Thomas Lunsford
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Thomas Lunsford (abt. 1604 - bef. 1654)

Sir Thomas Lunsford
Born about in Sussex, Englandmap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married about 1635 in Englandmap
Husband of — married 1 Jun 1640 in Binfield, Berkshire, Englandmap
Husband of — married after 4 Jan 1650 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died before before about age 49 in Virginiamap
Profile last modified | Created 14 Nov 2013
This page has been accessed 13,125 times.
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Descendant of Surety Barons Geoffrey de Say, Richard de Clare, and possibly others (see text).
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Contents

Biography

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U.S. Southern Colonies Project logo
Thomas Lunsford was a Virginia colonist.

Origin

Thomas Lunsford,[1] was the son of Thomas Lunsford, Gent. and Katherine Fludd. It was noted that his father, Thomas Lunsford, wasted the estate he inherited from his father, and had little to pass on to his four sons, William, Henry, Herbert, and Thomas, and three daughters, Anne, Sarah, and Lisle.[2]

Douglas Richardson and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography give Thomas's birth year as about 1610[2][3][4] and this has in the past generally been regarded as likely.[5] Thomas may well be the Thomas Lunsforthe/Lunsfourthe baptised at Bearsted, Kent on 19 February 1603/4 with his birth date given as 7 February (with a question mark against 7 February in the FindMyPast transcript).[6][7] However, on 27 July 1629 a Thomas Lunsford, gentleman, took the oath of allegiance and was given a licence to travel overseas to fight in "the siege (Leager)", probably in what is now the Netherlands. If the 1629 record relates to this Thomas, it suggests a birth year of about 1607.[8]

Thomas Lunsford is described in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion as "a man, though of ancient family of Sussex, of very small and decayed fortune, and of no good education."[9] Clarendon is not an impartial or always accurate source, but his reference to Thomas being "of no good education" may simply mean that Thomas did not study at Oxford or Cambridge University, or did not have the degree of familiarity with classical authors in the original language that was often regarded as one of the signs of good education: it should not be assumed to be particularly derogatory.

Gray's Inn?

Joseph Foster's transcript of the admissions registers of Gray's Inn lists a Thomas Lunsford, "son of Thomas L., of East Hadleigh, Essex", who was admitted to Gray's Inn on 30 October 1622.[10] The father of the Thomas of this profile was of East Hoathly, Sussex and it is conceivable that Foster mis-transcribed both the place name and county. If the 19 February 1603/4 baptism is of the Thomas of this profile, this record may refer to him: if Thomas was in fact born about 1607, it is unlikely to, because he would probably have been too young.

A page created on Rootsweb by Terry Lunsford states (as at 23 August 2021) that the Thomas of this profile was admitted to Gray's Inn on 30 October 1627 (presumably the year is incorrectly transcribed from Foster's work).[11]

1630s

Thomas was said to be "of lawless disposition and violent temper" in his youth.[3] There is a case in the Court of Chivalry in which Thomas Whatman of the Inner Temple, London, complained that Thomas Lunsford, gent., had provoked his son “with manie wrongs and disgraces, to fight with him, or elce to suffer himself to be disgraced by Mr Lunsford, and to goe from him with shame and ignominie"; and that Thomas Lunsford had subsequently forged a challenge, dated 10 October, by his son to an illegal duel at St Pancras, London on 11 October, at a time when his son was at Chichester, suffering from an injury to his right hand which would have made him unable to engage in the duel: the year is not specified but the records concerned span the period 1634 to 1640[12] and the date is presumably before Thomas's flight to France.

Thomas was sent to Newgate prison, London in 1633 for the attempted murder of Sir Thomas Pelham (a neighbour and relation).[4] Initially he was offered bail if he gave a bond for £2000, but he was unable to raise the money.[13] He escaped in November 1634,[14] fleeing to France and joining the French Military,[3][15] becoming colonel of a regiment of foot.[4] In his absence the attempted murder case reached the Court of Star Chamber and he was fined £8000[16] and outlawed.[4] He returned to England in 1639, and received a royal pardon.[2][3][4]

In 1639 Thomas entered into a recognisance of £1000 to John Lord Craven. A 1646 Inquisition found that the sum was still outstanding, and properties at Lunsford in Kent, East Hoathly in Sussex and Burwash in Sussex were taken in payment of the debt.[17]

