of Latin theological works, including some by Martin Luther and a German (or Dutch) testament.
