Husband #1
Bess first married Robert Barlow of Barlow, also from Derbyshire, in 1543. Bess was about 15 at the time, and Robert 13. It is uncertain how they met, but the nearest account, from Nathaniel Johnson’s history of the Earls of Shrewsbury from 1692, states that they had met when Bess was ‘attending the Lady Zouche at such a time as Mr Barlow lay sick there of Chronical Distemper. In which time this young gentlewoman made many visits upon account of their neighborhood in the country, and out of kindness to him’. They would then have been 14 and 12, respectively.
Johnson’s account is disputed, but their marriage did factually take place. The Hardwick and Barlow families were known to one another, and were very distantly related through marriage. Surviving documentation from Barlow’s father, purchased by Bess, suggests some urgency to marry off his son and heir to the third-daughter of John Hardwick, who enjoyed few prospects, possibly to avoid the Crown pinching his lands like the Hardwick estate. Bess’s father in law, Arthur Barlow, died shortly after the marriage. Given their age, it is likely that Bess and Robert stayed in the Zouche household, and that the marriage was unconsummated.
Unfortunately, Robert died barely eighteen months after the wedding. Although doubtless tragic, his death cruelly coming on Christmas Eve 1544, Bess was entitled to a widow’s dower from Robert’s lands. The Barlow family refused, and Bess showed great tenacity in pursuing her due despite her tender years. She eventually won the case, and was given 50% of the revenues from her late husband’s estate. Although she always felt that she was due more, and the sum was not of national significance, Bess enjoyed a handsome income for a woman of her age, and tasted financial freedom for the first time.