1640-1642

In 1640 Thomas commanded a regiment against the Scottish Covenanters, distinguishing himself when the English were defeated at Newburn, Northumberland.[4]

Thomas Lunsford was appointed Lieutenant (second-in-command) of the Tower of London on 22 Dec 1641 by King Charles I.[2][4] The appointment aroused immediate protest, with fears that Lunsford might attack the City of London with cannon and that the appointment was part of a pro-Roman-Catholic plot. Some libellously accused Lunsford of being a cannibal: a scurrilous anti-royalist piece of verse includes: "From Lunsford eke deliver us/ Who eateth up children," and in a pictorial attack he was portrayed carving children into steaks.[18] The House of Commons voted him incompetent to be Lieutenant of the Tower. Charles I was quickly persuaded to terminate the appointment and on 26 December 1641 Thomas Lunsford was replaced by Sir John Byron, but several days of violent clashes still followed. Thomas was knighted on 28 December as a consolation for the loss of the appointment, and awarded a £500 pension.[4][19] Charles I put him in charge of a group of men forming an unofficial royal guard; in January 1642 they guarded Charles I when he unsuccessfully attempted to arrest John Pym, John Hampden and three other Members of Parliament.[20]

Civil War

Thomas fought with the Royalist forces against the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War,[2] and held the rank of Colonel in 1642/3.[21] He was captured during the Battle of Edgehill in 1642. After his release in 1644 he joined Prince Rupert. After various further involvements in fighting on the royalist side, he was taken prisoner again on 8 December 1645, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London on a charge of treason. He was freed by the end of June 1648, and paid a delinquency fine of £300. This seems to have left him heavily in debt.[4]

Virginia

In 1649 he was given a pass to go to Virginia with his family.[3][4][22] He served as a member of the Virginia Council and Lieutenant General of Virginia troops in 1651[3][4], resigning when Virginia surrendered to the English parliamentary authorities in 1652.[23] By a headright dated 24 October 1650, Sir Thomas received 3,423 acres of land on the south side of the Rappahannock River, in Lancaster County,[2][3][4] for bringing 65 people to Virginia, including his wife, his daughters Elizabeth, Phillipa, Mary, and a "William Lunsford Esqre" whose exact relationship to Thomas is not known (see his profile).[24][25]

Marriages and Children

Thomas married three times. His first wife was Anne Hudson.[2][3] Douglas Richardson and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography state that they had one son who died in infancy,[2][3][4] and this is also stated in an 1837 expanded version of a Lunsford pedigree entered in December 1648 in the College of Arms, but not in the 1648 pedigree itself.[26]

He married his second wife, Katherine Neville, daughter of Sir Henry Neville by Elizabeth Smith, at Binfield, Berkshire, on 1 Jun 1640.[2][3] She died in 1649.[4] They had three daughters, all named in the 1650 grant of land near the Rappahannock River[24]:

The three daughters returned to England after their father's death.[24]

His third wife was Elizabeth (last name at birth uncertain), widow of Richard Kempe of Virginia.[2][3][4] Richard Kempe's entry in Encyclopedia Virginia gives a marriage date of 24 October 1650:[27] this is the same date as the headright granting land in Virginia to Thomas,[24] and no source is given. She brought him her property at Rich Neck Plantation.[4][28] The marriage must have been after 4 January 1649/50, when Richard Kempe wrote his will.[27] They had one daughter:

Death

Sir Thomas Lunsford died in Virginia before 11 January 1653/4, when a record states that "The said children, Elizabeth, Philippa, and Mary Lunsford, were carried away by their parents to Virginia and remained there until their parents' demise."[29] He was initially buried near Greenspring, the home of Sir William Berkeley.[24] His tombstone was removed, sometime later, and placed in the churchyard of Bruton Church, Williamsburg, Virginia.[2][3][4] His widow Elizabeth subsequently married, for her third husband, Major-General Robert Smith of Middlesex County.[2][3][4]

In 1670, his daughter Katherine (by his third marriage) successfully claimed some of his Virginia land, no claim having been entered by Thomas's daughters who had returned to England (one of whom, Philippa, would have been dead). The award was conditional on none of the other daughters lodging a subsequent claim.[24]

Research Notes

Misinformation

Quite a lot of questionable and inaccurate information has attached itself to Thomas Lunsford, some going back to slanderous propaganda of his own lifetime, and some attributable to misinformation, exaggeration and fanciful thinking since. Much of this is summarised on a page devoted to him by Terry Lunsford on Rootsweb.[11] There is also some fairly full discussion in a 2015 article by Mark Stoyle.[5] It is particularly important to use responsible sourcing for this profile.

