Thomas Steward (bef. 1425 - 1470)

Born before 1425 in Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Descendants

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Disambiguation: There appear to have been several well-off Stewart families in Swaffman in the same period. It appears that this Thomas should not be combined with Styward-9.

Biography

This profile is part of the Stewart Name Study.

Thomas Steward was the son of Sir John Steward and his wife unknown Kyriell. He was mentioned in various records of his father John including his PCC will proved in 1447.^[1]

John's will specifically mentions the manor at Swaffham, and that Thomas would receive a ship called the Grace de Dieu, which John had as a gift from the Duke of Bedford (perhaps in lieu of other pay owed to him, suggests Bennet).

Bennet writes:

Interestingly, Thomas Steward’s maritime career and association with Warwick brought him to Berwick and re-engagement with his Scottish heritage. In an indenture, dated 1462, between him and Duncan Steward of Scotland, the Scots squire acknowledges Thomas, grandson of Scotangle, as a cousin, and the two men enter a pact of friendship and alliance under a penal bond.

Thomas died about 1470.

Birth

Bennet:

It is likely that he was married by 1424 and that his son Thomas was born before 1425. The genealogists’ statements that Thomas was born in or after 1426–7 are based on the assumption that he was a minor in 1447 when Sir John commended his tutela to Sir Thomas Kyriel. Though ‘little more than a boy’, according to the chronicle, Thomas was old enough to serve with his father in France in 1439–40: BL, Add. MS. 15,644, f. 49v. During the 1440s Sir John had to sell off and mortgage property to pay a large ransom. It is likely that Kyriel assisted by serving as a trustee on behalf of his nephew. An arrangement of this kind is indicated by Sir John’s grant in 1444 to his son of £20 per annum from his lands in Guines, near Calais, during the life of Kyriel. This grant may mark his son’s marriage: BL, Add. MS. 15,644, f. 9v.

Marriage

The old suspect pedigrees say that this Scot-English Thomas married a daughter of John Humerston or Hamerton. Hamerton arms are given in a much later-made visitation: quarterly, argent and sable. These appear to be the early arms of John de Hanitune, of the time of Edward I, as listed by Joseph Foster in his book on Feudal arms. Such pedigrees with lots of important heiresses were commonly embellished amoungst the newly rich in Tudor times. The suspect evidence says that he married twice, and that his widow was named Alice.

Children

Children of Thomas Steward and his wife Alice Hummerton;

• 1. Richard Steward (Stewart). b. 1447 in Wells, Norfolk, England.

Sources

1. ↑ Wrongly indexed as 1444: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D968719

• Michael Bennet "The son of Scotangle: Sir John Steward (d. 1447)" Journal of the Sydney Society for Scottish History. Volume 15 May 2015 https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JSSSH/article/view/9081/9003
• Steward, H. (1926). Cromwell's Stuart Descent. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 27. Vol 27, pp. 86-122. https://doi.org/10.5284/1072730.
• Cambridgeshire visitation. https://archive.org/stream/visitationcambr00britgoog#page/n22/mode/2up

The Genealogist, New Series:-

• Vol I, page 150, by Walter Rye reproduces some of the family chronicle from much later https://archive.org/stream/genealogist01selb#page/309/mode/2up
• Vol II, page 34, gives Rye's critique. https://archive.org/stream/genealogist02selb#page/n93/mode/2up
• Vol III, page 111, is online but is a short note by Joseph Bain.
• Vol X, page 18, is a short note by J. H. Round. https://archive.org/stream/genealogist1018selb#page/n57/mode/2up
• Discussions about this pedigree started early, as pointed out in another note by J. H. Round where he proposes who might have created the original story.
  Round, J. H. "The Origin of the Stewarts and their Chesney connexion". The Genealogist New Series Volume 18 (1902) pages 1-16. Online at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
• This note was apparently meant to add to a fuller discussion is given in his book. https://archive.org/stream/studiesinpeerage02rounuoft#page/130/mode/2up