Thomas Hinton (1574 - 1635)

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Palmer) Hinton — married 1595 in Chilton Foliat, Wiltshire, England

Descendants

Died 1 Feb 1635 at age 61 in St Marys, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England

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Biography

Thomas Hinton is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

Sir Thomas Hinton aka Hynton of "Earlscott" and "Chilton Foliot"^[1] www.couchgenweb.com)

Origin

Thomas Hinton^[2] was born in 1573/4, the eldest son of Anthony Hynton of Earlscott, Wanborough, Wiltshire and Martha Warneford, daughter of John Warneford of Sevenhampton, Wiltshire.^[1]

Attended The Queen's College, Oxford. Acquired a £1,000 dowry in 1595, then inherited a majority of the family estate in 1598. Using this money, he purchased the 615-acre Chilton Park estate on the Wiltshire-Berkshire border. Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, appointed him a captain of Sir William Button’s foot soldiers regiment in 1608. He moved to London by July 1611, and the next year, he was appointed sheriff of Berkshire. He was named a justice of the peace in 1614.

Hinton fell into legal trouble in the ensuing years, though it is uncertain if he was ever convicted. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1620, representing Downton, despite the fact he owned no property in the district. He was probably elected under the influence of William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke. Hinton remarried to heiress Lady Mary Harvey, in 1622 who was worth about £40,000. He often had to defend this fortune in court against Harvey's daughter and son-in-law. In 1625, he was again elected an MP, this time for Ludgershall. Again, he had no direct connection to the district, but was at least a well-known figure there. It is uncertain if he initially ran for re-election, but he certainly ran again in the second election of 1626 (called because the House of Commons voided the original). However, the seat remained in dispute until the term expired and was unable to make any contributions before the session ended.

Thomas Hinton was the first Hinton to go to the new world.

The Bewitching of Anne Gunter

Thomas Hinton played an important role in securing the 1605 acquittal of accused witches Elizabeth Gregory and Mary Pepwell, when he testified that the victim, Anne Gunter, a daughter of his kinsman Brian Gunter, appeared to be faking her symptoms and making false accusations. "What is surprising, as with the business of the cut garter, was that Hinton was the only person able to interpret what was going on in a sceptical way...."^[3]

Death and Legacy

Thomas died on 1 February 1635^[1] at St Marys, Marlborough, England, aged 60-61. He was buried next to Mary at Wanborough and was later re-interred next to Catherine at Chilton Foliat.

Sir Thomas Hinton, the largest investor in the Jamestown, Virginia settlement. ^[4]

Two of his sons emigrated to Virginia, and his daughter married colonial governor Samuel Matthews (WikiTree Samuel Mathews, Jr). Another son was the physician to Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland. His Eldest son Anthony, member of the Virginia Company, may have briefly been a planter in Barbados.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Lancaster, Henry (2010). In Thrush, Andrew and Ferris, John O. (eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629. HINTON, Sir Thomas (1573/4-1635), of Chilton Park, Chilton Foliat, Wilts. History of Parliament Online, accessed 21 January 2016.
2. ↑ Hinton, Sir Thomas - A3904; born 1575, died 1635 (from Wiltshire, England); 1634-35 (Virginia Councillor). accessed 23 September 2021
3. ↑ James Sharpe, The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, Murder, and the King of England (2012), p. 110.
4. ↑ History of the Hinton Plantations, Knightdale, NC: Perspectives for Planters Walk by George Baumbach

History of the Hinton Plantations, Knightdale, NC: Perspectives for Planters Walk by George Baumbach

• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/hinton-sir-thomas-15734-1635
• Wikipedia: Thomas Hinton

See also:

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bevangenealogy&id=I39587

• Genealogy.com - Descendants of Thomas Hinton