Thomas Walsh (MP for Leicestershire)

Last updated

Sir Thomas Walsh (before 1346-1397/8) was an English soldier, landowner and politician.

Contents

Background and family

The Walsh (Waleys, Wallshe) family was first mentioned in connection with Wanlip in 1248. [1] Thomas was born before 1346, the second son of Sir John Walsh and his wife Alice Cliff. He is the subject of a detailed and extensively-referenced biography that can be consulted at History of Parliament Online.

Thomas and his wife Katherine had the following children, who are not necessarily all listed in order of their age: [2]

Career

Thomas was part of the retinue of John of Gaunt, when the English army devastated the Pays de Caux in the summer of 1369. The numerous official positions that he held included:

He was a justice of the peace in Leicestershire in 1381-2 and 1390-4 and Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Warwickshire from 1392.

Thomas sat as a Member of Parliament for Leicestershire fifteen times between 1371 and January 1397. [3]

Death and monument

Thomas was still living in January 1396/7, when he transferred property at Little Walton at Monks Kirby, Warwickshire and at Leicester and other places in Leicestershire to his son in law Thomas Gresley for the sum of £100, subject to an annuity of £29 yearly being paid to Walsh for the remainder of his life. [4] Thomas Gresley did not have to pay the annuity for long, as his father in law had died by December 1398.

Sir Thomas was buried in Wanlip church, which he and his wife had rebuilt in 1393. The inscription on their monument, which takes the form of a brass set into the floor of the chancel reads:

“Here lyes Thomas Walssh knyght lorde of Anlep and dame Katine his wife whiche in her tyme made the kirke of Anlep and halud the kirkyerd first in Wurchip of god and of oure lady and seynt Nicholas that god have her soules and mercy anno domini millesimo CCC nonagesimo tercio”

This brass is the subject of a detailed article by Nigel Saul, who has commented that it is the earliest extant example of an English inscription on a high-status tomb monument. [5]

Related Research Articles

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester 14th-century English prince and nobleman

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester was the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.

Thomas Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick 11th Earl of Warwick

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. His reputation as a military leader was so formidable that he was nicknamed 'the devil Warwick' by the French. In 1348 he became one of the founders and the third Knight of the Order of the Garter.

Wanlip Human settlement in England

Wanlip is a small village and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, with a population measured at 305 at the 2011 census. It is a countryside village, north of Birstall, and west of Watermead Country Park and the River Soar. The A46 road runs directly past the village. Wanlip won the 2008 Leicester and Rutland Best Village Competition for villages with a population under 500.

Thomas White (merchant) English merchant

Sir Thomas White was an English cloth merchant, Lord Mayor of London in 1553, and a civic benefactor and founder of St John's College, Oxford.

English church monuments

A church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a deceased person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms ranging from a simple commemorative plaque or mural tablet affixed to a wall, to a large and elaborate structure, on the ground or as a mural monument, which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial, heraldic or symbolic nature. It is usually placed immediately above or close to the actual burial vault or grave, although very occasionally the tomb is constructed within it. Sometimes the monument is a cenotaph, commemorating a person buried at another location.

Sir William Wilson was an English architect, builder and sculptor.

Overseal Human settlement in England

Overseal is a village and civil parish in South Derbyshire, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Swadlincote, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) due south-southwest of Derby. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,450. Situated within the National Forest area, it is one of the southernmost settlements in Derbyshire, close to the border with Leicestershire.

Wolstan Dixie Lord Mayor of London, 1585-1586

Sir Wolstan Dixie, was an English merchant and administrator, and Lord Mayor of London in 1585.

Sir Nigel Gresley, 6th Baronet British land owner

Sir Nigel Gresley, 6th Baronet was an English land-owner, mine-owner and the builder of Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal.

Sir Thomas Gresley, 10th Baronet was an English Conservative Party politician who was elected to the constituency of South Derbyshire, but died before he took his seat.

Sir Walter Blount, was a soldier and supporter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. He later supported John's son and heir Henry Bolingbroke in his bid to become King Henry IV and in later battles against his enemies. At the Battle of Shrewsbury he served as the royal standard-bearer, was mistaken for the king and killed in combat.

Sir Thomas Clinton was an English soldier and Member of Parliament.

Leicester Abbey Former Augustinian monastery in Leicester, England

The Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey, was an Augustinian religious house in the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. The abbey was founded in the 12th century by the Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and grew to become the wealthiest religious establishment within Leicestershire. Through patronage and donations the abbey gained the advowsons of countless churches throughout England, and acquired a considerable amount of land, and several manorial lordships. Leicester Abbey also maintained a cell at Cockerham Priory, in Lancashire. The Abbey's prosperity was boosted through the passage of special privileges by both the English Kings and the Pope. These included an exemption from sending representatives to parliament and from paying tithe on certain land and livestock. Despite its privileges and sizeable landed estates, from the late 14th century the abbey began to suffer financially and was forced to lease out its estates. The worsening financial situation was exacerbated throughout the 15th century and early 16th century by a series of incompetent, corrupt and extravagant abbots. By 1535 the abbey's considerable income was exceeded by even more considerable debts.

Sir John de Aston, K.B., was a military character of great eminence during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. He was a county sheriff four times.

Sir Charles Hudson, 1st Baronet British Baronet

Charles Grave Hudson FRS married well and became the owner of Wanlip Hall in Leicestershire. He was a director of the South Sea Company and became a High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1783. He became a baronet on 21 June 1791.

Sir Charles Thomas Hudson Palmer, 2nd Baronet. His family seat was in Wanlip Hall in Leicestershire.

Wanlip Hall

Wanlip Hall was a large house in Wanlip near the English shire town of Leicester. It was the ancestral home of the Palmer family. The building was demolished before the Second World War.

John Boyville (1391-c.1467) was a major landowner who served as a Member of Parliament for Leicestershire and for Rutland respectively in 1453-4 and 1460-1.

Hugh Boyville was a landowner who held a number of public offices and served as a Member of Parliament for Rutland in 1439-40 and 1447.

Archdale Palmer was a British lawyer, landowner and Whig politician.

References

  1. Farnham, George Francis (1925). Leicestershire Medieval Pedigrees. Leicester: W Thornley & Son. p. 139.
  2. Madan, Falconer (1899). The Gresleys of Drakelowe. Oxford. p. 292.
  3. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/walsh-sir-thomas-1346-13978
  4. Drucker, Lucy (1943). Warwickshire Feet of Fines. 3. London: The Dugdale Society. pp. 98-99.
  5. Saul, Nigel (2012). "Language, Lordship, and Architecture: The Brass of Sir Thomas and Lady Walsh at Wanlip, Leicestershire, and its Context". Midland History. 37 (1): 1–16. ISSN   0047-729X.