Disambiguation

There is a risk of confusing different Lunsfords.

More than one Thomas Lunsford of Sussex

There was a different branch of the Lunsford family associated with Hastings, Sussex: see Disambiguation note in the profile of the father of the Thomas of this profile.

  • A Thomas Lunsford son of William was baptised at Hastings in 1561.[30] He is probably the Thomas Lunsford who married "Bryget Coop" (possibly Cooper, first name transcribed as "Brigget" on Familysearch) at Hastings on 1 February 1588/9.[31]
  • A Thomas Lunsford married Joane Rogers at Hastings, Sussex on 5 September 1610.[32] It is not certain whether this was the second marriage of the Thomas who married Bridget Coop(er), or a marriage of a son or close relative of his.
  • A Thomas Lunsford married "Joane Middleton" at Hastings, Sussex on 30 November 1625.[33] This may be same person as the Thomas who married in 1610. If so, Joan Middleton may be either the second or third wife of Thomas baptised in 1561, or the second wife of a son or close relative of his. She may be the wife of yet another Thomas Lunsford.
  • A Thomas Lunsford was buried at Hastings on 19 June 1632.[34] This may be the Thomas baptised in 1561, or a son or other close relative of that Thomas.

More than one Colonel Lunsford

There were three Colonel Lunsfords who fought on the royalist side in the 1640s:

  • Thomas of this profile
  • Henry,[35] who was Thomas's brother (baptised in 1611, killed during the siege of Bristol on 27 July 1643)[4]
  • Herbert, another brother, who was knighted in 1645[4]

State Records of the 1640s frequently do not distinguish clearly between them, often referring to just "Colonel Lunsford".[36]

Previously-shown Son Edward

Edward Lunsford Traweek, previously shown on Wikitree as a child of Thomas Lunsford and Anne Hudson, has been detached.

Rich Neck Plantation

"Rich Neck Plantation was home to a number of noted Virginians, including three of seventeenth-century Virginia's big-name secretaries of the colony: Richard Kemp, Sir Thomas Lunsford, Thomas Ludwell, and brother Philip Ludwell, as well as dozens of slaves and servants."[37]

