Elizabeth (Broughton) Thornborough (abt. 1460)

Born about 1460 in Broughton in Furness, Lancashire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of William Thornborough Esq. — married before 1480 in Cartmel, Lancashire, England [uncertain]

Descendants

Biography

Elizabeth was probably born about 1460, assuming that she was the younger sister of Joan Broughton, who was married to John Fleming by 1475. ^[1] This birth year would place her in her late thirties when eldest son Rowland was born in 1497 or 1498. Her husband, William Thornburgh, may have been much older than her.

In the church of St Martin at Windemere, Westmorland, is a group of painted glass figures, ^[2] including one of a knight and his lady: "The lady's head-dress is late 15th century. She is dressed in a kirtle, tight-fitting around the neck, and a long mantle: on the mantle are depicted her husband's arms, and on the kirtle her own." A legend overhead names them as "Wllm Thornboro and hys wyff." From the arms on the lady's kirtle, she can be identified as Elizabeth Broughton. ^{[3] [4]} Ferguson ^[3], who analyzed the images, argues that they were originally placed in the church of Cartmel Priory, then in the 1520s removed to Windemere (for reasons not made clear). From internal evidence, he dates the original creation of images to about 1480, which tends to confirm a birth date for Elizabeth of about 1460.

If Ferguson is correct, the images would have been created after the marriage of Elizabeth Broughton and William Thornborough and before the attainder of Elizabeth's father Thomas Broughton in 1487, following the Battle of Stoke Field, in which he was killing fighting against King Henry VII. Elizabeth would have been at that time, after the death of her sister Joan, Sir Thomas's heir presumptive and a very good match. But following her father's attainder, as Ferguson states, "she probably brought to her husband little of the Broughton lands, for they were confiscated by Henry VII, and the manor of Broughton was granted to Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby." ^[3] However, according to the terms of the Bill of Attainder, ^[5] it appears that any jointure or lands previously bestowed on a wife or daughter would not have been subject to forfeiture.

The marriage had issue: ^{[6] [7]} TheInquisition Post Mortem of William Thornburgh was held at Shap on 5 February 1522/3, ^[8]naming his son and heir as Rowland Thornborough, age 24. Rowland's birth, therefore, must have taken place about 1498. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Middleton.

Other children were:

• Nicholas - 2nd son
• Anne - m. Thomas Preston
• Elizabeth - m. William Kirkby
• Elenor - m. Richard Curwen
• Isabell - m. William Clifton

William Thornborough died on 19 December 1521.

The date and place of Elizabeth's death has not been discovered.

Sources

1. ↑ Fleming, Daniel. The Memoirs of Daniel Fleming. Tract Series, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society, vol 11, p. 42. Kendal [Westmorland] : T. Wilson, 1928. Fleming
2. ↑ 'Plate 81: Bowness, Windermere Church, Glass in E. Window', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland (London, 1936), p. 81. British History Online Plate 81
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Ferguson, R S. "Windemere Parish Church and its Old Glass". Westmorland Antiquarian & Archeological Society, Volume 4, p. 56. 1880. Windemere
4. ↑ "Bowness on Windermere." An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1936. 44-47. British History Online. Web. 9 November 2022. Bowness
5. ↑ "Henry VII: November 1487." Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Eds. Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry, and Rosemary Horrox. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005. British History Online. Web. 11 November 2022. Attainder
6. ↑ Flowers. Visitation of Yorkshire in the years 1563 and 1564, p.316: Thornborough Thornburgh
7. ↑ Nicholson & Burn. The history and antiquities of the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. Vol 1, p. 118. London: Printed for W. Strahan, 1777. Thornburgh
8. ↑ "Selside and Whitwell," in Records Relating To the Barony of Kendale: Volume 1, ed. William Farrer and John F Curwen (Kendal: Titus Wilson and Son, 1923), 239-250. British History Online, accessed September 24, 2022, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/kendale-barony/vol1/pp239-250.

• Visitation of Hampshire Page 50: Thornburgh
• W Hilton Dyer Longstaffe, editor, Heraldic Visitation of the Northern Counties in 1530, by Thomas Tonge, Norroy King of Arms, with an Appendix of Other Heraldic Documents Relating to the North of England, The Publications of the Surtees Society vol. 41 (Durham: Frances Le Keux, 1863), p. 98 Pedigree of Rowland Thornborough; Internet Archive (https://archive.org : accessed 6 November 2022) image.