Jane (Cromwell) Hough (abt. 1530 - bef. 1580)

Born about 1530 in London, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 3 Nov 1580 before about age 50 in Neston, Cheshire, England

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Biography

Jane (Cromwell) Hough was born in Middlesex, England.

Jane Cromwell was a “natural” daughter of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. As Thomas was notoriously uxorious (he had no known mistresses), it is likely that Jane was born in 1530-1 as the result of some liaison within his household in the year following the death of his wife, Elizabeth, and his two daughters in the summer of 1529.

As a child it is likely she grew up in the household of Thomas' son, Gregory, after his marriage to Elizabeth Seymour in 1537. Elizabeth had two children from her first marriage to Sir Anthony Ughtred and the eldest of these, Henry, would only have been 2-3 years younger than Jane.

The one known record of Jane during her childhood is expenses authorized by Thomas Cromwell for his son's household at Leeds Castle in May 1539: Chaumley, by Mr. Gregory,* for provision at Leydes, 40l. 21st. Thos. Colpepor, in prest, upon obligation wherein he stands bound with Sir Thos. Powninges and Harper, 100l. 23rd. Lady Owthred, by Hen. Dowes, for apparel for Mrs. Jane, 12l. 14s. 6d.; Mr. Gregory,* at his going to Leydes, 60l.; Jennyns, by Mr. Richard, for provision at Leydes, 9l.;^[1]. Twelve Pounds, fourteen shillings and sixpence in 1539 bought a very considerable quantity of clothing!

After the fall of Thomas Cromwell in the summer of 1540, it is likely Jane remained in Gregory's household until her marriage.

About 1550 she married William Hough^[2], the eldest son of Richard Hough^[3][4] and Christien daughter of Sir George Calverley of The Lea, Cheshire. Richard Hough had been one of Thomas Cromwell's agents in Chester. The date is estimated from the birth of their only child, Alice, the following year. Alice's age was recorded in a deposition taken at the time of her father's death^[5]. The Hough family had been minor gentry in the Wirral for centuries^[6].

Jane and William remained staunch Roman Catholics (supremely ironic considering who her father was). They, together with their daughter, Alice, her husband, William Whitmore and their children, all came to the attention of the authorities as recusants during the reign of Elizabeth I^[7].

Jane died and was buried 3 November 1580 in Neston churchyard^[8]. It is not clear whether the very considerable lands that were left to Alice on the death of William Hough 5 years later originally came from Jane or from the Hough family; possibly it was from both.

Research Notes

There is only a single reference to Jane in Thomas Cromwell's papers but it places her within his only surviving legitimate child's household. Equally important is that during the visitation of Cheshire in 1580 at the time of Jane's death, the relationship was openly recorded and apparently uncontested.

Jane Cromwell in the Hough Family in 1580.

Sources

1. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14 Part 2, August-December 1539; Letters and Papers: Miscellaneous, 1539 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol14/no2/pp303-358
2. ↑ The visitation of Cheshire in the year 1580 by Glover, Robert, 1544-1588; College of Arms (Great Britain); Flower, William, ca. 1498-1588; Fellows, William; Benolt, Thomas, d. 1534; Chaloner, Thomas, Sir, 1561-1615; Rylands, J. Paul (John Paul), b. 1846; Pub date 1882; page 128 https://archive.org/details/visitationofches00glov/page/128
3. ↑ http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/hough-richard-1505-7374
4. ↑ Ormerod, ii. 304, 552; Cheshire 3/64/16; LP Hen. VIII, vii, xi-xvi, xix; M. L. Robertson, ‘Cromwell’s servants’ (Univ. California Los Angeles Ph.D. thesis, 1975), 503; Elton, Policy and Police, 281, 349- 50; Add. 20706.
5. ↑ Inq. 27 Eliz. 1585. William Hough, late of Leighton, esq. held the manor of Leighton juxta Barnston, with one capital and five other messuages, a free fishery in the water of the Dee, and another fishery called Frydales Tyde in Leighton, from John Poole of Poole, as of his manor of Poole by fealty. Also the manor of Thornton Mayow, and lands in Poulton Seacombe, Great Neston, Poulton Lancelyn, Bebbington, Brimstage, Spittle, Kirkby Walley, Mancote, Saltney, Ewlowe and Tranmoll. Obit 10 Feb. 27 Eliz. Wife of William Whitmore, Gent, daughter and heiress, aged 34 years and upwards.
6. ↑ Mortimer, William Williams, The history of the hundred of Wirral, pg 242 https://archive.org/stream/historyhundredw01mortgoog#page/n282/mode/2up
7. ↑ 17 Sep 1578. Absolution of William Houghe esq. & Jane his wife, of Neston, from a sentence of excommunication for their non - appearance at Chester before the visitors of the Archbishop of York: "It is ordered and decreed that the said Mr William Houghe and his wife shall resorte once a month to Mr Goodman or Mr Lane preachers of the worde for the better resolution in matters of religion (wherewith they are entangled) And if they be not before Easter next resolved in conscyence by the travaile perswascyon and conference to be abyde suche further order as shalbe thought good to the Lord Archbusshopp of York and his assocyates."
8. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/notesonparishbu00beazgoog#page/n106/mode/2up