Sources

  1. Lunsford, Sir Thomas - A5104; Rappahannock Co.: 1649-51 (Councillor). accessed 3 October 2021
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. III, p. 676
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), volume III p. 85, LUNSFORD 15
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: entry for 'Lunsford, Sir Thomas', Oxford University Press 2004, available online via some libraries, accessed online 12 May 2019
  5. 5.0 5.1 Mark Stoyle. The Cannibal Cavalier: Sir Thomas Lunsford and the Fashioning of the Royalist Archetype, article in 'The Historical Journal', Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 1-25, PDF on Southampton University website, accessed 22 August 2021
  6. Archbishop’s transcripts of Bearsted Baptisms 1563-1847 at Kent Archives Office, Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone, Kent, England, ME14 1LQ; a transcription by Kent Family History Society is on FindMyPast
  7. The Tyler Collection, The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies; Kent, England, Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874, viewable on Ancestry: note that this gives the year as 1603: it will be 1603/4 and February 1603/4 was 1604 in modern reckoning
  8. Britain, Registers Of Licences To Pass Beyond The Seas 1573-1677, FindMyPast, transcript from the National Archives, ref. E 157/14, folio 88
  9. Edward Earl of Clarendon. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, volume I, part II, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1807, p. 554, Internet Archive
  10. Joseph Foster. The register of admissions to Gray's Inn, 1521-1889, privately printed by Hansard Publishing Union, London, 1889, p. 168, Internet Archive
  11. 11.0 11.1 Terry Lunsford. Thomas Lunsford, accessed 23 August 2021
  12. Richard Cust and Andrew Hopper, '702 Whatman v Lunsford', in The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640, ed. Richard Cust and Andrew Hopper, British History Online, accessed 5 September 2021
  13. 'Charles I - volume 534: December 1633', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1625-49 Addenda, ed. William Douglas Hamilton and Sophie Crawford Lomas (London, 1897), pp. 463-469, [British History Online, entries 90 and 91, accessed 14 June 2021
  14. 'Charles I - volume 277: November 1634', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1634-5, ed. John Bruce (London, 1864), pp. 279-313, entry 108, British History Online, accessed 14 June 2021
  15. 'Charles I - volume 317: March 24-31, 1636', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1635-6, ed. John Bruce (London, 1866), pp. 318-347, British History Online, entry 17, accessed 14 June 2021
  16. 'Charles I - volume 369: October 1-18, 1637', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1637, ed. John Bruce (London, 1868), pp. 458-481, entry for 11 October 1637, British History Online, accessed 14 June 2021
  17. West Sussex Record Office, ref. WISTON/1325, National Archives Discovery Centre catalogue entry
  18. 'Virginia in 1641-9, continued', in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 17, No. 1, January 1909, p. 29, JSTOR
  19. 'Charles I - volume 486: December 1641', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1641-3, ed. William Douglas Hamilton (London, 1887), pp. 185-221, British History Online, accessed 14 June 2021
  20. David Plant. BCW Project (British Civil Wars, Commonwealth & Protectorate 1638-1660), Thomas Lunsford, accessed 14 May 2019
  21. 'Charles I - volume 488: January 1642', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1641-3, ed. William Douglas Hamilton (London, 1887), pp. 234-272, British History Online, entry 83, accessed 14 June 2021
  22. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, for the year ending December 1909, vol XVII, reprinted by the Kraus Reprint Corporation 1968, p. 19, Internet Archive
  23. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, pub. in Richmond, Virginia, 1915, article on Sir Thomas Lunsford, ancestry.com, accessed 14 May 2019
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 24.8 Sir Thomas Lunsford, article in The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jan 1900), pp. 183-186, accessed 14 May 2019
  25. Cavaliers and Pioneers Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-1666. Abstracted and indexed by Nell Marion Nugent of the Virginia Land Office, Richmond, Va., 1934; reprints by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, p. xxiv, Internet Archive. Original data: Patent Book 2 now in the Virginia State Library; Richmond, Virginia
  26. J G N. 'Pedigree of the Family of Lunsford, of Lunsford and Wilegh, Co. Sussex' in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, Vol. IV, John Bowyer Nichols and Son, 1837, p. 142, Internet Archive: italics indicate information not in the original 1648 pedigree
  27. 27.0 27.1 David Muraca. Richard Kemp (ca. 1600–ca. 1650), entry in Encyclopedia Virginia, 2011 modified 2014, accessed 14 May 2019
  28. Muraca, David, et al. The Archaeology of Rich Neck Plantation (44WB52): Description of the Features, pp. 37-46, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 0386, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, Williamsburg, VA, 2003, accessed 10 March 2022
  29. Peter Wilson Coldham. The Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1660, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1987, p. 269
  30. "England, Sussex, Parish Registers, 1538-1910", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFGY-TRC : 7 December 2017), Thomas Lunsford, 1561, with accompanying image of the original parish register (image 785)
  31. "England, Sussex, Parish Registers, 1538-1910", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFGB-98M : 7 December 2017), Thomas Lamsford and Brigget Cooper, 1588 - the year is 1588/9, making it 1589 in modern reckoning
  32. "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NV4G-HXQ : 13 March 2020), Thomas Lunsford, 1610
  33. England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NV4G-HXW : 13 March 2020), Thomas Lunsford, 1625
  34. "England, Sussex, Parish Registers, 1538-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFGB-47V : 7 December 2017), Thomas Lunsford, 19 Jun 1632; citing Burial, St Clement, Hastings, Sussex, England, 00864, The Keep, East Sussex Record Office; West Sussex County Record Office, Chichester
  35. The National Archives, ref. Q\SPET/1/106, petition of William Stoakes who fought under both Colonel Thomas Lunsford and Colonel Henry Lunsford, National Archives Discovery Centre catalogue entry
  36. British History Online, search results for "Lunsford" in Calendar of State Papers - Charles I
  37. Wikipedia: Rich Neck Plantation (accessed 6 January 2021), citing "Always a Handmaiden--Never a Bride - Archaeology Magazine Archive". Retrieved 15 March 2017. The article spells it "Lundford".
  • Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, pub. in Richmond, Virginia, 1915, article on Sir Thomas Lunsford, ancestry.com, accessed 14 May 2019
  • The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, for the year ending December 1909, vol XVII, reprinted by the Kraus Reprint Corporation 1968, pp. 26-33, Internet Archive
  • Bolton, Charles Knowles, The Founders, Portraits of Persons Born Abroad Who Came to the Colonies in North America Before the Year 1701, volume I, The Boston Athenaeum, 1919, pp. 171-3, Internet Archive
  • Lunsford, Rhondda. Sir Thomas Lunsford, b.1610(?)-1653, Genforum
  • Stoyle, Mark. The Cannibal Cavalier: Sir Thomas Lunsford and the Fashioning of the Royalist Archetype, article in 'The Historical Journal', Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 1-25, PDF on Southampton University website, accessed 22 August 2021
  • Find A Grave: Memorial #90358279

