Thomas White MP (1507 - 1566)

Born 25 Mar 1507 in South Warnborough, Hampshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 2 Nov 1566 at age 59 in South Warnborough, Hampshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Robert France [send private message]

Confused Identity

Thomas White of South Warnborough has often been confused with Thomas White of Mariot and Martok, Somerset, who also had a wife Agnes and a son Richard.

Biography

"Sir Thomas White of South Warnborough was one of the two judges appointed Masters of the Court of Requests. The origins of this court are obscure but by the reign of Henry VIII it was hearing large numbers of cases brought by ordinary people, and the monarch's servants. Sir Thomas was created Master of Requests on 2 Oct 1553, the day after the coronation of the Catholic Queen Mary. He retained his position during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

"Sir Thomas married Agnes White the sister of Sir John White MP, Lord Mayor and London, and Lord of the Manor of Aldershot. Agnes died 4 Jan 1571 at Canterbury and was buried at South Warnborough as Dame Agnes White. Sir Thomas' will was proved 1 Feb 1567 so Dame Agnes was probably responsible for their tomb in South Warnborough church. Sir Thomas' sister Sybil was the wife of Sir John White of Aldershot, thus creating two marriages in which brother and sister married sister and brother....

"Sir Thomas White was created knight 2 Oct 1553, on the same day he was created Master of Requests. Sir Thomas' position as one of the Masters of Requests is interesting on two counts: firstly Sir John Throckmorton of Coughton was the other Master of Requests in 1553. The significance of this will become apparent when I write up the Gifford family and the Manors of Cove and Itchell. Secondly it appears that Sir Julius Caesar was Master of Requests (from 1591) when he wrote the famous letter to Sir William More requesting him to facilitate access to the clay in Farnham Park. Curtis states that this Thomas White, together with his son Henry White, was granted in 1545 the office of Constable of Farnham Castle and Keeper of the Chases and Parks. Manning & Bray (iii 135-6) state that a Robert and John, father and son, were granted by Bishop Wainflete the office of Parkers and Keepers of the Great and Little Parks at Farnham. There are at least two such combinations of father and son. But the fact that Sir Thomas White of South Warnborough held this post gives credibility to Curtis' statement that it was Sir Thomas's grandfather and greatgrandfather Sir Robert White KB and John White (d.1470) who held the office before him. It therefore appears that this branch of the White family could have been in control of the clay in Farnham Park for a very long period.

"Sir Thomas wrote his will in 1564. He died on 2 Nov 1566, and his will was proved by his widow Dame Agnes on 1 Feb 1567. His main income appears to have been from a leased farm at Upsidling in Dorset. VCH Hampshire says he and Agnes had 14 sons and 6 daughters. The effigies on the tomb of children who predeceased their parents hold a skull in their hands. Some sources claim only 13 sons.

"Of the four surviving daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, Frances and Barbara, at least three married men who can be identified as prominent Catholics in the reign of Elizabeth. Henry White, the eldest son of Sir Thomas and Agnes was appointed by the Bishop of Winchester, with his father, Constable of Farnham Castle and Keeper of the Chase and Parks there on 20 Jun 1545. He died in 1572. Henry and his wife Bridget nee Bradshaw had three daughters. The second daughter Phillipa married Walter Giffard of Chillington, Staffs.

"The second surviving son Richard White was knighted at South Warnborough by Queen Elizabeth. He married twice. His first wife was Ellen, 4th daughter of Stephen Kirton of Edmonton. Ann, 3rd daughter of Stephen Kirton married Thomas White the third surviving son of Sir Thomas and Agnes -- thus creating two brother/sister marriages. There was a very close relationship between the White, Kirton and Offley families. Stephen Kirton's wife was Margaret Offley whose brother Sir Thomas Offley was Lord Mayor of London 1556. He had a son Henry Offley of Madeley, Staffs who married Mary, daughter of Sir John White of Aldershot, MP and Lord Mayor of London 1563-4.

