Thomas Parr, Knt., son of John Parr, Knt., of Kirkby-Kendal, Westmorland and Agnes Crophill (or Crophull),[1] was born 7 October 1406.[2][3] Thomas' father died when Thomas was an infant and, on 4 August 1408, Thomas' wardship was granted to his mother, Agnes, along with Sir Thomas Beauford and Sir Thomas Brounflete.[4][5] Agnes Parr later remarried to John Merbury, and soon after her marriage, on 9 July 1413, she gave the wardship of her son and custody of his lands to Sir Thomas Tunstall of Thurland Castle, Lancashire, William Torvar and James Harrington for 200 marks.[6][7]
Marriage and Children
Thomas married Alice Tunstall, daughter of his guardian Sir Thomas Tunstall and and his first wife, Isabel Harrington.[2] They probably married as children, before Thomas Tunstall's death in 1415.[1] They had three sons and six daughters:
William, K.G., son and heir, married Elizabeth FitzHugh and had issue,[1] having had no issue with his first wife, Joan Trusbut (or Trussebot). William was born about 1434 and died before 26 February 1483/4.[2] He was a M.P. 1434-1483.[8]
John, Knt.,[2] was born in 1438.[7] He married a daughter of Sir John Young or Yonge, mayor of London and died in 1475.[9] He was a M.P. from 1438-1475.[8]
Thomas,[2] youngest son, died 14 April 1471,[1] slain at the Battle of Barnet[8]
Agnes, wife of Sir Thomas Strickland of Sizergh, Westmorland,[2] with whom she had issue.[10] NOTE: in older sources she is often incorrectly designated as a child of William Parr.
Mabel, wife of Sir Humphrey Dacre, 2nd Lord Dacre of the North[2][11][12]
Thomas inherited lands in Kirkby-Kendal, Westmorland, and Parr,[2] Lancashire. In 1429 Thomas' mother had signed her dower portion (one-fourth part of the manor of Kirkby in Kendall) to Thomas for an annual 40-mark allowance.[7] The Kendall lands had been held in dower by three Parr widows, his mother being the last of them to die in 1436.[13] On 8 May 1436, Thomas made his oath of fealty and received full seisin of the dower third of his estate for a fine of two marks.[14] Thomas at some point held lands in his fathers small Lancashire estate that included lands in Parr and Sutton and a toft in Wigan.[15]
In 1429/30 Thomas was made escheator of Cumberland and Westmorland,[2] and, sometime between 1430-1432, he was knighted.[7] He served several years as a justice of the peace for Westmorland and on many important commissions.[7] He was Knight of the Shire (M.P.) for Cumberland, 1429-1430, 1445-1446 and Knight of the Shire for Westmorland, 1435, 1449, 1450-1451, 1455-1456.[2][8] Thomas served as sheriff of Westmorland[2] in 1435 and 1438-1446.[16]
In 1441, Thomas was sheriff and was sued by Henry Bellingham, Esq. over an attack at Bellingham's home in Burneside, Westmorland.[2][17] This lawsuit led to a long lasting dispute between the men that lasted from about 1441 to 1449. On 14 March 1445[/6] Thomas was attacked by Bellingham's men in London, while on his way to the House of Commons. The men had intended to kill him.[1] Thomas petitioned parliament and an Act was passed stating that Thomas' assailants should appear before the King's Bench or be attainted of felony. The matter seems to have been settled out of court as the Bellinghams petitioned for a repeal of the Act in 1449,[8][18] and Thomas' writ of proclamation was annulled, stating the parties had come to an agreement and that Thomas and his servants "had received satisfaction". The Bellinghams were pardoned at Thomas' request.[7]
In the mid-1440's, Thomas had made the acquaintance of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and later Thomas followed the Earl into the Yorkist camp in the early stages of the Wars of the Roses,[1] joining with the Earl at the Battles of Blore Heath and Ludlow in 1459.[2] Thomas was attainted the same year.[8][19] Before this turn of events, Thomas' political loyalties were never in question.
Thomas' Yorkist affiliations became even more evident when on 12 November 1460, Thomas and his sons William and John served on a commission "to arrest and commit to prison all persons guilty of unlawful gatherings, congregations, associations, combinations and sieges, and if they resist, to call together all lieges of Westmorland and Cumberland and other counties adjacent to fight them".[20] According to Susan James, "this was an attempt to protect the Yorkist cause in the heavily Lancastrian northern shires."[7] By December 1460, the crown was granting away Thomas' lands, but the accession to the throne of Edward IV in March 1461 reversed the process and Thomas' lands remained mostly unaffected by his brief attainder.[7]
Thomas fought again at the Battle of Wakefield[1] and several sources incorrectly state that Thomas was killed at this battle, on 30 December 1460.[21]
Death
Thomas died between mid-November and 4 December 1461.[7] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives a date of death as "the end of November 1461"[1] and records relating to the barony of Kendale, Westmorland, say that Thomas died in I Edward IV (1461/2) and that his inquisition post mortem was held in 4 Edward IV (1464/5) (item 3).[22] The date of death given in Thomas' inquisition post mortem (not available online) is 24 November 1464,[2][8] but this may be a transcription error. William Parr, Knt., aged 30, was named his son and heir.[8]
Sources
↑ 1.01.11.21.31.41.51.61.7 Rosemary Horrox. "Parr family (per. c. 1370–1517), gentry." in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. published 23 Sep 2004, updated online 25 May 2006. Accessed 16 Aug 2021 at ODNB[$].