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

In December 2018, Gordon Warder Jr re-developed the biography on this profile. Work to bring it up to current WikiTree and Magna Carta Project standards was completed in May 2019, when the profile was re-reviewed by Michael Cayley.
Thomas Lunsford is listed in Magna Carta Ancestry as a Gateway Ancestor (vol. I, pages xxiii-xxix) in a Richardson-documented trail to Magna Carta Surety Baron Geoffrey de Say (vol. III, pages 84-85 LUNSFORD). The trail to Say was badged by the Magna Carta Project in Feb 2015. Thomas is also a Gateway Ancestor in a badged trail to surety baron Richard de Clare that branches off the Say trail. See both trails in the Magna Carta Trails section, below.
See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".

Magna Carta Trails

Badged Richardson-documented trail to Say (MCA III:84-85 LUNSFORD):
Gateway Ancestor Thomas Lunsford (badged/100% 5-star)
1. Thomas is the son of Thomas Lunsford (badged/re-reviewed 2019)
2. Thomas is the son of John Lunsford (badged/100% 5-star, re-reviewed 26 Jan 2022)
3. John is the son of John Lunsford (badged/5-star, re-reviewe 28 Jan 2022)
4. John is the son of Margaret Fiennes (badged/re-reviewed 30 Jan 2022)
5. Margaret is the daughter of Thomas Fiennes (badged/re-reviewed 1 Feb 2022)
6. Thomas is the son of Richard Fiennes (badged/5-star, re-reviewed 4 Feb 2022)
7. Richard is the son of Roger Fiennes (badged/5-star, re-reviewed 6 February 2022)
8. Roger is the son of William Fiennes (badged/100% 5-star)
9. William is the son of Joan de Say (badged/100% 5-star)
10. Joan is the daughter of Geoffrey de Say (badged/100% 5-star)
11. Geoffrey is the son of Geoffrey de Say (badged/100% 5-star)
12. Geoffrey is the son of William de Say (badged/100% 5-star)
13. William is the son of William de Say (badged/100% 5-star)
14. William is the son of Magna Carta Surety Geoffrey de Say
Badged trail to Richard de Clare:
14. William de Say is the son of Hawise de Clare (badged/100% 5-star)
15. Hawise is the daughter of Magna Carta Surety Richard de Clare




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Comments: 29

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I have now rearranged the research notes and added a disambiguation note about there being more than one Thomas Lunsford in Sussex. I have added a fuller disambiguation note about this on his father's profile.
posted by Michael Cayley
The argument that Thomas would have been too young for admission to Gray’s Inn doesn’t hold up because the evidence for his birth in 1603/04 makes him 18 at time of admission. Under the BCG classification, the source (a parish register) is original, primary, and direct (evidence doesn’t get any better than that). As confirmation, the same parish register that has his baptism also has various entries for his mother, uncle, aunt, and grandfather.

On the other hand, there is a huge aura of doubt hanging over the 1610 date. It does not come from nor can it be confirmed by any original 17th-century source. It was, apparently, mistakenly inferred from a reported hearsay comment made by an unnamed contemporary of Sir Thomas. The who, what, when, where, why test fails miserably for this information. Who, when, where, and why are all big blanks. ‘What’ is somewhat nebulous. Supposedly, the unknown contemporary informant said Herbert Lunsford was a twin of Sir Thomas but we’re not told if he was speaking literally or figuratively (i.e. alike in appearance, temperament, career path, etc. but not born of the same parents on the same day). The supposed comment did not appear in print until about 50 years after Sir Thomas died and it has been copied--without verification--into almost every biography written since. The 1610 date was inferred from indirect evidence that was authored from hearsay from an unknown informant whose degree of knowledge is unknown (‘evidence’ doesn’t get much murkier than that). The 1610 birth for Thomas is obviously wrong. Therefore, the too young for admission argument is a straw man argument because it’s based upon a false premise.

posted by Virgil Owens Jr.
Please read what is actually said in the research notes on birth date and Gray's Inn. I worded them with care.

