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Thomas Bennet (abt. 1543 - 1627)

Sir Thomas "Lord Mayor of London" Bennet aka Bennett
Born about in Englandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 25 Aug 1575 in St Mary le Bow, London, Englandmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 84 in London, Englandmap
Profile last modified | Created 1 Jul 2016
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Biography

Notables Project
Thomas Bennet is Notable.

Thomas, a leading mercer in the City of London, became Lord Mayor of the City in 1603. [1]

Thomas was the third son of Thomas Bennett of Wallingford, Berkshire and his wife Agnes.

In 1573 he was named in the will of his brother Richard.[2]

He married Mary Taylor 25 Aug 1575 at Saint Mary Le Bow, London, England. [3]

In 1594 Thomas was elected an alderman of the City of London. [4] From 1594 to 1595 he acted as Sheriff of London. From 1595 to 1596 and 1602 to 1603 he was Master of the Mercers' Company and in 1603 his civic career peaked and he was elected Mayor of London. It was also in 1603 that Thomas Bennett was awarded a knighthood. The ceremony took place in the Royal gardens at Whitehall before the coronation of King James I. [5]

Sir Thomas owned a house in St. Olave Old Jewry and had property in St. Martin Ludgate, St. Clement Danes, on Brock Street in Stepney, and Grays Inn Fields. He also owned property in Shelton, Norfolk, Selston, Nottinghamshire, and Salton, Sinnington, and Marton in Yorkshire. Sir Thomas also bought new country houses for two of his sons. Sir Thomas purchased Beachampton and Calverton in Buckinghamshire, which he settled on his son Simon.[6] For his son Richard, he purchased the sixteenth-century manor and manor house of Broad Marston in Pebworth, Gloucestershire, in 1622.

Thomas had his will drawn up on 18 Nov 1625. [7]He described himself as a knight of the parish of St Olave in the Old Jewry, City of London and one of the Aldermen of the said city. He requested burial in the Mercer's Chapel and made bequests to and mentioned:

  • my son Ambrose
  • my son Symon
  • my son Richard
  • my son John
  • my daughter Crooke
  • her husband Sir George Crooke
  • my son in law George Lowe
  • the children of my sister Avis Southby
  • the children of my sister Joan Furtwell
  • the two sons of my sister Elizabeth Gunne
  • her daughter Alice Gunne
  • the son of my sister Avelyn Burt whose name is Arthur Burt, now a courier of Worcester
  • his brother (not named)
  • the wife of Thomas Freeman, daughter to my cousin Ralph Bennett (dec)
  • my grandchildren Ann Hampson, Elizabeth Brownlowe and Mary Dutton
  • their children
  • the four children of my daughter Crooke
  • William Bennett of Moulford, Berkshire, a bargeman
  • my kinswoman the wife of Morton
  • the children of John Southby, mercer, deceased
  • Thomas Dale my godson, son of Ralph Dale of London, haberdasher
  • my grandchild George Lowe
  • Thomas Bennett, my godson, son of my son John

He added a codicil on 26 Jan 1626 and again on 18 Nov 1626. New beneficiaries included:

  • William Mill
  • my grandson Thomas Crooke, son of Sir George Crooke by Dame Mary his wife, my daughter
  • Joan, wife of my son John
  • Symon Bennett, son of my son Richard

On March 22, 1627, his large funeral procession wound its way from St. Olave Old Jewry to Cheapside. Two conductors with black staves led formal groups of participants: eighty-six poor men in gowns, great City merchants and Crown financiers preceded by their servants in cloaks; City alderman and their wives; family mourners and Francis White, Bishop of Carlisle and Royal Almoner in his vestments. With penons raised, they escorted the body of Sir Thomas Bennet, mercer, alderman, and Lord Mayor, to his final rest in the Mercers’ Chapel on the north side of Cheapside. [8]

Research Note

This is not the Thomas who died 1620. The will of 1620 Thomas shows that he is Thomas Bennett.

Sources

  1. Mercer
  2. Will of Richard Bennett: "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858"
    The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Series PROB 11; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 56
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry au Record 5111 #905246 (accessed 4 June 2022)
    Will of Rici Bennett of Wallingforde, Berkshire, England, granted probate on 3 Jul 1574. Died Abt 1574.
  3. Thomas Bennet and Mary Taylor marriage record 25 Aug 15 in Saint Mary Le Bow, London, England, Church of England parish registers in FamilySearch database accessed 18 Nov 2020 Thomas Bennet and Mary Taylor marriage record
  4. Alfred P Beaven. "Notes on the aldermen, 1502-1700," in The Aldermen of the City of London Temp. Henry III - 1912, (London: Corporation of the City of London, 1908), 168-195. British History Online, accessed June 15, 2022, BHO
  5. Shaw, William Arthur The Knights of England. A complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors, incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland pg 127 Internet Archive
  6. British History online: Calverton, Buckinghamshire
  7. Will of Sir Thomas Bennett, Alderman of Saint Olave Old Jewry, City of London PROB 11/151/286 probated: 20 Feb 1627 Discovery
  8. Peck, Linda Levy. “‘The Great Man of Buckinghamshire:’ The Lord Mayor, the Benefactor, and the Moneylender: The Bennets.” Chapter. In Women of Fortune: Money, Marriage, and Murder in Early Modern England, 17–44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. doi:10.1017/9781139524094.002.

Acknowledgement This profile has been improved by a member of the England Project's Orphan Trail





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Comments: 3

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Hello Renee, the England Project would like to manage this profile with you to prevent him being conflated with Bennett-1684. I will send you a Trusted List request from the England Project account. If you accept this, the England Project will do the rest! Many thanks, Jo, England Project Managed Profiles Team coordinator
posted by Jo Fitz-Henry
Bennet-778 and Bennett-1570 appear to represent the same person because: Clear duplicates
posted on Bennett-1570 (merged) by Laura Enomoto
Bennet-778 and Bennett-20233 appear to represent the same person because: They have the same dates and sons, and were both Lord Mayor of London in 1603. Bennet and Bennett are variant spellings of the surname.
posted by Michael Cayley

Rejected matches › Thomas Bennett (-1848)