↑ Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2011), vol. III, page 298, PARR 9.
↑ Great Britain. Calendar of the Fine Rolls, vol. 13 (1933), Henry IV, A.D. 1405-1413. Archive.org, page 111.
↑ J. L. Kirby, 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry IV, Entries 655-699', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem Volume 19, Henry IV (London, 1992), pp. 234-250. British History Online: 667 Agnes, widow of John de Par, assignment of dower.
↑ Great Britain. Public Record Office. Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved In the Public Record Office. London: H.M.S.O., 1891. HathiTrust, page 57.
↑ 7.07.17.27.37.47.57.67.77.8 Susan E. James, "Sir Thomas Parr (1407-1461)" in Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society (1981) Series: 2, Volume 81, pages 15-26. Online pdf.
↑ 8.08.18.28.38.48.58.68.7 Josiah Wedgwood. History of Parliament 1439-1509. London: HMSO, 1936. FamilySearch, page 622: Thomas Parr.
↑ Rosemary Horrox. "Parr, Sir William (1434–1483), knight." in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep 2004. Accessed 16 Aug 2021 at ODNB.
↑ Richardson. Royal Ancestry vol. II, page 110, CARLETON 14.
↑ George Edward Cokayne and Vicary Gibbs ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. IV: Dacre - Dysart, 2nd edition. (London, 1916).
Archive.org, pages 18-20.
↑ Richardson. Royal Ancestry. Vol. II, page 374, Dacre 15.
↑ "Kirkby in Kendale: 1352-1450," in Records Relating To the Barony of Kendale. Volume 1, ed. William Farrer and John F Curwen (Kendal: Titus Wilson and Son, 1923), 22-47. British History Online.
↑ Great Britain. Calendar of the Fine Rolls, vol. 16 (1936), Henry VI, A.D. 1430-1437. Archive.org, page 279.
↑ 'Townships: Parr', in A History of the County of Lancaster. Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 377-382. British History Online.
↑List of sheriffs for England and Wales. New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1963. Archive.org, page 151
↑List of early Chancery proceedings preserved in the Public Record Office. New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1963. Archive.org, page 74: 83.
↑ The National Archives' catalogue. Special Collections: Ancient Petitions to the King; to the King and council; to the council; to the parliament; and the like. Online at the National Archives, SC 8/27/1347 and SC 8/27/1348.
↑ George Baker. History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton. Vol 2. 1844. Archive.org, page 61: Parr pedigree.
↑ Great Britain. Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry VI vol. 6: 1452-1461. (London, 1910). HathiTrust, pages 651-652
↑ Edward Hall. Hall's Chronicle. London: J. Johnson, 1809. Archive.org, page 250
↑ "Kirkby in Kendale: 1453-1530," in Records Relating To the Barony of Kendale. Volume 1, ed. William Farrer and John F Curwen (Kendal: Titus Wilson and Son, 1923), 47-62. British History Online.
See also:
"Early Pedigrees of the Parr Family" in the Topographer and Genealogist. Vol. 3. Pages 354-355, online at FMG.
Nicolson, Joseph and Richard Burn. The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. Vol. 1. W. Strahan, 1777. Google Books, pages 42-43.
Whitaker, Thomas D. An History of Richmondshire, in the North Riding of the county of York. Vol. 2. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, 1823. Archive.org Tunstall Pedigree.
Clay, J.W. Extinct and Dormant Peerages of the Northern Counties of England. 1913. Archive.org, page 157.
Acknowledgments
Magna Carta Project
This profile was developed for the Magna Carta Project by Thiessen-117 on 24 August 2021 and reviewed/approved for the `project by Michael Cayley on 25 August 2021.
I will soon be developing this profile as a part of a Magna Carta trail from Gateway Edward Carleton to surety barons Robert de Ros and the Bigods. See the trail HERE.
Bio states marriage was 1413, which makes him 7, which is unlikely. Alice 'wives' records have similar birth dates. Maude 'wife' record is after he died, so not likely.
Alice 'records' have different mothers and dates, so research needs to be done to clarify.
Alice 'records' have different mothers and dates, so research needs to be done to clarify.