There is a degree of doubt as to whether the 1603/4 baptism record refers to this Thomas, even if we think it probably does. It is not clear that the Gray's Inn record relates to him, it is just surmise that there was a mistake in it. These things need to be recognised and accepted. There is little advantage in further discussion, I am afraid, unless further primary evidence can be found.

posted by Michael Cayley
I have added a research note on a 1629 record for a Thomas Lunsford, gentleman, which gives his age that year as 22, and suggests therefore a birth date of about 1607. He was then going off to fight overseas, which would fit what we know about the Thomas of this profile, but it is nevertheless not wholly certain it relates to the Thomas of this profile. I am also discovering records of other people with the surname Lunsforth in Sussex and Kent in this period, and they look as if they may be a different family. When I have done a bit more research, I will do some further editing.
posted by Michael Cayley
edited by Michael Cayley
About Clarendon's quote in the 2nd paragraph of 1.1 Origin, it has been included in many biographies written about Sir Thomas since its first publication in the early 1700’s. Yet, apparently, few of those biographers did any fact-checking. The enotes.com study guide for Clarendon’s book states “The work is not known for its accuracy”[1] Clarendon’s characterization of Sir Thomas as having “no good education” is demonstrably false as evidenced by :

1) Professor Mark Stoyle, [2] in writing about Lunsford’s letter to the Earl of Northumberland dated 22 Jun 1640 [3], stated: “It is worth observing here, perhaps, that this letter is perfectly well phrased and literate; whatever else Lunsford may have been, he was clearly not the uneducated brute of legend.”[4] Other letters and speeches by Sir Thomas also demonstrate a fine education.

2) Michael Terry Lunsford noted “Sir Thomas was admitted to Grays’ Inn on October 30, 1627.”[5] Gray’s Inn was (and still is) one of the historic societies that educate and train barristers in England and Wales.[6]

3) Sir Thomas served as deputy-governor of Bristol and governor of Monmouth.[7]

4) Soon after his arrival in Virginia, Sir Thomas was made a member of the Governor’s Council, composed of about 12 of Virginia’s wealthiest and most prominent men.[8] The Council and the governor together constituted the highest court in the colony of Virginia.[9]

From the above, it appears that Sir Thomas must have been well-educated. Thus, Clarendon’s characterization “of no good education” was unmerited and probably biased by the slanderous propaganda circulated about Sir Thomas during the English Civil War.

Sources:

[1] https://www.enotes.com/topics/history-rebellion-civil-wars-england

[2] Professor Mark Stoyle BA, D.Phil. Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton, Author, lecturer, and researcher specializing in the history of the British Civil Wars of the mid-seventeenth century. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/history/about/staff/mjs.page

[3] The National Archives, Kew, SP /, fo. 91

[4] Stoyle, Mark, The Cannibal Cavalier: Sir Thomas Lunsford and the Fashioning of the Royalist Archetype University of Southampton; https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/391340/1/Mark%2520Stoyle%252C%2520The%2520Cannibal%2520Cavalier%252C%2520PDF%2520Proof%2520o f%2520article%2520text.pdf

[5] Lunsford, Michael Terry, Sir Thomas Lunsford Bio-Study. 2001, http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~lunsford/genealogy/research /biographies/sirthomasstudy.htm

[6] https://www.graysinn.org.uk

[7] BCW Project British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate, Sir Thomas Lunsford c.1611-56, http://bcw-project.org/biography/sir-thomas-lunsford Note: The acknowledged source for the BCW biography is the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Basil Morgan and the BCW Project repeats the errors found in Morgan’s original at the ODNB.

[8] William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. IV, p. 202

[9] https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/governors-council-the

posted by Virgil Owens Jr.
edited by Virgil Owens Jr.
Thank you. Thank you particularly for the link to the 2015 article by Mark Stoyle, which I am repeating here as it came out slightly wrong in your comment: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/391340/1/Mark%2520Stoyle%252C%2520The%2520Cannibal%2520Cavalier%252C%2520PDF%2520Proof%2520of%2520article%2520text.pdf.