"Other than the 3 sons already mentioned Sir Thomas had 4 other surviving sons at the time he wrote his will in 1564: Stephen the elder, Gabriel, Steven the younger, and Francis. Here again, just as with Sir John White and his brother John White, Bishop of Winchester, here is a case of two sons having the same name, albeit Sir Thomas uses the alternative spellings of Stephen and Steven. It was apparently Gabriel White's death in 1593 which created the need to declare as "Chief Heir Male" John White, the only son of Thomas White third son of Sir Thomas and Lady Agnes. The circumstances of the succession require more research."^[1]

August 1543, 26-31
39. Thos. White, clerk of the Crown and the King's attorney in the King's Bench. and Agnes his wife. Grant, in fee to the said Thos., for 403l. 6s. 11d., of the manor and lordship of Crowdale alias Crowdishole. Hants., which belonged to Crowland mon., Linc., as parcel of the cell of Fryeston; the manor of Anstye. Hants., which belonged to Battle abbey, Suss., and all appurtenances of these manors in Southwarborne and Alton, Hants.; a pension of 4l. out of Southwarborne church, which belonged to Crowland mon., and all lands in tenure of the said Thos. White in Southwarborne which belonged to Crowland and Fryeston; the advowson of Southwarborne rectory and a wood of 3 ac. called Crowdale Grove in Southwarborne parish which belonged to Crowlande; and a wood of 10 ac. called Anstye Wood, in Alton parish. which belonged to Battle. Guildeford. 2 Aug. 35 Hen. VIII. Del. Walden. 18 Aug.— P.S. Pat. p. 9, m. 5.^[2]

Family and Education

b. 25 Mar. 1507, 1st s. of Robert White of South Warnborough by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Thomas Englefield† of Englefield, Berks. educ. I. Temple, called. m. bef. 1532, Agnes, da. of Robert White of Farnham, Surr., sis. of Sir John White, 14s. inc. Henry and Thomas 6da. suc. fa. 2 Mar. 1521. Kntd. 2 Oct. 1553. Offices Held

Clerk of the Crown and attorney King’s (Queen’s) bench 1542-Apr. 1559; treasurer, bishopric of Winchester 1538-d.; j.p. Hants 1547, q. by 1554, rem. 1558; keeper of Farnham castle, Surr. 1540- d.; master of requests 1553-?58; bencher, I. Temple by 1555, gov. 1557. Biography

Despite his extensive estates acquired at the dissolution of the monasteries, White, a Catholic, was put off the commission of the peace at the accession of Elizabeth. Nevertheless elected knight of the shire he opposed the new prayer book, and stated that Sir Ambrose Cave, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, disliked it. Cave’s complaint that White had misrepresented him was upheld by the House on 4 Mar. 1559: ‘Therefore Mr. White, standing, asked him forgiveness; which Mr. Chancellor did take thankfully’. Next month White lost his Queen’s bench appointment.

White’s brother-in-law John White, the Marian bishop of Winchester, spent his last months at White’s house after being deprived of the see, and there he died in January 1560. White himself died on 2 Nov. 1566. His will, drawn up in 1564, and proved in February 1567, appointed his wife and Lord Chidiock Paulet† executors, and affirmed White’s belief in ‘all that Holy Church, the very espouse of Christ, holdeth and believeth’. He asked for intercession of ‘all the holy company of heaven’, ‘obsequies, alms and other services’ were to be done at his burial and month’s mind, and a grandson received £50 to pray for his soul. In December 1567 the vicar of Odiham, an ex-Marian priest, was charged with having buried Sir Thomas White ‘with tapers and other papistical ceremonies’. The burial took place at South Warnborough, where a memorial was erected by his descendants, inscribed ‘Thomas and Agnes die unto God, and say, "We hope to see the goodness of God in the land of life ... Lord Jesu, take our souls into Thy mercy" ... God save the Queen'. White's son Henry received livery of his lands on 20 June 1567.

Sources

1. ↑ Peter Tipton, Sir Thomas White, Master of Requests, died South Warnborough, Hants 2 Nov 1566 (Feb. 2010).
2. ↑ British-History Online

• The History of Parliament [1]

C142/37/82, 127, 148; Vis Hants (Harl. Soc. lxiv), 82, VCH Hants ii. 487, 515-16; iii. 380; Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. lxxv), 64; LP Hen VIII, xiii(1), p. 243; xviii(2), pp. 56-7; CPR, 1547-8, p. 84; 1553-4, p. 19; 1558-90, p. 107; 1566-9, p. 11; APC, iv. 324; PRO Eccl. 2/155881, 15583, 155903: CJ, i. 56; Strype, Annals, i(1), P. 213; pcc 4 Stonard; j. e. Paul, 'Hants Field Club, xxi(2), p. 65.

• Visitation of Hampshire Page 82: White

See also:

• Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981 [2]

• Benolte, Thomas; Philipot, John; & Owen, George. The Visitations of the County of Sussex: 1530 and 1633-4. London: The Harleian Society, 1905. Vol LIII, p 15, Oxenbridge.