Isabel Leigh was a lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 during the reign of her younger half-sister, Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....

, fifth wife and Queen Consort

Queen consort

A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...

 to Henry VIII.

Early life

Isabel was the first child of Joyce Culpeper

Joyce Culpeper

Jocasta "Joyce" Culpeper, of Oxon Hoath was the mother of Catherine Howard, the fifth wife and Queen Consort to King Henry VIII.-Early life:...

 and Sir Ralph Legh (or Leigh). She had two younger sisters and two younger brothers:

• Margaret Leigh (born after 1496)
• Joyce Leigh (born after 1496) She married John Stanney. May have had issue.
• John Leigh (born after 1496) He married Margaret Saunders. May have had issue.
• Ralph Leigh (born after 1496; died before 1563) He married Margaret Ireland. Had issue.

Ralph died c. 1509-1510 and Isabel's mother remarried to Lord Edmund Howard

Lord Edmund Howard

Lord Edmund Howard was the third son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and first wife Elizabeth Tilney. His sister, Elizabeth, was the mother of Henry VIII's second Queen, Anne Boleyn, and he was the father of the King's fifth Queen, Katherine Howard.-Biography:Howard was born about 1478...

 c. 1513-1515. They had six children.

• Margaret Howard (born about 1515 - 10 Oct 1572) Married Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle, son of Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, and Lady Eleanor Grey. Had issue.
• Mary Howard (born after 1515) She married Edmund Trafford.
• George Howard (born after 1515)
• Charles Howard
  Charles Howard (courtier)
  Charles Howard was a gentleman at the court of Henry VIII of England. He was the second son of Lord Edmund Howard and the elder brother of Sir George Howard. As a scion of the mighty Howard family, his uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk was able to find him a position at court. Charles'...
  
   (born after 1515)
• Henry Howard (born after 1515) He married Anne Howard
• Catherine Howard
  Catherine Howard
  Catherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....
  
   (c. 1521 - 13 Feb 1542) She married Henry VIII of England.

Marriage and Issue

She married Edward Baynton

Edward Baynton

Sir Edward Bayntun , of Bromham, Wiltshire, was a gentleman at the court of Henry VIII of England. He was vice-chamberlain to Anne Boleyn, the King's second wife, and was the brother-in-law of Queen Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife.-Early life:Sir Edward Bayntun was born at Faulston House...

 on 18 January 1531. They would have three children.

• Henry Baynton (b. c 1536). Married Anne Cavendish. Had issue.
• Francis Baynton (b. 1537)
• Anne Baynton (d. young)

After Edward's death in 1544, Isabel married James Stumpe of Malmesbury. James had been her step-daughter Bridget's husband, and Isabel and James married after Bridget died in 1545. James died in 1563.

Isabel married a Thomas Stafford about 1565

Wife of the Vice-Chamberlain and Sister to the Queen

The leases of many manors such as the Manor of Paddington, Temple Rockley, and Chisbury were given to Edward during his marriage to Isabel. Some of the leases were given to Isabel after Edward's death, and they passed onto their son Henry. On New Year's Day 1532, Isabel made a gift of a shirt to the King, following a gesture that had first been done by Edward's first wife Elizabeth.

Isabel became one of Catherine Howard's Lady of the Privy Chamber upon her marriage to Henry VIII. Her husband Edward Baynton was Vice-Chamberlain of the Household

Vice-Chamberlain of the Household

The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household is usually a junior government whip in the British House of Commons and is an officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. He or she is the Deputy to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household. The Vice-Chamberlain's main role is to compile...

 to all of Henry VIII's later queens, including Catherine Howard. When Queen Catherine was banished from court in 1541, Isabel was one of the four ladies-in-waiting she was allowed to take with her. An account of the jewels that was taken following the Queen's arrest noted that she had given a "girdle of gold" to the Lady Baynton.

For a short time, Isabel served as a guardian of Mary I of England

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 and Elizabeth I with Edward.

Later Life and Death

In 1550, Isabel obtained a lease for the dissolved Monastery at Edington with Edward Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings of Loughborough. An interest in the Manor of Faulston was declined by Isabel, but after her death in February 1573, the interest was picked up by her son Henry.