I agree Clarendon would not have been an impartial commentator, though he was not particularly damning in his remark about Thomas being of no good education. In this period someone of Clarendon’s background may have regarded anyone who did not attend Oxford or Cambridge University and did not have a classical education there as not of good education. As far as we know, Thomas did not go to Oxford or Cambridge University. Phrases like "of no good education" can mean different things for people of different periods. Also, then as now, people can be literate without having had a strong formal education: an ability to write well is not a reliable indicator of how well someone was educated formally.

Thomas Lunsford’s name does not appear appear in the published list of Gray's Inn admissions for 1627 - the register is available on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/cu31924029785452/page/n5/mode/2up. I do not know the basis for the statement that he was admitted to Gray's Inn on 30 October 1627. If there is a good source - not just what is stated on the Rootsweb page you have referred to, and to which there is a link in the Research Notes - this is information that can be added to the profile.

Being admitted to Gray's Inn in this period did not necessarily mean having much of a serious legal training. It meant formally becoming what is best described as a student at Gray’s Inn, with study lasting some years after admission if the person wanted to pursue law seriously as a barrister. Quite a few people of gentry or semi-gentry background were admitted but did not seriously study law: admission could be a step in advancing themselves in other ways, partly through social contacts with people of influence. It was normally six to nine years after admission that people were called to the bar and it might be a further five years before they could appear officially as a barrister in court. Even if - and in the absence of a better source, it is an "if" - Thomas was admitted to Gray's Inn, there appears to be no evidence that he went on to qualify and practise as a barrister: what we know about his life would appear to suggest that he did not.

Mark Stoyle in his 2015 article about Thomas Lunsford, "The Cannibal Cavalier", makes no reference to Lunsford being admitted to Gray's Inn. That is a little surprising to me if he found evidence of Thomas attending Gray's Inn, and it confirms my belief that we need to see firm evidence before accepting that Thomas attended Gray's Inn.

The Research Notes on this profile already refer to the slanders about Thomas.

posted by Michael Cayley
edited by Michael Cayley
I have now found an entry for a Thomas Lunsford, "son and heir of Thomas L., of East Hadleigh, Essex", being admitted to Gray's Inn on 30 October 1622 (not 1627): p. 168 of the published register of Gray's Inn admissions, https://archive.org/details/cu31924029785452/page/n163/mode/2up?q=lunsford. The place may conceivably be a mis-transcription, though Joseph Foster who compiled the printed edition is normally careful and it is unlikely he made two mistakes about the place where this Thomas's father lived - one for the spelling of the place name and the other for the county. There is a town called Hadleigh in Essex. The father of the Thomas of this profile was of East Hoathly, Sussex. So it looks as if the admissions entry may be for a different Thomas Lunsford. This confirms my wariness of accepting the statement that the Thomas of this profile was admitted to Gray's Inn unless someone can find firmer evidence.

I have added a research note on this.

posted by Michael Cayley
edited by Michael Cayley
Handwriting can be so atrocious that even the best transcriber cannot correctly interpret it. However, the problem may not have been with the handwriting. If Thomas had a bad cold with a blocked nasal cavity, he may have responded East Hoathly, Sussex and the scribe heard East Hadleigh, Essex. All such speculation about what may have transpired between informant, scribe, and transcriber seems like an exercise in futility.

To actually prove the student was not our Thomas, it seems we would have to find another man named Thomas Lunsford, Esquire, of East Hadleigh, who had a son named Thomas. As of now, his existence is unknown.

In the meantime, we do know of an actual person: Thomas Lunsford, Esquire, of East Hoathly who had a son named Thomas.

Whether he attended or completed studies at Gray’s Inn or not, Thomas Lunsford, son of Thomas Lunsford, Esquire of East Hoathly. went on to become a member of the highest court in Virginia.

posted by Virgil Owens Jr.
The research note leaves open the question of whether this Thomas was admitted to Gray's Inn.

This Thomas being, briefly, a member of the Virginia Council is already on the profile. Many members of the governing councils of the American colonies, which often served also as the top court of the colony, were not lawyers: they were just prominent people or people the governor knew or people he was asked to include in the council. Given the circumstances in Virginia at the time, Thomas being a royalist, and his military experience, would have almost certainly been significant factors in his becoming a council member - and in his being made (again briefly) Lieutenant-General of the Virginia military in 1651.

