Thomas Grenville (abt. 1450 - 1513)

Born about 1450 in Bideford, Devon, England

Ancestors

Husband of Isabella (Gilbert) Grenville — married 1473 in Stow, Cornwall, England

Descendants

Died 18 Mar 1513 at about age 63 in Stowe, Cornwall, England

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Biography

“Thomas, it appears, no sooner succeeded to his patrimony than he became concerned in one of the insurrectionary movements against Richard III. There are no precise particulars as to this occurrence, but there is little doubt of his having been an associate of Sir Richard Courtenay and his brother, the Bishop of Exeter, who were his cousins [?], when they raised a force of Cornishmen to join the Duke of Buckingham in his attempt to dethrone the King. After the dissolution of this ill-starred confederacy, Thomas Greynvile, in company of Sir Richard Edgcomb, betook themselves for shelter to the best hiding place they could. After a while pardon came between them and disgrace.” ^[1]

From Thomas Grenville's wikipedia page:

"Sir Thomas Grenville (died 1513), KB, lord of the manors of Bideford in Devon and of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1481 and in 1486. During the Wars of the Roses in his youth he had been a Lancastrian supporter and had taken part in the conspiracy against Richard III organised by the Duke of Buckingham. On the accession of King Henry VII (1485–1509) and the end of the wars, Grenville was appointed one of the Esquires of the Body to Henry VII. On the marriage of Prince Arthur to Katherine of Aragon on 14 November 1501 he was created a Knight of the Bath. He served on the Commission of the Peace for Devon from 1510 to his death.

"He was the son and heir of Sir Thomas Grenville by his second wife Elizabeth Gorges, daughter of Theobald Gorges and sister of Sir Theobald Gorges. Although little if anything at all survives in historical records concerning his biography, he was the descendant of a notable ancestor who took part in the Norman Conquest of Glamorgan, namely Sir Richard Grenville one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan who won for himself the Welsh lordship of Neath and in 1129 founded there Neath Abbey....

"Bideford was the residence of the Grenville family from shortly after the Norman Conquest and Stowe in Cornwall was also a seat. Sir Thomas appears to have been one of the last of the family to reside chiefly at Bideford, if indeed the presence there of his effigy may be allowed to suggest that, and his descendants made Stowe their chief seat, whilst retaining ownership of Bideford until the family died out in the male line."

Sources

1. ↑ Roger Granville, The History of the Granville Family (1895), p. 58.

• Visitation of Cornwall Page 84: Grenvile
• Thomas Grenville's wikipedia page