I do not, I am afraid, believe there is anything more that can at this stage be added to the profile on all this.

posted by Michael Cayley
edited by Michael Cayley
A more precise date of death for Sir Thomas is “before 11 Jan 1653/54”

Although technically correct, the “before 1 Dec 1656” date of death as given by Richardson and the ODNB is less precise.

Proof: An order dated 11 Jan 1653/54 states in part “The said children, Elizabeth, Philippa, and Mary Lunsford, were carried away by their parents to Virginia and remained there until their parents’ demise.” From this record, we can conclude that Sir Thomas died before 11 Jan 1653/54.

Source: The Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1660; page 269; by Peter Wilson Coldham, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, MD; 1987; transcribed from an original record in England.

posted by Virgil Owens Jr.
Thank you. I have amended the bio and the death date field.
posted by Michael Cayley
Thomas Lunsford’s true birth appears to be7 Feb 1604 and he was baptised 19 Feb 1604 in Bearstead, Holy Cross, Kent, England. Source: Archbishop’s transcripts of Bearstead Baptisms 1563-1847 at Kent Archives Office, Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone, Kent, England, ME14 1LQ; a transcription is at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FB%2F82026840%2F1

ThomasLunsford clearly had connections to the Bearstead location because his parents were married there less than one year before he was born. HIs mother was born there and his grandfather died there about three years after Thomas was born.

posted by Virgil Owens Jr.
Thanks for finding that record. I will edit the bio. The Tyler index of parish registers - viewable on Ancestry - gives the year as 1603, but this will be 1603/4, or 1604 in our reckoning. I will cite that as well as FindMyPast.

- Now done: I have also added a research note because Richardson and the ODNB give a birth date of about 1610.

posted by Michael Cayley
edited by Michael Cayley
"Pedigree of the Family of Lunsford", ed. "G.S.S" of Norwood, from College of Arms MS 2 D 14, in Coll. Top. Gen, Vol. 4 (1837), p. 139. Traces the line back to the time of the Confessor, allegedly. The italics appear to be additions by the editor, who seems to have confused this Thomas Lunsford with a later Thomas who died in 1691.
posted by [Living Horace]
Many thanks indeed, Michael, for your good work so far. It seems to me that Douglas Richardson and Basil Morgan have captured most of the facts needed at this level, though I suspect both have failed to check some details, so if the profile is based wholly on their work I may not add anything. Except I do request that his alleged birthplace is either confirmed or dropped. Why, though, is the army of profile managers and project managers silent? Perhaps I should have raised these issues in the G2G forum.
posted by [Living Bethune]
I have detached the two unsourced children, and amended the research note on disputed children, with links to the two detached children's profiles. I have also replaced the first research note, on The Three Musketeers, with a general alert to the existence of extensive misinformation about Thomas Lunsford, and a link to a webpage which includes a summary of much of it (the webpage was already in sources for the profile). I intend to do more work on the profile, and on Thomas Lunsford's family. If anyone wants to help, please do! I do not have a monopoly!
posted by Michael Cayley
I've removed some unsourced sons from his first wife's unsourced profile: will somebody please do the same on his own profile here?
posted by [Living Bethune]
You will see that yesterday I suggested deleting the para on the Three Musketeers. I did this as soon as I saw the profile for the first time. My own view is that it does not have a place on Wikitree. Incidentally the Three Musketeers link is rightly dismissed on a Lunsford Family Page on Rootsweb - http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~lunsford/genealogy/research/biographies/sirthomasstudy.htm.
posted by Michael Cayley
In which case, why does this profile have a completely unsourced section on an (enjoyable) work of fiction? Is it protected for its comic value? Joking apart, where is this place “Wilegh Hall” and what evidence he was born there?
posted by [Living Bethune]
Is Wikitree really the place for questionable family legends? Many families have legends - including my own Cayley family - and enjoy them, but on Wikitree I think we want good sourced information.
posted by Michael Cayley
In the unsourced section about his influence on 19th-century French literature, could you please add the tradition in my family that during his stay in France he got a job at the Paris cathedral and was the inspiration for Quasimodo in “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”?
posted by [Living Bethune]
I have expanded the section on his brief appointment as Lieutenant of the Tower of London, which led to his being knighted and was a major episode in the run-up to the English Civil War. I have also expanded the information about his participation in the Civil War, correcting in the process the suggestion that he was "the" commander of royalist forces (he held some commands at various times, but was not a leading general and spent much of the civil war as a prisoner).
posted by Michael Cayley

Rejected matches › Thomas J Lunsford (1819-)